# Preaching to a public audience who has no choice but to listen



## Pergamum (Mar 29, 2012)

Taking Liberties: Arrested For Reading The Bible? | Fox News



> "Good morning, everyone,” he says to a group of 15 onlookers waiting outside the Hemet California Division of Motor Vehicles. “I would like to read a little bit of the word of God this morning.”
> 
> The video, shot in February of last year, ends with Mackey’s arrest.
> 
> ...




Comments?


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## Jash Comstock (Mar 30, 2012)

What of Paul and Mars Hill? Or Peter and John at the Temple? Those were captive audiences as well were they not??


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## JoannaV (Mar 30, 2012)

Hmm. Kind of off topic, but maybe we should all hang out in parks and read the Bible aloud to our children? Maybe slightly louder than necessary?


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## Tim (Mar 30, 2012)

I think the "Way of the Master" folks are fond of preaching where people line up for the DMV and the court house. 

There is another "trick" that I have heard them do: call your (Christian) friend on your cell phone and give him the Gospel. Do this near other people and talk loud enough so that they "eavesdrop" on your conversation. You can't get arrested for talking too loud on your cell phone. 

I am not sure what I think about all of this.


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## AThornquist (Mar 30, 2012)

Doesn't bother me. This may have been the only Gospel those people have ever heard. Judging by the video, I don't think the man presented himself in any inappropriate way _except that_ he was reading the Bible. I hope and pray many will have the boldness to share the Gospel of Christ.


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## Rich Koster (Mar 30, 2012)

1) This is probably a regular "fishing hole" as some street preachers call it.
2) They bring a camera for their own safety.
3) Some liberal crybaby called the police. (maybe more than one or once)
4) The officer had no authority to grab his Bible, or arrest him. He knew where to stand to be in compliance with all ordinances.
5) Expect persecution, even if it is legal under the Constitution and local ordinances.


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## TheElk (Mar 30, 2012)

Persecution at its finest...


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## Kim G (Mar 30, 2012)

I don't think he should have been there. If I had to wait at the DMV for hours on end (as is normal here) I certainly wouldn't want to listen to an Islamic believer read from the Koran. I wouldn't be able to get away from it unless I left my place in line.

Engage with people one-on-one. If they ask you to stop, stop. If you want to preach in the street, preach where people can come or go without consequence.

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Jash Comstock said:


> What of Paul and Mars Hill? Or Peter and John at the Temple? Those were captive audiences as well were they not??



The difference is that those people could just walk away from the group. People waiting in line at the DMV probably got off work to stand there for something that has to be done, and they can't just leave. They're stuck listening in that exact location. Rudeness doesn't win souls.

Reactions: Like 1


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## TheElk (Mar 30, 2012)

Kim G said:


> I don't think he should have been there. If I had to wait at the DMV for hours on end (as is normal here) I certainly wouldn't want to listen to an Islamic believer read from the Koran. I wouldn't be able to get away from it unless I left my place in line.
> 
> Engage with people one-on-one. If they ask you to stop, stop. If you want to preach in the street, preach where people can come or go without consequence.
> 
> ...



The people waiting at the DMV can walk away as well... They have to decide whether to stay or go.


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## Kim G (Mar 30, 2012)

TheElk said:


> The people waiting at the DMV can walk away as well... They have to decide whether to stay or go.



It's rude, it's intimidating. Regardless of the law's position, I think it's brash and inconsiderate. That pastor should have invited his unsaved neighbors over to brunch instead of preaching at these people that morning.

Our culture doesn't take well to open-air preaching anymore, just like it doesn't take well to door-to-door preaching (which I also think is rude in America). He'd get many more thoughtful listeners if he made a preaching video in his own home and uploaded it to YouTube.


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## Alan D. Strange (Mar 30, 2012)

Jash Comstock said:


> What of Paul and Mars Hill? Or Peter and John at the Temple? Those were captive audiences as well were they not?? Jash Comstock



When it comes to all these sorts of things--particularly involving church/state matters--we have to be very careful in applying the Scriptures because the contexts are often quite different and it is easy to misapply the Word of God.

Having said that, Paul was invited to speak at the Areopagus (having done so in the synagogue and marketplace, this latter being closer to what the street preacher in the OP did), as seen in Acts 17:19-20, those bring him there even saying, "we want to know what these things mean." Peter and John are speaking in a distinctly religious area (in which people are freely coming and going) about the hope of Israel. Also rather different.

Historically, outdoor preaching is such that a man speaks to a gathering crowd, not comes to people in a queue who are there for some purpose--in this case, presumably, to get a license or attend to other civil business pertaining to automobiles in a timely fashion. It seems discourteous to me to read the Word or preach to them if they must remain in that line to achieve their purpose if they do not wish to hear. The principles of I Peter 3:1 and following seem to be that if equals or superiors do not wish to receive our verbal witness we are not to force it upon them but witness with our lives. 

If this preaching brother were to be on a street corner or in a field or something like that, I would regard it differently. But reading and preaching with a loud voice to people who have not gathered to hear you preach but to transact commercial or civil business seems not to be a proper exercise of church power, which is moral and suasive, not legal and coercive. We of all people should never coerce or appear to coerce people to hear our message. The reply may be "they could leave the line." Would that be love on our part to make them feel that they had no alternative but to do so? I think not. 

Now whether the police should have arrested him is another matter. None of us know what happened here, although if he persistently refused the entreaties of the police to desist, I have little sympathy with him. I don't know enough to say more about the particulars in this case. Were the rights of the preaching brother violated in some way? Perhaps. But the activity of preaching to people in such a situation has no clear biblical precedent that I can see and thus no clear warrant. In fact, other places would suggest that we not preach to those who are gathered for other purposes and who do not want to hear what we have to say. We are not to throw pearls before swine.

Peace,
Alan


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## TheElk (Mar 30, 2012)

Kim G said:


> TheElk said:
> 
> 
> > The people waiting at the DMV can walk away as well... They have to decide whether to stay or go.
> ...



I'd hate to offend someone with the gospel.

(ESV) Rom 10:14-17
14) How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?
15) And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”
16) But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?”
17) So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

(ESV) Rom 1:16-17
16) For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
17) For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”


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## Kim G (Mar 30, 2012)

TheElk said:


> I'd hate to offend someone with the gospel.



Re-read what I said, because it has nothing to do with what you're talking about.

YES, the gospel is offensive. But I shouldn't be offensive in my manners, as Alan so eloquently said above.


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## NaphtaliPress (Mar 30, 2012)

Professor Strange's comments are on point. I see no profit in haggling on with this.


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