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
Michael Salman and his wife have been hosting gatherings of about 15 or 20 people where
they share food, fellowship and discuss the Bible...Michael Salman was found guilty of 67 "code violations", and
now he is going to be ripped away from his family and put in prison for two months...This kind of case has the
potential to have a huge "chilling effect" on home gatherings of all kinds all over the United
States.
60 Days in Jail + A Fine for Home Bible
Study
The war on home
Bible studies and house churches is heating up again. Down in Phoenix, Arizona a man has been sentenced to 60
days in prison and has been fined $12,180 for hosting a Bible study in his
home. Since 2005, Michael Salman and his wife have been
hosting gatherings of about 15 or 20 people where they share food, fellowship and discuss the Bible.
Unfortunately, that kind of thing is against the law in Phoenix, Arizona apparently. At one point, nearly a
dozen armed police officers raided their home and "evidence" of their "crimes" was gathered. Michael Salman
was found guilty of 67 "code violations", and now he is going to be ripped away from his family and put in
prison for two months. In addition, the assistant city prosecutor is asking the court to "revoke his
probation and convert it into a 2 1/2 year jail sentence since he continues to hold worship gatherings on his
property despite court orders." This kind of case has the potential to have a huge "chilling effect" on home
gatherings of all kinds all over the United States.
The war on home Bible studies and house
churches is heating up again. Down in Phoenix, Arizona a man has been sentenced to 60 days in prison and has
been fined $12,180 for hosting a Bible study in his home. Since 2005, Michael Salman and his wife have been
hosting gatherings of about 15 or 20 people where they share food, fellowship and discuss the Bible.
Unfortunately, that kind of thing is against the law in Phoenix, Arizona apparently. At one point, nearly a
dozen armed police officers raided their home and “evidence” of their “crimes” was gathered. Michael Salman was
found guilty of 67 “code violations”, and now he is going to be ripped away from his family and put in prison
for two months. In addition, the assistant city prosecutor is asking the court to “revoke his probation and
convert it into a 2 1/2 year jail sentence since he continues to hold worship gatherings on his property despite
court orders.” This kind of case has the potential to have a huge “chilling effect” on home gatherings of all
kinds all over the United States.
You may be thinking that you are glad that this man is being put in prison because you aren’t a
Christian and you don’t have any sympathy for Christians.
Well, what if you wanted to hold small gatherings in your home to discuss the U.S.
Constitution?
Or what if you wanted to hold small gatherings in your home to play cards or watch football?
The U.S. Constitution guarantees “the right of the people peaceably to assemble”, and when the
constitutional rights of one person are under attack, it is an attack on all of us.
In America today, we actually do not own our homes and our properties. Instead, we are only allowed
to use them in very, very narrowly-defined ways, and if we “rebel” against those rules the control freaks that
run things will smack us hard.
A while back I wrote about how control freak bureaucrats all over the country are using “code
violations” to force preppers back on to the grid. In some cases, they are even using “code violations” to force
preppers completely off of their properties.
They want to run our lives, and if we do not live within the very narrow constraints that they
define for us then they will send armed men to raid our homes.
So how did Michael Salman’s problems start?
You can probably guess.
His “neighbors” complained about noise and “traffic congestion“.
So that is how city officials got involved. We have become a nation of informers and tattlers, and
this is another perfect example of that.
Michael Salman did have a big cross and a big sign outside his home, and in this situation that was
rather foolish. Perhaps if he had kept a lower profile things would have been different. But it still does not
excuse what authorities in Phoenix are doing to him.
People should be able to have small gatherings of friends and family in their own homes. If we
can’t do that, what do we have left?
And these days, just about everything is illegal in America, so if you want to sick the authorities
on your neighbors it is quite easy to do.
What is this nation turning into?
The implications of this story are staggering.
Over the past couple of decades, the number of “house churches” in the United States has absolutely
exploded as an increasing number of Americans reject the big, institutional churches for one reason or
another.
Now we are seeing a backlash against the home church movement.
Are we going to start to see authorities systematically coming after home Bible studies and house
churches all over America?
Sadly, we have already seen quite a few examples of this. The following is one example from
California….
A Christian couple from Orange County, Calif., were fined earlier this month for holding
Bible studies and for what city officials called “a regular gathering of more than three people” in their homes.
They have now been told they face a $500 fine if they continue to hold their home Bible study gatherings.
Fortunately, authorities in that case have backed off at least for now after immense public
pressure.
But this is just the beginning. Bible-believing Christians are now considered to be “outside the
mainstream” and are being attacked in unprecedented ways.
For example, the head of Personhood USA (Keith Mason) had his home brutally vandalized after he was
featured in a recent Newsweek article. When that article was posted on the website of The Daily Beast, someone
left a comment that contained his home address. Unfortunately, some very sick individuals decided to “pay a
visit” to the home and hurled a boulder that destroyed the glass in his front door. In addition, they took red
spray paint and painted cuss words and red coat hangers on his house and on his sidewalk.
The following is how this attack was described in a recent Newsweek article….
