208 thoughts on “Fundy Facebook of the Week”

  3. My excuse for not doing it is that I am not clinically insane…

    Despite what my friends and relations might say.

    Nor am I terminally obnoxious…

    Despite what…

    Oh, forget it.

    1. My excuse is that I don’t have time after organizing my marble collection and searching my yard for Eskimo Curlews.
      A fella’s got to prioritize activities.

  4. You know, I have commented at least twice before about the RoI aspects… (Return on investment.) here is one of those discussions: http://www.sflforums.com/showthread.php?tid=6940 If one compares the hours spent screaming at people in a street corner against the number of converts from such an effort who actually are still in church a year later, it probably is comparable with simply sitting by the phone at the church office and waiting for interested persons who are led to call.

    1. Ricardo,

      The money line from that earlier thread on Obnoxious Evangelism:

      “Of course, the problem had nothing to do with using an outdated method, I am sure we just were not filled with the Spirit.

    2. So, and hey, I’m just spit-balling here, maybe, just maybe, it’s NOT about the converts? And if it’s not about others, maybe it’s about…..oh, what’s the other thing in this picture….. Oh yeah, the MoG.

  5. for starters I hate to see Christianity portrayed as cheap, performance art, entertainment.

        1. Didn’t the Naked Cowboy run for President in 2012?
          I think he had a platform most Fundies would support, if memory serves.

  6. Street Preaching: God’s preferred method of us getting His message out since Paul yelled at chariots circa 58 AD.

    1. Sorry, Scorpio, that wouldn’t have worked even if he’d tried it.

      The KJV1611 hadn’t been invented yet.

  7. If I happened to be driving by that I would think someone had escaped from a nursing home and didn’t take their dementia meds

    1. Exactly. For all we know he is not preaching, he could just be yelling out a recipe for bran muffins.

      1. Unlikely. I’m pretty sure bran muffins would fix most of what’s wrong with him.

        1. aaand I just snorted coffee through my nose and all over my work PC. Thanks, Darrell. That was awesome.

      2. Or telling us that we’re all Communist dupes and Reagan is being held in a secret bunker in Poughkeepsie. What is even the point of getting your good clothes on and hollering at cars?

        1. We do have a guy like that here in Savannah, at least less strident. He generally wanders about the downtown carrying a sign reading STOP THE LIE, which generally has something to do with the United Nations and the usual Commie-plot subjects. He’s harmless, but locals know not to talk to him unless they have several hours to lose. 🙄

  8. I resisted going out on “missions” when I was in the dorms at BJU. Something about that always seemed to me as superficial and intrusive and unwanted.

    I was even counseled about it by the floor leader at one time. It wasn’t that I objected to ministry. I believed my ministry was teaching, and I was preparing for that.

    Later, at Clemson, I got a taste of what it was like for street preachers to invade your space. Pretty horrible. The man shouting out all these sins “we” were guilty of — just assumptions, no knowledge. And the first thing that came to mind is how effective he might be if he would stop shouting and start befriending people. If he took the time — days, weeks, months to actually make friends and help people on a practical basis, he might actually convert some with quiet piety.

    But the conversions they look for are the quick and unreal. They don’t really look to help you establish a relationship with God, since they won’t establish a relationship with you.

    1. Thank you! My thoughts exactly and I couldn’t have said it better myself. I went through a similar situation, and just don’t see the point of the old-time soapbox style preaching.

    2. Befriending people – like Jesus did. That takes effort and time. It’s challenging and messy. It requires love, patience, gentleness, and humility. It’s not grandiose but understated. It doesn’t draw attention to oneself.

      1. It also requires the ‘risk’ that the person will convert when talking to someone else after you’ve put in that ‘work’.

        For someone who actually cares and was honestly trying to befriend a non-Christian, this is a cause for celebration.

        For someone who was acting friendly solely to be able to claim ‘one soul saved by me’ off of it, not so much.

        And the church culture that allows for that (and once allowed for a pastor to lie about the date and place I prayed the Sinner’s Prayer solely so that his own numbers could look better) or flat-out requires it (our next pastor prefaced a witnessing push by claiming you weren’t really a Christian unless you personally had led someone to Christ) is SICK.

