The GOSPEL TRUTH

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WHO WILL RISE UP?

by JED SMOCK

 Copyright by Jed Smock 1985

Used by Permission

Confrontational Evangelism on Campus

 

PREFACE

Twenty thousand copies of the first edition of Who Will Rise Up? which was originally published in l985 were sold and distributed. I have received numerous testimonies of people who were inspired to preach or become a bolder witness as a result of reading this work. It represented the first decade of my call and ministry. The book has been out of print for two years.

This second edition is a revised, expanded and updated version. The first nineteen chapters and chapter 22 remain the same except for paragraphs or sections (especially in chapters 8, 11, 12, and 14) I have added to expand my thoughts or update events.

On occasion I have deleted names to save certain individuals embarrassment over sins that have long since been forgiven. Time references have been updated. Chapter 20 and 21 represents all new information. Chapter 20 is an overview of my ministry over the last decade. Chapter 21 reviews my call to the ministry and explains how others might recognize God's summons. The appendixes were not in the first edition.

Frequently, students who heard me in the late seventies or early eighties and have returned to school to pursue advanced degrees, or have even become professors tell me that I have "mellowed" over the years. Hopefully, I have matured as I have come to better understand God's nature and character. Since I have gained more knowledge, I am better prepared to intellectually defend the faith. Also, I do not usually have to reprove and rebuke with the former intensity, because I have been able to tame the students to a degree over the years. In fact it is the students' response that has mellowed as much if not more so than my preaching, so that it is not necessary for me to be so combative. Finally, since I have gained a greater reputation, I do not need to be so outrageous in order to gain and hold attention. Of course, I still have the capacity to "call down fire from heaven" with my former fervor.

Essentially, my confrontative approach and holiness message remains the same as evidenced in the fact I did not believe it essential to eliminate significant events or teachings from the first edition.

INTRODUCTION

The mind-set of the typical college professor is to either ignore or ridicule and discredit the Christian faith. Searching for an excuse to rebel against God, I quickly fell for the lies of my University of Florida teachers. I swallowed the theory of evolution, gulped down secular humanism and slurped in socialism.

The students that I met who named the name of Christ hardened me in my unbelief. With their mouths they spoke of much faith but with their lives they said, "Jesus is not alive" and "No truth in Christianity." There was the "fundamentalist" freshman whom I met at a dorm beer bash. He spent the rest of the quarter taking me to movies, parties and, yes, trying to get me to pray the "sinner's prayer." I thought, "He is living the same kind of life that I am. What has Christ done for him?"

By my sophomore year I blatantly scoffed at God, denied Jesus and classified the Bible as man-made myth. In my utter ignorance and total depravity I smirked the familiar argument, "There is no proof." Even though I had blinded my own eyes to the obvious evidences, God in His mercy was pleased to show me even more truth. He did this through one determined soldier of the cross: Jed Smock. "Brother Jed," as the students call him, preached holiness: total obedience to God from a right intention of heart. This was unusual enough but the convincing blow was that he really lived it.

When I realized this I asked, "How can a man be holy without the power of God?" Jed assured me that it was through Christ alone that he had been made free indeed from sin. Persuaded that Jesus is real, I knew that the right and reasonable thing to do was to forsake sin and follow Him.

I now know that I would be obligated to obey Christ even if every soul in the world were a hypocrite. However, I am proud to report that Jed has never let me down. I have known him for over sixteen years. We have been married since July 30, 1983 and I have never seen him commit one sin. The grace of God is powerful! Chapter 13 of I Corinthians, often called the "love chapter," is a perfect description of my husband. He truly loves, honors and cherishes me as he vowed to do. The Bible instructs wives to consider Sarah, who called Abraham "lord," as an example for us. And like her, I find great joy in serving and obeying my wonderful husband.

From the beginning I looked to Jed as a Knight in Shining Armor. The type of man that today's girl would never dream exists. He is strong, courageous, fearless, unshakable and best of all -- HOLY. He is governed by unselfish love and a supreme desire to promote the Kingdom of God. He has the heart of an evangelist, the voice of a prophet, the mind of a theologian and the commitment of a martyr. His heart thumps for revival and agonizes for a return to holiness and righteous living. No doubt he is an apple of God's eye.

Jed Smock has spent the last decade preaching on the university campuses of America. He may be the only preacher that is better known among the sinners than the saints. Five days a week, five hours a day, he can be found at an open-air rostrum confronting college students with the truths of God. Therefore the majority of collegiates have either heard him or heard of him. Christians have said that they cannot mention the name of Christ around campus without someone bringing up "Brother Jed."

Jed is very qualified to address the university community. He has been around academe most of his life. His late father was head of the English Department at Indiana State University. That is where Jed earned a B.S. in Social Studies, a M.S. in U.S. History and did postgraduate work in counseling and psychology. He taught for five years at the junior high, high school and college levels. It is no surprise that after his conversion, he would want to return to familiar stomping grounds and proclaim the great salvation of our Lord! In spite of insults, scorning and constant haranguing,he never grows weary of well-doing. In spite of being pied, egged, mobbed and even physically abused, his love for the students has never failed. Each day he joyfully enters the battlefield hoping to snatch more souls from the flames.

Many look at an outdoor preacher as someone who cannot get into the pulpit. Often, those who start with an open-air ministry let it fall to the wayside when they become popular in the churches. Jed refuses to let this happen. Even though he has been well received in congregations across the country, he always puts the campuses first. He has been faithful to leave the ninety-nine to find the one lost lamb. He often speaks for several hours each afternoon on campus and then holds nightly meetings in a local church. For this we can be grateful because the church as well as the secular world desperately need to hear Jed Smock's timely message.

I wrote this introduction ten years ago as a very enthusiastic newlywed who felt she had married the most wonderful man in the world. After a decade of married life I would like to share something about my husband that few people know. Jed Smock is in a ministry and calling that is very contrary to his nature. His natural constitution is to be peaceful, gentle and nonconfrontive. In our home he refuses to argue, never complains, doesn't raise his voice and tenderly instructs me and the children. Living with him I came to a revelation of the Lord Jesus as the Prince of Peace. Jed really rules our home as a prince of peace. I say this not to give undo glory to a man but to show how our God will work gloriously in and through a yielded vessel. Oh, we need more men who will submit to God and rule their families with His love.

People who see Jed rebuking the wicked on campus might be surprised to know that in his home he exemplifies the charity (love) which I Corinthians 13 says: is never easily provoked and thinketh no evil of others. As we have journeyed together through the joys and trials of family life I have experienced this love. I have stood back in awe and wondered why a man so disposed to peace would choose such a controversial ministry. I concluded that it was for the same reason that the Lord endured such a contradiction of sinners against himself. Today, I am convinced more than ever that Jed Smock is a man led by the Holy Spirit.

Sister Cindy Smock

 

"If you can tell one person about me you can preach. Just say the same thing, but say it louder so everyone can hear."--The Spirit of God.

1

CRASHING A ROCK CONCERT

Thousands of youth are gathering along the Wabash River for a rock'n roll concert. Sunday morning church services are dismissing all over Terre Haute, Indiana. Even "Christian" youth are hurrying home to change into their cut-offs and T-shirts to rush to the annual festival in Fairbanks Park. Parents are blindly dropping off their children for an afternoon of "fun." Several streets over, Indiana State University students awake after a night of partying and are preparing eagerly for the day of revelry. Preachers and parishioners are going home to dinner and rest.

The stage is set for an all-day and into-the-night concert. Five thousand youth will soon congregate to worship at Satan's altar of sound and fleshly pleasures. Their rock priests are setting their instruments in place to lead the afternoon worship. The sacraments of marijuana, wine, LSD and cocaine are already being served.

A generation of youth is falling into the grip of Satan's fiends. A generation is being lost to drugs, drunkenness and debauchery. Although the police station is just two blocks away, the lawless have nothing to fear. The Christian community seems oblivious to the blasphemous scene.

However, the eyes of the Lord are searching to and fro over the Wabash Valley looking for a man to stand in the gap. The Spirit of God is asking, "WHO WILL RISE UP FOR ME AGAINST THE EVILDOERS? OR WHO WILL STAND UP FOR ME AGAINST THE WORKERS OF INIQUITY?" (Psalm 94:16).

Will anyone answer or even hear?

Church was running late that morning at Rosedale Assembly of God. I was kneeling at the altar seeking the will of the Lord. My soul was burdened for the thousands who were gathering for this diabolical event.

The Spirit of God spoke to me, "I will make a way for you to preach to 5,000 people today at that concert."

"But Lord," I replied, "I have never preached before." I had witnessed one-on-one and spoken to small groups, but I had not preached.

God answered, "If you can tell one person about me you can preach. Just say the same thing, but say it louder so everyone can hear."

I had attended the concert the year before with a wine bottle in one hand, a joint of marijuana in the other and my head filled with LSD--my hair flowing over my shoulders blending with a big, bushy beard. Half-naked, I danced myself into a frenzy. But a year had passed and I returned, saved and filled with the Holy Spirit, clean shaven, hair cut, wearing a coat and tie--fully clothed and in my right mind.

The concert's chief attraction was the Doobie Brothers. (They are not brothers, and their last name is not Doobie.) A doobie is a joint of marijuana.

The Doobies finished their set with a song that was popular in the early 70's, "Jesus Is Just All Right With Me." The crowd danced wildly and sang along. There was an intermission when the group left the platform. This was my cue.

I jumped on to the stage, grabbed the microphone and proclaimed, "Jesus is just all right." Pointing toward heaven, I declared, "That means He is all righteousness," and whirling my finger over the crowd, "but ye are all unrighteous," I accused.

The crowd objected, "What do you mean, man, we are the beautiful people?"

I preached my first salvation message to the stunned crowd for 10 minutes. God prevented security from interfering. When I leaped from the platform, a young man shook my hand and said, "While you were preaching, I surrendered my life to Jesus Christ."

At church that night I told the exciting story.

Prior to my conversion, most students would not have listened to me five minutes if they had not been required to attend class. Now I was a man with a message--a message of life and death. God had filled me with the Holy Spirit and empowered me to capture an audience and deliver a message that held the people's attention.

This was the beginning of an open-air ministry that over the next two decades would take me to 600 university campuses in every state except Alaska.

By my 16th birthday I had settled into a lifestyle of drunkenness and dissipation.

 

2

EARLY LIFE

The Smocks are a very old and industrious American family. I represent the 10th generation in this country. Hendrick Matthyse Smock was 10 years old when he came to the New World with his uncle in 1654 from Utrecht, Netherlands. These "Knickerbockers" settled in what is now known as Brooklyn, New York. Hendrick married in 1668 and the couple joined the first Dutch Reform Church. He was a landowner and magistrate. This is typical of many of his descendants.

Hendrick begat Johannes who with his wife Catherine moved to Middletown, Monmouth County, New Jersey in 1712. Johannes and his son Hendrick II, explored and bought large tracks of land in the Miami River Valley in Ohio thinking some of their children might sometime want to settle in the West.

Hendrick II begat Henrick III who became a soldier and patriot of the Revolutionary War. In the basement of his colonial home he kept a cannon to announce the coming of the British and to alert "the county around." The British found the cannon and took Hendrick as a prisoner. The house was occupied by the British, his cattle and horses were confiscated, and Hendrick was financially ruined. He lost his fortune but God spared his life and sacred honor.

His son, Barnes Smock served as a Lt. Colonel in the War and fought at the Battle of Monmouth in 1778. On June 28th The American troops were in retreat, entangled in a swamp and demoralized, when General Washington rode up, dismissed the officer in charge, and by his personal presence rallied the men. He sent them back against the British and after a day long battle routed the enemy.

