Aug 30 2007
The devil made me do it?
[AJC]
Global Destiny Ministries members on Sunday circled their spiritual wagons around their pastor, Bishop Thomas Weeks III, now charged with beating his estranged wife, the nationally known evangelist Juanita Bynum.
Weeks blamed the devil for the accusation that has him facing two felony charges. He didn’t, however, offer any specifics before introducing a guest minister who preached in his stead, then exiting the room.
The bishop is charged with aggravated assault for allegedly choking, kicking and hitting Bynum on Tuesday night in a parking lot at the Renaissance Concourse Hotel and with making terroristic threats to kill her. Both are felonies.
Read about it here.
[From me]
I believe the devil is alive and well. But why do people blame the devil for their own sin? It is time people start taking responsibility for their own actions and stupidity.
What do you think?
18 responses so far
This kind of behaviour is totally unexpected from a pastor.
Fox News is reporting that this isn’t the first time. Rev. Weeks has beaten a woman.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdYLCROWdI4
the line was funny when Flip Wilson did it 30 years ago, pretty sad and very wrong when a “preacher” uses it
I heard Micheal Youssef of Leading The Way Ministries say that there are only 2 voices: the voice of God and the voice of the Devil. Is this a prevalent belief among evangelicals?
If I believed that God and Satan existed, and that they are the primary 2 forces at play in everyone’s life, then I would be inclined to be much more forgiving in situations like this.
If I believed that:
* God and Satan are constantly at battle over human soles; Satan wants to prevent people from being saved. Once somebody is saved, he wants to prevent that person from saving others
* Satan is infinitely smarter than any human, infinitely more powerful, and infinitely wiser.
* Satan is telepathic: he can “tell” us things seem to us to be our own thoughts. He can sometimes trick us into thinking that his voice is the Voice of God.
* No matter how much we want to obey God, Satan can trick us into believing and doing the wrong things. He can even trick us into misinterpreting (or even twisting) God’s Word so that, sometimes, we use It to justify our misguided thoughts and behaviors. Entire church denomination can harbor heretical interpretations of God’s Word.
* God gives us freedom to choose good over evil so we are not immune to Satan’s influence.
* God protects us from Satan’s influence to a certain extent but not completely: it is still up to us to be strong or “spiritual” enough to ask His constant guidance. Since we are merely human, we all fail at this sometime or other.
Then I would have to conclude that:
* We are all still responsible for our choices, but Satan is constantly at fault for tricking us. We may be to blame, but Satan is also to blame. It really is Satan’s fault too.
* It would be in Satan’s best interest to spend extra effort to attack people who have the potential for saving many souls like preachers, etc.
* People in a position to save many souls are expected to stumble sooner or later just like the rest of us. Since they are the focus of Satan’s extra efforts, they are expected to stumble harder than others.
* When people stumble hard, it’s an indication that they are a special threat to Satan so Satan might be spending extra effort on them
* When these people finally stumble, we should be extra forgiving to them since they are waging a larger battle against Satan than most of us.
* Rather than condemn them, or remove them from their position, we should pick them back up, dust them off, and put them right back in there. It was their effectiveness in their position that caused Satan to attack them with such vigor in the first place. We should want them back in their position where they can be effective against Satan.
* If we remove them from their position, then Satan has achieved his goal. Satan wins.
AAA,
I’m not saying Satan isn’t tempting and causing problems. I’m just saying we need to quit blaming others for our own sins. This man has a problem. If he would just say “I was wrong” I could accept that. But blaming Satan? I don’t see that as taking responsibility for his own sin.
Kevin,
I believe that line originated back in the Garden of Eden with Eve. It didn’t work for her then, and it won’t work for us today. You’d think a pastor of all people would read his bible and know that?!?!
I couldn’t agree with you more Kevin. “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”
AAA,
That’s a fairly good assessment of our spiritual struggle. The thing that jumped out to me the most as far as something to disagree with is the idea of Satan being telepathic. Can thoughts or suggestions be planted… yes, but I believe it is more a of a “whispering”–still from the outside, that we all are, to some degree or another, sensitive or open to. Some are more open to Satan’s influence than others. We let or allow it in–the more accustomed we are to listening to that voice, the more easily we receive it and it becomes ours. I don’t believe that Satan can read my mind. However, I don’t think he has to in order to accomplish the same thing. Satan has been a student of human behavior for as long as humans have existed–longer and better than Freud, Jeung or Skinner. He’s been watching me and knows my tendencies and weaknesses–therefore, he knows how to exploit them and predict my behavior.
Does Satan win when we do not restore? Yes to a degree, he damages and hurts Kingdom effort. But we must also have accountability and consequence to those moments when we fail to live up to the standards we claim to believe and promote. Anything less could and would be construed as hypocrisy. To put him right back up on the platform when he failed in this obvious fashion sends a terrible message. Should he be permanently disqualified… that’s a different and more difficult question. His church and ministry will have to address his behavior, give him prayerful support and encouragement to change his behavior and some time in the future, reassess the appropriateness of bringing him back.
It is my belief that Satan’s real goal is to hurt God as much as possible. He is unable to do so directly–frontal assault–because he lacks the power and ability, the created thing is not as strong as the Creator. The only way he knows to really hurt the heart of God is to deceive as many people as possible and prevent them from entering into relationship with God–and if they have one–to render them as ineffective as possible in truly living the radical life God has called us to.
