Current Events, Scandal

Spinning Scandals Redux

237 Comments

Most of you have read the post I did some time ago about the 4 steps of spinning fundamentalist scandals. Today, however, I was provided with such a stellar example of this process that I couldn’t help revisiting it.

To give some background, you can read the news item I posted on May 20th describing the arrest and subsequent suicide of Texas fundamentalist pastor Matt Jarrell. The story goes that Jarrell allegedly met a woman in a West Virginia bar (while his family thought he was in Pennsylvania) and then raped her while giving her a ride home.

But as if this story wasn’t already horrific enough, now fellow-fundy “Dr.” Dennis Corle (who credits himself with over over 60,500 souls saved) writes a glowing memorial to Jarrell in his publication “Revival Fires”.

The transcript is as follows:

Goodbye, Old Friend; See You On The Other Side

“”My heart is heavy today in the loss of a dear friend, Pastor Matt Jarrell.There is a lot of unsolved mystery concerning the last few days of his life. Rather than try to solve mysteries, let me mention what I know to be facts.

He was a preacher whose messages were greatly used of God to encourage,challenge and inspire folks to serve the Lord and keep on keeping on, even when times are tough. He loved his wife and children dearly and spoke almost non-stop about them when we were together.

He was one of the most generous and compassionate men that I have ever known and went the extra mile to be a blessing to me, as well as many other people, more times than I can count.

He had a tremendous burden for church planting and was actively involved in the establishment of several local churches. Every place that he served he built something rather than tearing something down. He labored to win souls, to salvage marriages, to recover backsliders, to grow new converts to maturity, to build a great work with high standards, and he took a very strong stand against sin and corruption at every level of society, including government.

Everything I have seen and known to be true only elevate my respect and deepened my friendship with him. I, along with many others,
will miss his friendship and fellowship, and the cause of Christ will feel
the impact of his absence. Please join me in prayer for his precious family, which includes his wife and four children, all of whom I know well and love dearly. They are a godly, close-knit family. Please also pray for his parents and other family members who will feel his loss keenly. If you would like to be a blessing to the family, please contact me through our office. Revival Fires! P.O. Box 245, Claysburg, PA 16625”

To summarize, Matthew was a real mensch and candidate for fundy sainthood…right up until he apparently raped some women and then took the coward’s way out in a West Virginia jail. In fact, the whole rape thing is so inconsequential, it’s not even worth mentioning. But hey, you’re on a roll, Dennis, don’t let me cramp your style.

237 thoughts on “Spinning Scandals Redux”

  2. Sadly if someone were gay and deserved this kind of understanding they wouldn’t get it….

    3. I don’t care about someone’s sexual orientation if they have committed these atrocious criminal acts they don’t deserve understanding they deserve justice.

      1. If someone deserved a kind treatment because they happened to be gay, not happened to have committed any criminal acts ever at all, they wouldn’t get kind treatment. Instead, rapists get that while gay children are shunned and/or kicked out of the house. That is what RobM is saying. Sorry you didn’t understand.

      2. greg,
        I think they were just pointing out an inconsistency that might arise in a hypothetical situation.Rob is expressing his setiment about a person being gay deserving the sympathy Matt Jarrell is getting in his eulogy. I don’t think a gay person who commits crime was in his mind.

        1. Were I a supporter of the wickedness of homosexuality, which of course I’m not, I could certainly find a better place to “stand up for it” than this.

          I guess the promoters of this wickedness will use any and all opportunities to support their favorite, PC sin.

        2. Quite a kind view of human beings who haven’t committed any crimes, or hurt anyone.

        3. Yes, all gay people have never committed any crimes, they are all so wonderful and sensitive. Do you ever listen to yourself?

          This foolish PC rabbit trail is taking away from the seriousness of yet another IFB pastor’s criminal wickedness, if you want to praise the sin of homosexuality why don’t you start a new thread on the forum.

        4. greg, chill, bro. Nobody’s saying homosexuality is cool. RobM’s just pointing out an inconsistency in the IFB’s treatment of people based on preference. A well-respected, soul-winning, sin-stomping “man of God” can rape a woman and kill himself, yet he receives a glowing memorial. A homosexual would just be condemned throughout his life, again at his death, and on a regular basis in memoriam for the next ten years afterward. It’s not PC; it’s a simple comparison.

        5. “Don’t tell them that Jesus loves them until you’re ready to love them too…..

          Why have our hearts become so proud
          That we fail to see
          To love them is to love God!”

        6. Thanks guys. You’d think that was an easy one to get behind. Wasn’t really nuanced or confusingly stated.

        7. Yea I don’t get it, this post is not a place to stand up and defend homosexuality, I suppose I don’t watch enough of the John Stewart show to get it, and I don’t want to. But I am noting the same small SFL contingent of anything goes liberals that are trying to defend this, you are wrong, homosexuality is wrong and vile sin, deal with it.

        9. You gotta lay off the paranoia juice. The gays aren’t out to get you, and aren’t recruiting.

        10. OK, is anyone else getting a little tired of complaints about the supposed “liberal favor” of the comment section? It’s a hoax … just like global warming. 😎

          (Little joke. Chillax, folks.)

        11. Greg, you know what is vile, watching a 400 pound fundie eat at the Chick-Fil-A (or Golden Coral if its’ a Sunday). I do not believe people chose to be gay, so I have no problem with gay people having sex. What I do have a problem is religious people who view homosexuality as a worst sin the gluttony or greed. Heart Disease is the leading killer of Americans, and that is due our American diet. And greed on Wall Street and Washington DC is why our economy is in the tank. Yet fundies feel the need to blame gay people for everything.

        12. Is anyone getting tired of the SFL PC police subjecting their brand of “tolerance” on the rest of us, and injecting that “tolerance” on posts that have nothing at all to do with topic being discussed.

        13. Mark – You are certainly welcome to have any opinion you want (try a new thread on the forum) but what does all this have to do with Matt Jarrell?

        14. greg, remember when I told you to chill? And then when RobM told you to lay off the paranoia juice? 💡

        16. So greg, let’s get it out. What’s your axe to grind with the homos? They just creep you out? You find them less attractive than the overweight manogawd chowin down at Golden Corral? … You’re not hiding in the closet, are you?

    4. IFB sociopathy in pulpits once again makes a full demonstration of itself. I wonder what Corle has got tucked away in the trunk of *his* car?

