A Long Island-area pastor has pleaded guilty to sexual exploitation of a child. Jose Saez Jr., formerly of Iglesia Cristiana Alumbrando El Camino in Brentwood, New York, was charged with production of child sex abuse material (CSAM) in 2023 after federal agents “conducted a cursory review” of his phone.

Editor’s note: This article refers to reports of child sex abuse that some readers might find triggering and/or disturbing.

Saez, 29, faces a minimum of 15 years and up to 30 years behind bars. He is a father of three.

In a statement released on Tuesday (March 11), the district attorney’s office characterized Saez’s crimes as “unspeakable.”

RELATED: Alabama Pastor Receives Maximum Prison Sentence of 20 Years in Child Sex Abuse Case

“The defendant’s sexual exploitation of minors, both in person and online, is horrific, and he now faces at least 15 years in prison for his unspeakable crimes,” said District Attorney John J. Durham. 

“That he held a position of trust and responsibility as a pastor of a local church makes his conduct even more reprehensible,” Durham said. “Protecting vulnerable children from predators like this defendant will always be a priority of this Office.”

An acting assistant director for the FBI said that Saez “not only admitted to sexually abusing young children, but also discussed his church and his congregants as targets of additional abuse.”

“His sustained exploitation of children—in person and online—is clear, and this plea is a step forward on the road to justice for his victims,” the acting assistant director added. “Children are among the most vulnerable in our communities, and the FBI will stop at nothing to make sure they are protected and the monsters who would do them harm are put behind bars.” 

RELATED: Former Youth Pastor Faces 191 Charges of Child Sex Abuse

Prosecutors said that Saez used an encrypted messaging service to send sexually explicit messages to an undercover agent. Investigators said that in the course of these conversations, which occurred in August 2023, Saez claimed to have sexually abused an infant and said that his “sweet spot” was molesting children between the ages of 11 and 15. 

(RNS) — Theologians, preachers and best-selling authors have long tried to explain why bad things happen to good people. But there’s a second question that doesn’t get as much attention.

What happens when a good person does something that seems unforgivable? That’s the question Tom King’s family faced on an early morning last fall as King was dying in a hospital room in Akron, Ohio, after he was hit on his motorcycle by a pickup truck.

Would they respond in anger? Or with mercy?

A few hours earlier on Nov. 8, 2024, King, a 72-year-old Navy veteran and retiree, had driven off on his beloved motorcycle from a Salvation Army food pantry where he volunteered five days a week. Driving through downtown Akron, he was struck by a 2014 Ford F-150 pickup that ran a stop sign.

The truck driver was Brandon Wellert, a 25-year-old surveyor’s assistant and father of two, who was on his way home from a job site. Wellert was driving down an unfamiliar street when he missed a stop sign. By the time he saw King’s motorcycle, it was too late. His truck collided with King, who suffered a serious head injury and was taken to a nearby hospital.

Doctors told King’s family he would not recover. It was just a matter of time before his heart gave out. At that moment, the family’s thoughts turned to the young man who was to blame. They believe King — who had become a kind, soft-hearted man as he grew older — would want to make sure Wellert was OK.

So, the family, who are Christians, began to pray.

“Tom forgave that young man before he hit the curb,” Rick King, Tom’s younger brother, said.

In the following months, King’s family pressed law enforcement officials to show mercy to Wellert. They showed up in court to advocate on his behalf.

“My view was that this young man already had a life sentence because he’s got to process this for the rest of his life,” Rick King said.

On the night of the crash, Christy Boulton, Wellert’s mother, was praying as well. She got a call from her ex-husband letting her know about the accident. Boulton said she prayed for King’s recovery — part out of concern for him, part out of worry for her son.

“All that night we prayed he’d be OK,” said Boulton, who grew up Baptist and now identifies as a non-denominational Christian.

Human rights groups and world leaders are issuing alarms about the recent slaughter of hundreds of minorities—including Christians—in Syria. Since March 6, more than 1,000 Alawites (members of a minority Shia Muslim sect) and Christians have been killed throughout the country, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).

