Justice

DOJ Arrests Three Activists Who Disrupted Cities Church Service in St. Paul

The Department of Justice has arrested three radical activists who disrupted a service at Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Sunday, January 18. 

Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the arrests of Nekima Levy Armstrong, Chauntyll Louisa Allen and William Kelly after they organized a mob that stormed the church, screamed at the congregation and shut down its worship service. 

The militant activists oppose U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) enforcing federal laws as agents arrest and deport illegal aliens. 

In a post on X announcing Armstrong’s arrest, Bondi wrote, “Listen loud and clear: WE DO NOT TOLERATE ATTACKS ON PLACES OF WORSHIP” (her emphasis). 

The DOJ also sought to arrest journalist Don Lemon, who filmed the church invasion. But, according to CBS News, a federal judge rejected the charges. 

The former CNN anchor, who was fired from the network in 2023 for low ratings, said in a video he posted on YouTube, “We’re not part of the activists, but we’re here just reporting on them.” 

Lemon also stated, “This is what the First Amendment is about — about the freedom to protest.” 

Lemon is wrong. 

The First Amendment keeps the government from restricting freedom of religion, speech, the press, peaceful assembly and the right to petition. It does not allow protestors to invade private property and shut down other people’s freedoms. 

The protest organizers said they targeted the church because one of the pastors, David Easterwood, is bi-vocational, also serving as the acting director for ICE and Removal Operations in St. Paul. 

Nekima Levy Armstrong is a self-described “Civil Rights Attorney, Social Justice Activist, Children’s Book Author, Woman of Faith and Entrepreneur.” 

As a civil rights attorney, she should also know that mobs of protestors don’t have the right to infringe on other people’s freedom of speech, religion and assembly. 

When the DOJ said they might charge her, Armstrong tried to downplay the group’s actions, telling CNN: 

We did not rush into that church. We actually went and sat down and participated in the service. And after the pastor prayed, that is when I stood up and asked him a question in response to his prayer. …  So I just want to clarify that we didn’t rush in. We didn’t bust in. We were a part of the service.

Armstrong is either disingenuous or very forgetful, as right before the church assault she told Lemon the protest was “Operation Pullout, more of a clandestine operation … and then we disrupt business as usual.” 

So the goal was not to “participate in the service” — but to disrupt it. 

The second organizer arrested was Chauntyll Louisa Allen, an at-large member of the Saint Paul Public Schools Board of Education and leader of Black Lives Matter Twin Cities. 

The New York Post explained Allen’s role in the interruption of the service: 

A Minnesota Black Lives Matter leader has bragged about helping lead the anti-ICE protesters who stormed a local church, claiming that interrupting Sunday service is what Jesus would have done. … You have these people in our community just really … terrorizing our children and our women and our different immigrant communities.

Homeland Security announced the arrest, saying: 

Chauntyll Louisa Allen has been charged with conspiracy to deprive rights for her role in the St. Paul church riots.

The final arrest was William Kelly, an “organizer” based out of Washington, D.C., who uses the moniker “DaWokeFarmer.”  

In an obscenity-laced video, Kelly said he “went into a church with Nikema Armstrong and I protested these white supremacists,” calling the congregation “pretend Christians, all these comfortable white people, who are living lavish comfortable lives while children are dragged into concentration camps.” 

Kelly gave no evidence of church members “white supremacy” or of these alleged “concentration camps,” and he challenged Attorney General Bondi to arrest him. 

Bondi drily responded to his taunt, “OK.”

She posted about the arrest, explaining: 

Our nation was settled and founded by people fleeing religious persecution. Religious freedom is the bedrock of this country. 

Bondi is right. The Founding Fathers knew that the freedom to act and speak according to our deepest beliefs is at the center of all our other rights, protecting these rights from government interference. 

Federal law also makes it a crime for individuals to attempt “to injure, intimidate or interfere with any person lawfully exercising or seeking to exercise the First Amendment right of religious freedom at a place of religious worship.” 

We’re thankful the federal government is protecting this precious right and pursuing justice for Cities Church and its pastors and members. 

Related articles and resources: 

Crackdown on Illegal Immigration Protects Children

The Face Act Criminalizes Interfering in Church Services

It’s Compassionate to Oppose Illegal immigration. Here’s Why.

The Light Shines in the Darkness: When the World Storms the Church

Talking to Your Kids About Illegal Immigration

Tom Homan: We Have the Most Secure Border in American History

Trump Admin: ‘The Days of Anti-Christian Bias in the Federal Government are Over’

Trump Sees Lowest Border Numbers in History: ‘The Invasion is Over’

Violent Gang Takes Advantage of American Immigration Policy

There is a Difference Between Retribution and Justice

You’d be forgiven for thinking that journalists and media personalities receive a daily talking points sheet filled with coordinated messaging from some secret source.

After all, peruse your typical news site and themes and trends start to emerge – not so much the stories themselves, but also the language used in telling or framing the story itself.

Today, the Term du jour is “retribution” – a word stemming from the Latin verb “retribuere,” which means “to pay back” or “give in return.” Merriam Webster defines it as “dispensing or receiving of reward or punishment” and “something given or exacted in recompense.”

As Christians, we know from Jesus’ teaching that we’re to leave that type of punishment to the Lord. From Matthew’s Gospel, we read Jesus’ own words, “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you not to resist an evildoer. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other also.”

The apostle Paul echoed that sentiment when he wrote to Christians in Rome, “Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord.”

But does that mean we’re to simply fold our hands in prayer or throw them up altogether and simply wait for punishment to be applied supernaturally? No.

Justice is a core characteristic of God and He calls on us to do our part to enact it in this world. There is nothing inherently out of bounds in seeking to right a wrong, especially when those wrongs inflict harm on His people. We read in Micah 6:8, “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”

The prophet Isaiah similarly warns and counsels, “Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause (1:17).”

While the goal of justice is to restore what sin has stolen, the aim or intent of retribution is generally self-focused, i.e., “an eye for an eye.”

What’s telling is that when reporters often write about retribution, they’re generally focused on the response to the offense rather than getting into the details or even the validity of the problematic or illegal activity that started the whole process. Instead, they should be investigating the merits of the core concern and addressing what can and should be done about it to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

One could be left with the impression that those calling out so-called “payback” are hoping that our attention won’t go back to the beginning or root cause of the offense.

Christians can rest in God’s ultimate authority and final word. In just these last few weeks, Erika Kirk, the widow of slain Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, has provided us with a powerful example of how best to balance the distinctions of justice and retribution.

In announcing that she had forgiven her husband’s assassin, Erika is doing her personal part in navigating a gross injustice. At the same time, she is leaving the prosecution of the individual to Utah prosecutors, even up to the possibility of the death penalty.

We pray that justice will be served.

Image from Shutterstock.