“Anytime there’s an allegation of sexual misconduct it’s alarming. Again, especially when it’s someone in a position of authority, people that we trust.”
In statements to local news outlets, authorities revealed that Ronnie Gorton, lead pastor of The Awakening Church in Atoka, Tennessee, has been taken into custody for a psychiatric evaluation after allegedly becoming suicidal and threatening to take his life after recent allegation that he raped two underage boys.
Tipton County investigators told WMCActionNews5 that an anonymous 17-year-old boy made statements last week alleging that Gorton, 39, sexually assaulted, molested, and raped him on several occasions. The Atoka Police Department reported receiving a similar complaint from a 20-year-old man who alleged that Gorton sexually assaulted him when he was a minor.
Billy Daugherty, Tipton County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy, told The Leader that the latest instance of alleged assault by Gorton took place on Jan. 31 and that the case is a multijurisdictional investigation.
“There’s an allegation in the county and an allegation in Atoka,” Daugherty said, adding that there was “nothing to indicate” any of the incidents occurred within the church.
Daugherty further explained that no criminal charges have been filed against the pastor. He was, however, taken into custody after meeting with detectives last Wednesday when a friend of Gorton’s reported that he was armed with a handgun and had threatened to commit suicide.
Daugherty also noted the natural reaction of members of the church and community to be alarmed by the allegations: “Anytime there’s an allegation of sexual misconduct it’s alarming. Again, especially when it’s someone in a position of authority, people that we trust.”
Psalms 118:8- It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.
Micah 7:5- Trust ye not in a friend, put ye not confidence in a guide; keep the doors of thy mouth from her that, lieth in they bosom.
Jeremiah 17:5- Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD.
Galatians 6:3- For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.
According to the police report cited by ABC13, the pastor’s wife told the victim’s daughter, “You wanna know why this happened? It happened because your mom slept with my husband.”
Anthony Morris (L) and Zelda Marie Morris (R) are accused of robbing a Sunday school teacher. (Booking photos via Toledo Police Department)
An Ohio church pastor, his wife, and daughter are accused of robbing a Sunday school teacher in the church at gunpoint.
Anthony Morris, 49, his wife, Zelda Morris, 46, and their daughter, Kamali Morris, 19, have each been charged with the first-degree felony of aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon, the Toledo Blade reported.
Sunday school teacher Nickema Turner who had an affair with the pastor Morris claims she was at the St. Paul’s AME Zion Church in downtown Toledo, where Morris is a pastor, when she was violently assaulted and robbed. Turner alleges Kamali Morris grabbed her by the hair, and then both pastor Morris and his wife began to push and beat her, according to a police report.
Zelda Morris then allegedly emptied Turner’s purse and began taking some of the items.
Turner resisted and tried to recover some of her belongings, according to cleveland.com, and when it appeared she was getting the upper hand against her two female assailants, the pastor pulled out a gun and said “Bitch I’ll kill you”. It is alleged he pointed it at Turner’s face, according to the Toledo Blade, and made threats.
Two prescription bottles, a Taser, and an iPhone were allegedly taken from Turner’s purse. The iPhone was later recovered, with the screen broken.
The incident took place shortly before Sunday service was set to begin, it was reported, with witnesses on hand who later provided information to the police.
According to the police report cited by ABC13, the pastor’s wife told the victim’s daughter, “You wanna know why this happened? It happened because your mom slept with my husband.”
The three assailants then reportedly fled the church, while Turner was treated at the scene by Toledo Fire and Rescue crews.
The pastor and his wife have been arrested, police said, but at the time of reporting their daughter remained at large.
In a message on the church’s website, Morris describes St. Paul’s AME as “a family-focused, multi-generational ministry. We honor the traditions of the elders, but we are also intentionally contemporary in our Worship Experience.”
Left, The Pastors Daughter, Pastor Middle, The Mistress (Sunday School Teacher) Right
According to the probable cause document, he had bee arrested for sexual battery in connection to the incident back in 2004…
A married Florida “dance minister” was “saving souls” while also engaging in some filthy activities.
