I was searching Wikipedia and came across the story of a now-deceased televangelist called Earl Paulk. I'd never heard of him before but Americans may be aware of him.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earl_Paulk#Controversies

In the part about his sexual misdemeanors (almost inevitable for a televangelist ;-), I found the following rather worrying passage which immediately made me think of Joseph Smith Jr.:

"Hall alleges that the affair began in 1983 [...] when Paulk prayed for her, then kissed her. He then would say he intended to "make love" to her. At one point, Paulk supposedly would tell her that they had a "special gift of love outside holy matrimony".[1] The relationship became a weekly occurrence"

Phrased in modern English, it makes what Smith did even more vividly nasty... The girl in question was not under age (she was 23) but some of the other victims were...

Tom in Paris

The name sounded familiar and I found this: His father was a minister in the Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee), eventually rising to assistant general overseer of the denomination. At 17, Paulk said he received a call from God to enter ministry.

I live in Cleveland TN. A more recent general overseer for the Church of God was my next door neighbor. It is quite common for young men here to receive a call from God to enter a ministry. It is a relatively easy life. The biggest homes in the historic district are owned by Church of God ministers. We tour some of them once a year when the local library has a fund raising and we can see how the 1% live. Amazing life style they have - not all of course. Money and power gets to these guys from my experience.