Save the Persecuted Christians (STPC), which advocates on behalf of hundreds of millions of Christians facing heavy persecution worldwide, is addressing the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

“Situations such as these create an opportunity for persecutors to exploit the crisis at hand and operate with a greater sense of impunity, which is why it is imperative for each of us to also continue our prayers for those who are at risk of anti-Christian violence,” said Dede Laugesen, executive director of Save the Persecuted Christians.

“[Sunday’s] National Day of Prayer gave each of us an opportunity to come together in the midst of the seeming chaos and believe our God is greater than any outbreak. Although it is often easy to get swept up in the mass frenzy, we encourage you to remember that through prayer and faith we, as followers of Christ, can overcome every obstacle.

“There is no difficulty too great for God to overcome if His people cry out to Him and believe in His almighty power and ability. In Isaiah 43, God tells us that we are never alone and that He will always get us to the other side of any barrier. ‘When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee’ (Isa. 43:2, KJV).

SOURCE: Charisma News

All Content & Images are provided by the acknowledged source

TEXT: Hebrews 4:14-16

14 Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.

15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

——–

Robert Kendall said, “Prayer can no more be divorced from worship than life can be divorced from breathing.”

In its early days, Dallas Theological Seminary was in critical need of $10,000 to keep the work going. During a prayer meeting, renowned Bible teacher Harry Ironside, a lecturer at the school, prayed, “Lord, you own the cattle on a thousand hills. Please sell some of those cattle to help us meet this need.” Shortly after the prayer meeting, a check for $10,000 arrived at the school, sent days earlier by a friend who had no idea of the urgent need or of Ironside’s prayer. The man simply said the money came from the sale of some of his cattle!

In our last message in this series we looked at how we can approach the throne of grace boldly and with humble confidence because our high priest is none other than the son of God Jesus Christ. Because Jesus is the only priest who knows God directly, and is our only gateway to knowing God, we can have confidence in addressing our prayers to God in the name of Christ Jesus.

Second, we can approach the throne of grace boldly because we have a high priest who knows us. Hebrews 4:15 reads, “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” While also being God, Jesus lived as a man while he was here on earth. While he was here he experienced all the struggles that are natural to the human experience – hunger, thirst, weariness, and the temptation to sin against God. Jesus, being God, of course could not have committed a sin, but he understands the struggle that we go through in our lives. John MacArthur said, “He knows the gamut of temptation yet He can stand apart in absolute pure moral evaluation and be a fair judge. All our temptations Christ felt, and He didn’t feel them with our blunted perception but He felt them with His infinite sensitivity. Mark this thought, sinlessness alone can estimate sin, did you get that? It is sinlessness alone that can estimate sin. And so Jesus Christ didn’t sin. He couldn’t sin, He had no capacity to sin. But that doesn’t minimize His temptations they were all the more terrible because He would not fall, He could not fall, He endured them to the extreme. And He’s a good one to stand back and evaluate us because being sinless He has a sensitivity to sin, and He can see it for what it is where we always cannot. I like what it says in Hebrews 12:8 it says, “For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.” You want to talk to somebody who knows what sin is about you talk to Jesus Christ, you don’t even know what that’s about in the fullest sense you haven’t been able resist to the point of blood. Jesus Christ knows sin, and He knows your weakness and He understands it. You say, well what does this have to do with me? This just simply means that after you’ve come to Jesus Christ you have one that you can go to who completely understands in every way, in every capacity. In fact the Apostle paul put it this way in First Corinthians 10 he said in verse 18, and this of course is a classic statement, “But there hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not tempt you above that you are able, but will, with the temptation, make a way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.” Jesus Christ knows the path. Someone has well said, In a trackless wood the one who goes first blazes the way or breaks twigs so others may follow. When Jesus passed through this world He gathered up so many thorns in His own feet that by this we may know the way for us to take.” When someone is charged with a crime, if they do not have the means to hire a defense lawyer, they are assigned one by the government. These defense attorneys usually do not know their client, and do not care about the outcome of the case on a personal level. They are just doing the job they have been assigned. But Jesus knows and cares about us personally. He understands our struggle with sin. So we can approach God’s throne of grace boldly because we know that our defense attorney, if you will, knows us on a personal level and is ready to defend us before God.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

Now, if you are with us today, and you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Saviour, your first prayer needs to be what we call the Sinner’s Prayer. First, please understand that you are a sinner, just as I am, and that you have broken God’s laws. The Bible says in Romans 3:23: “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”

Second, accept the fact that there is a penalty for sin. The Bible states in Romans 6:23: “For the wages of sin is death…”

Third, accept the fact that you are on the road to hell. Jesus Christ said in Matthew 10:28: “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” Also, the Bible states in Revelation 21:8: “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”

Now this is bad news, but here’s the good news. Jesus Christ said in John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

Just believe in your heart that Jesus Christ died for your sins, was buried, and rose from the dead by the power of God for you so that you can live eternally with Him. Pray and ask Him to come into your heart today, and He will.

