Post by messengermicah on Apr 16, 2009 16:57:33 GMT -5
Sunday March 29, 2009: Attended local church services. I had the privilege of teaching the adult Sunday school class. The pastor cancelled all other classes and gave me the pulpit during Sunday school. I preached from the pulpit for over an hour on “A Gospel of Power” from Judges 2:6-13.
Monday March 30, 2009-Columbus State University-Columbus, Georgia: I had a good day of preaching here last April and looked forward to coming back. This school seems to be predominantly black (60-70%).
I stepped upon the free speech bench under the free speech tree around 11:55 AM. I immediately began to get hecklers and listeners and a small group began to gather.
GREEK WEEK
I had no idea it was their “Greek Week” and so around noon they began blasting loud “Gangster Rap” music from a platform area about 150 yards from where I was preaching.
I could still be heard by those around me but it made the preaching much more difficult as you have to work harder and it is difficult to gauge how loud you are preaching.
For the next two hours I preached over the loud music to fairly rowdy crowds of 30-75. I think the crowds would have been larger had it not been for the “Greek Week” loud music, free food and festivities going on 150 yards away. Several police officers were on hand all day along with an administrator. Students stuck cigarette butts in my pockets, threw water on me, blew smoke in my face, gyrated, etc.
A WOMAN TRIES TO ATTACK ME
One loud mouthed, immodestly dressed black female with her daughter in her arms kept interrupting and make unbiblical, religious sounding comments. I ignored her for a long time as I was having some good discussion and question and answer sessions with some of the students.
At one point, this woman misunderstood something I said and became so irate she came at me and had to be physically restrained by the students, police and administrators.
COLUMBUS STATE’S DIOTROPHES (3 JOHN 9)
Around 2:15 PM, I seemed to be making some real progress with several of the black male students who claimed to be Christians. They wanted me to sit down and have a discussion with them. Since by this time the crowd had dwindled to around 15-20 open hearted and civil listeners, I agreed. We had a great time of discussion for about 20 minutes when the leader of these two young men seemed to become jealous and territorial and demanded I go and apologize to this “woman of God” who had the attire of a harlot and tried to attack me.
I replied I was willing to apologize for her misunderstanding me but I would not apologize for what I asked her. He demanded I go to where she was. I refused because I was only supposed to stay in the free speech zone. I was not going to approach her after she became so irate. This would be unwise and could be interpreted by the other person as me harassing them. I told him if he brought her to me, I would talk to her. He refused and continued to try to boss me around.
Later, as the woman was nearby still parroting unbiblical religious sounding statements she has heard others make I attempted to talk to her but she ignored me.
At this point he ordered his two “disciples” to follow him and leave. They did this but not before the whole group of them formed a big prayer circle in front of me and prayed a prayer. One young man in the group seemed to be really open hearted and sincere so for his sake I did not say much to them as the rest of them prayed prayers God could not hear (Psalm 66:18, John 9:31, Proverbs 15:8, Proverbs 28:9).
It was now around 2:40 PM, so for the remaining 20 minutes of my permit I tried to preach. A small crowd of 15-25 gathered immediately and heckled and asked questions.
At 3:00 PM, the police told me my time was up and I needed to leave. I announced we would return the next day. The police escorted us to our vehicle.
Tuesday March 30, 2009-Columbus State University-Columbus, Georgia: Sister Elizabeth and I began the drive over to Columbus, Georgia in the overcast, drizzling rain. It was forecast to rain and have thunderstorms today.
We left around 9:15 AM but arrived on campus around 11:15 AM because we are an hour ahead crossing the Alabama-Georgia state line. I mounted the free speech bench under the free speech tree just before 11:30 AM and began preaching.
There was not a lot of activity in the area but I was immediately able to get the attention of those who were and begin interacting with them. A small crowd began to gather.
LOVE, GRACE, AND THE GOSPEL
Soon several people from Cougars for Christ and the Baptist local church came out with hand made banners that read “Grace”, “God is Love”, and “The Gospel: Good News”. They were obviously opposing my “Repent or Perish”, “Holiness or Hell” message. They positioned themselves to the right of me facing my direction at an angle about 25 yards away.
I began preaching on themes relating to their banners such as the true grace of God (Titus 2:11-12, Romans 6:14), the love of God (1 John 5:3, John 14:15, John 15:10, Revelation 3:19), and the gospel (1 Peter 4:17, Romans 2:16, Revelation 14:6-7, Mark 1:1-4). I began to ask them questions they either could not answer, or were embarrassed to answer because it would show they believed the same thing I believed and preached but were just unwilling to admit.
ANOTHER DIOTROPHES?
One young man who aligned himself with them attempted to answer some of my questions and dialogue with me and actually answered truthfully and Biblically. I really appreciated his input and dialogue but then the leader of the group told him not to say anything to me. I later learned this young man knows some of these people but is not actually affiliated with them.
INEFFECTIVE PREACHING
The man in charge admitted to me and the students that a lot of what I said was true he just did not like the way I said it. What this means is he does not like that I said it in a way where people understood exactly what I meant and took it seriously. This type of vague, unspecific preaching convicts no one and makes no impact but strong, direct, specific preaching will bring about conviction, pierce the hearts and arouse the wrath of the devil’s crowd.