Barnes begat Archibald who married Lucy Cheesman, a Baptist. The Baptists were considered a bit strange in the strong Dutch Reform community of Monmouth County, but the family attended her church. They moved to Ohio in 1822 and eventually settled in Darke County. In 1845 Archibald and Lucy moved the family to Carroll County, Indiana. He never gained financially even though he had 12 children to support. He was looked up to as an educated man who was a school teacher and surveyor.

One of the families greatest tragedies occurred when Archibald's son and namesake was killed in the Civil War in the Red River Valley of Texas in a bloody encounter after peace was declared, but before word had reached Texas.

Another son of Archibald, Jonathan, was not a financial success, until my grandfather, James, when he was only 12 years old said to his father, "Pa, you are the best man with an ax in the county. I have learned to measure logs, you cut the trees. We will all haul them to the mill. We will buy land with the money and have a home." So it was done.

The Smocks went on to prosper in Indiana. My grandfather, James, whose energy and ambition never overpowered his sympathy and understanding, had a long and successful career as a farmer, banker, a Republican and a public official in Delphi, Indiana. An attorney friend eulogized him as, "clean in thought, word and act and his closest friends never had even a suspicion that James C. Smock would or could do an intentional wrong."

I was born in Brookings, South Dakota, January 4, 1943. My mother wished to call me George Edward after my father. He, in an effort to avoid future confusion, suggested the nickname Ged -- taking the G from George and Ed from Edward. I usually spell it Jed. Jed is a biblical name meaning "beloved of the Lord."

My father held a Ph.D. in English from Cornell University and my mother an A.B. from Syracuse University. Father desired to marry my mother, Charlotte Gelder, when she graduated from college in 1932. My grandfather had sacrificed to finance mother's education during the depression and he intended for her to teach the necessary three years to qualify for a permanent teaching certificate. This she felt obligated to do, so it was not until 1935 that my parents were married.

Mother's father, Frederick T. Gelder, Jr., a newspaper publisher and editor also served in the Pennsylvania Senate from 1924 to 1940 as a Republican from the 23rd District. By his last term he probably wielded more influence in state politics than any Republican of his day. At the time of his death, the Pennsylvania Senate and the House of Representatives passed resolutions honoring him: "His life, though quiet, was a service of guidance and influence upon his fellowmen. He, as a man of quality, a man of ability, a man of honesty, and a man of loyalty, and his life of simple Christianity, served as an example for us all."

My mother came from Anglo-Saxon stock. Her grandfather Frederick T. Gelder, Sr. emigrated from England in 1859 to America on the sailing vessel "Dreadnought," working his way as a passenger steward. He served in the New Jersey Cavalry in the Civil War. In 1862 his company fought for 32 days in the Shenandoah Valley as part of the Army of the Cumberland. Three horses were shot out from under him during the fighting. He received a medical discharge December 21, 1862. After the war he purchased a Foundry in Carbondale, Pennsylvania. In l866 he married Catherine Blake also of English descent and they built a three story Victorian home where they both lived until their death.

Mother never used that teaching certificate! She and my father spent the first 11 years of their married life in Brookings where he was chairman of the English Department at South Dakota State College. Father considered it his responsibility to provide for the family and while mother cared for her husband, three sons and daughter.

My father's interests and abilities were directed towards administration while also pursuing the scholarly pursuits of academic life. In 1946 he accepted the chairmanship of the Department of English at Indiana State Teacher's College in Terre Haute. Operating under the policy of only buying what he could pay for on a professor's salary, father provided a comfortable standard of living for his family. From him at an early age I learned a respect for books. To the chagrin of mother, father filled the house with them.

My father was active in the Methodist Church as usher, Sunday school teacher and board member. He lived a moral and upright life, coming home to his family every night. He did not smoke or drink or use profanity.

Although mother was active in church work and community organizations, she made it a point to be home when her children returned from school. Having graduated valedictorian from high school and magna cum laude from college, her education was not wasted for she devoted a great deal of time to instructing her children and helping with their homework.

Like my mother, my father honored his parents. His father died in 1926. His mother lived to be 102 years old. When she became feeble, my parents brought her into our home and gave her the master bedroom where she lived the last 10 years of her life.

Grandmother Smock was a devout Baptist who loved to tell me Bible stories when I was a boy. She regularly exhorted me to moral behavior by reminding me that there was "good blood in my veins" and that I should never do anything to dishonor my family heritage. Although for years I ignored her advice, when I finally converted my family heritage made it easier to conform to the Christian character because I had seen it in practice in my home. I never saw or heard of my father or mother or grandparents committing a single sin.

The only "vice" my parents had was a monthly bridge party with three other couples on the faculty. Three times a year the couples met in our home for dinner and bridge, but the "party" was over by 11 PM. None of them smoked and intoxicating beverages were never served in our home. Four members of that bridge club Elmer and Dorothy Porter and Jacob and Peggy Cobb, remain among my oldest friends.

My parents faithfully took us to church and Sunday school as we were growing up. However, the insidious leaven of liberalism had been slowly creeping into the Methodist Church for years to the point the teaching was no longer Bible-centered. I ignored the truth that was still taught by my teachers or pastors. My Sunday school teacher, Mrs. V.L. Tatlock, however, gave me some memorable advice: "When faced with a decision, ask yourself what Jesus would do under the circumstances." Regrettably, I rarely hearkened to her good advice.

After feigning my way through catechism class, I was baptized and joined the church like the other twelve-year-olds. I refused to make a heart commitment to God, and I more away from religion as the years passed.

At age 14 I went on a weekend retreat with the high school Sunday class. I refused to get out of bed for the morning devotions. Each night there was a time for discussion and one evening the minister brought up the subject of petting. Not having experienced intimate physical contact with girls, I was unsure of what he was talking about. The biblical standards of morality were not mentioned. This discussion sparked in me an immoral interest in girls.

My first experience in capitalism was in grade school. Fairbanks School was only one block from our house. Each day I rushed home, quickly set up a table and sold candy bars to my fellow pupils as they walked by. I bought the candy wholesale by the box and sold it for five cents a bar. In junior high school I had a paper route.

From grade school through high school my idols were baseball and basketball, especially baseball. From April through September I would faithfully listen to Bob Elsen broadcast the Chicago White Sox games over WCFL. Saturday afternoon I sat in front of the TV listening to Dizzy Dean relate the game of the week. It may have been during this time that the advertisement for Falstaff Beer implanted a taste for it in my subconscious mind. Sadly, the happiest event in my life during these years was in 1959 when Nellie Fox led the White Sox to the pennant. Mother used to get quite distraught with me because I referred to The Sporting News as my Bible.

My biggest disappointment was my failure to make the school baseball team. This was alleviated when the coach made me student manager. At Glenn High School the emphasis was on athletics, so if you were not associated with sports you weren't "with it." I did not want to be "out of it." What I did not know, was that what I needed was not IT but a person named JESUS CHRIST.

When I was 15 I began to recognize an emptiness in my life. Night after night I can remember lying in bed and thinking there must be a book to reveal what life is all about. Not once did I ever consider the BIBLE.

Although the Supreme Court decision of 1963 forbidding prayer and virtually outlawing Bible reading in public schools had not yet been passed, I don't remember a teacher, administrator or student ever suggesting prayer or Bible reading in high school except at commencement. No one ever talked to me about a right relationship with God.

Drunkenness, Dissipation and Debauchery

My freshman year I began to run with a crowd of juniors and seniors. One night when we were cruising Wabash Avenue and I was sitting in the back seat of the car, a senior riding in front reached into his pocket. He took out a half-pint of J.W. Dant Whiskey and took a short swig.

Turning, he said to me, "Try a drink." This is the closest I had ever been to an alcoholic beverage. I did not even know what it smelled like. Without a moment's hesitation I took a drink. Struggling to hold it down, I passed the bottle to a junior sitting next to me. The bottle went around the car several times. Deceived into thinking this filled my emptiness, I began drinking every weekend. By my 16th birthday I was settled into a life-style of drunkenness and dissipation. Despite such revelry, I graduated 11th in my class.

In 1960 I was a freshman at Indiana University. I joined the Delta Upsilon fraternity because they had the distinction of being the wildest "partiers" on campus. About half of the pledge class was already made up of heavy drinkers. My objective was to establish a reputation as being the biggest drunk in the class. By the end of orientation week, I had proven myself.

My sophomore year I purposed to out-drink the whole fraternity. By the end of the first semester I had accomplished my college goals. I did not know the biblical warning: "Woe to those who are heroes when it comes to drinking and boast about the liquor they can hold" (Isaiah 5:22 L.B.).

After a year and a half at Indiana University I dropped out and hitchhiked to California. In Long Beach I found a job selling encyclopedias door to door. One evening I made a two-hour sales presentation to a very attentive customer. However, I became very discouraged when at the end of my best pitch, the man informed me he liked the set very well but he could not read. That caused me to decide to give up my sales career and to resume college at Indiana State University. At Indiana State I mastered the art of cramming for examinations and carousing the rest of the time. I was able to maintain a good academic record and still party. The problem was that after the exam I could never remember the material. Nevertheless, I graduated with honors, majoring in social studies and minoring in English.

The only time I invoked the name of God was on Friday, "T.G.I.F., Thank God its Friday. I can go out drinking and not have to get up on Saturday morning." During this time, in deference to my parents, I usually attended church with them. I never heard anything from the pulpit to convince me of my sins.

After the final exams in my senior year I went directly to the bar. late in the evening two of my drinking buddies got into a fight outside the bar. Trying to play the role of peacemaker, I was punched in the mouth by a six-five, two hundred and fifty pounder, and slammed against a parked car. I woke up in the emergency room being stitched up in the face and the back of the head. The next morning, looking in the mirror, I was shocked and unable to remember what had happened. I called a friend and we laughed together as he related the whole incident to me. I still bear the facial scar.

Had I been familiar with God's Word, I would have understood the following admonition:

Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes? They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine. Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth its colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder. Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse

things. Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast (Proverbs 23:29-34).

That night I was back in the bar and the following words described me perfectly: "They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again" (Proverbs 23:35).

I led a double life throughout high school and college. My parents were shocked when upon my conversion I finally confessed to my shameful years of drunkenness. I was always careful to cover my sins. At home I tried to cooperate and be congenial. My mother to this day can't believe I was as bad as I have described. She always said, "Jed was a good boy."

Truthfully, my righteous acts were as "filthy rags" in the eyes of a holy God. He knew I had never done one good thing in my life because I had always been selfishly motivated.

In 1965 I secured a position teaching United States History at Highland High School in Highland, Indiana. Although there were a few dedicated teachers on the faculty, many of them were moderate to heavy drinkers. By moderate I mean that they only got drunk on weekends. I administered so little discipline in my classroom that it is a disgrace to the educational system they hired me again the next year. During those two years I completed my master's degree in United States History at Indiana State.

Bored with the night life in Northern Indiana, I decided to take the advice of the 19th century journalist Horace Greely, "Go West, young man, go West." I had the illusion of many Americans that if I changed location my life would be better. The problem with that philosophy is that wherever you go you take yourself along.

 

I turned myself to wisdom, madness and folly--Ecclesiastes 2:12

3

THE MAKING AND BREAKING OF A HIPPIE

During the late 1960's thousands of wayward youth journeyed from all over America to meet the devil at the intersection of Haight and Ashbury streets in San Francisco. A popular hit song beckoned them, "There's a whole generation, with a new explanation, people in motion." But, alas, the explanation was as old as Adam: "As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way" (Romans 3:10-12).

