Warning! Beware of ‘Christian’ Con-Artists

They called K.A. Paul “the Billy Graham of India.” During his heyday in the 1990s, some Christian leaders in the United States gave big donations to the evangelist, assuming he was using the money to feed thousands of orphans and widows.
As it turned out, most of the funds Paul raised were used to buy a huge 747 outfitted with a second-floor cabin that contained his own bed, complete with red and gold lamé bedspread. Paul flew the oversized aircraft to Third World nations where he grabbed as much publicity as possible by staging photo ops with politicians. He tried to convince them that his Houston-based organization, Gospel to the Unreached Millions, was alleviating world poverty.
In actuality, Paul was stealing from Christians to feed his monstrous ego.
When I visited India last week, I learned that Paul was arrested in May and is currently in jail in Andhra Pradesh. Authorities have charged that he hired a man to kill his own brother because the two were having a dispute over ministry properties. Now, this man who claimed to be a counselor to presidents and prime ministers has been placed in a mental hospital while he awaits trial.
How do people who claim to be doing God’s work turn out to be selfish charlatans?
It shouldn't surprise us. Jesus warned of wolves in sheep’s clothing, and one of His own disciples pilfered the money box and betrayed Him. Judas’ kiss-and-then-stab-in-the-back betrayal was rooted in his love for money and his corrupt character (see John 12:6, Matt. 26:14-16).
The Judas spirit is still working today. Missiologists say an embarrassing percentage of Christian donations from the United States go down the drain because of religious corruption overseas. That’s not to say we don’t have charlatans in this country, but American shysters are a bit more obvious because of the glare of media scrutiny.

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