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ESPAÑOL: Pastor Americano Crucificado por Creer que Jesús es Dios
Hi my name is Dean Smith, and in this podcast I want to discuss one of the most tragic and most bizarre cases involving a Christian pastor that I have heard of in recent years.
Unexpectedly, it didn’t happen is some distant country. It took place in America.
On April 28, 2025, Arizona pastor, Bill Schonemann, was found dead in his home. He had been crucified. His hands were pinned to the wall and he had a crown of thorns on his head.
The alleged murderer, Adam Sheafe, was captured by police two days later near Holy Cross church in Sedona, Arizona where he allegedly planned to execute two pastors in a similar fashion.
In an interview with Fox News’ Briana Whitney, Sheafe admitted to the murder and added he was planning to kill 14 pastors. It was part of a mission that he called, quote “Operation First Commandment.”
Sheafe did it because—and this is incredible—Pastor Schonemann believed Jesus was divine and was leading his congregation at New River Bible Chapel astray.
According to Sheafe, this belief was a direct violation of the Bible’s First Commandment that “we should have no other gods.”
In the interview at Maricopa County jail, Sheafe added:
“Yahava alone is God. It’s the first commandment; it’s the most important commandment of them all.”
“There’s a commandment that if somebody is preaching that somebody other than God is God, we are to execute them and rid evil of Israel, so I’m obeying that commandment.”
When Whitney pressed Sheafe that murder was a sin, he bluntly answered:
“Well, yeah, it is a sin, but God also commanded us to execute anyone that’s preaching that someone other than him is God because it’s that serious. They’re claiming that Jesus is God and that somebody other than God is God. So what’s this ‘Jesus is only God’s son’ garbage that I was raised to believe? That’s not what God said.”
In the interview, Sheafe stated that he expected to be caught, but believed that God would ultimately protect him.
He not only showed ZERO remorse for his brutal execution, Sheafe added if he is ever released, he would keep killing pastors and priests, who taught the divinity of Christ.
At times during the interview Sheafe seemed to suggest that Jesus was the son of Satan.
Over the past few weeks, I have done a couple of podcasts on Christ’s divinity. I did it largely in response to several YouTube atheists who have been attacking the Bible and challenging the fundamental belief of Christianity, that Jesus was divine.
As I explained in a previous podcast, it was ultimately Christ’s claim of divinity that resulted in His crucifixion.
As Christ was being interviewed by the Jewish High Priest, Caiaphas, the Lord stated in Mark 14 that He was the son of man coming in the clouds.
As soon as Jesus said that, the high priest ripped his clothes and shouted blasphemy. Caiaphas said no more evidence was needed and called for Jesus to be sent to the Romans for execution.
By calling himself the Son of Man coming in the Gods, Jesus compared Himself to the Son of man mentioned in Daniel 7 which portrays two thrones in heaven and two Gods, Jehovah and the son of man.
It’s shocking that a pastor in America would be killed for calling Christ God. Some atheists like to push the idea, that Christ’s divinity was a later addition to the Christian faith.
In fact, some argue that Christ’s divinity first shows up in the Gospel of John which is believed to be the last of the four gospels to be written.
They state that Christ’s divinity is not seen in the Gospel of Mark, which many believe was the first Gospel, to be written.
But as we study the Gospel of Mark, Christ’s divinity is clearly on display in the third verse of the first chapter.
Sure this is not as good as the Gospel of John which has Christ portrayed as divine in the opening verse stating ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
But hey, the third verse is not bad.
In this verse, Mark not only calls Jesus divine, but more specifically for the benefit of his Jewish readers, Mark said that Jesus is Jehovah.
In chapter 1 verses 3, Mark wrote:
“The voice of one calling out in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
Make His paths straight!’”
In this verse, Mark is simply citing a verse in Isaiah of one in the wilderness who would come and prepare for the appearance of the Lord.
Then in the very next verse, Mark makes it very clear that this voice in the wilderness was none other than John the Baptist.
Mark writes in verse 4:
“John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”
It’s obvious that John the Baptist was the voice in the wilderness who was preparing the way for the Lord, Who is Jesus Christ.
But like English, the Greek word ‘kurios’, which is translated Lord has multiple meanings.
It can refer to God but it can also refer to a person of rank or importance, like the Lord of the Manor.
But Mark was directly quoting Isaiah 40:3 and when you look at this verse in the Hebrew, there is no doubt about who is being referred to here.
The Isaiah verse reads:
The voice of one calling out,
“Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness;
Make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
The word “Lord” is in all caps, which is the English Bible’s way of telling us that this is the Hebrew word for Jehovah. This is the proper name for the all powerful God.
But to make sure there is no doubt, Isaiah continues that the voice in the wilderness would make a strait path in the desert for ’Elôhı̂ym’ the Hebrew word for God.
By quoting this verse, Mark is stating very plainly that John the Baptist was preparing the way for Jesus who is both Jehovah and God.
This isn’t the only time Mark reveals Christ’s divinity. He does it again and again throughout his gospel.
This shows up in the very next chapter, chapter 2.
Mark talks about how four men were forced to tear a hole in the roof of the house where Jesus was staying because the crowd was so big. They then lowered down a paralyzed man.
When Jesus saw the man, the first thing the Lord says to him was “Son, your sins are forgiven” verse 5.
But notice how Jesus said this.
He didn’t ask God to forgive the man’s sins, like Daniel did in Daniel chapter 9, when he confessed sins of the Jewish people and their kings, so the Jews could be restored back to their homeland while in Babylonian captivity. While Daniel confessed the sins of others, God was the one Who ultimately needed to forgive.
In this instance, Jesus simply forgave the man’s sins, Himself.
Mark adds there were scribes in the crowd and they immediately noticed this and called it blasphemy because only God could forgive sins in verse 7.
Undaunted, Jesus said, “’so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins‘—He *said to the paralyzed man, 11 ‘I say to you, get up, pick up your pallet, and go home.’”
To the shock of the gathered crowd, the man was instantly healed. But notice how Jesus said that He had authority on earth to forgive sins. This is because He was God in the flesh. He was God incarnate.
In the first two chapters, Mark clearly reveals Christ’s divinity. It was a dangerous thing to do in the first century.
And it seems it’s still a dangerous thing to do today.
Thanks for joining me on this podcast. I will catch you again.
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