Category Archives: Musings

Pendulums and Plumblines

July 20, 2013 By in Authority, Catholicism, Existentialism, Organic Church, Truth 8 Comments

the_pendulumThe Christian Pundit published an interesting article, Young Evangelicals Are Getting High.

It claims that the trend among young people now is towards “high church”, including Catholicism and Anglicanism, where they can find “a holy Father who demands reverence, a Saviour who requires careful worship, and a Spirit who must be obeyed. They are looking for true, deep, intellectually robust spirituality…”

This a clear reaction against the recent fad of Christian existentialism – in all its many forms.

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A Statement and Petition Against Sexual Abuse in the Church

July 19, 2013 By in Frank Viola, Predatory Leaders, Sex Abuse Leave a comment

A Public Statement Regarding Sexual Abuse in the Church

Part of the Statement – and a warning to “leaders” who continue to promote and affirm fellow “leaders” with a history of sexual exploitation just because they’re your friends and part of your mutual promotion network:

“To be told that wolves are devouring our lambs and fail to protect those lambs is to be a shepherd who sides with the wolves who hinder those same little ones from coming to Jesus. To fail to grasp the massive web of deception entangling an abuser and set him or her loose among the sheep is to be naïve about the very nature and power of sin. To be told a child is being or has been abused and to make excuses for failing to act is a diabolical misrepresentation of God. To know a woman is being raped or battered in hidden places and silence her or send her back is to align with those who live as enemies of our God. Protecting an institution or organization rather than a living, breathing lamb is to love ministry more than God and to value a human name or institution more than the peerless name of Jesus.”

Sign the Statement and Join Others in Taking a Stand

C.J. Mahaney and Sovereign Grace Ministries, Frank Viola and his fellow apostolic “workers”, Bill Gothard and ILBP, and on and on…

It’s time to take a stand.

We’ve seen the carnage – and the cover ups – up close.

We’ve had enough. We choose to speak out.

Join us in bearing witness against sexual predation and abuse by so-called leaders in the Body of Christ – and those who try to cover it up through lies, threats and intimidation.

Obedience

July 8, 2013 By in Faith, Kingdom of God, Obedience 2 Comments

Obedience is like the tug of war game that my second grade students play every year on Field Day. Each team musters their forces together and strategically places the participants where they will be the most effective. Then, when the whistle blows, each side pulls with all of their might.

Often I find that my obedience to the Father’s plans is like that. I line up all of my reasons why I probably should not do what I feel the Father tug of warwants me to do; then, I try and justify my reasoning.

Fortunately, I am usually on the “losing” side of that tug of war because my heart’s desire is to be obedient and to do the will of my Father. However, my response is not always as instantaneous as I would like.

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Frank Viola: It’s Time to Come Clean

July 2, 2013 By in Frank Viola, Predatory Leaders, Sex Abuse, Warnings! Tags: 13 Comments

Frank Viola:

Numerous witnesses, who know you, have confirmed your history of using your position of leadership and influence to sexually groom and exploit young women.

Your own former church, who knew you, issued public warnings after you sexually exploited a teenager over many months, who was half your age and had been your high school student.

Your first wife, who knew you, divorced you for these and other reasons.

Mr. Viola: Those are “facts”, not “slander”.

Until you stop the sanctimonious blogs, cover up and deception – and openly confess and repent – you remain a danger to all.

Resurrection Power and Water Baptism

June 17, 2013 By in Faith, Great Commission, Jail, Water Baptism 12 Comments
water_baptism

The Resurrection Power of New Life

This weekend, I met with one of several fellowships in our county that’s primarily comprised of men who surrendered to Jesus while in jail.

They are now out, and meeting weekly in different gatherings as they encourage, support and move forward together in the Lord.

Because they came to the Lord in jail, many of these men did not have an opportunity to be water baptized quickly after conversion. Some ended up serving the Lord – and the State of Virginia! – in jail for several years after becoming believers, and were only recently released.

