Blowing the House Down

“I’m telling you, you can’t trust him! He’s a liar and a cheat. He’s been sleeping with that girl since she was a minor, my nanny for crying out loud. Divorcing my mother and marrying this girl is a sin. You know this. How can you let him continue as pastor?”

“Mary, we understand that you are very upset with your parents’ divorce. Children don’t always understand these situations. Only God knows the truth. The church board has met and decided that the circumstances warrant crediting Pastor Granger’s longstanding service and selfless leadership.”

“You know that the Bible forbids adultery and divorce, don’t you? You’ve all said so before, many times. I’ve even heard him say so himself, from the pulpit. Funny how that rule can be waived when it comes to him, though.”

“Mary! You are making serious accusations here. I suggest you leave it to the elders of the church and to God to work out.”

“You’re making a huge mistake. He’s a ferocious wolf, like in Matthew 7. You’ll figure it out soon enough.”

###

Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?

Matthew 7:15-16 NIV

###

    Mary Granger adored her father. Mark Granger was the Senior Pastor and founder of Living Water megachurch. Mary, like the rest of the church members, thought Mark was a veritable saint who walked on water. A tall, handsome, and charismatic man, he brought a dazzling, riveting speaking style and an updated musical and artistic repertoire to church that brought young families pouring in. There were ministries for every stage of life, plenty of activities for children, and services that were engaging and lively. People enjoyed the spectacle and the feeling that they were receiving a quid pro quo for their attendance. They responded with their presence and their money. Consequently, the Granger family lived comfortably in a relatively lavish home owned by the church, as a gift for Pastor Granger and his wife’s services. Mrs. Granger was responsible for the Women’s and Families’ ministries as well as supporting her husband.

Mary was the oldest of five children, three girls and two boys. Due to Mrs. Granger’s active work in the church, Living Water also paid for a nanny, a 14-year-old girl from the Youth Group named Anna. Anna looked like a younger version of Mrs. Granger; both were beautiful, statuesque brunettes who loved singing in the worship choir and were deeply involved in the church. Mary was three years younger than Anna, and they became friendly, until Mary noticed that Mark was paying unusual attention to Anna. The times he had spent with Mary, doing Bible studies and discussing her life, he began spending with Anna. Mark also began giving Anna gifts—a charm bracelet, a special embroidered Bible cover, and a pair of earrings that Mary had told Mark she wanted for herself for Christmas.

Annoyed and worried, Mary started to watch Anna and Mark more closely. Mary was young and not terribly experienced with relationships, but she noticed things that didn’t seem appropriate—lingering glances that made Anna blush, Mark stroking Anna’s hair the way he used to stroke Mary’s mother’s hair, a brush of a hand on an arm where none was necessary. Mary found it all troubling.

In the past, if Anna needed to stay over, she would sleep in Mary’s room. When Anna turned 17, Mark announced at dinner that she would sleep in the guest bedroom if she needed to stay over. Mrs. Granger politely asked the children to leave the table, but Mary merely slipped around the corner to listen as she knew an argument was about to ensue.

“Mark, I’ve noticed the extra attention you’ve been paying that girl. You are getting into dangerous waters. I think it best if she continues to stay in Mary’s room or doesn’t sleep over at all.”

“Hannah, this is my house and my authority, as you know. You are being paranoid and delusional. Anna is 17, a high school student. She is far too mature to be sleeping in with Mary, a middle schooler. She needs her own space when she stays over, which she must sometimes when we are out late for church business. You know this.”

“But Mark, as your helpmeet, I am warning you of temptation you appear to be blind to …”

“ENOUGH! I have made my decision. This discussion is over.”

Mary had never heard her father speak to her mother that way. She silently scurried back to her room, the first chinks in her father’s armor beginning to show themselves to her. Mary agreed firmly with her mother. Anna was definitely a temptation that her father was either blind to or, worse, willingly running straight toward.

###

At church, however, everything seemed perfectly normal. Everyone always told Mary how lucky she was to have Mark as her father. Mark kept Anna at a professional distance in public, and the gifts were explained away as appreciation for her hard work as a nanny. Mark’s sermons still seemed powerful and Spirit-filled, at least they moved Mary and the rest of the congregation the same as they did before. Would that be possible if he was actively breaking God’s laws and cheating on his wife? With an underage girl at that?

Despite everything, Mary still liked Anna; she was just a teenager too, and being a teenaged girl is hard. Trying to sort out communications from boys is complicated enough when they’re your age; interpreting the actions of a grown man was nearly impossible. Mary trusted her mother’s instincts, though, and if her mother thought something was wrong then it probably was.

