Bizarre, Criminal law, Politics, Religion

Now Behold the Lamb: Televangelist Marcus Lamb Admits Adultery And Alleges Extortion

Televangelist Rev. Marcus Lamb has become the latest preacher to publicly admit to having an affair. However, this disclosure came with an allegation of extortion. Lamb appeared with his wife, Joni Lamb, to admit to an affair on this show “Celebration” and alleged that three people had demanded $7.5 million or they would reveal the affair.

The disclosure came on the couple’s website of Daystar Television Network. On the show, he stated “They’re trying to take our pain and turn it to their gain . . . We’re not going to take God’s money to keep from being humiliated.”

Lamb says that he went to the police with the extortion claim.

The ministry appears to be based in Georgia. Here is the extortion statute that applies in Georgia:

O.C.G.A. § 16-8-16 (2010)

§ 16-8-16. Theft by extortion

(a) A person commits the offense of theft by extortion when he unlawfully obtains property of or from another person by threatening to:

(1) Inflict bodily injury on anyone or commit any other criminal offense;

(2) Accuse anyone of a criminal offense;

(3) Disseminate any information tending to subject any person to hatred, contempt, or ridicule or to impair his credit or business repute;

(4) Take or withhold action as a public official or cause an official to take or withhold action;

(5) Bring about or continue a strike, boycott, or other collective unofficial action if the property is not demanded or received for the benefit of the group in whose interest the actor purports to act; or

(6) Testify or provide information or withhold testimony or information with respect to another’s legal claim or defense.

(b) In a prosecution under this Code section, the crime shall be considered as having been committed in the county in which the threat was made or received or in the county in which the property was unlawfully obtained.

(c) It is an affirmative defense to prosecution based on paragraph (2), (3), (4), or (6) of subsection (a) of this Code section that the property obtained by threat of accusation, exposure, legal action, or other invocation of official action was honestly claimed as restitution or indemnification for harm done in the circumstance to which such accusation, exposure, legal action, or other official action relates or as compensation for property or lawful services.

(d) A person convicted of the offense of theft by extortion shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than one nor more than ten years.

HISTORY: Code 1933, § 26-1804, enacted by Ga. L. 1968, p. 1249, § 1; Ga. L. 1992, p. 6, § 16.

Option 3 would appear the relevant provision: “Disseminate any information tending to subject any person to hatred, contempt, or ridicule or to impair his credit or business repute.” Notably, however, adultery is still a crime in Georgia (as raised in option 2). Pursuant to § 16-6-19: “A married person commits the offense of adultery when he voluntarily has sexual intercourse with a person other than his spouse and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished as for a misdemeanor.” I have previously written about such adultery laws and how they are presumptively unconstitutional (see also here).

According to his bio, he and his wife live in Dallas. It appears that extortion is simply folded into the theft provision in that state.

If the allegation is true, an extortion charge would appear warranted. None of this, of course, relieves Lamb of the hypocrisy of lecturing people on morality while a practicing adulterer.

There is even a song that goes with this inglorious moment called Now Behold the Lamb of God:

Now behold the Lamb
the Precious Lamb of God
Born into sin that I may live again
He’s the precious Lamb of God

When I always didn’t do right
I went left, He told me to go right
But I’m standing right here
in the midst of my tears, Lord
I claim You to be the Lamb of God

Source: CNN and Clarion Ledger

Jonathan Turley

46 thoughts on “Now Behold the Lamb: Televangelist Marcus Lamb Admits Adultery And Alleges Extortion”

  1. Hey, Blouise. Can’t believe it’s almost 2 am. Worked a 12 hour shift today (off at 8) and am pretty wired… “The throat” is better. 🙂 Thanks for asking.

    I’ll e-mail you before the 13th…

  3. BIL: “No pie tonight.

    But I did have some chocolate covered cherries.”
    __

    I love chocolate covered cherries- dark chocolate nom, nom, nom. and B&J’s Cherry Garcia is food of the ghods. I though like a mix of semi-liquid cram, liquid and cherry in my CCC’s. Thats actually a difficult effect to achieve for home candy making. I have made liquid center, hand dipped truffles with various liquors but could never get CCC’s to work. Probably good thing, I’d have never left the house again.

  4. Thanks, Buddha. I tried the ones from Harry & David’s a few years ago and remember them as heavenly…

    I think I’ll have to head to the kitchen now, in search of something sweet. (Twelve hours on my feet today and I’m feeling the need to consume…)

    Re: “If I didn’t, I’d need a crane to leave the house.”

    🙂

    Re: “Or Ben and Jerry’s Cherry Garcia Evil stuff that. But I love it so.”

