$500,000 embezzled from Texas church by it's pastor

[XOKCowboy]

OK I first read about this at Americablog and here is their link to the original story.

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/08/17/0817pastor.html

OK everyone's been acknowledged. Now what strikes me is that this guy embezzled HALF A MILLION DOLLARS from a church! How much money does this church take in that it doesn't realize HALF A MILLION DOLLARS is missing? His church pulls in 1500 people so you can figure there's a pretty sizable collection plate on Sunday. With that kind of revenue (with or without the embezzled funds) imagine how many lives they could have impacted.

Not passing judgment on this particular church but with so many megachurches pulling in such an incredible amount of money you'd think that there'd be no poverty and hunger in the US and that charities wouldn't be so starved for funds.

What would Jesus do if he was pulling in millions of dollar a year?

[Manifestor_of_Light]

1. Second Baptist

Megabaptist TWO in Houston spent $35 million dollars on their new sanctuary on Voss Rd. about 15 years ago, maybe 20 years ago.

Think of all the stuff they could have done with that money that Jesus said to do, like clothe the naked, feed the hungry, heal the sick.........

[XOKCowboy]

3. The video and sound equipment alone....

in some of the churches here in Denver is state of the art and cost in the upper six figure range and we're not a hotbed of religious fervor like Texas and my home state of Oklahoma. If ya ask me the rural churches with an old organ and a righteous choir are much closer to true Christianity.

What do I know though. I gave up on organized religion back in '73 when I read Stranger In A Strange Land. :shrug:

[ConsAreLiars]

2. All the money collected was a scam. This particular variety of thievery

apparently has not yet been legalized. Every dollar given to these con artists is stolen, no matter whose pockets it ends up lining. This particular blood sucker probably needed a better accountant.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

4. A scam. No different than this:

Just another Churchgoer...

[DaveJ]

5. When will making money NOT require a scam?

I swear people are now conditioned to think that making money is a matter of manipulating the system. It's as if nobody realizes that producing anything is necessary to make money anymore. Hard work, contribution, ability, intelligence, and every other positive quality seem to be punished as often as rewarded these days. It's a total mess out there.

[shenmue]

6. Gee, grandad, take your medicine.

:grr:

"Hard work, contribution, ability, intelligence, and every other positive quality seem to be punished as often as rewarded these days. It's a total mess out there."

So, how are things at the GOP Cliche Factory?

[shenmue]

7. What an asshole.

That could have sent plenty of kids to college. Or built houses for Habitat for Humanity. Or stocked a food bank for a long, long time.

Didn't Jesus say to help the poor? "Whatsoever you do unto the least of these, you also do unto me", anyone?

:grr:

I hope he goes away for a long, long time.

[Disturbed]

8. The Pastor will beg for fogiveness from Jesus &

offer to return a few dollars. Will his fellow Christians forgive him?

[New Era]

9. Jesus would donate that money

to the GOP...dont you read the bible?!?!?!?!? Its in there....somewhere...

[banana republican]

10. And The Certified Fraud Examiner Says::::::::

"If he's saying $500,000, in my experience, I would look for a lot more because when perpetrators do estimate, it's always grossly underestimated," said Jim Ratley, president of Association of Certified Fraud Examiners.



Ahhh shit why do I waste my time on fundie frauds like this....

They can't even read the bible.

let alone preach it...

One has to have a great deal of audacity to stand up in front of a congregation and claim to speak for God...,.