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Church Alliance and our church

Alameda County has come against San Lorenzo Baptist Church/Cornerstone Fellowship every two years since 2010.  This last attack started in October of 2017.  Israel Padilla Villafuerte has been the main instigator.  He does not like the fact that we allow other churches to use our church for weddings and other sacred celebrations.  When I ask him specifically what law or policy I am violating, he will say something like, “its not like you are breaking a law, its more like how you are doing it.”  This, of course makes no sense.  Mr. Villafuerte is a government employee with enforcement power to force non-profits to conform to a policy, or get taxed out of existence.  I have asked him dozens of times, over the phone, in letters and face-to-face to tell me what we did wrong so that I can fix it and become compliant.  He refuses.  The latest information is that Mr. Villafuerte has enlisted the county lawyers and the county is now suing our church for fraud and non-compliance to some unknown regulation.  Mr. Villafuerte is not interested in compliance, he is interested in getting money out of my church.  He would rather have cash than have my church comply.  This is clear because he will not tell us how to comply, and he is suing us for back taxes.  

Because there is no way a church of widows and orphans can stand aganst county lawyers, we have contacted several organizations that help churches.  We had partnered with a group called Church Alliance.  I have sent them all communications and when the lawsuit finally arrives, we will have lawyers also, and my guess is that the national organization of Church Alliance has the law on their side.

It is sad when greedy and power hungry public servants get an idea about property or cash and instead of making sure everyone is in compliance, which I am more than willing to do, just tell me how, they sue for cash and land.  I do not work for the county and there is no authority given to Alameda County that is not given by God.  They are abusing that authority and Mr. Villafuerte and all in Alameda County who support him, all of them will have to stand before Jesus Christ and give a report of how they used their borrowed authority.  

So I pray for the salvation of Mr. Villafuerte.  I pray that he gets promoted, preferably out of state.  I just want him to learn repentance and righteousness and not hurt anyone else.


We will be sending out a press release next week to get the media involved.  I will post the press release here.

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