Post by sheri01 on Jun 27, 2023 20:18:27 GMT -5
From Jonathon McLernon
Subject: Lord Be Not Silent... Continue to expose the pedophiles, the rapists, and the cowards who enable them
You might be "shocked" to read such words from a "professing man".
(this email should probably come with a trigger warning, particularly for the overseers who don't just hit "delete" and actually have the courage to hear the truth.)
Maybe this is shocking because we are so conditioned to speaking in euphemisms and hearing euphemisms from "the platform"
(A euphemism is an innocuous word or expression used in place of one that is deemed offensive or suggests something unpleasant.)
How often are we hearing pithy quotes, and verses cloaked in vague language to undermine and dismiss the BRUTAL truth of this decades-long cover-up?
Let me give you an example: "I behaved in a way that was unwise many years ago towards a young person."
That's a lot more palatable than "I repeatedly sexually assaulted a helpless minor by forcibly placing my hands on their genitals against their will and then told them it was our little secret."
How about: "I conducted myself inappropriately towards a sister worker while at preps one year."
A lot more palatable than: "I violently raped a sister worker, ignoring her sobbing pleas to stop while threatening her that if she ever spoke a word of it, she would be excommunicated, and called a liar because no one would believe her."
If you feel uncomfortable reading those words, imagine YOU were the victim of being VIOLENTLY violated against your will. If that doesn't make you feel sick to your stomach, a burning rage inside of you, or a grief so deep it feels like your stomach doesn't have a bottom... maybe you have a "seared conscience".
Sackcloth and Ashes. I've heard about this from "the platform" many times over the years.
Sackcloth and ashes were used as a public sign of deep repentance, painful grief and profound humility before God. When Jonah declared to the people of Nineveh that God was going to destroy them for their wickedness, everyone from the king on down responded with repentance, fasting, and sackcloth and ashes.
Esther 4 describes Mordecai tearing his clothes, putting on sackcloth and ashes, and walking out into the city “wailing loudly and bitterly.” Mordecai felt this deep, overwhelming emotion to King Xerxes’ declaration that gave evil Haman the authority to destroy the Jews.
If there was ever a time for "sackcloth and ashes", the time IS NOW.
Those who truly respect God and his righteousness are DEEPLY grieved and BITTERLY sorry for all of the pain and suffering inflicted on the most vulnerable in this fellowship. The number of victims and abusers is STAGGERING. If we lived in old testament times, conventions would be places of deep mourning and sorrow before God because the "priesthood" has been so badly corrupted that there are HUNDREDS of predators that have DESTROYED the lives of THOUSANDS of God-fearing Christians, leaving them bitter, broken and many even wondering if God exists.
I started hearing an outpouring of stories of the AWFUL things that happened to women and children in this fellowship after I wrote my second letter (https://jonmclernon.link/jonathans-letter)...
Story after story of traumatized victims pleading for SOMEONE to hear them, to speak for them, still tortured, thinking that their soul is bound for hell because they were either excommunicated or were so traumatized they simply couldn't bear to be in another meeting listening to flowery sounding spiritual words from their abuser, watching people unknowingly praise pathological predators.
So, yes, perhaps you will notice a shift in tone from my first letter (https://jonmclernon.link/jonathans-letter1), to my second letter (https://jonmclernon.link/jonathans-letter), and now to this, my third letter (https://jonmclernon.link/jonathans-letter3).
For every brave victim who bares their soul publicly and tells their story, there are 10 more who are still unable to come forward because it's too painful. The stories I have heard are not my stories to tell, that would be a betrayal of the trust these individuals showed me by sharing their stories.
But suffice it to say, after the shock of the outpouring of stories, I found myself oscillating between feeling numb, feeling helpless, feeling intense anger and deep sorrow. I'm a trauma-informed professional and I am experienced in hearing stories like this in my professional work, but this feels more deeply personal because it involves my faith and a Christian fellowship that I have been a part of for the better part of 4 decades.
I'm not sure what's worse: the deafening silence, or the dripping insincerity coming from the letters of perpetrators that amount to "I'm sorry that I got caught, poor me" and the false humility of "For the sake of the ministry, it's with a heavy heart I'm stepping down."
WHERE IS THE DEEP SORROW AND BITTER REPENTANCE??
It isn't there because pathological predators don't have a conscience.
They can only ever feel like the victim and prey on the emotions of naive followers who desperately want to see the best in others, and think "It must have just been a moment of weakness in the flesh". It is immensely difficult for a kind-hearted person to actually understand the brutal heartless violence of child rape and sexual assault. And, so cognitive dissonance leads to denial and disbelief.
