I found the attached quote from Peter Petrovich Verigin, head of the Doukhobor sect in western Canada, in the late 1920s.

The Doukhobors ("Dukhobor" would be a more precise Russian transliteration) most likely split off from the "Old Believers," who earlier had split off from the Russian Orthodox Church. Persecuted from time to time by Russia's Tsarist government, they were allowed to immigrate to Canada around 1900. Their conscientious objection to military service was accepted by a Canadian government eager for competent agricultural settlers on almost any terms. They were a prickly crew, however, obsessively distrustful of government and notably so of formal education.

("Dukhobor," perhaps best translated as "contrarian," is derived from "dukh-o" ["spirit-(ual)(ly)"] and "bor" ["combat(ive)"]. The name was intended as an insult by exasperated Russian Orthodox clergy, meaning the Doukhobors fought against the Holy Spirit. The Doukhobors themselves, however, embraced the name with their own interpretation -- those who fight by using the Spirit.

Their illiteracy (and lack of knowledge of English) made them perhaps more receptive than most to the following excuses from the worldly successor to an earlier cult leader. Could Jimmy Swaggart or Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker have gotten away with it?

A quote from P.P. Verigin follows. The original text was spoken in Russian.

"It's like this. I know I swear a lot, and tell many dirty stories. I also drink whisky. It is very wrong to blaspheme and it is very wicked to drink whisky, but I have to do it for good reason. Do you not recall how Christ was crucified and how he descended into hell, and on the third day he again rose from the dead? I am like Christ. I shall on the final judgment sit on one hand of God, while Christ sits on the other. I have told you that. But, you, brothers and sisters, have often left the straight and narrow way that leads to heaven. Some of you have gone so far on the way to perdition that it is too late for me to save you in this world. You will go to hell. Therefore, I have to blaspheme and drink whisky so that I will also descend into hell where I can intercede for you.

There is no danger for me. On the third day I shall rise again like Christ. But for you there is danger, for you cannot get back from hell unless I go to bring you back. Therefore brothers and sisters, do not be deceived. I do not blaspheme and drink whisky because I like it. Inwardly I shudder each time and like Christ I often say 'Dear God, if it be possible, take this cup away from me.'"

--Peter Petrovich Verigin,
leader of the Doukhobor (Dukhobor) sect in western Canada, late 1920s.
cited in John P. Zubek and Patricia Anne Solberg, Doukhobors at War, The Ryerson Press, Toronto, 1952; pp. 124-125.