As Juli & I detailed in our previous articles, “What’s Wrong with Pastor Jim? Parts 12 & 13,” not only has Pastor Jim refused to be held to the same biblical standard of accountability that he has previously prescribed for himself and all servants of God (see sermon transcript excerpt from 1 Samuel 12:1-5 at the beginning of Part 13), but he then subsequently violated man’s (civil) law on September 27, 2023 by taking possession of the websites (www.thefinalwordradio.com and www.jimandrewsbooks.com) that he no longer owned.
(This fact was confirmed by my IP [Intellectual Property] lawyer, who examined Pastor Jim’s claim of current ownership based on the evidence he himself provided, and concluded that his claim was not valid, since he had legally transferred the sites to me years prior. My lawyer then directed me to write Jim a legal letter specifying why his claims were invalid, which I did, sending it by legal courier on October 13, 2023, and receiving Jim’s written confirmation of its receipt the same day. Yet even after receiving this information, Jim refused to repent for breaking the civil law and failed to turn over my legal property.)
The main purpose of Pastor Jim’s unlawful act on September 27, 2023, then, was to take down the Part 12 article (which exposed his hypocrisy) from the websites so that nobody could read it. (This is reminiscent of King Jehoiakim in Jeremiah 36:1-26.)
Yet Pastor Jim did not stop there. When I lawfully regained control of both websites on April 4, 2024, he continued to violate man’s (civil) law by ignoring his civic duty as a good citizen, defiantly flaunting the law and demanding that I still give them back to him. Further, in order to cover up his prior unlawful act, he then committed an even more serious civil-law violation, as you will see below, on Sunday morning, April 7, 2024. As they say in politics, “The coverup is always worse than the crime,” and this case is no exception (though this is a civil offense, not criminal).
Here is the relevant portion of the transcript:
Pastor Jim Andrews @21:33
Many of you this past Thursday received a hijacked Final Word (that’s radio, for those of you who don’t know) newsletter from my estranged son-in-law alleging that I, your pastor, has veered off course into unsound doctrine, and urging your prayers for my repentance. This unfortunate situation, unbeknownst to most of you, developed about 6 years ago. It’s been killing Olsie, who, as you will notice, is not here today, who most of that time has been denied physical access to our daughter, Juli.
This is just another tactic from a once-unthinkable source to knock me out of the box. As long as I’ve been in this church, now 34 years, I go through this some way or other. My conscience in all that I have done is totally clear in this matter, and God knows it.
So, as much as we have been saddened by this family rupture, I’m confident the Lord has our back, and we’ve seen that, and it’s full steam ahead for me. I thank all of you who contacted us in shock and dismay. All I can say is that 37 years of unbelievable suffering and isolation, I think, have apparently finally broken the mind of this brilliant but now-pitiful shadow of his former self, so that Paul is no longer the amazing person, and I do mean that, amazing, for 30-31 years. Unfortunately, neither is my wife, whose spirit and mind he has broken with his regular onslaught of mental tortures.
Most of you know this, I think, what I’m telling you now: Olsie is in cognitive decline. And some of you have noticed it. I don’t know when I’ve heard her laugh. Our elders and staff have known about this situation for some years now. I’ll ask Mike Sheffield, our Elder Chairman, to share with you a few words. Ends @24:15
In order to keep this article brief, due to the great urgency of the moment, we will primarily deal with just the last phrase of Pastor Jim’s first paragraph (see bolded above). Juli & I are asking everyone at LBC, all listeners to TFW, and all JAB readers to pay close attention to this information, and take immediate & decisive action.
Shockingly, in his remarks above, Pastor Jim made a cruel and false allegation against me, Paul, in his phrase, “who most of that time has been denied physical access to our daughter, Juli.” The clear implication from the preceding context, as well as the entire context of his remarks is that I, his “estranged son-in-law” have somehow, for most of the past six years, denied Olsie “physical access to [her] daughter, Juli.”
The situation is very medically complex, so Juli & I will not attempt to explain the details here. However, this false allegation, as well as the many others contained in Pastor Jim’s remarks, constitute an unlawful act of defamation. These are not merely hurtful lies said in the heat of anger; they have been deceptively crafted to destroy my reputation and shift the blame from the true source of guilt. In the Lord’s providence, it just so happens that I have been informally studying defamation and free speech law over the past 3 ½ years in the course of following current events in the news.
