On Friday night, vandals spray-painted Satanist graffiti as well as swastikas on a church in Orangevale, roughly 25 miles northeast of Sacramento, California. The graffiti on the Calvary Chapel included “I love Satan” on the main sign of the church as well as “6-6-6,” swastikas, racial slurs and profanity painted on the rest of the building.
Neighbors of the church saw the damage Saturday morning and contacted the pastor, Mike Flanders, who quickly came to the church. He told KTXL FOX40, “They called me and said our church had been vandalized. So I came right over. They had painted 6-6-6. We wanted to get rid of it as quick as possible.”
After calling police, who arrived and recorded the damage to the building, Flanders joined members of his congregation, along with neighbors, to undo the damage, painting over the offensive messages. to other churches stopped by and helped. It was great.”
KTXL reports that the church posted a sign reading, “Thanks, Orangevale, for all your support and help when our church was vandalized. If you’re the person who did this, we pray you come to the love of Jesus! He forgives those who call on him!”
Susan Calabro, a neighbor living across the street, later noticed that her neighbor’s fence had been defaced with a satanic message. She also found a paint brush and spray paint cans nearby, which she gave to the police. Calabro believed that because the evidence had been carelessly dumped nearby, the vandals were likely kids, especially because one of the words had been spelled incorrectly.
Flanders, true to his calling, said he was not interested in punishing the offenders. He told FOX40, “We say whoever did this, we just want to be able to minister to them. God loves them and so do we.”
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