“A worthless man digs up evil, while his words are like scorching fire.” Proverbs 16:27
The spirit of accusation has once again possessed Pastor Douglas Wilson of Christ Church, Moscow, in his attempt to smear the reputations of those who have wisely left the Kirk. He titled the blog attack Jezehellsbells and it is a primer on what happens to those brave who defy him in an open forum. As you read the text, please remember that the witnesses to the events described by Mr. Wilson deny his narrative.
Mr. Wilson rarely misses an opportunity to brutally blog-flog people with falsehoods to discredit, humiliate, and ultimately silence them. He often favors the despicable technique of presenting a lie as an undisputed fact while mendaciously attributing the source of his fabrication to his unfortunate target. The authors of CREC Memes are correct when they wrote, “This is a warning to all the people who are anonymous. This is what Doug will do to you if you use your name.”
Actually, it’s that and more. Mr. Wilson served notice yesterday to all of Steven Sitler’s victims who participated in the unprecedented stonewall of silence and who may be tempted to break rank. Mr. Wilson showed them exactly what he will do to them if they ever speak up. He will make them regret ever opening their mouths. He wrote,
My prayer for Natalie really is that she might find peace and true healing, and find it soon. . . . Linking to these videos is not retaliation, and it is not provocative. It is not gasoline on the fire. This is the kind of thing I have been laboring to prevent, not for my own sake but for the sake of others. I told Natalie in an email a while ago that it was not possible to dig up half a corpse. But if you insist, if you demand, if you keep it up, if you finally get your story on Jezebel, the rest of the corpse comes too. So this is where we now are. You wanted the whole story, and we are almost there.
It’s difficult to reconcile Mr. Wilson’s prayer for Natalie with the vicious things that he wrote about her, her father, and her husband. However, he apparently did warn her when he wrote, “I told Natalie in an email a while ago that it was not possible to dig up half a corpse. But if you insist . . . if you finally get your story on Jezebel, the rest of the corpse comes too.” The words “the rest of the corpse” mean “all of the smear I can muster.”
And it is smear unless Mr. Wilson can explain what the videos have to do with Mr. Wilson blame-shifting Jamin Wight’s responsibility for his crimes onto Natalie’s parents. It is a malicious act unless Mr. Wilson can explain what the videos have to do with Mr. Wilson sitting with Jamin Wight instead of Natalie when the court sentenced him for his crimes. It is a wicked libel because its intended effect is consistent with Mr. Wilson’s threat to publish Natalie’s private journal — the same journal that the court sealed to protect Natalie from people like Pastor Doug Wilson of Christ Church, Moscow.
Click to enlarge and to see the other tweets.
So Mr. Wilson and his acolytes have been itching to link to the performance art videos because they apparently believe there is a moral equivalence between videos that are legal and serial rape of a 13-year-old girl, which is evil and illegal. But there is no moral equivalence despite Mr. Wilson’s impotent efforts otherwise. Moreover, Mr. Wilson’s behavior reveals his pastoral deficits and proves the wisdom of Solomon who wrote, “An ungodly man diggeth up evil: and in his lips there is as a burning fire” (Proverbs 16:27).
Finally, do not miss this, because yesterday Mr. Wilson warned Natalie that he has not disinterred everything. More corpse remains: “You wanted the whole story, and we are almost there.” The four words “we are almost there” mean that Mr. Wilson still possesses a rotten limb or two that he’s prepared to post on the web. And he’s ready to do this because his “prayer for Natalie really is that she might find peace and true healing, and find it soon.”
1 Special thanks to @fledgelingfem & @SimeonTheFool for their screenshots.
Excellent point that this also serves notice to other victims in his flock. Not only, as a pastor, does he have unprecedented access to your personal life, but he has goons will will drudge up anything they can to embarrass you. Fall in line, do what he says, or face the repercussions. It may be worse than a simple ‘anonymous’ open letter on a blog.
Hello, this behavior by Doug Wilson is *exactly* what Scientology does to its critics. It’s called “dead agenting” and involves digging up dirt on your opponents. The dirt is then spread about if you happen to leave Scientology or publish investigations on the cult. I’m wondering if Wilson is threatening to disclose information which he gained through confidence or “counseling.” Scientology does that too. Auditors write down information when you go in for auditing, which is supposed to be confidential. But if you ever leave and threaten the organization, Scientology will have people go through and “cull the PC [pre-clear] files” looking for juicy stuff to expose.
And yeah, that’s my real name above. I made the decision 20 years ago that I would use my real name in dealing with Scientology and I see no reason to change that policy today. *waves* Hi, Doug!
I’ve had friends who were abused the same way (disclosure of confidential) by another ‘ministerial founder’ who used the same M.O. (protecting his empire by ‘covering sins’ of the perps). He also was virtually autonomous. I saw this building decades ago with the nepotism and other signs. Sadly, I kept faith a bit too long for my family’s good and it cost us an enormous price.
People that know how need to capture and archive Jezehellsbells before he takes it down. That post alone should be sufficient for the crec committee to recommend de-frocking.
Hi Tim: I agree with you in principle. The problem is that the CREC cannot defrock him because he’s never been frocked. Moreover, even if he was frocked, the worst sanction the CREC can do is remove, or cut off, Christ Church, Moscow, from the CREC, which will never happen. The men on the Review Committee understand that their job is to validate Wilson’s unethical activities, and they plan to exceed expectations.
Love the phrase “never been frocked” that tells the story nicely! Thanks for the laugh.
Rose
What I think is sad is that people like Dan Philips of Pyromaniacs will banter with DW, TGC will promote DW’s books, and the industry continues. Many Christians are blissfully and often willfully ignorant of the underbelly and are deceived into thinking DW is walking in the light when in fact everything he keeps doing is dragging Christ’s name through the mud. Good reputation with outsiders? Nope. But of course, it’s just persecution. No need to actually listen to those “outsiders”. Not even the Christian ones. They’re just a mob. Seriously. The mainstream institutional church is messed up.
Dan Philips is a huge disappointment.
In my opinion, Dan Philips is made of the same cloth as DW. I commented over there a few time at Pyro and it turned out to be a good ole boy, sycophant, misogynist blog – an echo chamber of the mutual admiration society with a Jesus sticker. I read a number of posts and comments on that blog and it turns out, they’re quite the manly bullies, just like The Douglas.