Missouri megachurch pastor Dave Gass stepped down from his position after 40 years and renounced his Christian faith, reported the Christian Post.
“After 40 years of being a devout follower, 20 of those being an evangelical pastor, I am walking away from the faith. Even though this has been a massive bomb drop in my life, it has been decades in the making,” he tweeted.
The tweets have since been made private, but a screenshots of the tweets were posted on Reddit.
“When I was in 8th grade and I was reading Greek mythology, it dawned on me how much of the supernatural interactions between the deity of the Bible and mankind sounded like ancient mythology. That seed of doubt never went away,” he added.
It went on to explain that even though he was a committed Christian that it could not help or save his marriage.
“I was fully devoted to studying the scriptures. I think I missed maybe 12 Sundays in 40 years. I had completely memorized 18 books of the Bible and was reading through the bible for the 24th time when I walked away,” he wrote.
“As an adult my marriage was a sham and a constant source of pain for me. I did everything I was supposed to – marriage workshops, counseling, Bible reading together, date nights every week, marriage books – but my marriage never became what I was promised it would be,” he said.
He then added that the church was a place of abuse for him, and that church people are “sh*tty” people.
“The entire system is rife with abuse. And not just from the top down, sure there are abusive church leaders, but church leaders are abused by their congregants as well. Church people are just sh*tty to each other,” he tweeted.
Adding, “I spent my entire life serving, loving, and trying to help people in my congregations. And the lies, betrayal, and slander I have received at the hands of church people left wounds that may never heal.”
Read the full report here.