Caldwell's sermon, titled "When Lies Become Weapons" in the church's weekly booklet, kept circling back to biblical figures he said were falsely accused. He pointed to the story of Joseph, imprisoned in the Bible after Potiphar's wife accused him of assault despite his innocence.
"The Bible is filled with people who were falsely accused," Caldwell told the congregation.
The summary of his sermon doesn't specify what he said about his own case beyond the biblical parallels he drew.
For his congregation at Covenant United Methodist, the sermon puts them in an odd spot. They watched their pastor address accusations from the pulpit just days after he lost his statewide office over one. Whether Caldwell meant Joseph's story as a direct comparison to his own situation or a more general lesson on faith isn't clear from what he said. Either way, the timing made it impossible to separate the sermon from the headlines that prompted it.
A statewide official resigned Friday. By Sunday, he was preaching about false accusations to the people who know him best.