Yesterday, we looked at one form of street evangelism: bullhorn evangelism. Another form is Sandwich Board Evangelism.
In college, I encountered another form of street preaching: the sandwich board preacher. I was attending the state university, and one day, on my way to class, I noticed a large crowd gathering around a man with a sandwich sign strapped to his shoulders. Next to him stood a young girl, probably around ten years old, dressed all in white. I found out later this was his daughter.
The sign, however, caught my eyes. In big, bold, burning, red letters across the top it read: “GOD HATES…” and then scattered around the rest of the board were groups of people that God hates: liars, cheaters, atheists, drunks, adulterers, and gays (he used a different word, which I won’t include here).
He also had a bullhorn, and was busy announcing to the growing crowd of college students that all sinners were going to hell. He claimed that he had not sinned in 21 years, and his ten year-old daughter had never sinned in her entire life.
Some Christians who were there tried to argue with him from 1 John 1:8, that the one who says they have not sinned is a liar.
His response was that he wasn’t claiming he had not sinned. He had. Twenty-one years ago. And his daughter wasn’t claiming she had not sinned. He, the father, was making that claim. So 1 John 1:8 didn’t apply to either one of them. Nice, huh?
I can’t be certain, but I don’t think he got any “converts” that day, or even moved anybody in the right direction. So far, the bullhorn evangelist Red was up on this guy by one.
Where on the list is “Men Wearing Signs”?
🙂
HA HA HA HA!!!!
We saw something very similar in a park on a Sunday afternoon in the 70’s. The park was packed, but there was an area of at least one hundred feet diameter with a woman and her sign in the middle, and no one else in the area. I went near her to read her sign about who God hates. She announced that I was going to hell. She didn’t know anything about me and was wrong.
I suppose these misled, misdirected, wacky folks may be part of the “family”. However – what they are doing is most ill-advised. These methods are very convincing, agreed. They convince those who see them that not only is the messenger unbalanced (a nice way to say it), but that their message is probably on par with the messenger.
A few years back I heard of a guy who was trying to rent an airplane so he could dump millions of “Gospel tracts” over a certain large city. He reasoned that if even one person “got saved” it would be worth the cost and his probable arrest for massive littering. (He discounted the thousands of angry people who would get piles of leaflets dumped on their homes and yards.) Thankfully, no pilot would help him – They were concerned they would be fined and possibly lose their pilot’s license.
There are so many more effective ways to “preach the Gospel”.
Oh my.
I had not heard about the Gospel littering idea. Can you imagine? I’m glad the pilots had some common sense.
He definitely looks like an incarnation of Apostrophe Man! But what are PKs and High fullutent?
I’m afraid I’m on that list four times, with a couple of other close shaves. I hope he’s wrong! : )
I know! He doesn’t quite understand how to use the apostrophe!. Ha ha!
I don’t know what a PK is either… unless he means “Pastor’s Kid.”
And on the second, I think he means “highfalutin” which means “pretentious, arrogant, bombastic, proud.”
But what would he have against Pastor’s kids???
I think you must be right about High fullutent – perhaps he was running “high falutin” into the following one to read : “High falutin’ sophisticated swine” (though what he has against pigs I don’t know).
it’s work because word of God is a seed.and it’S Gives harvest……
Lamuel
Lamuel,
What I will be arguing is that while it “works” there are other forms of evangelism which work more. Also, this particular form of evangelism hurts more people than it helps.
I think he might just be going to hell for misusing apostrophes.
Oh, so true!
P.K.s…Promise Keepers?