Post by bullhornbob on Nov 2, 2008 21:50:48 GMT -5
Northern Arizona University
Monday, September 22, 2008:
This week we visited our good friends Deane and Emmalene R. in beautiful Flagstaff AZ. The altitude is much higher than we are used to, but the weather was very mild. A bit too windy today for banners, so it would be Bible, Bible, Bible all day at Northern Arizona University.
We had a few issues finding the right spot due to recent construction, and were not able to start preaching until almost 2:30PM. I stood under the tree at the free speech area and lifted my Bible and voice, and began to reprove, rebuke, and exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. It took about 15 minutes for a crowd to form, and as soon as an angry lesbian began screaming in my face, the crowd quickly grew to about 250-300.
There are many false and lukewarm christians on this campus, and they had no problem defending their sin and condemning the holiness preaching. It is so sad that not one of these students is able to defend their position biblically, and yet scream at the top of their lungs what they believe. Then they accuse the preacher of yelling at them. Go figure!
I was able to preach over the screaming and raging lesbians (there were more than a few at this point) and at times there was enough of a lull to get some verses out. Not one was able to refute the biblical preaching, but all opposed me nonetheless. I preached hard for about 1 hour and 15 minutes, and then turned the angry mob over to Evangelista. I introduced her as my loving, submissive wife, and the crowd came unglued.
Evangelista lovingly and patiently dismissed all of the unbiblical rhetoric, and gently but firmly rebuked the students in a way that is almost indescribable. It is a lot like a wise mother with her rebellious child; she will never allow the child to be in control, and will not relent from the truth, but at the same time she lets the child ramble on and on, whining, moaning, grumbling and complaining every step of the way. That is the best way I can describe it. I tell you, these kids are going to be without excuse on judgment day. Evangelista preached and exhorted them for about 30 minutes.
There were a number of young female students who professed to be christians, and yet vehemently opposed us and the preaching. When I reproved them, they began to weep, saying “Jesus preached love - You guys are not doing it right” etc., etc., etc., ad nauseum. I can only blame the compromising pastors and church leaders for this wicked and unbiblical doctrine. The students have a false image of God and Jesus, and believe them to be everything except what the Bible says. God hates sin and the sinner, so we preach the loving message of repentance and remission of sin. God is going to lovingly cast all the wicked into the lake of fire on judgment day.
I closed out the meeting with about 20 minutes of rebuking from the scriptures: Matthew 7:21, I John 3, II Corinthians 5:17, Romans 6:1-2, 18, and many others. I also alerted the students of our intentions to preach there all week, so it should be a pretty interesting time. I am thrilled to be here this week, and am looking forward to it.
The campus police were also on hand this afternoon to keep the angry students at bay. We were escorted back to our truck by an undercover officer at about 4:40PM, and I quizzed him concerning the history of preaching on campus. It looks like we will have a lot of liberty this week.
Praise the Lord for the privilege of preaching of God’s Word!
Tuesday, September 23, 2008:
We arrived on campus at about 11AM, and Evangelista started by lifting up her voice to the students and answering some questions. She preached from I Corinthians 6:9 and correlated the behavior of the students with the list of sins found in that scripture.
I noticed a group of girls sitting in a circle about 50 yards away, praying. These were the same girls from the day before who cussed and cried and himmed and hawed about the preaching. These girls dress so immodestly that it is appalling. Evangelista quoted John 9:31 to them, since they all readily admitted that they were sinners. Since God doesn’t hear sinners, but only those who do His will (His will for them is that they would forsake all sin and make Christ their Lord), this was a very appropriate rebuke. One of the girl’s entire rear end was hanging out during their prayer, and when Evangelista pointed it out her, she put her purse over her backside to cover up. My issue with this is that they will not cover up before they come out in public, and then continuously adjust themselves throughout the day (according to who they are around, that is). They will oppose us and then seek to pray to God for us, but at the same time wear skin tight t-shirts and even tighter jeans, causing boys to lust over them.