  4. I will never understand why, if you have the right friends, your grossest sins are swept under the rug. This explains the sad condition of the church in America. And through many missionaries this sinfulness is being taken to the world.

    1. Well, of course this is probably just a story blown out of proportion by the liberal media, one of the IFB favorite scapegoats. As Mike Schrock put it in one of his posts regarding the Tina Anderson trial, when it comes to a Christian “vs.” the media, they’ll believe the Christian every time. No matter the evidence. That mindset makes it so easy for the “Christian” to get away with just about anything in the eyes of their own followers and supporters.

    2. “And through many missionaries”
      Care to name any of those missionaries, fmx, or are you just shooting off at the mouth?
      Seems to me that all the scandals being uncovered on this site are with American IFB pastors and evangelists. The missionaries I know are sincere people who are relieved that they don’t have to be corrupted by the coverups in their home country.

      1. Well, I’ll name one missionary for you. Dr. Donn Ketcham, child rapist, former ABWE missionary (still receiving a pension from ABWE…yes that’s right, anyone supporting ABWE is helping to pay this man’s pension). He was “relieved of service” but not made to confess his sins, nor was he reported to the police although ABWE knew he had been raping little girls in Bangladesh. No public statement was made about this until some of the young women came forward via the internet. That’s one name for you.

        1. Wow…..Undine, have you seen these articles:

          http://www.abwe.org/news/article/abwe-board-and-administration-confession/
          http://www.abwe.org/news/article/abwe-responds-to-mks-blog/

          Any comment on whether they are truly bound by law to continue providing pension? I was impressed by the articles simply because I have never known mission boards like BIMI or FBMI to ever admit wrong or apologize with a “public” (albeit, on their website) statement. Dennis Corle should take a page from their book on how to publicly comment on a man who has substantiated charges against him.

      2. What fmx is trying to say is that many American missionaries, particularly in the IFB, end up not only bringing Christ to the foreign mission field but also the American IFB culture – which includes the covering up of sin that is shown here.

        As for particular missionaries who brought their sins overseas – possibly to avoid US prosecution – I’ll give you Bob Gray. I’m sure BASSENCO has quite a few more names she could give.

      3. stillfundy, I recommend you read “Too Small to Ignore” by Wess Stafford (president/CEO of Compassion International) if you are interested in fundy missionary abuse.

      4. Well, still fundy, I personally know a “missionary of many years removed from his mission board because he had abused his female daughters. What about a married missionary woman who left her husband and children and ran off with her lesbian lover.

        SHALL I GO ON “STILL FUNDY”? These are just people I personally knew. HOW MANY ARE THERE THAT I DON’T KNOW? HUH?

      5. By the way “STILL FUNDY”. As soon as you quit worshipping these perverts and have your eyes open maybe you’ll realize how ignorant you are. How about lying missionaries that have lied showing other people’s works in their slide presentation and claiming them as their own.

        GROW UP YOU JERK AND STOP ACCUSING OTHERS WHEN YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT!

      6. Hey “Still Fundy” (aka jerk), how about a missionary running around with hookers on the field and then giving his wife VD. He was removed from the field for a short time and then sent to another field “to minister.” OH, did I mention that I was introduced to that missionary also. And lest I forget, he was also IFB.

      7. Still fundy, do you have the courage to comment about these or are you a typical fundy. I’ve spent most of my life on the mission field and know of things that you never see in too many lying presentations and sermons.

      8. Thank you Undine for a direct answer to my question; Tikatu, I understand your added perspective. Alice, I visited the site and will order the book. I appreciate the lack of personal attack in your replies.

        fmx, did my comment really deserve my new posting name (“aka Jerk” since “still fundy” is obviously too intimidating to you) and the ALL CAPS rampage? You should refer to Darrell’s post on Arguments for an accurate description of how you turned my 3-sentence reply into a 4-post commentary of my supposed personal immaturity, ignorance, cowardliness, and pervert-worship. If you’ll notice, I said “the missionaries I know,” and I think I accurately stated that this site has not exposed any missionaries (though I have only read 74 pages back…I welcome the correction). Clearly, the use of the words “Care too” and the phrase “shooting off at the mouth” was too offensive to your sensitive personality. You made a generalization, and I challenged you to be specific; since no one else has ever done that before in the comments section, I’ll ask your permission before I ever attempt it again.

        Sarcasm aside, allow me to apologize for bothering you; I certainly do not want to spark unnecessary arguments on this site where people are being helped.

        1. I don’t mind being challenged. It was the “tone” of your challenge. Seems like the typical fundy challenge – insult and question. My use of caps was merely to emphasis my anger at your tone. I think it should be only natural to assume that when there are moral problems in the leadership there will probably be problems in others. The examples that I gave you are all ifb and it is all the truth.

        2. @Still Fundy: On the off chance that you legitimately are a new arrival and not a former troll under a new name, there’s something you need to know. The folks around here aren’t interested in argument. They’re not interested in discussion on any possible redeeming qualities left in the IFB movement (we’re convinced they don’t exist, BTW). Fundamentalist apologists around here have been less than civil in the past, so many of us don’t respond well to continued attempts. All that to say if you’re looking for a discussion on the merits of fundamentalism, there’s the FFF and Sharper Iron. Much of the SFL community is here for recovery, and we aren’t interested in discussion.

          You’ve been warned.

        3. fmx, thanks for explaining the tone of your response and I see your perspective about the leadership and its results. *handshake* and *smile*
          @Mark Thomas
          Did I not apologize to fmx for starting an argument?
          I challenged a generality, inserted my own observation (is that allowed?), showed appreciation to the unemotional responses, and attempted to explain further to the person challenged.
          fmx even explained his tone and it seemed like the matter was finished.
          For you to then come in with a warning is highly unnecessary and implies that you did not read my replies.
          As one who has read most of the site and commmented in the recent past, I consider myself one of the “folks around here.” Since you sound like an admin., I’ll be glad for you to send a message to my personal e-mail to give me more details as to why it seems that I’m one step away from being considered unwelcome.

        4. I should have worded my first reply as, “could you give some specific examples of missionaries, since it seems that this site has not exposed any.” I apologize for my initial tone.
          This whole site is full of challenges, sarcasm, and cynicism (much of the reason why I keep reading), Mark Thomas, forgive me for wanting to play along.

