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I grew up in a First United Methodist Church in a small town in SC. When I was 8-9 our preacher got indicted for stealing money from our church’s accounts. This church had been in existence since the late 1800’s and families- such as mine- had put money into it for years. This pot of money was used for maintenance and other things the church needed to do its job. Well, this was way back during Magnum, PI’s popularity. The preacher wanted a red Ferrari like Magnum’s and knew there was more than enough in those old accounts to pay for one. The leaders of the church tried telling him no preacher needed to be zipping around in an expensive sports car. They offered- and he initially accepted- a car made from the same company that makes Ferraris. These men and women had the foresight to keep a close eye on the church’s accounts. Soon after they purchased him that car, they noticed money from the accounts was getting drained. Bad part about it was he was an excellent pastor-everyone in the church loved him dearly. Unfortunately for all involved, his greed got the better of him.

Indeed. I think of this type of person as a “but” person: “He's a good _______, but...” It means he's not a good anything.

For a man of the cloth to steal from his congregation is beyond the pale. Shows he is not a man of God but a charlatan, no matter how he dressed it up. Someone like that can repent and find redemption in prison.

Since the latter 1960’s American churches have been betraying their congregations, country, and God. Quite distressing. And right out of the Communist play book.

My Dad was a fine, dedicated, reliable, farm boy whom my godly mother met at a Wesleyan Methodist College, convinced himto become a minister, and married him. Looking back, it is clear that every Methodist Episcopal/UM church he was assigned to by the Bishop was one which the previous minister had screwed up so badly that it needed a real man to straighten it out. And he did, even to the last one before he retired.

Then, in retirement to central Florida, the Bishop there invoked Dad's gifts and Mom's support to yet one more messed-up charge in that Conference.