Therefore, Pastor Jim has compounded his initial spiritual disobedience (by failing to listen to the godly rebuke of his faithful daughter & son-in-law on September 25, 2023) by committing an act of civil wrong two days later, on the 27th. Then, when these unlawful actions were exposed on April 4, 2024, he followed this up with an even more egregious civil offense, defamation of character, against a trusted and disabled member of his own family.
However, in his remarks above, Pastor Jim committed another, even more unbiblical and unethical wrong in the process of making his defamatory allegations. By choosing to make these false allegations about the denial of access to Juli and the “mental tortures” inflicted by me upon his wife Olsie, the alleged victim, without her being present in the Sunday service, as well as without her knowledge or consent, he was providing yet one more example of the very wicked type of behavior that Jim had been exhibiting since 2015, which Juli & I had outlined for the Board of Elders in our first letter, dated 1/30/23 (very brief excerpts below):
Dear [Chairman of the Elder Board] Mike [Sheffield],
Juli and I are writing to request an immediate investigation by the appropriate LBC elder(s) into Pastor Jim’s medical and spiritual competence to continue performing the role of Senior Pastor at Lake Bible Church. As we will explain, the reason for our urgent request is that we desperately want him to be able to remain at Lake. However, due to a new, unspecified medical condition, Pastor Jim began in 2015 to exhibit an uncharacteristic pattern of overt disobedience to his own teaching from God’s Word, both in his personal behavior and his teaching. This escalated in August 2020, when he refused, for some reason, to practice biblical repentance as he had always done prior, and he has remained in that state of unrepentant disobedience ever since.
First, let me set the proper context for the relationship we have had with Jim & Olsie for our entire married life. The best way to do this is to share with you an excerpt with you from a letter that we wrote to them back in July 2021. Afterwards, we will explain why we had to write the letter.
“Dear Jim & Olsie,
Juli and I want to thank you first of all for the loving support you’ve given us since the onset of our M.E. (myalgic encephalomyelitis) disease in 1987, when we were in our early twenties. You have been the best parents and in-laws we could ever have hoped for. You have helped us financially and physically to be able to survive all these years, with Juli being bedridden for the vast majority of that period, and with me being partially disabled.”
…But as alluded to in the excerpt from the letter above, due to an unspecified health problem that became manifest in 2015, Pastor Jim has been becoming more and more emotionally & spiritually abusive toward the weakest members of his family: his wife Olsie, and his totally disabled, bedridden daughter & now-totally disabled son-in-law.
The reason why Jim’s abusive treatment of Olsie (speaking for her without her knowledge or consent in an untruthful way about the son-in-law she loves, and who loves her) is highly relevant is because it illustrates perfectly the subtitle of this article, “The Evil Consequences of Lack of [Pastoral] Accountability.” Obviously, had the Board of Elders taken seriously the “innumerable letters and documents from Paul” (as they were referred to by the Chairman) that began over 1 1/2 years ago, this would never have happened.
Juli was so upset about her father’s inexplicable and hateful actions towards Paul that she decided to raise the issue with Olsie in a 34-minute phone call on July 3, 2024, beginning at 4:34 p.m. PT (Olsie was in Florida).
The portion of the conversation pertaining to this issue starts at approx. timestamp 8:30 and lasts for about 4 minutes. During that time, when Juli informed Olsie about what Pastor Jim had said, she denied any knowledge of it, twice, at two different times. In fact, Juli repeated the information about four times, and at no time did Olsie state that she agreed with what Jim had said, nor did she at any time disagree with Juli’s protests about the false allegations.
Thus, Juli & I insist that Pastor Jim publicly and permanently (as specified on p.12 of our 1/30/23 letter to the Board) retract all of his defamatory remarks from April 7, 2024, as well as all others previous and since, including those that have been broadcast over the airwaves on The Final Word, posted online in any venue, or sent in written form to TFW supporters and listeners, in both personal and ministry communications, and most importantly of all, repent of his sinful behavior and seek immediate medical attention for the condition(s) afflicting him.
