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Dr. Dénouement writes:
The Cursed Life: Playbooks of (accused) pedophiles
Gateway’s Robert Morris takes a line right out of IHOPKC’s Mike Bickle script… and one source says Morris has been doing a lot of conniving for years.
“…but it was not intercourse…. I admit to a moral failure, but… Sadly, I had an inappropriate relationship with a young woman.” -Every Accused Pedophile Pastor Ever, it seems.
Note: This post ended up so long I need to split it into two, so here’s some of what I have for now!
One of the largest megachurch pastors in the United States, Robert P. Morris, was allowed to resign—in lieu of being fired—from his role at Gateway Church in Southlake, TX this week after accusations of serial child molestation against him were made public by his alleged victim, Cindy Clemishire (who chose to reveal her name) who was 12 when she says Morris began abusing her. In response to these public charges against the wealthy pastor who thrives on his Blessed Life books and series, Gateway appeared to take its cues, practically verbatim, from the IHOPKC and Mike Bickle playbook, using linguistic obfuscation faster than anyone can say, “huh?”
That which has been is that which will be,
And that which has been done is that which will be done.
So there is nothing new under the sun.- Ecc. 1:9
While the Bible itself tells us that nothing is new under the sun, Dr. Dénouement is ready to tell every child abuser, rapist, pedophile, and any related criminal, to stick it where the sun don’t shine, as the saying goes—and especially those who use the name of Jesus to manipulate and cajole the little children, like Cindy Clemishire who was 12 and Tammy Woods who was 14, among the numerous others who have come forth on the IHOPKC side—and who we are hearing may come forth from the Gateway side. Jesus himself said “but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea” (Matthew 18:6), so I’m going to hazard a guess that the sun don’t shine if the heavy millstone drowns you.
The Gateway to millstone drowning
Following the Gateway double-down of denial and recovering feels like an eerie rewrite of the early Bickle days last fall, with a bit of a twist: the Gateway crowd offers a more polished spin on things with an in-house public relations spin doctor, in the person of Lawrence Swicegood, and an even more out-of-touch corporate law firm to conduct what the megachurch posits is an “independent investigation” (but only of the five years that Clemishire’s accusations cover, thus not allowing for the concept that Morris could have assaulted anyone else at any time outside 1982-1987). These pretend investigation tools are the way IHOPKC operated, at first, and in a second post comparing the two mega-ministries and their approaches and M.O.s, I will bring more striking similarities to the table—as well as some striking differences I find curious.
Gateway Church, which is really a whole bunch of churches with a whole sub-bunch of DBAs, in Texas known as “trading names,” has doubled down in its glitzy public image games, issued an internal statement (you’ll see it in this post below) to instruct staff to direct people to a public relations spokesperson (like, was that even a question?), and—of course—hired an international corporate law firm to conduct a thorough “investigation,” which spans only five years. In short, GC is ensuring that if they have any say about it, the injustice committed against this known victim will continue, and if any other victims exist, as one person says they do—and as Morris himself implies they do in a disturbing video clip below—GC seems determined not to investigate and find out.
The playbook: this isn’t the NFL or even pee-wee football
One human trafficking investigator says the playbook isn’t remotely original. Amy Coello posted on Facebook shortly after the news about Morris broke. Coello, who is also familiar with the IHOPKC situation, has likewise, worked with a number of cases involving predators, abuse, and—obviously— trafficking. Coello says essentially these people use the same playbooks. Here is her post, with the “red letter edition.” *
*Please be aware that often people writing about controversial topics on FB use creative spellings of words to avoid FB’s AI or algorithms from hiding a post due to certain words.
RED LETTER EDITION: Amy Coello, a human trafficking investigator, in a public
Facebook post, after the revelation about Robert Morris of Gateway Church, was
made public. To Coello, the only thing surprising was that it was a surprise to others.
A Christmas curse from a man who would teach about a “Blessed Life”
(STOP: Please do read the story here on Wartburg Watch if you have not.)
By now, most everyone—except maybe GC elders—insert facepalms—know that Clemishire contests that “sin was dealt with correctly” and just confessed and repented so life went on. I seriously am starting to wonder if the brains of people fall out when their favorite Christian idols—and I most definitely said—and meant—idols—come into play. There is no circumstance when a man who spends his career lying about child molestation should be allowed to stand in a pulpit. Period. Being a Christian, attending church and/or having fellowship (depending on the boundaries of the terms of one’s probation, release, disclosure), is a different issue. Pedophilia is not in the same league as—well, most things.
