Post by messengermicah on Nov 22, 2008 15:29:48 GMT -5
Sunday November 9, 2008: Sister Elizabeth and I had originally planned on leaving the Central Florida area on Saturday (November 8) but the pastor of the church where we were staying asked us to stay around for the weekend and preach in both the Sunday services.
I preached a two part series from Genesis 6:1-14 and Matthew 24:36-42 on “The Days of Noah” in the morning and evening service.
Monday November 10, 2008: Sister Elizabeth and I left the central Florida area and drove north to our next location. We did not attempt to preach on the campus today.
Tuesday November 11, 2008: I was surprised to learn today was a holiday for the University of Florida. I spent the day working on minor repairs to the trailer, reading the Bible and Sister Elizabeth and I ate dinner with Brother Jesse Morrell and Sister Krista (Jesse’s wife).
Wednesday November 12, 2008-University of Florida-Gainesville, Florida: Sister Elizabeth and I arrived on campus in the free speech area (Turlington Plaza) just before noon.
I was in no hurry to begin at noon because this campus is usually difficult to get a crowd early in the day. It did not matter because there was a brief 15 minute shower around noon that ended around 12:15 PM.
After the rain shower ended, I scoped the free speech area to decide the best place to preach. The spot I usually preach at was full of activity and there was a radio blasting from a table promoting a dance-a-thon. I wanted to avoid this loud music and I figured once they heard me preaching they would play it louder to drown me out.
I moved down to the end of Turlington Plaza where the noise would not interfere and there is also a place for the students to sit with shade.
I began preaching at 12:30 PM and immediately had a small crowd because some of the students remembered me and had come around to listen.
The small crowd quickly grew to over 100 for some time while I had some heckling hypocrites in my face. After some time the crowd went back down to around 30-50.
Soon the crowd built up again to around 150-175. For the remainder of the afternoon while I preached the crowd fluctuated from 50-175.
I stopped preaching around 3:10 PM and turned the crowd over to Sister Elizabeth with around 120 listeners.
As Sister Elizabeth preached two students came to talk and ask questions. One seemed very open, sincere and was asking for Biblical reasons for why we were doing what we were doing. He listened intently to my answers and I seemed to be making great progress with him.
The other student did not seem as sincere or as open but just wanted to give me his ideas and opinions on why I was preaching wrong and what I needed to do. All of the detailed scriptural answers I gave him meant nothing to his preconceived ideas of how things should be done.
Sister Elizabeth only preached for about 20 minutes and turned the crowd back over to me around 3:30 PM.
I had planned on leaving the university around 4:00 PM to make a church service that evening. From 3:30 PM to 4:00 PM I sat down in my chair and answered the students’ questions.
That evening I preached in the local church where we were staying from Matthew 6:10 on “Advancing the Kingdom of God”.
Thursday November 12, 2008-University of Florida-Gainesville, Florida: Sister Elizabeth and I arrived in the free speech area around 12:15 PM and once again there was all kinds of activities going on in the area where I usually preach at. The dance-a-thon people were there again but were not playing music but I thought they probably would turn the music on once I began preaching.
I decided to begin in the same spot I began the day before. I began preaching around 12:30 PM and noticed it was very hot today. I soon gathered a small group of about 30-40. The crowd grew to about 50-60 but soon dropped to about 30-40 again.
For the first hour of preaching it was pretty slow but I had some good dialogue, interaction, question and answers with the small group listening.
MORE HOMOSEXUAL VIOLENCE
During this first slow hour a very angry homosexual tried to spit on me, burn me with his cigarette, stick his cigarette in my pocket, burn my Bible, steal my Bible and grabbed me on the backside. He was so angry he shook. This did not cause the size of the crowd to grow but I do believe my not retaliating and at the same time not backing down earned their respect.
GET OUT OF HERE!
Soon the crowd size grew to around 130-140. An angry female came running up to me and demanding what my name was. I asked her name. She stood in my face, screamed at me, pointed in my face, etc. for a few minutes and then stormed off angrily.
