Three and a half years ago, pastor Ron Petersen was ready to provide “recovery services.” He knew it was the right move, because he’d prayed to the Lord, and received a response. An article at the time quoted a godly shepherd/entrepreneur who said he felt blessed:

“One day, I was praying,” said Petersen, as he sat in a back office at the Faith Christian Center on Washington Street in Limerick, where he serves as associate pastor. “Lord, why did you not bless my [previous] efforts? I gave 125 percent. And the Lord said to me, ‘I did bless your efforts,’ and he laid it out in my heart to start my own recovery center.”

That center, the faith-based HOPE Recovery Center, opened at the start of this year in a home next door to the Faith Christian Center to help men facing addiction. HOPE stands for House Of Prayer Eternal.

We can only guess that the Lord subsequently told Petersen to start skimmin’ and stealin’.

From the Portland Press Herald today:

A pastor of a Limerick church has been indicted on a charge of defrauding MaineCare of more than $10,000 for substance abuse treatment services at the Hope Recovery Center, located on the same property as the church.

Ronald Petersen, the associate pastor at Faith Christian Center on Washington Street in Limerick, was indicted by a York County grand jury this week on a single count of theft by deception, a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

Petersen, 56, is accused of falsely creating the impression that Hope Recovery Center provided substance abuse treatment services to specific individuals between Sept. 1, 2010, and Jan. 30, 2012, according to the indictment.

[photo via keepmecurrent]

A Texas pastor, Clyde Downs, was arrested after police said they’d found drugs in his car. Officers also said they confiscated a gun, and charged him with unlawful possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

Yep, the Reverend Downs, 48, has a criminal record. In the ’90s, he served time for burglary and theft.

For the past six years, Down was the senior pastor of the New Harvest Missionary Baptist Church in Fort Worth.

Who would Jesus rob?

The head of a South St. Petersburg charity and the pastor of a St. Petersburg church are accused of stealing nearly $150,000 in a real estate deal from a Palm Harbor woman who could no longer afford to live in her house, according to documents released Wednesday.

The head of the charity, Eric Leroy Green, 55, who runs Everyone’s Youth United, was arrested Tuesday on charges of grand theft and money laundering. He was being held at the Pinellas County Jail on Wednesday on $200,000 bail.

Green told a detective with the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office his accomplice is a pastor in a local St. Petersburg church. That person’s name was redacted from the affidavit because he has not yet been arrested, but he faces the same two charges as Green does, court records show.

The full news article is here.

[image via CBC]

I came across this news report involving an awards event in Butts County, Georgia. The charitable all-male church group bestowing the annual awards calls itself “Butts Men of Action.”

Its president is Curtis Gaye. Its latest Minister of the Year is Pastor Head. The speaker at the awards banquet is Hank Johnson.

I’m was kinda hoping there’s a town called Seymour where they get together, but that would be asking too much.

There are so many things that thou shalt not … for some people, like pastor Ed Mallonee, it’s hard to keep track.

A pastor and another woman face charges after investigators say the two plotted to kill the pastor’s wife.

An Obion County Grand Jury indicted Edward Paul Mallonee of Union City, Tennessee and Shelly Shannon Moran of Franklin, Tennessee on conspiracy to commit 1st-degree murder and attempt to commit 1st-degree murder charges.

The grand jury also indicted Mallonee on facilitation to commit 1st-degree murder and reckless-endangerment charges. Moran also faces two other counts of attempt to commit 1st-degree murder.

After investigating for several months, Union City Police say Mallonee and Moran plotted to murder Mallonee’s wife, Cathy. The plot spanned 2011 and 2012. Investigators say the two conspired to poison Mrs. Mallonee in hopes that she would die.

Hate the sinner, hate the sin, hate the fellow Christians who love the (ostensible) sinner. Also, fuck with their property. That’s what Jesus taught, isn’t it?

A progressive, pro-gay marriage church in the greater Minneapolis area was vandalized over the weekend.

Vandals threw eggs at the windows of the Pilgrims United Church of Christ in Maple Grove and scribbled “church of Sodom and Gomorrah” on the building’s exterior walls.

The church had been targeted before, when pro-gay signs were stolen, and when someone wrote hateful graffiti on the walls.