 Working on Fall Schedule!
I am starting to work on my schedule for the fall semester. Classes start on August 18 at Illinois State where I plan on opening. I encourage those who would like me to visit your local campus and you are willing to work with us to let me know. It is helpful when we have a local church backing our preaching or if not a church, individual believers. When we have Christians from the community supporting us, it significantly adds to our effectiveness. Hospitality in a home that can provide two rooms is very helpful. There may even be some student group or organization, which would like us shake things up on your campus. I have addressed various student groups over the years including secular organizations. Actually, I have probably had more invitations to speak to secular groups than I have Christian organizations. Professors may want me to speak in your classes. Sometimes dormitory directors invite me to speak in the lounge.
Usually, I cover the Midwestern states during the fall semester, especially, Indiana, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota and sometimes as far west as Colorado. However, I am open to considering time in Ohio and possibly even New England. I have not been to New England for a good many years. The problem is that I have few contacts in the Northeast and travel expenses are higher. Please let me know if you want me to come to your area and can offer some support. Financial support is appreciated. Travel expenses are high. Scheduling is a difficult process. Pray with me for guidance from the Holy Spirit. Florida, the Sun-belt and the far West I usually cover in the spring semester, although I will preach at Florida State the week after Thanksgiving. Bro Jed
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 THAT CERTAIN SMILE, THAT CERTAIN FACEMay 27, 2014, UC Davis,
It has been several years since I have been on this campus. Mikhail was able to draw a crowd; meanwhile, a girl, who is doing part time evangelistic work on campus, engaged me. She mentioned that another preacher with a dog had been on campus this year. I knew that had to be Monte Botts. She also said another brother had preached on campus. She said that this preacher did not identify with being a sinner like she does. She asked me, "Do you identify with being a sinner?"
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Bro. Mikhail working on changing students from sinners to saints through a Gospel that radically changes lives!
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Soon a Moslem and some agnostics and atheists types joined in the conversation. Eventually, a pastor from Vacaville, who had a congregation of thousands, demonstrated his love to me by insisting I was doing it all wrong. He wanted to know about the numbers that I was reaching. He admitted the people of his church sinned daily in thought, word and deed. I finally left him with several students to whom he continued witnessing. He had that certain smile that these mega church pastors usually have. Johnny Mathis sang, "A certain smile, a certain face, can lead an unsuspecting heart on a merry chase." Often churches are mostly on a merry chase to add to their numbers usually from other churches. We should be about changing men from sinners to saints through a gospel which radically changes men's lives. We are not about putting on a smiley face for sinners and win them through our charm. Isaiah said, "I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed."-Isaiah 50:7.
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Charlotte has a three month contract as an emergency room RN in a nearby hospital that mostly treats street people and druggies. We had dinner and did some sight-seeing this week. She says that San Francisco is way overrated and I agree with her.
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Mikhail's crowd was hostile, especially objecting to the YOU DESERVE HELL sign. There were a few attractive looking females with foul mouths who were aggressively arguing with him. One grabbed the sign out of his hands so Mikhail had to wrestle it from her grip. After about 30 minutes everyone left. However, 30 minutes later Mikhail gathered a bigger audience. Our confrontational style was the biggest issue today. Two guys were in my face for a prolonged time attempting to counter every move I made. No one objected to their confrontational approach against me. Nor did anyone object to the female violently stealing Mikhail's sign.
At 2 PM two men from Faith Alive, where I spoke Sunday night, arrived. One of them is a pastor. He is a far cry away from the mega-church pastor with whom I had to deal earlier in the afternoon. These brothers immediately entered the fray with "foreheads harder than flint (Ezekiel 3:9)." They did a good job at witnessing and did not compromise the message in any way. However, their participation did have the effect of dividing the crowd. For the last 30 minutes Mikhail and I stood on the sidelines and each of these men had an audience of questioning students. We decided to leave at 3:30, which is earlier than usual. The weather was ninety and sunny but we had a large tree which we preached under which made for a comfortable day.
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WHAT IS LOVE ALL ABOUT?
May 29, 2014, UC Davis
Milk toast Christians came out to protest us with signs such as the following: "Sorry they Judge you; Sorry Christians hurt you; Nothing Can Separate you from the Love of God; God Love you no matter who U are."
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There were some open-minded students that really listened at UC-Davis.
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When Mikhail turned the meeting over to me at 2 PM, a few Christians attempted to get everyone to leave. They largely succeeded but it wasn't long until some returned and new ones gathered.
At one point a sister asked, "May I say something?" I questioned, "Are you going to criticize me?" She promised she would not so I said, "Go ahead and speak." She gave a decent testimony and repeatedly exclaimed, "It is all about love!"
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"It IS all about LOVE..." Bro. Jed.
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The students clapped and I commended her for her testimony. Then I cried, "The girl is right! It is all about love! But the question is, 'What is love all about?' God is love, but what is love. Who can define what love is all about?"
No one could answer my question. I said, "Love is about obedience to God and turning one's back one sin. Love is self-sacrifice. Love is about righteous judgment."
