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Anti-theft sermon stirs mass repentance
By David Sapsted
(Filed: 25/05/2002)
Police have been called in to process thousands of pounds of stolen goods handed in by committed Christians after they sat through a sermon on the Commandment: "Thou shalt not steal."
Items including £1,500 in cash, diamond jewellery, watches and wallets have been left in "honesty bins" by churchgoers who attended the meeting at the Norfolk Showground, near Norwich, last week - one in a series of 10 being held on each of the Commandments.
The trigger for the mass repentance was a sermon by John John, a British preacher, who urged his 3,500-strong audience to go home and think about things they had acquired dishonestly.
It was wrong, he told them, to defraud the taxman or even to take stationery from work.
The sermon hit its mark and, throughout the week, 90 items have been deposited anonymously in the bins. Apart from the more valuable goods, hotel towels, clothes and even a CD of Queen's Greatest Hits have been left.
The Rev Stephen Mawditt, 45, chairman of the Just 10 Norfolk Organising Committee, said yesterday: "We have been very surprised by the response. The money and goods are still coming in."
Organisers are praying they do not find anyone else with guilty secrets to get off their chest after next Wednesday's meeting. The subject then will be the Commandment: "Thou shalt not kill."
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