“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”
—First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution
Jan. 19: Two members of Gideons International were arrested for being too close to a Florida school.
June 23: Police arrested four Christians for sharing their faith during a gay pride event that took place in a New York public park.
July 4: A Maryland church pastor attending a community celebration to honor veterans was told by officials to leave because he was handing out gospel tracts.
These are only a few of the instances where Christians have been silenced by authorities in 2007 alone.
This past June, a story appeared on WorldNetDaily’s Web Site about Joe Christopherson of Oswego, Ill. who was assaulted by an angry crowd and molested for preaching the gospel at a Chicago gay pride parade. Police threatened Christopherson with arrest if he refused to leave.
Since then, Christopherson, a Trunews’ listener, has faced opposition from police yet again for exercising his right to free speech.
On Oct. 19, an officer wrote Christopherson a $75 ticket for holding an anti-abortion sign during a city festival in Naperville, Ill.
Christopherson, who lives near what ABC News said is the “largest Planned Parenthood clinic in the U.S.,” held a 6 feet by 4 feet sign at the festival that read, “Lied, Stolen, Lusted? Abortion? Stop sinning, call on Lord Jesus and Escape Hell-Fire.”
He had been holding the sign for at least three hours before police took action.
“We’d been harassed by a Muslim group a couple times, and the police came and told them to move on and basically leave us alone, and both times the police never even spoke to us,” said Christopherson. “It must have been 11 or 11:40 p.m., and the police came over and said, ‘You have to remove your sign.’ And I just asked him very nicely, ‘Am I breaking the law?’ and he said, ‘That’s it! I’m done!’ And he took my license and wrote me a ticket, didn’t tell me what for, didn’t explain nothing.”
Christopherson said another officer told him he was ticketed for having a noncommercial sign within 10 feet of a roadway, although this was the first time he had been informed of this law.
This street evangelist has been open-air preaching nearly every weekend for the last three years with his ministry, Burning Hearts Outreach. Through this ministry, Christopherson and others involved preach to those on the streets of America and pass out tracts in hope of reaching as many of the lost as they can.
While some Christians would have thrown in the towel and given up, Christopherson went back to preach to the lost souls of the Naperville city the following day. He said he was preaching on his stool when the same officer who had threatened him with arrest before came by.
“I was on my stool preaching the gospel and he said, ‘You have to get down. You have to stop because your speech is offense and your tracts, you literature, is offensive. That’s illegal…you can’t be doing that,’ Christopherson remarked. “I asked him if I was breaking the law, and he said, ‘Yes, your speech is offensive. You’re breaking the law.’ And I said, ‘It’s not against the law to offend somebody.’”
Christopherson said he continued preaching despite the officer’s threat to arrest him.
“And at that, he called the supervisor, called the sergeant, or whatever. They sent out like five squad cars, a fire engine, ambulance, or like a box truck…they sent a fire battalion with lights flashing and sirens blazing. All this was for preaching,” explained Christopherson.
According to Christopherson, the sergeant concluded he was not breaking the law and allowed him to continue preaching. Christopherson said the same officer continued to harass him, while every corner of the intersection had gathered a crowd of onlookers. What began as a difficult situation, turned out to be a perfect opportunity to witness to nearly 100 people, Christopherson said.
While Christians face censorship daily by authorities for exercising their constitutional rights to spread the gospel, Christopherson would like to offer encouragement to other Christians to take a stand for their beliefs and follow the command Christ gave his disciples:
“The Bible says the laborers are few, and there are truly few Christians who are out preaching the gospel, and if we’re called by God, we’re commanded by God to preach the gospel to every Christian. The Great Commission is, ‘Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature,’ and like I said, that’s not the ‘great suggestion,’ it’s called the Great Commission. And if Christians don’t share their faith and preach the gospel everywhere they go, people are going to go to Hell for eternity.”
Anyone who would like to receive gospel tracts to hand out or information on how to support Christopherson’s ministry can visit his Web Site, www.burningheartsoutreach.com.
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