"Pastor" Doug Wilson: Above Reproach?
Hardly.
Pastor Doug Wilson is a hugely influential leader in the Reformed Christian world. He’s a self-ordained minister of a made up denomination with his own publishing company, a seminary, and a k-12 school, and he publishes widely used homeschooling curriculum, through which he teaches his ideology.
Mr. Wilson is an extremely controversial figure with a lengthy track record of abusive conduct that always seems to be overlooked by those who should hold him accountable. He has strong friendships and connections with folks at GTY, Apologia, Cross Politic, Crown Rights Media, Alpha & Omega Ministries, Founders Ministries, Sheologians and G3.
This post exists to catalog some of the truths that should give any sober minded Christian pause before subscribing to Wilson’s teaching in any capacity:
SEXUAL ABUSE SCANDALS
Steven Sitler was a 19-year-old student enrolled at New St. Andrews College in Moscow, ID. Jamin Wight was enrolled at Greyfriar’s Seminary, also in Moscow. Both institutions were founded by Douglas Wilson, pastor of the town’s Christ Church. As neither institution provides any kind of housing, students are routinely encouraged to make living arrangements through Wilson’s student boarding network among Christ Church congregants. Both Wight and Sitler did exactly that. And both Wight and Sitler sexually abused young girls in the homes of their host families.
Between the years of 2000 and 2003, Jamin Wight, who was 24 at the time, groomed and sexually abused Natalie Greenfield, the 13-year-old daughter of his host family. Like many victims, Natalie bottled the trauma and didn’t tell a soul until, at age 17, she began suffering flashbacks, insomnia, stomach ulcers, behavioral problems, and panic attacks, and she finally confided the abuse to a friend who encouraged her to tell her parents what had happened.
In August of 2005, she revealed her painful secret to her parents, who made a police report the very same day. Court records show that both Doug Wilson (Natalie’s pastor) and Peter Leithart (Wight’s pastor at nearby Trinity Reformed Church and Dean of Graduate Studies at New St. Andrews) were made fully aware of the crime in August of 2005. Throughout Wight’s trial, he remained in official “good standing” at his church, where congregants were not informed of the presence of a predator in their midst for over three months. Records also show that both Leithart and Wilson fought (unsuccessfully) to keep their conversations with Wight about his crimes off the court record.
In later email exchanges with Natalie, Wilson claims his attempt to keep things quiet was motivated by a desire to “protect her mom from appearing negligent.” Throughout the case, Natalie’s family was essentially shunned from the church. Wilson wrote to Natalie’s father, blaming him for the abuse and threatening to suspend him from inclusion in the Lord’s Supper
Wilson wrote letters both to the court and to the police minimizing the gravity of Wight’s offense. He expressed that Wight was “not a sexual predator.” He referred to the relationship between Wight and Natalie as “secret courtship.” He made numerous references to how physically mature she was for her age.
He tried to guilt her out of pursuing thorough action against Wight, claiming it would reflect poorly on her mother and asking, verbatim, “Why would you want to hurt your mother like that?”
Here’s how Natalie characterized the experience: “My ex-pastor has proven that he will go to great lengths to discredit me and take away my voice, and, though I would love to simply let this go and leave it behind me as I move forward with my advocacy, I can’t. The rate of secondary abuse in churches is nothing short of a tragedy. Victims of abuse often remain silent and avoid going to their church leaders because of the fear that they will be shamed, disbelieved, encouraged to go back to their abuser, or otherwise mistreated, and they are fearful with good reason.”
Jamin Wight was sentenced to 4-6 months in an Idaho prison. His abuse of Natalie Greenwood ripped apart a family, made a mockery of the church, and should have served as a sobering admonition to everyone involved about the extreme importance of preemptively instating policies and safeguards to prevent further abuse and to ensure compassionate church response and care for the victims of similar crimes. But that’s not what happened in Moscow.
Enter Steven Sitler, who, by the time he enrolled at New St. Andrews, had already victimized several children in his home church in Colville, WA. Blissfully unaware of his predatory nature, a family in the Christ Church network welcomed Sitler into their home with open arms. At the time, they had six children under the age of 10. It didn’t take long for Sitler to strike. When the victim named the abuse to her parents, her father immediately confronted Sitler, who confessed to touching one of the victim’s “private parts more than once.”
