“An omission is a lie when it is calculated to conceal information that, where it known to the other party,would be materially relevant to them.” — Unknown
A lie by omission is just as bad as a lie by commission. — Elizabeth A. Reaves
Preacher Steve Berger, who left Grace Chapel, Tennessee, to bring his dog-and-pony show to the U.S. Capitol, says he is in regular contact with his dead son, Josiah. Besides being a weird idea, how Berger is responding to criticism of his claims offers an alarming insight into his modus operandi and the lack of accountability at Promise Keepers and other evangelical churches and parachurches.
Background
Interest in life beyond death goes back centuries. Early Sumerian scripts, dating from 3000 BCE, are replete with instructions on exorcising ghosts. Tales of sightings of the departed have continued throughout the centuries, with even the late Queen Elizabeth reportedly having seen a ghost — and maybe herself visiting her beloved corgis.
But one segment of society consistently rejects the notion of ghosts, and that comprises persons in evangelical faith traditions.
So, it was a big surprise when, in 2010, Steve Berger went public with claims that he was in regular contact with his dead son. He also said that Josiah appeared to him and participated in worship at Grace Chapel; he also claimed that he prayed to Josiah.
Indeed, Berger contended that God had issued a special dispensation to Josiah to return from the dead to worship at Grace Chapel.
Even more disconcerting was the best-selling book Berger released in conjunction with these claims, Between Heaven and Earth: Finding Hope, Courage, And Passion Through A Fresh Vision Of Heaven, in which he advised readers that the dead were part of their day-to-day lives, and it was okay to pray to the departed.
But most troubling of all was how Berger and the leaders at Promise Keepers, where Berger is deeply involved, handled the resulting torrent of criticism from those who regard Berger’s communication with the dead as necromancy — a practice expressly forbidden by the Bible.
So, let’s unpack Berger’s claims and take a look at the details.
Josiah’s fatal accident
Parsing issues relating to the death of Berger’s son Josiah is difficult.
On the one hand, no one wants to add to the searing grief that parents experience when they lose a child.
On the other hand, Berger and his wife appear to many not just to be cashing in on their son’s untimely death but also to be sociopaths who will tell any lie, no matter how outrageous, in order to maintain their so-called ministry.
So, we are left trying to untangle to mixture of facts, dubious claims by Berger, and public speculation about the situation while trying to respect the human beings involved in this horrific series of events.
Our story begins on Tuesday, August 9, 2009, when Josiah Berger, often called “Siah” by his family, kissed his mother on the cheek and left the family home to catch up with a friend at a local burger joint.
Sometime around 11:00 PM that evening, Josiah was in a one-car accident.
Later that night, a call came through from Vanderbilt Medical Center, telling the Bergers that their son had been in a terrible accident.
The family says they know little about the details of the accident but state that Josiah’s body was perfectly intact–the only issue was a closed head injury, resulting in swelling of his brain.
Not surprisingly, the Bergers, along with many others, prayed for Josiah. But their prayers were to no avail, and later that week, exactly on Josiah’s 19th birthday, the family decided to withdraw life support on the basis that Josiah had no meaningful brain activity.
Fortunately, fate spared the Bergers one painful decision, which involved the possibility of donating their son’s organs. Indeed, as that discussion with hospital staff progressed, Steve and Sarah Berger learned that Josiah had already made plans to be an organ donor.
The Bergers turn on the spin machine
Yet, even as the events above were unfolding, the Bergers were placing their own spin on Josiah’s accident and death. Many of these claims are questionable, especially in light of Berger’s claim to be a modern-day prophet.
For instance:
- Berger subsequently recounted how staff at Vanderbilt Medical Center were receiving guidance from God. If that is the case, why did Josiah ultimately die? Wouldn’t God know this would be the outcome and not muddy the waters with free medical advice? Or why not skip the middleman altogether, perform a miracle, and be done with it?
