Thief foiled by TV preacher

[Graham2001]

I can't remember the source for this one, so if anyone can help.

Supposedly someone walks into a convience store in a rural US community, pulls a gun and demands money.

There's a TV behind the counter tuned to a Televangelist and just as the counterhand goes to open the till, the Televangelist looks skyward closes his eyes and goes 'Hallelujah'.

The thief then looks skyward closes his eyes and goes 'Hallelujah'.

The counterhand who is not a Christian grabs the gun from the distracted thief and turns it against him foiling the robbery....

[Silkenray]

Wait, why would a non-Christian be watching a Televangelist?

Hell, even if the employer is Christian, forcing a non-Christian (or Christian of another denomination) to have a televangelist on in the background would surely be discrimination.

[DemonWolf]

It could be that the tv is set to one channel and that show sometimes comes on.

Or it could be the same reason I sometimes watch the 700 Club - I was watching the show that was on before it and haven't yet gotten around to finding the remote so I could change it.

[Dear Babby]

What difference would it make to the story whether the counterhand was Christian or not?

[DemonWolf]

Well, if the clerk was Christian he would have closed his eyes and prayed too and lost his opportunity to foil the robbery!

[chillas]

It also doesn't make any sense because a Christian would never be a crook in the first place, only a baby-eating atheist or one of the other lesser religions.

[quink]

Yeah... wouldn't it mean it was the non-Christian who foiled the thief because he was the only one not distracted? Or is it trying to say that God pulled a big "Hey, look over there!" and the clerk didn't see it.

[musicgeek]

Originally Posted by quink

Yeah... wouldn't it mean it was the non-Christian who foiled the thief because he was the only one not distracted?

- I think this is meant to be some anti-Christian pseudo-glurge about the clever atheist foiling the gullible Christian robber, who, although the type who responds to a televangelist's call for a "hallelujah," obviously isn't as moral as all that.

I think I remember reading a supposedly true version of this in a "dumb criminals" book or article some years back, but without the specific detail of the non-Christian worker foiling the robbery - it was just another classic tale of a dumb criminal foiled by his own reflexive behaviors.

[quink]

Maybe God and the atheist were working together, like buddy cops.