Press release from Southern District of Georgia FBI

Eight HOPCC leaders indicted

AUGUSTA, GA: A federal grand jury, presiding in the Southern District of Georgia, indicted eight individuals connected to the House of Prayer Christian Churches of America (HOPCC) for various fraud schemes and tax charges.

On September 10, 2025, a federal court unsealed a 26-count indictment.  The indictment charges:

• FNU LNU (First Name Unknown, Last Name Unknown) aka RONY DENIS, age unknown, of Hinesville, Georgia, West Palm Beach Florida, and Martinez, Georgia, with Conspiracy to Commit Bank Fraud, Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud, and Aiding and Assisting in Filing a False Tax Return.
• ANTHONY OLOANS, 54, of Hinesville, Georgia, with Conspiracy to Commit Bank Fraud and Bank Fraud.
• JOSEPH FRYAR, 51, of Hinesville, Georgia and Martinez, Georgia, with Conspiracy to Commit Bank Fraud and Bank Fraud.
• DENNIS NOSTRANT, 55, of Hinesville, Georgia, with Conspiracy to Commit Bank Fraud and Bank Fraud.
• GERARD ROBERTSON, 57, of Hinesville, Georgia, with Conspiracy to Commit Bank Fraud and Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud.
• DAVID REIP, 52, of Hinesville, Georgia, with Conspiracy to Commit Bank Fraud and Bank Fraud.
• MARCUS LABAT, 42, of Hinesville, Georgia, with Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud and Wire Fraud.
• OMAR GARCIA, 40, of Palm Bay, Florida, with Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud and Wire Fraud.

The maximum penalties for Conspiracy to Commit Bank Fraud and Bank Fraud are up to 30 years of imprisonment, up to a $1,000,000 fine, and not more than 5 years of supervised release.

The maximum penalties for Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud and Wire Fraud are up to 20 years of imprisonment, up to a $250,000 fine, and not more than 3 years of supervised release.

The maximum penalties for Aiding and Assisting in the Filing of a False Tax Return are up to 3 years of imprisonment, up to a $250,000 fine, and not more than 1 year of supervised release.

According to the indictment, the group’s leader posed as “Rony Denis,” an identity he allegedly stole in 1983. Using that identity, he became a U.S. citizen in 2002 and went on to establish HOPCC and its affiliate House of Prayer Bible Seminary (HOPBS).

The indictment alleges that Denis and his close associates — Anthony Oloans, Joseph Fryar, Dennis Nostrant, Gerard Robertson, David Reip, Marcus Labat, and Omar Garcia — used their leadership positions to exert extreme control over congregants. The indictment alleges that members were manipulated into turning over personal information, pressured into marriages and divorces arranged by church leaders, and forced to live in properties tied to the defendants that generated rental income.

The defendants are also accused of exploiting military personnel by recruiting them into the church, directing them to enroll in HOPBS, and then using their Veterans Administration benefits to funnel money into church-controlled accounts. Leaders allegedly disguised payouts to themselves as “expense reimbursements,” “love offerings,” and similar terms, while also using fraudulently gained funds to pay credit card bills for the defendants.

The indictment further describes how leaders maintained a list of “ex-HOPCC traitors,” humiliated members for perceived rule violations, and restricted contact with family members who left the church.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is looking for additional victims (see more below).

 

Bank Fraud Scheme

According to the indictment, in 2004 until the present, defendants Rony Denis, Anthony Oloans, Joseph Fryar, Dennis Nostrant, Gerard Robertson, and David Reip, along with others, engaged in a long-running conspiracy to defraud financial institutions.

The defendants allegedly recruited members of their organization to serve as “straw buyers” in real estate transactions, concealing the true buyers’ identities. They falsified loan applications and closing documents, used forged powers of attorney, and created limited liability corporations to acquire and transfer properties. After seizing control of these properties, they converted them into rental homes, collecting more than $5.2 million in rental income between 2018 and 2020.

