It appears that Clayton Jennings’ “ministry” may be at an end, at least for now. With the way celebrity, Christianity seems to work anyone can be “restored” back into ministry if they spend enough time in Purgatory. If you haven’t been following what has been happening with Clayton Jennings, please read these articles written by JD Hall of Polemics Report. Also read these accounts of victims of Clayton Jennings here and here. This post is piggy-backing on work that had been already done by JD Hall. This post is my observation as an outsider of the events that occurred.
It may seem that JD Hall was targeting this person like a laser bomb with the intent to destroy his alleged ministry. Quite the contrary. JD Hall was protecting the flock. JD Hall was trying to extract a wolf who had managed to gain entrance into the sheepfold. This could not continue to happen. Clayton Jennings had to be exposed for who and what he really is–according to Polemics Report, a sexual predator using his spiritual authority as a means to exploit that position to take advantage of smitten young women.
Clayton Jennings grew up in the church in which his father was a pastor. He certainly had the opportunity to learn the vernacular and how to appear to be so in love with Jesus. He could put on the passionate Christian costume and speak the language that would give him a level of credibility, at least enough to allow him to build a ministry that was geared towards millennials. He is a very good looking young man so that did not hurt his ability to attract his main target, young women looking for a man who seemed to love Jesus so much and a man who only cared about sharing Jesus.
Clayton Jennings wrote all types of poems and did spoken word pieces that talked about his battles with lust, depression and other struggles with the flesh. They were vague expositions that appeared to show him as a vulnerable man, one who was able to express his weakness with such an available openness and an apparent reliability on Jesus to help. That expressed vulnerability is what attracted the young women combined with his attractive appearance and charismatic personality. He portrayed himself as the man that some women really want with the added twist of claiming to be a disciple of Christ which was especially attractive to young Christian women who are more likely to trust those in ministerial positions preaching Jesus. They want to trust him more because of his ministry and want to believe that he is on the up-and-up.
All of these were props designed to lure the young women for sexual encounters in his home. He would seduce them with his poems and with his spoken word blabberings that tug on the part of a person that discards all thought and discernment: emotions. Clayton lasered in on the emotional center of his female targets that followed his ministry, attacking the most vulnerable part and the one that is most easily manipulated. In doing this he displayed what is the most vulnerable part of most men, lusting after a woman for a sexual encounter.
He would lower their ability to resist his sexual approaches through alcohol (while not drinking any himself) and with his apparent spiritual training. He would smooth talk them into believing that what they had done or were about to do were do was perfectly fine because they were going to be married. It wasn’t a sin. Add this kind of talk to alcohol and watching endless videos of his “sermons” and spoken word blatherings and he was on his way to breaking down the defenses his victim. And then he would pounce on them, figuratively and literally. The victims resisted but due to his tactics, they found themselves succumbing to him.
All of which was staged and meticulously planned so he could sin and the victims were just collateral damage to him, an acceptable loss to him in the quest of his ultimate goal: sex.
It is a sad state that Christianity has fallen into. Weak teaching on the doctrine of total depravity and man’s fatal desire to satisfy his carnal flesh has eaten away at the mortar of the church. Wolves sneak through the cracks so as to take advantage of the sheep. We are fighting a war against the flesh with a sword wrapped in bubble wrap if we are even withdrawing it from the scabbard at all. How can the church hope to fare in a battle against the flesh if the church is so ill-equipped to mount a defense? How can we be effective if we are given life lesson sermons and self-centered concerns which Jesus can coach us through? How can we be effective when our level of maturity is not measured by our understanding of essential fundamental doctrines of Christianity but by how much we are volunteering to serve in our churches? How can we trust our teachers when the effectiveness of their ministry is measured by how large of a crowd they can attract and not by how well the teachers exegete the scriptures which separate bone from marrow when exposited correctly?
Wolves creep in with false teaching with the purpose to deceive the elect and bring the elect with them into their sinful pursuits. Satan’s tools of deception are not meant to fall useless against the outside of the walls of the church. Satan’s attacks are meant to expose weaknesses and get inside the church. The less the church leans on sound biblical teaching, the more effective the subtle attacks of Satan are on the church. This does not remove responsibility from those who commit a sin against the flock or those who lead the church away with false teaching. It is simply a tactic of the Enemy.
Clayton Jennings is one such wolves who needs the blood of Christ to change him into a sheep. He needs to be taught the gospel, seek real repentance, and make restitution with his victims. The victims do not need another stylized video with his face hidden. They need an in person reconciliation done out of the spotlight. He’s done enough grandstanding on the ministry circuit. He doesn’t need to exploit these young women again for his own personal gain. May God grant true repentance, a contrite and broken heart, humility, and forgiveness sought out of the contriteness and humility. And may he remain anonymous so as not to be tempted again.
[Guest Post by Michael Hall]
