Christians Face long Jail Time In Philadelphia

"If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you." John 15:18

I assume that by now all of you are well-acquainted with the outrage that is unfolding in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This past October, eleven Christians were arrested on the public sidewalk and each charged with five misdemeanor crimes and three felonies for sharing the gospel at a public sodomite event. I have done a number of "Heart of the Matter" programs on this story, and it has been well-aired by others as well. On today's HOM, www.theheartofthematteronline.com/archive.asp?archiveID=1162 you can hear the latest update on this extremely important case. That program will be accessible on HOM for three weeks. Also, a MP3 audio file of the program is available for downloading. www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?sermonID=12180485716 The sodomites and their friends have decided to see if they can put Christians away for up to forty-seven years in prison for lawfully, constitutionally sharing the Word of God in public. This is one of those pivotal times in history which calls for prayer and action. Regarding the latter, there are some phone calls you can make which may turn the tide in favor of justice. For more information on that, please read the note from Michael Marcavage's Repent America ministry at the end of this e-mail. Michael is one of the defendants in the Philadelphia case.

I would encourage you to listen to today's HOM program and also Monday's program. On Monday, I interview one of Michael's co-defendants, Dennis Green. Dennis is the father of nine children. Nevertheless, the sodomites and their friends are going to do their level best to bury him in prison and leave his family to shift for themselves. Sodom's citizens are indeed just as the Bible tells us -- "implacable, unmerciful" (Romans 1:31). Also on Monday's program, you will hear Merri Lin Foht tell about a late night assault on the Foht home. Merri Lin's husband, Mike, is a deacon of our church and serves the Lord in full-time ministry. Our Lord told us that the world hates Him and the world will hate us. Due to his affective and aggressive witness for the Word of God, Mike Foht is well-hated by sodomites, pro-aborts, Planned Parenthood, et al. In our hometown, our church is deeply hated by some, including a crop of young, sodomite pro-aborts who often shout obscenities at us when we are picketing the local Planned Parenthood or gospel preaching on the square. This past Thursday night, after the Foht family had all gone to bed, several men crept up onto the porch of their home in the country. The Fohts were awakened by these devils battering on their door and screaming. Merri Lin called the police while Mike ran to their children's bedrooms to make sure they were all right. The screaming continued until Mike shouted through the door at the men. As quickly as they had come, they were gone. Police are investigating the incident which follows hard on the heels of several other disturbing incidents. Several weeks ago, the Fohts were awakened by three shots in the night, each closer to the house with the last one extremely close. Several nights ago, on a back road close to the Foht home, someone followed Mike's car, repeatedly flashing his lights on and off. We face a vicious foe who serves that one whom Christ called a "liar" and "murderer." Please pray for the Foht family.

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“Philadelphia 11” Facing up to 47 Years in Prison for Evangelism from RepentAmerica.com

Eleven Christians with Repent America were arrested, jailed, and charged under hate crimes legislation during an evangelistic outreach at the annual “OutFest” homosexual pride event held in the public streets of Philadelphia this past October. [Charges against seven of the Christians have been dropped. Four Christians are still facing charges. -WCU]

Voice your opposition to their arrests and false charges by contacting Philadelphia Commissioner Sylvester Johnson at 215-686-3280, and contact District Attorney Lynne Abraham’s office at 215-686-8701, who has ordered their aggressive prosecution.

In addition, encourage the U.S. Dept. of Justice to get involved by contacting Chief Albert Moskowitz in the Criminal Section of the Civil Rights Division at 202-514-4540, and Chief Shanetta Brown-Cutlar in Special Litigation at 202-514-6255.

I detest "hate crime" legislation. Something is either a crime or it isn't.

I didn't see in the article what the 4 still charged are alleged to have done and that makes it impossible to offer an opinion about the charge against them. Making people feel uncomfortable - not a crime. Assault - a crime, no matter who does it or why. What exactly were these folks doing?

Since I don't know what the protestors were doing, the following observations may or may not apply. In general, I'm not in favor of "in-your-face" counter demonstrations simply meant to disrupt somebody else's event. They produce a lot of heat and not much light. I hate it when the other side does it to me, so the Golden Rule says I don't do it to them.

As a Christian, simply expressing my anger or rage at homosexual political posturing doesn't say everything I want to say. I doubt that too many converts are made in shouting matches, and Jesus did say, "Love your enemies." Hate the sin - love the sinner. I think there are better ways to fight for what's right.

bin2baghdad, you said:

"I didn't see in the article what the 4 still charged are alleged to have done and that makes it impossible to offer an opinion about the charge against them. Making people feel uncomfortable - not a crime. Assault - a crime, no matter who does it or why. What exactly were these folks doing?"

My response:
There were absolutley no laws violated. Repeatedly, the police were asked, "What law have we violated." They would not respond. I was one of the arrested individuals so I can tell you first hand what happened. We went to the event with one goal in mind, and it wasn't to "protest". We went there to share messiah with the crowds at the event. Several of us had scripture banners. Only two of our number were going to preach and the rest of the evelen were going to pass out literature and talk one-on-one with the people. The term "protestor" puts a negative spin on what we were doing. There were approximately 12 blocks in which we were going to conduct our outreach. We didn't go there to cause trouble and if it hadn't been for the "Pink Angels" assualting us, we would have had a good day with no trouble. The police had met on four occasions with the homosexuals leading up to the event to discuss what they would do if Christians showed up. This was revealed by Chief Tiano in our preliminary hearing. In past years Christians had done just what we wee planning to do without incident. We stayed within the law. No one was screamed at, assaulted, spit at, pushed, etc. etc.

Our goal was to share messiah with the crowds and we behaved properly.

You said:

Since I don't know what the protestors were doing, the following observations may or may not apply. In general, I'm not in favor of "in-your-face" counter demonstrations simply meant to disrupt somebody else's event. They produce a lot of heat and not much light. I hate it when the other side does it to me, so the Golden Rule says I don't do it to them.

My response:
This was not a "in-your-face" counter demonstrations simply meant to disrupt somebody else's event" The event was going to go on with or without us. 30,000 homosexuals were expected to attend and our presence wasn't going to interupt the event. This area was huge and we were just a small group of Christians seeking to speak to those who would listen.

You said:
As a Christian, simply expressing my anger or rage at homosexual political posturing doesn't say everything I want to say. I doubt that too many converts are made in shouting matches, and Jesus did say, "Love your enemies." Hate the sin - love the sinner. I think there are better ways to fight for what's right.

My response:
I agree with the above statement and so would the rest of the group that was arrested. We did not go in anger and had no other motive than simply obeying the scriptures that command us to "go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature." When there is a group of 30,000 lost people in one location, it is a prime location to take the Good News. The only reason we didn't have many great conversations and opportunities to share the gospel in depth, was because we were immediately assualted by a small mob of militants and hauled away within fifteen minutes.

Free the Philadelphia 4

Posted: December 20, 2004
1:00 a.m. Eastern

© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com

I'm amazed when seemingly intelligent people tell me they still think the American Civil Liberties Union is a group that fights for First Amendment freedoms no matter whose ox is being gored.

If that's the case, why is the ACLU not filing amicus briefs in Philadelphia where four Christians are facing 47 years in jail for expressing their free-speech rights?

That's right. Four Christians are facing 47 years in prison for peacefully quoting the Bible, an action an unglued local prosecutor determined to be "fighting words" when cited among homosexual activists.

It all started Oct. 10, when a total of 11 members of Repent America attended a homosexual street festival called "Outfest."

The group, ranging in age from 17 to 72, was surrounded at times by the organizers' security force, known as the "Pink Angels."

Videotapes and still photos taken at the event show the Pink Angels blocking the path of the Repent America members, shouting at them, blowing whistles and so forth. The Christians remain peaceful and calm at all times, despite what appears to be extraordinary provocation, intimidation and harassment.

Guess who was arrested?

That's right. The Christians.

And they've been charged with a long list of felonies and hate crimes that would make the Founding Fathers spin in their graves.

Repent America director Michael Marcavage is charged with three felonies – criminal conspiracy, ethnic intimidation and riot. (If you're wondering what "ethnic intimidation" means at a homosexual event, you have to understand the city of Philadelphia has extended hate crime laws to protect the sexually aberrant as well as racial minorities.) He was also hit with five misdemeanors for walking on the city sidewalks and quoting Holy Scriptures.

Mark Diener and James Cruse are charged with criminal conspiracy, failure to disperse, disorderly conduct and obstructing highways. Dennis Green is charged with criminal conspiracy, disorderly conduct and obstructing highways. The criminal conspiracy charge links all the defendants together so that Marcavage's "ethnic intimidation" hate-crime charge will apply to all of them.

This is one of the most brazen, frontal attacks on religious freedom and free speech I have seen in my lifetime. If these charges stand, Christians across America will soon be hunted down like dogs as they are in many parts of the world today as the most persecuted religious group on the planet.

It's ironic that this persecution would take place in Philadelphia, the so-called "City of Brotherly Love."

Of course, Philadelphia wasn't always so inhospitable to Christians.

It's worth remembering the very first legislative act in Pennsylvania, April 25, 1682. It was called the Great Law of Pennsylvania – and great it was.

"Whereas the glory of Almighty God and the good of mankind is the reason and the end of government, and, therefore government itself is a venerable ordinance of God ... [there shall be established] laws as shall best preserve true Christian and civil liberty, in opposition to all unchristian, licentious, and unjust practices, whereby God may have his due, and Caesar his due, and the people their due, from tyranny and oppression."

If indeed the Philadelphia 4 are convicted and sentenced to hard time, Christians need to march on the Philadelphia courthouse, encircle it, blow the trumpets and prepare to watch God work a miracle like He did at Jericho.

We should do this not just for the injustice to the four Philadelphia Christians, but because no one in America – not Christians or non-Christians, not black or white, not homosexual or heterosexual – will truly be free. We will be living in a country where people can be imprisoned arbitrarily for breaking no law other than the law of "political correctness."

If we're going to save freedom in America, it's going to take a miracle.

Will you come to Philadelphia?

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