It’s probably a bad sign when your preacher wants you to run him his money in the name of the Lord for a new G650 private jet.
Talk all you want about glass houses and casting the first stone, but these 13 preachers who allegedly fleeced their flock definitely caught some figurative hell for their actions.
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Photo: YouTube Screen Capture
Mason “Ma$e” Betha
No one really knows if he’s a rapper or a preacher. Granted, the worst things on Ma$e’s record are lying about his Instagram followers, dating an almost underage Brandy back in the day, and “Window Shopper.” Nevertheless, he’s still treated like a jackleg preacher.
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Deitrick Haddon
Can you enter the pearly gates as a member of a struggle reality show? Even if you forget about the mess that is Preachers Of L.A., someone might want to explain the whole nude photos scandal as well as Haddon having a baby out of wedlock.
photo: WENN
Jim Bakker
Before Bill Cosby was serving up Quaalude-flavored Jell-O pudding pops, Bakker was involved in a scandal that found him in the middle of accusations of financial fraud and accusations of drugging and subsequently smashing one of his assistants.
Ted Haggard
His admission of being involved in a homosexual relationship with one of his church volunteers caused Haggard’s 2006 fall from grace. Suffice it to say the 45,000 parishioners Haggard represented in both the New Life Church and the National Association of Evangelicals weren’t particularly quick to forgive.
Thomas Wesley Weeks Jr.
It’s hard to tell which is more shocking: Weeks being accused of stomping and beating his wife Juanita Bynum in an Atlanta parking lot or the fact that Bynum later admitted to several lesbian affairs.
Jimmy Swaggart
While the Bible doesn’t explicitly say, “Thou shalt not get caught twice with hookers,” it’s a safe bet two prostitution scandals ruined any credibility Swaggart once had.
Gaston Smith
In 2009, Smith was cracked for essentially pulling a reverse Robin Hood amid allegations of stuffing his coffers with $10,000 worth of county money earmarked for the low income community he claimed to be assisting. The Lord obviously wanted Smith to have fresh pairs of gators.
Henry “Deacon” Lyons
There’s nothing like the 1998 scandal that found Lyons facing charges of fraud, extortion, money laundering, conspiracy, and tax evasion to make you think twice about dropping money into the collection plate.
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Reverend Al Sharpton
Connect the dots and use your Googles, and you’ll find evidence of Sharpton as an FBI informant and possibly a perpetrator of shakedowns in the form of “community relations” involving both Michael Jackson and Amy Pascal.
Terry Hornbuckle
It’s never a good sign when your unofficial nickname is “The Reverend Freak.” In 2006, “Bishop” Hornbuckle was convicted of drugging and raping three women—two of which were members of his Arlington, Texas church.
Bishop Eddie Long
After settling several lawsuits with young men accusing him of sexual assault in 2010, the general opinion seems to be that Long needs to be “delivert.”
Creflo Dollar
The man infamous for asking his flock to finance his Gulfstream private jet was also hit with a misdemeanor battery charge in 2009 after his daughter claimed he beat and choked her. That’s probably not what Proverbs meant by not withholding the rod.
Pastor Mark Driscoll
Between using church tithes to buy copies and boost sales of his book and posting vulgar comments on his Mars Hill Church’s online forum, it’s been a wrap for Driscoll for a while now.
