April 14, 2008—Bro. Jed’s Journal

A BLAST FROM THE PAST

This week I received= the following email from a girl that I do remember from three decades ago.

Dear Brother Jed,

My name is Beth Full= er Pfister. I attended Purdue University from 1977-1981. I remember vividly sitting on the grass "mall" on campus and listening to you preach. One day I got the courage to talk= to you. I remember taking you to dinner at least twice when you came to town. Although I did not pray to receive Christ then, I wanted to let= you know that just one year after graduation in 1982 I did place my trust in Je= sus Christ as Lord and Savior. Thank you for speaking words of truth to me and for the seeds I know you planted.

With much gratitude,=

Beth Pfister

HE’S BACK

April 14, Southeast Missouri State University (SEMO), Cape Girardeau, MO

This institution was founded in 1873 and established as a Normal School or Teachers College.&nbs= p; It reached University status in 1973. It has an enrollment of 10,000. Rush Limbaugh attended school here for a year before dropping out. He is a native of Cape Girardeau. <= /span>

“He’s back!” was one of the first cries I heard from students as I began preaching. Since moving to Missouri, we have been coming to this camp= us and spending several days. The first time we came here the chief of campus security who was a backslidden Christians got right with God. There are many professing Christians on this campus, but virtually all of t= hem want to excuse sin. However, there are a few who are supportive of our message.

It was a cloudy and brisk day in the forties throughout the afternoon. Nevertheless, we gathered a crowd of about 50 as Bro Cope and I took turns preaching. = At 2:00 PM suddenly everyone left. I thought that perhaps we were finish= ed for the day. However, by 2:30 another crowd of about 50 gathered.

A few students professing to be Christian held signs, “I love gays.”

There were three per= iods during the day when the students quietly listened with few interruptions.&n= bsp; The sun finally came out about 5 PM and we preached until 6 PM.<= /span>

SPITTLE

April 15, SEMO

It warmed up today to the low 60’s with sun, ideal preaching weather. The crowd was f= rom 75-100 throughout the afternoon. Bro and I are preaching from a grassy mount in front of the library. Not only was the weather ideal; but th= is was the type of day one would hope to have everyday concerning student reac= tion to the preaching. Throughout much of the day students quietly sat aro= und us as we took our turns teaching, sitting upon a stool. Several had t= heir Bibles with them and would look up passages with us. Holiness was a m= ajor issue, as we defended the doctrine, “Without holiness no man shall see the Lord.”

At one point a man walked up to Bro and spit in his face. Several students clapped; but = the majority seemed shocked. Thirty minutes later a student ran off with Bro’s stool and threw it in the fountain. But a student retriev= ed the stool and one of the main hecklers took off his t-shirt and wiped off t= he water. These incidents had the effect of sobering the students.<= /o:p>

We preached until 6 = PM when I turned the meeting over to a senior named Paul with whom I have had fellowship in past visits to the campus. We left the crowd with him a= nd Bro and I had dinner in the cafeteria of the Student Center. Four students followed us in the building and we had profitable table talk over dinner. We left campus about 7 PM.

April 16, SEMO

The weather was 70 t= oday but windy. I gathered a crowd as a result of one student asking quest= ions concerning God’s existence, which required me to go into apologetic mode. Another student entered into the dialogue with questions about = the justice of eternal damnation. One does not usually gather the student= s’ interest with apologetics; but we had already captured the students’ attention on this campus. By the time I turned the meeting over to Br= o he had a crowd of 50 which was steadily at that number throughout the afternoon. The students were generally quiet and subdued, although ev= ery now and then an individual would go berserk, but eventually calm down as we fielded his objections.

While Bro was speaki= ng a group of about 10 professing Christians gathered around me asking questions concerning my approach and tactics.

At one point when Bro was speaking a student approached me and asked if one of my objectives was = to get people thinking. He said, “Since you have been on campus I = have noticed students walking around carrying Bibles. My friends and I rar= ely talk about religion; but it has been our main topic of conversation since y= ou have been on campus.”

Of course, I know th= at this happens at virtually every campus where we preach. But it was encouraging to get this unsolicited feedback from a student. He was h= appy to receive a copy of Who Will Rise Up?=

We preached until 6 PM. I announced that we were going to have dinner inside the Student Center and anyone was welcome to join us. Jack met us inside. He had been sitting arm in arm with another boy all week. He said that he was a Catholic; so I asked him if he would be interested in hearing what the Catechism said concerning homosexuality. He expressed his interest.&n= bsp; So I read him the passage from paragraph 2357, “Basing itself on Sacr= ed Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradi= tion has always declared that ‘homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.’ They are contrary to the natural law. . . Under no circumstances are they to be approved.”

He did not take issu= e with the Catholic churches position. He admitt= ed that he was not actually doing anything sexual with the other boy. I pressed him on his need to get right with God. Meanwhile, Tiffany, an army girl who had joined us for dinner yesterday, sat down with us. S= he acknowledged that she had lost her virginity to another soldier who eventua= lly dropped her. She said she was now committed to celibacy until she gets married. Bro prayed with her that a good god fearing man would come i= nto her life.

It is quite a bold s= tep towards salvation for two students to sit with us for dinner in a campus cafeteria subjecting themselves to likely ridicule from their fellow students.

April 17, 2008 SEMO<= /span>

I held the “Je= sus Hates Sin” sign on one side and “Trust Jesus” on the othe= r, which resulted in speaking on God’s love for about 30 minutes to an attentive crowd of fifty students.

Soon students confro= nted us when signs of their own, “No One is Perfect,” “GodR= 17;s love Endures,” “Homosexuality is Just as Forgivable as Hatred,” and “Spread Love, Not Hate.”

With their signs held high, I addressed each sign, “We are to be perfect in love. God’s love endures and never fails. So if we sin, it is because= our love for God and neighbor has failed. Certainly, homosexuality is forgivable; and we must have malice towards none. Love never engages = in homosexuality or any other sexual sin. Love promotes sexual purity.&n= bsp; Love requires us to have a holy hatred of sin. Love opposes evil.R= 21;

Bro found the week v= ery gratify; he commented that he sensed that we won over many students. = Our local Full Gospel Business Man’s contact, Bob Nations, passed out tra= cts during the week and provided the students with iced bottled water.

April 19 we were rai= ned out.

Financial Need

from Sis. Cindy

Hello Friends and Supporters,

= Our cash flow has been low this month so if you are looking for a evangelis= tic ministry to invest into, please consider CMUSA.&= nbsp; We hope to have a little cushion for travel expenses before we head to camp= uses in Ohio in May. We also desire your earnest prayers for our work. Tha= nk you all for your prayers and financial support. You may make a gift to CMUSA using Pay Pal through our web site at brojed.org or send = a check to our home address: 2402 Longview Dr. Columbia, MO 65203.