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MORE OF US THAN OF THEM

September 15, 2008, University of Wisconsin, Madison

Today was cold, windy and cloudy in Madison.

Gunnar and Mary Diec= kman and their two young children joined me on campus. Gunnar took an afternoon off work. God is pleased when someone uses his vacation time for evangelism. Charlie Carpenteria and family, Pastor Leonard Allen,= in whose church I preached Sunday morning, and seminary student, Ryan Jones, a= lso arrived prepared for action. However, there was not a lot of action today.

Apparently, the weat= her discouraged the students from gathering. Despite small numbers stopping, we were disturbing them; for numerous students cursed me as they passed and one pou= red liquid on my brief case. I usually attempt some sort of witty retort turning their curses back on them. On the other hand, Gunnar says, “God bless you.” My strategy is to provoke the cursers to greater anger, so that they will stop and argue, so that I may get the attention of more students. However, today it did not work.

One student railed o= n me as a “false prophet.” I asked, “By what standard.” He could not answer with much of anything other than George Carlin’s favorite word.

When he stomped off,= I said to those in hearing distance, “Well, at least he regards me as a prophet.” I have often said, “A preacher has not really m= ade it in the ministry until he has been labeled a false prophet.”=

Early in the afterno= on, Laura, a Jewish girl, talked with me for over thirty minutes and a few othe= rs listened in on the conversation. She was not unpleasant; but she seem= ed totally ignorant of spiritual things.

About 3:45, I preach= ed from Ephesians 5 to the children of disobedience warning them that the wrat= h of God would come upon them for the sins of fornication, uncleanness, covetousness, filthiness, foolish talking, jesting, and idolatry. I expounded through the first six verses, when a group of students interrupte= d me with questions. A Jewish girl, whom I had noticed listening off a distance, finally advanced to my pulpit. She informed me that s= he was an agnostic and her rabbi was an agnostic.

I asked, “Why would you go to a synagogue where the rabbi did not even know whether or not God existed?”

She did think agnosticism was a problem for a rabbi. Another student who was a self-confessed “bad Jew” was polite and inquisitive. There are a lot of Jews on this campus.

Gunnar and Mary both preached for a total of at least 90 minutes. On days when it is diffi= cult to get the students attention, it is a blessing to have help carrying the preaching load.

The Carpenterias pas= sed out tracts and witnessed to a number of students on the sidelines.

Despite never gather= ing more than a dozen students, we were a presence on campus. Usually the= re were more of us than there were of them.

WORLD RELIGIONS CLASS

September 16, 2008, University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh

There must be 90 min= ute classes on this campus on Tuesdays. I waited for the class break until about 12:45. I held my sign which reads, “God Hates Sin.R= 21; It provoked the usual comments, “God doesn’t hate he loves.” And, “God is hypocritical if he hates sin.”=

“No,” I answered, “God would not be good if He did not hate sin. And no= man can be good, if he does not hate evil.”

One bleach blond fem= ale, who must have been about forty, said, “I hate Jesus!” I w= as somewhat shocked. I do not remember anyone ever saying that. So= I asked her why she hated Jesus.

She quoted a Jewish friend who once said, “Jesus was a Jew whose loud mouth got him in trouble.” Then she walked off.

Actually anyone who practices sin, hates Jesus. So perhaps this woman was more honest than your typical sinner. People who love Jesus, hate sin and love righteousness. Those who hate sin, refuse to sin.

There was a group of= boys who stood around to listen for a while. One of them complained about = me wearing a suit and tie. “Are you trying to show that you are be= tter than us with your suit and tie and by standing upon your pedestal?”

Students often seem = to object to me wearing a coat and tie. This morning I was in a men̵= 7;s clothing store and a man questioned me thinking that I was a clerk in the store. When he found out that I wasn’t, he apologized and said, “I don’t wear those things (coat and tie) any more since I retired.” This is a common mentality for modern men. Personally, I like wearing a coat and tie. I want to look my best ser= ving as an ambassador for Christ.

The student said, “You are merely a conformist.”

I replied, “I = am among the few who wear a coat and tie. Most of your professors do not= do dress professionally anymore. However, I do notice that all you boys = are wearing faded blue jeans and sneakers. You are dressed like virtually= all the boys on campus, and the girls too for that matter. Of course, the= re is nothing wrong with conforming, but you boys have conformed to a very low standard.”

The student changed = the subject and asked, “How can war be justified when the Bible says, ‘Thou shalt not kill?’”

I explained that the sixth commandment is teaching against murder which is unjustifiable homicide. He could not understand that there is a difference between killing and murder. This distinction is not understood by many if not most students.