In the years since her father stopped paying attention to her, Mary had become a bit of a tech wizard. She’d joined the STEM club at school and excelled in electronics and coding. She’d built an Arduino sound-activated spy bug that she couldn’t wait to use on a reconnaissance mission. She’d tested it on herself at home, and it worked perfectly, recording conversations on the bug’s MicroSD card for her to review on her computer later. She couldn’t wait for her opportunity to figure this out once and for all. Although, if she was wrong, Mary knew she would regret violating Anna’s privacy; she just had to know the truth.

###

A month later, Mary had her chance. The bug had fresh batteries and was planted in the guest bedroom in a 3D printed decorative doodad she had made and convinced her parents to display. Mark and Hannah Granger were attending a gala on behalf of the church for the local soup kitchen ministry. Anna was staying over at the Granger house, because the couple was expecting a late night.

Mary could hardly sleep. She pretended to be groggy when her mother came in at midnight and kissed her goodnight, as she’d done every night of Mary’s life. The guest bedroom was just across the hall from Mary’s room. Feeling something off in the air, Mary opened her door slightly, just to the point where she could see across to the other room, and sat peering out. Twenty minutes after her mother left, she heard someone padding softly down the hall. It was Mark, and he stopped in front of the guest bedroom door, hand on the doorknob. Clapping her hand over her mouth, Mary watched him look around carefully before he opened the door and slid inside.

“Oh my God. He’s done it. Why … There is no innocent explanation for this.”

Flabbergasted and trying to make sense of the dying saint in her mind, Mary suddenly heard a second set of steps coming down the hall—her mother.

“Ohhhhh Lord. Ohhhhh my Lord. This is bad. Really bad.”

Hannah Granger stood outside the door for a few moments, listening to the sounds that confirmed her suspicions. She took a deep breath and subtly tried the door handle. It was locked. Her shoulders dropped, and she began to weep quietly. After a few moments, she drew herself up to full height as if she’d decided something and walked back to her room. She closed the door. Mary could hear it lock.

###

The next morning, Anna and Mark were gone. Mary grabbed the bug out of the guest room and told her mother everything. Her mother said she would give it to her lawyer, as she and Mark were getting divorced. Mary clutched the nearest chair as her world began to spin.

“It’s going to be ok, honey. I’ve talked with the church elders, and we have six months to pack and move out. That gives you time to finish 8th grade. We’ll find a new place just in time for high school. Don’t you worry.”

“What about church, mom? Will dad still be the pastor? He sinned! What about Anna?”

“None of that is my concern anymore, sweetie. In return for severance, I’ve resigned from the church. They can do what they want with your father. My lawyer will negotiate an appropriate divorce settlement that will also include child support for all of you. Anna’s parents are responsible for Anna, I’m afraid. I hope she gets the help she needs. We will need to find a new church as well, I think.”

“That’s not fair! He screws up, and we have to move, find new schools, a new church? “

“I’m sorry, dear. Sometimes life isn’t fair. But we have each other, and that’s what counts, isn’t it?”

Seething at the inequity of it all, Mary wondered where God was in all this mess and why He was letting Mark get away with trapping innocent people on the bridges he was burning.

###

Two years later, Anna was legal, and Mark announced they were marrying. The divorce papers were barely dry. Hannah had maintained a dignified silence in the wake of the divorce, but Mary told everyone she knew that Mark had been unfaithful with an underaged nanny. The rumors spread, and the church lost about a quarter of its membership at the divorce, mostly those loyal to Hannah and the children. That number increased to a third after the wedding announcement, which many saw as a confession of the previous affair.

Anna’s family was apoplectic. They were opposed to the relationship and the marriage all along, but Anna was a young girl under Mark’s spell. She was in love.

Anna and Mark made a good team at first. Anna was Mark’s personal assistant, the leader of the Worship and Arts Ministries, and her vibrant performances brought in new members to replace those that had been lost. People began calling her the church’s “First Lady.” It all made Mary sick to her stomach.

“How quickly they forget! So all is forgiven if you fill the pews? Hypocrites.”

Mark dove into his new life with Anna and never saw his kids from his first marriage. Hannah had to garnish his wages with the church to get the child support paid. He didn’t even attend Mary’s graduation.

“Add abandoning your fatherly duties to his long list of sins. Is nothing too low for him?”

###

Mary went on to college, but she kept wondering when her father’s poisonous fruit would ripen. Turned out, it didn’t take long. Mary still had a few friends who’d grown up in the church, and they kept her in the loop. Mark convinced Anna to have his signature tattooed on her body. This shocked the older church ladies who still believed tattoos were sinful, and the younger women found it creepy and controlling. Anna started testifying in services that a woman’s highest duty was to please her man and that a wife’s body belonged completely to her husband. This radical submission theory didn’t sit very well with the younger crowd, and some of them quietly started trickling out of the church. Still, the church elders stood by Mark.

