In 1986 Jim worked with computers at Acadia University in Nova Scotia. He was having lunch with a friend who was attending Acadia Seminary. When the friend saw the list of the deacons at our church, he was taken aback to find that one of the deacons was a homosexual. Jim didn\u2019t want to take one man\u2019s word as proof. This deacon had been a member of our church for years and had no known history of misconduct. Jim questioned his friend closely and his friend admitted to having been with Greg, the deacon, himself before he had given up that lifestyle.<\/p>\n
Jim went to our pastor with the accusation. The pastor was leaving the church soon and since Greg was no longer on the church board, he did nothing. When a new pastor came, I\u2019ll call Pastor Tom, Jim mentioned it to him. He said Jim must be mistaken and not to say anything about it to anyone. He even made Greg a co-organizer of the prayer group.<\/p>\n
Jim and the former pastor had often been the only ones at a prayer meeting. Now several people attended with Pastor Tom and Greg. They usually went around the room asking each person to give a short prayer. This was fine except, Jim said, it seemed like the Holy Spirit wasn\u2019t there. Jim didn\u2019t go often because he felt it was useless.<\/p>\n
There was something wrong in the church \u2013 some people left, otherwise I can\u2019t remember what exactly was wrong. I do remember that Pastor Tom\u2019s wife gave a good biblical teaching on wives being submissive to their husbands. His two daughters didn\u2019t go to the youth group supposedly because it wasn\u2019t up the standards of their former youth group in South Africa. Pastor Tom\u2019s son seemed apathetic about God and church.<\/p>\n
It came time to elect a new church board. Jim was running as was Greg. Unknown to me Jim was fasting until he had more evidence of the misconduct or not of Greg. He had been fasting a few days when we were invited for supper at the home of Roy and his family. Roy was a successful businessman who had been involved in the world till he was recently saved. Jim really wanted to go to Roy\u2019s house to get to know him better and encourage him in the Lord. He decided to go to Roy\u2019s home and fast again afterwards.<\/p>\n
We had an enjoyable evening. Roy was an interesting sociable man and his wife kind, hospitable and a good cook. During the conversation Roy said about Greg, \u201cOh, he\u2019s a homosexual, everyone knows that\u201d (everyone, apparently, except the innocent Christian community). He also mentioned that Pastor Tom owed him a large sum of money which he didn\u2019t pay back. None of these things seemed to bother Roy much, maybe because he was not used to Christian standards.<\/p>\n
Jim had the evidence he had prayed for. Since Pastor Tom hadn\u2019t been receptive before, Jim decided to visit Greg at his office as an accountant. Jim asked him to not run for the board. Greg did not admit his actions.<\/p>\n
Our son Scott and daughter Jill were eleven and nine when, Sandra was born with a cleft palate. Sandra was not able to nurse so I gave her milk Scott got from milking his goat, and milk I expressed. When I was expressing milk for almost two hours a day, I could not do anything except express milk before an open Bible and pray. One thing I prayed often about was our church.<\/p>\n
One day, a few days after his meeting with Greg, Jim got a call from Pastor Tom. Jim was downstairs while I was upstairs in the kitchen. Jim came upstairs and he was shaking. Pastor Tom had called Jim names and said, \u201cI pray that you and your family will be destroyed!\u201d I was elated and said, \u201cthe Pastor is corrupt, too.\u201d I had been praying so often that the Lord would reveal to us what was wrong with the church. I wasn\u2019t afraid of his curse: \u201cLike a fluttering sparrow or a daring swallow, a undeserved curse will not come to rest.\u201d Proverbs 26:2<\/strong><\/p>\n Soon after Pastor Tom invited us to his home for supper. Nothing was mentioned about the previous incident, the pastor mainly talked about all the women chasing him. He didn\u2019t talk about the Lord, but we did talk to his wife about the Lord. She seemed a little distrustful of us, then confused, but she could tell we are genuine lovers of Jesus.