Men have attempted to push God off his throne by deifying love. They have degraded the word love to an emotion, a good feeling. The Beatles claimed, "Love is all you need." But they rejected the source of love, Almighty God.
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"Most students reject the source of love, Almighty God."
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The substitute teacher from yesterday, who spends her days off witnessing on campus, returned with notes she had taken from our conversation yesterday. She looked up Jesus' command in the Sermon on the Mount, which I had quoted unto her yesterday, "Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father in Heaven is perfect."
She claimed, "This verse in it context is not talking about not sinning. It is referring to loving your enemies."
I said, "Loving your enemies is the essence of Christianity and righteousness. Self-righteous hypocrites love those that love them. The mark of the true Christian is he loves his enemies. It is the very principle of what a non-sinning life looks like. To love your enemies is not to sin even against your enemies; it is to seek their highest good.
I preached from 2 PM to 4:30 during this time Mikhail had a smaller audience with whom he was dealing. There are some open-minded students on this campus who really listen. One unchurched girl asked me, "Why would these Christians defend sin?
In the evening I taught a Praise Chapel, Yuba City. Pastor Chris assigned me to teach on Psalm 30.
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THE BOLDNESS OF
ST.
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The Spirit of God was moving on hearts and minds.
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FRANCIS
May 29, 2014, UC Davis
The negative on this campus is that it takes a lot of work to get the students attention and to keep in on campus; nevertheless, at times we had an audience of up to fifty. The positive is that students eagerly approach us on the sidelines for conversation. This is a good sign that the Spirit of God is moving upon their hearts and minds. The Moslems have a table set up on the mall; they have not been getting the attention we get. Daily they come by to tell us that we are going about it in the wrong way. They want to get involved in our discussions, probably for the purpose of recruiting or as least putting a positive face on their diabolical religion.
Pastor Joe and two sisters from Faith Alive
Sacramento joined us today. The love doves were out again with their signs. Pastor Joe was active in witnessing to a group. Things died out at 3 PM.
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Pastor Joe from Faith Alive Sacramento
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In the evening I taught at Praise Chapel Yuba City on the rich young ruler. I contrasted him with St. Francis of Assisi who forsook all his family wealth and gathered an order of brothers who begged and preached throughout Europe. Francis ended up the most influential preacher of his time. The rich young ruler had his day of visitation and he walked away sad for he had great possessions. On the other hand, Francis heard the voice of the Lord and forsook his silk garments for a brown tunic and within a few years gathered 5000 brother preachers, who shook the Church and changed Europe.
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True love is forsaking all for Jesus Christ.
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Unfortunately, today he is only known by many as a docile garden statue surrounded with birds and animals. However, in the Fifth Crusade this fearless preacher, expecting martyrdom, boldly confronted the Moslem Sultan of Egypt with the gospel for the purpose of converting him.
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COGNITIVE DISSONANCE
May 30, 2014, UC Davis
We gathered an audience of up to 80 today. We stayed until almost 5 PM. Once again the best times were on the sidelines. There were a significant number of students who demonstrated that they were sincere seekers after truth. There was one persistent evangelical type who just would not listen to the Scriptures or reason concerning the defense of our approach. He considered, the apologist, William L. Craig, as a model, which I needed to follow.
"Craig does not anger people," he said.
I responded, "Just making the moral argument for the existence of God will not produce conviction of sin which is often expressed with anger from the unrepentant soul. In my campus debates I appeal to the moral argument; but when doing so, I make it a practice to press Biblical standards of morality on my audience. This angers the impenitent sinner. Even in my formal debates, I also preach. In Craig's debates, I have not heard him preach. Preaching the moral law is what pricks the conscience."
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Producing conviction of sin is a key to genuine conversion to Jesus Christ.
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After an hour I took the offensive against the youngster and exhorted him to do evangelism our way and lift us his voice. This he would not consider. Later, I also confronted him with the sin in his own life. He angrily left. The girl who held up the sign, "Sorry they judge you," spent most of the afternoon in our gathering.
Frantz Fanon, 1925-1961, aptly defines from a psychiatric point of view what I typically encounter from evangelicals on campus. "Sometimes people hold a core belief that is very strong. When they are presented with evidence that works against that belief, the new evidence cannot be accepted. It would create a feeling that is extremely uncomfortable, called cognitive dissonance. And because it is so important to protect the core belief, they will rationalize, ignore and even deny anything that doesn't fit in with the core belief."
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As the martyr, Saint Stephen, said, they "do always resist the Holy Ghost."
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There are two core beliefs of evangelicals which I have to counter daily. One is that men cannot help but sin because they are born sinners and they will die sinners. The other is that relational or friendship evangelism is the only acceptable approach in bringing men to a personal relationship with a God, who in their mind excuses sin.
Of course, we stir up cognitive dissonance among the unbeliever as well. As the martyr, Saint Stephen, said, they "do always resist the Holy Ghost." The Holy Ghost in conjugation with the Word of God can create considerable anxiety. What psychiatrists describe as cognitive dissonance, I would call old fashion conviction of sin.
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Contact Us
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brojed@aol.com
573-999-0347
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