Thousand Oaks Seventh-day Adventist Church Pastor and Magician Preaches Message of Hyper-Grace — Fulcrum7

His sermon was loosely based on the famous parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15. But his interpretation of that parable had his own, very particular, interpretation. He proposed the return of the prodigal son in this way: “What if the son had come back hand in hand with a pregnant prostitute?” (6)

It is important to note, however, that the son doesn’t In the Bible, Jesus returns with a pregnant prostitute. He returns empty handed. The reason the Scriptures write it this way is to emphasize his willingness to leave his old life behind and accept whatever was coming when he was ready to obey the Father completely. The purpose is to emphasize the son’s repentance and willingness to do anything just to be back in the Father’s house and to contrast that with the Father’s incredible love in restoring his son to his previous position with honors.

But in Tahir’s version, the son does not leave everything behind, but brings his old life back with him to his father’s house. By Tahir’s implication, the father’s love is greater than his disgust for the son’s sinful lifestyle, and he would have accepted the son back into his home, pregnant prostitute and all. But this defeats the purpose of the parable and takes away meaning instead of adding anything useful.

Tahir, however, did not stop denigrating the parable. He went on to say: “What if the prodigal son had returned hand in hand with his boyfriend? Would the father have turned around and gone home?”

It is interesting that he gave this particular example. This tactic is one used over and over again by the radical left in politics and in the church, the appeal to sympathy through marginalized groups. Marginalized groups obey a strict order based on the mood of the times, and just as the weatherman looks outside and takes the temperature, the radical leftist determines the hierarchy of marginalized groups based on the sentiments of his peers. The hierarchy is flexible, but currently the rankings are as follows (from most oppressed to least oppressed): transgender, gays of all persuasions (LGBQIA-2S-+), all Gazans, Hamas, Muslims, blacks (first black women, then black men), Native Americans, Hispanics, anyone who has committed a crime, politically left-leaning white women, politically left-leaning white men, and finally Asians and of course white men.

Tahir’s implication about the gay prodigal son is that the father would not have rejected his son even if he had been in a relationship with a boyfriend because the father is aware of this hierarchy of human importance, as all “awakened,” “enlightened,” or “enlightened” people know. His rhetoric then has the effect of making the audience uncomfortable because it contradicts his moral framework. On the one hand, the audience knows that homosexuality is a sin. However, the father is all love, and rejecting the son would not be love, so there is a paradox, and what was clear before is no longer clear now.

This has the effect of brainwashing the audience, or lobotomizing them. By constantly forcing them to struggle to determine what is right and wrong, and even reversing these concepts, people lose the ability to do so pretty quickly. What the audience should have learned is that, by Tahir’s own admission, he was a professional liar. Although he stopped practicing law, he continued to lie. There is no contradiction in the parable, Tahir blatantly invented it. The Father would never accept someone in open sin, it is as simple as that. If the point of the message was to emphasize By the grace of God, the correct parable would have been John 8, where the woman is caught in the act of adultery. It is important to note that in the sermon, Jesus tells the woman, “Go and sin no more” (7), but Tahir did not use this parable because apparently he does not want people to stop sinning.

According to him, Seventh-day Adventists “have turned the law into a golden calf” (8). Once again, he attempts to fragment the minds of the congregation by juxtaposing two contradictory things, God’s law (which is good) and the golden calf (which is evil). By presenting these two contradictory things to the congregation, he confuses them and makes them unable to discern what is truly good and what is evil; it can all be one or the other in their minds. To be fair, Paul’s writings do a very rigorous analysis of the Old Testament law, which is why Peter writes that some have misunderstood it (9). However, when discussing the Jews’ attempt to establish their own righteousness, the New Testament is careful to balance these statements with others such as “the law is holy, and the commandment holy, just, and good” (10).

Tahir, however, makes no effort to balance his statements. The law is always the issue, as are Christians who exercise common sense. For example, he cited as an example the story of a woman he knew who was preparing for baptism. The only problem was that as she approached the day of baptism, the pastor confronted her about the boyfriend she was still living with. Apparently, she was still having an open sexual relationship with him outside of marriage. The pastor withheld her baptism until she could sort this out. To me, this sounds like a job well done. However, in Tahir’s mind, it was a mistake. Commenting on this action by the pastor, he said, “We are not called to stand at the door and say who cannot come into his house.” (11) But he is wrong.

