Authors-choice: Hope & Revival

Fierce persecution of Christians continue in America today despite 1700 years since the edict of Milan decriminalized Christianity.

On Wednesday, a US Superior Court Judge ruled Barronelle Stutzman, a 75 yr old woman, violated the law when she refused to make floral arrangements for a Gay marriage in 2013 and the possibility became real that Stutzman can lose her business, home, savings and other personal assets.

Stutzman, a practicing Christian, was baffled when Rob Ingersoll, a friend and a long time customer, came to her shop and told her that he was getting married and he wanted her to provide the flowers for the wedding. Ingersoll was taking advantage of the gay marriage law passed in Washington in 2012

Stutzman believes, like Christians believe, that gay marriage is wrong and against the will of God. “Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is an abomination.” — Leviticus 18:22. She knows that God loves gay people but condemns gay sex and destroyed the city of Sodom and Gomorrah because of it.

In the video, Stutzman discusses how she prepared many floral arrangements for Ingersoll over the years. She explained that she had no problem making flowers for Ingersoll whom she had known was gay, but “gay marriage?” that was different.

“It was a real struggle to decide what to do with that. My husband and I talked it over and as much as I loved Rob, I just couldn’t be a part of that,” Stutzman asserted.

“If I did Rob’s wedding, it would be from my heart because I think he is a really special person and I would want to make it really special for him. It wasn’t something that I said, ‘Oh, I’m not going to do Rob’s wedding because he is gay.'”

“I think most artistic people, especially painters; they put their heart into their arrangements as part of them and part of who they are. I think that is the same thing with a florist,” Stutzman added.

If Stutzman was not expecting a law suit, she was in for a big surprise! When news of her actions broke on social media, she received tons of hate mail and the attention Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson, a gold digger who is determined to destroy every Christian business.

“The law is clear: If you choose to provide a service to couples of the opposite sex, you must provide the same service to same-sex couples,” Ferguson said.

Ferguson’s office later filed a lawsuit on behalf of Washington State against Stutzman, after sending Stutzman a letter demanding that she service gay weddings. Even though no official complaint was filed against Stutzman, Ferguson’s office pursued the lawsuit and accused Stutzman and her business of violating the state’s non-discrimination laws.

Again, even though 20 different florists have offered to provide flowers for their wedding for free, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit on behalf of the gay couple

The social media is portraying Ms Stutzman as a gay bigot and hater but her lawyer rejected this term, “This is about marriage. It’s not about bigotry. She knew of their [homosexual] relationship. She provided flowers that they sent to each other. But when it came to marriage, that was the line. Because, as she will tell you, ‘Marriage represents the relationship of Christ and His church.’ It’s a sacred covenant,” Waggoner contends. “This case is coercing someone to engage in expression and that is against America’s tradition and it’s unconstitutional.”

To be sure, Christians have been persecuted in pagan civilizations in times past. In ancient Rome, brutal persecutions of Emperor Nero (64AD) burnt thousands of Christians. More subtle but no less cruel persecution of Emperor Trajan (98 AD) led to 70 year systematic widespread persecution of millions of Christian in Rome who refuse to violate their beliefs.

In his letter to one of his governors who had sought his advice on how best to deal with Christian, Trajan writes, “The best course is moderation. No general purge of Christianity should be initiated. The problem should be addressed on a case-by-case basis and guilt determined by the review of reliable information. If the accused agrees to sacrifice to the Roman gods, then no punishment should be incurred.”

Gold diggers and treasure hunters, greedy to seize the properties of Christians, exploited Trajan’s edict and denounce thousands of Christians, hurling them to the courts to deny their faith and beliefs. Many refused and lost everything, even their lives.

The US “non-discriminatory laws” equals Trajan’s laws in craft and empowers just about anyone to hurl Christians to court and seize their businesses, homes or properties anywhere in America.

Stutzman’s lawyer Kristen Waggoner said, “The lesson from the court’s decisions is that you put your home, your family business, and your life at risk by daring to defy a government mandate that forces you to promote views you believe are wrong.”

Chinwuba Iyizoba