They came to California as self-righteous "flower children" claiming a new awareness and talking and singing about love; but inside they were full of cursing and bitterness. Captivated by a spirit which led them to rebel against God and His standards of home, cleanliness, purity and order they lived in the streets or "crash pads." Hair grew long, jeans became the dress code, drugs were the prescription and the message was in the music: "turn on, tune in and drop out." "Destruction and misery were in their ways," (Romans 3:16) as thousands became addicted to drugs, conceived illegitimate children, aborted babies, caught hepatitis and became possessed with evil spirits.

Turning On, Tuning In and Dropping Out

In the summer of 1967 as I drove my new Ford Mustang across the wide Golden Gate Bridge my thoughts were far from the hippie life. I looked forward to lively night life, bars catering especially to single people, sailing trips, weekends on the beach and riding little cable cars. Renting a comfortable apartment close to the University of California in Berkeley, I found a job teaching junior high school social studies. It seemed that I was well on my way to following the career of my father. However, my lifestyle and future plans were shortly to change radically.

One Sunday I decided to go to the Haight-Ashbury district to a rock concert where thousands of hippies had gathered for a "love-in." A man wearing a beard, long hair, cowboy boots, jeans and a leather jacket crept up to me and said, "Hey, man, I have something you ought to try. It will expand your mind. You will begin to see things that you have never seen before, and hear things that you have never heard before. Here, try some marijuana." Attracted by the smell, I smoked the weed. There is a proverb that says, "the eyes of man are never satisfied." I was not satisfied with a few "tokes" or a few "joints," but the very next weekend I was back at the Haight to "score my own lid."

Eventually, no longer content with marijuana, I journeyed on LSD trips and was emotionally carried about by the electronic waves of music as the rock superstars turned me into a wandering star reaching into the blackness of darkness. The Beatles sang, "All you need is love," but all I found was lust, as carnal gratification became the driving force of my life. Ungodly hippies became my constant companions in unknowing captivity as I marched through the streets shouting for peace in Vietnam and freedom to control the universities. The Scripture rightly said: "But the way of peace they have not known" (Romans 3:17).

I turned on to drugs, tuned into the hippie scene and quit my teaching position to drop out and join the "revolution."

Soon the devil began to break up his training ground at the Haight-Ashbury and on the Berkeley University campus. He directed his children to go home and sow his seed of drugs, disbelief, discontent and disillusionment in the virgin soil of cities, towns and rural areas outside of California. Thousands of hippies returned home, not with the repentant heart of a prodigal son, but to "hook" their younger brothers and sisters and old classmates who were still straight. I came back to Terre Haute, Indiana, wearing long hair and a beard, cowboy boots, jeans and a leather vest stuffed with marijuana. I crept up to old acquaintances, saying, "Hey, man, I have something you ought to try. It will expand your mind. You will begin to see and hear new sights and sounds." With lying words, I seduced many into the use of drugs.

Dropping In

Acting on the deceitful schemes of liberals to work within the system to bring about change, I put on a business suit and trimmed my beard and hair enough to be hired as professor of United States history at the University of Wisconsin. I taught a communistic interpretation of the past and presented the lie of evolution as fact.

In 1970, the year of the Kent State incident, the cry was, "Get your head together man, get your head together." I thought "Yes, I need to get my head together; I think I'll study psychology-- the psychologists seem to have the answers." So I accepted a position at Indiana State University as research assistant for the Institute of Research into Human Behavior. I studied counseling and did research into drugs. I wrote a master's thesis on the personal effects of smoking seven straight joints of marijuana. I was even given a job counseling freshman students in the dormitories. Having eyes that could not cease from sin I beguiled many unstable souls.

Out Again

Finally in 1971 I gave up on fitting into the system and returned to my Levis and long hair. My attitude, life-style and appearance had become of great concern to my parents but, since my heart had become so hardened by sin, I did not care. To me their ideas were old and belonged to the era of Victorianism. They had lived their life their way; I was going to live mine my way. Therefore, taking money which I had inherited, I gathered together a few things in a backpack, took my journey into a far country and there wasted my substance in riotous living.

Making my way to North Africa, I hitchhiked down the coast to southern Morocco and joined a band of hippies living on the beach. Within a year the Haight-Ashbury scene had become a world-wide movement as scores of thousands of American youth just like myself were roving the globe as gypsies.

Living at the beach commune, I thought, "Man, this is really it; this is where I can do my own thing-- be natural"--that was my philosophy. My standard was; if it feels good, DO IT. I became so natural that I started worshipping nature.

I would go down to the beach at sunset, get in lotus position and chant: "Ommmm, Ooommmm." This was supposed to give me peace of mind and make me more sensitive and aware of my "oneness with the cosmos;" but in reality it just opened my mind to the control of more demons.

These devils began to speak to me, "Man, you're always talking about other people's hangups; you still have a few of your own-- you still wear clothes." Before long I was running those beaches stark naked. This did not bring me peace of mind, either.

"How much more natural can I become?" I thought. "I've been a good hippie."

Back home I had almost every Beatles' album. I had been to rock concerts and demonstrations all over the world. My hair was long and a beard covered my face. I had worn my faded Levis until the patches had holes in them. I had carried my army surplus backpack for so long that even without wearing it I naturally walked like hippies walk: shoulders slumped, back bent and arms swinging in an ape-like fashion.

I had turned myself to behold "wisdom, madness, and folly" by reading I Ching ; the Herman Hess novels, Siddhartha, The Glass Bead Game, Steppenwolf, Demian, Allan Watts, The Wisdom of Insecurity, Ramm Dass, Be Here Now, and Thoreau, Walden Pond. Still, I had no peace of mind. Having cast off restraints of parental influence, job responsibilities, material possessions, financial burdens and church teachings, I was more bound than ever.

My madness and folly was communicated in a letter written to my parents from Morocco: "Despite passing my twenty-ninth birthday, I still feel young-- but hardly carefree-- a state of mind I would like to reach; but I still find myself projecting into the future or regressing into the past, thus making it difficult to trip on my trip."

Turning on the Light

"The way of the transgressor is hard" (Proverbs 13:15)-- but God is rich in mercy! On Christmas day our hippie band had a beach party with excess of wine, drugs, revellings and abominable idolatries. Suddenly an Arab marched into the midst of the party, planted a rugged cross in the sand and preached about Jesus.

Although most of the children of wrath mocked him, the Word pierced my heart and I began to consider how little I knew about Christianity. Despite having a master's degree in history, five years of teaching experience and studying extensively in the fields of social science, literature psychology, philosophy, liberal theology--and even the occult--I knew almost nothing about Jesus Christ. I was headed to India to study under a guru. I was "Ever learning and never able to come to a knowledge of the truth (II Timothy 3:17).

Remembering how mother had recommended the Bible, I wrote my parents and they mailed a pocket edition of the New Testament which the Gideons had given me in the fifth grade.

Starving for the Bread of Life, I began to devour the Word. One evening, after reading the Book of John, I went down by the ocean as usual to worship the sun as it set. But I soon forgot my chant and began to meditate on John 1:3, "All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made."

Suddenly I saw a light above the brightness of the sun-- I saw the Light that lighteth every man that comes into the world. Coming to myself, I arose and followed the light toward home.

During this time mother had never stopped praying for me and she had submitted her lost son to the "tender loving care" of the Lord. I returned to the United States in March of 1972 with the Word of God as a light unto my feet and a lamp unto my path. I read the Bible almost every day.

What Really Happened at the Burger King

In August 1972 I was riding my bicycle through the parking lot of a shopping center in Terre Haute, Indiana when I heard my name called out with authority. "George, George Smock!"

Stopping my bicycle I recognized an old high school friend, Clyde Swalls. The brightness of his countenance startled me. God's Word says: "A man's wisdom maketh his face shine, and the boldness of his face shall be changed" (Ecclesiastes 8:1).

He had become a preacher and never had I heard anyone speak like this man. Surely he had to be sent from God for this was not the same person I had known 10 years earlier in high school. As he preached to the young crowd that gathered nightly in revelry, I was drawn to listen and my heart opened up to the truth. That night we went across the street to the Burger King, "Home of the Whopper!" Clyde opened the scriptures to me and I became convicted of my sins. That night in the Burger King, I found the King of Kings when I called upon the Lord Jesus Christ to save me.

My high school friend-- turned preacher-- then said that I should be baptized in water. Deciding that nothing prevented me from being baptized immediately, we drove into the country past the Assembly of God church where he was pastor. Beside an old covered bridge, about 2 a.m. Sunday morning, I was baptized. I came shooting up out of the creek with my hands lifted toward heaven, praising and glorifying God. In that moment, looking up into heaven I beheld his glory. Returning to the shore we noticed for the first time a group of campers lined up watching us. They thought: who are those men in the water fully clothed and shouting hallelujah in the middle of the night?

Holy Rollers

A few months later I was attending a youth rally at a Pentecostal church one block away from the house where I had lived as a boy. The church grounds had been a vacant lot when I was growing up and every summer a tent meeting revival was held there. The neighborhood boys would go each night to watch the "holy rollers." One morning a few of us arose early to search around the altar for coins, because one boy had found some money which supposedly had dropped from the pockets of the Christians while they were rolling, but we found nothing. Twenty years later after searching half-way around the world, I returned to this same location; and where the tent had once stood there was now a beautiful sanctuary.

After the ministry of the Word, the spirit of the Lord drew me to my knees at the altar and in the same spot where years before I had searched around for a few coins, God gave me something better than all the silver and all the gold in the world-- the mighty baptism in the Holy Spirit. It was then that I was given power and a new boldness to be a witness into the uttermost part of the earth.

Hubert Lindsey saved the taxpayers 10 million dollars in riot control alone.-- Ronald Reagan

 

4

"HOLY HUBERT"

AND BROTHER MAX

During my hippie days in the San Francisco Bay Area, Jerry Rubin, Abbie Hoffman and Mario Savio rallied with other radicals to conduct massive teach-ins a the University of California at Berkeley. Like cattle going to the slaughter, hundreds gathered on the steps of Sproul Hall and were brainwashed with doctrines of socialism and anti-Americanism. The students were incited to massive demonstrations and rioting. Extensive media coverage of these events had lured me to the scene.

In the midst of this turbulence God had sent one lone, fearless, fiery-tongued evangelist-- Hubert Lindsey-- who answered the call to rise up against the evildoers. This one-man army invaded the radical territory-- often crashing their demonstrations and drawing an even larger crowd to hear him preach. As a result, the lives of many police and students were spared. Governor Ronald Reagan said that Hubert Lindsey had saved the taxpayers of California 10 million dollars in riot control.

"Holy Hubert," as the students dubbed him was regularly kicked, mocked and spat upon as he warned them to turn from their wicked ways and live. When the revolutionaries realized he was a serious hinderance to their movement, they beat him to the point of death over a dozen times. But his love for the lost never failed. He continued this battle on the Berkeley campus for more than eight years. When times were roughest on campus, Governor Reagan would call his staff to prayer for "Holy Hubert" The supplications of Christians in the Bay Area helped him endure until he saw many souls saved. Today some call Holy Hubert the father of the Jesus Movement of that era.

As a hippie I often saw Holy Hubert surrounded by a group of hostile radicals who were making comments and shooting questions with the rapidity of a machine gun. He always had an answer.

One day a long-haired student pushed his way from the outer perimeter of a large crowd and screamed at Holy Hubert, "It takes an idiot to be a Christian. It takes an idiot to be a Christian!"

