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Subscribe to RSSBROOMFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. -- As police frantically worked to figure out how his fiancée's 24-year-old daughter had vanished, a Michigan pastor who had turned to God to shed his violent past went to his flock with a request: pray for her.
But all along, authorities say, he knew the sordid truth about where the young mother was.
The pastor, ex-convict John D. White, later confessed to killing Rebekah Gay to fulfill a fantasy of necrophilia, police said Friday. White drank four or five beers before going to the woman's mobile home and repeatedly striking her head with a mallet and strangling her with a zip tie, according to court documents.
Police said White stripped her dead body but does not remember if he carried out his sexual fantasy. After dumping the body early Wednesday, he returned to Gay's home and dressed her 3-year-old son in his Halloween costume, then later dropped him off with the boy's father.
"He kept saying he's a bad person, he's a pastor, he felt bad for the people in his church. ... I don't recall him being real remorseful at all with regard to the victim or anything else," Isabella County Sheriff Leo Mioduszewski told The Associated Press.
"He just basically said he was attracted to her, thought she was a very cute girl. It's a crazy, tragic situation," the sheriff added.
The case shocked the pastor's roughly 14-member congregation and raised questions about how a man who had found religion after a criminal past could return to that dark history.
White was in jail without bond Friday, a day after he was charged with first-degree murder in Gay's death in a rural area in Isabella County, 85 miles northwest of Lansing. The 55-year-old has asked for a court-appointed attorney.
White was engaged to Gay's mother and regularly watched her young son while she worked, said Donna Houghton, a church elder who had a role in hiring White three years ago to be pastor at Christ Community Fellowship. Church members, she said, were "absolutely floored" by the allegations.
"I protested his innocence until I had the absolute news that he confessed. Then he had no leg to stand on," she told the AP.
Before his arrest Thursday, White called Houghton to ask that she contact other church members and start a prayer chain for Gay, who still was missing at the time.
"He was pretty shook up. He said the police were giving him a hard time," Houghton said.
White confessed that day after being told the woman's body was likely to deteriorate in the cold, wet weather, Mioduszewski said. He said his fantasy had been fueled by pornographic videos.
'Contrite' over criminal past
Houghton said the congregation was aware of White's criminal past when he joined the church. He was released from prison in 2007, after serving nearly 12 years for manslaughter in the death of a 26-year-old woman in Kalamazoo County, according to the Michigan Corrections Department.
He had previously been sentenced to probation for choking and stabbing a 17-year-old Battle Creek girl in 1981.
"He was absolutely contrite," said Houghton, 76. "All kinds of people turn around and meet the Lord and they are a different person. He was doing a lot of good in the community. ... He was doing a lot of good and Satan did not want him doing good and Satan got to him."
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She said White got on her roof and cleaned her neglected gutters last week, a chore that inspired his Sunday talk. She recalled him saying during that sermon that "we need to check closely the seeds we sprout in ourselves. Nothing can be hidden from God."
At the trailer park on Friday, pictures of pumpkins and other Halloween decorations were still on Gay's home. Park resident Matt Brown said White regularly cut through his yard to visit Gay's trailer that was one street away.
Brown, 21, said White seemed to have scratches on his face when he told residents Wednesday that Gay was missing and that her car had been found outside a bar.
"It looked like he was in a struggle," Brown recalled.
Charles Kenworthy, another resident of the park about 11 miles west of Mount Pleasant, said the killing so close was "just scary."
"I would think they'd want to look into different people and their background before they let somebody live here," the 53-year-old said.
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For sure a "wolf in sheep's clothing!
He was a convicted ex-con, that served 12 years for manslaughter - wonder if it was a plea bargain down from a more serious charge? Also, fantasies of necrophilia? Wonder why he wanted to become a preacher in a "flock of 14"? 4 or 5 beers doesn't necessarily negate the evil mind from "forgetting".
Where do these perverted people come from?
He was given probation after choking and stabbing a 17-year-old girl in 1981. If he had been removed from society at that point, two people (that we know about) would be alive. That's the infuriating part. When a person is capable of choking and stabbing someone (discounting self-defense) does that not say enough about his violent tendencies?
I'm not buying that "can't remember" nonsense, either. He's just reluctant to admit he molested a corpse. (Gee, I wonder why.) I've lived in and loved Michigan my entire life, but lately it seems like the freak capitol of the country has been moved from Florida to Michigan.
What a sick world we live in.
Have a few beers, kill somebody, enjoy necrophilia and then praise the Lord.
As if Religion was going to cure this Sociopath?...sure; just blame it on Satan. Shall we blame all the Pedophilia the Catholic Church allowed to take place on Satan also?
Conservatives are quick to shout more accountability, but they can always blame Satan for their short-comings. It is never the "Chrisitan" perpetrator's innate craziness.
The hills of Michigan brew up some sick M F'ers (including militias).
This man was obviously an abortion that didn't happen.
machspeeddemon - You shouldn't be pointing a finger at Florida. I have lived in Michigan since 1998 and like it here. However, I was born and raised in Florida. Most people living in Florida are not Florida natives. Most of the crazies in Florida moved there from out of state, and there seems to be more Michiganders living in Florida than there are people from other states. Perhaps most of those freaks in Florida to whom you refer were originally from Michigan.
scales, simmer down. It used to be California in my younger days. And California still has many crazies. But today, Florida and the Upers are going at the crazy capital of the world neck and neck. Yes you are right, Florida's crazies are mostly transplants.
