And you will be hated by all men because of my name: but he who is strong to the end will have salvation. Matthew 10:22 (BBE)
MEADVILLE, Pa. — A church in Pennsylvania has regained the right to serve and minister at a local government-run housing project after initially being booted simply because the entity was considered to be “religious.”
This is a common theme running through our society. All speech is protected except that which refers to Christ and His saving grace. We are being indoctrinated to believe that there is no room for Christ in the public square, which means that once again Christ is being crucified in that public square. Mankind’s hatred for Christ is rooted in sin, since a sinful person does not wish to have his/her sins exposed by the light, preferring instead to remain hidden in the darkness, they will reject every effort to bring those sins to light. On the other hand a tyrannical government does not wish for its authority to be challenged by a higher authority, and since it has set itself up as the final authority in all things pertaining to life, any differing viewpoint must be immediately and decisively crushed before it can take root.
All this is the work of Satan to suppress the truth thereby keeping his victims held captive to their sinful passions.
What did this church do that was so HORRIBLE that it had to be stopped immediately?
Rachael Groll, the Children’s Ministry Director at Living Waters Church in Meadville, began reaching out to families at the Gill Village housing project last year after she noticed a group of children eating pancake mix right out of the box.
She began visiting the project several times a week as the church provided free food and clothing, and offered after school mentorship to help the children with their studies. The church also offered free rides to community events as well as to their church.
What a shameful thing to do to actually care about people and provide them with much needed food and clothing. From the described condition of the children in this ‘government run’ housing project, UNCLE SAM was not being a very good guardian of these children or adults for that matter. The sustenance provided by the government apparently were falling short of the needs of the community it established and oversaw. One can quickly see then how an outsider coming through providing help would be seen as an affront to the all-powerful overlords of this community housing project. The church was willing to do things free of charge to help these citizens out. There was no long-form government application process to endure in order to get a tiny morsel of food. All was simply provided out of love for one’s neighbors.
This is the essence of the gospel of Christ, to help those in need to offer them a better life through the grace and love of Christ. But then the church went too far in their outreach program. They actually gave the credit to God for their benevolence and did not seek to take credit themselves.
Soon, Groll began leading a “Sidewalk Sunday School” program that consisted of Bibles stories, music and games for the children and their families.
“We saw major transformation and life-change in the community,” Groll stated.
But in September of last year, Living Waters Church received a voicemail message from the government housing agency informing them that they were not welcome back—simply because they were a religious entity.
Housing project officials admitted that Groll’s efforts were making a difference, but reiterated that she could no longer serve the project because the assistance was coming from a church.
Some time later, officials agreed to allow the church to return—but on one condition: they could not talk about Christianity in any manner and had to change the Sunday School program into a secular activity. In other words they had to model their program after the failed government run program. The people were to remain ignorant of their true potential in Christ by being made to think that they will never be able to care for themselves without someone else coming along to supply them with their daily bread. Heaven forbid if these people ever come to the realization that God is their source of hope, and their supply of daily bread.
Finally the church had enough of government control over free speech and contacted ADF for assistance, which sent a demand letter to the housing authorities to cease engaging in religious discrimination.
“Religious speech receives full and robust protection under the First Amendment and cannot lawfully be excluded from government property simply because of its religious nature and viewpoint,” the letter read. “Government censorship of religious speech is the most invidious form of speech discrimination known to First Amendment jurisprudence, and is presumptively unconstitutional.”
Officials with the housing authority then agreed to fully remove the restrictions from the church, acknowledging that it had misunderstood the Establishment Clause in the U.S. Constitution. This is one of many battles being fought here and abroad over who actually is in charge down here. Satan wants to be god so badly that he will stop at nothing to control as many lives as he can and hates it when someone comes along to snatch that captive soul from his evil grasp.
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. Romans 1:16 (NKJV)
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