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Retired Pastors Who Sued Woke Denomination After $90M Went Missing From Pension Fund Reach Settlement

Nearly 5000 African Methodist Episcopal (AME) retired pastors and employees have reached a settlement against their denomination, which they sued after discovering $90 million dollars from their pension fund embezzled, squandered away, and mishandled.

Following a leadership transition in June 2021, the African Methodist Episcopal Denomination discovered financial irregularities in the denomination’s pastoral pension fund. The scope of these irregularities came to light in 2022 after three separate lawsuits were filed against the denomination and its former head of retirement services, Jerome V. Harris, on behalf of pastoral retirees in three different state jurisdictions. According to court documents, the fund, which purported to contain $126 million in assets at the time of the leadership transition, contained less than $36 million.

Documents indicate that Jerome V. Harris (who died of a heart attack in May) performed his financial management duties with little or no oversight from denomination leadership. This resulted in an investment strategy that invested money in a variety of sketchy investments, including Florida land, a solar farm, and a venture capital outlet that no longer exists.

The total settlement is $20 million, pending approval from a judge. In a press release, the AME offered in a statement:

Despite the emotional and financial strain on both sides, the Church and the Plaintiffs have come together to reach a settlement that provides immediate restoration of some funds and creates a pathway for the Church and Plaintiffs to restore the balance of the lost retirement funds. The Church has committed to seeking full restoration for all plan participants and sees this contingent settlement as a big step toward that result.

The AME is one of the wokest denominations in the United States, producing large numbers of “Liberationists” like James Cone the father of Black Liberation Theology, a heretical bastardization of the true Gospel. No matter the result of the lawsuits and investigations, one thing is certain, if you follow the typical logic of Black Liberation Theology; the whole retirement system of the AME must have failed not because of Jerome Harris, or his investments, but rather because it is rooted in a system of financial white supremacy that is designed to oppress the clergy of the AME.

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6 Year Old Child Preaches Sunday Sermon At AME Church (Warning, Disturbing)

One Sunday a month, Mount Hermon African Methodist Episcopal Church in Fort Lauderdale, FL, turns the pulpit over to a six-year-old boy, who invariably preaches a ‘sermon’ fitting for a child whose favorite TV show is Paw Patrol.

The ‘message,’ brought by Luke Tillman (who started preaching when he was five) resembles 15 minutes of ‘monkey-see-monkey-do,’ with the boy acting out disturbing homiletic behaviors while the crowd cheers and claps at the rehearsed and staged flourishes, particularly when the pentecostal whooping starts to come.

While on one hand he preaches better than Joel Osteen, it’s still a garbled mess being encouraged by those who should know better, and he shouldn’t be anywhere near the pulpit.

Note: The African Methodist Episcopal (AME) denomination which this boy and his parent(s) are part of, is the first to be founded on racial rather than theological grounds. Consequently, Black Liberation Theology is very common and is regularly preached.

According to Pew Research,

94% of identifying AME folks voted for the Democrats
64% think abortion should be LEGAL in all/ most
61% think homosexuality should be accepted*
49% believe humans evolved

The AME does not officially condemn abortion, having ‘no official position on it’ but Senior Bishop of the denomination, John H. Adams has explained “AME members believe that “people have the right to control their own bodies,” and that it is “a decision of the woman and her family and not of the government.”

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Retired Pastors Sue Woke Denomination After $90M Goes Missing from Pension Fund

Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church. Photo by R. Kennedy for Visit Philadelphia

Following a leadership transition in June 2021, the African Methodist Episcopal Denomination discovered financial irregularities in the denomination’s pastoral pension fund. The scope of these irregularities has recently come to light, as three separate lawsuits have been filed against the denomination and its former head of retirement services, Jerome V. Harris, on behalf of pastoral retirees in three different state jurisdictions. According to court documents, the fund, which was purported to contain $126 million in assets at the time of the leadership transition, may actually contain less than $36 million in assets. Church officials claim that current denomination staff do not understand where the funds went, and only the former head of retirement services would be able to explain the discrepancy in assets.

AARP Foundation legally represents a number of retired clergy from the AME who depend on the pension to pay monthly bills, and the foundation has petitioned to transition the litigation into a class action lawsuit on behalf of as many as 5,000 retirees. The AME department of retirement services issued a statement on March 30, claiming that they continue to cooperate with federal law enforcement and are “committed to making every fund participant whole by restoring their full investment plus interest.” The fact that the AME suspended pension payments to retirees on March 10 casts doubt on whether the fund will ever be able to meet its obligations to retirees, or keep its promises to pay back all that has been lost plus interest.

The circumstances under which the fund’s assets went missing are rather murky, but fraud and incompetent investment strategies are the two greatest possibilities. Federal authorities are involved in a financial crimes investigation, indicating that fraud is suspected. However, court documents indicate that Jerome V. Harris performed his financial management duties with little or no oversight from denomination leadership, resulting in an investment strategy that invested money in a variety of sketchy investments, including Florida land, a solar farm, and a venture capital outlet that no longer exists.

The AME is one of the wokest denominations in the United States, producing large numbers of “Liberationists” like James Cone the father of Black Liberation Theology, a heretical bastardization of the true Gospel. Based on conventional wisdom that those who go woke will eventually go broke, and the fact that one of the major investments was a solar farm, a stereotypical leftist pie in the sky investment, is it possible that the woke chickens have finally come home to roost at the AME? No matter the result of the lawsuits and investigations, one thing is certain, if you follow the typical logic of Black Liberation Theology; the whole retirement system of the AME must have failed not because of Jerome Harris, or his investments, but rather because it is rooted in a system of financial white supremacy that is designed to oppress the clergy of the AME.

Editor’s Note. This article was written by Paul Brown for Protestia.