George Hartwell M.Sc.	Articles > (Although George holds a Masters of Science degree in clinical psychology he is not a registered Psychologist.  He practices as a counselor or therapist. ) Agape Christian Counselling, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.  Office: Suite #125 - 1454 Dundas St. East, Mississauga.  Postal Code: L4X 1L4.	Contact: (416) 234-1850 1 (877) 854-3990 George Hartwell M.Sc. www.HealMyLife.com Other sites about George: www.HealMyLife.net, http://healmylife.blogspot.com/
	Ralph Rutledge Scandal
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	Who is Ralph Rutledge? Mr. Ralph Rutledge was senior pastor of Queensway Cathedral Pentecostal Church - a 4,000-seat facility with a weekly nationally televised service called Revival Hour.  Revival Hour on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_7_-0v0rtQ - 0.31 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1TlaKDhGG0 See also: 1. Next page:  Ralph Rutledge Sex Scandal Updates.                  2. Entries re Ralph Rutledge Sex Scandal in Heal My Life blog.                 3. Entries in The New Church Landscape blog entries on my reading of the book: "Demons in the Sanctuary" by Miriam Bellamy.   What is the Ralph Rutledge Scandal? A scandal in Rutledge's life required the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada (PAOC) to remove him from all ministry in the POAC.  This was a painful loss for the PAOC, Queensway Cathedral staff and members and a large television audience.  Of course when Pastor Ralph Rutledge was removed from being head pastor of Queensway Cathedral his credentials to preach within his denomination (his 'papers') were removed as well.  My information indicates that he now has papers with Canada Christian College (Toronto, Ontario). Who Dealt with Ralph Rutledge? The Penecostal Assemblies of Canada has a Western Ontario District.  The District superintendents from the Western District met with Ralph and there is where he either confessed his sin or was confronted with enough evidence from credible witnesses to result in disciplinary action.  Queensway Cathedral lost their beloved pastor and the PAOC lost their 'golden boy' minister. Could Ralph Rutledge return to the PAOC as a minister? Rutledge may have attempted to regain his papers in the PAOC.  According to one report he made attempts to do so.  The conditions for this would be full cooperation with the healing process, full healing and submission to an accountability arrangement.  My reliable source indicates that: Rutledge is not fully cooperative with the healing process, will not sign an affirmation that he will no longer act out the sexual addiction and that he will not submit to an accoutability process around his sexual addiction. Was Sin or Sexual Sin involved in this Scandal? Both for the PAOC, Queensway Cathedral and Ralph Rutledge this was painful and severe discipline.  Rumors  spread around Quensway that homosexuality was involved on Ralph Rutledge's part.  This was neither confirmed or denied by the PAOC because the process of discipline is considered confidential. Such a scandal would certainly require the POAC to act to protect the flock under Ralph's care, but that protection was not full.  Because the PAOC was not free to go public, they did not expose Ralph Rutledge.  They did not "tell the church" as Matthew 18 requires.  Full protection was not achieved for all of the Christian church.  Ralph Rutledge free to perpetuate his scandal The PAOC disciplined Ralph Rutledge but he is free to perpetuate his sins.  They do not make public the facts around his case.  This aborts the Matthew 18 process ("tell the church") and has allowed Rutledge to: DENY:  Deny the seriousness of his homosexual involvment: "I was approached by a male and it only happened once."  That sounds a lot less dangerous than a pastor as a minister approaching young men, Christian or non-Christian, under his direct mentorship or not, and misusing his influence as a pastor to molest young men (and destroy their lives.)  Rutledge now can deny and minimize his sin as the POAC protects his information as confidential.  If you were the father of a young man that was involved and hurt in this way with Ralph would you like to have had more information about him or not?  Would you like him exposed or not?  Would you like him stopped or not? Pretend the Victim:  Pretend that he was the victim of injustice and the PAOC should not have treated him so harshly.  At one point someone was going to write a book in support of this fabrication.  Rutledge can accuse the PAOC of injustice, act the victim and the PAOC will remain silent.  He can ask others to comfort him and pray for him while he is taking advantage of the situation. Continue as a pastor:  Continue in ministry as a minister of a church.  (He is now, at 70 years of age, semi-retired but there are those who pray the Lord will continue to use him mightily in his senoir years.)  Rutledge continued to preach and pastor churches after he was defrocked.  But there is no way for a congregation hiring Rutledge to "know the fruit" of Rutledge's ministry because of this confidentiality.  