Engaging with darkness, or just entrenched spiritual and emotional ignorance, is not a hobby of mine. In fact I tend to avoid it wherever possible. I have dealt with evil spirits and even been used to remove a demonic spirit here and there. In saying this I am not boasting in the least. I am reminded that our Lord taught his disciples, who were also empowered by his Spirit to deal with demonic spirits, to: “Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven” (Luke 10:20).
Last Saturday I was in Tuscaloosa enjoying a totally gorgeous fall day. I saw some friends, visited some Bama tailgaters and soaked in the ambiance of Alabama football before the kickoff at 2:30 p.m. Around 1:45 I decided it was time to walk down University Avenue to Bryant-Denny Stadium. A few hundred yards from the stadium, as throngs of people were moving along at a rather slow pace, I heard a street preacher just ahead of me on my left. At first I ignored him.
Hearing street preachers is not entirely new for me. I’ve heard them many times in Chicago and other cities as well. A few months ago I heard an open-air preacher in a public park who was actually doing a fairly good job of preaching from a New Testament text in downtown Atlanta, Georgia. Some people were actually listening respectfully to this brother as he spoke kindly and clearly about Jesus and the gospel. But last Saturday was very, very different. I was shocked as I paid more careful attention to what this man was saying and how he was saying it. He was clearly angry, speaking like an automaton who was filled with what seemed like pride. 
Clearly no one was listening to him and no tracts were being handed out or taken by anyone so far as I could see. He held a Bible in one hand and some note cards in the other and just ranted on and on about everyone passing by him going to hell. He was quoting Bible texts (as proof texts) but there was no explanation, just condemnation and judgment with his few texts.
My first reaction was simple. I thought about how foolish this kind of witness was, not because the good news is foolish to cultured despisers but because he was foolish in his manner of witness. His effort was totally ineffective from what I could see. Crowds just kept passing by him as he spoke. No one listened and no one engaged with him. His tone and manner never changed. There was no earnest pleading and nothing remotely human/humane about him. He just kept following his script of hateful condemnation. Like a broken record he just kept saying the same things.
The whole scene lasted for about 90 seconds as I walked toward this man and then by him. After walking about ten yards past him I thought, “I will ask him what the good news is and see what he says.” So I turned around and walked back. I suppose this was my big mistake of the day but I was genuinely curious and interested. I walked up to the man and said, very calmly, “Can I ask you a question?” He heard me and after a long pause said, “Yes.” I noted immediately that he would not make eye contact with me. I proceeded anyway. I said, “I’ve been listening to you as I walked along here and I wonder if you have any good news to offer to me this afternoon?” He began to rant in his response and got aggressive with me. He talked more about hell and judgment. I persisted (briefly) and then said the magic words. “I teach evangelism and I am not hearing anything from you that remotely sounds like good news. What are you attempting to do here?” He became aggressive and extremely agitated. I became more emotional as well. It all became tense in a hurry. Two other men came up beside him and got right in my face. I do mean “right in my face.” They were less than two feet from me and now it was three on one.
The next question was something like this: “Who are you to ask us this kind of question?” And then the bomb fell: “Where do you teach?” I answered, “The Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College Graduate School.” You would have thought I fired a shot. The whole scene went bad quickly. I was told that Billy Graham was a false prophet and was going to hell. I was also going to hell as well since I taught at a place called the Billy Graham Center. Several things were said about Dr. Graham’s soul and ministry and then these three men all said to me, “You are also a false teacher and you are clearly going to hell.”
You can smile if you like but I was shaken. I have never had anyone get in my face and say to me, “You are going to hell.” I responded by asking, “How do you know that since you know nothing about me or my life or faith?” Further, “How can you know what only God knows about a soul?” The answer was repeated like a mantra: “You are a false teacher and you are going to hell.” Now three guys were taking me on and all of them saying the same thing over and over. At this point a police officer intervened (who was watching these guys the whole time). He asked me to move along. I happily did. As I walked away one of the preachers said, with his parting shot, “It is clear you are going to the football game since you are wearing an Alabama shirt so this also proves that you really are going to hell.”
I had never thought that going to see an Alabama football game amounted to a ticket to hell. Seriously, I think you get the drift. These guys were just a little quick to judge. For them Athens clearly had nothing to do with Jerusalem (if you follow my drift here) based upon my blogs from earlier this week.
