THE BRIT INVASION

University of Washington, May 23, 2011

    I started preaching in the middle of Red Square where several students were sitting around eating lunch. 

     My preaching was somewhat lighter than usual.  After about 20 minutes, I began to get some response.  There was a girl from England, who seemed quite taken with the preaching.  I got on England's case, "You Brits sent the Beetles and the Rolling Stones over here to corrupt American youth.  Then to top that off that you dispatched the homo, Elton John, who ended up queering so many of our youth.  America was a morally upright place until you sent your rockers over here.  They did more damage than the Redcoats of the Revolutionary era.  

     A girl approached me who had set up a table set up  promoting mental health awareness.  She asked my opinion on mental health issues.   I explained that I considered most that allegedly had mental illnesses were actually bound by sin.  If they received the forgiveness of sin through Jesus Christ, they would have peace of mind and no longer be tormented with guilt, which can weigh so heavily on men's minds that it can drive them out of their minds.  The problem is that mental health professions are replacing priests and ministers.  We need a return to the confessional instead of promoting all the psycho babble and drugs.

Discussion on Mental Health

     Sister Pat took over next; by the time she turned the meeting back to me, we had about 40 gathered.  My second session I concentrated on giving reasons for my hope with gentleness and respect towards those who really wanted  explanations on the reasonableness of Christianity.  Of course, with the mockers I am not so soft; I can be harsh and condemning towards them.

     Around 2:45, I noticed that I had lost the attention of the ones still hanging around.  Therefore, I announced that I was taking a break.  A pervert came over to show me a knitted penis and vagina which he had gotten from a table promoting sexual awareness.  I mostly ignored him explaining that I was on break. 

Sinful Knitting

     At 3 PM I changed locations to speak on the steps of one of the classroom buildings at the edge of Red Square.  The pervert came over with two of his cronies who were bowing before the knitted genitals.  They worshipped for about 10 minutes.  I moved down from them and got the attention of some black sorority girls and black guys.   They asked me what I thought about spray tanning (why these they were interested in that subject I know not).  Soon they were asking about piercings and tattoos; so there was not much depth to the discussion.  I warned them of the sin of vanity.  I did use them as a springboard to build a crowd of thirty.

Martha witnessing at UW

    I told the students about Martha who was taking a sandwich break.  I had her built up so that when she returned, they were ready to listen to her.  Pat finished up the day preaching until 4:40.

UW Students Hear the Gospel

     Pat reported that a Chinese boy, Peter, said that he wanted to learn to preach like we do.  Pat encouraged him to come out each day and observe our preaching and to open his mouth and God would fill it with his Word.

Sister Pat

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A WONDERFUL DAY

University of Washington, May 24, 2001

     We had an attentive and lively crowd all afternoon.  Martha had 45 minute Q & A with an inquisitive bunch.  One girl twice asked Martha why there needed to be a blood offering.  Martha answered briefly so when I took over I gave a more complete answer even though it was difficult because there were two guys arguing in front of me at the time.  But the girl did say I helped her to understand.  Students do not usually want to concede that I have given them a good answer, so her response was encouraging.

Students Had Lots of Questions for Martha Marie

Martha is Ready With the Answers

    The British girl was back from yesterday promoting her

Pretty British Lesbian

lesbianism.  Such a shame since she is a pretty young thing with a personality.  There was a large group of lesbians and they were holding a sign promoting their perversion.

    An atheist held a sign promoting the The Flying Spaghetti Monster.  He claimed the Bible taught that men are born sinners.  If it is so that God holds all men accountable for one man's sin, then atheists have a justifiable case against God.  I refuted the doctrine thus taking away one excuse to not believe.  Of course, the fact is that he is unwilling to believe. 

     There was another skeptic who fired one question after another at me for a half hour, who had a more open attitude than the guy with the sign.  He shook hands when he had to leave.  The students applauded our in depth dialogue, which dealt mostly with ethics.

