To Cause the LORD To Be Despised

This post is about the leader of the Pentecostal Denomination in Sweden, him being accused of sexual misconduct exists also in Swedish. I am publishing it in English because I see that this seem to be the normal theme, that no one sees how our sins causes God to be despised and mocked.

All the links in this post are in Swedish.

Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the LORD, to do evil in his sight? thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon. Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house; because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife. Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house, and I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbour, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun. For thou didst it secretly: but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun. And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD. And Nathan said unto David, The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die. Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die (2 Samuel 12:9–14).

We have recently been able to read about how the Pentecostal FFS leader, Daniel Alm, is accused of abuse of power of a sexual nature. That’s pretty much all we know. But what has struck me when I have read about this in many Swedish media is how little God is valued. It is as if God is not in the picture, yet it is a pastor, a leader of a denomination, however unbiblical a denomination may be, who stands accused.

Pelle Hörnmark who will take over provisionally mourns for the affected people (Dagen article). Linalie Newman, who herself lacks all credibility, says she feels “‘sadness, anger and deep fatigue’ that a man in the free church once again shows up to abuse power - and says it’s a hard day to wake up to.” (Dagen article). The congregation Alm pastors is experiencing grief, unclear for what. An editorial in the newspaper Dagen highlights how the incident shakes and affects victims and employees, but that the Pentecostal movement is bigger than its leaders (Dagen article). This incident also caused a planned prayer meeting for Sweden to be canceled.

So they have defined what the tragedy are above, and I do not say they are wrong, but the great tragedy is the soaking of God this has caused. I haven’t bothered to look up everything that has been said on Expressen, Aftonbladet, Omni etc., but let Dagen be the spokesperson for Christianity. This is not the first abuse of power scandal in the world or in Sweden. I’m not particularly fond of that term, I think it’s very misleading, it’s an obviously feminist term that lacks any basis in reality. Feminists see power structures in clouds moving across the sky, and they deconstruct biblical texts based on these terms and get very lost. Having said that, this is not the first incident where some form of sexual abuse occurs, it is especially evident in the Catholic Church and in evangelical charismatic churches and denominations. Among those who seem to accept revelations outside of Scripture, among those who do not consider Scripture to be infallible, true in all things, and sufficient in itself for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, for the perfecting of the man of God for every good work (2 Tim. 3:16-17). It is rare to read about such things among those who hold Scripture in high regard. But among Catholics and Charismatics, external revelation is allowed, and even encouraged.

Because these churches and denominations do not see the Bible as the full and perfect Word of God, they can ordain women as pastors and priests, they can delete 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 from the Bible and welcome even obvious sinners into the church, and even allow them to become leaders. They ignore, by rebelliously defying God’s revealed will church discipline or separation that God has commanded us. Nor do they preach sanctification, nor do they expect those who call themselves Christians to be a new creation in Jesus Christ. So they delete large parts of the Word of God without shame and call themselves Christians. Because to them a confession is sufficient to call oneself a Christian, a confession without any signs of separation, sanctification or transformation, is sufficient for someone to be admitted to a church, and the pastor to call the sinner a child of the kingdom of heaven.

It is therefore no wonder that people who arbitrarily cut out large passages from God’s Word and throw them on the fire like King Jehoiakim (Jer. 36:23), cannot see how God’s holy name is blasphemed and despised by what has happened. As we could read from 2 Samuel, where David’s sins had given God’s enemies reason to blaspheme God. God jealously guards his great and holy name, they would also know if the Bible was in any way real and important to them. Nor can it be said that sexual sins are unintentional sins but truly intentional, rebellious, and hardening. In Leviticus we can read about how the priest could make atonement for unintentional sins, but whoever commits anything with a raised hand, in defiance, in rebellion, he is reproaching the LORD, and he shall be cut off from his people (Numbers 15:28-30). Now we need not fear being cut off from God’s people even because of willful sins, but whoever does so, he blasphemes the LORD. Why is it that none of Christendom even considers that our lives and what we do can cause the LORD to be slandered, blasphemed and mocked? Why don’t we care about that? Where is our love for the LORD, who has given us everything in Jesus Christ.

As I read on forums about this event, I can clearly see that God’s name is being mocked because of this. I feel unspeakable sorrow that God is mocked and despised because of our sins.

In the twentieth chapter of Ezekiel, we can read several times how God acts in a certain way towards His people for the sake of His name, “But I wrought for my name’s sake, that it should not be polluted before the heathen, among whom they were, in whose sight I made myself known unto them, in bringing them forth out of the land of Egypt” (Ezek. 20:9), “But I wrought for my name’s sake, that it should not be polluted before the heathen, in whose sight I brought them out” (Ezek. 20:14), “Nevertheless I withdrew mine hand, and wrought for my name’s sake, that it should not be polluted in the sight of the heathen, in whose sight I brought them forth” (Ezek. 20:22).

Why does the evangelical charismatic movement despise the holy and glorious name of God? Why does it despise God’s holy and perfect Word? Why does it allow external revelations as if God’s Word were not complete and perfect? And why does no one see how the sexual sins of a leader, or anyone who calls themselves a Christian and sins in such a way, causes God to be mocked and reviled?

I pray that God will cause a sorrow in the hearts of all Christendom so that they will turn to God with all their hearts and be healed, and see God as the holy and perfect God He is, watching jealously over His name.