A pastor who was "betrothed" to a child, then abused her, is finally in custody (Livestream) 

Nah, the parents need to be arrested too.

shame on the parents for utterly failing to protect their daughter from a pedo.

When are we going to take away the tax exempt status from these criminals?

As a Filipino, i felt my stomach DROP hearing he was coming to the Philippines. Usually sex offenders from the West don’t just go to Southeast Asian countries just to “learn more about the culture…..”

And this is why children marrying needs to be fully illegal with none of this "with guardians' permission" crap... and all marriages that occurred when either party was under 18 completely ANNULLED.

The senior pastor should have been charged with trafficking.

So who are the groomers again? Everyone who was involved, everyone who knew and said nothing, should go to prison. Let the general population know why they are there too.

The move to home schooling is also a way to keep the child from making a comment regarding what’s going on where it is heard by a mandatory reporter. No one that can report will hear allegations of abuse or see bruises if they never leave the house.

I grew up in a similar "christian" community... one closely linked to the Bakers, Hagee and Copeland. I saw men in their 40s and older married to 14, 15 and 16 year old girls... while I was in my mid-teens. All for the glory of god! Thankfully I was kicked out of my family and home at the age 16 for not having sufficient faith to heal my father's cancer with prayer alone. It is with great relief that today I can continue to declare myself an atheist orphan - and have no regrets for my decision to never look back. I wish this young woman the strength and resolve to see that scoundrel imprisoned for life.

I never want to hear another right winger whine about drag queens. EVER!

I am a retired attorney and a retired cop. As a cop, I trained a guy who had recently graduated from the police academy. He was in his thirties and had been a full-time youth pastor at a major church prior to joining the police department. When I asked why he had left his church, he told me he had felt called to become a cop. The guy was extremely arrogant and unpleasant but he did learn well enough to perform the core functions of the job so he passed his probationary period and became a permanent member of the police department. Years later, I received a telephone call from a friend telling me that my former trainee had committed suicide. He had lived in an area covered by a different law enforcement agency. Somebody from that agency apparently called him and told him that they were on the way to his house to arrest him for molesting his children. He fled his house and shot himself in a parking lot. Whenever I think about that guy, I wonder if there was another reason he left his job as a youth pastor. Did he get caught by the church? Did they keep things quiet? I am unlikely to ever know for certain but I have my suspicions.

Sounds like the parents funneled this girl to the groomer, they need to be in trouble too.

"Without God, you can't you possibly have morality!" apologists say to me all the time, yet I never once tried to start a relationship with or marry an underage girl like his pastor.

But, somehow, they would have been mortified if a 26 year old man wanted to court their 14 year old son.

This is what "traditional biblical marriage" really looks like.

If someone said "I am drawn to your daughter" when she's 14 and hes 26, at BEST im gonna have to be pulled away before be gets whooped. These parents are complicit in this, and are equally responsible.

Same old, same old. The morally superior group, apparently🤷‍♂️

Religion is so F'd up I can't even talk out loud sometimes for all the "wtf" will never stop 🤬

I’ve been following the case of a pastors wife who may or may not have unalived herself. He started as her youth pastor and started grooming her at 14 as well.

Religion: "We are exonerated from telling the truth, following the law and living in reality, and our corruption is protected by a thing we call 'deeply held beliefs'."

What outstanding parents. They should be prosecuted for neglect.

Btw .. we are currently hearing the whispers of women shouldn’t vote, child marriage is ok, and there’s no such thing as marital rape …travel for women is being restricted. We do not confront religious delusions enough …we excuse it. It’s nuts.

every accusation is a confession

My step neice was being sexually abused by her father. When she broke her silence 7 years in, her mother took her to the family priest instead of going to the authorities. The priest suggested... you guessed it, prayer. I didn't find out this was happening until he was finally arrested.

Pennsylvania has let priests get away with thousands of child sex abuse cases. When Kathleen Kane , ran for AG on that single issue, she was harassed and challenged throughout her entire term. They eventually drove her out of office. There are many cases in Pa. involving judges, priests and bishops. They were running childrens prison camps and the judges were getting kickbacks for sending kids for up to a year in confinement for minor issues. Pa. is also the proud state where a woman died in prison while she was held for her childs truancy from skool..

He clearly went on the run because he came to terms with the fact he is a rapist and knew cops would likely start looking for him since she was 18 and likely resistant. Glad he was caught.

Back in the mid-90s when I was in high school, a friend who had been in this local church her whole life convinced our friend group (about 6 of us) to start attending the weekly youth group and then regular services on Sundays. One of the youth group leaders (he was 26 at the time, we were freshmen) had a massive crush on this friend. By the end of the school year, his stunts had escalated to serenading her with love songs in front of the entire youth group, and saying that he could show up to our high school graduation with an engagement ring if she'd have him. 🙄 At the time, I remember just being so damn jealous because I had a huge crush on that guy. Now that I'm 43, and hearing this story, I feel nothing but icky at all the behaviors that all the other adults turned a blind eye to.