Hey, maybe he could still be a shanked, evil, slave to the violence of his nature because religion is BULL while spirit is TRUTH......just sayin'.
When are you brothers and sisters of the manuals going to actually get in your own spirits? Your Heart-mind-source Connection? I mean, like ever? 'Cause you been reading those manuals of yours for about 2000 years that you know of....(more like thousands and thousands of years since the Annunaki created your original defect. A genetic one. Severed you heart chakras).
How about just plain old PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY. No Satan, just him. He did it. Another excuse I'm getting pretty sick of.
"raises questions as to how a man who found religion could return to his dark past."
Thats by far the most naive comment I have ever heard anyone make. Religion OBVIOUSLY isn't something that makes people less perverse, less violent, or less insane, in fact it seems like the crazies flock to religion, either because they are afraid of what they see when they look in the miiror or they are using religion to hide the fact that they are evil. One has to look no further than the pedophile priests to understand that religion is not a cure for crazy and looking at Michelle Bachman and Rick Santorum proves that religion actually attracts nutjobs, that or creates them.
They let the sexual deviant out of prison, even though he stabbed a girl. I believe he now needs to be sentenced and executed ASAP! 2 weeks is long enough. He never had any religion in his heart in the first place. Just another one of those Bubba boys, some of you are so fond of.
Just one more case where religion rears it's ugly head. Sure...lets all believe that a terrible person says he repents ask is forgiven by some invisible man in the sky and everything will be just a-ok. NOT!!
When your mind is already warped by believing in invisible father gods in the sky...gods who say they love you but also flood the earth, kill their own son, and send you to hell forever, you're on your way to all kinds of irrational, dangerous things. There are a lot of wolves in sheep's clothing in fundamentalist Judaism, Islam, Mormonism, and Christianity. Bill Maher's movie Religulous nails it. And yeah, Michigan has a high percentage of KKK and ultra-conservative daddy god nutcases.
Calif and Fla attract the nutsy ones mainly because the climate is reasonable in both regions. Other places, it takes too much energy and money to live and do anti-social things in the cold. Mich is another story, however. Maybe they're the exception.
To Lee, above--"hills" of Michigan? Hills? Since when? Any high ground here is probably a landfill or a sand dune. We're flatter than Kansas here.
This is what happens when we appoint/vote in Judges who subscribe to a religious faith - everyone with half a brain knows the quickest path out of prison is to claim you found God. So where does God hang out in prisons - he sure is easy to find there.
Judges should be above such gullibility.
Beyond my horror at this man's psychopathic personality, I'm struck by the phrase "14 member congregation".....I guess I'm glad that so few people found this loser inspiring.
@ scales67:
I had to laugh when I read your post; as I was writing "moved from Florida to Michigan", I wondered if the freaks are all just returning back home from there.
Your point was well taken. I've never even met anyone who is actually from Florida. I'll bet the crazy-people stories out of there would be greatly reduced if you Floridians could make the long-term tourists go home. A belated welcome to Michigan to you, and good luck avoiding all the home-grown crazies here.
It's God's will.
There is nothing wrong with good honest people. Although the ones who believe themselves superior because they have no beliefs are shallow indeed.
Um, Bob, um...belief in superiority is a belief.
However a demeanor of disregard of the obviously ridiculous is just natural.....So often People who understand truth are seen as arrogant by the ignorant. It is an unavoidable conflict that results from their relative positions.
Just sentence him to death, put a bullet in his head and get it over with.
NC : How appropriate you would prove my point with your delusions of grandeur. Fancy yourself some great Oracle who is the holder of the truth? I will keep my position in the natural or neutral one. The perceived reality you project is very transparent. ( Lacking subtance )
I didn't get past reading that he confessed to killing this woman so he could have sex with her after she was dead. I'm sorry, he admitted to this, don't even bother with a trial. Kill this sick "thing" right now, right away. He's not human!!!
KhanKubla: Unfortunately, I fear he is all TOO human !!!
I'm getting pretty sick of these sickos and sociopaths that get religion in prison, period.
Every parolee I've ever talked to (in my former job, that was hundreds) said it was just a way to make things easier for themselves, rather than truly 'believing', implying to not do so would be the aberration, and that to question the wisdom/logic of it was crazy.
It may well be that it is 'the thing' to do, due to perks given and etc, but I have to wonder who or what actually benefits from a program that obviously doesn't have any verifiably positive long-term effect: are the Prison Ministry 'missionaries' that carry out these programs so enmeshed in their 'good works' and false success that they are unable to see beyond the prison gates and the harm they are doing? Especially when the jail-house 'conversion' reflects favorably at parole time? We need to examine statistically how much actual good evangelism does in prisons before it is allowed to be taken into consideration during parole.
This utter creep in Michigan is only one of many. But I am afraid it's going to take a lot more reform than most can accept before these homicidal perverts are incapable of harming ever again.
Evil people are persuaded by Satan. A few are just crazy.
The guy was just a sick $#%* and used religion as a way to get people to trust him. It says nothing bad about Christians since people from every faith or organization has done equally disgusting things.