    Wicked good…

  5. Cella’s (liquid center only) or Harry & David’s solid cherry chocolate covered.

    Or Ben and Jerry’s Cherry Garcia 🙂 Evil stuff that. But I love it so.

  6. “But I did have some chocolate covered cherries.
    Quite possibly my favorite candy.”

    Favorite brand/supplier? (Inquiring minds…)

  7. No pie tonight.

    But I did have some chocolate covered cherries.

    Quite possibly my favorite candy. I only allow them in the house at the Holidays.

    If I didn’t, I’d need a crane to leave the house.

  8. Tootie: “The reason (and I speculate here from history and knowledge of the people of America and who my ancestors were) that adultery was criminalized is because it was recognized by people with high sense of justice and fair play (i.e. Christians)…
    ——

    Tootie, by all means wrap yourself in the cloak of the compassionate christians, you who posted in opposition to extending greater health benefits to 9-11 first responders that ‘no one held a gun to their heads and made them go to ground zero.’ Yea, that compassionate christian thing looks good on you but using it to bolster any argument you make, considering your posting history, is a fraud as great as you argue against.

  9. Buddha Is Laughing: “First, irony and coffee courtesy of Dick Cheney. Now, irony and hypocrisy sauce served over Lamb. Man, there is some good eatin’ going on today!”

    ——-

    You eatin’ pie with that coffee and irony BIL?

  10. Hannibal Lecter: “You know what you look like to me, with your good bag and your cheap shoes? You look like a rube. A well scrubbed, hustling rube with a little taste.”

  11. Tommy
    1, December 2, 2010 at 1:03 pm
    Do you people really think that just because a man is a Christion that he will be perfect. Why must you all find it necessary to cast the “first Stone”. We all make mistakes whether you are a Christian or not. The point is to help the other person not point out how much better you are than them>

    =============================================================

    Imperfection is forgivable … boring is not. (Yeah, yeah … I know)

  12. Whelp, I guess ya could say that extortion was one way to expose the silence of the Lamb’…

  13. at least he wasn’t snorting meth off a male prostitutes ass.

    the bar is really set low for televangelists

  14. Tommy:

    “Do you people really think that just because a man is a Christian that he will be perfect. Why must you all find it necessary to cast the “first Stone”. We all make mistakes whether you are a Christian or not. The point is to help the other person not point out how much better you are than them>”

    In my opinion, it isn’t about Christianity but about Lamb holding himself out as a “leader” of people. He should have held himself to a higher standard. The sin of the flesh stuff these televangelist preach is rather tiresome.

    If they want my money they can hold themselves to a higher standard than my dog. He has sex anywhere he can find a willing bitch, don’t you think a human being should have a little higher standard? Especially one who professes morality in public.

    Lamb is just a big bull shit artist, just like all the rest of them. Except maybe Billy Graham, he seems to have lived what he preached.

  15. Ever tyme I hear ’bout them Jimmie Swaggart-tipe christins, I think of ol’ Tex Williams’ a’sangin’ this song.

  17. Let me clear up a few misconceptions on your part. First of all, you shouldn’t be confused who wrote the original posting. Prof. Turley “signed” his name to it at the bottom. Secondly,if you look at the links that he provides in his article, he references the reader to the recent Supreme Court case of Lawrence v. Texas, which outlawed anti-sodomy laws and makes the case that any law that criminalizes any private consensual acts would be unconstitutional under the reading of that decision, including the dissents. I certaintly would not want you or anyone making the decision what my wife and I can or cannot do in the privacy of our home. The State making that same decision is no less onerous.
    Your argument that the State can criminalize anything it wants unless it violates Fed law is correct. That is why Prof. Turley discussed the Lawrence v. Texas case. I recommend that you use the links and take a look at what “evidence” Prof. Turley discussed. Have a nice day in your Tenther world.

  18. Another correction:

    My original post read:

    “To say that criminalizing MARRIAGE is unconstitutional because of their association with a religion is to make merely a weak assumption based on a genetic fallacy.”

    Marriage should read: “adultery”. And “their association” should read “the association”.

    Sorry, I’m a bad writer and a worse editor.

  19. rafflaw:

    That sentence (if you care) should read:

    And if we want to compare the hundreds of billions of dollars lost to mostly women who diverted their careers with the few wealthy people who lost (to Bernie) far LESS* money than most of these betrayed women could ever dream of….

  20. frank:

    So you didn’t have anything of substance to say in response to the points I made in my post? Instead, you preferred to insult me and didn’t even bother to prove that your insults are based on the truth?

    I’m all for lobbing insults when I’ve got the goods on the target, but you couldn’t even manage that. It’s kind of lazy, don’t you think?

    Or is that too difficult as well?

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