Following a 13-year civil war, long-time Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad was ousted last December. Transitional President Ahmed al-Sharaa has said he wants “national unity and domestic peace.” But clashes have been ongoing between his government’s troops and opposition forces who remain loyal to Al-Assad, who is an Alawite.

Last weekend, the violence escalated after opposition forces ambushed government troops in northwest Syria, in an area populated by many Alawites. According to the United Nations, government troops then retaliated against civilians, killing entire families and cutting off drinking water and electricity.

Most casualties have been civilians, including some of the 300,000 Christians who remain in Syria. (Before the civil war, about 2.5 million Christians lived there.) Alawites make up about one-tenth of the country’s population. According to news reports, many minorities have fled to the mountains to seek shelter.

John Samara, a Christian from Syria who leads the outreach ministry Ananias House, told The Voice of the Martyrs, “We’re looking at potential genocide against Christians in Syria.” Persecution is escalating as more Muslims in Syria hear about and follow Jesus, he added. Although the nation’s new leadership has indicated it will protect the freedom of religious minority groups, Samara said those words appear to be hollow.

Footage Shows Christians Slaughtered in Syria

On social media, people are sharing images of murdered Syrian minorities and requesting prayers for persecuted Christians. Virginia Pastor Garrett Kell posted a video of soldiers hitting bodies that had been piled in the bed of a pickup truck.

“Pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ in Syria,” Kell wrote. “They are being hunted in their homes, shamed in the streets, and killed without mercy. Satan strives to snuff out their faith but God will sustain them as He has promised. Lord, have mercy.”

Another person posted a video of huddling families and wrote, “Thousands of Christian Syrians have fled to this airbase fearing for their lives as Jihadis continue to commit mass murder. Here they are protected by Russian Soldiers. Legacy Media will never report this.”

The Iraqi Christian Foundation, which advocates for minorities throughout the Middle East, also is sharing images of recent violence. Alawites and Christians in Syria are being “massacred,” the group wrote on March 11. Three days earlier, it had posted:

Syrian Christians and Alawites are being slaughtered in Syria by soldiers of the ISIS/AlQaeda terrorist government. The death toll is 1800 in just the last few days, with many victims still missing. Entire villages are being slaughtered by these terrorist govt forces. … This is what we warned would happen if the secular Syrian Government was removed. Pray for the Christians & other minorities in Syria.

RELATED: Report Ranks Countries Where Religion Faces Highest Government and Social Persecution

The Christian Emergency Alliance also is posting videos, including testimony from eyewitnesses. “The situation is 100 times worse than what you’re seeing on the media,” one man urged in a video. “Please stop this genocide.”

A former pastor who stole roughly $1 million from his church is taking his case to the Ohio Supreme Court to fight the probation stipulations in his sentence. David Thompson, who served as pastor of World of Pentecost Church in Columbus from 1998 to 2007, was convicted in 2010. 

Through his control of two of the church’s accounts, Thompson used church offerings to pay off personal credit cards and to support a lavish lifestyle while never claiming more than $44,300 on his annual income tax returns.

Thompson also gave false financial reports to church members, took out mortgages against the church property without telling the congregation, and obtained one loan with a fraudulent document.

In 2010, Thompson was found guilty on 22 counts, including nine counts of money laundering, seven counts of filing false or incomplete state income tax returns, three counts of tampering with records, one count of theft, one count of forgery, and one count of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity.

RELATED: Pastor Charged With Swindling ‘Long-Time Friends,’ Another Church out of More Than $230,000

“The biggest casualty was not financial,” Doug Girton, the pastor who succeeded Thompson, said at the time of the conviction. “A lot of people lost faith.”

“A lot of healing has to be done on both sides,” Girton added. “The biggest part of forgiveness is getting it out of our hearts.”

Following his conviction, Thompson faced up to 90 years in prison. However, he was given five years in prison and ordered to pay $733,048 in restitution. 

Thompson was also required to serve five years of community control after completing his prison term, and he was assigned to serve 500 hours of community service, according to The Columbus Dispatch.

Thompson was let out of prison 11 months early in January 2015 on a judicial release. However, he was placed back into custody in 2019 after failing to make adequate progress on restitution.