"You qualify! You qualify!" Holy Hubert responded.

Another student mocked, "Jesus saves! Jesus saves!"

"That's right, hippie, Jesus does save."

"He saves green stamps," shouted the student, and the crowd roared with laughter.

"Hold it little devil. You're right, Jesus does save green stamps and you're the greenest of them all. Bless your dirty heart."

A female Vietnam War protestor asked, "What about biological warfare, Hubert?"

"I want everyone on this campus to know I'm against biological warfare," he answered. "And as for you, young lady, you are an intellectual, spiritual and biological creature. I want you to stop your biological war against your Creator."

"Holy Hubert's" witty replies had the effect of silencing the hecklers and calming the crowd so God's message could go forth.

I stood on the outskirts listening attentively but did not mock or even ask any questions. The preacher's knowledge of the scriptures and his control of the belligerent crowd was impressive. I never imagined that, after my conversion, five years later I'd be doing the same thing.

"Holy Hubert" is now blind-- partly as a result of the beatings he received at Berkeley-- but he is still active in the ministry. Occasionally we preach together on the campuses.

Enemies Become Allies

Immediately after choosing to follow Jesus Christ, I began witnessing to students at Indiana State University. This was a shock to many because I had been one of the original Terre Haute hippies. I was known for wearing long hair, a beard and ragged Levis before it was popular in the Midwest. Word of my new life in Christ quickly spread around campus. It reached Max Lynch, a Christian mathematics professor, who taught at the I.S.U. laboratory school.

When I became a Christian my attitude toward Brother Max turned from that of ridicule and scorn to one of awe and respect. God ordained that our paths cross and two former enemies became friends and fellow warriors for the Kingdom. Frequently we visited and, sharing a common burden for the campus, we prayed for the lost souls.

Max Lynch had been a successful engineer for General Electric. In the spring of 1961 he suddenly realized that he had never sought the perfect will of God for his life. As a step of consecration Brother Max fell to his knees and asked, "God, what can I do for you?"

"Go to Farmersburg, Indiana and join the Friendship Baptist Church," God answered.

In obedience, Brother Max quit his job and went with his wife and five children to live in Farmersburg. He was hired by Indiana State University as a mathematics professor, taking a big cut in pay. Two years later he was called to preach and became pastor of a Baptist church and continued teaching.

From 1961 to 1968 Brother Max had the freedom to read the Bible, pass out tracts and even preach from time to time; but the radical elements began to grow in strength, and in 1968 the University president ordered him to stop these practices. This action provoked Brother Max to research exactly what his legal religious rights were inside the public classroom. He discovered that in 1963 the United States Supreme Court had outlawed prayer and virtually outlawed Bible reading in the public schools. Realizing the freedoms we had lost, Brother Max was shocked and enraged.

In defiance of the state, in the spring of 1970 he started opening his classes with a short Bible reading. The next fall the president gave Brother Max the choice of either discontinuing his Bible reading or taking an administrative position. Because he felt it important to keep some contact with the students in order to be a witness to them, he chose to stay in the classroom and to curtail the scripture reading.

Three years later God awakened Brother Max from a sound sleep and dictated a letter for the president that he must obey God rather than men and if God instructed him to read the Bible to his students he would. Shortly thereafter, upon God's orders, Brother Max resumed his two-minute Bible reading at the beginning of class. This action caused an immediate stir on campus. Considerable pressure was put on Brother Max to recant, but he stood firm. Eventually he was given an ultimatum: the Bible or your job.

One morning he called me, and said, "Brother Jed, a revival is about to break out in my 10 o'clock class. I want you to come in and preach to them." He indicated that he expected to be dismissed at any moment.

I rushed to the class, shared how Jesus had transformed my life and called the students to repentance. Brother Max gave the ones who did not want to hear the opportunity to go to the library. Instead, a few complained to the administration. The dean of education ordered Brother Max to ask me to leave the classroom. I quickly made a closing remark and left, but the class period was almost over so we had succeeded in getting the Word to the students. I had the distinction of becoming the first guest speaker forced to discontinue his message in the history of the university. Yet several radical communists had spoken without interruption.

Brother Max was suspended from the classroom the next day and a few months later he was fired. Actually, this was God's way of promoting him to a higher calling-- preaching at our nation's universities.

Ironically, the twin daughters of one of the humanistic professors who had complained to the administration later were converted. Brother Lynch's stand for truth had made quite an impression on them. Later, when they attended Indiana University, the girls regularly listened to Max preach.

For the first year after my conversion I had been ministering regularly in churches and to other Christian groups. I occasionally held outdoor meetings at Indiana University and Indiana State. I saw that I could reach more lost people in one day on campus than in weeks in the churches. God directed me to make the universities the main thrust of my ministry. Since Brother Max was now free, we joined forces and began touring campuses throughout the Midwest and Northeast.

The chief influence for my campus ministry was "Holy Hubert." Max Lynch was also a great encouragement. His maturity in the faith and knowledge of the Word helped me field the more difficult questions of the students. Paul's ministry at Athens was the primary Biblical example for the campus ministry.

Rev. Smock, we're here to guard you today as you preach.

-- Lt. Thomas Godbehere

 

5

CAUSING NO SMALL STIR

It seemed like a routine day at Arizona State University in Tempe.

Many students had spent their mornings in classes-- English, humanities, math, physics, biology, psychology, sociology, political science, economics. Some were heading for the student union to have lunch with friends. The more studious had secured an afternoon spot in the library for homework.

A library window gave a view of various booths set up on the front walk by campus organizations. Students at the stands were offering information about different groups, issues and causes: pro-choice, pro-life, young republicans, young democrats, no-nukes, communists, socialists, homosexuals, fraternities, sororities, Moslems, Christians and Jews. But, the average student showed little interest in these. Behind the booths, Cady Mall was filled with sunbathers and a few frisbee throwers. Their thoughts were on the temporal:

"Will he ask me out for Friday night?"

"Does he really love me?"

"I wonder if that blue dress looks good on me? I better buy some eyeshadow to match it."

"I'll cram tonight for that humanities exam."

"I hope we win the game."

"Tomorrow night I'll get wasted at that keg party."

"I wonder if she'll go all the way?"

"I'm tired of school. I need a break."

 

No one suspected there was an unexpected visitor on campus. No one would have believed that within a couple of hours the whole campus would be buzzing with talk of "religion." The students were unaware that the benevolent God of the universe was about to take extreme measures to provoke them into considering their ways. The fourth-hour class ended and thousands of students flooded the Cady Mall walkways.

I took my position-- Bible clutched in right hand, left hand raised and aimed, and fired away. "HEARKEN UNTO THE WORD OF GOD . . ."

A large crowd surrounded me as I continued the message. "You homosexuals call yourself gay, but I have never met a happy queer in my life. You are not gay you are miserable. Nor are you liberated; you are enslaved. You are enslaved to your lust. But God will set you free from your abominable sin, if you will repent and believe in his name."

As soon as I got those words out of my mouth, a lesbian shot out of the crowd and hit me in the jaw. She knocked me off the bench on which I was speaking. Staggering, I returned to my platform and resumed my message. The crowd restrained the deviate but suddenly she broke away and tried to tear my clothes. Why this lesbian wanted to tear off my clothes, is hard to figure out!

The police were already on the scene wearing their riot helmets. When the sodomite attacked the second time, they quickly moved through the crowd to me. They escorted me to a squad car and drove me back to my motel for my own safety.

The next day the incident got front page coverage in the papers. When I arrived on campus, six policemen met me. Lt. Thomas Godbehere informed me, "Rev. Smock, we are here to guard you as you speak today."

I took my pulpit in the center of the mall with the six policemen encircling me. One of the largest crowds of my ministry gathered that afternoon but the presence of the police subdued them considerably. At the end of the day the administrator in charge of scheduling campus facilities told me, "This is the biggest thing we have had on campus since the student demonstrations of the sixties."

When Paul and his companions came to Thessalonica, the city was set in an uproar. The unbelieving Jews cried, "These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also" (Acts 17:6). A few Christians can stir and shake whole cities, states, nations, yea, the world.

When the council of elders, chief priests, and scribes accused Jesus before Pilate they said, "He stirreth up the people, teaching throughout all Jewry, beginning from Galilee to this place" (Luke 23:5). He stirreth up the people. Oh! That his followers might be similarly inclined today. But alas, contemporary Christianity desires to soothe, placate, appease, pacify and compromise with the world and the forces of evil.

After I have completed a campaign on campus, the majority of students know Jed Smock professes to be a Christian. They may not approve of my manner or message. However, I am confident that they have been confronted with the truth. Yet, there are Christian students and faculty who have been on campus for years and relatively few people are aware that they profess the faith. This ought not to be so.

The Destroyers

A campus minister approached me at the end of a day's preaching at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota and said, "Mr. Smock, in one day you have destroyed everything the Christian community has worked for in the last year. There has been a movement to expel Christian organizations from campus. We adopted a policy of peaceful co-existence with our opposition."

"Sir," I answered, "you are the problem. Jesus said, 'Think not that I come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword' (Matthew 10:34). You must wake up to the fact that we are engaged in spiritual warfare. Be a soldier, take the offensive. Destroy the works of the devil. Quit being such a pansy."

Often students ask, "Who are you people? What's the name of your group?"

"We call ourselves the Destroyers."

"The Destroyers? What kind of name is that for a Christian group?"

"It comes from I John 3:8: 'For this purpose was the Son of God manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil;' and from I Corinthians 1:19: 'For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.' What better place to destroy the wisdom of the wise than on our state universities? Hence, The Destroyers!"

God told Jeremiah that his first job would be to root out, pull down, destroy and to throw down-- then to build and plant. Since my initial 1977 attack on the Arizona State University campus, I have seen an annual improvement. The hecklers are fewer, the students are more attentive and the Christians are more supportive. The extensive police protection is no longer necessary. Twice I was invited to address the largest class on campus-- the Human Sexuality class. The once-leftist newspaper was taken over by conservatives. The early editorial staff had scornfully called me "Heaven's Hamburger," but one of the later editors, Len Munsil praised my ministry for promoting a stronger Christian influence on campus. Mr. Munsil has since become a lawyer in Arizona and one of the nation's leading fighters against pornography. The following article written by Tracy Fletcher who later married her former editor Len Munsil appeared in the ASU State Press after we spent a week there in 1984:

"An Afternoon On The Mall

With Jed and Cindy"

"The late afternoon shadows stretched slowly across the lawn in front of Hayden Library. The six o'clock hour was drawing near, the chill of evening was settling in, and in the waning hour of daylight, Brother Jed Smock was still preaching.

"The day of evangelizing had begun at 11 Thursday morning and except for a brief respite when Sister Cindy stepped in, Jed had been holding forth all day.

"Earlier in the week, the word began spreading around campus. 'Jed's back.' For those who had spent springtime at ASU, there was no need to explain who this Jed was. We all knew who had returned. For those who hadn't, it was only a matter of time.

"This year's visit brought with it a couple of changes-- Brother Jed and Sister Cindy are now carrying on the crusade together as man and wife. Over the course of a day, they took turns speaking outside the library, ringed by a curious, sometimes hostile, and always animated circle of onlookers.

"Their approach is at times a bit jarring. But then, it is meant to be. Most college students don't spend much time thinking about anything of true importance-- especially the way they're living their lives.

