Black Churches Rebound from Hate

How behind every dark cloud there is a silver lining.

Arson took the physical building but the church is in the heart and cannot be destroyed in this manner. Sometimes evil runs rampant but good eventually usurps evil, stamping it out of sight and moving on to higher grounds.

In 2019, three Black churches met an ugly fate. An arson fire destroyed St. Mary Missionary Baptist Church, Mount Pleasant Baptist Church, and Greater Union Baptist Church all in different cities in Louisiana, and three years later they are in the midst of rebuilding their physical space of worship.

Evil knocked on their doors three years ago when an arsonist, Holden Matthews, a would-be “black metal” musician who pleaded guilty in 2020, torched these three Black churches promoting himself in the heavy metal subgenre.

Per Wikipedia, “Black metal dates back to the early 1980s, in what’s called the genre’s first wave when the English band Venom released its second album titled “Black Metal.” Stylistically, the music was similar to earlier heavy metal subgenres, but Venom’s lyrics had anti-Christian and satanic themes.”

While Matthews pleaded guilty to arson on these three churches and will be serving simultaneous 25-year federal and state sentences in federal prison, the damage he has done cannot be undone even as these churches rebuild and move forward. Their progress would have been further along in their vision for their churches but having to rebuild has slowed down the vision somewhat. Starting over is never easy but with wisdom, know-how, faith, and money, it is platable.

At the malicious hand of Matthew for his self-promotion for his affiliation with the black metal bands, the first fire broke out at St. Mary, four days later Greater Union burned down and two days later Mount Pleasant was ablaze. You wonder, why three fires? What was the motive behind three versus one or two or none?

These churches have found other means of meeting and sharing uplifting sermons via social media, and conference calls. With each new day, these churches get closer and closer to returning to a physical building. According to records, some of these churches are building back bigger than better. Some will now resume their lives in ownership of their church from a rented space or parking lot service.

While rebuilding is a slow process for various reasons, the reality is that rebuilding is on the horizon and is giving hope for better days of worship to the parishioners.

The common thought used to be that churches were somehow spared from such evil forces but similar to the Jim Crow era, churches were and still are the target for hate crimes across the states.

Matthew’s motive for burning down three churches, he was not affiliated with is beyond moral comprehension and human decency as he committed these acts for personal recognition for a music career. What happened if someone had died in these three fires? Twenty-five years would not be enough for taking a life.

To harm innocent people’s property who had not violated him in any way warrants much consideration when he comes up for parole after 25 years. I pray that the descendants of many of the elders of the three churches will keep this history alive and ensure no parole because it is clear Matthew is a danger to society.

Often offenders who are mindless of others’ lives and property, and are released with a slap on the wrist may repeat their actions in a bigger way and the next time may prove deadly to someone. When you do the crime, you have to do the time. Some people do not belong on the street and Matthew’s actions even though he pleased guilty warrants him being incarcerated to protect the innocent.

In conclusion, not wanting to sound biased but why did he choose three Black churches? What was his agenda? Not sure of his assets, but whatever they are should be distributed to the three churches. If there are no assets to be distributed then perhaps the monies made in prison, tithes should be deducted monthly and distributed equally to the three churches. Wrong is wrong and must be accounted for. Stop the hate!

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