Preacher Causes Stir in Perth

[MW]

Something very precious from the inner life of R. M. M'Cheyne:

"July 8. — Since Tuesday have been laid up with illness. Set by once more for a season to feel my unprofitableness and cure my pride. When shall this self-choosing temper be healed? 'Lord, I will preach, run, visit, wrestle,' said I. 'No, thou shalt lie in thy bed and suffer,' said the Lord. To-day missed some fine opportunities of speaking a word for Christ. The Lord saw I would have spoken as much for my own honour as his, and, therefore, shut my mouth. I see a man cannot be a faithful minister, until he preaches Christ for Christ's sake — until he gives up striving to attract people to himself, and seeks only to attract them to Christ. Lord, give me this!'

 

[Pergamum]

both approaches have, i think, precedent in scripture, but my thinking is that the second was far more effective.

from time to time i have had the opportunity to be a part of both, and i also found the conversational to be far more most effective and naturally conducive to peace. It seems to me to be more in accord with a law-governed society which protects the peace of its citizens and recognises the rights of individuals to decide religious issues for themselves.

It is obvious in the gospels and the acts that the societies were generally religious in nature and open-air communication of a religious nature was readily accepted. Even here, though, there evidently appears to have been no attempt on the part of our lord or his servants to speak to those who had no interest in the subject, and opportunity was obviously given for interruptions, objections, questions, and dialogue.

I think we all feel that an unhealthy emphasis on "the rights of man" has brought the western world into a particularly desperate situation at this time. We sense we should be doing something, perhaps anything, to address the problem. Sometimes people just want to be seen to be doing something. Sometimes there is a sense of revivalistic nostalgia in the idea of open-air preaching. One trusts that there is at heart a genuine concern to reach one's fellow-men with the good news. I think where the latter is the motive, there will be an openness to seriously consider the best way to speak to others for the glory of god, the edifying of the body of Christ, and the good of the lost.

amen!

 

[JM]

A few good quotes from Spurgeon:

"No sort of defense is needed for preaching out of doors; but it would need very potent arguments to prove that a man had done his duty who has never preached beyond the walls of his meeting-house."

"The open-air speaker’s calling is as honorable as it is arduous, as useful as it is laborious. God alone can sustain you in it, but with him at your side you will have nothing to fear. If ten thousand rebels were before you and a legion of devils in every one of them you need not tremble. More is he that is for you than all they that be against you."

"I am somewhat pleased when I occasionally hear of a brother’s being locked up by the police, for it does him good, and it does the people good also. It is a fine sight to see the minister of the gospel marched off by the servant of the law! … The vilest of mankind respect a man who gets into trouble in order to do them good, and if they see unfair opposition excited they grow quite zealous in the man’s defence."

"In raising a new interest, and in mission operations, out of door services are a main agency. Get the people to listen outside that they may by-and-by worship inside. You want no pulpit, a chair will do, or the kerb of the road. The less formality the better, and if you begin by merely talking to the two or three around you and make in pretence of sermonizing you will do well. More good may be done by personal talk to one that by a rhetorical address to fifty. Do not purposely interfere with the thoroughfare, but if the crowd should accumulate, do not hasten away in sheer fright: the policeman will let you know soon enough."

"Where would the Reformation have been if its great preachers had confined themselves to churches and cathedrals? How would the common people have become indoctrinated with the gospel had it not been for those far wandering evangelists, the colporteurs, and those daring innovators who found a pulpit on every heap of stones, and an audience chamber in every open space near the abodes of men?"

"Preach Christ or nothing. Don’t dispute or discuss except with your eye on the cross."

"If it be the gospel which is spoken, and if the spirit of the preacher be one of love and truth, the results cannot be doubted: the bread cast upon the waters must be found again after many days."

 

[Pergamum]

Great quotes.

 

[Peairtach]

Well, the Spurgeon quotation, shows that certain street preachers were sometimes arrested even in nineteenth century England, although that doesn't blind us to the chilling effect of current British godlessness on populace and police in relation to this and other godly activity.

Sent from my HTC Wildfire using Tapatalk 2

 

[Josh Williamson]

I thank you for the words of support and prayers. The whole situation has been very trying.

The video posted at the start of this thread comes from local media. They cut down a 25 min open air to a 3 min clip. Of course they didn't show context, or the great discussions I had afterwards.

Anyway, here is the video of my second arrest in Perth - Josh Williamson Arrested for Preaching in Perth, Scotland - YouTube

Please pray for us, and pray that this will be for the furtherance of the Gospel.

 

[irresistible_grace]

I thank you for the words of support and prayers. The whole situation has been very trying.

The video posted at the start of this thread comes from local media. They cut down a 25 min open air to a 3 min clip. Of course they didn't show context, or the great discussions I had afterwards.

Anyway, here is the video of my second arrest in Perth - Josh Williamson Arrested for Preaching in Perth, Scotland - YouTube

Please pray for us, and pray that this will be for the furtherance of the Gospel.

ing

 

[KMK]

Nice sermon, Josh. Do you pretty much use the same one each time?

