No Joy
Robert Barnes, a friend with much experience in striking out

Dear Citizens of Mudville,

I know you are disappointed. Your hero Casey let you down. But neither you, nor he, are alone. Crying Wind, Alberto Rivera, John Todd, Michael Esses, Joey LaVey, Lauren Stratford, Troy Lawrence, Mike Warnke, Mike Trout, Bob Larson. No, these are not the 2001 Pittsburgh Pirates. The Pirates don't have enough money to pay a team of this skill level. These people are among dozens of national figures under scrutiny for apparent moral lapses and ministry errors.

Major book deals and new smash-hit albums do not a spiritual leader make. You would think such spiritual advice almost beneath the caliber of reader generated by ETC. It's not.

I'm afraid that in order to sufficiently make my point, we must hold our nose and continue with the lineup. I'll focus on suspicious divorces among popular Christian personalities, since that is easier to substantiate with public records. Some of these are well known, some are not. All were substantiated through multiple sources (though admittedly online). If I slander anyone through this, please forgive me and skip to the end of the article to see my motive.

Charles Stanley, Southern Baptist pastor and former president of the SBC, went through a gradually dissolving marriage and secretive divorce in the 1990s. He taught to a national audience on multiple occasions that if divorced, a minister should step down from the pulpit. When asked about his own marriage, he affirmed that applied to him as well. When the news of his divorce was announced to the First Baptist Church of Atlanta in May 1999, however, Stanley reportedly received a standing ovation from the congregation.

The wife of Ned Graham, son of Billy Graham, stated in her divorce suit that he was guilty of "infidelity, domestic violence, and drug and alcohol abuse." In an interview with Christianity Today December 6, 1999, Ned admitted to some of these charges, but left others to our imagination. Ned is head of East Gate Ministries, which distributes Bibles in China, and he continues to be supported in that capacity by his famous father.

Well-known Christian author Hal Lindsey has been divorced multiple times, yet has had no problem whatsoever publishing his books, speaking in congregations, and now capitalizing on the freedom of the Internet with his own site <hallindsey.com> and a new career as a news columnist. It is as if he can do no wrong, prophetically or morally.

Divorce among popular Christian musicians is unbridled; I'll just handle them as a group. Sandi Patty; Michael English, Deniece Williams, Sheila Walsh, John Michael Talbot, Randy Stonehill, Larry Norman, Tom Howard, Ralph Carmichael, Steve Archer, Amy Grant and Gary Chapman, Stacy Jones of the rap group Grits, and all of the members of the now disbanded Barnabas. Melody Green, widowed wife of Keith Green (who was killed in a plane crash in 1982), recently divorced her second husband, Andrew Sievright.

Divorce is nothing new to the Pentecostal tradition. Aimee Semple McPherson, founder of the Four Square Pentecostal Churches, was a twice-divorced adulteress as was famous Pentecostal evangelist Kathryn Kuhlmann (caught necking in a church office with male evangelist Burroughs Waltrip). Richard Roberts, who is in the process of taking over the ministry of his father, Oral, divorced his first wife and married a young, pretty Oral Roberts University student. Jim and Tammy Bakker divorced and were both remarried and Tammy is divorced again. [Errata: We have since confirmed that Tammy Faye married Roe Messner in 1993 and they were still married when this article was written (and well as when this errata was posted). —Ed.] In July of 1999, two well-known Charismatic pastors got divorces (Ray McCauley of Johannesburg, South Africa, and Clarence McClendon of Los Angeles). Rev. McClendon was remarried in 8 days. John Jacobs, founder of the Power Team, was divorced from his wife of 16 years in 1999.

How about mainline ministers? Never mind. I'm writing about Christians.

The Christian press is part of the problem. The marketing of God as a product has turned talented Christians into impersonal factories of spiritual yum-yums, and a factory is only judged on its production quality; not its morality. But even the press has begun to report on this problem. One such report features the church statesman for the charismatic movement, Jack Hayford. He warns "We are at a point of crisis," citing "failure.. evident across the spectrum, from renowned evangelical Bible preachers to charismatic evangelists, and from noted national youth leaders to ascending Christian TV superstars. Sheep follow shepherds and multitudes mimic the more visible," he writes, blaming "confused and biblically unfocused thinking."

We have seen marital sin run rampant among those who entertain our families and children, yet have ignored the psychological effects of holding those people up as heroes, laughing at their jokes, admiring their wit. We have given in to the factory concept of Christian marketing. If the blonde Christian singer is making us happy, then what she does in her private life is her own business.

I wonder if a good anecdote to the error of unbiblical divorce is to give the latest Christian craze a big raspberry. Hoot them off the stage. Tell your children they are funny, but a bad influence, like a kid dumping Cheerios out in the middle of the grocery store.

Perhaps a cup of warm beer dumped on his head as he exited the stadium was just what Casey needed to restore him to true power, the power that comes from knowing we have no power. I only hope one of you cared enough about him to do it. Loving Casey means taking him off your pedestal, and taking him down a peg or two.

Better still, how about a cup of wine? There is only one hero in whom we must place our trust. Casey was confident in himself, as you hoped in him. You both made the same mistake. Do not put your hope in men and princes. As we fawn over our Christian Caseys, as we watch with breathless expectation, we're falling into the same trap. Of course mighty Casey struck out, and all his Christian counterparts, because we are weak. We all must learn that He alone is strong, that He alone has a perfect average, that He alone brings his teammates safely home, and only He brings the victory. If we look to Him with adoring eyes, and unswerving confidence, then we will be a joyful people.