Am I being too judgmental, uncaring in exposing Ralph Rutledge?

I am answering KPM's comments on the blog post: Rev. Ralph Rutledge pastor Queensway scandal.  My answer does not fit into a comment format.  So it goes here.

Thank you KPM for joining the conversation again.  I hope there is no disrespect if I call you Mr. Mom.  I honour all the love and effort taken to raise children alone.  It is no easy task.

I can see we have in common a desire for justice and mercy within the Body of Christ.  You are expressing yourself by rushing to Ralph Rutledge’s defense.  Of course you believe that you are doing what is good and right.

I believe what I am doing is both good and important.  My life is deeply rooted in scripture. I have been filled with the Holy Spirit.  I have been given the gift of Faith.  I am called by God to be a counsellor.  After years of prayerful Christian counselling my heart for God, my care for the Body of Christ and for people just grows more sensitive. I do care and I live a life of care.  My heart is open to God.

Some things make me sad.  I a moved to tears by the movement of God.

Some things make me mad.  I am angry when I hear of a man taking advantage of men or women in the Body of Christ.

Whether I am right or wrong, God knows, I have from time to time been called to discern spiritual abuse and to expose it.  This has been neither easy nor pleasant.  The backlash against exposing any form of abuse always seems strong.  (It may be that Satan works best when his agents are hidden and his purposes undiscovered and unexposed.)

In my Christian life, I have been shown the work of two “wolves in sheep clothing” – both were pastors in position of privilege and authority and there were suggestions that both were involved in molesting young men.  I learned from the first experience just how deeply entrenched such a man can be.

When Pastor Rutledge was defrocked by the PAOC I was given one report from one of my students that was unsettling.  It was reported to me that Rutledge had been invited into the home of unbelievers.  At some point he went up to the bedroom of the young man to pray with him.  According to the report that I was given he made some kind of homosexual advance on the teenager.  The result, the fruit, was one young man and one family turned off of God.

When the so called ‘sex scandal at Queensway Cathedral’ happened I was already informed as to his possible unethical behaviour.  So whenever Ralph Rutledge was minimizing the event and claiming it was an isolated incident, I had reason to believe that he was lying.

More recently, as I was counselling someone about another matter, I was given a second report of betrayal of trust.  A father sent his son to Rutledge for counselling.  This was an act of deep trust.  Ralph Rutledge had a good reputation in the PAOC.  But the young man was not given godly counsel regarding his gender confusion.  The young man was handled in a way that deeply confused him and sent him reeling into homosexual activity.

This was a betrayal of the trust of the father who expected godly counsel for a man of God that he respected.  This mishandling of the situation by Rutledge involved professionally unethical conduct.  The damage caused was extensive.  The fruit was deep wounding of a young man of God.

When this second report ‘come across my desk’ I felt moved take action.  Two reports are significant because of scripture:  "A fact is established in the mouth of two or three witnesses."  “Do not receive an accusation against an elder except from two or three witnesses.”  (John 8:17, 1 Timothy 5:19)

The fruit of a 'wolf in sheep clothing' was present in these two initial reports.  The POAC had already dealt with something like this so the evidence was strongly suggestive that Rutledge was my second "wolf in sheep clothing."

Counsellors take seriously the reporting of abuse.  The law demands we report sexual abuse.  Professional associations take seriously the misuse of authority of position to initiate sexual contact with clients.  Our society does not look kindly on the covering up of homosexual abuse of young men within the church by clergy.  The Catholic Church is being highlighted about this in the press.

Also Matthew 18 outlines a process of confrontation of Christians in sin.  Some of the process is complete.  The Superintendents of the Western Ontario Office of the Pentecostal Assemblies of God have listened to witnesses and have confronted Rev. Rutledge and removed him from a position of considerable success for the PAOC – Queensway Cathedral was on the way to being a mega church and hosted a television ministry.

Only one thing was missing.  1 Timothy 5:20 and Matthew 18:17 suggest that a public rebuke is needed; that there is a time to “tell it to the church.”  There needed to be some clear public record of events so that the church was informed so that the wolf could not circle around and again attack the flock.  There needed to be a warning.  This was the action that was needed.

I researched to see if this job was done.  I investigated in the modern way with a Google search to see if the history of the Ralph Rutledge Sex scandal was public knowledge.  No, it was not.

Only a very small privileged in group knew this man’s character, his unrepentant attitude and his active sinful patterns.  Anyone else was ignorant.  Therefore, I believed that this was a matter of public interest.  Anyone not in the know would be vulnerable to being preyed upon.  The flock was vulnerable.  The Bride was exposed to potential harm.

I felt it was required by God to have someone who perpetrates evil and sin upon the Bride of Christ  be exposed.  There are Biblical mandates to protect the flock, to expose evil to tell it to the church.  Ephesians 5:11, Matthew 18:17.  I had growing reason to believe that Ralph Rutledge was such a person.

I could either act like a man of God with courage, wisdom and love or I could play it safe.  I could say: “I am not called to be a prophet.  I am a pastor.”  In other words I will heal the wounds of the sheep but not drive away the one who is wounding them.  Or I could drive away the wolf.

But shepherds protect their flock.  Jesus says that only those without the true heart of a shepherd “see the wolf coming and leave the sheep and flees.” John 10:12. Why do they run away from the job of protecting the sheep, of laying down their life for the sheep?  What, my friend does it say?

It says it is because “THEY DO NOT CARE ABOUT THE SHEEP!”  Those who do not care run away from the wold in sheep clothing.  I did not do that.

I care enough to put my neck on the line for the victims; for the many wounded young men and old men across this country.  It is not that I am without sin or the sinful nature.  But that is no reason not to act.  Also, I did not have perfect knowledge.  So, with humility, I could launch a process that could discover the truth.  In time the truth would surface as we accumulate information and testimony about Ralph Rutledge.

I could ask for information, facts, that supported my suspicions or not.  I could not be closed minded.  I just had to report fairly what I know and let truth come out.

Although I also care about Ralph Rutledge I would sacrifice one wolf to save many sheep.  If he is a wolf then I really do not care how far he has to go down.  A wolf must be stopped.  Enough is enough.  God is not mocked.  God is a consuming fire.  God is Holy.  God is Just.

So lets pray for truth to shine and evil be exposed.  Lets call upon God to vindicate the Body of Christ; to intervene on behalf of victims of abuse, to protect the Bride even if it means that the wolves must go down.  That, my friend, is how a shepherd feels when he has a heart for the sheep and a life dedicated to God.

Let us pray that all ungodly soul ties be broken; that all ungodly protection be lifted; that all ungodly prayer or curses be broken.  I pray that God expose him.  In the name of the Father, and the Son – Jesus Christ – and the Holy Spirit I pray that all satanic veils, screens, deceptions and protections around this man be broken. May the Holy fire of God, burn all that is not of God so that all that remains is the real and holy Ralph Rutledge.  Amen – So be it.