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Dear Editor,
I would deeply appreciate
an opportunity to clarify several points with regard to a Journal-Standard
article recently published about the church which I pastor in
Monroe. Pilgrims Covenant Church is not an "Internet-based
church" but rather a church with an Internet web site, just like many
other churches. Our church is not a "private" church. We believe
the Bible teaches that the Church of Jesus Christ is a gathering of the
followers of Jesus who have been born again of the Spirit by God's grace
alone through faith alone in Christ alone. Because of that, we do not
fling our doors open to the general public, but we certainly do have many
guests who visit us. We believe it is our responsibility to take the
gospel out to the world as our Lord commanded us, rather than simply hope
the world comes to us, which brings me to a third point of clarification.
I certainly do not choose to do most of my work by the Internet, as the
article stated. I believe Christians are commanded to be salt and light in
the world. I teach others to go into the world with the Word of God, and
open-air ministry is a very big part of my life. A quick perusal of
Pilgrims Covenant's web site (www.pccmonroe.org)
will document that fact and the fact that we engage in many ministry
activities other than the sort that was the impetus for the article on
which I have commented.
In closing, I would also
like to mention that while I have been involved in a number of religious
liberty cases as a result of my public preaching and pro-life work, I have
never engaged in "profane public behavior."
Pastor Ralph Ovadal
Pilgrims Covenant Church
Monroe, Wisconsin
http://www.journalstandard.com/articles/2005/10/29/local_news/news01.txt
Saturday October 29, 2005
Anti-gay effort targets
Freeport
Local man criticizes pastor's campaign
By Diana Thorn-Roemer
The Journal-Standard
FREEPORT - A Wisconsin pastor known for public
action against homosexual lifestyles has peppered neighborhoods in
Freeport with pamphlets, and some residents who found them on their
property are angry.
Anti-gay pamphlets were deposited at homes in the
city's Historic River District last week, some to the doors of homosexuals
who believe they were targets of those who delivered them.
“This is terrible and I am outraged. This
hurts,” said resident Randall Skeens. Skeens, 42, a community activist
for cleaning up Freeport, said the two-sided glossy color handbill he
found on his porch bearing anti-gay biblical references was written by
Pastor Ralph Ovadal of Pilgrims Covenant Church, Monroe, Wis.
Finding the literature on his door Monday
convinced him it was time to reveal his lifestyle and publicly condemn
acts against the homosexual lifestyle.
“I think the man needs to apologize. Christians
are supposed to help communities, not destroy them. It is not fair to say
we are ‘filthy, wicked or ungodly,” Skeens said. He also said he is
celibate and that his lifestyle is between him and the Lord.
The pamphlet, titled “What the Bible Really
Says About Homosexuality,” cites biblical references calling homosexual
acts filthy, wicked and unlawful. Skeens said he saw a man going door to
door putting the fliers out.
Ovadal, reached Thursday, said the tract
circulating Freeport is being placed in towns all over the country.
“Really, it's just part of one ministry we have
been doing for years regarding this whole issue of homosexuality and
getting biblical truth out about it. Freeport wasn't singled out,” he
said. Such activity comes from his “sense of duty” as a Christian, he
said.
“I'm not just sitting in the comfort of my
church.”
Skeens said he wants Freeport Christians to stand
up against such activity. He said people in the Freeport neighborhood
called him after receiving the tract.
Their reactions, he said, were “worse than
mine.”
“This is making us look like dogs, like filth
of the earth. The only people I know are loving and caring and giving in
the gay community. We show creativity and beautify homes and yards. It's
the only thing we have, and now we have pamphlets going out and saying
that we are evil,” he said.
Ovadal, pastor of the 40-member Monroe church,
located out in the country, said his Internet-based church, which he said
does not have doors open to the public to protect his family, is also
doing overseas ministry, such as helping to build a Christian orphanage
for AIDS victims in Africa. Ovadal said he does a lot of Gospel preaching.
“Of course (homosexuality) is a hot issue so to
speak ... and we feel it's just important that people hear what the Bible
says with regard to this issue,” he said.
Ovadal has been in the public forum for more than
a decade, preaching against public nudity, abortion and homosexuality and
has been in Wisconsin courts at least 18 times since 1989, being cited for
disorderly conduct, profane public behavior and illegal distribution of
handbills, among other infractions. He said he has received death threats,
which is why he keeps church private and chooses to do most of his work
via the Internet.
He said his church did not target Skeens in
particular.
“We never target anybody. I don't know who
you're talking about, frankly. We always say if you're going to
‘lit-drop' homes just share the literature to show the other side of
this argument.”
Skeens has a no trespassing sign on his property,
and according to Freeport's ordinances, it is illegal to deposit handbills
on private property if the property is posted “no trespassing,” “no
peddlers or agents,” “no advertisement,” or any similar notice.
Properties with no warnings may receive handbills
if the handbill is not placed in the mailbox, on the car or in such a
place as it would blow away.
Ovadal calls those kinds of signs
unconstitutional, and Freeport police say they can't be enforced except
possibly when distributors veer off a property's sidewalk into side yards.
Freeport Mayor George Gaulrapp deferred comment
on the matter, saying that to speak out for or against the effort would
likely only encourage similar activity.
Deacon Claudia Styzinski of St. Andrew's
Episcopal Church in Monroe said while she has heard of Ovadal, he doesn't
join in meetings with other Monroe preachers, and as a result, she has
never met him or seen his church. She said she personally would not
condemn people who have alternative lifestyles.
“It's not the Christian way. You have to love
them. You don't have to like them. But we are commanded to love our
neighbors as ourselves. And I don't agree with a lot of views of some
people who call themselves Christian. We have to remember that we're all
God's children.”
Styzinski said there are many contradictions in
Scripture.
“What's the ultimate truth of Scripture even
within the conflicts - and I could site a number of them? What is the
ultimate truth that it's trying to get to? What are the stories in
Scripture trying to teach us? That's what you have to look at. How we read
it, people take it different ways. That's part of some of the problems,
but it's also part of the solution.”
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