        5. Whatever, dude, if you want to take what I said as a challenge, that’s your deal. I was just trying to explain fmx’s “4-post commentary of [your] supposed personal immaturity, ignorance, cowardliness, and pervert-worship.”

          FWIW, I suppose I should have added one of these stupid smilies ❗ after saying “You’ve been warned.” It wasn’t meant as “I’m on to you,” more like “This is how people are. Get used to it.”

        6. got it….over-reaction on my part…and yes, smilies are often stupid, but sometimes they help explain.

        7. Still Fundy – You owe Mark Thomas nothing, he, like alot of liberals think they are smarter than the rest of us, and “knows” what best for us, much like the Obama’s and the Clinton’s, and well, liberals everywhere.

          He is constantly “patrolling” SFL like a reserve “unpaid” security guard, it’s so obvious, but hilarious that he doesn’t recognize this in himself.

          Alright there Mark if you’re really undercover here on SFL I want to see your badge and also a letter of authentication from Darrell, otherwise sit down and be quiet, and mind your own business.

        8. Ok, greg, you asked for it.

          (Did I just get compared to Barack Obama and Billary Clinton?)

        11. A lot of us have taken the time to question what we were taught in the IFB, realized we didn’t agree and then we left. What I don’t understand is when people who have never questioned an ounce of what they’ve been taught, come on this website and try to “fix” us all. It’s like someone from within a prison camp trying to convince escapees to crawl back under the fence! We WERE you! That’s when you don your Baptist cap and come in here to “go to work” and defend your beliefs as if they’re better, it’s pretty comical to me. “No thanks. I like it outside the prison camp”. 🙄

        12. @Mkxcomm

          Indeed it is better out here. There is beer here and a feast of Epicurean delights.

    1. I am with you Jordan…my mouth is hanging open as I read it. 😈
      Thank God you all never heard this guy preach in person…you’d have a whole new level of wow to add to this.
      Haymen?

        3. @C_Fresh, if I know my fundies at all, the announced reason would’ve been to honor or encourage a saint who is wrongly fully accused and being punished/lied about for being Godly. The real reason is to *eff* up the moral compass of the college students & adults (particularly the abused), so they get the message to not rock the boat or make accusations against HAC approved people.

        4. He was a “Pillar” at FBCH if memory serves.
          Everything Rob said as well.
          Most importantly the standing “O” was an exercise in Control. The Hammond Mafia was making a statement. No one should be talking bad about Brother B. He was a made man in Hammond. This is what the gidfather says we should think about him and no ones should be tinkin for they selves. Capeesh?

        5. Capeesh! Si, Comandante! 😀

          I get the Hyles/FBCH mentality you speak of. I was at a youth conference out there where Schaap got up after Hyles spoke and told us we needed to get Hyles books/tapes and “Get Jack Hyles in your soul”. That was my last trip out there. 😯

        6. @C_Fresh OY! That is sooo perverted! Hyles in your soul??? Can you say EXORCISM!
          My kids had a Hyles sycophant as their Freshman Algebra teacher at a local IFB mothership/Baptist indoctrination facility. Needless to say they did not get through half of the required course work that year for all the sermonizing. And he blew a gasket when someone in one of his classes raised the subject of Jack’s “Behind the Green Door” relationship with Jenni N. Yep, that day he proved he had Jack Hyles in his soul. 🙄

      2. Beloved, did you, in fact, hear him preach?
        If so, which one: Jarrell or Corle (or both)?

        1. Heard Corle preach multiple times at HAC. He came for week long revivals. Can you give me an “Hay-men?!”
          Jarrell was around when I was there.Don’t really remember him at all.
          And YES Hyles really had us give a convicted child molester a standing ovation. They had the guy on speaker phone from jail. I wish I could make this stuff up. 🙁
          Any former Hammondites remember that?

        5. Thanks Bass, it has been a long time and at the time I was a new, green college student and Christian. Couldn’t remember for sure if it was Ballenger. I will never forget how messed up internally I felt when this happened.

        6. That has got to be super traumatizing! I can’t even fathom that happening. And in an environment where you have almost no choice but to trust, and no voice to dissent or question. These are stories that make me glad to believe hell is real.

        9. The People willingly go along with it because they are told to. They get caught up in the moment. That is the beauty of the cult. The herd mentality is so easily manipulated. That is the power of the god-proxy as well. If the MOg said someone needed to be stoned it would just take having the ammunition available to whip the crowd into a righteous bloodthirsty frenzy. The Lessons of Nuremberg are not lost on the leaders in the IFB cult.

        10. Sadly all the wrong lessons. You’d think when your heroes get convicted & lynched, that’d make you think “maybe I like the wrong people in this scenario”…

        11. IAHB do you remember how long Corle used to preach? He would go on for like an hour and a half! When they announced the revival fires conference chapel everyone would inwardly groan because we knew how long we would sit there. I kept thinking “if he would just study he could be done in 30 minutes!”.

  6. 60,500!!!!!

    He’s based in Claysburg, PA (population < 2,000). I guarantee he's never met or spoken to 60,500 people, let alone "saved" that many. Don't care how much travelling he's done, crowds at fundy preaching events aren't that big, even in the fundy belt to claim 60,500.

    1. Adding that 500 on to try to get credebility (so you can tell people, or expect them to believe you aren’t just making up a round number) is quite the touch. He’s had a lot of experience spreading BS around…

    2. It all depends on what you mean.
      If it means he has 60,500 members in his church, then there’s no flippin’ way that’s true.

      If it means that, over some years, he has handed out 60,500 tracts, or yelled at 60,500 people through a bullhorn, it could easily be true.

      1. Unless he’s spent a decent amount of time shoving literature at fans after Steelers & Penguins games I don’t believe his number is any higher than 8,000 to 10,000 harassed. Even going to mass sporting events unless you are handing out samples of candy, you don’t get much response. IDK how many times I’ve walked past hooters style waitresses and declined whatever coupons they were giving out after games, and I’m far from alone. Not easy to give away that much paraphenalia. I guess maybe easier in rural places, but you don’t get the #s.

        1. Of course, he may also be counting the many people he probably preached out of their salvation. You can really inflate the numbers when the same people keep coming to the altar.