    Several men from my college fraternity were listening.  One wanted to arrange for me to come over to the house but Martha overheard that the invitation was nixed by an alumni.  I suspect that at high levels of the fraternity they have discussed how to deal with me and my stories from my dissolute college days.  The motto of our fraternity was "Justice is our foundation."  I sometimes use that motto as a springboard to teach on justice.  However, I point out that I knew no one in my fraternity who took the motto seriously.  What they did take seriously is the party life, including an annual toga party. 

Delta Upsilon Boys Listen

    Sister Pat concluded, "It was a wonderful day."  We left campus at 4:40, because we wanted to go to the top of the Space Needle.

Holy Boldness

May the Seeds Grow

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A WET BUT PRODUCTIVE DAY

Western Washington University, May 25, 2011

     We drove 90 minutes to WWU with rain threatening.  According to the forecast, I thought that we might get in a couple of hours before the precipitation.  I started preaching at the noon break.  One fellow stopped as everyone else was passing.  However, at the end of the break 5-6 other stopped.  They were about 25 feet from me.  After several minutes one of them said, "You need not yell; we will come closer.  I am not a Christian but I appreciate your dedication in that you have been doing this for almost forty years." 

The Word Went Forth, In Spite of the Rain

      The first fellow who stopped and one other man professed to be Christians.  They objected to my preaching of wrath and judgment because it was turning people off.  The unbelievers seemed intrigued by what I had to say.  We had thoughtful dialogue for forty minutes, including arguments over the inherited sin nature and the doctrine of holiness.  After everyone left the first fellow, who stopped and had been defending sin, changed his attitude and asked me to tell him more about overcoming sin.  I went over the first 10 verses of John 3.  He did not attempt to refute anything I said but thanked me for my time and went on to class.  Two students asked to pray over me.  They prayed a good prayer for several minutes.

Thoughtful Dialogue in the Precipitation

    At the next break I picked up another group including Andrew, who was dressed in all black.  I asked him what he thought about Jesus.  He answered, "I am a listener."  I responded, "That it good for the Bible says, 'Be swift to hear, slow to speak and slow to wrath.'"  He had a piece of chalk and would write some of my more "profound" quotes on the sidewalk.  Another girl, who was raised Lutheran but was now an atheist, kept asking me for evidence for my faith.  She was studying to be a scientist.  She was expecting physical evidence for God's existence.  

Listener Writes Brother Jed Quotes on the Sidewalk

    By 1:30 my second group died out but I continued exhorting Andrew.  Sister Pat was sitting at a picnic table on Red Square so I introduced him to her; she began talking with him.  By now it had started to rain but several students gathered around Sister Pat in the rain including the Lutheran turned atheist studying to be a scientist, a transsexual and a lesbian.  Pat expounded on sexual purity.  She asked the ex-Lutheran, "Are you a lesbian?"

     She replied, "I am attracted to women, but I am not dating any girls."

     Pat responded, "What you need is girl friend.  This is normal.  But you do not express yourself sexually towards your friends.  You do things together and enjoy one another's company.  You only express yourself sexually in the context of marriage with a man."

Sister Pat Exhorts in the Rain

More Rain, More Listeners

          At 2:45 I took over and preached until 3:30 when once again the gathering of 8-10 students dispersed.  It appeared that the rain would be steady for the rest of the afternoon; therefore, I decided that we would head home for Seattle.

    Considering the inclement weather I was very pleased with the day.  We never had more than a dozen listening at one time but the students, despite their defense of sin, were attentive and mannerly and polite towards Sister Pat and me. 