As a result, they now want – and need – to be water baptized.

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Two Recent Blogs Worth Reading

June 5, 2013 By in Frank Viola, Grace Movement, Prosperity Gospel, Sex Abuse Leave a comment

I’m recovering from a heart operation, so I’m taking it slow right now.

In the meantime, here are two blogs with timely insight on two very different but important issues – but both with broader implications:

Depreciating Humanity: The Importance of Being Best at Being Right, by Thad Norvell

Despite multiple witnesses who’ve confirm a history of sex abuse and exploitation within Sovereign Grace Ministries under C.J. Mahaney, several of his friends and national leaders came out supporting him.

By way of disclosure, Nathan’s Voice (a ministry of our fellowships) – and Marianne and I – know and have been involved in helping some of the victims of leadership abuse at SGM, so we’ve seen the carnage up close and personal.

In his blog about the SGM scandal, Norvell says:

I fear those public statements [of support for C.J. Mahaney] reflect the private thoughts of men who, whether by will or ignorance, are clustering around the spoils of the proud when their calling is to be of a lowly spirit with the poor and oppressed. Even if Mahaney is a victim of some false accusations, his rush back to the platform and the efforts of his friends to protect his place at the head table ought to prompt some deep, Gospel-driven questions about how insulated some of these men seem to be from the thousands of sincere, Gospel-loving followers of Jesus they lead, formally and informally.

As our own fellowships have confronted the history of sex abuse by Frank Viola in the organic church community, and watched the desperate efforts by those who are “clustering around the spoils of the proud” by defending him to protect their “movement” and their own status, we see the same thing happening.

I wept as I read Norvell’s blog. Change the names, but the story’s the same. I’ve seen it time and time again.

When will we ever learn?

It’s sad. Very, very sad…

Why do Word of Faith Christians Become Jaded?, by Eric Hyde

“After years of involvement with [Word of Faith] thinking this is often what the believer is left with – a unidirectional love affair with God where God does all the active-loving (i.e. ‘works’) and the believer does all the receiving. The trouble, of course, is this simply doesn’t work (and, it’s incredibly boring). God is not in the unidirectional love business.”

Ditto, it seems to me, with the faddish hyper-grace movement.

~ Jim

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Breaking Out

June 1, 2013 By in Creation, Culture, Fellowship, Great Commission, Kingdom of God 9 Comments

What is the church and it’s purpose, what is God’s grand design, and what is our calling in Christ?

Talking about those questions often is muddled by all the either/or, false dichotomies touted by various voices in the Body of Christ who want:

  • the Living Word without the authority of His written Word
  • grace without transformation
  • relationship without discipleship
  • fellowship without accountability
  • favor without sacrifice

It often seems that these either/or false dichotomies are rooted in the prevailing existential, post-modern perspective of this age – which heavily influences many Christians and seems to stunt us from growing up and reaching out.

This produces a very self-content, “I’m OK, you’re OK” mentality that seldom breaks out of its insular cocoons.

With them, Jesus seems little more than a friend with benefits.

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Elitist Racism

May 30, 2013 By in Existentialism, Frank Viola, Organic Church, Sex Abuse 25 Comments

Elitism and racism in the Body of Christ are very ugly things. Lately, they’ve reared their ugly heads in some very nasty ways that hit close to home.

Over the last several months, we’ve been promoting Crossroad Junction through some very limited, non-targeted ads by Facebook on Facebook.

stop_racismDuring the same period, we also have received a high percentage of new followers from the Philippines and other overseas places. Whether it’s due to those ads or not, we don’t know.

Regardless, this heightened overseas interest is not due to any directed or targeted effort on our part, and Marianne and I are thrilled to connect with other believers from across the globe.

Now, however, our increasing readership is provoking a very elitist and racist series of attacks – directed against us, our fellowships, and our new Filipino followers.

Some of our Filipino brothers and sisters have seen those attacks, and have been deeply offended.