<\/p>\n We and others prayed for the right officers to be elected to the church board. It was hard to understand when Greg was elected with the third highest votes. Jim was elected to the board, but in last place. Then it was announced that, because the pastor had not given two-weeks-notice, we would have to vote again. We hoped this time Greg would not get on.<\/p>\n The night of the board meeting, Pastor Tom called Jim in his office. He said that he had a letter accusing Jim of being a homosexual, and he would release it unless Jim withdrew his name from board candidates. Jim only had a moment to decide, but he knew it would split the church – only a few knew of the Pastor\u2019s corruption and might believe his accusations against Jim. Jim withdrew his name. In the election Greg was on but got the fewest votes, Jim\u2019s close friend, Don, had tears in his eyes when he talked to Jim in the parking lot. Don said. \u201cAre you giving up the fight, Jim\u201d. Jim just told him, \u201cI\u2019ll explain later.<\/p>\n Don\u2019s mother was church secretary. Some evenings she would drive around crying because she knew what was going on. Another board member\u2019s wife who knew some of the problems, said to me once, \u201cI wonder if I\u2019m crazy\u201d, after hearing one of the pastor\u2019s sermons – it was so good.<\/p>\n The pastor called Jim a Judas and in the next sermon talked about Judas without mentioning Jim\u2019s name so no one except Jim knew that he was connecting Jim with Judas. Jim was considering leaving the church even though Pastor Tom was leaving the church in a few months. I said to Jim, and it turned out to be prophetic, \u201cyou won\u2019t need to go to church again while he is here.\u201d Jim drove many people to church, and since Pastor Tom\u2019s sermons were good, those people would have been hurt if Jim left. The pastor was away speaking at times or Jim was away. Jim was sick the only time he would have gone to church when the pastor was there. I went and said to the pastor on the way out of church, \u201cJim would liked that sermon.\u201d He looked at me strangely, but I meant it \u2013 it was a good sermon.<\/p>\n The pastor was planning to go back to South Africa and start Mission Impossible. He gave a church dinner to raise funds and say good-be. I remember sitting at a table and thinking as I watched Christians giving money, \u201cWell, it\u2019s your money, Lord.\u201d Only a few of us knew this pastor was corrupt and dishonest. I believe he supported Greg because Greg was skilled in finances.<\/p>\n After Pastor Tom left for South Africa, we found he had treated another man the way he treated Jim \u2013 preaching a sermon on a Bible character he had accused this man of being. We learned from another man who was taking a Bible course online that Pastor Tom\u2019s sermons were coming from a biblical textbook. Though some people left the church permanently, many of the church members became closer to each other because of this experience.<\/p>\n Jim met with the district church leaders concerning Greg. I felt sorry for Jim because although he was confident he had the evidence, the church rejected his appeal and told him to say nothing. Greg had threatened to sue the church. In a short time, Greg left to go to a church in another town.<\/p>\n South Africa was not what Pastor Tom expected; not what it was when he lived there before he came to Nova Scotia. He wanted to come back. Roy was going to pay his way, but Don talked him out of it, saying, \u201cIf you bring him here, you\u2019ll have to take care of him.\u201d I saw the irony of God \u2013 He had used the money Christians had given Pastor Tom to take him away.<\/p>\n We heard that Pastor Tom had separated from his wife, and that his daughters had to work as housekeepers. We learned later that he had a brain tumor. Both Jim and Dan felt the Lord was especially asking them to pray for him. I pray for his family and hope that he made things right with the Lord before he died.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In 1986 Jim worked with computers at Acadia University in Nova Scotia. He was having lunch with a friend who was attending Acadia Seminary. When the friend saw the list of the deacons at our church, he was taken aback to find that one of the deacons was a homosexual. Jim didn\u2019t want to take<\/p>\n
\nalthough, as far as we knew, no one and said anything against him.<\/p>\n