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Death to the Disobedient |
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THE MYTH:
Version #1:
A pastor pleads with a sinner to repent. The sinner will not listen. The pastor warns, "This may
be the last time that God gives you a chance."
As the sinner leaves the church, he suffers a heart attack on the steps of the church and dies. He is now in hell.
Version #2:
A woman is engaged to be married. The pastor has a revelation from God that her betrothed is not the man that God
intends for her to marry. He tells her to break off the engagement, but she will not listen. A few months after
her wedding, her new husband starts abusing her. He even hands her off to his drunk friends for a gang rape. The
woman leaves him, but he tracks her down and stabs her to death. She is now in hell.
Version #3:
A young man grew up "in church", but becomes rebellious in his teenage years. He refuses to attend church anymore
and starts listening to rock music. The pastor warns the young man that he is headed for disaster, but he
will not listen. Two weeks later, the young man is driving his flashy new sports car too fast, loses control, and dies
instantly in the crash. He is now in hell.
Version #4:
In a church service, a prophet has a word from God that a certain man is hiding beer under the sink in his home.
He confronts the man, but the man denies it. The prophet tells him, "God says that if you will not confess and repent,
you will be dead within an hour." The man continues to protest his innocence. Other people in the congregation
plead with him to listen to the prophet, but to no avail. At the end of the hour, the man still refuses to admit that
he is hiding any alcohol in his home. As the clock strikes the hour, the man collapses to the floor and dies.
When church members check his home later, they discover a large stash of beer under the sink, just as the prophet had said.
Due to his unrepentance, the man is presumably now in hell.
COMMENTS: These are only a few of the more commonly repeated stories in which the disobedient are threatened with death and hell.
Abusive Pentecostal pastors typically use these and similar stories to frighten and intimidate those who question their authority.
Generally, these stories entirely lack any proof, and, in fact, in certain cases can be proven to be wrong. In
at least one case that I am aware of, a man who left the Pentecostal church was actually reported to the congregation to have
died in a car accident, even while he was still alive and well. Since he did not keep in contact with anyone at the
church, he was not even aware of his supposed demise until many years later.
Sometimes, of course, people do die in car accidents or have heart attacks after leaving Pentecostalism. But then
Pentecostals die in car accidents and have heart attacks as well. There is no reason to suppose that any of it is connected
to church activity.
The most disturbing story of those above to me is that of the woman murdered by her husband. In this case, the
woman who is being viciously victimized by her husband is blamed for allowing it to happen by having married him in the first
place. Furthermore, she is said to have gone to hell when she died . . . all for making a poor choice of husband.
It's a classic "blame the victim" tactic, in which a murdered person who cannot defend herself is dragged through the mud
for supposed disobedience. Pentecostals can then sit smugly by and believe that their friend brought this tragedy
on herself and it will never happen to righteous people such as themselves.
The lesson in all of these morbid tales is obvious to all the hearers: "If you don't obey the
pastor, then horrible things will happen to you!"
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