BY NATASHA KORECKI Federal Courts Reporter They just heard that the bishop who stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from their church was headed for prison. But it was as if they had been told a family member had died. They held hands, sobbed, hugged and broke into song and prayer as the news of William Ellis' prison sentence swept over the sea of congregants that stuffed into a federal courtroom and overflowed into a courthouse hallway Tuesday. They later stood in line to pay their tearful respects to Ellis, 62, former bishop of the Apostolic Pentecostal Church of Morgan Park, who was sentenced to 18 months in prison. Owes IRS $165,000 He had pleaded guilty to felony tax fraud charges and admitted taking $1,000 a month from weekly collections. The feds say he stole $520,000 from 1996 to 2001 and owes the IRS about $165,000. They say he used church money to buy a second Mercedes Benz, even though the church already had given him a Mercedes for church business. They say he paid o...

LITHONIA, Ga. (AP) -- The pastor of Georgia’s biggest megachurch was also the biggest beneficiary of the nonprofit religious charity he founded, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution has reported. Bishop Eddie Long Ministries, Inc. provided Long with more than three million dollars in salary and benefits between 1997 and 2000, including a one-point-four million dollar, 20 acre home and use of a 350-thousand dollar Bentley automobile. Long has pastored New Birth Missionary Baptist Church since 1987 and started the now-defunct charity in 1995. During his 18-year tenure, the church has swelled from 300 members to 25 thousand. The 52-year-old pastor says his church is an international corporation and that his congregation is inspired by his success. Critics say the benefits he received as an executive of the charity were excessive and in opposition to federal guidelines for such nonprofit groups.

By Melissa Ross First Coast News LEON COUNTY, FL -- The Leon County Sheriff's Office arrested a former pastor on pornography charges. Aaron D. West, 49, is accused of sending nude pictures of a man to two girls in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. The investigation began when a detective in Wisconsin alerted authorities in Bradford County about a man in the area sending nude photos to the young girls. Investigators questioned West about the matter. West reportedly admitted to investigators to communicating in an internet chat room and sending nude photos of a man other than himself. Investigators believe West had been sending the photos and communicating with the minors since 2002 when he served as pastor of the Faith Baptist Church in Lawtey. West is no longer a pastor at the church. Investigators believe West lives and works in Tallahassee. Authorities confiscated West's home computer and related equipment. He is being held in the Leon County Jail on a $50,000 bond. West is due in court ...

AP National & World News By BETH RUCKER SMYRNA, Tenn. - Members of a church say God is punishing American soldiers for defending a country that harbors gays, and they brought their anti-gay message to the funerals Saturday of two Tennessee soldiers killed in Iraq. The church members were met with scorn from local residents. They chased the church members cars' down a highway, waving flags and screaming "God bless America." "My husband is over there, so I'm here to show my support," 41-year-old Connie Ditmore said as she waved and American flag and as tears came to her eyes. "To do this at a funeral is disrespectful of a family, no matter what your beliefs are." The Rev. Fred Phelps, founder of Westboro Baptist in Kansas, contends that American soldiers are being killed in Iraq as vengeance from God for protecting a country that harbors gays. The church, which is not affiliated with a larger denomination, is made up mostly of Phelps' child...

Three leaders of a Korean church in Sydney have been jailed for bashing a young woman who failed to regularly attend services. Junior assistant pastor Chi Yeong Yun, 37, and Bible study teachers Tom Chae-Yong Lee, 22, and James Kang, 21, from Chatswood's Open Door Presbyterian Church, pleaded guilty to assaulting Angela Kim, 19, in July last year. In the NSW District Court, acting Judge Joe Gibson named Yun as the "architect of the plan" to punish Ms Kim for not regularly attending the church and disrespecting her elders. Yun was given a 12 month jail term, Kang was sentenced to nine months, and Lee received a three month sentence. The court was told Ms Kim was picked up at the Waitara train station on July 8 last year and was taken by the men to a park at Bobbin Head in Sydney's north. She was kicked and punched for about two hours, leaving her with extensive bruising to her arms, legs and buttocks. Two nights later, Kang went to Ms Kim's home and smashed her por...

