MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. (EP) -- When shock-rocker Marilyn Manson came to Minneapolis in late April, local Christians were waiting for him -- with open arms.
About 150 young people from Bethany College of Missions, Bethany Urban Development and Bethany Missionary Church gathered outside the Target Center in downtown Minneapolis to share the love of Christ with Manson and his fans.
A huge banner proclaimed, "Christians for Marilyn Manson say ... The real Jesus would never despise or reject you!" Young people gave cans of pop to waiting fans and passed out a bright green flyer reading "Christians welcome Brian Warner [Manson's real name] and Marilyn Manson fans."
The flyer contrasted biblical Christianity with "phony religion" and said, "The real Jesus upset the religious establishment far more than you ever will. Those Christians that despise you have the wrong Jesus. The problem is, you have the wrong Jesus too, and your idea of Jesus is not much different than theirs."
The flyer also said, "If Jesus came back today 'religion' would most likely crucify Him all over again. We're sure that if you had to choose between being on the side of religious people or on the side of Jesus, you'd take Jesus' side every time.
"By the way, the devil sided with religious leaders again Jesus. Can you imagine that? The devil isn't opposed to religion, he's just opposed to Jesus. When you take the side of the devil against Jesus you indirectly become a partner with phony religion, the one thing that you hate the most."
The outreach was very effective, according to Tony Hedrick of Bethany College of Missions. "It was incredible," he said. "I've done a lot of outreach, and this is maybe the best of any I've done. Some of our guys wound up praying with people on the street. We were there until midnight."
The 2,000 flyers prepared for the event disappeared quickly, and Hedrick had to run out to get 1,000 more run off. What made the outreach so effective? "We went back to Jesus' methodology," explains Hedrick.
"We were aware that a lot of people would come at this with a judgmental spirit. Jesus was so different from the Pharisees that they couldn't mistake the fact that he was wildly different. He did things the God way, and that's what we did -- we tried do to it Jesus style. We tried to combat hatred with love."
The flyer urged people to call or e-mail Bethany "for information on how to connect with the 'Real Jesus.'" The staff has been busy responding to Marilyn Manson fans.
One e-mail message said, "I received your propaganda at the Manson show tonight. Interesting take on the subject ... I'm curious about what else you believe in. Feel free to send more information."
Another said, "I am a non-practicing Lutheran ... I just wanted to say that I really liked how all of the people handing out sheets acted, as well as the message you were trying to get across."
Yet another person wrote, "A church that sees the big picture and doesn't contradict itself, I am amazed!"
Hedrick said concertgoers figured out the point of the outreach much more quickly than Christians. "Christians did not get it -- they thought we were endorsing Marilyn Manson. Our key point is that Jesus is viewed wrongly by Brian Warner.
"It's a misapprehension of who Jesus is, and it's the same Jesus a lot of Christians have -- vindictive and unloving. The real Jesus was found with sinners."
Hedrick said the concert outreach was a natural extension of the program at Bethany College of Missions. "We train people to do cross-cultural ministry. We train them for Africa, and for Muslim countries. This Manson thing is a culture -- the 'Goth' thing is a culture.
"We have to find ways of bringing the Christian message, and incarnating it to get into that culture. That's what Jesus did."
In related news, Marilyn Manson postponed the last five dates of his U.S. tour "out of respect for those lost in the school tragedy" in Littleton, Colorado, according to the rocker's official web site. Manson has been linked with the shooting because the young killers were said to be fans of his music, and were part of the "Goth" youth culture Manson represents.
Manson also said, "This tragedy was a product of ignorance, hatred and an
access to guns. I hope the media's irresponsible finger-pointing doesn't
create more discrimination against kids who look different."
