10-city Ohio tour stops in Stark to spread faith message with help from GOP gubernatorial hopeful
By Doug Oplinger and Dennis J. Willard
Beacon Journal staff writers
HARTVILLE - About 330 Christian faithful rallied at the Hartville Kitchen to sing praises of America, to remind themselves of the dangers of complacency, and to hear gubernatorial candidate J. Kenneth Blackwell preach on God's call to action.
Against a large U.S.-flag backdrop and flanked by large projection screens, Ohio Restoration Project founder Russell Johnson brought his 10-city Patriot Pastors tour to the Akron-Canton area Tuesday.
A choir and a gospel quartet brought the audience to its feet with praise songs as images of American landmarks, heroes and troops moved across the screens.
Johnson warned that Christians have allowed a ``secular jihad'' to remove prayer, the Ten Commandments and the Bible from public places.
He likened it to Nazi Germany, where church congregations would sing so that they could not hear the passing of trainloads of crying Jews headed for a nearby concentration camp.
Too many Christians lead ``Neville Chamberlain lives,'' Johnson said, referring to the British prime minister who signed a neutrality pact with Adolf Hitler.
A picture of Hitler and Chamberlain flashed on the screens.
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On Sunday, a coalition of 31 pastors representing a variety of religious denominations signed a letter asking the Internal Revenue Service to investigate Johnson and Parsley to determine whether their groups have gone beyond their religious designation and have become political organizations.
http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/13651299.htm