Clemishire clearly is a woman who is brave, dignified, and strong—so much so that she clearly is willing to subject herself to what we can only imagine was and is and is to come by speaking out about the horrific and despicable child molestation she began experiencing as a Christmas curse at the age of 12. She has accused the famous—and now infamous—pastor, Robert P. Morris, of Gateway Church, launched in Southlake, Texas, of being the pedophile who stole her childhood. (Read Clemishire’s full statement here).
As readers here are familiar, while this Substack is not a traditional news venue, laws still dictate that I must note Morris is “accused” of being a pedophile, no matter what I believe. For the record, I believe Clemishire—and I’m allowed to say that too.
What about Shady Grove and Olen Griffing?
Griffing’s name rises to the surface more every hour. The former state trooper, people say, should have immediately reported Morris, not helped him have a blessed life as he tried to cursed Clemishire’s.
He knew, they say. He had to know, because he was a part of the foundation of GC. In fact, GC might not exist today if not for Griffing. Dr. Dénouement just so happens to have a source who knows a bit about that. You see, when I found IHOPKC back in 2002, I lived in Texas. And I was on the hunt for anywhere that had a prayer room, that offered long worship services. Everyone in the region who valued worship and prayer knew about Shady Grove Church. And the founding pastor of SGC was Olen Griffing himself.
Here’s what one of the former members and staffers said:
Olen was the founding pastor of Shady Grove. He would have been leading as Senior Pastor and elder of SGC when this crime occurred.
Morris was an itinerant minister that came on staff as an associate pastor of Shady Grove Church in the late 80s. He was there until he left in the late 90s to start Gateway church. Morris left SGC a few years before apparently because Olen passed the baton of Shady Grove to his son-in-law Gary Benjamin, who is married to Syble and Olen’s daughter Jerri, Instead of him handing it over to who “everyone” expected to be the next pastor, Robert. My [spouse] believes that because of Robert’s confessed sin to Olen about what happened with Cindy, that is why Olen gave it to Gary instead.
The gallery below was a public Facebook post that showed a gathering in 2021 of some former elders of SGC, which included Morris. Of course, a photo gallery of a fun evening does not automatically imply all the people there were a part of covering up anything. This is not my intent here. What’s important to note is the longstanding connections Morris forged, and especially with Griffing. (Comment/like names redacted)
Taken from a public Facebook post 11/21 with Griffing and Morris.
Yes, that home does look nice. As the Houston Chronicle reported in its investigation into televangelists living “the blessed (financial) life” all over the Lone Star state, Morris’ home in 2022 or so in Colleyville was estimated to be worth about $1.7 million. With the constant inflation surges and high property taxes in Texas, that number has likely ballooned more than a balloon mortgage—which Morris may not have.
But being wealthy is not a crime either. Bickle of IHOPKC pretends to not be wealthy. He lives simply, but he is not hurting for money. Morris plays “wealth” into “blessing” and spins it all into a manipulative rhetorical tithing ploy. We will come back to that and his side job in the next post.
Back to Olen and the oh-so-innocent elders
You may have seen the video below, which is a clip from a decade ago. I have edited out the “um” type words and added punctuation, etc. to the YouTube transcript into a Dropbox link you can access here. If you, like me, cannot bear to hear this man discuss his sex life (knowing some of it is probably about Clemishire and not about sex at all) and preach at you why women having sex with men before marriage are causing men to have affairs… yes, he brings it back around, but this man is a piece of work—anyway, keep this video close because it could be evidence later. Another former SGC member told Dr. Dénouement:
“This video is especially bizarre. [In] 2014, Robert Morris is describing how he would identify susceptible girls to take advantage of and sitting there is Olen Griffing (founder of Shady Grove now Gateway Apostolic Elder) sitting in the front row listening to this. Also sitting next to him is Jonathan Bernis (Jewish Voice) and Wayne Wilks (long time SG elder / Messianic Jewish Bible Institute Founder, now also on Gateway staff).
“This is wrong on so many levels… Morris talking about this as if nothing illegal took place, Olen essentially sweeping it under the rug in the 80s / not terminating Morris immediately for crimes against a child—and then this posse of cover-up for 35-years, victim blaming and minimizing what occurred without proper investigation. The fact that Olen would permit Morris to be returned to ministry and even consider him as his successor is mind boggling.”
Here’s one of his disgusting quotations:
Sex and marriage can never satisfy that appetite because you don’t have to sneak around, and this is why a man will begin to talk to someone at the office and begin to flirt, and he is satisfying—I’m going to say this in a very strong way—but he’s satisfying an appetite that you created in him, and I’m not saying that it’s right but I’m trying to get you to understand how important it is not to create an appetite in someone before your marriage. Don’t stir up love before it’s time, Song of Solomon says.
