Street evangelist Tony Miano was arrested again, this time in Scotland for breach of peace and “homophobic aggravation.” Is this modern-day persecution?
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I ask all who follow Cross Encounters Ministries and/or visit this website to pray not only for me, but for Christians around the world that are facing various forms of persecution, most far more serious than what I experienced in Scotland, as they lovingly and boldly proclaim the gospel to a lost and dying world. ~Tony Miano
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Did Tony Miano just say that he is being persecuted? Really? Well, I disagree with him and will show you why, using Miano’s own words. The sad part is that many people are so trusting of the title “street evangelist” and get hyped up when they read about Christians getting arrested. They assume that the story is about someone really being persecuted for sharing the Gospel.
Let me fill you in on what has happened last week in case you missed it.
Street evangelist Tony Miano was arrested last week. You may recall, last summer he was arrested in Wimbledon for “homophobic” speech, but later was released and charges dismissed. This time, he was arrested and held for approximately 28 hours in Dundee, Scotland:
Christian Legal Centre client, Tony Miano, was arrested this week after a woman complained that he had spoken about sexual sin.
The Christian street evangelist was remanded in custody overnight and later released on bail to appear before Dundee Sheriff’s Court on 22nd April.
Tony, who is a former Los Angeles Deputy Sheriff, was arrested on 8th January on a charge of alleged breach of peace with “homophobic” aggravation.
Some amazing saints are on the front lines of battle, but is Miano one of them?
Real persecution does not involve drawing attention to oneself by tweeting, asking for interviews, blasting social media with your arrest story that you could have prevented by being a decent human being and respecting your social surroundings, the political climate of your host country, and by speaking in a reasonable level of volume.
I’ve been watching Tony Miano from a distance for a while – especially because he has the same disturbing behavioral characteristics of others I am familiar with – people who are possibly doing more damage for Christ than good.
If you look back on Miano’s social media, you can see that he pretty much predicted his plight and chose it, all the while, pleading for donations to continue his “ministry.” The pleading for donations is not uncommon.
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Let me back up a bit and give you a chronological timeline.
In the previous tweet, we see the name Josh Williamson. Josh Williamson is the pastor with whom Miano just visited in Scotland. They’ve been friends for a while. Pastor Josh Williamson, also a street evangelist, tweeted about his buddy, Miano’s arrest.
August 2013 – Miano obviously had a good idea of the political climate in the country of Scotland when he tweeted this:
September 2013 – Miano’s friend, Pastor Josh Williamson, is arrested in Scotland, not once, but TWICE in one week. Again, Miano identifies the threat he knows he will encounter in Scotland.
I think it’s time for a Spurgeon intermission quote. I’m pretty sure these guys love Spurgeon. It’s a good quote:
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Never talk of what you have done, but go on to something else. An officer rode up to his general, and said, “Sir, we have taken two guns from the enemy.” “It is well,” said the general, “take two more.” ~C.H. Spurgeon
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Back to the timeline.
November 2013 – Ok, this is a bit odd – only two months before his arrest in Scotland, Miano penned an article entitled, “Hello Officer!” – Interacting with Law Enforcement and Security. Miano, shows his audience how to prepare in advance so you do not get arrested for street evangelism in new locations. It’s almost as if he a prophet predicting his upcoming arrest!
Here’s a snippet from the article:
Do Your Homework
. . . When open-air preaching, pick an area on public property upon which a gathered crowd will not impede the free flow of pedestrian and/or vehicle traffic. Check for local ordinances that may lawfully regulate aspects of free speech exercise (i.e. amplification, displays, etc). . . .
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January 2014: Tony goes to Scotland and teams up with his friend Pastor Josh Williamson of Craigie Reformed Baptist Church.
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It should come as no surprise that street evangelist Tony Miano was arrested.
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Again, Miano knew there was a good probability of an arrest, having widely reported his friend’s arrests in Scotland earlier. They are both cut of the same cloth as far as street preaching style goes: volume level, places to preach, etc. These kinds of persecution stories go viral on social media and it started immediately from Miano’s friends before the news media got the story. Miano’s volunteer sent this out notice out:
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The tweets start rolling in. I know how to tune a violin, please pass me a violin now so I may accompany as you read the following:
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Editor note: I removed a tweet here by request. The tweeter no longer supports Miano. 12/18/14
Valor? Courage in the face of danger? No, Miano created his own conflict and he knew that going in. This is no man of valor, this is a man addicted to public media attention and uses Christ to get that attention. Who is getting the glory here, Christ or Miano?
