In the wake of the Mike Bickle revelations of sexually abusing minors, we now have the disclosure that Robert Morris of Gateway Church is also a child predator. In typical Charismaniacal fashion, the church appears ready to try and quickly deal with it and move on because Morris is such a prolific cash cow and the Purpose Driven Industrial Complex tries to protect the brand at all costs. For the unaware, Robert Morris was already a horrific false teacher and one of the most egregious tithing abusive teachers alive today. He is the father of the horrendous false tithing teaching that says God will curse the rest of your money if you do not give the first ten percent to Morris. Even before paying your rent, electric bill, or medication. The link above is from Charisma News, who is trying to downplay this apparently. Steven Strang has no morals whatsoever. I recommend you looking up the article on the Wartburg Watch, who broke this story. For now, let us reason once more through the link above, and I will try to fill in the blanks Charisma conveniently left off.
"Robert Morris, founding pastor of Gateway Church in Southlake, Texas, has admitted to involvement in "inappropriate sexual behavior with a young lady" after a woman accused him of sexually abusing her between December 1982 and March 1987, beginning when she was 12 years old. The Wartburg Watch, a blog dealing with abuse in the church, broke the story with a detailed account of the abuse from the alleged victim, now 54, who said she did not view the relationship with Morris as abuse until she was 35." - Charisma News
Let's start with the choice of language here. The girl in question was 12 years old. That is not a "young lady." That is a child. As is typical in these cases, the victim buried the abuse and did not try to come to grips with what was done to her for over four years, by a married pastor, until she was in her thirties. When she was 12 however, Morris molested her and warned her to not tell anyone or she would ruin everything. This would proceed for over four years, while her father was giving money to Morris' ministry. When the girl was 16 however, Morris tried to advance to intercourse but was rebuffed by the girl. Mind you at this point he was a pastor at Shady Grove Church, which would become the behemoth Gateway is today. Please keep in mind as we move forward that this was and is a felony crime that has no statute of limitations associated with it.
"A statement from the elders of Gateway Church, released to staffers but also posted on The Roys Report, reads as follows: Pastor Robert has been open and forthright about a moral failure he had over 35 years ago when he was in his twenties and prior to him starting Gateway Church. He has shared publicly from the pulpit the proper Biblical steps he took in his lengthy restoration process. The two-year restoration process was closely administered by the Elders at Shady Grove Church and included him stepping out of the ministry during that period while receiving professional counseling and freedom ministry counseling. Since the resolution of this 35-year-old matter, there have been no other moral failures. Pastor Robert has walked in purity, and he has placed accountability measures and people in his life. The matter has been properly disclosed to church leadership." - Charisma News
Who cares if he has always been open about being a child predator? How cheap do we treat the pastoral office that someone like this would ever be considered for a church leadership job again? He shared from the pulpit that he molested a child for four years? I seriously doubt that. A "moral failure" would be if you cheated on your wife or struggled with a porn addiction. This goes a bit beyond a mere moral failure. This is a felony offense. Keep in mind that we are not talking about an oopsie. This was no one time moral error. This was a coordinated campaign for over four years to ruin a child's life for your own sexual gratification - as a pastor! What his hand-picked elders left out is that he only stepped down and went through a lengthy restoration process because the father called the lead pastor and threatened to call the sheriff if Morris was not removed as a pastor. It is also borderline sick for "elders" of any church to brag that two years is a lengthy time for someone who molested a child for four years to go through some kind of restoration process. Wartburg also points out that in his book, Morris plays off this issue that made him step down as "pride issues." Not exactly someone who was being transparent or sounding remotely repentant.
"Robert Morris stated: "When I was in my early twenties, I was involved in inappropriate sexual behavior with a young lady in a home where I was staying. It was kissing and petting and not intercourse, but it was wrong. This behavior happened on several occasions over the next few years. In March of 1987, this situation was brought to light, and it was confessed and repented. I submitted myself to the Elders of Shady Grove Church and the young lady's father. They asked me to step out of ministry and receive counseling and freedom ministry, which I did. Since that time, I have walked in purity and accountability in this area. Two years later, in March of 1989, I stepped back into ministry with the full blessing of the elders and her father. In October of 1989, Debbie and I met with her and her family, and I asked their forgiveness, and they graciously forgave me. This sin was dealt with correctly by confession and repentance, which I did in 1987 and 1989." - Charisma News