Romans 10:9 & 13 says, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved… For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

If you believe that Jesus Christ died on the Cross for your sins, was buried, and rose from the dead, and you want to trust Him for your Salvation today, please pray with me this simple prayer: Holy Father God, I realize that I am a sinner and that I have done some bad things in my life. For Jesus Christ sake, please forgive me of my sins. I now believe with all of my heart that Jesus Christ died for me, was buried, and rose again. Lord Jesus, please come into my heart and save my soul and change my life today. Amen.

If you just trusted Jesus Christ as your Saviour, and you prayed that prayer and meant it from your heart, I declare to you that based upon the Word of God, you are now saved from Hell and you are on your way to Heaven. Welcome to the family of God! Congratulations on trusting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour. You have done the most important thing in life. For more information to help you grow in your newfound faith in Christ, go to Gospel Light Society.com and read “What To Do After You Enter Through the Door”. Jesus Christ said in John 10:9, “I am the door, by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.”

God loves you. We love you. And may God bless you.

Daniel Whyte III has spoken in meetings across the United States and in over twenty-five foreign countries. He is the author of over forty books including the Essence Magazine, Dallas Morning News, and Amazon.com national bestseller, Letters to Young Black Men. He is also the president of Gospel Light Society International, a worldwide evangelistic ministry that reaches thousands with the Gospel each week, as well as president of Torch Ministries International, a Christian literature ministry.

He is heard by thousands each week on his radio broadcasts/podcasts, which include: The Prayer Motivator Devotional, The Prayer Motivator Minute, as well as Gospel Light Minute X, the Gospel Light Minute, the Sunday Evening Evangelistic Message, the Prophet Daniel’s Report, the Second Coming Watch Update and the Soul-Winning Motivator, among others.

He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Theology from Bethany Divinity College, a Bachelor’s degree in Religion from Texas Wesleyan University, a Master’s degree in Religion, a Master of Divinity degree, and a Master of Theology degree from Liberty University’s Rawlings School of Divinity (formerly Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary). He is currently a candidate for the Doctor of Ministry degree.

He has been married to the former Meriqua Althea Dixon, of Christiana, Jamaica since 1987. God has blessed their union with seven children.

All Content & Images are provided by the acknowledged source

As the threat of COVID-19 evolves, the needs continue to as well, and the Los Angeles Dream Center is responding to these needs while complying with all advice and regulations from the CDC, Gov. Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Eric Garcetti. Since schools are closed, throughout this week, the Dream Center will be open to provide meals for families from 7:30 am to 6:30 pm.

Mealtimes are not specified, and food will be served all throughout the time frame of 7:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. where anyone can show up at any time. The Dream Center also has a drive-thru option implemented. For those who are simply walking in, it is a pick-up-and-go system. There is no congregating on the Dream Center campus. To get an inside look at what this process looks like, click here to see the Dream Center in action from March 16, 2020.

The elderly and seniors 65-plus are finding it particularly necessary to practice social distancing, and so the LA Dream Center is also putting together care packages for the elderly this week, including a large load of hygiene and cleaning products and food to Parkview Senior Living Apartments located across the street from Angelus Temple, and also to the Dream Center’s existing outreach sites.

SOURCE: Charisma News

All Content & Images are provided by the acknowledged source

Gospel Light Minute – No Malice (#266)

He is a platinum-selling hip hop recording artist from Virginia Beach, Virginia widely known by his stage name No Malice (formerly Malicious and later Malice). He is best known for being one half of Southern hip hop duo Clipse, which he formed in 1992 alongside his brother and fellow rapper Pusha T. No Malice has also released two studio albums as a solo artist: Hear Ye Him, in August 2013, and Let the Dead Bury the Dead, in August 2017.

In a recent feature from God Reports, the hip-hop artist documented his dramatic testimony of transformation:

Deep down, No Malice, then known as Malice, always knew that staying in his platinum-selling worldly music group would lead to his demise.

But Malice found a new reason to live in 2010—Jesus Christ. He changed his stage name to No Malice and gave up millions of dollars by going solo.

“I was just letting the wind carry me left, right, swing either which way in my life,” No Malice said in a HipHopDX video.