And NC, all you're doing is showing yourself to be a high and mighty bigot. And after seeing many of your posts around here, you are in no position to claim intellectual superiority.
Actually, these little fundamentalist cults---14-member congregation and a readiness to excuse actions like these as the work of an imaginary being they refer to as Satan SCREAMS cult---troll for members among the prisons and mental hospitals all the time. They are usually made up of sex offenders and incestuous parents/relatives who perhaps haven't been caught yet, so they're more than willing to court sex offenders who have. Prison officials give all kinds of perks, including early parole, to anyone willing to play the jaysus game, and prison chapels are where the child molesters and rapists hang out. It gives them some protection from the general population, who don't much care if Satan made them do it or not. It gets people from the outside, who can put money on their commisary account, write letters to the parole board, and provide them with an address to parole to, which is a very big deal in most states.
What the fundamentalist "churches" get out of the deal is new members, of course. But many of the fundie cults are the serious terrorists that actually perform the firebombing of women's clinics and murder of doctors, among other hate crimes. And some of these groups, including the nationally known Operation Rescue, deliberately solicit members who they believe might be willing to commit such crimes, especially against providers of the Constitutionally-protected but practically terrorized into unavailability right of women to control their own bodies.
Prisons are the primary dumping ground for the seriously mentally ill, and have been since the 70's, when ronnie ray-gun emptied out the mental hospitals without ever actually providing the community programs that were supposed to replace them. In most prisons, around 50% of the population are mentally ill with conditions like schizophrenia, schizo-affective disorder, and other brain diseases characterized by delusions. I worked in a mental hospital about 20 years ago, and we had an ongoing battle against these cults preying upon the sickest patients. Mental patients, like all hospital patients, have the right to worship as they wish, and we welcomed the Catholic and mainline Protestant denominations, as they had staff that had a clue about mental health treatment and never tried to counsel patients to do things against their own good. The fundie cults, however, kept trying to get in and tell patients with delusions that it really was the voice of gawd talking to them, and that we were interfering with their being messengers from beyond. So a patient that had finally been stabilized on medication and was ready to be released, after one of these "services" or "pastoral visits," would throw away his medication so he could hear gawd again. And we'd have to start over again. And some of these were patients who had done horrific things and were only in a hospital rather than prison because they were so psychotic that they were unfit to be tried. You know, voices that told them to do things like cut off their mother's head and put it in the microwave; women who had murdered their infants because the 'devil' told them to. Of course they preferred to believe that they were special and that holy jaysus had a special mission for them, if only they would throw away the pills that kept them from hearing the words of gawd, rather than believe that they had broken brains and that the only way they could function was to take medication that had terrible side effects.
So I have very, very little sympathy for "churches" like this one. They knew what they were getting into when they went to prison courting rapists and child molesters to "help." It just turns out that this one happened to bite them in the ass.
This is not a wolf in sheep's clothing. He's a violent repeat offender and a killer. Their fault for getting mixed up with him. Cons often use the Lord to put people at ease and distract from their "activities." Do not get your family involved with convicted killers and you won't have this problem. Sorry if I seem insensitive but these people invited a convicted killer into their home. What did they think was going to happen?
Wall, my sister lives in a small town in Northern Missouri that has a congregation of about 15-20 people. They are a nice bunch of people and the minister is a good person and not some fanatical nut or anything wacky. It's just a small, spread out farm community. Please, though we know that you are all-knowing, keep your generalizations to yourself. Your cup of ignorance over floweth.
What better way to hide evil but to be a preacher--or priest!?
Yep. It requires no credentials to be a self-proclaimed preacher, and gives the perp great power over a bunch of people. It also involves the aura of honorability, gentleness, wisdom, and kindness. Perfect situation for a scam artist, a pedophile, or other predatory scumbag.
To Hobbes' Notes: It's a ploy that's been tried by many, many evil people.
There is no god and there is no devil. This is just futher proof how gullible and stupid religious people have always been.
This is one of the stupidest things ever said fron one of the curch members about the guys past '"He was absolutely contrite," said Houghton, 76. "All kinds of people turn around and meet the Lord and they are a different person. He was doing a lot of good in the community. ... He was doing a lot of good and Satan did not want him doing good and Satan got to him."'
Again gullible and stupid religious people will be the death of everyone.
It is reprehensible that you take human trust and you throw it into a cess pool. This person is a reprobate. And he was able to fool trusting people to support him as a reprobate.
Too many trusted authorities, both civil, military and religious are themselves reprobates.
Reading the article, its beginning to look like the whole nation has gone stark, raving mad.
Sandy, If I am the problem, why is it that you are the one attacking me with your bold statements about my faith? I have said and done nothing to attack you. Just so you know, you don't sound smart. You sound bitter.
Sandy, so anyone with a belief in God or the devil is stupid and gullible and will be the death of the world? What a narrow minded little miserable wretch you must be. I have no problem with athiests or anyone elses personal religious beliefs, but for you to call everyone stupid that does not believe as you do just shows your lack of intelligence. Sorry to see you're from the Show-Me state.
This is almost too sordid to be true. Something is wrong, terribly wrong with this type of mindset. I think it is just an excuse to kill.I feel for the family affected and the church.