Maybe as an atheist, you’ll find this analogy ironic (it is imperfect but it’s illustrating a particular point and is not a blanket statement)–but the Voice of God v. the Voice of Satan can be compared to competing car salesmen. One (CS 1) has a fine quality car that is top of the line, the other (CS 2) has vehicles that are not in the same league. Their manner of presentation are different. The first would come across calmly presenting the benefits of buying a better car and won’t resort to certain flamboyant tactics because the product receives the attention it deserves. The other will be as obnoxious as possible to attract attention. Big Banners, Loud Bullhorns, SALE! SALE! SALE! He’ll tell you how bad the other cars are, how much of a cheat the other salesman is–anything to keep your attention on him and his product b/c if you actually go over to CS 1, he’ll likely lose you forever–you won’t come back.
I don’t believe the voice of God is obnoxious or overpowering, I believe Satan’s voice is often louder, more noticeable, more direct for many of the same reasons.
Now, again, this is only an analogy. If you’re smart, and you probably are, you can rip it to pieces or try to go to conclusions that I’m not trying to go to. Please don’t for the sake of decent and open dialog.
The sheep are called to know the voice of their shepherd and be discerning enough, and close to God enough to know His voice from the voice of the thief that comes to steal, kill and destroy. I for one, fall for it… too often if you ask me in one way or another. That’s not Satan’s fault–he has no moral standard in that sense and you and I have no authority over him. It is my fault that I would buy the lie rather than love the truth.
I was wrong–is a statement of power because it is the road to repentance which must come before restoration. Kevin’s point, I believe, is that by saying “the devil made me do it” , he is trying to sidestep the first step of repentance. In that, as a last statement, hopefully, I don’t believe Satan can possess the Christian or make us do anything. If I fall for Satan’s trick, it’s on me.
Now my guess is that you’re going to ask something in response to this–I have a pretty good idea what, but hopefully, this will get you to think of something other than the standard accusations.
Pursuing Answers to Questions of Faith & Life,
Kelly
1 Peter 3:15
Kevin,
As usual, you hit the nail on the head! We do need to take the responsibility for our sins/crimes. We also need the precious blood of Jesus to cleanse us as well. Even after our ‘cleansing’ we will often reap what we sow. This time Mr Weeks needs to do some reaping.
Satan is alive and active, but he isn’t behind every sin. We can sin based on our own fallen nature or we can sin when tempted by Satan.
But either way we are 100% responsible before God and man for our actions.
“Responsibility” is a foreign word to many in our society.
Nonetheless, I love me some Juanita Bynum.
She’s my favorite character on TBN. Bynum is from the same small south Georgia town as fellow Baptist blogger Nathan Finn.
Isn’t it ironic that something that was funny 30 years ago (Tom Bryant above) has now become a somewhat “acceptable” political/social/theological excuse in our day that many people are actually willing to accept.
Start with something funny. Keep repeating it over time. Alter it a bit over time and keep repeating = recipe for cultural change.
maybe we should arrest the devil for assault.
david
You’re on target - it IS his responsibility. Same idea as it being the woman’s fault for dressing inappropriately when she’s raped.
Satan only has power to tempt. Beyond that, it is up to us, but not alone. The Scripture is replete with encouragements that God is at work int he Christian to empower him/her to resist.
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9
“For it is God who is working in you, [enabling you] both to will and to act for His good purpose.” Phil 2:13
AAA - Though some of your foundation (descriptions of Satan, God, their powers and roles) are a little off from the way I would describe them - based on how I perceive the Bible describes them - I find your conclusions to be a very accurate response to how leaders should be treated both in normal situations (they/we are sinners, too) and in accountability to sin (pick them up, dust them off and put them back in there).
the devil made me post this comment.
The idea of an all-wise, all-benevolent God creating what would become his most bitter foe is just hilarious.
Kevin,
Iâm just saying we need to quit blaming others for our own sins.
I couldn’t agree more from a personal point of view.
On the other hand, a (literal) Biblical view seems to suggest that Satan sins against God every time he cause a believer to stumble (or prevents a salvation). It also seems like there would be no sin in the world without him. So unless there is more to it, it seems like he (Satan) shares the blame in all sin.
Kelly,
Thatâs a fairly good assessment of our spiritual struggle
Thanks
I donât believe that Satan can read my mind.
The only thing I know of in the Bible that might be interpreted as Satan having the ability to read minds would be demon possession. It seems to me that the New Testament characterizes it as sort of a co-mingling of spirits. But that’s about it.
On the other hand, the ability to talk to us (or whisper as you put it) telepathically seems to be the same kind of power as telepathic listening.
the Voice of God v. the Voice of Satan
The sheep are called to know the voice of their shepherd and be discerning enough, and close to God enough to know His voice from the voice of the thief that comes to steal, kill and destroy
It seems like it would be harder to discern God’s voice from Satan’s simply by the way the message is presented. If Satan knows you as well as you say, surely he is capable of saying things in a way that would not put you on your guard. For example, if Satan knows that all he has to do is sound soft and loving for you to believe him, isn’t that how he would talk to you all the time? Maybe he would even play âgood devil / bad devilâ by talking sometimes in a âdevil voiceâ and sometimes in a âGod voiceâ.
Now my guess is that youâre going to ask something in response to thisâI have a pretty good idea what
Maybe you can read my mind
(just kidding)
Art,
I find your conclusions to be a very accurate response to how leaders should be treated
Thanks