Is this teaching biblical?
David Cowdrey was eight years old in 1962 when Frank Houston — then a pastor and future General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God in New Zealand — began sexually abusing him during Saturday night prayer meetings at the Cowdrey family home. The family had invited Houston as a trusted man of God. Instead, he was a predator who used spiritual authority as a mask for evil. This is not theological error to be refuted — it is the fruit of a wolf in sheep's clothing, exactly as Jesus warned.
What did David Cowdrey (victim) say?
"Frank would visit my room on the excuse of going to the toilet. This black shadow would come into my room."
Speaker: David Cowdrey (victim)
Source: Victim testimony describing abuse at age 8 in 1962 (Crikey, 2021)
What does Scripture actually teach?
Matthew 18:6
"Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea."
— NKJV
Jesus reserved His most terrifying warning for those who harm children. Frank Houston sexually abused boys as young as seven while serving as a pastor and denominational leader. The millstone judgment is not metaphorical language — it is the divine verdict on child predators who exploit their positions of trust.
Luke 17:1-2
"Then He said to the disciples, 'It is impossible that no offenses should come, but woe to him through whom they do come! It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.'"
— NKJV
Jesus said it would be BETTER to be drowned with a millstone than to cause a child to stumble. Frank Houston caused at least nine known children to stumble in the worst possible way — by sexually assaulting them while claiming to represent God. The 'woe' Jesus speaks of is eternal.
Jeremiah 23:14
"Also I have seen a horrible thing in the prophets of Jerusalem: They commit adultery and walk in lies; they also strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns back from his wickedness. All of them are like Sodom to Me, and her inhabitants like Gomorrah."
— NKJV
God saw a 'horrible thing' in the false prophets: they committed adultery, walked in lies, and strengthened evildoers. Frank Houston committed the most grievous form of sexual sin — against children — while walking in lies for decades, and the institutions around him strengthened his hand by covering up his crimes. God compares such leaders to Sodom and Gomorrah.