Quote Originally Posted by Jill View Post
nrajeff,
Hi Jill, and thanks for responding.
Are you seriously thinking this type of strange behavior shouldn't be weighed in the balance when a man later claims to be a "prophet" of God?
---I am not saying it shouldn't be considered, I am questioning the validity or accuracy of the actual accusation. In other words, we need to first prove that the accusation is accurate BEFORE we can start weighing how much it lowers the chances that the man in question was a man of God. But suppose a man the BIBLE implies was a man of God, had a history of using "folk magic"--what should we conclude about the man, based on his history?

Smith was convicted of fraud--of being "an imposter". Think about it. He was convicted of misleading people . . . this is not a man I could rely on for my eternal salvation.
---Convicted of being a FAKE folk-magic prac***ioner? Is that really WORSE than being an ACTUAL prac***ioner of "black magic"? Anyway, the point is that it has not been conclusively proven that Smith was convicted. And it has not been established whether the conviction--if there really WAS one--was a conviction of fraudulent appropriation of money, or of dabbling in the black arts.