Mason says he was awake at the time of the attack. “I was in the basement, catching a movie
and having a beer, to just chill,” Mason says. “I heard a loud noise and thought one of our kids had fallen down
the stairs.” Mason says he ran upstairs from the basement, then “ran through a bunch of glass” and “saw red.” He
describes the scene as “surreal—I didn’t know if it was blood on the glass or what. It turned out to be spray
paint. There was red paint all over the side of our house. They spray-painted coat-hangers all over my sidewalk
and door. We called 911. The police were there within three minutes.”
The family has moved from the home and they say that they have no plans to return.
This is what America is turning into.
Hate and anger are rising to unprecedented levels and it seems like psychopaths are running around
everywhere.
In Orange County,
California, it is illegal to hold a religious meeting in your home.
This is what Chuck and Stephanie Fromm, of San Juan Capistrano, discovered when they were fined $300 earlier
this month for holding a Bible study class on their property.
Officialdom in the county said the couple were singled out because it is considered illegal to hold “a regular
gathering of more than three people” on private property. Officials stated that the Fromms require a license to
hold meetings in their home.
San Juan Capistrano authorities claim home Bible study is not allowed because it is a “church,” and churches
require a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) in residential areas.
The Fromms face additional fines of $500 per meeting for any further “religious gatherings” in their home,
according to the Pacific Justice Institute.
The city’s action is a brazen violation of the First Amendment, which guarantees free worship without government
intervention.
PJI and the Fromms plan to appeal a decision made by the city to uphold the fine and restriction to the
California Superior Court in Orange County, according to KCOY 12 News, a Fox affiliate.
Ironically, the city of San Juan Capistrano was founded as a mission in the late 1700s by Catholic priest
Junipero Serra. A local chapel established by Serra is the oldest standing building in California.
This article was posted: Wednesday, September 21, 2011 at 1:53 pm
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.
Amendment I Bill of Rights United States Constitution Adopted August 21, 1789
As Congressional representatives overwhelming approved the Federal Restricted Buildings and Grounds Improvement Act in February of this year,
few Americans were paying attention. When President Obama signed the Act into law, he did so in secret,
without any of the fanfare that came with his signing of universal health care two years prior – and for
good reason. This is one of those laws the government doesn’t want you to know exists until it’s too late to
do anything about it.
For many, awareness of the existence of the new law will only become apparent when they are arrested and
charged under new Federal trespassing guidelines as they attempt to protest, display signs or disrupt any
person or event of national significance. An event of national significance is any activity where Secret
Service agents are responsible for security. With several thousand agents in the field at any given time,
events involving the President, Congressional members, staff or individuals running for Federal office are all
fair game.
Simply standing with a bullhorn, holding up a sign, promoting a contentious message or even being on the
grounds of a Secret Service secured event will now make it possible for the government to detain, arrest and
charge those involved in these “disruptions” (even if you just happen to be passing through) with a felonious
criminal act.
Whoever attempts or conspires to knowingly, and with intent to impede or disrupt the orderly conduct of
Government business or official functions, engages in disorderly or disruptive conduct in, or
within such proximity to, any restricted building or grounds when, or so that, such conduct, in fact,
impedes or disrupts the orderly conduct of Government business or official functions;
OR
knowingly, and with the intent to impede or disrupt the orderly conduct of Government business or
official functions, obstructs or impedes ingress or egress to or from any restricted building or grounds
…
The punishment for a violation is—
(1) a fine under this title or imprisonment for not more
than 10 years, or both, if—
(A) the person, during and in relation to the offense,
uses or carries a deadly or dangerous weapon or firearm;
(*editor’s note: did you want to show your support for the 2nd Amendment by carrying your rifle or
gun to a protest or march like so many have done in the past? Do it as of now and you’re facing ten years
in prison)
or
‘(B) the offense results in significant bodily injury as
defined by section 2118(e)(3); and
(2) a fine under this title or imprisonment for not more
than one year, or both, in any other case.
The law is very clear in who has authority over these events, but as is generally the case, very broad in
what can or cannot be deemed a disruption.
Judge Andrew Napolitano weighs in on Fox News:
“This is not like a traffic ticket – for standing and protesting.
The type of thing that for 230 years Americans took for granted because it was protected by the First
Amendment. Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech has actually been abridged.
…
[The law] basically allows Secret Service agents to decide where there are ‘NO Free Speech Zones’, not
‘Free Speech Zones’… ‘NO Free Speech Zones.’
Anybody protected by the Secret Service can ask those agents to ban protests wherever they are. I can
think of three violations – speech violations, association violations, and the right to petition the
government for redress of your grievances.
What good is free speech if the people in the government are so far away from you that they can’t hear
you.
…
It is a part of American history since day one that we have the right to speak freely to, about
and against those in the government.
With Red Zones and large-scale detention facilities in the process of being implemented
in Chicago ahead of the May 20-21 NATO summit, there’s a strong likelihood that any protests disseminating a
message in opposition to those attending this event of national significance will be met with strong-arm
tactics of the new American police state.
The government is preparing to send a message to the proles, and their intention is to strike fear into the
hearts and minds of every one of us.
This article was posted: Tuesday, May 1, 2012 at 3:57 pm
Ben Swann talks about the role of the first amendment as much more than just a
recognition of your right to speech, or just the press.. it is the recognition of your right to believe, say and
tell others whatever you like
