“Gold, girls and glory” (three things that can destroy a preacher)
“Three G’s” are said to be tempting to any preacher—gold, girls and glory. There is a book titled God, Gold, Girls, and Glory (1966) by Wallace L. LaBaw, but it’s about the history of Colorado. The terms “three G’s” and “gold, glory and girls” have been cited in print since at least 1992, when they described the temptations for television evangelists.
There are also “three G’s of politics” (God, guns, gays).
OCLC WorldCat record
God, gold, girls, and glory
Author: Wallace L LaBaw
Publisher: Broomfield, Colo., Distributors: Ingersoll Publications [1966]
Edition/Format: Book : English
Google News Archive
27 October 1992, Sarasota (FL) Herald-Tribune, “Faith Can Be Powerful Thing” by Tom Lyons, pg. 1B, col. 1:
I would be really mad at anyone making this stuff up to manipulate trusting people. Ewing (D. Bruce Ewing, a Sarasota pastor—ed.) named some television evangelists he thinks do that because they covet the three G’s: “Gold, Glory and Girls.”
Google Books
Anointings and Mantles
Ed DuFresne Ministries
Temecula, California
1994
Pg. 27:
God is still anointing people with special anointings. You will see people who are saturated with the anointing of God, but they must remain humble to keep that anointing. And they must stay away from the three G’s: gold, glory and girls.
Google Books
Social Memory and History:
Anthropological Perspectives
By Jacob J. Climo and Maria G. Cattell
Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press
2002
Pg. 30:
For Graham himself, it turned out to be close to a bulletproof vest against the darts of the proverbial “three g’s” that have wrecked so many promising careers in Christian ministry: gold, girls, and glory
Google Books
Extreme Lives for Extreme Times
By Bob Chapman
Xulon Press (Xulonpress.com)
2005
Pg. 124:
This reminds me of something a former Bible college professor of mine once said: “You preachers need to watch out for the three G’s: gold, girls, and glory.” That was years ago, and he was right.
The Foursuare Church
The Gold, the Glory and the Girld
How money, pride and purity will grant us wisdom and on our journey of faith and help us exercise wisdom when we lead others.
PUBLISHED JULY 20, 2006
By Glenn Burris Jr.
A wise and seasoned minister told me early in my ministry that I would need to be watchful concerning three very important subjects: the gold, the glory and the girls (no offense ladies). He was referencing years of experience when he shared about the primary areas that male leaders were most likely to face in remaining faithful to God and true to their testimony. Although I would certainly not be the expert on writing the primary temptations of women leaders, that would be good material for a future article (written by a woman)!
Clayton King
October 6, 2010
GOLD, GIRLS, & GLORY
Though I never heard him say it personally, this phrase has been credited to Billy Graham. “If a man of God falls, it is usually one of the 3 G’s: Gold, girls, or glory.” Whatever the source of this sentence, I think is pretty accurate.