“I wasn’t fulfilled. To have achieved the American Dream and still not be fulfilled only frustrated me more,” he told CBN. “I wasn’t having a good time. And when I did have a good time, it was only to find out afterwards, I was in more misery.”

Born in 1972 in the Bronx and raised in Virginia Beach, No Malice was drawn to hip hop and R&B as a child. Unlike many kids in his neighborhood, his mother and father took him to church. Still, he managed to get into all kinds of trouble.

“Even with a foundation and having a good head on your shoulders, you can still make some pretty decent mistakes,” he said.

He and his brother, who went under the stage name Pusha T, formed the group Clipse, which brass-knuckled its way into the rap game. At the time hip hop was just beginning to compete against pop with choruses and anthems, but Clipse broached untouchable topics, introducing a sub genre dubbed coke rap, filled with chilling hood depictions of trafficking and addiction.

It caused a sensation and opened new terrain for hip hop. Running and gunning, killing and cursing became the new trend. Lord Willin’ in 2002 debuted at #1 on Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip Hop album chart. XXL magazine gave its coveted and rare 5-star rating to Clipse’s 2006 album Hell Hath No Fury. They toured and collaborated with several top artists, some of their tracks being produced by Pharrell Williams.

“Clipse blew my brain open in 2006,” wrote Nathan Slavik on DJBooth Net.

In 2009, when he hit the cusp of notoriety, riches and ever growing celebrity, No Malice suddenly pulled the plug and quit secular rap. How could he? How could he leave his brother, leave the fame, leave the riches, leave his fans?

“You can have it,” No Malice told DJ Vlad, declaring in no uncertain terms that he had no regrets and no remorse about leaving his former path. “I knew that I had to get out of the group before I ended up dead or in jai.”

Behind the veneer and trappings of renown, there was a sinner gripped with fear over his own mortality. The wild life of women, alcohol and drugs left him paranoid that he would contract AIDS.

At the same time, federal agents were circling like sharks because the raps about trafficking were based on reality. His manager got locked up for 34 years. One friend was coming out of the hospital after his wife had just given birth and was arrested. When his brother came late to a flight, No Malice thought he had been arrested. He wanted out.

While the world viewed him with envy, he saw the condition of his soul as “wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked,” to the extent that he titled his autobiography with those very words.

He was drinking and getting high in a cul-de-sac with a couple friends, one of whom was under house arrest, when a lady named Miss Alberta drove up. She got out of the car and started to witness very earnestly to them about Jesus.

“We were definitely not trying to hear none of that,” he remembers. “This woman came out in the dark and saw three guys drinking, she could have been intimidated. But she was very bold and adamant. She relied very heavily on her faith. She didn’t see three dudes and be like, ‘Oh they’re never going to be nothing.’ No, she came and she took the time and gave us a life-changing message: ‘You don’t have some other time! You might die tonight! The Almighty is calling you now. Shall you not answer when God calls?’”

That night, three drunk guys clasped hands and prayed to receive Jesus into their hearts. No Malice followed up his prayer with more decisions to really live the born-again life.

On March 6, 2012, he announced that he changed his name from Malice to No Malice. In a video posted to Twitter announcing the change, No Malice linked to a video that shows him entering a funeral parlor in a dress shirt and bow tie, staring down at himself in a casket before shaking his head and walking away. The video, which he directed, opens with multiple quotes from the Bible: first, from Ephesians 4:31, “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice;” then, from 1 Peter 2:1, “Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings;” Romans 1:29, “Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers;” and Colossians 3:8, “But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.”

“I changed my name from ‘Malice’ to ‘No Malice’ simply because everything that I read in the Bible was to do away with all malice,” he says. “I don’t have malice in my heart. It was time for that change. I was absolutely born-again. I gave my life to Jesus Christ. There’s no other way I can say it.”

He dropped out of Clipse and produced a Christian album in 2013 called Hear Ye Him. He collaborated with Lecrae on the Grammy-winning rapper’s Church Clothes in 2012 and then dropped Let the Dead Bury the Dead in 2017. Then Kanye West featured him and his brother, Pusha T, on his song “Use the Gospel for Protection” from his album Jesus is King following his own monumental return to the Christian faith.

No Malice doesn’t make nearly as much money now that he’s not pushing thug life, but he has a clear conscience. “How many people went to jail because of things I said? How many times people got pulled over and went to jail while my record was playing in the car. Think about how many times somebody’s head was blown out, and my music was playing. You create that vibe. It’s that old question: Does art imitate life or does life imitate art?”

