November 2000 Newsletter
2 Tim3:1 "This
know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of
their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents,
unthankful, unholy,Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent,
fierce, despisers of those that are good,"
"NO THANKS…….HONEY"
Oberlin college in Oberlin, Ohio has an extremely high academic requirement for entry. Only the smart and rich can benefit from the anti-God propaganda dished out there. The students there are so smart that it is said the student body is 85% sodomite. While ministering on the campus I saw a boy talking to a girl (rare sight). I wanted to pronounce them "husband and wife" right on the spot but instead I offered the young "male" a tract. His response shook our generation gap. He said, "No thanks, HONEY". In shock I said, "HONEY???" To which he responded, "Don’t let it bug you…it is just a term of endearment." To which I replied, "I am not endeared to you. I could be your grandfather. Have you no respect for your elders?" He turned a stiffened neck without the slightest care. One good thing about sodomites is that they do not reproduce. Maybe they will self-destruct in one generation. Preaching on this campus was fun too. One policeman apologized that someone had complained. Their complaint was exaggerated. I commented as to what wimps they were to complain. The cop agreed.
ON THE STREETS
Akron, Ohio received a publick witness when Pastor Dave Widner, two of his good men, and the SWAT team blazed abroad (Mk. 1:45) the truth of salvation in Jesus Christ. Some good seed fell on good ground in the "Big Apple" when one young lady got saved on a street meeting in Lower Manhattan. New York City is always a favorite with us and on these two days Pastor Mike Veach and 18 of his good folk joined us in an effort to preserve the "Big Apple" from rotting completely. Coatesville, PA sent the police out to turn the volume down on righteousness. The officer plainly said we could not preach on the street due to a noise ordinance. Violation would result in arrest. So I quit, prayed for a reasonable man (2 Thess. 3:2), and went to visit with the chief of police. The next day I took three other student preachers and two girls plus all of us to the same spot and sang, held banners and preached all the preachers as the same cop strolled by and even offered assistance in positioning the banner. The system I tested 28 years ago in Jacksonfille FL and wrote about in the "Street Preacher’s Manual" still works. As part of our on-the-job training for the students of Northeast Baptist School of Theology in Downingtown, PA each year we were all on a street meeting on the campus of Westchester University in Westchester, PA when my wife engaged a young man in conversation concerning his soul. He told her that he sincerely hoped that she would "wake up and snap out of this" one day and when she did she would realize how foolish it all was. I told her that if that happened not to wake me up. I’m having too much fun.
We arrived early at the Veteran’s Day parade in Naugatuck, CT and secured the best location for a street meeting before the event. As the patriots gathered we began to sing and preach the message of the cross. We praised those who had fought and died for the right to preach the gospel freely on the streets of USA. Somehow the parade attendants cared more about their "Shelly" who was one of the majorettes in the marching band than they did about Uncle Joe who died for our liberty to preach. And they told us so, with a few choice expletives included. So much for patriotism! Tamaqua, PA was simply shocked at our occupation of an entire intersection of their town for righteousness. But the SWAT team, the Lance Thomas family, and the Farren Mathena family all had a grand time of occupation. Unsafe iced over cobblestones and sleet did not deter Pastor Danny Zorn and his Newlife Baptist church family from their first street meeting in their town of Cumberland, MD. They all loved it and plan to make it part of their regular ministry.
IN THE CHURCHES
The SWAT team was honored to minister in the following churches in November. First Bapt., Forest, OH., First Bible Church of Staten Is., NY, Pastor Mike Veach, Northeast Bapt. School of Theology, Downingtown, PA., Dr. Schendler President, Keystone Bapt. Pastor Farren Mathena, Hereford, PA., Amazing Grace Bapt., Pastor Bill Howard, Waterbury, CT., Hazelton Bapt. Temple, Pastor Mark Mahan, Hazelton, PA., Antioch Bapt., Pastor Dale Anschuetz, Reading, PA. and Newlife Bapt., Pastor Danny Zorn, Cumberland, MD.I also was honored to preach in the oldest, continuous operating rescue mission in USA, the New York City Rescue Mission where four grown men walked down, got on their knees and got saved. Praise the Lord.
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