By David J. Stewart
America needs VOICES! The more voices, the higher the volume! America could be saved, if we had more believers who loved lost sinners enough to preach the truth. Sadly, most churches today operate more like the occult than a New Testament church. The word "occult" means "hidden." The average church is a mystery to the local community.
Thank God for soulwinning men like Raymond Rogers, who do more for God than just fill up 18" of pew every Sunday. America is going to Hell! Most people today are woefully ignorant of the truth. Let Raymond Rogers be an inspiration to all of us to get busy for God.
The
City is Canton, Ohio, in the Jackson township. Raymond Rogers stands
next to an exterior wall of his commercial building on Fulton Drive NW.
He calls the painting on the wall a mural. Jackson zoning officials
say the painting is a sign because of the phrases "JESUS IS THE ONLY
WAY TO HEAVEN" and HELL IS REAL," and that it must be removed.
SIGN OR MURAL?
Raymond Rogers calls it a mural, which he paid to have painted on his own building back in April. The township agrees that the flames are a mural; but say that the words constitute a sign. Town authorities are demanding that Raymond Rogers remove his message.
This is absolutely hypocritical and discriminatory of Canton city authorities! Nobody complains when the beer companies advertise their alcoholic beverages (Liquid Devil) on billboards. Nobody complains when Marlboro and Joe Camel advertise their cancer-sticks on billboards (all these ads contain words by the way). No one complains about Ohio's Mobile Billboards, who drive around town advertising, featuring immodestly dressed women, etc. Nobody complains UNTIL the truth is told! Why the hypocrisy? Jackson zoning officials are violating Mr. Rogers' rights, and a civil rights discrimination lawsuit needs to be filed against them if they don't cease and desist. If we don't defend our God-given freedoms, then we will lose them!
Jackson Township says artwork violates zoning rules on signs
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
By FELLICIA SMITH
REPOSITORY STAFF WRITERJACKSON TWP. Raymond Rogers set out earlier this year to make people take notice of their lives.
Using his commercial building on Fulton Drive NW - one of Stark County's busiest roads - as his platform, Rogers had what he contends is a mural painted on the side of the building.
His written messages: "Jesus is the only way to heaven" and "Hell is real."
They're accompanied by flames shooting upward amid burning figurines.
Zoning officials say what Rogers calls a mural is a sign and must come down because it exceeds the size limit set by the township.
"I don't intend to take it down," said Rogers, 76. "I don't consider it a sign. A sign is on a board. This is not an advertisement. It's a public service announcement."
The Virginia-based Rutherford Institute, which offers legal resources in free-speech cases, supports Rogers' point of view and has offered legal assistance.
"People have a right to express themselves," said John Whitehead, president of the Rutherford Institute. "Even if it's politically incorrect or offends somebody. The point people are missing, right now, is that free speech sometimes offends."
making a mural
In April, Rogers hired a company called Murals by Bob to paint the religious messages on east and west sides of his commercial office building at the Beldenview Plaza at 4915 Fulton Dr. NW. It wasn't a snap decision.
"I always wanted to do it," Rogers said. "I couldn't find a painter."
Once he finally did, he wasted no time commissioning the mural.
Rogers, who founded the Central Baptist Church on Tuscarawas Street W, is a devoted follower of the Bible and Jesus. He has spread the word of the Bible and Jesus through church for years.
He served as a reverend at the Canton Baptist Temple in the 1960s and early 1970s. In 1974, he was appointed to the Massillon Baptist College faculty. He then left in 1976 to start Central Baptist Church.
In the ensuing years, he helped establish Canal Fulton Baptist and Brewster Baptist churches.
But he still wanted to reach a larger audience. The mural serves that purpose.
"I wanted people to know Jesus is the only way to Heaven," Rogers said. "It's not about the church you go to or your denomination. It's about Jesus."
With an average of 16,800 cars riding past Rogers' building daily, his message is being noticed...
The Devil's crowd can parade up and down the streets of America... lesbians... God-haters... atheists... homosexuals... transvestites... streakers... drunkards... whores... fornicators... et cetera, and no one says anything; BUT, when a Christian man paints a mural warning people about Hell, the fireworks begin!
Why is it that no one complains about the lie of evolution being taught to kids in the public school system; BUT, then people go ballistic if the Bible is taught? People don't mind if you pass out Communist literature; BUT, they get angry when you try to hand them a Gospel tract. It is for this very same reason that people curse in God's name--because the world lieth in wickedness! (1st John 5:19).
Local Man Told Religious Sign Must Go
Church Founder Battles Zoning Board
June 6, 2007CANTON, Ohio -- Zoning officials in the Canton area said the religious mural painted on the side of Raymond Rogers' building is a sign that must go, because it's too big.The Jackson Township man argues that a sign is on a board, and he also calls his mural a "public service announcement" and not advertising.
It bears the messages "Jesus is the only way to Heaven" and "Hell is real" and depicts flames and burning figures.Rogers founded a local Baptist church and said using his office building allows him to reach a larger audience.
In his fight to keep the mural, he's been offered legal assistance by The Rutherford Institute, which often takes on religious freedom cases.The zoning board said Rogers may appeal its ruling.
SOURCE: http://www.newsnet5.com/home-backup/13452306/detail.html
Sin always undermines any nation! America is fast-becoming a large insane asylum, actually making Sodom and Gomorrah look like nice places to live. We Americans have become so calloused towards sin that we've even named one of our biggest cities--SIN CITY! Jesus said that Sodom would have repented; BUT not America! Tragically, millions of Americans flock to Las Vegas regularly to commit sin. Don't be deceived... What HAPPENS in Vegas is RECORDED in Heaven! Our days are numbered as a free nation if we continue living in sin. We are a nation of idiots.
While skilled surgeons spend 15 hours trying to save one babies' life--millions of other babies are brutally and deliberately murdered by the same medical profession. While America's school children are being taught by the "experts" that there is no God, and that we all evolved from slime--the same "experts" are trying to figure out why society is so messed up, people are depressed, and crime happens. Duh! I mean, we kicked God, prayer, and the Bible out of our public schools in 1962/63, and now the "experts" are scratching their heads, trying to figure out why America is spiraling downward into decay?
We are living in a sinful world. You can go anywhere in this world, and you'll find bars, nightclubs, and other houses of sin. They are packed full of young people, foolishly wasting their youth in the pleasures of sin, which always lead to regret and ruin. It's all about the love of money (1st Timothy 6:10). When one's money is gone, the good times end. Immoral women will gather around a man who's spending money on them, but when the money's gone, the barstools become empty, and he is alone. This is the way of the godless world. There is no genuine love.
There is no moral integrity. There is no care or concern. There is only greed, lust, and selfishness. If we refuse to include God, prayer, morality, and the Bible in the education of our children, then we get what we deserve as a society.
It is wonderful to be a Christian in these last days--despite this dreary, dark, and horrible world of sin...
This world is not my home, I'm just-a-passin' through.
My treasures are laid up, somewhere beyond the blue.
The angels beckon me, from Heaven's open door
And I can't feel at home, in this world anymore.Words and Music by Albert E. Brumley
© 1965 - Albert E. Brumley & Sons
Thank God for Raymond Rogers! There is so much we can all do for God, if we have the desire to do so. All the talent, knowledge, or ability in the world means nothing if we have no desire. HELL IS REAL!
