Pastor arrested for slapping daughter, hitting wife he alleges has mental problems
An Ohio pastor who preached that oftentimes husbands are to blame when their wives are cranky and combative was arrested for assaulting his daughter and his wife, who he claimed has a mental health condition.
Josh Lough, who served as senior pastor of Grace Bible Church, a non-denominational church in Canal Winchester, allegedly assaulted his wife of 20 years and one of his daughters in an incident at his home on Dec. 8, according to court records first cited by The Roys Report. Since the incident, Lough’s profile has been removed from the church’s website. Calls earlier this week from The Christian Post went unanswered.
Police reportedly responded to a domestic violence call at the pastor’s residence at about 11 p.m. local time on Dec. 8, and “heard screaming inside the house.” An investigator who entered the home said he witnessed Lough “running down the stairs.” When asked to step out of his home and explain what was going on, Lough revealed to police that he had an argument with his wife, who struggles with her mental health.
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“Joshua stated that his wife has a mental issue and that’s why they were arguing. I asked Joshua if anything physical happened tonight during the incident. Joshua said that he didn’t hit anyone, they just grabbed each other,” according to an affidavit of probable cause written by an officer identified as Deputy Martin.
The couple have two daughters and a son, according to the church’s website. One of the pastor’s daughters, identified as TL, told police that she was the one who called for help. She stated that she didn't witness how the fight between her parents started because she was in the basement of the home, but said “she heard a loud bang on the ground upstairs.”
TL said she went to investigate what was happening and saw her father grabbing her mother. The pastor’s daughter said she slapped him so he would release his wife. She said when her father slapped her back, she called the police.
Police stated that the pastor’s wife alleged that he hit her. Visible marks were left on both the bodies of the pastor’s wife and daughter. Pastor Lough was booked and released on his own recognizance and is scheduled to appear in court on Jan. 7, 2025.
In a Mother’s Day sermon in 2023, titled “A Word to Husbands and Children,” Lough, who graduated from Moody Bible Institute and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, preached that husbands are often responsible when their wives aren’t behaving the way they would like.
“Oftentimes, husbands complain, 'You know, my wife, she's critical. She's cranky, always pointing out my faults, always upset about something, rarely reads the Word.' Well, whose fault is that?” he asked.
“When we criticize our wives and say, 'I don't like the way that she is, her spiritual condition is not good,' we're criticizing ourselves,” Lough asserted.
“Because we are responsible for the spiritual condition of our wives in the same way that parents are responsible for the spiritual condition of their children, and in the same way that the pastors and elders are responsible for the spiritual condition of their church. So, men are responsible for the spiritual condition of their wives.”
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