Moscow-Pullman Daily News Death Notice: Mike Lawyer

“You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool; you slaughter the fatlings, but you do not feed the flock. The weak you have not strengthened, nor have you healed those who were sick, nor bound up the broken, nor brought back what was driven away, nor sought what was lost; but with force and cruelty you have ruled them.” Ezekiel 34:3–4

“When the wicked perish, there is jubilation.” Proverbs 11:10

Mike Lawyer, pastor-elder of Christ Church, is dead. I missed the announcement because they did not publish an obituary in the Daily News and I do not read Gog. Thus he did not receive a proper sendoff, which I regret.

On Wednesday, December 14, 2022, the Moscow-Pullman Daily News reported:

Death

Dec 14, 2022
Mikel [sic] Lawyer
Mikel [sic] Lawyer, 68, of Moscow, died Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022, at his home in Moscow. Short’s Funeral Chapel of Moscow is in charge of arrangements.

Mike Lawyer had three character flaws — the same defects that mark all Christ Church elders. Indeed, when the next elder drops, we can just cut & paste this outline for his obituary. Accordingly—

  1. Mike Lawyer Had No Self-Identity
    Mike Lawyer, like all Kirk elders, had no self-identity worth noting. His life derived purpose from Doug Wilson, who is named five times in the obit. At one point Lawyer was Doug Wilson’s personal assistant, which put him at the core of the inner circle. And like the other Kirk elders, Mike Lawyer lived through and winked at all the Kirk sexual-abuse scandals — from Jamin Wight, to Steven Sitler, to Roy Atwood, to Jim Nance, to Alex Lloyd. (Lawyer was not present for the two sexual abuses that predate 2001 and he did not survive to witness Ty Stephenson’s abominations.)

    Like Wilson, concern for these predators’ victims never burdened Mike Lawyer. He never protested, saying, “Hey, I think there’s a pattern here!” He concerned himself with advancing Wilson talking points, however absurd. (Serious question: How many child predators and sex offenders will it take before a Kirk elder objects?)

    Here are two instances when Mike Lawyer doubled down on Wilson’s narrative, to harm victims of Christ Church sexual abuse instead of protecting them:

    Mike Lawyer faithfully performed his role as Doug Wilson’s sock puppet, showing no personal identity or individual autonomy. Doug’s will be done.

  2. Mike Lawyer Had No Self-Knowledge
    The Dunning-Kruger effect posits that, “Essentially, low-ability people do not possess the skills needed to recognize their own incompetence” (What Is the Dunning-Kruger Effect?). Put another way, some people are too stupid to know how stupid they are. I’ll just leave this here, noting that this trait is a prerequisite for Kirk elders, which is something that Mike Lawyer lacked the self-knowledge to understood.

  3. Mike Lawyer Had No Self-Awareness
    Mike Lawyer participated in the Kirk’s daily imprecatory prayers. That is, he called down misery upon others from his deity, imploring it to visit calamity on those deemed enemies of Doug Wilson. Please note: Kirkers do not utter their maledictions against enemies of the gospel, or enemies of the US, or enemies of liberty, etc. Rather, they beseech their little Moloch to maim, mutilate, and otherwise injure enemies of Douglas Wilson, including devout Christians. These imprecatory prayers are a combination of Orwell’s “Two Minutes Hate” and the witching hour, with a few dashed-heads & broken-teeth Bible verses thrown in (there is no evidence they use Voodoo dolls). (This is one way that Doug Wilson sears the consciences of his followers, which is a reason kirkers are unmoved by the multitudes of sexual-abuse victims in their midst.)

    In light of these execrations, please consider this line, which Mike Lawyer wrote 7 days before he died:

    “The cancer has spread to all my lymph nodes, bones, organs, and mostly my liver right now.” (Another Cancer Update, Dec. 6, 2022)

    This reads like the kind of imprecation he would pray for someone else. Yet Mike Lawyer was oblivious — he had no self-awareness — that he suffered the same kind of affliction he begged for others. Theologians call this “judicial blindness” — he could not see a plainly obvious spiritual truth.

    Now read this, which his daughter wrote on his behalf four days before he died:

    “My dad asked about pain. . . . Mike was blindsided by the news of how little time he has. . . He allowed a nurse to wheel him to his truck in a wheelchair. . . . On Thursday evening, around 6:30, my dad asked to be taken to the ER for increasing abdominal pressure. . . They sent him home with some heavy pain meds and had us schedule an appointment for 3:00 PM on Friday. . . . he is desperately tired, and in increasing discomfort. Lifting his hands to type fatigues him. . . . His quality of life is decreasing . . . (difficulty eating, etc) . . . compounded by unremitting fatigue and some disorientation. With the new pain meds, he’s a little extra confused and loopy. . . .” (An Update on Mike (From Rachel), Dec. 9, 2022)

    Again, this reads like the kind of curse he prayed upon others. And notice his oblivion — his complete lack of self-awareness — that providence had “blindsided” him with the dreadful agonies he casually wished upon so-called enemies. More evidence of judicial blindness.

    Now read this, which describes how he died:

    “We asked what death by liver failure was like; she said from what she’s seen, it causes confusion and memory loss, you sleep a lot, and then you die.” (Ibid.)

    It appears that Mike Lawyer’s malignancy consumed him before he could repent. They diagnosed him 7 days before he died, and less than 3 days after his prognosis he was incompetent & incapacitated — “confusion and memory loss, you sleep a lot, and then you die,” or as his daughter wrote, “unremitting fatigue and some disorientation. . . he’s a little extra confused and loopy.” Dude was gone. And his daughter says nothing about a deathbed confession or any warnings for her to flee. It looks like Mike Lawyer died as he lived: Completely unaware. The evil he prayed for others had devoured him. “He that is unjust, let him be unjust still.” (Rev. 22:11)

    For the record, I do not know one person — Christian or not — who beseeched Almighty God to harm Mike Lawyer in any way. But I know several families for whom Mike Lawyer blocked time in his day to pray for their destruction: “The Lord reward him according to his works” (2 Tim. 4:14).

Mike Lawyer enjoyed the title “pastor,” but it was a title only because he betrayed the most basic duty of a shepherd — PROTECT THE SHEEP.

And Mike Lawyer got off easy compared to his victims. He hardly hurt for a week and they doped him to the gills. But his victims have no drugs to ease their pain. They relive their torments each day, including the incomprehensible treachery of a man who refused to defend them from beasts such as Doug Wilson.

Earth is a better place without Mike Lawyer, and in this I rejoice.

Amen.

Hat Tip: @SarahRBader
This post is back-dated to December 14, 2022.