Att. Gen. Ashcroft declares church a terrorist organization

Admits Baptist Temple owed no taxes

This past Feb. 13th, we reached the fifteen year mark since 100 federal marshals backed up by the Indianapolis Police Department (Marion County Sheriff Jack Cottey had refused to participate), raided the church auditorium of the Indianapolis Baptist Temple and turned that facility along with other Sunday school and K-12 Educational facilities, including twenty-two acres over to a receiver to satisfy nearly $6 million of IRS liens that had been exacted against the church by Federal District Judge Sara Evans Barker.  According to Attorney General John Ashcroft, a professing Christian and Evangelical lay preacher in the Assembly of God Denomination, the raid was ordered by him personally over the objections over the George W. Bush White House.  This and other bomb shell revelations are in his "tell all" book entitled Never Again (Center Street Publishers – New York-pg. 93-97).

Often times we hear people say, "If we just had more Christians in office, things would be different."  However, if "Christians", either do not know the organic law of the land (Federal and State Constitutions) or have the courage to uphold it if they do know it, what good are they in office?  The Lord Jesus said that we are to be the "Salt of the earth", but if we are no longer salty, we are "good for nothing."  The Revolutionary era Baptists voted for Jefferson over Adams, though Jefferson was the non-believer and Adams the believer because Jefferson understood the principles of liberty over Adam's who they perceived had monarchial tendencies.

Ashcroft confesses this on pg. 97 when he said that "it wasn't easy to sit and watch the first church in history seized by the IRS for tax reasons."  After saying that he was "deeply concerned over the standoff," he said, "Christians obey the law" and "render to Caesar that which belongs to Caesar" (incorrect), in other words, pay your taxes!"  Wait just a minute does anyone see a problem here?  When the Supreme Court says that it is wrong for little children to say "God is good and we thank Him for our food," and towns can't have a manger scene on the town square or the Ten Commandments in front of the Court House we have the Attorney General of the U.S. lecturing a sovereign church (non 501 (c) (3), about doctrine.  Then he has the audacity to lecture the members of our church with the following words, "The Indianapolis Baptist Temple defied that scriptural injunction as well as the law of the land." 

Now on behalf of the pastors', members and friends of the Baptist Temple I would like to ask Mr. Ashcroft a question.  How can we be these terrible "law breakers," and violators of the teachings of the Lord in regards to His church and taxes, when Mr. Ashcroft declared on pg. 93 of his book that the Indianapolis Baptist Temple could not have possibly owed any taxes?  What could possibly be the reason?  Mr. Ashcroft said, "The employees paid their own taxes on the money they received from the church…"  Now if the alleged taxes that the church was supposed to owe had been paid, what could possibly be left of a tax liability for the church to owe?  Would not 0 – 0 = 0? Or maybe the IRS and Mr. Ashcroft are taking the new math.  And by the way, learning the same set of facts the Indiana Department of Revenue said that the church owed no pay roll taxes for the same period of time.  Can anyone think of a worse case of fraud than has been perpetrated on the members of the Baptist Temple than for the Justice Department to use the IRS to assess taxes on a non-existent corporation with a defunct federal ID number and then induce a Federal District Court to inforce their assessment and to get Federal Marshal's to physically confiscate the property?  Now tell us that we are not living in a Police State.       

As evidence that this whole matter was not a "tax issue" but rather a doctrinal matter, involving the Lordship of Christ over His church is the fact that the attorney for the Justice Department made it clear to our Attorney that all the church had to do was file the church exemption form, pertaining to the FICA tax, and the whole matter would be dropped.  We explained that it would also violate our doctrine of Lordship and we could not do that.  Therefore the raid went on as planned.

However we are convinced that something else is involved that most have missed in this entire episode.  Ashcroft seemed to excuse his actions toward the church because he was obligated to uphold the law that he was sworn to do even if IBT had not.  Then he harkened back to his confirmation hearing when the ACLU and other liberal groups had made a big fuss as to whether he would uphold the law in matters "that touched on faith."  He seemed to be quite upset that he had not been given credit as a Christian Attorney General for carrying out the court order against an evangelical church.  But he didn't seem to get the picture that the crowd that he tried to please could care less about him any more than the Jewish leaders cared about Pilate when he released Barabbas and turned Jesus over to be crucified.  Even though he did it to, "Please the Jews."

