When Submission Goes Too Far - Part 2

“I have four people in my life that I dictate the hours in their day. I dictate what time they go to the bathroom, when we eat, what we eat, what we wear. They are my children. Those are the people I have almost limitless authority with.”

This statement is made just a few minutes later after he comments on how he controls what his wife reads. The Bible is clear when it says, “Wives submit to their husbands” and “Children honor your father and mother,” but there is a Christ-honoring, loving way to do this, and there is the opposite. If I were under this man as a pastor, I would not walk to get out of this church but run! You could give him the benefit of the doubt and say he says Christ is Lord and stands on the Word of God. However, the scriptures will say that there will be wolves among the flock who care more about their ego and pleasure than they do care about the Lord.

This rhetoric and presumed behavior are just plain wrong. This man has taken up the role of a father and pastor, and I suspect he is failing at both. I have it under good authority that he used to not be like this. I suspect there was a change in his life and ministry, from listing to other authoritarian/hyper-patriarchist type pastors with huge followings on social media.

When my wife and I were in a church with men who were just like this man, we knew there was an issue, and then we consulted the scriptures and looked at 1 Timothy 3:1-7. It states,

“It is a trustworthy statement: if any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is a fine work he desires to do. An overseer, then, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, skillful in teaching, not overindulging in wine, not [a bully, but gentle, not contentious, free from the love of money. He must be one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity (but if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God?), and not a new convert, so that he will not become conceited and fall into condemnation incurred by the devil. And he must have a good reputation with those outside the church, so that he will not fall into disgrace and the snare of the devil.”

Three things stick out to me regarding this man. Is he above reproach? Is he, “not a bully”? Is he one who manages his household well? I would go as far to say all three are questionable in this man’s life. If these are questionable in this man’s life than I would say he already has “fell in disgrace and the snare of the devil”. This is just another short clip from an over-hour-long sermon. He has many videos of himself preaching and doing interviews and monologues. You do not have to take my word for it; listen to some of the content yourself, compare what he is saying to the scriptures, and see if you come to the same conclusions.

https://youtu.be/QTSJLvCmtok?t=1332

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