(Opinion)—The last two weeks have been tumultuous for evangelical churchgoers in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, to say the least. Two of the most revered megachurch leaders, Pastor Robert Morris of Gateway Church and Pastor Tony Evans of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship, both stepped down after revelations of sin.
While Evans’ confession of an unspecified sin “a number of years ago” was cloaked in vagueness, Morris’ was not, thanks to the public outcry of an Oklahoma woman who claimed that Morris sexually abused her for more than four years beginning when she was 12 years old. Morris was a married traveling evangelist in his early 20s at the time. The now 54-year-old victim, Cindy Clemishire, says she first reported the abuse to top Gateway leaders in 2005.
Something that didn’t exist in 2005, a cadre of first-rate Christian investigative journalists such as Julie Roys of El Informe Roys and Leonardo Blair of El mensaje cristiano, are zealously following new leads in the story. Thank God for them. You can read about Clemishire’s shocking allegations—which Morris acknowledged as true, at least in part—aquí, aquí, y aquí. Morris resigned as pastor last Tuesday.
If you’re not from the area or don’t follow religious news, I can’t overemphasize what a big deal these men are locally as well as nationally and internationally. Morris led a charismatic megachurch with a purported membership across nine campuses of 100,000, and he was one of former President Donald Trump’s most ardent evangelical supporters. Evans is a towering figure among Black evangelicals. In addition to many other accomplishments, he was the first African-American to obtain a Ph.D. at Dallas Theological Seminary. Until now, there have never been any public scandals concerning Morris or Evans.
I was stunned by the sexual allegations against Morris. Which isn’t to say I didn’t have prior concerns about Gateway Church culture. I voiced them regularly as a student at The King’s Seminary, which Gateway now controls. (I graduated with a Master of Divinity in 2023.) I studied alongside dozens of Gateway members and staffers, and it hurts my heart to think of what they must be going through. There is no quick or easy way to process the sordid facts of this case with the man Gateway people thought they knew.
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The remaining Gateway leaders, who all served under the humongous shadow of Morris, are struggling to navigate the next steps with new revelations emerging practically every day that point to a series of deceptions by Morris. I hope they get to the bottom of who on the elders board knew what and when, because they’re losing credibility each time they retract hastily put-together public statements that turn out to be false.
While I was never a member of Gateway, I attended several of its services and events and read Morris’ books in class (one of which refers to a “catastrophic moral failure” early in his ministry in which he “committed a grievous betrayal of my marriage vows”). I hold out hope for the church and seminary to survive this crisis, based on the many good people I knew at both institutions and, more important, my knowledge that God does not abandon his faithful people, regardless of the failings of their leaders.
I personally benefited from a Gateway member whom I met for the first and only time when she prophesied to me in late 2019 that I would be debt-free within a year. The pandemic landed just a few months later, and almost immediately I lost my full-time job. But, thank God, my husband and I were completely out of debt in a little more than a year, despite the job loss. I respect any church environment that cultivates the proper use of the spiritual gifts and gives its members freedom to use them, because this is becoming increasingly rare.
That said, Gateway must use this extremely difficult moment to examine critically the culture they acquiesced to and helped maintain under Morris. Holy Scripture and the example of Jesus Christ must be our guide, not a set of “best practices” adapted from the corporate world that produce “successful” churches. I pray that prophetic leaders will emerge at Gateway and rebuild this ministry from the inside out, and I know that if they undertake this challenging task, God will provide wisdom. Right now, however, public statements by Gateway leaders have the distinct whiff of being vetted by lawyers and crisis-management experts.
I’m sure these leaders are reeling, but that is no prophetic leadership. Think Samuel, Elijah, and Nathan, who called out sin fearlessly and hewed to God’s concept of justice without submitting their every utterance to a church marketing department tasked with avoiding controversial subjects and never offending anyone.
Based on my observations and interactions with Gateway folks in seminary, I’d like to point to some areas that call for soul-searching and reform.
■ Gateway members and staffers displayed excessive adulation for Pastor Robert Morris. The ministry was built on his celebrity, public persona, and patina of success. Though Morris had announced he would retire in 2025, I was surprised to find out last week that the plan was for him to continue to be the lead preacher on Sundays. Morris was absolutely the looming figure over Gateway.
I don’t think it would be an exaggeration to say that many Gateway members and staffers were gaga over him. He was known as a strong, practical Bible teacher, and his teaching was respected even by non-charismatics. (Gateway Church is technically a neo-charismatic church, but I won’t delve into the fine points of church history here.) The level of adulation for Morris, however, far exceeded the normal respect one accords to a lead pastor.
