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Originally posted by WildB:
This is why we must hold to our Bible and not feelings.

Praying women jailed for blocking courthouse

A day earlier, pair ticketed for obstructing Washington Township business

PUBLISHED: December 8, 2005

By Frank DeFrank
Macomb Daily Staff Writer

The Bible teaches there's a time and place for everything.


But two women learned this week lying face down in the vestibule of a courthouse is not the place to pray, and the time is not minutes after they were admonished for blocking the entrance to a business in the same manner.

Brittany Lee Jordan, 25, of Washington Township, and Rachael Sue Jacob, 27, remain jailed Wednesday in lieu of $5,000 bond after they defied an order from 41A District Court Magistrate Michael Osaer to refrain from blocking access to public buildings.

The women told the magistrate they were praying.

"You can pray all you want," Osaer said. "You just can't do it in a place -- where you are impeding other people."

The story began Sunday when employees of a BP gas station/McDonald's restaurant near 26 Mile Road and Van Dyke called police to complain that two women were lying in front of the door to the business blocking access by customers.

Jordan and Jacob were ticketed as disorderly persons and told to appear in court the next day. During a hearing Monday morning, the women told Osaer they didn't intend to violate any laws, but dropped to the ground and sprawled face down because God told them to pray.

"I don't harm anybody or mean to cause any harm," Jacob told the magistrate. "It is just something I felt God had laid it on my heart."

At one point during the hearing, both women dropped to the courtroom floor and began praying.

Osaer set bond at $1,000 and instructed the women to refrain from blocking access to public buildings. Jordan and Jacob were held for a short while, then released after they paid $100, the required 10 percent of the bond.

But as they left the courthouse, the women dropped to the floor in the vestibule and refused pleas from court workers to move. Police were summoned and Jordan and Jacob again found themselves before Osaer, this time in handcuffs.

The magistrate scolded the women for defying his instructions, but Jordan and Jacob said they meant no disrespect.

"I feel it's very important to do what God asked me to do," Jordan said. "I am willing to pay a price for my actions."

Osaer then asked the women: "Does God ever tell you to go pray in some place that doesn't block a door?"

Jordan responded: "Being in a public place is a recent thing."

"I know it seems strange that God would ask me to do something that goes against the law," she continued. "But he's never asked me to do anything harmful to anybody else."

Osaer then increased the bond on the women to $5,000, which they apparently couldn't post. They were then ordered jailed.

Jordan and Jacob are due back in court Jan. 13 on the disorderly person charges.

Shelby Township police Chief Robert Leman said the women offered little explanation for their actions when initially ticketed by officers.

"They just said they were praying," the chief said.

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I learned from Whitness they were waiting for God to answer. Hum~ sounds classic diabolo.

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To this I say. Did not Satan try to get Jesus to side step?

Matt.4

1. [4] But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
2. [6] And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.
3. [7] Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
4. [10] Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.[/b]

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