        2. Yeah, you get 2,000 people down to an altar 30 times, and voila 60,000 just add on 500 to make it seem more believable.

    4. If he’s preaching to the adults on Sunday mornining, let’s say, he’ll count those that were “saved” in the children’s church also on that day. I guess he’ll claim it was done under his anointing. He preaches a lot of other churches’ “big days” too, that’s when a lot of folks get “saved” from the buses.

  7. A judge (now deceased) in Dallas used to collect newspaper obituaries (especially the paid obituaries placed by the subject’s family) in which salient details were omitted, such as that the cause of death was being executed for murder, or that the dearly departed had spent 20 years in prison for embezzling. I don’t know what became of his collection, but this item would make an excellent addition to it.

    1. It would be interesting to send this to a reporter who has already covered the rape stories…

  8. “See you on the other side.”? I Corinthians 6:9, Galatians 5:19, Ephesians 5:1-6

    1. Yeah, Corle is pretty convinced of Jarrell’s salvation, but I most certainly am not. I think this freak is domiciled with the wicked child-molesting Bob Gray and serial killer Ted Bundy “on the other side”.

      1. I don’t know Mr. “Dr.” Dennis Corle, but is it possible that he will meet Matt Jarrell on THAT other side?

  9. That was a vomit-inducing tribute to a serial rapist and wolf in the pulpit.

  10. If I was the FBI I know who just became a person of interest to any on going investigation of other attacks and rapes associated with this case in WVA.

    I mean it sounds like they did soooo much together.

    I’m sorry but this behavior hits really close to home. I have no sympathy for con artists and Elmer Gantry types.

    The IFB is fertile breeding ground for manipulative sob’s who should receive Oscars for their performances of piety in the Pulpit. I’m sorry but if you are a pastor and you are the Alpha Bullsh*tter, accountable to no-one but God then I will assume you are a lying manipulative con artist until you prove different.

    The IFB is a magnet for self-serving narcissistic, sociopaths. The amount of corruption and manipulation that takes place is bound only by the amount of unaccountable, unrestrained power that is available to them. And when one stands in the pulpit and claims the god-proxy then the power is limitless. No lie is too big, no emotional manipulation is too much, nothing can come against the M-O-g and no evil he does is too great it can’t be explained away or covered up.

    1. Don, you always say it so well. Reading your posts is therapeutic, a reminder that we made the right decision.

  11. Men whose messages are truly used of God to encourage,challenge and inspire people to serve the Lord and keep on keeping on even when times are tough, who love their wives and children deeply, who take a very strong stand against sin and corruption at every level of society including government, who truly win souls, salvage marriages, recover backsliders and grow new converts to maturity DON’T KIDNAP AND RAPE WOMEN!

    The only real mystery about all of this is how such wicked men can continue on year after year without being found out. And how “men of God” help cover their sins.

    1. And how “men of God” help cover their sins.

      “And how “men of god” help and contribute in the commission those sins…”
      So long as the perp is a good tither, family or knows where all the mog’s skeletons are buried then the M-O-g in question will move heaven and earth to cover sin, excuse sin and deny that it actually was sin.
      “Show Me the Money,” and I’ll show you a coverup.

    2. Well said, I’m going to say kidnap and rape have a way of destroying ones credibility.

      1. I would venture to say it hurts one’s testimony even more than drinking root beer from a brown bottle or dressing immodestly would do.

        1. No KIDDING!!! This is why their moral compass is SOOO messed up – making ridiculous trite things important makes them incapable of dealing with true sin.

          Stuff like this makes me so mad: I avoided movie theaters, wouldn’t listen to CCM, and even wore a skirt horsebacking riding so I wouldn’t be scorned by people like THIS???? Methinks their scorn is a badge of honor when praise is given to a man like Matt Jarrell.

        3. Pastor’s Wife – abso – freakin’ – lutely!!! The IFB is so warped there’s simply no moral compass left. NONE. Nada. Zilch. Zero. They harbor rapists and pedophiles and continue to blame victims for their victimhood. They are truly vile, evil people.

    3. “The only real mystery about all of this is how such wicked men can continue on year after year without being found out.”

      I would add one more mystery to this. And that is how many other women did this guy rape?

      1. With the abuse gear that was found in Jarrell’s vehicle, it looks like he was quite the professional rapist.

  12. If you would like to be a blessing to the family, please contact me through our office. Revival Fires!

    Sounds like and offer to launder funds through his organization. Wonder howmuch adminsitrative fees are fro going through this group?

    1. It’s late.
      I’m ill, and upset at this Beatification of a Fundie, “alleged” serial rapist, and george is just being george.
      to wit:
      “Sounds like an offer to launder funds through his organization. Wonder how much the administrative fees are for going through this group.”

      1. I know of only one woman he is alleged to have raped. Certainly that’s bad enough, so there’s no need to embellish it by calling him a “serial” rapist. Unless you have more information?

        4. Interesting how he served at the pastor of OPBC until 2003, and his first arrest was in 2003. I can’t help but suspect that’s connected, and yet the church and the pastors associated with him didn’t appear to have denounced him. I would also posit that when a man proactively offers a woman a ride home and then goes to a secluded area and rapes her, it’s not the first rape he’s committed. Even had he not been charged previously, I’d be prone to suspect he was a repeat rapist. And I’d hate to think of how he treated his wife.

        5. That’s the most ridiculous part is that they guys just blend into the spousal abusers, and they all act like nothing is wrong, and it was out of the “clear blue”, cause they don’t recognize or care about spouse abuse. The women had it coming…

          Fundy Fail.

  13. Wow! This is disgusting! You would think this guy died on the mission field, surrounded by converts and preaching a final sermon with his last breath if you did not know the real story.

    It is like the old joke where the hired minister is giving the eulogy. He didn’t know the deceased so he is embroidering his good points pretty heavily. After about fifteen minutes of listing his virtues the man’s mother-in-law gets up and shuffles painfully down the aisle and peeks in the casket. She looks up at the minister and says ‘Carry on. The feller you was talking about sounded so nice I started to think I was at the wrong funeral’.

    1. The pastor of a poor rural Baptist church dies. The congregation goes into town to raise money for the funeral. One congregant walks up to the local atheist and asks “Will you donate $10 to bury a Baptist pastor?” The atheist hands the man $20 and says “Here go bury two of them!”

