Spanky Sproul 5: Grace for Me but Never for Thee (Unless Thou Payest Me)

[CyborgKin]

Shepherd's College sounds like the baby cousin to PragerU.

[Banyan]

In my quest to find out more about Spanky College I came across this post on Spanky's advocacy of women wearing head coverings, along with a very funny comment:

 

Now I can't get the image out of my mind of Lisa making her teenage son take pics of her to send Spanky while she's wearing nothing but a head covering.

[Banyan]

Since Spanky and Lisa haven't posted any Sacred Marriage Under Fire podcasts in a long time I figured they must have vented their spleens sufficiently and were done throwing Sproul family members under the bus. How misguided of me!

RC Sproul Jr Disowns Denise Sproul

[Howl]

This is the first time I've used the Angry emoji.  I agree 100% that Lisa is behind "cancelling" Denise Sproul. 

If these two could practice some element of decent self discipline on social media, they could have had at least a small chance of making a successful comeback with their various scams.  Covid was the perfect opportunity to reinvent themselves as decent humans and stellar Christians via social media.

*usual disclaimer: I'm not a psychologist and don't play one on TV,  BUT: 

RC Jr. and especially Lisa, have zero self awareness about how extremely destructive these very public actions are.  They torpedo their own hopes for their various "ministries", outreach, Dunamis, Shepherd's College, and whatever other scams they come up with because Lisa especially seems driven by narcissistic needs. 

I'm not sure Spanky is a narcissist, more like sociopathic tendencies and I base that on all the white collar crime-ing he got away with at his original pastorate, the psychological cruelty he visited on those in the pews, how he dealt with the abuse of his own children, Ashley Madison, and especially how he allows Lisa to utterly destroy any relationship with his own children. 

How Spanky and Lisa mesh together, feed off of each other, and amplify each others' worst tendencies...I can't and would never want to know. 

 

 

Edited February 21, 2022 by Howl

[Katzchen24]

11 hours ago, Banyan said:

Since Spanky and Lisa haven't posted any Sacred Marriage Under Fire podcasts in a long time I figured they must have vented their spleens sufficiently and were done throwing Sproul family members under the bus. How misguided of me!

RC Sproul Jr Disowns Denise Sproul

Another one went up on on 21/02/2022 (my time). I had a look at the transcript and they start off with a discussion of kindness (??? WTF you two, what do you know of kindness?) but it's really not terribly interesting. If anything, I get the impression that Spanky has been upsetting his Queen and he's abasing himself in public at her prompting. 

They really are horrible horrible people. I agree the cancellation of Denise is to do with Lisa's apparently pathological jealousy, but I wonder if it's also to do with her multiple previous marriages. If Spanky says that Denise means nothing, it makes it easier for the Queen to say her ex's mean nothing as well and she can get her conscience a bit further round those pesky ex-husbands.

In fact, I would even go so far as to wonder if Spanky even knows his wikipedia page has been changed.

From Spanky's twitter feed, here's him not understanding how to construct a scenario. Some of his commenters call him out on it, but he's adamant he's right. Hard to believe this clown is a 'teacher'.

Spoiler

 

 

 

[noseybutt]

8 hours ago, Howl said:

 

*usual disclaimer: I'm not a psychologist and don't play one on TV,  BUT: 

 

 

 

I am a psychologist and cannot open this thread without laughing because Spanky is the best moniker ever.

But then I regret laughing because yeah. These people do real harm to real people. It's cruel. 

[ophelia]

Disowning his late wife? The bar was already low with spanky and Lisa but this is so horrible and I feel so sad for the kids.

[noseybutt]

16 hours ago, ophelia said:

Disowning his late wife? The bar was already low with spanky and Lisa but this is so horrible and I feel so sad for the kids.

Same.

