A Tale of Two Pastors
2026 is a time of real spiritual warfare, and a time of spiritual deception. Those who we are taught to trust, are the very ones perverting justice and If you've seen any of the other posts here, you'll see that I had a lot to say about the church. The church in America is in big, big trouble. This isn't just a rant. It's not popular, and it gets tiring... but it is truth, because we are required to do more.
The truth isn't pleasant, and we need to have the hard discussion to make the church stronger. Iron sharpens iron.
Churches defending what's broken, instead of repairing it.
Previously, I showed examples of the churches, the people of the church, tolerating all manner of abuse, spiritual, pastoral, and sexual abuse. It is well hidden.
Just a couple to remind you - go Googling:
- Shenanigans involving Oasis of Praise (now known as Encounter Church in McCalla, AL), where the church protected Rev Allan Kendrick, after Brandon murdered his family, as well as a member (Powell) who recently plead guilty to heinous offenses against children.
- 2026 AL Lieutenant Governor Race, Pastor Dean Odle of Fire and Grace Church of Opelika. Flat earther, alien conspiracist. Called out by other church members online about pastoral abuse and public shaming. Directly misrepresented my own words in a sermon. Called two ladies that organized a political debate "spoiled rich girls" and other derogatory things from the pulpit. Then apologized with the most self-serving apology.
- My own past, involved a power dynamic, where I was pushed in a direction of pastoral ministry. When I spoke up against objective wrongs, I was then shunned myself, so I left two churches in a row.
I'm here to tell you, that is NOT what Christianity is about, nor is it the church's mission to keep the powerful in power. We are to test the sprits, and understand the Bible. Not have someone else do it for us. We are a lazy society.
Choose your leaders, and who you follow, wisely.
Ultimate Target of Hackers: Human Beings
What is the number one thing a scammer does first. They target your emotions. They establish urgency to comply with their instructions. The same thing is true with social engineering and hacking. The goal is to establish trust, to lower your guard, and then comes the escalation of privileges after penetrating through your defenses. In the security world, it's called P&E - Penetrate and Escalate.
Defense against hackers (and other miscreants) usually involves layers of defense, proactive first.
- Keep those who do not need access, OUT. Keep bad people OUT.
- Restrict permissions and privileges to the minimum necessary, and don't provide higher privilege unless it is functionally necessary.
Even the most well meaning person can make a mistake, like delete a database, or in a severe case like Google Cloud - deleting a whole company, in one swoop. Why would a hacker need to get in, when they found someone on the inside to do the work? - Audit access. Watch behaviors. Protect the users. Train the users. We use telemetry to keep a pulse on what's going no.
Compare and Contrast
Just to show the mindset, I've listened to two pastors sermons today.
The Cornerstone Baptist Church, Sylvan Springs, AL
Live Link: https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&v=2000551057341294
1 viewer at 1147am. Talking about how we have to put in the work. To be hands and feet, instruments, after we ask for God's help. Being a part of the resolution of our prayers. Powerful.
The sermon reminds me of David and Goliath, but not how you remember it. We're taught, if you trust God, he'll slay your giants for you.
David was a shepherd by trade. What came with that? Protecting the flock from predators. A mundane part of David's life was being proficient with a sling. Day in, day out.
When it was time to face Goliath, to do something big, it was something he was equipped and able to do. He felled the giant, because he was doing the little things that he was supposed to be doing. Sometimes, when we do the little things for God, for the right reasons, we are being equipped, trained, and practiced up for bigger things.
Dean Odle Ministries (aka Fire and Faith Church), Opelika, AL
Live Link: https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&v=900348835691704
(This link may be down later, he changed his stream settings to try to prevent it from being saved. Cute. He edited a past sermon to remove his derogatory comments toward a couple of women - which we were happy to save off the original for posterity.)
71 viewers at 1147am. This morning's message, like the past, he brings up his political race, and debates. Many times, he frames any opposition as devils, demonic attack. This is a pattern, and is a mockery.
Recently, he was removed by the AL GOP from the ballot, for breaking a 'sore loser' rule, by running a write-in campaign against Kay Ivey.
In today's sermon, he talks about the debate being about spiritual opposition being against him, binding demons in people. He spoke about Jordon "binding the lying spirit" in Wes Allen the politician. Now he's talking about Wes Allen refusing to answer to Dean Odle's attack, against moderation rules.
Dean Odle directly said in this sermon, that Wes Allen is demon posessed, and is a lying, scheming politician.
Isn't that all politicians though? I mean, Odle misconstrued my personal discussion, and I have receipts. It's also not surprising, about the derogatory statements he made toward the women that ran the January 20th debate, from Rightside Media.
Then he uses profanity, saying 'bastard' just before talking about anointing and God's approval. Using words like "deja poo." He then goes into calling people witches. Remember the Salem Witch Trials?
I feel like... Dean's church is worshipping him, not Jesus, not God.
What does this leave us?
People are following leaders with clout, rather than truth. Christians need to exercise research and discernment. It isn't happening right now. I hope we start soon.
