GREENSBORO, N.C. — Two North Carolina churches recently suffered thousands of dollars in damage as their buildings and property were trashed and spray-painted with pro-homosexual messages.

Officials at Bales Memorial Wesleyan Church in Jamestown arrived last Saturday to find the church sign broken and pelted with eggs and silly string. Some of the church windows had been smashed, flowers were uprooted and parking signs were ripped out the ground. The hood of the church bus was scratched as if it had been keyed, and a sign was shoved through the front grill.

A number of messages were also spray painted on the building, including “Gay’s ok,” “God loves [expletive]!” and “He hates you!”

On Sunday, officials at Grace Baptist Church in Greensboro also arrived to find similar damages to their building and property. A window had been broken, eggs had been pelted at the building and toilet paper was strewn around the outside of the facility.

Pro-homosexual messages were also sprawled across the brick building, such as “God loves gays,” and “Straights support.” A rainbow, the symbol used by same-sex advocates for sexual diversity, was also spray painted on the building.

Carl Pulliam, pastor of Bales Memorial Wesleyan, told reporters that the church suffered approximately $10,000 in damages. Paul Coward, pastor of Grace Baptist, said that it would cost approximately $300 to repair the broken window; he did not indicate how much it would cost to repair the cosmetic damage from the vandalism.

“Why would someone stoop so low to vandalize a church? In a word: Sin! The prophet Jeremiah says that ‘the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked above all things,'” Coward wrote in a post on Facebook. “Yes, it’s true that Satan opposes God and he is probably laughing about this vandalism. But God’s shows us the destructive sin nature found in all mankind—including each one of us!”

Pulliam said that he didn’t know why his congregation was targeted as homosexuals are welcome to attend services.

“I can’t tell you a reason that someone would target this church, particularly because this is a loving church,” he told reporters. “This is not a judgmental place or a place where someone would ever feel provoked to these kinds of acts.”

“Someone meant ill will to this house of worship,” he continued. “This was done to stop our message. That part didn’t succeed. It actually perpetuates our message.”

Both Pulliam and Coward state that they do not feel any malice toward those who committed the crimes.

“We’re not angry at them. We forgive them,” Pulliam said.

“[W]e need to listen to the words of Jesus from the sermon on the mount, ‘But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which spitefully use you, and persecute you (Matthew 5:44),'” Coward stated.

However, local police aren’t so lenient. They are asking for anyone with information to contact them with details as they conduct a criminal investigation.

Become a Christian News Network Supporter...

Dear Reader, has ChristianNews.net been of benefit and a blessing to you? For many years now, the Lord has seen fit to use this small news outlet as a strong influential resource in keeping Christians informed on current events from a Biblical worldview. With much compromise and many falsehoods in modern-day Christianity, we strive to bring you the news by keeping Christ and His word in focus. If you have benefited from our news coverage, please prayerfully consider becoming a Christian News supporter by clicking here to make a one-time or monthly donation to help keep the truth of God's word widely and freely published and distributed. May Christ continue to be exalted through this work!