Funds from the scheme were allegedly used to pay mortgages on the properties, cover personal expenses, and benefit members of the conspiracy, while leaving some of the straw buyers with damaged credit and foreclosures.

 

The Fraudulent Veterans Affairs Education Benefits Scheme

The indictment alleges that beginning no later than 2011 and continuing through 2022, Rony Denis, Omar Garcia, Marcus Labat, and Gerard Robertson conspired to defraud the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and U.S. military veterans of millions in education benefits.

According to the indictment, the defendants fraudulently obtained a religious exemption from state regulators in Georgia to operate two of the five locations of HOPBS. This exemption required that Georgia seminaries not receive federal funds. Nevertheless, the Georgia HOPS applied for and accepted VA education benefits, making it ineligible to maintain the exemption. HOPBS received more than $3 million in education benefits for its Georgia locations and more than $23.5 million for all five locations.

From 2013 through 2021, HOPBS officers fraudulently submitted false certifications to Georgia regulators that claimed the seminary did not receive federal funds, despite receiving millions in VA payments each year. The scheme funneled funding from VA education benefits to its seminary and related church accounts, enriching the defendants while exhausting some veterans’ benefits, often without students completing their programs.

 

Filing False Tax Returns

The indictment also charges Rony Denis with aiding in the preparation and filing of false income tax returns for calendar years 2018, 2019, and 2020. According to the indictment, Rony Denis falsely reported a total income of $165,601 in 2018, $155,408 in 2019, and $247,433 in 2020, despite knowing those figures were false.

The FBI and the United States Attorney’s Office are seeking additional victims whose personally identifiable information (PII) may have been misused by HOPCC. If you, your family member, or anyone you know has had contact with HOPCC and would like to report a crime, please complete this online questionnaire: fbi.gov/HOPCCVictims.

“This indictment alleges a scheme in which individuals betrayed the trust of church members for self-enrichment at the members’ expense,” said U.S. Attorney Heap. “We commend the work of our law enforcement partners in unraveling this fraudulent operation.”

“The defendants are accused of exploiting trust, faith, and even the service of our nation’s military members to enrich themselves,” said Paul Brown, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta. “This indictment makes clear that using coercion, manipulation, and fraud under the guise of religion will not shield wrongdoers from accountability.”

“Safeguarding Post-9/11 GI Bill education benefit funds reserved for deserving veterans remains a priority and our investigators are working diligently in the field to ensure these programs are not exploited for financial gain and greed,” said Special Agent in Charge David Spilker with the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General’s Southeast Field Office. “These indictments are a clear warning that the VA OIG, alongside our partners, will continue to aggressively pursue those who seek to defraud these vital VA benefits.”

“The defendants are accused of fraudulently receiving VA education benefits intended for those who honorably served in our country’s armed forces, along with committing other financial crimes,” said Special Agent in Charge Demetrius Hardeman, IRS Criminal Investigation, Atlanta Field Office. “IRS Criminal Investigation special agents are diligently investigating those who commit financial fraud on the U.S. government and law-abiding taxpayers.”

“Those who abuse the housing finance system for fraud will be held accountable,” said Edwin S. Bonano, Special Agent in Charge at the Federal Housing Finance Agency Office of Inspector General (FHFA-OIG). “FHFA-OIG is proud to stand with our law enforcement partners to protect victims and safeguard the integrity of the housing finance system.”

“Today’s coordinated arrests of individuals connected to the House of Prayer Christian Churches of America and House of Prayer Bible Seminary effectively disrupts a calculated scheme to defraud our military service members and veterans of their hard-earned VA benefits,” said Special Agent in Charge Ryan O’Connor of the Department of Army Criminal Investigative Division’s Southern Field Office.  “This investigation underscores CID’s unwavering commitment to protecting those who have served, and we will continue to aggressively pursue those who seek to exploit their trust and sacrifice.”

“USCIS will hold those that perpetrate immigration fraud accountable, and we will support any DOJ efforts to denaturalize this criminal, who used a stolen identity to fraudulently obtain U.S. citizenship,” said Sarah Posvar, Associate Portfolio Director, with USCIS' Fraud Detection and National Security Directorate.”