- Berger soon told people that God was speaking directly with Josiah and had offered him the choice of going to heaven or returning to earth. But Josiah was in a coma, so we are left wondering how Berger could know this — or why God would allow Josiah to choose the time of his passing.
- The Bergers depict Josiah’s death as somehow heroic. While we do not question the raw pain of the tragedy of losing a son, we don’t see how or why God would choose Josiah to have special privileges or a unique role in the hereafter.
Here’s the Bergers’ explanation:
While we were crying out to God in prayer, while we were asking God for a Lazarus miracle, our son was reasoning with his heavenly Father. Would it be best to return to his earthly body or to begin a new adventure in the heavenly realm? There was a battle going on in that hospital room, and we believe Josiah heard his dad’s voice saying, “Siah, make right decisions and manage them well. Honor Christ and honor others.” I (Sarah), when bedside, continually whispered through tears, “Do what the Father says, Siah. We love you. Do what He says. He knows best.” We know Siah heard Jesus saying, “Come, follow Me.”
We believe with all our hearts that Jesus laid out the entire plan to our son. “You can go back to your family and friends, or you can come with Me. I’ll take care of your folks, and I’ll use you for great things.” We believe Jesus prepared our son’s heart for heaven—prepared him to say good-bye here on earth so that he would be ready for heavenly life. Jesus promised Josiah that He would take care of his family and friends, and He promised to take care of the seventy-seven people whose lives would be changed by having Josiah’s organs.
The Bergers go on to claim that hundreds became Christians because of Josiah’s death:
It was incredible to see over two thousand people at Josiah’s memorial service. We filled the sanctuary plus six overflow rooms. There were so many cars that we had to use the front lawn, a rather large, open section, for auxiliary parking. There were people watching from all over the world via the Internet. People as far away as Egypt and Sri Lanka, as well as people from all around the United States, were a part of this service, and hundreds received Christ as a result of Josiah’s legacy. The celebration was a wake-up call.
To be clear, the notion that clergy somehow have special access to the divine is a classical form of spiritual abuse. Indeed, the implicit message is, “If you were just as steeped in the Holy Spirit as we are, your son too would have a special role in the hereafter.”
But the Bergers go a step further. Sarah, Josiah’s mother, recounts asking God for permission to hear from her son:
Siah, I want to know what you are doing. I need to be involved with your life even now, even in heaven. I know that you are doing kingdom work, and I want to be involved in what you are doing. Father, I know that You know what is best for me to know, and so because of Your great mercy, I am asking You this question: “What is Josiah doing now?” I believe that, after nineteen years with my child, You wouldn’t say, “No, Sarah, you may not know.” That is not who I have known You to be all these twenty-five years. And so, I am asking.
Sarah goes on to form a slick phrase, “God Nods,” as she talks about her purported arrangement with God:
From day one, we have communicated to our three kids on earth that Josiah is still a vital part of our family and, as God allows, still aware of things that go on in our home. We want all of us to continue to have relationship with Siah right up until the day that we are face-to-face in heaven with him. We’re not saying that Siah is appointed to be with us every moment, but when he is, we know that he delights in the fact that we share our hearts with him. Proving again that Siah is aware of things going on here on earth, we received the following God Nod: I (Sarah) remember a day a few months ago when our sixteen-year-old son, Cody, asked Steve if he could go mudding in the Jeep. The Jeep was previously Josiah’s, and it was always said that when Siah went to college, the Jeep would then become Cody’s. The bog that Cody went to mud in is located within a short distance from our house, so I watched as he ventured off for the first time, four-wheel drive activated and ready to conquer. As I watched Cody drive away, I could hear Siah saying in my spirit, “Cody was always better at those things than me. I am proud of him.”
