UPCI Ministers Embrace Alleged Pedophile Part 1

Part eight of a series of articles.

(Some statements in this article are what have been alleged by a survivor. There have been no convictions as the case mentioned here was not reported to the police and to my knowledge, the alleged perpetrator has not admitted guilt.)

This article covers information about Steven Dahl and his alleged molestation of at least two children in the 1980s as well as allegations of failure to report instances of child sexual abuse by pastor John W. Grant, of Calvary Gospel United Pentecostal Church in Madison, Wisconsin. You will need to read Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 for additional details.

A preacher may fall into sin, be forgiven by God, be restored to the church, and even be restored to many areas of service, but this does not automatically entitle him to his former position of leadership. He must once again meet the qualifications of being blameless, having a good report, and so on. This takes much time, and in some cases total restoration may never be possible. …Moreover, some sins-such as child molestation, incest, and rape-may indicate deep personality problems that would permanently disqualify someone from many leadership positions. – David Bernard, January-March 1988 Forward

In a previous article, I shared about the relationship between the United Pentecostal Church and the Pentecostal Lighthouse Church in Oconto, Wisconsin, a Oneness Pentecostal church where Steven J. Dahl is the founder and pastor. It is something I stumbled across while doing research for my articles. The relationship between Dahl and the UPCI should never have occurred according to their Manual. It causes us to ask questions that cannot be ignored, tip-toed around or rationalized away. (The two screen shots below are from the 2018 UPCI Manual. The rules mentioned were also in place in the 1990s.)

In the United Pentecostal Church, if a minister is guilty of an immoral sexual act, they must forfeit their license and one who has committed such is not to minister in a UPC church. How then did an adulterer, who is an alleged pedophile, pastor the daughter work of a United Pentecostal church in Neenah, Wisconsin? John J. Bridges was pastor of Christian Life Center (now CrossPoint Church– then later Hope City Church), the parent church. [screenshot from a 2006 Wisconsin District directory]

In the United Pentecostal Church, new churches are only to be started with the written consent of the District Board. How then was the daughter work of Christian Life Center approved by the Wisconsin District when Steven Dahl, not licensed by the UPCI, was to be the pastor? Since the District included his name and home address in their directories, it wasn’t like Bridges bypassed this requirement and secretly had a daughter work. [screenshot from a 2007 Wisconsin District directory]

If the Oconto church started in 1995 [screenshot] when Dahl has stated, John W. Grant was serving as the Wisconsin District Superintendent. How then did the District approve the daughter work of Christian Life Center when Grant allegedly had direct knowledge of instances of child sexual abuse? He was the pastor at Calvary Gospel United Pentecostal Church in Madison, where Steven Dahl had been a member during the time when the alleged abuse took place. [screenshot from a 2008 Wisconsin District directory] If it started in 1995 but somehow didn’t become a daughter work of the Neenah church until the 2000s, John Putnam would have been the District Superintendent. Considering the seriousness of the allegations, it would be a dereliction of duty for John W. Grant to not have shared about Dahl with John Putnam or John Bridges. Since Steven Dahl’s name was included in at least three years of Wisconsin District Directories, District officials, as well as any other Wisconsin licensed minister, had to know that he was being used as a pastor. [Note: James Booker became the new District Superintendent in March 2018.]

Steven Dahl 9-16-23 Facebook livestream

Not only did Steven J. Dahl get to pastor the United Pentecostal daughter work in Oconto, but an eyewitness has shared with me that he was seen attending the Wisconsin District Conference meeting held at the Osthoff Resort in Elkhart Lake, where these have been held for years. [screenshot] This was at the minister meetings and happened around 2005-2007. He was present in at least one of these, possibly more. John Putnam was the District Superintendent then (and still was as of 2018). Why was Steven Dahl allowed to attend meetings for UPCI licensed ministers when he neither held license, nor was he ever going to be eligible to obtain one?