38-year-old minister of dance named Curtis Cooper was arrested after police say he sexually assaulted an 18-year-old man.
The Tallahassee Police Department says that Curtis Cooper, who is also the founder and CEO of local Community-Based Dance Ministry, Inc., was reported by a family member of the victim.
The victim claimed that during the weekend of July 8-9, Curtis, in partnership with his Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church, hosted a dance conference and that Curtis invited him along, in addition to paying for everything—including a room at Hotel Duval.
The victim went on to claim that, on the 8th, Curtis drove him to the hotel at around 2 PM to shower and dress for church. The police report states that he took the teen’s clothes from the bathroom while he was showering, forcing him to come to the bedroom.
After showering, the victim said that the minister pushed him onto the bed and forcefully gave him oral sex, before leaving.
Officers say when they interviewed the man about the victim’s allegations almost two weeks later, he denied having any sexual contact with the victim.
Asked about what he remembered about being at the hotel, he insisted that he went to the room with the victim the evening of July 8, but fell asleep in the room and left whenhe woke up early the next morning.
Curtis explained that he organized the dance conference and that the victim was invited to take part in the conference as a drummer (according to him, the church covered the room expenses) and that the victim’s family was also invited but the victim was the only one who ended up attending.
When police specified the time frame given to them by the victim, he changed his story. Shocking.
He then admitted that he brought the victim to the hotel in the afternoon but said that we was “in and out” of the room, attempting to get the toilet fixed while the teen showered.
But he told officers that the story was a “lie”, as well as denying any sexual contact with the victim.He was asked to take a Voice Stress Analysis to determine if he was telling the truth, but he eventually declined.
This isn’t the first incident of this nature he has been involved in. He mentioned an investigation in Blountstown to police, in which he was accused of an inappropriate relationship with a male and female victim, both under the age of 18.
According to the probable cause document, he had been arrested for sexual battery in connection to the incident back in 2004. He was also accused of sexually assaulting a 20-year-old in 2014. However, documents say authorities were never able to establish probable cause, leaving the case inactive.
Bushiri charged people $80-$2,000 to attend a dinner with him!
Botswana has shut down the church of a controversial Malawian self-styled magician prophet, who claimed to walk on air, and claimed to have “angels” appear in one of his church services with other erroneous claims that are quite frankly laughable! How this charlatan was able to establish a church in Washington DC is anyone’s guess.
Bushiri’s “proof” of angels in his church meeting
The government confirmed the closure of Shepherd Bushiri’s Enlightened Christian Gathering Church (ECG) in Gaborone, reportedly due to concerns over so-called “miracle money”.
Malawi-born magician/”prophet” who calls himself “Major One” who operates churches from Ghana to South Africa and now in Washington DC in the United States
The newspaper further reports it was the church’s use of “miracle money” – false promises of money appearing as if by magic – which broke the country’s laws.
Mr Bushiri – who has more than 2.3 million likes on Facebook and filled Johannesburg’s FNB Stadium on New Year’s Eve – and his church have yet to respond publicly.
Bushiri and his wife
The church leader is known as much for his lavish lifestyle…
Bushiri posing in front of his mansion and luxury cars in South Africa Bushiri posing beside one of his luxury cars
How he was allowed to establish a “church” in the United States is anyone’s guess but it is a new trend that should be examined very carefully by the United States Government. The last thing that is needed in this country is another false prophet fleecing the American people. Listen to what is being said about him in Africa
the victims of sexual abuse were outraged because it gave Law a second career and a golden parachute that allowed him to stay close to the center of power in Rome and serve as a member or adviser in several influential Vatican departments.
Reported by Phillip Pullella~ Reuters
VATICAN CITY—Cardinal Bernard Law, the former Archbishop of Boston, who died on Wednesday, resigned in disgrace after covering up years of sexual abuse of children by priests and whose name became a byword for scandal in the Catholic Church.
The Vatican announced his death just before dawn on 20 December 2017.
