Proverbs 18:17

In my recent commentary on David Farrier’s ongoing expose, I made this statement

…To be clear – reviewing an organisation’s approach to worker / volunteer wellbeing is not a bad thing IF there is exploitation and unrealistic expectations of workers. If the Arise Church furore was about disgruntled ex-members or volunteers who have left the place because they no longer adhere to the rules or don’t like the environment or leadership, well, you can find those at the local tennis club also. And many workplaces and most organisations. And for what may be genuine and legitimate grievances, we have a biblical process of dealing with those scenarios; in addition there’s the Employment Relations Authority for employment grievances, and ultimately the Police (and Courts) for anything of a criminal nature. Nowhere should the preferred process involve feeding information to people or the media who clearly have no interest in strengthening the church (or organisation or workplace)…

Amongst the general theme of comments of those who opposed my commentary and who supported Farrier’s commentary, is this one I saw today (which sort of sums them all up):

I have found David [Farrier]’s reporting to be very good on a range of issues, and feel that he has been very respectful of people’s experiences and faith.

In response to this, I would just alert you to the summary below of some of Farrier’s more recent postings which we have compiled.

Primarily because of the sexuality issue which is personal to him, he has in his sights any “evangelical Christians” – i.e. those that adhere to a biblical sexual ethic (including homosexuality and other certain sexual practices being sin). And especially churches that dared take a position against the conversion therapy bill (but also the gay marriage bill). That is very clear from his postings, as you will see.

Romans 3:23 says “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” … so sex (and sexuality) is not singled out here, as a ‘special sin’.

In my view, Farrier and many of his friends in the media don’t want to see the church strengthened through all of this. He wants churches either to “shut up”, change their doctrine or “disappear altogether”.

That’s why I alluded strongly to a ‘biblical process’ – rather than a ‘court of public opinion’ or ‘trial by media’.

Unfortunately some Christians have not discerned or understood or even been aware of the underlying motives behind all of this.


Here’s some of the ideology of David Farrier. He admits that “horrible grifting evangelical Christians” are the bad guys he is after. And it is clear that any church which rejects the LGBT agenda qualifies as one of those churches.

▶️ Sep 2020
David Farrier: Homophobia, transphobia, & Massey University
Massey University finds themselves in an interesting position: having a senior lecturer who’s a fucking dimwit

https://www.webworm.co/p/homophobia-transphobia-and-massey?s=r

“……I don’t want to get into it here right now, but growing up and figuring out my own sexuality, whilst also being deeply imbedded in Christianity, really does a number on you. Imagine if the whole world view you hold and treasure so deeply — suddenly tells you that you are wrongThat your mere existence and “choice” (it always amazes me how it’s a choice — pretty weird fucking choice for a kid who just wants to fit in) makes you a top contender for Hell (a literal place in which you are tortured for all eternity). And that’s not gay conversion therapy. That’s just the mood you try and live with, as you wrap your head around what and who you are. Gay conversion therapy is that, too — but it’s so much more. It’s targeted, ongoing, brutal and traumatising.”

▶️ February 2022
The God Factor in the “anti-mandate” protests – “There are so many fundamentalist Christians who have been conditioned into supporting this”
(David Collins contributed to this article for David Farrier’s blog)
https://www.webworm.co/p/weirdterrors?s=r

▶️ June 2020
When Farrier went ballistic because a teacher from a Christian school wore a MAGA hat at a BLM rally, and Farrier tried to get him deregistered (unsuccessfully :-).

David Farrier: An Open Letter to Manukau Christian School
https://www.webworm.co/p/an-open-letter-to-manukau-christian?s=r

Dear Manukau Christian School,

I am a journalist and filmmaker based in Auckland, New Zealand. I am contacting you in regards to a teacher at your school. As you no doubt know, your teacher attended the Black Lives Matter protest in Auckland over the long weekend. While doing so, he chose to wear a MAGA hat, which has come to symbolise hate and bigotry the world over.

….. I’m writing this letter, because I wonder where you stand on your teacher. I wonder where you stand on who’s educating the kids in your care. I know you’re a Christian school — and that kinda pains me, too — because it’s so expected. It’s so boring. It’s so dumb.

The reason I walked away on Christianity as it exists today is because of stuff like this. It was getting embarrassing. I couldn’t be a part of a thing that increasingly seemed to be turning its back on some of the most vulnerable people in society. It’s annoying because I know Jesus would look at this stuff and hurl motherfucking chunks. If I had kids, I wouldn’t let them be educated by this man. Or at your school, judging by your silence.

