Back in December, veteran, former congressional candidate, and ardent Christian Michael Cassidy made national news for destroying a Satanic statue installed in the Iowa state capitol.
Now, two months after ridding Iowa’s legislature of the demonic idol, Cassidy faces a felony charge. His crime? Hating evil.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) —A Mississippi man accused of destroying a statue of a pagan idol at Iowa’s state Capitol is now being charged with a hate crime.
The statue was brought to the Capitol by the Satanic Temple of Iowa under state rules allowing religious displays in the building during the holidays. The move drew strong criticism from state and national leaders, including Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds and Florida Gov. and presidential candidate Ron DeSantis, both Republicans. On Dec. 14, the figure depicting the horned deity Baphomet was “destroyed beyond repair,” according to the group.
Michael Cassidy, a former congressional and legislative candidate from Mississippi, was charged the next day with fourth-degree criminal mischief, a misdemeanor. He told the conservative website The Sentinel that “my conscience is held captive to the word of God, not to bureaucratic decree. And so I acted.”
Now, Polk County prosecutors have charged Cassidy with a more serious offense, the Des Moines Register reported. A document made public Tuesday charged him with felony third-degree criminal mischief. It alleges the act was committed “in violation of individual rights” under Iowa’s hate crime statute.
Left unexplained by prosecutors is how using rights endowed by their Creator to deny and revile that Creator doesn’t constitute an abuse on those individuals’ part.
They have likewise been silent on the Satanic Temple’s brazen violation of God’s absolute right to universal praise and adoration.
Cassidy is scheduled to be arraigned Feb. 15. He has raised more than $84,000 for his defense from nearly 2,000 supporters, according to the fundraising site GiveSendGo.
Founded in 2013, the Salem, Massachusetts-based Satanic Temple says it doesn’t believe in Satan but describes itself as a “non-theistic religious organization” that advocates for secularism. It is separate from the Church of Satan, which was founded in the 1960s.
No clarification was forthcoming from the Satanic Temple as to how religion, – the virtue by which man gives God His due – can be reconciled with non-theism.
Neither did they comment on how imposing their religious belief in secularism through the use of state power is compatible with secularism.
As of this writing, Michael Cassidy’s earthly fate remains undecided. But considering that the felony he faces is for hating evil, his eternal reward is less ambiguous.
As King David sang in Psalm 36: 5-6,
Commit thy way to the Lord, and trust in him, and he will do it.
And he will bring forth thy justice as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday.
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The more they crank up the heat on this guy, the more likely they will make him a martyr. Martyrdom is a powerful tool to conversion.
Yes, the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.
What Christian Michael Cassidy did is what the Bible ask its followers to do.
Get rid of evil. It reminds me of Gideon in the story in the book of Judges 6: 25-32.
Judges 6:27 Then Gideon took ten men of his servants, and did as the Lord had said unto him: and so it was, because he feared his father’s household, and the men of the city, that he could not do it by day, that he did it by night.
28 And when the men of the city arose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was cast down, and the grove was cut down that was by it, and the second bullock was offered upon the altar that was built.
Judges 6:30 Then the men of the city said unto Joash, Bring out thy son, that he may die: because he hath cast down the altar of Baal, and because he hath cut down the grove that was by it.
31 And Joash said unto all that stood against him, Will ye plead for Baal? will ye save him? he that will plead for him, let him be put to death whilst it is yet morning: if he be a god, let him plead for himself, because one hath cast down his altar.