We can’t really explain it, but it was so quick and so random, I just knew it was Siah. The Lord once again knew what would touch Cody’s heart—an encouraging word from his older brother. Later that day as Cody and I visited in Josiah’s room, I shared what I had experienced as I watched him track through the mud. It brought a tear to his eye and joy to his heart. We have explained to the kids that Siah cannot read our minds; only the Lord can do that. But it must make Siah so happy to see that we get it. We know he can see us, hear us, and even be involved, not only in our lives but also in the lives of his friends. We are continually hearing of Siah coming to friends in dreams (and we’ve shared a few in this book). The dreams are incredibly profound and always prove God’s Word, point to the glory of God, and compel us to get closer to Jesus. Be on the lookout for God Nods in your own life.
Nor was it only Sarah claiming to have special access to the beyond. In the book, Steve recounts both the first time his son appeared, seeking to worship at Grace Chapel, and other instances of communication with his son:
Only two weeks after Josiah went to Heaven, I (Sarah) made it a habit to talk to Josiah… I would then be in instant conversation with Jesus and Siah [Josiah] (Have Heart, p. 82).
It wasn’t like he [Josiah] just appeared there. It was a sense of him coming into the aisle, and he got down on one knee and bent into my ear. He said, “Way worth it, Mr. Jim.” Then, as quickly as he came, he left. It wasn’t that he disappeared; rather, it was a sense of him leaving the sanctuary…He had a sense of speed about him, not that he was hurried, but as if life on earth was much slower than in Heaven-it’s a different place, a different plane. I stood up and went over to my wife and told her, “Josiah was just here.” (Have Heart, p. 99-100.)
Jimmy’s dream [Jimmy’s dream?] is a great example of how we are surrounded and how our loved ones are connected to us. They know, they care about what we’re going through, and there’s a nearness that’s not easy to explain but wondrous in reality… We are one body, connected here on earth, connected in heaven, and connected between heaven and earth. Our loved ones may show up in dreams or visits or other ways (who can limit God’s imagination?), but the fact is that we’re connected. Our loved ones are not “up there” and we are “down here.” There is a thin veil, and we’re connected to them, forever, in Christ.” (Have Heart, p. 110).
To be clear, it is not unusual for persons in profound grief to hallucinate or to experience ordinary events in ways that give them hope that there is life beyond death.
However, these situations are usually limited in scope. When someone experiences hallucinations over a period of time and cannot differentiate between fact and fiction, the issue of possible psychosis arises.
Mental illness or master manipulators?
That begs the question: Are the Bergers mentally ill? Or master manipulators? Or both?
On the issue of possible mental illness, we cannot know the answer. Indeed, even a mental health professional can only diagnose issues through in-person sessions, testing, or both. And really troubled personalities — like some of the clergy we cover in this publication — may study or take practice tests in an effort to game the system.
What we can say is that, in retrospect, Josiah’s death was an inflection point for the Bergers. Prior to that time, Berger’s preaching was pretty standard fare for the Grace Chapel movement — lots of exposition and thoroughly evangelical in flavor.
However, after Josiah’s death, we see Berger shift to more hate-based messages, often built around anger. Quite a few of Berger’s claims are questionable, like his assertion that he delivered tons of aid to the Gaza Strip–despite the fact that no one else is getting anything meaningful into the region.
Other Berger messages are carefully contrived to be politically palatable, deploying dog whistles in place of open animosity. For example, a review of archived versions of the Ambassador Services International website — which belongs to the non-profit that Berger is using for work in Washington, D.C., reveals that, over the past year or so, express references to abortion and same-sex marriage have been scrubbed from the site, replaced with references to “wokeism.” And just in case visitors to the site are a little slow to recognize what “wokeism” is, Berger is happy to supply images of Pride parades and other events he opposes.
Speaking of Pride events, there also are situations where Berger resorts to open hatred when he thinks his claims won’t get national attention. For example, he got his knickers all in a knot over a local Tennessee Pride event, claiming that the year before, groups somehow “heinously violated the public trust last year,” referring to the drag show performance that occurred at the prior year’s event. Yet nowhere does Berger suggest that anyone committed to not holding a drag show.
Thus, we are left with three inquiries:
- Does this rhetoric suggest that Berger has anger issues following his son’s death? Possibly.
