I was a member of Maranatha Church for 30 years, and a deacon the last 5 of that. When I first…read morestarted, although I disliked the pastor personally, I felt his teaching was sound. I was slowly sucked in, impressed by the biblical knowledge of not only the pastor, but of the general membership. However, what did not dawn on me was that general knowledge without the application of biblical principles based in love for your fellow man, just leads to arrogance, self-righteousness, cruelty, and destruction of others. It has taken me 10 years so far, and I am still not through purging this evil from my own life.
The Doctrine of Separation has torn apart more families than I could ever begin to count. To my utter disgrace, I shunned lifelong friends and family. Then I got to experience the flip side after I left.
I watched so-called "mature believers" ridicule a "baby believer", at one point even throwing her books in the floor, like high school mean girls, over jealousy. It was not her fault their husbands had wandering eyes. And I am ashamed that all I did was stand and watch in disbelief at this reprehensible behavior instead of putting a stop to it immediately.
The slowly growing tolerance from the pulpit of adultery eventually led to wife-swapping and musical chairs on a widespread basis, even spreading to the ranks of the Board of Deacons. I actually penned a letter to the Board, and read it aloud in a Deacon's Meeting, (although I am sure that didn't make it into the Minutes). It, (and I) was dismissed without a second thought.
By the time I became a deacon, Jack had had the Church Constitution amended to consolidate his power, so the Board of Deacons was there solely to rubber stamp decisions, carry out his wishes, and services his wants and needs, (which were quite extensive).
Jack Ballinger refers to himself as a Pastor-Teacher, but all he does is teach what he wants. He is not a Pastor, as he does not believe in counseling, does not reach out to those in crisis, and ridicules those he feels are less "spiritual than himself, (which is everyone). Of 2 suicides in the church, (his son and mine), he was more hindrance than help, calling them cowards and weak. The fact of the matter is, WE failed those boys, as fathers, as counselors, and MOST OF ALL, as protectors of our family.
There has been a homosexual child predator in the congregation for many years, directly protected by Jack Ballinger. Recently, (within the past few years) having found out about 2 more victims, that brings the total to 6 that I am personally aware of. I would guess there were probably many more, too ashamed, (as my sons were), to come out and admit it, especially in light of what DIDN'T happen with the previous encounters.
There has been talk of Jack teaching Flat-Earth theory. I do not know about that. What I do know is that there have been a lot more evil and scandalous things to come from that man than some crackpot science. Why separate for that, and continue to perpetuate the much more evil teachings and practices of Maranatha Church, (and it's spinoff- Truth Bible Church)?
If this letter keeps 1 person from falling into their grasp, it will have been worth my time to write this.