Phony Marine Veterans and thoughts on Phony Religious Teachers

My post Nathan Phillips problematic slander of the Covington Boys has went viral.  A big part of that is people going on search engines looking up Nathan Phillips’ lies about his military experience.  One of the best expose of Nathan Phillips is by Don Shipley here.  Don Shipley was a career Navy SEAL and I must warn you his language is that of a…sailor.

But I saw another video in which Shipley exposes another guy that lied about being a Vietnam Vet and members of some special operations unit that has also generated a lot of publicity from the public.

Here’s the video:

It makes me mad to see people claim to be something with the military when they are not.  Especially to justify crimes, have followers or get others to sympathize and give money.  It is evil and wrong.

It also got me thinking about false teachers of the Bible.  How they have some similar trait.  You know: Blend with a little truth here but insert many big lies.  Also the narcissism.  They have incredible stories about themselves that are unverifiable.  Often it is also stolen from other people’s lives.  When people raise questions they have an overwhelming response of appeal to pity and other emotions as response to objective or biblical points being made.

By the way to be clear, I make a distinction between a pastor struggling to be holy versus those who are plain phony by what they do with their flaws: Go to Jesus, or cover it up and fabricate a whole world of lies, including false theology.

Many years ago I had a guy come to my church who was a “pastor.”  He was in a program that was trying to turn prisoners to pastors once they got out.  Which is not a wise idea biblically if you think about it.  He got disqualified and I found him by providence and ministered to him at his lowest point of life.  I gave him many chances.  He’s also the worst hypocrite I have ever met and with him the question isn’t “What have you done?” but “What haven’t you done?”  He was the most deceptive guy I ever dealt with and even after he left our church I still see police records of him being arrested for crimes.

When you uncover a lie he will tell more lie.  He lied about the degrees he had (he had none, I contacted the schools), he will lie about his spouse (she contradicts him), he will lie about being faithful to his wife and his phone will ring with different girls number, he will lie about being sober (I will go see him when he’s detained), he will even lie about things that there’s no way he can get away because you can verify right then and there such as he knows Greek and Hebrew, he knows a lot about church history, etc.

Other famous false teachers and phony pastors also have a trail of deception, hubris and uncontrollable appetite for sins.  We ought to be discerning.  But what I learn from watching all these clips from Don Shipley is that the best thing you can ever do with these guys is expose them.

 Yet in the same way these men, also by dreaming, defile the flesh, and reject authority, and revile ^[i]angelic majesties. ⁹ But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” ¹⁰ But these men revile the things which they do not understand; and the things which they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, by these things they are ^[j]destroyed. ¹¹ Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, and for pay ^[k]they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of Korah. ¹² These are the men who are ^[l]hidden reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, ^[m]doubly dead, uprooted; ¹³ wild waves of the sea, casting up their own ^[n]shame like foam; wandering stars, for whom the ^[o]black darkness has been reserved forever.

¹⁴ It was also about these men that Enoch, in the seventh generationfrom Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord came with ^[p]many thousands of His holy ones, ¹⁵ to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.” ¹⁶ These are grumblers, finding fault, following after their own lusts; ^[q]they speak arrogantly, flattering people for the sake of gaining an advantage.

¹⁷ But you, beloved, ought to remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁸ that they were saying to you, “In the last time there will be mockers, following after their own ungodly lusts.” ¹⁹ These are the ones who cause divisions, ^[r]worldly-minded, ^[s]devoid of the Spirit. ²⁰ But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, ²¹ keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. ²² And have mercy on some, who are doubting; ²³ save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh.

Jude 8-22