  14. Did I miss the part where Corle exhorts people to pray for the victim of this $(*&$@’s heinous attack? I mean, sure, we absolutely should pray and lift up the rapist’s family; they are innocent and are going through absolute hell right now. But seriously. This display of filth (on both the part of the rapist AND his defender) is absolutely a reason why I’d never consider bringing my family into a fundy church. I have several more thoughts on the matter. Unfortunately, they are not printable.

    1. If he said anything about vicims, he would have had to admit there was a crime which would have tarnished his pal’s sterling reputation as a fine pastor. His goal was to paint a beautiful portrait of his friend, truth be damned.

  15. “…over 60,500 saved”

    Saved from what? Surely he can’t be talking about salvation from Hell. If so, then I’m calling him out for his man-centered blasphemy.

    Perhaps the Revival Fires motto should read: “Jesus [and Dennis Corle] Saves.”

  16. “He loved his wife and children dearly and spoke almost non-stop about them when we were together.” Sounds to me Jarrell was trying a little too hard to appear like a great family man. How many guys talk constantly about their families?

    3. I thought it was a mere exaggeration. Most men talk about their families at some point during the day. In fact, it’s unusual to never mention one’s family. Speaking about them “almost non-stop” sounds to me like embelishment designed to make the alleged rapist/suicide sound like more of a family man.

      1. I agree it could be an exaggeration, but it could also have been Jarrell’s fear that his sin would be “perceptible.” So, he may have overcompensated and talked about the family a lot as a smoke screen. Probably a combination of both.

  17. Ok, I know I’m going to get slammed for this, but what if the guy described in the article WAS the guy Corle knew? Some people are very skilled at living double lives and maybe Jarrell was one of them. I don’t know any of the players in this situation, but it’s human nature to act differently around different groups of people.

    That being said, if Jarrell did what he’s accused of and Corle knew he was a dirtbag before this incident and didn’t expose him, well, Corle will have to answer for that.

    1. Laura – I’m not going to slam you. But if what you say is true, that Corle only knew Jarrell as a wonderful family man and Christian, then Corle needs to go away into a corner somewhere and process the information and facts and say nothing. Then offer up prayers for Jarrell’s family AND the woman he raped AND her family, rather than glorifying Jarrell’s life.

      1. Totally agree! People can be fooled; people can see only one side of a person — but when something like this goes down, it behooves a wise person to refrain from speaking or at least temper what you say with grief and sadness not eulogize him with unmitigated praise.

    2. Even if it were the guy he knew (kind of doubtful), it was due to turning a blind eye major warning signs, and at this point he’s sticking with the glorification of his “friend” regardless of what he can no longer deny.

    3. Laura, that is entirely possible. I consider myself a pretty good judge of character, but I’ve been faked out by people before. But the last thing I’d do for someone after finding out who they really are is write something like this about them.

    4. Thanks for the kind replies! 😐
      I think I’m oversensitized to this issue because a very good pastor friend was on a staff where the senior pastor went to the big city to see prostitutes, and the cops knew, and some in the congregation couldn’t see how my pastor friend didn’t know Something was going on. He was shunned (and I believe fired) because he didn’t know. Sometimes we don’t see things right in front of us. Ask someone whose spouse asks for a divorce “out of the blue.”
      IMO, Corle should have written the article with a stronger “this is how I knew him tone,” rather than the apologist tone he did take.

      1. Laura, in our church the pastor did some REALLY bad stuff and NOBODY knew. When it all came out the elders and staff were blamed for not knowing. Well, DUH they were guilty of trusting a guy who decieved them. But it is a classic case of blaming the victims. It is possible the guy who wrote this tribute never saw any warning signs till hindsight, but then it is like Scorpio said, he needs to just keep his veiwpoint to himself until he has had time to sort it all out.

      2. I think it would be helpful to consider that the leadership structure of IFB churches empowers this kind of deception. There is little or no accountability, and people only get to “know” the polished, spruced, and blazer-bedecked facades rather than real people. I doubt this Jarrell fellow was a fine Christian who decided one day, “Gee, I think I’ll rape someone today…yeah, that sounds like a good idea.” It was doubtless a longer process, fueled by unchecked lust, pornography, and a snowball of other sins. Unfortunately, there is no safe place in IFB where people can talk as actual sinners and walk together and fight for sanctification without fear of being judged, ostracized, shunned, gossiped about, etc. I pray that those who face daily temptation would find a real church to grow their hearts, or I fear we shall see more of this.

        1. Excellent points. Our churches need to focus on being authentic instead of striving to put on a “stained-glass” facade of perfection.

      3. LauraT99,

        I pretty much agree with you. At Fundy U, those of us going into the ministry were encouraged not to become too close to the members of our church. Instead, we were to become friends with other MOgs. Someone can be a horrible person generally but hide it during a weekly breakfast meeting with their ‘close friend’. No accountability exists for a fundy MOg. Once you are in that position, any contradiction or attempts at oversight is sermon fodder.

        In my opinion, what makes these guys so dangerous is that they are in a position of trust in the community. That, combined with a sometimes uncanny ability to hide their tracks lets them get away with awful behavior for a very long time.

        The perp (not all fundy preachers are criminals) walks into church on Sunday morning with his suit on and his Bible under his arm. His loving wife and children follow him. He gets up and preaches and that is what people see. They confuse that with actually knowing the person.
        When one of these scandals breaks, people always say ‘I have known Bro. X for years. He would never do something like that’. In truth, they don’t know him. They just see the carefully scrubbed image that he presents at church 3-4 times per week.

        The same goes for his preacher buddies. They see him off and on at revival meetings and for golf games. They confuse that with actually knowing a person.
        Your point that this Jarrell may have been the person Corle knew is a good one I think.

        1. You explained that well. It is very easy to pull off the APPEARANCE of godliness. Developing the REALITY takes humility and devotion to God’s Word and probably a good dose of accountability.

        2. Wow, I remember Jim Schetler at PCC telling us preacher boys never to have good friends within the congregation. His reasoning was to avoid the appearance of favoritism.

