Battle for Berkeley
After preaching the gospel in San Francisco for twelve years, I thought I was prepared for anything. But I was not prepared for the hostility I would find in Berkeley. Although Berkeley is known as the home of the “Free Speech Movement,” we soon found that this “free speech” is intended only for left-wing, radical causes, not for the preaching of the gospel.
In 1987, we began a regular outreach on Telegraph Ave. in Berkeley. For several years, we witnessed there almost every Wednesday afternoon, Friday night, and Saturday afternoon. People would tear up our microphones, destroy our amplifier, throw various things at us including flower pots and foul-smelling liquids, and yell right in our ears for hours. We were chased from one corner to another by angry street vendors claiming we were hurting their business. From 1987-1989, we went through extremely hard times. Everyone in our house dreaded going to Berkeley, and many left because of the warfare. Christians would go out on the streets with us one time, see the warfare, and never return.
Even though we got a permit from the city to preach, the police would say our permits weren’t valid and threaten to arrest us. Then they started writing citations and confiscating our amplifier. On two occasions I was taken to jail. The first time I was charged with “disturbing the peace.” A Christian lawyer, Julia Spain, defended us and got a judge to dismiss the charges on constitutional grounds. The second time four of us were arrested on the same charge. But this time they changed the charge to “battery against a police officer,” claiming that I and a Christian woman had pushed an officer. All I had done was to tape record my conversation with a police officer who was saying we had no right to preach. They arrested us, confiscated the tape recorder and erased the tape.
The situation was getting very serious. Even though we had several witnesses, a jury might believe the police officers and convict us of this charge. Once convicted, the police could effectively keep us off the streets by the threat of arresting us again on the same charge. But the officers made one crucial mistake. When they erased my tape recording in the Berkeley jail, they recorded over it with a conversation between several police officers and returned the tape to me, thinking the tape was blank. On the tape, one officer, a Mormon, told one of us: “I’m going to give you all the Book of Mormon so you’ll learn how to preach the gospel in a civilized way.” He later admitted intentionally recording over the tape. “I just don’t want something that I say to someone in this situation out of my control and I’m destroying his tape.”
Our lawyer was able to make a deal with the D.A. to dismiss the charges if we did not get arrested for the next year. She also filed a federal lawsuit against the City of Berkeley and the University of California for violating our civil rights. Proceeding with a lawsuit against the government is a long and expensive matter. The ministry in which I was saved (Shiloh Youth Revival Centers) was forced into bankruptcy after spending $200,000 to defend itself against the IRS. A Christian anti-cult ministry spent over $300,000 to defend itself against a lawsuit, but was forced into bankruptcy when it ran out of money. And we were filing a lawsuit against two government agencies which had unlimited budgets. We had no money and a Christian lawyer defending us at her own expense. It was truly a “David and Goliath” situation. I remember going to a deposition at the offices of the law firm representing the University located in the fanciest suite I had ever seen. They had about six high-priced lawyers plus several law clerks on their side while I had one lawyer.
Halfway through the process, Julia Spain decided to leave law practice. Amazingly, her law partner Jack Leonard, not an evangelical Christian, agreed to continue the lawsuit. He spent about 20 full days in depositions and thousands of dollars in legal fees. Eventually, they realized that we weren’t giving up and agreed to settle the case. At the settlement hearing, the Berkeley city attorney told me that this was the first time they had ever agreed to change their policy in response to a lawsuit. We reached a settlement on March 24, 1992. The Berkeley Police Department changed their official policy regarding the handling of street preachers in a way that was fairer to us. The City of Berkeley acknowledged our “right to conduct a public ministry” and committed to “make every effort to avoid future unnecessary confrontations.” And both the City of Berkeley and the University paid us to settle the case.
Once that lawsuit was filed in August of 1989, we noticed a dramatic change in the behavior of the police. They became very nice. Never again were we even threatened with arrest. They rarely even asked to see our permit. The arrests and the lawsuit became front page news in the Daily Californian, the student paper. Many people were sympathetic to the problems we were facing. And as the police stopped harassing us, the opposition on the street decreased dramatically. Street vendors who had vowed to get us off the street were silent. And most of the hecklers started leaving us alone.
We now witness in Berkeley once or twice a month on Saturday afternoon. At our most recent outreach on May 16, about 15 people from the Set Free Church in Berkeley joined us on the streets. We sang, gave out tracts, and talked to many people who were receptive to the gospel. They have seen a number of people from the streets come to church and some have gotten saved. Today, we have tremendous freedom to preach the gospel in a peaceful atmosphere. No longer do we dread going to Berkeley. At the least, the legal battle has given us three years of freedom to preach the gospel in Berkeley.
I would like to give this story a happy ending. However, on Easter Sunday–right after our case was settled–a Christian was arrested on Telegraph Ave. for “disturbing the peace” while preaching without an amplifier. He spent several hours in jail, but the District Attorney decided not to file charges. And on May 19 the Berkeley city council approved a new loud-speaker permit fee. The permits had previously been free, but now we must pay $68 for each permit plus $68 per hour if needed to enforce the ordinance. Paying $68 or more for permission to preach on the streets for a few hours is certainly not free speech, and I think such a fee would be ruled unconstitutional by the courts.