By Fred Jackson (AgapePress) - There's a new poll out which points to a growing rejection among Evangelicals that Jesus is the only way of salvation. For years, most evangelical Christians have been taught and accepted the words of Jesus in John 14:6, where He states, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and no man cometh unto the Father but my Me." But now a new Newsweek/Beliefnet poll is showing a shocking number of people who call themselves evangelical and born-again have come to reject those words. The question in the poll read: "Can a good person who isn't of your religious faith go to heaven or attain salvation, or not?" According to the poll results of more than 1,000 adults 18 years of age and older, 68 percent of evangelical Christians believe "good" people of other faiths can also go to heaven. Nationally, 79 percent of those surveyed said the same thing, with an "astounding" 91 percent agreement among Catholics, notes Belie...

Christian broadcaster calls leader 'a terrific danger' (CNN) -- Conservative Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson has called for the United States to assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, calling him "a terrific danger" bent on exporting Communism and Islamic extremism across the Americas. "If he thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it," Robertson told viewers on his "The 700 Club" show Monday. "It's a whole lot cheaper than starting a war." Robertson, a contender for the Republican presidential nomination in 1988, called Chavez "a dangerous enemy to our south, controlling a huge pool of oil, that could hurt us badly." "We have the ability to take him out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability," Robertson said. "We don't need another $200 billion war to get rid of one strong-arm dictator. It's a whole lot easier to have...

A Union County pastor, former NAACP president and Union County School Board member faces charges of child molestation. George Watson's picture and details of the molestation charges against him are all over the front page of the Union Daily Paper, while the charges date back nearly 10 years ago, the 21-year-old victim says he wants closure now. Watson is charged with three counts of criminal sexual conduct with a minor. According to police, the victim is Watson's relative. The incidents allegedly happened when the boy was 12 or 13 years old through his senior year of high school. The Sheriff's Office report says Watson sexually assaulted the boy at several locations in Union and Spartanburg counties. The victim says Watson performed oral sex acts on him, against his will. Sexually instances allegedly happened at Watson's home, the church where he was a preacher at and Arthur State Bank. Many people who know Watson did not want to go on camera, but say he's a good ma...

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The leader of a church that hired a convicted paedophile yesterday conceded it was a mistake. Sex offender Christopher Winslow Darrell was “a gifted musician” who was hired to be a musical director because the pastor wanted to give him second chance, we were told. The leader, who like the pastor and the church, cannot be identified for legal reasons, told the Bermuda Sun yesterday that when he and the pastor discovered that Mr. Darrell had fondled a boy with whom he had been playing the piano “we were as upset as the public was.” The leader said the pastor had been hoping that the Lord would step in and help Mr. Darrell to change his ways, but everyone now understands that it is difficult for people like Mr. Darrell to control themselves around children. “We will be taking every step to prevent this from happening again,” he said. Mr. Darrell, 41, of Spring Hill, Warwick was jailed for four years last week in Supreme Court for the offence — his fifth conviction for a similar offence in...

AUGUSTA — A former pastor has admitted in court to videotaping under the skirt of a teenage girl at a mall last summer. Michael Jay Brown is a former assistant pastor at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Martinez. He pleaded guilty Thursday to child molestation and was sentenced to 10 years probation, a $5,000 fine and 200 hours of community service. Before his July 2004 arrest, Brown also was a volunteer working with abused and neglected children. He lost both positions after his arrest. At his sentencing, Brown said he is thankful he was arrested. He has been to a residential treatment program and now attends counseling for sex addiction. He vowed to never do it again. Brown said he got the idea of taping under skirts from Internet web sites. He said he didn't think it was illegal or would harm anyone at the time. But he said he now understands his acts were an invasion of privacy. In July 1986, Brown was arrested for peeping into a woman's bedroom window. He said in his pol...

PAXTON, Ill. A Ford County jury convicted a former Gibson City minister yesterday on two counts of criminal sexual assault. The Reverend Danny Hill, former pastor of the First Baptist Church in Gibson City, was accused of molesting a woman for more than six years. The 54-year-old Hill faces from four to 15 years in prison and up to a 25-thousand-dollar fine for each count when he is sentenced next month. Jurors heard recordings police made of telephone calls between Hill and the victim, who is now 22. In the calls, she confronted Hill and he appeared to admit his guilt. The woman testified that Hill had sexually molested her two to three times a week from the time she was 14 until last year. link