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THE LESBIAN GROUPIES

University of Washington, May 26, 2011

     In my first session Jodi stopped and I could tell that she was listening closely.  As the break ended she said, "I watched a video in which you said that the Old Testament was null and void; if that is so do you believe in Adam and Eve?"  This question set off a series of questions which were thoughtful and gave me the opportunity to expound upon deep truths.  There was also a few who appeared to be "Native Americans," they had questions which enabled me to contrast the Transcendence and Imminence of the God of the Bible with the god of Pantheism and Animism.  It was a very interesting hour.  Jodi was a girl who took the Hebrew Scriptures seriously, which is rare to find among Jewish students which I encounter.  I was able to discuss key Messianic prophesies with her.  About 1:30 this small crowd dispersed.  Later Jodi returned and Pat and I had edifying conversation with this very pleasant young lady.

    About 1:45 students began to re-gather around the platforms at the center of Red Square.  I suggested that Sister Pat try to get some conversation started.  Pat is gifted at provoking discussion.  Soon the lesbian groupies arrived who have been hanging around all week.  Pat was talking with a few students and ignoring the lessies.  After a while the groupies moved over to sit close to where Pat was standing and talking to a few students.  They are a vocal group so it wasn't long before the conversation turned to what they call sexual orientation and to what we call sexual perversion.

     The weather was unusual today (unusual for a Midwestern, typical for Seattle) in that we started with a partly sunny day but soon it would cloud over and start showering.  Then it would clear again for a while and then the precipitation would return.  This happened several times.

   Around 2:30 there was a Memorial Day service in memory of Huskies who had given their lives in service to their country.  It was the best military memorial which I have attended.  All the services were represented.  There is a large ROTC program at UW.  There was a band, color guard, prayer and a speech with a challenge for soldiers to represent their country in moral and honorable way.  The word moral was mentioned in the speech more than most students probably heard in their classroom all year.  In public institutions values clarification has replaced morals and ethics.

     The service lasted for almost an hour.  We stopped speaking out of respect for the event.  The lesbian groupies waited until it was over and I started speaking again.  About 3:45 I called upon Martha Marie.  She spoke boldly to the crowd made up mostly of lesbians, a few homos and a few normal people.  There was one particularly mean lesbian who was spewing her venom towards Martha.  At one point she rebuked the crowd for giving us an audience.  The other lesbians came to Martha's defense and reminded the serpent that she had been giving us an audience as well. 

Girl Objects to Martha's Preaching

 

Martha ponders a question. (She is wearing Dad's college ring.)

      One of the lesbians, whose father is a pastor, said to Martha, "I admire you for what you do."  One of the normal guys also expressed his admiration of Martha.  Martha had been more active in talking with the students in this NW trip than she perhaps has been all semester.  Too bad tomorrow will be our last day together.  The last 30 minutes Martha spoke in a steady rain, but no one left.  We dismissed the students at 4:40. 

Martha does not lose her fire in the northwestern rain.

The Lord has His way in the whirlwind and the storm.

     Carrick McDonald commented on FB the other day, "Sister Pat always speaks in a tone like she is coming down from the clouds to condescend to all of us apes."  I like the description.  Sister Pat operates in another dimension.  God through Christ condescended to man after he choose to live like an animal instead of a being made after God's own image, so that man could become godlike in character instead of savage like.  Sister Pat, at an age when most women are in retirement homes living for their grandchildren, has lowered herself to be treated disrespectfully by children three score years younger.  Yet she always returns the disrespect with a stern love by presenting truth to the little monkeys.

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A GLAD FATHER

University of Washington, May 28, 2011

     Jodie, the Jewess, returned early with more questions including asking about how I came to believe.  My dialogue with her drew a crowd of listeners.  Soon some children, who appeared to be 10-13, gathered around me.  They were from a band camp.  I do not know where their supervisors were.  They listened for almost 30 minutes.  Stanley, a friend of my host Fred L., introduced himself.  He had two New Testaments and one complete Bible to pass out.  Jodi eagerly received one of the NT.  Several children wanted the other two Scriptures.  Stanley volunteered to give a testimony.  Afterwards, I quizzed the students as to who Jesus was.  One answered that he was God.  The youth were very interested in the proceedings.  I sang, "Jesus loves the little children" as they departed. 