Evangelista continued to exhort the students and warn them of hell for about 1 hour. During her preaching, the girls from the circle came over to tell those who were listening that we were not Christians and that God loves them. They even walked right in the face of those who were dialoging with Evangelista and rudely interrupted. It is amazing what lengths these kids will go to in order to silence the true gospel preaching.
A young lady asked Evangelista about Matthew 7:1-5, and I in turn asked the girl to read it and explain what she thought Christ was saying. At this point, the crowd was up to about 75, and the “christian” girls became nervous and surrounded the sincere student, blocking our eye contact. After rebuking these hindering girls again, I explained the verses in context, and the sincere girl seemed very open to discussing some other issues civilly and with humility. We discussed I John 3:1-8 and talked about the lifestyle of the true believer, and how Christ is our model for godly living in this present world. I also gave a brief disposition on the effect sin has on God, how he treats sin and the sinner, and that Christ came to give forgiveness of sin AND power over sin. I felt this young lady was very open and sincere, and this helped usher in a much calmer atmosphere than yesterday. I preached solid doctrine for about 1 hour, until someone turned on the sprinklers and chased us all out of the free speech area. Even some of the student’s tables were completely soaked. I waited for them to cycle off, and then continued preaching to the slightly smaller crowd. Within 45 minutes the crowd swelled to about 150, and I turned it back over to Evangelista.
She began to calmly teach from the scriptures, even though the heathen raged all around us. The police and faculty were on hand again today to keep them at bay, but it seemed that it only made them more irate. Eventually they broke out a boom box and blared “highway to hell” as everyone sang along (except us of course). She also answered questions and refuted all of the arguments they threw at her. It is so biblical to see this unfold right before your eyes. The pharisaical students try to trip up the Christ-like preacher, but the student of God’s word is always prepared to give an answer. Amazing! She continued to reprove, rebuke, and exhort for about 45 minutes, and then turned the rowdy mob back over to me.
I am convinced that we were very effective today on campus, especially after my conversation with two girls concerning sin in the life of the believer. At first they seemed agitated, but after I calmly and clearly taught them from the scriptures, they began to understand our objective a little clearer. I was very encouraged after speaking with them, as they seemed to grasp the biblical mandate to “go and sin no more!”
The last hour on campus was 30 minutes of straight preaching of the cross, and 30 minutes of answering sincere questions. We left the campus at about 4PM, with a large crowd singing the “goodbye” song to us. I promised to resume again tomorrow at 11AM. Our host and his pastor plan to join us, and it looks to be a very exciting week shaping up. PRAISE THE LORD!
Wednesday, September 24, 2008:
Day 3 would prove to be more of the same, unfortunately. Evangelista and I arrived at about 11:10AM, and I lifted my banner and my voice. A student took a picture of my banner and cussed me out, and as I replied to her, a Messianic Jew professor/student counseled me on the reason why students cuss the preachers. I listened and replied to him, shook his hand and gave him my contact info. He seemed very sincere and said he was born again.
Brother Deane and Pastor Daryl, his pastor, came out to join us on campus today. It is so refreshing to see pastors out preaching the gospel publicly, and speaking to the students. They had sandwich boards, handed out tracts and did one-on-ones while I preached to the small crowd about the content of biblical preaching. A young man tried to prove me wrong, but only solidified my position by having me read from Isaiah 16:5. It speaks of the coming Messiah, him judging and seeking judgment, and hasting righteousness.
I preached for about 40 minutes, and felt my voice getting a little strained, so I invited Deane to preach. He is a seasoned street preacher who knows his Bible, and immediately began to refute false religions. He boldly proclaimed Christ as the only way to eternal life. He covered all of the conditions Christ proclaimed in His preaching, including truly believing on Him, being born again, and biblical repentance. He did a superb job, but his voice gave out in about 15 minutes, so Evangelista took over and began to teach from 1 John 3.
The crowd quickly grew to about 75-100 as Evangelista hashed and rehashed all of the tired excuses that the professing christians use day after day after day. She actually was able, at one point, to read most of Matthew 5 without interruption. As usual, she left them without excuse and defended the gospel without compromise. I am so blessed to have a godly wife. She is a gem. I also had a great conversation with a modestly dressed young lady who was very soft spoken and attentive. I answered her questions concerning, again, sin in the life of the believer, and the book of I John being a rebuttal of the gnosticism infiltrating the early church.
