In fairness I thought it would be useful to share this link to an article written by Bob Rogers, pastor of Evangel World Prayer Center in Louisville, Ky. He is apparently a close personal friend to Cho and claiming that Cho’s troubles are due more to a lack of paying attention than to anything wicked or corrupt. Still, Rogers must answer Ha Sang-ok, a former church elder, who said:

“A sect leader might violate the commandments and do as he wishes, but a pastor cannot do that. Over the past 14 years, I have met with Rev. Cho many times to try to persuade him to repent and return to being a great pastor, but the corruption has continued. That’s why I had no choice but to disclose it to the outside world (Huffington Post article).”

David Yonggi Cho (also known as Paul Yonggi Cho) was found guilty this week of the embezzlement 12 million dollars in church funds. It seems he allowed his son to sell the church stocks at a grossly inflated price. There are a number of other accusations being leveled at Cho for corruption stemming back decades.

Cho, who founded the Yoido Gospel Fellowship in 1958 which is the world’s largest church with a million members, has been a highly influential figure in Pentecostal/Charismatic circles for the last thirty years. Many in those circles will be greatly disturbed by this scandal, and for those in South Korea where the church is located, it may well be a bigger scandal than that of Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart! But the influence of Cho on American Pentecostal/Charismatic pastors and congregations should not be underestimated. Since the tendency of those pastors and congregations is to…