Evangelists say they are heeding a biblical command to preach on flights
To small crowds on airplanes — and often to much larger audiences via social media — self-described evangelists are seizing the opportunity to share their faith with other passengers, whether fellow travelers asked for the word or not.
“They have no choice but to hear the truth,” said Whitney Lynn, an evangelist, producer and singer-songwriter from Orlando who said she preaches on most flights she takes, filming the proclamations for social media. “When I have a gift and I have a life raft, if you’re drowning, I want to give you that life raft so you can be saved.”
A video she posted earlier this month showed a postflight preaching session given as passengers waited to disembark in San Diego. Almost no one looked around as Lynn, 40, spoke for a little over a minute about the weather, Jesus, sin, hell, redemption and heaven. Beneath the clip, she wrote: “I just love a captive audience.”
There have been viral guitar-led worship services in the air, hours-long prayer and song sessions, and quick messages during a flight delay. Where some people see admirable boldness, many recoil at the thought of an unwanted sermon.
“That would be my nightmare,” someone wrote in response to an “open air airplane preaching” video posted on TikTok in June. “Can’t even walk away.”
“The way I would open that emergency exit,” another person wrote. Someone else weighed in: “This is why I drive.”
Often, plane preachers say, their messages are met with affirmations and amens — even from some flight attendants. But there are also in-person protests, not to mention pushback online.
“I’ve gotten cursed at, I’ve gotten heckled, ‘shut up,’ ‘sit down,’” said Lynn, who is also an influencer. “I’ve gotten eye rolls.”
She said Las Vegas tourists have been an especially tough crowd since she calls out “Sin City” specifically. She also documented an instance where police responded to a call about her preaching in an airport.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/20...r-pulpits/
To small crowds on airplanes — and often to much larger audiences via social media — self-described evangelists are seizing the opportunity to share their faith with other passengers, whether fellow travelers asked for the word or not.
“They have no choice but to hear the truth,” said Whitney Lynn, an evangelist, producer and singer-songwriter from Orlando who said she preaches on most flights she takes, filming the proclamations for social media. “When I have a gift and I have a life raft, if you’re drowning, I want to give you that life raft so you can be saved.”
A video she posted earlier this month showed a postflight preaching session given as passengers waited to disembark in San Diego. Almost no one looked around as Lynn, 40, spoke for a little over a minute about the weather, Jesus, sin, hell, redemption and heaven. Beneath the clip, she wrote: “I just love a captive audience.”
There have been viral guitar-led worship services in the air, hours-long prayer and song sessions, and quick messages during a flight delay. Where some people see admirable boldness, many recoil at the thought of an unwanted sermon.
“That would be my nightmare,” someone wrote in response to an “open air airplane preaching” video posted on TikTok in June. “Can’t even walk away.”
“The way I would open that emergency exit,” another person wrote. Someone else weighed in: “This is why I drive.”
Often, plane preachers say, their messages are met with affirmations and amens — even from some flight attendants. But there are also in-person protests, not to mention pushback online.
“I’ve gotten cursed at, I’ve gotten heckled, ‘shut up,’ ‘sit down,’” said Lynn, who is also an influencer. “I’ve gotten eye rolls.”
She said Las Vegas tourists have been an especially tough crowd since she calls out “Sin City” specifically. She also documented an instance where police responded to a call about her preaching in an airport.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/20...r-pulpits/
teachings of the Bible are so muddled and self-contradictory that it was possible for Christians to happily burn heretics alive for five long centuries. It was even possible for the most venerated patriarchs of the Church, like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to conclude that heretics should be tortured (Augustine) or killed outright (Aquinas). Martin Luther and John Calvin advocated the wholesale murder of heretics, apostates, Jews, and witches. - Sam Harris, "Letter To A Christian Nation"