The group of boys le= ft except for Benjamin, who was the only one of them that came close to being rational. He had many questions for me, primary concerning the justic= e of Hell and wondering why other religions were not as valid as Christianity.&n= bsp;

As I was speaking wi= th him, Scott S., one of my ministry supporters, who is works as a financial adviser, arrived; he had taken the afternoon off to join me on campus.

The next break wasn’t until 2:30, when two perverts jumped up on the platform from w= hich I was speaking. One of them wrapped himself in a rainbow flag. Next, one would lie on the sidewalk and the other would draw chalk marks on= the pavement around the other’s body. They wrote a name within each body outline. Finally, they wrote, “Hate Kills.”

I tried to engage th= em; but they gave me the silent treatment which is an old homo trick. At least once a year they have a gay day in which they are not supposed to speak. It is one of my favorite days of the year.

I thought the homos’ tactics would draw attention; but students were generally igno= ring both them and me.

Finally, a Professor Kaplan introduced himself and invited me to come to his World Religions Cla= ss to speak for fifteen minutes. He requested that I tell my story and explain why I choose the confrontational approach. I gave about a thr= ee minute introduction to the class of two hundred; and then the professor, Je= rry Springer style, moved through the classroom with his microphone allowing the students to ask questions. There was no hostility and the questions d= ealt mostly with my style. However, one student gave me a good opportunity when he asked why I choose Christianity over Hinduism. I suppose that= I was in the class 20 to 25 minutes.

Although we did not gather a crowd today, Scott and I thought that we had some profitable conversations. The opportunity to speak to the class certainly redeem= ed the day. I assume that the professor spent most of the rest of the ho= ur discussing with the class what I had to say.

THEODICY

September 17, 2008, University of Wisconsin, Platteville

Bill Landerholm from Chapelwood Church in Rockford joined me on campus. He testified to the students, that he got right with God as a result of hearing me preach on holiness in his church years ago. Bill carried a large banner with 1 = Cor. 6:9-10 displayed in bold letters. The students hated his sign, includ= ing most of the Christians.

Bill preached for a couple of hours while I talked to a group of serious questioners sitting up= on the grass. My main task was theodicy, which is justifying the ways of= God to men. One fellow was particularly disturbed concerning God’s judgment on the Midianites in Numbers 31. The fellow complained that Moses ordered that all the women that had known men to be put to death, as = well as all the male children. And the virgins were to be given as booty to the conquering warriors. The fellow thought that Moses should have at least spared the male children.

I argued that had th= ese children been spared when they grew up they would have sought vengeance aga= inst the tribes of Israel for killing their fathers and mothers. Personall= y, I love the judgment of God. What is wrong with the old adage, “to= the victors belong the spoils?”

The fellow had a num= ber of complaints against God, including God’s treatment of Job. Despite an attitude, the fellow had some interesting questions as did the others in the group. We covered numerous heavy topics including= the difference between the letter and the spirit of the law. But the fell= ow kept returning to the story of the Midianites. He was unwilling to ac= cept my explanations. I finally said I have explained it the best I know; = so we should either move on to another subject or else perhaps you should move on. He chose to leave; which was just as well, since he had been dominating the conversation. Besides I had given him plenty to think about. I continued to discuss various issues with the others including evolution.

Finally, I took over= the main crowd again, which had ranged from 25 to 50, about 3:30. It was a relatively calm crowd. The main issues that Bill had addressed, holin= ess, the fear of God and our approach continued to be the main topics of convers= ation as I spoke. Now Bill had a small group around him as I preached. = ; We left campus at 4:30 PM.

VOICES FROM THE PAST

September 18, 2008, University of Wisconsin,

It was a sunny and w= arm day today so I anticipated a better meeting than on Monday. However, I was disappointed at least compared to meetings here in the past.

I was having difficu= lty gaining the students attention; so I pulled out my electrical cords, which enabled me to draw a crowd of 15-20. I never had more than that number throughout the afternoon.

Luke, a graduate stu= dent who remembered me from Ohio State in the late eighties, then years later at Colorado State, stopped to converse with me. He said, “I found your teaching sessions more interesting than my classes during my und= ergraduate years. I met a lot of interesting people who would gather to hear you. However, I am confused concerning religious questions. But Brother Jed I really appreciate your integrity. I still have an autographed copy of Who Will Rise Up?, which you gave me years ago.”

Later, a grey haired mustached gentleman stopped a moment and said, I heard you thirty yea= rs ago when I was a student on this campus.” He grasped my hand and said, “God bless you.” I thought to myself, “I know that I am getting old; but he looks older than me.”

