Bill Gothard, Sexual Predator?

I ask because I don't know the extent of his guilt.

In my late teens and early twenties, I received a lot of teaching and encouragement from “Basic Youth,” so I’m very sorry about this:

On March 7th, Bill Gothard, the founder and president of the Institute in Basic Life Principles resigned from his position in the organization after allegations from over thirty women were made public that Gothard sexually harassed, and in one case out right sexually abused, these women while they were teens or young women.

I wonder what his side of the story is. Read it all

Why Do You Exist?

Why were you born?

Are you a child born out of wedlock?

Or a child clearly not planned for by your parents?

Your presence on this planet may well be the result of your parents petitioning God for a gift. Then all I have to say to you here is this: Get on with fulfilling the vision of your parents and the purposes of God!

On the other hand, my dear reader, your presence here may not have been requested by your parents. For all that I know, you may be a so-called “illegitimate child…” Take heart! Not only are you just as legitimate a child as anyone else, you are on this planet by special divine appointment. God chose to put you here! Get on with fulfilling His vision and purposes!

A Child for the Lord

Be faithful to your mission here on planet Earth! Read it all

Hans Schlaffer, Detained in Austria

And eventually beheaded by the state church

They despised his beliefs. They branded him a heretic. They opted for intolerance and unwillingness to co-exist. Their final solution for him was contrary to justice…and the godliness they professed to defend.

No, this didn’t happen recently. Yet Schlaffer’s testimony lives on, unsilenced by the executioner’s sword.

Hans lost his head for his faith in Jesus, but he gained an eternal reward which hasn’t faded a bit after all these years (years which I don’t suppose he has noticed). (I wonder if Ernie Miller has met him yet.) (Grammarians, am I allowed a parenthetical train like this?!)

Well, here’s an introduction to Hans Schlaffer’s story on this day 486 years ago:

The December evening was cold. As Hans Schlaffer left the Anabaptist meeting in Schwaz, he was headed up the Inn River toward his home in the mountains of Austria. There he planned to sit out the winter months until Spring, when he would renew his ministry. But the plans of this former Roman Catholic priest received a rude shock.

On this day, December 5, 1527, Hans Schlaffer was arrested by local Roman Catholic authorities. […]

When asked on what foundation the Anabaptists rested, he replied, “Our faith, actions, and baptism rest on nothing else than the commandment of Christ.”

I am fascinated by these excerpts from one of his last recorded prayers: Read it all

Above all, love God!
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