Communists Oppress Christian-owned Café In Denver
Duw to the parent organization’s biblical view on sexual sin, a newly launched Christian outreach coffee shop in Colorado has been the target of protests and vandalism.
The Drip Café, a Christian-owned coffee shop ministry in Denver, has been the target of protests since it opened a month ago because of its owners’ and employees’ conviction that homosexuality is evil.
ALSO, READ Youtube Temporarily Suspends Pastor Jerry Eze’s (NSPPD) Channel
Jamie Sanchez, the coffee shop’s owner, thinks that the Bible verses posted on the website of Recycle God’s Love, the parent organization that helps the homeless in Denver, set off the Denver Communists and other LGBT demonstrators.
Communists Oppress Christian-owned Café In Denver
According to the group’s “What We Hold To Be True” page, the “homosexual lifestyle is contrary to God’s Word and purpose for humanity and is sin.” It cites 1 Timothy 1:10 and 1 Corinthians 6:9 as justification.
“Moreover, this organization is instructed to Love those living such lifestyles,” the page reads. “We believe that showing hate towards people in these communities is not the way Jesus would respond. [Therefore], although disagreeing with the lifestyle, we must show love.”
Sanchez told CP he suspects that someone from Denver Communists saw the Recycle God’s Love “beliefs” page.
“It was never stated by me or anyone else, for any reason over the last 11 years of ministry in Denver,” he said via email Tuesday. “In fact, plenty of [LGBT-identified] members that struggle with homelessness are served at our outreach events.”
“We believe Jesus calls us to serve all, just as He did.”
According to Sanchez, the protests started on June 2, the cafe’s opening day, just outside the front of the store. The following Monday, he said, “we found graffiti on our building and damaged windows from rocks.”
Communists Oppress Christian-owned Café In Denver
Last Friday, the protesters returned to the Drip in what Sanchez called a “hateful” showing.
“They harassed customers, and even were harassing our visually impaired Christian friend who was hosting his radio show in front of our building,” he said.
A July 9 post on the group’s Facebook page called the Drip a “hate café” and predicted the protests would ultimately force the Drip out of business before conceding that the coffee shop “runs on volunteer labor, donations, and purchases from ideologically-motivated church members, so we’ve got a fight ahead of us.”
In that post, the group also shared of protesters holding anti-Christian signs, including one man wearing makeup holding a sign that read “God is a f–” and quoting Matthew 5:32. Another protester had a sign reading, “Enough Christian dictatorship.”
Communists Oppress Christian-owned Café In Denver
Calling the Drip Café “bigots,” the Denver Communists’ event page for the protest described Christian churches as “key incubators of the homophobia, transphobia, and misogyny that underpin the current assault on [LGBT] rights.”
ALSO, READ YouTube Suspends TB Joshua’s Emmanuel TV For Hate Speech
The Communist group previously claimed that by calling homosexuality a “sin that leads to death,” a statement found in 1 John 5, the Drip Café is “advocating for violence.”
Following the acts of vandalism, Sanchez said he reached out to the police but was told: “they can’t do anything because of [the protest group’s] free speech.”
A Denver police spokesperson told CP that officers responded to the café twice since the start of June: once for a graffiti call on June 3 and once for a reported broken window on June 12.
No arrests have been made, but both cases are under investigation, according to police.
As for the protests, the spokesman said, “people are allowed to protest and exercise free speech as long as they are on public property, such as a public sidewalk.”
Communists Oppress Christian-owned Café In Denver
Following the response from the Communists, Sanchez said the Recycle God’s Love website was updated because “it was being taken out of context by the opposing group.”
He said because of the use of Scripture by “extremists who actually hate gay people and call themselves ‘Christian,'” he could see how the Bible verse could be misunderstood without context.
“We continue to stand by our belief on the scripture, though,” he added.
Above all, said Sanchez, he wants the Drip Café to be known for loving the community and serving others as Christ did.
“I want the world to know the love of Jesus Christ through our love. The Drip Café has a purpose to help people who live on the fringes of society and who have been outcast,” he said. “We have not shown any hate towards anyone, although this group has been showing hate to us.”