Something is wrong with his flock's mental state too.
well, they say from 1 to 4% of the population are sociopaths or have those tendencies. Basically they don't have the capacity for empathy. Hard as it is to swallow, in a very real sense they may not be accountable for their actions. They didn't choose to be born that way, but they were, or they were born with a genetic predisposition and it was triggered by early life experience or something else. You see one of these stories every couple of days and I'm convinced that must be part of it. I'm not trying to make excuses for them, but we may have a lot less free will than we believe.
Let me see if I've got this: The good pastor killed a 26 year old woman in the 90's and they called it manslaughter; he served almost 12 years.
Before that, he'd choked and stabbed a 17-year old girl and got probation. Probation! Imagine that! Choking and stabbing a 17-year old girl and he received probation - as if he'd stolen a piece of candy out of a grocery store.
Now, he's graduated to necrophilia although still choking or strangling.
After he'd choked and stabbed the 17-year old girl and followed it up with murdering another woman, he should not have been set free again. Why was this man given so many chances to hurt women? Is it because his victims were women? Is this another sad testimony of how unimportant women are in our society? Or is something even more implicitly sinister about this? Does it smack of misogynism?
Then, he passes himself off as a pastor - a pastor. Please! However, as in so many previous cases, we have the corrections department to blame. This man should never have been paroled, period.
My condolences to the family of this young woman and definitely to the congregation who trusted and believed this vile creature could impact their spiritual path-- for good.
Well you see, he was probably parolled because he had turned to GOD. Silly Christians want to believe that repentance is permanent. Then when something like this happens, it's all SATAN's fault! This is so childish it's laughable. The man is simply a repeat sex offender and killer. I hope he is put away for life. He can read the Bible all day long.
Yes, it is those christians in corrections that let him free. We need more atheists and agnostics sitting on those parole boards.
It is amazing how many times "becoming religious" does help in parole hearings. While belief is an individual person's business, I don't think it should be a factor in early release/parole. Don't agree? Just look at this case.
He was probably released not because of religion, but because of his good behavior in prison and because of prison overcrowding. Parole boards look for any good reason to release a prisoner. The prisoners know this, so they behave to be released, being religious (Christian, Muslim, Jewish, or Buddhist) just helps. Some do actually change their ways, others are just using religion to get their way.
Jay, while you spew bitter hate, it is the Christians that pray for your sole......it all seems so ironic.
Actually Gary, it doesn't do much good to "find" Buddha or Allah or any deity other than good old hay-soos christos. Parole boards, especially in bible-belt states, are made up mostly of good-ole-boys with little actual education in the psychology of prisoners but who are big-time believers themselves. In some states, especially Texas and Florida, they actually have separate pods where those who have "accepted christ as their personal savior" get to live apart from the general population, often with more privileges and freedom. These also serve as de facto protective custody for sex criminals---rapists and child molesters---who are at the bottom of the pecking order in prison and are often subject to rape, beatings, and even stabbings and killings from other inmates for their crimes.
Another perk that most people don't realize is that if an inmate doesn't already have a wife or girlfriend visiting him, one of the few options he has for a relationship is with a religious volunteer. These churches are literally packed with lonely women who have maybe never had a real boyfriend. They find a good looking convict who, while he is in prison, can talk to her about jaysus all day long. She then drops her religious pose, and gets on his visiting list. He then has a willing dupe who will put money on his commisary account, which is a huge deal in prison.
Churches, whether of the legitimate sort or these little fundamentalist cults, are given a pass in our society that I really don't think they deserve. They are exempt from paying taxes as long as they get their paperwork done. Any more, they don't even have to legitimize themselves by affiliating themselves with one of the larger denominations. At least when they do that you have some slight idea of what they're preaching. But these little "bible-based"---or so they claim, anyway---groups can have all kinds of twisted ideas and their "pastors" can be promoting all sorts of illegal things. There are "churches" with tax-exempt status who post the addresses of doctors who perform terminations of pregnancy (the correct medical term for what is usually referred to as abortions) and even the locations of these doctors' childrens' schools. There are "pastors" of these churches who have committed and promote others to commit acts of violence, hate crimes against gays, and more and more often since we elected an African-American president, promote acts of insurrection and treason against the government.
The absolutely worst place for these kinds of hate-cults and those people who buy into these ideas and are capable of committing violence are prisons. This case doesn't sound like one of those, but several of the clinic bombers "found" the friends of jay-sus that helped them with their crimes while in prison. You can find support for literally ANY half-cocked idea with the proper cherry-picked bible verse, especially if you look primarily in the Old Testament, where the gawd of the Hebrews seemed to be a megolamaniacal, whining, bi-polar, warlike, violence, rage-aholic who got off on sending his followers to commit genocide.
This particular criminal seems to have a particular hatred for women, and there are plenty of places in the holly babble that support him in that concept. The bible is full of punishments for "bad" women like stoning, something that proponents of biblical law in this country have actually promoted. It's high time that we stopped giving anything that calls itself a "church" a pass to promote any idea that catches it's fancy, and it's way over time to stop allowing churches free reign to stomp over the recommendations of actual educated psychologisits and psychiatrists in the corrections system. I'm quite sure that, had this clever criminal not done the "jesus jump," as it's known in prison circles, nobody with a clue about the psychology of serial sex offenders would have ever recommended him for parole.
wall, the more you write, the more you show your ignorance and hatred. Perhaps you should just stop. lol I mean, even if you had a valid point, the way you portray yourself is detrimental to anyone actually paying attention and learning from it. Do you not see or understand that? Can you truly be so dense? I have to wonder where such severe bitterness comes from. I actually pity you for having so much of it within you and hope that, some day, you can find a way past it. Perhaps professional help? In any case, good luck.