When parents fail to recognize the 'power imbalance' that exists in these situations, the child is the victim, the parents and the pastor are both culpable.

The parents need to be prosecuted for allowing this to happen. They knew what his intentions were and they allowed him to abuse her.

I was once shamed by a pastor in church before he preached because I was warring long shorts exposing my knees😢 I was a young mother and in the quiver full cult, I was being blamed for his lustful thoughts in front of the congregation 😮 I walked out because I was in the front row and he wasn’t stopping his ranting.

EVERYONE who knew about it and did nothing to stop it should be charged as accessories. That entire church and their congregation should be investigated. If this gets swept under the rug, then the criminals win

I hear so many stories about Pedophile youth pastors! Just horrible! Thanks for sharing.

I live in Brisbane, Australia. I would have found him for her!! It’s well known here that if a middle aged man goes to the Philippines, he’s usually going for young girls. I’m glad she’s on her way to receiving justice

At 18, she was TOO OLD for him. 😒

Okay, but as an Australian ... what the heck was my government doing? It took the Philippines authorities to catch him? Shameful.

Thats the whole reason dude wanted her to be homeschooled… so that she wouldn't learn from friends/others that what was happening to her was wrong.

I commend this young woman for speaking up and pressing charges. And if I were her, I'd sue that "church" into bankruptcy.

I think I am gonna... 🤢🤮. Utterly disgusting! The inner strength of this woman astounds me. For her to go through this ordeal and fight for justice which is often denied for so long is just another example of our country failing women.

“Youth pastor” are two words that makes the hair come up on the back of my neck

Youth pastor. Those two magic words.

Ive been there. My father did the same ,he said no one would believe me. He also threatened to kill me or send me to a girls home. He groomed me to believe I owed him for him " saving me," from my mother.

These religious people seem to feel entitled, lack empathy, and have a sense of grandiosity. It is unfortunate that narcissistic behavior seems to be rewarded in our society.

Kudos to the Philippines authorities for stopping this monster from entering their country.

Religion will Destroy the Workd

So glad that this creep will be held accountable for his awful crimes. Oh, btw, as a former Queenslander, thought you'd like to know that Brisbane is pronounced Brisb-n (forget about a and the e).

Sarah is so brave and strong. I wish her the best.

marriage would ruin his ministry but assaulting a minor wouldn't? make it make sense

Not exactly what I wanted to learn about with my morning coffee but I feel a duty to know about these behaviours and soundly denounce them at every turn. Thanks, Hemant ❣️

Oh !! we have another contender for the vice president for the republican party

A good friend of mine became Christian. Only after going a megachurch did he begin talking about how morally superior he was to non-believers. He even said he was more moral than all of us, his lifelong friends. He was a decent person before, but now I can't be sure because only immoral people talk about how moral they are.

‘Youth Pastor’ is a RED FLAG.

The original reason for parental consent to minors marrying was because they were expected to be marrying other minors, and because once upon a time an unmarried mother would be unable to get work or get married to anyone else, and would find it really hard to support her child: and illegitimate babies were disinherited. None of those reasons have applied for generations.

Essentially the same thing happened at my church about 15 years ago. The youth pastor offered to give spiritual counseling to a 14 year old girl. So you can guess what happened.

I bet he left because she was "too old" for his tastes 🤢🤮

Thank you Hemant for speaking about Christians addressing issues that other Christians do. It was my main focus for over 20 years to get them to see they need to make amends and heal the trauma caused by their own people. It is long past time for them to take responsibility for the trauma to their religion caused by their own.

I think he wanted her out of school so she wouldn't develop a crush on a boy her own age. Being around her peers, she would have seen how strange it was for an older man to want to date her.

Hemant, Brian from Portland. Please let this woman know that I am pulling for her and sending my karma from Portland. She has amazing strength. And thanks for all you do. Peace and love.

There is an average of 460 of these marriages per year in America. The untold story did a documentary called " I was a child bride " well worth a look, this is a way for pedophile to escape justice. A child has no legal rights to enable them to leave until they turn 18 .

As a former member of the cult "Jehovah's Witnesses" (I was born into it); I am well familiar with the topic of child SA within the congregations and the cover up which extends -to this day- to the top of the religion. JWs are governed by and live under the control of, an entity called the governing body, located in New York state. In the local congregations around the world, the governing body is represented by the "elders" who are always men. If someone within the congregation commits an infraction (against their very strict rules); they would be held accountable by the elders in an arrangement called a Judicial Committee. If you are underage, they don't care how young, you cannot have your parents with you. In the case of SA, the elders invoke something called the two witness rule. An obscure verse which I cannot hope to remember after all these years, says something to the effect that a matter can only be established as a fact if there are two witnesses. There are, of course, exceptions to that. If the two witnesses were not JWs, they cannot be believed, for example. And if the two witnesses are women and the man says it never happened, they would believe the man over two women who witnessed the assault (generally speaking). Check out the Pennsylvania's Attorney General's office is currently at this time, investigating JWs in Pennsylvania and trying to build a case for all of this mentioned above, which as I said goes all the way to the top. Sorry to hijack your comments with this. It really triggered this response in me and I think this is worth a mention. Thanks for what you do.