One seminary student who was a Gateway staffer frequently made public service announcements in class—I don’t know what else to call them—extolling the many virtues of “Pastor Robert.” I don’t recall ever hearing the slightest criticism of Morris in the numerous student discussions I took part in. Sorry, but no human being deserves that kind of unqualified support, nor should we even desire it as leaders.
It’s alarming to me that any mature Christian leader in 2024 would even tolerate this degree of adulation, because we have seen that disaster so often follows, as attested to by the succession of nationally renowned pastors who’ve fallen into grievous public sin over the last several years.
Paul and Barnabas tore their robes when the people of Lystra ascribed a miracle to them instead of God and began to offer sacrifices for mere men (Acts 14:1-18). These early evangelists rent their clothing, the sign of utmost grief and despair in their Jewish culture, because they wanted to be absolutely certain that the focal point was Jesus Christ.
Still we don’t learn. We tend to think it’s someone else in the church who will fall, because their leader or organization isn’t as “excellent” or pure as ours. Yet few if any of the Gateway members and staffers I interacted with even knew Morris personally—he wasn’t accessible to normal people. Their trust in Morris was based on his public image. Perhaps a little healthy skepticism was in order here.
■ Gateway is a conformist culture. Gateway people spoke about Morris as though he were the unassailable paragon of Christian success. He reportedly possesses a large personal fortune and unabashedly stocked his elders board with men who were owners of successful businesses. When we surround ourselves with people who act and think just like us, we will develop blind spots.
I detected no concern among my Gateway classmates when Morris lifted up Trump and Trumpism at the cost of members of color fleeing his Southlake congregation, even after Los New York Times made Gateway the centerpiece of a lengthy story on the “Quiet Exodus” of African-Americans leaving predominantly white evangelical churches in the wake of their white leaders’ and members’ embrace of Trumpism.
I didn’t hear a peep of dissent when Morris, a member of Trump’s evangelical advisory board, jumped on the election-denier bandwagon and signaled support for the fake-electors scheme of late 2020 in an email to church members and seminary students.
“Many of you are asking questions about the status of the presidential election,” Morris wrote in the November 17 email, more than two weeks after Joe Biden had won a clear majority in electoral votes. “There are many rumors, stories, and narratives circulating. For example, the press has supposedly ‘called’ the election…The United States has a process to elect the president that culminates in the Electoral College casting their votes on December 14 and is certified by Congress on January 6.”
We now know that the fake-electors plot was in motion as early as November 2, 2020, “involving a sprawling cast of pro-Trump lawyers, state Republican officials and White House aides in an effort that began before some states had even finished counting their ballots,” according to Los New York Times. The goal was that Vice President Mike Pence would somehow use the fake electors to thwart certification of the election on January 6—the day the Capitol riot erupted. Morris would have had access to Trump and Trump aides in his position as an evangelical advisor, and clearly he was listening to their conspiracy theories. (The Trump campaign immediately distanced itself from Morris when the sexual allegations against him surfaced.)
Morris’ alliance with Trump was a terrible decision on many fronts. But his overwhelmingly white congregation in Southlake, one of the wealthiest communities in the DFW area, evidently saw no problem with this.
■ Gateway turned a deaf ear to racial justice initiatives, despite holding tremendous influence to be a difference-maker in the charismatic-Pentecostal churches. Gateway exemplified the cynicism concerning racial justice that I’ve seen often in white-led charismatic-Pentecostal churches since we entered the Trump years. I plan to deal with this in depth in an upcoming post; there is too much to say here.
The collective shrug from Gateway when African-Americans began to desert the church was telling. This should have been occasion for agonized soul-searching, a deep examination of the many things Scripture has to say about justice, and, yes, corporate repentance for the racism embedded in American church culture.
I guess those Black members were expendable.
Maybe this should have been expected given Morris’ dismissal of “identity politics” in one of his books. “So many of us have grown accustomed to viewing ourselves primarily as members of one or more aggrieved groups who aren’t getting our fair share of the pie,” he wrote in The Blessed Church. “More and more that paradigm is leaking into the church.”
Morris took pride in raising up new leaders, and perhaps a few of them have the courage and prophetic clarity to rebuild Gateway on the firm foundation of Christ alone. There might be a Samuel, Huldah, or Micaiah on staff right now who will arise to speak truth to power, regardless of the consequences. In the meantime, I hope that Gateway members will be patient and allow their elders time to find their voice and begin charting a course forward.