Evangelista gave me the somewhat rowdy crowd after about 1 hour, and I began to boldly preach Christ and Him crucified for about 30 minutes. I wanted to invite Pastor Daryl to preach, so I called him over. He warmed right up to the crowd, and refuted evolution and asked and answered questions for about 30 minutes. But because of the students interest in me, they eventually crowded around me again as I tried to one-on-one with a confused student. I saw that the pastor was finished, so I started lifting my voice again.
I was able to preach strong for about two hours straight, smashing all of the false idols and religions, toppling humanism and declaring Jesus as Lord of heaven and earth. The crowd swelled between 150-300 throughout the afternoon. A few muslim students eventually came and started cussing at me and telling me to shut up. I initially resisted the urge to begin rebuking them and exposing islam as the false religion it is, but they persisted. So, I let them have it, and let me tell you, they came unglued!
They screamed and cursed and threatened and pushed and shoved through the crowd, but were unable to get to me because some of the students “held them back” and the faculty that was working crowd control. One of the angry muslims even stood right in the face of a faculty member and said “He can’t do this, stop him right now or something bad is going to happen, this is not acceptable” and all the while cursing me and telling me to shut the “blank” up. The crowd of course sided with the violent muslims because they don’t want to be labeled as politically incorrect. I warned of the infestation of islam and islamics in this country, told them all to remember 911, and that sharia law will be enforced here one day unless God intervenes.
The Asst. Dean of Students then approached me and warned me that they were about to shut us down because it was no longer safe. The police and faculty began to break up the crowd and tell them to move on. I then stated to him that if he shut me down, I wanted the three muslim students cited or arrested for threatening my life. He began to think about it, and explained that he would need to see these threats personally in order to enforce the law. I then explained that both of the ladies standing in front of me heard every word and threat spoken, and even physically held them back. He began questioning the ladies, and the one who hindered us yesterday lied and said no one threatened me. The other lady said yes, they did threaten me, and a student stepped forward and confirmed the threats as well. My deal seemed a bit too much for him, but I agreed to stop for a while and let things cool down a bit. But, the police and faculty again started shooing away the crowd, so the lull was short lived.
After a few minutes, I began preaching again to the somewhat smaller crowd, but it quickly grew to well over 300. The same group of false christian girls hovered nervously about the crowd, defying the Word and making excuses for their daily sin. I challenged a few of them and a young man to please tell me if homosexual activity was considered sin. They absolutely would not admit it was sin, and said “I don’t know” or “I’m not allowed to judge that, only God can judge that, I’m not going to answer that,” etc., etc., ad nauseum.
We stopped at about 3:35PM, as my voice was somewhat weakening, but seemed to be holding up with all of the preaching as of late. Our being on this small town campus has stirred it up as never before. I hope and pray that I was a positive influence on Pastor Daryl, and Deane indeed confirmed it later that the Pastor wants to go out and preach again, and maybe even tomorrow.
PRAISE THE LORD! On the last 4 campuses we have preached, 3 different pastors have joined us on campus. This is what we have been praying for, that the Lord would raise up preachers on every campus. God has taken it a step further and sent out PASTORS!
We are praying for a great day tomorrow, and look forward to our final day at NAU.
Thursday, September 25, 2008:
As this would be our last day on campus, and the way the crowds reacted to the preaching yesterday, we felt led to go out a little later than usual, and to try and interact a little more with the crowds instead of just preaching to them and refuting the foolish religious nonsense prevalent on this campus.
Pastor Daryl joined us again today, and before I began to preach, I had to point out the blatant hypocrisy of the group of “christian” girls who were openly praying in a circle next to the free speech area. I would usually not say anything, but because they accused me of praying out in the open like a pharisee yesterday (I was not even praying, but preaching), and now they were praying openly for all to see, I wanted to make sure they understood that they were attaining to a level of hypocrisy unrivaled in known history.