In addition, Pastor Jim must allow Olsie to testify on the record about his public defamatory statements by listening for the first time ever to the entirety of his 4/7/24 remarks at an investigative hearing, to be held at Paul & Juli’s home (to enable all the relevant parties to be present). Therefore, we are asking everyone who reads this article (even if you do not attend LBC) to contact Elder Board Chairman, Mike Sheffield, to urge the Elders to fulfill their biblical and constitutional responsibilities in this matter. His email is m3gutguy@mac.com.
Juli & I love Pastor Jim & Olsie. We want him to continue to minister as he enters this new phase of his life (as he described it @1:38:00-1:39:00, writing and preaching on The Final Word, but he must be obedient to God’s Word “in everything,” as he noted from the example of Moses’s disobedience at the start of his mission to Egypt, in these two sermons in Exodus:
https://www.thefinalwordradio.com/sermons/exodus-421-26/
https://www.thefinalwordradio.com/sermons/exodus-426-31/
Paul & Juli Grose
Truly disgusting that you’re airing your dirty laundry in public, Paul. I couldn’t bare to read in it’s entirety. Seems to be a violation of the commandment: “Honor your father and mother”
I don’t belong to your church, nor am I what you would define as a “Christian”, but I respect the work that Pastor Jim did. He’s a good man. I’m sickened that he’s lost the rights to his work and we site for a church he’s labored to build due to legal shenanigans, and a son-in-law clearly over taken by greed and is now seeking to save face. So very, very sad.
True it is that “a man’s foes shall be they of his own household”.
Dear Aaron,
Thank you for your comment. We would appreciate it if everyone would follow Pastor Jim’s teaching on biblical due process and refrain from personal attacks until all the facts are investigated by the proper authorities.
Paul & Juli Grose
What does all of this even mean? Seems bizarre to me.
Dear Bob,
Thank you for writing again. The best thing for everyone concerned is to follow Pastor Jim’s teaching on biblical due process and wait until all the facts are investigated by the proper authorities.
Paul & Juli
Love is patient, love is kind, it does not boast, it does not envy, it is not proud, it is not rude, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs … Love NEVER delights in evil; it always rejoices in truth; it always protects, it always trusts, it always hopes, it always perseveres … LOVE NEVER FAILS!!!
HMMM, Paul in your love for Olsie and Jim how many of these truths have you trampled on?
In the event you want to read the whole principle of love, please go to 1 Corinthians 13.
Dear Jim,
Thank you for quoting 1 Corinthians 13. We think about it daily, as we have a wall plaque, with those very words on them, displayed prominently in our home.
To answer your question directly, our reply is that we have trampled on none. In fact, we have upheld Pastor Jim’s teaching on love at the same time as his teaching on truth. As he always teaches, one cannot be loving who doesn’t stand for the truth. Here’s our TFW Social Media post from Ephesians 4:27-30 from 2022:
“In Ephesians 4:29 the Apostle Paul tells us another one of the ways that we should apply his command, ‘put on the new self’ (v.24), in our lives: ‘Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.’ In other words, the intent of the Christian mouth ought to be speaking constructively rather than destructively. We must be ever sensitive to the fact that those who have been really beaten down could use a compliment or encouragement.
However, we should also understand that speaking constructively does not always mean saying sweet things. Sometimes there has to be tough talk. Sometimes people have to be confronted with the fact that they are wrong or off base. Sometimes people need a true friend to get in their face and say, ‘You’re really messing up here.’
Remember, though, that while your intent may be positive, your words may not seem positive to the receiver. But if that person has a modicum of wisdom, in the end, he or she will thank you.” –Pastor Jim Andrews from his teaching on Ephesians 4:27-30. Click thefinalwordradio.com/sermons/ephesians-427-30 to listen.
“Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but deceitful are the kisses of an enemy.” Proverbs 27:6
Also, here’s another excellent discussion of the same subject: https://disntr.com/2023/05/25/dispelling-modern-misconceptions-about-speaking-the-truth-in-love/
So then, if Jim or Olsie feel that we have violated Pastor Jim’s teaching from God’s Word in any area, all they have to do is to follow his teaching from Matthew 18:15ff and deal with it privately. https://podcast.lakebiblechurch.com/sermons/audio/2021/05/2166.mp3
Since you are saying many of the same things you said in your 4/4/24 9:24 a.m. email, we were wondering if you would allow us to publish that as well. You made some interesting comments about the law. I had already asked you this before, on 4/22/24 at 6:55 p.m., since there had not been, and still has not been, anyone who was willing to make a public, substantive defense of Pastor Jim regarding the facts in this article: https://www.thefinalwordradio.com/whats-wrong-with-pastor-jim-part-13/
Speaking about the law, it is curious to us why you are taking the time to write many of the same things as you did in April, and yet you are the Legal Counsel for LBC: https://www.lakebiblechurch.com/staff/jim-thwing, and you make no comment on Pastor Jim’s unlawful actions.
Paul & Juli
Doesn’t the book of 1 Corinthians inform church members to not take their legal matters to the world’s law system. “Why not rather be wronged?”. Sounds like the church elders have sided with pastor Jim. Don’t you have more important things to do with your time then obsess on these matters? I think you are imprisoned to bitterness. Hope you can leave it in God’s hands and use what time you have left to serve Him in more productive ways.
Dear Rachel,
Thank you for your comment. It appears that you are mistaken about what 1 Corinthians 6:1-11 prohibits. First, you should listen to Pastor Jim teach on the subject:
https://podcast.lakebiblechurch.com/sermons/audio/1997/04/1760.mp3
https://www.thefinalwordradio.com/sermons/1-corinthians-61-8/
If you listen carefully, you will note that it is the decision to pursue a legal resolution in the public courts that is prohibited, not the mere consultation with a lawyer or the private debate between opposing lawyers belonging to two Christians. The LBC Constitution (p.15-16) makes this clear: https://www.lakebiblechurch.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/lake-bible-church-constitution-20170522.pdf
In this case, Pastor Jim has committed two civil offenses in his quest to resist accountability, which is contrary to everything he’s ever taught or lived. I have been listening to him for 40 years now, and Juli has been listening much longer than that. Since Pastor Jim’s second civil offense (defamation) involves him making public statements that are false and damaging, he has waived the right to complain about my public defense, as a disabled M.E. patient who is also the caregiver for his disabled, bedridden daughter.
If he had allowed the communication channels to remain open over the past 4 years as he had done for the previous 33 years, this could have been, and should have been, solved in private. But he shut them down, in contradiction to his own teaching in the Marriage series and Marriage book (which he recommends for ALL interpersonal relationships, not just marriage):
https://www.thefinalwordradio.com/series-2/marriage-rules-for-the-road/
https://jimandrewsbooks.com/product/marriage-without-remorse-rules-for-the-road/
Regarding the remainder of your comments, please reserve judgement until the appropriate authorities have followed Pastor Jim’s teaching from God’s Word regarding biblical due process and investigated fully to find out all the facts.
Paul & Juli
I will be praying for you both. Paul in God’s Word tells us not to take our brothers in the Lord into court, you didn’t, but you might as well have because you contacted your lawyer.
However, that is beside the point, you have forgotten Paul’s admonition that you might be the greatest teacher, or master of the Word or Biblical Doctrine but if you don’t have love you are nothing but an empty sounding gong.
What you are doing is not in Christ’s love, you are tearing other individuals down.
Dear CJ,
Thank you for your comment and your prayers. You are one of the first to say that, and we appreciate it.
Regarding what God’s Word teaches about law, lawyers, etc., please see our response to Rachel Brewster immediately above your comment.
Regarding your contention that we are unloving, please see our response to James B. Thwing, which is located even higher up on the page.
Paul & Juli
Pastor Jim, whom I’ve always respected and loved, has always been so complimentary of Paul & Juli. They have a lifetime of godliness through suffering. Now, Jim’s demeanor towards them has changed, but they say that they have been denied the biblical due process that Pastor Jim has always taught and practiced.
Thank you, Bonnie.
When my father was in the ICU, there were visitation restrictions for the sake of his health/healing. No one ever said/implied that we were ‘blocked from access’ for malicious reasons.
Bonnie,
You bring up a relevant point. Thank you again.
Paul & Juli