Ok, so now at Craigie Reformed Church, they have a little dilemma. Their guest is in prison. But their ministry was to do outreach with Miano this particular evening. What’s a Christian to do? I’ll let you read:
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My darn A string just broke. Does anyone have a spare violin string I can borrow? I wanted to accompany for the prison visit. I guess I can just play with three strings.
So let’s get this straight. Here is the purpose of the outreach straight from the Love Scotland website:
So Miano, knowing the political climate of Scotland and their free speech issues, of his own volition, without any coercion, asks for donations to be able to take this trip possible, is arrested for breach of peace, spends time in jail, and they CANCEL the outreach that evening??? As if Miano is the only one who can do the outreach?
“I, the persecuted street evangelist, was in prison, and you came to visit me,” JAS translation.
In the meantime, the media picked up the story. Those mean police in Scotland arrested Miano and the world is watched this violation of free speech, religious persecution, and intolerance. What is the world coming to?! Seriously!
Included are articles from the US, UK, and Canada:
Did you notice it says “he has been bailed.” Wait a minute. What’s that about? A bigger question is: who is paying the money for him to go back in April? Donors?
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Ok, well, it seems that now that Miano was bailed, things are back to normal. But what does normal mean to an evangelist? One might think it means drawing attention to Jesus and His work, right? Well, not so for Miano. His social media behavior shows otherwise. Now I don’t doubt that he had a time of preaching, but it’s important to take a look at what his social media behavior shows as a representative of Christ, too, right (on his donors’ dime)?
Meanwhile:
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I read there were 47 people in attendance. But then we get this report from Tony:
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For a guy who is “evangelizing” in a foreign country with the bill footed by donations, it’s astonishing to see the amount of time he spends telling his story instead of His Story. Are we supposed to feel sorry for the man who lost sleep because he chose to go to a country in which he knew there was a likelihood of him getting arrested if he talked about a controversial subject?
Does Gospel evangelism necessitate the discussing of controversial subjects? No!
If his ultimate goal is Gospel outreach, how is he going to win souls for Christ behind bars for crossing those controversial lines? This business about “I was just sharing about sin and was discussing sexual immorality” – – um, no, he was pushing the hot buttons that he knew already existed in his host country.
Drama, people, it’s all about the drama, and here is more of Tony to make sure you get the story – all of the story – from many sources – because we know that “his story” aka the Miano arrest story is the most important agenda on a gospel outreach trip, with a little sprinkling of: pray for me and the souls who will hear me and my story once I get out of prison for words that I chose to utter publicly in this host country. Spare me.
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But wait, there’s more. After losing a whole day that could have been spent in outreach, you’d think he’d want to make up for lost time, but instead of doing Gospel outreach, he spend time arguing with someone who called him homophobic on Twitter – – because that’s sharing the love of Christ, right?
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Another quick Spurgeon break:
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So much remains to be accomplished that we have no time to consider what has been done. ~C.H. Spurgeon
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While I was compiling the links to the news articles, I almost missed it, but there it was. Tony Miano was obviously spending time looking up his own story because I found two comments from him in a Canadian news article. Could it be that he made it part of his daily routine in Scotland to check out Canadian news? And then he just “happened” to find an article about himself on his way out the door to evangelize?
Well, here it is and take note that the first comment was 19 hours from my screenshot, but notice the second comment was from the time of the screen shot.
So, that means he came back to the article twice to defend his “persecuted” self. Yea, the man is pretty obsessed with himself and defending himself because that’s how persecuted Christians behave. :::yawn::::
I actually have more than twice the amount of screen shots and links than you see on this article, but I think the point has been made. We need to do our homework and look at the public behavior and discern ourselves, not just by the news media which loves to cover the popular Christian persecution slant, but by the evidence of their own words in their everyday dealings with people.
Note to Miano: Your social media trail is giving you away.
311 thoughts on “Street Evangelist Tony Miano Arrested Yet Again: Is it about his story or His story?”
“You can fleece the flock easier if you disguise yourself as adhering to ‘reformed doctrine’.”