The telegram of condolences Pope Francis sent to the dean of the College of Cardinals was unusually short and bland compared to those for other cardinals before.
Francis said he was praying that the merciful God would “welcome him in eternal peace.” The pope did not mention that Law had been Archbishop of Boston and a brief Vatican biography made no mention of the circumstances of his resignation 15 years ago.
Law was Archbishop of Boston, one of the most prestigious and wealthy American archdioceses, for 18 years when Pope John Paul reluctantly accepted his resignation on Dec. 13, 2002, after a tumultuous year in church history.
A succession of devastating news stories by Boston Globe reporters showed how priests who sexually abused children had been moved from parish to parish for years under Law’s tenure without parishioners or law authorities being informed.
“No words can convey the pain these survivors and their loved ones suffered,” SNAP, a victims’ group, said.
“Survivors of child sexual assault in Boston, who were first betrayed by Law’s cover-up of sex crimes and then doubly betrayed by his subsequent promotion to Rome, were those most hurt,” SNAP said in a statement.
Law’s resignation sent shockwaves through the American church and had a trickle down effect around the world as the cover-up techniques used in Boston were discovered to have been used in country after country.
The story of how the Globe team brought the scandal to light in a city where few wanted to cross the politically powerful church was told in the 2015 film “Spotlight,” which won the Oscar for Best Picture.
The situation in Boston turned out to be the tip of an iceberg of abuse and its cover-up, where churchmen preferred protecting the reputation of the institution rather than the innocence of children.
Thousands of cases came to light around the world as investigations encouraged long-silent victims to go public, shattering the church’s reputation in places such as Ireland, and forcing it to pay some $2 billion in compensation.
“As Archbishop of Boston, Cardinal Law served at a time when the church failed seriously in its responsibilities to provide pastoral care for her people, and with tragic outcomes failed to care for the children of our parish communities. I deeply regret that reality and its consequences,” Law’s successor in Boston, Cardinal Sean O’Malley, said in a statement.
Six months after his resignation, the Massachusetts attorney general’s office announced that Law and others would not face criminal charges.
After a period in a monastery in the United States, Law moved to Rome.
In 2004 Pope John Paul appointed him to be archpriest of the Rome Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, one of the four major basilica’s of Christendom, whose gold leaf ceiling is said to be made from the first batch of the precious metal Columbus brought back from the Americas. He is likely to be buried there.
In relative terms it was an immense fall from grace. Such posts are symbolic and ceremonial. But the victims of sexual abuse were outraged because it gave Law a second career and a golden parachute that allowed him to stay close to the center of power in Rome and serve as a member or adviser in several influential Vatican departments.
He also maintained the rank of cardinal and participated in the conclave that elected Pope Benedict in 2005. Before he became ill, Law was a regular on the diplomatic circuit, attending receptions, including many in the gardens of the US Embassy to the Vatican.
While Law was an awkward presence at US receptions for a few years after his resignation, at Italian events he was treated with the same effusive obsequiousness bestowed on all cardinals – something Law appeared to enjoy.
He always declined to talk about events in Boston. “I’m retired from that,” he told a reporter at one reception.
Photo credit: The Boston Globe via Getty Images
Cardinal O’Malley, Law’s successor, heads a Vatican commission advising Pope Francis on how to root out sexual abuse in the Church.
But the credibility of the commission, which was formed in 2014, has been hurt by the resignation of two high-level lay members who have accused the Vatican of dragging its feet.
The terms of most members expired recently and it is not clear what Pope Francis will do with it.
Last September, Francis, addressing the commission, said the Catholic Church had moved too slowly to confront abuse.
“When consciousness arrives late, the means to resolve the problems also arrive late. I am aware of this difficulty but it is reality and I say it plainly: We arrived late. The old practice of moving people around and not confronting the problem made consciences fall asleep,” the pope said.
Law was born on Nov. 4, 1931, in Torreon, Mexico, the son of a US Army official and a musician. He graduated from Harvard University and was ordained a priest in 1961.