WHY IS IT SO HARD TO SPOT A PREDATOR?
A predator is charming, charismatic and highly skilled in EMOTIONAL MANIPULATION. In public, predators are well-behaved, well-respected individuals, and that's what can make it so hard to spot one, and why there can be so much cognitive dissonance around a predator being revealed. "I can't believe it" ..."How could they do that?"... "I've never seen ANY signs, they were always SO Helpful!"
It would also be incredibly difficult to walk around and start every human interaction with the assumption that the other individual might be a pathological predator. We WANT to believe that most people are simply good people who "make mistakes in moments of weakness".
Because the reality that there are HUNDREDS of heartless predators who repeatedly commit rape and sexual assault for DECADES is far more terrifying. That there are complicit overseers who ship sexual predators to 3rd world countries where their crimes are even LESS likely to be reported, is heart-achingly painful to realize.
Let's not even get started on those who are not only CONSUMING child pornography but PRODUCING it. That is a special kind of Satanic EVIL.
And so people simply bury their heads in the sand and say things like "I don't want to hear about it".
WHY IS IT SO HARD FOR A VICTIM TO COME FORWARD?
Because speaking up is COSTLY and PAINFUL and has a very high probability of a damaged or destroyed life, and a low possibility actually securing a conviction. Imagine, the life you have always known, the fellowship you have been a part of, and have been taught is THE WAY OF GOD, and the ministers are GOD'S SERVANTS, all of that comes crashing down when a "Servant of God" rapes or sexually abuses you.
And then victims are disbelieved, shunned and slandered for "causing division" and "having a wrong spirit".
The ignorance of being told to "forgive and move on" can only be spoken by individuals that have zero clue about trauma. A single traumatic incident can be enough to badly derail someone's life for years to come. I know this from personal experience, having been a victim of violent trauma. And then, after the trauma, being told "Oh, that was nothing, you should hear what happened to ...." or "oh you're lucky that that's all that happened to you..."
The behaviour of a traumatized person will get labelled as "troubled" or even "crazy". An abuse victim who has been traumatized will behave erratically because they are trying to cope with HUGE, painful, unpredictable emotions.
And so, when you compare a charming, well-spoken, charismatic individual who appears to be well-behaved in public with an unpredictable "troublemaker", people who have been conditioned to be obedient, meek sheep are going to side with what is most familiar and comfortable. Because let's not forget just how shameful it is to be a victim of a sexual crime. So shameful that people will even think that the victim must have "done something to deserve it" or "been asking for it".
And then, people mistakenly believe that victims should just "get over it" have no idea about how trauma is recorded in a "timeless" part of the brain, and a traumatic incident can be remembered for YEARS or even DECADES later, as though it was just yesterday. Let me be clear: TIME DOES NOT HEAL TRAUMA!!
So, to the ignorant men who have the GALL to say "Oh, that little thing, that was years ago", your ignorance perpetuates the trauma of victims.
To say things like "We're concerned for their (predator's) souls", bringing them back into fellowship screams LOUD AND CLEAR, we care more about our PREDATORS (because of the place they held in our fellowship) than we do about the VICTIMS.
To cope with this trauma, alcohol and drugs often enter the picture. When the painful trauma is burned into your brain, and your brain can't shut off, it has to be forcibly numbed. And yet again, imagine the insult of hearing "Oh, so-and-so is 'struggling' with alcohol."
There may even be more serious behaviour such as cutting or even suicide attempts!! When someone is suffering so desperately that death seems like the only escape, this should make it shockingly clear just how excruciating their lived experience is.
And so I want to SCREAM: HOW UNCOMFORTABLE DO YOU HAVE TO BE BEFORE YOU FINALLY UNDERSTAND THE TRUE PAIN, SUFFERING, INDIGNITY AND CRUELTY THAT THESE EVIL PREDATORS HAVE INFLICTED ON INNOCENT VULNERABLE VICTIMS??
So, to close this out, let me tell you about the 4 types of responses I have received from my letters:
1. Deafening Silence. (from active workers in particular)
I have been informed that there are cowardly overseers who simply hit "Delete" rather than face the truth of their complicit cover-ups and their colleagues' criminal behaviour. Of the DOZENS of workers I have included in my public emails, I have received 5 replies from active workers. 3 were the basic platitudes of "we're all grieved for the Kingdom of God", and 2 were actually meaningful replies from workers I count to be personal friends of mine.
So, are the other workers being muzzled by overseers? Told that if they speak up they too will be punished? Perhaps they are afraid that their words will end up "on the internet".