The father immediately called Doug Wilson, who advised him to contact the police. (Even a broken clock is right twice a day.) Meanwhile, Sitler retreated to Colville and hired a top notch attorney, Dean Wullenwaber, who coincidentally (or not) also happened to be the official legal counsel of New St. Andrews and a member of Christ Church. I don’t think I should have to spell this out, but for the sake of clarity I will: This means that when the victim arrived in court, she was forced to watch a man from her church, a man with incredible influence over all of New St. Andrews, stand and defend her abuser and try to discredit the severity of the harm done to her. Please think about that for a minute before proceeding.
For whatever mysterious reason exists, Wilson became something of an advocate for Sitler during this time, functioning as his only confidant and primary counselor. Between the time of his arrest and the day of his trial, Sitler met with Wilson for six “counseling sessions.”
Such support and guidance was, inexplicably, not available to the victim.
While all of this was in play, Sitler also confessed the names of some of his other victims to an anonymous source, who took the information to the police. Sitler’s home church in Colville, upon learning of the news, did the prudent thing and immediately warned their flock, sent their congregants a three page detailed explanation of the situation, and offered counseling and support to Sitlers victims.
Wilson, on the other hand, did not write any letters to his congregation. He didn’t reach out and extend comfort or support to the victims. He did, however, manage to find the time to write a letter (on Christ Church letterhead, no less) to Judge John Stegner on Sitler’s behalf, writing, “I would urge that the civil penalties applied would be measured and limited. I have a good hope that Steven has genuinely repented, and that he will continue to deal with this to become a productive and contributing member of society.”
This might be a good time to clarify that Sitler is a convicted, level III sex offender, (officially diagnosed as a “fixated pedophile,” which means he has regular fantasies of raping pre-pubescent children.) He has admitted to molesting over 25 children in a seven year span of time. In September of 2005, Sitler was sentenced to a life term in an Idaho prison. After serving 20 months of his sentence, he was released on probation. Just six short weeks later, he was arrested on voyeurism charges. He did some more time and was eventually released and declared “repentant,” as determined by none other than Doug Wilson, who welcomed him back into the congregation.
In 2010, a 23-year-old New Andrews student approached the elders at Christ Church and asked for their help in finding her a husband. (I know. Just keep reading.) Ever so helpful, they dug deep to find the cream of the crop, a beacon of good moral character and integrity; they initiated an introduction to Steven Sitler. The two were engaged after their second date, but because Sitler was a seasoned sex offender with lifelong probation, they had to seek the court’s permission to marry.
As part of this process, and because the couple admitted that they wanted to start a family (problematic to have children around level III sex offenders), the DOC requested further psychological evaluation. The results raised concerns for the professionals. But they didn’t raise concerns for the church apparently. What do mental health experts know anyway? Mr. Wullenwaber once again stepped up to the plate and successfully argued his client’s case, and shortly thereafter, Doug Wilson officiated their wedding, during which he asked God to “bless them with children.”
Blessed they were. They conceived a baby boy a short time later. A few months into the baby’s life, Sitler began failing his polygraphs and was ultimately removed from his home after the court found that he “had contact with his child that resulted in actual sexual stimulation.”
When pressed on the matter of his failure to inform congregants of the predators in their midst, Doug Wilson responded, “I’m a pastor; I cover up sins for a living.” (Theologically troubling statement considering the Bible’s very clear instruction that only the blood of Christ can cover up sins and that Christians are called to expose darkness, not increase or make peace with it.) It’s possible that maybe he’s issued an apology somewhere, and if he has, I would be happy to consider it and respond accordingly. But at this point, he doesn’t seem to think he’s done anything wrong or that any of the criticism of it is valid but rather born of a duplicitous desire to leverage tragedy for power: “’These people are taking a tragedy and using it to advance a petty political agenda,’ he said. Ironically, I’m pretty sure I vote the same direction Wilson does. There’s no “political agenda” in insisting on biblical accountability; that’s a Christian agenda.
Pastor Wilson still inhabits the pulpit of Christ Church every Sunday, where you are likely to encounter Steven Sitler. The people you won’t see are his victims. Theories abound as to why.
The following are a number of other disqualifying offenses that should be prayerfully considered when drawing conclusions about whether or not Wilson is fit for continued ministry.
MISOGYNISTIC/ABUSIVE/DEGRADING COMMENTS ABOUT WOMEN
“Pushy broads,” “twinkies in tight tops,” “waifs with manga eyes”
“Harridans, termagants, harpies, crones, and small breasted biddies” (Does breast size correlate to virtue? Is this what matters to God?)