          Oh wait, last time I said something negative about Schetler on a website, I was banned from the PCC alumni list…

          Opps…

        3. They just see the carefully scrubbed image that he presents at church 3-4 times per week.

          Excellent observation!
          And how many of the others are doing the exact same thing? Hiding behind their masks of piety? Playing the part of the most holy, high judge. Looking the part in order to preach against this sin or that sin to others. Appearing to have it all together so that they seem justified in preaching against something.
          I have found that whatever is preached against the most is where the M-O-g is having the greatest problems in his own life. If he is always preaching about lust and how women should be modest then he is struggling with it himself and trying to blame others for his struggle. Homosexuality? Money and Giving? If you set under a series of sermons on any given topic then maybe it’s time to go talk to the preacher and find out what’s going on. (and that is what should be done… but in the atmosphere of the IFB no one dare question the M-O-g lest they be castigated and find themselves the object of his wrath.) It’s all about “Keeping Up Appearances.”

        4. telling us preacher boys never to have good friends within the congregation. His reasoning was to avoid the appearance of favoritism.

          Snap! Oh,oh, oh! the other side of that coin is that familiarity breeds contempt. If someone gets to know you too well, then you loose that air of dominance over them. In the Americanized Churchianity model the MOg must maintain an image of moral, and personal superiority. If it is found out that the MOg is merely a sheeple like the rest of the congregation then he loses control over them. And make no mistake in the IFB it is ALL (and yes this time all means all 😉 ) ALL about WHO in in CONTROL. Lose control and lose your ministry. grrrrrrrrr!!! 😡

    5. It’s possible to praise the good a person has done while still acknowledging the dark side of the person’s history.

  18. On his website it says he wrote a book called “Sodomy: The Sickest Sin on Earth.”

    Homosexuality is apparently more heinous than rape, murder, genocide, child molestation, etc.

    This sweeping under the rug of this man’s crimes is whats sick. I honestly can not believe this, even from these people.

    1. In the Gospels, Jesus never mentions homosexuality.

      He does condemn hypocrisy many, many times, however.

      1. As far as I remember, he also didn’t specifically mention rape.

        If we’re only going to call things “sin” that Jesus specifically named then the list will be pretty short.

        Just sayin.

        1. I’m not trying to say nothing that Jesus didn’t comdemn can be wrong.
          The point I was trying to make was that Jesus placed special emphasis on condemning hypocrisy, of which I think the article by Dennis Corle is an example.

        2. There’s a joke(?) in here somewhere about what is covered under “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” and what isn’t.

    2. ❗ If I’m reading the article correctly, this dude sodomized his victim – is it somehow better because the victim was a female? ❓ ❗

    3. Especially interesting since, according to the news article, he sodomized his victim.

      1. I see Fundystan also made this connection between the news article and book title.

    4. Ugh, please don’t get another homosexuality debate going. For certain commenters here, it never dies.

      1. You’re exactly right, inserting it into blog posts totally unrelated to the subject at hand.

        1. Today’s comment section is brought to by the letter V. “Vee, as in Vindictive, Vitriol, and Vendetta…”

        3. Promotional consideration for today’s broadcast given by Homophobia and the continued support of paranoiacs like you.

  19. This should be a cautionary tale to anyone out there reading who can’t believe their Pastor would do such a thing. We are all ‘capable’ of all kinds of terrible behavior. Go do your homework before you rush to defend someone.

  20. Today in Seattle, is Slutwalk, a protest against those who believe that what the woman is wearing is the cause for her rape. What’s embarrassing is that the nut jobs from Westboro Baptist Church is protesting that, I mean really!?!?!?!? Sad that the only thing this particular church is known for, is what they protest, instead of having its members in church, doing what the church was originally intended for.

    1. Westboro Baptist Church is really just Fred Phelps and (some) members of his large family. Denouncing other people as evil has become their whole reason for living.
      Some of them have said in interviews that they believe everyone except for Westboro Baptist Church members will go to hell.
      That’s everyone in the world– all good people, all people of faith, all Christians, all Baptists, even all Independent Fundamentalist Baptists– except for them.

      So they worship a God who hates everybody, or at least nearly everybody.

      Yes, it’s very sad and pathological.

    2. And the funny thing about that is that Fred Phelps probably won’t be there. But his granddaughters will be there, probably wearing shorts. They only way to tell them apart from the slutwalkers is that they’ll be holding the signs telling the slut walkers that God hates them.

      1. Just like the only way to tell the difference between the IFB and any other morally bankrupt cult is….is…..oh wait, there is no difference.

        1. Sort of like bankrupt bloggers who never report Presbyterian crimes but I guess it doesn’t matter too much when you really aren’t even a Presbyterian any more. http://bit.ly/lG0VDs Maybe you ought to move into reporting the crimes of astrologist.

        2. Presbyterian churches discipline and defrock ministers who commit gross sexual sin. That’s why defrocked presby ministers become Baptists. They learn where they have to go to get away with it. And if you read my blog, you’ll see that I don’t recommend that anybody consult an astrologer, ever.

          But by all means, YOU feel free to blog about presbyterian ministers/astrologers/toreadors/etc. who molest children. I would certainly have no objection.

          I understand that child molesting happens: it’s the total immunity in the IFB, the complete absence of any church discipline, that is the abundant evidence of its damnation.

        3. Some sample Google searches:

          Presbyterian Church abuse – “About 2,470,000 results (0.13 seconds)”

          Methodist Church abuse – “About 6,110,000 results (0.17 seconds)”

          Baptist Church abuse – “About 14,300,000 results (0.21 seconds)”

          Catholic Church abuse – “About 14,600,000 results (0.14 seconds)”

          I’m gonna go out on a limb and say that Presbyterians are not the biggest problem here, although any and all abuse is vile and reprehensible. 🙁

        4. @Soli Deo Gloria
          And, again, Presbyterians and Methodists have policies in place to identify and remove child molesters from church office. Baptists fail to do so, refuse to do so, and insist that they have a God-given prerogative NOT to do so. That is wicked, open defiance of Biblical church discipline.

        1. “That’s why defrocked presby ministers become Baptists”

          This pearl of wisdom when I was just about to start taking you seriously again.

        2. This from the guy turning over rocks in his back yard looking for homosexuals.

        3. @Mark Thomas

          Oddly, he would have more success if he looked anywhere else.

  21. It’s so sad that a pastor can allegedly rape a woman, get arrested, and then kill himself in jail AND STILL BE PRAISED AND LAUDED, yet if a pastor chooses to play CCM in his church or use another version of the Bible or stop wearing a suit and tie to church, he’ll be vilified, slandered, and shunned.

