Nevada Showdown
June-July 2007
Carson Valley, June 24, 2007
I preached on Highway 395 in the Nevada town of Gardnerville this afternoon. A short video clip is available from the video page. I continued to preach from the same place for some time until I was interrupted by a Douglas county Sherriff's deputy. At first he advised me that I was breaking the law by preaching, but later explained that if someone complained, then my street preaching would constitute disorderly conduct and he would arrest me. I advised him that my conduct is not disorderly, but that it is ordered by God and the scriptures.
The deputy proceeded to tell me that he was not harassing me, and that he himself was religious. He wanted to know what we were. I advised him that we are called Christians. He claimed to be “LDS” and wanted to know what kind of Christians we were. I responded that Christ is not divided (1 Cor. 3:3). The deputy asked me if I didn’t think there was a better way to do this (share the gospel). I responded, "No. I am following the example of the Lord Jesus Christ himself." He is the way, and there is no better way.
After I showed identification in response to the deputy's claim of authority to require us to do so under a Nevada state law that was upheld by the Supreme Court's decision in Hiibel versus Nevada, the deputy ran a warrant check and went away. We continued to preach under the threat of arrest as a result of a complaint because our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the prison, and he will deliver us out of the hand of our oppressors. But if not, be it known that we will still preach Christ Jesus.
The deputy’s proposed application of the law was absurd, but in my attempt to defend myself against the power of his authority, I forsook compassion for the man and failed to show him meekness and humility. My confidence was displayed in smugness as arrogance, which is a result of pride. I am not sure what the motive of the deputy’s investigation was, but it allowed him to see beyond the words of my sermon. My immaturity was exposed. I repented of my attitude and for letting my mouth run. I am not at all discouraged from preaching. I will preach, not in spite, but in obedience and with the sincere expectation that he which hath begun a good work in me will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.
Carson Valley, July 1, 2007
WE preached Jesus on the Sabbath day and again on the Lord's day, in two different locations along Highway 395 in the town of Gardnerville. On Saturday, I went out by myself, still under the threat of arrest from the Douglas County Sheriff's deputy who accosted me the previous weekend. I was confronted again by a Sheriff's deputy.
There was never any doubt that I would preach, but I decided it best to keep Mai and Micaiah at home until the issue was settled. The Holy Ghost was telling me to expect a show down. I visited the Sheriff's department in person to discuss the lawfulness of my activities back in January, and let the authorities have their say. Despite that, it was clear some deputies wanted to settle the matter on the street.
I blew the trumpet and preached on the corner of 395 and Waterloo. I preached to a good number of people in cars. It is a small town so I've come to know some of them. While I was preaching, a young couple I know drove by. They would soon be married. The youth pastor at our church drove by with his wife. Another couple who had heckled me at the Carson Valley Days carnival last month drove by leaning on their horn in disapproval. A little while later I saw a Sheriff's deputy driving up. The deputy asked me why I hadn't listened to their partner the previous week and stopped. They described my activity as they saw it, attempting to cast my actions in the least favorable light. I assumed they wanted me to explain myself. Instead I attempted to assert the lawfulness of my activity and said, "I'm standing in a public forum. Do you understand what a public forum is?"
I had asked the question without any condecension, but the deputy responded, "Now you're insulting me, and that's not very Christian of you. I think I know my job a lot better than you do. Yes, I do. If you want to start insulting me and telling me how to do my job, we're going to have a problem. I don't have a problem with you so far, so let's just keep this good." Right then, the Holy Ghost reminded me to control my mouth. I quickly decided to hold my tongue. The deputy asked for my ID to run a warrant check, and to save face. A Nevada State Trooper (Nevada Highway Patrol) was standing in the background to backup the deputy, and also to witness the outcome of this show down.
When the warrant check was complete, the deputy explained the parameters to keep my activity lawful (staying out of the roadway, not approaching people in cars, concluding my activity before dark, etc.) and then declared my preaching and trumpet playing otherwise lawful. I told the deputy that I honored her commission to be a terror to evil. The deputy and State trooper drove away, and I blew the trumpet and kept preaching.