Wherein promiscuous women are labeled “useless locks that open to every key,” whereas promiscuous men are labeled the master key: “Why, if a woman sleeps with a hundred men, is she slut-shamed, but if a man sleeps with a hundred women, he can get away with bragging about his “conquests”? Well, consider this factor. A key that opens a hundred locks can claim to be a master key. A lock that opens to a hundred keys can only claim to be pretty much worthless.”
“Stephanie lost her temper completely and totally and shouted at him, “Lionel, I already have a pussy. What made you think I was in need of another one?” Ride, Sally, Ride (a novel about a sex robot) page 139
“Second, wives need to be led with a firm hand. A wife will often test her husband in some area, and be deeply disappointed (and frustrated) if she wins. It is crucial that a husband give to his wife what the Bible says she needs, rather than what she says she needs. So a godly husband is a godly lord. A woman who understands this biblical truth and calls a certain man her husband is also calling him her lord.” (Reforming Marriage, page 80)
“The first time the dishes are not done, he must sit down with his wife immediately, and gently remind her that this is something which has to be done. At no time may he lose his temper, badger her, call her names, etc. He must constantly remember and confess that she is not the problem, he is. By bringing this gently to her attention, he is not to be primarily pointing to her need to repent; rather, he is exhibiting the fruit of his repentance. He does this, without rancour and without an accusative spirit, until she complies or rebels. If she complies, he must move up one step, now requiring that another of her duties be done. If she rebels, he must call the elders of the church and ask them for a pastoral visit. When the government of the home has failed to such an extent, and a godly and consistent attempt by the husband to restore the situation has broken down, then the involvement of the elders is fully appropriate.” (Not Where She Should Be)
“And so what I am building up to is the fact that you need to stop listening to your own heart, and start listening to your husband. Whatever doubts you have about him as a husband, he will treat you ten times better than your emotions treat you. You need to break up with your emotions. Talk about an abusive relationship. You need to go to Jon and seek his forgiveness for being so disrespectful of his efforts, apologize heartily, and tell him that you have resolved before God to obey him in everything.” (Miserable Wives)
“Women aren’t supposed to be warriors, and so we shouldn’t be training them to be warriors.” (Restoring Sexism: The Lost Virtue)
“If you were a male when you were conceived, this means that (at that moment) God was assigning to you the duties of provision and protection. If you were a female when conceived, you were being assigned the duties of bearing children and nurturing them. And making the sandwiches.” (Restoring Sexism: The Lost Virtue)
VIEWS ON SLAVERY
“Slavery as it existed in the South was not an adversarial relationship with pervasive racial animosity. Because of its dominantly patriarchal character, it was a relationship based upon mutual affection and confidence. There has never been a multi-racial society which has existed with such mutual intimacy and harmony in the history of the world. The credit for this must go to the predominance of Christianity. The gospel enabled men who were distinct in nearly every way, to live and work together, to be friends and often intimates. This happened to such an extent that moderns indoctrinated on “civil rights” propaganda would be thunderstruck to know the half of it.
Slave life was to them a life of plenty, of simple pleasures, of food, clothes, and good medical care.
With the slave trade, the vast majority of the slaves had already been enslaved in Africa by other blacks. They were then taken down to the coast and sold to the traders. The traders transported them, usually under wicked conditions, to those places where a market did exist for their labor, but where the civil leaders had repeatedly and consistently tried to stop the slave traders. One of those places, Virginia, had attempted on no less than twenty-eight occasions to arrest the slave trade, but was stopped by higher (non-Southern) authorities. If the slaves were not sold in the South, they were taken on to Haiti and Brazil, where the condition and treatment of slaves was simply horrendous. The restoration of these slaves to their former condition was a physical impossibility. Now, under these conditions, was it a sin for a Christian to purchase such a slave, knowing that he would take him home and treat him the way the Bible requires? If he did not do so, nothing would be done to improve the slave’s condition, and much could happen that would make it worse. (Southern Slavery As It Was)
The following timeline and links were compiled on the “The Problems with Federal Vision” Facebook page:
FEDERAL VISIONIST DOUG WILSON – A TIMELINE:
➤ 1994 – Wilson founds the Association of Classical Christian Schools (ACCS). A decade later, a plagiarism scandal is associated with Wilson, who is the General Editor of the widely used Omnibus materials, which are sold through Veritas Press.
