Brown says he was "eager" to share this with his leadership team and their school, but all spouses in the situation agreed that since adultery had not occurred, the situation would end in private, "sparing" Brown and the other woman's spouse from any additional shame. After this, Brown states that he made changes to his schedule and lifestyle, along with going through counseling. "I am profoundly grateful that our Lord is a forgiving Lord. That He responds to deep, heartfelt repentance. That He does not discard and cast off His children because of their failings when they turn back to Him with all their heart," Brown says." - Charisma News
Brown keeps offering up this "I did not commit adultery" talking point but no one has accused him of committing sexual adultery to my knowledge. This assertion is a classic strawman argument, that Brown always employs in his many debates. It is designed to shift the debate from the substance to a strawman he can easily knock down. Please keep in mind that the woman he is speaking about here is NOT Erin! It is a second woman! My first observation here is that there is a certain level of vagueness to this "admission." What exactly is an emotional tie with a close friend? That kinda sounds like when Morris claimed he had an incident with a "young lady" but omitted that she was actually 12 years old. I am not saying this from a substantive standpoint but they both appear designed to gloss over facts. Now, maybe this emotional tie was nothing but it sure sounds like it was something or else why is he trying to get ahead of it? The second observation here is this resolution sure seemed very self-serving, which is consistent with the resolution with Erin as well. It is always designed to provide the least exposure for Dr. Brown, no? It seems that whatever spiritual authority Brown had at the time could have been properly informed without this nebulous "shame" concern. Again, if Dr. Brown just had an emotional tie that might have led to something but he truly repented and dealt with the matter with the woman, who I assume was not 19 like Erin, and his wife - that seems appropriate. The problem is that at the same time he was preaching holiness while building his ministry career. Please do not "Jesus-fy" this. The radical forgiveness of Jesus is awesome but has NOTHING to do with our "ministry" or in Brown's case, his career. It has to do with our WALK. So, if everything he says is true, yes God will always forgive true repentance. That does not mean however you must be restored to your job.
"Brown then addressed the topic of "Erin," who was reported to have had what she considered an uncomfortable relationship with Brown during her time working at his FIRE School of Ministry. "It is not my purpose here to deny or confirm specific allegations. I'll leave it to the investigation to uncover the truth. The fact is that an offense remains. And that is what I must address, taking full ownership of my actions and the pain I caused." Brown says he recognizes now he did not fully understand how deeply "Erin" was hurt by his actions. "Please forgive me for my actions which caused you so much pain," he says. "Had I more clearly understood the result of those actions in 2002, I would have responded very differently. Again, from the heart, I ask you to forgive me. I am truly and deeply sorry." Brown also asked for both the larger body of Christ and those who have been involved in his ministry over the years to forgive him as well. --forgive me for my failings and poor judgment and any mishandling of these situations during that time 23 years ago. I fell short of the high standards that we set. I disappointed you and I hurt you. Please forgive me." Continue to pray for Michael Brown and for all of those involved in this situation." - Charisma News
Here we come back to some of the early whitewashing of this scandal. It is not that she was merely "uncomfortable." Stop trying to minimize it. Now look, I was not there 23 years ago but we have two sides of this story. Brown is basically saying mea culpa but there does not seem to be much ownership about what they did back then to resolve the matter. As we have previously covered, Matthew 18 is not designed to provide cover for ministry leaders who abuse their sheep and make no mistake beloved, that is what we are talking about. What Matthew 18 does, is allow these sinful leaders to control the flow of information so that there is minimal exposure for them, while providing the cover that they handled it "biblically." A funny thing happened on the way to that biblical resolution however. The victim, clearly did not feel it was "resolved." This is an excellent segue into the statement from "Erin:"