His first assignment was in Mississippi, where he received death threats for championing civil rights. As bishop of Springfield–Cape Girardeau in Missouri, he opened a home for batteredwomen and a center to help Vietnamese boat people.
The scandal began when the Bishop posted intimate photos of him and Hall together on social Media…
Social media has it that gospel singer James Hall sued Bishop Jeffery Thomas over the Bishop claiming that the two were in a romantic relationship, which ended in the judge throwing out the case! Bishop Thomas is stating that the two men were lovers and that is the reason why he relocated from North Carolina to live with Hall in New York.
Hall unequivocally denies the claims stating that he was only helping the Bishop recover from an unnamed sickness.
Mr. Thomas has never expressed any purpose to his actions other than some imagined relationship he believes he has with me, and is nothing more than a disgruntled fan. – (James Hall)
If Bishop Thomas was only a fan, the question is has Mr. Hall ever allowed another fan to live with him? Stories have the two meeting at a church event in 2015. It was not too long after that Bishop gave up his ministry to be with Hall. Well, we do not want to insinuate anything but it sounds extremely suspicious, to say the least. However, the gospel singer is adamantly denying any type of romantic involvement.
It is no secret that the gospel music industry has more than their fair share of homosexuals and bisexuals. Although for a myriad of reasons, there are many who hide their sexual orientation but there are just as many who are open.
There are pictures in circulation on the internet with the two men being a little more affectionate than two heterosexual men would be with each other. There is a picture with the Bishop shirtless together with Mr. Hall in a onesie on a bed. There is another picture with the two having lips really close together puckering up to one another. That one picture reveals that there is something else more going on between the two than a platonic relationship.
However, for some reason, this whole scandal began when the Bishop started to post pictures of him and Hall together. He also alleges that Hall is romantically involved with another man, Pastor Kevin Bond, a former member of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church (Atlanta, Georgia) under Bishop Eddie Long.
Bishop Thomas was threatening to release sex tapes but the court has placed a gag order. By the way, Hall is trying to get a whopping $15 million for damages.
Planned Parenthood is not a healthcare organization but a political movement, intent on forcing their pro-abortion views on as many Americans as possible
“Their annual report demonstrates that Planned Parenthood is not a healthcare organization but a political movement, intent on forcing their pro-abortion views on as many Americans as possible.” -Abby Johnson
[LifeSiteNews.com] Planned Parenthood aborted 321,384 babies during its 2016-2017 fiscal year, according to its new annual report. (Photo: aborted baby/ courtesy Youtube)
This is a slight decrease from its last annual report, which revealed the company committed 328,348 in 2015-2016. Planned Parenthood’s total revenue is $1.46 billion, with $543.7 million—37 percent—of that coming from taxpayers.
Many of the contraceptives Planned Parenthood dispenses can also act as abortifacients.
Jim Sedlak, executive director of American Life League (ALL), said this is Planned Parenthood’s lowest self-reported annual abortion number since 2007.
“In addition to the reduction in abortions, Planned Parenthood also reported a slight lessening in its government funding (from $554.6 million to $543.7 million),” said Sedlak. “Planned Parenthood also reported lower numbers of female birth control customers, emergency contraceptive kits, PAP tests, and pregnancy tests. In fact, it reported that its total number of unique customers was the same as last year—2.4 million individuals.”
By attracting 721,000 new donors giving an average of $120 each, the abortion company added $86.5 to its coffers, according to the report.
“Our initial analysis is that Planned Parenthood spent the last year reducing medical activity and increasing its community and political organizing,” ALL observed. The group says it will release a detailed analysis of Planned Parenthood’s latest report in the coming days.
Planned Parenthood provided just 3,889 adoption referrals (exactly 1,000 more from the number it put on its last report) and 7,762 “prenatal services” from 2016-2017. That’s one adoption referral for every 83 abortions and prenatal care for one woman for every 239 abortions.