➤ 1998 – Wilson forms the CREC denomination (Confederation of Reformed and Evangelical Churches)
➤ 2002 – Wilson participates in the Auburn Avenue conference in Louisiana that kicks off the Federal Vision controversy
➤ 2002 – Wilson misrepresents his publishing company Canon Press to local tax board
➤ 2002-2010 – Six NAPARC denoms (PCA, RPCNA, OPC, URCNA, RCUS & ARPC) study Wilson’s Federal Vision theology, write position papers condemning it
➤ 2003 – Ninety four (94) ecclesiastical charges* are brought against Wilson by his denomination. Some of the charges include:
• Paying for illegal gambling operations out of church benevolence funds
• Covering for a New St Andrews student-run drug ring
• Covering for the alleged crimes of gasoline and pipe bombs
• Malfeasance (including financial malfeasance)
• Obstruction of justice
• Conduct unbecoming a church officer
• Pastoral tyranny
• Sessional tyranny
• Abuse
• Manipulation
• Dereliction of duty
• Threatening
• Sinful anger
• Railing
• Stealing
• Violation of fiduciary trust
• Slander
• Hypocrisy
• Serious clergy malpractice
*The CREC denomination (which was created by Doug Wilson and stacked with loyalists) ultimately dropped all 94 ecclesiastical charges against Wilson. However, the casino operator made a sworn affidavit of having been paid off by Doug Wilson out of the church’s benevolence fund, on a letter written by Wilson on Christ Church letterhead.
➤ 2005 – Wilson is caught by IRS skimming $$$, the IRS then revokes 501(c)(3) status
➤ 2005 – Accounts begin to surface of sexual predator Steven Sitler having molested several children of Christ Church members. Doug Wilson later officiates the marriage of Steven Sitler to a young woman from Christ Church. After Sitler and his wife have a child, Sitler testifies to police that he is sexually stimulated by their infant son.
➤ 2006 – Sexual predator Jamin Wight is charged with felony injury to a child and sentenced to four years in prison. Wight was a seminary student at Greyfriars Seminary, founded by Doug Wilson who raped a 14-year-old girl whose family were Christ Church members.
➤ 2007 – Wilson co-authors the Joint Federal Vision Profession (JFVP), solidifying his adherence to Federal Vision theology. The tenets of Federal Vision theology include Theonomy (i.e., a long range goal toward installing a Christian Theocracy), Baptismal Regeneration, Paedocommunion (also known as Infant Communion), an emphasis on Political Involvement, and Salvation via meritorious works.
➤ 2007 – On the error of Federal Vision, Dr R.C. Sproul Sr passionately addresses the 35th annual Presbyterian PCA General Assembly, which convenes to study the error: “I can’t fathom why there’s any hesitancy about [rejecting Federal Vision]. There’s too much at stake—this is the Gospel we’re talking about.”
➤ 2010 – A meme surfaces of a quote from one of Wilson’s books in which Wilson characterizes America’s slavery era as a period of “mutual intimacy and harmony” between slaves and slave-owners.
➤ 2015 – Wilson’s fellow CREC elder Peter Leithart publicly apologizes to Jamin Wight’s rape victim Natalie Greenfield, who was groomed and raped by Wight, beginning when Natalie was 14.
➤ 2015 – Multiple instances of plagiarism are discovered in the Omnibus materials sold through Veritas Press, the largest homeschooling publisher in the U.S. Doug Wilson is the General Editor for Omnibus.
➤ 2016 – Christ Church member Natalie Greenfield (who was groomed by seminary student Jamin Wight beginning when she was 13 and Wight was in his mid 20s) shares her story of being blamed for her rape by her pastor Doug Wilson
➤ 2016 – The organization CrossPolitic is formed in Moscow, Idaho. CrossPolitic is comprised of 3 hosts: Toby Sumpter, Gabe Rench and David Shannon (also known as Chocolate Knox). While CrossPolitic does not explicitly bear Doug Wilson’s name, it nonetheless functions for all intents and purposes as one of Wilson’s media arms, and advances his ideology. Two of the CrossPolitic hosts are church officers in the church that Wilson pastors (Christ Church in Moscow, ID), the third host is a producer and a member of Wilson’s church.
