After Bin Laden Raid, Fake Navy SEALs Are 'Coming Out of the Woodwork,' Says Watchdog

Frank 013 · Tue May 10, 2011 11:31 am

This one surprised even me… I would think that Pastors and other members of the clergy would avoid being associated with people who train to kill other humans. At any rate lying about being a Navy SEAL is despicable behavior no matter who says it… but admittedly this is more interesting to me because of who is doing the lying in this case.

Here are a couple of excerpts from the article…


	Quote: A central Pennsylvania pastor who said he was a Navy SEAL and Vietnam vet has been exposed as a fraud – and the man who caught him says the number of wannabes falsely claiming to be veterans of the elite force has "skyrocketed" since the May 1 SEAL raid that killed Osama bin Laden.


	Quote: Shipley said he had dealt with 15 to 20 phony SEALs a day before May 1, and the number has probably doubled since. He added that it's not unusual to find members of the clergy pretending to be former SEALs. "It's something with these guys who are in a position of trust that causes a lot of them to do it," he said. "The fact that they are in a position where whatever comes out of their mouth is believed -- I think that causes some of them to take advantage."

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/navy-seal ... 5ccc68%2C0

Later

President Camacho · Tue May 10, 2011 11:48 am

Hahahaha. I'm letting the Vatican know. Hopefully they can relocate this thread somewhere where no one can find it.

Frank 013 · Tue May 10, 2011 11:57 am

I think the funniest part is that this guy was using action movie scenes as his own experiences... some people really will believe anything!

Later

stahrwe · Tue May 10, 2011 12:13 pm

I don't dispute the report but I personally have never known a preacher (and I have known a good many) who claimed to be an ex-Seal. In fact, Frank013's impression is correct, the ex-seal candidate might get less consideration as it is a poor fit for the idea of a peaceful man. Unless of course the ex-seal claimed to have become a Christian after his service.

On the otherhand, pastors are human too and I have known many who have had moral failings. I've had a few myself. The is a fix for them, it's called forgiveness.

Not sure what the Vatican has to do with the story. Not all Churches are Catholic. In fact, I would think it less likely that a Catholic priest would make a false claim like that due to their processes and the familiarity the various levels of the church would have with each priest. Finally, priests are assigned to churches and not hired so there is really not reason to puff one's resume.

tat tvam asi · Tue May 10, 2011 2:10 pm


	Quote: This one surprised even me… I would think that Pastors and other members of the clergy would avoid being associated with people who train to kill other humans.

Oh this is an old classic actually, very similar to the well played out "I used to be atheist" preaching stunt. Only in this case it's the "I used to be a stone cold killer" akin to St. Paul and the like and now I preach the gospel stunt.

I've heard similar about being a biker, drug dealer, cop, etc. etc. There's a pretty good amount of blantant BS going around the pulpits world wide. And it really makes perfect sense too because all in all, it takes a good liar to promote the lie of Christianity...

stahrwe · Tue May 10, 2011 2:27 pm


	tat tvam asi wrote: Oh this is an old classic, very similar to the well played "I used to be atheist" stunt. In this case it's the "I used to be a stone cold killer" akin to St. Paul and the like...

I'm wondering --could you be that clever?
But then again Paul never killed anyone did he?

tat tvam asi · Tue May 10, 2011 6:37 pm

St. Paul, formerly Saul the Christian killer turned reformed for Jesus...

I especially get a kick out of the equally played out claim to have been a satanist. The more dramatic the change from blank to Christianity the more powerful the idiot preacher thinks his conversion story sounds.

I had some baptist preacher in Sebastian take me aside on a construction site and tell me about how he was a trucker and biker who was "atheist and agnostic" and "hated Christians" until he choked on an apple one day, pulled off the road, and began praying in "Jesus' name" for help as he began to black out. Then, dramatically, the apple mysteriously popped out and he was saved. That's when he dedicated his life to preaching in prisons to all of the dregs of society. He was going around asking all of the guys on the job if they were Christian and those who said no got the apple speech...

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