I had my scripture banner today flying high, with Matthew 7:21 on one side, and Luke 13:3 and 5, John 3:3 and 7, and John 5:14 and 8:11 on the other side. The scripture banner effectively preaches when I cannot, and since it is all scripture, nobody can argue that it is my opinion or my interpretation.
A small group of 20-30 students quickly gathered around us, some apologizing for prior conduct earlier in the week, others seeing us for the very first time. It always amazes me when a college student says “You have every right to be here.” It is almost condescending on the part of the student, and as if they feel they give us rights that we should not have, when we already are well aware of our rights, and practice them regularly. I dealt with a couple of issues including the bible as truth vs. a myth, creation being proof of God vs. evolution, and gathered in a crowd of 100 or so. I preached for about an hour on God’s judgment and the available appeasement through Christ Jesus, and eventually the God haters reappeared.
Evangelista also preached for about 30 minutes to a somewhat subdued crowd. She had a religious student give his opinion over and over of how God loves us all and we are all sinners and we cannot stop sinning and that we were not loving enough to the students. That is universalism in a nutshell. I was delighted to meet a young lady and her friend who nodded in approval throughout our preaching. They were visibly shaken by the hatred and venom of the students towards us and the gospel. I shook their hands and gave them our contact information. We always delight in those who openly approve of the preaching, as it is a very powerful testimony to those who oppose us.
Evangelista read from Acts 28:26-27, and how appropriate for a stubborn group of students bent on fulfilling the lusts of their heart. “Go unto this people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive: For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.”
These words were spoken to the Jews in Rome, but God speaks these words to Jew and Gentile today through the bold preaching of those who have committed to serving Christ eternally. I was able to end the day with a final warning to “Go and sin no more,” and we left the campus with our police escort at about 2PM.
This is a very good campus to preach, as the faculty and police are very professional. They stay on top of the rowdy students, keeping the space between the preacher and the crowd reasonable, and do not allow the students to infringe on the rights of the preacher. We also are very grateful for our hosts Deane and Emmalene R., and for Pastor Daryl.
PLEASE PRAY FOR US AS WE PREACH THE GOSPEL PUBLICLY ON CAMPUSES AND STREETCORNERS EVERYWHERE!
Monday, September 22, 2008:
This week we visited our good friends Deane and Emmalene R. in beautiful Flagstaff AZ. The altitude is much higher than we are used to, but the weather was very mild. A bit too windy today for banners, so it would be Bible, Bible, Bible all day at Northern Arizona University.
We had a few issues finding the right spot due to recent construction, and were not able to start preaching until almost 2:30PM. I stood under the tree at the free speech area and lifted my Bible and voice, and began to reprove, rebuke, and exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. It took about 15 minutes for a crowd to form, and as soon as an angry lesbian began screaming in my face, the crowd quickly grew to about 250-300.
There are many false and lukewarm christians on this campus, and they had no problem defending their sin and condemning the holiness preaching. It is so sad that not one of these students is able to defend their position biblically, and yet scream at the top of their lungs what they believe. Then they accuse the preacher of yelling at them. Go figure!
I was able to preach over the screaming and raging lesbians (there were more than a few at this point) and at times there was enough of a lull to get some verses out. Not one was able to refute the biblical preaching, but all opposed me nonetheless. I preached hard for about 1 hour and 15 minutes, and then turned the angry mob over to Evangelista. I introduced her as my loving, submissive wife, and the crowd came unglued.
Evangelista lovingly and patiently dismissed all of the unbiblical rhetoric, and gently but firmly rebuked the students in a way that is almost indescribable. It is a lot like a wise mother with her rebellious child; she will never allow the child to be in control, and will not relent from the truth, but at the same time she lets the child ramble on and on, whining, moaning, grumbling and complaining every step of the way. That is the best way I can describe it. I tell you, these kids are going to be without excuse on judgment day. Evangelista preached and exhorted them for about 30 minutes.
There were a number of young female students who professed to be christians, and yet vehemently opposed us and the preaching. When I reproved them, they began to weep, saying “Jesus preached love - You guys are not doing it right” etc., etc., etc., ad nauseum. I can only blame the compromising pastors and church leaders for this wicked and unbiblical doctrine. The students have a false image of God and Jesus, and believe them to be everything except what the Bible says. God hates sin and the sinner, so we preach the loving message of repentance and remission of sin. God is going to lovingly cast all the wicked into the lake of fire on judgment day.