In the face of those attacks, I want welcome to you to our blog – and offer my apologies for the ugly efforts by some of my countrymen to discredit you by questioning your motives and capacity to follow the somewhat intellectual and substantive articles found here.

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Real Grace

May 29, 2013 By in Confession, Forgiveness, Grace, Grace Movement, Repentance, Sin 6 Comments

Facebook seems to be a hot bed for the new distorted view of “grace”.

taking-up-your-crossThe other day someone posted that through grace, God finds our sin acceptable. He thus no longer “deals” with sin in our lives – and we are free of sin – because it no long exists.

According to their “logic”, sin ceases to an issue in our lives because it ceases to be considered sin by God.

That neat theological sleight of hand was followed by lots of “likes” and “amens”.

To deny the reality of sin and its bondage – and to say God doesn’t deal with sin in our lives or that we are free of sin – is an abuse of grace.

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Bart Breen and Frank Viola – Lies, Sex Abuse and Cover Up

May 26, 2013 By in Frank Viola, Predatory Leaders, Sex Abuse, Truth 18 Comments

Last updated 1/10/2015

Lately, some guy named Bart Breen has been attacking, with increasingly shrill and outlandish behavior, anyone who dares expose the history of sexual abuse and cover-up in a cult he’s involved with.

Bart Breen

Bart Breen: Stalker

That cult centers around author and so-called “apostolic worker” Frank Viola, who has used his position and influence to sexually prey upon and exploit teenagers and other young women.

Rather than protect folks from Frank Viola’s misconduct, Mr. Breen and their network of self-appointed “apostles” at House2House Ministries (including Felicity Dale, Jon Zens, Milt Rodriquez, Keith Giles and Ken Eastburn) have engaged in an ongoing campaign of intimidation and cover up.
Bogus Press Releases and Stalking My Wife

In all my years helping church abuse victims as an attorney (now retired) and as a local church elder, I have never seen anything as nasty or as vicious as the cultish efforts by House2House – and its mutual promotion network of self-appointed “apostles” – to attack and personally destroy anyone who dares reference their history of abuse and cover up.

It is ongoing and gotten so bad that Bart Breen, a frequent House2House Magazine co-contributor who is associated with a struggling Frank Viola affiliated “church” near us, has been stalking my wife while also putting out false blogs and press releases in a desperate attempt to silence me.

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Jon Zens and Frank Viola – A Public Response

May 15, 2013 By in Authority, Church, Frank Viola, Predatory Leaders, Sex Abuse, Warnings! 1 Comment

May 15, 2013 (updated)

Re:     Author and “Apostolic Worker” Frank Viola

Dear Mr. Zens:

I am providing this preliminary response, both personally and on behalf of our fellowships, to your letter of May 10th and to your many related statements on Facebook. I thus write for myself and as an elder within those fellowships.

Your letter was co-signed by Bart Breen and sent on behalf of Christian author and “apostolic worker” Frank Viola and his mutual promotion network of other so-called “apostolic workers” who – like you – enjoy his repeated public endorsements, including Milt Rodriquez and Felicity Dale.

The context of this response are the facts and public warnings issued against Frank Viola for abuse and sexual exploitation by his former church.

To this day, those warnings have not been factually refuted and thus warrant an open response by Mr. Viola. Any such response should be at least as public as his own public claims of being a leader in, and to, the Body of Christ.

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I Confess: I Killed Ekklesia

May 7, 2013 By in Church Planting, Gifts, Kingdom of God, Leadership, Ministry, Organic Church 13 Comments

Yup. It’s true. I killed ekklesia (the Greek word often translated in the New Testament to mean a local “church”). Now, many years later, it’s time to finally come clean and confess.

my_confession

Although we all love the “glory stories,” we also need to tell of our failures – because it’s our failures which often teach the most.

So here’s my sorry story of having killed a fellowship.

Maybe, by owning up to my failures, it will help others trying to form a simple church – or whatever else you want to call an open, participatory gathering of believers ministering one to another in smaller, relational fellowships.

