It’s been a while since I’ve done a post on Tony Miano, the street preacher. I’ve done quite a few posts on him in the past about his bully ways. He has been arrested twice overseas while doing street preaching. Some countries have rules about what you can and cannot say about gay people. Tony crossed the line and was taken into custody, and eventually released. I have quite a few issues with Tony.
He has a book about women preaching (he is strongly opposed to women preaching or teaching men), and one of the most difficult posts I wrote was when Tony publicly questioned his wife’s salvation. I felt like I was intruding in their bedroom as he detailed what happened that made his wife, Mahria, question her salvation. Ugh – it is so inappropriate and insensitive to post that kind of thing for any and all to see. I wrote a blog post about this in the hopes that Mahria would see it and get support. Here was my response to Mahria:
Mahria, it took me a long time to learn this, but you do not need your husband’s approval. Your husband does not get to decide for you whether or not you are a Believer. That’s God’s job. Tony claims he is not your Holy Spirit, but he is acting like he is. Having sin in your life does not mean you are an unbeliever. If you’ve had sin that you didn’t realize for 27 years, and you repent and confess it, your work is done. Christ did the rest for you. You can walk in that grace and confidence. I am so sorry that your husband has decided to use you to further his “ministry.” You should not be used like this. You should be cherished, loved, and respected.
Well, I am happy to say that it’s been about 2-1/2 months since we’ve seen a tweet from Tony asking for living expenses. He used to post tweets like this at least several times a month. His wife was the primary breadwinner.
How has Tony been surviving? I checked out his Twitter account and noticed that he finally has a job – driving for Uber. That part is great!
But I also learned that he is using job at Uber as a way of evangelizing when he has passengers in his car, and he is blogging about his interactions with customers. I wonder if his customers know that their private conversations are fodder for his blog?
Imagine unsuspecting passengers getting in his car and then experiencing Tony proselytize. I have a problem with this. I wouldn’t like it if a Buddhist or Muslim Uber driver tried to sell me their religion. It’s one thing if a passenger initiates a conversation regarding spiritual topics, but we know this is not the way Tony works. He sees this work as an opportunity to evangelize, and seizes the moment.
How are passengers treated if they don’t want to discuss his brand of religion? Does Tony respect their wishes? I sure hope so.
I checked out Uber’s Community Guidelines and found the following:
It appears to me that Tony Miano is not following Uber’s community guidelines. And I also wonder if there are legal issues with him using the name “Uber” in his Ubervangelism?
Spiritual Sounding Board 
He gives Street Evangelist a bad name. I call myself a Street Evangelist for women’s equality, but I do not quote scripture or invite anybody to church or to be saved. I simply tell them they are “Equal – No Buts: Powered by the same Source.” Often I give them one of my books free.
LikeLike
This is the kind of person who can give Christianity a bad name in the workplace…that person who leans into your cubicle and insists you listen to their message while you know they are already late for an important meeting, or who uses the lunchroom as a place for sermonettes. I find so many opportunities to share where I work, and it’s because I prayerfully get to know people, share the kinds of things I like to do (which includes “Christian” things), how I deal with the tough stuff, etc. There are times to stand up and defend the faith, but I have always loved Paul’s words in I Thessalonians 4: 11… and to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, 12 so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one
This is one Scripture Tony has yet to master.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Linn – People like Tony view others as a project, not as a person worth getting to know and invest in their life.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Fiery evangelist that he was I can’t see the Apostle Paul doing this.
For one thing it seems dishonest.
LikeLike
Kathi, I get it..but not everyone else may get that. I have too many Christian friends who treat everyone like a project (even fellow Christians), and don’t understand why people scatter every time they come close.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ugh. I recently discovered the FB page of a guy like this who takes a megaphone outside abortion clinics in big cities. He was loosely connected with a church I attended many years ago. The page was full of complaints about the people who argued with him, and judgments on the salvation of people of other faith traditions. So there’s more of them….
I sure wouldn’t want to get proselytized in an Uber. 😛
LikeLike
I doubt he will be able to do it for long: https://www.businessinsider.com/leaked-charts-show-how-ubers-driver-rating-system-works-2015-2
According to the article, drivers with lower than a 4.6 rating get kicked out of the system. I can’t imagine people giving him 5 stars for being forced to listen to proselytizing. It would be scary if he was still an Uber driver because (a) he does lots of drives to get his rating up and then proselytizes or (b) he somehow knows how to feel people out that won’t give him bad ratings for it.
