Examining the bad fruits of Robert S. Boylan
Recently, Mormon blogger-apologist Robert Boylan (aka - 'Scriptural Mormonism') took the opportunity to make some inflammatory remarks regarding Ex-Mormon Evangelical Micah Wilder, who had been part of the Christian musical ministry group geared towards Mormons & Ex-Mormons, known as Adam's Road.
Last month, Wilder confessed on his website to years of unrepentant sin during his time in the group and is no longer participating in ministry.
A few brief points:
1. As awful as the situation is for all involved, confession of that sin is both biblical & appropriate.
2. I hope that Micah belongs to a solid church, that practices both membership & church discipline and are actively praying for & walking alongside him through a biblical process of repentance & restoration to the body. (Please, be in prayer for them!) 7/30/24 Update: It seems as though he is not seeking to repent at this time, which is rather worrying.
3. Whenever circumstances as these for a professing believer in Christ comes to light, it tarnishes His name in the eyes of the unbelieving world at large, to the point of perhaps even being a stumbling block for them. It is also a legitimate cause of significant concern for the soul(s) of those individuals who have confessed to serious sin.
However, the focus of this article is not on the Wilder situation as much as it is on this recent post from Boylan:
Wilder's mother - Lynn, who is also an Ex-Mormon and has been in ministry to Ex-Mormons for a number of years; is thrown under the bus by Boylan here. Despite not being involved in the situation at all, on account of their relationship to one another (which seems to be a likely significant contributing factor) as well as that she has wisely refused to debate him in the past. Somehow, this translates into a conclusion that his remarks towards her are warranted or even appropriate. (Hint: They're not)
Given Boylan's reputation of having a sharp tongue & using harsh language, this is hardly surprising, lest anyone assume that I am seeking to engage in poisoning the well, here are a few other examples from his own mouth/keyboard:
(This particular insult did not stay up for long, but why make it in the first place?)
(Clearly he's not shy about using profanity)
(The individual targeted here, is an Ex-Mormon as well)
When one simply listens to the man, we can derive much insight regarding his character & his unbiblical views on what it actually means to love your neighbor as yourself in accordance with the commandments of God.A couple months ago, I created a (now deleted) satire FaceBook page immaturely riffing on how often Robert Boylan attempts to solicit donations from his followers to fund his book buying habits. Shortly after its creation it started receiving messages from what I assumed was a spam account and didn't bother to open them at first. But eventually, I did and here are some selections of what I received (name redacted to protect this person from bad actors who might seek to dox / abuse / harass them)
If nothing else, it seems that there was some sort of a history between she & Boylan and for whatever reason(s) she had incorrectly assumed that the satirical page was ran by Boylan himself. Unexpectedly, she then started sharing snippets from conversations they evidently had in the past and if you check the Instagram handle in the screenshots to follow " scripturalmormonismpodcast " it is plain to see that this is indeed him & not some malicious impostor.
There are some clearly inappropriate remarks here from Boylan, and given that he is a gospel doctrine teacher for his church, we can argue this is unbecoming of a teacher in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints by their own standards.
At this point I believe it's necessary to make a number of things absolutely clear:
A.) I asked this woman if she had been mistreated by Boylan, and she insisted that she had not been. She confirmed that they were never a couple & that he never came to see/visit her in her country. It's troubling that she doesn't seem to recognize the inappropriate behavior, or if she does that she tolerated it for a hopeful chance at romance.
B.) I briefly considered what it might look like bringing these to the attention of his ecclesiastical leaders instead of writing this article. Given the voluminous anecdotal & even historical evidence of the brethren whitewashing the history of it's leaders and secretly sweeping the sins of some of their own under the rug, I ultimately decided against it.
C.) I thought about privately confronting Boylan with these images, with a personal call to repentance but given that we have had no direct prior correspondence, I couldn't see a scenario where he would accept any private rebuke / correction in good faith from a Protestant, let alone acknowledge the legitimacy of the screenshots & potentially cook up a counterfeit narrative saying that they're 'fake'.
D.) I asked for counsel from my own ecclesiastical leaders on whether or not these materials should even be released, if I had biblical warrant to release them, or if I should refrain from doing so altogether. (After reviewing them, and a draft of this article they concluded it would be a good thing.)
E.) I took a good deal of time to consider my own motives here with a number of questions such as: "Am I trying to simply score points?" "Is this a wise/good/righteous thing to do?", "Is there biblical warrant for this?", "Should I simply delete them and forget about it?", "What does scripture say about attempting to correct/rebuke scoffers?", "Would my Pastors approve of this?", "What would other trusted brothers in the Lord think about this?", "Is my conscience troubled about this in any way?", "Is there any kind of vendetta / grudge in my heart towards this man?", "Am I trying to hurt him?", "Is it ethical to put this sort of thing online given the bizarre circumstances by which these were acquired?", "Do I have unrepentant personal sin or hypocrisy in this area and therefore have no business even talking about this?" Suffice it to say, this subject has troubled my soul & and has moved me to be praying for the man. (Though not as often as I probably ought I confess)
At this point I believe it's necessary to make a number of things absolutely clear:
A.) I asked this woman if she had been mistreated by Boylan, and she insisted that she had not been. She confirmed that they were never a couple & that he never came to see/visit her in her country. It's troubling that she doesn't seem to recognize the inappropriate behavior, or if she does that she tolerated it for a hopeful chance at romance.
