The Beginnings of Persecution in America  

Posted by Jeff

Lou Engle shared this video and the accompanying testimony by an intercessor from the Justice House of Prayer in San Francisco tonight at Forerunner Christian Fellowship. (It was a challenging message from Lou, as usual - if you want to listen, to it, you should be able to buy an mp3 for $3 here.)

Of course, in comparison to what happens daily to followers of Christ in many parts of the world, this is mild.  It was only hot coffee that was thrown in their faces - not sulfuric acid.  Though they experienced borderline sexual assault, no one was raped.  And a woman was hit on the head with her Bible and kicked, but she was not beaten to death.

Nonetheless, this story is significant because these followers of Jesus were doing nothing to stir up trouble - they were not preaching, they were not passing out literature, they were not carrying signs, they were not shouting slogans.  All they were doing was singing and praying.  Yet they were targeted for abuse and hatred simply because they were Christians who were making their allegiance to Jesus known in a place where others deemed them unwelcome.

Note: the video contains a few profanities.

JHOPSF - Chased out of the Castro District - 11-14-08

November 14, 2008
I went to the Castro (the homosexual district of San Francisco) with JHOPSF (I have been with the Justice House of Prayer San Francisco since April 2008.) like we usually do on Friday nights.
Normally, we sit on 18th and Castro, and someone plays the guitar, and we all worship God.
Sometimes a person will yell at us, or maybe a few. Sometimes people will ignore us. Sometimes people will let us pray with them.
This time was not a normal night. It was the first time we'd been back in the Castro to do our normal outreach since California Proposition 8, which defined marriage as "one man with one woman" was passed. We played the guitar and sang together and worshiped the Lord. After just singing and worshiping God for a while, Roger decided that we should all hold hands in a circle and continue singing. So we did.


Someone (Actually a person who came up and hugged and kissed some of us who he knew from the past) convinced some people that we were there to protest against the no on 8 campaign.
Then some guy who was dressed up like one of the sisters (The sisters of perpetual indulgence is a group of men who dress up like nuns and call themselves the spiritual authority of the Castro.) took a curtain-type thing (Which I think they use to curse people) and wrapped it around us.
Then a crowd started gathering. We began to sing "Amazing Grace", and basically sang that song the whole night. (At some points we also sang "Nothing but the Blood of Jesus" and "Oh the Blood of Jesus".) At first, they just shouted at us, using crude, rude, and foul language and calling us names like "haters" and "bigots". Since it was a long night, I can't even begin to remember all of the things that were shouted and/or chanted at us. Then, they started throwing hot coffee, soda and alcohol on us and spitting (and maybe even peeing) on us. Then, a group of guys surrounded us with whistles, and blasted them inches away from our ears continually. Then, they started getting violent and started shoving us. At one point a man tried to steal one of our Bibles. Chrisdene noticed, so she walked up to him and said "Hey, that's not yours, can you please give it back?". He responded by hitting her on the head with the Bible, shoving her to the ground, and kicking her. I called the cops, and when they got there, they pulled her out of the circle and asked her if she wanted to press charges. She said "No, tell him I forgive him." Afterwards, she didn't rejoin us in the circle, but she made friends with one of the people in the crowd, and really connected heart to heart. Roger got death threats. As the leader of our group, people looked him in the eyes and said "I am going to kill you.", and they were serious. A cop heard one of them, and confronted him. (This part is kinda graphic, so you should skip the paragraph if you don't want to be offended.) It wasn't long before the violence turned to perversion. They were touching and grabbing me, and trying to shove things in my butt, and even trying to take off my pants - basically trying to molest me. I used one hand to hold my pants up, while I used the other arm to hold one of the girls. The guys huddled around all the girls, and protected them. Soon after, the cops came and stood between us and the mob. When it was getting more heated, the cops were like "You guys should leave." and Roger said "We want to stay." Someone tried to steal my backpack, but I tapped a cop on the shoulder, and said "Hey, that's my bag." and he got it from him and gave it to me. Others weren't so lucky. Probably half our team got their jackets stolen. Eventually, as the crowd was getting more and more uncontrollable, the cops were afraid for our lives, so they escorted us to our van. (The cops were very nice to us from start to finish.) Our van was parked pretty far because it was hard to find parking that day. As the cops escorted us, the mob followed us, until the cops formed a line, and held off the people so we could drive away. We took the long way home, just in case anyone tried to follow us. When we got home, we prayed and sang more, and then prayed over each-other. Please know my heart. All of what we do is for the Love of Jesus Christ, and the love for those in the Castro. The Bible says to love God, and then love people. We can only love because He loved us first. We can't hate the people because they are just broken and blinded by the spirit of this age. Our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against Principalities and Powers. It's not a political thing, we just love the people.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 17, 2008 at 6:14 AM . You can follow any responses to this entry through the comments feed .

