Pacific Northwest Becoming a Key Spiritual Battleground
Read time: 3 minutes 48 seconds The Pacific Northwest is becoming a hotbed of anti-Christian terrorism, and is one of the largest spiritual battlegrounds in the country. With cities like Seattle, Portland and San Francisco earning reputations of not enforcing laws and allowing criminals to continue terrorizing the citizenry, Christians almost expect to be targeted in these cities because in fact they are being targeted in hate crimes here and across the nation. This aggression toward Christianity has manifested itself into several vicious attacks against the church. Recently, a mentally disturbed, self-described transexual man burned down a 105-year-old church, Portland Korean Church. Why would he do such a thing? Because he was ingesting up to 10 oxycodone a day while suffering from schizophrenia. He was 'told' to burn down the historic church or the voices in his head would harm him. Cameron David Storer, the 25-year-old responsible for the church burning, even went so far as to turn himself in. Why? Because he wanted to take credit for the arson. As reported by The Blaze, "Court documents indicated that Storer lit papers on fire in the church, waited nearby to make sure it had spread, then walked over to Plaid Pantry to observe his handiwork." The fire was so devastating that the church had to be demolished, with the 70-foot-tall steeple leaving a now vacant space in the skyline that had been there for 105 years. This is not the first time that a church was targeted in Portland. On Nov. 3, 2020, Sain André Bessette Catholic Church had their windows smashed, halting their outreaches that helped feed and clothe hundreds due to safety concerns . Father Tom Gaughen said of the situation, "The building is compromised because of this.... The actions of this one individual have forced us to cease our outreach and its hundreds of people we normally give food to, we are not able to because I don't feel like my staff is safe." But the spiritual battle taking place isn't limited to Christians being targeted. These cities are suffering from a massive homeless crisis that is only being exacerbated by failed government policies. In Seattle, some churchgoers are fearing for their safety as an aggressive homeless encampment has sprung up right next to them. As Christians, they look to help these people who are struggling with drug addiction, mental health issues and spiritual strongholds that have led to their current predicament. But parishioners at Greek orthodox Church of the Assumption say they simply do not have the means to do so. "We want them to get help, we want them to get off the streets. We don't have the infrastructure as a small church to do that ourselves. We need help," Penny Peppes, parish council president, told KOMO News. "Our parishioners who come from all over are very worried about their safety. They are afraid to come. It's beyond frustrating because it's impacting our ability to come to church to worship." As reported by KOMO News, things escalated so quickly for the church that they soon found out some people living in the homeless encampment were using the church as their mailing address. "One of the homeless folks knocked on our door and asked, 'Did you get my package?'" Peppes said. "So, they are using our church as their mailing address." But Peppes doesn't just want to leave the situation as is or simply move them to another location to set up camp. She wants to see meaningful change made in their lives. "We want them to get the help they need," she said. As the recent display of national prayer for Damar Hamlin showed to the entire world, prayer is powerful. And the same lesson needs to be applied to the crises affecting America today. Hate, anger, homelessness, drug abuse, mental health issues and much more affecting those in Pacific Northwest cities need to be confronted through prayer. In many cases, prayer and fasting will be needed to remove the principalities that are trying to lay claim to these cities and their inhabitants. The Lord already won the victory and Penny Peppes told everyone they need help on this front, all that needs done is for Christians to step up to the plate and take the spiritual battle to the devil and show those hurting in places like Portland and Seattle the love of Jesus Christ. Bring Charisma magazine home with a subscription today! James Lasher is Staff Writer for Charisma Media.
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