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When Ekklesia Matters

May 1, 2013 By in Abuse, Frank Viola, Predatory Leaders 4 Comments

Everybody’s all for “ekklesia” (the Greek word in the New Testament often translated to mean a local “church”).

Folks blog about it, post on Facebook about it, create online groups about it, and write books about it.

Yup. They all love “ekklesia”….

Except when a particular “ekklesia” follows Biblical procedure and issues a pubic warning under the mandate of 1 Tim. 5:19-21 against some leader the “ekklesia” boosters have placed on an untouchable pedestal – but who had been part of that church, only to then immediately leave and refuse to be accountable when it tried to address his issues of abuse and exploitation.

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The Predators Among Us

April 28, 2013 By in Frank Viola, Predatory Leaders, Sex Abuse 3 Comments

The Alchemist in the Pulpit

A good article that provides much needed perspective on sexually exploitive church leaders. In Marianne and my experience with Nathan’s Voice, a ministry of our fellowships which has helped literally hundreds of abuse survivors over the years, this is spot on. It describes the typical personality, motives and means of predation by those who use their emotional and spiritual position of trust to sexually exploit others.

Sexual Exploitation by Church Leaders – How Do We Respond?

April 25, 2013 By in Frank Viola, Sex Abuse, Warnings! 2 Comments

PhoneyAbusive Church Leaders – Mandatory Public Warnings

It is always painful when we learn that a beloved church leader has used his position of trust to sexually exploit those under his care. The recent disclosures about Frank Viola are no exception. But when it’s confirmed by multiple witnesses, how should we react? Fortunately, the New Testament provides clear instructions.

How to Become a Cult (Part 6)

April 22, 2013 By in Cult, Frank Viola, Predatory Leaders, Sex Abuse 3 Comments

cult_image
Create a fractured persona. Falsely project empathy, expertise and success as a trusted church leader – while covering up a pattern of infidelity, sexual predation and exploitation, persistent detachment from any accountable local fellowship, and failed churches. Appeal to unity and loyalty, personalize everything as hateful attacks against you by spiteful people, and turn on your well-rehearsed charm (and if that doesn’t work, fall back on lies, threats and intimidation) to silence those who dare ask troubling questions. Work behind the scenes and through others to purge all dissenting voices and any contrary information – both in your churches and on public forums like the Internet. As you then bamboozle folks with your enticing but fraudulent persona and fictitious history, they’ll became compliant pawns to your narcissistic deceptions.

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The pattern outlined above is something I have seen time and again with inflated church leaders who learn to manipulate people and then cross the line into sexual exploitation and predation with what eventually becomes a personality cult – which they sustain through outward charm and behind-the-scenes intimidation. The documents and multiple witness statements originally published by Frank Viola’s former church in Brandon, Florida, document yet another example of such behavior by Mr. Viola.

(Unfortunately, the Viola gang has succeeded in forcing those documents to be removed from various internet archives and also the church’s original web site through threats and intimidation as part of their ongoing cover up. Fortunately, I was able to obtain a full and complete copy of all the Brandon Church’s numerous published witness statements and documents about Frank Viola’s history of sexual predation, abuse  and false biographical claims before they were purged. Copies are available to anyone interested.)

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How to Become a Cult (Part 4)

April 20, 2013 By in Cult, Frank Viola 5 Comments

cult_image

Create a fractured Holy Spirit. Tell folks that what we personally feel the Holy Spirit say today is higher revelation – and more trustworthy and authoritative – then His external Word of scripture. Mesmerize hurting people with your deeper life teachings, until they confuse their own need for meaning, significance and belonging with the voice of the Holy Spirit – while weaning them away from scripture as the external standard for judging the validity of what they feel He’s said. As they mistake your ability to charm, entice and inspire with the Holy Spirit’s authentic internal voice and authoritative external Word, they will come to believe that following your message means following Him.

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