I love when people think that turning to religion is going to change them. What changes people is discipline and adherence to a "don't be an a$$hole" policy but people have no self control. Humans are a phucked up species.
Yep. And for some, Christianity constitutes getting an automatic "pardon" whenever they do wrong. Like all they have to do is "confess" to Jesus after they murder someone, and everything is OK.
I have to agree with you jerryb on statement #6.1 -I suppose a sociopath could think they are pardoned by God or whatever....
What I don't understand is why other people would forgive him for the two crimes we know he committed before this one:
1) 1981, convicted of "assault with the intent to murder," on a 17 year old female who he stabbed OVER a DOZEN TIMES. Got a 5 year sentence - only served 2 years!!!
2 ) 1995, plead guilty to "involuntary manslaughter" of 26 year old Vicky Sue Walls (dumped her in a ditch as well as Rebekah) - out of prison in less than 12 years....
3) Found Jesus in 2009 and became pastor of 14 member "Church." Kills mother of 3 year old that he babysat for (son was sleeping in house when he killed the child's mother)- Rebekah Gay in 2012 - I wonder what this sentence will be??? Life with possibility of parole in 5 years? I hope he dies in excruciating pain by someone who has nothing to lose in prison - I'm not one to forgive a murderer or rapist or pedophile, I don't care if they are 80 with cancer and have been in prison for 60 years, let them die there without pain meds.
For links go to: #10.5
Silly, this is how religion works: I prayed and prayed for a bicycle and never got it. I went out and stole a bike and then prayed for forgiveness.
Mankind is reversing evolution and returning to the animalistic jungles of centuries ago. Anything goes and without conscience. Take this man for instance, who obviously had a law of the jungle mentality where only the strongest survive like lions, tigers, gorillas and posionous snakes.
In Christianity, a person con receive forgiveness from Christ for their wrong doing (even murder); however the person still must face the consequences for what they did wrong ( like prison or execution). Forgiveness from Christ is not an automatic get out of jail ticket. This man may have been forgiven in 2009, but he has turned his back on that forgiveness and now must face the consequences of his actions. Satan may have nudged and tempted him, but he choose to do this horrible crime all on his own. He has no excuse, he is totally responsible for his actions.
Gasry Clark <<<>>> I regret that I have but one "Thumbs Up" vote to give you!!!
Sorry Gary---GARY !!! Live long and prosper !!!
jerryb....you know nothing of Christianity. You could learn something from Gary.
So True. If there is a god, it's blatantly obvious that god plays no role in human lives.
How terribly sad...
Pastor Long, is there any organized effort in your profession to detect and weed out these con men and perverts? It seems that the incidence of this kind of stuff is increasing. And why do people follow dirtbags like that? Do their followers have issues that make them form a dependency on the wrong kind of leader?
@jerryb - I do not see how Pastor Long (above) could answer that question - it regard to this case. The article stated:
That sounds more like a cult or tax evasion to me. Did he give his sermons in his house every Sunday? Perhaps outside on nice days? Having ONLY (14) fourteen members of your "church," (the article didn't name a denomination), hardly sounds like a church to me...
I do think you hit the nail on the head Jerryb with:
For all we know the "congregation" consisted of friends met in prison. Who knows? You do hear many stories about women "dating" and marrying men who are incarcerated for killing women...
Being an ORDAINED member of the clergy of a recognized Christian demonination means attending and graduating from a post-graduate seminary. Many pastors have a doctorate degree. It's a far cry from self-proclaimed "preachers" who have a rudimentary knowledge of the Bible and even less background in theology, but do have an enormous ego and a "calling". I hope Mr White gets an attorney whose qualifications to practice law match White's qualifications to be a "man of God". PS- there are a lot of "real deal" female pastors out there-ones who actually went to school and aren't scammers with sex issues.
I love the irony here. jerryb attacks Benjamens faith, while Benjamen prays for jerryb. Yet, jerryb feels he is the enlightened one. Keep doing all you do Benjamen.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
HellnotHeaven.......
something is wrong with the Judicial System in MICHIGAN!!!! vote for the Judge(s) that will take down the criminals and let the victims and their family get real justice.
Turning to religion means what? The devil also acknowledges God.
What kind of idiots follow a man with that kind of a record as their pastor?
He was always a murderer. Probably started way before the seventeen year old girl. Check some old unsolved ones and I bet they'd lead to his door.
Why would people even let a convicted murderer into their home? "Oh, he's changed." Yeh right, and politicians always speak the truth.
