Street Preacher at MSU

Last week I watched a street preacher draw a crowd of students at MSU and was fascinated by it. They did not like what he was saying and they argued with him, but they were listening. I told several people about it.

This afternoon, a friend who teaches at MSU called me and said there was another street preacher drawing a crowd in front of Strong Hall. She was describing what she saw and said she had not seen anything like it there before.

I drove over to see what was going on. The street preacher was shouting Bible passages and some of the students were shouting back. It was an interesting scene. The preacher was being referred to as Santa because he was older, with a white beard, suspenders, and a bit round and chubby. He wore a fishing hat on his head.

Their was a young man wearing a pirate's hat on his head and carrying a flag for the Church of the Spaghetti Monster. Several people were dressed like pirates and several had various signs. The COTSM had signs that said hugs given. Somebody showed up dressed like one of the sand people from Star Wars. It was a very good costume. Several people, students, were dressed up.

There was a very articulate young man wearing a blue bandana on his head and he was arguing with the preacher quite a bit. Last week he was arguing with a different street preacher and declaring he is an athiest. He does a very good job and it is part of the reason why they draw a crowd. People are listening, fascinated, and thinking. That is good. I talked to him for a minute. He is actually a friendly and polite young man overall. He was a bit of a smart alec. I told him, with his speaking ability, he would be successful in anything he chose. He thanked me then said he thought he might like to go into prostitution, just to get a response. This young man is the type God could use to bring about revival. Not the fire and brimstone, scare people stuff, but a change of heart and a turning to true faith by the masses. (He would not like it if he read this, but I'm just a stranger so my opinion is just that)

I talked to several people who were there. One student said it was a lot like watching a train wreck, you were drawn to it.

It is interesting. What I am seeing in defensive young adults concerning the church is a fear of abuse. It is very similar to what I am seeing in middle aged, and even senior, adults who have been through churches with splits, power struggles and all sorts of abuses (actually, the church I am in now has had some of the worst I ever heard of in their past). What are we, as the church, doing? Why are we putting up with these people who behave like that? It's not just excuses.

Students are drawn to spirituality. It is a part of our times. We are wired for God and are not at peace until we are worshipping Him. Last week, the young man I talked to while watching another street preacher said he had no knowledge of the Bible. He had no idea if what the guy was reading was correct or not. Another knew but didn't like the emphasis on telling everybody they are going to hell (it was a turn or burn preacher).

The COTSM and friends had a festival Tuesday to raise money for those living in poverty. They made $300, which they gave to Habitat for Humanity for bunnies and chicks. It was enough for starter baskets for 6 families. One of the things they did was throw water ballons at the guy who argues with the preacher for $1 a throw.

Even the street preacher was there that they had been arguing with. Here is what the blogger said about him, "I am also thankful that Brother Jed was so supportive. He may be crazy, and he may be delusional, and he might have a slight masonic complex, but he really helped us out yesterday. He even took a water balloon in the face." Somebody gave them $100 for the priviledge of throwing a water ballon at Brother Jed, the street preacher.

These street preachers are like prophets. They make the students mad. They preach about hell and judgement and lean heavily on yelling about sexual sins. They also hit other favorite student passtimes like drinking and such. The students prefer to believe they go to heaven no matter what, and anything they do is okay with God. It's a nice though but not true.

By the way, the students do not worship a spaghetti monster. It is a club protesting extremeism and doing things to help others, such as the heifer project this week. They get dressed up and have fun being together.