Rumors were swirling behind the polished façade, though. Anna didn’t always look so convinced by her own testimony. In fact, sometimes, she looked deeply unhappy up there, which was a deep contrast to her normally vivacious stage presence. During Anna’s first pregnancy, Mark hired a new personal assistant, a young brunette. Whispers of infidelity began floating through the church halls again. Eventually, Anna finally cracked and filed her first divorce petition.

The church found itself divided again. This time, fewer were on Mark’s side.

###

    “Mom, have you read Anna’s divorce filings? They are incendiary!”

 “No dear, I haven’t. Your father is no longer any of my business.”

 “Well, I can’t help it. I can’t wait for him to get his comeuppance.”

 “Vengeance is mine, sayeth the Lord. Remember?”

 “I know, mom, but still. You have to listen, ok?

 “Fine, dear. Go ahead if it will make you feel better.”

 “Anna says that dad’s been stalking her, that he has had people following her everywhere. She says someone has slashed her tires with a razor blade multiple times! She says she is afraid for her life. Do you think dad would do those things?”

 Hannah paused before speaking and then said, “Honey, I don’t know your father anymore. He did have a temper there at the end that, thankfully, I managed to keep hidden from you children. Other than that, I can’t really say.”

 Mary gritted her teeth and continued, “This is the worst part. I know we haven’t talked about sexual things very much, mom, but I am a college woman now. Anna says that dad made her do … deviant … things sexually and forced her to take nude pictures against her will. She says he used the Bible to make her feel like she had to go along, that she had no choice because she was his wife!”

 Hannah sat silent for a few moments, breathing softly into the phone.

“Oh honey. I’m very sorry you had to hear that about your father, about the way some men look at women, at the world. I knew he was drifting into that way of thinking, and I didn’t agree with it. I think that’s why he moved on to someone he could mold to his will. You should remember that your father was different in the beginning, and you were born out of love. Remember as well when you are looking for your someone special that you are of more value than this twisted teaching.”

###

Four months after the divorce filing, Anna withdrew it. She told the entire church that she had been struggling with mental illness for some time but was in a better place now. They praised her for her honesty, while Mark stood there beaming beside her. She still didn’t quite look like her old self. A year later, she was dead.

Mark, utilizing all his charisma, had convinced her she was mentally ill and paranoid. In reality, Mark’s hired private investigators had indeed been following her and tracking her car with surveillance devices. Mark called her obsessively, 50 or more times in a single day. Anna tried to separate from him, but he interfered with her finances as punishment and sabotaged her tires. Mark even anonymously posted the nude pictures of her without her knowledge or consent. Using one of the church elders who was a “Christian family therapist”, he gaslighted her into believing it was all in her head and that church doctrine required her to return to him.

Two weeks before she died, Anna filed for divorce again. This time, she set out all the details of the stalking, the gaslighting, the emotional, financial, and spiritual abuse, and alleged that Mark had been drugging her against her will. He insisted that God had told him how to heal her and forced her to eat food laced with medication she’d never been prescribed. Two days after Mark was served, Anna was murdered. Mark showed up to church the next day and preached as if nothing had happened. He casually mentioned at the end that his wife was dead and requested prayers, but that was all that was said.   

###

The fallout for Living Water was swift. Anna’s story made national news after Mark was arrested for her murder. Anna’s family and Mary spoke to the press about how Mark had groomed Anna when she was a teenager, their marriage starting with an underage affair while the church turned a blind eye. Mary spoke passionately about how the church abandoned her mother and the children, kicking them out of their home and their church despite Hannah’s own years of service, while Mark got a free pass. Anna’s family described how Mark isolated Anna, and every time she tried to escape, he would drag her back through his fear tactics. Anna’s mother sobbed as she depicted a young woman who, in her last years, had completely lost herself. Meanwhile, the church supported her husband as if he were God Himself.

The Sunday following the broadcasts, protestors surrounded the church building with signs reading “Justice for Anna” and “Violence Against Women is a Sin”. Only half the church members even attempted to show up that day, and half of those turned around when they saw the protestors. Only the “true believers” attempted to go inside.

Within six months, Living Water closed permanently. Turned out, Mark had been stealing from them too. A million dollars embezzled. Mark’s church credit card was maxed out with personal charges. Ordinary operations would have been difficult with the mass exodus of churchgoers, but Mark’s financial treachery was the breaking point. The wolf had finally blown the house down. The grim irony was not lost on Mary, though she took no joy in it.

“I’m so sorry, Anna. I wish I never believed him, or the church, either,” Mary whispered as she laid white lilies on Anna’s grave.