The Abuse in the Southern Baptist Church

One of the curses of having been abused as a child is I can read the sadness of abuse in other victims and I can read the cruelty and fear in the hearts of those who are abusive. For someone who hasn’t had this curse, it may be difficult to believe that I might have this ability, but for someone who has been abused, you know what I mean. It’s when your guard goes up around certain people. You know what the common denominators are in abusive people. They wear a veneer of pride over their goodness. They are often hyper-critical of others. They won’t tolerate facing the evil in this world. They have placed themselves in positions of power which makes them above reproach. They make your skin crawl. And they cannot see the world as full of monsters.

Let me tell you that monsters exist. These men and women prey on others and they cannot see their own sins. They live in our institutions—everywhere—including our churches. Our churches hide these monsters out of politeness and a false sense of grace. They think that these men and women can be forgiven by God, and maybe God can. But God doesn’t seem to forgive them easily. He wiped out entire nations for being monsters. Christ told us that monsters deserve to be thrown into the ocean with a millstone around their neck. There is a special place in hell for abusive monsters. They cannot be cured. They can’t be forgiven. They can only be given legal justice.

When the church protects these predators, the church is defeating the mission God has given us to protect the innocent, the widows, and the children. God does not want these snakes in our church. He wants them imprisoned away from kids—forever. Every single time the church protects these vile disgusting puke-filled bags of pus, the church violates God’s justice and mercy and upholds Sodom and Gomorrah within the walls of the church. The church upholds Canaanites’ crimes. The church upholds the crimes of Jezebel and Uriah.

One of the most blatant examples of Sexual abuse being covered up was by Paul Pressler. He was one of the leaders of the SBC takeover, along with Paige Patterson. This is listed on Wikipedia about him: In April 2018, the Houston Chronicle reported that Paul Pressler was accused by Toby Twining and Brooks Schott of sexual misconduct in separate court affidavits.[5] Both men said Pressler molested or solicited them for sex. IThe accusations were filed as part of a lawsuit filed in 2017 by Gareld Duane Rollins Jr. claiming he was regularly raped by the conservative leader. Rollins met Pressler in high school and was part of a Bible study Pressler led. Rollins claims he was raped two to three times a month while at Pressler's home.[6] According to the Chronicle, Pressler agreed in 2004 to pay $450,000 to Rollins for physical assault.[7] Southern Baptist leader Paige Patterson is also named in the suit, for helping Pressler cover up the abuse.[8]

In the 2018 Chronicle report, Toby Twining was a teenager in 1977 when Pressler grabbed his penis in a sauna at Houston's River Oaks Country Club. Pressler was a youth pastor at Bethel Church in Houston but was ousted in 1978 after church officials received information about "an alleged incident." Attorney Brooks Schott also stated in an affidavit that he resigned his position at Pressler's former law firm after Pressler invited him to get into a hot tub with him naked. Brooks also accused Jared Woodfill, Pressler's longtime law partner who from 2002 to 2014 was chairman of the Harris County Republican Party, of failing to prevent Pressler's sexual advances toward him and others claiming his indiscretions were well-known at the firm.
In May 2022, Guidepost Solutions released an independent report stating that Pressler is the defendant in a civil lawsuit alleging that he repeatedly abused the plaintiff beginning when the plaintiff was 14. Two other men have submitted affidavits accusing Pressler of sexual misconduct.[9]
I could list hundreds more. Go here for the complete list. The church has no right to preach God’s mercy when it protects predators and gives them mercy. The church has no right to claim to be the body of Christ when too many of its leaders and deacons are abusive monsters. God will not tolerate it. If the church is facing a judgment, it is because we have given shelter to these disgusting sociopaths who are incapable of change. If they were capable of change, then Christ would have done it already. But even Christ doesn’t want to offer these predators change. He wants to destroy them and send them to the depths of the deepest, darkest ocean.

If you are a church leader and an abuser, I hope you will be exposed. I hope you will be sent to prison. I hope God burns you in hell for eternity in the lake of fire. I have no mercy for you myself. You are destroying the lives of children and generating future abusers. You are why God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. You are why God destroyed the Canaanites and why God destroyed Israel and then Judah. Your abusive predatory behaviors corrupt everything around you. You are destroying the church and God is judging the church because too many people have turned their head and ignored you or explained it away or blamed the victims. You have helped create all the reasons the world hates the church in our modern world, and they didn’t need help to hate the church. Predators—hiding in the church—have inoculated millions from God’s grace. If you know of anyone who is a predator, call them out. Do not allow them to stay in God’s house and body. We need them to go to prison and face justice.