Posted on 02/17/2007 1:42:49 PM PST by Tom87
FORT WORTH - She believed he was a prophet, a man who received instructions from God.
Because of that, Davina Kelly said, she thought the punishment administered by the Rev. Sherman Clifton Allen was justified.
Kelly said Allen began paddling her -- first with pants on, and later with them off -- for not reading assigned Scriptures or for disobeying orders. Later, she said, Allen made her exercise to the point of exhaustion, running laps around the church sanctuary or doing lunges across the living room of his Mansfield home.
Finally, she said, the abuse turned sexual.
"There are certain types of figures you trust," Kelly said. "I gave that trust to him as my pastor. I honestly thought of him as a spiritual father."
Last week, Kelly filed suit against Allen, 45, founder and senior pastor of the Shiloh Institutional Church of God in the Woodhaven area. The suit seeks unspecified damages for physical and psychological pain.
Kelly has not contacted law enforcement officials, and no criminal charges have been filed against Allen.
On Thursday afternoon, Laura Cobb, the church's administrative assistant, issued a statement on behalf of Allen and the church at 1270 E. Woodhaven Blvd., which is also named in the suit.
"We understand that a lawsuit has been filed alleging sexual and other improprieties on the part of Pastor Allen," Cobb wrote in an e-mail. "Neither the Church nor Pastor Allen has been served with any court papers at this time. If court papers are served, then legal counsel will be consulted and we will address this matter in the courts, rather than the media."
A message left at the legal department at the Church of God in Christ Inc. in Tennessee was not returned. The organization was also named in the suit.
A woman who answered the phone at Allen's Mansfield residence Friday declined to take a message, referring all questions to the church. At 5 p.m. Friday, the voice mailbox at the church was full.
On Friday afternoon, with her husband and attorney nearby, Kelly talked about Allen from her bed in a hospital, where she had just given birth to her third child.
In November 2001, Kelly said, she went to Allen for spiritual counseling, and he directed her to different Scriptures. She said he focused on ones dealing with spanking, such as "Spare the rod, spoil the child."
Later, when Allen learned that she had not read the assigned Scriptures, she said he ordered her to hold her ankles while he spanked her with a paddle.
At the time, she said, she equated it with a principal punishing a child and believed it was for disobeying or not being faithful to God.
"I really looked up to him, really trusted him, really believed in him as far as a very anointed man of God," Kelly said. "I believed God was speaking to him like I'm speaking to you."
At a different meeting, Kelly said, when Allen learned that she had spoken to someone he had forbidden her to talk to, he ordered her to pull her pants down and spanked her in her underwear.
"The third time and on, it was with nothing on," she said.
At some point, Kelly started volunteering at the church, cleaning up after services. The job soon became a paid position. By 2003, she said, Allen began paying her to clean his house.
Soon, she said, Allen began punishing her for not washing dirty dishes or other small transgressions.
"It got to a point where he was kind of making up stuff," she said.
Kelly said Allen ordered her to do strenuous exercises: 100 push-ups, crunches or sit-ups. Sometimes it was at his house, other times at the church. She said he ordered her to run laps around the sanctuary.
"He would have me do it until he could tell I was hurting," she said.
By 2005, Kelly said, the punishment turned sexual.
Kelly said Allen once put his hands around her throat and said that "if I ever told anyone or ever hurt him, I didn't want to know what he would do."
Kelly said she was raped several times, once for not holding her legs in the air long enough during an exercise.
Kelly said she eventually contacted her sister in New York and moved there with her children for a couple of months. At the time, she said, she was too afraid to tell her husband, Darian Kelly, what had happened, so she told him she was stressed and needed time away.
Kelly eventually moved back to Fort Worth. Recently, her husband contacted Louis Levenson, an Atlanta attorney, after seeing him on CNN talking about abuse in churches. Levenson's office, in turn, contacted Matthew Bobo, a civil attorney in Las Colinas.
Bobo said Kelly was afraid to go to law enforcement and felt more comfortable with a civil attorney. Another former church member has since contacted his office after seeing a TV news report about Allen last week, Bobo said.
He said that woman said she also turned to Allen for spiritual counseling in the 1990s and that he abused her with a paddle. She left the church before the abuse became sexual, Bobo said.
"In these types of case, they find their way to a civil attorney," Bobo said. "We file suit, and the story gets out." He said that they will probably arrange a meeting with law enforcement officials soon.
Allen has been accused of sexual abuse before, according to police and court records, but the case was dismissed.