This case is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Veterans Affairs Office of the Inspector General, Internal Revenue Service, the Federal Housing Finance Authority, the Department of the Army, CID, and United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, with valuable assistance from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.  Assistant United States Attorneys Patricia G. Rhodes and George J.C. Jacobs, III are prosecuting the case.

 

An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Contact

For questions, please contact the U.S. Attorney’s Office at (912) 652-4422. 

Updated September 10, 2025

DOJ Files motion of forfeiture, HOPCC swindled people by the millions

 As promised, if I got any updates I would share. I had two people reach out to me today to inform me about this and now I am sharing.

This is NOT MY reporting. I did request some information but this blog features a link to the court documents, a link to one of the men who broke the story courtesy of his Substack Page: Court Watch and some excerpts from a story that ran today in the Augusta Chronicle.

Still no word about arrests. Will keep on it!

Seamus Hughes on Substack

His work is featured on Court Watch Read it here:

https://seamushughes.substack.com/p/exclusive-church-preyed-on-veterans?sd=pf

 

This was reported in the Augusta Chronicle 1/4/23

Written by Alexandra Koch

Here are some excerpts from her story:

Department of Justice recently filed a forfeiture motion for almost $150,000. The motion claims the church and it's bible seminary defrauded hundreds of military members in a more than $22 million scheme.

The motion filed Friday…alleges the church committed theft and unlawful conversion of government property, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Authorities say the church used 20 financial institutions and 80 bank accounts to transfer funds.

In this case, the nearly $150,000 in assets were seized on July 22 from six accounts held by South Georgia Bank and First Citizens Bank as a result of federal seizure warrants authorized on July 21 in the Southern District of Georgia.

 

Here is a link to the forfeiture document on Google Docs:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSiWvMiPe6fd0PvwsRbT8t4dXEkGbVTw14_ZqIZwuu1ASXc8ENajS-VLYyrPLmyUOuVjhFKYCNc0iJs/pub?fbclid=IwAR3JHmfyqvvdHlSPIshC1HAstzNGG3pbXj-ZphiHwweyUkl5U7j-Pu0tMcA

 

Photo by Patty Leon - May 2017 Former members protest

After the raid.

 I’ve written several articles about House of Prayer, going all the way back to 2017. I was contacted by many former members who claimed it was more like a cult than a church.

I sat down or spoke with several former church leaders and pastors who are now cut off from family who are still in the church. I talked with several former members who are cut off from their own children still with the church. I heard and reported about HOPCC’s unaccredited school for the kids. I listened and reported on allegations of abuse, manipulation, mortgage fraud and fraud being committed against the veterans in the church.

On June 23, federal agents raided the House of Prayer Church in Hinesville and its other affiliated churches in North Carolina, Washington State, Augusta, Texas and California. The raids stemmed from an investigation after a letter was sent to the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Georgia State Approving Agency by a group called Veterans Education Success in August 2020. In it, the group requested an investigation of alleged abuses of the GI Bill program by House of Prayer Christian Church’s Bible seminaries. The letter was written after Veterans Education Success listened and reported on the various complaints made by former church members to include those who once ran the Bible seminary schools. These whistleblowers felt it was time to be heard and for the fraud to be stopped. The FBI raided but no arrests were made. To this day, no arrests have been made. But Military.com reported that officials from state regulatory agencies in Georgia, North Carolina and Texas disclosed that schools connected to the House of Prayer church had been stripped of their eligibility for GI Bill money.

In their investigative report it said HOPCC had collected $7 million in tuition from veterans.

SEVEN MILLION! That explains church leader Rony Denis’ two massive mansions in Georgia and another in Florida and his two Rolls Royce (maybe even three).

Denis might have started House of Prayer Christian Church with good intentions, but greed, power and money does odd things to people. Seven million dollars, used in the right way, could have helped a lot of people.