        1. So non-Christians are leading people to Christ? Huh-what? I do wish people would think and make even a little sense…

        2. Megaforte was saying that one of “drawbacks” of “friendship evangelism” is that the Christian befriending the non-Christian may not be the one who actually leads him or her to Christ because they’re not button-holing them or pressuring them into a snap decision but spending time with them, developing a relationship with them, showing Christ’s love, and answering their questions about Christianity — planting seeds. It’s possible that that non-Christian may come to faith in Christ through something or someone else – another friend, at a church service, while listening to the radio, etc. Someone who truly cares, whose friendship was genuine, wouldn’t mind at all! They’d just be happy that the nonbeliever was now trusting Christ. But some Christians make soul-winning about the numbers game, and they might get bent out of shape that another Christian could “claim” that conversion. (Of course that sort of thinking is silly when the Scripture says that some plant, others water, and God gets the increase. It’s supposed to be the whole body of Christ working together, but fundies often turn it into some sort of contest: “How many people have YOU led to Christ?”)

  9. When I was younger, a local IFB church descended on our downtown area every Saturday for preachin’ and tracts. About a dozen members of all ages came. The boys and men took turns hollering. The city council actually tried to stop it at one point by passing an ordinance about loud speeches without a permit. The next Saturday, the pastor played his guitar and sang. He also had protest signs. They eventually worked out an agreement. The problem was that other groups also wanted to use the downtown area on Saturdays for fundraisers, etc. The Baptists had to learn to share. Haven’t been back in a while, but I think the Sat. screams continue.

    The other interesting show in town took place when the KKK showed up, made speeches, distributed literature, and solicited donations, all monitored by the state bureau of investigation. I wish I was lying. Can’t remember if both groups ever showed up at the same time.

    1. The IFB and the KKK would probably get along just fine considering their shared views on Catholics and people from other cultures.

    2. In some communities it would be hard for both to show up at the same time, too much overlap

  11. I’m not a fan of the Dr, but IFB isnt the only group hittin the streets. I know a lot of new Calvinist street preachers, in all fairness. 😉

    2. I’m a Calvanist, and I do most of my witnessing at the cigar shop in town, while enjoying a Padron

  13. There is a group of local Ruckmanites that street preach and hold up signs at the same intersection each week. Its a busy intersection with a nice parking lot to scream from but no pedestrian traffic and most people have their windows up with the A/C on.

    But they brag on the number of cars they reached on Facebook. At least they will have plenty cars to drive when they get to Heaven.

  14. What is YOUR excuse for not doing it, preacher?

    …that the streets of our bedroom community are empty.

    The church would be better served if I spent time in studying the Bible and preaching it rather than screaming at strangers.

  15. That picture looks vaguely obscene. Then again, I’m sure what he’s shouting is also fairly obscene. Or blasphemous, anyway.

    1. I wonder if it would make a difference if he yelled about the love and mercy of God and the care we should give one another, instead of fire and brimstone and the condemnation of sinners?

      1. Alas, the Fire & Brimstone approach still gets more attention no matter who or what it’s directed at. While it’s true you can catch more flies with honey, (and God help any poor soul caught in the Fundy trap) it is even more true that somehow the more gruesome stuff still garners more attention, the way people stop and gawk at a car wreck.
        And let’s face it, there’s a strong minority who is upset that there is *not* more blood and gore. 😕

        1. I don’t know if it is a minority that wants more blood and gore. I feel certain that most fundy preachers think God isn’t harsh enough.

          The popularity of the Left Behind series says that people lust for God to judge their enemies, while they get to jeer at the hapless souls doomed to eternal torture. Real “Love of God” stuff there!

    2. It does look rather odd. I know that is his KJV Bible he is holding up to his mouth, but at first glance I thought it looked like an electric tooth brush.

      It’s always important to have a clean mouth or a properly tilted bible to project your voice while street preaching!!

  16. To me, street preaching is the only thing on earth that causes me to want to abandon all morals and try to stop the insanity. About once a week I see a street preacher on my college campus, and everytime I have an uncontrollable rage that I have to fight to quell. Ugh, it’s nauseating some of the things they say to my fellow students. Though I will say, the only reason they might listen to such a person is to openly mock and boo the yeller.

