Fox News reports that “A pistol-packing pastor shot and killed a man who was allegedly trying to attack him with a brick on Sunday in the vestibule of a Detroit church, police said.
“Cops say Deante Smith, 25, attacked the unidentified pastor and threatened several parishioners of The City of God church with a brick and hammer, FOX2reported. Police said the attack was not random; the pastor and Smith knew each other and the two have had problems in the past.
“Assistant Detroit Police Chief Steve Dolunt said a previous police report had been filed against Smith, The Detroit Free Press reported. ‘The pastor pulled out his Glock and fired several shots,’ said Steve Dolunt, asst. Detroit police chief
“ ‘The pastor had had issues with the man before,’ Dolunt told the Detroit News. ‘He had been threatening to do him bodily harm. He walked into the service and went after the pastor with a brick. The pastor pulled out his Glock and fired several shots. I think he hit him four or five times, and the man died.’
“Sunday’s incident occurred just before 2 p.m. as church was ending, Detroit Police Sgt. Cassandra Lewis told WWJ.
“No one else was hurt during the episode, according to FOX2. The pastor has been questioned by police.
“City of God is a non-denominational church, according to its Facebook page.
“ ‘The reality is, things can happen anywhere now,’ ” City Councilman Andre Spivey told the Detroit News. ‘[Church] is a haven of rest and safety…when you cannot be safe in God’s place of worship, where can you be safe?’ ” (Published October 19, 2015 Fox News)
The Huffington Post’s report omitted City Councilman Spivey’s quote, while adding this: “The incident touches on a growing issue for parishioners who worry about the threat of violence in places of worship, particularly following the deaths of nine people in Charleston, South Carolina, and the rise in burnings of predominantly black churches.
“One church leader has urged his congregation to apply for concealed weapons permits; another pastor has taken it upon herself to obtain a concealed carry permit in order to protect her congregation.” (Posted 10/19/2015 Huffington Post)
Another attack on Christians at a community college in Roseburg, Oregon, was reported by Mark Baker in The Register-Guard on Oct. 06, 2015.
“‘Are you a Christian?’ he [the community college shooter] would ask them,” Stacy Boylan said during an interview outside the hospital [where his daughter had been taken after being shot]. “And, ‘If you’re a Christian, stand up.’
“And they would stand up and he said: ‘Good, because you’re a Christian you’re going to see God in just about one second.’ And then he shot and killed them. And he kept going down the line and doing this to people.”
Mr. Baker, in his article, also mentions other attacks and alleged attacks that singled out Christians.
Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master. ’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.
—John 15:20
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