The street preacher stood in front of a PIZZA BY THE SLICE sign on Adams and Second Street. Attached to his belt was what looked like a megaphone. He voice was calm and his words were angry.
His message was that the Super Bowl and other entertainments are not how God wants us to spend our time, and if we continue to partake we will pay for it when we leave the Earth.
As he spoke, a former NFL player would walk past en route to or from his hotel, and autograph seekers would chase them. If the NFL has an epicenter in downtown Phoenix, this intersection was it.
The street preacher held a sign. On the first line, in big red letters, was the message, HEATHENS BEWARE!
It got my attention.
It also got the attention of a big guy who was there with his girlfriend or wife. The man was livid, and he walked to the street preacher, a small man, put his face within inches of his and yelled, "Blasphemer!"
The big man walked away, and the street preacher said something else the man didn’t like. He turned around, stopped about 5 yards from the street preacher and yelled, "Blasphemer!"
The big guy and his companion turned to leave and the preacher said, and I’m paraphrasing, "You can’t handle the truth."
The woman clamped tightly onto the big guy’s arm and he yelled "Blasphemer! Blasphemer!" as he walked away.
On the sign the street preacher held was a Web site, unaffiliatedstreetpreachers.com. This strikes me as an affiliation.
On the sign there also were two bible verses from John. How do I know they’re from John? I went to a Catholic school for eight years and was an altar boy. Plus, in front of each verse was the word JOHN.
In Charlotte, we allow street preachers to preach. We don’t bother them. This crowd did. A man of about 20, who was much taller than the preacher, walked up and stood no more than 2 feet away. The street preacher was oblivious. He continued to speak calmly and the tall man became bored and walked away.
The street preacher talked about the wickedness among us.
"There has to be a change," he said. "I say, there has to be a change."
I turned to leave. I’m not sure I saw wickedness, but I did see the ESPN radio stage.
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