Harvest Bible Chapel founder and former lead pastor James MacDonald is facing some new, disturbing allegations for allegedly trying to hire a hitman.
Wilmette Deputy Police Chief Pat Collins told The Christian Post, “A subject came in and filed a report and we are doing an investigation based on that report.”
The allegations came to light following a recent podcast by Chicago area radio personality Mancow Muller. On the show, Muller said that MacDonald, “came to me and wanted me to have someone killed for him. He came to me and he wanted to hire a hitman, and my understanding was to kill one of his rivals.” He continued, “And at that moment I realized I was in a cult, this guy was bad and I couldn’t support it any longer. Do I think he was kidding? No. I think he really wanted me to find a hitman for him.”
After Muller made the allegations, a former Harvest parishioner—who journalist Julie Roys says is a former bodyguard of MacDonald—came on the show and made similar allegations.
“James MacDonald also asked me if I could kill his son-in-law,” he said on the podcast. “He asked if I would be willing to do that for him, and he said he would be more than happy to help me get rid of the body.” The man MacDonald allegedly wanted to be killed is his now former son-in-law, who prior to the divorce “was arrested twice and charged with domestic battery” according to Roys.
The man told the Chicago area news outlet Patch that he didn’t report the murder request to police at that time because lawyers told him that legally, the claim would be seen as “hearsay.”
MacDonald was recently fired from Harvest following accusations of bullying, mismanaging finances, inappropriate touching and other actions.