If the above isn’t enough to cause astonishment, for years United Pentecostal ministers and pastors have been speaking for Steven Dahl at the Pentecostal Lighthouse Church in Oconto. Dahl has spoken in at least one of their churches. A list of some of these men will be covered in Part 2. It is very clear to me that, year after year, the Wisconsin District of the UPCI and many of its ministers have embraced Steven Dahl as one of their own, something they would have been prohibited from doing according to the UPCI Manual had his alleged sexual sins occurred while holding license. I shared in a previous article, “When their ministers will shun former members because they left the organization or no longer hold to their teachings on standards, I find this disturbing and perplexing.”

So how does the above look to many of us who have left UPCI churches? It reeks like the stench of rotting fish. Many of us were suddenly shunned once we exited their buildings and we had not committed adultery, nor acts of child sexual abuse. I asked Debbie, who alleges that Steven Dahl repeatedly molested her while a member of Calvary Gospel Church, to write about how this has affected her.

Just like when I was a child they prefer the child abuser over the abused child. As I and others have tried to speak out and tell our stories we are scoffed at and declared to be liars by some who don’t even know us or the details of our stories. The church has gone out of its way to be friendly with Steve. They are friends with him on social media and they visit one another’s churches. Just like when the abuse happened he seems to be accepted and I am denied. They did not report his actions at the time and he was taken in by another UPC church. He was eventually put in charge of a daughter work and now it is like nothing ever happened. He does not hold a UPCI license but that doesn’t seem to matter much to them. Meanwhile, when I speak my truth they do not want to hear it. My story is automatically met with denial, disbelief, and scorn. There is no willingness to even entertain the idea that I might be telling the truth. Steve is enjoying a fair amount of support on his page. People are offering him prayers and verbal encouragement as he goes through this difficult trial. Not one person who is still in the church has reached out to me. …Watching how well Steve has been received and how much the church wants to deny all of this has hurt me. When I see people I used to respect, like former Sunday School teachers being friends with Steve online that is pretty hard to witness. – Debbie, former member of Calvary Gospel Church

Will any answers to these questions be forthcoming? Time will tell. I plan to continue writing. Meanwhile, a growing number of people find this to be very upsetting and inexcusable. If you presently are part of the Wisconsin District of the United Pentecostal Church, you should hold these people accountable and press for an investigation.

9-12-21 Facebook post – Steve Dahl is “The Rev”

For those who wish to hear him, this is a video interview with car enthusiast Steven Dahl, who has owned over 175 cars in his lifetime. [The video has since been made private.] Here’s one he made on September 16, 2023 and another from the same day, that he streamed live on his The Rev Oconto Car Facebook Group he operates. You can find several more of his live videos there. He’s very active in old car shows, such as the Cars N Tunes events which have been held several times a year at Shake A Burger in Oconto (he plays the tunes there and at the annual Oconto Fly-In, Car & Tractor Show, where he has served as emcee and DJ at the event for thirteen years). He used to have some YouTube videos of his preaching, but they have been removed.

March 12, 2024 Note: Some pictures have been added to this post, links have been checked, and some revisions were made.

You will find a complete list of articles in this series by clicking here.

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Sexual Matters And My Former United Pentecostal Church

Part seven of a series of articles.

As previously shared, I personally have known four people from the United Pentecostal Church who have been convicted of sexually related crimes. In Part 2 of this series, I shared about two cases, where one man held license. These are the other two.

Some of us were gathered for a ladies prayer meeting that night at the church when the phone rang. Answering, I recognized the voice as one of the older male members. He was married and had children. George asked to speak to Rebecca (not her real name), one of the young church girls. Her mother happened to be there and she shared he had been calling Rebecca at home.

He didn’t hold any position in the church or organization. I believe it was prior to this when he tried to cause trouble for a good friend of mine who worked where he did at Lenox China. The false accusation didn’t work, but the pastor called her into the office to question her about what was said.

George Pyott

It was revealed that he had been spending time with some young girls. Rebecca’s parents were concerned and put a stop to future contact. I don’t know details of what happened at the time, nor what happened later at his arrest on an unrelated event. In July 1993 he was sentenced to prison on sexual charges and was a registered sex offender until his death in February 2018.