 

[Josh Williamson]

Nice sermon, Josh. Do you pretty much use the same one each time?

Not normally. I generally choose a text, and try to base my message off it.

 

[Backwoods Presbyterian]

 

[Shawn Mathis]

Legal harassment will likely increase. I started a sunday school series on it. The New Mexico Supreme Court case should start waking up sleeping Christians.

 

[Clark-Tillian]

I thank you for the words of support and prayers. The whole situation has been very trying.

The video posted at the start of this thread comes from local media. They cut down a 25 min open air to a 3 min clip. Of course they didn't show context, or the great discussions I had afterwards.

Anyway, here is the video of my second arrest in Perth - Josh Williamson Arrested for Preaching in Perth, Scotland - YouTube

Please pray for us, and pray that this will be for the furtherance of the Gospel.

May YHWH give you strength, brother. 2 Timothy 1.7: For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

 

[GloriousBoaz]

Be praying for you a lot Josh, stay the course brother, very glad for what you are doing for the Worthy One!

 

[Pergamum]

Here is a news article about other outdoor preachers (who are also facebook friends and who also hold to solid theology):
Huskies bite back at soapbox preachers*|*USM Free Press

Questions I have:

--How do we support the rights of true Christians to preach in these public places without also opening up the floodgates to the cults and muslims? If I walk into the library or onto a campus, I didn't plan to hear a sermon and it is not at a time most opportune to get me to hear one, such that even a solid calvinist preacher would probably annoy me. JWs and Muslims would, no doubt, be even more annoying.

--All too often I hear street preachers state that those who get annoyed at them are "rebelling against the Word of God." But if I am also annoyed if someone is trying to preach at me as I busily walk elsewhere, am I, too, in rebellion against the Word of God? Or I am just legitimately annoyed at being bothered by someone who is transgressing my time/space/noise boundaries?

--If I use a bullhorn to preach the Gospel at a stoplight, or if I play blaring rap music too loud at that same stoplight, both to the annoyance of passers-by who have no choice but to hear, then what is the difference? Does the content of the message legitimize the means of the delivery?

--How do we balance getting the Word of God out to the masses versus preserving somebody's civil privacy and right to be left alone?

With a tract, a person can take it or refuse to take it even if you shove it at them. But there is no way to quiet a yelling person (I've even heard some with bull-horns). We no longer live in a day where a town-crier is common and street vendors rarely advertise their wares by yelling nowadays. Maybe the ballpark practice of verbal advertisement (Hot dogs! Hot dogs! Get your hot dogs!) is one of the last vestiges of this practice in the West. Certainly in cultures and places where this is the norm, then the street-preacher fits right in. But what about on the front steps of a library? Or on a college campus where students must pass by, or at a street corner?

Whether it is hot dogs or Jesus that is being yelled...if I do not have a choice to listen but am forced to pass by under a barage of unasked for noise...well, this is annoying no matter the content.

 

[Pergamum]

http://davidould.net/?p=6003

Josh Williamson is an Australian who recently moved to the UK to serve the church there. After working in London for a while he was called to Craigie Reformed Baptist Church in Perth, Scotland. I had the joy of meeting him in Sydney a few years ago.

Josh is also a street preacher. His style is to get up, boom it out (he has a huge voice – a real gift from God) and tell it straight. As you might expect it has varied responses – God has been very good to him in bringing many to salvation but it also gets him into a spot of trouble now and again because, let’s face it, people don’t like it when they hear the gospel preached.

It seems some people in Perth really didn’t like it and Josh has had the privilege of being arrested not once, but twice in one week for nothing more than opening his mouth and teaching the Bible.

Below is a very significant part of the article:

When we arrived in the city centre we were greeted with a barrage of noise. At one end of the street was a busker playing loud South American music through an amplifier, and then in the middle of the street was an opera singer who was singing at the top her lungs with amplification.

All in all it was very noisy in the town centre. After walking the street we found a location between the buskers that we thought would be the best location. We didn’t have any amplification so we had to rely on our natural voices (this was going to be hard due to the noise!)

…

It was a hard open-air as at times I couldn’t even hear myself speak due to the noise coming from the buskers. I had to wonder while I was preaching how the Christian message is classed as a “breach of a peace” but loud music isn’t?

 

[Pergamum]

The sergeant told me that I was being detained for breach of the peace. I asked the sergeant why she targeted a preacher without amplification when two buskers were amplified and making much more noise. She replied by saying that people had complained about me.

The sergeant then said I would be given a fixed penalty notice (a ticket / fine) for breach of the peace, and that I would have to cease from my activities. If I had accepted this it would mean that I would not be legally allowed to preach. Biblically I could not accept such a condition as that would mean going against God’s Word. I replied that I would preach again. At this the sergeant placed me under arrest for breach of peace.

Then it says,

"What is so striking here is that the issue of “breach of the peace” is clearly no longer being defined simply in terms of the noise level."

 

[PhilA]

“Breach of the peace” has never been simply defined in terms of noise level.