In what is being called the most brazen, coordinated assault on religious liberty and civil rights in New Jersey history, a lone pastor has declared war on the establishment — and he is calling the faithful of every tradition to stand with him.

Steven Soto, the lawfully installed pastor of River Edge Church, has filed a bombshell First Amended Verified Civil Rights Complaint in federal court — a legal nuclear strike against the mega-law firm Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin P.C., a cabal of rogue attorneys, predatory lenders, church insiders, and state actors who allegedly conspired for nearly six years to destroy him, steal his church, and bury him alive in the legal system.

This is David versus Goliath. And David is no longer just swinging — he is aiming for the head.

"They have stripped us of our constitutionally protected freedom of religion and assembly," Soto declared. "They invaded our sanctuary. They disrupted and suppressed our worship. They took over our church operations by force without a court order or legal ownership rights. They scattered our congregation.

"But they did not take our faith in the living and just God — nor did they silence our voice."

"Today, I issue a global battle cry to the universal religious community — Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and all people of faith — join us in this holy war. Not a war of weapons or violence. A war of awareness. A war of truth. A war for religious liberty itself."

"If they can do this to a pastor in New Jersey, they can do it to any pastor. Any church. Any synagogue. Any mosque. Any temple. Anywhere."

Soto has announced a new mission: to rally the global religious community to raise awareness of #SotoVDennehey and to stand against and expose the weaponization of legal systems, local law enforcement, and financial institutions against religious leaders and houses of worship.

"We have created a central hub for this movement: www.sotovdennehey.info. There, you will find this press release ready for immediate printing. You will find live updates on the case. You will find everything you need to stay informed and to share the truth with others."

In a blistering federal complaint that reads more like a psychological thriller than a legal filing, Pastor Soto alleges that what began as a church dispute quickly escalated into the forming and operating of a full-scale, association-in-fact "Enterprise" — a sophisticated, multi-year civil rights conspiracy designed to remove him by any means necessary and steal a unique church building.

"They didn't just sue me," Soto said. "They filed false police reports. They installed illegal surveillance cameras inside our sanctuary — a sacred space. They had me locked out of our own church building and arrested on fabricated charges. They got me wrongfully convicted. They hijacked our bank accounts. They hacked our church email account. They filed a fraudulent insurance claim."

"They hijacked our corporate church name — Reformed Church of Cherry Hill & New Bridge — and filed a malicious prosecution case against me using my own church's name, which I defeated. They did this without any court order, without any transfer of authority, and without any legal right to our church's name or probable cause."

"They extorted me, my church, and our tenants. They slandered our property title. And now they are trying to manufacture a foreclosure while charging me $666.67 a day in extortionate fees — with no right to redeem."

"The full story, with all the evidence, is available at www.sotovdennehey.info. Go there. Read it. Print it. Share it."