Chapter 20: Myth—Politics Doesn’t Matter

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Chuck and his wife Sharon attended Solid Rock Church in Elk River, Minnesota when I attended the church. After I left, they continued to attend.

Chuck was old in the physical sense and 75 in the chronological sense. He suffered from diabetes and the effects of his disease almost made him blind. He literally could not see 3-5 feet in front of his face. Chuck and Sharon loved kids and would often baby sit for the teenage daughter of a woman

named Gwen in the church. They lived in a dilapidated trailer in the city of Monticello about 20 miles from the church. Gwen and her family lived in the same trailer park. The church bus picked up Chuck, Sharon and other people in the trailer court each Sunday. Since Chuck and his wife did not

drive and were poor, this was their only way to get to church.

Gwen stated she had been manic-depressive and on medication when she claimed to be healed by Pastor William Matthews’ prayer. She stopped taking her meds. Chuck was soon charged with being a sexual pervert and

said to have exposed himself to Gwen’s daughter. Matthews openly referred to Chuck as a pervert in the church and made him sit in the back pews away from Gwen. At Matthews’ counsel, without talking to Chuck, Gwen pressed charges. Chuck’s life was destroyed by lies, which led to his death.

God told me to go talk to Chuck and find out what had happened. He also told me to advise him to stick to the truth at all costs. I knew he would be given a public defender that would ask him to lie to make it easier on

himself in the court. That is exactly what was taking place. I asked Chuck if he had exposed himself to Gwen’s daughter. He said no. When I asked what happened, he said he was taking a shower and had just come out of the bathtub when Gwen’s daughter busted into the bathroom. His rickety old

trailer didn’t provide much security, so only a modest amount of pressure was required to force the warped bathroom door open. Gwen’s daughter saw Chuck naked. It is unlikely Chuck saw clearly who had come into the bathroom. I had prayed over him earlier at church for his near blindness.

I then explained that he needed to stand for the truth in court. I also advised him that if he succumbed to the public defender’s pressure to lie, that he would live to regret it. I counseled Chuck to stand tall for God’s

righteousness and that given his side of the story, it was not his fault that the girl had inadvertently or even forcibly came into the bathroom on him.