Protestant Street Preachers

[nsper7]

I am sure many, if not all, of us have seen them on the street: Protestant (usually Evangelical/Fundamentalist) “street preachers” who go around passing out tracts and trying to convince everyone to accept Jesus or burn in Hell for all eternity. Many of these types tend to be avowedly Anti-Catholic and sometimes even witness against Catholics and turn them from the True Church.

Anyway, should Catholics interfere when Protestant “evangelicals” start spewing forth to others, whether they are Catholic or not? There is a possibility that in engaging these “evangelicals” in debate, it could cause the person being witnessed to to walk away. In other words, is it better to keep a person out of the clutches of these Anti-Catholic “evangelicals” even though it might cause them to reject the Christian message (even the watered down and impetuous Protestant one)?

 

[Zundrah]

I am sure many, if not all, of us have seen them on the street: Protestant (usually Evangelical/Fundamentalist) “street preachers” who go around passing out tracts and trying to convince everyone to accept Jesus or burn in Hell for all eternity. Many of these types tend to be avowedly Anti-Catholic and sometimes even witness against Catholics and turn them from the True Church.

Anyway, should Catholics interfere when Protestant “evangelicals” start spewing forth to others, whether they are Catholic or not? There is a possibility that in engaging these “evangelicals” in debate, it could cause the person being witnessed to to walk away. In other words, is it better to keep a person out of the clutches of these Anti-Catholic “evangelicals” even though it might cause them to reject the Christian message (even the watered down and impetuous Protestant one)?

It’s very odd that you should say this because I only just this very moment started a thread about what I don’t like about catholics! LOL ( I’m a methodist protestant, but don’t fear me, I’m not anti - catholic! ).
forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=355001

But anyway, I really think that you **should stop protestants talking to catholics **but DO NOT stop them from talking to athiest or johova witnesses!

How terrible would it be if you stopped some one from gaining christ into thier lives! …so don’t just stop them for the sake of it!

I feel that God would be upset if you stopped a soul from going back to him after their earthly life because you didn’t want a protestant to preach to them! Let people accept christ! But okay, protect other catholics from protestants!

xxx zundrah xxx

 

[BernadetteM]

The only place that I have ever seen protestant street preachers, (except maybe on TV) was when I was in Hungary. A man was yelling about Jesus in Budapest and it was before the fall of Communism and very few Hungarians at that time understood a word this man said.

I have friends from a mega church that would ask for money from me and others to pay their way to other countries that were Christian and would have prayer meetings. Mostly they went to Russian controlled countries, the area they were in had many Muslims, but they never tried to convert any Muslims. Only other Christians. They also went to France. To me they had a nice vacation on other’s money.

If your are going to do missionary work, then you need to stay there and learn the language and live with the people showing them what it is to be a Christian, not just go and pass out Bibles and preach a few times and leave them without any leadership.

This is just my opinion.

Yours in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary

Bernadette

 

[Church_Militant]

I am sure many, if not all, of us have seen them on the street: Protestant (usually Evangelical/Fundamentalist) “street preachers” who go around passing out tracts and trying to convince everyone to accept Jesus or burn in Hell for all eternity. Many of these types tend to be avowedly Anti-Catholic and sometimes even witness against Catholics and turn them from the True Church.

Anyway, should Catholics interfere when Protestant “evangelicals” start spewing forth to others, whether they are Catholic or not? There is a possibility that in engaging these “evangelicals” in debate, it could cause the person being witnessed to to walk away. In other words, is it better to keep a person out of the clutches of these Anti-Catholic “evangelicals” even though it might cause them to reject the Christian message (even the watered down and impetuous Protestant one)?

You could…but mostly these guys are a public disgrace to the gospel.

If, I were so inclined to counter them, I would never use their tactics or even engage them in public debate or argument because it creates a public spectacle and accomplishes nothing for God.

I would arm myself with copies of excellent Catholic Tracts and Tracts from PJPIISOE the Bible Christian Society (Better wear your cargo pants for this and take your backpack.) as well as a good Catholic Bible and maybe even copies of excellent CDs from and then station myself just on the edge of his area of noise, (because they usually shout) and then watch for people with his materials in hand, or (if you can see him) people who have talked with him. Ask first if they are Catholic because that taylors your discussion accordingly.

• PRAY internally and fervently while you are doing all this.
• (BTW dress casual but nice)
• Do not shout. (unless a nearby building is on fire )
• Do not be confrontational.
• Do not fail in charity and compassion.
• Do keep your voice quiet, cheerful, and friendly at all times.
• Do wish people a good day and God’s blessing if they erfuse to take your stuff or talk to you.
• Police up your area before you leave to recover discarded tracts, (even the other guy’s…it’s still litter).

I would get a rubber stamp made with the name and phone number of your parish on it and put that on the back of every tract. I would also suggest that you maybe do this in teams of at least 2-4 so that you can catch traffic he has affected in all directions and pairs are safer and better, (and scriptural! Luke 10:1). (If you wanna go hi tech, a couple of small walkie talkies are a good idea so you can stay in touch.)

If he’s near a Catholic event or location and going a-C, then be sure you have good counter info in hand. There’s lots of sources for this. If he confronts you tell him you are not there to argue or debate him and to be about his business. If he then sets up where you are, then just quietly reposition yourselves back to the edge of his noise zone and patiently begin again.

In this way we are more Christ-like and more effective than guys like this will ever be. (Keep in mind here that I was a street witnessing “Jesus Freak” for several years, so I have some experience with street evangelism.)
Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum.

 

[JustaServant]

How do I say this gently?:dts:
Oh well, just go for broke.:slapfight:
Many ‘street preachers’ have elevators that do not go all the way to the top. :jrbirdman:
So, to confront them is kind of like going into a state hospital and arguing with the guy who thinks he’s a grapefruit. It’s fruitless.:banghead:

Now, if you’re talking about a person just handing out tracts (I used to do that), you might have a better chance. But as CM says, you better go prepared.