    Religion in that style may have worked during the “revivals” of the 20s or whatever, but it is an obsolete method for the present. Yelling at people now only turns them off to whatever is being said. It baffles me how the religious do not understand this.

    1. Anything pushy puts me off.

      One of my relatives still wants me to make a $5 donation to the Gideons to ‘pay them back’ for the four New Testaments they forced on my in college.

      While blocking me from lunch no matter how many times I told them I was a Christian who already had a Bible.

      While passing out New Testaments at a private historically Christiancollege. With a graduation requirement list that included buying a Bible that was a specific not KJV translation.

      They didn’t care enough about us to realize they were preaching to the converted. They blocked people about to graduate with Christianity-related majors from EATING unless they took a flimsy New Testament and called it Godly Witnessing and bragged to donors.

      ‘Repay them’? I won’t put money in an offering plate if they’re visiting. The local ones at a church I used to go to would whine about not being allowed to treat the local fifth graders the way the ones near my college had treated us, without understanding that some groups of Gideons drive more people away than they ever convert.

  17. And for anyone questioning the superstitious in religion, also on his page:

    Can YOU say amen in 3 seconds???
    IF YOU CAN SAY AMEN IN 3SEC.
    BEFORE the end of this week,

    By the anointing and power of God upon my
    life,
    I decree that this week is your week of
    financial
    overflow,
    I command every closed door against
    your life and family to open and
    I release a
    financial flow in your life and family in the name
    of Jesus Christ.

    May those who believe say
    AMEN.

    1. No kidding!

      That sounds very charismatic and prosperity-Gospel-ish to me. The IFB I know would reject something like that in a heartbeat.

    2. Also, just found one more bit, he c&p’s the lyrics to “Demons” by the Imagine Dragons and proceeds to call them possessed and satan worshipers instead of seeing the message (that I think) is pretty clearly behind the lyrics of having demons one doesn’t want inside him. Creates a ruckus amongst his friends about the antichrist and gang.

    3. Magical thinking aside, I would have to try really hard to draw out my pronunciation of “Amen” to make it last MORE than three seconds.

  18. At a time when the most effective form of communication to the masses was yelling from the street (i.e. early years AD), street preaching probably made sense.

    We’ve invented more effective means for that today.

    The fact that this little quip was posted on facebook sort of makes that point, no?

    1. I don’t see much Biblical example for this:

      Jesus didn’t stand on the street yelling at passersby. People came to Him and He taught them.

      John the Baptist was in the wilderness and people went out to hear him.

      2 Peter 2:5 says Noah was a preacher of righteousness. If he preached to people, it was probably to those who came to him, wondering what he was doing building the ark.

      Paul spoke on Mar’s Hill, but that was an accepted place of public discourse where speakers typically addressed the public.

      Jonah publicly preached in Ninevah, but that was for a limited time addressing an imminent danger.

      1. Hey. Pack it in. We don’t need no stinkin’ examples from the Bible. We have our Traditioooooooon, tradition!

      2. Hey, PW, Jesus street preached at the corner of a Street called Straight, didn’t he, Huh?!

        What about Steven preaching at the side of a road a some dude in a chariot? Hey?!

        And don’t forget about Paul and Silas preaching at all those wicked harlots at the well who were married so many times like Mickey Rooney and Elizabeth Taylor!

        It’s all right there is scripture for everyone to see.

        B.R.O.

        2. And when Phillip preached at him, it was 1) Because God specifically told him he’d be needed at that spot on that day, 2) because the guy in the chariot was already reading scripture and 3) because he respectfully asked if he could help the man understand it and the offer was accepted.

          It was not just standing at a street corner day in and day out yelling at anyone who hits the wrong spot in the traffic light cycle.

        3. That was tongue-in-cheek.

          Of course it was Philip and the Ethiopian.

          Of course it was Jesus speaking to the woman at the well.

          Of course it was Peter in Joppa at the house of Judas on Straight Street.

          🙂

      3. Very good points, PW, and well supported.

        To be honest, you’re getting at what I was thinking of, but didn’t express well in my overly pithy remark – that at one time, mass-communication probably involved standing up in a public place and loudly speaking, trying to attract a crowd. But I’m thinking of a willing crowd, in an accepted speaking place within the culture (such as Mars Hill, e.g.) Today, that’s not really the way our culture does mass communication. I’m thinking of comparing a time when a public speaking arena was comparable to a social network today.