Though their initial response was to send a statement to staff supporting Morris and repeating his lie that the victim was a “young lady,” Gateway’s elders have since unequivocally condenado Morris’ treatment of a 12-year-old girl as well as his attempts to cover up the severity of his sin and silence the victim.
That’s a first step toward justice, at least.
This commentary, which has been reprinted with permission from Julie Lyons’ Holy Roller Blog, does not necessarily reflect the views of The Roys Report.
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67 Respuestas
Great piece, and it could absolutely be talking about any number of churches I know of. Sadly, I doubt it will serve as a warning to them because they have the same flaws and blind spots, and operate in the same echo chambers. Recent events surely prove once and for all that the bigger they are, the harder they fall, and the more collateral damage, in the form of people, they leave in their wake. Thanks to the Roy’s Report and all of today’s prophets shining light in the dark places. Jesus wept, indeed.
He repented yall need to get out of the judges and accusers chair and get ti the ADVOCATE CHAIR JESUS CHRIST died and rose again to forgive all of us we should b praying for leaders on ministry we r sinning by gossiping bout and the Lord doesn’t even remember that sin He says he throws it in the sea of forgetfulness
*he got caught. he minimized the harm he caused (“inappropriate relationship”, “young lady”). and he tried to low ball her when she asked him to pay for her counseling.
these are not the fruits of repentance. these are PR management, and narrative control.
Speaking truth is not gossiping. Being indoctrinated into believing this has contributed to the silence around these abuses occurring. People knew, how many of them didn’t want to “sin by gossiping,” so they were complicit? The church has done a bang up job in building an ideology that silences victims of the church itself.
He raped a twelve year old. He is disqualified from ministry and it should have been reported to the civil authorities. You cannot be defending him.
A man with the integrity to speak the truth. Thank-you Jason. 35 years ago, I listened to a teaching tape where the pastor said, Watch out for the gold, the glory and the girls”. He was not disparaging women, he was coining an expression and every fall of these men in leadership is due to one or a combination of the above!! Every. Time.
You have been taught a truncated concept of repentance. He did not repent. He is permanently disqualified from leadership according to our scriptures. Read them. Stop having your itching ears tickled with what you want to hear. Repentance requires fruit. Jesus Christ said so. Paul said so. You are dismissing a child molester! Shame on you!
I was just as devastated as anyone and I immediately prayed for his family who are reeling and probably feel like they’re in a free fall. Here is what I know… since I started watching pastor Robert on TBN I have grown in my relationship with God and in my understanding of the Bible. I believed he was anointed by the Holy Spirit to give all those messages. I know that Jesus paid for Robert’s sins to be forgiven the same as Jesus did for you and me. Yes, he still has to suffer the consequences of his evil acts, but I don’t consider him evil, only his actions. Pedophilia is a mental disease. It’s not just a lapse of moral character, it’s a manifestation of a diseased mind. I believe that God can and has healed Robert’s mental illness. That doesn’t give him a free pass on the consequences though. Only God can decide what judgement He will pass on this man and this problem.
No, Laurel, we have a justice system to hold people accountable for crimes in the here and now. He doesn’t get a pass on Earth because he said some words about God forgiving him. You truly believe the Holy Spirit revealed Truth to a “diseased mind?” This wasn’t a little white lie he told, nor even a consensual affair…he raped a child and you’re defending him. You immediately prayed for a child rapist and not one word about the child he raped…so typical.
Everyone prays for the celebrity snakes who sheer the sheep and encourage mass worship of themselves with Mammon, time and likes and social media shares. Who prays for the victims? Who prays for the poor, the oppressed, the lonely, the forgotten? Who prays for the common people? The Word of God has power. The Holy Spirit has power. The snakes have no power in themselves. Do not get those items confused with each other.
Brenda … I agree
The Elders are being proactive to protect the body of Christ, called Gateway church.
The truth isn’t fully out yet …
Very well put. I don’t idolize Mr. Morris. His teaching is sound. The writer does have some political agendas, especially with Mr. Trump. This happened 35 years ago. Why didn’t she go to police? Why has she waited so long to dredge this up? I understand she has pain but me thinks she needs some money after all this time.