His name is Gene Elliott Thornton Jr., formerly known as Malicious and Malice, now known as No Malice.

This is the “Chief of Sinners,” Daniel Whyte III, president of Gospel Light Society International, reminding you of what the Bible says, that “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” like you and me. Just as Gene Thornton Jr. a.k.a. No Malice trusts Jesus Christ as his Saviour, may I encourage you to do the same. Here is how:

1. Accept the fact that you are a sinner, and that you have broken God’s law. The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 7:20: “For there is not a just man upon earth that doeth good, and sinneth not.” Romans 3:23 reads: “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” In fact, I am the chief of sinners, so don’t think that you’re alone.

2. Accept the fact that there is a penalty for sin. The Bible states in Romans 6:23: “For the wages of sin is death…”

3. Accept the fact that you are on the road to hell. Jesus Christ said in Matthew 10:28: “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” The Bible says in Revelation 21:8: “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”

4. Accept the fact that you cannot do anything to save yourself! The Bible states in Ephesians 2: 8, 9: “For by grace are ye saved through faith: and that not of yourselves: it is a gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should boast.”

5. Accept the fact that God loves you more than you love yourself, and that He wants to save you from hell. Jesus Christ said in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

6. With these facts in mind, please repent of your sins, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and pray and ask Him to come into your heart and save you this very moment. The Bible states in the book of Romans 10:9, 13: “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”

“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Dear friend, if you are willing to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, please pray with me this simple prayer: Heavenly Father, I realize that I am a sinner and that I have done some bad things in my life. For Jesus Christ sake, please forgive me of my sins. I now believe with all of my heart that Jesus Christ died for me, was buried, and rose again. Lord Jesus, please come into my heart and save my soul and change my life today. Amen.

If you believed in your heart that Jesus Christ died on the cross, was buried, and rose again, allow me to say, congratulations on doing the most important thing in life and that is accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour! For more information to help you grow in your newfound faith in Christ, go to Gospel Light Society.com and read “What To Do After You Enter Through the Door”. Jesus Christ said in John 10:9, “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.”

Remember, friend, Believe by faith. Share the faith. and Keep the faith!

All Content & Images are provided by the acknowledged source

A DC-8 aircraft carrying an emergency field hospital and a team of 32 technicians and medical personnel took off from Greensboro, North Carolina, on Tuesday (March 17) for Cremona, Italy, to set up a triage operation outside a hospital there.

The massive shipment is a donation from Samaritan’s Purse, the evangelical humanitarian relief organization headed by Franklin Graham, who is also CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. When assembled, the modular, tent-like field hospital will help Italian medical staff, whose local medical infrastructure has been overwhelmed with a coronavirus outbreak that has killed more than 2,500 people.

The donation represents one of the largest faith-based responses to the COVID-19 outbreak. In America, many U.S.-based religious groups are working on a smaller scale to provide resources to congregations wanting to help vulnerable people cope with quarantine or social distancing.

“Their hospital (in Cremona) is still functional, but it’s overrun and overwhelmed,” said Kaitlyn Lahm, a spokesperson for Samaritan’s Purse. “So we’re setting up our emergency field hospital adjacent to an existing hospital so we can provide surge capacity.”

It will take a team about three days to set up the 68-bed hospital, hook into the water system and electrical grid and assemble the medical equipment, said Melanie Wubs, medical response coordinator for Samaritan’s Purse. Once completed, it will have a laboratory and a respiratory care unit with beds outfitted with ventilators.

In all, Samaritan’s Purse expects to have a staff of 60 technicians, doctors, nurses and pharmacists.

But the main purpose of the field hospital is to serve as an overflow center for people needing emergency care in Italy’s hardest-hit Lombardy region. Italy is second only to China in the number of coronavirus infections. The country of 60 million people is under a tight lockdown, with shops and churches shuttered and restrictions on gatherings.

This is not the first time Samaritan’s Purse has assembled an emergency field hospital. The organization, known for its “shoebox ministry” that sends Christmastime packages filled with personal care items and small toys to needy children all over the world, is equally well known for its disaster relief efforts.

Its first field hospital was deployed in 2016 in response to the earthquake in Ecuador. It also set up an emergency field hospital about 12 miles from Mosul, Iraq, during the 2016-17 battle for the city. Last year, it installed a field hospital in the Bahamas in response to Hurricane Dorian.

Lahm said Samaritan’s Purse was working closely with the Italian government and its public health ministry. “We are talking to the key players on the ground to make sure this is something they need and want,” she said.

Other religious groups are also galvanizing to provide help.

