Missouri church thwarts armed robbery as ex-cop pastor and congregation pray for gunmen

A pastor used the power of prayer to stop a possible armed robbery and shooting by four suspects who were sitting in his church pews.

Pastor Marquaello Futrell, who previously worked in law enforcement as a St. Louis police officer, was in the middle of his Sunday service earlier this month at All Creation Northview Holiness Family Church in Ferguson, Missouri, when he saw a four masked men enter the House of Worship.

Realizing they had guns on their belts, Pastor Futrell’s prayers intersected with his police instincts as he used the power of divine intervention to prevent what he believes could have been a crime on a biblical scale.

‘I immediately had the hairs [stand] in the nape I’m like, ‘Okay, something’s about to happen,’ Futrell told KSDK.

“Being a former police officer, I immediately became aware of their seatbelts. I’m like, ‘There’s something there.’

Futrell, who broadcasts his services online, had his media team focus cameras on four men sitting in the back of the church, as he called on the congregation to pray for the group.

He also ordered staff members to lock the church doors and call the police.

Incredible scenes in which the reverend tells the men that they are on ‘Holy Spirit ground’ before informing them that ‘God is changing the plot’, all to the rousing sounds of gospel music, played live on a church organ in the background.

After spotting the suspicious-looking foursome, the pastor walked over to where the group was sitting and began questioning them over the church microphone.

‘Who sent you here? I just saw the church and decided to come? Futrell asked. ‘Tell me.’

‘Let us praise God for his coming. I said praise God that God sent them here!’ Futrell proclaimed as he encouraged the congregation to applaud.

Although not everyone sitting in their seats knew what was going on, the pastor wanted to keep the men seated in the church, but also let them know that he knew exactly what they were doing.

‘Don’t play games with me, I still have police anointing and I still know what is happening and I still know what is about to happen. God is about to change the plot of the enemy. Raise your voices of him and shout to God for what he is about to do!’ Futrell said with an enthusiastic tone.

After working up the courage to speak to the men, he had members of his congregation surround the men and pray for them, some even placing their hands on the individuals’ heads and shoulders.

‘Would you allow me to pray for you? Do you mind if I pray for you?

Bowing their heads silently, the armed men sat as the entire congregation fervently chanted and prayed.

‘See, that wasn’t too bad, brothers,’ Futrell told the men. ‘Thank you all for letting us pray for you. And we’re thankful that for some reason the Lord allowed you all to come here. That when you walked the earth, you walked on the grass of the Holy Spirit.

“We are grateful that, for whatever reason, the Lord allowed you to come here and I believe you will never be the same again,” Futrell said to applause from his parishioners.

The men were in the church for 20 minutes before leaving.

The pastor’s instinct had been right all along: in fact, they were wanted men and the police are still looking for them.

“I just heard the Lord say, ‘This is what happens when you trespass,'” Futrell said as a final thought during the service.

Speaking in foxnews on Monday night, Futrell said he could tell early on that something wasn’t right with the group.

They entered the church. We thought they were up to no good. I just had that instinct and started maneuvering while trying to serve to keep people calm. We eventually found out later that one of those guys actually dropped his gun on the ground before I went to pray for them and that’s when the police were alerted.

“We later found out they were wanted in connection with two convenience store robberies,” Futrell explained to Laura Ingraham.

‘We think they intended to rob us, do some harm, but we believe that God is the greatest power and we cannot be defeated, so I had those instincts. I engaged them and we prayed and they knew they were being recorded.

“I had my media team put the cameras on them knowing that the police were possibly on their way. Later we found out that hours before one of the guys had robbed a convenience store.

The pastor said that his faithful were grateful that he was able to navigate through an extremely delicate situation.

‘A lot of people really didn’t know what was going on. Many did and we had our children’s ministry on lockdown and many of the parishioners were just appreciative of those who were able to guide them through that process with the help of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit,” Futrell said.