3 comments

Peter  

What did you expect. You go down to the gay "mecca", and expect them to treat you nice after what you did to them?! They are very angry, and what you did only exacerbated the situation. Shame on you for pushing your agenda.

8:13 AM
Jeff  

Hi Peter.

First, a clarification. I did not post this because I am outraged or shocked. As followers of Jesus, we have been specifically warned that the world will hate us, because it hated Him. (John 15:18) He specifically told us to be ready for trouble (John 16:33), to actually rejoice when it happens (Matthew 5:11-12), and to be prepared to die for Him if necessary (John 16:2-3).

We are to bless those who curse us, love those who hate us, and pray for those who persecute us. (Matthew 5:44) I believe those who were in San Francisco are doing that, and I intend, by the grace of God, to do the same if and when it happens to me.

I posted this because I believe that this is only the beginning - this kind of thing may calm down this year, but to the extent that we are being faithful to Jesus, it will happen eventually.

If you happen to read this response, you will doubtless answer that we are not being faithful to Jesus, we are just being hateful and narrow-minded. You are certainly entitled to that opinion. But consider this: from my perspective, your opinion - and the lifestyle which is being defended and promoted in places like San Francisco - is not only wrong, but has terrible consequences.

The Bible plainly states that God will judge the sexually immoral and they will end up in the Lake of Fire. (Hebrews 13:4, Revelation 21:8) You would have us shut up and keep that information to ourselves. That would be a loving thing to do only if we knew that what we believed was not true or did not apply to gays. In fact, we know the opposite. It is true, and it applies just as much to gays as it does to everybody else who has not repented and made Jesus the Lord of their lives.

Therefore, if what the Bible says is true, the most loving thing that I can do is warn as many people as possible to prevent them from ending up in eternal judgment.

How does this relate to the passage of Proposition 8? Proposition 8 is a statement of God's righteousness with regard to marriage. No one is likely to repent because of Proposition 8, but at least it is a warning. A person is far better off to become filled with rage in this life and be forced to wrestle with "why those people did that to me" than to be left alone for their whole lives only to experience the most horrible and tragic shock of their lives at the final judgment.

The real answer is to pray for gays, to extend the love of Christ to them, and to let them see real-life stories of how Jesus has healed and transformed gay people. (1 Corinthians 6:9-11)

And that's how you end up with a group of Christians doing the foolish thing of praying and worshipping Jesus in the Castro District a week after Proposition 8 was passed.

Yes, they are angry. And yes, it is to be expected that they may become violent (though some Americans might still think that violence against an individual because of his or her religion is unacceptable regardless of circumstances). But Jesus told us to love our enemies, even if they kill us for doing it.

12:48 AM
mirele  

*sigh* So many things to say, not enough time and space to say it.

1) That verse in Revelation also says that the "cowardly, unbelieving, vile, murderers,...those who practice magic arts, idolaters and all liars" will also go to the lake of fire. Not just people you think of as sexually immoral. I don't think there's a person who can escape being one of the "all liars."

2) I'm a person who has spent a LOT of time contemplating the reality of hell. I've rejected hell and the god who is behind it. Let me be absolutely blunt here: I would rather go to hell than worship a god who makes the human monsters of past years and centuries look like Pollyanna. I could no more bow down to a god who claims to be "father," but who is far less forgiving than human fathers, or, for that matter, the father depicted in the parable of the Prodigal Son.

3) How does same-sex marriage hurt you? Is it merely because it offends your god? I'm old enough to remember when 16 states in this country didn't allow interracial marriage--it was against the law. I'd strongly suggest that you go and read the case Loving v. Virginia (1967). You would learn that Richard and Mildred Loving, for the fact that he was white and she was black, were sentenced to 25 years in exile from their home state, Virginia, for the crime of marrying in the District of Columbia. It took the Supreme Court of the United States to make their marriage legal. The judge who sentenced them to exile (as opposed to the one to five years in jail they could have gotten wrote:

"Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, malay and red, and he placed them on separate continents. And but for the interference with his arrangement there would be no cause for such marriages. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix."

I see the same biblical-flavored rhetoric coming from those who are opposed to same-sex marriage. But do you have any non-religious reason to oppose such marriages? (I can actually think of one--that we need to think about the tax implications of opening up marriage to another group of people, and that comes from my father. I disagree with him, but I respect his viewpoint.)

4) JHOP-SF and TheCall are intimately wrapped up with Proposition 8. The GLBT community is not in a mood to be appeased and this is not going away. I should note that I am not a member of that community. I am, however, a single woman nearing middle age and acutely aware that my life choices do not reflect those presented to conservative Christian women in America--nor, should I say, are my life choices generally respected either. So I have a considerable amount of empathy for the GLBT community.

I'd say more but I have to drive across town for Thanksgiving dinner with my extended family.

12:43 PM

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