Evangelist: Priest's 'shoplifting' message is 'betrayal'

Ray Comfort

A prominent warrior for the truth of the Bible is wondering just exactly what will come next from church leaders, after an Anglican priest in the English city of York advised his parishioners to steal food or other essentials from retail shops rather than try to raise money from prostitution or burglary.

"What may sound like compassion is actually pulpit betrayal," best-selling author and evangelist Ray Comfort said today. "Rather than a sermon telling his hearers to steal from businesses, he should be telling them to take what they need from his own church's collection plate."

Comfort – host of "The Way of the Master" television show with actor Kirk Cameron and head of Bellflower, Calif.-based Living Waters ministry – has authored a new book on atheism and evolution, "Nothing Created Everything."

He was reacting to a report that the priest suggested shoplifting, essentially, to anyone who may find themselves in dire financial circumstances. Comfort said it is the church that has the responsibility to watch for needs and offer help.

TRENDING: Feds got FISA warrant against Hunter Biden's Chinese partner

"If he didn't do that because his church is feeling the economic pinch, that brings into question his motive. If his parishioners take his advice and his weekly collection increases, he is benefiting from the crime he instigated and therefore complicit to it," Comfort said.

"The question also arises as to whether or not the priest personally practices what he preaches. Does he himself shoplift? If he doesn't, he's a hypocrite. If he does, then he's a criminal. If he says that he doesn't need to shoplift because he is financially sound, then he should be giving to his poor folks, rather than making them into thieves," he said.

The report came from the Daily Mail in the United Kingdom, which said the priest "told parishioners it would not break the eighth commandment 'thou shalt not steal' because it 'is permissible for those who are in desperate situations to take food that they might not starve.'" The Yorkshire Evening Post reported that he said, '''My advice, as a Christian priest, is to shoplift,' he told his stunned congregation at St Lawrence and St Hilda in York."

"The twisted advice of the reverend is nothing new," Comfort said. "The religious leaders at the time of Christ also perverted the Ten Commandments. In Matthew 15 they changed the Fifth so that they didn't have to honor their father and mother, and they even tried to soften the Seventh. But in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus warned that God considers lust to be adultery of the heart.

"This all comes from something called 'idolatry,' which is the sin of making a god in your own image. Once you do that, anything goes. The Bible says that if you steal, even in the case of dire need, you pay back seven-fold. Sex becomes okay 'if you love someone.' Lying becomes morally okay if they are lies that don't 'hurt' anyone. Adultery becomes acceptable if the marriage is boring, and the murder of children in the womb is permitted if a pregnancy is an inconvenience," Comfort said.

"But the Bible is clear that all liars, adulterers, murderers and thieves will end up in Hell."

The Anglican leader, Tim Jones, said, "I do not offer such advice because I think that stealing is a good thing, or because I think it is harmless, for it is neither."

And he said people shouldn't steal from small, family businesses, but from large national businesses.

RELATED: Worshiping in 'God's igloo'

Comfort, who has spent a lot of his time feeding the homeless in Los Angeles' infamous McArthur Park, said, "This is what happens when unconverted men go into the ministry. Many in today's pulpits should have been plumbers, motivational speakers or bankers rather than what the Bible calls 'preachers of righteousness.' The moral law is meant to show us that we are sinners and that we need a savior. The Ten Commandments don't need changing. We do. We may change them to suit ourselves, but they will still be the standard of judgment on Judgment Day. God wrote them in stone for a reason."

The Church of England's Archdeacon of York disavowed Jones' statements, saying, "The Church of England does not advise anyone to shoplift."

Police were less than impressed with the message, too, calling it "highly irresponsible."

If you'd like to sound off on this issue, please take part in the WorldNetDaily poll.