A Virginia realtor and Christian minister has been found guilty by an ethics panel after he quoted Bible verses on social media. 

Wilson Fauber, 70, a longtime realtor with over four decades in the industry, was found in violation of National Association of Realtors’ (NAR) Code of Ethics, which prohibits realtors from using “harassing speech, hate speech, epithets, or slurs” related to “race, color, religion, sex, disability, familial status, national origin, sexual orientation or gender identity.”

The posts in question, which were made years before the NAR’s adoption of the rule in 2020, included Fauber’s views on marriage and human sexuality according to traditional Christian teachings, attorneys said.

In a statement released Thursday through his attorneys at the Founding Freedoms Law Center (FFLC), Fauber said: “In 44 years as a realtor, I have loved and served all people. Regularly, I hear from other faith-based realtors that live in fear of being similarly prosecuted for their faith, and potentially losing their livelihoods, if they don’t hide their faith well enough.” 

The posts, which Fauber shared as part of his personal ministry, went unnoticed until two fellow realtors, who Fauber had never met, filed formal ethics complaints against him. The complaints alleged that his posts violated NAR’s vague “hate speech” rule. The VAR panel determined that Fauber’s views on marriage and sexuality, expressed through Bible verses and Christian doctrine, violated NAR’s Standard of Practice 10-5.

One of the two men who filed the original complaint with the VAR is reportedly an “openly gay man.” Complainants are not typically identified publicly in real estate ethics complaints.

Victoria Cobb, president of The Family Foundation, of which FFLC is a part, called the decision “nothing short of anti-Christian bigotry in the real estate profession,” adding, “Wilson’s punishment will have the effect of chilling the religious speech of over 1.5 million other realtors in the U.S.”

The good news is that this persecution is exactly what Jesus said we can expect before His second coming. This warning from Jesus indicates worse persecution is to come. so we cannot say we have not been warned.

“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” Matthew 24:9-13