Thread by @bobrobertsjr

Ok - YES, I have read it - just finished it & it grieves me . . . Why?

Because I have lived through the era she writes about & know much of this to be true from my own personal experience

I never felt right about the moral majority & Falwell & promoting of Politicians & pastors in bed together & I’ve lived to watch it grow to a crescendo - There were evangelical pastors & leaders that DID challenge it & still do

I remember being a young pastor at an SBC convention when special forces soldiers came repelling from the rafters - I support our troops but knew this wasn’t right - not in a worship service of Jesus, glorifying war & death

Bill Gothard has been the cause for many a miserable home for women & children-nothing like a single man telling everyone else how to do it-I remember growing up hearing preaching/teaching on women & thought ‘man I’m glad I’m not a woman’ - their lot was not easy & still is not

Perhaps because of my godly loving mother, but I always knew the racism I grew up around was wrong - it grieves me in some places I grew up it’s even worse now with preachers using their authority to hold others down because of their skin color

I have lived through the Islamophobia she writes about having paid a price to build bridges with Muslims - never have we generated more hate with such little wrong information leading to a fear that rejects love of neighbor let alone loving your enemies

I do believe there is context that can’t be overlooked - the destruction of homes, drugs, sexual promiscuity, & more which created a concern for how to save homes & restore people as well as men confused about their identity

I do believe some of these evangelical leaders were strategic in what they did & what they wanted to accomplish in leading evangelicals - but I also believe most pastors & everyday Christians were not, they were used perhaps without realizing it but most know something is wrong

And yet-Jesus is just fine. The Gospel unchanged. God is in control. The church is being purified. Sickness is being driven out of the body of Christ - & that part that refuses a complete Gospel will be purged & pruned by God. The Kingdom of God is still among us & moves forward

Even if we disagree with an author, we should read books like this, they cause us to pause & reflect & correct things that are wrong - Thankyou for writing this @kkdumez even if I’m going to bed sad