Later, a boy with Ob= ama buttons with whom I have talked politics in past years discussed Presidenti= al politics with me. He said, “You talk about politics in generalizations. I want specifics.” Like most liberals, he was more interested in policies than a correct philosophy of government.

Mrs. Gunner (Mary) Diekman arrived with her nine year old daughter and baby about 3:30 and too= k a turn preaching. We left campus at 4:30 PM.

WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MLK

September 19, 2008, Northern Illinois State University

This is the campus w= here there was a shooting back in February in which 5 students were murdered and many others wounded and the murderer, thankfully, finally turned his gun up= on himself.

NIU is not a good Fr= iday campus since so many students leave as early as possible. I set up shortly after 10 AM, earlier than I normally start, next to a memorial to Martin Luther King. The memorial structure has two cones on top of ea= ch other, joined at the small end. The monument is called, “The Balance of Equality.”

At the 11 AM break, I read from the quotes on the MLK monument, which provided good preaching material: NOW THE JUDGMENT OF GOD IS UPON US. AND WE MUST EITHER LEARN TO LIVE TOGETHER AS BROTHERS; OR WE ARE GOING TO PERISH TOGETH= ER AS FOOLS.

I pointed to this quote and warned the stude= nts, “Take notice, since this monument was erected in 1993, you have been warned that judgment is at hand. If you do not love one another by refusing to sin against each other you will die in your sins and be damned. The fool has said in his heart that there is no God. You atheists are fools.”

Despite the good material, I did not get much attention. The pedestrian traffic was not heavy. Meanwhile, a husband and wife team started passing out Chick tracts. They were concentrated in their task. The man told me t= hat there was some grief and soberness initially after the shooting; but after = two weeks everything was back to normal. Normal for college students is s= ex, booze, drugs and decadent music; party, party, party and indifference to spiritual things.

At the noon break I continued using quotes from Dr. King. I pointed to a quote from the R= everend which read, IF THERE IS TO BE PEACE ON EARTH AND GOOD WILL TOWARD MEN= , WE MUST FINALLY BELIEVE THAT ALL REALITY HINGES ON MORAL FOUNDATIONS. =

I proclaimed, “This is a quote from the Bible, announced at Jesus’ birth. This campus no longer has a m= oral foundation. Moral relativity is the dominate point of view. You have built your house upon sand.”

I referred to another quotation which read, WE MUST COME TO SEE THAT THE END WE SEEK IS A SOCIETY THAT CAN LIVE WITH ITS CONSCIENCE. I used this remark= to expound upon the conscience, which affirms God’s Moral Law; but I war= ned the students that they had put their consciences to sleep with their Bud= which made them none the wiser.

After I had been preaching several minutes a color guard marched into the area, followed by a band and hundreds of children carry flags on the nations. I stopped preaching and leaned a sign against my brief case which read, “You Deserve Hell.” However, I turned it away from the children since,= not having reached the age of accountability, they do not deserve Hell. <= /span>

The sign did get the attention of an atheist who asked me why he deserved Hell. Soon he admitted that he did not believe in either Hell or Heaven. Within 15 minutes I had 8-10 students around me, asking about the sign. The atheist b= oy was agitated. Three times he left to go to work in the bookstore; but each time he returned with more questions. He admitted he was having problems dealing with what I said.

The group remained at about 10 students for two hours. About five of the people stayed with= me for most of that time. Others would come and go, and then some would return with friends. Emily who at first was hostile within an hour ha= d an attitude change. When the atheist boy said, “Jesus was a devil,” Emily rebuked him and said, “Show some respect.” Later she told a newcomer to our group, “He is = very interesting.” There were others who like Emily changed their attitude after initial antagonism.

Several times during= the session I pointed to King’s warning that “The judgment of Go= d is upon us.” Numerous atheists stopped for a while. When they made a comment, I reminded them about King’s saying that, “= ;All reality hinges on moral foundations.” “What is your moral foundation?” I asked the atheists.

A Catholic boy, who = sat with me the whole time, intelligently defended the faith. He reminded= the atheists that if there is no righteous God as our moral foundation, then th= ere is no difference between murdering a man and swatting a fly. Repeated= ly, I referred to the February massacre; but none of the unbelieving students w= ould condemn the murderer.

I remained in teachi= ng mode until 2 PM when I had to leave, since I had a long drive through great= er Chicago and unto Shipshewana, IN for the EEM board meeting tomorrow. = I am convinced that Emily and several others were moved today. I told Emily that I would pray for her. Please pray with me for Emily and the athe= ist boy who told me he wanted to travel to hear me at Purdue, where I am planni= ng on preaching September 29.

Bro Jed