    THIS IS MADNESS!

    2. Bingo!

      I am sure Jarrell was KJVO, and that is what matters most ya know… 🙄

  22. A few comments on the article:

    “Rather than try to solve mysteries, let me mention what I know to be facts.” The criminal charges, arrest, and suicide are all “mysteries” but his personal opinion of his friend is a “fact.”

    “He was a preacher whose messages were greatly used of God to encourage,challenge and inspire folks to serve the Lord and keep on keeping on, even when times are tough.” IOW, he was good at telling OTHER people how to live but apparantly didn’t follow his preaching himself.

    “He loved his wife and children dearly and spoke almost non-stop about them when we were together.” Love is more than words. Love requires FAITHFULNESS!!!

    “He … went the extra mile to be a blessing to me, as well as many other people, more times than I can count.” So if he’s good to YOU, it doesn’t matter what he does to some loose woman he met in a bar?

    “He labored … to build a great work with high standards, and he took a very strong stand against sin and corruption at every level of society, including government.” This part makes me sick. “High standards” probably meant that women had to wear skirts or no music with drums was allowed. This is a prime example of mote and beam. And what’s the point of his concern over sin and corruption in society if he was harboring it in his own heart?

    “Everything I have seen and known to be true only elevate my respect and deepened my friendship with him.” You may have loved him, but in light of how his life ended, it’s so strange to me to still be talking about respect.

    “I, along with many others, will miss his friendship and fellowship,” – certainly. I’m sure he will. No problem here with someone saying they were friends, but the next part of the sentence is amazing:

    “and the cause of Christ will feel the impact of his absence.” WHAT???? What kind of impact did what happened just have on the cause of Christ? How many church members will be disillusioned? How many unbelievers will heap scorn on ALL Christians over this?

    “Please join me in prayer for his precious family, which includes his wife and four children, all of whom I know well and love dearly.” Certainly we believers should be remembering this family in prayer, but I definitely would question the “know well” part.

    1. “How many church members will be disillusioned? How many unbelievers will heap scorn on ALL Christians over this?”

      I fear there will be many of each.
      It’s the nature of news that thousands of people doing their jobs and being good to each other is generally not news, but one person committing a felony is, of course, news. That means people like Matt Jarrell become the public face of Christianity for many non-church people.

  23. In a nutshell: “Let’s avoid reality, sweep the facts under the rug, seek justice for the innocent MOG and blame the victim.” Typical fundy class . . . and no one had any clue of previous wrong doings.

    Our church just ran a background check on our senior pastor candidate.

  24. “greatly used of God” – the four most misused words in all of history, I think. Anything can be excused because he was “greatly used of God”. I don’t even remember how many of these things from the Fundy world I’ve seen that go on about that…

  25. Our pastor has stated several times to us as a congregation that even though we are all sinners,there are some sins that he as the pastor can not commit or else he is done for!!

    It takes a lot of pride to support an IFB preacher!

    1. He is a sociopathic IFB preacher who lives by the counterfeit religion that the IFB hawks as Christianity, trying to salvage his livelihood and prestige by trying to glorify a rapist. In other words, he is playing the IFB game.

  27. Sick. And they say women must wear skirts; that pants will cause men to lust. Listening to rock and roll will make you worldly. So many little sins, that aren’t sins at all, according to the Bible, get “called out.” Yet, one of the worst things a person could do to another, gets ignored. 🙄

  28. Hey, at least he didn’t go to picture shows, drink booze or let his hair touch his collar.

  29. The new fundy rule should be chastity belts on females. I would say women but we have to protect the little girls too.

    2. Wouldn’t it make more sense to put them on the men?

      It seems like the men are the problem much more often than the women, and the “females” they molest are not always in their own churches.

  30. As the VBS director awkwardly stated at the closing of VBS last week, “thank you for letting us touch your children as they have touched us.” …

    3. Yeah, that guy is a creep, but when Jack Black said it in School of Rock, everyone laughed. Stupid Baptists.

      1. Johnnythan, I’d love to mock you right now, but greg went and drew aggro.

  31. Sooo is anyone else thinking of using that address/phone number to ask some of these important questions?

  32. Isn’t there a place for a human being to get an obituary…without also being a listing of that individual’s sins? Obituaries aren’t written for the dead, but for the living family members & friends who are still working through tragedies like this.

    Does one sin or even a bunch of sins completely outweigh the good a person might do, and should the individual be completely defined by those sins?

    What good does it do to condemn a man when he is no longer around?

    And suicide is not the coward’s way out. If you had any understanding of how bad life without parole is, you might not speak so casually. What’s the difference between dying in prison of old age (with only primitive medical care along the way) and dying in prison at the hands of the State and dying in prison in a hopeless situation at your own hands? Yet you only consider 1 of those 3 to be “unjust”.

    1. I think you need to look up the definition for cowardice.

      Then look up Paul’s writings about being in prison.

      Then maybe reconsider your line of argument re: offing yourself is fine if you’re facing prison for your crimes.

    2. I don’t see a whole lot of condemning the man who is no longer around. What I see is a lot of condemnation of the cover-up happening after he’s gone.

    3. He chose not to face the music for what he was alleged to have done; the pain of suicide was the easy way out. Coward.

    4. If he didn’t continue to drudge up past sins, Darrell wouldn’t have a website. And don’t try to argue with him…Darrell is never wrong.

      1. SJL: “Nothing to see here! Move along! I’m not a fundy, but I sure smell like one!”

      2. Regardless of Darrell’s “never being wrong”, I know a certain commenter that proves over & over again that he’s incapable of being right…

      3. What is it about super sancitimonious prigs named John (or some derivative of the same?)

        Dude, you can often be humorous and insightful… and then you go all anti-Darrell.

        This post is about one guy Cannonizing an alleged serial rapist. There was no mention of praying for his victims, his family or the trauma that the church members will endure in the aftermath of of this cowards actions. People believed in this IFB MOg and there-in lies the tragedy. I do not know the man but I know of one almost exactly like him, (he’s in jail now) and I know it was the IFB movement that allowed such sociopathic narcissists to be put into positions of power. And we see in this article another one of their stripe praising his fallen brother in power. If God used him for good then Praise the Lord for the Lord’s goodness and mercy… but there is nothing to be praising the alleged serial rapist for.

