In the wake of the legendary preacher Charles Stanley’s death, his grandson Matt Brodersen has received significant backlash from the Christian community for putting several items of his grandfather’s up for auction on eBay.
Brodersen is the youngest child of Stanley’s daughter Becky, and is an aspiring YouTuber, where the announcement of the auction was uploaded.
In the YouTube video, which has over 6,000 views, Brodersen explains that after the funeral he “got to take a couple epic photos with some of my favorite pastors and then it came time to go through my Grandpa’s house.”
According to Brodersen, family, friends and some of Stanley’s employees were given the opportunity to go through his belongings and look for items they would want to keep.
Items such as clothes, various knickknacks, Stanley’s passport and some stamps of places Stanley had visited had been collected, and were a few of the items Brodersen said were really special to him.
Among the items put up for auction are a pocket watch of Stanley’s with his initials engraved on it.
Brodersen lists “bonus gifts” with each auctioned item such as a watch collection that will go with the pocket watch up for sale.
Other items up for sale include a signed, framed picture of Dr. Stanley which comes with bonus gifts of several imprinted coins that were collected by Stanley over the years.
The backlash was swift as news of the video spread, with one commentator stating:
“I couldn’t even finish watching. The disrespect is a disgrace, not only to your family, but to our Heavenly Father!! So sad!”
There were others, however, that supported Brodersen in his decision to make available memorabilia of his grandfather to his followers.
Brodersen addressed the backlash preemptively in the video, saying that he “grieved greatly” but like everyone else he’s “a human being who has bills to pay.” Brodersen also blamed the economy for the hard times people are currently going through:
“You know how the economy is… So, I don’t really have shame in selling some of his stuff. I’m actually really happy that two of his fans are going to get to have a collection of some of his very personal items that were found in his office and in his desk that were there when he passed away. I think that’s really special or sweet to be able to pass that on. And whoever wins is going to help me pay my bills, which I desperately need right now. I’m not afraid to admit that.”
Brodersen has been very public with his struggles in the past.
In an interview with the Christian Post, Brodersen addressed how Stanley had helped him during his darkest times of failure when he moved away from his family.
“A few years ago, while living in Los Angeles, I was struggling with drugs and alcohol and deep depression; I blew all of my inheritance money,” he reflected. “I was suicidal. I called my mom, and I said, ‘I’m not doing well. I’ve failed.’ I was thinking about killing myself.”
“He [Stanley] said, ‘I don’t want to talk to you very long on the phone. I just want to ask you one question: Why don’t you give Jesus another try?'” he recalls. “I don’t remember exactly what happened after that, but it meant the world to me. I just started crying and crying and crying after that phone call, and I decided I didn’t want to die.”
As reported by the Christian Post, Brodersen said that the last time he saw his grandfather, Stanley told him, “Matthew, I want you to always remember, the most important thing in life is to obey God and leave all the consequences to Him.
“My grandpa claims that that motto is what made him so successful, so he wanted to pass that down to me,” he said.
A day after releasing the video announcing the auctioning of Stanley’s items, Brodersen released another video sharing his testimony of being a “failure” and encourages his viewers not to give up and keep pushing forward in life. {eoa}
James Lasher is Staff Writer for Charisma Media.
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