Another pastor is ready to fall from grace, but not without the industry trying to save him...

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In the wake of the Mike Bickle revelations of sexually abusing minors, we now have the disclosure that Robert Morris of Gateway Church is also a child predator. In typical Charismaniacal fashion, the church appears ready to try and quickly deal with it and move on because Morris is such a prolific cash cow and the Purpose Driven Industrial Complex tries to protect the brand at all costs. For the unaware, Robert Morris was already a horrific false teacher and one of the most egregious tithing abusive teachers alive today. He is the father of the horrendous false tithing teaching that says God will curse the rest of your money if you do not give the first ten percent to Morris. Even before paying your rent, electric bill, or medication. The link above is from Charisma News, who is trying to downplay this apparently. Steven Strang has no morals whatsoever. I recommend you looking up the article on the Wartburg Watch, who broke this story. For now, let us reason once more through the link above, and I will try to fill in the blanks Charisma conveniently left off.

"Robert Morris, founding pastor of Gateway Church in Southlake, Texas, has admitted to involvement in "inappropriate sexual behavior with a young lady" after a woman accused him of sexually abusing her between December 1982 and March 1987, beginning when she was 12 years old. The Wartburg Watch, a blog dealing with abuse in the church, broke the story with a detailed account of the abuse from the alleged victim, now 54, who said she did not view the relationship with Morris as abuse until she was 35." - Charisma News

Let's start with the choice of language here. The girl in question was 12 years old. That is not a "young lady." That is a child. As is typical in these cases, the victim buried the abuse and did not try to come to grips with what was done to her for over four years, by a married pastor, until she was in her thirties. When she was 12 however, Morris molested her and warned her to not tell anyone or she would ruin everything. This would proceed for over four years, while her father was giving money to Morris' ministry. When the girl was 16 however, Morris tried to advance to intercourse but was rebuffed by the girl. Mind you at this point he was a pastor at Shady Grove Church, which would become the behemoth Gateway is today. Please keep in mind as we move forward that this was and is a felony crime that has no statute of limitations associated with it.

"A statement from the elders of Gateway Church, released to staffers but also posted on The Roys Report, reads as follows: Pastor Robert has been open and forthright about a moral failure he had over 35 years ago when he was in his twenties and prior to him starting Gateway Church. He has shared publicly from the pulpit the proper Biblical steps he took in his lengthy restoration process. The two-year restoration process was closely administered by the Elders at Shady Grove Church and included him stepping out of the ministry during that period while receiving professional counseling and freedom ministry counseling. Since the resolution of this 35-year-old matter, there have been no other moral failures. Pastor Robert has walked in purity, and he has placed accountability measures and people in his life. The matter has been properly disclosed to church leadership." - Charisma News

Who cares if he has always been open about being a child predator? How cheap do we treat the pastoral office that someone like this would ever be considered for a church leadership job again? He shared from the pulpit that he molested a child for four years? I seriously doubt that. A "moral failure" would be if you cheated on your wife or struggled with a porn addiction. This goes a bit beyond a mere moral failure. This is a felony offense. Keep in mind that we are not talking about an oopsie. This was no one time moral error. This was a coordinated campaign for over four years to ruin a child's life for your own sexual gratification - as a pastor! What his hand-picked elders left out is that he only stepped down and went through a lengthy restoration process because the father called the lead pastor and threatened to call the sheriff if Morris was not removed as a pastor. It is also borderline sick for "elders" of any church to brag that two years is a lengthy time for someone who molested a child for four years to go through some kind of restoration process. Wartburg also points out that in his book, Morris plays off this issue that made him step down as "pride issues." Not exactly someone who was being transparent or sounding remotely repentant.

"Robert Morris stated: "When I was in my early twenties, I was involved in inappropriate sexual behavior with a young lady in a home where I was staying. It was kissing and petting and not intercourse, but it was wrong. This behavior happened on several occasions over the next few years. In March of 1987, this situation was brought to light, and it was confessed and repented. I submitted myself to the Elders of Shady Grove Church and the young lady's father. They asked me to step out of ministry and receive counseling and freedom ministry, which I did. Since that time, I have walked in purity and accountability in this area. Two years later, in March of 1989, I stepped back into ministry with the full blessing of the elders and her father. In October of 1989, Debbie and I met with her and her family, and I asked their forgiveness, and they graciously forgave me. This sin was dealt with correctly by confession and repentance, which I did in 1987 and 1989." - Charisma News

It is just disgusting how Morris is trying to play this. In his early twenties, when married already to his current wife, he started sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl and continued it for over four years. While it may have started as kissing and petting, he tried to escalate it to intercourse when the girl had aged to 16. The situation was "brought to light" because she told her parents and her father told the lead pastor. It is quite easy for someone in this situation to decide to "confess" and "repent." Let's be fair, confession is something we do before we get caught. After it really is not much of a confession. He was not asked to step out - the father demanded it or he would call law enforcement. He and his wife met with the family and asked for forgiveness? Aww, does that change what he did? No. What he left out however, is that after finding out about the girl, Morris' wife called the victim to tell her that she "forgave her." You get that? The adult wife of an unfaithful pastor, called a child to tell her that she was forgiven for her husband assaulting her. How much more damage was done to the child be simply inferring that she was somehow at fault?

What Morris and the elders also leave out is that in 2005, the victim secured an attorney to file a civil lawsuit. Robert Morris's attorney responded by blaming the victim, offensively calling her "flirtatious." So, the 12-year-old was asking for it according to Morris. She asked for $50,000, which is not exactly a large amount for a burgeoning mega pastor worth in the millions and millions of dollars today. They responded that they would give her $25,000 if she signed a Non-Disclosure-Agreement. The victim refused. So, what kind of repentant pastor who asked for forgiveness for four years of sexually abusing a child asks for an NDA? Look beloved, this is really simple. We have a pastor of a mega church who generates million of dollars for the false teacher industry. He has built an empire in the Charismaniacal world but he had this very large skeleton in his closet that has now come back to haunt him. He tried to pay lip service to it over the years by pretending it was just pride issues. He essentially lied about the restoration process, confession and repentance by omitting that he was forced to do all of it. The bottom line is that none of this however is actually relevant. Listen, I am not saying the man cannot be forgiven by Christ but that does not mean he gets to walk back into ministry. Do we have any standards at all anymore? Morris needs to step down immediately and permanently. He can spend his golden years hanging out with Mike Bickle watching reruns of Ravi Zacharias' teachings on holiness. That is assuming he somehow avoids jail. The Charismaniacal machine, led by Charisma News, needs to step back and stop defending the indefensible. This victim matters. All victims matter. Robert Morris needs to go away and fade into the sordid memories of the apostate church he has helped build on the bones of the skeleton that has now emerged from his closet.

Reverend Anthony Wade - June 16, 2024

Authors Bio:
Credentialed Minister of the Gospel for the Assemblies of God. Owner and founder of 828 ministries. Vice President for Goodwill Industries. Always remember that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.