RELATED: Former North Carolina Pastor Allegedly Stole Congregants’ Hurricane Relief Donations

While he had lived under community control during his judicial release, a judge ruled that the five-year term of community control that accompanied his original sentence would begin upon his second release from prison. 

Ryan Walters is looking for 55,000 Bibles, and he is seeking $60 donations for each of them.

Walters, who is Oklahoma’s state superintendent of public instruction, has made national headlines for his efforts to get Bibles into the hands of public school kids in his state.

After state officials earlier this week rejected his request for $3 million to buy the Bibles, Walters launched a fundraising campaign to buy copies endorsed by President Donald Trump, with the help of country singer Lee Greenwood.

RELATED: State Senator, SBC Pastor Dusty Deevers Announces Bill To Make All Pornography Illegal in Oklahoma

“We faced opposition from left-wing activists in the state, left-wing legal groups, and frankly, we’ve had some Republicans that haven’t wanted to step up for the initiative,” Walters said in a phone interview, adding that he is grateful to Greenwood for stepping up and lending a hand.

Walters and Greenwood teamed up to launch a “Bibles for Oklahoma” campaign to purchase copies of Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA Bible,” which will then be donated to schools. The “God Bless the USA Bible” includes within it the King James Version along with patriotic documents like the Constitution and Declaration of Independence.

“The goal of this campaign is to provide copies of the God Bless the USA Bible to as many schools within the State of Oklahoma Department of Education as possible,” according to the campaign’s website.

Each copy of the patriotic Bible costs $60, the same retail price Greenwood’s website lists.

Last year, the Oklahoma Department of Education paid $25,000 for 500 copies of the Christian scriptures  — or $50 each, according to the Oklahoma Voice. Those 500 Bibles were bought for use in Advanced Placement government classes.

Online Bible retailers offer less expensive Bibles that include just the religious text. Christianbook.com, for example, sells a case of 24 King James Versions with imitation leather covers for $155.76 — or $6.49 each. Churchsource.com, run by the Christian publisher Thomas Nelson, offers a 58% discount when purchasing more than 25 cases of Bibles.

A spokesman for the God Bless the USA Bible said a bulk discount wasn’t available for the donation programs since donors will buy one Bible at a time. If all 55,000 Bibles Walters hopes to buy were ordered at the same time, that would be different, the spokesperson said.

RELATED: Donald Trump’s Favorite Bible Might Be on the Way to Oklahoma Schools

Walters said his push to get the Bibles into the classroom came in response to requests from parents and grandparents who were upset that their kids didn’t understand the role the Bible played in American history.

“I think it’s so important that our kids understand what made America great,” he said. “What were those key documents and key beliefs that individuals held throughout our history that made America the greatest country in the history of the world?”

Walters also said he believes it is important to have the Bible and documents like the Constitution and Declaration of Independence in the same resource so kids can look at them side by side. He also said the state requires students to understand both the Bible and patriotic documents, so having them within the same resource makes it easier for students to learn about them.

Oklahoma officials have been less than enthusiastic about Walters’ plans for the Bible. In explaining why the funding request was rejected, Democratic Oklahoma state Sen. Mary Boren told an Oklahoma City television station legislators wanted to avoid “legal complications” while working on the budget, as well as focusing on reading and math in school.

“You can tell that was a big priority,” she told KOCO, an ABC station.

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt said in a press conference this week that he believes in the importance of religious liberty but does not support the idea of spending $3 million of tax dollars on Bibles. Stitt, who has supported a state-funded Christian charter school, also said there are easier ways to get the Bible to school kids. He pointed to the YouVersion Bible app, which is run by an Oklahoma megachurch and has been downloaded hundreds of millions of times.

“I’m sure most kids have the Bible app on their phones,” he said.

Walters rejected the governor’s criticism of his efforts.

“Unfortunately, our governor has been coming out against a bunch of President Trump’s initiatives,” Walters said.

University of Oklahoma sociology professor Sam Perry said teaching about the Bible in schools can be appropriate — especially for understanding the culture, history and laws of the United States.