- Does Berger’s shifting tone suggest he’s in a psychologically unhealthy space? Equally plausible.
- Does Berger’s behavior, viewed over time, suggest someone who is a master manipulator? Absolutely, especially given the warm welcome he extends to Aaron Solomon, whom he knows full well faces allegations of child abuse and child sexual abuse.
And to be clear, we do not need to speculate as to whether Berger knows about Aaron Solomon’s online antics as the latter seeks random sexual opportunities. Indeed, we sent a copy of Aaron’s lurid posts — which he placed online using his daughter Gracie’s photograph — directly to Berger. Moreover, we have challenged Berger in writing to explain why he associates with a known pedophile, with predictable results.
Nor is Aaron Solomon the only bad apple in Steve Berger’s barrel. For example, Sam Johnson, a close friend of Aaron Solomon, is part of Berger’s inner circle, a board member of Ambassador Services International, and widely regarded as Berger’s “hatchet man” among locals.
That, despite Johnson’s having made national headlines after being fired from his job as CEO of a local company for harassing a couple of high school kids and then lying about it. And while Johnson likes to send Jesus-babble emails to others about how he’s praying for them — which he invariably signs, “love, Sam,” that behavior conveniently overlooks his long history of allegedly showing up drunk and stark naked at people’s doors, as well as other indicia of being a profoundly troubled soul.
So, keep in mind the dichotomy between what folks in the Bergers’ orbit say and what they do. We’ll return to that theme later in this post.
Theological issues
Before we go further, it may be helpful to examine the theological implications of the Bergers’ claims to communicate with the dead. Doing so requires a nuanced approach.
On the one hand, many faith traditions recognize the communion of saints and, by extension, the notion that the entire church is mystically present during Mass or the Holy Eucharist. Roman Catholics, Episcopalians, and others recognize this concept, which is wrapped up in the notion of the church as the Body of Christ.
Other faiths, such as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, expressly recognize certain places, notably their temples, as places where the veil between this life and the next is thin. As such, Latter-day Saint theology includes references to apparitions of the dead, especially within the context of the temple endowment ritual.
On the other hand, a hallmark of the Reformation was the notion that the dead remain ensconced in heaven and hell. As a result, Luther and others regarded purported apparitions as inherently demonic in nature.
Thus, it’s important to recognize that, even in faith traditions that contemplate some connection between the living and the dead, none except the Spiritualists and a couple of other small splinter groups contemplate regular interaction with the departed. Indeed, even the Spiritualists require a medium in order to communicate with the dead.
So, no matter what views someone holds on visits from the dead, the Bergers’ claim to have special permission to receive regular visits from their late son occupies a uniquely narcissistic space in Christian theology.
And given what we know of the Bergers’ personal behavior and attitudes towards others — including referring to pedophile Aaron Solomon as a “buddy” and Berger’s questionable conduct in the run-up to the death of Grant Solomon, we cannot see why God would choose to allow either Steve or Sarah Berger the special privilege of communicating with their late son, Josiah.
Promise Keepers, Ken Harrison, Steve Berger, and the dead
Berger’s claims that he gets visits from Josiah, talks with him, and prays to him are strange enough. But things get even weirder when we look at how these issues get tangled up with the parachurch organization Promise Keepers.
Promise Keepers, once a high-water mark for mid-1980s evangelical Christianity, sat dormant for many years until, in 2015, Berger and loyalist Ken Harrison — whose investment firm is in the same building as the Promise Keeper’s offices — decided to revive the moribund organization.
Subsequently, Promise Keepers has followed a predictable pattern, in which it pushes traditional notions of masculinity and gender roles. Much of the organization’s rhetoric mirrors that of Steve Berger, replete with references to “Daring Faith,” “Men of Integrity,” and more, even as the organization overlooks Berger’s egregious moral failings, including welcoming a documented pedophile, Aaron Solomon, to his inner circle, and teaching members of Grace Chapel to say the Imprecatory Psalms against Gracie Solomon, who had lost her brother Grant just weeks earlier. (To be clear, real men don’t abuse children. Full stop.)
