Reply #23: Yes. By an evangelical minister, and I was very, very young! [View All]

[Daphne08]

It's a long story that I do not wish to discuss in depth on the internet, but I swear by all that is holy, it's true.

This was a long time ago when evangelical ministers were in the habit of preaching "the circuit route" all over the country (mainly in the South, I believe, although I could be wrong about this).

These preachers usually had no congregation of their own. They would move from church to church -- from state to state -- for the purpose of preaching at week-long Revivals.

Back then, there were many more charlatans in the "evangelical business" of Revivalism. (I know that there were many true Christian Evangelical Revival preachers back then, too, so I'm not criticizing them all per se.)

Anyway, these preachers would usually stay in a town for a week or so at a time, preaching to the congregation, enjoying the luxury of free meals and free lodging in the homes of the congregation, accepting "monetary offerings" from them and "a fee" from the church.

Then they would move on to another church often in another state (which is probably the reason that this vile man felt free to do what he did).

I feel certain that he has long since died (he was old even back then) because my own childhood was so very long ago, but I've often wondered how many innocent young people he left in his wake over the years.

I never told anyone about him (not until I was an adult) because as a child I assumed that it was I who had done something wrong, which was/is still a common occurrence, I believe.