It is time to take a closer look at the Matthew 18 paradigm that wriggles its way into church leadership scandals...

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"If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector." - Matthew 18:15-18 (ESV)

We all have seen accused leaders in the church refer to the Matthew 18 principle, which we find in the above key verses for today. What was Jesus actually teaching here however and should it just be blanketly applied regardless of the individual context of each situation? It seems clear the offenders would love that to be so and there are reasons why Matthew 18 is the first place they run to. Samuel Johnson once quipped that patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel. He was not speaking against patriotism but about fake patriotism, wickedly used by men who were most decidedly not patriotic at all. Similarly, Matthew 18 is a refuge for the scoundrel Christian leader but it is in fact the first place that they run to. Not because they believe in the application of biblical values but because it serves them so well as the scoundrel. Let us review the actual verses as we examine this topic because it seems many times we may not even get the general principles correct. It starts with: "If your brother sins against you"

So, first off, we see that this must be a brother-brother relationship (or sister). These principles are only for believers. The idea being that since we are all supposed to be bound by Christ, we should matter to one another. It is the same reason why Jesus implores us to leave our gift at the altar if we know a brother holds something against us! So, the guilt or blame is not relevant. This grates against so much of our carnal thinking of an eye for an eye and who can I cast blame on, which is why it has to be our brother or sister. The reason why this paradigm so easily fails in the church today is that most who attend church are actually unsaved because they never have heard the gospel. They never have been changed by the supernatural power of God and therefore do not have the indwelt Holy Spirit. The things of God, such as caring about our brothers and sisters more than ourselves, is pure foolishness to them. Note here that there also must be a sin against you. Not a sin in general. This teaching from Christ is not meant to establish the sin police within the church. Keep in mind it also must be sin. Something God forbids that they are unrepentant of. The purpose here is not to air out our petty grievances and then if unsatisfied somehow drag the person before the church for expulsion.

The verses continue that we should go to our brother alone to let him know his fault, hoping that the shared bond of Jesus Christ will lead to reconciliation because gaining our brother back should be worth more to us than our pride, ego, or anger. If that does not work however, it says to bring one or two others that they might serve as witnesses, hearkening back to Deuteronomy 19, so that if the matter needs to go before the church, they can testify to how the confrontation was handled. So, why do the accused love these principles so much? Just this week we saw an accusation made against Dr. Michael Brown from a woman that he was a father figure towards 23 years ago, when he would have been around 46 and she was 18. Essentially the accusation was that Brown started to exceed the "father" role through handholding, kissing on the lips and playful swats across her butt. Brown of course denies anything adulterous but acknowledges that he was foolish and lacked judgment. In the middle of his defense however he said this:

"Before she relocated to another state in August 2002, she informed me that our interaction months earlier had made her uncomfortable. And so Nancy and I met with her immediately in the spirit of Matthew 18, I apologized to her from the heart, we talked things through together, after which, to our knowledge, everything was good between us." - Dr. Michael Brown

Ahh the spirit of Matthew 18. Except is that really what Jesus was teaching about in the key verses? Yes, technically a Christian leader and a sheep are brother and sister but this seems like a stretch at best. There is zero indication Jesus was establishing norms for how to confront abusive teachers in these verses. Maybe Brown's example is not the best. Let's use Mike Bickle. I remember a lot of Matthew 18 being thrown around back then as well. Accusations about how the advocate group representing the victims should have gone to the IHOPKC leadership in the spirit of Matthew 18. Except, once you know you are dealing with a voracious wolf in Mike Bickle, Matthew 18 ceases to be applicable, no? I have had people criticize my ministry efforts claiming I should go to the wolf in private instead of publicly exposing them because of the key verses. I think Dr. Brown once chastised me for not confronting Bill Johnson! My answer was simple. Bill Johnson is not my brother. He did not sin against me personally. His sins are against God for leading so many people to hell. My job according to the bible is to test everything and rebuke the darkness. Not to coddle heretics and play with wolves. Mike Bickle is now known to be a false teacher who built his entire fake Christian empire on the bones of children that he had sexually abused. For years. Then he lured a 19-year-old sheep into a four-year adulterous relationship by lying that God showed him his wife would die so they would be together. We also know now that the entire prophetic history of IHOPKC that he bragged about for decades was completely fabricated and the 24-7 prayer model he established was simply demonic. Why in the world, would Matthew 18 apply to anything involving Mike Bickle?

We heard similar sentiments when the Robert Morris scandal broke. The parents of the victim, who was 12 years old when the sexual abuse started, met with Morris and cut a deal for him to step out of ministry. The Matthew 18 spirit saved him from going to jail, which is what should have happened. Mind you if that had happened imagine how much grief would have been spared the body of Christ to never have had to hear the lies and false teachings of Robert Morris. Like Bickle however, Robert Morris was not our brother beloved. He was a wolf with the blood of 40 years of sheep he had devoured dripping from his lips. The reason why Matthew 18 is the primary refuge of scoundrel Christian leaders is because it allows for the control of information. For Morris, he was able to say, "my bad," step down for a short while, and then return to build a personal wealth of 100 million dollars because he never was held to account for his actions. He just lied to his board for forty years while he beat the sheep into untold riches. The same goes for Bickle. Ravi Zacharias was confronted in the spirit of Matthew 18 many times by people around him. They questioned the inappropriateness of going overseas with female massage staff. How did that work out? It doesn't. The cult of personality preachers of the NAR church wall themselves off from accountability by surrounding themselves with yes-men. I have seen it happen locally at churches I used to attend and nationally through established ministries. Do you understand how bad Mark Driscoll had to have become for his handpicked board to be willing to discipline him. Well, before he ran away in the middle of the night.