And if we listen to the former members and review previous reports, not just mine, but other news reports from various former members from across the U.S., it seems that bilking veterans out of their GI Bills wasn’t the only thing Denis and others were/are doing.

In 2017, I reported about church members buying homes in their names through the Department of Veterans Affairs. Those houses were then turned over to a property management company run by a high-level church member, Former members said the homes were often used to provide quick cash for the church through refinancing and lines-of-credit loans. They said some homes were also allowed to go into foreclosure, ruining the homeowner’s credit — especially those who had already left the church. Foreclosed homes were bought by other church members and again managed through the church’s property management company.

Many of the organizations created by the church like their mortgage department, building crew and property rental companies were placed on Fort Stewart’s off-limits list.

And when they felt the heat, they would close one company and open another. There was People Helping People Group and its subsidiaries — Executive Home Rentals, JHS Investments, JT Enterprise, JZS Investments and Peach State Rentals, and later Centex, and Union Park LLC.

Union Park LLC is still listed as the owner of several houses in the county to this day. The FBI has not stated why they raided the churches. There is no update on what else they might be looking into but I hope they are still looking into these allegations of fraud against a vulnerable veteran community here and across the U.S.

Busted! FBI raid House of Prayer

 Agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) raided the House of Prayer Christian Church the morning of June 23. The church is located off Airport Road in Hinesville.

For years former members of the church have stated it was less a church and more like a cult.

Per Courier correspondent Lewis Levine, law enforcement officers were seen carrying weapons around the area of the church and a group of women and men were seen standing outside one of the buildings on the property being guarded by a female officer with a weapon.

According to various news agencies, two other churches that are affiliated with House of Prayer were also raided June 23. One was Assembly of Prayer in Augusta, the other Assembly of Prayer Church in Killeen Texas.

House of Prayer Church leader Rony Denis reportedly lives in Augusta.

"I can confirm that the FBI is on scene executing a court authorized search warrant," said Jenna Sellitto, the FBI Public Affairs Officer from Atlanta. "No arrests have been made. Our investigation is ongoing, so I cannot provide further details at this time."

While the FBI can't comment on the ongoing investigation several former members have alleged abuse toward children, lack of accredited education for the children, real estate fraud, and fraud committed against veterans.

In August of 2020 a letter was sent to the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Georgia State Approving Agency by a group called Veterans Education Success, requesting they investigate alleged abuses of the GI Bill program by House of Prayer Christian Church’s bible seminaries.

The letter stated:

"We recently received complaints by former students of House of Prayer Christian Church (HOPCC). A Veterans Education Success staff lawyer interviewed several former students, a current student, and former employees. The contact information for each student and employee is provided at the end of this letter. The information presented here is compiled from those interviews as well as publicly available information. Based on the interviews, Veterans Education Success respectfully requests that a targeted risk-based review be conducted of HOPCC."

Some of the allegation in the letter include:

1. HOPCC is allegedly deceiving VA and defrauding veterans of their education benefits
2. HOPCC officials allegedly lie to VA inspectors
3. HOPCC allegedly charges VA students a significantly higher tuition
4. HOPCC allegedly misled VA about teacher qualifications
5. HOPCC students say they were required to recruit new students during class time 
6. HOPCC allegedly changes its curriculum to keep students enrolled longer 
7. HOPCC student veterans deplete their veterans education benefits and never receive a completion certificate
8. HOPCC provides students with a very low-quality education
9. HOPCC does not provide students with financial or academic records
10. HOPCC is allegedly engaged in other criminal activity and operates like a cult
11. HOPCC allegedly manipulates veterans into donating their VA disability compensation to the church
12. HOPCC is allegedly engaged in mortgage fraud 
13. HOPCC may be under FBI investigation 

Based on their interviews with former members the letter further stated:

1. HOPCC is likely violating multiple VA regulations
2. VA should disapprove GI Bill enrollment at HOPCC under 38 USC § 3696
3. HOPCC is likely violating the 85-15 rule

Link to letter:

Letter to DVA

Things that make you go hmmmmm

Here is another interesting thing that happened as I started looking into all these things about House of Prayer.

