Another sad story of a man cosplaying as a pastor "restored" even with rape allegations pending against him...

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if anyone is above reproach, the husband of one wife, and his children are believers and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination. 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, but hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined. 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. - Titus 1:6-9 (ESV)

Pastor Accused of Rape Returns to Preaching at S.C. Megachurch

I never heard of Pastor Micahn Carter. Just another cult of personality pastor accused of rape, I guess. I am not going to belabor this but there are comparable problems within the story linked above, from the fantastic Julie Roys website, with all of the similar stories across the apostate church landscape. Specifically from the reporting:

"In 2021, Carter's former assistant publicly accused him of raping her in her office when he pastored a megachurch in Washington in 2019. Carter then resigned from COTH, an Association of Related Churches (ARC) megachurch that had been tasked with restoring him." - Julie Roys

Tasked with restoring him. To clarify, Carter admitted to having an affair with Mary Jones, his assistant in 2019 and stepped down. The concern from the apostate church system was not about the victim. It was about the predator and how to get him back to work as fast as possible. This sort of thing is now normalized within the American church. It completely ignores the key verses above that lay out the qualifications one must meet to be a pastor in God's church. Not a husband of one wife? DISQUALIFIED. Is he open to a charge of debauchery? DISQUALIFIED. Not above reproach? DISQUALIFIED. Should we always be concerned about restoring someone's walk with Christ, assuming they were saved? Absolutely. That is not what restoration means anymore in the church. So, COTH issued a statement regarding the resignation of Carter.:

In 2019, Micahn Carter's Pastoral Overseers from Washington state asked Church of the Highlands to assist them in directing a ministerial restoration process for him," the statement said. "Highlands agreed to do so, and since then we have been working with Micahn and his family. Recently, Highlands received correspondence raising new allegations about events that occurred over two years ago in Washington state. When we shared this information with the Carters, they resigned from their positions on staff to work through these issues themselves. Highlands is no longer involved in the restoration process."

Resigned from their positions on staff? So, the "restoration process" was paid? How in the world is a disgraced pastor given any staff position at any church? The coy vagueness is of course that the new allegations were that the "affair" was actually rape. The rape allegedly occurred in the office of the assistant, while other people were on the other side of the door, including her family. Highlands is no longer involved in the restoration process? Should they have been to begin with? Did they do any due diligence before taking on this process and giving the man a staff position? Did they interview Ms. Jones? Just utterly disgusting. It does not end there because as Julie Roys reports:

'In both Alabama and Washington, Carter sued Mary Jones, the woman who accused him of sexually assaulting her, for defamation. Court records show his defense was that the interaction was "voluntary."' - Julie Roys

So, this married man cosplaying as a pastor has a defense. His defense is that the sex in the office of the church he was pastoring, with a woman not his wife, was consensual. I understand why that legal delineation is important for the law but why does the church concern itself? He is disqualified! He admits in a legal proceeding that of course he had the sex with the young sheep entrusted to him, in her own office, with her family on the other side of the door but hey, she was into it so I am cool? Is that where we are at now in the church? Oh and just so we are understanding the type of man we are dealing with, if this was not enough, Jones claims that Carter blamed her and said she had a "spirit of sexuality." Right Micahn. So, after all of this, Micahn Carter is back and preaching. It seems Forward City Church in South Carolina has no issue hiring a pastor that had sex with his former assistant and possibly raped her as well. I guess he must be magically restored. Roys reports on Carter's sermon from last week and it reveals that he clearly is empowered by being allowed to return to the pulpit with nary a consequence:

"You look at people and you disqualify them, but you have no clue what they've been praying," Carter said in his sermon Sunday. "You go, 'Nah, God can't use them. Nah. God can't turn that around.' That's called blind assumption. Last time I checked, God gets to decide who he puts his hand on." - Julie Roys

Yes, you hireling. God does get to decide. Not you. Not Forward City Church. Not COTH. God decides and He has already decided that you are disqualified. It is not about "turning it around" or some other kind of nonsense you want to spew. God tried to use you Micahn. You took that opportunity and decided to have an affair with your young assistant in her office when her family was on the other side of the door. You then apparently blamed her for it and instead of taking responsibility, you sued her for defamation. We are not looking at you and disqualifying you.

God already did.

Reverend Anthony Wade - November 5, 2024

Authors Bio:
Credentialed Minister of the Gospel for the Assemblies of God. Owner and founder of 828 ministries. Vice President for Goodwill Industries. Always remember that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.