An investigation by the pro-life group Live Action released in January 2017 showed that Planned Parenthood facilities across the U.S. regularly turn away women seeking prenatal services. Only three of the 68 Planned Parenthood centers visited by Live Action investigators were able to provide women with an ultrasound for a purpose other than abortion.
The report says Planned Parenthood provided miscarriage care to just 1,182 women.
Planned Parenthood touted its support from the technology, entertainment, and fashion industries as successes. It boasted of a leading a “two-day interfaith convention with more than 40 clergy and faith leaders who support access to reproductive health care.”
“Typical under Cecile Richards’ leadership of Planned Parenthood, the abortion giant once again cut their prenatal services to almost non-existent levels, cut contraception services, and served 100,000 less people than last year, while still committing over 321,000 abortions,” said Abby Johnson, a former Planned Parenthood director who is now a pro-life advocate.
“Their annual report demonstrates that Planned Parenthood is not a healthcare organization but a political movement, intent on forcing their pro-abortion views on as many Americans as possible,” said Johnson, who now runs a ministry that helps abortion workers leave the industry.
“We’ve seen first-hand the impact that former abortion workers, especially those from Planned Parenthood, have on closing their former places of employment by helping people to leave – ensuring no one is left to run the clinics,” she said.
Planned Parenthood’s annual report also reveals it has “expanded” its focus on providing transgender hormone treatments at 17 locations.
Despite not performing mammograms last year or having any mammogram machines, Planned Parenthood reported that it did 336,614 breast exams – the type of breast checks which women are able to do on their own.
The abortion giant’s report frames itself to supporters as a leader in the “resistance” against the Trump administration and “an increasingly hostile political climate.”
It used its 50 new campus chapters as proof of what it considers to be a strong youth base. But Students for Life of America (SFLA) started “nearly 120” new campus chapters last year, according to its President Kristan Hawkins.
SFLA “now has more than 1,200 student groups on campuses in all 50 states,” said Hawkins. “Planned Parenthood reports training 750 young activists from 11 cities while Students for Life trained nearly 11,000 students from across the country. The pro-life generation clearly has more energy, passion, and motivation to defund Planned Parenthood.”
“It is vital that Planned Parenthood be defunded and student lives protected from a predatory and profit-driven enterprise,” said Hawkins. “But there is a silver lining in this release, as we can see that more students are responding to the human rights interests of the preborn than to the business interests of Planned Parenthood.”
The sheriff’s office said the victim was a student under the age of 14
According to Fox News~A former teacher at a Christian school in Maine was arrested days before Christmas after she allegedly sexually assaulted a student under the age of 14-years-old, officials said.
Nancy Leigh Ann Brann, 43, was taken into custody Dec. 21 after turning herself in at a local jail, the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.
The alleged offenses took place during the fall of 2016 when Brann was a teacher at the Coastal Christian School in Waldoboro, located about 60 miles northeast of Portland,Or. “There is no information the school administration had any knowledge of these alleged offenses prior to being notified by investigators,” the sheriff’s office said.
The sheriff’s office said the victim was a student under the age of 14 years old at the time, but did not disclose the student’s gender. The sheriff’s office did not immediately respond to a request by Fox News for further information.
Brann was dismissed by the school shortly after the offenses for unrelated issues, the sheriff’s office said.
The 43-year-old is being held on $10,000 bail, unsecured, with the conditions that she not have contact with the victim, not return to Coastal Christian School and have no contact with children under the age of 16.
“I do not want this child. I didn’t even want it when I found out that I was pregnant.
Who did they pray to? Do these “Christians” REALLY believe that God approved or gave them permission to KILL A BABY? If this woman wasn’t “ready to be a mom” yet, WHY DID SHE HAVE SEX??!!! What type of Christian man takes his wife to an abortion clinic to kill his child???? AND…. DOESN’T THE BIBLE SAY THOU SHALT NOT KILL???
A viral VIDEO posted to social media on Friday shows a man and woman who professed to be Christians declining a woman’s pleas not to abort their baby, stating that the child would interfere with their plans and that they had “prayed about” the matter.