        What this post reminded me of, when I first saw it, wasn’t necessarily a “street” preacher, but the preacher who used to come to the “free speech area” at my university back when I was in college, a place specifically set up for people to speak publicly to whoever wanted to stand around and listen, outside the Student Center. He’d stand there and yell at all the students passing by, and the few who stood around because they were amused by him. I can’t say I had any opposition to him being there – he was using the area for what it was for – but I can’t say what he was doing was very effective, for all the reasons discussed on this thread. Return on Investment – absolutely nobody took this guy seriously. He was a campus laughingstock. The only people who bothered to stop and listen to him were there because his style was funny. And generalized condemnation – all us college students were wicked. All sorority girls were sluts. All fraternity boys were drunkards. Etc. etc. I don’t know if this guy actually thought these methods were going to convert anyone, or if he was just into hearing himself preach.

        Anyway, if he really wanted to share the gospel, I’m guessing he’d have done much better trying to make some friends, get to know some people first.

        1. Street preaching must have had a better chance of being heard when most people were going about on food, without headphones or cell phones, than it has now, when most people are whizzing by in motor vehicles with the windows closed and recorded music blaring, and even the pedestrians have their attention fixed on hand-held electronic pacifiers.

    2. “…We’ve invented more effective means for that today….”

      IT’S CALLED CAPS LOCK ON THE INTERNETZ!!!!!!!!

      3. And in 100 years, they will be the last ones with a caps lock on their keyboard. (Taped over with “HAYMEN!” written on it.)

  19. Gotta love the poster’s Stonewall Jackson profile picture. Because nothing symbolizes your love for people of all colors quite like a dead Confederate soldier.

    1. There are bits and pieces of evidence to support a hypothesis that ol’ Stonewall warn’t wrapped all that tight.

      So, maybe it’s more appropriate than you think.

    3. Though I’m not a Fundy, I do have an appreciation for history. Sure, if you only rely on your school text books for your history, then I can see why you have such a disrespect for Jackson and the Confederacy. However, many of those men had a greater understanding of the Constitution and made a greater impact on this country than you ever will.

      I’m just saying…widen the scope of your research before you make such statements.

      1. We have to do research now before we post comments? Well that takes all of the fun out of it.

        1. Sorry, Disenchanted, but the footnotes function doesn’t seem to be working on this site.

      2. Sir, I have a master’s degree in history and pursued doctoral work in the same at the University of Wisconsin. I dare say I have likely read a lot more history than you. Although TJ Jackson was a virtuous man and brilliant tactician, he cast his lot with a cruel slaveholding aristocracy bent on “wringing their bread from the sweat of other men’s faces”, as Lincoln so poignantly described it. My “disrespect” is for the cause, not the man.

        2. Maybe you have read more history books than I have, but I wouldn’t bet on it. I have read history books for fun since I was five years old. All year round, for nearly 40 years now. Biographies, encyclopedias, textbooks…I wasn’t fussy.

          I have no doubt Jackson was a superior officer. I have little doubt, also, that he was a bit peculiar. Same deal with Patton.

        4. Not the way I do it.

          Of course, I’m pretty atypical. I tend to reference and cross-reference and read a book multiple times with different goals in mind as I read…looking for themes and implications for other events.

          So, generally speaking, you are correct.

        5. Are you reading primary documents, or books? There is a difference between reading someone else’s analysis, and doing your own.

      3. Sorry. They lost. The nation was not partitioned. Slavery did come to an end. Nobody had to be only 60% of a person any more.

        And yes, Jackson and the Confederacy made a far greater impact on this country than I will. Thank the Lord my hands will not be drenched in so much blood!

  20. Is there something in the water in Northern Florida that causes this sort of thing? I lived there for a year and thought then that the place was overrun with crazies.

    1. I’ve always been a fan of “weird news” columns, and it’s axiomatic among readers and writers of whackadoodle news that Florida accounts for about 70 to 80 percent of the domestic production of that commodity.

  21. Fun family story involving street preachers: One time (about mid-80’s) after visiting relatives, my parents, sister and I were driving back, through downtown Gadsten. We stopped at a red light right in front of a guy on the sidewalk who had a van, sound system and two other men in suits on either side of him while he yelled at us. “If you want to go to hell, go to hell!” We all thought it was pretty hilarious. When the car started moving, my mom saw a couple of teenage boys with skateboards, and said “Keep on walkin’, there’s a message waiting for you! You and your bleached-blond hair!” Oh man, that preacher was ridiculous.

  22. Just something to think about,

    Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who ASKS you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect. 1 Peter 3:15

    Perhaps not as germane,

    And to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the RESPECT of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent upon anybody. 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12

    I know we obviously have the responsibility to share the message of the gospel with words, but words aren’t always enough.

    2. This may come as a surprise to most of you but the Cathoilc Church has started a street evangelism effort and with some sucess and growing. It is called “St. Paul Street Evangelism” There is no shouting at people but they set up a table with tracts and info on the church. The pope has said that every christian has a respondsibility to spread the Gospel. It has already began mosdtly in the west coast but a group is getting together in New Hampshire.

      1. There’s nothing new about Catholics distributing tracts. They’ve been doing that for my whole life.

        1. But out on the street BG? I am 82 yrs old and cannot remember Cathoics ever on the street handing out anything …….

  23. With the Hare Krishnas no longer serenading us in airports (does anyone besides me miss them?) I suppose we have to take our Free Religious Public Entertainment where we can get it.

  24. I see the picture and I just feel sad for him. He clearly believes he’s doing God’s work. He could be sitting in a rocking chair somewhere investing in someone’s life. Very sad that people equate loud noise with the Gospel.

  25. I never understood street preaching, even when I was a devout fundie. Most of the guys that do it, you can barely understand,. Also, people just seem to ignore them like you do to the weird guy on a NYC subway.

  26. I knew a sincere fellow of the sophomoric period in college who, when we stopped at a McDonalds for some vittles after “street preaching,” approached a hapless Andersonian woman (from Anderson, SC) who was in line to get her super-sized number 4 and asked, “if you were to die today, would you go to hell?”

    She blinked, wide eyed, like she was just hit upside the head with a rubber mallet.

    If “dude” would have been in wide use at the time I would have said to the misguided sophomore, “DUDE!”

    B.R.O.

    1. PS:

      I hated street preaching. It was forced and I was waaaay out of my confort zone, which was an argument they used to try to get me to do it.

      I need some meds.

    3. “if you were to die today, would you go to hell?”

      Had I not been born and raised in the IFB, I could easily see myself trying to surreptitiously dial 911 on my phone if someone randomly came up to me and asked me that. It sounds so threatening.

    1. How do we know they haven’t already done this?
      I mean, 92 years old and they left him out in the rain, screaming at traffic …

      1. Sooner or later he’ll start to break down, then the real fun will begin. :laugh:

  28. If I remember correctly from the undercover post from a month or so ago, Ruckman is suffering from macular degeneration so perhaps he can’t see he’s not behind his pulpit and the cars aren’t his congregants.

    Then again this is the guy who believes there is a biblical basis for insults and general obnoxiousness so at least he’s living out his beliefs consistently.

    1. One of them straight out asks, “What’s your number?” The pride and arrogance is astounding!

      I would like to ask the asker, “How many of your ‘numbers’ are still attending church and growing spiritually five years later?”

      1. I’d want to say “At least mine isn’t negative.”

        I’ve never directly led someone to Christ.

        I’ve been Christian community for Christians who could no longer go to church because of abuse-caused anxiety.

        I’ve been That Christian Who Can Be Trusted for people so hurt by witnessing attempts that they wouldn’t trust any Christian when they first met me, and stood firm when people at church wanted me to pounce with tracts once I was trusted.

        And at the end of my life, I may still be able to say to Jesus something Schaap and Hyles and Roloff and Ruckman will NEVER be able to say: “Lord, I never drove anyone away from you.”

      2. You must come from a lower circle of fundymentalism than I do, because if someone asked me what my number is I would think they wanted to call my phone.

    2. I loved the comment were someone called Ruckman “our leader”.

      Yeah, it’s not a cult.

  30. Another story, this one from the mid-90’s. Some Pagan/Wiccan groups in Alabama had a festival in the park, which happened at the same time Operation Rescue was in town. OR came to harrass (um, witness) to the pagans, so the pagans sold them a table for twenty bucks so they could witness. OR could not abide by the rules and stay in their area, so they left. Alabama is a lot more interesting than people think.

    1. If the situation were reversed, Operation Rescue would not give the pagans a table.

      Just shows the pagans had better manners.

  32. This makes me cringe. Street preachers have ALWAYS made me feel horrifically guilty. Like Marcie said above me, he clearly believes he’s doing God’s work. So, when I am turned off by the method, it makes me squirm with guilt. I feel guilty for thinking that maybe that’s not the best way to reach people.

    1. “When Satan tempts me to despair
      And tells me of the guilt within,
      Upward I look and see Him there
      Who made an end of all my sin.”

      It is SATAN who throws guilt in our face. Satan is the Accuser. If these guys do that, they are aligning themselves with the Enemy of the Church. Never forget that. And never forget the antidote, in whom we now face NO condemnation.

      2. Your comment made me think…….the fundies really look at satan as a super-hero. He can do anything to anybody at anytime. Satan is the one who made you look at that magazine at the checkout line, he is theone who made you watch the beer commercials during the game, he is the one who made you tell your barber not to cut the hair over your ears or collar and he is the one who told you to sleep in on Sunday morning.

        1. Or, in the worlds of the immortal Flip Wilson, “The Devil made me do it!” 😀

      4. That’s my favorite hymn!! I just learned it last year when we finally changed churches. Our new, non-Fundy church sings modern hymns and I look forward to them all week! 🙂

        1. Thing is, it isn’t a modern hymn. It was written in 1863. It was sung to two or three different tunes, two of which we associate with other songs. I’m very thankful for the tune we use NOW! It fits the lyrics far better than the other versions.

          There is good new music being written. Too bad some churches refuse to even give it a listen. Indy Fundy churches didn’t used to be so stinking scared of new music.

        2. 1863 was in the modern era.
          I think what you mean is that it is not a *contemporary* song (as in, written in the lifetimes of people still alive now).
          Ironically, most of the “traditional” songs that anti-new-music Fundies favor were written after 1863,

        3. No, no, no!

          Anything after Fanny Crosby is the Modern Era.

          And don’t you ever forget it.

  33. You get out there and work it Preach. You know I want my numbers up and I want my treasure house full. ♫ I got my mind on my heavn treasure and my heaven treasure on my mind♫, so I gotta take it to the streets and work it. *snap*

  34. When I was a young Christian I used to do door-to-door. I got into a few discussions, usually was able to outargue a person on theology, and got a few people to pray for salvation.

    But the more I did it, the more I hated it. There was no relationship. There was no real basis for conversation. After they prayed the prayer, what then? I don’t ever remember any of the converts coming to my church. And I felt like I was being obnoxious, forcing myself to their attention.

    And they introduced questions I could not answer.

    The questions prompted me to study more to try to have answers. I have always wanted to have the answers, if I could. Some of the answers I got from reading or from the preacher or from my study were unsatisfying and incomplete.

    But after a few years, my door-to-door excursions lessened considerably. While I did some after I moved to my present location, the distaste for it turned to nausea. Finally, I stopped altogether.

    I was willing to deal with people who came door knocking on my door, though. Usually it was short and sweet. If it was Jehovah’s Witnesses, I would take their translation of the Scripture and ask a couple of questions. They would usually leave and not come back. I accepted Jesus as God the Son, and so I was not suitable material for them. I always tried to be polite, but I realized how much of an irritant I was when I was doing it.

  35. “He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street.” Isaiah 42:4

  36. Is it bad that I know exactly which street corner he’s at in the picture? I’ve (unfortunately) heard him preach, and he is such a sad person. He’s created his own little cult where his translation of the Bible agrees with his dirty mouth, 3 marriages, and any criticism towards him is “persecution.” What disturbs me even more is the pedastool that he’s placed on. My in-laws are basically brainwashed with all things Peter Ruckman. They always make it a point to say they don’t agree with some of his language but “that’s just the kind of person he is, he’s a rough guy.” And they never fail to mention what a smart and wise man he is. It irritates me so much that his ignorance is interpreted as wisdom. Thankfully my husband never bought into that crap and got out of it as soon as he had a choice. I know it bothers him that his family is heavily involved it that group. I honestly hope that when Ruckman dies that his whole brand of crazy will fizzle out. But that may just be wishful thinking…

    4. …”but it may be wishful thinking” ( that this type of thing may fizzle out after Ruckman passes on)
      No, don’t forget about young Cox, who is establishing his own kingdom in the sound booth; he’s waiting in the wings.

