'I cut people,' a megachurch pastor threatened as she preached. Her target? The local newspaper.

Hope Carpenter was met with resounding applause before her monologue at Relentless Church in Greenville, S.C., on Sunday. The crowd was excited about their guest pastor — after all, she’d led the congregation with her husband for nearly three decades before they moved their show to a church in San Jose last year.

In her return, Carpenter delivered a fervent lecture on the importance of “holding fast” to confessions of faith, a message she claimed to have received from God that morning. She appeared fatigued by the end of her soliloquy, using its closing moments to express gratitude toward the church’s new, controversial leaders — pastors John and Aventer Gray — who stood directly behind her.

“I love you Pastor John and Pastor Aventer. I believe in you,” Carpenter said. “I’m praying for you. I’m rooting for you!”

Then, her monologue took an abrupt, violent turn.

“I cut people. I got a knife right in that pocketbook,” Carpenter said, gesturing toward her seat. “Greenville News, come on. We done went through this. I’m still here, and guess who else is still going to be here?” She pointed to John Gray, who nodded in agreement.

The crowd roared once again.

The apparent threat toward the Greenville News, a daily newspaper, comes after the outlet published several stories casting a negative light on the Grays. In December, for example, the outlet reported on John Gray’s purchase of a $200,000 Lamborghini as an anniversary present for his wife. In a tearful Facebook Live video, the pastor maintained he used “not a nickel, not a penny” of church funds to buy the car.

In January, the paper published a story after a reader tip revealed Gray was living in a home worth $1.8 million funded by Relentless Church. Officials at the church told Greenville News the home was included in a compensation package for the pastor, adding, “This is a practice that is done with every denomination in the nation.”

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/i-cut-people-a-megachurch-pastor-threatened-as-she-preached-her-target-the-local-newspaper/ar-BBVvAaZ?li=BBnb7Kz