Robert Morris’ teaching wasn’t enough to keep him from habitually raping a child for 4 years, going through a process then minimizing it for the next 40 years. His teaching also has room for his followers to post on here to defend child rapists, so is it really that “sound”? Robert Morris also had political agendas and biases. Asking why Cindy waited until now is cruel- she likely waited until she felt like she was strong enough to face the backlash. Or maybe she just got fed up with the injustice? I don’t know- maybe she’ll share with us one day, but in the mean time, stop victim blaming- the blame, all of it, goes squarely on the perpetrator.
His teaching is heresy. His actions are demonic. Why do you attack the victim? Could it be that maybe you are just as evil as Morris? And you attack the person shouting this out from the mountaintops. In this you appear to be attacking Jesus Himself, because whatever you do to the least of these you do unto Jesus Himself. That is what the King said. And the time frame means nothing. Crimes today or long ago are still crimes.
She was 12 for crying out loud. Morris is a pedophile. It’s that simple. This woman doesn’t have to defend herself at all.
Not a good approach to quote the NY Times’ conspiracy theory about a conspiracy theory.
You should’ve left Trump out of this article regarding Morris. I have liberal family members who are highly-educated, but so nearsighted that they actually voted for the mumbling, bumbler we now have in office. Because they still watch the corrupt msm, they remain clueless. Any run of the mill liberal ‘should’ be able to see that the current (illegitimate) admin is bought and paid for by globalists and has sold US to the highest bidder. These same liberals are too tone-deaf to realize what a colossal mistake their vote was and may make that same mistake again. I appreciate what the Roys’ reporters are doing in pulling back the covers on the corrupt church and religious organizations. But my advice is that they refrain from insulting Trump supporters during these months before the election. Beth Moore, Michael Brown, Keller and Piper made that mistake before the 2020 election, and I consider each of them culpable for the horrific condition our nation is in today. Btw, I didn’t finish your calculated article when I saw the shameless direction in which you were going, politically. I am very disappointed that Roys let this article be included in her publication.
I am very thankful for Beth Moore and others who had the courage of their convictions to speak out against the truly evil works of Trump. I am thankful that the Roys Report is willing to name corrupt pastors, and note when they’re connected to corrupt politicians.
Obviously assaulting women and gross immorality isn’t a disqualifier in your Pastors or Presidents.
Pretty creepy.
Why should criminals not be allowed to be referenced together?
How could the author leave Trump out of this article?
Robert Morris was one of the pastors who were supposed to help Trump stay on the straight and narrow.
When a jury unanimously found that Trump forcibly digitally penetrated E. Jean Carrol, where was Robert Morris? We now know that he was home hoping that nobody found out that he did the same thing to a 12 year old.
And if you are disgusted with the corruption in the church, why aren’t you disgusted by the personal, political and financial corruption surrounding Trump?
If Christians have to lie, cheat and steal to bring about God’s will in America, are they really doing God’s will? Is political power worth sacrificing everything that Jesus taught?
I agree, leave Trump alone. same thing here, when this article started talking about politics, it lost the credibility. I did not even finish reading this article.
Trump + white males = evil. They are racist , misogynist, Stick to this white guy did evil. Surprised she didn’t throw John Macarthur into her article. Geez I wonder who runs her family? Kill all alpha males. Whoops, Jesus was a white alpha male.
STOP IT! Stop the inclusion of support for any political candidate or office in connection with grievious sins, including child rape. There is NO connection. Many evangelicals and Christian brethern of all traditions support Donald Trump, for reasons having to do with the betterment of our lives. The Lord in Heaven knows what all of us have had to endure these past 3 1/2 years as our lives have succumbed to gays and queers, to communisim, and to tax-funded support for hideous wars against innocent nations. But you have to equate a rapist and a heretic to a federal election. STOP IT.
Thank you. I agree and was appalled.
Anne,
How has your own life “succumbed to gays and queers”? How has your life “succumbed to communism”? Can you share some examples from your own personal life?
And you say “tax-funded support for hideous wars against innocent nations.” Are you talking about the war in Ukraine? And is Russia the “innocent nation” you are referring to?
You have no real experience with Gateway Church. You mention attendance at King’s University but fail to mention that Gateway has emphasized racial reconciliation for years. Have you looked at those who have spoken at Gateway and their conferences over the years? Do you know that Robert son in law is an African American? I question if you attended the King’s Univseen the speakers at the Mens confernces and the Womens conferences? You are far from a true journalist. I think your time at the Dallas Observer speaks volumes.
