These are the times that are trying the souls of three South Los Angeles ministers: Two are suing each other over charges and counter-charges of commandment-breaking adulterous behavior and theft, and the third is standing before a court of law as we speak on charges of fraud leveled against him by his lover.

In case you’ve been orbiting the moon during the past week, here’s a quick recap of what’s been happening on Earth: Rev. Brenda Lamothe, the former executive minister at First AME Church, sued FAME and the church’s senior pastor, the Rev. John Hunter, claiming he forced her to have a sexual relationship with him that lasted four years. First AME, Hunter and his wife, Denise, sued Lamothe for conversion, intrusion into private affairs and conspiracy, claiming she stole documents and personal written communications between the Hunters and passed them off as her own in an attempt to extort money from the couple.

Then there’s the matter of the Rev. Joel Ward (remember him?), pastor of St. Paul Baptist Church. He is on trial in Department 54 of the Superior Court of the state of California on fraud charges brought by a church member, Verna Woodfox, who claims that, after having been led to believe Ward was going to marry her, she incurred $375,000 in unpayable debt on her property by obtaining loans which she gave to him so he could finance a basketball tournament for his Joel John Scholastic Academy, as well as resolve financial problems with his church. Ward, a married man, admits in court documents that he was her lover at the time Woodfox’s money left her purse and entered his pocket.

Back to the dueling FAME ministers. Lamothe maintains in her suit that beginning in April 2005 and continuing until May 2009, Hunter used his leadership position in FAME and his spiritual and supervisory position over her to press her into a sexual relationship with him. She asserts that Hunter told her it was “God’s will” that she “comfort” him and that she did so in his church office, in local hotels “including, without limitation,” hotels in Burbank, Glendale, Manhattan Beach, and the states of Virginia and South Carolina. Lamothe’s complaint states that “on or about June 2, 2009,” Hunter fired her because she would no longer give in to his demands for sex.

On the other hand, the FAME, et al. v. Lamothe lawsuit says the woman’s accusations against the pastor are false and result in an attempt to extort money from the church, as well as a conspiracy to “damage the pastor’s reputation in the community, damage his relationship with the church and damage our church’s relationship with the community and the public.”

About 15 members of the FAME’s Board of Stewards, Trustees and Executive Committee stood with Constance Fortune, Executive Committee member and chair of the church’s Board of Trustees No. 2, at a news conference last week at which she read a statement explaining why the church sued Lamothe before she sued the church. Fortune said: “We first learned of this when Mrs. Lamothe’s attorney produced what he termed ‘love letters’ sent to Mrs. Lamothe by Pastor John and demanded a monetary settlement or he would go to the media. Both Pastor John and Mrs. Hunter immediately recognized these notes as their own personal communications they had shared with each other as husband and wife. The church reported the stolen personal materials in Lamothe’s possession to the police, who say they are investigating the matter.

“They and we were shocked by what appeared to be an unlawful invasion of their privacy,” Fortune continued. “We felt we had to take immediate action and so we filed our lawsuit against Mrs. Lamothe,” she said, adding: “She then retaliated by filing her own lawsuit, but her allegations don’t make any sense. They appear to us to be just malicious lies.”

What also didn’t make sense was why Lamothe’s attorney paraded her before the media Tuesday morning and allowed us to question her about her allegations. And we grilled her. Since she was a longtime fixture at FAME and well known in the religious community, where she had acquired some history, I asked her this: “Did you ever have sexual relationships with any other FAME minister or officer besides Hunter?” She said “No, no one except Pastor John.” I then asked her: ”What about Julius Butler, who was chairman of FAME’s Board of Trustees?” She replied: “I dated him.”

For those youngsters among us who may not know of whom I speak, Julius Butler was the LAPD and FBI informant who fingered Black Panther Party leader Geronimo Pratt for the killing of Caroline Olsen on a Santa Monica tennis court in 1968. Butler, a former cop, was a prominent member of FAME and because of his position there, was very close to then-pastor Cecil “Chip” Murray. Pratt served 27 years in prison and was finally released after the late attorney Johnnie Cochran got his sentence vacated because of Butler’s perjured testimony against him. Butler died several years ago.

Lamothe’s attorney also had on display for us at the news conference the love letters Lamothe claims Hunter sent to her. Her attorney made sure we photographed them and received copies of them. But we questioned Lamothe and her lawyer as to why none of the letters and notes and cards were signed. None of them had Lamothe’s name or Hunter’s name on them. My colleagues were quite disturbed by this and challenged the evidence spread before us, asking for proof that these unsigned pieces of paper were actually written by Hunter to Lamothe.

The issue of Lamothe’s leave-taking of FAME gave us pause. Her suit says Hunter fired her on June 2, 2009 because she wouldn’t sleep with him anymore. But she wrote a very nice letter to Hunter dated Sept. 10, 2008 resigning as executive minister, in which she said he had been a blessing to her life. The media demanded an explanation for the different dates and for the kind words she bestowed upon the beast whom she claims abused, misused and forced sex upon her. She said her letter was referring to her experience at FAME being a blessing, not Hunter. However, her letter clearly states: “I am grateful to Rev. Murray and Pastor John for both their dynamic ministries, different, and similar at the same time; both have been blessings to my life and to my career.”

For most of his five-year tenure as FAME’s senior pastor, Hunter has been plagued by a series of financial missteps involving his use of church funds, causing friction among the members as to whether he should be removed from the church because of them. On the final day of the AME’s annual Southern California Conference, held in an Inglewood hotel from Oct. 25 to Nov. 1, the presiding prelate, Bishop T. Larry Kirkland, had Hunter come before the 1,200 conference delegates and give a mea culpa speech in which he admitted his faults, apologized for having them and promised to do better. After which, Bishop Kirkland reappointed him as the head of First AME Church.

Lamothe now works in Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s office where, coincidentally, another active minister at First AME Church also works.