Jim Garlow is the former Senior Pastor of
Skyline Church
Skyline Church is an evangelical Christian megachurch located in La Mesa, California, a suburb of San Diego, affiliated with the Wesleyan Church denomination. The church currently averages 2,500 in attendance per week.
History
In 1954, Orval ...
located in
La Mesa, California
La Mesa () is a city in San Diego County, located east of Downtown San Diego in Southern California. The population was 61,121 at the 2020 census, up from 57,065 at the 2010 census. Its civic motto is "the Jewel of the Hills."
History
La Me ...
, a suburb of
San Diego
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...
.
Garlow is often cited as an evangelical leader in the political arena, quoted on issues such as the
2012 Republican presidential primary. He is a leader in the "pulpit freedom" movement, which insists that pastors should be free to carry out political advocacy from the pulpit in defiance of
Internal Revenue Service
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory ta ...
regulations.
Political activities
In 2008, Garlow and Skyline Church were noted for their leading role in organizing conservative religious groups to support
California Proposition 8
Proposition 8, known informally as Prop 8, was a California ballot proposition and a state constitutional amendment intended to ban same-sex marriage; it passed in the November 2008 California state elections and was later overturned in co ...
, which affirmed marriage to be between one man and one woman in California.
In 2010, Garlow was appointed by former
Speaker of the House
The speaker of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body, is its presiding officer, or the chair. The title was first used in 1377 in England.
Usage
The title was first recorded in 1377 to describe the role of Thomas de Hungerf ...
Newt Gingrich
Newton Leroy Gingrich (; né McPherson; born June 17, 1943) is an American politician and author who served as the 50th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1995 to 1999. A member of the Republican Party, he was the U ...
as chairman of Renewing American Leadership, a
non-profit organization
A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...
he created after he left Congress.
When accepting the leadership of Renewing American Leadership, Jim Garlow explained: "As noted on the organization's website, 'The mission of Renewing American Leadership is to preserve America's Judeo-Christian heritage by defending and promoting the three pillars of American civilization: ''freedom'', ''faith and free markets''. ReAL is dedicated to educating, organizing, training and mobilizing people of faith to renew American self-government and America's role in the world'." Cited on the website is a scriptural question: "When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do?" (
Psalm 11
Psalm 11 is the eleventh psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in English in the King James Version: "In the LORD put I my trust: how say ye to my soul, Flee as a bird to your mountain?" In the Greek Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate, it is psalm ...
:3, NIV)
Garlow addressed the issue of political partisan activity in his comments, expressing an opinion that he would be neither Democrat or Republican: "My hope is not in the Republican Party or the Democratic Party. My hope lies in God and his unchanging truth. Some may (wrongly and falsely) accuse me of doing this for a political party or even a person, but they will be so totally incorrect. Any candidate and any political party has value only so long as one is fully committed to scriptural integrity and biblical truth."
Garlow has been involved in work to sway public opinion on US foreign policy. Recently Garlow criticized the president of Taiwan by praising President Trump for changing US foreign policy by calling the president of Taiwan rather than the premiere of China, by saying: "However, while the fact that a US President Elect talked with a Taiwanese leader is a good thing, it is NOT good that it was THIS leader. President Tsai Ing-wen is the 'Hillary Clinton of Taiwan' - hellbent on destroying natural, orthodox, historic, tradition (biblical) marriage. Churches - that is, authentically biblical churches - are under severe attack. Legal challenges are underway. So - while it is good that the US recognizes Taiwan, it is NOT good to give President Tsai Ing-wen any credibility. We need to pray her out!"
Prior to the 2016 election, Garlow went on the campaign trail for Donald Trump. One appearance was on the ''WallBuilders Live'' radio program. He explained that "Religious Right pastor Jim Garlow was a guest on today's episode of the ''WallBuilders Live'' radio program, where he told host Rick Green that any Christian who has prayed and decided that they cannot vote for Donald Trump needs to 'pray some more' because by refusing to vote for him, they are helping to elect 'Jezebel 2.0,' Hillary Clinton."
was a figure in the bible who is reported to have led the people to abandon the worship of Yahweh and instead worship the deities Baal and Asherah. Garlow went on to explain that Christians who don't support Trump are comparable to those who failed to resist Nazism in Germany. "It's like the Christians in Germany who eventually knew what was happening to the Jews as they were being gassed," Garlow said. "They knew it and they stayed silent." History remembers people like
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Dietrich Bonhoeffer (; 4 February 1906 – 9 April 1945) was a German Lutheran pastor, theologian and anti-Nazi dissident who was a key founding member of the Confessing Church. His writings on Christianity's role in the secular world have ...
, Garlow said, but there is eternal shame on "all those silent Christians that didn't say anything about the Jews being killed
ecausethey had no guts, they had no courage, they had no boldness and they would not stand for truth."
Message and beliefs
Garlow participating in a Washington A Man of Prayer event at the US Capitol with Republican Congresspeople, compared himself and the others present to a re-embodiment in their persons of the "Burning Bush".
The
Burning Bush
The burning bush (or the unburnt bush) refers to an event recorded in the Jewish Torah (as also in the biblical Old Testament). It is described in the third chapter of the Book of Exodus as having occurred on Mount Horeb. According to the bib ...
is a reference in the Bible to God manifesting Himself to Moses on Mt. Sinai. Garlow continued by saying that their gathering was likely to change policy in Heaven as well as on Earth by declaring that future historians just might look back on the prayers that had been offered by dozens of members of Congress and conclude that they had caused a "shift in the heavenly realm" that led to nationwide revival.
Garlow has previously claimed that his prayer gatherings led to the passage of
California's Proposition 8, the anti-gay amendment that was later overturned by the courts.
Explaining his position to the far right of evangelicals in America, Garlow has suggested that the term "evangelical" should be abandoned by religious conservatives in favor of the term "authentically biblical Christians". He questioned whether liberal evangelicals truly believe in the Bible. "I would question whether or not everyone believes the Bible in the way they may have at one point," he said. "Just look at how they're capitulating on the definition of marriage and their view of homosexuality. There's a lot of capitulation, a lot of
Neville Chamberlain
Arthur Neville Chamberlain (; 18 March 18699 November 1940) was a British politician of the Conservative Party who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from May 1937 to May 1940. He is best known for his foreign policy of appeasemen ...
evangelicals out there." He suggested that religious conservatives may have to "abandon" the term "evangelical" altogether and "coin a new phrase" like "ABC, authentically biblical Christians."
Since most evangelicals reject jointly working with, or combining forces with,
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...
, rejecting
Mormonism
Mormonism is the religious tradition and theology of the Latter Day Saint movement of Restorationist Christianity started by Joseph Smith in Western New York in the 1820s and 1830s. As a label, Mormonism has been applied to various aspects of t ...
as "non-Christian," this led many to reject a rally in which
Glenn Beck
Glenn Lee Beck (born February 10, 1964) is an American conservative political commentator, radio host, entrepreneur, and television producer. He is the CEO, founder, and owner of Mercury Radio Arts, the parent company of his television and rad ...
who is a Mormon and had invited Mormon leaders to participate. Garlow has taken the position that working with Mormon leaders and church activities is appropriate and Christian. Garlow - who partnered with Mormons in California to help pass Proposition 8, the state's gay marriage ban, via ballot initiative in 2008 - is one of several high-profile evangelicals on the defensive about participating in Beck's rally, called Restoring Honor.
The rally, which was held near the Lincoln Memorial on the 47th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech, was headlined by Sarah Palin. Christian critics of the event have taken specific aim at some evangelicals' participation in a pre-rally event Friday at the Kennedy Center called Glenn Beck's Divine Destiny. Beck, who many evangelicals say is not a Christian because of his Mormon beliefs, said on his website that the Friday event "will help heal your soul". "Guided by uplifting music, nationally-known religious figures from all faiths will unite to deliver messages reminiscent to those given during the struggles of America's earliest days," his site says of the event. "Glenn Beck is being used by God - mightily," Garlow wrote in the memo, which was obtained by
CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...
. "The left loves to slam him and do so viscerally and often with vulgarities. Glenn is not perfect... But his expose on America's sins is stellar."
Garlow uses the name "Wesleyan" in his church's name. The name comes from the religious movement started by
John Wesley
John Wesley (; 2 March 1791) was an English people, English cleric, Christian theology, theologian, and Evangelism, evangelist who was a leader of a Christian revival, revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. The soci ...
, an
Anglican
Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...
cleric and theologian who founded
Methodism
Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's br ...
. Wesley embraced the
Arminian
Arminianism is a branch of Protestantism based on the theological ideas of the Dutch Reformed theologian Jacobus Arminius (1560–1609) and his historic supporters known as Remonstrants. Dutch Arminianism was originally articulated in the ''Re ...
doctrines that dominated the
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
at the time. Moving across Great Britain and Ireland, he helped form and organize small Christian groups that developed intensive and personal accountability, discipleship and religious instruction. Most importantly, he appointed itinerant, unordained evangelists to travel and preach as he did and to care for these groups of people. Under Wesley's direction, Methodists became leaders in many social issues of the day, including prison reform and the abolition of slavery. Wesley was a believer in lay leadership and lay preaching, appointing lay persons to minister to small groups of like believers. Methodism is well known for its emphasis on caring for the poor, the sick and the imprisoned. The Methodist preachers took the message to laborers and criminals who tended to be left outside organized religion at that time. In Britain, the Methodist Church had a major effect in the early decades of the making of the working class (1760–1820). In the United States, it became the religion of many slaves who later formed "black churches" in the Methodist tradition.
"Some would say the church should not be in politics," he said. "This is not political — this is Biblical."'
"I simply want the pastors to have that freedom and liberty that the First Amendment guarantees," he said.
On willingness to listen and dialogue with opposing views:
"I feel like there's way too much misunderstanding and way too much name-calling on this issue and not enough civil, respectful dialogue." I think the real goal is not to change other people's minds, but to show that people with opposing views can have a civil dialogue," Gene Robinson said.
It's best not to pigeonhole Garlow, said Morris Casuto, who recently retired as director of the San Diego Anti-Defamation League. Casuto has spent time with the Kansas-born pastor and calls him a friend, even though there are few issues they agree on. He has come to appreciate Garlow's sincere efforts at civil dialogue with those different from himself, including Jewish leaders and advocates of same-sex marriage. "He's an interesting guy," Casuto said. "It's much easier to deal with a stereotype and oppose one than to try to understand a complex figure whose views may be anathema to yours."
He also likes to reach out to his critics. He has met with Jewish leaders, lesbian pastors and others, but not because he believes he can convert them to his positions. "I tell them, 'Give me an hour and teach me how to relate to you, how to connect,'" Garlow has said.
The preacher's hunger to talk with his foes is unusual, said Kyle Mantyla, who tracks Garlow for the Washington, D.C.-based liberal group
People for the American Way. "I have to admit that, among the conservative figures I monitor professionally, you have always seemed something of an anomaly to the extent that you seem genuinely considerate and interested in dialogue with those with whom you disagree," Mantyla recently wrote to the pastor.
Views on tax laws and role of churches
Jim Garlow has led the right wing evangelical movement to defy US law and the tax regulations by using his non-profit
501(c)(3)
A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of the 29 types of 50 ...
registered charity, Skline Wesleyan Church in La Mesa, California, to name specific candidates and urge his parishioners to vote as he directs.
He acknowledges that his intentions, and indeed his past actions, are illegal, and make his church ineligible for tax free status; the church skips millions in annual property taxes to San Diego County by being a 501(c)(3) charity. A charity can take a position on policy issues but cannot act "on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for public office". To cross that line puts the $7 million mega-church's tax break at risk.
In spite of his pursuing this illegal conduct since 2008, Republican Congresspeople have successfully twarted any attempt to enforce the law with regard to Skline and Jim Garlow.
The movement, which now includes hundreds of churches and pastors is responsible for the loss of more than $25 billion in tax revenue each year.
This does not include the additional billions in property tax revenues lost by cities, counties and states.
Although the IRS started an enforcement effort in 2004 against such abuses, the program ended in 2009 after being taken to court by the
Alliance Defense Fund
Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF, formerly Alliance Defense Fund) is an American conservative Christian legal advocacy group that works to curtail rights for LGBTQ people; expand Christian practices within public schools and in government; and ...
, a right wing conservation organization created to defeat enforcement of laws prohibiting anti-political action by churches.
On Voting and Biblical Principles:
"Some came to hear to hear an endorsement," Garlow said. "My endorsement will be Jesus. I'll tell you whom I'm going to vote for, but I don't think that makes it an endorsement. I'm going to vote for Mitt Romney, but I'm not telling you to."
He said "Biblical principles should guide a voter's choice."
"You sit alone with the spirit of God and let God tell you who to vote (for)," he said.
Personal
![First Baptist Church (Concordia, Kansas)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/90/First_Baptist_Church_%28Concordia%2C_Kansas%29.JPG)
Garlow grew up in
Concordia, Kansas
Concordia is a city in and the county seat of Cloud County, Kansas, Cloud County, Kansas, United States. It is located along the Republican River in the Smoky Hills region of the Great Plains in North Central Kansas. As of the 2020 United State ...
.
He earned a Ph.D. in
historical theology
Historical theology is the study of the history of Christian doctrine. Stanley Grenz, Grenz, Guretzki and Nordling describe it as, "The division of the theological discipline that seeks to understand and delineate how the church interpreted Scri ...
from
Drew University
Drew University is a private university in Madison, New Jersey. Drew has been nicknamed the "University in the Forest" because of its wooded campus. As of fall 2020, more than 2,200 students were pursuing degrees at the university's three scho ...
, a Master of Theology from
Princeton Theological Seminary
Princeton Theological Seminary (PTSem), officially The Theological Seminary of the Presbyterian Church, is a private school of theology in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1812 under the auspices of Archibald Alexander, the General Assembly of ...
and Master of Divinity from
Asbury Theological Seminary
Asbury Theological Seminary is a Christian Wesleyan seminary in the historical Methodist tradition located in Wilmore, Kentucky. It is the largest seminary of the Wesleyan-Holiness movement. It is known for its advocacy of egalitarianism, giving ...
, bachelor's and master's degrees from
Southern Nazarene University
Southern Nazarene University (SNU) is a private Nazarene university in Bethany, Oklahoma.
History
The history of the institution is one of various mergers and, therefore, one of differing institutions. While SNU claims its founding date as ...
, and an associate degree from
Oklahoma Wesleyan University
Oklahoma Wesleyan University (OKWU) is a private university of the Wesleyan church in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. In 2018, the school had 1006 undergraduate students, with approximately 600 of those on its main campus in Bartlesville.
History
Okl ...
(originally as
Miltonvale Wesleyan College
Miltonvale Wesleyan College (sometimes called "Miltonvale College") was a two-year college located in Miltonvale, Kansas and was operated by the Wesleyan Church. The school began operation in 1909 under Rev. Silas W. Bond and ceased operation in ...
, now closed).
Garlow later served as a professor at Oklahoma Wesleyan.
Jim Garlow: Curriculum vitae.
Accessed 26 Feb 2017. Garlow has written 15 books, including the New York Times best-seller ''Cracking DaVinci's Code''.
Carol, Garlow's wife of 42 years died of cancer in 2013. They were adoptive parents of four children. He married his current wife, the former Rosemary Schindler, in 2014. Between them, they have eight children and nine grandchildren.
Notes
External links
JimGarlow.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Garlow, Jim
Living people
21st-century American male writers
21st-century Christian clergy
21st-century evangelicals
American Christian clergy
Asbury Theological Seminary alumni
California Republicans
Evangelical writers
Oklahoma Wesleyan University alumni
Oklahoma Wesleyan University faculty
People from Concordia, Kansas
People from San Diego
Wesleyan Methodists
Year of birth missing (living people)