➤ 2017 – Wilson is officially rebuked by his denomination (CREC, which he founded) for his mishandling of 2 sexual abuse cases
➤ 2017 – Wilson reaffirms his adherence to Federal Vision theology in an article misleadingly titled “Federal Vision No Mas”. The title suggests he has repented of, or rejected, Federal Vision theology. However, in the article, while he says he no longer wants to use the term “Federal Vision,” he goes on to say that he still affirms all the tenets of the theology, as laid out in the 2007 Joint Federal Vision Profession, which he co-authored and co-signed.
➤ 2019 – David Shannon (aka Chocolate Knox), one of the CrossPolitic hosts, is hired by Tom Ascol (president, Founders Ministries) to produce a documentary called “By What Standard.” In the documentary, Shannon intentionally portrays abuse advocate Rachael Denhollander as a demonic influence on the church. Half of Ascol’s board of directors resigns over the fallout that results, and the segment of the film portraying Denhollander this way is removed.
➤ 2019 – The organization Fight-Laugh-Feast is formed in Moscow, Idaho. Like CrossPolitic, FLF does not explicitly bear Doug Wilson’s name, but was created by 3 members of his church (associate pastor Toby Sumpter, deacon Gabe Rench and filmmaker David Shannon). Fight-Laugh-Feast is an organization meant to promote organizations that are like-minded with Wilson’s ideology (i.e., Theonomy, Patriarchy and Quiverfull).
➤ 2019 – Josh Buice of the G3 conferences does an education conference with Doug Wilson in Moscow, Idaho, at New Saint Andrews, a college founded by Wilson.
➤ 2019 – James White (Alpha & Omega Ministries), Jeff Durbin (Apologia) and Summer Jaeger (Sheologians) host the ReformCon conference in Phoenix, Arizona together with Doug Wilson’s media arm CrossPolitic.
➤ 2020 – In January, Josh Buice partners with Doug Wilson’s media arm CrossPolitic to host the G3 Conference in Atlanta. He also invites Doug Wilson’s daughter Rachel Jankovic to be a speaker at the event. Jankovic and all members of the CrossPolitic organization hold to the same ideological views that Wilson does: Theonomy, Quiverfull and Patriarchy. Doug Wilson attends the G3 Conference and livestreams from several of the vendor booths.
➤ 2020 – Wilson continues to sell materials teaching Federal Vision through his family publishing company Canon Press
➤ 2020 – A number of memes surface demonstrating Wilson engaging in coarse and uwholesome language over the years, including Wilson making many vulgar references to women’s breasts, but also other coarse language, including “c*nts,” “p*ssy,” and “bit*h.” Comparisons to Mark Driscoll (known as “the cussing pastor”) begin to be made.
➤ 2020 – Doug Wilson publishes a book about the “murder” of a sexbot. Sexbots are life-size anatomically correct dolls made for the purpose of grown men to have sex with and are programmed to say sexually explicit phrases. (Note the screenshot of one of the pages from the book.) The book and the promo video made through Wilson’s publishing company Canon Press evoke porn and Bondage Domination SadoMasochism (BDSM) culture.
➤ 2020 – The CrossPolitic hosts (all members of Doug Wilson’s church) stage a publicity stunt in which they promote a “Psalm Sing” at Moscow City Hall. The promo asks for participants to come to City Hall and to not wear masks, in violation of city health ordinances mandating masks/social distancing due the Covid pandemic. (Whatever one’s views on Covid, the Christian is still constrained by scriptures to obey the government, unless there is a sin involved, because all government is instituted by God – see Romans 13.) Multiple pictures from the “Psalm Sing” show participants being led in singing by Doug Wilson, and not masking/social distancing. City officials arrest Gabe Rench, one of Doug Wilson’s church officers. New Saint Andrews president and Christ Church elder Ben Merkle (who is married to one of Doug Wilson’s daughters) tells the New Saint Andrews students that “baiting” the police is an option. Christ Church deacon Gabe Rench frames his arrest as a violation of his “constitutional right to worship,” which is a lie. The truth: Rench is arrested for (1) not masking, in violation of health ordinances and (2) refusing to provide identification to the police.
➤ 2020 – The Fight-Laugh-Feast organization (which is run by 3 members of Doug Wilson’s church and functions as a media arm for Wilson) hosts a conference in Nashville Oct 1-3. There is an emphasis on military language and imagery during the conference.
➤ 2020 – The Theonomists influenced by Wilson begin characterizing themselves as God’s “Prophets.”
When it comes to Doug Wilson, at what point do we say, “Enough”?