(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Hey everybody, this is Pastor Jonathan Chelly from Steadfast Baptist Church and Pure Words Baptist Church. And I want to make a video to warn you about three individuals that have actually created some fraudulent documents and have seized all of the church accounts for Steadfast Baptist Church. And those three individuals are Seth Bookout, Ryan Gallagher, and Leslie Romero. Now these individuals currently have nothing to do with our church. Seth Bookout was actually church disciplined from our church several months ago, over a year ago. And Leslie Romero is the former pastor's wife who has no longer been a part of the church since January of 2019. An individual named Ryan Gallagher has had nothing to do with Steadfast Baptist Church as far as I'm concerned, any knowledge that I have concerning the church. I've only spoken with the individual a few brief times several months ago, over a year ago, I believe, approximately. But these three have concocted some kind of a scheme to create fraudulent documents and have literally seized all of the church's bank accounts and have stolen tens of thousands of dollars. And I'm making this video just to warn you that these individuals are not to be trusted. They're currently involved in some serious criminal activity. These things that they're doing are federal crimes, which can lead up to anywhere from 30 years in prison for each offense. And so I would highly recommend that you have nothing to do with these individuals, that you don't abate them, help them, aid them in any way in their criminal activity as investigations are unfolding. And these perpetrators will be held liable for all actions that they have committed. And I think sometimes these people that are super wicked don't understand how they're going to get caught. You know, in the Bible, we read about a man named Judas who was selected by Jesus and he was actually the treasurer. And it makes sense because he was a thief, is what the Bible says, and he was constantly taking money out. And these individuals that love to obsess about money and bank statements and all these things are often just thieves. And Judas ends up conducting a plan to sell out the Lord Jesus Christ for 30 pieces of silver. But immediately after realizing what he had done, he realized the grievousness of his sin, he ends up killing himself. And, you know, if it wasn't for the Bible, it'd be hard to even believe these people exist. But the Bible makes it clear there are actually very wicked, evil, reprobate type people in the world that will steal money from the Lord. They'll steal money from God himself, the church, and have no hard feelings about it. They don't even fear God at all because they didn't steal my money. They didn't steal any person's money. They stole God's money. You know, when people sacrificially give to the church and they give to the Lord, you know, the Lord's receiving those ties up in heaven. And the Lord does not look kindly down on those that would steal from him, rob from him. It's incredibly brazen of these individuals to steal this kind of money. I even know that Ryan Gallagher has been involved in all kinds of financial misgivings with another church, Sure Foundation Baptist Church, where there's all kinds of other criminal activity that he's potentially engaged in with Sure Foundation as well. And he's been making all kinds of horrible, slanderous accusations against one of my friends, Pastor Aaron Thompson. And it's just, it's super evident that these people are just low life criminals who have no conscience and are totally fine just stealing people's sacrificial giving and love offerings and ties that have been donated to Steadfast Baptist Church, a church they have nothing to do with, they don't even like. I mean, Seth Bookout on a very regular basis makes videos attacking Steadfast Baptist Church, its pastor, its congregants. And, you know, it's really crazy that, you know, these things happen, but from a biblical perspective, it makes perfect sense. You know, even the Apostle Paul, he says in 2 Corinthians that, I'm going to read a few verses here, but in 2 Corinthians, chapter number 11, he said, In journeyings often, and perils of waters, and perils of robbers, and perils by my own countrymen, and perils by the heathen, and perils in the city, and perils in the wilderness, and perils in the sea, and perils among false brethren. So the Apostle Paul brings out all the different evils that he had to suffer. One of them was perils of robbers, where people just literally stealing either his money or the Lord's money, false brethren. These are people that pretend to be Christians, but are not at all, and they hate Jesus, and they hate the work of God, and they just want to attack it. And a lot of people ask, like, why would people do this? It's ultimately just a hatred for the Lord. You know, our church, Steadfast Baptist Church, has gone through a lot of different challenges. But honestly, it's thriving. I mean, we have, we're busting at the seams. We've been breaking our attendance records regularly. People have been donating all kinds of money to our church. We're seeing thousands of people saved. We're seeing people baptized. I mean, we're doing missions trips. I mean, honestly, it's never been a better time to be a part of Steadfast Baptist Church. And fortunately for us, you know, while they may have stole some bank accounts and stole money, you know, tens of thousands of dollars, you know, all of the church still exists. You know, every single person, every single member is there, and we can still go out and preach the gospel. And we can still show up on Sunday morning and sing praises of the Lord and know that the Lord is going to avenge us. Now, obviously, realizing the Lord's going to avenge us doesn't mean that I'm not doing every single thing humanly possible to rectify the situation. I absolutely am contacting law enforcement, our attorneys. I've already been in communications with the bank and our secretary of state and their legal department. And so, you know, all the different entities that need to be involved are directly involved. And, you know, this is going to be fixed. But I just can't believe these people think that they're just going to steal the Lord's money and get away from God, even if they could theoretically, which they're not. But even if they could theoretically get away with it in the human aspect, you know, they're not going to get away with it from God. And, you know, it's really clear from the scriptures that Judas's are going to exist. And, you know, some people get mad and frustrated by these things, but obviously it didn't bother Jesus that much since he put Jesus in charge, or Judas, I'm sorry. Jesus put Judas in charge of the money and knowing he was going to steal it, knowing he was going to use that money to have him crucified. And, you know, the Bible makes it clear all things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are called according to his purpose. So this is somehow going to have a great ending and we can just rejoice for being persecuted for the cause of Christ here. But I do want to make it clear, do not try to donate online to Steadfast Baptist Church or write us a check currently until I have these issues resolved. And, you know, I'll try to follow up with instructions to our church members and everything like that, as far as the best way to continue donating or tithing and giving offerings to the church. But I just wanted to make a video so that everybody would be aware of the situation that's going on so you could just at least pray for us. And, you know, you can just get fired up because obviously the devil's throwing everything he can at our church right now. And it's a time to get in the fight. It's a time to get spiritual. It's a time to dig into the word of God and realize that there's a great door open unto us. And we have this great opportunity to get so many people saved right now and reach something through the gospel. And the devil just wants to distract us and attack us and hurt us. But, you know, it's going to fail. The gates of hell may rage against us, but they're ultimately going to fail. And so I just made this video for everybody to be aware of these three individuals that they should have nothing to do with them. I wouldn't contact them. If they try to contact you, I would have nothing to do with them. I wouldn't associate with them. And I know they've tried to contact other pastors and other people and they've been working with them. You know, I would highly recommend these pastors that have been working with these individuals have nothing to do with them. But, you know, unless they want other criminal liability to come upon them. But that's that's pretty much all I have. If you have any questions, just e-mail us. Steadfast Baptist KJV at gmail dot com. Or you can always show up at church and support us this Sunday. I'm going to be preaching at Pure Words this Sunday in Houston, but we have some great preachers lined up for Sunday and steadfast. And it's going to be a great day to serve the Lord. God bless you. Have a good day.