I closed out the meeting with about 20 minutes of rebuking from the scriptures: Matthew 7:21, I John 3, II Corinthians 5:17, Romans 6:1-2, 18, and many others. I also alerted the students of our intentions to preach there all week, so it should be a pretty interesting time. I am thrilled to be here this week, and am looking forward to it.
The campus police were also on hand this afternoon to keep the angry students at bay. We were escorted back to our truck by an undercover officer at about 4:40PM, and I quizzed him concerning the history of preaching on campus. It looks like we will have a lot of liberty this week.
Praise the Lord for the privilege of preaching of God’s Word!
Tuesday, September 23, 2008:
We arrived on campus at about 11AM, and Evangelista started by lifting up her voice to the students and answering some questions. She preached from I Corinthians 6:9 and correlated the behavior of the students with the list of sins found in that scripture.
I noticed a group of girls sitting in a circle about 50 yards away, praying. These were the same girls from the day before who cussed and cried and himmed and hawed about the preaching. These girls dress so immodestly that it is appalling. Evangelista quoted John 9:31 to them, since they all readily admitted that they were sinners. Since God doesn’t hear sinners, but only those who do His will (His will for them is that they would forsake all sin and make Christ their Lord), this was a very appropriate rebuke. One of the girl’s entire rear end was hanging out during their prayer, and when Evangelista pointed it out her, she put her purse over her backside to cover up. My issue with this is that they will not cover up before they come out in public, and then continuously adjust themselves throughout the day (according to who they are around, that is). They will oppose us and then seek to pray to God for us, but at the same time wear skin tight t-shirts and even tighter jeans, causing boys to lust over them.
Evangelista continued to exhort the students and warn them of hell for about 1 hour. During her preaching, the girls from the circle came over to tell those who were listening that we were not Christians and that God loves them. They even walked right in the face of those who were dialoging with Evangelista and rudely interrupted. It is amazing what lengths these kids will go to in order to silence the true gospel preaching.
A young lady asked Evangelista about Matthew 7:1-5, and I in turn asked the girl to read it and explain what she thought Christ was saying. At this point, the crowd was up to about 75, and the “christian” girls became nervous and surrounded the sincere student, blocking our eye contact. After rebuking these hindering girls again, I explained the verses in context, and the sincere girl seemed very open to discussing some other issues civilly and with humility. We discussed I John 3:1-8 and talked about the lifestyle of the true believer, and how Christ is our model for godly living in this present world. I also gave a brief disposition on the effect sin has on God, how he treats sin and the sinner, and that Christ came to give forgiveness of sin AND power over sin. I felt this young lady was very open and sincere, and this helped usher in a much calmer atmosphere than yesterday. I preached solid doctrine for about 1 hour, until someone turned on the sprinklers and chased us all out of the free speech area. Even some of the student’s tables were completely soaked. I waited for them to cycle off, and then continued preaching to the slightly smaller crowd. Within 45 minutes the crowd swelled to about 150, and I turned it back over to Evangelista.
She began to calmly teach from the scriptures, even though the heathen raged all around us. The police and faculty were on hand again today to keep them at bay, but it seemed that it only made them more irate. Eventually they broke out a boom box and blared “highway to hell” as everyone sang along (except us of course). She also answered questions and refuted all of the arguments they threw at her. It is so biblical to see this unfold right before your eyes. The pharisaical students try to trip up the Christ-like preacher, but the student of God’s word is always prepared to give an answer. Amazing! She continued to reprove, rebuke, and exhort for about 45 minutes, and then turned the rowdy mob back over to me.
I am convinced that we were very effective today on campus, especially after my conversation with two girls concerning sin in the life of the believer. At first they seemed agitated, but after I calmly and clearly taught them from the scriptures, they began to understand our objective a little clearer. I was very encouraged after speaking with them, as they seemed to grasp the biblical mandate to “go and sin no more!”
