Since my wife and I run a disability ministry we have interfaced with a significant number of pastors and churches over the past 15 years. Five years or so ago when I first read Dave Hodges articles about the Clergy Response Team (CRT) it really made me wonder about how deep the problem is where I live and work. In his novel writings Mr. Hodges illuminates the fact for many of you, your pastor is not your friend. I will first use Dave’s work to outline what the CRT is, then speak about my personal experience of talking with pastors about the Clergy Response Team and finally the relevance of the story of Esther to the horrible condition that the CRT presents for believers in America and the bravery that we need and need to consider.

In a nutshell, the purpose of the Clergy Response Team is to:

1. Undermine the authority of the Bible by misusing the words of the Bible (Romans 13) within the local church

2. Provide a local representative to do the bidding of the larger government (as well as collect intel on persons of interest inside the church) through the CRT and NOVAD in the local church body.

3. Provide a conduit (the pastor/church) to channel parishioners into government organized FEMA camps in times of local/national crisis without the heavy hand or heavy expense incurred by the government. In the Dave Hodges article ‘Pastors To Help DHS in Arrests And Detention Of Americans In FEMA Camps’ dated Feb. 25, 2015 he interviewed Pastor Walt Mansfield…’Mansfield’s revelations about his experiences are stunning and concerning at the same time. Pastor Mansfield attended several briefings and he could barely believe his ears. He learned of the government’s plan to enact martial law as well as to implement forced population relocations. Mansfield emphasized that when martial law is enacted, the enforcement would be immediate. In other words, family members will be separated from each other and part of the training that the clergy received was how to comfort separated family members.’… …’Pastor Mansfield emphasized that the FEMA/DHS drills were predicated on bioterrorism. The pastors were trained to go to homes were people refused to be relocated by the authorities and their immediate job was to convince the reluctant to willingly go to the relocation camps. Ostensibly, this was to be done in lieu of sending in the SWAT teams.’…

Hodges work reveals that the entities involved with the Clergy Response Teams invoke a misappropriation of the meaning of Romans 13 in order to obtain compliance from the people. From Mr. Hodges article ‘Why Your Pastor Is Not Your Friend’:

…’The modern interpretation of Romans 13 is pure blasphemy. This scripture has been morphed into a doctrine espousing the “Divine Right of Kings” in which God has somehow chosen a king to ruthlessly rule over a people and it is incumbent upon the people to accept their “God-given fate”,  The flock are commanded to “…submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established.”  This false interpretation is nothing but a divine coronation of a ruthless, self-serving government and Christians are expected to capitulate and honor the same kind of thievery, lawlessness and murder which inspired Jesus to expel the moneychangers from the Temple.’…

Wouldn’t the acceptance of a ‘Hitler-esque’ interpretation of Romans 13 by the local congregation logically result with a pastorate who could get away with anything at the expense of the parishioners? Romans 13 was Hitlers’ favorite scripture and he misused it mightily. As rightly relayed over at TheoPoetic Musings (‘Hitler And The Nazis’ Use Of Romans 13 Against The Confessing Church’):

…’The Nazi government led by Hitler used Romans 13:1 against the resistance movements in the German church. Nazi leaders argued that since Hitler was duly elected, opposing him was opposing God’s instituted authority. Faithful opposition countered by saying blind allegiance to Hitler was idolatrous and that what he proposed and lived out clearly opposed Scripture: “We must obey God rather than any human authority” (Acts 5:29)…’…

Mr. Hodges further points out that …’The Clergy Response Team falls under the umbrella series of programs known as National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (NOVAD)’… and that …’NOVAD claims to be a faith-based coalition which is structured as a non-governmental organization and operates on a national scale and is supported by tax dollars funneled to DHS.’… So this organization is used by the government to establish a ‘foothold’ in the Christian church in America. For much more detailed information on the Clergy Response Team please go to www.thecommonsenseshow.com and search the vast array of articles.

Now that I have shared a basic understanding of what the Clergy Response Team is let’s turn to my personal experience in having (albeit brief in each case) actual discussions with pastors whom I know.

While my family visited his church and after his sermon, I asked Pastor Number 1 about the Clergy Response Teams, he just looked at me, turned slightly pale, eyes opened as big as saucers and he just went into a catatonic stare that did not seem to end for a small eternity. He then walked out of the sanctuary.

Pastor 1 retired shortly thereafter. Since our ministry had been doing disability at the church I met with Pastor Number 2. When I mentioned the Clergy Response Team to him his response to me was (after being visibly shocked): ‘Well, we are all responsible to the government’…I would call that a tacet admonition of complicity. This is the same pastor that openly shared the private confidence of a major sports figure that this sports figure divulged to him at an altar call while the sports figures’ wife was with a different pastor at the rail. If that pastor will brag about private secrets of a member of the congregation is it really a stretch to believe that he is also sharing that kind of info with his NVOAD handlers?

Pastor 3 had no answer for my CRT question and quite frankly, would not answer. From what I understand, pastors who have ‘signed on’ to the Clergy Response Team’-cannot- publicly acknowledge their cooperation with the CRT. In the aforementioned ‘Pastors To Help DHS…’ article Pastor Mansfield substantiates this:

…’Pastors are absolutely forbidden to publicly to speak about any aspect of the program. If you were to ask your pastor if they are a FEMA trained pastor, they will not likely tell you.’…

Pastor Number 4, after preaching on the entire book of Revelation in one 30 minute sermon, when asked about the Clergy Response Teams he turned his gaze to the floor and said, “I don’t believe they exist”. One of the things that was consistent with all of the Pastor participants was the aversion of their gaze from me when I was looking them squarely in the eye when asking the question about the existence of Clergy Response Team.

And finally and most ominously and regretfully is Pastor Number 5. An old friend who I hadn’t seen in a number of years. We broke bread at a restaurant close to his church. It was good to catch up. As we were parting ways in the parking lot his wife pulled up to pick him up and I mentioned a big church where they were apparently involved in CRT and I asked him about his involvement and turned away and said ‘No’. He paused for a minute and said to me: ‘Why don’t you take a drive through the church parking lot?’ Now isn’t that an odd response to being asked about the Clergy Response Team? He got in the car with his wife and drove away. I can only imagine that -anyone- who drives through a church parking lot becomes a person of interest in some way as their car and license plate are most likely recorded and perhaps shared with -someone