An Indiana church saw the Jesus statue stationed outside their building beheaded not once, but twice in the last two weeks.
“It makes me sad that somebody would do something like that,” Pastor Brad Flaskamp said. “I was hoping it was just a random act to destroy it in the first place. I can tell you that I don’t think it’s kids. It would have to be a kid that can wield a sledgehammer. … Someone needs Jesus, that’s for sure. And not just his head, that’s the truth.”
The statue, which has stood outside the Cottage Avenue Pentecostal Fellowship in Indianapolis for four years, was first beheaded around Feb. 10 and again this past Saturday.
The incidents have been reported to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and may be investigated as a hate crime.
“Whatever they’re doing, they ain’t hurting God at all,” Flaskamp said. “All it does is just make us more persistent. We’re just gonna rebuild it.”
Despite the attacks, Flaskamp and his church members are turning the other cheek toward the vandals.
“I’d say we love you, we’d love to have the statue head back and we’d love to have you in our church,” Flaskamp said. “We’d welcome them, we’d forgive them. That’s what it’s all about.” {eoa}
