What a gem of a guy this ?pastor? is! After years of getting away with it, Mack Charles Andrews, Jr. of Thomasville, Alabama, was finally arrested in the fall of 2013 for the alleged rape and abuse of minor girls in his cult-like fundamentalist congregation. The abuse his victims claim was inflicted on them by this minister are truly nauseating. Andrews was the pastor of a United Pentacostal Church in Thomasville and was also the principal of Faith Christian Academy, the latter being even more frightening in light of the allegations.
In November, 2013, one now-adult victim came forward and described the abuse which began when she was just 7 in the fall of 1988. The abuse started with Andrews on various occasions inserting objects into her, items ranging from drumsticks to pens to a flashlight. She felt he was ?grooming? her, since she was too young and undeveloped to have full sexual intercourse.
Apparently, he decided the time was right for her to lose her virginity when she was 9. On her deceased father?s grave.
?He told me if I didn?t say anything, he would come back and put flowers on the grave. If I did, he said demons would come and get me from my bed,? she said. The abuse continued until she was 12 and left the congregation.
The 2013 arrest warrants also list the abuse of three other victims, two of them 13 and one 16 at the time the incidents occurred. There are believed to be others who were abused by Andrews over the several years he was pastor and principal. One girl was assaulted on a church trip to Texas, and she was also raped at Andrews? home. One of the most disturbing aspects of these two incidents is that both were witnessed by the pastor?s own daughter.
A 12-year-old victim, L.H., described how Andrews had told her she was ?sexy. ?On one occasion [she]went in the Defendant?s church office to take out the trash. The Defendant told her to ?grab it,? she thought referring to the trash. She went around his desk, and the Defendant had his penis in his hand.?
L.H. is not one of the four victims for whom Andrews is being prosecuted. Prosecutors do intend to use her story as well as the stories related by other victims unnamed in the warrants to show a pattern of unnatural sexual behavior towards underage girls.
Andrews has been in the Clarke County Jail under $500,000 bond since his arrest in October, 2013 on multiple counts of rape, sexual abuse, attempted rape, sodomy and sexual torture. His trial begins on Monday, November 16. A gag order has already been issued by the presiding judge. If convicted, Andrews could face life in prison, but will most likely be sentenced to much less.
In one of the articles about Andrews and his 9-year-old victim, this item eerily appears in the comments, supposedly written by the now-adult victim.
In Andrews? United Pentacostal congregation, which has since changed its name to New Life United Pentacostal Church, girls and women are strictly forbidden to wear make-up or jewelry or pants, and the church demands that all females wear full-length skirts.
Why is it that onerous restrictions are placed on women by various religious sects and cults, but very rarely on men? Why is it that females are considered solely to blame for the lust of the males? Why is it only a girl?s fault in the eyes of so many if she is raped or abused?
Maybe this guy can give us some of the reasoning behind it.
So according to the Rev Jeffie, ?your arms and your legs and your head and your eyes ? it all belongs to God.?
Okay, now I get it! Since a woman?s body belongs only to God, then who better to handle it on this side of heaven than?. TA DAH!!! a ?Man of God.? Makes perfect sense. Not.
What is it with some alleged ?men of God? and their propensity for sexual abuse? All our lives we are told that the priests and pastors and imams and other spiritual leaders are above the rest of us mere mortals. Except they, too, are mere mortals and the wise among them are fully cognizant of that fact.
Most spiritual leaders are as sickened and appalled by the behavior of pastors like Mack Andrews as the rest of us. They understand how important it is to recognize and prosecute abuse instead of shoving it into dark corners and locking it into purposefully ignored places. Ask the Catholic Church how well that has worked for them for centuries.
So what happened to that 9-year-old childwho was raped on her father?s grave? She has had her troubles in life. Many victims of childhood abuse do. ?I did a lot of drugs as a teenager, ran to a lot of places to escape, had a lot of promiscuous sex, and a couple failed marriages before being able to finally admit out loud that this was the root of what went wrong with me. I chose this forum to tell my story in a limited way because I wanted to be able to say it aloud without shame or feeling like I have to hide his sins anymore. I covered them up for 20 years.?
And what of the congregation that Andrews once led? Those who are so holy and righteous and in love with Jesus? ?The people of his old church congregation have all turned against me. In their blindness of the truth, they blame it on me because I came forth finally and told the truth?. It?s funny to me how people who so radically claim their salvation have shown no love of Christ to me or any other victims in this case. The really wild thing is some of those congregants are actually victims themselves.?
