Just a couple of things to briefly discuss today from the "Let me get this straight" department. First up, is an update on Mr. Andy Savage, Teaching Pastor at Highpoint Church in Memphis, TN. You'll recall that Mr. Savage admitted to a sexual liaison with a then 17-year-old woman who came forward to tell her story. He admitted engaging in a sexual act with her.
So let me get this straight. Apparently, Savage doesn't think he actually did anything wrong because, "he does not believe he broke the law." The argument is that Savage believes Woodson (the victim), was of the age of consent in Texas at the time of the assault.
If this is true, then there is still the problem of the sexual encounter in the first place. Savage says that the situation was "very flirtatious" and that "It was a very mutual, spontaneous, physical moment and our hormones were obviously very much in that moment and she performed [a sexual act]."
He almost appears matter of fact about the entire incident. In fact, Savage is clearly backpedaling here, preferring to blame the victim instead of accepting full responsibility for his actions, which at the very least allowed the situation to denigrate into a hormone-led sexual assault.
However, it is interesting that while Savage is so sure he did not break Texas law, that isn't necessarily the case.
The Montgomery County Precinct 3 Constable’s office said the statue of limitations has passed and no charges will be filed against Savage.
'Using the current statute, we would have some possible options, but we are limited to the law as it was at the time of the offense in 1998,' Capt. Dan Zientek said in a statement this week...
If the statute of limitations has passed, disallowing law enforcement from arrested and indicting Savage, it would seem that he quite possibly did break Texas law some 20 years ago. Had there not been a statute of limitations on this, it is very likely Savage would be in custody already, negating his belief that he did not break the law.
That aside, there remains the fact that Andy Savage is responsible for not only setting the tone in the first place when he worked as a youth director while in college, but he is also responsible for allowing and quite possibly, even encouraging the situation to gain steam that resulted in Jules Woodson performing a sexual act on Savage. This is really enough to disqualify him from ministry.
In Genesis 39, we read of another man who, although pushed to sleep with a woman by the woman's flirtatious attempts to seduce him, not only resisted, but actually ran away. Joseph was completely innocent and fully resisted Potiphar's wife's temptations. I believe - though I cannot prove it - that had Joseph succumbed to her temptations and actually committed adultery with her, God would have needed to find someone else to do what He had planned for Joseph. In effect, Joseph would have canceled himself out of the type of "ministry" that God had in store for him.
Andy Savage has said he is taking a leave of absence from his position at Highpoint Church. He also said a third-party investigator will come in and look closely at the way he has acted while he ministered at Highpoint. This is all well and good, but what does that have to do with his indiscretion and sin from 20 years ago?
There is no question. Andy Savage needs to resign from ministry. He was actually in ministry when he chose to commit an unlawful and/or immoral sexual act with an underage woman. He can blame it on "flirting" or "hormones," but in reality, a person called by God and used of God in ministry needs to be above that in all things. There is no excuse and failure simply means disqualification. It appears Andy Savage isn't going away without a fight, which also simply proves his complete lack of humility.
In another area of concern, we have the recent revelations by Project Veritas where James O'Keefehas pulled back the curtain on the Orwellian censorship over at Twitter, a huge social network where conservatives and patriots are routinely "shadowbanned" or explicitly and permanently suspended for simply being conservatives.
So let me get this straight. In America, a young couple can be harassed, hounded, vilified, put out of business, and essentially be forced to claim bankruptcy for not being willing to bake a cake for a gay couple's wedding. However, it is perfectly legitimate it seems to censor, suspend, or ban any conservative that the moderators (or Jack), at Twitter doesn't like?
We know this has been going on for quite some time, but it's always been treated as simply another "conspiracy" theory. However, with the undercover work of Project Veritas, it has come out from under the tin hat and is now proven as absolute fact.
Interestingly enough, I've known that I've been shadowbanned for some time, which is a way for the mods at Twitter to keep tweets of conservatives from being seen even though nothing appears different to the original poster.
One individual noted that we know shadowbanning actual exists and is a normal procedure against conservatives on Twitter, and he said the quickest way to learn if you are or have been shadowbanned is to go to @williamlegate Twitter page to see if you're blocked. I'd never heard of the guy and don't recall any interaction with him at all. I went over there and lo and behold, the guy had blocked my page. I didn't really think I was important enough because of my low numbers at Twitter, but apparently, if you discuss God, you're a conservative or patriot and/or support the second amendment or freedom of speech, you're endanger of being shadowbanned.