The only problem is, Michael Guglielmucci never had cancer.
About a week ago, Guglielmucci, one of the pastors at Planetshakers City Church in Melbourne, Australia, publicly announced that his battle with terminal leukemia was a lie.
And why did Guglielmucci lie about this? In order to hide his 16-year obsession with pornography.
When Michael told his parents two years ago about his cancer diagnosis, their lives were “totally turned around.” Comforted by the love and support shown by their local church and all of their friends around the world, they held up under the emotional pain of the possibility of losing a son.
Then on Tuesday, August 12, they received a call to come and meet with Michael and his wife Amanda. They weren’t ready for what they were about to hear. Michael began to share the story of a 16-year addiction to pornography from which he simply couldn’t break free. Michael told his family that he loves God and had been throwing himself “into prayer, worship and serving God with full energy and enthusiasm,” but he couldn’t break free from his addiction.
How did this web of lies begin? In September 2006, Michael had an accident and went to a hospital. Tormented by living a double life, Mike told his parents that he thought he could “escape the pain by creating a diversion from his addiction to adult pornography,” so he created the cancer diagnosis. Michael states that the emotional pain of his addiction and his lies were so awful that he suffered from constant vomiting and many other symptoms of a genuine cancer patient. Once the web of lies began, Michael felt he could not stop, he felt he had gone too deep into his lie, so he continued to play up his illness, claiming glandular fever, a brain tumor, a burst ear drum, multiple myelomas, kidney failure, 33 broken bones, stomach cancer, and sending phony emails to his family and friends from non-existent doctors. He never actually saw a doctor. He would just go to hospitals and clinics and hang around in waiting rooms.
A few weeks before Michael’s confession to his parents, he had a dream of Jesus on the cross looking down on him saying, “The truth will set you free,” so he decided to bring his sins and lies into the open.
Below is Michael Guglielmucci’s confession:
“It is with much pain and sadness that I make this statement today.
For over 16 years I have struggled with an addiction to adult pornography. As a result of this secret life of sin my body would often breakdown.
I’d report the cause of my symptoms simply as illnesses, and I’ve thrown my life into a ministry for many years trying to compensate for my sin.
I believe that I do love Jesus and I know that he loves me, and it is this love along with the prayers of people around the world that bring me to this place of confession.
Two years ago, I reported that I was suffering from cancer. The truth is that although I was ill I did not have cancer, but was again using the misdiagnosis to hide the lie that I was living.
I know in my heart that it is the truth alone that will set me free and this is the reason for my confession.
I’ve dishonoured God, my wife, my family and the church, and I take full responsibility for my actions and would like to make it very clear that no one else was in any way aware of my double life.
I’m fully committed to a process of discipline, recovery and restitution and will see this process through to whatever extent is necessary.
I am deeply sorry and pray that you will find it in your hearts to forgive me.
Currently, I am undergoing professional medical assessment and evaluation to help identify and begin to treat the real and much deeper issues.
Please continue to pray for my wife and I and my family as we have a long, hard road ahead of us, but a road that I’m thankful to God that I’m finally walking.”
The problem with Christianity….We care more about performance than truth
Think about it— Would you rather be led in worship by someone who can’t sing who’s heart is right with God? Or than somebody that has the most beautiful voice but hates God?
If I was totally honest, I would be more inclined to lean towards someone that can sing.
This guy Michael didn’t think people would listen to a song about healing a porn addicts soul….but they would a cancer patient…. But porn is every bit as deadly to your soul as cancer is.
We need explosion of truth in the church. Superstar preachers…singers….
Harvest is amazing….Laurie is inspiring…. They have a great vision. Not my church vision. Mine is exploding in God wanting his people to be REAL….with themselves, each other, and Him. Don’t fake it. We’ve bought into this lie that it’s ok to fake it as long as it makes a difference in someone else’s life. Some of the worst liars I’ve encountered were pastors. Why doesn’t that break our hearts? Wound us? A reason for this is that as congregations…we want fake leaders.
My pastor struggled with lust. He’s every bit a sinner as everyone else. Not on a pedestal. We hold them too high. When he told us his struggles with sin, some people in the church freaked—thinking that ‘how could a man of such honor and integrity have problems with sin”… well, they’re just like us.
BE REAL. WITH YOURSELF, WITH OTHERS, and WITH GOD
That’s a pretty intense story and should only serve to inform people what lying really does to people and how screwed up it makes your life! We both know the affects of it firsthand (stupid men)!!!!
Thanks for the link.
It’s a shame all of this happened. But at the same time, I’d like to see the church learning from this and working out what it should do to make sure it supports and shepherds its flock in a way that no member of the church would fall victim of such a set of circumstances again.
Sadly, it’d impossible to see how things have changed so far.