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There was a United Pentecostal minister who married a woman from my church. Tom and his family lived in northern New Jersey. He came to God while serving a prior prison sentence in Louisiana and upon release quickly became active and licensed in the UPC in the 1980s, even being featured in one of their publications, Freedomline (Spirit of Freedom Ministries).

He was licensed by the UPCI since at least 1985. (He is seen in the 1986 UPCI Directory with a local license. I don’t have the previous three years.) He eventually became a pastor in Westwood after assisting at a small storefront church in Riverdale. The church was a rented building.

As of at least 1988, he had returned to criminal activity and that year he also became a volunteer chaplain at the Bergen County jail. In March of 1990 while a pastor, he was arrested on some charges and there was also a prior charge of a sexual nature.

He claimed he did not commit the sexual assault of the 15 year old minor but was found guilty of sexual assault, criminal restraint and making terroristic threats. In October 1992 he was sentenced to 25 years in prison, with having to serve half that time before possibly being eligible for parole.

The woman later recanted her testimony in an affidavit, after receiving a letter from Tom’s wife, which included pictures of their two children, but then she recanted this. She claimed to have been harassed.

In 2006 Tom’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus was dismissed with prejudice.

I don’t know if Tom was ever released from prison prior to his death in February 2013 after a battle with cancer.

At the time, very few in my church knew details of what happened, including myself. Back then, there wasn’t the easy access to news reports from other areas. I’d never heard that he had been accused of sexual assault in this case, nor did I know of his prior sexual related convictions, such as the rape of a 14 year old, or details of all his previous charges. In the article he wrote for Freedomline, no assault was mentioned. Tom had a criminal history going back to the 1970s when he was a military policeman at an Air Force base in Louisiana.

My former church was probably what one would consider a medium size in the United Pentecostal organization. Many people came and went through the years. Both prior to my joining and while I was a member, there were numerous situations of sexual activity outside of marriage with some resulting in pregnancies, along with cases of adultery. A close friend once confided that she had been raped by a male member, who at one point had been living at the church, but I don’t believe charges were filed.

You will find a complete list of articles in this series by clicking here.

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UPCI Rocky Mountain District Trouble Part 2

There is an interesting side note to the article about trouble in the Rocky Mountain District of the United Pentecostal Church.

As I was looking into the situation, I discovered a cached version of the opinion article to Sweetwater Now from Jeff Ramaj on Wayback, which showed that there was one, probably two, people attempting to have it removed. A man had visited their office the same day that it posted, asking that it be removed. After this, an attorney contacted them, also asking that it be removed. Since someone had already been to the office (and, to me, while there he must have changed his mind about having it removed as it still exists today), they requested that the attorney have their client appear in person. They did not comply. Because of this, the paper posted a video of the man who visited the office, asking for the public to clarify who it was. Below is what the paper wrote.

UPDATE — According to Attorney Danielle M. Mathey, the letter we received was sent by someone who accessed her client’s tablet computer, she asked that the letter be removed. We asked that she have her client come to our office and identify himself via photo ID, as just prior to her call, a man identifying himself as the person who sent the letter to the editor to SweetwaterNOW visited our office asking that it be taken down.

Since she refused the request for an in-person identification, we have no choice but to publish the video of the man who came to our office in hopes that the community will be able to identify him to confirm the sender’s identity.

The video indeed showed that it was the actual author, Jeff Ramaj, who had visited the office. In a discussion on the newspaper’s Facebook Page, Ramaj explained, “It is unfortunate that letters such as this have to be written it is however sometimes neccessary in order to get peoples attention after seding this in to sweetwaternow i realized the wrong letter had posted this one was meant only for the district the other letter was meant to demonstrate our resolve in continuing the fight against an unjust situation.” In response to a woman who mentioned the subject of separation of church and state and that she didn’t see this as a Rock Spring problem, he replied, “We watched lives diminish here a once prosperous church now gone”.  One woman with UPC ties tagged pastor Keith Riley and his wife, Tanua, acknowledged it. At the time of this discussion, Ramaj shared that they were “hoping to bring this to a close soon.”

