[CS-FSLUG] Four Christians were arrested in Philadelphia

Fri Jan 7 08:23:08 CST 2005

Considering this occured back in October of last year, has there been
any update to this?

On Fri, 7 Jan 2005 00:47:29 -0500, Fred A. Miller <fmiller at lightlink.com> wrote:
> DAILY DEVOTIONAL    FRIDAY JANUARY 7, 2005
> (Ephesians 6:11,12)
> 
> "Four Christians are facing up to 47-years in prison and $90,000 in fines
> for preaching the Gospel on a public sidewalk, a right fully protected by
> the First Amendment.  On October 10, 2004, the four Christians were arrested
> in Philadelphia. They are part of Repent America. Along with founder Michael
> Marcavage, members of Repent America-with police approval--were preaching
> near Outfest, a homosexual event, handing out Gospel literature and carrying
> banners with Biblical messages.
> 
> When they tried to speak, they were surrounded by a group of radical
> homosexual activists dubbed the Pink Angels.  A videotape of the incident
> shows the Pink Angels interfering with the Christians' movement on the
> street, holding up large pink symbols of angels to cover up the Christians'
> messages and blowing high pitched whistles to drown out their preaching.
> Rather than arrest the homosexual activists and allow the Christians to
> exercise their First Amendment rights, the Philadelphia police arrested and
> jailed the Christians!  They were charged with eight crimes, including three
> felonies: possession of instruments of crime (a bullhorn), ethnic
> intimidation (saying that homosexuality is a sin), and inciting a riot
> (reading from the Bible some passages relating to homosexuality) despite the
> fact that no riot occurred. "  (excerpt from American Family Assoc.)
> 
> The next battle that we need to be fighting today!  Over these past 64+
> months, I have often shared with you the pressing spiritual issues of our
> day.  I can remember several years ago after talking about those who were
> out to redefine marriage, receiving many emails telling me how paranoid I
> was and that same-sex marriages would never be legal in the United States.
> 
> In commenting over the years on many of the spiritual battles our nation has
> been fighting, one of the points I have always brought to your attention is
> that we MUST start dealing with these issues in advance, not waiting until
> it is too late.  We are like a football team that shows up for practice when
> we feel like it, is not disciplined enough to work out like we should,
> doesn't listen to the head coach, and then can't figure out why we get beat
> 77-0!
> 
> The most frightening thing is, nothing seems to wake us up.  We know nothing
> happens apart from God allowing it to happen.  I firmly believe one reason
> God allowed President Clinton to have 8 years in office was to wake up the
> church.  Instead of the church waking up, it continued to follow the world
> into spiritual decay.
> 
> Today we have churches that not only condone but promote the sin of
> homosexuality.  We have churches today that support a woman's decision to
> kill her baby.  We have churches today that treat the Bible as a book of
> fables, Christ as "just a man," and promote the lie from the pits of hell
> that "everyone will make it Heaven if they try."
> 
> Sadly, even the events of 9/11 failed to wake up a church more preoccupied
> with building buildings than building men and women of God.  More churches
> measure their success by the amount of money they collect for their accounts
> than the amount of souls they collect for the Kingdom of God.
> 
> I am afraid the only thing that will wake up the sleeping church is real
> persecution.  The Bible clearly tells us that in the last days sin and evil
> will run rampant.  There is no doubt in my mind that the church as we know
> it will one day soon no longer exist.  Like in other parts of the world
> today, the church will come under great persecution and be forced
> underground.
> 
> It will be at this time when all of the ways we have figured out to divide
> ourselves will finally come to an end and the Body of Christ will finally be
> one.  We won't have "denominations."  Whether you speak in tongues, sprinkle
> or dunk are not going to be important issues any longer.  Your color or
> nationality will cease to be an issue.  Those who want to lead won't be
> getting paid, but paying for the privilege with their very life.
> 
> *Back in May, I already told you what will be the next major battle for
> Christians to fight. There is a move to make speaking out against
> homosexuality, even from the Bible, hate speech and a crime.  It is already
> on the books in Sweden and Canada.  Once they make it a law to preach
> against homosexuality, even from the Bible, they will be able to make it a
> law that you can't preach from the Bible against ANY sin, and eventually the
> entire Bible will be called hate speech!
> 
> NOW IS THE TIME TO BE FIGHTING THIS BATTLE!  Today, not 2 or 3 years from
> now when they are ready to pass these laws.  NOW is the time to be calling
> your elected officials, now is the time for petitions, now is the time for
> the President to take a bold stand on this issue.  This is why I constantly
> tell you that we MUST be part of our culture.  As we speak, those who oppose
> God are already hard at work on passing this law and my guess is 98% of
> Christians haven't got a clue this is even an issue.
> 
> I love you and care about you so much.  I will be praying for you today to
> start seeing the big picture.  Back in the mid-80's, I traded commodities,
> futures, and options.  I was day trading before there was such a term.
> While I watched the business news and read the Wall Street Journal each day
> to stay in touch with everything going in the financial markets, for a
> trader, by the time it was on the news or in print it was too late.  People
> buying off of stories in the WSJ were usually buying at the top from sellers
> who had already made a nice profit.
> 
> This is the same thing.  Once you start seeing these spiritual issues on the
> news, in the papers, the work by those who serve satan  has already been
> completed.  That is why we cannot afford to sleep or lose sight of the fact
> that this is a spiritual battle we must be fighting each and every day.  The
> eternal souls of people are at stake.
> 
> Let me leave you today with this word of encouragement.  Again, we should
> not be surprised with all that is going on in the world.  Not only is God
> allowing some of this as a portion of His judgment on this nation for our
> sins, but the Bible tells us that the last days will be full of sin and
> evil.  However, Christ told us to be of good cheer, because He has overcome
> this world and we know that in the end God wins.
> 
> These are actually exciting times for those who serve the Lord since God is
> allowing us to be part of bringing in that last great harvest before His Son
> returns. May He find us faithfully serving Him at that glorious moment!!!
> 
> In His love and service,
> Your friend and brother in Christ,
> Bill Keller
> 
> I can help you in any way you can contact me through my personal email
> at bkeller at liveprayer.com
> 
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> 
> (C)opyright 2005, Bill Keller Ministries. All rights reserved
> 
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James W. Thompson, II (New Orleans, LA)