"At one point Thursday, Brother Jed pointed out that most college students run around utterly confused about their sexuality. He observed that college men spend most of their time in a sensual frenzy trying to add another notch to their bedposts or wondering about whether or not they should eat quiche-- the latest measure of what a 'real man' should be. College women spend most of their time fretting over expressing their 'sexual independence.' It's no wonder that they never develop the moral foundation necessary to address their sexuality in a mature fashion.

The more vocal members of the audience are living examples of the confusion bred by the moral vacuity of our modern 'lifestyles.' The comments they threw back-- most of which are unfit to print here-- only illustrate Jed's point. If these people are so comfortable with the way they live, you wonder why they feel the need to defend themselves so vigorously. No one forces them to stay and listen.

"Cindy and Jed are not the first preachers to come to the University. A student in the audience told me that a man named `Holy Hubert' used to come to campus. Although I had never heard of Brother Jed's predecessor, the student could recall, to the last detail, listening to 'Holy Hubert' preaching on the day President Reagan was shot. A student broke through the circle of students who surrounded him and announced news of the shooting. The audience became still while 'Holy Hubert' led them in a prayer for the wounded president.

"I later learned why 'Holy Hubert' no longer makes the preaching swing through college campuses. It seems he had been hit so many times in the face by frustrated spectators, he developed glaucoma and lost his eyesight. I couldn't help but think of 'Holy Hubert' when I heard members of the audience screaming about Brother Jed's intolerance.'

"There is definitely a message behind the seeming madness of their oratory.

"At one point Thursday, Sister Cindy told a story about a student who lived only to satisfy his own insatiable appetite for pleasure. 'He really thought he was living it up. Parties. Parties. Parties. But one day he realized he had a giant void in his life.' For a brief moment the hecklers were silent. They heard in that parable a description of their own lives and felt the same emptiness.

"Watching the sideshow outside the library over the course of the week, I saw the same faces keep popping up in the crowd.

"One tormented young man heckled Jed on and off for 45 or so minutes Wednesday. Finally pushed to his breaking point, he flew into a mad rage and charged up to the preacher. He spewed incoherently for a couple moments, then stomped away in utter confusion and frustration. A few minutes later, as I was walking down the mall, I saw him standing outside the Social Science building with a few others, proudly relating his brief moment at center stage. Thursday afternoon, there he was again in the front row of the audience.

"But he wasn't the only one who kept coming back for more. Another very vocal young man found a forum for airing his own inner turmoil. He was one of the last to leave Wednesday evening, spent most of Thursday in the front row and was one of the last to leave again that night. Like the others, no matter how angry he became, something in Brother Jed's words drew him back.

"By early evening, the complexion of the audience had subtly changed. It had thinned substantially and the atmosphere of unbridled hostility Thursday afternoon had been softened by a genuine sense of curiosity. Watching as that small circle of students dispersed, I wondered whether that curiosity would remain after Brother Jed has left."

Personal testimonies prove that we have been able to help build and plant the Kingdom of God at ASU. After one of my crusades, I was mailed this thank you note: (It is a striking contrast from the lesbian's fist that greeted me on my first visit).

"Brother Jed,"

" I wanted to write and thank you for what you have done for me, and also to encourage you to keep up the good work.

"Recently, you visited my campus, Arizona State University. I went to listen to pass time-- just like many other students. I had always believed n God, but never felt I could rid myself of my selfishness, and live a Christian life--nor did I really want to.

"I had heard you, in passing, talking quietly with your associate, Bro. Cope. You weren't talking about the Lord, but about the attitudes of the students on our campus. Initially, I hadn't much respect for the way you were preaching to the students, and thought you were another rambling Jesus freak. I realized that you preach that way (after hearing you talk quietly with Bro Cope) to draw a crowd; and therefore, spread the Word of God. It was then that I was ready to focus on what you were saying not how you were saying it. It wasn't long after you left that I accepted the Lord as my Saviour. You are truly a part of my testimony!

"I thank the Lord, and I thank you, Brother Jed! I know you will continue to lead others to Him!"

In Christ,

Marianne

 

Marianne boldly related her testimony to a crowd of students in our 1984 meeting at ASU. The next day more joy flooded our souls as Christians joined with us at the end of a five-hour meeting in a closing prayer for revival and the singing of "Amazing Grace." At least one convicted student concluded "how sweet the sound." He publicly decided to repent and follow Jesus.

Sadly, the conservative revival at ASU did not last, by the end of the eighties the liberals had once again taken over the newspaper and the Christians seem to have gone back into the closet.

 

 

George Smock spoke on the mall for almost five hours yesterday, drawing crowds which totaled an estimated 3,000 students --The Purdue Exponent

6

THE MULTITUDES GATHER

Athens was the intellectual and cultural center of the ancient world. The forum at Mars Hill was the university campus of Paul's day. It could be called the University of Athens. For those interested in reaching college students it is profitable to study Paul's approach, message and technique in ministering to the ancient philosophers.

When Paul arrived in Athens, "his spirit was stirred in him when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry." Paul must have heard the voice of the Holy Spirit ask, "WHO WILL RISE UP FOR ME AGAINST THE EVILDOERS? OR WHO WILL STAND UP FOR ME AGAINST THE WORKERS OF INIQUITY?" (Psalm 94:16).

Paul volunteered. He disputed daily with people in the marketplace and synagogue:

Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans, and of the Stoics encountered him. And some said, 'What will this babbler say? others said, `He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods,' because he preached unto them Jesus and the resurrection. And they took him and brought him to Mars Hill, saying, `May we know this new doctrine whereof thou speakest?'

Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars Hill and said, 'Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are too superstitious. For as I passed by and beheld your devotions I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD, Whom therefore you ignorantly worship, Him, declare I unto you!" (Acts 17:18-23).

Then Paul began to preach. What did he preach? He preached repentance, "God now commandeth all men everywhere to repent." He preached judgment. "Because He hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man he hath ordained; whereof He hath given assurance unto all men in that He hath raised Him from the dead!" When the philosophers heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked--some wanted to hear more on the matter-- and a few believed.

Annually, God has sent me to Athens to preach-- Athens, Ohio, that is. At Ohio University, as on so many campuses, you can see the influence of the Greeks in the architecture. In the classroom they still study and revere the ancient Greek philosophers--Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. Greek drama is read and presented by the theater departments. The democratic form of Greek government, considered to be the model for the American form of government, is examined in political science classes.

Each year I stand in front of tall Corinthian columns on the campus forum and declare: "You men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are too superstitious. You are so superstitious you believe that your ancestors were apes. You really have to be superstitious to believe something as stupid as that, or else overly schooled."

Capturing Their Attention

People often ask: How do you draw a crowd on these campuses?

The Bible teaches, "Wisdom crieth without, she uttereth her voice in the streets: she crieth in the chief place of concourse" (Proverbs 1:20,21).

My first objective when arriving on a campus is to find the chief place of concourse. Typically, it will be in front of the student union where each hour students are rushing to and from classes seeking knowledge. God commanded Isaiah, "Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet and show my people their transgression, and their sins" (Isaiah 58:1).

With the voice of a trumpet blast, I proclaim my favorite text for campuses, I Corinthians 6:9, "Hearken unto the Word of God, know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God?"

"Be not deceived; neither the fornicators nor adulterers shall inherit the Kingdom of God. And it is commonly reported there are whores and whoremongers on this campus. Personally, I have more respect for these professional prostitutes who sell their bodies than the coeds of campus that give it to every Tom, Dick, and Harry. At least these professionals put some value on their bodies. You coeds that are giving it away are awfully cheap."

"Be not deceived; drunkards shall not inherit the Kingdom of God. And it is commonly reported there are drunkards on this campus-- especially the fraternity boys."

"Be not deceived; idolaters shall not inherit the Kingdom of God. This would include all you rock'n roll freaks."

"Be not deceived; neither the effeminate nor homosexuals shall inherit the Kingdom of God. And I even understand there are sissies and queers on this campus."

 

This captures their attention! Within minutes several hundred students have gathered. Open air campus speakers are unusual. It is even more unusual for one to draw a crowd.

 

Students wonder:

"Is he for real?"

"Is this a production of the drama department?"

"This should not be allowed. Someone call security."

"Why, he is condemning us! Who is he to condemn us?"

"He's calling every girl on campus a whore!"

"He's crazy!"

"I've got to hear this! I'm going to cut class."

"My roommate should hear this!"

"I heard that he was at the University of Kentucky last week."

"This is great!" I have never seen so many people listening to the Word of God!"

"Turn some water into wine for us."

"Crucify him!"

 

Paul acknowledged to the Greeks that "the preaching of the cross is them that perish, foolishness; but unto us that are saved it is the power of God" (I Corinthians 1:18).

The Two Edged Sword

Many consider this approach "too strong," but "The Word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword" cutting swift and deep into our innermost thoughts and desires, exposing the sinner for what he truly is-- totally depraved.

Too often preachers have spared God's Word. The sword of the Word has two edges. On one edge is God's grace, but on the other edge is God's law. On one edge is God's love, but on the other edge is God's wrath. On one edge is God's mercy and forgiveness, but on the other edge is his justice and judgment. His word says: "Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God" (Romans 11:22).

The point of the sword is holiness unto the Lord. He said: "Be ye holy for I am holy" (I Peter 1:16).

Regrettably, today's evangelism has broken off the point of the sword and has filed down the edge that speaks of God's law, wrath, justice, judgment and severity. Consequently, today's Gospel lacks power and is without conviction.

Some say, "But I don't think you ought to call them queers."

Well, you ought not to call them gay. God calls them abominable, they call themselves gay. When Christians use the term "gay," they have sided with the perverts against God. These Sodomites do not need our sympathy-- they need the truth which can set them free!

Others will say, "But what about calling them whores and whoremongers? That is not nice!" No, it is not nice. Sin is mean and deadly. One day a girl who claimed to be a Christian admitted that she was having "relations" with her boyfriend.

"You're going to have to stop fornicating," I said.

"Oh, don't use that word," the girl protested, "that makes our relationship sound so ugly."

There is something ugly about that word fornication. The King James version uses these convicting terms to lay bare their illicit sexual behavior. Students in human sexuality courses will discuss the merits and demerits of pre-marital sexual relations, but the Bible calls it whoredom. In class they discuss extra-marital relations or an open marriage, but the Bible calls it adultery.

The devil paints a pretty picture of sin but the Gospel preacher peels back the paint and shows the ugly reality of lawlessness.

Debate and Dialogue

Initially, students are amazed, stunned and overwhelmed. Many have never met a preacher who loved them enough to tell them the truth about themselves. After the crowd has heard me blast their idols of sex, booze, drugs and rock 'n roll for about 20 minutes, many begin to make comments or ask questions in an attempt to excuse or cover their sins:

 

"Where do you get your money?"

"Who is sponsoring you?"

"What's wrong if I sleep with my boyfriend?"

"You are turning people off!"

"How do you know the Bible is the Word of God?"

"Judge not!"

"What's wrong with homosexual love", an effeminate boy asked?

 

"There's no such thing," I answered. "Homosexuals hate God, hate their parents and hate one another. If they had love in their hearts they would not commit such wicked acts." He stomped off mad, but later returned with several of his perverted "friends."

A girl shouted from the crowd, "How do you believe on abortion. How do you believe on abortion?"

"I'm glad your mother did not practice it," I replied. "I'm sorry to say that a lot of the girls on this campus are so low that they will use vacuum cleaners on their unborn babies."

"You're just a male chauvinist pig," a masculine looking girl yelled.

"Do you know what I think you are?"

"What?"

"I think you're a tomboy."

The crowd roared and she flipped me an obscene gesture.