As you recall (or can look up on these blogs), church member Cesar Vargas was quoted in a newspaper story as he vehemently denied the church is a cult. In that story he was quoted to say:

“We know several people that left our church have been making prank calls to several places,” he said. “The fire marshal was called and told a bunch of lies about the safety of the church. He came out, inspected, and everything was fine. Several church members have had Child Protective Services called to their home for no reason, no nefarious activity or child abuse/neglect has been found. We were able to obtain copies of the phone complaints, and we recognize the voices of former members. We are considering soliciting the help of local law enforcement.”

Immediately following that story I got an email from a concerned wife of a former pastor of House of Prayer.
The email was dated 7/7/2017.

Hi Patty,I had a concern not even sure if it's true or not, but how was it even possible that law enforcement and Social Services turned over tapes to HOPCC of people calling, is this possible? and isn't that a breech of people's safety and welfare for the law enforcement to do such a thing? I mean that would prohibit people from calling out child endangerment cases because of something like this. I

She wanted to know if it could be true that somehow members of HOPCC got audio tapes of calls made to DFACS.

I replied 7/8/2017:

I am not sure about how Child Protective Services works....if the calls go only to CPS I am not sure how they are handled.

I found a document online that explained exactly who and how people may or can access information on child abuse complaints and cases. This document is VERY specific and on page 19 states the requirements for the state of Georgia. 
You can view that document here:
Child Disclosure Act

In the email I went on to explain how open records can be requested for police reports  and also how certain documents, when used in court can be found through a public records search at the count clerk's office. I even said that I thought Cesar said that as a scare tactic and that I highly doubted the HOPCC folks actually had audiotapes from DFACS.

Remember what Cesar Vargas said:

"We were able to obtain copies of the phone complaints, and we recognize the voices of former members."

VOICES...AS IN AUDIO. Well it turns out they may have gained access to items they shouldn't have had access to. Fox 28 news reporter Robert Catanese broke open the story at the beginning of this year:

Liberty County DFCS employee dismissed after internal audit

It could very well be that HOPCC had inside information for however many years Marshel Webb was employed there. 

The former pastor referenced in the Fox 28 story was calling to report on the abuse he had heard that happened to Lynette Rosario and the other girls while in Stuart Florida with Rony Denis. If you have yet to hear that, here is the link:

Interview with Lynette Rosario regarding beatings

So much more to come. Sorry it's taking a while but my work has kept me busy. Still need to tell you Arlen's story and also how the church may be getting funded by the city of Hinesville. Yep, you read that correctly. Stayed tuned.

How many homes does a church need?

One of the main things that most former members of House of Prayer allege (and is something that most people already somewhat familiar with this place already knows) is that House of Prayer owns roughly 200 plus home in the Hinesville, Liberty County area.

Now they don't own every home in the name of the church. They avoid that as much as possible but there are a few listed under House of Prayer.

So what?

Well here is what usually happens.
The church convinces a member  to sign over their house to the church. Their "Go-To" specialist in this arena is Anthony Oloans. So he gets Power of Attorney under the various "Property management companies" they have.

The people get to remain in their home and now pay their mortgage to Oloans and company. In the meantime the church is re-financing and getting all the equity out of the house. They often let the home go into foreclosure, and then purchase the home under the name of another church member and continue the vicious cycle.
In other words they tend to pocket as much of the money they can for the "church" but primarily for Rony Denis, who is supposedly renting a mansion in Stuart Florida (where he beat the girls) and has not one but two Rolls Royce.

It is alleged that Oloans has forged signatures and has bought homes in the names of church members without their knowledge.

The first property management firm the church ran under Oloans was called People Helping People. As I noted in my real estate fraud story in the newspaper, that company was placed on the Fort Stewart Off limits list in 2011 and remains there today.

