Christian grocery store owner receives death threat for ‘Hell has open borders’ ad
The Christian owner of a grocery store chain received a death threat in response to a message on his weekly ad mailer that featured a statement about Heaven, Hell and border walls.
Mac’s Cash Savers, which has grocery stores in Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi, sent the weekly ad, which in addition to noting prices for certain products also included the statement “Heaven has a wall, a gate and a strict immigration policy. Hell has open borders. Let that sink in.”
Reggy McDaniel, owner of Mac’s, told The Christian Post in an interview Monday afternoon that the chief purpose of the ad was “to get people to thinking about their salvation.”
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The mailer has garnered national headlines by media outlets that are drawing attention to the few who've voiced their objections to the ad's message.
“Please remove me from any mailers. I will no longer shop in your store. I find your mixture of religion and politics disgusting,” one person lamented, according to Fox News.
McDaniel explained to CP that each week's mailer ad includes a message "to get [people] to thinking about how they are going to get in them Pearly Gates up there, in Heaven. And the only way they are going to get in them is through Jesus Christ.”
McDaniel noted that the statement was not meant to be political, saying that it was a coincidence that it was published in an ad running at “a time when the border issue was a deal,” adding that “I saw that statement around for a long time.”
One weekly mailer ad released last month had the statement “Today, spend some time alone with Christ and experience joy that is full of pleasures that are eternal.”
Another weekly ad from last year read “It is possible to pollute the water of the source, through rebellion. Obedience to God is a key to true satisfaction.”
“I thought it was a really good Christian statement that Heaven has gates and borders and it does have a strict immigration policy: you’ve got to believe in the Son, Jesus Christ, or you don’t get there,” McDaniel said.
McDaniel also took issue with the claim that the statement was racist or xenophobic, telling CP that there nothing racial about it.
“It ain’t talking about one color getting to Heaven,” added McDaniel. “I don’t care what color you are. As a matter of fact, Jesus wasn’t white come to think of it.”
Regarding backlash, McDaniel estimated that 85 to 90 percent of the feedback he's received was positive in nature. He said he had gotten one death threat, but brushed it off, saying “we’ve had them before.”