Lying is a strong word. You have to have the intention to deceive, not just to spread falsehoods. A person can be sincerely convinced that they are wrong and not lie. In Tahir’s case, however, I think it’s something more sinister. His cynically mocking video boasting about the perjury he has committed shows how committed he is to the truth, none at all. Moreover, these statements were made After He became a Christian. In his video he says, “I welcomed Jesus into my heart as a Jew because it turns out there is truth in what you read. There is truth in the Bible, there is power.” (12)

And to prove that Tahir did I mean what he said in this video and that he wasn’t jokingI submit this evidence to you. Tahir probably changed careers because he was struck off the bar of being a lawyer for forging a judge’s signature on official documents! I was able to obtain his court documents regarding his disbarment in 2017(13). According to these documents, “Tahir was charged with and pleaded guilty to criminal forgery.” Furthermore, “Tahir’s conviction for forgery necessarily implies intent to defraud. Crimes involving intent to defraud involve moral turpitude in itself“(Ibid.) Tahir was disbarred on July 13, 2017 by the California Supreme Court.(14)

Tahir did not attempt to contest the conviction, he pled guilty to the crimes committed! In the court document, it is mentioned that he made no attempt to defend himself: “On January 24, 2017, the Office of the Chief State Bar Counsel (OCTC) filed a motion for summary disbarment based on the felony conviction of Jeffrey Lemasters Tahir. Tahir did not respond.” (15)

It’s important to keep in mind that these crimes are so serious that they are considered serious felonies, not minor offenses like traffic tickets. This is especially ironic since Tahir stated in his video that his job as a lawyer was to “go into courtrooms and lie to a bunch of people just to steal their money.” Clearly, in Tahir’s case, this was no joke.

But there’s more. Tahir is also a self-proclaimed magician. He has a business website dedicated to this hobby. www.thebash.comwhere people can hire various services. On this site he offers his services as a magician, stating: “Jeffrey Lemasters Tahir is a serious magician for a serious audience. Jeffrey is an expert in performing a full stage style illusion show in a small venue. To do this he brings his entire family, who bring the magic to life.” (16) Apparently his wife is also in on the act since she is pictured with him. There are also many videos of him on YouTube showing off his tricks and he is apparently one of the founders or heavily involved in the organization called the Fellowship of Christian Magicians, whatever that means. If you want to see Jeffrey live, you might be in luck at Canyon Crest Winery where he performs weekly.

After considering all this man has to offer, would you want him to be a pastor in your church? After the sermon, I wondered how this person ever got access to a microphone in the Adventist Church? But, really, it’s not surprising. Thousand Oaks is not really any different than other churches in the area.

In Santa Barbara, Pastor Riva Robinson has invented his own view of Daniel and Revelation. His interpretation is so far removed from anything I have ever heard that it cannot even be called a deception by Catholics or fallen Protestant churches. It honestly seems to be his own interpretation. The Ventura Seventh-day Adventist Church is barely functioning and has a female senior pastor. Well-intentioned as it may be, didn’t the church vote against the ordination of women at a recent General Conference?

As bad as Tahir is, is it possible that the senior pastor didn’t know about this? Was my chance visit to that church the only time he said things like this? Of course not. The reason Tahir spoke at that church is because the senior pastor, Jon Clark, is complicit in the deception. You don’t allow renegades, disbarred forgers to speak in your church, send them away with lots of nice words, and shower them with expensive gifts, if you’re not complicit. What about the conference? Can we really believe that the conference didn’t know anything? Didn’t they know what kind of person Pastor Jon Clark was, his views on LGBTQ issues, his view of the Bible, and his anti-Adventist stance before they installed him by decree in that church? They do. They know this and they are involved in the whole scam that was imposed on the Southern California Conference to install figureheads and spokesmen for their left wing propaganda.

The goal is to destroy all conservative values ​​in the Church and to isolate and subjugate all opposing views by forcing us to listen to sermons that are either openly hostile or so boring that we forget who we are. But we can never forget, or we will be forgotten in heaven. We must, by pen and voice, confront false teachers, unite in defense of the truth, and move forward even through unofficial channels if necessary.

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Dillon Valadez is a member of the Ojai Seventh-day Adventist Church, where he serves as an elder. He has lived in Southern California for 25 years and enjoys the outdoors. He works as a financial engineer and supports the business operations of a mortgage company. He has a wife and a baby on the way.