Her friend dashed in front of me. With her legs spread and hands on her tight Levis she taunted, "I guess you think I'm a tomboy, too."

"No, contentious woman, you look more like a cowboy."

After a few more rounds the girls left but later returned and listened for the rest of the day.

Holding Their Attention

Debate and dialogue are two of the many tactics we use to gain and hold the crowd's attention. We don't have a captive audience like professors or most preachers. As the prophets of old, we have an urgent message to deliver to a group of rebellious, uninterested students.

In an effort to awaken the wicked, God ordered his prophets to present strange object lessons. Isaiah preached naked for three years (Isaiah 20:1-6). God said it was to signify the judgment that Ethiopia and Egypt would receive if they did not repent. Ezekiel was constantly giving peculiar illustrations to warn the stiffnecked Hebrews of God's impending judgments on Jerusalem. These combined with his great oratorical skills drew sinners who came for mere entertainment (Ezekiel 33:30-33).

The Gospel armory is filled with weapons the average preacher rarely uses. On stage, where men undertake to represent a character or truth, they use all the arts and spare themselves not at all. Why should not a man go to greater lengths when dealing with the living realities of utmost importance?

Radio talk show host, Rush Limbaugh, has become one of the most influential voices in America by ridiculing and exaggerating his response to liberal philosophy. Rush calls his technique, "demonstrating absurdity by being absurd."

The wise use of humor, satire and scorn can turn an indifferent sinner into a serious seeker.The barb of ridicule makes sin absurd and foolish as well as wicked. Elijah mocked the false prophets of Baal. My portrayal of the cigarette-sucking college psychologist who deceived a silly coed with moral relativism has become well known. We go to extremes to illustrate truth in a memorable fashion. Unusual voice techniques and elaborate gestures are especially helpful. For example, throughout the afternoon I will often refer to the eternal home of sinners:

"The everlasting LAKE OF FI-RRRRRE!"

I cry out with my jaw quivering rolling the r's.

After several FI-RRRRRES, the whole crowd is chanting along. It's reported that within a few days of preaching, the students are shouting, "You'll burn forever in the LAKE OF FI-RRRRRE," down their dorm halls. They consider it a big joke but as they mimic me the fact of this terrible torment is being impressed on their minds. As they are alone at night in bed the Holy Spirit will bring all things to remembrance.

Daily, students ask for my imitation of Satan's minstrel, Mick Jagger, of the RRRRRRolling Stones. On one knee and microphone in hand, I ape him singing their hit "I Can't Get No Satisfaction." The students applaud with glee as I portray their rock idol.

Suddenly, I seriously ask, "Why did that song become so popular? Why does any song become popular? The answer is because it has a message people can relate to. Despite all your boozing, cruising, dancing, fornicating and drug highs, you are not satisfied."

"Why do people get drunk or stoned? Obviously, to alter the state of their consciousness. Why do they desire to change their state of mind? Because something is missing in their normal state. There is a void, an emptiness in their lives. Every time they take a toke off a joint of marijuana or drink some Miller Low Life, they admit this-- 'I can't get no satisfaction.'"

The students are listening quietly. The ground has been plowed to sow a Gospel truth.

"The Bible says be not drunk, but be filled with the Spirit. If you get filled with God's Spirit through faith in Jesus Christ, you will no longer desire alcoholic spirits, you will no longer want to get stoned. You will no longer want to fornicate. Your desire will be to please God and keep his commandments."

Some heads are hanging in shame.

"Jesus said, `Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness; they shall be filled.' The converse of that beatitude would be: Cursed are they that hunger and thirst after sin' they shall be empty. Your lives are empty because your ultimate appetite is for sin (self-gratification). The more you try to gratify self's appetite; the more self demands. Self's appetite is insatiable. The more sex you get; the more your members demand. You have become slaves to your own lusts. `You can't get no satisfaction' because there is no satisfaction in sin. You can enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, but they are fleeting. There will be a day of reckoning; not only in this world but also in the world to come. `The way of the transgressor is hard.' `Whatsoever a man sows that will he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting'" (Galatians 6:8).

Truth has been made obvious to the students. Some become angry because the folly of their selfish lives has been exposed by the swift slash of satire's sword. They are at a point of decision. Either they open their minds and soften their hearts to receive truth, or they will close their minds and harden their hearts. Most will become hardened.

God's Word says: "This is the condemnation, that light (truth) has come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved (John 3:19,20).

The mood of the crowd was light hearted when the Mick Jagger imitation was requested but by the end of the illustration the crowd's mood was heavy. Tomorrow students will again ask me to do Mick Jagger. I cannot help but wonder if it is not the illustrated truth that they really want to hear.

Our Lord showed that the parable is a priceless instrument for presenting moral lessons. God has given us numerous parables about college life. Like five-year-olds the students beg us to tell the stories over and over. Since the students' lives revolve around sex, booze, drugs and rock 'n roll, I tell many parables that address these sins.

The fraternities are particularly notorious for their licentiousness. I tell the parable of the fraternity boy who boasted of the "good time" he had with a sorority girl. However, when his "good time" resulted in venereal disease or the murder of the offspring of the illicit union, he no longer thought he had such a "good time." The Bible says: "Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; they put light for darkness and darkness for light" (Isaiah 5:20).

"Sister Cindy is the best show in town."--The Capital Times Madison, Wisconsin

 

7

FROM DISCO QUEEN TO GOSPEL PREACHER

"REPENT OF YOUR SINS, YOU WICKED WOMAN," I commanded, pointing at the silly girl who stood in the crowd laughing hysterically as I preached. I never imagined that six years later this girl would become my wife.

Cindy Lasseter was a typical college sophomore when she first heard me preach in December 1977. At the University as a naive freshman and, without any discipline or guidance, she soon fit into the scene of decadence and liberalism. Brother Max and I labeled Cindy, the Disco Queen, because she was fanatical about dancing and had completed both a twelve-hour and thirty-hour dance-a-thon. She frequented the discos weekly.

After I rebuked her, Cindy brought her friends out regularly to listen to Brother Max and me preach the Gospel. They claimed no intention of wanting salvation. To them it was just good entertainment. When I moved on to the next campus, Cindy continued in her sins. As she now reveals, a student did not have to look very far to get involved in sin at the University of Florida!

Sister Cindy Exposes The University of Florida

"Beer on tap was sold in at least two places on campus and we could purchase the drinks with our meal tickets. It was unheard of to have a dorm or fraternity party without a keg of beer. Wine and liquor were also commonly used on campus. Students often held what they called 'Bourbon Street Night.' On that evening one hall in the dorm building would become a bar and the residents of each room would serve a different kind of mixed drink. Is it any wonder that both local and national media claim a major problem at UF is alcoholism? The Word says: 'They rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink, and continue until wine inflames them'" (Isaiah 5:11).

"Liquor was not the only tool that UF students used to escape reality. Marijuana, quaaludes, cocaine and other drugs were common. Students often attended class under the influence of these drugs and many were used openly on campus lawns. I had a friend who grew marijuana in her dorm room.

"Sexual immorality was the norm for most and the number-one sin on campus. The dormitory policies made such practices easy. My building was allowed 24-hour visitation by either sex and all students had the freedom to come and go at any hour. Men and women spent weekends together in the dorm rooms and several times I discovered a resident and her boyfriend taking a shower together in the bathrooms. One prominent woman in Gainsville rightfully labeled the women's dorm, `Whorehouses.' In God's Word we read: 'Wherefore, God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves. For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections; for even the women did exchange the natural use for that which is against nature' (Romans 1:24, 26). My building housed 25 women and six of them were professing lesbians.

"Much of the classroom instruction encouraged this immoral behavior. The 'Human Sexuality' courses were the first to fill during registration. In this class many hours were spent discussing personal sexual encounters. Other times `sexologists' lectured on their perverted ideas. They told us that 'premarital sex,' either heterosexual or homosexual, was natural and healthy and that it is perverse and abnormal to resist such desires. The first homework assignment in many of the 'Human Sexuality' classes was to go home, take a mirror and examine our private parts.

"Lust was often the subject in other classes, too. In my speech class a young man chose to talk on streaking. To demonstrate the 'fad' during his speech, three of his fraternity brothers entered the room wearing nothing but tennis shoes. Our female professor laughed the loudest. Also, I had a journalism lab professor who informed the whole class that he was a 'leg man.' He constantly made vulgar remarks with sexual connotations to the female students. Another one of my journalism professors admitted to the class that he was 'a dirty old man,' and frequently made lewd remarks in his lectures. A third professor, in the history department, propositioned me in his office one day. I am sure there were some fine upstanding Christian professors at the University of Florida, but in three years, I never met one.

"The university infirmary was well-equipped to prepare the students for this lasciviousness. There, all the birth control methods were readily made available. The infirmary also gave pregnancy tests and treated patients with venereal diseases and other such consequences of promiscuity. If a student was found to be with child, she was transferred to an abortion clinic a few blocks off campus. At the clinic, 40-70 unborn babies were murdered each week. Many of the patients were university students."

Just a Little Kiss?

Cindy was a junior majoring in journalism and working for the student newspaper when I returned to campus the next year. I quickly noticed her in the crowd but she did not seem to be mocking this time. Later in the week Cindy asked me, "Brother Jed, can I take you out to dinner?"

"No," I answered, "but I will take you. First go home and put on some modest clothes." She was wearing a pair of tight, Sassoon jeans.

When Cindy returned wearing a modest skirt, I took her out for a steak dinner. I preached to her the whole time and she seemed open to the things of the Lord. She accompanied me to a revival service that evening but she refused to repent of her sins and commit her life to the Lord Jesus Christ. Convinced that Cindy was ripe for salvation, I invited her to the revival meeting the next night. When I brought her home, we stopped in the parking lot to pray before I walked her to the door.

After our prayer Cindy asked, "Brother Jed, I've heard you say on campus that you haven't kissed a woman in six years. Is that true?"

"Yes, that's correct, Cindy."

"Why, what's wrong with a little kiss?"

"It's not the matter of a little kiss; kisses are important. You don't go around just kissing anyone. The Apostle Paul said, 'It's good for a man not to touch a woman, nevertheless. to avoid fornication let every man have his own wife and let every wife have her own husband.' Cindy the next woman I kiss will be my bride on my wedding day."

"He's a tough case," Cindy thought to herself as we were both quiet for a minute.

"Why did you ask me that, did you want to kiss me?" I inquired.

"Yes."

After Cindy confessed her seductive intentions, I dropped her at the dorm, IMMEDIATELY. Having hidden the Word of God in my heart, I was able to resist the temptation. Proverbs 22:14 says, "The mouth of a strange woman is a deep pit."

However, I did take her to church the next day and that afternoon we visited a dear Christian couple, Sid and Ellie Green. They made a good impression on Cindy but she still refused to repent. Even so, the Holy Spirit continued to work on her heart.

Cindy describes what happened when she returned to her dorm room:

"When I got back to my room that afternoon I began to think and cry and to cry and think. I thought about all the divorce in my family and how much sorrow it had brought. Then I recalled the Greens and all the love I had seen in their relationship. Could God have made all the difference? Was JESUS the Truth? What is the Truth? The girls in my hall from the Church of Christ said that water baptism was the Truth. The Hare Krishnas and other eastern religionists said that they knew the Truth. Why did I need the Truth anyway? After all, I was happy. I had found a career that I enjoyed and I had a reasonably secure future. I excelled in dancing. Women in my dorm had told me that they envied my talents. Yes, the devil had fabricated a happiness for me but deep inside I knew something was missing. Could this JESUS that Jed Smock kept preaching about be the way to happiness? If what he's preaching is the Truth, I thought, I want it. Then I continued to cry."

Conviction and Conversion

That evening I called Cindy and asked her how she was doing.

"Terrible, I've been crying all day and it's all your fault."

"It's not my fault, Cindy, it is the Holy Spirit convicting you of your sins. God woke me up early this morning and told me to pray for your conversion because he has a great work for you to do."

"I'm not getting saved," she answered and hung up the phone.

But the next day Cindy was back on campus listening to us preach. Late in the afternoon Brother Max, "Holy Hubert" Lindsey and I were going over to the Krystal Hamburger Restaurant and I invited Cindy to go along. While we were eating, Brother Max asked her why she was not a Christian.

"I just don't have any faith," she replied.

The fact is her mind had been blinded to the truth by the lies of the evolutionists, socialists, humanists and perverts of the university system.

Brother Max suggested that Cindy pray for faith and she agreed. The four of us went outside, held hands and began to pray. I led Cindy in a sinner's prayer of repentance toward God and faith in Jesus Christ.

On New Year's Day I baptized her in the Gulf of Mexico. Soon afterwards the words "GO YE AND PREACH" came to Cindy in a vision. But she returned to school, continued her job with the newspaper and almost forgot the incident. At school Cindy continued to seek God with her whole heart. She describes in her own words how God made her call to preach clear:

Called to Preach

"I desired to know God better every day. One night as I read the Gospel of Luke, I asked JESUS if there was anything else He would have me read. Instantly, he said, 'II Timothy 4:2.' Unfamiliar with the scripture, I turned the pages of my Bible once and it fell open to that passage. 'Preach the word . . .' Afraid to read further, I snapped my Bible shut. A rush of power shot through my heart and I almost fainted. A few minutes later I read the rest of the scripture, 'Preach the word; be diligent in season, out of season: reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.' I knew God had called me to preach."

At the time, Cindy was top reporter for the student newspaper. She had been interviewed by the state's leading newspapers and seemed to have a promising career in journalism--but God had other plans for her. He soon led her to quit working for the newspaper and put her in The Campus Ministry.

She recalls:

"The second week in February I was fasting and received my first sermon from Isaiah 55. God told me to go out on the 'Plaza of the Americas' at the University of Florida and deliver the message to the students. So two and one-half months after Jesus saved me, I entered the battlefield with these words, 'Ho, everyone that thirsteth, come to the waters, and he that hath no money; come, buy and eat; yea, come buy wine and milk without money and without price . . .'(Isaiah 55:1). My preaching was quite a shock and a wonderful testimony to the student body, especially to Brother Jed's regular mockers who knew me as a fellow heckler at the very spot where a few months earlier I had mocked God's Word. Now I was a new creature. Old things had passed away. Behold, all things had become new.

"I began going out regularly witnessing and preaching to the students. Day after day the Holy Spirit would remind me of John 4:35, 'Say not ye, There are yet four months and then cometh the Harvest? Behold I say unto you, Lift up your eyes and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest."

"In May, God called me to quit school and begin harvesting the college and university campuses.

Cindy Joins the Destroyers

That month Cindy joined Brother Max and me in Ohio. She got initiated into The Campus Ministry at Bowling Green State University. The three of us had been preaching on campus all week and had been holding nightly meetings in a local church. Sunday was our last day in the city and we rarely go on campus on Sundays. But when we were coming back from lunch after church, Cindy looked at the campus and saw a crowd of students lying in the sun near a pond. The girls were lying out in their bikini bathing suits and the boys were next to them in cutoffs. The Lord spoke to her heart telling her to preach to those students. She put on her hat, grabbed her Bible and marched over to the pond.

The Lord told Cindy what to say to get their attention: "Hearken unto the word of God. I've got a message for you people from God: GET YOUR CLOTHES ON! Not only are you physically naked but more important your hearts are naked. God can see right into your evil hearts and they are an abomination in his sight. Unless you repent of your sins and believe in Jesus, you're never going to be happy in this life or the life hereafter."

That got their attention. They jumped up from their towels and blankets and others came out of their dorm rooms and gathered around. Before long Cindy was preaching to a crowd of 150. After about 15 minutes the police came up and suggested Cindy leave.

"Why? Don't I have freedom of speech?" she asked.

"Yes, but we have gotten about six phone calls that they're going to throw you in that pond if you don't stop preaching. We just want you to know that we won't give you any protection," a policeman answered.

Despite the threat, Cindy continued speaking. Suddenly four boys grabbed her, swung her three times and threw her unto the pond. That little bit of water could not put out the Holy Spirit Fire! Cindy leaped from that pond covered with mud and soaked in water and continued to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Later, one student said, "That sure was powerful--you coming out of that pond like that."

"Well, I serve a powerful God!" Cindy exclaimed.

When she returned and told me the whole story, I decided to go preach to that gang of rebels. By now they were back in their dorms. I shouted up to their windows, "You sissies and pansies who threw an innocent woman into the pond, come out here and listen to the Word of God."

They flooded out of their rooms and surrounded me. After a few minutes of preaching they tried to throw me into the pond but a girl came up and insisted they stop.

Meanwhile, Cindy was witnessing to one who had been a constant heckler that week. He accepted her invitation to church and at the end of the service he went to the altar confessing his sins and calling upon the name of the Lord. The pastor remarked that he was going to take Cindy and throw her in the pond several times a day to bring in some more lost souls!

This was the beginning of the great plans that God had for Cindy--a ministry that would shake the university campuses of America. That fall she started preaching on campuses in the Midwest and in the winter she preached across the southern states from Florida to California. I rejoiced at the way this 20-year old girl fearlessly entered strange cities and single-handedly invaded campus after campus. Cindy was faithful about preaching at least four days a week, several hours a day. In four years she ministered on 85 universities in 25 states.

Some of the impact of Cindy's ministry is revealed in a Humboldt State University student's account of her visit to his California campus. The following paper is just one of many that has been written and submitted to professors about our ministry:

The Miraculous Sister Cindy

"What an absolutely incredible, righteously wonderful thing to do

--stand up and hit 'em with both barrels, to boldly and forthrightly deliver the Gospel message to a sick and ailing bunch of losers. With no punches pulled, not the watered-down Christian type of sermonizing we've all heard before; yes, 'hell-fire and damnation,' but with the archer's arrow striking home. Sister Cindy preached salvation for four-and-a-half hours straight in the most truthful and moving way I have ever heard. Such truth coming from the mouth of a moral and virtuous woman was a delight to my ears. She is a gift from God, truly a jewel amongst the broken fragments of humanity. I could scarcely believe my eyes and ears as I walked up to the jeering and laughing crowd at the Art Center square Thursday, May 19, 1983. She came unto the so-called educated and they knew her not.

"I was walking up to Founders Hall when I heard the commotion coming from the Art Center. To my surprise a young lady dressed in a brown skirt, white blouse and a light brown hat was preaching repentance and salvation to a crowd of unbelievers. A majority of them were making fun of her and a few individuals were vehemently trying to dispute her and upset her but all attempts were to no avail. Cindy's delivery was so sure and true that all her tormentors appeared to be nothing but a pack of fools. Fools is only a beginning description of the crowd. When Cindy Lasseter hit those students with the truth and told them exactly what they are, they proved it beyond a shadow of doubt by their reactions. They behaved like animals. I guess you can't expect much more from people when you consider that college teaches them 'we are animals.'

"Miss Lasseter's flare for speaking, her animated and humorous personality and her innocent childlike demeanor came through to reach everyone present that day, sinners and saved alike. To me, she reached the very core of my soul, and made my spirit sing; to others she inflamed their hatred, resentment or rebellion. The crowd was having their fun through mimicry--more and more as the day wore on; but her courage will always be impressed upon my memory.

"Webster's New World Dictionary (Second College Edition 1970) defines the word `fornication' as: `voluntary sexual intercourse, generally forbidden by law, between an unmarried man and woman; and the word `whore': `any woman who engages in promiscuous sexual intercourse,' and the word `whoremonger': `a man who fornicates or associates with whores.' Today in our society there are no laws governing morality; anything goes; but God's laws coincide with Webster's Dictionary.

"Well, there you have it. So all `hell' broke loose when Sister Cindy pointed the finger and accused those who engaged in casual sexual intercourse, and those who are living together unmarried of whoring and whoremongering. `You whores and whoremongers, unless you repent and turn from your ways, you are headed for hell. The reason you don't repent is because you love your wicked ways,' she said hitting the students right where they live.

"Cindy Lasseter was giving those lost individuals a chance to look at themselves, but they scorned her, streaked naked in front of her, tried to out-shout her, tried to woo her into accepting a rose in the name of peace and love (phony), and even tried to physically pull her down off the little cement water fountain structure that she was speaking from. But Sister Cindy's spirit was indomitable. All the charades of silly people masquerading in reaction to the Word of God could not shake the Holy Spirit or that dear Saint, Cindy Lasseter. All those clowns of Satan trying to steal the show failed miserably' they fell away to the left, they fell away to the right, and those trying to upstage her in front faded in her brightness; for you see, the one in the center spotlight, Cindy, was the greatest of all; none of her competition could hold a candle to her: Cindy's brightness out-shown them all.

"She came with love and concern but none the less with a sword for the lost sinners that day. Oh, she wielded that sword majestically, not once faltering or missing a cue all afternoon. Did they receive her? Some believed that she was a theater arts major giving a performance. They didn't know what she was saying, or realized that the message behind Cindy's theatrics was deadly serious. They didn't know what they were doing, they came to destroy, and to cut her down, but I think she secretly won the hearts of many. I seriously doubt that there ever has been a person at Humboldt State University who has moved an audience to the depth of their emotions. Quite an attraction Cindy was. Rolls of film were shot; there was non-stop video tape coverage, and even the local TV station captured this little miracle worker in action.

"The negative reaction to Cindy has pained my heart, but now I see the miracle that she has already performed. No one can deny the truth that she spoke; they may choose to admit or ignore it. However, Cindy's message lodged somewhere in their hearts and minds. Who knows what will happen the next time she shows up on campus?"

By Sam Trumbull

What is wrong with Brother Jed, doesn't he like me anymore? He hasn't rebuked me once this year. --Coed at the University of Florida

 

8

OPEN REBUKE IS BETTER . . .

When I was speaking at the University of Wisconsin at LaCrosse, I invited a local associate pastor and youth leader to campus. Initially, he was very enthusiastic about my ministry. However, as the crowd (including many professing Christians) vehemently turned against me, he sided with them. He led the throng in denouncing me and he jumped up on my makeshift platform and renounced me as a false prophet. Since he had gained the crowd's attention, the expedient thing was for me to step down and let him have his say. He summed up his brief message on "love" with an invitation: "You come to First Church Sunday morning. We won't PREACH to you!"

I was infuriated when this so-called full gospel pastor told them they would not hear PREACHING at his church. I leaped on a bench, rebuked the pastor and began to PREACH harder than ever. Eventually I regained the crowd's attention but the pastor continued fighting against the work of God through the next day.

Like most ministers, this man allowed the world to determine his approach to evangelism. At first he had thought my preaching was great but when he saw the students respond with mockery and ridicule he became discouraged and decided "there must be a better way."

The church has heard the world say, "This preaching turns us off, don't preach to us!" So Christians on campus try "rap" sessions, debates on evolution versus creation, book tables, distribution of tracts, Christian movies, contemporary Christian singing groups or picnics--anything but preaching. Can you imagine the apostles going to Corinth or Athens and setting up a book table?

Jesus said, "Go into all the world and PREACH the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned" (Mark 16:15,16).

What ye hear in the ear, PREACH ye upon the housetop" (Mark 10:27).

"How shall they hear without a PREACHER?" (Romans 10:14).

"God manifested his word through PREACHING" (Titus 1:3).

George Whitefield who was a leading figure in the Great Awakening in Colonial America said, "I believe I never was more acceptable to my Master than when I was standing to teach those hearers in the open fields...I now preach to ten times more people than I should, if I had been confined to the churches."

Eighteenth century England did not succumb to the ravages of the French Revolution partly because John Wesley reached the discontented masses through field preaching. His message was so strong that even though he was ordained in the Church of England he was not welcome in most of the established church pulpits of his day. On June 6, 1742 after being refused permission to preach in his dead father's former pulpit, Wesley stood on his tombstone and declared the text, "The Kingdom of Heaven is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." Later he said, "I am well assured that I did far more good to my Lincolnshire parishioners by preaching three days on my father's tomb than I did by preaching three years in his pulpit."

Wesley reluctantly entered the arena of open-air preaching, "I would have thought the saving of souls almost a sin if it had not been done in a church...What marvel the devil does not love field preaching. Neither do I: I love a commodious room, a soft cushion, a handsome pulpit. But where is my zeal if I do not trample all these underfoot in order to save one more soul?"

Charles Spurgeon, often called the "Prince of Preachers," remarked in the nineteenth century, "It would be very easy to prove that revivals of religion have usually been accompanied, if not caused, by a considerable amount of preaching out of doors, or in unusual places."

Paul charged Timothy to "Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine" (2 Timothy 4:2). The Amplified Version powerfully brings out this text: "Herald and preach the Word! Keep your sense of urgency (stand by, be at hand and ready, whether the opportunity seems to be favorable or unfavorable, whether it is convenient or inconvenient, whether it be welcome or unwelcome, you as a preacher of the Word are to show people the way their lives are wrong) and convince them, rebuking and correcting, warning and urging and encouraging them, being unflagging and inexhaustible in patience and teaching."

Our generation has seen very few preachers of this kind in our churches or anywhere else. Many who name the name of Christ are are ashamed of preaching and fiercely oppose any public proclamation of the message of repentance "toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus."

"For the PREACHING of the cross is to them that perish, foolishness; but unto us that are saved it is the power of God" (I Corinthians 1:18).

True Christians should not be discouraged when they see the world regard preaching as foolishness. This is precisely the response the Holy Spirit warned that we would receive. The apostles were regularly mocked, ridiculed, spat upon, mobbed, beaten, imprisoned, stoned and martyred. To a degree all of these things have happened to us on campus. Jesus said to his unbelieving kindred, "The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, the works thereof are evil" (John 7:7).

Paul said, "Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them (Ephesians 5:11). Only when Christians begin to cry out against everything that is wicked and evil in this generation will there be revival. The church wants to be loved and accepted by the world.

Jesus said: "If you were of the world, the world would love his own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his Lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you" (John 15:18,19).

Let us love people enough to warn, reprove and rebuke them for their sins, risking their rejection.

But some insist, "You will turn them off." I say, they are already off. Indeed, we do drive most of them even further away. But so did Jesus, who remarked, "If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: But now they have no cloak for their sin."

However, we don't turn everyone off:

You're preaching the wrong way and no one will get saved after this," cried a "Christian" girl as I spoke to a crowd of 200 at the University of Hawaii in l986.

Suddenly, an oriental man, named Paul, sprang from the crowd and testified, "I was born again ar a result of hearing Brother Jed preach several years ago. I heckled him in his last visit to campus, but he challenged me to seek God with my whole heart. I accepted his invitation, found the Lord and am now a leader in Maranatha Fellowship on campus."

Later another man told me privately, "Brother Jed, I decided to get serious with God after hearing you preach here five years ago.

Today I am on staff with Campus Crusade for Christ.

A third person I had rebuked as "cigarette sucking sinner," but he related that he was now an elder in his church.

A girl named Lisa told Sister Cindy, "The first day that I heard you I laughed. The second day I got angry, but the third day I listened.

Jesus said, Judge not according to appearances, but judge righteous judgement" (John 7:24). Many make the mistake of judging what's going on in the student's heart by their outward reaction. I have found over the years the ones that seem the most bothered are often the very ones the Holy Spirit is convicting. The Hawaiian girl who criticized my methods was judging by outward appearance, therefore blinded to the fact that, "It pleased God by the foolishness of PREACHING to save them that believe"(I Corinthians 1:21).

Charles G. Finney, one of America's greatest evangelists, taught that preachers were to expose all the sinner's hiding places and take sides with God against sin. Finney wrote in Revivals of Religion, "Ministers should never rest satisfied, until they have ANNIHILATED every excuse of sinners. The plea of 'inability' is the worst of excuses. It slanders God so, charging Him with infinite tyranny, in commanding men to do that which they have no power to do. Make the sinner see and feel that this is the very nature of his excuse. Make the sinner see that all pleas, in excuse for not submitting to God, are acts of rebellion against Him. Tear away the last LIE which he grasps in his hand, and make him feel that he is absolutely condemned before God."

Many "Christians," like the pastor I met in LaCrosse, side with the sinner against God. These hypocrites are hiding their own sins with a cloak of sympathy. My purpose is to rip off every transgressor's cloak and bare them stark naked before God and man. When they discover their nakedness, most, like Adam, will vainly attempt to hide from God. But a few, like the woman at the well, will seek for the garments of salvation and the robes of righteousness.

Most people were worse off after hearing Jesus because they rejected what he had to say. Those who hear the Word will either open their hearts to it or harden their hearts. The Bible makes clear that most will harden their hearts. "For wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat. Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it" (Matthew 7:13,14).

Regardless of how much evidence men are confronted with most will refuse to believe the claims of Christianity because believing requires men to forsake their sins. Jesus said: "And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved" (John 3:19,20).

The last thing the sinner wants to do is give up his sins for he loves sin and hates righteousness. If we are going to be successful in bringing a revival to America, we must do just the opposite. We must love righteousness and hate sin.

The Key to Jesus' Success

According to the Father, the key to Jesus' powerful anointing was that he "loved righteousness, and hated iniquity" (Hebrews 1:9). But, alas, men who profess to follow Christ have come to tolerate and excuse sin in their own lives, in the church and in the world and only do mouth service to righteousness. Paul wrote "Awake unto righteousness and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God; I speak this to your shame" (I Corinthians 15:34). If we are going to have the Lord's anointing it will take much more than the laying on of hands. We must meet the condition of loving righteousness and hating iniquity.

David, a man after God's heart, considered a rebuke from a righteous man to be an expression of kindness, "Let the righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness: and let him reprove me; it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head" (Psalm 141:5).

The Key to Paul's Success

Paul said, "Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men" (II Corinthians 5:11). If we are going to successfully bring men to repentance and faith we must know the terror and wrath of an angry God against this rebellious generation. Paul saw multitudes and multitudes in the valley of decision about to fall into the pit of hell. He knew the terror of the Lord!

There needs to be a revival of the knowledge of the "wrath of God which is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness (Romans 1:18)." The day is coming when God will arise in furious rage against every sinner because of his willful rebellion against what he knows to be true through natural revelation, the Bible, tradition, and his reason and conscience.

No one has matured into a state in which he should not fear God.

Even Jesus feared his Father (Hebrews 5:7). If the only begotten Son feared God, how much more should we, his adopted sons, fear him?

Remember that: "By faith, Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith" (Hebrews 11:7).

Jesus, Paul and Noah were not only motivated by love, but the fear of God also propelled them. This generation knows not the fear of the Lord. Hence there is little concern for the souls of men. What evangelistic efforts exist are feeble in the light of Biblical evangelism. Since the church world is so ignorant of the fear of God, it lacks wisdom and understanding. It lacks the burning zeal that motivated Jesus, the apostles and the prophets of old.

 

Just what is the fear of God?

W.E. Vine's dictionary of New Testament words defines it as more than a "fear of his power and righteous retribution, but a wholesome dread of displeasing him."

"The fear of the Lord is to hate evil" (Proverbs 8:31). Those that fear God "love righteousness and hate iniquity." Our love for God is equal to our hatred for sin. Where there is a furious hatred of iniquity, there is a blazing love for God. Where there is tolerance and indifference to evil, there is actual hatred for God.

The wrath of the Lamb was demonstrated when he drove the moneychangers out of the temple. "And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up" (John 2:17). If only men of our day would express a consuming fervor and intensity for righteousness and against sin, a mighty revival would sweep the land.

The leading minister in the Colonial Awakening was Jonathan Edwards. Large numbers of New Englanders were enormously stirred by his best known sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God"--a sermon on the painfully suggestive text "Their foot shall slide in due time." The message usually resulted in great distress and weeping, as sinners were deeply impressed and bowed down with an awful conviction of sin and its dangers.

When Felix listened to Paul concerning faith in Christ, he trembled as Paul reasoned of "righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come" (Acts:24:25).

"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom." (Proverbs 9:10). The end of wisdom is love. Contemporary evangelism trys to start people at the finish line instead of the starting line which is the fear of God. The sinner's character is selfish. Therefore, to appeal initially with love will not usually get his attention because he is not interested in love but covetousness. Yet all men have considered the possibilities of eternity. To appeal to their fears of a day of retribution and eternal torment will more likely capture their attention because of their innate concern for self-preservation. When there is evidence that the sinner is afraid of God, then it is time for the evangelist to shift his emphasis to God's love in order to bring the sinner across the finish line into the Kingdom of God.

Jesus forewarned, "And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him" (Luke 12:4-5).

It is amazing that man has more fear of man than God. Fears of what others will think has kept many out of the Kingdom. The conflict between the fear of man and the fear of God, with the fear of God ultimately triumphing, is illustrated in the following testimony of Kevin Ross. He heard me preach at the University of Iowa and after graduation went on to become a policeman and eventually a lawyer:

"I had listened to an older gentleman preach for about four hours to a group of 500 screaming and heckling university students. I was ashamed to have been from the same college as they, as they jeered and mocked at both the preacher and the Bible from which he spoke. His view of God as a loving yet holy governor of the Universe contrasted sharply with the do-what-you-please-everything-is tolerable image of God most of the students had adopted.

"As the day wore on I felt that God was moving on my heart. Each Scripture the preacher quoted rang out as truth, even though I had never really read the Bible myself. Each time he mentioned various sins my heart would jump and something deep down was crying out, 'He's right! He's right!' I had never felt such an awareness of sin before. I had never had such an awareness of the fact that one day I would stand before God and try to explain my life's actions to Him.

"All of a sudden my 'good deeds' didn't seem to amount to much. Recalling all those Sundays in church services, while hypocritical actions followed the rest of the week, only magnified the conviction and guilt that I felt was rightfully upon me.

"And then it happened. The gentleman stopped preaching and confronted his audience. The words that came from his mouth seemed to cause a war in my mind. Fear rushed throughout my body. He said, "I have preached long enough. Who will commit himself to serve the Lord Jesus Christ? Let him come down here in the midst of this crowd and bravely take his stand for the One who eagerly died to save his soul.'

"The screaming crowd became silent. Heads began to turn to and fro to see if anyone would be converted to Christ. My heart pounded within me. I began to sweat. It really seemed to me that the entire world stood still.

"I wish that I could say that I got up that day and walked to where the preacher stood. I wish that I could tell you that the anticipation of the laughter of the crowd could not dissuade me from doing what was right. I wish that I could tell you that my desire to se