It appears the original letter that Ramaj wanted posted was never submitted. The situation also seems to indicate that another party unsuccessfully attempted to have the article removed via the attorney. It makes no sense to me that Ramaj would have gone to an attorney, either before or after he visited the paper, since he was the one who sent it, the article has remained available all these months, and these events happened the same day it was posted. It also seems very suspect to me that an attorney would refuse to have her client appear in person at the newspaper’s office. Note that according to the paper’s statement, Mathey didn’t seem to indicate that her client was the author of the letter, but rather that she stated it was her client’s tablet computer that was used to send it. Also, if Ramaj had hired the attorney, and since he had visited the paper, it would be ridiculous to refuse another appearance. Because of all this, it does appear that someone else, who obviously did not wish to be identified, hired the attorney in an effort to have it removed.

UPCI Rocky Mountain District Trouble

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UPCI Rocky Mountain District Trouble

There appears to be problems in the Rocky Mountain District of the United Pentecostal Church, involving Samuel Keith Riley, pastor of the United Pentecostal Church of Rock Springs in Wyoming (aka Revival Center of Rock Springs). The situation also involves UPCI ministers Matthew Pearce (Arthur Matthew Pearce, Jr.) and Steven Carnahan, both officials of the District. (Carnahan is pastor of the Abundant Life Church in Gillette and Pearce is pastor of Pentecostals of Rawlins – now Rawlins Family Church) All are ordained ministers in the organization and the Rock Springs church is an affiliated church (meaning they have a legal affiliation with them).

TROUBLING ACCUSATIONS

According to the article linked to at the end of this section, Jeff Ramaj claims the following of pastor Keith Riley, “The examples of false doctrine preached by Riley are legion, but the messages listed here were among the most frequent. As we began to resist his false doctrine, Riley’s favorite saying was that one cannot come against a man of God without being killed by Jesus.”

Ramaj has accused the Rocky Mountain District of not investigating this church/pastor and stated that their inaction led to a lawsuit which was filed in January 2016. The law office of Lemich Law Center, particularly Jon Aimone, appears to have been hired to contact the parties involved prior to the actual lawsuit. After it was filed, Riley allegedly ignored a judge’s order compelling discovery, and the District failed in an attempt to have the lawsuit dismissed.

At an August 2017 court hearing, “The judge entered partial default judgment in our court case and sent our attorney to the church to get the documents we requested.” As a result, documents and computers were seized and they have allegedly uncovered evidence “to show that the Rileys diverted monies from the general fund to their own personal enrichment”. It is further alleged that “There is evidence that inculpates Matthew Pearce and Steve Carnahan in Riley’s actions.” Ramaj also claims, “In 2015 and 2016, the W2 that was submitted to the IRS for Samuel Keith Riley said that he was paid just under $24,000. Church records and bank records show that he was paid tens of thousands of dollars more than that each year—the difference in 2015 is more than $34,000.”

The article also alleges that a former ordained UPCI minister from Montana, Kenneth Hogue, “embezzled hundreds of thousands of dollars from the District and was not prosecuted.” Hogue used to be a presbyter as well as the District Secretary and was pastor of the United Pentecostal Church (aka Grace and Truth UPC) in Butte. He also was the District Foreign (Global) Missions Director and served on the Global Missions Board. His wife, Teresa, also served in the District. His name is last seen in the 2016 UPCI Directory, indicating that 2015 was probably his final year.

Ramaj calls for Keith Riley’s license to be revoked and for both Carnahan and Pearce to resign. These are serious and troubling accusations. Are they true or false? Time will tell. Meanwhile there is a public battle going on. In the linked article below you will find additional information on Ramaj’s accusations.

OPINION: For The Last Two Years, We Members Of The United Pentecostal Church Of Rock Springs Have Been Begging For Help by Jeff Ramaj- October 30, 2017

August 30, 2019 Update: According to a press release from the Montana Department of Justice, on August 29, “The pastor of the United Pentecostal Church in Butte appeared today on wire fraud charges and admitted to embezzling $288,757 from the organization over a four-year period, U.S. Attorney Kurt Alme said.

