Arsonist damages Suffern church
By Robert P. Mills, The Layman Online, November 20, 2000
I just rolled over in my bed. I thought it was car crash, said the Rev. Allen Kemp of the sound that woke him just before 1:00 a.m., Nov. 10.
Fifteen minutes later he did get out of bed as a police officer came to his door and told him that his church was on fire.
Kemp, with his wife Deborah, is co-pastor of the Suffern Presbyterian Church in Suffern, N.Y., not far from New York City. The fire, the work of an arsonist, severely damaged the church’s fellowship hall. But the sanctuary was spared. And that, Kemp says, was the result of a miracle.
Praying for protection
Two weeks before the arsonist’s attack, a member of the congregation, who had been praying for the church, warned Deborah Kemp that “the church is under satanic attack from the outside. It seems to be against the property.”
“So we prayed about that,” Kemp said.
A week later came the 12:40 a.m. explosion that awakened not only Kemp but an assistant fire chief who lived a block away and left his house to investigate.
A miracle
Flames were coming through a broken window. Along with investigators, Kemp initially suspected a fire bomb. But when he entered the fellowship hall, Kemp, a former volunteer firefighter, heard “a hissing sound” that he recognized as water coming into contact with fire. He gratefully assumed that the fire department had entered the building from the other side and was already at work extinguishing the blaze.
But when he walked around the building, he realized that the fire department had yet to arrive.
Ruptured fire extinguisher still mounted on the wallOnly after the fire had been put out did investigators determine what had happened. The explosion, which first alerted the neighborhood to the fire, was in fact the rupture of a wall-mounted fire extinguisher. The location of the rupture allowed the contents of the fire extinguisher to spray directly on what Kemp described as “a hot spot” on the ceiling, which in turn kept the fire from spreading into the ceiling and, from there into the offices and the sanctuary.
Kemp estimated that if the extinguisher had not exploded, the fire would have burned undetected for at least another 15 minutes, which probably would have resulted in the destruction of both the fellowship hall and the sanctuary.
“The fire extinguisher literally saved us,” said Kemp. “It is a miracle.”
He estimates it will take several months to repair the fellowship hall, which was used during the week by the Boy Scouts, Alcoholics Anonymous and YMCA dance classes. For the past nine years it had also been the home of the Spanish Pentecostal Church, which estimated it lost $20,000 dollars in furnishings, resources and musical equipment.
‘Satan Rules’
Sunday morning Suffern police arrested a 28-year-old man, an artist and part-time security guard, and charged him with felony arson and burglary. According to his mother, the suspect has schizophrenia and had recently stopped taking his medication. According to police, he belongs to a group of known Satan worshippers.
The words “Satan Rules the Earth,” were written in black marker on the outside of the church.In fact, he became a suspect when the words “Satan Rules the Earth,” which were written in black marker on the outside of the church, were recognized as being in his style. In the five days prior to the arson attack, two nearby churches and a synagogue had been vandalized with satanic graffiti.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms has investigated the fire, and the suspect could face federal charges. It is also possible that the arson could be prosecuted as a hate crime.
The intercessor who first suggested praying for the protection of the church has expressed concern that the spiritual attack is not over yet.
Forgiveness
The arson attack generated significant coverage in the New York City media, including an initial erroneous, report that Kemp did not want the suspect prosecuted. “That would send the wrong message,” said Kemp, noting police surveillance of other Satanists in the area.
At the same time, Kemp is not anxious to see the suspect charged with a hate crime. “He needs to be in mental health treatment, not prison,” Kemp told The Layman.
“This clearly was a hate crime,” he added, “but it was Satan’s hatred.”