I was genuinely upset. My heart was racing and my mind was spinning. I began to get a stress headache immediately. I am sure I was in a fight/flight mode inside. I walked toward the stadium and actually ran into a three foot steel post as I walked along since I was not paying attention to where I was going and was in a bit of a daze. After I got inside the stadium to my seat I rested and reflected and then grew more calm. Then it all hit me – these guys are not evangelists.
The truth is that these men are not doing Christ’s work at all. They may be very confused, fearful and (even) misguided Christians but it is more likely that they are self-righteous bigots who know little, if anything at all, of the real (experienced) love of Christ. I realized I am not to judge them but I also needed to form some reasonable response to what just happened. I now wonder the following:
- Are these guys doing Christ’s kingdom work?
- What spirit really controls this kind of activity being done in the name of Christ?
- Should I have even tried to talk to these men?
- Does anyone ever listen to these kinds of guys?
- How much harm does this kind of “witness” do for those of us who sincerely seek to bring good news to our neighbors?
I’d really like to know what you think. I’m serious. Do you know anyone who has ever been brought to Christ because of someone preaching this way to them in public? Do you personally know anyone like these guys? (I do not.) Am I missing something here?
I have told you my story as best I remember it. I have played this over and over in my mind. I am still disturbed by it. It all makes me cringe and fearful about religious zealots who think they do Christ’s will in these contexts.
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I don’t know of guys like this bearing fruit, but I do know several gifted street preachers that do bear fruit. Nowbelieve is one such ministry.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=520417841378650&set=a.520415568045544.1073741828.108263322594106&type=1&theater
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I am speechless.
You express well my concerns Stephen.
Hi John. I wish I could say I have had no experience with these types, or that I did not know any of these types. Alas, neither is true. This type of “witnessing” is normally about relieving performance-guilt of the one doing the “witnessing” rather than the well being of the one being witnessed to. My emotions are mixed. Part of me feels empathy and pity for these poor souls, and part of me feels indignant that our Lord should be so misrepresented.
Heather, this is more impressive and sounds great. I still have some deep reservations even with the Wesley and Whitefield quotes, etc. While I admire the courage and believe this is “true” gospel work I wonder (profoundly) is this is the same as what I read in the Book of Acts. It does not seem so to me but I am open to correction.
Question: Where do we see an apostolic example of preaching the flames of hell as a direct means of inviting people to enter the kingdom of God via good news?
Exactly, John. I really question whether these men know the Lord. It’s the same canned approach by them all: Ps. 5:5; 11:5, and NT warning passages with nothing but condemnation of all people for every little thing they do.
Interesting debate. The fact is that there are very few references to hell in the Bible. The early church saw the breaking of the bonds of death and hades as the heart of the matter.
This was my devotion thought this morning. “The lone prerequisite for judging and condemning our fellows is a life entirely blameless. Who of us can qualify? Yet who of us does not usurp this reserved privilege? Even Jesus the blameless and sinless One did not exercise this high office. He came not to condemn, but to save from condemnation. Sin renders men self-condemned and they need supremely help, yea salvation. However low life may have fallen in sodden sin, if it turns away from sin and to this Matchless One He can and does deliver.” From the text of John 8: 7, 10, 11. Daily Communion, Samuel McPheeters Glasgow, 1951.
James 1:26 If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless.
Proverbs 16:24 Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body.
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Some friends and I engage in sidewalk evangelization and apologetics around Saint Louis, Missouri, e.g. at baseball and football games, street festivals, etc. We hand out prints of the following pamphlet and try to engage folks with smiles and upbeat questions, such as “Would you like to learn more about God’s love for you?”
http://j.mp/GodIsLoveSTL
Michael, this is wonderful. I believe in street evangelism done well and you are doing it. God bless you brother. I note to evangelical zealots that Michael is a Catholic brother who we can learn a lot from in many ways. Certainly here he shows the grace of God more than my anti-Catholic street preacher I met in Tuscaloosa.
