Sixteen-Year Old Inspired!
Sent: 11/20/2008
Subj: Thank You
Dear Brother Jed,
I got your book from my brother, who is majoring in Architecture there and listened to you speak. Over the past 2 years, I have read it 3-4 times all the way through, and am in the process of implementing the major points of the book into my life. Thank the lord that I, a 16 year old boy, have not fallen victim to the sins of smoking, drinking, chewing tobacco, and fornicating that it seems nearly all of my acquaintances at my public highschool have fallen to. And, I attribute a lot of my good choices to your book's message of the downfalls of such things. Thanks again for writing your book, and continue fighting the good fight, because you ARE making a difference.
Go with Christ!
Sincerely,
Joe B.
P.S.: Could you possibly come to your old home state of South Dakota and preach on the campus of USD or possibly SDSU? I would really enjoy to see you preach in person, and I don't believe you have ever been to either of those campuses too preach. Plus, SDSU especially, has their fare shares of heathens.
Sent: 11/28/2008
Subj: Hello Dear Preacher
Hello Dear Brother Jed,
First let me say I praise God for you dear preacher and for the work you do to bring the gospel of Christ to our lost and unrepentant college campuses across America all these many years. It is a wonderful blessing to run across your website all these years later and see you are still steadfast in your work and I am praising God for it
I wanted to send this letter of apology and ask for your humble forgiveness for my actions some 30 years ago. You may not remember me and I must confess that I was unsure if you were the same preacher I was thinking of when I came across your website, but the more I looked at the photos my memory started coming back to that day in 1979 at the campus of Berea College in Berea, Ky.
Although I had grown up in the Southern Baptist tradition,(and that's all most churches are, TRADITION!), I was as lost and unregenerate as I could be that day and for the next couple of decades from the day you came there. You see brother Jed, that time was the beginning of a life of filth and perversion, alcoholism, idolatry and all forms of covetousness, and it would take some doing by the Lord to bring me out of all of that damnation, but I'm praising God for His grace to bring me through.
When you came to our campus those many years ago, I remember a homosexual friend of mine ( I was in the beginning stages of experimenting with this filth), who stepped through the crowd that was gathering around you and he started screaming at you about how he thought God had "made" him that way and that God would send YOU to the flames of hell for saying anything against him or anybody that was one of God's creatures,......... or some such nonsense as that. I am repulsed and sickened at myself, but I must confess that I was screaming and shouting right along with him.
I don't remember exactly, but I think the police came and helped you to escape and get away from all of us wild animals before people got violent because we were all pushing around closer and closer and backing you back to the street. I am so appalled and ashamed of my actions and even now remembering how I went back to my friend and patted him on the back and congratulated for speaking up for himself. What shame there would be on judgment day for me, if our precious Lord had not called me to repent for such vile actions, then and even many years later.
I am repenting to you now as well, how can I ever find words to ask your forgiveness dear preacher of God. I know you have received many curses from these students over the years, but of course you know that they do not have eyes to see or ears to hear until or unless God gives understanding. And How can they hear? Unless God sends a wonderful preacher such as yourself. Praise God!!
Brother Jed,........I was not able to hear or understand those many years ago, but I am praising God for you even though I feel so much shame for what I did, because now I see how far I've come and it is so clear to me the wonderful work Christ Jesus has done in my life. I'm not perfect, but He has taken away all desire to drink, smoke or live the disgusting life I once lived. I want to send this little note as a word of encouragement to you and to let you know that our God is still in control and that He still calls some of the most vilest sinners to repentance.
Once again I want to say I thank you and praise God for you dear sir and will pray for you always, and always remember your selfless giving of yourself when you go to preach to the lost.
God Bless You!
Your sister, Mary
PS. I few years ago I discovered that guy was still living at his parents house a couple of hours from me in North Carolina. He even had the same telephone number and I called him to see how he was and to tell him that I thought homosexuality was a sin. At that time I was not even half as strong and clear in my faith as I am now, but I told him flat out that I did not want that sin in my life anymore. He just said that he was going to a Quaker church and they acccept homosexuality and that most of the people in his church were gay.
I did not know any more to say so I just politely found a way to hang up. He had invited me to come up and see him, cause I had gone there back when we were in college, but basically we had lost touch over the years and now I am convinced that the Bible says we are not to fellowship with unbelievers.
Please pray that I would grow bolder in telling others about my faith. I pray that God would give me the boldness that you showed to us crazy kids all those years ago and that I would have the strength to withstand the fiery darts of Satan. I know I must be a doer of the Word and not just a hearer, so please pray that I may grow stronger in the Lord.
To: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Sent: 12/20/2008 5:52:20 P.M. Central Standard Time
Subj: Bless you and thanks for your time.
Hi. I was one of the Christian girls hovering around the Indiana State University fountain area during the couple of days you preached there. I think I made the observation that you seemed to break a whole lot of the guys that spent most of the previous day heckling you and harassing your fellow preachers. I have come to believe strongly that these kinds of "confrontational" messages are the best way to make a lasting impact. I go out soulwinning door-to-door with my church whenever I can and it seems that it is much easier to convert a family living in a run-down, crime ridden neighborhood than it is to preach to middle-class university students existing in the comfort of their pricey apartments/dorms, iPods, and fancy laptops that do can everything but the laundry.
I've been at State for a while but this is the first time I had ever seen street preaching.' I actually barely noticed it because that's the kind of pastoral approach that I'm the most used to. When I returned from class, the group had become much more agitated and angry. I decided to stop for a while and see what all the fuss was about,....well, I figured it was because someone decided to preach the BIBLE, which doesn't really happen too much around here with all the watered-down feel-good ministries for students.
One thing I will always remember about the first few minutes I watched was the horrible fear. I looked around and swore I saw my classmates turn into literally demons and creatures of Hell. I had never seen such anger and frightening reactions directed towards something that I have known, loved, and understood for such a long time. I started to realize that I stuck out like a sore thumb in the group with my long skirt (and attire that covered what should be covered in the first place.) I could feel some of the angry students direct their attention towards me. Actually, some students thought I was a part of the evangelists as well. Eventually, things got so tense that I figured it might be in the best interest of my personal safety to make a quick exit.
I ended up feeling awful that I didn't stick around just because I was afraid so the next day I made sure to stick around and I had a very good conversation with the lady evangelist.
Anyway, I hope you will make Indiana State a regular stop and maybe do some preaching a couple of times a year. I think there is a lot of potential here in spite of the ugliness that can (and will) rear its head. This past year there has been a strong but small group of like-minded fundamentalist young people that are growing in confidence. I'm also thinking about starting something, but God has not put me in any definite direction just yet.
Many times I feel quite suffocated here, as I told the female preacher. I am just not happy at all in a state college with all of its politically correct, idealization of personal apathy nonsense. I do not feel as comfortable or as safe as I used to after witnessing the intense hatred directed at good Christians who are really just looking out for everyone's well-being. College has been for me nothing but a dark abyss that has tried to sap everything from me that is right, good, and essentially, what holds my sanity together.
Anyway, I'll end here because I know you've probably got a lot to do. Be sure to come back and maybe I'll get the courage to join you guys on the platform and speak about the Word as well!!!!!
M.
