"Many are called, but only few is chosen!" It is obvious this guy wasn't chosen, this is the kind of thing that run people out of church and keep people from going to church. A sure "stopper" for people who is trying to find salvation, it is sad people have to use religion for their own personal gain. It isn't wise to play church, the consequences is too great.

Jury Weighs Case of Alleged Church Bilking

Fri Feb 4, 6:13 PM ET U.S. National - AP



ROME, Ga. - A federal jury began deliberating Friday in the case of a preacher charged with bilking nearly $9 million from 1,600 churches in 41 states in just over a year.


The Rev. Abraham Kennard stood trial for three weeks on 132 criminal counts, including money laundering and mail fraud. The jury in the case deliberated for four hours on Friday, then adjourned until Monday.


Kennard, 46, shared his dream of building a string of Christian resorts with a tight-knit community of black ministers.


Word spread, and soon congregations nationwide were raising the $3,000 they needed to invest in Kennard's company. For their small investment, the faithful were assured, they would eventually get their money back more than 100 times over — up to $500,000 in a grant or a forgivable loan.


Prosecutors argued that Kennard took advantage of the nation's tight network of black churches to launch a fast-growing pyramid scheme that allowed him and his family lavish lifestyles.


Kennard's brother was also tried in the case but has denied knowing anything about Kennard's church enterprise.

sigh ... what a L-O-S-E-R!

Uncle Woody was the Will Rodgers of our family. One of the most amazing people I ever knew. Was a carpenter and painter who couldn't work unless he had two pints of beefeaters in him. When he was properly buzzed his hand was steady as a rock. He would draw a straight line and challenge me to put a level on it. He was never more than half a bubble off.

Folks who didn't know him thought he was drunk when he was sober and cold sober when he was stone drunk.

Anyway, one of his pertinent sayings was "Church ain't nothing but a business going on. Gonna be a lot of disappointed people when they call that final role", and "You'll find more hypocrites in church on Sunday morning than you will in a bar on Saturday night. I ain't no damn hypocrite".

When some of the more religeous people would taunt him about not going to church he would pull out his pint, take a swig and and say "I'm already in church. If you ain't in church right now then you ain't got no place to go".

It seems the older I get the wiser he becomes.

Lost faith in church and religeon years ago, but particularly so when all the child abuse scandals broke wide open.

I just don't think they hold some people under the water long enough when getting baptized....

quote:

---

Originally posted by thegunny:
Lost faith in church and religeon years ago, but particularly so when all the child abuse scandals broke wide open.

I just don't think they hold some people under the water long enough when getting baptized....

---

Gunny, I understand what you're saying, but I hope you won't let these individuals seperate you from God. There are bad, troubled, misguided people in every profession...even the clergy. Cops have them, the military has them, even schools have them. But we still have faith in the majority of cops, military, and teachers knowing these "bad" ones are the exception, not the rule.

There have always been those who take advantage of others, and there always will be. All we can do is look past them to those who are honorable. And there are some very honorable preachers and churches out there.

But, if you just can't bring yourself to enter a church again you can always continue to read and study the Bible for yourself. Christ was a simple man, a carpenter. He taught in fields. We were told that "where ever 2 or more are gathered in my Name..." This doesn't have to be inside a building. It can be in your own home with just you and your family.

I don't know how religious you were before, if at all, but I would hate to think you allowed people like this preacher in the story seperate you from God if you were a religious man. There are always options and I'm a firm believer that NO ONE should make my decisions for me through their words or actions. If I do, they win.

Just my $.02.

I live in farm country and for my wife and me, a walk every Sunday morning where I can see creatures and the other beauty of nature makes me closer to God than any church ever did.

@Thegunny......This is what satan want you to do is to be seperated from God, so he can have his way with you. The things those guys have done isn't anything new under the sun, satan will use people to make you fall. Whatever it takes he will use every trick in the book to pull all of us down, Crimefighter $0.02 is a pot of gold for me. He definitely "hit the nail on the head", I know it is hard but in this life it wasn't met to be easy, it goes back to Adam and Eve sin.

Appeciate the feedback guy's. Please note that I never said that I had lost my faith in God, but rather faith in his instruments.

And as for Satan.....I have never really considered or given any credence to him or that he even exists. He doesn't exist for me.

Just because there are evil people in the world, doesn't mean there is an evil supreme being influencing them. (the devil made me do it) Thats a load of crap. If one does good, or one does evil , to me this is what that PERSON decided to do, God or Satan had nothing to do with that choice.

I'll go along with HarryP and Thegunny on this one. Satan or God is you. Your choice.

You make your own heaven or hell right here on earth.

some dayz my wife must be going through her little miss satan period, cuz she sure does give me hell over some piddly crap.