LikeLike
Given what’s surfaced in this blog in the past about said ManaGAWD, “Uberevangelism” comes as no surprise. It seems an ideal way to ensure a Captive Audience for My Wretched Urgency Witnessing.
I wonder if he can lock the rear doors from the driver’s seat so the Heathen can’t Get Away?
LikeLiked by 1 person
@Kathi:
Two anecdotes from my time in-country (in the Age of Hal Lindsay) that have bearing on this (other than The Simpsons clip above):
1) There was a Dogma (don’t know how widespread) that the only thing God would ask a Christian on J-Day (cue Great White Throne image from Chick Tracts) would be “How many Souls Did YOU Lead to Christ?”
The start of Ezekiel 33 (verses 1-7) was recited as SCRIPTURAL backup – “If you don’t Witness to someone and they die Unsaved – GOD WILL HOLD YOU RESPONSIBLE!”
2) Connected with this was the idea that your position in Heaven depended entirely on how many notches (Saved Sinners) you had on your Bible. So Sell that Fire Insurance unless you want to spend Eternity in a mud hut in Heaven’s slums under God’s Eternal Disappointment!
I’d be surprised if such an environment DIDN’T produce Tony Mianos trying every trick to get notches in their Bibles.
LikeLike
Another thought on Uberevangelism Miano-Style:
We only have Tony’s account of these Souls He Personally Saved in his Uber. The above compulsory “WITNESS! WITNESS! WITNESS!” OCD led to a LOT of padding your Sales Record – if nothing else to not be the Loser among all the other Evangelists.
How do we know these Uberevangelism OCD stories are legit in the first place? Padding your Sales Record for Bragging Rights is an old, old trick.
LikeLike
@HUG
I’m thankful you mentioned “notch theology” as that was emphasized in my last abusive Baptist c’hurch. The p’astor man even boasted and bragged about leading his own wife to c’hrist all the while some of us women were wondering if he was “leading” those women he flirted and propositioned on the sidelines, to a c’hrist of sorts! Hmmmmmm……
This false theology reminds me of the utensil my Dad used to cut “notches” in our little baby pigs’ ears for identification purposes…..I wonder if there’s a special place in heaven for adequately notching pig ears? 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sitting in a confined space with a guy like Tony Miano for more than two minutes, hard pass.
Especially knowing that anything I say to him about anything he will use as fodder on his religious pod casts or blogs. No.
It would be funny if he would start on his religious spiel to pretend to be a pagan and tell him,
“Well, I would seriously consider accepting your Jesus as my Savior, but I have to know, is it OK if women street preach and/or preach in churches? How about marriage, do you believe the woman gets equal say to the husband? if your answer is “No,” Tony, I”m afraid I cannot accept your faith.”
See how he responds to that.
And no, nobody likes to be treated like a religious project by religious people.
I’ve had that happen to me with a few Christians.
After my mother died, and I forced myself to reach out to family and people at a local church,
Some of these people are more interested that I believe in Jesus,and believe the way they do, and agree with their theology, than they were i providing me with what I was badly needing:
An empathetic ear, a shoulder to cry on.
I was seeking comfort and encouragement, but some of the Christians I went to were more into shoving their doctrines down my throat,
…or they were more into making absolutely, positively sure I was “saved,” even though I told one of them I was already saved… she didn’t need to re-save me.
She acted like she was skeptical that I was saved, because I was sad over Mom being dead, I was having anxiety, I was not happy clappy 24 hours a day, so I must be an un-saved heretic going to hell, which is how she seemed to view things.
LikeLike
HUG said,
I wonder if he can lock the rear doors from the driver’s seat so the Heathen can’t Get Away?
–end quote—
There was a movie already kind of about that a few years ago, it comes on cable TV every so often. I think the title is “The Call.”
It’s about this freak who kidnaps a teen girl, tosses her in the trunk of a car, and she uses a cell phone to call a 911 operator.
That is the basis of the whole movie.
Before I even saw your post, I was thinking in terms of being trapped with Tony Miano (or anyone like him) as sounding like the plot from a horror movie.
Heh heh, someone start a new reality show where guys like this have to drive each other around, like have an episode where a Mormon is the Uber driver, and he tries to convert Tony M., with Tony M. being the car passenger.
Then have an episode where Tony M is the driver and tries to convert a Jehovah’s Witness, etc. Have a Muslim driver try to convert passenger Tony.
LikeLike
And… imagine being trapped with an island filled with Tony M’s, a few Mormons and JWs, like a Gilligan’s Island situation, or that Tom Hanks “Cast Away” movie, and all your island companions try day and night to convert you, and the Christian ones try to pick apart your theology and tell you how wrong it is.