While the background behind the video, such as the location of the recording, has not been divulged, the footage captures the nearly seven-minute conversation between the young couple and a woman named Kate.
“You guys aren’t here for an abortion, are you?” called out Kate, who stood on the sidewalk to help abortion-minded women turn from murder.
“I am not ready to become a mom,” the young woman responded. “I’ve got so many plans to do and I feel like a child [myself] right now.”
“I totally understand that, but I need to tell you the truth that you already are a mom,” Kate explained. “It’s too late for that. You already have a human child in your womb that’s just as valuable and just as human as you are. And so, what you’re about to do is not to undo that choice, but to kill that human.”
The woman remarked that what she does is her own business. Kate asked if it would likewise be her own business if she killed her one-year-old because the child interfered with her plans. The woman opined that such a situation would be different because the child was already born and the mother had an emotional bond with the infant. She stated that she doesn’t have an emotional connection with her child “at this point.”
Kate warned the young woman that she was about to do something she could never undo.
“Just because your son or daughter is really, really small and you can’t see him, and he’s really weak and defenseless right now, doesn’t make it less terrible to murder him than if he were older, or you could see him. He doesn’t change from a non-baby to a baby as he’s born,” she explained.The father of the child then chimed into the discussion.
“We understand that,” he said. “We’ve sat and talked about this and prayed about it, thought about it.”
“So, you guys are Christians? You’re followers of Jesus Christ?” Kate asked.
“Yes,” the father replied. “And unfortunately, we’ve got ourselves into this situation … and it’s not like we want to do this, but it’s something we feel like we have to [do].”
Kate explained that there was no circumstance that warranted killing their son or daughter.
“You’re going to have to stand before God and give an account for yourself, and He’s going to say, ‘I sent someone to warn you and you killed your son or daughter anyway.’Please don’t do this,” she pleaded.
“I know that this seems inconvenient, that you have a lot of plans, but I promise you doing the right thing and being faithful to God and being a good mother and father is better, and will result in a good life for you [better] than whatever you have planned that you feel you have to get rid of this child for,” Kate added.
She reiterated that killing a baby in the womb is no different than murdering them outside of the womb because they are inconvenient.
“I understand, but unfortunately, we’ve made our decision,” the father stated.
As Kate continued to plead with the man to take care of both mother and child, he repeated that the two had already made up their minds.
“I get it. And I have my thought process and I’m not saying it’s right, but it’s kind of what I’m doing,” he said.
“So why would you do something you know is wrong?” Kate asked.
“Because I’m a human and I make mistakes,” the father answered.
Kate then warned the couple that they were not simply making a mistake, but intentionally doing what they know is wrong.
“No, no, no. Making mistakes is not intentional. You’re about to intentionally sin against God and against this child,” she said. “That’s rebellion. That’s blasphemy against your Creator.”
“I understand,” the father replied.
He advised that the two would think about it and consider their options. Kate said she was not sure that was so, and that it seemed that the two had their heart set on abortion.
“I’m trying to persuade you not to even go into this place,” she explained.
“You won’t,” the woman replied forthrightly. “I do not want this child. I didn’t even want it when I found out that I was pregnant. So, if you can continue to tell me that I’m making a bad mistake, I’ll make that choice…”
“It’s not just a bad mistake. It’s murder,” Kate noted.
“I understand,” the woman replied.
Kate again warned that the couple will have to give an account before God for killing their son or daughter.
“Then I can take that sin,” the woman asserted.
“No, you can’t, ma’am,” Kate answered.
“I don’t care,” the woman bluntly admitted.
“Why don’t you care?” Kate asked. “You guys say you’re followers of Jesus Christ, but you don’t care about innocent children?
“Yes, we are,” the father replied. “We understand.”
He then asserted that all sin is equal.
“Ma’am, I will take your child if you don’t want it,” Kate pleaded as the two began to walk away.
“I don’t want to go through the process,” the woman called out.