As most religious congregations in the U.S. have curtailed services or canceled them altogether, some congregations and denominations are beginning to think not only about safeguarding their own, but reaching out to help others.

Among the initial forays, nonprofit soup kitchens, such as Miriam’s Kitchen in Washington, D.C., have retooled to provide carry-out containers rather than a dining room to prevent the spread of the disease. Hillel International launched [email protected] to provide Jewish college students an opportunity for online meetups.

Southern Baptist disaster relief groups such North Carolina’s Baptists on Mission have provided resources to churches wanting to respond to the coronavirus but unsure how to go about doing it without endangering the health of church members and volunteers.

“This is a unique opportunity for us to be able to demonstrate the love and generosity of Christ,” said J.D. Greear, president of the Southern Baptist Convention and a pastor of a North Carolina megachurch, in a video message. “I would encourage you to check out what’s happening in your community.”

Baptists on Mission is collecting names of churches that have kitchens and can cook for others as well as churches that can make deliveries of canned goods to shut-ins.

“The best response is going to be helping facilitate neighbor helping neighbor,” said Richard Brunson, director of North Carolina Baptists on Mission. “It’s knowing who the people are in your community who are isolated and at higher risk, not hurting them but encouraging them and providing in a way that doesn’t risk them being infected.”

SOURCE: Religion News Service

All Content & Images are provided by the acknowledged source

U.S. President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have agreed to close the border between the United States and Canada to slow the spread of COVID-19.

The border will be closed to all non-essential traffic, reports CNBC. Ongoing discussions will determine what vehicles and people will still be allowed to travel, according to CNN. The U.S.-Canada border is the longest dividing line between two countries.

President Trump announced the news on Twitter:

We will be, by mutual consent, temporarily closing our Northern Border with Canada to non-essential traffic. Trade will not be affected. Details to follow!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 18, 2020

SOURCE: Charisma News

All Content & Images are provided by the acknowledged source

The Southern Baptist Convention’s publishing arm, Lifeway Christian Resources, is offering a free, in-home children’s Bible study program available to churches of all kinds that have postponed their services due to the coronavirus outbreak. 

As many churches across the United States have suspended live events and moved worship services online to help containing the outbreak of COVID-19, LifeWay responded to the need for the continuation of children’s ministry by creating a temporary free resource called “LifeWay Kids at Home.”

The Digital Pass experience offers parents and their children a Sunday school-like alternative that will provide weekly media-driven kids’ Bible study at home.

“LifeWay Kids at Home” includes a conversation guide, a series of videos that focus on the Bible story, life application and missions.

“The provided content is taken from current-cycle material in LifeWay’s ‘Bible Studies for Life: Kids’ broadly graded curriculum for 1-6th graders,” the announcement from LifeWay reads. “Churches using this curriculum will be able to remain on their teaching schedule. However, the ‘LifeWay Kids at Home’ Digital Pass experience is available to any church, of any denomination, anywhere in the world.”

Each Thursday night, new sessions will be updated with fresh content.

Churches will be able to access “LifeWay Kids at Home” anytime over the next 12 weeks through the end of the Spring quarter, according to the announcement.

SOURCE: Christian Post, Samuel Smith

All Content & Images are provided by the acknowledged source

A Texas megachurch pastor and former spiritual adviser to two U.S. presidents has pleaded guilty to bilking investors out of millions of dollars alongside a Louisiana investment adviser.

Kirbyjon H. Caldwell pleaded guilty Wednesday to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, news outlets reported. Caldwell was the senior pastor of Windsor Village United Methodist Church in Houston and a spiritual adviser to Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.

Caldwell’s co-defendant Gregory A. Smith, a Shreveport financial planner, pleaded guilty to the same charge in July 2019.

According to the Department of Justice, Caldwell and Smith used their clout and influence to persuade people to invest about $3.5 million in historical Chinese bonds. The bonds were reportedly issued by the former Republic of China before they lost power to the communist government in 1949. The bonds aren’t recognized by China’s current government and thus have no investment value.

Smith began approaching victims about the investment in 2013 and promised high returns on the investment. In 2013 and 2014, about $3.5 million was “invested” and divided between Caldwell, Smith and others, prosecutors said.

Caldwell used about $900,000 to maintain his lifestyle, and pay down personal loans and mortgages, according to the Justice Department.

Smith and Caldwell face up to five and seven years in prison each. Caldwell has made partial restitution and has agreed to pay the remaining balance of about $2 million before sentencing.

Smith will be sentenced on May 4. Caldwell’s sentencing date is schedule for July 22.

SOURCE: AP

All Content & Images are provided by the acknowledged source