Child marriage is legal in like 26+ states.

Gross, this guy deserves jail time. The parents are just as much to blame here too. I'm glad that she may get some closure.

The parents should be jailed for child endangerment

But 'family values' right?

Religion destroys everything it touches

The grooming is coming from inside the church.

WHAT?!?!?!?! Yeah, I'm gonna bounce on outta here because NO! But also had to leave a like and comment to boost the channel. I don't know how you do it, deep diving into this craziness that is "christianity", but it's appreciated that you bring these news stories to greater attention. It's need to know. The world needs to know. But this will get me too riled up; I don't think I have the capacity to deal with this correctly. Well done to you, and all y'all out there that can handle the outrage. I just don't have the can for when kids are involved/abused, especially when it's deemed okay by any religion.

Some people just don't deserve their organs

The parents NEED TO BE IN PRISON!

Hmmmm...why do I think that the pastor might consider himself a republican?

One small correction. It is not in the bible that Mary was young and Joseph was much older. Their ages are not mentioned. That idea came later as part of the ancient church's weird purity culture, that a woman who was so close to god, could not possibly want to get laid.

This poor woman is the same age as me apparently. Somehow that makes it even more horrifying.

My grandfather was 23 when he married my grandmother at 15. It wasn't common then, but not unusual. Today, that would raise a lot of red flags even if there was no sexual abuse involved. The fact that any adult, be it the parents or the church involved here, said nothing shows just how dangerous the church is today.

In the autobiography of Ann Eliza Young, Brigham Young's nineteenth wife, she recounts that he told everyone he felt "drawn" to her when she was SEVEN. She tried her best not to end up married to him - even marrying another man, but when that man died, she was forced to join Young's harem. After all, if a woman is only property, why not "buy" her as early as possible?

A family member belonged to a church which had a youth pastor who regularly got up in front of the congregation and sobbed, moaned & wailed, saying we all were terrible sinners who didn't deserve forgiveness. It turned out his wife was a girls' sports coach at a local high school. The youth pastor somehow managed to get time alone with several of his wife's students and abuse them and had full reason to be wailing to God for forgiveness.

I remain convinced that a person can get away with the most hideous crimes against humanity if they can only get themselves called Reverend or Pastor.

How did "everyone in the community know", and then did nothing to stop this? Good on her for coming forward about this, but if only an adult had stepped in *during the time* a child was being taken advantage of instead of years later or never.

We're not using the “groomer” term often enough when we discuss religious groomers, and it should also apply to any of their forced ideology tactics involving kids, public education, libraries, etc.

A child can't enter into a contract. Why is child marriage still legal anywhere? It sucks!

Sarah sounds like a really good person, despite her horrific childhood. That financial therapy sounds like a great way of helping people, and it speaks so well of her character that she's chosen to do that. Thank goodness the creep was intercepted, hope he gets justice.

Great coverage, Hemant. Thank you.

These types of men, in this day and age, who lack boundaries about this kind of thing, are very strange, and their viewpoints disturbing. We are not 500-3,000 years in the past. Social mores, and lifespan, have changed over time, and thus, it is not any longer acceptable.

I know a church in Michigan where @buse of children has been swept under the rug for decades...this does not suprise me at all. 😒

great reporting thank you brother

I think he knew Australia was looking for him for the US and he thought he could hide in the Phillipines

Her parents are equally guilty.

Fellowship of the Vine, I heard your priests like them young. You lost the right to criticize anyone. Better not catch any y’all in cell block one.

Thank you for the update! I feel lighter and more at peace this Sunday morning simply hearing about Sarah feeling lighter and more at peace. 🙏🏽✌🏽💙 from Minnesota

Thank you for sharing this story. She is amazing. And thank you for having a heart that can be moved so deeply.

Purity culture is grooming.

In the Philippines this guy may have planned to snag other young gurls

There is no case for a child being betrothed or married. Once a person is 18+ then choices can be made. Anyone who wants it asks for a romantic relationship with a child is deserving of jail time.

Thanks Hement, I hope it comes out all right for her.

Apparently in that church common decency is an unknown phenomenon.

Good ole Christian "morality".

Thank you Hemant. ❤

Why didn't the parents question? Because they were taught to NOT question Pastors and he was a YOUTH PASTOR. Above reproach by definition.

Nothing will come of it. If you don’t believe me, after the charges get dropped, or the case gets thrown-out, or he’s acquitted, come back here and apologize for not believing me…

Is this what Jess Edward’s meant when he said the freedom of marriage? Eww…

NEVER underestimate California's ability to screw this up! I know, I live here.

I enjoy your ability to make a presentation with so much authenticity and intelligence