I think I’ve discovered a new truism, as least as it relates to Baptist pastors and sexual abuse. If a Baptist pastor is arrested for sexual assault the odds are good that he as a history of sexual abuse unless he is a youth pastor, in which case it is usually the first record of abuse. Take pastor Johnny William “Billy” Cabe for example, he was indicted for child sexual abuse earlier this month. He had a previous arrest and conviction for stealing 8 million dollars and apparently had a history of sexual abuse allegations too. But get this, he remained the church pastor while in prison.Cabe, 50, of York, has been out on bond since after his arrest and he remains the church pastor, as he was during his federal prison time, when he conducted services by telephone.The odds are long in this case:
Cabe was convicted in 2001 in federal court of stealing more than $8 million from church-going investors in the 1990s. He was fined $7.8 million, and federal authorities seized more than $1.2 million of his assets. Cabe has paid about $2 million of the fine.
Read more: York minister indicted on child sex charges
The sexual assault allegations against Cabe are the third time he has been charged in similar incidents. He has never been convicted.A tipster named tbird provided this background information.
Not long after being asked to come on as pastor of Riverside Baptist Church in Rock Hill, the boy's home, "Riverside Baptist Home for Boys" came to fruition.
Just like with Cabe's "pre-Riverside" days, news accounts covered the horrible abuses of those boys, some accounts coming from fomer employees and church members (who were labeled by those still attending Riverside as "disgruntled"). By abuses, I mean beating a boy at the Riverside home across the rear end with a paddle over 100 times, until he was bruised and bleeding, striking young boys across the face, and lastly, SEXUALLY ABUSING THEM. Yes, there were charges filed. Social Services came in and closed the place down. At the very same time, the multimillion dollar ponzi-like scheme (HisWay Ministries) he and Joel Shirley cooked up started crashing down around them. The powers that be decided that the federal case against him was MUCH MORE important than the fact that Cabe could have likely ruined the lives of the boys in his care that he had dared to put his slimy little hands on.
All child abuse charges were dropped. He went to federal prison, after putting the system through a bunch of red tape because he had a "mental breakdown", and his competency to stand trial was brought into question. And yes, it appears that Cabe was either "forgiven" by his church for his dastardly deeds, or else they blindly believed that their manogawd was being persecuted by those led by satan himself.I read this and think, “Are these people nuts?” Who would follow a preditor like this? Who would let him anywhere near a pulpit, youth group, or shiver, a boys home? Getting back to my original question, why do Baptists bury the past and more importantly, why does a man with a history of sexual abuse allegations and a prison conviction still lead a church? Why do his followers keep him in power? And make no mistake here, they are his followers, and not the followers of Jesus Christ who they claim as their God. It’s Christ in name only, their real God is named Billy. I can’t see any other explanation (that makes sense). I still have no idea why Baptists protect child predators. It must be a fear of exposure.
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