Oh, you should have been there Oct. 28 for the Rev. Frederick Murph’s final act as an AME minister. And boy, did he perform. Murph and what was left of his family and faithful followers, put on a 15 to 20-minute show the likes of which I’ve never seen among the righteous in a religious setting.

The whole thing happened at the start of business of the annual conference of the Southern California Conference of the AME church’s 5th Episcopal District, held last week in the Sheraton Gateway LAX Hotel, where the conferees (about 1,200 of them) voted Murph out of the church. Rumors had swirled that Murph would be voted out during the conference, so people really did not expect him to attend, given that he did not attend his AME trial on charges that he ran roughshod over and gangsterized Brookins AME — the church he pastored for 12 years — and stole all of its money. But he surprised everybody and showed up at the conference and acted up — bellowing, crowing and flinging himself about like a little bantam chicken.

Fireworks started with the roll call of the delegates. Each church was supposed to elect a delegate and an alternate to represent their church at the conference. When the name of the alleged delegate for 2nd AME, the church Murph pastored up until then, was called about 20 members of 2nd AME rose en masse and repudiated the delegate, explaining that the delegate was not elected by the church, pursuant to the rules, but was a hand-picked crony of Murph’s whom he, alone, had designated as delegate. That set the tone for the day’s proceedings.

With Bishop T. Larry Kirkland presiding, the day’s agenda swiftly proceeded with the reports of the Ministerial Efficiency Committee and Judicial Council and their recommendations that Murph be immediately ousted from pastoring 2nd AME and from ministering at any AME church anywhere on this planet. Then Murph got up and lashed out at the church and at Kirkland. During his tirade, he accused the church of “lynching” him and he told Kirkland: “You hate me! You hated my father and now you hate me because I came after you [as Brookins’ pastor]. You’re trying to kill me!” He said Kirkland “will pay for everything he’s done to me.” At one point, a woman delegate rose to make a point and Murph yelled at her: “This doesn’t have anything to do with you, so shut up!”

Then Murph’s wife, Rachel, got into it and tried to bring up some off-the-wall stuff. She asked: “What do you do with somebody who rapes a 16-year-old child?” Her microphone was cut off and she was made to sit down and shut up. Meanwhile, Murph’s then assistant pastor, the Rev. Kupaja Jaliwa, was acting an even bigger fool in the vestibule. Before scores of AME church members, Jaliwa became enraged over the treatment of Murph and began cussing people out and making aggressive moves to hurt somebody. She is said to have used the f-word twice in a foul-mouthed tantrum and had to be restrained by Murph’s own bodyguards from re-entering and causing a ruckus in the meeting hall. I didn’t see this sideshow because I was busy watching the main event. But plenty of people did and were outraged by it. Jaliwa’s performance was so bad that it became the chief topic of discussion at the afternoon conference session. People were so angry by the minister’s complete lack of self control that they said things like: “Murph is gone and she needs to go with him.”

During his comments to the people at the evening session, Bishop Kirkland called the earlier Murph-removing session a display of “warfare” within the AME church and he referred to combatants, such as Jaliwa, as “people who shout in church and then cuss you out in the foyer.” I’ve been told by AME officials that Murph’s management of Brookins’ money is now an active matter in the hands of the district attorney’s office and Murph’s next performance could very well be in a criminal courtroom.

Oh, I almost forgot. The Rev. John Cager of Fontana will be replacing Murph as pastor of 2nd AME beginning early Sunday morning, and, in case you’re interested, Murph is convening some kind of pseudo religious gathering Sunday at 10 a.m. at the Radisson Hotel in Culver City.

COMEUPPANCE IN CARSON — Those rambunctious African-Americans, who, in their self-imposed isolation, have been disrupting Carson’s municipal operations ever since their leader and favorite son, the gangster and former Mayor Daryl Sweeney went to prison, have finally got what they had coming. The Carson Citizens for Reform, headed by Vera Robles DeWitt and abetted by council members Mike Gipson and Lula Davis-Holmes, have done everything they could to keep Mayor Jim Dear from holding office and functioning as the city’s executive officer. They sued the city of Carson and the county of Los Angeles to keep him from running for mayor and they lost those suits. Then they launched a pitiful recall campaign against him, and lost that miserably and now they’ve lost another round. It seems The “Citizens” filed suit last year to recover $80,000 from Carson to pay the attorney’s fees they owe for the previous lost lawsuits. (I’m certain this gambit was their attorney’s idea!) Anyway, the latest suit went to the appellate court and the justices fell out of their chairs laughing at it. The justices ruled that not only are the “Citizens” not getting any money from the city of Carson, but also that they had no business whatsoever holding that recall election against Dear in the first place. Now DeWitt, Gipson and Davis-Holmes et al. will have to sell something (or mortgage their Carson homes) to pay their attorney for handling their legal debacles.

Here’s some more good news: Councilman Elito Santarina has seen the light and has joined Mayor Dear and Councilwoman Julie Ruiz-Raber to form a like-minded majority on the Carson City Council! The city is moving along beautifully — appointing commissioners and taking care of business right and left — while the two Black obstructionist council members are sitting on the sideline acting like the idiots they’ve always been. But at least their idiocy isn’t hurting anybody except themselves, now.

THIS AND THAT — Popular communications consultant Fred MacFarlane has been elected to the Board of Directors of the Southern California Golf Association. MacFarlane, an Emmy Award-winning public affairs producer, has a strong background in the local media. He was the press secretary to Mayor Tom Bradley. … Ground was broken recently for the Juanita Tate Elementary School. Named for the vibrant South L.A. community activist whose sudden death stunned us all, the school will be located at 123 W. 59th St.

The National Council of Negro Women held its 35th annual Bethune Recognition Luncheon recently and honored five women in the community who make a difference in the quality of life for all people: Noma LeMoine, Diahanna Brown, Faith Culbreath, Carolynn Martin-Person and Evelyn Metoyer-Williams.