As part of the resurrection of Promise Keepers, the organization has attracted numerous luminaries from Berger’s extended circle, including Oklahoma Senator James Lankford, former Dallas Cowboy Chad Hennings, and noted Baptist pastor Donald Burgs, Sr. (Indeed, Burgs has been dead since 2011, yet remained listed as a director on Promise Keepers’ 2021 federal tax returns. Some speculate that Burgs has employed Josiah Berger to vote his proxy at the organization’s board meetings.)
Of course, it comes as no surprise that Berger sits on both the executive and advisory boards at Promise Keepers, in addition to a number of one-off roles. Per Fulcrum7, Berger’s other recent roles include:
Steve Berger states he is also a Board member of former-Congresswoman Michele Bachmann’s Jerusalem Prayer Breakfast (11) and was a speaker at one of their large annual gatherings. (12) He was also one of Jonathan Cahn’s featured speakers at Cahn’s huge Washington DC “Return” revival rally in 2020 that was attended by thousands in person and watched by millions on livestream. (13) And Berger co-hosted a Charlie Kirk TPUSA conference for pastors in Nashville in 2023. (14) Berger (a self-proclaimed “prophet” (15) and his wife also founded ASI (Ambassador Services International), based in Washington, DC. They have claimed their ministry “influences influencers.” The Bergers work closely with politicians through Bible studies and special events. (16) In 2016, Berger prayed before the U.S. Senate and was lauded there by Tennessee Senator Bob Corker as “one of the preeminent spiritual leaders in our nation.” (17)
Moreover, as Fulcrum 7 notes, numerous persons within the church have criticized Berger’s claim to communicate with the dead as heretical and even demonic. Such complaints have gone directly to Ken Harrison and other leaders within the organization, who have merely responded that “changes are being made.”
On that score, however, Fulcrum 7 is not fully accurate when it states that Berger made no changes. A more precise assessment is that Berger made no obvious changes and took no public responsibility for his hogwash about Josiah leading others to God in the hereafter.
Indeed, in researching this story, Anglican Watch bought both an original copy of the hard copy version of Berger’s book about the afterlife, and a more recent, electronic version.
Initially, we flagged all the references in the original publication to the Bergers communicating with and praying to their dead son. Then, we went to the electronic version and tried to cross-match our earlier findings.
We found nothing. No references to Josiah showing up at a Wednesday night prayer meeting at Grace Chapel, asking to join in. No references to praying to Josiah. No claims of miracles other than the fact that Josiah had signed up, prior to his death, to be an organ donor.
Gnashing our teeth, we growled, “They must have changed the page numbering,” even as we poured a big glass of Diet Coke and settled in for a long evening of reading.
Still nothing.
Thinking that maybe the electronic version had been completely rearranged and we were, by now, just blind tired, we tried searching for keywords associated with Josiah’s appearances.
Yet again, we came up empty.
By now, convinced that Berger and the Promise Keepers board had pulled a fast one, we pulled all the videos we could find from the Bergers relating to the book.
Sure enough, early versions of the book babble on about Josiah returning to earth in Grace Chapel, how God permitted Josiah to keep in touch from the beyond, and more. And, of course, lots of earnest looks, confident expressions, and all the indicia of a really good used car salesman.
But the messaging in later videos shifts. Initially, the conversation runs along the lines of, “Of course, you don’t want to use a medium or something like that to contact the dead. The Bible makes clear you can’t do that.” And “Well, these were real, spontaneous visitations — you just have to be careful that this really is your loved one, and to test the spirits.”
As these messages play out, the talking points related to the book gradually fade from the Bergers’ website, ultimately vanishing.
As a result, we’ve gone from “God gave my son Josiah special permission to come back from the dead, be part of our daily lives, and to listen to our prayers,” to standard fare about appreciating the wonders of heaven and seeing the hand of God, even in the face of tragedy.
