But the videos are often presented as if Grace Baptist is just an ordinary church protesters targeted without good reason, which is total poppycock. And GBC likely isnt going to stop drawing controversy. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. TROY Pastor John Koletas is taking much-deserved heat from protesters for the ugly things he says about Blacks, Jews and Muslims. He noted that the Mafia is a Catholic organization and said alcohol is promoted by satan and a "wicked" Catholic church. Dealers from upstate New York and beyond. McNeil specializes in investigative reporting on public policy, law, infrastructure, development, and municipal planning. July 3 & 4, 2023 @ 7pm. They shake each others hands. A New York pastor's rifle raffle is causing contention and controversy in the upstate New York community in which he lives. Hatred for Black Lives Matter activists has buoyed GBCs notoriety. They wouldnt come if they thought we hated them, he said. (A right-wing mob is wrong, too, DeGiorgio adds.). Our attendance has been steadily growing the last two, three weeks since the gun giveaway and the attack/assault on our church members outside our church building.. somebody in trouble?Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. Ecclesiastes 8:11 KJV pic.twitter.com/5l5lTfqmgP. DiGiorgio never specifically mentions the demands to defund the police, but he says he should be left alone by law enforcement, and that they should be there when needed because, well, the citizenry pays them via taxation. He insisted that is not the case and said people of color comprise nearly one-third of Grace Baptists congregation. * The other websites referenced on this site are owned and operated by their respective companies, and the associated trademarks and logos are the property of those companies. Millis Memorial staff struggled to pay the bills and make necessary repairs in the weathered building. He alleges that social justice activists want to destroy fundamentalist Baptist Christians. At Grace Baptist Church in Troy, New Jersey (USA) protestors disrupt church service with profanity and violence while the pastor preaches the Gospel, tweeted Brandon Beckham, a Christian lawyer, who mislocated the GBC. GBC is certainly not the most popular church in the neighborhood. Some Troy residents sided with protesters, saying they have had enough of Grace Baptists antics. Freedom of speech for everybody! Interested in the property, the pastor wooed Cahrenger and acquired the church through a $1 ownership transfer around 2012. They are congregants; members of GBC. Dont you care about everybody else that might catch the disease and die? (, Black History Month means communism and Marxism month. Police are going to escort members one vehicle at a time, he announces. (He didnt return Them & Us Medias request for comment.). Acid Dad https://soundcloud.com/aciddadnyc The Abyssmals https://theabyssmals.bandcamp.com The Sugar Hold (Album Release!) When he visited the Collar City, it reminded him of his own beginnings. They have also lived in Johnsonville, NY and Valley Falls, NY. Hes repeatedly blasted out information about Forbes employment with the city of Albany to a mass audience. Grace Baptist Church believes King James Bible and offers Traditional worship services in the following language(s): English. See He characterizes both law enforcement officers and Black Lives Matter activists as influenced by their respective higher-ups. . His anti-Catholic rhetoric draws its rage partly from the long-ago persecution of Anabaptists and age-old Protestant/Catholic rivalries. It reportedly soured his relationship with a number of family members, who still practiced Greek Orthodox Christianity. She believes that church footage showed protesters in a vulnerable state. Hes stockier than the father or the son. "Let Us Slay," said the front page of the New York Daily News. Koletas didn't mention that the Ku Klux Klan's rapid growth in the 1920s was fueled by anti-Catholic bigotry or the violence that Catholic immigrants sometimes suffered at the hands of nativist mobs. Not for Black Lives Matter; not for Greek Lives Matter; not for Jewish Lives Matter; not for All Lives Matter for your soul!. Scott DeGiorgio of Faith Baptist Church in Petersburgh, and a close friend of John Koletas. Sodomite History Month is a straight-hating month. The second name is John Koletas. In the video below, a black family must be escorted through the raging mob to attend service: If black lives matter, why did this black family require guards to be escorted into church to be protected from the mob? In order to enter the church in good conscience, Brown-Davis wore gloves to touch the pork at the entrance. The crowd chanted save those kids while blocking the entrance. Reviews help According to Cahrengers sister, Joyce Vealey, he privately expressed disappointment with GBCs antics until his death in 2019. The article highlightedKoletas talking about black churches. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation. Preach! Forbes cries out in an exaggerated tone. Check Full Reputation Profile On May 17, Rafael Caraballo was killed by gunfire on 5th Avenue in Lansingburgh. These right-wing media sources have, coincidentally, not delved very deep into the churchs politically and religiously fringe platform. ", Had I been walking down a street in Troy in the early 1990s, I suppose I wouldn't have wanted to hear Koletas' call that I repent for my sins. They chant no justice, no peace. They joke about what must be happening inside. Minus the presence of the inside opposition, it briefly feels like an ordinary church service as the John Koletas directs the audience to sing along to a hymn, Jesus Saves, and afterward, read two Bible verses. The protesters slide into their place at the back of the church. They dont tell them to live right with God. Community-based Police Alternatives, Coalition addresses period poverty in Schenectady, New Yorks complicated start to cannabis equity. Online critics said it was improper etiquette for a house of worship. Required fields are marked *. The assaults, harassment, and protesting have been occurring since at least the end of June, according to the viral videos posted online. government sources. Two national TV shows Fox's "A Current Affair" and NBC's "Inside Edition" even came to Troy to report on the controversy. Vacant land located at 0 John Snyder Rd, Troy-C, NY 12180 sold for $85,000 on Oct 19, 2011. Beautiful pasture with views. Koletas explained, "I had anger, bitterness, and hatred in my heart" over the centuries of slavery the Turks perpetrated on the Greeks. 