Saturday, October 29, 2011

Heh! Street preachers descend on Wall St. occupiers

This cracks me up. I used to cringe at street preachers. But you have to admit, it takes guts to do what they are doing. It's as unpolitically correct as all get out, but if one person hears the Gospel, I mean really hears it, is it worth it? There was a street preacher who used to stand on the corner of Bank and Laurier at lunch hour years ago. I wonder what happened to him. But once I saw him in a one-on-one conversation with a young woman over to the side and thought, well, if this happens once a week and he brings someone to the Lord, that could be 52 people in a year. So when I passed him back in those days I would nod hello and maybe give him a thumbs up.

H/t Spirit Daily

"Some of the teachings of Jesus Christ are being taken out of context by the protesters. …The first century Christians gave from their heart, not because they were forced by the government."

The Occupy Wall Street protesters were joined recently by the Christian evangelistic group, Go Stand Speak, which came armed with Bibles and street preachers adept at communicating to the large crowd.

While many of the protesters may not like it; this really is a wonderful opportunity for Christians to bring the Word to hundreds of people in one place, as the "occupiers" have made themselves a captive audience.

Go Stand SpeakPat Necerato, Overseer of Go Stand Speak Ministries, explained, "The ideas and solutions of the Occupy Wall Street movement have consequences. Unless they become Biblical solutions, this movement will come to naught, regardless of how much attention it gets. More entitlements, taking from the rich and giving to the poor, bigger government and other socialist concepts, are not Biblical solutions. God's standards must be the foundation for all solutions if they are to succeed."

While some who heard the message from Go Stand Speak members were less than receptive—a few physically hostile; many reportedly seemed to be open and interested.

Necerato noted that some protesters have incorporated Scripture into their declared stand; however, it is a pick-and-choose-to-make-your-point kind of application.

"Some of the teachings of Jesus Christ are being taken out of context by the protesters," he explained. "For instance, 'Jesus told us to help the poor' and the communal aspect of the first century Christians (Acts chapter 2) are often used by the protesters as support for the communistic/socialist tendencies of the movement. Jesus and the Apostles were speaking about personal dealings among individuals, not governmental mandated or controlled wealth/property redistribution. The first century Christians gave from their heart, not because they were forced by the government."

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