Chronicle: New scandal in evangelical church shakes community

• Chronicle: New scandal in evangelical church shakes community.
• A parishioner ended up handcuffed by the police when the pastor reported him.
• The incident apparently was the product of «differences» with the religious leader.

A new scandal that occurred this week

in an evangelical congregation in North Carolina is shaking our community.

And it is that in a video that has gone viral on social networks, you can see how a member of the Open Door Baptist Church in the city of McLeansville, in North Carolina, is detained by local authorities for refusing to leave the precinct .

The person who was handcuffed was identified as Félix Arias Evangelista, whom they accused of breaking and entering.

Guilford County police officers arrived at the scene after receiving a call that someone had trespassed at the ministry. The uniformed men then approached Arias in the middle of a religious service and asked him to leave, but another person yelled at them: «We are in a church», although that did not disturb the officers at all.

“He was kindly asked to leave, but Mr. Arias refused. The pastor (of the congregation) had also requested it, but he did not comply either, so we had to remove him, ”the Guilford Sheriff’s Office reported in a statement.

In an interview with the local newspaper What’s up, Arias explained that, for days, he had some differences with the pastor of the church and that he had asked him not to return.

“He had threatened me that he was going to call the police. But I am frank with you. I didn’t believe (it), because we are a congregation. We have bought the church among the brothers, ”Arias told Qué Pasa.

According to his testimony, on Sunday he decided to return to what he considered his congregation as usual, but that, upon arrival, he ran into two “brothers” at the entrance who did not want to let him pass.

However, he says he managed to sneak in and once inside, he sat in the middle of the crowd, something he had done for the last 14 years as a member of that church.

“We have been (serving) there for many years. You have no right to treat us that way, as criminals. We have given our life to him, ”Arias told Qué Pasa.

Arias’s arrest was temporary. And is that once in the police headquarters, the authorities chose to release him without even imposing the payment of a bond.

“It is that I did not commit any crime. I am a member of that church, ”the parishioner stressed to Qué Pasa.

Since it was exposed on the networks, the video went viral and shook many members of the Hispanic community, who condemned the religious leader of that congregation.

“Penalty should be given to the pastor. Throwing the police out of a brother who had previously been feeding him with his tithes. They are all the same ”, read one of the many comments on the networks.

Chronicle: New scandal in evangelical church shakes community

It is not the first time that a church has become the center of news, in fact, there are many cases that I can expose to you, although I will only touch on a couple of them that occurred here in Georgia.

The most notorious is undoubtedly that of a pastoral family in Gwinnett County that literally got into a fight with two police officers when they tried to remove a minor who was there from their small church without the permission of her parents.

That case ended with the arrest of four people. One of them was deported shortly after, the other sentenced to five years in prison, while the third was killed when he was released in a confused shooting outside his home.

Last year, in full national quarantine, when legally they should be closed, they also another congregation Atlanta made history by secretly meeting for a routine service.

Inside the temple there were hundreds of people. The windows were covered with black plastic so that no one could see them and when exposed by the lens of MundoHispánico what they did was take me out of the place and defend themselves, claiming that their faith was a priority.

That video got millions of visits on the networks and when we broadcast live on Facebook, more than 50 thousand of our followers were connected.

Chamblee Holy Cross Catholic Church was also in the eye of the hurricane on one occasion a few years ago when half the church opposed a change of priest. That day they stood on the benches, shouted at each other between both sides and even struggled.

The church, regardless of creed, is considered in the United States as a sacred place and of great respect, therefore, it should offer peace to visitors, but these cases only confirm that everything in this life is «in theory», because in reality, things are often different.

In my opinion, the problem is that in the altars there are many religious leaders who do not have the real vocation to serve. I think that to be a pastor, you have to have a heart for it.

The Bible describes a shepherd as someone who comforts and cares for his sheep, even with his own life, but unfortunately, motivated by personal interests, many do the opposite, they love them only for «their wool».

Thank you very much for reading my column today on MundoHispánico. I’ll wait for you in the morning, as always.

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