B.) I briefly considered what it might look like bringing these to the attention of his ecclesiastical leaders instead of writing this article. Given the voluminous anecdotal & even historical evidence of the brethren whitewashing the history of it's leaders and secretly sweeping the sins of some of their own under the rug, I ultimately decided against it.
C.) I thought about privately confronting Boylan with these images, with a personal call to repentance but given that we have had no direct prior correspondence, I couldn't see a scenario where he would accept any private rebuke / correction in good faith from a Protestant, let alone acknowledge the legitimacy of the screenshots & potentially cook up a counterfeit narrative saying that they're 'fake'.
D.) I asked for counsel from my own ecclesiastical leaders on whether or not these materials should even be released, if I had biblical warrant to release them, or if I should refrain from doing so altogether. (After reviewing them, and a draft of this article they concluded it would be a good thing.)
E.) I took a good deal of time to consider my own motives here with a number of questions such as: "Am I trying to simply score points?" "Is this a wise/good/righteous thing to do?", "Is there biblical warrant for this?", "Should I simply delete them and forget about it?", "What does scripture say about attempting to correct/rebuke scoffers?", "Would my Pastors approve of this?", "What would other trusted brothers in the Lord think about this?", "Is my conscience troubled about this in any way?", "Is there any kind of vendetta / grudge in my heart towards this man?", "Am I trying to hurt him?", "Is it ethical to put this sort of thing online given the bizarre circumstances by which these were acquired?", "Do I have unrepentant personal sin or hypocrisy in this area and therefore have no business even talking about this?" Suffice it to say, this subject has troubled my soul & and has moved me to be praying for the man. (Though not as often as I probably ought I confess)
F.) I have genuine hopes of this playing some part in ultimately leading to a true, biblical, consistent repentance & saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ for Boylan.
Given the above, I couldn't help but be appalled with his conduct towards Wilder, for a particular kind of sin - namely, sexual sin that he is evidently also guilty of and took place at some time within the last 2 years. Given his own issues with lust & objectification of women in his private life, which is tantamount to adultery (Matthew 5:27) and that these sins come from within us (Jeremiah 17:9, James 1:13-15, Matthew 15:18-19) it bears stating that we will all be called to account by the Lord for every careless utterance we make & type. (Matthew 12:36)
Given the above, I couldn't help but be appalled with his conduct towards Wilder, for a particular kind of sin - namely, sexual sin that he is evidently also guilty of and took place at some time within the last 2 years. Given his own issues with lust & objectification of women in his private life, which is tantamount to adultery (Matthew 5:27) and that these sins come from within us (Jeremiah 17:9, James 1:13-15, Matthew 15:18-19) it bears stating that we will all be called to account by the Lord for every careless utterance we make & type. (Matthew 12:36)
James 1:26 tells us: "If anyone thinks himself to be religious, yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this person’s religion is worthless."
The clear lack of self-control & utter disregard for reviling his neighbor, to me at least - the verdict is in that with how he is regularly using his tongue (both in his public & his private life respectively) suggests biblically that his Mormonism has utterly failed him. He has demonstrably bad fruit, so we are to assume that the tree by which the fruit comes is also bad. (Matthew 7:15-23 & 12:33-35)
The clear lack of self-control & utter disregard for reviling his neighbor, to me at least - the verdict is in that with how he is regularly using his tongue (both in his public & his private life respectively) suggests biblically that his Mormonism has utterly failed him. He has demonstrably bad fruit, so we are to assume that the tree by which the fruit comes is also bad. (Matthew 7:15-23 & 12:33-35)
The beauty of the biblical gospel is that God knew about all of our secret sins in the dark, our hidden shame, our utter hypocrisy, our false righteousness, our sexual immoralities, our idolatries, our blasphemies, our deceptions, etc. and yet still chose to make provision to be our propitiation despite all of that! Not for our glory, but for His glory!
"And when you were dead in your wrongdoings and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our wrongdoings, having canceled the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross." - Col 2:13–14
The call of the gospel to Boylan would be to repent of your faith in the false gods, false gospel, false repentance, the false prophets, and false doctrines of Mormonism. They cannot save you! Only surrender to the true & living Christ, who justifies the ungodly can make you to be at peace with Him. (Romans 4:4-5, 5:1)
Unlike my Mormon counterpart, I do indeed believe that Jesus is truly enough*, to save both Boylan & Wilder from not just some of their sins, but ALL of them!
*No Mormon temples, temple ordinances, or temple covenants, Mormon priesthoods or Mormon prophets required.