Miano tweet –
“Tony Miano @TonyMiano 22h
What you’ll NEVER hear from today’s prosperity preachers: “Take no more money from your donors” (2 Kings 12:7-8). @BishopJakes @JoelOsteen”
I want to know why none of Miano’s buddies can see the inconsitencies of this man; I’ve already pointed out his tweeting for some imaginary ‘payroll’, as well as his continually stating he’s retired after ’20 years’ of service when, in fact, he QUIT after 13 years. Now, what about this from his tweets? Notice in January Miano claims this {TAKE NOTE OF THE DATES}..
Tony Miano@TonyMiano Jan 1
As @Richardst5 just posted (and yes, it’s true), I’m back on FB and Twitter. It’s been a good four months away, but it’s good to be back. 🙂
I did not go back too far in his tweets, you can do that yourself if you have nothing better to do. Now, he tweets for money for ‘payroll’ on Dec. 2nd…
Tony Miano@TonyMiano Dec 2
We need to raise $2,400 in the next 7-10 days in order to make payroll on Dec 15. If you can help… http://www.tmiano.com/donation . TM
We know this is a tweet from Miano, because he stated tweets that have ‘TM’ after them are from him. So, he’s tweeting as far back as Dec. 2, and yet, he tells us Jan. 1 that he’s been on a tweeting ‘hiatus’. That is a lie! This man is a liar, yet Phil Johnson embraces this ‘humble’ liar. Says a lot about Johnson doesn’t it?!? These hucksters are pretty slick at their ‘fleecing’ tactics aren’t they?
If Tony was at fault for supposedly creating the conditions that led to his arrest then, by the same argument, Paul was at fault when he was arrested, and so was Peter.
It is obvious that many “Christians” have been corrupted and cowed into silence by political correctness, this is why they react with opposition when they hear of people like Tony being arrested. There is a name for such “Christians” – chocolate soldiers.
I have been observing Tony Miano for around a decade. He is truthful 99.9999% of the time. the .0001% of the time he is not is human error not deliberate untruth.
I have been observing Tony Miano for around a decade. He is truthful 99.9999% of the time. the .0001% of the time he is not is human error not deliberate untruth.
Welcome Dwain!
Is that supposed to be reassuring? I’m not sure how to take your comment.
Spiritual Sounding Board 
“You can fleece the flock easier if you disguise yourself as adhering to ‘reformed doctrine’.”
Miano tweet –
“Tony Miano @TonyMiano 22h
What you’ll NEVER hear from today’s prosperity preachers: “Take no more money from your donors” (2 Kings 12:7-8). @BishopJakes @JoelOsteen”
Will we ever hear that from him?
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I want to know why none of Miano’s buddies can see the inconsitencies of this man; I’ve already pointed out his tweeting for some imaginary ‘payroll’, as well as his continually stating he’s retired after ’20 years’ of service when, in fact, he QUIT after 13 years. Now, what about this from his tweets? Notice in January Miano claims this {TAKE NOTE OF THE DATES}..
Tony Miano@TonyMiano Jan 1
As @Richardst5 just posted (and yes, it’s true), I’m back on FB and Twitter. It’s been a good four months away, but it’s good to be back. 🙂
I did not go back too far in his tweets, you can do that yourself if you have nothing better to do. Now, he tweets for money for ‘payroll’ on Dec. 2nd…
Tony Miano@TonyMiano Dec 2
We need to raise $2,400 in the next 7-10 days in order to make payroll on Dec 15. If you can help… http://www.tmiano.com/donation . TM
We know this is a tweet from Miano, because he stated tweets that have ‘TM’ after them are from him. So, he’s tweeting as far back as Dec. 2, and yet, he tells us Jan. 1 that he’s been on a tweeting ‘hiatus’. That is a lie! This man is a liar, yet Phil Johnson embraces this ‘humble’ liar. Says a lot about Johnson doesn’t it?!? These hucksters are pretty slick at their ‘fleecing’ tactics aren’t they?
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If Tony was at fault for supposedly creating the conditions that led to his arrest then, by the same argument, Paul was at fault when he was arrested, and so was Peter.
It is obvious that many “Christians” have been corrupted and cowed into silence by political correctness, this is why they react with opposition when they hear of people like Tony being arrested. There is a name for such “Christians” – chocolate soldiers.
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Mr. Hutton – – May I ask how long you have been observing Miano?
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I have been observing Tony Miano for around a decade. He is truthful 99.9999% of the time. the .0001% of the time he is not is human error not deliberate untruth.
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Welcome Dwain!
Is that supposed to be reassuring? I’m not sure how to take your comment.
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