Sunday message- true monsters

God likes to wait until you are comfortable to make you uncomfortable....


A few weeks back, without mentioning names at the time, I told what I knew about the sad story of pastor James McDonald, who has apparently fallen from grace.  I don't want to go into a lot of details, but it's out there if you want to read it.  Basically, we have a man who at one point preached the Word of God faithfully, through a huge multi-church organization, several books, and a radio ministry, becoming a bullying power-freak.  This week, his fall from the church was complete after a man he himself led to Christ- a man who is a radio host who once did a syndicated radio show that one of our local stations carried, one "Mancow" Muller- as a last resort after repeated calls to McDonald to resign and get help- played an audio tape that sunk him once and for all.  A tape in which he claimed a handful of generally disgusting and untrue actions against those he perceived as enemies.  After the tape's excerpts were played Wednesday on WLS, the Elders finally fired McDonald from all association with the church's organization.

It's real entertainment, this story.

But here's the thing, after I had done my research, dug for updates, and finally laid down to refresh and pray about it, that God gave me a thought and made me get back up.


Just a speculation:  This is a man who seems to have lived a double life.  I've heard his sermons, found nothing overly disturbing in them.  Now "all of the sudden" (and the fact or fiction of that statement can invalidate the whole thing), he becomes this utter monster.  His radio shows have been axed, his books are being pulled off the shelves.

And as I prayed, the thought came to me:  What caused this?  Is it a moral failing, or perhaps something physical?  Could he have a brain tumor that brought this change on (if change there was), or a mental illness?  I'm not trying to find an excuse for him, but there is somebody- a few somebodies- that I am about to damn.  Regard:  If this WAS the case, and say three months down the road, we find McDonald is suffering from an "inoperable brain tumor" or somesuch, he's not quite so guilty for his actions.

Not so his elder board, who went along with and covered up his misdeeds, only firing him when the Mancow tape made it clear to them it was either jettison McDonald or be sued into non-existence.  If McDonald indeed did some pretty reprehensible things while in charge of Harvest Baptist, they stood by and let him, instead of seeking to find out what was wrong with him.


Now, withdraw the part about McDonald being ill.  He DID reprehensible things, and THEY covered it up.  At one point, a group of former elders pleaded with them to do something about McDonald.   Let's pick up the story from the lady blogger I mentioned in the earlier post- Julie Royes- about what happened then...

While I am heartened that the elders finally removed MacDonald, he should have been fired five years ago. That’s when eight former elders sent a letter to the sitting elder board, warning them that MacDonald was disqualified for office. Yet instead of investigating MacDonald, the board excommunicated some of the messengers. And shockingly, two of the elders who participated in a video slandering those men, Steve Huston and Paul Inserra, remain on the board. Huston even chairs the Executive Committee of the Elders.

In addition, Jeff Smith, the chairman of the finance committee who’s clearly failed to oversee properly the finances of the church, remains an elder.  So do Fred Ananias and Scott Stonebreaker, who wrongfully fired Pastor John Secrest from HBC Naples. And let’s not forget that the entire elder board recently pledged their unconditional support for MacDonald, showing a grievous misunderstanding of what it means to be an elder. All of them should step down and a transition team should be put in place.


On the other blog mentioned, The Elephant's Debt (the one where McDonald sued the two bloggers AND their wives), they had a post involving an attempt by former member Dave Jennings to reach out to fix the mess...


The reality is that LOADS of us did try, and were then either shown the door, rotated out of ministry, or -in my own case- simply gave up after years of sending emails like this one and consistently getting replies that chastised me for their length in lieu of engaging their content.


In other words, McDonald didn't have a board of Elders as elders are supposed to be- he had a board of sycophants hanging onto him for their own power.  THESE men committed the greater sin, had the greater failure.  Was it because of the good they saw in McDonald, or his charisma?  More likely it was because the shell-game they were playing with Harvest's money was making them very wealthy.  Every church property was collateral for one or more OTHER church properties; despite the vast monies coming in, the organization was deeper in debt than Congress; and the whole thing was set up so poorly that one church failing might have taken down the whole lot of them.


And still might.


Tit 1:7  For an overseer, as God's steward, must be above reproach. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain, 
Tit 1:8  but hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined. 
Tit 1:9  He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it. 
Tit 1:10  For there are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision party. 
Tit 1:11  They must be silenced, since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for shameful gain what they ought not to teach. 

I don't know individually how many of Paul's rules for elders that these men broke, but I do know they ALL broke the one I highlighted.  What was their excuse?  Did they ALL have brain tumors?  No, they just had their eyes on the "golden goose" of McDonald- their Golden Calf- instead of God, their calling, their integrity.  James McDonald might be a monster, or he might be a sympathetic character.  But in his fall, he becomes cover for the REAL monsters of Harvest Baptist.  As long as everyone stays focused on McDonald's next move, they can still slink away with his ill-gotten gain.  Thank God for people like Julie and Mancow for taking a stand to see that doesn't happen.