Anthony Oloans is named as an officer under a company called Centex Management and also Union Park LLC.
Union Park LLC

Centex

This research is still underway but you can easily look on the County's property tax site and find what I did.

Union Park LLC owns 10 homes to include the one that Rony Denis' was residing in until the stories and the heat made the coward run for cover and out of sight. That house is 428 Willow Oak.
Union Park owns:
310 Floyd Street
401 Club Dr.
634 Varnedoe
701 Little John
819 Forest
412 and 428 Willow Oak
2033 Andover
605 Georgia
1804 Blair Ct

And these are just the ones under Union Park. Multiply this by the hundred or so members that may have houses under their names.

I'll be posting some more on this after I get a chance to scan documents this weekend.

But I also think there is some fraud going on. As one example, Arlen and his former wife Christy A Bradeen recently went through a divorce after he "Escaped" and his wife and daughter chose to listen to lies Rony said about him and stay at House of Prayer.

Anyone can look this up in public records. Again I am only posting portions that need to be posted as the whole file contains personal information on both parties that aren't relevant to this particular issue.

Under the name of Christy A Bradeen there are two properties:

800 Forest

1818 Blair Court

Well okay people tend to own more than one home at times.
But how did she get the loans under her name?

According to court records Christy Bradeen testified that she has never earned a paycheck or has held a job for the last 30 years or more!!

Yet she is clearly listed as the owner.

I asked Arlen about this. He said that during the discovery portion of his divorce his lawyer showed him Christy' s paperwork for the home loans.

Those papers noted that said she she earned $12,000 PER MONTH as being part of the ministry...doesn't say what church....and again no W-4's, W-2's or tax returns.
Yes she has a bank account but noting that would show she would qualify for the loan amounts of these two high priced homes.

Also if you've been following this blog House of Prayer practices under the principles of Old Time Holy Pentecostal. There is NO WAY they would allow a woman to run a ministry!

Also both of these homes are currently under foreclosure proceedings.
Hmmm.

Think about what would happen if Rony Denis pulled the entire church group to Augusta (where there is already another branch of HOPCC) and let all 200 home go under after pulling all the equity out of them!

How can everyone in ministry suddenly all be gay?

Some of the emails I started to get (everyone in the office got) were to point me in the right direction and prove that the church was not a cult.

This is a touchy post as it mentions the gay-lifestyle. Please remember these are not my views but the views of those in House of Prayer as taught to them based on their interpretation of the Bible or by their leader Rony Denis.

In no way am I condoning their interpretation and this post is not an open invitation to share your personal views of that lifestyle. I love everyone regardless of race, religion and sexual orientation. 

There is plenty of hatred already in the world. It is also not for me to judge.

In fact I’ll start and give credit where credit is due. As I’ve said before not everyone in House of Prayer is a bad person or manipulator or a greed mongering leader.

Many are just folks who truly believe they are in a place of worship that is serving God.

I got one email from CJ Vargas that was dated 7/3/2017 and it starts out talking about the good things he and the church have done:

“I have been a part of the food bank/homeless ministry, nursing home ministry, and are beginning our jail ministry soon. I would love to invite you to one of our next community outreach events so that you can see firsthand the good things that God is doing right here in our community. We go into lower income areas Hinesville and surrounding areas to bring spiritual relief because many of these people seem to be neglected and forgotten. From time to time in some of the worst areas of town you see us talking to those who are hurting and forgotten. In the worst trailer parks in Hinesville and the surrounding area you will find us ministering. We are a church made up of people who were bound by the power of Satan, but have now been set free. We are free to serve God, not a man.”

Then he lost me a bit when he worded his next sentence in the following manner (And I think he was GUIDED by Denis on what to write):

“We love people from all walks of life. In our church you see whites, Negroes, Latinos and Asian. There are even some that were formally gay, truly we are a church of all nations.” 

Again this was written in 2017 and I just thought it harsh to see that he used the “N” word instead of the more commonly used African American. Maybe since they practice Old-Time Pentecostal he used that word which was used a lot in older times. I also think he meant to say formerly gay not formally.