The purpose of writing about this is to protect the public by helping to open up this issue and bring things to the light.    (For some clue as to later 'ministry' in Ralph's life read the prize winning fantasy book: "Demons in the Sanctuary" by Mariam Bellamy.  Like historical fiction it is a fantasy story built upon a lot of facts.  My blog entries on the book are at prayer-power.blogspot.com).  Some of these posts are: 1. Masculine Tough and Feminine Soft,  2.  Narcissistic Personality Pastor,  3. Nicolaitanism - triumph over the lay people,  4. Church Scandal and Financial Wrongdoing,  5. Attitude of a Good Pastor,  6. The Blessing of Unity Do Missions without his sponsors knowing anything about his business, financial or sexual practices:  Now Rutledge is free to go on missions to Romania, India, Egypt and without anyone knowing whether this is ligitimate missions work or is he taking advantage of young men in these countries.  We need to ask why we do not have enough information about why Ralph Rutledge was removed from the PAOC (and subsequent allegations) so others can make an informed decision about involving Ralph Rutledge in missions in their country or not.  I now believe that there is a string of devastated young men all across Canada and I wouldn't want to see that extended across the world. Do Business: to enter into business partnerships without his partners knowing anything about his business, financial or sexual practices.  A businessman says to me: "I wish I never met Ralph Rutledge."  We need to ask why we do not have enough information about why Ralph Rutledge was removed from the PAOC (and subsequent allegations about financial dealings and ethical behavior) so businessmen can make an informed decision about whether to partner with Ralph Rutledge or not. Should Ralph Rutledge continue in Ministry? That is why we need to ask the question: Is Ralph Rutledge ready to be restored to preaching, teaching, mentoring and praying alone with young men.  I don't think so.  Trusted sources dont think so.  I had independent reports at the time of his discipline by the PAOC that filled in the blanks for me about Ralph Rutledge.  I have had reports since this discipline by the PAOC confirming the seriousness of his sin problems.  My trusted souce in the PAOC cannot give Ralph a clean bill of health, in fact, re refuses to sign a paper affirming that he will not offend again.  Ralph Rutledge Scandal - Is it over yet? Ralph Rutledge did go through the motions of healing and deliverance but could not fully submit to the healing prayers.  One of his sin patterns is lying and manipulating and that, of course, undermines the counselling / healing process. At the time of writing (fall, 2009) and based on my sources of information, I  would say that Ralph Rutledge is not ready for restoration.  In my opinion the scandal is not over.  He has not submitted to an accountability process and he refuses to pray: "God do anything you need to do to bring me to complete healing so that I am ready for restoration." The Bible says to confirm every report in the mouth of two or three witnesses.  So seek independent confirmation from other sources.  I would like to establish a network of contacts who can getting to the objective facts of the life of Ralph Rutledge. Could Ralph Rutledge still be active as a 'wolf in sheep's clothing?' There was serious and sufficient reason for the POAC to remove Ralph Rutledge completely from ministry in the POAC.  There can be no doubt about that.  However, the PAOC agreed not to publish the information about Ralph Rutledge that lead to this decision.  This cut off the step of "tell it to the church."  This has left the flock exposed. Since that time, Ralph Rutledge has tried to minimize the deep sin issues here:  abuse of the trusted position of pastor and the particular sinful behaviour he was accountable for.  He now leads people to believe that injustice was done.  He might say that it was one incident with another adult male and that he did not initiate the contact.  However, my information says otherwise.  My sources suggest that no injustice was done; that it was never just one incident; that it was not just adult males (of his age group) and that he initiates sexual contact. When Jesus said by their fruit you will know them it means that you get know the facts, the impact of a person on other's lives.  You do not believe their self report, resume and denials.  This is especially so if there are serious allegations from church administrators. We cannot believe Ralph's denials of and minimization of his sinful behaviour.  We must get information from outside observers. So do not get seduced by a potential 'wolf in sheep's clothing.'  Do not accept Ralph's shifting the blame on the PAOC, minimizing the seriousness of his sin.  He is, after all a gifted communicater, a very persusive man who, at the moment, will seem credible.  Remember "by their fruit you will know them." Ralph Rutledge is a very active networker.  He gathers support.  He could run for political office with his ability to gather support on his side.  For example, he met with Don Blair (a fellow counsellor) and I to present his case.  