Anybody remember Fred “Bubba” Copeland? The small town Alabama mayor and Baptist preacher who shot himself to death after a conservative muckraker exposed his very strange after-hours hobby of cross dressing and various other online misdeeds. No doubt, an ill and confused soul who had no business to occupy a Christian pulpit.
The bigger they are, the harder they fall is so true. But Christians, let’s not beat a dead horse. Morris’ and Evans’ legacies are badly tarnished and likely not repairable. Seems that would be an insurmountable punishment. What’s done is done (actually, a long time ago). Let’s not allow another Bubba Copeland tragedy to ever happen again.
Fred, thank you for the responsible response!
When we can be certain that Robert Morris will never step into a pulpit or be given spiritual authority again, it will be time to be done sounding the alarm, but not a moment before.
When these men serve time in prison, we won’t have to continue to speak about how they should serve time in prison.
Willow Creek followed the same pattern with Bill Hybels, even as it took them a little longer to offer a public relations “repentance.” And Willow Creek has lost thousands of members, without seeming to learn much, with the audacity to offer seminars on how to navigate these kinds of challenges, despite their whole board resigning and being replaced. But the “show must go on,” so they can keep the money flowing and control those who want to be led, without having to think for themselves, creating a match made in a living “hell” of a mutually agreed upon system of mutual deception.
I find this article full of idealistic nonsense. The reality is that a child molester built a church on heretical teachings. I am a Charismatic myself, one who has been used in all of the gifts at least once, and I foresaw the 2008 financial collapse and the Corona virus in dreams, yet I can see this man is a heretic preaching that Jesus lied about serving two masters. “You will love one and despise the other.” It is obvious that Morris loves Mammon, which is the primary false idol of our times. Jesus called Satan “the God of this world” and he has many names. His primary one in our culture is Mammon. Satan took one of his best, most hypocritical servants to preach Satan’s message. Satan chose him, I do not doubt, because Morris is a child molester.
This is why Morris encouraged the people to worship him and his celebrity status. It is not just the Catholics and the Pope. Anyone who becomes a leader and chooses to receive this kind of clear worship is an anti-Christ. Period. Morris lifted himself up, not the real Jesus Christ. Hypocrites like this, Jesus very plainly condemned. Jesus is not currently the nice guy we read about in the Gospels. He is the Holy One we see in Revelation commanding harsh judgements on the world and even his own church. 5 of the 7 churches have been snuffed out by Jesus. No church because the towns were leveled by armies and never rebuilt. Things are far worse than most imagine because they refuse to see the current Revelation of who Jesus Christ is. He is to be greatly feared.
Good grief, thank goodness I left Pentecostalism behind. So many “prophecies” wrong. Only recall what you guessed correctly, conveniently forget what you guessed wrong….
Respond away, I won’t ever interact with your type again. Your thoughts and opinions are clouded by your absolute arrogance.
So why did God let this go on for so long seemingly blessing this ministry to the point of national status? You have only two choices. Either he was ambivelent, or He felt His grace was sufficient.
Let me know which one you think it is.
Those are not the only two choices. God is definitely NOT ambivilent to child rape, which is what this was. God’s timing is not our own, and maybe, much like King David, it took building an entire kingdom around oneself fully, and failing to actually make the point. Maybe God gave him over to his reprobate self back in the 80s, and allowed his self vanity sin for a time, only to be exposed when the time was right. We don’t know why God waited, but it certainly wasn’t because God was ok with this situation.
Also, maybe God was waiting on Cindy’s timing? Protecting her until she was ready for her story to be told, and strong enough to stand up to the people excusing and minimizing the incredible harm done to her? I do believe that God has abundant grace- but maybe it was for Cindy because her having to deal with this as a 16 year old in the 80s would have been a nightmare. Him being brought to justice at the expense of further harming the little girl he was molesting is not, in fact, justice.
Having national status has absolutely no bearing on whether a church is God-blessed or not. Size does not equate to a level of spirituality, one way or the other. The fact that it is a megachurch in the first place precludes the possibility that it is teaching pure, unadulterated biblical gospel or it wouldn’t be a megachurch. Today’s America doesn’t want pure Gospel and the majority have left repentance and salvation at the side of the road.
How does being a megachurch preclude the possibility that it is teaching pure, unadulterated biblical gospel?
Problem with Christianity is that most are ignorant of the ways of HaShem as well as ignorant of devil’s ways. As it is written in the book of the prophets- Hoshea, “…..there is no truth, nor knowledge of YHVH…..and my people are destroyed for lack of (correct) knowledge (of YHVH)”. Emphasis mine.
