BLOWN OUT OF THE WATER Dallas Court Case for August 11th, 2005 Months ago while preaching open-air in the club district of Dallas the cops harassed and hounded me. They did this by telling me it was against the law to draw a crowd. According to their interpretation of the law I couldn’t speak loudly nor do anything that could potentially draw a crowd to listen to me preach. And apparently blocking the sidewalk had nothing to do with it, no crowds allowed! After attempting to politely reason with the police they finally said that if I go to another corner they will not bother me or give me any problems while preaching the gospel. When I went to another corner differently officers approached me and said “That’s it. The cops over there already gave you a warning. Now you’re getting cited.” When attempting to politely reason again with them they said the same thing; you cannot draw any crowds. I was told that I have freedom of speech but if anyone stops to listen I will be cited. And so I was cited for having listeners. In a letter I received with my court date it stated that the violating was “religious solicitation without proof of ID.” (Completely bogus because I was giving away money and they saw my ID.) But of course in court the charge was different; it was “violating an anti-noise ordinance”. However when I tried to take it to trial the prosecution backed out again, just like last time, for lack of evidence. Another court case blown out of the water; two Dallas cases down, one Tyler case to go. (I am so appreciative of all your prayers! Please keep them coming!) So to celebrate my victory I walked a few blocks from the Dallas courthouse and open-air preached for roughly an hour at The West End Transfer Center where there were nice attentive crowds. The message was painfully plain, “If you break the Law of God, the Law of God will break you.” And that is why Christ was broken; to take the smashing weight of the Law upon Himself so we could go free. Oh thank you Jesus!
