| Today
at 1:30 PM, Michael Foht will be on trial in Green County Court, Judge
James Beer presiding. Mr. Foht, a deacon of Christ the King Church* of
Monroe, Wisconsin, is on trial for, as the ticket issued him clearly
states, preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ on Monroe's public square on
the late afternoon of May 21, 2001. A video tape record of events leading
to Mike's arrest shows him on the public sidewalk with an open Bible
preaching in his natural voice with no amplification. Several others,
including Pastor Ralph Ovadal, had just finished preaching. Three days
after the arrest for which he is on trial today, Mike was again arrested
for street preaching. A January trial date has been set for that charge.
Monroe has never disallowed street preaching prior to Mike's arrests; and
no one has been arrested since, in spite of the fact that members of
Christ the King Church* street preach and hand out salvation tracts every
week in Monroe. It is apparent that the City of Monroe is testing the
waters with Mike's arrests. Should they be successful in their
prosecution, no doubt many more arrests will follow.
Members of Christ the King Church* have done
street ministry in Monroe since January, 1988. In March of 2001, the
Monroe City Council enacted a sign ordinance which prohibits protesters
from having signs larger than three square feet. At the same time, Monroe
businesses are allowed to put fifteen feet square free standing signs on
the public sidewalk. Since March, members of Christ the King Church* have
been arrested multiple times under the sign ordinance for such things as
holding a cross which said, "Jesus Saves. John 3:16." The City
of Monroe currently has in possession a large number of signs which have
been seized from CKC under the ordinance, including in one case where no
one was arrested. Meanwhile, as CKC has documented, other parties have
openly flaunted the ordinance with no consequence.
Subsequent to the arrests under the new sign
ordinance, which is now being litigated in federal court, the City of
Monroe arrested Pastor Ovadal for preaching from a mobile pulpit. The
pulpit was also confiscated. The charge was "encroaching on a public
sidewalk." This in spite of the fact that such pulpits are routinely
used around the state and nation in a similar fashion with no problem and
in spite of the fact that all over Monroe, businesses and private citizens
have objects sitting on public sidewalks but are never cited!
Finally, after the sign and pulpit busts, Monroe
police arrested Mike Foht for doing what is also done all around this
nation and has been done since the founding of our Republic.
At 12:30 PM today, Christ the King Church* will
hold a prayer service in front of the office of the Monroe City Attorney
at 1750 10th Street. Mike Foht's trial begins at 1:30 at the Green County
Courthouse.
"I, and members of my church, have street preached
unmolested by the authorities around the nation, including in front of the
Liberty Bell and Independence Hall in Philadelphia. Christians preach on
the streets all around this country, including in front of the White House
in Washington, D.C.! The Monroe City Council apparently has decided that
the Bill of Rights does not apply in their socialist sphere of influence
and thus have launched a concerted effort to eliminate every avenue by
which my church can publicly express our most deeply held beliefs. No
matter what happens in court today, we will not stop preaching and
teaching the Word of God 'for we cannot but speak the things which we have
seen and heard' (Acts 4:20)."
Pastor Ralph Ovadal
*Renamed Pilgrims Covenant Church
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