Street Preaching

On the way to my sociology class today I was abruptly stopped as my ears were greeted with a voice only heard in the movies. A tall man stood on a brick wall as hundreds of college students walked by. The man seemed to be quoting Genesis and the story of the flood. I stopped, wanting to listen, but I could not stay - for I had class.

On the way back to my dorm I wanted to hear his voice again. My true reasons were very insidious - I wanted to debate with him as he seemed to be a fire and brimstone type of man. To my dismay, he was no longer upon the wall. As I was about to leave the pedestrian walkway (where the man once was), I turned around to see the street preacher talking intimately with a student.

I quickly walked back towards him and waited, eaves dropping on their conversation. The voices stopped, and I turned around, only to be greeted by the man.

He asked me if I knew Jesus, I replied “yes sir!”

We then talked for a few moments, well, he talked, I had a hard time getting a word in edgewise. We talked about bible translations, denominations, and other things of that nature. He asked me penetrating questions, all to which he seemed happy with my replies.

But then, I finally got a question in, “how long have you been doing this?”

“13 years” he replied.

13 years is a long time to be street preaching. This man said he was born again when he was 32, and in his 13 years since he had been thrown in jail 4 times. He told me about the last time he was thrown in jail, and added a political quip.

“Freedom of Speech! One nation under God!”

He began to explain to me how he was thrown in jail for nothing more than preaching the gospel. I asked him what the specific charge was they brought against him. His reply, “For preaching to drunkards.”

He told me the location where he was preaching, and I can tell you from personal experience, many many drunk and high people hang out there.

I said, “so for disturbing the peace?”

“For disturbing THEIR peace,” he said.

And it hit me, this guy knows what is up. People are at peace with where they are, and having a man yelling the gospel out in public seriously scares them. Its not because they aren’t used to hearing people yell in public - how many times have you heard the f-bomb while walking to class or to a movie? - its because the truth hurts. What is the easiest way to get rid of the truth? Shut up the one speaking it.

An experiment I think would be fun to do someday is have every Christian in America act like this guy - like John the Baptist. I mean, how many jail cells could our tax dollars have paid for anyways?

TagsCampus, Preach, Street