Post by messengermicah on Feb 9, 2006 22:51:16 GMT -5
Florida International University requires you to get a permit to use the free speech area. I had obtained a permit back in December for February 7 before I knew Brother Jed Smock would come to Miami. It just so happened my permit was scheduled exactly one week after his visit.
After the big stir we made on campus last week, I received a phone call Friday night by the woman in charge of issuing the permits telling me they were moving my day and time from Tuesday 12-4 to Friday 12-2 because too many teachers and students had complained. They also told me since they were expecting protestors to be present we needed to pay campus police $78 dollars to be there to keep the peace.
I respectfully but firmly told her over the phone we were going to show up Tuesday anyway, that if the students were too loud and rowdy it was the officers job to keep them under control, that if the location was too close to classrooms it was not our fault because that is where they placed us. She was not interested in hearing any of that and told me we were moved to Friday, that was it, and hung up on me.
I absolutely refused to comply with this change of date and time and payment fee. I planned to show up at noon on Tuesday as planned.
I was unable to leave work by 11:15 AM as planned, but had to leave around 12:30. We (Elizabeth, Doug, John and I) arrived on campus about 1:00 PM. Onica met us there.
Even though we were about an hour late, I could see from a distance the police officers and protestors waiting for us.
I figured they would try to shut us down right away without letting us start, but I approached the officers and told them we had a permit to preach there. They told me they knew that and were there to keep an eye on things. I approached the free speech area and we set up one of our banners.
There were about 10-12 protestors with rainbow signs (?No More Hate Preach, Diversity, NOW, Tolerance, God is My Judge?) about 25 students standing around, 6 police officers present, and a school video camera set up to tape everything. I began preaching around 1:15 PM and the crowd was very quiet and attentive. More and more people kept gathering around to listen until there were about 125 to 150 people. There were also about 20 people sitting in front of us holding protest signs, mostly the lesbians from last week. I think they were afraid to say anything back to us due the campus polices? presence. One time I heard one of the protestors tell another one not to say anything to us or they would be arrested. I also saw several students holding Bibles in the audience and it seems they had heard negative things about us and were there to find fault. I saw them referencing their Bibles as I was preaching. Finally a few made comments or asked questions but they were a very peaceful attentive audience (how ironic what the campus law makes the students behave?) I preached until about 2:30 PM and with a crowd of about 125 to 150 I turned it over to Onica because they wanted to know why I never let the women preach. (The furious fornicating feminists remembered my last week?s comment on my submissive wife).
Onica preached to them for about 10 minutes and took a few questions and turned it over to John around 2:45 PM. I am glad she was able to preach, since Elizabeth?s health was not 100% restored.
John preached and answered their questions from about 2:45 PM until about 3:15 PM and the crowd increased during that time to about 225 to 250. They were much better behaved than last week, probably because of the police presence but they were getting rowdier and angrier as the day went on.
Doug started preaching around 3:15 PM and had some young black gangster rap type guys mocking him by making all kinds of gyrating sexual motions and gestures. Doug told them it was because of guys like them with their rap music and thug mentality that the black community was dying. This comment really made the crowd angry and they all began to accuse Doug of being racist.
There were now people everywhere, crowding around us, and moving in closer. The officers also moved in closer and surrounded us to keep the crowd back. It was at this point there were easily 350-400 people in the crowd. The officers who escorted us to the car thought there were about 500 (maybe but I do not know). Doug preached and answered the accusations and questions of the mob until about 3:35 PM.
At around 3:35 PM I took over and was able to calm the crowd down quite a bit. The homosexuals were crying they were born that way (one short haired butch lesbian wore a shirt that read GOD MADE ME GAY) so I began by refuting the doctrine of original sin. The audience was very attentive. Questions also came up about slavery, evolution, why our message brought so much division, etc. By God?s grace I believe he gave me ?a mouth and wisdom which all His adversaries would not be able to gainsay nor resist? (Luke 21:15), was able to successfully refute all their arguments and answer their questions.
At exactly 4:00 PM, when our permit expired the officers told us to wrap it up and they quickly escorted us to our vehicle. We were escorted to our vehicle by the head of campus police, and a large African American officer. Both seemed to like us very much and appreciate us being there. The head of campus police told the lesbians as they followed us and yelled profanity at us to ?learn some manners if you are going to be on campus.? I saw him putting his hands together and thanking God for us being there.
The African American officer asked us if we were coming back next week, told us he thought there were about 500 people there, and told Doug, ?They really got upset when you said that about the black guys didn?t they!? and started laughing.
As we got off campus we discovered our vehicle had been hit with a paint gun. I thought my Alma matter was known as a friendly, diverse, tolerant campus.