THE GREATER SIN

April 24, 2012, SEMO

     I was tired when I started the meeting; I did not have the energy to project my voice and speak dramatically. I started speaking softly to a few who were sitting on the wall. Soon a girl, who was in the audience yesterday, began asking questions from notes which she had taken. She questioned our idea that some sins are worse than others. What is usually behind this line of inquiry is homosexuality. Christians have been taught that perverted sex in no worse than any other sin. All sin is equal in their minds and we are all sinners. Sadly, this girl was raised in church and her grandmother is an Assemblies of God pastor. I rebuked her for rejecting her wonderful Pentecostal heritage. I warned her concerning the grief she must be bringing to her grandmother. I said, "Your sin is greater than the sins of most of the students since to whom much has been given much is expected"

Are Some Sins Worse Than Others?

TEACHING ON THE LIBRARY HILL

April 26, 2012, SEMO

     In our time of prayer together this morning I counseled my team to not get the students so stirred up today. Bro indicated that he would tone it down. I sensed that there are a significant number really listening. When the students are agitated, it does tend to draw a larger audience.  However, sometimes people can become so disturbed that it is a hindrance to them hearing. We had a good time of intercession.

"What makes life meaningful to you?" Mark a seminary student who had joined the preaching team today, asked the students.

     Sister Pat started the meeting but there was little student traffic. I took over and warned the students of Judgment Day comparing it to the finals exams that they have coming up in a week or so. There still was not much passage of students. Finally a few began to gather as I warned passing hand holders, "Pre-marital holding of hands leads to pre-marital kissing right on the lips; pre-marital lip sucking leads to kissing in a French way. Next the couple is touching one another's private parts on the outside."  I cannot go any further in this writing out of concern of stirring up the passions of my readers. I went further in my description on campus, but not all the way. Soon the several that had gathered picked up on warning passing students about pre-marital holding of hands and it wasn't long before I had a sizable audience. I spoke to the students of my decade of joyous celibacy, which I am sure sounded strange to this sex-crazed generation.

     At 12:40 I turned the meeting over to Bro who had an attentive and quiet hour until some "moron" read a passage from Ezekiel and warned Bro that he was "corrupting the children of God." Bro thrashed him with the Truth asking, "How we could be corrupting anyone by telling them that they must obey God?" Bro called upon Craig Rogers, who also promoted holiness, asking, "Can't we agree the sin ought to be the exception in the life of a believer?"    

     Craig called upon his fellow seminarian, Mark, who once again told the story of the 80 year lady who only found solace in TV, instant coffee and cigarettes. He asked the students, "What makes life meaningful to you?" When no one responded Craig challenged the students, "Surely, something must be meaningful to you students?" A pudgy forlorn looking boy, who badly needed a haircut, volunteered. Mark had Pudgy stand up. He said, "Family, friends and art are important to me." Craig exhorted him to have God-centered relationships if he was truly to find meaning in family and friends.    

     Kara on Monday had thanked me for coming. Yesterday she exhorted the mockers to listen to us while sucking on a cigarette. Today she stood up and said to Mark and her fellow students, "I find meaning by trying to make people happy with jokes and cooking." Mark commended her for wanting to help others. Mark finally told the students that he found meaning in the Cross. Mark and Craig did a good job team teaching and getting the students involved.

Sis. Suzanne from Bro. Craig's church near St. Louis gave a bold testimony to SEMO students.

   I took over again at 2 PM since a political science professor had messaged me that he was bringing his class out to listen and he hoped that I would be speaking. I started by commending Mark for his positive and uplifting message.     But I said the students were not fooling me I know that most of them were living for sex, booze, drugs and rock n roll. They were committed to self-indulgence. I asked, "What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and loose his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul."    

     I taught the student the brain shift illustrating how to lift their brains up from the genital area where they had fallen back to the cranium where their brains belonged. This is one of my many juvenile illustrations. After all I am mainly speaking to 12 years olds in 18 to 20 year old bodies. I told them that they were very much, too much really, in touch (literally) with their bodies but out of touch with their souls. I taught about the human soul and the various faculties of the soul such as the mind, the will, the conscience, the memory, and the imagination.

      I was able to dramatically expound upon the sufferings of Christ on the cross after a boy suggested that Jesus' death was no big deal since he knew he would rise from the dead. I asked the boy if he better understood after my teaching. He acknowledged that he did. It is huge when a student will admit in front of his peers that I have taught him something.

Pastor Craig Rogers told the students that they must have God-centered relationships to find true meaning in family and friends.

   At 3:15 I turned the meeting over to Sister Pat. I chatted with the professor who brought out his students several of whom were still listening. One was from France and the other from Germany.  They indicated that something like my meeting would never happen in their countries. I bragged on America and they seemed to be in agreement. I entertained them with some war stories from my years on the campus.     Last year this professor messaged me the following, "I teach Political Science and am always fascinated with the crowds you draw. I may not agree with you 100% but believe you understand how to start a vitally important dialogue better than anyone I've encountered. Fact of the matter is that our churches do nothing to include young people in important dialogues...but you do."

     At the end of the day one of the hecklers who is out every day for most of the afternoon acknowledged that we give the students a lot to think about and talk about and that we are having an impact. He told me this just after Bro had sharply rebuked him.     

April 27, 2012, UM,

     With a combination of bad weather and car repairs I did not get to campus. Bro went to Speakers' Circle but the Calvinist Church of Kirksville had already occupied the area. By the time they were finished Bro decided not to preach since the weather turned colder throughout the afternoon.