G-d did not necessarily ‘bless’ Morris ministry. Every mature Christian ought to know that worldly/ministry success Is NOT synonymous with G-d’s blessings nor approval.
Devil blesses. He is god of mammon; and of this world and its wealth.
Ha-satan said to Yeshua: “I will give you kingdoms, glory, power…..IF you worship me”. Satan is still promising and granting such to people today, in exchange for mammon worship.
Re: timing: the prophets wrestled with this too. HaShem’s pattern in scripture is that HE often sometimes delays judgement. HIS apparent inactivity is not to be taken for approval. Mind you, HE does not live within our ‘earthly time’. A thousand years is like a day to HIM. To the LORD, it may have been only 2 minutes since 1980s.
See how long it took to rescue Israel from Egypt?- (400+) years. See how long it took for HIM to destroy Israel after sending prophets to warn them for over 100s of years. See long it took for HIS 1st coming on earth?-(4000 + years). See how long it’s taking for HIS 2nd coming since 2000 years ago?
YHVH delays for reasons we should not try to comprehend for HIS ways are not ours. But, while HE delays, we should NOT take HIS grace, mercy, long suffering for granted. And repent sincerely while you still draw breathe. At death, grace ends; nothing but to await judgement.
any personality pastor with a brand to protect should be thoroughly tested
Article should not have crossed-referenced Trumpism as some kind of deep moral failure. The moral failure was child molestation. As usual, it manifests the bigoted views of left leaning writers who commonly never look at all the facts in a rush to support their own theology. Christians should never make another human being a demagogue, in general, because they understand sin and human nature— which has been corrupted!
Again people over looks the evil in people because most people don’t want to believe that they were wrong their judgement of someone character.
I know by experience that family sticks together & friends won’t believe until it hits too close to home. People just don’t want to face facts. that’s why so many people says “oh no that person would never …” people wants to hide evil & not confront evil.
Abuse is everywhere children need to be taught about abuse after the ABC’s maybe. In today’s world we need to be extremely rough with punishment on this evil within people. It is growing too fast many children are at stake, One could be your child.
Perhaps Morris should give up all strings from the church & the money & let God deal with him. He had years to come completely clean with the truth every time when he was on stage when he talked about the young lady but didn’t. Embarrassing him is not punishment & surly not revenge.
I never could understand why there wasn’t more written about the aberrant theology and the parade of false teachers in and out of Gateway.
One of the scandals of our time is the biblical illiteracy in our churches. And it isn’t just the average Joe sitting in the pew. “Prosperity gospel lite” as I call it is so widespread that even more mature Christians don’t recognize what a cancer it is. This is especially true in more charismatic churches. And I am one who believes in the gifts of the Spirit.
The rise of the mega church is another problem for another discussion.
I commend Robert Morris for taking a stand for Donald Trump, who based on very much evidence, was a victim of a fraudulent election in 2020, and who clearly wants America and Americans to be free and get back to the truth and Godly principles.
This situation is shocking and disturbing…and way too prevalent in God’s church today.
Carol, there was very much CLAIMED about a fraudulent election, but no credible evidence actually provided. Trump and his henchmen can say whatever they like to the public, and in their “hearings” that they held, but notice that they made none of those claims in court, where lying has actual penalites.
Trump has also now been convicted of felony fraud, sexual assault and defamation, and his buisnesses convicted of fraud permanently banning him from holding businesses in New York.
It makes sense to me now why Robert Morris was one of trump’s “spritual” advisors. Birds of a (corrupt) feather flock together. I hope they both repent and find Jesus.
If you think the 2020 election contained no cheating despite mass mail-in ballots for the first time in American history due to Covid and changes to election procedures in many states, and if you believe Biden was elected with most votes of any president in history, and if you trust every woman who sues a rich man for money…then you need to pray for wisdom and discernment. You might start listening to conservative talk radio or talk to Christians about why they would support someone like Donald Trump. Our country is in the midst of a cultural revolution right now and Christians need to wake up and seek truth.
They support someone like Donald Trump because he’s just as good at covering up crimes as they are, apparently. Choose literally anyone else conservative than a man who admits to abusing his power, money and status to influence and manipulate women. He said those words, himself. It’s not hearsay, it’s not a woman saying he did something. We all heard the recording. He respects no one and cares about nothing other than his own influence and level of power. Perhaps it is you Christians who cling to Pharisees and snake oil salesmen that need to wake up.
You should listen to something else or crack open a Bible occasionally.