If you are an active worker, and you are angry, disgusted, and frustrated but fearful to speak up, let me give you my sworn promise: If you write to me, and you ask me to keep whatever you share private, I give you my word before God that I will honour that request (with the only exception of if there is a legal requirement to report a crime to law enforcement.)
2. "I don't want to hear it": (Please stop speaking up)
The people who reply like this are telling me "You are shaking my faith". If your faith is being shaken, your faith is NOT in the LIVING GOD and the ROCK OF CHRIST, your faith is in a man-made institution that is "build on the sand" and now when the reality of the evil and corruption that resides at the top of this hierarchy comes to light, people are scared. And so they retreat into denial and cognitive dissonance.
To those who are asking me to be silent because I'm making you uncomfortable, I have a simple answer: NO! Your discomfort does NOT take priority over victims being heard.
3. THANK YOU!!
This comes from people who are not directly victims, but desperately HUNGRY for honest TRUTH, and they are sick and tired of being pandered to with passive platitudes.
4. PLEASE KEEP FIGHTING!!
This comes from the MANY brave victims who have been silenced, shamed, shunned and dismissed over the years, who are FINALLY being heard and believed. I have heard your stories, and I will honour your strength and courage by REFUSING to stay silent in the face of the disgusting EVIL and COWARDLY cover-ups that are STILL happening.
Let me be CLEAR: There are many days I want to bury my head under the covers. I would far rather be playing with my little boy who has no idea of the evil that has existed and been covered up. I would rather be spending time with my family, working on my business ... ANYTHING other than spending HOURS agonizing over the words written in these letters.
But, the words burn inside of me and I cannot and will not remain silent. When my little boy grows up, I want him to know that his Dad stood up for RIGHT and TRUTH and did his best to use his voice and actively FIGHT for the victims and to hold the predators and their complicit enablers accountable.
- Jonathan
jon.mclernon@gmail.com (mailto:jon.mclernon@gmail.com)
If you are reading this email, you have my permission to forward
it, or share it, or share the linked PDFs.
Letter #1 -
jonmclernon.link/jonathans-letter1 (https://jonmclernon.link/jonathans-letter1)
Letter # 2 -
jonmclernon.link/jonathans-letter (https://jonmclernon.link/jonathans-letter)
Letter #3 -
jonmclernon.link/jonathans-letter3 (https://jonmclernon.link/jonathans-letter3)
Subject: Lord Be Not Silent... Continue to expose the pedophiles, the rapists, and the cowards who enable them
You might be "shocked" to read such words from a "professing man".
(this email should probably come with a trigger warning, particularly for the overseers who don't just hit "delete" and actually have the courage to hear the truth.)
Maybe this is shocking because we are so conditioned to speaking in euphemisms and hearing euphemisms from "the platform"
(A euphemism is an innocuous word or expression used in place of one that is deemed offensive or suggests something unpleasant.)
How often are we hearing pithy quotes, and verses cloaked in vague language to undermine and dismiss the BRUTAL truth of this decades-long cover-up?
Let me give you an example: "I behaved in a way that was unwise many years ago towards a young person."
That's a lot more palatable than "I repeatedly sexually assaulted a helpless minor by forcibly placing my hands on their genitals against their will and then told them it was our little secret."
How about: "I conducted myself inappropriately towards a sister worker while at preps one year."
A lot more palatable than: "I violently raped a sister worker, ignoring her sobbing pleas to stop while threatening her that if she ever spoke a word of it, she would be excommunicated, and called a liar because no one would believe her."
If you feel uncomfortable reading those words, imagine YOU were the victim of being VIOLENTLY violated against your will. If that doesn't make you feel sick to your stomach, a burning rage inside of you, or a grief so deep it feels like your stomach doesn't have a bottom... maybe you have a "seared conscience".
Sackcloth and Ashes. I've heard about this from "the platform" many times over the years.
Sackcloth and ashes were used as a public sign of deep repentance, painful grief and profound humility before God. When Jonah declared to the people of Nineveh that God was going to destroy them for their wickedness, everyone from the king on down responded with repentance, fasting, and sackcloth and ashes.
Esther 4 describes Mordecai tearing his clothes, putting on sackcloth and ashes, and walking out into the city “wailing loudly and bitterly.” Mordecai felt this deep, overwhelming emotion to King Xerxes’ declaration that gave evil Haman the authority to destroy the Jews.
If there was ever a time for "sackcloth and ashes", the time IS NOW.
