Presumed Guilty

All it takes is an accusation and you could be thrown into jail and booked like a common criminal. It has happened to me and it happened to a friend of mine who pastured a church for many years. One day out of the blue the police showed up to arrest my pastor. He didn't even know what he was wanted for. He went with them thinking that it was a misunderstanding and that whatever was amiss would be straightened out soon. When he got to the jail he was charged with child molestation. This charge hit him like a ton of bricks. He never saw it coming. To make things worse the media picked up on it, and plastered his picture in the paper, asking people to come forward if they had been sexually abused by this man. It was a witch hunt for sure. It really seemed to my pastor and to all of us that love him that you are not presumed innocent until proven guilty. You are presumed guilty until found innocent.

A troubled 16 year old nephew had told his mother that his uncle had molested him in the church on a day that he was there helping to clean the church. A few days prior my pastor had given the nephew a strong reprimand for some prior misbehavior. Then out of the blue these charges came to blindside my dear pastor. The boy maintained his claim for about 2 years. His mother, torn between believing her teenage son and believing her pastor, chose to stand by her son and press on with the case. She was like a bulldog forcing the case forward, even though there was no physical evidence and there was only her son's word against my pastor.

There was a forensics investigation that came up with nothing to support the boy's claim. My pastor sat in jail without bail being offered for 31 days. They locked him up like an animal without even letting him have the comfort of his beloved Bible. The jailers had already tried and convicted him in their minds and treated him as a child molester. From time to time the staff would taunt him and open his cell door daring my pastor to step out of the cell so they could attack him physically and then claim he was trying to escape. When that didn't work they put a mentally deranged prisoner in there that was begging to be put in the cell with him. The prisoner wanting to do my pastor harm was called Bobo.

Bobo never raised a hand to my pastor. They squared off staring at each other, and my pastor felt a peace come over him and spoke to him about Jesus. Bobo began to weep like a baby. He accepted the Lord that night.

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