Posted on 10/15/2024 2:48:18 AM PDT by Morgana
Editor’s note: This article contains language that some might find disturbing. The purpose of this article on Stedfast Baptist Church is to report news that the ChurchLeaders editors believe is important for the church to know. This article is not an endorsement of the perspectives being reported.
A letter claiming to be from members of a Texas church notorious for saying that gay people should be executed was reportedly sent to a TikTok influencer who identifies as LGBTQ+ and said that the letter was supposedly from new neighbors.
Among several key beliefs stated in the letter were “that Jewish people and Muslim people are pedophiles” and that “LGBTQ people are groomers and unclean and should be lined against a wall and shot in the back of the head.” The influencer, who was unnerved by the letter, asked followers for “suggested actions.”
“Not your usual content here,” said the TikTok influencer, who goes by the handle @enbyofcrows and whose name appears on the platform as “Crow.” Crow showed viewers a typed letter Crow said had been taped back together after the influencer’s wife ripped it apart in anger. Crow read the repaired letter aloud in a TikTok video, saying it was from neighbors who had moved in recently and lived directly across the street.
“As devout Christians, we feel it is our duty to reach out to you and spread our faith. We are longtime members of Stedfast Baptist Church,” the letter began, explaining that “our church is one of a growing number of New Independent Fundamentalist Baptist churches spreading across this country.” Stedfast Baptist Church Denies Sending Letter
Stedfast Baptist Church is a church that has made headlines in recent years for a number of incendiary statements. The church was evicted in February 2022 from a building it was renting in Hurst, Texas, after Pastor Jonathan Shelley said that gay people are “worthy of death.” The congregation then moved to Watauga, Texas. Stedfast was again evicted later that year, and the church subsequently purchased a building in Cedar Hill, Texas.
While in Watauga, church leader Dillon Awes said during a sermon that gay people “should be sentenced with death, they should be lined up against the wall and shot in the back of the head! That’s what God teaches.”
Shelley has repeatedly used homophobic slurs, said that Jewish people “want to destroy everything that’s holy and everything that’s righteous,” and has said that women don’t earn as much as men because “they’re not as good at working.”
Crow first posted about the letter at the end of August and posted additional updates in the weeks that followed. The first of “five main points of belief” stated in the letter is “the King James Bible is the one true version, the inherent Word of God. All other versions are blasphemous. We believe this so strongly that we have Bible burnings as least once a year where we will burn all other versions of the Bible.”
“So far, not overly concerning,” said Crow. “Freedom of speech—get it.”
On Oct. 7, polemical news site Protestia posted a video purporting to show Shelley leading Stedfast members, including children, in burning copies of the Bible when the church was still in Watauga.
The letter went on to say, “We believe that Jewish people and Muslim people are pedophiles and should be cast into the fire,” and, “We believe LGBTQ people are groomers and unclean and should be lined against a wall and shot in the back of the head.”
“We believe that women should never have a position of power over a man and have no place in the ministry,” the letter continued. “We believe anyone that does not follow our version of Christianity is lost.”
The letter mentioned the church’s Rumble account, featuring the “famous ‘line them up against the wall’ sermon, of which we are so proud” and invited the TikTok influencer’s household to reach out to the neighbors or to Pastor Jonathan Shelley with questions.
Crow said that at least three other neighbors reported getting the letter. The influencer’s family was proceeding with various safety precautions and has filed a police report, a report with the FBI, and a report with the U.S. Postal Service.
Crow said that, when confronted, the neighbors denied sending the letter and filed a report of their own stating that someone was sending out letters in their name. Crow also said that one of the neighbors made this denial in a Facebook post about the situation and further claimed that the letter did not represent Stedfast’s beliefs.
As time went by, the TikTok influencer expressed feeling discouraged from not hearing from police and said the situation seemed to be “fizzling.”
ChurchLeaders reached out to Stedfast Baptist Church and to Crow for comment. Jonathan Shelley responded with the following statement:
That letter was not sent by our church or any members of our church. This happened a few weeks ago (or maybe even months at this point). We’ve seen the letter. It was clearly done by someone trying to harass our church. While we believe what the Bible says about homosexuality being an abomination, we do not condone this letter being mailed to anyone.
Shelley did not respond at the time of publishing to a request to confirm that it was he and his church burning Bibles in the video from Protestia.
Like many other fake hate crimes.
It probably is but this time they picked the perfect victim. This “church” has said the stuff the article is accusing them of saying, there is video evidence of it. Their leader? Steven Anderson was on a BBC interview saying the same thing.
I hate to say it but they walked into this one.
From what I read they a a “church” small letter and the “The Church” capital letter. I read words from the Bible in those sermon quotes but not the essence of our Lord’s Spirit.
From what I read they are a “church” small letter and NOT the “The Church” capital letter. I read words from the Bible in those sermon quotes but not the essence of our Lord’s Spirit.
Sorry had to fix it.
Irrelevant... I could go to any DNC, NEA, Union meeting and hear them say the same thing about MAGA.
I don’t see anything in this article that supports what you just said. The only video “evidence” was what was claimed to be a bible burning.
What a bunch of pansies ...
Some Jews think their book tells them to hate goys
Some Muslim’s think their book tells them to hate goyskafir
That influencer needs to get out more and realise the Jew and Muslim want him dead
The sexual weirdo community will to everything in their power to spread this story about ... they live to be ‘victims’ even going so far as faking hate crimes.
Here’s the truth - most people don’t’ care what adults do in the privacy of their bedrooms. WE DO care what they do in front of children or on the streets of our cities. Dry humping is offensive. What? Yeah, and the same standard would apply to hetero couples simulating sex acts in ‘sex parades’...
I’m guessing a closer look at the people in this story would show the support of the SPLC types trying to gin up BS.
Starting with the *need* to *eliminate* Trump.
Leftists are forever the *victims*.
Uh-huh.
Smacks of fodder for simpletons.
How does this differ from the teachings of the Quran?
EC
I did not say teachings I said they used words from the Bible. The teaching Biblically is all sin warrants death, old testament did indeed state harsh punishments but it was made clear we are all under such judgement regardless of the sin. The teaching, as clarified in Christ’s Ministry, is to repent, not seek people out and put them to death.
The penalty is warning of our judgment, not a call to action to hunt down certain types of sin to execute judgement. Yes certain crimes under the law can warrant a death sentence but that is a different discussion.
Sorry, I wasn’t referring to the Bible. I was pointing out that the alleged letter, allegedly received by the self proclaimed influencer, spouts nothing different than the teachings of the quran.
We are supposed to get our panties in a wad over this, ahem, supposed Christian letter, yet cast a blind eye to the religion of peace.
EC
watch the first 20 minutes of this video. This is their founder Steven Anderson from a BBC documentary on the NIFB.
Everyone of them take after, and are a carbon copy of their founder.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lwwfCpvXnc&t=2378s
That’s right.
Have they checked the church plumbing for lead?
Makes people very cranky.
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