Saturday, July 13, 2019

Is Street Preaching Hate Speech?


The first time I ever did street preaching, I wasn't planning on it. A guy handed me a microphone on Beale Street in Memphis while worship music played in the background. He saw my Jesus shirt and said, "Hey man, you want to preach?" So I started preaching on Matthew 7:21-23—"Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven." (KJV)

Guess what happened? The police shut me down in less than five minutes.

They said I was too loud. But I was no louder than the guy playing music next to me, and I was certainly no louder than the live bands blasting from every bar up and down Beale Street. The message was the problem. Not the volume.

That night crystallized something for me: the world doesn't mind noise. It minds the Name of Jesus.

What People Think Street Preaching Is

When most people hear "street preaching," they picture someone screaming hellfire and condemnation at strangers. Maybe they've seen videos of angry preachers outside strip clubs yelling, "Jesus hates you! You're going to hell!" And yes, those videos exist. I included one in the podcast episode because I wanted to address the elephant in the room.

That's not biblical preaching. That's something else.

But because of those examples, street preaching gets lumped into one category: hate speech. And that couldn't be further from the truth.

What the Bible Says About Preaching

Let's go back to the source. What does the Bible actually say about preaching?

Romans 10:13-15 (KJV) says:

"For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things."

Notice the progression:

  • You can't call on someone you don't believe in.
  • You can't believe in someone you've never heard of.
  • You can't hear without a preacher.
  • And preachers must be sent.

This is about taking the Gospel to people who have not heard it. That's the key. The word "Gospel" means good news. And news, by definition, has the word new in it. It's not something you've heard a thousand times.

So if you're standing behind a pulpit every Sunday talking to the same congregation that's heard the same message for 30 years, that's teaching. That's discipleship. That's important—but it's not preaching in the biblical sense.

The Greek Word: Kerusso

The Greek word for "preach" in Romans 10 is kerusso (κηρύσσω). It means:

"To herald as a public crier, especially divine truth (the gospel); to preach, proclaim, publish."

A herald was someone sent by a king to a new city to proclaim terms of surrender. Picture this: the king sends a herald to stand outside the walls of a city. The herald unrolls a scroll and reads the terms. The city can either surrender and serve the king, or refuse and be plundered.

That's what biblical preaching is. It's a public heralding of the Gospel to people who haven't heard it. It's a proclamation: "The Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe."

And yes, that includes a warning. If you reject the King, there are consequences. That's not hate. That's love. You're giving people a choice before it's too late.

Real Street Preachers Speak Out

I reached out to friends of mine who actually do street preaching—men and women who take the Gospel to the lost, the broken, the unreached. I asked them one question:

"What do you think about people who say street preaching is not loving?"

Here's what they said.

Acie Burleson

Acie is walking the cross from South Carolina to the Grand Canyon, preaching almost every day. He said:

"If street preaching is meant to save your life, then why is this not loving? If I see you in danger, I want to help you get away from that danger because I love you."

Simple. Powerful. True.

Lance Rowe

Lance has carried the cross to all 50 state capitals. He said:

"Idly standing by and watching someone as they are preparing to commit suicide and not saying anything or intervening in some way is not loving."

Exactly. If you saw someone about to walk off the edge of the Grand Canyon, you wouldn't worry about offending them. You'd yell. You'd run. You'd grab them. That's love.

Monty Simpson

Monty preaches the Gospel on the Gulf Coast. He said:

"All street preachers should let it be known that they are there because of God's love, then preach the Word and let it fall where it may. Prayerless preaching is like sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal. We can go in a totally wrong spirit and motive, and that does more harm than good. But Jesus said we are the salt of the earth. Salt purifies but can also make things taste better—or bitter. Preaching should have a dash of salt with it."

Monty's right. It's not just about what you say. It's about the spirit you say it in.

Johnny Gaston (Reach My City)

Johnny preaches every week with compassion, clarity, and boldness. He said:

"The best way to expose weak theology is simple. When someone says you're not being loving, ask them: 'If all these people die in their sins without Christ, where do they go?' Push them to say it. Hell. If the truck was bearing down on somebody and you didn't say anything, how evil would that be? It would be horribly evil. It would be depraved."

Johnny is right. The critics of street preaching are often the ones who aren't preaching at all.

Matthew Foutch

Matthew has carried the cross through Mardi Gras in New Orleans. He said:

"I have sung 'Jesus Loves Me' with hundreds of men as we carried a cross in the middle of Mardi Gras—in the middle of all that debauchery—with the message of love, which is Jesus and His cross. He gave His life to save the lost and bring us into fellowship with Him. That's loving."