And what will happen is this this man will begin to have an affair, and now he’s sneaking around and he’s beginning—he’ll begin—to feel like with her like he felt with you before you got married, and he associates that feeling with love, so he’ll begin to think that he loves her and not you, so he divorces you marries her. And guess what? He doesn’t have to sneak around anymore. This is why many men will say “it’s just not the same; it’s just not the same.” And then they will bring things into their sex life that God didn’t intend to try to spice it up—quote unquote—it’s not the same because you created an appetite.
Look, friends, Dr. Dénouement is currently in Birmingham, England, where on her first night she was invited by four young men to attend a rave (yes, indeed, you may LOL right now). She did not go, obviously. Dr. Dénouement is a wee bit old for her age. And probably a bit strict and old school, too. But she is not an idiot. Did you hear that Bobby-boy? You don’t have to be sneaking around having sex to know that was a really bad teaching on pre-marital sex. Maybe try a better biblical take on it? Your version appears to be “I suffered guilt and a curse because I (allegedly) committed criminal acts against little girls.” Yeah, that is always going to be a problem, dude. You know, if that allegedly happened and all.
A follow-up story by NBC News Senior Investigative Reporter Mike Hixenbaugh includes a series of leaked audio given to him by a smart GC member who turned on the record button on her phone. While you can find all of the clips and the full story at the link I have included, I found this short one particularly interesting—and disturbing.
(Clip can heard on original Substack article)
Source: NBC News/ Graphic: JoElla Carman / NBC News
Repeat after me: Anointing does not excuse the fact that “some stuff that was done.”
I have to wonder when these church leaders—from the Midwestern plains of Kansas City, to the oil rich Metroplex of Dallas-Fort Worth will grasp that these are precisely the sorts of ideas that drive people away from church, and as a result, away from Jesus—not because the two are synonymous, but because many people don’t understand that distinction; also, many who understand that concept still can’t grasp it enough in light of these disgusting debacles to walk through the doors of a church, or even a small group. Frankly, if you got near me to pray right now, I might run from you. Thankfully, I am probably 5,000 miles away.
A nuanced difference
As I conclude this part, I will point out the one major aspect (there are not many as we will see in the next post, as I bring some of this together) of this situation that appears different from IHOPKC, however, is the response from the allies of Morris. Here we see a statement from Daystar Television Network, which immediately condemned the alleged abuse and pulled all of its programming.
Morris seems to be acting proactively to save what’s left of both his faces, though. As The Roys Report posted:
“After being made aware of the disturbing media reports, Highlands trustees and overseers immediately initiated a due diligence process that included reaching out to Gateway’s elders. Before the scheduled follow-up meeting to determine changes in our governance structure, Pastor Morris resigned as an overseer of Church of the Highlands.”
Dr. Dénouement suggests that if Morris tries to “resign” from something, tell him no; tell him he cannot resign because he is fired. Stop letting these men off the hook.
That may be harder for shambolic “journalists” like Charisma Magazine to do. Immediately, the magazine practically excuse Morris by saying, “Morris confessed his actions to the Elders of Shady Grove Church in 1987. He states that he followed steps the elders of the church asked of him and received counseling during that time before returning to ministry in 1989…. If we look at the state of Texas, it is a place of major influence for our entire nation. It is also the border to our nation where there is a real crisis related to immigration.” Are you kidding me, Abby Trivett? A 12-year-old being abused is related to immigration because Texas is a state of influence? What an absolutely tone deaf, idiotic and cruel comment. Furthermore, did you catch that Clemishire was in Oklahoma and that’s where it started and even from where the state attorney general sent Morris a letter? It is not “spiritual warfare” against pastors if the pastors shouldn’t be in the pulpit.
I’d say that is God saying, “Enough! Stop!” I hope he says that to people passing off opinion writing in his name as “reporting news and prophecy.”
I will be back with the next part of this, which includes the rest of the comments from the former SGC staffer, with some interesting insights into the end of SGC and launch of Gateway Grand Prairie, and a bit of an exploration into the Morris money trail and the hands that have nurtured it.
Source: Dr Denouement, The Cursed Life: Playbooks of (accused) pedophiles, Published June 21, 2024. (Accessed June 21, 2024.)
“Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth?” Galatians 4:16
Categories: Gateway Church, New Apostolic Reformation (NAR)