Bee-otch of the Day: Duane Vander Klok

Name: Duane Vander Klok
Age: 71
Occupation: bible thumper
Last Seen: Grandville, MI
Bee-otched For: mixing oil and water

According to their website, Resurrection Life Church was founded in 1967 by Pastor James E. Bugg in a motel conference room in Grandville. 

Now, the only thing that the church has shortened is its name. 

ResLife Church is one of the largest houses of worship in the Grand Rapids area today. It is headed by the Reverend Duane Vander Klok, whose church attracts over 7,000 attendees every Sunday. Vander Klok is also a televangelist whose show, Walking By Faith, airs on several TV stations in Michigan and GOD TV, a British-based religious channel with an American version that also features Joyce Meyer, Creflo Dollar, and other televangelists who solicit donations.

Vander Klok is proving why many people are moving away from religion. 

In a recent sermon, the pastor raised eyebrows when he told his parishioners that the devil was a homosexual and people must flee from the Democratic Party. 

During the speech, Vander Klok made comparisons between the Republicans and Democrats. "Here’s God’s original design: one man, one woman," he said. "Should you vote for a party that’s for all sorts of sexual perversion? Vote for a party that accepts transgenders into women’s restrooms and showers and in sports? Should you vote for a party that wants to cut off little girls’ breasts and tell them they're a boy? The antichrist is a homosexual," he said. "It’s part of the antichrist spirit is sexual confusion."

Vander Klok also trashed the Dems for their treatment of Israel and abortion. 

ResLife has become political before. In 2020, the church invited Trump's son, Eric, to use them to push his father's presidential campaign. In 2015, the church made headlines when it refused to return money stolen by a Ponzi scheme that had been given to it.

Vander Klok is also an author. For fun, I've read some of his excerpts and groaned when I saw that he wrote something along the lines of "This world would be a better place if we could rid it of bigotry, racism, pornography..." etc. When I read that, it reminded me of the anti-drug commercials I saw as a young boy where they grouped marijuana in the same category as heroin, crack, and cocaine. But unlike those three, cannabis has never killed anyone.

Because of Vander Klok's statements, many wonder if his church needs to start paying taxes. Under federal law, non-profit businesses, like churches, are forbidden from endorsing political candidates. Since they are a house of worship, Reslife does not pay taxes. 

For years, churches have been under fire for being tax-exempt while their staffers -- especially their pastors -- have lived in luxury. Many megachurch pastors have been known for living in mega mansions, driving luxury vehicles, and even flying in private jets. Some have been known for condemning their poorest parishioners for not tithing enough money to their church.

What's funny is that while Vander Klok is known for spreading hate regarding the LGBTQ+ community, many churches in West Michigan embrace their presence. Not only that, but some churches even acknowledge that the Bible verse where Jesus allegedly says that homosexuals are not allowed into Heaven is poorly translated. Some Bibles claim this in 1 Corinthians 6:9, but others use words like "sodomites", "effeminate", and "male prostitutes" in place of "homosexuals". That is because the Greek texts that the Bible was translated from had a word that could not be properly translated. 

Because the right has always been gung-ho against anyone who is not white, straight, or male, Vander Klok simply acts like he feels like he can use his pulpit to attack anybody he wants. He attacks the Democrats while it's the Republicans like Drumpf who all want to give the wealthy a tax break. Since I assume Reslife is yet another church that only preaches from certain sections of The Bible that reflect their business strategies, then I assume that the story of Jesus telling the rich, young man that "it's easier than for a camel to go through an eye of a needle than for a rich man to go to Heaven" means nothing to him. The same goes for Jesus expelling the Den of Thieves from the temple. 

I'll betcha that churches like ResLife and others will and have rebuked their critics over the years for being blasphemous. In reality, it's pot calling the kettle black. When I think of such places, I don't think of Jesus or God. I think of the Catholic Church and its long, disgusting history of yanking young Indigenous people from their homes and making them suffer in their schools, forcing them to eat spoiled food, plus raping and even murdering them. I think of the same Catholic churches, that also molested young altar boys for generations and covered it up. I think of televangelism and the destruction they've caused over the years. I think of the old woman with cancer who donated her life savings to Kenneth Copeland because his wife proclaimed that if anyone with the disease gave them money, the cancer would go away. In the end, the woman died. I think of the Trinity Broadcasting Network and the fact that for years, they preached against homosexuality, yet founder Paul Crouch paid a former male employee $400,000 after he claimed that Crouch ordered him to perform sex acts on him or else he'd lose his job. Plus, TBN hid the fact that for years, Paul's then-13-year-old granddaughter Carra was drugged and raped by a 30-year-old male employee in a hotel room and they never pressed charges against the guy. Thankfully, after Carra's side of the family was fired from TBN, her sister, Brittany Koper became a whistleblower against the religious broadcaster and revealed that her grandparents were using the channel as a front for their excessive wealth. A judge then ordered TBN to pay Carra Crouch $2 million for failing to report her rapist. 

In a future BOTD, I will write about why even left-leaning churches are problematic, too. Sorry, but because of experiences I've had with both churches on the left and right of the political spectrum, I ain't going back. Thanks, but I have a dog who needs to go to the park at that time.

Hopefully soon, in one way or another, Duane Vander Klok's time will run out. 

---

Got a Bee-otch to nominate? E-mail us @ chuck69dotcom@gmail.com. All suggestions (except for me) are welcome!

Bee-otch of the Day Archives can be seen on http://beeotchoftheday.blogspot.com

Bee-otch of the Day is a production of Chuck69.com, Grand Rapids' site for Stern, politics and more!

CHUCK69.COM IS ALWAYS ON!