Church Scandal Report Loves a Pastor Who Can Fight Against Sexual Abuse!
We were delighted to find this article about a pastor who is sick and tired of sexual abuse on men, women and children. We get a lot of people wanting us to put the brakes on airing the dirt on pedophiles and even pastors in the church who prey on women and children. This time, its not about sexual abuse in the church, but rather a pastor who is determined to 'turn the lights on' on sexual abuse of any kind.Read below what positive things he's doing to help those victimized from sexual abuse:
Gary Morgan, pastor of Cowboy Church of Ellis County, applauds any effort to "turn the light on" and expose sexual abuse. He recalled how, in one recent month, three adult women stopped him at the end of Sunday morning worship services, asking to talk about issues that stemmed from their abuse as children. One senior adult told him she was certain she was going to hell because of something that began happening to her as a child and continued through her teen years.Source
"What I never really understood before was how victims take ownership of the abuse, feeling somehow they caused it," Morgan said.
Several weeks ago, he decided to address the issue from the pulpit, talking about the everlasting damage sexual abuse can cause.
In the Old Testament, God set clear parameters for sexual conduct and attached harsh penalties to the violation of sexual boundaries, Morgan said, "because he knows what it does to the soul"—the essence of a person. Every relationship in an abuse victim's life—with parents, a future spouse, any children they have and with God—is affected, he told the congregation.
"It alters fundamentally their relationship with God, because they feel so stained, soiled, dirty, guilty and shameful that they think they must look that way to God, too," he said.
Morgan wanted victims of abuse—both female and male—in his congregation to understand they were not to blame.
"If you have been a victim of sexual abuse in your life at any time … wherever, whenever, however you were abused, it was not your fault," he said in the sermon, emphasizing that the person in a position of authority who abuses trust bears responsibility. "It is never the fault of the victim."
Morgan also addressed abusers and "bystanders"—accomplices who realize abuse occurs but seek to keep it hidden. "You've got to turn the light on. … If you choose not to disclose, the blood is on your hands," he said.
Victims of abuse feel guilt, hopelessness and isolation, he said. They need to hear someone in a position of authority acknowledge what has happened to them, pronounce it as wrong and assure them of God's love for them, he said. Morgan offered no easy answer or guarantee, but he assured victims if they disclose abuse and seek proper help, "it can get better."
