05/05/2026
I had a younger pastor ask me if I had ever been lied on or misrepresented. I shared with him a story from my personal pastoral chronicle. As a young pastor, I took everything to heart. The families I served were an extension of my family. This was also during my first marriage, which ended after 17 years due to death. We paid utilities, rent, bought groceries, paid for school supplies, and even helped with school clothes for a particular family with five children. When this pastor asked me if I had ever experienced what he was going through, this family came to mind. It was also during this time that our youngest daughter's godmother asked my wife and me to pray for her daughter, who was threatening a miscarriage. We consented and traveled to this young lady's home, praying for her and her unborn child. The Lord blessed her to give birth to a son. Shortly after praying for her, she and her family united as members of our church before her son was born. The incident I shared with this pastor involved this lady and her son. Someone spread a rumor that this young kid, who was now 2, not quite 3, and was making his way to the front of the church, pulling himself up onto the platform, holding onto the single wooden pole lecture podium, and mimicking my preaching, was my son. One evening, I received a call from the sister, the original member with the four children and one grandchild, informing me of her decision to leave the church. I asked the reason why she and her family were leaving, and she told me that it was because I had fathered that young boy who was so fond of me. Someone had lied and said that this baby was my son. When I disputed this, she rebutted by saying he acts like you, he looks like you, and they said, 'That's your son!' It's been well over 20 plus years since the incident, and it still hurts. As my mother would say, 'It's a bald-faced lie.' How and why would someone tell such a bald-faced lie? About two years ago, I asked the sister if the people who lied on me were still alive, and she still wouldn't reveal to me who this deceitful person is. I said to her, 'If you won't tell me who this person is, you should confront that person and give them an opportunity to repent of this lie.' But her response was pretty much the same as it was those many years ago: 'I don't want to be in the middle of this.' As for me, I've tried to let it go, but here it is again. Not to mention that this bald-faced liar could be smiling in my face. Pray for me and the liar, that they won't end up in hell.
