The hate goes on.
One attendee of the church invaded by far-left protesters on Jan. 18 says he and other members of Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, continue their spiritual battle against evil.
“It says in scripture that our battle is not against flesh and blood, but is against the spirit, the evil spiritual forces of the world. And I think that this is a situation where that is very much true,” Caleb Phillips, 21, told Fox News.
Although the church has not been entered since the Jan. 18 attack, protesters opposed to the Trump administration’s crackdown on criminal illegal immigrants were harassing churchgoers.
He said he girlfriend, who is Asian, was accused of “hanging out with Nazis.” He also called leaving a service one week after the incursion to face hate from the protesters outside an “ice bath.”
“Just the safety and the peace and the joy that we were feeling in the church, in our worship of Jesus Christ, going out and seeing people who are spewing hatred towards us, it made me feel sad for them,” he said.
He said a protester “starts yelling at my girlfriend and insulting her on the basis of her race. She says, ‘You’re Asian, why are you hanging out with Nazis’ … basically calling her a race traitor in a way and saying that they’re going to come for her next.”
“I will admit, I felt a lot of anger in that moment, just with the fact that we had tried to put a blessing on them, and at least one of them still was spewing hatred towards us,” he said.
“And that was another moment where I kind of had to pull myself back and remind myself, this is a spiritual battle. What is happening right now it’s not about that woman who is shouting those terrible things at my wonderful, lovely girlfriend. It is about something deeper,” he said.
Phillips said the invasion of the church was a “traumatic scenario.”
“I was shocked,” he said. “It was just such a sudden and just loud [noise], kind of like as if a firework had gone off. Children should not see something like that or experience something like it.”
However, he noted that church has been “packed” on the two Sundays following the attack.
And they said it would be empty this morning…
Glory to God✝️ pic.twitter.com/AUaOqb4VqH— Caleb Phillips (@CalebP100) January 25, 2026
He said he and others tried to meet hate with love when they interacted with the protesters.
“We went up to them, and we said, ‘Hey, can we pray with you?’ And they said, ‘Yes’ … So, we laid our hands on their shoulders, and we prayed with them. We prayed for the peace of the Twin Cities. We prayed peace and blessings for them, because scripture says, ‘Bless those who curse you.’ And they were literally cursing at us. And we decided to bless them because that’s what scripture says.”
As noted by The New York Times, nine people have been arrested in connection with the church invasion, including former CNN journalist Don Lemon.
David Easterwood, who leads the St. Paul field office of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, is listed as a pastor of the church, which is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention, according to ABC.
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