In 1983, according to a police report, Allen was arrested after a woman accused him of sexual assault. The woman said she believed that she was hypnotized or drugged. The woman told police that Allen threw her facedown on her bed and struck her buttocks with a paddle 16 times, counting each swat out loud.
Afterward, she told police, Allen sexually assaulted her. Allen was charged with aggravated sexual abuse, but the case was dismissed in March 1984 after Allen passed a polygraph, according to court documents. Prosecutors also left several messages for the woman and sent her letters, but she never responded, the documents said.
"God, Irene, it must be horrible for you." "Oh, it is. He never writes, he never calls..."
I've tried but I can't seem to work up any sympathy for this woman.
If the pastor really did all this stuff he should go to jail.
She should go some place for really stupid people.
Kelly and Allen, perfect together! Two complete dysfunctional misfits!
Exactly.....There was a thread a few days ago on this. I said then that I just don't think she is completely innocent here. At some point she had to figure out that having sex with the Pastor was a sin didn't she? All I know is if my Pastor tried to paddle me or make me run laps he'd be hurting for certain. I think she is looking for money. The Pastor sounds like he is into S&M and if he is using his position as a man of God to get women involved in his fantasies its sickening . I think he needs time in jail.
No doubt this guy is a nut. I do not think the law should treat him any different than any other man who has a woman that lets him paddle her.
I dunno, something about this story doesn't smell right.
ping again
If he abused his position within his Church, it is a mater for the Church.
If he asks the woman for permission to paddle her, and she says yes, it is just two crazy folks living as they see fit.
If he asks the woman for permission to paddle her, and she says no, and he paddles her anyway, then jail time is called for.
NO ...It is a matter for the law. The church is not a law unto its self. If he commits crimes by intimidating women because he is a Pastor it is a crime for the LAW. NOT THE LAW OF HIS CHURCH!! If that was the case there wouldn't be all theses sex offense cases being tried in court with priests and little boys. Just because you are a Pastor with S&M fantasies you can't hide behind your cloth...It is abuse and it becomes a matter for the law. I feel this situation must be a odd as she didn't go to the law where she should have went ASAP. She is seeking money by her civil lawsuit. I hold her in contempt because if this guy is a nut who uses his place as a Pastor to intimidate women then she is allowing him not to face legal consequences and therefore save other women from his fetish with padding and downgrading women. He ought to be stripped of his Pastor status and never be allowed to preach again anywhere. There are far too many wackadoddle churches which advocate beating and strange behavior as it is. I just read where a little 8 yr old boy was abused to death because the "church" said beat your children. Many churches say beat your wife too. Then you have totally wacky churches like the WBC and the Rev Fred Phelps. No church should tell its members that violence is the answer. Or want all your money. Some people are very stupid who believe in this BS. I don't know what kind of church you belong to but my church doesn't believe in hurting people.... They believe in love and helping people. .....So unless she goes through the legal system I don't think she ought to see a dime. She was stupid and I don't think anyone ought to engage in stupid behavior then cry abuse and get money!! ~~Pandora~~
need your opinion ping ~P~
My opinion? Stuff happens.
lmao strange stuff huh? And TE what would you do if that so called Pastor tried to paddle you? EFG
It kind of depends on the circumstances. I'm an incredibly unlikely target for a pervert pastor.
rofl got you....I knew I would get in a better mood after reading your reply. Bet you laughed when you saw it huh? Pandora pulled TE's tail lmao Have a great day TE ~P~
The priests who abused the boys are being prosecuted because the they made a homosexual assault on the boys, (The PC call them pedophiles - but I'm far from PC), some homos use video games, some use their position in the Church. All should be prosecuted for their crimes because they abused someone.
If the Church wants to kick out homo's who deal with young boys, more power to them, and they should. It is a crime with the boy's because they were too young to give their consent to the sex.
This woman who let someone paddle her, for what ever reason or game she was playing. As long as she did not say no, no laws were broken. If she said no, then laws were broken. I do not think it matters under the law, or it should not mater, if the spanker is a Butcher, a Banker, or a Candlestick maker.
This is like fraternity hazing, and I have no problem with it. If people wants to subject themselves to it, frankly I could care less, and if they get hurt I could care even less. I'll save my sympathy for those who are hurt thru no fault of their own.
This woman needs mental help, not legal help.
I don't know what kind of church you belong to but my church doesn't believe in hurting people.... They believe in love and helping people. .....
Please come out and say what you are implying, by asking about my church. I would love to hear it. I am really happy that your Church believes in love and helping people.
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