When not being sick is really sick

Who is this, you might ask? Well, actually many people did, and they were supposed to have known him. His name is Michael Guglielmucci and until recently he was a Pastor in Sydney.

In 2006 he announced to his congregation that he had an aggressive form of cancer which was terminal. Since then he has appeared in church wearing an oxygen tube and wrote a song, "Healer", which was included on the latest Hillsong worship compilation CD. Updates were guven regarding his condition, including the news that various secondary cancers were discovered.

Then, approx. one week ago it was revealed that his 'illness' was a lie and that there was nothing wrong with him - apart from mental illness. His father, the senior Pastor at Edge Church, revealed that an addiction to pornography had caused massive guilt with Michael, and to take focus off this he invented his cancer. Michael kept the truth not only from his congregation but also from his wife, children, and wider family.

Money that was collected in connection to his claimed 'treatment' was pledged to be returned and Michael is said to be seeking help for the many problems he obviously has.

The usual initial response to this type of deception by a prominent churchman is to condemn him for his actions, but this case seems to be slightly different. Yes, he lied, and yes, many thousands of people were left feeling confused and betrayed, but he didn't act out of a desire for personal gain, nor was it a cold and calculating plan to deceive. The man was just mentally ill and I'm glad he is being treated.

Do we expect those who stand at the front of our churches to be perfect? Do we expect perfection when we ourselves are not perfect? The 'double life' is a fairly common occurrence in the Church and is made all the more juicy when the person caught out is someone who has preached against the very thing that he himself ended up doing (for a wonderful recent example of this why not Google "Michael Reid Ministries"). People like Reid, IMO, deserve the ridicule they get. People like Michael, again IMO, deserve our sympathy and our help. Someone once said that the church is the only organisation that shoots its own wounded. That's very possibly true. Yet another reason to review what we believe and how we 'do' church.