An official settlement was reached in one of the sexual abuse lawsuits filed against Christian Gospel Temple. Three of the lawsuits were dismissed because of technicalities involving the statute of limitations. Sadly, it seems many of the laws protect abusers rather than victims. One of the cases was within the statute of limitations and a settlement was agreed upon.
A deposition was released this week involving the current pastor of Christian Gospel Temple. I read it yesterday. There is a new website called
Truth About Christian Gospel Temple. It includes the deposition as well as other articles and news about the cult.
As I read the deposition, my mind went to my friends and family still involved with
CGT. The deposition is full of lies and cover-ups. Self-preservation reigns. The odd thing about self-preservation is it destroys us. Reading the deposition is like watching a child pull a single string of yarn from a blanket. You watch it unravel and see the woven blanket reduced to random pieces of string.
I cannot help myself from wondering what the current members are feeling. My mind goes to testimonies (what the group calls getting up and talking in the church service) about the atrocities of network television and professional sports. I remember one man (whom I dearly love and miss terribly) rising to tell the church that if his grandchildren were exposed to The
Simpsons while at anyone in the groups house, he would make sure they never returned to that house. I remember countless testimonies and confessions of God convicting people to stop wearing short sleeves or shorts. I remember youth gathering after youth gathering that turned into confessions of women wearing pants instead of dresses. These were the convictions.
Now there is a public document showing the lack of integrity flowing from the leadership of the group. I wonder if there will be as much outrage aimed at the lying leader as was aimed at a fictional cartoon character. I wonder if there will be meetings of conviction about allowing such a man to remain in leadership as there was about a trip to the grocery store in a pair of khakis.
I hope so. I honestly don't understand why or how people can stay. I hear things (and I really don't have close enough sources to know if this is completely accurate) about the group changing their rules. I've heard the current pastor has decided to refrain from telling people what they can or can't wear. I wonder if they admit that what they define as "the religious world" has already had a similar policy. I wonder if they credit "the religious world" for leading them toward getting rid of the false righteousness of white shirts and jean skirts.
I hear they have even changed some doctrine. When I was there I was taught only those who achieved moral perfection would be saved for eternity. Those who didn't reach perfection would die, but be raised to life at the end of the
millennium in order to have another shot at reaching perfection. I've heard perfection is no longer the standard measurement. I've heard that now they are teaching you just have to try your best and God will see that.
Everyone's best is different. There is a best that I can attain and there is a best you can attain. The standard seems to be sliding. (Again, I've heard this description from a few people still connected to the group. I may have it wrong. They may still believe you have to be morally perfect. Maybe they still believe that if every law in the Bible is not obeyed with a perfectly motivated heart a person's best hope is to come back for another shot in a few thousand years. If this is the case, I wonder how they feel about their pastor's salvation. A simple skimming of the Sermon on the Mount and the command to let your yes be yes and your no be no should terrify anyone who loves him. It is my prayer that the scars of the schoolmaster of the law will lead him into the godly sorrow needed for salvation.) If they've
slidden the scale and now believe that God just requires us all to do our best, I wonder how they define God's holiness. I wonder how they define his justice. A sliding scale certainly isn't just. It certainly isn't holy. How can be holy and require anything less than perfection? They were actually closer to biblical theology when they said people have to be perfect. The difference between Christianity and every other religion is the God of the Bible freely gives what he requires. He requires perfect obedience to his holy law, but in his unfathomable grace, he freely gave the gift of perfect righteousness to all whose faith is in Christ.
Like the pastor of
CGT, I lie. Like the members of
CGT, I find it easier to turn my head when I see injustice. The Sermon on the Mount tells me I'm a murderer, liar, adulterer, and have no hope to ever reach the righteousness required to spend eternity with the Holy and Righteous God. There is only one whose righteousness has
outshown the righteousness of the Pharisees. There is only one who has perfectly loved his enemies. Members of Christian Gospel Temple. Leaders of Christian Gospel Temple. Run to him and rest in him. Admit your performance, even if it's your best, is nothing compared to his goodness. Come to the wedding banquet, but don't come in your best. Come in the white robe Jesus wants to give you. Overcome by the blood of the Lamb and by trusting in his finished work. Charles
Spurgeon said God won't clothe a man until his strips him first. Admit your nakedness. Admit your hiding. Take off the fig leaves that can never cover you and put on the righteousness of Christ. Blessed is the man whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man whose transgressions are forgiven. Let Jesus take the random strings of your brokenness and weave them with his redemptive power.
