An Alabama pastor (shown left) shocked his flock by reportedly confessing from the pulpit. It began in three parts, the first part was that he had stepped outside his marriage, but it didn’t stop there he had many affairs and they were with ladies in his church. Imagine their surprise to find out they were not the only one? Next Sunday he dropped an even bigger bombshell, he has AIDS and he didn’t tell his sexual partners! And most recently he announced he was a drug user and had misused funds to support his habit.
Rev. Juan Demetrius McFarland of Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church in Montgomery confirmed to NBC affiliate WSFA that he made the admissions in a series of sermons that began in September. Deacon Nathan Williams said the church membership voted 80-1 to remove McFarland as pastor on Oct. 5, but he refused to step down.
“He fraudulently concealed from the congregation…that he had knowingly engaged in adultery in the church building with female members of Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church while knowingly having AIDS,” said the resolution to remove McFarland.
He also “fraudulently withheld information that he had been engaging in the use of illegal drugs while preaching and performing pastoral duties” and “withheld information from church membership that he had misused church funds,” the resolution said.
Williams said his reaction to pastor’s disclosures was “disappointment and hurt…I never dreamed of anything like that.” He said that the congregation’s response to McFarland’s initial disclosure that he was HIV-positive was concern for his health, but the sentiment changed when he admitted to misdeeds and then tried to appoint a new set of deacons. “He said he was in control and there was nothing we could do to stop him,” Williams said.
And the point you are trying to make is?
Does there have to be a point? Why can’t it be just a story about people? However, I found it more than a little humorous because they all got punished for doing what they knew was wrong… and if there is a point to be found then it’s that. It’s real hard to be punished when you are innocent. The people involved were victimized by their own low morals. Kinda reminds me of the old saying, you can’t cheat an honest man, that kind of thing.
Agree Jack, there doesn’t always have to be point.
Just goes to show, however, that we humans are all capable of error.
If nothing else your story serves as a lesson about divide and concur politics…we shouldn’t fall for it.