John, I had an experience with similar men at a Pearl Jam concert (it was awesome!) on Wednesday night in Charlotte. I am sorry to say I did not hold as much restraint as you did, but yelled at the man and told him how bogus he was: that shouting at people with a megaphone does no one any good (“Why are you shouting at me? he asked); that he was NOT preaching the gospel, was being a jerk, and wasn’t loving people. I even turned to the crowd and appealed to them shouting, “Is anyone here listening to this man, or care what he is saying?!!” “No one is listening to you!” I said. (No one was listening to me, either). I was so upset. My head was spinning and I was not in control. At that point, a calm woman approached and lightly touched my arm in order to calm me down. My wife then grabbed me by the arm and pulled me away. I was so upset–with these men, and with myself.
You mention at the beginning of your article about spiritual encounters with demonic forces. I do wonder if these men are controlled by them. That’s a shot in the dark, and I don’t know that for sure. They /could/ be misguided brothers. But from what I know based on testimony is that these men are usually Pentecostal, have no church home, no pastor, no elders in authority over them, and the LOVE to be HATED. They have a martyr complex: the more people reject and hate them, the better they feel about what they are doing.
John, your article is splendid. I do wonder if these men really have the Holy Spirit-or some other spirit. “Lord, Lord, did we not preach your holy name at stadiums and massive crowds?”
Sad for sure and I think it would leave the most stout hearted shaken. Sadly, I too have crossed paths with these kinds of folks. Raised on the vitriol that hides behind a caricature of an old testament prophet. My experience is that most people can sense there is something not quite right, that something is askew and will quickly dismiss it. Sadly, there are those whose festering wounds will connect with those like in your story, forming a self-admiration society of twisted martyrs.
Very well said. I do think this is “twisted” and damaging, especially to the soul of those doing this work they call evangelism.
Jesus usually only spoke of Hell (Gehenna) when dealing with hard hearted hypocrites. As to the nature of that punishment, I recommend the following: https://davehershey.wordpress.com/2013/03/14/the-fire-that-consumes-by-edward-fudge-review/
As to your question, “Should I have even tried to talk to these men?” I am sure you did the right thing in challenging them to present “good news.” Maybe they will wake up one night and ask themselves, “What the H— am I preaching?” because that seems to be what their preaching is about. However, let’s not forget that the Apostle Paul’s “street preaching” in Athens ended with “because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed . . .” Consideration of one’s eternal destiny is certainly an element of the “good news” even if one doesn’t picture hell as the paradigmatic “lake of fire.” On the other hand, I’m tempted to get the bumper sticker that says, “Eternity — Smoking or Non-Smoking?”
Perhaps I am naïve, but the older I get the more I experience knowing God as my Abba, His Love and His tender mercies…. The Good News is GOOD because it tells us the Truth, about ourselves and our world in Love, and calls us to be reconciled to God and to one another. It is Christ’s Love experienced and lived between the individual disciple and the Trinity, the community of faith and the Trinity, and one another, that marks a Disciple’s maturity and authentic witness to Christ. Love for God, neighbor, friend, the people of God, and even our enemy is worked out by loving mercy, doing justly and walking humbly with God in total surrender — presenting our bodies a living sacrifice! We are called to worship God in spirit and truth; in so doing, this right worship leads to right living, to deep contemplative prayer (including Lectio Divina), to the right and proper celebration of the sacraments and to the doing of the Word of God –this is authentic communion with God — and these ‘means of Grace’ in the power of the Holy Spirit transform us into new creations as we Live in the Divine Embrace, empowered by the Holy Spirit to KNOW, “Christ in us the hope of glory” such that our lips pour out His Praise, and we cry out “Abba!”
I remember one time, I actually had compassion for one of these gentlemen. I wondered what he had gone through, what he had been exposed from, what he had lost, and what he had found to have a faith as such. I may be an atheist, but for a moment, I had compassion for what must be a hellish torment that burns within one of my fellow men.
His church is too small!
John the Baptist was fiery.
We have street preachers like that here, as well as more careful street evangelism.
John,
I so appreciate your measured approach to describing this encounter. Maturity with aplomb. Thank you. Also, you asked the only question you SHOULD ask such people, “where’s the beef?!? (ie: good news).
Congratulations. I’d have been shaken too. Hope you did no damage to that post. Cheers!
The post is secure, right down from the Bear Bryant statuary and that of Coach Saban, the reigning king of the sport!!! Thanks friend. You encourage me.