A tear has ripped through the 3,000-seat auditorium known as Grace Cathedral, the Akron Beacon Journal reports, as evangelist Ernest Angley is accused of forcing vasectomies and abortions on his congregation.
The 93-year-old evangelist—who is also accused of homosexual acts and abusing church members—denied all allegations in a taped message the Journal obtained.
“I’m not a homosexual. God wouldn’t use a homosexual like he uses me. He calls me his prophet, and indeed I am,” Angley said. “They called Jesus a homosexual, did you know that? And still do. Because he was with men. Oh, Mary Magdalene and a few women. But you can’t stop the people’s lies.”
Angley admitted asking boys to “uncover themselves” but says he did not touch them. Part of the taped sermon is too graphic to share on this platform.
The Journal interviewed 21 former members of Grace Cathedral, many of whom call it a cult and swear he threatens and intimidates the members and controls nearly every part of their lives.
“None of us have kids because he makes all the men get fixed,” Becky Roadman, 32, who left the church in 2014, told the Journal. “You’re not allowed to have babies there.”
During a 90-minute interview in his office, Angley told the Journal he doesn’t remember Camp’s circumstances, doesn’t push for abortions and only suggests vasectomies.
“I can’t regulate their lives,” he told the paper. “But I can advise them about things if they ask me.”
Greg Mulley, a former singer on featured on Angley’s TV shows, said the evangelist doesn’t want people to have kids because it would take money and time away from the church.
“He really forced people into abortions through scare tactics, as if he were a medical doctor,” Mulley said. “It turns my stomach.”
Let’s pray the truth is exposed, and repentance comes forth in this disturbing story.
