Preaching to a public audience who has no choice but to listen

[Pergamum]

Taking Liberties: Arrested For Reading The Bible? | Fox News

"Good morning, everyone,” he says to a group of 15 onlookers waiting outside the Hemet California Division of Motor Vehicles. “I would like to read a little bit of the word of God this morning.”

The video, shot in February of last year, ends with Mackey’s arrest.

“You can preach on your own property,” an officer from the California Highway Patrol tells Mackey as he leads him away in handcuffs. “Folks, this is what the United States is coming to,” Mackey says to the crowd, who were standing outside waiting for the DMV to open. “You can talk about anything you want, but you can’t talk about the Bible.”


Mackey is a reverend with Calvary Chapel Hemet, a conservative Christian church that practices an “evangelical ministry,” requiring public testimonials and Scripture readings.

Church officials believe Mackey was arrested because of “Christian bigotry.”

The officer who made the arrest disagrees, claiming he arrested Mackey for preaching to a public audience who had no choice but to listen.

“You’re not allowed to preach here," he told Mackey, “because this is a captive audience.”

Mackey’s lawyer calls that “ridiculous.”



Read more: Taking Liberties: Arrested For Reading The Bible? | Fox News

Comments?

 

[Jash Comstock]

What of Paul and Mars Hill? Or Peter and John at the Temple? Those were captive audiences as well were they not??

 

[JoannaV]

Hmm. Kind of off topic, but maybe we should all hang out in parks and read the Bible aloud to our children? Maybe slightly louder than necessary?

 

[Tim]

I think the "Way of the Master" folks are fond of preaching where people line up for the DMV and the court house.

There is another "trick" that I have heard them do: call your (Christian) friend on your cell phone and give him the Gospel. Do this near other people and talk loud enough so that they "eavesdrop" on your conversation. You can't get arrested for talking too loud on your cell phone.

I am not sure what I think about all of this.

 

[AThornquist]

Doesn't bother me. This may have been the only Gospel those people have ever heard. Judging by the video, I don't think the man presented himself in any inappropriate way except that he was reading the Bible. I hope and pray many will have the boldness to share the Gospel of Christ.

 

[Rich Koster]

1) This is probably a regular "fishing hole" as some street preachers call it.
2) They bring a camera for their own safety.
3) Some liberal crybaby called the police. (maybe more than one or once)
4) The officer had no authority to grab his Bible, or arrest him. He knew where to stand to be in compliance with all ordinances.
5) Expect persecution, even if it is legal under the Constitution and local ordinances.

 

[TheElk]

Persecution at its finest...

 

[Kim G]

I don't think he should have been there. If I had to wait at the DMV for hours on end (as is normal here) I certainly wouldn't want to listen to an Islamic believer read from the Koran. I wouldn't be able to get away from it unless I left my place in line.

Engage with people one-on-one. If they ask you to stop, stop. If you want to preach in the street, preach where people can come or go without consequence.

---------- Post added at 10:10 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:09 AM ----------

What of Paul and Mars Hill? Or Peter and John at the Temple? Those were captive audiences as well were they not??

The difference is that those people could just walk away from the group. People waiting in line at the DMV probably got off work to stand there for something that has to be done, and they can't just leave. They're stuck listening in that exact location. Rudeness doesn't win souls.

 

[TheElk]

I don't think he should have been there. If I had to wait at the DMV for hours on end (as is normal here) I certainly wouldn't want to listen to an Islamic believer read from the Koran. I wouldn't be able to get away from it unless I left my place in line.

Engage with people one-on-one. If they ask you to stop, stop. If you want to preach in the street, preach where people can come or go without consequence.

---------- Post added at 10:10 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:09 AM ----------

What of Paul and Mars Hill? Or Peter and John at the Temple? Those were captive audiences as well were they not??

The difference is that those people could just walk away from the group. People waiting in line at the DMV probably got off work to stand there for something that has to be done, and they can't just leave. They're stuck listening in that exact location. Rudeness doesn't win souls.

The people waiting at the DMV can walk away as well... They have to decide whether to stay or go.

 

[Kim G]

The people waiting at the DMV can walk away as well... They have to decide whether to stay or go.

It's rude, it's intimidating. Regardless of the law's position, I think it's brash and inconsiderate. That pastor should have invited his unsaved neighbors over to brunch instead of preaching at these people that morning.

Our culture doesn't take well to open-air preaching anymore, just like it doesn't take well to door-to-door preaching (which I also think is rude in America). He'd get many more thoughtful listeners if he made a preaching video in his own home and uploaded it to YouTube.

 

[Alan D. Strange]

What of Paul and Mars Hill? Or Peter and John at the Temple? Those were captive audiences as well were they not?? Jash Comstock

When it comes to all these sorts of things--particularly involving church/state matters--we have to be very careful in applying the Scriptures because the contexts are often quite different and it is easy to misapply the Word of God.

Having said that, Paul was invited to speak at the Areopagus (having done so in the synagogue and marketplace, this latter being closer to what the street preacher in the OP did), as seen in Acts 17:19-20, those bring him there even saying, "we want to know what these things mean." Peter and John are speaking in a distinctly religious area (in which people are freely coming and going) about the hope of Israel. Also rather different.

Historically, outdoor preaching is such that a man speaks to a gathering crowd, not comes to people in a queue who are there for some purpose--in this case, presumably, to get a license or attend to other civil business pertaining to automobiles in a timely fashion. It seems discourteous to me to read the Word or preach to them if they must remain in that line to achieve their purpose if they do not wish to hear. The principles of I Peter 3:1 and following seem to be that if equals or superiors do not wish to receive our verbal witness we are not to force it upon them but witness with our lives.

If this preaching brother were to be on a street corner or in a field or something like that, I would regard it differently. But reading and preaching with a loud voice to people who have not gathered to hear you preach but to transact commercial or civil business seems not to be a proper exercise of church power, which is moral and suasive, not legal and coercive. We of all people should never coerce or appear to coerce people to hear our message. The reply may be "they could leave the line." Would that be love on our part to make them feel that they had no alternative but to do so? I think not.

Now whether the police should have arrested him is another matter. None of us know what happened here, although if he persistently refused the entreaties of the police to desist, I have little sympathy with him. I don't know enough to say more about the particulars in this case. Were the rights of the preaching brother violated in some way? Perhaps. But the activity of preaching to people in such a situation has no clear biblical precedent that I can see and thus no clear warrant. In fact, other places would suggest that we not preach to those who are gathered for other purposes and who do not want to hear what we have to say. We are not to throw pearls before swine.

Peace,
Alan

 

[TheElk]

The people waiting at the DMV can walk away as well... They have to decide whether to stay or go.

It's rude, it's intimidating. Regardless of the law's position, I think it's brash and inconsiderate. That pastor should have invited his unsaved neighbors over to brunch instead of preaching at these people that morning.

Our culture doesn't take well to open-air preaching anymore, just like it doesn't take well to door-to-door preaching (which I also think is rude in America). He'd get many more thoughtful listeners if he made a preaching video in his own home and uploaded it to YouTube.

I'd hate to offend someone with the gospel.

(ESV) Rom 10:14-17
14) How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?
15) And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”
16) But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?”
17) So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

(ESV) Rom 1:16-17
16) For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
17) For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

 

[Kim G]

I'd hate to offend someone with the gospel.

Re-read what I said, because it has nothing to do with what you're talking about.

YES, the gospel is offensive. But I shouldn't be offensive in my manners, as Alan so eloquently said above.

 

[NaphtaliPress]

Professor Strange's comments are on point. I see no profit in haggling on with this.