At this point we have a few options–taking the matter to court, paying the fee, or preaching without a permit and risking arrest. Berkeley’s noise ordinance does not require a permit for amplification. But the Berkeley police do not recognize this and would probably arrest us. We would win the case in court, but would have to go through a long ordeal and would have our amplifier confiscated for several months. Winning a lawsuit does not guarantee an end to persecution. “And all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution” (2 Tim. 3:12). Please pray that God will give us wisdom to know how to proceed.
Book Review:
Treasures Out of Darkness
by Sonny and Julie Arguinzoni (P O Box 2828, La Puente, CA 91746)
Sonny Arguinzoni was raised in a Christian home in Brooklyn, NY but he rejected the legalism of his parents and turned to drugs and gangs, eventually becoming a heroin addict. Several Christians including Nicky Cruz witnessed to him on the street, and he was the first heroin addict to be saved at the Teen Challenge Center. After attending the Latin American Bible Institute in California, God spoke to him to start a church for drug addicts and gang members.
It seemed like a crazy idea. How could you start a church with drug addicts and gang members? But God used Sonny and his wife Julie to start just such a church in Southern California–Victory Outreach. Today, that church has several thousand members. And teams have been sent out from that church to start over 100 churches in cities across the U.S. and around the world–Mexico, Brazil, England, Holland, Spain and other nations as well. Some of these churches have over a thousand members.
In each city, Victory Outreach opens discipleship homes for men and women to disciple those who are saved from drugs and gangs. The apostle Paul said “I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some” (1 Cor. 9:22). Victory Outreach has been very successful at understanding each cultural group it seeks to reach, in order to communicate the gospel effectively to them. They use Latin music to reach Hispanics and rap music and dramas to reach drug addicts and gang members. The San Francisco church even organizes an annual luau to reach Samoans.
“Treasures out of Darkness” comes from a scripture Dick Mills once gave to Sonny, Isa. 45:2-3: “I will break in pieces the gates of brass…and I will give thee treasures out of darkness.” God “was going to use us to not only reach the drug addicts, gang members, and prostitutes, but He was going to make `treasures’ out of them….They then would be used to reach others, causing a revival to break out in the darkest, most sinful demon-controlled places.”
This book gives a very honest picture of the struggles and failures Sonny and Julie went through, as well as the mighty way God used them and others to establish this work. “For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him” (2 Chron. 16:9).
March for Jesus
On Saturday May 23, we joined with about 1000 Christians in a March for Jesus, marching from the Embarcadero to Union Square, singing worship songs, repenting from our sins and asking God to heal our land. This march was held in 142 cities around the world. Future marches are scheduled for June 12, 1993 and June 25, 1994. After the march we had a worship rally at the Powell St. BART station. For three hours, hundreds of people stood around the balcony and in the plaza listening to the music and the gospel preaching.
On Memorial Day, I joined Victory Outreach for a march down Mission Street to La Raza Park. I got to their church at the Victoria Theater an hour early. Their people were on their knees, crying out to God for souls! They rented a flatbed truck and played worship songs in Spanish as about 100 Christians marched down the street. At the park, they performed a drama called “Duke of Earl II” about how Jesus can set people free from drugs and gangs. Over a hundred people responded to an altar call. They prayed with them and got their names and addresses for follow-up.
A Final Word
Jesus said, “He who is forgive much, loves much” (Luke 7:47). The people at Victory Outreach know that God has forgiven them for much. As a result they love Him much and have a burning desire to tell others about Him. All Christians have been forgiven much. You may never have been a drug addict or criminal, but we have all committed sins that are just as serious. “There are six things the Lord hates…haughty eyes, a lying tongue…a heart that devises wicked schemes…and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers” (Prov. 6:16-19).
We tend to think that lying and gossip are not as serious as fornication and murder. Our sins may be more “socially accept able” but God does not accept them. I pray that God will help each of you to see how much you have been forgiven, so your love for Christ will grow. When a person is in love, they will tell everyone about the person they love, and how wonderful he or she is. When we are in love with Jesus, we will not be able to keep quiet about Him. May each of us return to our first love for Jesus.
It is said that people always find time for the things that are important to them. Many of the people in Victory Outreach have wives and children and work full time jobs. Yet they find time to witness for Jesus. I pray that the example they set will spread to the rest of the Church.
If you receive this newsletter before July 4, don’t forget to join us for SOS-San Francisco and pray for the SOS outreach (call (510) 531-5325 or (415) 558-9900 for more information.) After SOS ends, we have an ongoing outreach to San Francisco and the Bay Area every Friday night and Saturday afternoon. We desperately need more workers to help us reach the people in these cities. Our Tape of the Month is “The First Amendment and the Gospel” by Jay Sekulow. Jay is the General Counsel for Christian Advocates Serving Evangelists (C.A.S.E.) and has won several cases involving religious freedom before the U. S. Supreme Court.
Yours in His love,
Larry Rosenbaum
