An important issue is that Christian congregations need to police themselves from within regarding both regular members and leaders -- Scripture is full of references to this -- or, at a great cost to Christ's goal of turning people to God, the non-Christian world will be happy to do that policing for us.
Rev. Prevo has done a lot of good work in Alaska, but many will end up remembering him for the expanding tax scandal instead of his good work, and if it's determined that what he did was actually illegal (and at the minimum it pushed the law and looked very shady, which is partly what 1 Thessalonians 5:22 refers to), the cost especially to his own congregation will be a big one. All Christian leaders need to take this to heart. No Christians are perfect, and most are far from it, but when we slip, we need to admit so with humility and change our course.
-- Phillip Elrod
Anchorage
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