Obnoxious Preacher

LOXLEY, Ala.- An evangelist who was asked to sing at his wife’s uncle’s funeral claims he had a revelation from God that led him to insult mourners and say that the dead man was damned.

Orlando Bethel said he spoke words that “the Lord revealed to me.” Preaching over a microphone at the Greater Pine Grove Baptist Church, he told some 100 mourners they were “fornicators” and “whoremongers.” He said the deceased, Lish Devan Taylor, had gone to hell.

The microphone was abruptly disconnected. Bethel then reached into a gym bag for what apparently was a bullhorn. Some thought he was reaching for a gun. About half the crowd fled, with a few dragging Bethel out a side door.

“Those boys picked him up when the preacher said he wanted him out of there!,” said Glenita Andrews, a cousin of Taylor. Stephen Taylor, who came from California for his uncle’s funeral, said it appeared Bethel had planned to denounce Taylor and his family at the June 14 funeral.

Taylor, 56, who died of prostate cancer, was eulogized fondly by other ministers before Bethel took the microphone, mourners said. They said Taylor had gone to “a better place.”

“They were lying,” Bethel said recently.

Andrews said she thinks Bethel’s outburst stemmed from a dispute over property inherited by Bethel’s wife, Glynis. “The Taylor family is large. Orlando and Devan had some problems,” Andrews said.

Bethel moved from Miami to rural Alabama about 18 months ago, settling on an acre of land his wife inherited from her grandfather. The couple live in two campers beside their big, blue-striped gospel tent in the Ellisville community off U.S. 90. Glynis Bethel said her deceased uncle had run-ins with the law and was “so mean he would toss shotgun shells into a burning fire and yell, `Run!’”

She defends her husband, saying he was mobbed by “unbelievers,” one of whom followed Bethel from the church back to the gospel tent and tackled him on the sandy road.

The Bethels contend they’ve been denied justice because no one has been arrested. Loxley police Chief Cliff Yetter said Friday that he’s still investigating, but no one has been charged. He said three officers responded to a 911 call at the church, but did not enter the church during the funeral. Yetter said Bethel’s only apparent injury was a scrape on his shoulder. Bethel was examined at a hospital emergency room five days after the funeral.

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