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December
2003
Dear
Saints,
We
had a great fall semester with unusually attentive crowds in the northern half
of the country. We did not
experience any wild times until we traveled down into the “Bible Belt” of
Kentucky,
Arkansas,
and
Tennessee.
I
have always said that I would much rather preach to pure heathens, infidels,
atheists and agnostics than a bunch of religious hypocrites.
Enclosed
is Oklahoma State Representative Todd Hiett’s letter that I told you about in
my last newsletter. I am greatly
appreciative of Representative Hiett taking the time out of his busy schedule to
submit this most kind letter of inspiration and challenge.
I
also want to take the time to say a big thanks to all of the other people that
accompanied me on campus this semester who, for one reason or another, were not
mentioned in my last newsletter. Bill
Landerholm who accompanied me to Beloit College, Frank Zaccaro who accompanied
me to both Northern Iowa University and the University of Montana, Jeff Autrey
who accompanied me to Louisiana Tech, Jeff Osborn, David Lamb and Joseph Saylor
who accompanied me to Berea College, Aaron and Gabrielle Gilles who accompanied
me to Northern Kentucky University, Sisters Gisselle Munford, Judy Brackett,
Hanna Young, Jessica Slise, Vanessa and Rachael Neely, and Elizabeth Wildebour
who accompanied me to Northern Iowa University and between the seven of them
passed out 750 tracts in one afternoon, Jeff Curtis, Fred Roehls and Jacob
Zohner who accompanied me to the University of Montana, Roger Page who
accompanied me to the University of Missouri at Kansas City and Cain Hauri who
accompanied me to the University of Tennessee Knoxville.
I
had experienced an above average response on campus until I preached at
Northern
Kentucky
University
on
Election Day this past November. I
do not know why the crowd erupted like a volcano spewing out their hatred for
God. It may have been the fact that
I had brought my two oldest children, Aaron and Gabrielle, with me that day.
It may have been the fact that the liberals were upset as
Kentucky
turned Republican for the first time in some 32 years.
It may have been the fact that there was a “get out the vote” table
set up in the free speech area that was blasting ungodly music into the air.
This was by far the most volatile reaction this semester.
Berea
College
in
Berea
Kentucky
is
in the top five percentile for sodomites. I
met my first ever male transsexual student there this past November.
On the first day, a professor brought his communication class out for
over 30 minutes in order to observe the goings on.
On the second day, a professor who holds a Doctorate from Harvard
Divinity brought his “Contemporary Christianity” class out to engage me in
discussion. When the students that
were in the crowd saw that this Doctor of Divinity was approaching our crowd
they began to say, “Oh, this is going to be fun to watch professor so-n-so eat
Brother Jim alive.” Once I found
out that they were indeed a “Contemporary Christianity” class I brought up
the sodomite that was voted in as an Episcopal Bishop this past fall.
Dr. Harvard Divinity stated that he supported the Episcopal Church’s
position. I read Leviticus 20:13.
Dr. Harvard Divinity then stated that Leviticus 20:13 was part of the
ceremonial law as distinguished from the moral law and therefore is no longer
relevant for today. I broke down and
explained the Mosaic system into the five categories of moral, ceremonial,
civil, dietary, and sanitary after which Dr. Harvard Divinity agreed.
He then had to agree that Leviticus
20:13
was not ceremonial but moral in nature. He
agreed that God’s moral law answers the question, how shall we live in
relation to God and our fellow man? While
the ceremonial law answers the question, how can we be reconciled to a holy God
after we have broken his moral law? I
could tell that the surrounding students were somewhat astonished at Dr. Harvard
Divinity’s sudden capitulation. He
then accused me of being Fred Phelps, a nationally known anti-sodomite preacher,
to which the students quickly corrected him.
Then Dr. Harvard Divinity let his students ask me questions, one was
about drinking alcohol and wine. Dr.
Harvard Divinity spoke up and tried to lie to all of us by stating that there
was only one Hebrew word for wine in the Old Testament.
I was incredulous and told him that there was more than one Hebrew word
for wine in the Old Testament. His
students told me that he was a “Hebrew scholar” and were quite shocked that
I would challenge him on his knowledge of Hebrew.
I hope that his students went back and looked up the word wine in the Old
Testament. Later on in the day, Dr.
Wayne Messer, an Associate Professor of Psychology, invited me to speak in his
Psychology class one day for two hours this January. Dr.
Messer told me that they will be discussing the Scopes trial and creation v.
evolution this January. I include
some correspondence from Dr. Messer.
At
the
University
of
Tennessee
Knoxville, I
was again stopped by the authorities and told to vacate the campus and resume my
preaching on the public sidewalk off campus.
Again, University Attorney Ron Leadbetter helped me out by making phone
calls to the right people within the administration and I was able to preach the
rest of the week unhindered.
We
thank you for your love and prayers,
Brother
Jim, Sister Bonnie, Aaron, Gabrielle, and Arielle
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