Tag: Open-air preaching

Breaking News: Street preacher on trial today

Breaking News: Street preacher on trial today. Follow link for source. Story below.

It’s incredible that Preaching the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ could land you in a court of law. I’m presuming (not always a good thing to do) his offence is to mention sin. And it doesn’t take the brain of Britain to work out which sins – or even alluding to them. The worse crime one can commit in David Cameron’s United Kingdom is the sin of being ‘offensive’. It needs no definition. I pray Christian Concern will win their case. May God have mercy on our land!

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Street preacher on trial today for gospel preaching

Please pray for Mike Overd and the Christian Legal Centre team

Mike Overd – Street Preacher

Mike Overd, a Christian street preacher from Somerset, begins his trial in Taunton today for proclaiming the gospel in Taunton town centre.

Mike has been preaching the gospel on the streets of Taunton for over five years. But he’s faced real opposition — police even appealed to the public in a local newspaper to record him preaching so that they could get evidence of him making “offensive remarks”.

Now the Crown Prosecution Service is bringing charges against him under the Public Order Act. A number of witnesses say that they can’t remember what Mike said, just that it was “offensive”.

Mike preaches on the street because he loves people and wants them to come to Christ.

He says: “My motivation for preaching the gospel is my love for Jesus Christ and my deep concern for people who do not know His great love and are heading towards an eternity separated from God.”

Please pray for Mike and the Christian Legal Centre team as the trial begins today, asking that they will give clear testimony and that justice will be done.

Street Preacher arrested again.

The following is the full text from the Christian Concern website

Tony Miano, US preacher and a former Los Angeles Deputy Sheriff

Police in Scotland have arrested a Christian street evangelist after a woman complained that he had spoken about sexual sin.

Tony Miano, a US preacher and a former Los Angeles Deputy Sheriff, was arrested yesterday (8th January) and remanded in custody to appear before Dundee Sheriff Court at 10am today.

He was part of a street preaching team holding a week-long mission in Scotland.
He was the second of the street pastors to address lunchtime shoppers in Dundee High Street. He talked about the nature of sin; about the different sins that Jesus had come to save people from when a woman began to shout at him. He was preaching about sin in general and when he mentioned sexual sin including adultery, promiscuity and homosexual practice, the woman shouted that her son was gay.

Mr. Miano’s colleague, Pastor Josh Williamson of the Craigie Reformed Baptist Church in Perth, who was present at the incident explains: “Tony wasn’t focussing just on homosexual practice – it was about all sin. A woman was yelling at him and her friend noticed we were filming the preaching, so she ran up to me and tried to smash my camera.”
He says the first woman then appeared to be calling the police on her mobile just as a council warden came along and said that while we were doing nothing wrong, and had the right to free speech, we should move on.

Mr. Miano finished his preaching in a few minutes and as the street preachers packed up two police officers arrived. At this point Pastor Williamson says the women shouted that they would get the preachers arrested.

“The female officer saw we had a camera and lunged for it and then the male policeman grabbed it and threw it in the police van,” says Pastor Williamson.

He says the male officer interviewed the women and then immediately arrested Mr. Miano, but did not question him or explain why he was being arrested.

“After Tony was put in the police van I asked why he was being arrested and was told it was for a breach of the peace and for using homophobic language,” says Josh Williamson.

Comment from Andrea Minichiello Williams

Andrea Minichiello Williams, Chief Executive of the Christian Legal Centre, says the incident raises serious questions about police procedure and understanding of the law in dealing with such incidents.

“This appears to be an overzealous reaction by the police. The incident, adds to the number of arrests of Christian street evangelists for preaching from the Bible. It is indicative of the suppression of the freedom to speak  and live out the words of Jesus Christ in public and present the teachings of the Bible,” says Andrea.

She adds that the Christian Legal Centre is ready to serve anyone who is challenged for expressing their Christian beliefs.

“At the Christian Legal Centre we are committed to helping people to continue to preach the Gospel in our nation.”

Tony Miano was arrested in July last year, in London, for alleged ‘homophobic’ comments. The case was dropped.

He has been remanded in custody to appear before Dundee Sheriff’s Court today (9th January) at 10am

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No offence here then!

Josh Williamson is arrested twice for upsetting someone by his preaching of the Gospel of Christ whilst the gentlemen in the picture are presumably allowed to carry on in front of the police without even a threat. No breach of the peace here then! Am I missing something – please tell.  Unless I’m living in an alternate universe, surely there must be something wrong – just a little bit.