  38. With all that yelling and screaming I hope he has on some “male depends underwear”to keep more crap from coming out.

    BTW he is not out there to win souls but to build his own ego and motivate the next generation of idiots.

    1. Unfortunately they do not make “Depends” for the mouth.

      Sure would save a lot of us from the c**p that comes from some people’s upper discharge unit.

      1. That reminds me of a shipmate. While on Liberty in the Philippines, he contracted an STD in his mouth from one of the “ladies of negotiable affection” in Olongapo. His condition was referred to as “Clap of the yap.”

  40. A James!

    Yes, “Run! No. I mean RUN!” was often thought during those situations. One doesn’t know what one will encounter. I do have to say that I had a few encounters of the “Whew! I’m glad that’s over!” kind.

    I am not arrogant enough to think that their salvation depends on me and my particular witness at that particular time. And the Lord uses us according to our gifts and His grace as He has put us in the Body. If someone will be willing to accept the Lord Jesus, then shouldn’t God make sure the encounters occur which will work together toward that purpose?

    So, it is good to be kind and merciful to others. And possibly, just possibly, that will do more to move hearts than any number of knocks on the door or tracts handed out.

  41. I make excuses for things I’m ashamed of. I have reasons for not street-preaching.

  42. I’ve been looking at that picture, and it looked to me like he was holding a microphone. I was trying to figure out if it was wired, where were the speakers, etc. But I think he’s holding his Bible and what I see is the spine?

    1. I agree – I finally figured out that it is a KJV Bible he is holding up to his mouth, but at first glance I thought it looked like an electric tooth brush that he was using.

      1. Maybe there’s a tape recorder or a speaker hidden under that Bible cover.

        More evidence for the theory that he’s now an animatronic replicate.

        2. You might be onto something… a replicant can only be detected by a lack of emotional responses and empathy to questions posed in the Voight-Kampff test. I have met several Fundy Mogs who would could easily fail it due to their lack of empathy and sociopathic tendancies.

    1. Oh, wow. He’s right there on Davis Highway.

      I used to live literally just down the street.

      1. Were going to be going on vacation in that area this year. Do they usually preach at the same intersections or move around? Need some entertainment for the family.

    2. I know I shouldn’t laugh because, well, it’s pitiful, but this is the funniest thing I’ve seen in a minute.

      “Are ya ready? Well, ya are or ya ain’t!”

      “Some of you folks’ll have no use for the Bread of Life; yer gonna wind up burnt toast!”

      In the rain. Only one car had a window down, and I think it was a heckler. Good God.

      1. Yeah – you’re right there are some places he sounds just ike WC Fields. Especially, when he says “He aint lying, He’s coming back… my little chickadee.”

    4. And that video has been removed by the user.

      Good to see that they stand up for their god and their methods. A little internet criticism and “what video?” Although it will be easy for them to use this as persecution.

  45. We used to have a street preacher in our area who was often in the news. He would stand on busy streets with signs that said things like “God is a Republican” and “God hates homosexuals.” He also believed aborted babies went to hell, and would carry signs with that message while he held a baby doll in one arm. He tried, unsuccessfully, to run for public office. He had been a TTU student at one time, but the crazier he got, the more they tried to distance themselves from the monster they had helped to create. Eventually, it came out that he was having clandestine relationships with other men. He left the area and has not been heard from since.

    1. He probably moved to Washington when he got elected to Congress on the Tea Party ticket.

  46. As inane as this guy looks, we can be thankful that we have the right in our country to express our opinions in the majority of public places. That isn’t true in many parts of the world. I wish everyone used their freedom responsibly, but the kooks will always be with us.