Afterward, when I came home, I exclaimed to Mai with great excitement, "I passed the test!" I told her everything that had happened. Because I understood that the higher powers are of God, and that they are God's ministers to me for good, and that if I did that which was good, I would have no reason to fear. God himself would not have been pleased if I had let my mouth run by bringing a railing accusation, because he has commanded submission and meekness. That is not to say that I ought to obey man rather than God, but that my speech and my preaching are authorized by the power of God and not on the basis of convincing men to decide to accept it. I asked Mai if I looked taller, because I knew I had grown. I told her I could boast because the only thing I was claiming was that I was humiliated and my flesh degraded. Indeed my flesh was still cringing and reeling in pain after having every fiber of my American manhood crushed under the hand of God. I certainly did not feel like a mighty man of valour, but though I am weak in him, I shall live with him by the power of God, for it is written 'he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of God.' Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my weakness, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
Whenever I am on the street, I am aware that I may be there without the approval of any man. This affords the opportunity for supreme arrogance in the face of rejection by men. The street preacher who fears the rejection of man so much that he becomes a bully is a sad sight. Indeed, one who has received a commission directly from God himself to be an irritant to sinful society may mistakenly believe that it is his service to men that he only tells them off. Having received his commission from on high may lead him to believe that he is above any lower authority. He might think, "How dare they interfere."
In America it is even claimed that the "People" retain the rights of the sovereign, officials are called "public servants," and a great body of legislation and jurisprudence is devoted to delineating the boundaries of authority for the higher powers.
This mistaken commission and the propensity for Americanism to produce the image of oneself as an independent sovereign can result in strong delusion.
I have had hundreds of police encounters on the wrong side of the law before being saved. While my offenses were non-violent, I had a severe conflict with authority which was evident in school, but became most serious once I started driving. I was totally self-righteous and because the police and the judiciary were opposed to that viewpoint, I cultivated a vile hatred for them.
The Lord himself took hold of me long before I was submitted to him and worked to very gently crush my resistance. I was arrested again and again, worked for many months simply to pay tens of thousands of dollars in court fines, and was consigned to weekend-work programs for years. I know the meaning of the proverb: "A whip for the horse, a bridle for the ass, and a rod for the fool's back."
Some people endeavor at great length to demonstrate that the rod is crooked. Was God unrighteous in sending his people under the hand of Nebuchadnezzar? I tell you no.
When the first deputy, who claimed to be LDS, spoke to me, his folly was very evident. Although it might have appeared that I stopped his mouth with keen words, were I a son speaking to a father it would not have been my cleverness that was noted, but that I answered again with a smart mouth.
When I repented, the Lord sent another authority, even less becoming than the first. Call me Boanerges! I wanted to tell him, "You've got to be kidding!" and smite the servant of the high priest in the ear. But I spared this Malchus because I am their servant for the Lord's sake. If I were to suffer wrong at their hand for well doing, then I would take it patiently. But if there were guile found in my mouth, then would I bring no glory to be accepted of the Lord. I committed myself to him that judges righteously, and I suffered no wrong.
Consider Paul whom the High Priest commanded to be struck on the mouth. At first, Paul reviles him saying, "God shall smite thee, [thou] whited wall: for sittest thou to judge me after the law, and commandest me to be smitten contrary to the law?"
But they that stood by said, "Revilest thou God's high priest?"
"Then said Paul, I wist not, brethren, that he was the high priest: for it is written, Thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people." (from Acts 23:1-5)
Paul was aware at that time that Christ is God's High Priest, but he was also aware that it is written, "Thou shalt not revile the gods, nor curse the ruler of thy people." (Exodus 22:28) God himself acknowledged Caiaphas, whose deeds were evil, because he was the high priest, and he prophesied that it was expedient that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not (John 11:51-52).
Paul wrote that, "there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation."