Suspicious Man Stopped At Church Service(Claims Message From Allah)

Carolina Channel ^ | 7-19-05 | Carolina Channel

[visualops]

GREENVILLE -- A man has attracted the attention of the FBI after an incident at a Greenville County church last weekend.

  Sheriff's deputies said Iyad Abed Alnazli entered the Redemption World Outreach Center's morning service Sunday, and tried to approach the stage.

 

"It was a young man of Arabic descent who had come in and said that he had a message for the church and this was a word from Allah." church founder Ron Carpenter said

  Security officers met Alnazli before he reached the stage and stopped him.

  "He became unraveled. He began to scream vulgarities out," Carpenter said.

  When the officers escorted Alnazli from the building, they found he had left a briefcase in the foyer and parked his car in a church worker's spot against the building.

  "And our first thoughts were, 'We have someone here who's unstable.' But the concerns grew when he began to talk all of the terrorist language, 'I want to do my job. I want to go back to my homeland," Carpenter said.

[SandfleaCSC]

I was waiting on someone else to say what I was thinking first. Thanks. :) I'll bet you two to one that they passed out the offering plates before they got around to clearing the building.

[BiggerJohn]

I don't understand why you think you have to take shots at the church. I am a member of the church, and I can assure you that it is not a show. We have over 100 ministries to help the people in the upstate of South Carolina. We go into the projects, we help people find jobs, we help people getting out of prison, we help people turn their lives around.

And you think that's ridiculous? Says more about you than us, my friend.

[BiggerJohn]

The building wasn't evacuated. The service went as scheduled.

Retract those claws, buddy.

[traumer]

"It was a young man of Arabic descent... "

[dljordan]

"but Carpenter said he was told that Alnazli was on an FBI watch list."

What the hell is he doing in this country? How many more third worlders do we need to import until it's enough?

[visualops]

OK, let's go over what I said.
more like a show than church as most people imagine
I've seen the TV show, and, it's a show.
Personally I find it ridiculous.
That is my personal opinion of the show.

I said nothing of your ministries, so don't take offense where none was given.

[BiggerJohn]

OK, so you think it is different. I apologize for misunderstanding that statement.

Personally, I find it ridiculous that that you think you need to inject your petty little opinions into this conversation about terrorism.

That is MY opinion.

Yes, it is a show. A television show. You see about 20 minutes of a service that lasts 2-2.5 hours. Look, I know where you're coming from; I used to think the same thing, until I actually showed up for a service. He's an animated preacher, and the crowd responds in kind. I promise you, none of it is geared toward the camera.

It's probably a tradition that's completely different than what you're used to, and that's fine. But when you come in here, and take swipes at MY church after an incident like this, you have to realize how petty and spiteful you look, especially when you DON'T KNOW what goes on in my church.

That is where I'm coming from, friend.

You have the right to think what you want, but you have to expect people to take offense when you post something like that.

[MEGoody]

The church to Alnazli: We have a message for you from Jesus.

[bwteim]

Have you ever noticed how many threads have an immediate neighbor, a family member or in this case, a member of the church show up, etc. on the very day they joined FR? What are the chances? It's uncanny. But I believe, I guess, maybe.

[visualops]

Yep, quite the coinkinkydink, ain't it.

[visualops]

You can probably thank Google or some such. Someone looking for mention of the incident online, finds FR and comes in and gets all bent for nothing.