It has been a long time since I published a post in this series, "Persecution May Be Closer Than You Think". In these posts I highlight different Christians who are persecuted for their faith in Christ in America and England. People think of Christians being persecuted in countries such as China, North Korea, etc, but there are Christians in both America and England that have actually been arrested because of their Christian ministry. One of these brothers is Ryan Denton from Christ In The Wild Ministries.
Mr. Denton is a street preacher. A minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ on the streets, at the college campus, abortion mills and more. He is also known as "preacher guy" on the campus of UTEP, (University of Texas El Paso.) In his ministry at the UTEP campus, Mr. Denton has experienced many forms of opposition to his preaching. These include people holding signs next to him which read "false prophet". These people were silent as they held their signs in opposition to a preacher of righteousness. Another person took a more vocal stance of dressing as a chicken and squawking, and yet others have read Dr. Suess books aloud. The world can find creative ways to try to hinder the proclamation of the Gospel but Mr. Denton continues to proclaim it.
Back in 2017 when he was preaching outside "A Drag Queen Christmas: The Naughty Tour", Mr. Denton was arrested. The event was at Plaza Theater where Mr. Denton had gone before to proclaim the Gospel. On the night when he was arrested he did mention the topic of drag queens but his focus was not on drag queens, but rather the Gospel.
Mr. Denton said, “The drag event, like any other event, was a place where the lost would be congregating, and hence the need for a gospel witness, Christ came to seek and save those who are lost. He came for the unrighteous, not the righteous. The great Physician of souls came for the sick and spiritually dead. This is why the gospel must go beyond the church walls.”
Mr. Denton was preaching the Gospel which offended some people. We should not be surprised when people are offended by the proclamation of the Gospel. We should seek to make sure we are not causing undue offense by being rude, we must speak the truth in love, however the Gospel is offensive. People do not like to be confronted on their sin. They love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil. Since people were offended by the Gospel, the police were called on the night Mr. Denton was preaching. One of the officers that arrived was Officer Jared Lamb. Officer Lamb told Mr. Denton that he was on private property, which was false. Mr. Denton had been told by police at a previous time to stand in the very location which Officer Lamb claimed was private property.
Mr. Denton spoke to Officer Lamb, informing him that “Just because you get calls does not mean I have to stop,” Officer Lamb said he knew that. Mr. Denton informed Officer Lamb that he was going to continue preaching in the same location because it was not private property, but Officer Lamb took his stool and told Mr. Denton to follow him. Officer Lamb took Mr. Denton into a building. Mr. Denton informed Officer Lamb that it was his first amendment rights to be preaching on that area of the sidewalk but Officer Lamb unjustly arrested Mr. Denton. Mr. Denton was held in jail for 7 hours and released on bond. He was charged with criminal trespass.
Mr. Denton was not doing anything illegal which deserved arrest, he was preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Some people may think that if Christians are arrested in America it is because the person did something wrong, and not merely because they were proclaiming the Gospel. I believe there are some times when a person who says they are preaching the Gospel are arrested because of some fault of their own, (refusing to submit to lawful police orders, disrespect to an officer, etc.) However, there are other times when the action which led to a Christian's arrest was preaching the Gospel.
This was an update posted by Mr. Denton on March 6th, 2018:
Mr. Denton recently wrote a book with Scott Smith titled "A Certain Sound: A Primer On Open Air Preaching"
Please realize that persecution is coming to America. Some of those out on the streets proclaiming the Gospel are already facing persecution. Will you be bold enough to go out and proclaim the Gospel? Are you ready to face persecution because you proclaim Christ and Him crucified for the sins of His elect? Christ is worthy and we are commanded by Him to preach the Gospel. So do your duty and go forth with the Gospel!
This was an update posted by Mr. Denton on March 6th, 2018:
"The court offered a pre-trial diversion...700 bucks plus "re-education" classes. We declined to take it. Next court date 3/29. Thanks for your prayers."
Not only can you be arrested for preaching the Gospel in America, but the court can even offer "re-education" classes!
Praise God that in March Mr. Denton's charges were dropped:
"18 months later, the Lord has given us the victory! Charges for preaching in public have been dropped. Case dismissed. Thx for your prayers."
I would encourage people to pray for Mr. Denton as he continues to proclaim the Gospel of Christ.
Mr. Denton recently wrote a book with Scott Smith titled "A Certain Sound: A Primer On Open Air Preaching"
Please realize that persecution is coming to America. Some of those out on the streets proclaiming the Gospel are already facing persecution. Will you be bold enough to go out and proclaim the Gospel? Are you ready to face persecution because you proclaim Christ and Him crucified for the sins of His elect? Christ is worthy and we are commanded by Him to preach the Gospel. So do your duty and go forth with the Gospel!
"We're not called to stay inside the church; we're called to bring the gospel of Jesus Christ outside the church." ~Ryan Denton
“I have no doubt the Lord called me to preach. Outdoors, in the pulpits, it’s really wherever he’s calling me to preach. I think what I’m doing here is definitely a calling of God.” ~Ryan Denton
"For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written,
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”
Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God." 1 Corinthians 1:18-24
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."1 Corinthians 5:17-21
With love in the Lord,
Virginia