So, I take it you knew him? You knew when he applied for the job the murder was on his resume? Most churches do require diploma but background searches are not necessary. Same with many other jobs. Proof of education and last three years of employment is about all the majority of business's need. Some ask if you committed a felony, but not all. And do they do a check and see?
dominick, I couldn't agree with you more. What possessed this congregation into believing a convicted murderer? The article says they knew his background when he was appointed pastor but they thought he found God. He obviously never changed. Thank God his fantasies don't involve the poor 3-year-old son who now lost his mommy. My heart goes out to him and the rest of the victims' families. Hopefully his fiance and the church members have learned their lessons and recognize a false prophet when they see one.
Religious people NEVER learn their lesson. It's all about faith and not going by facts or the past. If you just believe then it must be true.
My guess is he was not affiliated with any bona fide church, but was one of those Do-It-Yourselfers. But I do not know for certain.
Do not trust people just because they are supposedly "people of God" or wear clerical clothing. Goodness, haven't we seen this sort of thing happen over and over again?
There is more information from the local news. He was the Pastor of the Christ Community Fellowship Church since 2009 -14 members in the congregation!?
Rebekah Gay's three year old son was sleeping in the same house while White murdered her.
Link: http://www.abc12.com/story/19989714/john-douglas-whites-criminal-past
Video news with picture of White & the last two women, Vicky Sue Wall and Rebekah Gay, that he murdered. I assume he murdered many more since he killed Ms. Gay shortly after getting released from prison (5 years).
More video news: the 17 year old who survived in 1981 - he spent 2, yes 2 years in prison on the charge "assault with intent to murder". How do you get two years when you stab a person over a dozen times?
Later he plead guilty to "involuntary manslaughter" in the killing of Vicky Sue Walls, age 26 - he spent less than 12 years in jail for that crime.
He dumped Rebekah in a ditch along with the towels he used to clean up her blood.
http://www.wnem.com/story/19989063/man-accused-of-killing-local-mom-24-had-extensive-criminal-history
Michigan - time to update your law books so the punishment fits the crime! He should have stayed behind bars for life for the first charge "assault with the intent to murder."
What a tragedy for these three women and their family & friends! This monster White gets to kill over and over, yet a drug dealer or user gets locked up nearly for life.
Drug dealers are murderers, too. People who die from an overdose were sold those drugs by a dealer who considers money far more important than human life. They are no different than this murderer. All murderers should get the death penalty, including dealers.
Wow,
2 lives could have been saved if our court system wouldn't be so messed up!
But, apparently he deserves a second chance since taking someone’s life the first time isn’t important
in our courts eyes! (Eye for an Eye)
Riding the needle, asap. The monster will be meeting his worst nightmare once the chemicals course through his veins, Karma is a nasty beast and will have its due. There is a special place in Hell for monsters like the "good" reverend.
Prayers for the family with hopes they eventually heal, how does one recover from something like this, I can't imagine the anguish but can only offer my condolences.
Hope that your religion of vengance makes you happy. Prevention would've been a better solution.
Since it's too late for the solution of prevention it's too bad Michigan doesn't have the death penalty, in this case, at least. We seem to have more than our share of freaks who pose a continuing danger to humans.
skyparrot
It sounds like you are referring, to a death penalty. Unfortunately, Michigan, does not have one.
Michigan doesn't have the death penalty.
Too bad!
Figures...
He killed one woman,attempted to murder a second;what does it take to be judged incapable of living in society in that state? Three murders? I agree with prior posts-this guy has committed far more crimes (murders?) than he's been apprehended/charged for.
Why does the media make an issue of him being a pastor? He could have been a store keeper, a banker or anything else. But the one thing we know he was is a murderer! Guess AP thinks it would get better rating that way. I rate AP with an F for failure to look at the issue which is "Ex-convict murdered his fiance's daughter. I guess we could do a comparison check that says "Ex-journalist tries to butcher a story for political gain.
Well, probably because he was a man who led people to believe he was a God fearing, devout, kind person who had great morals and was wise enough to be a leader in a church.
I don't know about you, but when I am told someone is a preacher or priest, I expect them to be good people.
I don't get where you think this had a political bent to it.
Of course they make an issue of him being a pastor! Pastors are supposed to be a link to God, to show the congregation how to be good people and lead by example. He did the exact opposite of what someone in his position should, and that makes it an issue.
When I hear someone called a preacher or pastor the first thing that enters my mind is "SCAM ARTIST". Someone trying to get a free ride and everything paid for by gullible people willing to listen to them.
Question authority. Question All Authority.
Sandy, there are MANY good pastors. Sorry your perspective has been tainted. Should we all think anyone named "Sandy" is bad since we just experienced the wrath of "Sandy" in the east? That would be the same analogy you apply. Furthermore, the New Testament has plenty to say to churches about how to avoid "scam artists" pretending to be "pastors."
Pat -- Because the fact that he was a pastor makes it even MORE newsworthy. Anytime people in positions of trust and authority violate that trust and authority it's NEWS. It's NEWS because the idea is to make us more aware that everyone is, perhaps, not what they wish us to think they are and that we should be wary.
BW -- I agree. There ARE many good pastors out there. I know several. There are also some NOT so good pastors out there. I know one or two of those as well. I think it is well to be wary.
Wow, I thought every holy roller preacher's were in some extent criminals or yet-to-be charged con men... Heck you can get a preacher's license through the internet for $20...
Btw. It's Broomfield Township, not Bloomfield Township (near Mt. Pleasant/Clare area)....big difference around here really.
