Who’s fault is the Michael Guglielmucci scandal?

So the whole christian world seems to be busy either crucifying Michael Guglielmucci or praying for his swift recovery and fingers are pointing faster than you can say heretic. I was blown away by the response to my previous post, and there are heaps of great comments from a wide range of views (link: How did Michael Guglielmucci get away with it?).

Firstly, let me deal with the question of whether we should even be talking publicly about this. This was not a private sin. This is not the pain and hurt of a few people in a tragic accident, this is a collective pain we all feel, and a real issue in our lives that we need to deal with.

The big issue I am reading in the discussion about Mike is about blame. Is he to blame, or is he a victim too? Should we blame anyone at all, or just pray for God to bring something good out of all this mess? I am going to play Sherlock Holmes, and see if I can deduce the mastermind behind this heinous crime (do the Guglielmucci’s have a buttler?)

Official Mike G Blame Suspect List:

1. Michael Guglielmucci? He was the one lying, and also the one benefiting from the lies.
2. Danny Guglielmucci? Not only is Danny his father, but also the senior pastor – isn’t it his job to keep the wolves out of the sheep pen?
3. Edge Church? They were the people backing him up, sending him out, vouching for his ministry.
4. ACC Denomination/Pentecostal Movement? Is this mess just the expected result from the cult of personality entrenched in the charismatic culture?

I am sure there are elements of all of these in this catastrophe, there are individuals that have/haven’t done specific things, but it is the broader context of the pentecostal movement that I think is not bearing the weight of responsibility that it deserves. I am not an outsider who doesn’t “get it”, I’m an insider who has decided that the truth should be spoken even when it hurts.

Let me explain exactly how we as a church end up with one of our “heros” turning out to be a shameful fraud:

In a church I used to go to, if you were a leader you were taught to cheer whoever was on stage. This was called “stirring up faith”. You are also told things like “don’t speak against the anointed one of the Lord” and “respect the position not the person”. So if I am a keen young youth leader who wants to be seen doing the right thing, show that I have a good attitude, and see the kids in the youth group to grow in their faith, when Mike G comes to preach I cheer wildly at everything that he says, I tell everyone that he is amazing, and that he hears from God every day. If I hear something about him being a bit dodgy, or notice something odd about his personality, or feel something off in my spirit, I never tell anyone. I suppress my concern, because the last thing I want to do is bring someone else’s faith down.

In the Pentecostal church today there is an extreme emotional pressure to gush with praise over anyone that says the right words, even if you have no idea what their life is really like.

This is why, even though people have had reservations about Mike G, he still toured Australia, preaching lies about the works of God. You don’t get a fire without smoke. If someone is a chronic liar, there will be somewhere that it shows. If someone is a porn addict, there will be other aspects of their moral life that also suffer – but it is abundantly clear that having a last name like Guglielmucci, and being able to talk the talk is all that it takes to keep questioning mouthes shut.

We all have a responsibility for what has happened. We are responsible for not asking questions, for not requiring more from a preacher than just a passionate message and an engaging song.

How did Michael Guglielmucci get away with it?

I read today that Michael Guglielmucci has been lying about his cancer. You can read all about it at News.com.au. Basically it has been confirmed that he lied – but here is the part that amazed me: 

This news has come as a great shock to everyone including, it seems, his own wife and family,” Hillsong general manager George Aghajanian said in an email to his congregation yesterday.

How can your wife not know that you don’t have bone cancer? I’m not saying that there is some conspiracy here, but there is only one sort of person that can get away with faking a terminal illness to people who are close and care about them, and that is a practiced pathological liar. I say this means that he has been lying for a long time, and got so good at it that he managed to convince even those closest to him that he was dying of an illness that he didn’t have. Kind of like Frank Abagnale Jr. from the movie Catch Me If You Can (imdb), a man who made millions pretending to be a solicitor and a pilot.

Someone must have been suspicious, someone must have noticed something, but it seems like nobody said anything. We tend to assume that someone must have checked it out, he is on a stage, so it must be fine right?

Here is the Hillsong video – tubes up his nose and everything. At the moment Hillsong seem to be trying to take this down, so if it goes missing, I will try to find a replacement.

EDIT I can’t find another video – some poor intern at Hillsong must be working 16 hour days filing copyright claims with every video host on the planet.

So when did Michael start lying, and how did he perfect the art?

I read this in a forum post at gush.com.au from 2006:

when i heard he was sick, i laughed… not because i am happy he is sick, but because while he was at our church he was healed of:

Glandular Fever
Blood Clot in his brain
Brain Tumor
Burst Ear Drum

That’s right, isn’t it amazing that one man can have so many severe illnesses miraculously cured by God. Another post in that thread claimed to have seen his broken leg healed on stage. Now I actually believe that God can and does heal people, but it seems likely to me that Michael has been faking it for a long time, and that christians are so eager to have their “faith confirmed” in front of them that they jump and cheer at anything that seems to fit the bill.

I remember a man that preached at a church I used to go to (Gateway City Church in Wollongong). He was going to heal people’s backs, and he did this by sitting someone in a seat on stage, looking at their legs, declaring that one was longer than the other (there was someone from the church helping him and agreeing that the legs were not the same length). Then he got all the young children from the church to come down the front (the stage is over a meter high). Then he prayed, and said that the legs were the same length now, the other guy on stage agreed, and the “healed” walked around and said they felt better. But then he asked the children to confirm to the congregation that it had actually happened.

The whole congregation cheered wildly at the kids saying that it happened, despite the fact that it was completely impossible for any of the kids to have seen what happened, or had any idea if there was a change in the legs. Who knows, maybe the people were healed – but why the show? Why pretend to have kids witness something? The whole situation makes a mockery of the word proof.

 

So here is the challenge – just because a person says they have proved something, doesn’t mean that there is any proof at all. Just because someone is on stage doesn’t mean they are telling the truth. Just because you aren’t in charge doesn’t mean you don’t have a responsibility to the truth – if something stinks, then find the rot and deal with it.