Running Off with the Preacher’s Wife

By Debra Robinson

"What would happen if one woman told the truth about her life? The world would split open." poet Muriel Rukeyser

A compelling sequel to "Psycho Taxi Boy on a Terribly Hot Summer Night with the Southern Baptist Convention." This is enlightened storytelling.

"Running Off with the Preacher's Wife, another collection of church stories'' is a lively selection of true stories that show another, more vibrant and surprising side of a believers journey. In the first three stories you will have your eyes opened to God's care for a battered pastor's wife, a lost sheep whose fiancé was raped at bible college and a redemptive story of a sexually abusive father who 'died without salvation'. How these stories interweave and bring a hopeful ending is beyond what we can imagine.

A fitting demonstration of God's ways…

• Language: English
• Publisher: Debra Robinson
• Release date: Oct 24, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223545231

Book preview

Copyright © 2023 by Debra Robinson

All rights reserved.

DISCLAIMER: No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. Contact the author at [e-mail]. The author specifically disclaims all responsibility for any liability, loss, or risk, personal or otherwise as a consequence of the use and application and application of any of the contents of this book. This book is memoir. It reflects the author’s present recollections of experiences over time

MORE TITLES FROM THIS AUTHOR:

Psycho Taxi Boy on a Terribly Hot Sunday Night with the Southern Baptist Convention

the travelled heart

the truth is in dem feet, darlin’

Grandma in the Sky with Diamonds

Contents

Why do I write these stories?

Running off with the Preacher’s Wife part 1

Running off with the Preacher’s Wife part 2

The Death of My Father

Aliens in Pastor’s Clothing

Cappadocian Chapel

Table Talk… a Sufi Mystic in Anderson

Jog your Talk

The Synagogue

Angel of the Church

Crazy Daisies

Epilogue…The Dream

Why do I write these stories?

Why do I write these stories?

Because they are my experience of the church.

I write them because much of our Christian writing is false, saccharine-sweet, white-washed, fad and profit-driven.

Even the church’s psychology and so-called wisdom is brazenly stolen from secular sources and repackaged as original inspiration to the unsuspecting. What we have all around us is inauthentic, Christian junk food.

These stories in this book run the gamut from the sublime to the ones that outrage.

They will awaken, prick, give courage and inform sincere seekers as well as the outcast, marginalized, walking wounded and the demoralized.

* * * *

Scripture speaks of the Body of Christ.

We sometimes wonder what part we are…hands, feet, eyes, mouth, etc.?

I am most likely, the gall bladder. Not so glamorous but needful, just the same.

* * * *

The church was hi-jacked by the hucksters.

I founded a Christian bookstore in NYC in the 70’s…the hey-day and rise of the televangelists, celebrities and mega-churches like Pat Robert-son, Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, Jimmy Swaggart, the Gaither’s, Brooklyn Tabernacle, the Crystal Cathedral, Hal Lindsey of ‘The Late Great Planet Earth’ fame and so many others.

What an embarrassment!

What strangeness had come over people to get caught up in all of that!

Christianity transitioned into big business.

I refused to carry any of their gimmicky stuff, but I watched in horror as the church fell under their spell and became increasingly shallow and perverse.

I had some unexpected windows into that world when I attended my first Christian Bookseller’s Convention in Anaheim, Ca. There were hundreds of booths. Vendors of books, music, Sunday school material, Jesus ‘junk’, etc.

I was excited to be there. I had planned my budget and my days carefully. On opening day, my first stop was at the booth of a prestigious academic publisher. I waited and I waited. About two hours later, my ‘rep’ finally showed up…hungover and listless. Months later he confided that they’d spent a good part of the previous night at a strip club. Your Dutch Reformed folks were on the earthy side of the spectrum, I learned.

Another day, as I was strolling in an upscale neighborhood near the ocean, I saw a middle-aged couple whizz by me on roller blades, dressed in expensive designer outfits and sporting Rolex watches. I did a double take.

‘I think I know those people!’ It took a minute to recognize them. It was none other than Hal Lindsey and his wife…the people who boondoggled a whole generation of Christians into forsaking their futures because Jesus was returning any minute now! It was non-stop hysteria for years.

There they were! Out there laughing all the way to the bank and living as if Jesus was NEVER coming back.

I met attendees whose only reason for coming was, by their own admission, ‘to get laid’ and live high on the expense accounts of their stores and companies.

One notable year, Tammy Faye pranced into the convention hall in a skin-tight, cleavage-baring, white leather sequined suit with matching high-heeled boots. She was made up and acting more like a prostitute than anything as she led a retinue of young studs in matching white leather outfits, fawning over her every move. The shock of her entrance could be felt rippling through the hall.

To their credit, about a third of the men at the convention walked out in protest.

Christian celebrity… There was more to come…

The attack on the Church came from within.

In today’s Christendom, it takes more of an effort to get it right.

The real thing does exist, but you’ve got to carve out a path apart from these goofy, greedy frauds.

There is more to faith…so much more…and it will take unexpected forms.

You will meet the God whose thoughts are above our thoughts and whose ways are above our ways.

With a simple desire to walk close, you will be taught and shown.

It was good to learn our beginning lessons in the church, perhaps. Nothing is wasted in God’s economy, after all. But it is not appropriate to cling to our childish beliefs or our childish ways. These things were just a steppingstone on the path to maturity.

The church should be like a parent only long enough to get you going. Then you should leave home and get out there and live your life effectively. The pseudo church will keep the kids around the old homestead, disempower them, and keep them thinking like children who still need to be fed and entertained. The pseudo church will keep fleecing its sheep.

Are you growing or just growing your numbers?

Are you growing or are you just treading water? Are you settling for something that feels

half-alive? Is it time to rekindle your personal walk? Remember, no one is responsible for your soul or your growth but you.

The Holy Spirit will guide you when church has little of value to offer as you mature…when you have outgrown the forms and culture that helped you in the beginning but keep you bound and stagnant at present.

Moreso if the church has offended or injured you, you may need to forge your own path…a path with more integrity and less carnality.

I found that while many churches and charities

started well, few of them made it around the

‘money bend’. Especially in our American

culture. The church’s definition of success mimics the world’s definition.

Time for a re-boot.

* * * * *

In the first three stories you will have your eyes opened to God’s care for a battered