We pick up the story today, just after he
joined this church. Because this was a relatively small denomination in
Belgium, it didn't take long for my brother to meet other young people
his age. One was a pretty young lady. They began to see each other, and
within a few weeks they were married.
Unfortunately for his
new wife, she had been hit by a truck when she was 12 years old and had
suffered a brain injury. Praise God, her recovery was almost complete,
and in compensation for the accident, she had received several thousands
of Belgian Francs that were held in a trust until she was of age.
Jimmy found out about this money. It was more
money than he would ever hope to make as a pastor, and he wanted it. He
began talking about it ... ALL the time.
Jimmy and his young
wife soon left Belgium to study theology in one of his new
denomination's schools in France. I looked up to my brother at that time
in my life. When he decided to become a pastor, I decided to do the
same, and two years later, I, too, began to study at the same seminary.
Because I was still a teenager at the time, my parents placed a sum of
money in Jimmy's care and instructed me that whenever I needed pocket
money for anything, I could get it from this money that they had given
to him.
It was about this time that I began to notice
subtle changes in my brother. Whenever I went to ask my brother for some
money, he would tell me that it was all gone. I knew I hadn't used up
all the money that my parents had sent, and I asked them about it. They,
in turn, asked Jimmy. His response? His wife must have stolen it...
I still believed my
brother in those days. It was only much later that I realized he had
used the money himself and blamed her. Needless to say, my parents
decided then that I was old enough to manage my own money...
During the entire time
that my brother and I were both at the same seminary, I rarely if ever
saw him. I did notice, however, that he was always alone, that he had no
friends. I thought this was a bit strange. My brother had never had
trouble finding friends in Belgium...
My brother finished
his degree two years later and returned with his wife to Belgium to
become a pastor of a small church in Brussels. It was shortly after this
that my brother took all of the money his wife had received in
compensation for her accident and bought a huge, expensive American-made
car. Now in those days, American cars were rare in Europe. The narrow
roads couldn't support their size, for one thing, and import fees made
the vehicles nearly impossible for the budget of ordinary Belgian
citizens. What made this even stranger was that pastors aren't paid much
in Belgium, and for a new pastor to be driving such an expensive
car...Well we'll just say it didn't look good! Meanwhile, his wife's
money was gone...for good!
It was just a little
before my brother took his wife's money and spent it on a car that I
received the dream. In my dream, I was on the balcony of my parents'
apartment when I suddenly began to hear Jesus. We were "talking" through
my mind, and I heard Him say, "I have a message for your brother. You
must tell him, 'I am not happy with Jimmy!'
The dream changed then
and I found myself in the market place. It was market day, and the
square was packed with vendors and shoppers. Suddenly hail began to
fall, hard and fast. Only one person in the square was hurt by the hail,
however, that one was my brother. That's when I again heard Jesus'
voice: "This is what will happen if your brother continues."
I didn't understand
the message, but I knew I had to share it with Jimmy. And I did. His
response? He laughed! He said, "You are wrong! This message means that I
will be at the head of the church and everyone will follow me!"
His response struck me
as being very wrong, in complete violation to Jesus' words to His
disciples: "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and
take up their cross and follow me." (Matt. 16:24 NIV). But Jimmy was,
after all, the pastor, and I just a student. What was I supposed to do?
I had no idea, and I decided to make it a
matter of prayer.
As time went on, my
sister-in-law began to suffer from depression. When her depression only
worsened, my brother had her committed to a mental hospital. My parents
fully supposed this decision. After all, she had suffered an accident as
a child. Surely there must be something wrong with her head! And she
stayed in that hospital for many months before her parents eventually
begged Jimmy to take her out of there.
It would later become
known that during their marriage, my brother regularly chased after
under-aged girls, often using and abusing them sexually. He began
heavily addicted to pornography. He would be gone from home for hours at
a time, and if my sister-in-law dared question him, he would yell at
her: "It's none of your business! I'm the boss. Don't ask me questions!"
As it turned out, the only mental problems my
sister-in-law had were due to the stress of living all of this!
Yes, it all started out with a superiority
complex about having joined a different denomination, but this
superiority complex provided a foot hold for the devil, and soon my
beloved brother was reduced to a thieving, sex trafficker of minor
girls.
How could he have avoided all of this? By
recognizing the devil's tricks. By clothing himself in God's armament.
By knowing who he was in Christ. Unfortunately for him, the devil's hold
on his life was fierce, and sadly, he went to his grave without even a
single repentant thought.
Friends, we must use
the armour God provides for us. It is ours for the taking, and it is
designed to protect us from all of the traps of the devil. This will
allow us to be able to do as the Lord commands: "Walk in obedience to
all that the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may life and
prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess."
(Deuteronomy 5:33 NIV)
You can believe me
when I say this is a very difficult story for me to tell. My only prayer
is that Jimmy's story will help someone out there avoid the same traps
Jimmy fell into.
Rob Chaffart