293, let us all stand up unless its against your religion and you dont want to touch the ham, he says. What information about John are you looking for? It was a move that ultimately painted an innocuous image of GBCs members. Sorry, no records were found. Reach him at cchurchill@timesunion.com or 518-454-5442. Truth has never been more critical! Churchill is one of the most well-known names, and faces, at the Times Union. On the pulpit, his sermon is less familiar, less tinged with twang in his preaching than that of the father and son. 1944 at the best online prices at eBay! Members of the protesters security team surround the pastors son, and their angry voices muddle together. You're limited to a fairly narrow range of expression. The viral moment created by the confrontation was ripe for consumption by conservative and alt-right media. Mr. Koletas lineage traces to Greece, and he insists he means Greeks, Jews and Blacks are cursed in a biblical sense rather than as an attack. Freedom of speech seems to be falling out of fashion, though. The younger Koletas, who is mostly known by his middle name, is a thin man with black tinted glasses and a slightly receding hairline, similar to his fathers. Why are you so angry? John Koletas said, standing a safe distance from protesters. Please help us! Grace Baptist sits on a residential street in a city that is nearly 70% White. Hoping to merge with a thriving congregation, the churchs Board of Trustees decided to search for new owners. Walking down the steps, a number of members have their heads facing away from the protesters like indicted celebrities walking out of a court hearing. A very dangerous weapon. He crouches down and opens a large black rifle case lying on the floor beside the pulpit, and pulls out not a rifle, but a King James Bible, in the manner of a magician yanking a rabbit from a hat. An AR-15 giveaway in 2014, for example, brought international attention to Koletas' otherwise obscure church. John Koletas steps aside, and Daniel George Koletas, his 31-year-old son, takes the mic. They're protesting what Koletas says, and justifiably so. He claims to have been raised in a neighborhood that was 85% Black, a place where he learned to fight and play basketball pretty good. At the time, he said he was anti-American, angry, and bitter until he got saved. "They don't want a wall on Mexico's border because they want the Catholics to inundate even further our country," Koletas said during a sermon/diatribe that lasted nearly 90 minutes and depicted the Pope as a puppeteer controlling the world. People die every single day, the pastor said, in a matter-of-fact way. The pastor is referring to the Ottoman Turks, which enslaved Greeks and other Balkan peoples as well as Abyssinian, Zanj, Syrian, and Armenian peoples. On the back of a church handout titled Understanding Tax Cuts, it endorses a hodgepodge of libertarian, populist, capitalist, and socially conservative ideas, blending politics and religion into a special mix thats even abnormal for some Christian fundamentalists. The pastor is John Koletas. Then George Koletas tosses out some tropes you might hear a Fox News pundit say. The pastor has described his younger self, in sermons, as angry, hateful, bitter, and a communist. The then-21-year-old was bombarded with gospel tracts for months by a classmate from Rutgers University. Voices converge as congregants wait for the next step after they sing My Country Tis of Thee together. We love hearing from our readers and invite you to join us for feedback and great conversation. "This Marxist group BLM and Antifa, they're all for violence in the overthrow of a peaceful republic.". Troy, NY 12182. JOHN BROWNELL Northville NY - NY0855. . The mood takes a quick turn. But ever since then, with significantly less coverage from traditional media, organizers like Forbes have held non-violent demonstrations aplenty and successfully de-escalated close encounters by both left- and right-wing trouble-makers. Many women have their heads covered during the service while wearing long dresses or long skirts; theres a mix of men in semi-formal or casual attire. Tears on John Koletas face glimmer in the soft glow, emanating from the hanging light fixtures in the hall. All eyes are transfixed on the younger Koletas; the crowd is enraptured. Beginning to question religion, Randy Harlow, who is now an atheist, ultimately left GBC at the age of 18. "Its within the context of Koletas anti-Muslim, anti-Jewish, anti-Black ranting that this gun raffle becomes a much more sinister and potentially dangerous act," she explained. Africans were killing each other before white men ever stepped in there. (, (This is a continuation of the pastors quote above.) I dont think theres any [Independent Fundamentalist Baptist] pastor thats more conservative than my dad and my dads very proud of that, she said on Preacher Boys. American Native Savages Month theyre gonna make one, too. This is a continuation of the pastors quote on interracial marriage. He started at the Times Union as a business writer in 2007 and became a columnist in 2012. Photo identification is required to win the contest. Besides standard Sunday Services, this church's service schedule includes the following: Wednesday Service. Yet my people were oppressed for 400 years, and yet you see me and my team out here promoting peace for everyone! 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