The saddest thing however about this section dealing with the IBT case is how he deliberately slandered our congregation to paint to justify the whole operation as the destroying of a "domestic terror organization" like Ruby Ridge, Waco, or the Oklahoma Bombing scene.  From the beginning of the article to the end this theme is woven throughout.  But it harkens back to Ashcroft's speech on Dec. 5, 2001 at the swearing in ceremony for the new Director of the Marshal's Service, Benigno Reyna in Washington, D.C.  It was carried live on CNN and Fox News network.  He took this opportunity to take a swipe at the congregation of IBT with the following words:

"I would just add that since I became attorney general, I've had numerous opportunities to witness the truth of your message. For example, when I came on board last winter, the first Department of Justice operation conducted on my watch was for the department to seize the assets of an organization known as the Indiana (sic) Baptist Temple. It was a Marshals Service assignment. The men and women of this agency worked patiently; they worked professionally with other law enforcement officials, with the media, and with church leaders to resolve some very thorny issues, not the least of those issues was the threat of armed militias and violence.

This organization, you, the Marshals Service, defused a powder keg situation. You accomplished your mission. And in doing so, you earned the gratitude of a nation that knows the value of professionalism and dedication in law enforcement."

These slanderous and untruthful comments are especially unconscionable in the same speech in which you also said preceding these remarks:

"As the Marshals Service director, Ben Reyna will stand with the men and women of the Marshal Service on the front lines of the war against terrorism. Just as our service men and women are risking their lives in the battle against the enemy overseas, it falls to those of us who are here at home in law enforcement to lead in America the battle against the enemy at home. The fight against terrorism and the preservation of innocent lives from terrorist threat is now the first and overriding priority of the Department of Justice. And even though the federal justice system today is more complex than it was when President Washington appointed the first 13 U.S. Marshals, our mission must be equally clear. Over the century, carrying out that mission has required new ways of doing business.

Now when terrorism threatens our future, we cannot afford to live in the past. We have to embrace the future and our core mission of protecting the nation and the citizens of our nation. Yes, it's a huge undertaking, but this department can change when necessary, and adapt, and it can do so while it maintains high standards, safeguards that are essential to the democracy in which we live."

At least six times in that speech the Indianapolis Baptist Temple congregation was linked to 'domestic terrorism' and publically called the 'enemy' of the United States of America."  In light of that speech let us examine further what Mr. Ashcroft says in this section of his book which takes up six pages.

Right after the section of his book in which he dealt with the Hanssen spy case he deals with IBT and begins by saying, "Similarly, on the domestic front, it didn't take long for us to encounter out first potential powder keg.  It happened, ironically, in a church.  Shortly after I took office, a highly volatile situation threatened to explode following a sixteen-year dispute between the IRS and the Indianapolis Baptist Temple."  "The confrontation contained the seeds of another "no-win" situation similar to the one Janet Reno's Justice Department when the cult leader David Koresh and his followers, the Branch Davidians, were suspected of hoarding weapons and ammunition and abusing children in a religious compound in Waco, Texas.  And then then the next two paragraphs he discusses the World Trade Center bombing attack, and the Oklahoma City Federal Building bombing by Timothy McVeigh and how it was a part of a larger militia movement activity in the U.S.  By the way, if this is true, outside of Nichols and McVeigh I don't know of anyone else who was ever implicated in the OKC bombing, if there were others involved, why have we never heard about it and why have they never been brought to justice.  Right in the middle of the article about our church, on pg. 95 he continues to discuss the pending execution of Timothy McVeigh. 

At no time was the situation "volatile" and the authorities knew it.  Before trouble ever began my son, Rev. Greg A. Dixon, who was the pastor of the church at the time, and I met with the authorities in the police department and with the Sheriff's Department and told them what we were going to do.  We told them that we would not leave our property.  We would continue to have worship services and that we would have no weapons of any kind except the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God.  During the 93 day siege the media and undercover officers came and went into all areas of the building at will.  They knew that we had no weapons of any kind.  When we were ordered to turn the property over to the marshal at 12 noon on ? he never showed up so we simply stayed and continued to have worship services morning and night until the feds came ninety-three days later and carried us out by force.  When the militia of Southern Indiana offered to come and help us we rejected their offer.  We believed then and still do that it was a set up.  The government wanted a Waco type blood bath.  They can win that kind of war but they cannot win the kind of non-violent battle that we fought.  We were faithful and occupied the Lord's house long as possible. 

Ashcroft actually admits, on page 95, that the White House wanted to send a representative to negotiate with us and told him that if anything went wrong it was all on him, he rejected their offer, so therefore he took total responsibility.  Obviously he is one of those that Jesus spoke of when He said, Joh 16:1-3   These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended.

2   They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. 3   And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me.