My mother died when I was an adult but my father quickly remarried and, while the remarriage was good for him, there was sort of an erasure of my mother that happened naturally. The bulk of his time was now with his new wife and her kids. Initially she had photos of my mom in their new home but eventually those were slowly removed. (I think there might be one left in dining room.) Eventually the things that belonged to my mother broke or wore out and were slowly replaced by items picked out by my step mother.

I don't think there was anything mean spirited or pathological with how it worked out. Just kind of a natural progression.

But even that kind of transition was hard. I can't imagine a father doing it intentionally and spitefully.

[Katzchen24]

Spanky is a big ol' liar. This is screenshot directly from his blog entry of January 3rd, 2012, entitled "My Better Half". 

These are beautiful words that came directly from his heart. I was widowed a long time ago (and subsequently re-partnered) and they reflect some of what I felt in the aftermath of my loss. There is no shame in marrying again. The shame is in denying that this person ever existed, or was important, as well as denying your children with this person a place in your home and heart. Spanky should be ashamed of himself every day for this.

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[forgetmenow]

On 2/22/2022 at 9:57 PM, Katzchen24 said:

Spanky is a big ol' liar. This is screenshot directly from his blog entry of January 3rd, 2012, entitled "My Better Half". 

These are beautiful words that came directly from his heart. I was widowed a long time ago (and subsequently re-partnered) and they reflect some of what I felt in the aftermath of my loss. There is no shame in marrying again. The shame is in denying that this person ever existed, or was important, as well as denying your children with this person a place in your home and heart. Spanky should be ashamed of himself every day for this.

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As execrable a human as he is, that was lovely.  Even though as Lisa's tried to stamp them out, those sentiments live on online.  I hope she sees that and gnashes her teeth. 

Btw, as of now, Spanky's wiki page has been edited 7 times (today alone, actually) and now reads as follows (recent iterations also having included his dui and estrangement from his adult kids) :

Quote

R.C. Sproul Jr. is married to Lisa Carol Ringel (née Porter). He has nine children with his first wife Denise Sproul. On October 14, 2016, Sproul married the three times divorced Lisa Carol Ringel (née Porter) in a civil ceremony. On November 19, 2016, his father R.C. Sproul Sr. officiated their wedding ceremony. Lisa legally adopted the four youngest Sproul children on July 12, 2018.

Sproul has been married twice. Sproul's first wife, Denise Elizabeth Sproul (née Rocklein), died in 2011, age 46, of cancer. They had seven surviving children, a disabled daughter having died in 2012.

 

[Katzchen24]

24 minutes ago, forgetmenow said:

Btw, as of now, Spanky's wiki page has been edited 7 times (today alone, actually) and now reads as follows (recent iterations also having included his dui and estrangement from his adult kids) :

Aaaaah....... I can hear the conniptions being had from here 😹

[mountaineer]

What an absolutely pathetic creature he is. Just a weak, pitiful man who should feel enormous shame but probably feels none. The real joke is that he thinks he is doing good "Kingdom-building" work. Can you imagine? 

I can think of more evil church dudes, but none more pathetic than Sproul

[Jasmar]

Wait he has nine kids from his first marriage? I thought it was three or four. Wow, poor kids.

[Banyan]

16 minutes ago, Jasmar said:

Wait he has nine kids from his first marriage? I thought it was three or four. Wow, poor kids.

The Wikipedia page has it right where it says,

20 hours ago, forgetmenow said:

They had seven surviving children, a disabled daughter having died in 2012.

6 biological children with Denise + 2 children that Spanky and Denise adopted together. 8 children, not 9.

[Banyan]

Sarah Kelley, daughter of Lisa Sproul, posted a link on her Facebook to an excellent article, Why Daughters Of Unloving Mothers Struggle With Shame. Reading the article made me very sad for Sarah. But it also helped me better understand the tremendous harm Lisa has inflicted on her family.