Those who truly respect God and his righteousness are DEEPLY grieved and BITTERLY sorry for all of the pain and suffering inflicted on the most vulnerable in this fellowship. The number of victims and abusers is STAGGERING. If we lived in old testament times, conventions would be places of deep mourning and sorrow before God because the "priesthood" has been so badly corrupted that there are HUNDREDS of predators that have DESTROYED the lives of THOUSANDS of God-fearing Christians, leaving them bitter, broken and many even wondering if God exists.
I started hearing an outpouring of stories of the AWFUL things that happened to women and children in this fellowship after I wrote my second letter (https://jonmclernon.link/jonathans-letter)...
Story after story of traumatized victims pleading for SOMEONE to hear them, to speak for them, still tortured, thinking that their soul is bound for hell because they were either excommunicated or were so traumatized they simply couldn't bear to be in another meeting listening to flowery sounding spiritual words from their abuser, watching people unknowingly praise pathological predators.
So, yes, perhaps you will notice a shift in tone from my first letter (https://jonmclernon.link/jonathans-letter1), to my second letter (https://jonmclernon.link/jonathans-letter), and now to this, my third letter (https://jonmclernon.link/jonathans-letter3).
For every brave victim who bares their soul publicly and tells their story, there are 10 more who are still unable to come forward because it's too painful. The stories I have heard are not my stories to tell, that would be a betrayal of the trust these individuals showed me by sharing their stories.
But suffice it to say, after the shock of the outpouring of stories, I found myself oscillating between feeling numb, feeling helpless, feeling intense anger and deep sorrow. I'm a trauma-informed professional and I am experienced in hearing stories like this in my professional work, but this feels more deeply personal because it involves my faith and a Christian fellowship that I have been a part of for the better part of 4 decades.
I'm not sure what's worse: the deafening silence, or the dripping insincerity coming from the letters of perpetrators that amount to "I'm sorry that I got caught, poor me" and the false humility of "For the sake of the ministry, it's with a heavy heart I'm stepping down."
WHERE IS THE DEEP SORROW AND BITTER REPENTANCE??
It isn't there because pathological predators don't have a conscience.
They can only ever feel like the victim and prey on the emotions of naive followers who desperately want to see the best in others, and think "It must have just been a moment of weakness in the flesh". It is immensely difficult for a kind-hearted person to actually understand the brutal heartless violence of child rape and sexual assault. And, so cognitive dissonance leads to denial and disbelief.
WHY IS IT SO HARD TO SPOT A PREDATOR?
A predator is charming, charismatic and highly skilled in EMOTIONAL MANIPULATION. In public, predators are well-behaved, well-respected individuals, and that's what can make it so hard to spot one, and why there can be so much cognitive dissonance around a predator being revealed. "I can't believe it" ..."How could they do that?"... "I've never seen ANY signs, they were always SO Helpful!"
It would also be incredibly difficult to walk around and start every human interaction with the assumption that the other individual might be a pathological predator. We WANT to believe that most people are simply good people who "make mistakes in moments of weakness".
Because the reality that there are HUNDREDS of heartless predators who repeatedly commit rape and sexual assault for DECADES is far more terrifying. That there are complicit overseers who ship sexual predators to 3rd world countries where their crimes are even LESS likely to be reported, is heart-achingly painful to realize.
Let's not even get started on those who are not only CONSUMING child pornography but PRODUCING it. That is a special kind of Satanic EVIL.
And so people simply bury their heads in the sand and say things like "I don't want to hear about it".
WHY IS IT SO HARD FOR A VICTIM TO COME FORWARD?
Because speaking up is COSTLY and PAINFUL and has a very high probability of a damaged or destroyed life, and a low possibility actually securing a conviction. Imagine, the life you have always known, the fellowship you have been a part of, and have been taught is THE WAY OF GOD, and the ministers are GOD'S SERVANTS, all of that comes crashing down when a "Servant of God" rapes or sexually abuses you.
And then victims are disbelieved, shunned and slandered for "causing division" and "having a wrong spirit".
The ignorance of being told to "forgive and move on" can only be spoken by individuals that have zero clue about trauma. A single traumatic incident can be enough to badly derail someone's life for years to come. I know this from personal experience, having been a victim of violent trauma. And then, after the trauma, being told "Oh, that was nothing, you should hear what happened to ...." or "oh you're lucky that that's all that happened to you..."
The behaviour of a traumatized person will get labelled as "troubled" or even "crazy". An abuse victim who has been traumatized will behave erratically because they are trying to cope with HUGE, painful, unpredictable emotions.
And so, when you compare a charming, well-spoken, charismatic individual who appears to be well-behaved in public with an unpredictable "troublemaker", people who have been conditioned to be obedient, meek sheep are going to side with what is most familiar and comfortable. Because let's not forget just how shameful it is to be a victim of a sexual crime. So shameful that people will even think that the victim must have "done something to deserve it" or "been asking for it".