In other words, Promise Keepers didn’t ignore the problem of Berger’s zany New Age, pseudo-Spiritualist theology. Not at all.
Instead, Promise Keepers, its leadership, its board members, Steve Berger, and Bethany House publishers (which produced the Bergers’ book) worked together to engage in a cover-up.
Rather than doing the right thing, admitting to a mistake, apologizing, correcting the error, and moving on, the Bergers and their minions lied by omission, kicking sand into their tracks and hoping the rest of us wouldn’t realize they’d pulled a fast one — despite Promise Keeper’s tag line of “Men of Integrity.”
Meanwhile, that leaves early readers of Bergers’ book wondering what they need to do to communicate with their dead loved one. After all, if the Bergers can do so, surely others can as well. Yet later buyers of the book don’t know anything about the Bergers’ weird claims.
Connections to the Grant Solomon case
Another vantage point from which to examine Berger’s odd claims are the connections, and similarities, with the mysterious death of Grant Solomon. https://www.anglicanwatch.com/another-strange-wrinkle-in-the-death-of-grant-solomon/
In addition to Berger’s warm greeting to pedophile Aaron Solomon as his “buddy” at Grant’s funeral, in both cases we see seemingly narcissistic personalities claiming special connections to the Almighty:
- In Solomon’s case, he told a fabricated tale at Grant’s funeral about how they played baseball together all the time, and how a Good Samaritan found Grant’s cell phone after his death, charged it, and became a Christian. Ignoring, for a moment, the fact that Aaron is purported an atheist, Grant hadn’t seen his father in several years, didn’t play baseball with him, and Grant’s cellphone was retrieved by a friend of Aaron’s from his previous employment with WSMV. Thus, no one came to Jesus as a result of finding Grant’s phone.
- While our access to Grace Chapel records is far from complete, we see no signs that anyone came to Jesus as a result of Josiah Berger’s death. Specifically, we’ve located no one who makes that claim, found no records to support the claim, nor names or other indicia of accuracy. As to the Bergers’ claim that God granted Josiah special permission to speak to them, nothing in Berger’s background suggests this is true. Indeed, there are myriad indicia that Berger is a false prophet, including his public condemnation of Gracie Solomon for recounting her experiences with abuse. Thus, we believe that, were God giving the dead special permission to communicate with us, it would be extremely unlikely that God would start with Steve Berger. Nor is it likely that God would allow the Bergers to be privy to conversations he might have with Josiah.
Of course, in both cases, there are curious gaps and inconsistencies in the stories that Solomon and Berger tell about their loss of their sons, including a strange lack of interest in getting to the specifics underlying these tragic losses.
Nor should we ignore Berger’s role in perpetuating Aaron Solomon’s abuse. Not only did Berger fail to obey Tennessee law, which required him to act as a mandated reporter, but he actively sought to suppress the story via his attacks on Gracie Solomon’s credibility.
Are we saying that Berger killed his son? Not at all. But we do find the circumstances curious, especially in juxtaposition with the death of Grant Solomon. And we continue to believe that Aaron Solomon killed his son, Grant.
In closing
In closing, we’ll leave it to others to decide what they believe about the dead contacting the living, even as we note how unusual the Berger’s claims are, with their assertions that their son is involved in their day-to-day affairs.
What we do think is really important is to recognize the complementarianism of Promise Keepers, which leads the organization not to hold men accountable for their actions but instead to label them “Men of Integrity,” even as the organization covers up teachings that most evangelicals would consider misguided at best, and downright demonic at worst.
Maybe Promise Keepers needs to get a crash course from the Daughters of Stan on integrity, transparency, and accountability.
###
The photo of the Brown Lady is a famous public domain photograph of a purported English ghost.
Special thanks to friend and fellow blogger Shannon Ashley for her analysis of the Berger’s book, which we relied on heavily in documenting passages in the original printed version.
Leave a Reply