Oh, and : https://www.npr.org/2024/05/31/g-s1-2298/publisher-of-2000-mules-election-conspiracy-theory-film-issues-apology
All of your evidence is just right wing propaganda.
How many lawsuits did trump lose after the election (where you need facts)
https://apnews.com/article/giuliani-georgia-election-workers-lawsuit-false-statements-afc64a565ee778c6914a1a69dc756064#:~:text=ATLANTA%20(AP)%20%E2%80%94%20Rudy%20Giuliani,protected%20by%20the%20First%20Amendment.
Prove me wrong . You can’t just wave you hands In The air saying election interference and that’s “evidence”. You need hard facts. Also most of the people convicted of extra votes were republican
And then we found out he raped a 12 year old and his opinions are automatically invalidated to every sane person.
First Morris was is and always will be a heretic. Unfortunately his orthopraxy was a shadow of his orthodoxy. The guilty by association narrative is lame. The Morris/Trump narrative is a fallacy. Trump is transactional. The statement, “We now know that the fake-electors plot was in motion as early as November 2.” That concern had a genesis way prior to November 2. Due to the voting policies being unconstitutionally changed for this election. There was fraud. When the government/media like Dana Bash’s(CNN)claim objectivity when one of her spouses was one of the former 51 former intelligence agents who lied about the labtop. Of course they are investigating themselves. They immediately censor truth. Like Gateway-Censorship of anyone against their Morris kingdom. Joe Biden was denied communion at his Catholic Church. Due to his stance on murdering innocent babies. Maybe they could be cellmates.
And Trump should be denied the presidency due to the fact he’s now a felon and legally shouldn’t be allowed to even vote or own a gun. Maybe he shouldn’t have lied about his affair and attempt to pay someone off to protect his reputation, like all these pastors seem to do. Biden is just as guilty of lies, cover-ups and treason. Just because one is wrong doesn’t make the other automatically right. It’s like watching a child throw a fit over the broken toy in front of them, reaching for another broken toy on the floor because it’s all they see, and not realizing there’s a whole toy box behind them. The facade is crumbling in all institutions. Truth will always come to Light.
Cindy Clemishire was offered an NDA that would have prevented her from telling her story, forcing her to keep secret an experience of sexual abuse, while watching her abuser being praised an honored. NDA’s are known to have negative mental health consequences and have even led to suicides. The offer of an NDA to Ms. Clemishire should be recognized as an act of the thief in John 10:10, who seeks to steal, kill and destroy. Those involved should be held accountable. This happened in 2005, not the 1980’s. Some quotes: “NDAs discriminate against the powerless and in favor of the powerful. They block truth telling, silence the wounded, require complicity from others in power and, upon exposure, accuse churches and leaders of manipulation and deception. The gospel counters NDAs.” Laura Barringer and Scot McKnight. “Non disclosure agreements continue the same power dynamic that permitted sexual abuse to occur in the first place. NDAs are meant to conceal abuse in the darkness, we the people of light, should have no part in them.” Lori Anne Thompson. Bob Leland NDAfree.org, NDAFreeCampus.com
Morris and Trump are quite alike. Both are good salesmen who know the market and how to shape a message to cater to it. Neither one really believes the message but are quite skilled at convincing others they should. These easy marks eagerly endorse the men and dismiss their mortal sins as mere peccadillos. The repentance needed is one leading to salvation.
And you know all this, how? Lot’s of judgement in those words.
Matthew 7:15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them.
We know because the fruit is rotten- it may have seemed sweet for a moment, but it was full of hidden maggots and spoiled to the core. it’s all coming to light.
Daniel, please further parse the difference between what Robert Morris did and how that relates to Trump? If anything your comment just makes you look bad as any discerning thinker would have stopped reading at the inanity of your comment, thus the quality of a public school education. If your comment reflects the depth of thought you put towards your worldview, best stay home on election day.
“Morris’ alliance with Trump was a terrible decision on many fronts. ” Truth. I am a white, professional, male with a master’s degree from a conservative seminary and a professional doctorate, who has been a registered Republican since I first registered to vote as an 18 year old in 1981. In 2016, I had been a faithfully tithing member of Gateway (i.e. automatic monthly bank draft) for 5 years when it started becoming evident that not only were my fellow evangelicals caught up in the Trump delusion, but my pastor, Robert Morris, was leading the charge. I sent a couple of emails to my campus pastor about my concerns, encouraging Gateway to not be politically partisan. Then, a couple months before the November election, Gateway put on a particularly Christian-Nationalist-flavored church service in which Morris platformed a pseudo-historian whose writings were so riddled with American-history inaccuracies and falsehoods that a major publishing house retracted his book. As quietly and respectfully as I could, I got up and left the service. Then I left the church. And I have never been back. In short, I don’t think it is just evangelicals of color who are leaving Trumpified churches. I think the steep decline in white evangelical church membership and the sharp increase in so-called “faith deconstruction” over the past 8 years is evidence of that. To adapt the prophet Hosea: Morris and Gateway sowed the wind, and they are now reaping a whirlwind.