CJ went on to write:

“This is another point of confusion about our church. We are not “anti-gay”. We believe the Bible’s teachings about traditional marriage, just like we believe its teachings regarding murder.

The Bible says:

“Therefore, shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.” Genesis 2:24

 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers themselves with of mankind, ……I Corinthians 6:9

That is what this is all about Ms. Patty. There were some ministers who were living very ungodly and did not want to be exposed for their immoral closet lifestyle. They were here for over 12 years, and could not accept the Biblical standards for the ministry. We do not condemn Gays or gay people, but we love them enough to want to help see them delivered by the blood of Jesus Christ.

The only time we would even expose someone’s sexuality is if they are in the ministry. We will not tolerate Gays and lesbians behind the pulpit. Again, this is not because we hate them, but because we want them to be delivered. Many people in our church have been delivered from drugs and all manner of immoral lifestyles, including homosexuality.

 Again, we serve Jesus Christ, he is our leader. Denis is not the leader, it is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. It is God that does not want Homosexuals or bi-sexuals in his pulpit, just as much as he doesn’t want liars or adulterers.

 In an email from Jeff Derby dated 7/4/2017, Derby said the church is not homophobic, but the church believes it can deliver these folks out of the sin of being homosexual and that HOPCC “will never accept gay minister.”

But this is what I’ve learned:

There are at least 5 former HOPCC Pastors that were kicked out or left after challenging the church.

Denis accused all five of being homosexual or child molesters only AFTER they left or were ousted. Denis then proceeded to announce this in front of the entire congregation, including the children. He spread this lie across all the affiliates’ churches as well.

It truly believe it is a lie.

I know of or know personally at least three of the five men and they were all STRAIGHT MARRIED MEN.

One of the former pastors lives in North Carolina, still with his wife and kids. They are lucky and got out. The whole family together.

The other two men are also still with their wives who left when they did.

One man is Arlen Bradeen who I’ve mentioned before and will soon be posting his devastating story. Denis ruined his marriage of 30 years. Bradeen is now kept away from his former wife and his daughter. I’ve talked to many folks in the community, and they all say the same thing about Arlen Bradeen. He is a great guy and didn’t and doesn’t deserve what happened.

When you hear the awful Denis said about him in front of hundreds of church members and kids it will have you in tears as it did Bradeen and I when he told me his story.

And within a week of the divorce his ex is already paired off and about to marry a man Denis chose for her.

Go back for a second a look again at what CJ Vargas said:

There were some ministers who were living very ungodly and did not want to be exposed for their immoral closet lifestyle. They were here for over 12 years, and could not accept the Biblical standards for the ministry.

The only time we would even expose someone’s sexuality is if they are in the ministry. We will not tolerate Gays and lesbians behind the pulpit.

The truth is the only time church members were told or learned that these “ministers were gay,” was after they were kicked out.

I know the pastor of 12 years that CJ was talking about. CJ and this former pastor had an exchange of words during a town hall event that I was there to cover. And it is well-known that Denis dislikes the man and the others who are trying to show people what is really transpiring behind those hidden walls.

And how is it that each and every person they throw out of that church is gay?

Come on!

“Gay” is something Denis has taught everyone to fear. So once Denis removes someone from the church he labels them gay KNOWING the church members will not want to associate or even with that person even if they were best friends…even if they were siblings…..even if they were husband and wife.

Just another form of control, manipulation, deceit and fear-mongering.

Definition of a master manipulator from Psychology Today: Most manipulative individuals have four common characteristics:

1.      They know how to detect your weaknesses.

2.      Once found, they use your weaknesses against you.

3.      Through their shrewd machinations, they convince you to give up something of yourself in order to serve their self-centered interests.

4.      In work, social, and family situations, once a manipulator succeeds in taking advantage of you, he or she will likely repeat the violation until you put a stop to the exploitation.

Here is a nice picture of Rony Denis mocking former members.