Detroit's newest 'attraction'? Statue of Satan
Christian leaders blast plan for monument as 'last thing we need'
Published: 13 hours ago
In recent years, Detroit has lost much of its population. Streetlights often haven’t worked because the infrastructure is collapsing. Police ranks have been gutted. Whole blocks of vacant houses have been leveled. Water shutoffs for nonpayment have been common. Debts have overwhelmed municipal officials. Some have described it as hell.
So what better place to hold the unveiling of a monument to Satan, aka Baphomet?
But if there’s anything the city needs, that’s not it, Christian leaders are saying.
The statue of Baphomet, featuring children looking up to a goat horned figure making an occult gesture, reportedly cost more than $100,000 and first was going to be placed next to the Ten Commandments monument in Oklahoma.
However, a court order to remove the monument has led The Satanic Temple to search for a new target.
Because the state of Arkansas has a monument to the Ten Commandments, the organization wants to make that state the statue’s permanent home after it is first revealed in Detroit.
If they can arrange that, since one venue already has canceled.
Christian pastors and preachers in the Motor City outraged and are showing it.
Pastor Don Shelby of Burning Bush International Ministries, speaking at a press conference of nine Christian leaders opposing the display, told believers to “gather together to stand as one unified against this demonic spirit that is trying to invade our city.”
Another minister, Rev. David Bullock, called the statue “the last thing we need” in a city with as many problems as Detroit.
Even other Satanists have described The Satanic Temple in similar terms.
Critics say the group is simply using the imagery of Satan to deliberately offend Christians and promote a left wing social agenda, as the organization doesn’t so much as worship a deity or demon but attack Christianity.
For example, the local affiliate The Satanic Temple of Detroit boasts an upside down cross as the favicon displayed in website browsers, rather than a pentagram or other symbol of “Satan.” The group has also indulged in provocations such as holding Black Masses, to the disgust and outrage of local religious leaders.
The Satanic Temple, which claims its message is to “encourage benevolence and empathy among all people,” is highly active in promoting access to abortion and same sex “marriage.” The group has also previously expressed its opposition to “conservative” beliefs.
Carl Gallups, a pastor, talk show host, and author of “Final Warning: Understanding the Trumpet Days of Revelation,” is critical of The Satanic Temple’s use of children in propaganda efforts.
Noting the group’s previous distribution of Satanic coloring books in order to disrupt a Bible distribution and its use of children in the Satanic memorial, Gallups believes these opponents to Christianity are simply showing their true nature.
He told WND, “Isn’t it interesting how Satan and his followers are finally revealing their true nature and intent? Notice that the statue features two small children staring up, in adoring fashion, into the face of the universally recognized symbol of Satan. I have been proclaiming for decades that Satan’s Last Days attack would be focused squarely and specifically upon our children.”
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Gallups warns the group is inviting judgment by targeting children specifically.
“Please consider Heaven’s warning against a person (or nation) that aims its evil at children. Jesus declared in Matthew 18:5-6, ‘And whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me; but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.’”
Paul Kengor, a professor, historian, and author of “Takedown: From Communists to Progressives, How the Left Has Sabotaged Family and Marriage,” says the real significance of The Satanic Temple and its efforts is not the imagery, but the way the group has seized on gay “marriage” as a means to attack the traditional family.
“It’s no surprise whatsoever that this group is an enthusiastic supporter of gay marriage. Of course it is. You would expect that. Being Satanists, their position on marriage must be an anti-God, anti-biblical, anti-Natural Law position. They must, by definition, take a position that opposes the longtime Christian position on marriage, that stands in direct contrast to God’s plan for male and female from Genesis onward. Obviously, and needless to say, this doesn’t make gay-marriage supporters Satanists, but it’s obvious why Satanists would embrace gay marriage. They do so to attack the design of their enemy: God.”
Kengor compares the group to far left activists and communists who share the political aims of The Satanic Temple when it comes to family issues.
“This is very similar to the point I lay out in “Takedown:” Communists and the extreme left generally have likewise embraced same-sex marriage in part because it provides them an avenue to attack religion and to do what they’ve long wanted to do: redefine, reshape, and take down the natural, traditional, biblical family. These forces hold something crucial in common: They want to remake marriage and family in their own image, which is an explicitly anti-God image.
“Again, let me repeat: This doesn’t make same-sex marriage a Satanic or communist plot – liberals, control yourselves, don’t misrepresent what I’m saying here, cease the knee-jerk reactions, please! – but it’s no surprise that Satanists and communists would be embracing gay marriage for agendas that violate God’s sacred plan for marriage and the family.”
Gallups suggests such an effort is succeeding because America is being unmoored from its Christian heritage, a development he blames on ignorance of history and cowardly politicians.
“It has always amazed me how idiotic most of our lawmakers have been concerning the issues of Christian symbols being displayed in government places. The matter is a legally simple one. America’s overall biblical and Christian heritage cannot be denied with any credible veracity. That heritage is recorded in our founding documents, declared in the writings of our founding fathers, and etched in marble on many of our government buildings and monuments including the halls of Congress and the Supreme Court building. There is nothing illegal, immoral, or offensive about historical displays reflecting out government’s historical foundation.”
However, Gallups thinks a statue of Satan on public property cannot be compared to an acknowledgement of what he believes is America’s Christian history.
“Our Constitution provides equal protection to all who live in America, whether one is a ‘believer’ or an ‘atheist.’ An appropriate historical display of our heritage is not a deterrence to justice – if our Constitution and the laws of our land our upheld and followed. There is no legal or historical standing, however, to erect an image of Satan being worshiped by children in government or American historical locations – none whatsoever. Neither is there a legal or historical standing to display ‘other religious’ symbols in these locations.
“They are not our history. They are not our heritage. It really is that simple. There should not even be a debate in this matter – unless, of course, we have been given over to a depraved mind … and confessing to be wise we have become fools.”
Gallups further argues that even the existence of a Satanic memorial should serve as a “wake-up call” to Christians that they may be living in the last days.
“If the openly profane iconic image of Satan, surrounded by adoring and worshiping children, is not enough to convince students of the Word of God that we are now living in biblically prophetic times – I don’t what is. The dissipation of evil foretold by the Bible is sweeping upon us like a flood.
“If America doesn’t soon repent in dust and ashes, beginning in the pulpit and pew, we are done.”
Read more at
http://www.wnd.com/2015/07/detroits-newest-attraction-statue-of-satan/#QQEmBmHrjcHI9bHg.99
