Pastor Marc Grizzard and his congregation planned to hold a book burning Halloween night. They claim the burning was a "great success" even after being warned by local authorities that it is against the law.
Marc Grizzard is the pastor of Amazing Grace Baptist Church in Canton, North Carolina.
Mr. Grizzard and his followers believe that the first King James translation of the Bible is the only true declaration of God’s word, and that all others are “satanic”.
In an interview with AP, Grizzard said, “I believe the King James version is God’s preserved, inspired, inerrant, infallible word of God… for English-speaking people.
The church planned on burning Bible translations such as the New Revised Version Bible, the American Standard Version Bible, the New World Translation, and even the New King James Version.
That's not all the church planned on destroying.
The also planned on burning books written "by a lot of different authors who we consider heretics, such as Billy Graham, Rick Warren… the list goes on and on,” reported the
Telegraph.
They weren't even going to stop at writings by Mother Teresa as well as music from every genre.
The pastor and his congregation of 14 planned to go ahead with the book burning even after local fire officials warned him that it was against state and local laws.
In an
Associated Press interview, Johnny Glance, the Haywood County fire marshall said Grizzard had told him that he didn't want to break the law and was wondering if the books could be shredded instead.
On the church's
website, Pastor Grizzard is claiming the "burning" to be a great success and writes, "Nothing was stopped. Our goal was to destroy garbage... and we did just that. We didn't care how it was destroyed; only that it was destroyed. Scissors cut paper, and paper tears real easy. We destroyed everything as planned. Praise God!"
Fried chicken was served at the event.
The website post says that they "were disappointed there were no other Independent Fundamental Baptist churches or individuals standing with us locally on the KJV."
The church plans to make it an annual event and expects more people to be involved next year.
