a pastor at a church up the highway from austin, tx pleaded guilty to stealing about $700,000 from his church's bank accoonunts and credit cards. he used the money to spend on vacations, property and horses. he had been the pastor of the church since 1992. when the church accountant noticed some unusual charges on the accounts. a leadership group began looking into the case and that is when the pastor stepped down as pastor. he paid back $343,000 in restitution by selling some of his assets. the judge is considering the case. the d.a. said it is nice every now and then for a defendant to accept responsibility, pay restitution, and accept jail time. the attorney for the pastor said that from the beginning the pastor took responsibility and cooperated with the d.a.'s office. the attorney said the church is the most important thing to the pastor. in the words of our teacher ray smith, "OH REALLY"!
i find it amazing that everybody is saying that the pastor has been so cooperative and taking responsibility for his actions, when in truth the pastor ONLY came clean when he got caught. if the accountant for the church hadn't noticed the unusual charges to the church's accounts, this pastor would most likely still be fleecing his poor dumb sheep. this case just reiterates the truth that the churches today are truly taking money and making money from the people sitting on the pews every sunday morning. it is so maddening. i praise God for revealing the truth about coming out of the church to me thru ray. i also thank God that even the dumb sheep of the flock will one day know the truth and they will be set free indeed. finally...
your sister in Him,
claudia