So, 14 people would allow someone with a past criminal record (such as this criminal's) become leader of their "congregation"? All this forgive and forget stuff is ridiculous and a dream come true to con men and women everywhere. People have to do a whole lot more than say they are sorry to Jesus to earn back trust, let alone lead people like this.
Sure, on a non-religious level, everyone deserves a second chance. But apparently this man had one already and winded up behind bars. Now, there's a big clue right there. And they all knew of his criminal past. People are way too gullible, but then again, some people do have a knack for preying (not praying) on the weak.
I kind of like that.
"Praying on the weak"
Or maybe "Predators who pray". Are you seeing this cheesy journalists?
Love it BillLumbergh! Let's add "Preying for guidance" just because...
And let us prey religiously.
It's time the general public stopped thinking that just because a man (or a woman) is "born again" or a pastor or a priest that all is right with the world. In fact, there are probably more skeletons in the closets of these people than in the average citizen. I belonged to a series of "born again" type churches in MA, Assembly of God, Vineyard churches, a little ingrown church towards the Cape and one after another, the pastors or the youth pastors and other parishioners were having sexual peccadilloes with each other or inappropriate relationships with minors. It soured the whole thing with me. The church is often a "hiding place" for creeps who can feign respectability while carrying on their sick lives.
While I was still foolish enough to believe differently, I heard such excuses as "god isn't done with me yet" or "I am under the discipline of the church" or some such tripe.
There is no church or religion in the world that isn't full to the brim with such sickness and more.
The world outside of any church holds more true, loyal, honest and decent human beings than in all the churches lumped together. Your church, no matter what it is, is an asylum where the lunatics are in control. You are either duped or one of the lunatics. Escape while you can if you have any mind left.
Recently I heard from someone from my past church life who claimed that such things as the storm Sandy was visited on the US as a warning from god about our evil ways. I wanted to say, "Why don't you go down to New York or New Jersey and preach that to the victims of the storm?" I didn't.
Keep your version of god to yourselves. You can have it.
Also, keep your smarmy "I'll pray for you".
Also, keep your filthy religion out of politics.
Also, the bigger the cross, the less I trust them.
Other than that, I have no strong feelings on the subject.
We got that here in Alabama after the tornadoes in 2011. A rumor was going around that that sick church that pickets military funerals was going to come here and blame the storms on our homosexual ways here...they never showed. Good thing, since they love their guns down here. After all that, I dounbt you'd find anyone in the mood for such bull@!$%#.
More true words have never been spoken about religious people Georgieboy-2814956. They are not Holy Rollers they are pompous "Holier than Thou" cretins.
Sandy.. I'm with you all the way... People are Way too lost, brainwashed, misguided, and blinded by their so-called "faith" in god. It paved the way for the sick and lunatics... alike, a haven where to "Prey" on the so-called "believers".
Go ahead.. Don't face reality... trust in anyone called pastor or reverend or whatever.. no biggie. Just don't be surprised when this type of tragedy hit your doorstep. Good luck and "Open your Eyes". Never Follow Blindly" (Amen).
GeorgieBoy < < < ~~~~~~~> > > Although I agree with you up to a point about some of what you said I would like to ask you if you are seriously suggesting that in this Home of the Brave and The Land of the Free, everyone about has the right to express themselves about their own beliefs and act on those beliefs EXCEPT those who hold a religious belief. I would also like to remind you of something which I think you probably know or have known, but have forgotten. The Constitution of The United States of America flat out FORBIDS the State to interfere/intervene with religion, but it DOES NOT forbid religious persons to act/react/ interact, etc. with state/civil matters.
Georgie, from the churches named that you attended, it sounds like you were following the "name it and claim it" doctrine that says if you have enough faith you can be rich, be healed, have anything you want because "God wants that for you." Many people leave those churches disillusioned and bitter because they can't get the desired results. When they find out that God is not a sugar daddy passing out money and gifts they turn away from Him. Too bad you followed false doctrine. I disagree completely with your statement that there are more "true, loyal, honest, and decent" people in the world than in the church. There again, you only saw false religion and false Christians. That statement is certainly not true in churches of genuine believers vs. nonbelievers. The world is made up of greedy, spiteful, malicious perverts who are filled with anger and love to mock God and His followers. Sandy is a prime example. Do you read any decency in her comments? I feel sorry for those of you who have let Satan turn you against the one thing that could give you true peace and happiness, not to mention eternity.
Churches are a great place for "sinners" to hide...ask the priests.
i work in a prison. they all go to church. and PAT G the news makes an issue of him being a preacher because of the hipocracy. if it were a police officer they would get the same attention.
Probation for choking and stabbing a girl. Convicted of "manslaughter" for a girl he probably flat out murdered.
First, someone needs to be on probabtion for choking and stabbing a judge or jury.
Also, a grounded, well-adjusted person is always suspicious of a person, especially a man, who is very religious. Modern society and socialization isn't conducive to obsessiveness over millenia-old religious dogma, especially the way normal males are raised and socialized today. If a guy wants to dress up and go to church on Sunday because his wife is dragging him there or because he was raised with some very strong religious influence, fine. But when you see a guy who is always going on about "The Lord", you better wonder if there are some issues there. I don't even know what kind of issues, and not always an evil person hiding behind religion, although that's one viable scenario. I'm just saying it's not normal for a modern, educated person, man or woman, to be overly religious. It's usually caused by some problem, and sorry religious people who happen to be good, I'm not putting my family at risk around "religious people".