Shortly after that a nicely dressed, tall black man with an accent came up to me and asked me to move to another location because he said I was disturbing classes. I was polite to him but firmly told him I would not move unless the police asked me to move because I was in the free speech area. He told me his secretary had already come and talked to me (I figured his secretary was the angry female who came demanding my name and yelling at me).
I continued preaching and gradually the crowd size dwindled to about 40-50. I was having some good dialogue and question and answer sessions when two police officers approached me and politely asked me if I would not mind moving down to the area where I usually preach. I told them that would be no problem. I announced to the crowd I was moving down (it was only about 30 yards away) and they followed me.
It was now about 2:15 PM. I began preaching and answering questions in the new location and the crowd continued to grow to about 200.
MORMONS, PROPOSITION 8, AND BLACK CALIFORNIA VOTERS
During this time I spotted the Mormons and thanked them for rallying California to vote for Proposition 8 and also for the Flying J. I also thanked the 7 out of 10 black voters in California who voted for Amendment 8 and told the crowd I could not be a racist since I agreed with the majority of the black voters in California (homosexuals often accuse anyone who opposes homosexuality of being a racist and a bigot). I asked the crowd if the 7 out of 10 black voters in California who voted for Amendment 8 were racist homophobes.
It seemed to be a very profitable time of preaching and answering questions. My voice seemed to be giving out some so I stopped preaching around 3:00 PM.
I sat down in the chair and answered questions from the students until around 4:00 PM and seemed to make some real progress with some of them and much of the conversation was very civil. I was surrounded by 30-50 students.
From 4:00 PM to 5:00 PM I continued to answer questions from a few students and did an interview with one student doing a documentary.
Friday November 14, 2008-University of Florida-Gainesville, Florida: Sister Elizabeth and I drove to campus with a brother from the local church where we were staying. This brother also joined us as we preached the previous two semesters at the University of Florida.
HELLS BELLS
I have noticed this year in the Turlington Plaza there are all kinds of bells, chimes, rings, etc. that noisily ring constantly from 12:30 PM to 1:00 PM. I do not remember this ringing going on from the previous two years I have preached here. I wonder if they started this to interfere with the preachers.
Due to this ringing I did not want to begin preaching until at least 1:00 PM because it is difficult and distracting to preach over this constant loud ringing for a whole half an hour. Besides it is actually easier to get a crowd on this campus later than earlier.
CALL THE POLICE!
We arrived on campus around 1:15 PM and it was another very hot day for this time of year. The area of the Turlington Plaza where I was moved to yesterday and wanted to begin preaching in had a car parked illegally by a group of black female students blasting music and dancing. There is a large prestigious black fraternity that is usually hanging around in this area.
On the other side of the car blasting the music was the table advertising the dance-a-thon also playing music but not as loud. In front of the dance-a-thon table was a group of students playing box ball (I have noticed this seems to be a traditional Friday afternoon activity at this university).
With all this activity going on I decided to move down to the alternate area where I was moved from the previous day because it was supposedly disturbing classes and begin preaching.
However, before I began preaching I called the police to have the illegal car removed and the loud, blasting music removed. I was hopeful to be able to preach in that spot later this same afternoon.
YOU ARE GAY IF YOU VOTE FOR OBAMA?
I began preaching in the same spot where I had began preaching the previous two days at 1:30 PM and quickly began to gather a large, rowdy crowd. I saw the police officer pull across the street and observe the activities going on in Turlington Plaza and watched the black female students who had parked the car turn the music way down.
Soon the music was turned off and the car removed but I was gathering a large lively crowd and did not want to move at this time.
Soon the police officer came over and asked me for my ID. I asked him why I was being stopped and asked for an ID and he said he was getting complaints about me disturbing classes and also telling students they “were gay because they voted for Obama”.
I showed him my ID and said I record the preaching with my voice recorder and had said no such thing. I also told him I called the police and would have preached in the other spot if it had not been for the illegally parked car blasting the music all over the Turlington Plaza.
