You open up your Facebook app innocently enough and your eyes immediately fall upon bad news. Another well-known pastor has fallen into gross sin, and social media is blowing up. At first, you swallow a lump in your throat. You’re sickened. “Not again,” unconsciously escapes your lips. 

You’re mentally paralyzed for a moment. You’re in shock. But when that moment passes, what should you do? How should you respond when a well known pastor falls? 

Fortunately for you, I have the answers to that question.

Here are three good responses, ranked by priority, for you to consider implementing immediately. 

1. Post a reaction on social media as soon as possible. 

• You must obviously get ahead of the wave of posts before people get tired of the subject and move on to something else. 

2. Dunk on the fallen pastor’s inferior standards and/or theology. 

• This is obviously the perfect opportunity to point out that it never would have happened if he did ministry like you do. 
• It is critical, at this juncture, to absolutely ignore any and all pastors who have fallen into sin while espousing your convictions.

3. Openly question the wisdom and character of the fallen pastor’s friends, associates, and ministry partners. 

• Guilt by association is a most convincing way to advance your cause!
• You tried to tell them. If they would have just listened to you, they wouldn’t be in this mess right now. 

The above points are satire, but they are no joke. I am not satirizing the recent disqualification of a well known pastor from ministry. I am, however, poking a little bit at a few of the responses I’ve seen already on social media. I do not mean to say that nobody should post responses to the sad event. I am simply critiquing some of the types of responses I have seen (especially #s 2 & 3). 

I know what it is like to believe a man is like Billy Sunday and then be shocked to find out he’s more like Elmer Gantry. It hurts. It’s sad. I’m sad. We all process grief in different ways, I suppose. In this process, I must remind myself that, when men are evil, God is still good.