    Only two of the overt lesbians gathered today, the British girl and one of the other groupies.  They did not have anything to say or ask today, but they were lustily making out some of the time-- utter depravity. 

    Martha had a 30 minute Q & A.  Anticipating students' comments and objections, Martha usually starts her turn with telling the students that she is not brainwashed, that her parents are not forcing her to evangelize and she made her own decision to believe in Jesus after reading the Bible and studying the catechism of the Methodist Church.   

     We had no rain today.  We preached until after 5 PM.  I had several good one on one sessions.  An atheist, who was raised in a Unitarian Universalist Church, whose parents were "new agers," had many questions for me early in the afternoon then later returned with more questions.  An Asian atheist approached me with questions.  A Catholic informed me that he had been listening all week and admired my commitment.  He said, "The best argument you used all week was when you said something cannot come from nothing, the moral cannot come out of non-moral matter, and intelligence cannot come from non-intelligence."

    Nevertheless, whenever I ask the question, "Which makes more sense, a universe in which the ultimate reality is a Moral Person (God), or a universe in which moral persons are a late and insignificant byproduct of impersonal forces?"  Invariably, those who respond say, "the latter."   When I ask why that makes more sense, they never have an answer.  They blindly believe because that is what they have been told all their lives.  They have also forgotten that they are moral persons.  After all, they have been taught that they are animals.  Yet, they are constantly making moral pronouncements. 

    I took Martha, Sister Pat, and our host to Outback's this evening for our "Last Supper" in celebration of the end of wonderful, memorable and productive year of travel and preaching together.  Our host prayed a blessing over Martha. 

    Our family friend, Professor Lois H., wrote on Martha's FB wall at the conclusion of our day, "Well done thou good and faithful daughter." 

      Proverbs 10:1 says, "A wise son (daughter) maketh a glad father."  I am glad.   

Martha Marie Smock

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     Revival Anyone? 

                                       IT CAN HAPPEN AGAIN!

     In the heat of the summer, 11 months after my conversion, I rode my 10-speed bicycle 40 miles to preach my first revival meeting in Worthington, Indiana. As the July sun beat down on my brow, I pondered the fact that most of the town's 2,000 residents were peddling to a much hotter eternity. My hope was that several meeting in the storefront Assembly of God Church would pull many out of the fire. Preparing a week of sermons was quite a challenge since, except for my testimony, I did not have a collection of anecdotes to fill in my messages. However, I had been diligently studying the Bible for over a year and had memorized many verses. 

    Each afternoon I took an hour out of my prayer and Bible study time to ride around the town witnessing and inviting people to the church. None accepted my invitation. When we closed the meeting at the end of the scheduled week, only one soul had come forward to the altar for salvation. I returned home feeling very troubled about having left Worthington. Four days after we closed the services some church members telephoned to say that they did not think my work was finished. I called the pastor and he suggested that I return and reopen the revival the next Sunday.    

     This experience confirmed to me the necessity of the successful evangelist working outside of the building if the community is truly going to be moved. As I have made this my pattern, God has opened the door for me to witness to the small and to the great.  

     Such a move of the Spirit could happen again. I am much older, but still reaching out to the youth. If any pastor is interested in scheduling a revival, let me know. I am at your service. Perhaps we can turn your town upside down.  Revival meetings should not be something disposed to the distant past, nor simply limited to a building.

Bro Jed

     The second week my daily witnessing began to produce fruit. Tuesday a group of youth gathered on the sidewalk in front of the church to listen. We had to keep the door open since there was no air conditioning and this offered the only ventilation. Wednesday night there was almost as large a crowd listening from the sidewalk as was sitting in the building. At the end of my message I walked to the door and commanded the youth, "Come in here and give your hearts to God. To my surprise, eight of them walked in barefooted, some shirtless and fell to their knees. I led each one in a sinner's prayer.