Just before 2:00 PM the officer told me I was free to go but wanted me to preach in the area where the car had been illegally parked and stay away from the spot where I had previously preached because it disturbed classes.
I continued preaching at 2:00 PM in the spot where the car had been illegally parked. The dance-a-thon booth was playing music but I knew they had a permit so there was nothing I could do about that. They did raise the volume once they heard me preaching to try to drown me out. There was also an intense game of box ball going on about 20 yards from me.
THE VALUE OF HUMOR, SONGS AND ONE LINERS
I began preaching and immediately drew about 4 atheists, God hating hecklers who constantly followed me around, hurled accusations, fired trick questions they would never allow me to answer or even listen to, blow smoke in my face, etc.
I preached over them and the music as best I could and soon a small group began to sit around the cement planters in the area and listen. Gradually with a combination of humor, one-liners, a few songs, and preaching, the hecklers settled down, the crowd grew and began to listen and ask some good questions.
The crowd grew to about 120 and then came down again to about 30-40.
At 3:30 PM I decided to sit down in the chair and answer the students’ questions. Soon the crowd was had increased in number so I got out of the chair and resumed preaching. The crowd quickly returned to around 110-130.
I continued preaching and answering questions until around 4:45 PM. Several times during this time I would try to sit down and calmly answer questions but soon would be up preaching again.
I had to preach over the music coming from the dance a thon table all afternoon.
For about the last hour a young black male student listened and challenged me on several things. To his credit he was honest enough to acknowledge my points as correct on about everything I said. He seemed to have a solid Christian upbringing.
ABORTION, RAPE AND JIM CROW
He did not like me preaching that if someone voted for Obama they supported murdering innocent babies. Near the end of the preaching someone brought up the usual issue of rape and I said the rape victim should put the baby up for adoption before they would murder it.
This black student objected and went on and on about how bad adoption was because a child growing up without parents could really have a detrimental effect on a child.
I told him he was right and then told the crowd something to the effect of “I am glad you abortionists were not in charge in the days of the Jim Crow South because you would have aborted every black baby born so they would not have to be subjected to all that discrimination and humiliation!” I named off several names of black Americans born in that era who never would have been remembered if abortionists had their way.
The crowd sat stunned, and silent with no reply. Shortly thereafter I concluded the preaching at 4:45 PM.
Monday November 17, 2008-University of Florida-Gainesville, Florida: Sister Elizabeth and I arrived on campus today around 12:50 PM and I began preaching in the Turlington Plaza at 1:00 PM.
It was a sunny clear cool day with temperatures in the high 50’s to mid 60’s.
There were a lot of people standing around the area where I began preaching but it took some time to get their attention. A few stopped to listen but did not ask many questions.
After about 30 minutes I began to gather a small crowd of 25-30. They were slow to ask questions but just stood or sat and listened attentively.
I think there was a big football game over the weekend and figured much of the student body was recovering from a big weekend of drinking and partying.
A DAY OF STRAIGHTFORWARD PREACHING AND ANSWERING QUESTIONS
The crowd grew to around 70-80 and I was able to do some effective preaching. The crowd was very attentive and civil even though they did not ask a whole lot of questions.
After some time the crowd dwindled down to around 15-20 and I was able to do some very good teaching from the Bible and answer questions. Several students sat and listened attentively all day long.
Soon the crowd gradually grew to around 70-80 again and I began to get more questions. The crowd remained attentive and civil. Other than the initial time of getting a crowd at the beginning this day was a day of straightforward Biblical preaching and answering questions.
After some time the crowd dwindled down again to around 30-40 and I continued answering questions and preaching straightforward.
The crowd grew again to around 60-70 and then came down again to 30-40. At 4:00 PM I stopped preaching and took a restroom break.
When I returned about 15-20 students were still waiting for me including two young mormons. The mormon missionaries asked me what the “Flying J” was. I told them it was a Mormon owned truck stop that was very RV friendly.
