On Tuesday I heard a man’s voice on Beechmont that was louder than the lunch time traffic that flowed around him. The sign that hung down from his neck read, “Love is Jesus.” The Bible in his back pocket was folded and tattered. He spoke boldly into a black megaphone and peered out into traffic behind aviator sunglasses.
“📢Woe unto those who shed innocent blood, my friends. God is coming. America will be destroyed if America does not repent and return to its creator.”
Meet Bill Darnell
Bill told me he is from Loveland and started preaching in the streets five years ago after doctors diagnosed him with a terminal lung disease they said would only give him a few months to live.
“That was five and a half years ago,” Bill said with a chuckle. “And I knew then that I was not living right. I knew that if I died I’d be burning so I said, Lord I don’t know how long you plan to have me here, but I want to preach your word and do right by you. So either the doctors were wrong and that was God’s way of getting my attention, or they were right and God healed me.”
You can find Bill here on Facebook if you are interested.
“📢The Bible says one day is like a thousand years to God. Now do you know what that translates into? Take 1,000 and divide into a 24 hour period. That means in God’s timeline, 42 years of your life is one hour to God. If you live to be 90 years old, by God’s timeline you’ve barely been around two hours. Now when the Bible said 2,000 years ago that Jesus will be back soon you have to understand in the eternal timeline of God, Jesus has only been gone a couple days, which means he will come again in short order very soon my friends.”
The Laity
The reaction from passersby was mixed. One man shouted expletives from the passenger seat of a car as his friend laughed. Another woman gave Bill the finger after yelling something indiscernible. However; several drivers honked their horns and gave Bill an encouraging thumbs up. Overall, I was surprised to witness more support and encouragement than criticism during the time I was present.
Bill’s street sermon covered a range of topics including abortion, homosexuality, and criticism for church preachers who are not out preaching in the streets with him.
“📢When I arrived here this morning I heard the church bells going off. If you’re a pastor and you’re not out here doing this, you are robbing God, my friend. If you are making merchandise of people through a tithe bucket on Sunday, you’re being a false teacher, a deceiver, making merchandise of the gullible.”
A woman engaged Bill in conversation on the street, challenged some of his points, and eventually asked what church he attends.
“I don’t go,” replied Bill. “I just follow Jesus and the Bible. A lot of people will ask me who ordained me to say these things and I tell them Jesus ordained me. We have manmade religion, but religion doesn’t save people. Buildings don’t save people. Manmade doctrines don’t save people. Only Jesus can save people.”
Ruffling Feathers
Now say what you want about Bill and his beliefs, but I found it refreshing to see a human being human out in public, breaking the rules and challenging the humdrum of our unscrutinized postmodern lives.
Street preachers have been around for thousands of years. They are one of the oldest characters in the human story and I think that gives Bill a connection to a more human version of us that existed centuries before our gadgetry and the social media mental Matrix we currently live in.
Obviously in 2020, street preaching does not come without risk.
“If I had a dollar for every time I was attacked,” Bill laughed. “I’ve had people take swings at me and try to fight me, throw glass bottles and flick cigarettes at me. I had one woman in her car try to run me down on the sidewalk in Loveland. She hit the curb so hard it bent the strut in her car.”
“Why do you think people get so mad at you?” I asked Bill. I could tell he had an answer ready before I finished the question.
“Because their sin convicts them and they are not ready to receive the love of God.”
Did you miss the last Beechmont Stories; What Goes Around Come Around? If so, read it here. Or check out a similar article, right here or here.
Great story on Bill . Thanks for sharing.