The Rev. Mac Hammond , founder of Living Word Christian Center in Brooklyn Park , told his congregation in a letter that an IRS investigation is "politically motivated," and part of "a very clear effort, on a national scale, to discredit, defame and intimidate ministries and preachers of what has been called the ' prosperity gospel .'" In his first public comments about the IRS inquiry, Hammond, who heads one of the state's larger churches with nearly 10,000 members and reaches a greater audience through Sunday TV broadcasts, said that those "behind these attacks [are] enemies of the gospel." "They are fearful not only of the moral imperative communicated by these ministries, but the growing wealth and influence of those constituencies," he wrote. The IRS has filed a petition in U.S. District Court to force the church to answer a demand for detailed financial information. The church declined to comply with an IRS summons in March, ar...

An 18-year-old man testified yesterday in Forsyth Superior Court that he regularly had sex with his pastor over a three-year period, from when he was 15 to 17. The man is the first of two people expected to testify this week that they had sex with Rodney Keith Boothe, 40, a former pastor at Greater Church of Deliverance on North Cherry Street, which also is known as Christ Cathedral Church of Deliverance . Boothe faces 42 sex-related charges. The second person expected to testify is a 15-year-old boy whose family took in Boothe's family for a week in 2006 when the Boothes were kicked out of their home for not paying rent. The 15-year-old is expected to testify that the sex acts happened when he was 13 and 14. The 18-year-old first met Boothe at a church in Wilmington , where the boy was living with a family member. He moved in 2005 to Virginia, where he stayed with his grandmother. By then, Boothe had moved to the church in Winston-Salem and agreed to take him in. The boy was 15 ...

Pastor Michael Guglielmucci spun gospel of lies HE preached to thousands about his terminal illness and tugged at hearts with a hit song. The problem is, the pastor wasn't dying at all. Michael Guglielmucci , who inspired hundreds of thousands of young Christians with his terminal cancer "battle", has been exposed as a fraud. Guglielmucci , whose parents established Edge Church International, an Assemblies of God church at O'Halloran Hill in Adelaide 's southern suburbs, now is seeking professional help. Earlier this year, Mr Guglielmucci released a hit song, Healer, which was featured on Sydney church Hillsong 's latest album. The song debuted at No. 2 on the ARIA charts . It since has become an anthem of faith for believers, many of whom are suffering their own illness and were praying for a miracle for Mr Guglielmucci, who has claimed for two years to be terminally ill. In one church performance that has attracted 300,000 hits on YouTube, he performs his ...

POWDER SPRINGS, Ga -- Her job was to teach children the Christian way of life. Now she is charged with what her church might consider the ultimate sin. Twenty-four year old Holly Barnes, a teacher at Grace Baptist Church Christian School in Powder Springs , is accused of having sex with a child. The Paulding County Sheriff Office is investigating the charges against Barnes. Investigators say they are concerned there may be more victims. The arrest of a teacher came as a shock to members of the church who picked up their kids from school Wednesday afternoon. "Anytime anything like that happens it always concerns you," said David Collins who was picking up his grandchild. A woman who said her name was "Miss Birdsong' said "As a Christian, we need to just pray for her and that's what I'll do." Barnes was charged Tuesday with two counts of statutory rape and two counts of child molestation for having sex with a 14-year old boy. Paulding County investi...

Katy Perry's Evangelical Parents Call Hit Song 'Shameful' Oh, to be a fly on the wall at the Perry house this holiday season. The evangelical parents of chart-topping singer Katy Perry have condemned their daughter's hit song "I Kissed a Girl" and are blaming the big city lights of Los Angeles for steering their little girl away from gospel music in favor of sex innuendo-laden pop. "I hate the song," Perry's mother, Mary Hudson, is quoted by Daily Record. "It clearly promotes homosexuality and its message is shameful and disgusting. Katy knows how I feel. We are a very outspoken family." Hudson, a pastor, said she was in "total shock" after hearing the song for the first time. "When it comes on the radio I bow my head and pray." "I Kissed a Girl" is the second single from Perry's album "One of the Boys." Perry has said that the song is "about the magical beauty of a woman." Her care...

MABANK — First Baptist Church of Mabank youth minister Joshua Neal Ponder, 32, was arrested Aug. 13, for sexual assault of a teenager. Mabank Police Chief Kyle McAfee said Ponder confessed to charges related to a 16-year-old male victim. The assault allegedly occurred April 8 but was not reported until Aug. 8, according to reports. The teenager is not a member of the church. The Rev. Brent Tucker of First Baptist Church of Mabank, Chairman of the Deacons Randy Teague and Minister of Music Chris Sweet conducted a press conference at the church Thursday. The three released a statement on behalf of the church. “We are deeply saddened by the circumstances that involve Josh Ponder prior to and during his employment at FBC Mabank,” the statement read. “We lift up in prayer his family and those who have been affected. The FBC Mabank does not condone these alleged actions. ... “We have accepted the resignation of Ponder effective Aug. 14. We are in prayer for our youth and their parents at ...