    1. Oh, I absolutely agree that Ruckman has the right, and should have the right, to do this kind of thing.

    2. Oh, I absolutely believe he has the right to do this kind of thing.

      But that doesn’t make it a good idea.

    5. We are allowed to do this most places, but if you are going to make any political speeches, you may have to do it in the designated “Free Speech Zone”.

  47. I thought the hand of the LORD was upon me and I tried street preaching once. All I got was a sore throat and a suit that smelled like car exhaust and failure.

      1. Thanks for noticing my suffering for the Lord. It’s not something I usually like to boast about, but when pressed I admit I take pleasure in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Couple my sore throat with my recurring bout with Burning Toe Warts, and I’m practically a martyr, fundamentalistly speaking.

  48. I have a foolproof plan for dealing with all species of religious door-knockers. When I became Orthodox I managed to acquire a large collection of icons. I have many of them hanging in the corner of my living room, directly in sight of the front door. After the door-knockers finish their initial spiel, I turn to the icons and say, “No thanks. And if you don’t mind, I was just about to offer incense to my pantheon of gods.” Not sure why this works so well, but it does. I swear by it.

    1. It seems like you could skip even the opening spiel if you invite them to pray to the icons first.

      1. 🙂 True. But I can’t overcome the temptation to lead them on for a few minutes before sending them scrambling to their cars.

    1. While they can’t street preach they can hold verse signs. I have seen women and children standing supportively behind the men holding up verse signs. The women are always modestly dressed in long skirts and nylons in the middle of summer, and the boys usually in a dress shirt and tie like the men.

    2. Also, during long prayer request sessions when you don’t have to take any notes because there is zero chance that you will be called on to pray out loud.

  50. Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, as late as 1995, used to require graduate students to do street preaching in Chicago.

    1. And I am ready to believe a few pastors were intensely disappointed not to be able to–not to have to go there. And it wasn’t always because doing that was a chance for suffer for JAY-zuz and gid’s word. :mrgreen:

      1. White knuckling the trip to the gay bar (either afraid to get recognized, or hiding their desires) makes me chuckle @ IFBness.

    2. Its funny because Jack Schaap would say that someone who goes to Trinity Evan Div school is definitely a full blown liberal or neo evangelical, and almost certainly not saved, and so their street “preaching” is a waste of breath, cause it can’t do any good.

      1. And, as i was going to say, look at where Schaap ended up. Not gloating, but chyouknowwhatI’msayinWillis.

    3. He required preaching in gay bars? How can you require someone to go on private property and harass people invited to be there?

      1. As with all stories Schaap told, I’m not sure it ever happened.
        He had a yarn he liked to spin about how he took some preacher boys to “a black gay bar” and waited in the car while they dealt with the scene inside.
        Ol’ Jack’s a laff a minute, isn’t he?

      2. Oo, a bunch of fresh young Southern preacher boys in a BLACK gay bar? 😯 Oh, the possibilities… 😈

      3. Back when I was a Bible “College,” a number of us were out on possibly Rush Street in Chicago one Saturday night. We came to a bar located sort of at basement level and one of the guys went down the stairs and into the bar in an attempt to fulfill his bar preaching requirement for Homiletics class. The “Get Out!” was loud enough to be heard outside and at street level. Don’t know whether or not he was able to count that for class purposes.

      4. Ben, that student preacher apparently made more of an impression on those bar patrons than Peter Ruckman is making on the drivers passing him here, so I guess he should get class credit for the effort.

      5. One of the best things ever written about bar preaching and street preaching is “A Spism and A Spasm,” by Joseph Mitchell.
        It’s now recognized as a classic of journalistic feature writing. It was first published in The New Yorker magazine in the early 1940s, and was collected in “Up In The Old Hotel,” a wonderful omnibus of Mitchell’s reporting, essays, and short fiction.
        You can get “Up In The Old Hotel” very cheaply, or download it as an E-book (maybe for free).

        If you’ve ever tried street preaching, soul winning, or the like, you owe it to yourself to read “A Spism and A Spasm.”

        Mitchell’s writing is wonderfully penetrating and poetic, with amazing economy of phrase. He is one of the more under-appreciated journalists of his era. That may be partly because he was not very prolific: He was on the staff of The New Yorker for over 50 years, and published less than 100 articles in that time (almost none after the early 1960s).

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