Now I've seem some bitter, angry people branding themselves "athiest" and attacking religion at every turn; and they basically tend to be pretty maladjusted themselves. I'm not talking about any anger I have against religion, etc. And to me "athiest" is not a brand. You don't give something a name because it doesn't actively participate in something else. We don't say, "This is Steve, he's a non-football player." I don't care whether religion exists. I'm just saying it's time for normal people to not feel guilty about the fact that they think it's weird, for a guy especially, to be really religious, and feel uneasy about trusting that guy. It's not evil, or the devil, you just recognize it for what it is, weird.
*seen
Bill, Atheists who attack religion, like myself, are not maladjusted. We have usually been subjected to the better than you, cruelty, bigotry and closed mindedness of religious people. We see the hypocrisy that the blind faithful espouse and point it out to everyone. Because we do that we are called maladjusted. It's not our fault religion is all about NOT THINKING AND BELIEVING WHAT YOU ARE TOLD BY SOME SELF APPOINTED RELIGIOUS LEADERS. Religion just holds people back and causes more problems than it solves.
My atheist parents allowed all of us kids to go to any church we wanted. It was an eye opener to all of us what was done and said in those insane asylums.
Missouri Sandy, sorry your experience with organized religion has been so negative. But please recognize that there is a vast difference between the different denominations, let alone the non-denominational churches. And one of the biggest differences is in the credentials of the church leaders. This man was no more a credentialed pastor than an ambulance attendant is a doctor. Would you let the ambulance attendant treat your cardiac arrythmias? Denominations check the credentials of their clergy. Non-denominational churches have NO guidelines-any man can claim to be a pastor. I guess any woman could too, but women usually have a lesser status in these "churches". (no divining rod, I guess!)
California nurse - it really makes no difference as to whether he was credentialed or not, went to theology school or not or has a doctorate or not. The fact is that ruthless people will use any means possible to gain access to naive people.
Sandy,
That just sounds like more of the same. If you use the excuse that you've been subjected to all of that, that's called baggage, and you are kind of proving my point that you have a motive to attack religion and you've been hurt by it. That's the kind of person I'm thinking about when I see this aggressive application of anti-religious opinion to everything. It's ind of like a person who will post an anti-Obama comment on every story, no matter how unrelated. As long as someone doesn't try to impose beliefs or restrictions on me, they're free to believe in what they want, and I'm not going to attack their religion like I'm better than them or I've figured it out. Science has some characteristics of religion on certain topics. For example, the question of how we came about, and why we're making computers and spaceships and our cats and dogs aren't looking like they're going to be doing that any time soon, and why we all have a supercomputer in our heads, is always answered, "a very long span of time that's difficult to comprehend". That's evoloution. The single cell came to be from the ooze, we don't know how but the right chemicals were there, and then before you know it there were some flat worms, and then after an unfathomably long span of time cells organized themselves in to structures that could allow Adrian Peterson to run through a defense, Bobby Fischer to store terrabytes of information in his brain, and Einstein to imagine general relativity. I'm not saying they're wrong, but the "long span of time" where all of this amazing organization sprang from disorganization is a form of dogma. Surely science has a better attitude about getting to the truth of things than most religion, but it is not productive to become arrogant and self-assured in any pursuit. That's my opinion anyway.
Sandy is just a bitter, vindictive hater who likes to bully what she doesn't understand.
This is another example that should but doesn't seem to have any effect on the average American. Monotheistic religion of every kind is nothing more than a place for disturbed people with messed up often evil agendas to hide themselves away. Evil knows where to hide, with the BELEIVERS, this is not a coincidence. BELEIVER translates to ignorant & gullible. To profess that you hear the lord talking, or see angels as many church goers do says alot to me about those folks. They are suffering...FROM A NEUROSIS of some sort.
The FOOL has said in his heart, There IS NO GOD. Psalm 14:1
Your rant sounds like you think you are God and have all the answers to life. You don't know squat. Your bigoted hatred has blinded you to the truth and caused you to believe a lie, which you love to EMPHASIZE in your IGNORANCE. I feel sorry for people like you who have let the devil put a ring in your nose and lead you around like a trick bear.
tiredof, your rant sounds like you have all the answers. No where did Trebor say there was no god or that he was god, that was all you. Your bigoted view of those that are not gullible enough to believe in fairy tales as IGNORANCE is hypocritical.
BTW the devil wants your to stop telling people his ring in the nose trick.
Uhh, sure.
Well hell he drank four or five beers. Would you be able to remember if you raped a dead girl's body after four or five beers.
Maybe I would forget if I drank a two-four.
Yes, I would remember. Even with our Canadian 8 to 10% beer.
I think it would be a very good idea for you not to drink at all if four or five beers does that to you.
Seems to me church is a great place for these people to hide, I could never understand if they go there to find God who will heal them or they just think they can get away with it and hide behind the church.
Jus' choot em choot em!!!!!
And people think Stephen King novels are scary. Reality more horrible than fiction.
That's why I love reading his stuff...reality is the real horror....