The students asked me some questions about how I got started preaching, what I did before traveling around preaching on campuses, etc. I gave them my testimony of how I was saved and the truth of holiness was revealed to me from the Bible.
The crowd around me grew to around 30-40. It seemed to be a mixture of professing Christians from the campus ministries, atheists and skeptics. Some of these campus Christians seem to be fairly solid. They do not say much but they do not oppose me either. I have met a few of them and talked to them in the past two years.
I continued talking to the students and answering questions until 5:00 PM.
As I began to leave a student stopped me and gave me his testimony of how God had revealed to him and showed him from the scriptures the possibly of living a life free from sin by being crucified with Christ. Praise the Lord!
Tuesday November 18, 2008-University of Florida-Gainesville, Florida: Sister Elizabeth and I arrived on campus around 1:10 PM and I began preaching in Turlington Plaza around 1:20 PM.
It was another cool sunny day only cooler than the previous day.
I slowly gathered a small crowd. Over time the small crowd continued to increase. It was a very good time of preaching and answering questions similar to the day before.
ROWDY CROWD
The crowd continued to grow to around 200-230. Several students from the crowd began to come in the middle and tell the crowd not to listen to me. Others walked up in my face and began demanding I answer certain questions they had. I preached as loud, hard and fast as I could.
The crowd closed in around me so I exited the crowd and stood upon one of the planters, faced the crowd and continued preaching. The crowd came around me and I continued preaching and answering questions.
A STAR IS BORN?
One female hypocrite stood on the planter next to me and continuously asked questions without ever giving me time to answer questions. Then she tried to impress the crowd with her singing voice. She was some kind of J-Lo or Mariah Carey “wannabee” although she did have a good voice. I have heard Mariah Carey sing “gospel” songs and it makes me want to puke! I felt the same way when this female student who claimed to be a Christian began showcasing her “talent” by interrupting all the preaching and trying to sing.
I began to sing one of my songs and this stopped her and she stepped down.
By now the crowd had dwindled down to about 40-50. Many were trying to turn things into a circus but I ignored them and focused on those who asked sincere questions. It was now around 3:30 PM.
I began to have some great interaction and time of answering questions with several of the students. The crowd began to grow again and was civil and attentive.
BIBLE BULLY
Soon a large black male student who I recognized from the day before showed up and began to interrupt and try to take over. The day before toward the end when I was surrounded by students asking me questions he shouted a few comments from across the Turlington to try to show the listeners he was a “Christian” and knew something about the Bible. I ignored him and so did the crowd. He then walked up behind me, interrupted me and told everyone about the “Bible Study” he was going to have and told everyone to “come and check him out!” The crowd politely ignored him again and he left.
Well he showed up again today and began to interrupt and say things like “We’re all sinners! Ain’t nobody perfect except Jesus!”
I tried to ignore him for a few minutes but he was attention starved and wanted to be recognized as the UF sinning Bible scholar.
I finally refuted his statements from the Bible by quoting verses like 1 John 3:9, 1 John 5:18, 1 John 3:6, 1 John 3:8, Matthew 5:48, Hebrews 12:14, Job 1:1, 1 Peter 1:15, 16, etc.
He walked up into my face and put his chest next to mine trying to bully me because of his size (he was about 6’2” 280 lbs). I stood toe to toe with him and refuted every thing he said.
I stood on the planter and he stood on it next to me and tried to talk over me. My voice was much louder than his so I began lifting up my voice, refuting what he was saying and preaching to the crowd. He now demanded for me to lower my voice. He was the one who walked up in my face, tried to make me back down, tried to back me up, and tried to talk over me and now he is demanding I lower my voice?
He finally left after about 15 minutes. By now the Mormons and everyone else was angry at me and throwing all kinds of accusations, trick questions, at me and trying to entangle me in my talk.
I was getting ready to finish up the day with a calm teaching session of questions and answers when this large black male student challenged me. After he left I preached another 10 minutes or so and called it a day around 4:15 PM.
They were all pretty stirred up and all finding reasons to defend their sinful lifestyles as I left.