Very well put Brent. But Willow Creek platformed Morris in 2022 as he went into his “tithe with a money back guarantee “ nonsense whereupon senior pastor Dave Dummitt heartily endorsed the idea. I personally know people who were disgusted by Morris’ election lies but this heresy was their final push from Willow.
Our past did not fall. He has walked in integrity for 35 years. What happened is we learned about his past.
The only thing we have to go on that he lived with integrity for the past 35 years is his own word- and he lied about molesting Cindy until he got caught, so I am not sure how trustworthy his word is.
Lets wait until all the truth is out, all lights are shown, until we boast about his integrity.
Absolutely no reason for Trump to be mentioned in this article unless there is an underlying desire to default to leftist dogma. Morris molested a child decades ago. How can Trump have anything to do with that? I do not support Trump and I never voted for him. Will not vote for him in the next election. But the extremely cheap and tawdry attempt to whitewash the church in general as Trump supporters and hopeless racists is basically yellow journalism here. Evangelism is not some monolithic group that can be blanket defined as Trumpists and bigots. But that is what the author does here. If this is Ms. Lyon’s idea of “restoring” the church, Hint: You are doing it wrong.
Morris was one of Trumps spiritual advisors, so it’s entirely appropriate to link them, because they were linked in reality. It’s not a cheap shot, it’s naming a chosen association.
I pray for the healing of Cindy, Robert Morris and his entire family, Gateway Church and the body of Christ represented by churches worldwide. The Bible tells us that things done in darkness will be brought to light. We give God our Father thanks and praise that He is a God of justice and mercy and that Jesus Christ is the Light of the world that no darkness can overcome. Let us all repent, turn from our wicked ways and seek the Lord that we and our land can be healed. In Jesus name we pray.
Denise, this seems to be intentionally deflecting from the real harm Robert Morris caused by lumping prayers for him in with prayers for the victims of his abuse, as if they are the same, then later saying “let us all repent”. this is spiritual bypassing, and is not of Jesus, even though it uses flowery Jesus-y language. Jesus says to weep with those who weep, and mourn with those who mourn. Jesus also says that it is better to have a millstone tied around your neck and be thrown into the sea than to do what Morris did.
So yes, pray for Morris to repent and make restitution, but don’t equate his plight with that of his victims.
There is only one giant in Christianity, and He died on the cross for all of us. He was among us as the one who serves, and He requires that of us. We must recognize that Jesus’ sayings concerning meekness, humility, and service to others are not merely good advice that leaders give lip service to on the way to fame and glory. They are foundational guiding commandments for the life of faith. Then we will start to heal from the ongoing travesty of leadership failures that sadly we have only begun to uncover. This is the tip of the iceberg. These terrible sins are the low hanging fruit. What will we do to restore faith in Christian leadership when we have not even begun to deal with control, manipulation, and narcissism in our leadership. All we can do currently is focus on the most obvious and odious of travesties, while a dying world is literally laughing at us for our hypocrisy. Will you not Yourself revive us again, that we may rejoice in You?
Cindy’s family opened their home to him, his wife and child, and he repaid their kindness by violating their young child every chance he got, for four years. He also violated his marital vows which he took before God.
It isn’t a moral failure, it is immoral character.
So, what, the Holy Spirit never convicted him in all of his deceit, hiding, sneaking around and lying? He didn’t repent, he was exposed. He moved his gift of deception to a bigger game.
How do you shepherd nine churches? Sounds like a social organization, or some kind of club where to pay dues to be entertained and feel good. Some of his teachings are not scriptural.
“He” was one of Trump’s spiritual advisors – that brought Trump into the equation.
‘A lot of people are saying’… two people with a lifetime of con and misbehavior saying they represent God… ‘is a nasty witch hunt’… ‘I can tell you that’…’horrible’ … unless you are actually spiritually mature…’bigly’
“Sad” how many seem to not be.