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There’s an old joke I really appreciate that says, “when satan fell from heaven he landed in the choir loft.” That’s poking fun at some of the envy, rivalry, comparison, infighting that can happen among musicians and performers of all sort.

Probably a much more serious truth, “when satan fell from heaven he landed smack dab in the middle of the church.” I actually take some comfort in that saying, it resonates with me, and it makes a certain kind of sense. An evil doer is not going to work among the darkness, the dark stuff of the world is already working for him, so he is going to go right where the light is.

That means there must be some light going on within the darn church, somewhere. It wouldn’t be a target for such evil and deception, if it didn’t have something that was at least, potentially good.

I don’t recommend watching this video, or rather, this is a really good documentary about the Church of England and the work that spanned decades of simply trying to hold Bishop Peter Ball accountable. It’s in two parts and called, “Exposed: The Church’s Darkest Secret.”

I don’t recommend watching it because it is triggering, traumatic, and it just breaks my heart. It’s also quite maddening and left me just wanting to scream. Fortunately I got to go help throw some firewood around, so some socially acceptable screaming presented itself in a timely manner and I got to blow off some steam. Arrggggg.

So I’m putting forth a big viewer discretion and telling people, it’s okay of you don’t want to watch it, or if you don’t feel called to confront this kind of really horrific evil. You can just take a pass, and more power to you! I’m already familiar with parts of the story and this video still distressed me, but it was really well done. I appreciate how they didn’t get too emotional, too melodramatic, and just stuck to telling the story. The whole story is emotional and tragic already in it’s plain form.

Something I do want to say, a concept shared by myself and so many others, it’s the cover up that is so evil, it’s circling the wagons and protecting the power structure, that really rankles. That’s what lurks behind those deep rooted feelings of powerlessness and injustice. Sometimes that is even more emotionally painful then the initial assault.

Sexual abuse is evidence that you have no human value, no worth in someone’s eyes. Those who look at the crime with apathy or complacency, and ignore it, validate that lie and amplify it. It’s still a lie, but lies are a lot harder to dig out when they are deeply rooted due to other people’s complicity.

A pedophile can be understood, even rationalized as a broken individual, dysfunctional, trapped in a compulsive hell of their own, perhaps suffering from a kind of mental disorder. But those who are charged with protecting children, those who hide letters pleading for help, those who bury evidence, make excuses, attempt to slander and discredit victims, multiple victims, those people simply cannot be understood. They are without excuse. Ten times as true if one is calling oneself “a Christian” while perpetrating such evil. If one is actually calling oneself a “Christian leader,” well, I got nothing but millstones to offer you.

Mark 14:21 says, “For the Son of Man is to go just as it is written of Him; but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had not been born.”

Better to be a non believer, an atheist, never born, then to be someone using the Lord’s name to abuse, exploit, and silence those in your care.

Those in His care.