For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. - Matthew 24:24 (KJV)
Let me start with summarizing the events that have unfolded recently regarding infamous tithing whore Robert Morris. I do not use those words lightly because some folks continue to believe that the revelations regarding his crimes of sexually abusing a 12-year-old somehow interrupted a work of God. It did not. God is bringing to light what Morris's true legacy is. What his entire ministry was built upon. Lies lies, lies. He lied to his hand-picked board of elders. He lied in his book referring to his stepping down from ministry in his twenties as being related to "pride issues" instead of abusing a child for four years. He lied that he repented and voluntarily entered into restoration. The truth is the father found out and threatened the church to remove Morris from ministry. He lied when he said he entered back into ministry with the blessings of the father, as per the victim. He lied when he referred to his child victim as a "young lady." This does not even scratch the surface of the ugliness of this issue. His wife called the victim to tell her she forgave her for being abused by her husband. You get that? Nothing like traumatizing a child over and over again and then being gaslit by his compliant wife. Apparently, the victim tried decades later to receive some compensation for the years of therapy Morris caused her and the response to an obscenely reasonable request for 50K was met with bartering it down to 25K, a demand to sign a non-disclosure agreement and Morris' high-priced lawyers blaming the victim by calling her flirtatious. You know, the 12-year-old. As a result of all of this, Robert Morris has stepped down from ministry. The response from the Charismatic community has been a sigh of relief.
Just kidding. They have been borderline apoplectic that their favorite cult of personality pastor should be punished for sexually abusing a 12-year-old. I have seen the notion that it happened so long ago it somehow shouldn't really count. Or the absurd idea that because the bible teaches forgiveness, we should just let bygones be bygones. I mean one life utterly ruined is so tiny compared to how much we might like someone's books. I just can't figure out why the lost think so little of Christians? It seems the coordinated response from the Charismatic machine is, as always, to protect the brand. Morris cannot be saved from this but if they could just pretend this is another one-off oopsie like Bickle and Zacharias before him, then the machine still hums. The way to accomplish this is to try and lift the ministry above the man, when the reality is the ministry was the man. So, for your consideration today are two polar opposite reactions between two heretical heavyweights. Let me start with the man who has done the most damage to modern Christianity today, Rick Warren:
"I'm angry & disgusted to hear of Robert Morris' sexual abuse of a child & heartbroken for Cindy Clemishire. To sexually use a 12 yr old child, then continue it for yrs, is not merely an 'inappropriate relationship.' It's a crime. Sexual child abuse is an evil punishable by law. One can't just confess when caught & move on with no consequences." - Rick Warren
This Twitter post from Warren has led me to be able to say these words for the first time in my life - Rick Warren is 100% correct. I know, I never thought I would be able to say that but this is exactly the correct response. This story should be EASY to get on the right side of. There is no nuance. There are no shades of grey. There are no ifs ands or buts. Robert Morris is a criminal sexual abuser of children, period full stop. When I read Warren's opening about being heartbroken, I BELIEVE he is sincere because he does not pull any punches with what follows. His grieving for the victim does not sound hollow or lip service because he is not excusing the man responsible. To even further make this point, he correctly points out the hypocrisy of pretending to repent when Morris did no such thing. Warren correctly points out that what Morris did was just move on and build his empire on the bones of his victim without consequence. So, for the record, Rick Warren is correct. On the other side of this cage match however is the defender of all that is wrong, Dr. Michael Brown. See if you can tell the difference between this Facebook post from Brown and Warren's Tweet:
"If you received something important in your spiritual life through a now-disgraced minister, don't discard the truth you received, as if it came from them. If what you received is true, if it is biblical, if it drew you closer to Jesus, then it's from the Lord, not that person. "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows" (Jacob [James] 1:17). If you received something truly good, it came from God! Don't let the failings of a human vessel rob you of something that came from above." - Dr. Michael Brown
I hope you caught it because it was not so subtle. This post is not about Cindy Clemishire, who Warren was willing to say the name of. No beloved. This post was about Robert Morris and trying to salvage his legacy by pretending that God had something to do with the forty years Morris cosplayed being a minister of the gospel. Let me be abundantly clear. God had NOTHING to do with the false empire Morris built. His teachings were always antithetical to the gospel to begin with. He abused the sheep by teaching them that if they did not give him the first ten percent of their earnings, even before medication, medical needs or food, that God would curse all of their money. Turning the almighty creator of the universe into a vicious mafioso boss demanding his tribute, you know, cause it would be a shame if something happened to you. We saw this behavior from Brown after Ravi Zacharias was revealed to have employed a network of sex workers to travel the globe with him while he taught on holiness. To Brown, Ravi remains a great holiness teacher. The guy who spiritually blackmailed women into keeping his dirty secrets quiet. That guy. More recently, Brown argued the same for Mike Bickle and worked tirelessly to insist that the ungodly and unbiblical 24-7 prayer model had nothing to do with the predator Bickle. Even though we know Mike Bickle lied about the entire prophetic founding of IHOP, including the prayer model. In Dr. Brown's mind, God somehow chose to work through a man who had abused a 13-year-old and a 14-year-old, over many years and then betrayed a family friend by falsely prophesying that his own wife would die in order to lure a 19-year-old into his bed. A man who years later fooled around with the wife of a ministry leader and then passed her off to his son to have an affair with the woman. That guy. God did not use Mike Bickle - period full stop.