▶️ July 2020
David Farrier: An update on the smug MAGA-hat wearing teacher.
https://www.webworm.co/p/an-update-on-the-smug-maga-hat-wearing?s=r

…..In the open letter I detailed what the MAGA hat represented, and my disappointment that teacher would choose this moment in history to be, well, a massive prick.

I also deep dived into the school’s newsletters, where I found him rallying against the “LGBT revolution”. He also quoted Ben Shapiro, a right-wing fuckwit who most recently defended Trump’s retweet of someone yelling “WHITE POWER!”

▶️ October 2021
David Farrier: Giant white megachurches are getting away with far more than Destiny – but no one cares. Because they’re white.
https://www.webworm.co/p/cityimpact

And now the latest ‘Arise’ campaign…

▶️ 14 August 2022
The Downward Spiral of Arise Church: Part 2. Assault and Abuse at Arise Church
https://www.webworm.co/p/downwardspiral2?s=r

This is deep down in the post which was posted last week, and note the obsession with Arise, Life and City Impact Church.

It should come as no shock that “being gay” is an issue for some Christian churches. Google “LGBTQI+” and “churches” and you’re presented with an array of articles around the world on the relationship between some forms of Christianity and those with certain sexual orientations.

As New Zealand politicians debated whether Aotearoa should ban conversion therapy (which it did), a number of churches — including Webworm regulars Arise, City Impact and LIFE — entered the debate, arguing the bill should not be passed in its current form.

When the bill that would legalise same sex marriage was going through Parliament, John Cameron urged the congregation from the pulpit to oppose this and stand up for family values”, says Rose. “I vocalised some pro-choice views to other congregation members at one point and was firmly told to keep those to myself.”

Publicly, churches like Arise remain murky on the topic. Webworm obtained this email sent from Arise in 2014, to someone enquiring about the church’s stance on sexual orientation: 

It is not our practice to teach against any particular form of sexual orientation,” wrote Arise’s Wellington Campus Manager eight years ago. That kind of framing of the issue is Arise’s typical response. Then there’s what they actually did. I spoke to Oliver who was heavily involved in Arise in 2016.

“During the year as interns, we were all made to do a devotional series, a course called Freedom in Christ. We were made to feel worthless and broken; God being our only source of hope — a recurring theme throughout internship and the church in general.” Included in the course literature was a list of things to “renounce” if they’d become more important than God: Ambition, computer games, food. Your friends, your parents, and your children.

Later in the guidebook, things got more personal. One section guided the interns through their “fears”. One of those fears — “Fear of becoming/being homosexual”:

Oliver told me what happened if “being homosexual” was ticked as a fear: “If you selected this, you were literally told to pray the gay away.” This is the prayer Arise church provided to those who were scared they might be gay:

Imagine being told what you’re feeling is a lie. That you are a lie. I look back at Arise’s statement two years earlier: “It is not our practice to teach against any particular form of sexual orientation.” You fit in at Arise. Until you don’t.

Seems to be a lot of other categories on that list that he’s not so concerned about!

▶️ And proof that this was all timed to go public in the mainstream media leading into Easter:

▶️ And Farrier’s co-campaigner Shaneel Lal’s campaign against ALL churches opposed to conversion therapy ban (on the back of the Arise coverage)

(Shaneel Lal) “Now that we are finally talking about the abusive culture at ARISE church, here’s a list of people and churches that sent a joint letter to its membership to make submissions to the Justice Select Committee to exempt religious people and parents to practice conversion therapy. Two ex-members of ARISE church shared that ARISE church had allegedly given its interns and members “special prayers for specific problems,” and one of the specific problems was the “fear of becoming/being homosexual.” The likes of John Cameron, Paul de Jong, Sam Monk and Peter Mortlock to name a few were key to influencing their churches that the ban on conversion therapy was taking away parents rights to ‘counsel’ their children and the churches’ rights to pray for them. Yeah, right. ARISE church alongside Life Church and City Impact were key to opposing a complete ban on conversion therapy in New Zealand. They manipulated their members into making submissions to the justice select committee that would allow conversion therapy to continue in churches. If you belong to any of the churches who committed themselves to the erasure of queer people when NZ had moved to ban conversion therapy, now is a great time to cancel your membership and pull your money out of these churches. Find a church that actually cares about people.

EXAMPLES OF TWEETING / FACEBOOK

▶️ (A charming word tree on his twitter account that was subsequently deleted – but we think was aimed at Sean Plunket)

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▶️ Trying to link QAnon with “evangelicals & Pentecostal Christians” (!)

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▶️ On abortion and the Supreme Court case (Roe v Wade)

 


The reason I used the title of “Proverbs 18:17”?

This image sums it up….

 

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