'"I am 'Erin'"This may be lengthy, and I apologize from the start. I have been trying to process everything that is going on lately. I keep thinking about why Michael Brown won't just admit to what he has done or publicly repent and bring healing to SO many who have been hurt by his actions and words. Why is he hiding? Why such a vague statement? Why did he lie in his statement? I know they are lies because I am 'Erin'. My name back then was Sarah ERIN Monk. I held this secret for two decades. I was ashamed and guilty, and I felt I was the one who should have stopped it long before anything more physical happened after HE held my hand in a car with three other students watching. That was the ONLY time we held hands PUBLICLY. There were many times when the hand-holding took place privately. Yes, he lied about making a point about doing it publicly because I was like a daughter. I should have stopped it; I should have spoken out. I did not, so then the next physical touch was him touching my backside. Yes, Dr. MICHAEL L. BROWN put his hand on my butt!!' - Sarah Monk
The accusation here is very blunt and clear. She claims the statement from Dr. Brown are lies. There has also been a very real element of shadiness in how this has been handled by Brown and his associates. He never addressed why someone called Sarah/Erin to try and get her to back down. He never addressed why a fundraising email went out essentially accusing Ms. Monk of working with the devil to tear down Brown's ministry. We see this all the time when ministry leaders fall. The machine works against the cause of Christ and the victims in order to protect the brand and the perpetrator. What is of interesting to note here is the first assertion of a lie is that Dr. Brown made up this "I did all of this because she was a like a daughter to me." That angle seemed pretty odd to begin with and it was reported that he did not act this way with his actual daughter either. It is gut wrenching to hear this victim lament so powerfully about how this was somehow her fault. This is what happens when someone is spiritually abused.
"The one who condemned so many for a lustful eye, who screamed from the pulpit, REPENT OF YOUR SINFUL WAYS. The one who taught us to live holier than the day before. The one who preached REVOLUTION. The one who said being alone with the opposite sex was a sin and would get you kicked out of school. Yes, THAT Dr. Michael L. Brown was alone in HIS office with someone from the opposite sex touching MY butt as I would exit his office. This didn't happen just once, and NEVER happened publicly or in front of his wife, Nancy!! NOT ONCE. But it did happen privately. Still, I did nothing; I allowed it to happen. I kept the secret because I felt I had to because it was Michael Brown. Surely, he wouldn't be doing anything against his preaching or the Lord, I thought. I was not okay with what was happening, but I didn't stop it. I allowed it to happen. Many have told me that he groomed me and I was a victim. But still, I have felt guilty. Then the kiss, not just one kiss or two, but many! Once again, he had someone of the opposite sex in his office ALONE! As I told him goodbye, he sat in his chair and leaned up for a kiss. On the lips, not the head as he has told others. Yes, stupid me gave him one. I felt something was off when it happened. Why didn't I stop it? I do not know. Once again, this NEVER happened in front of Nancy or the public eye. Everything happened in secret. Everything happened when no one could see (except the first-hand holding). So yes, he lied about merely having 'poor judgment' in public because they happened in private. Doing it in public seems like it was meant to pave the way for him to do it in private. He was testing the boundaries. I was too young to understand that." - Sarah Monk
It has been widely reported that 40 million people have left the church in the past 25 years. The number one reason given is hypocrisy. It is why Jesus speaks so much against hypocrisy. That is what Sarah Monk is decrying here. Ted Haggard used to rail against homosexuality from the pulpit while leading the National Association of Evangelicals. Then it was revealed that he had a 20-year relationship with a male prostitute that he like to do crystal meth with. Oops. Bickle and Ravi Zacharias were renowned for their holiness preaching. Yet Bickle sexually abused two different minors BEFORE having the four-year affair referenced earlier. Ravi traveled to world with a network of sex workers and masseuses that he spiritually manipulated and bullied. Keep in mind that the difference here is that Sarah stopped the advances, or who knows where this story would have ended up. The hypocrisy asserted here, especially from one of the former students and workers of his ministry is staggering. The second revealed lie from Erin is that Brown's insistence that this was lapse in judgment based on the handful of public displays of affection is also untrue. This was the primary defense - she was like a daughter and I just had a judgment lapse but now Sarah is saying, nope - untrue. Notice here that Sarah now realizes he was testing boundaries, which is exactly the same grooming argument that we made earlier. The worst however is coming up next:
