I wanted to share this video (below) Mica Miller posted on Facebook March 22nd. As some may know, Mica Miller was found dead on April 27th, from what authorities have ruled as a suicide — while estranged from her abusive husband and church pastor John-Paul Miller.
There has been much speculation and conversation about whether Mica was murdered by her pulpit predator husband, John-Paul Miller, Pastor of Solid Rock Church in North Carolina, or if her death was indeed by suicide. I want to make something perfectly clear, and I know there will be some who won’t like this…whether you believe her death was by suicide or not, her death was preceded by the murdering of her soul by a malignant, diabolical mate masquerading as a pastor, and by the spiritual neglect perpetrated by Solid Rock Church.
This story underscores the disturbing and pervasive abuse rampant and ignored in the church, and perpetrated by wolves posing as shepherd’s. Now, according to a church memo released last Sunday, the overseer of Solid Rock Church, where John-Paul Miller was Senior Pastor, sent a notice to its members that Pastor John-Paul Miller was released from all ministerial functions. Hmmm, he wasn’t released or reprimanded for abusing his wife for years, he wasn’t released for wild and depraved comments made from the pulpit about his wife, he wasn’t released for being a pulpit piranha — as the Bible commands (1 Corinthians 5:11)…he was released from “ministerial functions” after Mica was found dead.
Let me put this right here for the sake of the thousands of abuse victims that have been or are being subjected to church malfeasance, rejection, discard and spiritual abuse after escaping from a monstrous, unholy marriage…God hates abuse and the abuser (Psalm 11:5). God hates “hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies…” (Proverbs 6:16-19). God commands His people to have nothing to do with the wicked masquerading as a worshipper (1 Corinthians 5:11, 2 Timothy 3:1-5)…but when toxic religion spikes biblical truth with convenient lies, an abuse victim is led to believe by the hounds of hell in church leadership that it is holy to hang onto a hellish, diabolical deserter of the marriage covenant.
Let’s pause and say her name…Mica Miller. This young, innocent soul who was just 30 years old, was not only emotionally, mentally and spiritually murdered by her mate, she was also emotionally, mentally and spiritually murdered by a complicit church. The church witnessed public sermons where pastor predator made disparaging comments about Mica and instead of taking action, they shamelessly did what too many churches do in the face of abuse…they deserted their duty to seek justice and defend the oppressed (Isaiah 1:17), they disobeyed God’s commandment to remove the evil doer from the church (1 Corinthians 5:11), and they cowardly stood by and did nothing instead of doing what God told them to do: “Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked” (Psalm 82:3-4).
Mica was a victim of her husband’s torturous and depraved abuse as well as Solid Rock Church — that sheepishly stood by and did nothing, until after her death. Mica’s blood is on the hands of Solid Rock Church, and it cries out for justice: “The LORD said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s [innocent] blood is crying out to Me from the ground [for justice]” (Genesis 4:10). Genesis 4:10, stands for violently shed blood that must be avenged.
God does not and will not put a diabolical, covenant breaking and treasonous marriage above the soul of His child. Marriage is not a Christian idol, it is a covenant agreement established by God. The biblical covenant marriage agreement is symbolic of Christ’s love and sacrifice for the church (Ephesians 5:25-30). Abuse of any kind — physical, mental, emotional or spiritual, abandons the marriage covenant and abandonment — behavioral or physical, is biblical grounds for divorce (1 Corinthians 7:15). Biblical grounds for divorce is God’s divine justice for an injured spouse — divorce doesn’t end a destructive marriage, destructive behavior does.
The Bible, rightly divided, does not say God hates divorce, it says God hate’s the behavior that causes divorce (Malachi 2:10-16, NIV). Adultery is not the only biblical grounds for divorce, desertion — physical or behavioral, is also (1 Corinthians 7:15). Remarriage is not prohibited for divorce based on biblical grounds. For the sake of Mica Miller, and all abuse victims suffering as the result of toxic religious interpretations of biblical marriage and divorce, let’s shatter the lies that keep abuse victims bound.
Mica Miller’s innocent blood, and the blood of countless abuse victims, is crying out from the ground for justice! On average, I wish this were not true – it’s true in the United States and nowhere else – but on average, 70 women across this country are killed each month by a husband or partner. According to UNC, “intimate partner violence is a precursor to 6.1% of all suicides, according to a new study led by researchers at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health and the Injury Prevention Research Center (IPRC). If this finding is generalized nationally, it would suggest that there may be over 2,900 IPV-related suicides per year in the U.S., a number comparable to the total number of intimate partner homicides per year in the U.S.”
Society has failed abuse victims and equally as disheartening, so has the church. The church cannot sit idly by and ignore the abuse crisis – in it’s pews and it’s community. Abuse victims are not safe in a church that does not unashamedly and unapologetically stand against abuse and rebuke abusers (1 Corinthians 5:11), whether a member or a pastor. The time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God, the church: “For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?” (1 Peter 4:17).
Patrick Weaver
