{"id":17610,"date":"2023-05-16T16:32:51","date_gmt":"2023-05-16T20:32:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/?p=17610"},"modified":"2023-05-16T16:32:51","modified_gmt":"2023-05-16T20:32:51","slug":"jesus-saves-a-look-at-a-christian-sign-ministry-and-the-atheist-forces-that-oppose-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2023\/05\/jesus-saves-a-look-at-a-christian-sign-ministry-and-the-atheist-forces-that-oppose-it","title":{"rendered":"\u201cJesus Saves.\u201d A Look at a Christian Sign Ministry and the Atheist Forces That Oppose It"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_17634\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-17634\" style=\"width: 768px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/140\/2023\/05\/jesus-signs_credit-shutterstock-scaled.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-17634\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/140\/2023\/05\/jesus-signs_credit-shutterstock-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"768\" height=\"576\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-17634\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Shutterstock.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">In Los Angeles, a war of words of sorts is being played out between Christian and atheist groups. Over 13 years ago, Brent Farley of Charlotte, NC, was an atheist. However, he found God and soon felt the need to share his new faith with others. Thus, \u201c<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/jesussavessigns.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Jesus Saves Signs<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u201d was born. \u201cThe signs were an idea that the Holy Spirit gave me to share the gospel with a simple, vivid, short, super simple message,\u201d he said in an\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/original.newsbreak.com\/@reilly-moncrief-1581766\/2317102269441-jesus-saves-this-is-the-anthem-meet-the-guys-behind-the-signs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">interview<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">. Soon, signs with the phrase \u201cJesus Saves\u201d were popping up all over North Carolina. Soon, the signs were popping up in other parts of the country, like\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/local\/des-moines\/2022\/07\/22\/jesus-saves-signs-pop-up-illegally-around-des-moines\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Des Moines, Iowa<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">, too, as Farley spread his ministry.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Farley is currently taking his ministry to LA, where he finds himself up against the LA-based Atheists United group. The group sponsors what they call \u201cAtheist Street Pirates,\u201d groups of volunteers throughout the country that have dedicated themselves to removing illegally placed religious signs on public land. LA municipal code prohibits the placement of any kind of signs in the public right of way. \u201cObviously, they have a motive. There\u2019s a kingdom of darkness and a kingdom of light, and they\u2019re working for the kingdom of darkness,\u201d Farley told <\/span><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The Christian Post<\/span><\/em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0when speaking about the group\u2019s efforts to remove his signs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Although the Street Pirates claim to be a group aiming to remove any religious signage, their main focus appears to be on Christian signs. Last month, the LA Street Pirates <\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/2023\/04\/28\/las-atheist-street-pirates-go-national-in-efforts-to-remove-illegal-religious-signs\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">featured an art exhibit<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0of signs that had been removed. The majority of removed signs contained Christian messages such as \u201cJesus. The way. The truth. The life\u201d and many of Farley\u2019s own \u201cJesus Saves\u201d signs. Evan Clark, executive director of Atheists United, stated the number of signs the volunteers remove is evidence of a \u201clarger phenomenon happening, where Christian nationalists, evangelicals and other types of religious fanatics are using our public land illegally for their proselytizing.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Farley accused the group of targeting Christians. \u201cIf there was Muhammad\u2019s name or my name or anybody else\u2019s name on those signs, they could sit there. But the only way to God, the way of salvation, there is a war, there is an attack against His name, and it\u2019s quite vicious,\u201d he said. Farley remains vague on whether he knowingly places signs illegally but states the motives of the atheist groups are clear. \u201cIf they were working for the kingdom of light, and it was a litter problem that they saw, they would be picking up litter; there would be bags of trash in their vehicle, not just things that give people hope and faith in God.\u201d Clark, writing to\u00a0<\/span><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The Christian Post<\/span><\/em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">, denied targeting Christians. \u201cWe have never, and will never, target one religion. We are a separation of government and religion program and would take down a Hindu, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, Satanist, or atheist sign just as quick as any Christian sign,\u201d he insisted. \u201cThe fact that all signs we\u2019ve found so far are Christian has been a surprise to us and begs the question of why they\u2019re the only religion incapable of following the law.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In Los Angeles, a war of words of sorts is being played out between Christian and atheist groups. Over 13 years ago, Brent Farley of Charlotte, NC, was an atheist. However, he found God and soon felt the need to share his new faith with others. Thus, \u201cJesus Saves Signs\u201d was born. \u201cThe signs were&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":664,"featured_media":17634,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17610","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>\u201cJesus Saves.\u201d A Look at a Christian Sign Ministry and the Atheist Forces That Oppose It<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The creator of the &quot;Jesus Saves&quot; signs discusses the struggles of keeping the signs up in Los Angles due to atheist groups.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link 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