      4. I’d like to nominate Jonathan for today’s “Seagull Poster Award.” He flies into the room, splatters stuff all around, makes some noise, ruffles some feathers and flies back out without making any worthwhile remarks. Congrats, Big J!

    5. questions said, “Does one sin or even a bunch of sins completely outweigh the good a person might do?”

      According to Ezekial 18:24, “if a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits sin and does the same detestable things the wicked man does, will he live? NONE OF THE RIGHTEOUS THINGS HE HAS DONE WILL BE REMEMBERED. Because of the unfaithfulness he is guilty of and because of the sins he has committed, he will die.” [emphasis mine]

    6. questions also asked: “What good does it do to condemn a man when he is no longer around?”

      1. People should be warned about how even “holy men” can fall into evil.
      2. The world needs to see the church criticizing sin when it is found in the church, not only when it is found in society.
      3. Deception and obfuscation is not becoming to Christians who are to be truthful.
      4. God promises that the hidden things of darkness will be brought to the light so the church should support the openness of coming to the light and confessing what was wrong instead of pretending sin didn’t happen.

      “The memory of the righteous is a blessing, but the name of the wicked will rot.” – Proverbs 10:7

      “He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.” – Proverbs 28:13

      “Finally, I confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide my guilt. I said to myself, ‘I will confess my rebellion to the LORD.'” – Ps. 32:5

  34. Wow…..Undine, have you seen these articles:

    http://www.abwe.org/news/article/abwe-board-and-administration-confession/
    http://www.abwe.org/news/article/abwe-responds-to-mks-blog/

    Any comment on whether they are truly bound by law to continue providing pension? I was impressed by the articles simply because I have never known mission boards like BIMI or FBMI to ever admit wrong or apologize with a “public” (albeit, on their website) statement. Dennis Corle should take a page from their book on how to publicly comment on a man who has substantiated charges against him.

  35. I know personally of an Assemblies of God pastor who had a sexual relationship with a woman in his congregation. The entire incident was covered up by the Deacon Board and by the District Superintendent, and he was allowed to resign and continue his “ministry.”

    Jimmy Swaggart, Jim Bakker are examples of ministers who somehow manage to retain a loyal following in spite of their actions. And the fellow in Florida with all the tattoos can do no wrong. Sometimes, it seems that the more outrageous behavior just endears them more to their followers. Now I know that these fellows are not IFB, but it seems like the loyalty from both camps is identical. If it’s one of our own, they can do no wrong.

    Personally, I have more understanding and sympathy of relationships between two people who remain committed to each other through thick and thin. There, I’ve said it.

    1. Whoa, whoa, whoa. You can’t talk about the Assemblies of God on this website. This site is only for bashing Baptists. Take that junk somewhere else.

      1. Jonathan…shut up. Just shut up. I’m tired of being the nice one, trying to keep the peace, when people like you keep crossing the line. You are ruining the experience for everyone. Every single comment I’ve seen you post here has been loaded with sarcasm and disdain for every reader here. We’re all sick of your antics. I don’t care if you or anyone else calls me “nasty,” “rude,” or whatever your pet projections. Just because you can’t handle the truth that many fundies are toxic doesn’t give you the right to troll this site and pick fights with everyone. If you don’t like it, go somewhere else. Stop it. 👿

        1. Melody – the best way to get people to go away is to ignore them and let them dig their own holes. This works best when you don’t stoop to their level. Just sayin’. Personally, I don’t think Jonathan has done much *wrong* here. I definitely don’t agree with most of what he says, but I also do not get irritable with him, either. I think there exists an overwheling majority that do not agree with him.

          Just let him keep going because, in reality, he’s just spinning his wheels getting no where fast.

          🙄

      3. When you unleash a constant barrage of nasty, even when you try to make a (lame) denominational joke, you’ve poisoned the well so much that you still get these responses! Time to look in the mirror!

  36. This post stirs a memory of a disturbing story that my mother told about a good friend of hers. the lady was a christian, and the story came out during a Christian meeting about forgiveness. When my mother’s friend was young, her parents, who weren’t Christians, split up and she was raised by her grandparents., who were ultra-fundamentalst in outlook. Her grandfather was strict about many things, such as proper dress, and keeping the Sabbath. This girl was punished by her grandfather numerous times for commiting such heinous sins as reading a non-christian magazine on the Sabbath. He also raped her on a regular basis. Never on a Sunday, though – for a Christian like him to break the Sabbath would be unthinkable.

    1. ps the abuser was never brought to justice, but my mother’s friend tried to commit suicide on a couple of occasions. That made matters worse: it proved she wasn’t a Christian -Christians don’t try to commit suicide. Ther grandmother new what was going on – but she was a good Fundamentalist wife.

    2. How horrible! Not only rape, but child rape, and incestual child rape. How DARE they think that God cares more about “keeping the Sabbath” than violating a child! That kind of evil makes me so mad I can’t express it.

      1. That was an unusual case even by Fundamentalist standards, but anyone who has lived in Fundystan knows how priorties can get a bit bendy. The Law can become more important than People. If you are hurt when God’s law is applied, however harshly, then it’s your fault for being a sinner. People live and then they die, but the Law of God exists forever.

  37. Both the rapist and the fundy preachers who defend him are great case studies in what happens when the preacher is the focus of the church. The American fundy preacher resides on a pedestal that is, imho, unbiblical. Put a weak, egotistical buffoon on such a pedestal and surround him with other fools on their pedestals, and anything is possible.

  38. I going to find a racey postcard (or one with a cast memeber of Glee) and send it to the editor telling them I hope the rapist Matt Jarrell is in hell and being sodomized by the devil.

      1. I sent my postcard today. I found one with a bible verse on it. I even quoted on bible verses about certian types of sinners not going to heaven.

  41. I actually get a copy of this paper and can’t find this article in the June issue that I have. Does whoever posted this know what page it is on?
    Also, I have seen the name Marty Braemer on here before and noticed there was an ad in the paper for a book he has written called “This Little Light”.

  42. If I had subscribed to Revival Fires, this would cause me to withdraw my subscription.

    My friend’s pastor (IFB) came out strongly against Matt Jarrell, calling him a fraud, liar, and hypocrite.

    So, not everyone in the IFB world supports this.

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