The last hour on campus was 30 minutes of straight preaching of the cross, and 30 minutes of answering sincere questions. We left the campus at about 4PM, with a large crowd singing the “goodbye” song to us. I promised to resume again tomorrow at 11AM. Our host and his pastor plan to join us, and it looks to be a very exciting week shaping up. PRAISE THE LORD!
Wednesday, September 24, 2008:
Day 3 would prove to be more of the same, unfortunately. Evangelista and I arrived at about 11:10AM, and I lifted my banner and my voice. A student took a picture of my banner and cussed me out, and as I replied to her, a Messianic Jew professor/student counseled me on the reason why students cuss the preachers. I listened and replied to him, shook his hand and gave him my contact info. He seemed very sincere and said he was born again.
Brother Deane and Pastor Daryl, his pastor, came out to join us on campus today. It is so refreshing to see pastors out preaching the gospel publicly, and speaking to the students. They had sandwich boards, handed out tracts and did one-on-ones while I preached to the small crowd about the content of biblical preaching. A young man tried to prove me wrong, but only solidified my position by having me read from Isaiah 16:5. It speaks of the coming Messiah, him judging and seeking judgment, and hasting righteousness.
I preached for about 40 minutes, and felt my voice getting a little strained, so I invited Deane to preach. He is a seasoned street preacher who knows his Bible, and immediately began to refute false religions. He boldly proclaimed Christ as the only way to eternal life. He covered all of the conditions Christ proclaimed in His preaching, including truly believing on Him, being born again, and biblical repentance. He did a superb job, but his voice gave out in about 15 minutes, so Evangelista took over and began to teach from 1 John 3.
The crowd quickly grew to about 75-100 as Evangelista hashed and rehashed all of the tired excuses that the professing christians use day after day after day. She actually was able, at one point, to read most of Matthew 5 without interruption. As usual, she left them without excuse and defended the gospel without compromise. I am so blessed to have a godly wife. She is a gem. I also had a great conversation with a modestly dressed young lady who was very soft spoken and attentive. I answered her questions concerning, again, sin in the life of the believer, and the book of I John being a rebuttal of the gnosticism infiltrating the early church.
Evangelista gave me the somewhat rowdy crowd after about 1 hour, and I began to boldly preach Christ and Him crucified for about 30 minutes. I wanted to invite Pastor Daryl to preach, so I called him over. He warmed right up to the crowd, and refuted evolution and asked and answered questions for about 30 minutes. But because of the students interest in me, they eventually crowded around me again as I tried to one-on-one with a confused student. I saw that the pastor was finished, so I started lifting my voice again.
I was able to preach strong for about two hours straight, smashing all of the false idols and religions, toppling humanism and declaring Jesus as Lord of heaven and earth. The crowd swelled between 150-300 throughout the afternoon. A few muslim students eventually came and started cussing at me and telling me to shut up. I initially resisted the urge to begin rebuking them and exposing islam as the false religion it is, but they persisted. So, I let them have it, and let me tell you, they came unglued!
They screamed and cursed and threatened and pushed and shoved through the crowd, but were unable to get to me because some of the students “held them back” and the faculty that was working crowd control. One of the angry muslims even stood right in the face of a faculty member and said “He can’t do this, stop him right now or something bad is going to happen, this is not acceptable” and all the while cursing me and telling me to shut the “blank” up. The crowd of course sided with the violent muslims because they don’t want to be labeled as politically incorrect. I warned of the infestation of islam and islamics in this country, told them all to remember 911, and that sharia law will be enforced here one day unless God intervenes.
The Asst. Dean of Students then approached me and warned me that they were about to shut us down because it was no longer safe. The police and faculty began to break up the crowd and tell them to move on. I then stated to him that if he shut me down, I wanted the three muslim students cited or arrested for threatening my life. He began to think about it, and explained that he would need to see these threats personally in order to enforce the law. I then explained that both of the ladies standing in front of me heard every word and threat spoken, and even physically held them back. He began questioning the ladies, and the one who hindered us yesterday lied and said no one threatened me. The other lady said yes, they did threaten me, and a student stepped forward and confirmed the threats as well. My deal seemed a bit too much for him, but I agreed to stop for a while and let things cool down a bit. But, the police and faculty again started shooing away the crowd, so the lull was short lived.