Maryville - It's a crime you hate to hear about. Your children violated at church where they're supposed to be the safest. Two married youth leaders are accused of raping teenage girls. Police tell us there could be even more victims. A sign on the door of the Lord's Disciples Church on Old Knoxville Highway in Maryville tells visitors all services and activities are canceled until further notice. This after two of their youth ministers are charged with eight counts of sexual battery and rape with 15-year-old girls. "It's even more disturbing cause it's right here at home," Maryville Police Chief Tony Crisp said. Chief crisp says last Tuesday, three teens, their parents and a youth pastor came to police alleging sexual misconduct by church youth leaders Michael and Laura Salazar, both 35 years old, of Wrights Road in Louisville. After extensive interviews, police say four teens claim they allegedly took part in sex acts with the Salazars dating back to S...

A South Georgia minister who robbed a bank Friday afternoon remains in jail. Fifty-one-year-old Jim Creason told the officers who arrested him that he was financially desperate. The Sheriff's office says they have more property crimes occur when the economy is down, but a psychologists says that's not enough reason for someone to resort to crime. Leesburg First Baptist Pastor Bobby Harrell describes his former associate pastor, Jim Creason, as a good Christian man, with a big heart. He says something must have snapped to cause Creason to use a gun to rob the Heritage Bank Friday. "He obviously was in his particular case he was very desperate, his world had pretty well crumbled he was in a desperate situation," said Lee County Chief Deputy Dennis Parker. It's these desperate financial situations that are driving property crimes, like metal thefts and car break-ins up. "Property crimes always historically have gone up during economic downturns when people have ...

Jury finds "Apostle" Neulan Midkiff guilty on all counts in a scam that took in as much as $390 million. A U.S. District Court jury in Minneapolis found preacher Neulan Midkiff guilty on August 1 on all 21 counts of mail and wire fraud and tax evasion, as his family sobbed in the courtroom. Assistant U.S. Attorney Tim Rank then asked that Midkiff be taken into custody immediately because he was a flight risk, and U.S. District Judge Michael Davis agreed. Midkiff family members then began shouting and were moved out of the courtroom by sheriff's deputies. One collapsed outside the courtroom. "Mr. Rank, oh my God, what kind of person are you?" yelled one of Midkiff's daughters. "God have mercy on you." Midkiff, 66, got many of his friends and neighbors involved in an Atlanta company called Horizon Enterprise, which promised high returns on an overseas banking deal but was actually a pyramid scheme that took in as much as $390 million. The scam paid...

Dr. William R. Crews , 73 and founder of " The Awakening Hour " television ministry, was arrested for criminal domestic violence on July 29, according to reports from the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office. He was released on July 30. Spartanburg County Dispatchers received a 911 call from Freda Crews at 7:16 p.m. on the date. From Crew's website : Dr. William R. Crews is a native of Starke, Florida. In his early life he was a professional pool hustler who later became an alcoholic. After being saved out of a life of deep sin, the Lord called him to preach the Gospel and to teach the Word of God. Freda told a deputy who responded to the scene that William came to the house drunk while she was sleeping. Freda said she and William began to argue and she came to fear for her safety. She became so frightened, she told officers, that she locked herself in a bathroom with a gun. She then called her daughter and told her to call 911. Freda told the deputy that it wasn’t the fi...

Long controversial for its aggressive evangelism aimed at those with a troubled past -- ex-convicts and drug addicts among them -- the Anaheim -based Christian motorcycle gang known as the Set Free Soldiers found itself in deeper trouble Wednesday when its leader and half a dozen members were arrested on suspicion of attempted murder. The arrests, which followed a double stabbing in a brawl with the Hells Angels at a Newport Beach bar July 27, was the latest brush with the law for the group of black-leather-clad bikers, which has straddled the line between Christian outreach group and outlaw motorcycle gang. By late Wednesday, authorities had arrested 10 members of the Set Free Soldiers and the Hells Angels during raids in Anaheim, Costa Mesa and Rancho Santa Margarita that started at 5 a.m., said Sgt. Evan Sailor of the Newport Beach Police Department. The operation involved more than 150 officers, including SWAT teams and federal drug enforcement agents. Seven members of the Set Fr...