“Kenneth Emmett Hogue, 66, of Butte, pleaded guilty to wire fraud as charged in an information during an initial appearance. Hogue faces a maximum 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release. He has a sentencing date on December 12, 2019. See also Butte pastor to plead guilty to embezzling from United Pentecostal Church. Kenneth Hogue had been elected secretary and treasurer of the Rocky Mountain District in April of 2012. A $5,000 bank transfer transaction made in May 2015 is what triggered an investigation. In March 2018 he admitted his scheme to the FBI.

On December 19, 2019, Kenneth Hogue was sentenced “to five years of probation and ordered to pay $288,757 for embezzling from the church organization over a four-year period.”

A PUBLIC BATTLE

Jeff Ramaj August 2016 Facebook post

Jeff Ramaj and others were (and may still be) having home and other meetings according to The Pentecostals of Rock Springs Facebook Page (no longer available). Their first service was held in August 2016 at 1695 Sunset Drive, Suite 104. You can see a few pictures of Ramaj at a service there. It appears that Ramaj is the pastor and it involves a small number of people.

Tanua Riley, Keith’s wife, publicly accused Ramaj of stealing the image for Revival Center of Rock Springs via this Facebook account. (Her main account is here.- This has since been closed down.) I find no reason to disbelieve her as that could easily be proven. She also appears to accuse him or someone else of not supporting their children.

The public feud includes an accusation by Ramaj that even though the organization has one, an area pastor (assuming Riley) claimed that the United Pentecostal Church didn’t have a retirement fund, so the church needed to pay him money for retirement.

Ramaj made it clear on the Page that it was not associated with the one operated by the Rileys, stating The Pentecostals of Rock Springs “in no way endorse or promote the pastor and his families unchristlike behavior. We do however keep those few who remain there in our prayers. Our prayers are that the truth will be revealed and the church will be renewed.”

In March 2017, he also posted, “There are many unanswered questions as to why we left revival center and have filed a lawsuit against the pastor. Here is the short answer. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. -Ephesians 5:11 [other passages follow] …This is the apostate church of which revival center has become under the leadership of an ungodly man who worships money and himself. I once asked him if he was a self made man who worships his creator his reply “yes”. Supporting you pastor is a scriptually correct practice unless he is not in line with the word of God. I tried for over a year to help him but he refused to listen. Will you or will you blindly follow him on a path that leads to destruction? Choose this day whom you will serve.”
On October 13, 2017, Ramaj posted two pictures, allegedly of items seized from Revival Center of Rock Springs as a result of the lawsuit. He also commented that “the district is also working to resolve this matter.”

Keith Riley used to have a Twitter account but it has been removed. Google had a cached version which was only available temporarily. The website listed for the church, revivalcenterrs.org, is not available.

March 15, 2024 Note: Screenshots have been added to this post, links have been checked, and some revisions were made. Many links were no longer available as the Facebook Pages for The Pentecostals of Rock Springs and The Revival Center of Rock Springs were taken down at some point after we posted the article. Some profiles were also deleted.

UPCI Rocky Mountain District Trouble Part 2

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Top February 2018 Posts

In February 2018, the blog section of the spiritual abuse website had 10,431 visits, with 6462 being unique. Below are the top ten read posts for February from three different authors.

We are always looking for new people to join our group of bloggers, so please consider registering and watch your email for more information. How frequently you post is up to you. Let your voice be heard and help others recover. You may find healing for yourself as well. Read here for more information.

Commenting directly on the blog is an encouragement to our writers as they often cannot see all the places where their words are shared and discussed on social media.

The United Pentecostal Church and Sexual Abuse – author Lois (accessed 1583 times)

A UPC Church Responds To Sexual Abuse – author Lois (accessed 1522 times)

A Pastor Who Should Not Have Been Part 2 – author Lois (accessed 615 times)

A UPC Minister’s Sexual Fantasy – author Lois (accessed 558 times)

A Pastor Who Should Not Have Been Part 1– author Lois (accessed 402 times)

Woman ‘in the Spirit’ on a Jamaican Flight – author Lois

Traumatic Submission – author Grace

A Pastor Who Should Not Have Been Part 3 – author Lois

When the church betrays us, pt 4 – author Through Grace

When the church divides, part 1 – author Through Grace

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