On December 9, 2017, " Christianity Today" reported, Harry L Thomas has been “indefinitely suspended” from the ministry and his church following his arrest on charges of child molestation. The child molestation charges brought against Thomas were connected to accusations that he was sexually assaulting four children between 1999 and 2015.
Thomas was charged with one count of aggravated sexual assault, three counts of sexual assault and four counts of endangering the welfare of children, according to the Burlington County, New Jersey Prosecutor's office.
According to "Relevant Magazine," Thomas' former ministry released a statement saying, "It is with deep regret and saddened hearts that the Elders and Trustees of Come Alive New Testament Church have decided to indefinitely suspend Pastor Harry Thomas from all leadership positions with the church, festival, and all associated ministries.
This was determined, by leadership, to be the proper course of action at this time until there can be a full investigation. It is requested that all pray for the parties involved and refrain from speculation regarding the circumstances."
With the above news story in mind, there are not enough Christian Churches holding leadership accountable.
In the Bible, we are taught to live like Christ (1 John 2:6). We are not living like Christ when we are doing the things that we want to do and still wallowing in sin.
We must trust and believe that if you are a true believer in Christ, you are free from sin (Romans 6:18). A lot of leaders in the church may be in the leadership positions for the wrong reasons, but that is just in my opinion.
The American Church does not realize how lucky they have it when we are free to spread the gospel and minister to whoever wants to listen, compared to other parts of the country where worshiping God must be secretive, and if you are caught worshiping God, you are either thrown into jail or killed.
I believe that when you are really called to serve God, you are going to strive to please him in any way you can (Eph. 5:8-11), especially in a leadership role. As a leader of a church, you are guiding poor, lost souls to Christ, and you are called to live according to what you preach, as you will be judged more harshly (James 3:1).
Therefore, we must be careful not to rush into leadership in the church or pray to be cleansed before delivering sermons or ministering.
I am not saying that Thomas did not pray for cleansing before taking on a nationwide ministry of music, and it is not my place to judge, and the devil does have a way of attacking you, I am just using his story as an example of how much the church tends to sweep things under the rug.
The article mentioned that the charges were unrelated to the ministry, so in some cases had “nothing” to do with his teaching, but you cannot have one foot in the church and one foot out, as I mentioned earlier that you should strive to please God in all that you do.
As Christians, we have to listen to the holy spirit when making leadership positions, and the holy spirit will reveal all truth to those who listen and trust it (John 14:26).
As we enter 2018, I pray that the American Churches strive to grow closer to God and allow the holy spirit to take over services and ministries. With the Godly order, we will have more churches sold out for Christ and more people desiring to know him.
