Dear Steve, John and Doves -And now .... the rest of the story ...Michael Salman, ordained Church of God in Christ (COGIC) minister; pastor, Harvest Christian Fellowship (also: Facebook); and owner, Mighty Mike’s Burgers, Phoenix, Arizona; to 60 days in jail and three years of probation for “representing as a church on his home property without securing the proper permits,” reports the Christian Post. azfamily.com reports: “Inside a back building on his property … is a pulpit and chairs — room for the 30 to 40 who gather here weekly. Still Salman insists this is no public church. … Inspectors say for what Salman was doing, he needed dozens of building and safety updates. All Salman says he was doing was practicing freedom of religion. The court disagreed. … The Maricopa County Prosecutor’s Office tells 3TV that this is not a religious freedom issue, but that Salman has consistently refused to comply with building codes and safety standards that are required by law.” In one of his protest videos posted to YouTube (under the alias “Kryptologos”), Salman declares: “I’m a criminal because I’m a Christian.”The Christian Post also notes that “the Salmans have launched an online petition on Change.org directed to the ‘Mayor and City Council’ of Phoenix. So far, only 93 visitors have signed the petition, which needs 100,000 supporters.” That may be because angry neighbors are upset about his building a 4,200-square-foot structure up against the property line, according to a lengthy 2008 profile in the Phoenix New Times, which quotes several neighbors, including one who recounted a neighborhood meeting with Salman: “He gave us a lecture on the fact that all of us were going to make money on our property, and if we were true Christians, we ought to be willing to sacrifice a little bit. … That meeting is where the real animosity started. He made no effort at being conciliatory or cooperative. That really united the neighbors against him. He was his own worst enemy.”The New Times also reports that Salman — who has been divorced, yet is reportedly vehemently opposed to marriage equality — is a former gang member with a prison record, and was once arrested for impersonating a police officer, purportedly in order to scare a boy who was “fooling around” with a girl in Salman’s church. Two years earlier, Salman, “hoping to scare the hell out of a kid who’d been messing with his girlfriend’s little brother,” reportedly “donned a Raiders T-shirt and fired five rounds from a .38 special into the kid’s house,” nearly hitting the boy’s mother. He was found guilty of aggravated assault and sentenced to six years in prison. Also: “In 1994, Salman had filed paperwork claiming that he belonged to the Embassy of God. That meant, the document claimed, that he didn’t need to follow United States law.”The issue is not Bible Studies. This guy is just giving ammo to the other side. Again, an attempt to dupe Christians.I don't believe this man is "in the ministry" in the Biblical sense. Arizona folks don't like intrusive government or regulations any more than the rest of us ... maybe less. But he isn't having a few close friends over on a regular basis for fellowship and Bible study. He's set up a Babylonian-style organizational "church" - a BUSINESS - and the issue is not home Bible studies at all.If it really were ILLEGAL to have a home Bible study in Phoenix, do you think Salman is the only violator they could find??Best,Steve