The pastor of an anti-LGBTQ church in Florence, Alabama has been arrested for molesting children.

Pastor John Martin of the Lighthouse Baptist Church actually confessed to his crimes in front of the congregation on June 23. They quickly informed local authorities, who then took Martin into custody.

John Martin was taken into custody Friday evening and booked into the Lauderdale County Detention Center on four counts of Sexual Abuse. Martin has been a pastor at Lighthouse Baptist Church on Sweetwater Avenue for nine years. He has since resigned from his position as pastor. … Members of the congregation immediately notified One Place of the Shoals, a family justice center. That organization launched an investigation immediately. Martin was taken into custody late last week.

It’s unclear how many victims there are, what Martin did to them, and when/how that happened. For now, he’s being held on $60,000 bond.

The matter is disturbing enough as is, but what makes his confession even more hypocritical is how his church is openly bigoted against LGBTQ people, as it explains in an FAQ about human sexuality:

We believe that God has commanded that no intimate sexual activity be engaged in outside of a marriage between a man and a woman. We believe that any form of homosexuality, lesbianism, bisexuality, bestiality, incest, fornication, adultery, and pornography are sinful perversions of God’s gift of sex. We believe that God disapproves of and forbids any attempt to alter one’s gender by surgery or appearance.

So while Martin was preaching that to his congregation, he was molesting little boys.

Sounds typical.

(via Raw Story. Thanks to Patricia for the link)