Amen.

Brandon Hooks

Brandon preaches one-to-one and in public. He said:

"If we love people enough, we're gonna tell them the truth. We do it out of love for them, not out of hatred or self-righteousness. Jude 22-23 says, 'Be merciful to those who doubt, but save others by snatching them from the fire.' If we see people about to meet death—about to walk off the edge of the Grand Canyon—it would be hatred to just let them go."

Snatching them from the fire. That's biblical. That's loving.

Stephen Barrett (Holy Fire Japan)

Stephen is an American missionary in Japan, where only 1% of the population is Christian. He said:

"Jesus preached in public, on the street, everywhere. A public heralding of the Gospel is something that should be honored in the church. But you've got to be led by the Spirit. I was in a park the other day, and I asked God if I should start preaching. He said, 'No. Play music first. Then they'll come.' So I played guitar, and 20-30 people gathered. Then I preached. You obey God—whether it's singing, preaching, or calling out sin. That's God's love manifesting."

Stephen's point is critical: Be led by the Spirit. Jesus only did what He saw the Father do (John 5:19). Romans 8:14 says, "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." (KJV)

You can have all the right theology and still miss God's leading. The method matters less than the anointing.

The Legal Battle: Captive Audience Doctrine

There's a legal concept called the Captive Audience Doctrine. It's used to justify silencing street preachers in certain contexts. The idea is that if people can't easily leave—like students in a school, employees at work, or people waiting at the DMV—they're a "captive audience," and you can't preach to them.

I actually found a case where a man was arrested for reading the Bible aloud outside a DMV. The officer said, "You have a captive audience. You're under arrest."

Let that sink in. Reading the Bible. In public. In America. Arrested.

This doctrine is being weaponized against Christians. But here's the thing: if atheists find Christian t-shirts at school offensive, does that mean kids can't wear them? If coworkers are offended by someone mentioning Jesus at lunch, does that mean free speech ends at the office door?

We have to be wise. We have to know our rights. And we have to be willing to stand.

Christine Weick: Bold as a Lion

One of the boldest examples of modern-day street preaching comes from Christine Weick. She's the woman who stood up during a Muslim service inside the National Cathedral—America's church—and proclaimed the name of Jesus Christ.

She was dragged out.

She also interrupted Texas Muslim Capitol Day and declared Jesus as Lord over Texas.

You can watch the videos. They're powerful. And they're convicting.

Christine wasn't hateful. She wasn't screaming. She was simply refusing to stay silent while the Name above all names was being dishonored in a place dedicated to Him.

That's courage. That's love.

My First Street Preaching Experience

Like I said earlier, my first time preaching on the street, the cops shut me down in five minutes. I wasn't yelling at anyone. I wasn't condemning. I was preaching Matthew 7:21-23—a passage about people who think they're saved but aren't.

And I got silenced.

But here's what I learned: "You can beat the rap, but you can't beat the ride." Sometimes standing for Jesus means standing in uncomfortable places. Sometimes it means being misunderstood. Sometimes it means being arrested.

But as Peter and the apostles said in Acts 5:29 (KJV):

"We ought to obey God rather than men."

Even if preaching becomes illegal, we preach. Even if it's called hate speech, we preach. Because Jesus commanded it: "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." (Mark 16:15, KJV)

At Least Christ Is Preached

I want to close with what the Apostle Paul said in Philippians 1:15-18 (KJV):

"Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife; and some also of good will: The one preach Christ of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds: But the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defence of the gospel. What then? notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretence, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice."

Paul is saying: even if someone's motives aren't pure, even if their theology is a little off, even if their method is rough—at least Christ is being preached.

And Paul rejoices in that.

There will be broken eggs. There will be messy moments. But the seed is being sown. The Name is being proclaimed. And that's what matters.

Final Thoughts

Is street preaching hate speech?

No. It's the most loving thing you can do.

It's warning someone before they step into eternity without Jesus. It's being the herald sent by the King. It's obeying the Great Commission even when it's uncomfortable, unpopular, or illegal.

And if you're called to preach—whether in a park, on a street corner, or at a stoplight—do it in love. Do it in the Spirit. Do it boldly.

Because one day, you'll stand before Jesus. And He won't ask if people liked your message. He'll ask if you delivered it.

Additional Resources

Connect


Posted by at
Labels: , ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)