Spoiler

Sherrie Sproul Dorotiak, sister of RC Sproul Jr, commented:

Spoiler

 

[Katzchen24]

This is so sad. Fetishising motherhood the way fundies (and really, not only fundies) do is so damaging. Girls are given so few options by Christian patriarchy, and so so many ways to feel shame if they don't fit the mould. 

It makes me think again how much Lisa's relationships are about her power. If her power isn't acknowledged then you end up with the situation most of Denise's children are in - estranged from their father. Even some of the words Spanky has spoken recently make me feel he's being manipulated into public declarations of his own failure to keep Lisa appeased. Don't get me wrong, these two narcissists deserve each other.  I'm just so sorry for the damage that has been done to the ones who deserve it least, their children.

[Howl]

I feel for the two boys still in the Sproul, Jr. home.  I kinda hope they've figured out how to outwardly appease Lisa, while maintaining some kind of core sense of themselves. 

I wonder if they have some secret way of maintaining contact w/ their older and adult siblings (doubtful considering Lisa's ability to control internet and phone) or at least know that those siblings are waiting to help when they age out of the Sproul home. 

I'd like to super secret get those boys a burner phone pre-loaded w/ the numbers of the siblings and Grandma Sproul. 

[mountaineer]

7 hours ago, Howl said:

I'd like to super secret get those boys a burner phone pre-loaded w/ the numbers of the siblings and Grandma Sproul. 

And the family on Denise's side, who I imagine have been cut off from the boys entirely. 

[ophelia]

On 2/27/2022 at 12:34 AM, mountaineer said:

And the family on Denise's side, who I imagine have been cut off from the boys entirely. 

I can't imagine how they must feel. Their beloved daughter/sister/relative has been treated so incredibly bad by Spanky and his new wife. It is really disgusting.

[Banyan]

Troubling comment from Spinderella Sproul

Spoiler

 

[mountaineer]

I wondered if those comments from Darby were regarding people she grew up with during the St. Peter era. I am tangentially connected to a number of those families and haven't heard anything, but that doesn't mean much.  The couple of former St. Peter families I know personally have mostly left Christianity altogether, and I do not wonder why. 

[Bluebirdbluebell]

Re: The Canceling of Denise Sproul

I think it's a cruel thing for RC Sproul Jr. to cancel his first wife, especially because of their children. They were married for a long time, and seemed to be happy. 

I agree with everyone that Lisa is jealous of Denise. She's jealous of her good reputation and the happiness RC and Denise shared. Lisa wasn't happy with her past husbands, and it makes her sad, insecure, jealous, etc. that RC and Denise were happy.

I can sort of seeing pretending a short, unhappy marriage didn't happen. I also understand that's not what's going on here. 

I grew up Catholic and some Catholics have similar issues with annulment. The annulment says that a true spiritual marriage never took place, and this can be hurtful, and problematic for Catholics who really wanted the marriage to work. It can also feel like denial of the truth, since a legal marriage took place even if a spiritual one didn't. 

[Banyan]

Lisa posted this today on RC-Lisa Sproul Facebook.

Spoiler

I knew I'd seen that image somewhere before. Obviously a photoshop of RC Jr's head on Rambo. Took me a minute to figure out where it came from. Here's the original.

Spoiler

Lisa apparently doesn't get the point. Telling any group of pastors, including in the US, "I want to buy an assault rifle so I can shoot bad guys," isn't likely to go over well. But he actually said that to pastors in New Zealand where gun laws (according to Wikipedia) have been very restrictive since 1983, and assault weapons are banned outright. It must have been totally shocking for those pastors to hear him say that.

Edited March 10, 2022 by Banyan

[Jasmar]

God it must be nice to live in a country with sane gun laws.

[Banyan]

On 3/9/2022 at 10:12 PM, Jasmar said:

God it must be nice to live in a country with sane gun laws.

Regardless of where one stands on the second amendment I'm sure we can all agree that it's good that convicted felons, like RC Sproul Jr, aren't permitted to possess guns.