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Looking the Other Way
August 15, 2007

Greetings in the Name of Our Lord Jesus Christ,

Amongst many other self-inflicted problems, the Assemblies of God is suffering from a severe case of “Looking the Other Way.” Does God have a problem with “looking the other way?” He sure does!

I Samuel 2: 22-25 records the story of Eli and his sons, “Now Eli was very old, and heard all that his sons did unto all Israel, and how they lay with the women that assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And he said unto them, ‘Why do ye such things? For I hear of your evil dealings by all this people. Nay, my sons; for it is no good report that I hear; ye make the LORD’s people to transgress. If one man sins against another, the judge shall judge him; but if a man sin against the LORD, who shall intreat for him?’ Notwithstanding they (Eli’s sons) hearkened not unto the voice of their father, because the LORD would slay them.”

Did God look lightly on Eli knowing that his sons sinned greatly and did nothing but talk?

Just a few verses (31-35) later, a man of God pronounces God’s judgment upon the house of Eli, “Behold, the days come, that I will cut off thine arm, and the arm of thy father’s house, that there shall not be an old man in thine house. And thou shalt see an enemy in my habitation, in all the wealth which God shall give Israel; and there shall not be an old man in thine house for ever. And the man of thine, whom I shall not cut off from mine altar, shall be to consume thine eyes, and to grieve thine heart; and all the increase of thine house shall die in the flower of their age. And this shall be a sign unto thee, that shall come upon thy two sons, on Hophni and Phinehas; in one day they shall die both of them.”

Then, in chapter three, God speaks to the boy Samuel regarding the judgment that He will bring upon Eli. In chapter 3, verse 13, God tells Samuel, “For I have told him (Eli) that I will judge his house for ever for the iniquity which he knoweth; because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not.” Eli LOOKED THE OTHER WAY.

I have received many reports of A/G leadership LOOKING THE OTHER WAY since I started this web site. But, the one case I can speak to first hand involved the merger of Central Bible College underneath Evangel University. Anyone aware of the situation at all knows that our former General Superintendent led the charge to do away with our national Bible college. I saw his writings on the subject, I saw his merger committee chairman in action, I heard the Superintendent’s opposite speeches to each campus, I saw the letters we sent where he changed the names of our board nominees from pro-CBC leaders to pro-merger personnel (some of whom were not even Assembly of God), I saw the constitution and bylaws changes that would have sped up the destruction of CBC.

Lest anyone think that I am bitter about the whole affair, let me set that line of thinking straight right now: I count it a privilege to have been called to stand in the breach for our national Bible college. I would do the same thing all over again. I realized that I would likely lose my job at CBC for standing up for what was right. But, at the same time, I realized that God had called me, through miraculous means, to do exactly that. I was never more happy, more joyful, more humbled than to realize that God had granted me, a nobody from southwest Illinois, the privilege of working for Him for “such a time as this.”

Sadness, not bitterness, drives me to call the Assemblies of God leadership to repent for their repeated sin of LOOKING THE OTHER WAY. While God will hold Tom Trask directly responsible for trying to eliminate our national Bible college, what really dismayed me during the whole affair was how many times very senior men in the A/G LOOKED THE OTHER WAY: 1) the other three officers on the headquarters Board of Administration (the assistant superintendent, general secretary and general treasurer) LOOKED THE OTHER WAY as Brother Trask led the charge to destroy CBC; 2) the Executive Presbytery LOOKED THE OTHER WAY every time any form of the issue came to a vote [they were party to the name change letter {In fact, the General Superintendent hid behind them and said it was their decision not his}]; 3) a Plains state District Superintendent LOOKED THE OTHER WAY when ordered by Brother Trask to send a letter to his entire district saying that my published report about his name being one of those changed was false; 4) a Great Lakes district superintendent LOOKED THE OTHER WAY when Brother Trask directed him to fire me for telling CBC constituents, from my CBC computer, that their school was in danger of being closed through devious means including the “Vision for Transformation” constitution and bylaws changes up for vote at the 2005 General Council meeting, and 4) every member of the CBC Board of Directors LOOKED THE OTHER WAY when voting to fire me for standing up for THEIR school.

Do not make the mistake of thinking that the above series of events is the only point in my case. There are dozens, if not hundreds, of stories about abuse of power, disobedience to God’s Word, perversion of God’s Word, and LOOKING THE OTHER WAY in our fellowship. The above historical account is designed only to illustrate the point. Here’s another point just to demonstrate that mine is not a one-horse show: the headquarters BOA, the EPs, and the president of our theological seminary are all LOOKING THE OTHER WAY as the head of the divinity department published a book that encourages having an unbeliever on the church board and describes fundamentalists (those who believe the Bible to be true from cover to cover) as pathetically wrong. How did this person get such an important job anyway? Was it because he, by his own admission, failed to successfully pastor all three churches to which he was called? What’s next? A club for homosexuals just like the one at a prominent theological seminary on our left coast? Guess what leaders and members of the A/G? I’ve already had very mature students of our seminary tell me that we employ professors who are “soft” on homosexuality! Are we LOOKING THE OTHER WAY?

God will hold you accountable gentlemen! I Peter 4:17 says, “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God.” There are some who suggest that our new superintendent was the real brains behind the merger proposal. This I do not know first hand. Time will tell whether he is a true man of God or not. I call on him now to lead this fellowship into repentance for our great sins against God. For GOD WILL NOT LOOK THE OTHER WAY!

With Love for the Blood Washed Saints,

Brother Mike

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