To myself personally there are few things more frustrating than the presence and actions of American street preachers on the campuses of our colleges and universities. I personally feel a great burden for college students and their spiritual well being, and seeing how damaging to the cause of Christ that the overwhelming majority of street preachers are, I can’t help but feel a response of disgust and utter horror towards them.
The problem is, the message that all of them ultimately bring, is solely one of hellfire and damnation, attempting to rain conviction upon the souls of a lost peoples while completely abandoning the teachings of God’s mercy towards those He has chosen. They get in students faces, attack them with terms like “fornicators”, “drunkards”, “idolators”, and continually preach the condemnation of the law without revealing the redemption of the cross. They harass the students with baseless judgements on their character and actions, and make blind assertions concerning their individual spiritual states. They try to be as Jesus at the well with the Samaritan woman, wanting to detail the sins of those around them, yet in the end their pride leads them to making stereotypical and unwarranted accusations. And, when the backlash comes, they hide behind the idea that what they preach is truth and the anger which comes back at them is simply the demons reaction to being revealed.
Now, as a good believer in the total depravity of man, and as a physical peer of these students, I know that it is the case that many of them live lifes of sin, of various debaucheries and idolatry, but I also realize what the apostle Paul is teaching in 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 when he says that “I have become all things to all people that by all means I might save some .” If Paul were to be on the college campuses today, or if it were Christ there, he would become “as the college students.” This doesn’t mean that he would go get wasted at parties or seek a life of sexual promiscuity, but it means that he would engage the students where they are at, at school, in academics, in the joyous freedoms of young adulthood, and live and minister in a life that demonstrates to those students the failings which are present in their unregenerate souls. The wonderful teachings of Jesus and the Bible point us to the fact that we need a personal relationship with the Lord and Savior of the Universe, and as such, it is through building relationships that we may reach the sinners among us.
What the street preachers do, however, is not relational, is not meeting the students where they are and showing them their radical fallenness, is not demonstrating to them the immeasurable mercies of God, but instead is being confrontational and using the stumbling stone of the gospel as a weapon to be thrown at unbelievers. In a prior post I mentioned that presenting the Savior to people who don’t realize a need for one is like hitting someone standing on dry land in the face with a buoy trying to keep them from drowning. Instead of being grateful they will just curse you. Well, these street preachers bypass any buoy and just hit the students full on in the face with a speed boat, knocking them unconcious and wholly unable to witness their true state. This is what is so infuriating.
I earnestly charge each of you to pray for the state of our college campuses. Many great historical changes, both for good and bad, have had their genesis inside the ranks of college-aged men and women, and as such, the spiritual state of these students will help determine whether the next change will be glorifying to God our Father or not. Thus, as much as we need to pray for responsible acadmics who don’t reject the existence and wonders of God, we also must pray that there aren’t false or misled Christians further complicating the ability of the Holy Spirit to work conviction in these students lives.
I’m sorry to rant, I just want all of us to be aware of this great road block that obstruct many a college and university and to pray for the overcoming power of the Spirit in these places.
