As you may have noticed from my previous posts, I am a bit critical of the contemporary church. You may also recall that, for the first decade or so of my life, my family attended a Southern Baptist church. In addition, I worked at a Southern Baptist church for about two years. I can remember at the age of fourteen, when our family first attended what would later be my home church and final church, questioning the Southern Baptist Church. On the way to swim practice one evening, I remember telling my mother, “I don’t think I can ever be Baptist again.”
Fast forward to today, September 2023. I have just read that a former president of the Southern Baptist Convention and pastor of a megachurch near Atlanta has been accused of sexual assault. Out of the countless accusations made of church leaders in recent years, this one really stood out to me. The criminal pastor’s name is Johnny Hunt.
The gift that keeps on giving
One Christmas before my mother passed, she gave me a book by Hunt titled Demolishing Strongholds. The book concerns the issue of lust, and pornography more particularly, and how Christian men can demolish the stronghold. It wasn’t until after Mom passed, while studying theology at Liberty University, that I actually read the book. Most of the book is easily forgettable. Hunt writes with a cocky perspective about how he has overcome lust and that his way is the only way.
Ironically, the book’s cover has a snippet of a review from Ravi Zacharias. The first review on the first page is from Zacharias. Before I exited the church, I respected Zacharias, another prominent evangelical in my state, Georgia. Shortly after Zacharias died, reports of sexual assault began to surface. And now, in 2023, Hunt has found himself in the same (much deserved) predicament. It turns out, he never demolished the stronghold of lust. Like many prideful religious men, he caved to temptation. And he lied by writing an entire book with the answers to his problem.
Now I must admit, I am a bit late to the party. As I conducted some brief research, I found that Hunt’s predatory behaviors were reported as early as January of this year. When I came across The Washington Post’s article on Hunt the other day, the first two words that came to mind were, “Of course.” My mother had given me his book as a loving and caring reminder that she did not want me going down the wrong path. I still possess the book, not because I agree with it, but because of Mom’s care and concern.
My blood boiled when I read the book. Within it lies the perspective of a man who has made a career out of feeding on those who earnestly seek help. A man who claims to be God’s instrument. A man who believes he has all the right answers and that he has lived a perfect life. The book contains more “I” statements than scriptural references. In the book, Hunt believes he has lived a God-fearing life and boldly shuns any attempts of the “Devil” to lead him astray. In reality, Hunt is a predator who has used the pulpit to fulfill his selfish and inherently evil desires.
“Demolishing” strongholds
The third chapter begins with a story of a woman who had attended his church, First Baptist Church of Woodstock. Late one evening, Hunt is at home (probably visiting adult sites, as most pastors do) when the phone rings. A woman, who he instantly accuses of drinking, calls and says she needs help. She is struggling. She wants Hunt to come to her home and talk to her. The cocky, condescending Hunt asks if her husband is home. She is not married. “Is that a problem?” she asks. According to the hypocritical Hunt, that is a “big problem.” In all his “years of ministry,” he has never met with a single woman. The delusional hero insists that he cannot help her because “I don’t ever visit women in their homes when they’re by themselves.”1
Judging by the news of Hunt this year, that does not seem to be the case. It appears he would have jumped right on board. He proceeds to lay out three points arguing that he would never do such a vile thing. And of course, he concludes with his assertion that he loves his wife and would never wish to hurt her.2 It is all that mean ol’ devil, trying to stand between a perfect man and his perfect relationships with his wife and Christ.
And yet, on July 25th, 2010, while vacationing from his career as a Jesus Freak, he “kissed and fondled another pastor’s wife in what his attorneys would later call a ‘brief, consensual extramarital encounter.’”3 Maybe his wife forgave him, but he certainly hurt her. He hurt this particular pastor. And while falling into temptation is a very human thing to do, Hunt responds with a book proclaiming he would never— ever— let the “devil” stand in the way of his calling. Five years after publishing Demolishing Strongholds, an investigation into the SBC leaders’ sexual abuse scandals was published. And guess who is listed?
Chapter 7. Hunt, ashamed of the devastation Christian men face with lust (but, of course, not him!), decries the “devil’s” grip on Christian men. Briefly describing the story of a pastor who left his wife and family for his teenage secretary (a common theme in modern Christianity), the holier-than-thou Hunt questions the intelligence of the former pastor’s wife. But one paragraph stands out to me. Especially in light of recent events concerning Hunt’s affairs. He writes:
“I wish I could say this kind of story rarely happens. I wish I could say that all professing Christian men remain faithful to their wives and avoid sexual sin. But I know that’s not reality—and I grieve over it.”4
Oh, the humanity! This poor man. He has all the right answers. But none of these Christian men listen to him. They listen to the devil, instead of tuning in to his megachurch sermons. Poor Mr. Hunt. He wants all these godly men to be like him. To reject lust. To honor their wives. To reject meeting with a single woman because they’re married. And yet, staying faithful to one’s significant other is something the perfect Mr. Hunt cannot seem to do. Caving in to lust is one thing, but fondling and kissing another man’s wife… Well apparently, Mr. Hunt can do that because he is the devil’s number one enemy.
To be quite frank, it sickens me. This entire debacle. I could write a book twice the length of Hunt’s on just how sick and deprived this man is. I sincerely doubt this will be the only post on the issue… Maybe this is just part one. I am merely venting. This post serves to illuminate how fed up I am with the Christian church. We are expected to think of pastors as God’s instrument, and yet they cannot keep their pants up. We are expected to think pastorship is not a career, but a calling. And we have numerous examples that this simply is not the case. Jerry Falwell, Jr. Johnny Hunt. Jimmy Swaggart. Ravi Zacharias. All these men have one thing in common—they are making a career of God’s “calling” and using it to act as perverted hypocrites.
The career of a pastor
Friends, your pastor is not better than you. He is not wiser than you. He is not closer to God than you are. He simply does not have all the right answers, no matter how convincing or charming he is. He is flawed. He is a sinner. He is ensnared by “that mean ol’ devil.” And he should not be telling you how to live your life. Not all pastors are guilty. But not a single pastor is perfect. He is a motivational speaker with a tainted point of view.
Schemes like the one Hunt is involved with drove me out of the church. I have no plans to return. Their job should not be giving motivational speeches. Their job is not to tell you that you should live as they do because they do everything right. They are lying. They are flawed. We all are. Whether we are behind or in front of the pulpit, we are inherently evil. We need to stop giving creeps like Johnny Hunt and Ravi Zacharias the publicity they want. They do not have a perfect relationship with Christ. They are sick individuals, just like you and me. But in our culture, they are told that so long as they are CEOs of the church, they can do whatever they want. Because they are called, and we are not.
It’s time to put an end to this. Let’s stop giving cowards like Johnny Hunt the pulpit. Let’s reserve that for the book they claim to preach from.
1. Johnny Hunt, Demolishing Strongholds: Finding Victory over the Struggles that Hold You Back, Harvest House Publishers, Eugene, OR: 2017, 41-42
2. Ibid.
3. Bob Smietana, “Is A Pastor’s Sin a Private Matter? Johnny Hunt’s Lawsuit Makes that Claim,” in The Washington Post, September 19th, 2023, https://churchleaders.com/news/458992-is-a-pastors-sin-a-private-matter-johnny-hunt-lawsuit-makes-that-claim-rns.html.
4. Hunt, Demolishing Strongholds, 99