Three Preachers Attacked! One Preacher Goes to Hospital!

[Willo]

Saturday, 23 June, 2007

There was a light drizzle of rain falling as we made our way into Brisbane city for what appeared to be a nice quiet night of witnessing. When we parked the car we soon realised that there wasn?t very many people in town. So we quickly had to make a decision on if we were going to preach or just do one to ones. After a bit of discussion we decided that the preacher would preach under an umbrella while the rest of the team handed out tracts and witnessed on a one to one basis.

We had our normal time of prayer, and corporate team Bible reading, and from there we went to the mall to set up for the night. Straight away it was clear that we had far to many team members for the small undercover area in which we were witnessing, so we decided to send out three of the guys to do a tract run up and down the mall. So the three guys took off handing out tracts to everyone they passed.

Josh Mitchell was the first preacher up for the night, and he did a good job in the adverse conditions. While he was preaching two Brisbane City Council officials approached us and informed us that we are no longer allowed to film the preaching with a video camera on a tripod. So we quickly took the camera off and continued to film free hand. Then the same two council workers went up to the guys handing out tracts on the tract run, and stated that they couldn?t do that outside of the designated areas. So it looked like it was fast becoming one of those nights were everything was beginning to go wrong.

Josh preached for near on an hour, and after he had finished the team continued in the one to ones and also tracting people as they walked past. It then fell to me to get up and preach. But before we started the next preacher a decision was made to send a four man team down to the nightclub district and get them to witness down there. We later found out that even the nightclub area was deserted due to the weather.

So I started in on my preaching, and tonight I knew that there would be no crowds, and no hecklers. So I just kept plugging away at the gospel, and building the case on how Christ is the only way unto salvation. I had been preaching for about fifteen minutes when a young man stopped and he asked a couple of questions. So I began to quiz him on what he thinks happens when someone dies. The young bloke had the typical answers, and even believed that he would go to heaven. I began to probe his conscience by using the ten commandments, and he soon admitted to not being a good person.

It was also around this time, that a thought crossed my mind that it was very quiet in the mall, and how peaceful it was? And then the most violent heckler we have ever seen decided to have a go at the preaching?

The man started in by asking questions about if I was a homosexual, I replied that I wasn?t and that I was talking to another person so he would have to wait a few moments before I answer anymore of his questions. Well the man didn?t like that, so he looked around and then yelled ?I am going to smack your head in!? I looked at him and stated that if he did do that I would continue to preach the gospel. The man continued to make threatening motions towards me, when an old man decided enough was enough, and he put himself between me and the heckler. The old man told the heckler that he should get some respect, and not threaten a preacher. This made the heckler openly declare that there is no Jesus, and that he would also punch the head in of the old man.

The old man then decided to head off to get the police, the heckler turned back to me with an evil look in his eyes, so I quickly informed him that everything was being filmed and if he did get violent the police will have the footage. The heckler just laughed and said that he was going to smack my teeth out. So I kept preaching, thinking that this man was looking for a fight. Also moving in behind me was Andrew Hsu, and Jeremy. Both of them had positioned themselves in a place where they could react if it got violent.

The heckler turned and got really abusive, so I looked at him and preached the gospel. As I preached and used the name of Jesus he became increasingly angry. Then I saw him drop his shoulder and swing at me. Since I saw it coming I was able to block the punch that was aimed at my head. Andrew had then moved to position himself between myself and the heckler. The heckler turned and threw a right hook straight into Andrew?s ear. This left Andrew stunned, now it was time for Jeremy to come rushing in to protect Andrew.

As Jeremy came in he was able to get the heckler away from the preaching, but the heckler decided to fight on. He continued to throw punches and then started to wrestle Jeremy to the ground. The crowd which had now built, looked at the fight, and then back at me. So I decided to keep on preaching. By now Jeremy had broke off from the heckler and the man was fast returning towards me. This time he threw a punch at my stomach, while I was not able to block the full force of it, I was able to slow it down so it didn?t hurt. The heckler then grabbed me by the jacket and pulled me off the box I was preaching on. The man started to drag me, so I grabbed his arm in a effort to get him off me. Then heckler then decided to get more physical, but I wasn?t about to let him get a grip on me in a position where I could not block a punch. Some how in the scuffle the man?s shirt got ripped, but that didn?t slow him down.

The friends of the original young man I was talking to came running across to assist, but the violent heckler didn?t like that. The boys that were assisting would have been around 15, as they approached the heckler turned on them, and punched one of them. So now we had to jump in between this fight to save the original heckler from beating up a bunch of bystanders that came to our aide.

By God?s Grace we were able to separate the two sides, and then the heckler decided to turn again and take out more fury on me. But by this stage many people had called the police, and the original old man had returned. So the violent heckler turned to the old man and started to threaten him. I was able to position myself between the two of them, and tried to reason with the violent heckler. But of course a man in that state is beyond reason.

Then the police arrived, and they quickly grabbed the violent heckler and placed him in handcuffs. By the time it was finished there were 16 police officers, and three police cars in attendance. The violent heckler continued to yell and make threats. But the police quickly searched him, and placed him in the back of a police vehicle. All the time while the man was being arrested he was yelling out that the he was only being arrested for not believing in Jesus.

The police took our statements and wanted us to press charges, but we all refused stating that God showed us mercy, so we also will show mercy. We were then able to share the gospel with some of the police who attended. The man was arrested on disturbing the peace, and being a public nuisance. So he spent the night in lock up. After that we just continued to one to one, and I thought the night had spun out it last bit of excitement, but again I was wrong.

Andrew had developed a swollen ear from where he was hit, and then he began to complain about his eyesight not being able to focus on objects that were near to him. So I checked him out and saw that he showed all the signs of concussion. It was then decided that it was best for him to go to the hospital to be checked out for any damage.

At 2:30am, Andrew was released from the emergency ward suffering only concussion from the blow.

Praise God for His faithfulness in protecting us, and allowing us to share the gospel for His Glory!

Soli Deo Gloria!

http://www.xanga.com/Josh_Williamson

[John81]

Wow! What a night.

Praise God the Word was preached and the Lord kept everyone safe even with the attacker going wild.

[Jerry]

The crowd which had now built, looked at the fight, and then back at me. So I decided to keep on preaching.

I am all for standing up and preaching, despite the opposition - but this seems kind of pointless. No one is going to be able to hear or benefit from any preaching until the disturbance stops.

[Willo]

Actually a few people in the crowd came up and thanked us for continuing to preach, as it served as a witness that the gospel is mighty.

[Jerry]

I am glad that the Gospel was preached. My response above was just relating it to my situation at the Gospel Mission - I know that when most disturbances come, I need to head off the disturbance before I can get their attention again. Perhaps it is different on a street corner.

Hope you didn't take it as criticism - it was merely a question/concern based on my own experience. God bless.

[qwerty guy]

The moral of the story being of course, to always have a back up plan if you're not allowed to have your camera on a tri-pod.