MOONIE

February 28, 2012, Arizona State University

     Brandon asked, "Were you in the film, The Nature of Existence?"

     When I answered in the affirmative, he continued, "I was really inspired by what you had to say when you were preaching at sunset at the University of Missouri and the girl [my daughter, Justina] was singing and playing the guitar in the background." He had to go on to class; but he looked forward to returning and hearing me preach another day.

Note almost all male crowd listening to the Gospel!

     It did not take long to draw a crowd of about 100; however, they stood off at quite a distance which made it difficult to interact. As often happens after a rowdy day the students were not as bad today. Two who are very vocal are, Taylor, who "loves Eldon John," and Taylor's "girlfriend," Liz, who was raised by foster parents and boasts of the help she gives to the homeless. She sees nothing wrong with homosexual couples adopting children. Sister Pat calls it child abuse.

     I was encouraged when a fellow said that he believed that a Christian could and should obey God. I responded, "It is unusual to meet a student who believes we must obey God. What church are you with?"

     "The Unification Church," he replied. At first it did not register since it has been over a decade or more since I have heard anything about the Unification Church. Then I remembered, "Are you a Moonie?"

    He admitted that he was. The Moonies had quite an impact on America and the campuses back in the 80's. It is my understanding that they were scattered mostly abroad. Maybe they are returning to the United States. We shall see.

"Will you be back tomorrow, Bro. Jed?"

     I had difficulty holding a crowd for over 30 minutes today. However, at the next class break I would gather a new crowd.  ASU is a late afternoon campus. I drew my best gathering from 4:15 to 5:30. As much as they protested, a number of them asked if I was returning tomorrow. As Sister Pat and I walked off campus, she said, "I cannot believe how juvenile their questions are. I mean these are supposed to be college students." Alas, she is right; it is rare to encounter a student who can formulate an intelligent question.

     Thomas helped again today. Sister Pat remarked as to how good he is in witnessing to the students. He witnessed for 30 minutes to my first heckler, a female. I cannot overestimate the benefit of having a local Christian stand with us. I pray that when I am in town that Christians who are retired, like Thomas, would make it a point to come to campus and back us. 

WHO IS JESUS?

     It seems as if only half the students are on campus on Friday. The demonstrators of the last few days were not around. There were several loud and brazen women promoting, "The Vagina Monologues" in the name of non-violence towards women. They called themselves "vagitarians," one of them wore a t-shirt using one of the vulgar terms for the female private part. These girls had no sense of propriety or modesty. It is becoming exceeding difficult to find a college girl who does. It is a disgrace that womanhood has been totally debased by the feminist movement and men have been emasculated. I mocked the screaming females for crying out from between their legs instead of speaking from their minds.

     We soon gathered a group around us ranging from 15-25 for the afternoon. They were attentive listeners. One of the vagitarians even joined our group and somewhat settled down. It was really the first day of the week that I was able to effectively teach. Thomas, the retired maintenance man from the Scottsdale Schools, continued to be active. Thomas is on campus virtually every day witnessing to students one on one. Every campus should and could have a Thomas if Christians would simply act on the great commission. It is a shame that more retired people don't do mission work. Many of them have the means and the time, but evidently not the motivation. Sister Pat was as active as ever.

Bro. Jed addresses the "Free Thought" Club.

     Thirty showed up for my debate with Averroes on "Who is Jesus?" This is the fourth year in a row in which I have either spoken to or debated before the Free Thought Society who sponsored the debate. My primary text was Jesus' question to his disciples: "Whom do men say that I the Son of Man am?"-Matthew 16:13. My opponent's strategy was to attempt to debunk the Bible. I pretty much ignored his attacks on the Bible to take the opportunity to teach without interruption to a group of mostly unbelievers that the Bible teaches that Jesus is God manifested in the flesh and the Savior of mankind. Peter received a revelation from the Father that Jesus is "the Christ, the Son of the living God." My objective in these debates is not particularly to win points or necessarily convince my opponent; it is to speak out as much of the written word as I am able, trusting that the Holy Spirit will do his work of convincing and that the Father will reveal his Son to those who seek him. There is great power in a man filled with the Holy Ghost speaking God's words.

The atheist listeners.

      It is noteworthy that Joshua, the former president of the Free Thought Society, was in the audience refuting my opponent during the Q & A. Afterwards, I asked him what brought about his conversion. He merely answered, "I had a religious experience." He did not indicate in any way that my defense of the faith before the Free Thought Society in the past influenced him to change his mind.

During my cross examination of Averroes, I asked, "You have told us who you think that Jesus is not. You have made it clear that you do not believe him to be the Son of God in any sort of divine usage of the term. Please tell us who you think Jesus is?" Averroes has a tendency to ramble considerably; he was always going over his time limit and the moderator was not aggressive in stopping him. I understood him to answer he does not know who Jesus was or is. I asked, "Do you believe that he was a good man or liar or lunatic?" He answered that he considered Jesus to be evil and a liar; he did not indicate that he considered him a lunatic. Sister Pat and I concluded that Averroes, even though he denies he is a Moslem and confesses to be an agnostic, is still a Moslem at heart.

We trust the Holy Spirit to work on their hearts.

     I try to keep my answers short and to the point when I have Q & A in a debate format. I discerned that Averroes' long winded and rambling bored his audience. Atheists and agnostics have no answers to the great metaphysical questions of life. Remember agnostic means one who is uncertain of all claims of knowledge, in other words, one who is ignorant. We studied Christians "speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and they receive not our witness."-John 3:11. But I have confidence that some will receive our words eventually, perhaps never realizing that they heard it first from the campus preacher.