Pastors who witnessed and survived persecution elsewhere in the world are sounding a warning to Americans – take your stand NOW before Christians in America experience the same persecution inflicted upon people of faith in other parts of the world. Read on to learn more...and don't forget every donation today will be DOUBLED in impact by a generous challenge grant! -Mat

Defend America's Churches NOW and have your gift effectively DOUBLED by a generous challenge grant. Select here or the button below.

Last week, I wrote to you about the ways in which tyrannical actions of anti-faith governors in the U.S. are impacting the global church. The legal cases I cited have something else in common...

Some of the pastors we represent are legal immigrants who love America! Having faced religious persecution abroad, these pastors chose to come to America because of our religious freedom. They have witnessed, and even personally experienced, Christian persecution in their former countries and they are not about to cave-in to that sort of tyranny here in America.

• In North Korea, atheism is the state religion. Christianity is illegal and punishable by long years in brutal work camps designed to break the spirit or simply starve, maim or kill believers. The lead pastor of one of our clients, Harvest Rock Church, was born in Korea and knows firsthand the danger to Christians when religious freedom is eradicated. Pastor Che Ahn has now preached in about 100 countries, which makes him love America even more.

• Former North Koreans know that all churches, even home churches, are banned and even singing worship songs is illegal. CA Gov. Gavin Newsom, as you know, has banned singing and chanting, and all in-person worship, even in private homes.

• In Communist Romania, Soviet-backed leader Nicolae Ceausescu made sport of persecuting Christians. Our clients Elim Romanian Pentecostal Church and Logos Baptist Ministries, both churches in Chicago, are led by pastors who lived under Ceausescu's brutal reign and suffered the abuses of an anti-God state. Pastors were arrested, churchgoers were persecuted, church buildings demolished, and even neighbors were punished for not reporting there was a church in their midst.

• As you know, the governor of Illinois tried to ban church meetings and the Mayor of Chicago not only towed and impounded the cars of the neighbors for nine blocks around the church, she also issued a Summary Abatement notice declaring her intention to seize and destroy church buildings should more than 10 people meet!

• The head pastor for The River at Tampa Bay Church of Tampa, Florida, was born and raised in South Africa during Apartheid. He and his wife have preached in over 90 countries, many of which ban Christianity. This pastor has witnessed the abuse and heard the bone-chilling testimonies of what pastors and Christians face every day, even now, for standing firm in their faith. Around the world, pastors are regularly arrested for caring for their flock.

This pastor was arrested right here in America when he opened his church to meet for worship and feed hungry families.

STOP THE PERSECUTION OF AMERICAN CHRISTIANS!

Praise God, Liberty Counsel was able to get all charges against the Florida pastor dropped, but we continue to fight for churches in California, Illinois, Kentucky, Virginia and Maine that face anti-faith governors intent upon silencing God's people and driving the church underground.

I find it remarkable that a handful of pastors – all immigrants to America – were among the first in this country to take a firm stand against the illegal, unconstitutional abuses against people of faith taking place in our nation.

These pastors emigrated to America specifically because of our freedom, the most important of which is religious liberty. Can you imagine having escaped brutal Christian persecution, only to see it flaring up in the one place in the world where religious freedom is paramount?

Unfortunately, too many multi-generational Americans take our liberties for granted. And far too many Americans have bought into a false thinking that it is okay for the church to be silenced and relegated to serving "online only."

Many German churches complied with Hitler's edicts out of fear. Yet, the truth is, the church does not belong to Ceasar. The church belongs only to God. Only God, not politicians, may dictate how Christians and churches must operate. This is not just a constitutional principle; it is a biblical one, as well.

But unlike many Americans born here who know no different, these pastors - our clients – intentionally chose America for our religious liberty. Having experienced firsthand the near eradication of the church in their homelands, they will never take religious freedom for granted... and so they fight for it.

Liberty Counsel and these brave clients are fighting with all our might to wake the nation to the slippery slope of abuses designed to silence God's Word and drive Christian worship underground... even here in "the land of the free and the home of the brave."

YOUR support is critically important RIGHT NOW in keeping religious freedom FREE in America. As you know, Liberty Counsel never charges for our legal services. Few people could afford to defend themselves against governors with taxpayer dollars to fund their persecution.

And we expect one or more of these cases will go all the way to the Supreme Court. We are experiencing some of the most expensive litigation Liberty Counsel has ever conducted. But the protection of the freedom of religion is the most important issue facing America today!

That's why a generous Liberty Counsel friend has established a challenge grant to ensure we have the financial resources we need to continue and win this fight. For a limited time, your donation will be effectively DOUBLED in impact. YOUR ability to help these pastors and keep religious freedom free has never been greater!

Don't let this remarkable opportunity pass you by. Make your best possible gift today so that our children and grandchildren will have the religious freedom we have known.

Defend America's Churches NOW and have your gift effectively DOUBLED by a generous challenge grant. Select here or the button below.

Please, heed the warnings of the immigrant pastors we represent. Take your stand for faith and America's religious freedom NOW, before tyrants succeed in revoking our rights and driving our churches underground.

In Christ,

Mat Staver,
Founder and Chairman
Liberty Counsel

P.S. If you want to learn what you, your pastor and your church can do to effect real change in these challenging times, please join our "Silence Is Not an Option" online townhall meeting on July 30, 2020. Select here to sign up for yourself or forward the link to your church ministry team. We look forward to seeing you there!

P.P.S. Please don't let this challenge grant opportunity pass you by. America's pastors and churches are relying on YOU, a faithful Liberty Counsel supporter, to help ensure religious freedom remains FREE! Select here or the graphic below.