After a few minutes, I began preaching again to the somewhat smaller crowd, but it quickly grew to well over 300. The same group of false christian girls hovered nervously about the crowd, defying the Word and making excuses for their daily sin. I challenged a few of them and a young man to please tell me if homosexual activity was considered sin. They absolutely would not admit it was sin, and said “I don’t know” or “I’m not allowed to judge that, only God can judge that, I’m not going to answer that,” etc., etc., ad nauseum.
We stopped at about 3:35PM, as my voice was somewhat weakening, but seemed to be holding up with all of the preaching as of late. Our being on this small town campus has stirred it up as never before. I hope and pray that I was a positive influence on Pastor Daryl, and Deane indeed confirmed it later that the Pastor wants to go out and preach again, and maybe even tomorrow.
PRAISE THE LORD! On the last 4 campuses we have preached, 3 different pastors have joined us on campus. This is what we have been praying for, that the Lord would raise up preachers on every campus. God has taken it a step further and sent out PASTORS!
We are praying for a great day tomorrow, and look forward to our final day at NAU.
Thursday, September 25, 2008:
As this would be our last day on campus, and the way the crowds reacted to the preaching yesterday, we felt led to go out a little later than usual, and to try and interact a little more with the crowds instead of just preaching to them and refuting the foolish religious nonsense prevalent on this campus.
Pastor Daryl joined us again today, and before I began to preach, I had to point out the blatant hypocrisy of the group of “christian” girls who were openly praying in a circle next to the free speech area. I would usually not say anything, but because they accused me of praying out in the open like a pharisee yesterday (I was not even praying, but preaching), and now they were praying openly for all to see, I wanted to make sure they understood that they were attaining to a level of hypocrisy unrivaled in known history.
I had my scripture banner today flying high, with Matthew 7:21 on one side, and Luke 13:3 and 5, John 3:3 and 7, and John 5:14 and 8:11 on the other side. The scripture banner effectively preaches when I cannot, and since it is all scripture, nobody can argue that it is my opinion or my interpretation.
A small group of 20-30 students quickly gathered around us, some apologizing for prior conduct earlier in the week, others seeing us for the very first time. It always amazes me when a college student says “You have every right to be here.” It is almost condescending on the part of the student, and as if they feel they give us rights that we should not have, when we already are well aware of our rights, and practice them regularly. I dealt with a couple of issues including the bible as truth vs. a myth, creation being proof of God vs. evolution, and gathered in a crowd of 100 or so. I preached for about an hour on God’s judgment and the available appeasement through Christ Jesus, and eventually the God haters reappeared.
Evangelista also preached for about 30 minutes to a somewhat subdued crowd. She had a religious student give his opinion over and over of how God loves us all and we are all sinners and we cannot stop sinning and that we were not loving enough to the students. That is universalism in a nutshell. I was delighted to meet a young lady and her friend who nodded in approval throughout our preaching. They were visibly shaken by the hatred and venom of the students towards us and the gospel. I shook their hands and gave them our contact information. We always delight in those who openly approve of the preaching, as it is a very powerful testimony to those who oppose us.
Evangelista read from Acts 28:26-27, and how appropriate for a stubborn group of students bent on fulfilling the lusts of their heart. “Go unto this people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive: For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.”
These words were spoken to the Jews in Rome, but God speaks these words to Jew and Gentile today through the bold preaching of those who have committed to serving Christ eternally. I was able to end the day with a final warning to “Go and sin no more,” and we left the campus with our police escort at about 2PM.
This is a very good campus to preach, as the faculty and police are very professional. They stay on top of the rowdy students, keeping the space between the preacher and the crowd reasonable, and do not allow the students to infringe on the rights of the preacher. We also are very grateful for our hosts Deane and Emmalene R., and for Pastor Daryl.
PLEASE PRAY FOR US AS WE PREACH THE GOSPEL PUBLICLY ON CAMPUSES AND STREETCORNERS EVERYWHERE!