And then, people mistakenly believe that victims should just "get over it" have no idea about how trauma is recorded in a "timeless" part of the brain, and a traumatic incident can be remembered for YEARS or even DECADES later, as though it was just yesterday. Let me be clear: TIME DOES NOT HEAL TRAUMA!!
So, to the ignorant men who have the GALL to say "Oh, that little thing, that was years ago", your ignorance perpetuates the trauma of victims.
To say things like "We're concerned for their (predator's) souls", bringing them back into fellowship screams LOUD AND CLEAR, we care more about our PREDATORS (because of the place they held in our fellowship) than we do about the VICTIMS.
To cope with this trauma, alcohol and drugs often enter the picture. When the painful trauma is burned into your brain, and your brain can't shut off, it has to be forcibly numbed. And yet again, imagine the insult of hearing "Oh, so-and-so is 'struggling' with alcohol."
There may even be more serious behaviour such as cutting or even suicide attempts!! When someone is suffering so desperately that death seems like the only escape, this should make it shockingly clear just how excruciating their lived experience is.
And so I want to SCREAM: HOW UNCOMFORTABLE DO YOU HAVE TO BE BEFORE YOU FINALLY UNDERSTAND THE TRUE PAIN, SUFFERING, INDIGNITY AND CRUELTY THAT THESE EVIL PREDATORS HAVE INFLICTED ON INNOCENT VULNERABLE VICTIMS??
So, to close this out, let me tell you about the 4 types of responses I have received from my letters:
1. Deafening Silence. (from active workers in particular)
I have been informed that there are cowardly overseers who simply hit "Delete" rather than face the truth of their complicit cover-ups and their colleagues' criminal behaviour. Of the DOZENS of workers I have included in my public emails, I have received 5 replies from active workers. 3 were the basic platitudes of "we're all grieved for the Kingdom of God", and 2 were actually meaningful replies from workers I count to be personal friends of mine.
So, are the other workers being muzzled by overseers? Told that if they speak up they too will be punished? Perhaps they are afraid that their words will end up "on the internet".
If you are an active worker, and you are angry, disgusted, and frustrated but fearful to speak up, let me give you my sworn promise: If you write to me, and you ask me to keep whatever you share private, I give you my word before God that I will honour that request (with the only exception of if there is a legal requirement to report a crime to law enforcement.)
2. "I don't want to hear it": (Please stop speaking up)
The people who reply like this are telling me "You are shaking my faith". If your faith is being shaken, your faith is NOT in the LIVING GOD and the ROCK OF CHRIST, your faith is in a man-made institution that is "build on the sand" and now when the reality of the evil and corruption that resides at the top of this hierarchy comes to light, people are scared. And so they retreat into denial and cognitive dissonance.
To those who are asking me to be silent because I'm making you uncomfortable, I have a simple answer: NO! Your discomfort does NOT take priority over victims being heard.
3. THANK YOU!!
This comes from people who are not directly victims, but desperately HUNGRY for honest TRUTH, and they are sick and tired of being pandered to with passive platitudes.
4. PLEASE KEEP FIGHTING!!
This comes from the MANY brave victims who have been silenced, shamed, shunned and dismissed over the years, who are FINALLY being heard and believed. I have heard your stories, and I will honour your strength and courage by REFUSING to stay silent in the face of the disgusting EVIL and COWARDLY cover-ups that are STILL happening.
Let me be CLEAR: There are many days I want to bury my head under the covers. I would far rather be playing with my little boy who has no idea of the evil that has existed and been covered up. I would rather be spending time with my family, working on my business ... ANYTHING other than spending HOURS agonizing over the words written in these letters.
But, the words burn inside of me and I cannot and will not remain silent. When my little boy grows up, I want him to know that his Dad stood up for RIGHT and TRUTH and did his best to use his voice and actively FIGHT for the victims and to hold the predators and their complicit enablers accountable.
- Jonathan
jon.mclernon@gmail.com (mailto:jon.mclernon@gmail.com)
If you are reading this email, you have my permission to forward
it, or share it, or share the linked PDFs.
Letter #1 -
jonmclernon.link/jonathans-letter1 (https://jonmclernon.link/jonathans-letter1)
Letter # 2 -
jonmclernon.link/jonathans-letter (https://jonmclernon.link/jonathans-letter)
Letter #3 -
jonmclernon.link/jonathans-letter3 (https://jonmclernon.link/jonathans-letter3)