A young man with long hair who claims to be an atheist stood on the bench next to me and attempted to shout over me and drown me out for some time. Soon it began to rain some and the students gathered under the shelter across the grass about 40 yards from where I was preaching. I continued preaching and the group holding signs stayed in the rain.
PLEASING MAN OR GOD (GALATIANS 1:10)?
The crowd was fairly scattered due to the rain but was probably around 50-60. The police officers were on hand again. Soon the rain stopped for a while and the crowd gathered closely around me. I had some good times of preaching, teaching and answering questions. Someone in the crowd suggested they go over to the group holding the signs and ignore me. All but about 3 people walked across the grass to where the other group was while they sat there and told them essentially that everything I was saying was the truth but they did not agree with me. I always wonder how you could disagree with someone if they are preaching the truth from the Bible.
There are several reasons: 1) Most people do not like the truth and if they find out you agree with the truth they may not like you either.
2) People want you to say the truth in a way so vague, indirect and inoffensive that no one understands what you mean and no one takes it seriously.
3) People are jealous and territorial that you are having a real impact on the campus and they are not because they do not have the moral courage to stand up and speak out.
4) People claim to believe the Bible but actually show they do not when the rubber meets the road.
It was now around 1:00 PM and this gave me the opportunity to take a bathroom break. I came back and soon I had a crowd around me again of 25-30. Throughout the day it would rain, drizzle and then stop but I always had groups standing around listening and asking questions.
One young pleasant black male asked me if I would sit down and have a discussion with them. I agreed and we sat down on the bench and had some good discussion for about 20 minutes with the 15-20 listeners before the young man left.
RECONCILED WITH MY WOULD BE ATTACKER
Some time after he left I stood up again and the crowd grew again to around 25-30. For the remainder of the afternoon I preached, taught and answered questions through intermittent periods of rain to a group that was sometimes attentive and sometimes rowdy. At times I really seemed to be making real progress with some of them. The woman who tried to attack me showed up again and ended up being a very pleasant and reasonable person and we had some good discussion.
Although most would probably not admit it there were some in the crowd who were really seeking truth and others were becoming convicted as they listened more carefully.
Especially towards the end of the day the vast majority of the crowd was black and the most disruptive and inattentive were some of the white students. One young man kept sticking a miniature radio in my ears playing AC DC’s “Hell’s Bells” while another long haired young man who claimed his father was a pastor made unbiblical statements the whole time I was trying to answer sincere questions.
As the time neared 3:00 PM the rain began to come down harder and my permit expired although the police officers did not seem to care if I continued. I announced I would return the next day weather permitting.
TWO SINCERE TRUTH SEEKERS
As I left the area I had some very good discussion with two white male students who were very sincere and obviously studied the Bible and took it seriously. One of these young men was the one who had attempted to dialogue with me earlier in the day when the leader of the group holding the signs silenced him. We talked until around 3:30 PM.
Meanwhile, Sister Elizabeth was having a good discussion with none other than the woman from the day before who wanted to attack me. I was able to apologize for her misunderstanding me and she apologized to me also. We had some good discussion and she seemed to genuinely appreciate us. We walked her to her car with our umbrella in the rain.
Wednesday April 1, 2009-Columbus State University-Columbus, Georgia: Sister Elizabeth and I arrived on campus just before noon. It was supposed to rain all day again today. It was very overcast and threatening to rain all day but thankfully it never did.
I began preaching around noon. There were very few people around except for a few students sitting at a distance listening. I preached for around 30 minutes and no one stopped.
CIGARETTE IN MY FACE
Around 12:30 PM a long haired man who seemed to be somewhat older than the average student began listening. He was smoking a cigarette and claimed to be a Catholic. He became offended when he heard me say something against smoking and flicked his cigarette behind at me and it hit me on the cheek.
He kept making threats, flicked another cigarette behind at me and spit on me several times. A small group formed around me and continued to grow to around 30-50.
It was a good day of preaching and answering questions although for some time the crowd was fairly rowdy.
CHRISTIAN CROSS DRESSER?
A student who seemed to be one of the leaders of “Greek Week” and claimed to be a Christian while living in all kinds of sin came out dressed like a woman and wearing a dress.
This was the same student who the day before kept sticking the miniature radio with AC DC’S “Hell’s Bells” in my ear.
By around 2:00 PM some of the students talked me into sitting down on the bench once again and having some discussion with them. I did this for some time.
There were many opposers of truth in the crowd now. Some in the crowd had good questions and I tried to reason patiently with some of them and avoid the hecklers and disrupters. For the remaining hour I stood surrounded by a group of 20-40 that continued growing. The hecklers continued to persist in trying to disrupt and distract me as I patiently reasoned and answered sincere questions from the crowd.
Around 3:00 PM some in the crowd let me know my permit expired but I was well aware of what time it was. I began to leave and many wanted to know if we were returning the next day.
Sister Elizabeth had a group of students around her also. I went into the restroom and when I came out she was surrounded by a group of 15-20 students. We sat down and continued answering questions.
Soon a large black man who claimed to be a preacher showed up and began trying to boss me around and take over the crowd so I left. I was scheduled to preach in a church several hours away that evening.
That evening I preached from Matthew 6:10 on “Advancing the Kingdom of God” for over one hour.