Fairview Baptist Church |
A church in Oklahoma has asked police for an investigation of terroristic phone threats that came in after its pastor confronted the local city council about plans to create a special class of protected citizens with a "sexual orientation" amendment to its anti-discrimination policy.
The threats started coming in to the church telephone within hours of when Pastor Paul Blair of Fairview Baptist Church spoke before the Oklahoma City Council challenging members that the proposed amendment would address a problem that doesn't exist, would create an unprecedented protection for a chosen behavior and would create further issues, such as a male police officer wanting to use a women's locker room.
"I have committed homicide more than one time and in more than one state – and yet have not been caught or charged. Think about that," the clearly angry caller said in the first telephone call, recorded at 4:12 a.m.
Then he got aggressive: "I will be coming to visit you at 1230 North Sooner Road. I will be seeing you, bringing you something."
Three minutes later, "I will be coming to see you at 1230 North Sooner Road."
Then a few hours later the caller elevated his attack: "I suggest you listen to this message clearly. A (muffled) has been placed on your property in the building, as well as some visitors will be visiting Pastor Blair at his residence. This is just to let you know. Thank you. Detonate it, detonate."
Threats of physical assaults against individuals soon followed.
The threats come only a few weeks after an incident of alleged domestic terrorism in Illinois that also focused on a biblical position that does not accept or endorse homosexuality.
Brick thrown through window of Christian Liberty Academy |
There, two chunks of concrete were hurled through a church window where a meeting with speakers espousing the traditional biblical interpretation of sexuality was being held.
"Quit the homophobic s---!" said a note attached to the concrete.
As WND reported, on the eve of a banquet intended to expose the homosexual activist agenda, security cameras on the campus of the Christian Liberty Academy, a school run by the Church of Christian Liberty, captured the crime.
An unknown vandal or vandals threw chunks of concrete bricks through the school's entryway with a message protesting the banquet, which was planned by Americans for Truth about Homosexuality, or AFTAH, to honor pro-family activist and author of "The Pink Swastika," Scott Lively.
Upon the concrete bricks were written the words "Shut down Lively," and the vandals included a note threatening more violence if the church and school didn't stop hosting such "homophobic" guests.
"This is just a sample of what we will do if you don't shut down Scott Lively and AFTAH," the note reads. "F--- Scott Lively. Quit the homophobic s---!"
In Oklahoma, Pastor Blair told WND his church is known for being active in pursuing a Christian lifestyle and testimony. That, he said, includes being involved in a secular society that has fallen away from the Christian standards on which nation was founded.
For example, Blair participates in the annual Pulpit Freedom Day assembled by the Alliance Defense Fund that is intended to restore free speech to pastors who speak from their pulpits about the moral issues of the day.
It is in opposition to an IRS rule that says pastors are not supposed to mention those issues in connection with political candidates.
The first couple of calls were in quick succession, he told WND:
The recordings are:
WND could not post recordings of the remaining calls because of the language used.
Blair said church officials decided to report the threats to police because of their nature.
He said he was told by police that their investigation was advancing.
"What's odd about this is, in this day of alleged hate crimes, if I as a Baptist minister placed these calls to a local mosque, or a local gay alliance, I'd be in jail."
But he said the calls defined the dispute between Christians and homosexuals over what should be accepted in society.
"They accuse us of being intolerant, and not allowing them to speak freely, but the intolerance is purely from their perspective," he said.
Matt Barber, a constitutional attorney and vice president of Liberty Counsel Action, wrote for a coming column that the shootings, murders, rapes and arrests happening at the "disease-riddled 'Occupy' chaos camps" are part and parcel of the left's agenda.
"The 'Gay Liberation Network' – a militant homosexual activist group of self-described 'Trotskyites' – announced that it would be protesting an award ceremony held at the Christian Liberty Academy, an Arlington Heights, Ill., church and school. In the past, when GLN has protested this particular event, Christian attendees have been spat upon and even physically threatened by protesters," he wrote.
"This time, things got worse. The night before the event someone threw two paver bricks through the church's plate glass doors with a dire warning: 'This is just a sample of what we will do if you don’t shut down Scott Lively and AFTAH … [F---] Scott Lively. Quit the homophobic [s---]!'"
He continued, "The assailants later posted an al-Qaida-like statement on the 'progressive' website IndyMedia.org, taking credit for the attack and calling it a 'consequence for hatred and homophobia in our community.' They further threatened the church, warning that 'If this event is not shut down…the Christian Liberty Academy will continue to be under constant attack.' Unbelievably, the threat remains posted to this day."