Kate continued to urge the couple to love their son or daughter as his or her parents, but the two continued on their way and proceeded to enter the abortion facility. It is not known what happened after that point.
“You know who looks like the bad guy now,” he stated. “All you had to do is leave” and go to another spot.
EL PASO, Texas — An evangelist was arrested and jailed on Wednesday after those unhappy with his message called the police as he was preaching outside of a “holiday” event in Texas called “A Drag Queen ChristmasThe Naughty Tour.” Those watching his preaching being shut down broke out into cheers.
“A Drag Queen Christmas: The Naughty Tour is a must-see holiday spectacular with your favorite contestants from RuPaul’s Drag Race (VH1),” the event description reads. “For one night only, your favorite queens #werk the stage with singing, dancing, comedy and more! The holidays were never this naughty!”
Ryan Denton of Christ in the Wild Ministries had been preaching on the sidewalk adjacent to Plaza Theatre during the event, finding the gathering a good opportunity to share the gospel. Denton told Christian News Network that he generally preached about repentance and faith in Christ, and while he did mention concepts such as drag queens a few times, it was not the focus of his message.
“The drag event, like any other event, was a place where the lost would be congregating, and hence the need for a gospel witness,” he said. “Christ came to seek and save those who are lost. He came for the unrighteous, not the righteous. The great Physician of souls came for the sick and spiritually dead. This is why the gospel must go beyond the church walls.”
However, those hearing Denton’s speech soon became upset and called the police. Among those who arrived on the scene was Officer Jared Lamb, who told Denton that he had to stop preaching since complaints had been received.
“Just because you get calls does not mean I have to stop,” Denton told Lamb, according to recorded video footage reviewed by Christian News Network. “I know that,” Lamb replied.
“Are you sure, because you keep saying that [I do],” Denton said.
Lamb also asserted during the discussion that the sidewalk Denton was standing on was private property and that he should relocate to the plaza. Denton says that he has been instructed by police in the past to stand in that exact location, and has preached there nearly a dozen times without issue. He further notes that the plaza is not near the event, so he would not be able to reach the people.
“I’m going to keep preaching right here because this is not private property,” Denton told the officer.
However, Lamb instead grabbed Denton’s stool that he had been standing on to preach and instructed Denton to follow. Those nearby broke into cheers. Lamb walked Denton into a nearby building where he told him that he didn’t want “debates” outside.
“We don’t need debates going on out there tonight,” Lamb said. “We don’t need it.”
“Sir, it’s not up to you,” Denton replied. “It’s the Constitution of the United States. It’s [my] First Amendment rights.”
“Okay. It’s up to you?” Lamb asked.
“No. The Constitution protects what I was doing, sir,” Denton stated.
Lamb then proceeded to arrest Denton. He was transported to the El Paso Jail where he was charged with Criminal Trespass under Texas Penal Code 30.05.
Denton says that Lamb told him in transport, “I’m writing the police report and I’m going to make it as colorful as [expletive].” During the “tirade,” as Denton described it, the officer repeatedly advised that he is “very active in [his] church.”
“You know who looks like the bad guy now,” he stated. “All you had to do is leave” and go to another spot.
Denton told Christian News Network that as he was later placed behind bars, Lamb said, “Man to man, you shouldn’t be preaching there [at the drag festival]. Just tell them Jesus loves them and move on.”
Denton still recalls the last remarks from Lamb: “I can’t say what we did tonight was wrong, but I can’t say arresting you was right.”
After spending seven hours in jail, Denton was released on $300 bond. Denton says that he was able to share the gospel with others during the time that he was incarcerated, and witnessed a receptivity to his message. One man, a college student, expressed remorse and thanked God for “disciplining” him.
“The gospel is good news for anyone who has ears to hear, whether it’s a drag queen or a self-righteous good citizen,” Denton said. “God saves sinners, among whom every Christian was once chief. There’s hope for the people at the drag event because God is mighty to save and ‘salvation is of the Lord.’”
Officer Lamb could not be reached for comment on the arrest. A trial date has not yet been set.
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