He contacted me to try to stop this process.  He is well connected and will mobolize his army of supporters to try to suppress what is coming to light.  He will not succeed. It has been reported that Ralph Rutledge is very active in suppressing reports from young Christian men who have been traumatized by him.  If Ralph Rutledge hears that someone he assualted sexually is talking he will visit them and confront them with this information: "I hear you are talking about me."  He intimidates his victims.  He is covering his tracks but the Bible says is what we have done in private will be shouted from the house tops. When someone looks like a trusted pastor but leaves a trail of traumatized lives behind him he is considered a 'wolf in sheep's clothing.'  If Rutledge approached sexually a young man he was counselling this would be an abuse of professional status and a breaking of professional ethics.  It is the "wolf" mauling Jesus' flock. I believe a lot of young men who trusted Ralph Rutledge as a pastor have been deeply traumatized.  Men who approached Rutledge for help with sexual ambivalence.  Young men whe did not know Christ who were given a 'spiritual' counselling session in their bedroom by a famous and trusted pastor.  One source writes: "There have been so many wounded, devastated victims because of this one man. It is hard to fathom that even since his semi-retirement we are still hearing that he continues to operate in the same vein." Therefore, my advice is to think twice before letting Ralph Rutledge 'the pastor' go pray with your son in private.  Else, Ralph Rutledge 'the wolf' may prey on your son. "Pastor" means shepherd.  A shepherd protects the sheep, lays down his life for the sheep.  Jesus - John 10:15 - says "I lay down my life for the sheep."  A wolf is an enemy of the sheep.  He preys on the sheep.  He wounds the sheep.  He scatters the sheep.  He devours the sheep.  One source reports that many victims of Ralph's abuse (unministry) are: "still struggling to find a church and/or pastor they can trust." Updates in the Ralph Rutledge Story Scripture says we are to expose the works of darkness and not be partners with the ones involved.  "Have nothing to do with the deeds produced by darkness, but instead expose them, for it is shameful even to speak of the things these people do in secret."  (Ephesians 5:11, 12.) My role is as the good shepherd who protects the flock.  Being aware that the 'weapons of our warfare' are directed not at destroying people (slander, name calling, getting revenge) but at arguements, knowledge, thinking and belief.  (2Corinthians 10:4-6.) The good shepherd 'punishes' of disobedient by bringing averything to light.  We avoid the works of darkness (avoid sin) but we do "expose them." (Ephesians 5:11) The Matthew 18 process needs to be Completed.  "Tell it to the church" must be fulfilled.  As a leader said recently: "I am increasingly of the opinion that unethical spiritual leaders should be exposed rather than covering up their conduct and allowing them to continue to perpetrate their evil on other unsuspecting sheep." Do not partner with a wolf in sheep's clothing.  Do not let Ralph Rutledge threaten you and manipulate you.  Scripture says that these things must be exposed to the light and revealed for what they are.  I believe that Ralph Rutledge will be exposed.  Scripture says: "but instead expose them." If you have any first hand information to either deny or support my suspicions, please contact me.  Let the light shine.  "Shine, Jesus, Shine."  I care for the sheep in my flock and I care for Toronto and Mississauga.  I will do my best not to allow wolves to scatter and eat the sheep.  You can help by sharing what you know. Next page:  Ralph Rutledge Sex Scandal Updates. Demons in the Sanctuary - A summary description of my blog entries on this book by Mariam Ballamy. I am blogging my reading of Demons in the Sanctuary in my blog on The New Church Landscape. Some of these posts are: Other posts in this series on Demons in the Sanctuary: 1. Masculine Tough and Feminine Soft,  2.  Narcissistic Personality Pastor,  3. Nicolaitanism - triumph over the lay people,  4. Church Scandal and Financial Wrongdoing,  5. Attitude of a Good Pastor,  6. The Blessing of Unity See also the blog on "What do we know about Ralph Rutledge?"   The wolf in Sheep Clothing,  Character Issues to Observe,  Good Boundaries make Good Ministers, Thesis, Method, Observations and Conclusions about Ralph Rutledge, Ralph Rutledge Defrocked	Anger Management Anxiety symptoms Breaking Curses Christian Marriage Counselling Decision Matrix Depression Dreams and Life Dysfunctional Personality Patterns Family System Faith of the Heart Inner Healing Life Crisis Life Transformation Therapy Love Letters to God Nervous Breakdown Smart Fear Theophostic Counselling
Contact: For Sessions with George, Retreats or Phone Counseling: counselling (416) 234-1850 for local calls in Toronto, Mississauga, Oakville or Brampton.  1 (877) 854-3990 for long distance. E-mail: e-mail G Hartwell  www.HealMyLife.com (counselling) and www.HealMyLife.net (retreats)     Home   About Me   Professional Services   Life Transformation Retreats