Going back to the Dr. Brown allegations, he gives up the game in his statement. He took his wife to confront a sheep half his age under the pretense of following biblical protocols of Matthew 18. Except this is not truly what Jesus was teaching above because Dr. Brown enjoyed a position of authority over the woman and further shaming her with the presence of his wife probably did not help matters much. This was not just a brother and sister hashing out behavior. This was an admitted father figure, who the girl called "dad," setting the terms of engagement. I am sure he apologized. I am sure he was sincere. Just like I am sure Robert Morris' wife was sincere when she called her husband's child victim to tell her that she forgave her. That does not make it right. It does not make it fair. It does not make it biblical. Dr. Brown was right out of Brownsville back then and starting to really make a career and name for himself. This was the time that started catapulting him into the current stature and career he enjoys today. His brand was built similarly to Bickle and Zacharias - heavy holiness. There is nothing wrong with that but how damaging would it have been if it was publicly adjudicated why he liked to kiss an 18-year-old sheep on the lips and smacking her on the butt? Instead, by leveraging Matthew 18 he got to control the terms. I am not even suggesting this was malicious on Brown's part. He was raised to believe that using Matthew 18 regardless of context was wholly biblical and I am sure he felt some shame or sense of wrong doing if someone so close had felt this uncomfortable. He got to fall on his sword, beg for forgiveness, a Christian virtue mind you, and then proceed on with his life as if this was all biblically resolved.

Except it appears to have not been resolved for the young girl. I cannot speak for her but maybe being forced to confront Brown, with his wife, as a young woman did not offer her any peace or resolution. Perhaps she felt spiritually manipulated. Remember what she is now alleging is essentially spiritual abuse and grooming. According to her accusations, Brown used his position as a spiritual father and mentor to push the limits of acceptable behavior between a married man and a young woman. If true, the only reason it did not progress beyond the butt slapping and lip kissing is because she started feeling uncomfortable and stopped it. Assuming this is all true, and Dr. Brown refutes some of the more salacious aspects, he should not be given credit for his Matthew 18 overtures.

That is because this paradigm Jesus provided us is not a generic catch all for all disagreements. It most certainly was not designed to be the model for when Christian leaders abuse their sheep. The leaders who know they stand so much to lose by public exposure run to the refuge of Mattew 18 so they can control the flow of information. So, they can appear contrite and penitent. Sure, they may be completely sincere about being sorry but they know how much sorrier they would be if everyone else knew. If people knew about Mike Bickle from the beginning the church and world could have been spared 40 years of horrific false teaching, the bridal paradigm, the Joel's End-Times Army heresy, the Jesus is your lover fake worship music from Misty Edwards and Rick Pino, the demonic 24-7 prayer model, the cult that was IHOPKC that led to the death of Bethany Deaton and so much more. If the parents of Cindy Clemishire had gone to the police instead of Matthew 18 then the church and world would have been spared the blasphemous "God will curse all your money if you do not tithe to me" teachings. Forty years of lies and misery could have been avoided. This is not to blame the parents because this is how they had been taught. I am sure they thought this was what God would have wanted but the benefit of hindsight reveals that is simply untrue. As for Brown, if this story is true, imagine how much NAR gatekeeping could have been avoided. How much NAR defense and dominionism could have been avoided. No syndicated radio show pretending to be a voice of moral clarity, guilting the church into voting for Donald Trump. They say sunlight is the best disinfectant for a reason. Please do not get this twisted. Accusations are just accusations. We should not want all accusations to be shouted from the rooftops because when you are accused you appear on page one of the newspaper but when you are cleared it is buried on page twenty. All people will remember is the accusation. That is why Deuteronomy demands witnesses. That all being said, the alternative extreme of pretending Matthew 18 means that no one else ever finds out is equally improper. The church has to allow for the process of having an accusation be heard. Especially against someone who is so revered or exalted. Ravi Zacharias toured the world abusing sex workers and masseuses because there was no one willing to stand up to him when they saw things were happening that they knew should not be. Bickle was so revered that Brown himself defended him vociferously right before the allegations against him came to light. Sam Storms declared that Bickle was the humblest, Christ-exalting man he had ever known. Except he wasn't.

Look, maybe the whole thing about Dr. Brown is somehow being blown out of proportion. It just is not seeming that way because the two parties agree on most things except motive. There were people back then who did challenge Brown that his behaviors with the girl were inappropriate and that caused Brown to be defensive, insisting that he only held her hand or kissed her because she was like a daughter to him. That defense does not age well for the holiness guy from Brownsville Revival. It certainly goes out the window if the butt slapping accusation is true. One of the witnesses also said something interesting and damning. They said that Brown did NOT behave this way with his actual daughter. Brown is entitled to the same presumption of innocence that we would want but like I always say, where there is this much smoke, something sure seems to be on fire. My sincere hope is the truth is revealed and that people stop allowing scoundrels the first refuge of hiding within Matthew 18.

Reverend Anthony Wade - December 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.