First Pentecostal Church in Holly Springs, Mississippi has been burned down by a suspected arson fire. The fire is believed to have been started by retaliators who heard that church pastor Jerry Waldrop filed a 14-page lawsuit against the city of Holly Springs, alleging police officers had disrupted Easter service.
“There’s nothing left. It’s gone. No roof and very few walls,” pastor Waldrop said to local reporters. “We’ve kind of racked our brains and we have no idea. No enemies that we know of. We don’t even know anyone that we would think would be capable of doing something like this.”
A poorly-spelled spray paint message reading “I bet you stay home now you hypokrits,” was discovered on the church’s parking lot.
Meanwhile, Baltimore pastor Stacey Shiflett defied local officials by openly tearing up a cease and desist order during a special Wednesday night church service.
“So I’m tearing up this cease and desist order right here, and I’m telling you right now, we’re gonna do it God’s way,” shouted Pastor Shiflett to an excited congregation at Calvary Baptist Church.
Shiflett tied his act of civil disobedience to his sermon by comparing local and state bureaucrats to the tyrannical Pharoah from the Bible.
“Newsflash, Pharaoh doesn’t get to dictate to God’s people how they worship their God,” said the pastor. “God’s the one that defines the parameters. God’s the one that communicates His will and His plan for His church, not Egypt. And I’m telling you right now, with this cease and desist letter in my hand, the Bible says to the New Testament Church not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together as the manner of some he is. But so much the more as you see the day approaching. And the closer we get to Jesus coming back, the more church we ought to be having, not less church. Now that’s God’s parameters.”
Pastor Shiflett slammed local bureaucrats for restricting religious services to digital-only. Shiflett pointed out that live streaming can’t replace the feeling of being in a physical church.
“Sitting in the basement and watching a baseball game video is not the same thing as going to a baseball game,” explained Pastor Shiflett. “And sitting at the house and watching a prerecorded or a recorded service on your device is not the same thing as assembling in the house of God. It’s obvious that some of the people that are making these rules don’t go to church. It’s obvious that they don’t care how we worship, how we do it.”
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