I think I’d walk into the ocean and then cut one of my fingers and hope to attract a shark (suicide by shark) rather than have to endure that.
When I was in my 20s, I sort of enjoyed debating theology or discussing it, but the older I get, no thank you. It’s tedious, it’s not productive, and I’m convinced that nobody has all the answers on everything.
LikeLike
HUG Re: your Simpson’s video, this one is also, IMO, applicable:
Check it out:
(I think I’ve turned into Rev. Lovejoy in the past few years):
Ned Flanders and Rev. Lovejoy
LikeLiked by 3 people
HUG Said,
“1) There was a Dogma (don’t know how widespread) that the only thing God would ask a Christian on J-Day (cue Great White Throne image from Chick Tracts) would be “How many Souls Did YOU Lead to Christ?””
—end—
If there is a God, and a judgement seat and all that, I hope he grades on a curve.
I’m also like the Luke Wilson character in this scene
(the guy seated at the desk who’d rather get out of the way than lead or follow):
_Video on You Tube: Lead, Follow, or Get Out of the Way_
Always choose “get out of the way” if you can.
LikeLike
HUG said,
How do we know these Uberevangelism OCD stories are legit in the first place? Padding your Sales Record for Bragging Rights is an old, old trick.
—end—
Also consider it from the passenger perspective:
If Tony locked the doors on them or turned on a high sales pressure tactic, how many of his passengers lied about accepting Jesus because they thought it would shut him up, or get them out of the car faster?
For a long time, my sister dated an atheist guy.
Her atheist BF(now her ex BF, they broke up a few years ago, but not over religious stuff) at one point was hired to do some repair work around a church.
My sister (who considers herself a Christian) knows how a lot of Christians are (she’s kind of like Rev Lovejoy in the clip above),
so she told her BF to lie to the church people and pretend to be a believer.
She told him, if the church people find out you are an atheist, they will never stop trying to convert you, and you don’t want that.
My sister shared that with me back when I was still totally on board with the Christian faith, and as sad as it made me, I understood.
I knew she was right.
Some church people, if they found out her BF was an atheist, they’d treat him like a project and start cramming Bible stuff and so on down his throat,
possibly start phoning their house day and night, inviting them to church all the time, to save her BF’s soul.
It’s not that my sister didn’t care (she asked me for advice one time, years ago, on how to get the man converted), but she didn’t like the un-relenting, high pressure tactics that some Christians use.
Some Christians are like religious Terminators chasing after pagan or atheist Sarah Conners.
LikeLike
I would think his ratings would be terrible, but considering there are uber drivers who assault passengers and people seem to have trouble getting any real action from uber, Idk how responsive they are.
Child safety locks do that.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well I hope he has his eyes on the road when he wants to ubertake someone ….
On a slightly more serious basis, when ‘ministries’ continually request funds, this can only be because a) they are a dynamic, anointed, effective ministry coming under spiritual attack, or b) the Lord is trying to tell them something in about the only way they will understand.
LikeLiked by 1 person
KAS… If only they understood.
I’m familiar with a ministry. When they didn’t want to do something, like repairing the facilities, they explained that they were a business, and they needed to be careful with every last penny. When they did want to do something (that made them look more successful), it was a ‘ministry’, and thus they needed to step out in faith regardless of the lack of finances.
In one instance, they threw out three fleeces before God. God answered ‘no’ for each one of them, yet they still spent money in a vain attempt to stick their toe in the door.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Another argument for tent making ministries.
One reason is frequently churches get irritated at preachers viewed as hirelings and force his family out by firing him. (Not a rock star mega church pastor situation.)
LikeLike
KAS said, “when ‘ministries’ continually request funds, this can only be because a) they are a dynamic, anointed, effective ministry coming under spiritual attack, or b) the Lord is trying to tell them something in about the only way they will understand.”
It took Miano way too long to understand what the Lord was trying to tell him. I’m gonna guess he’ll be asking again down the road.
I used to watch those “dynamic, anointed, effective ministry” types while in college with a group. We always had a good laugh at how many prayer cloths Robert Tilton laid on and prayed over. Sadly these types gained too much money from innocent people.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I suspect Tony has read this post. Here is from his latest blog post:
“Almost every person who has ridden with me has either heard the gospel and/or received a gospel tract.
My evangelism efforts are not likely in keeping with Uber’s “community standards.” Driving for Uber for additional income is of secondary importance. As long as God’s good providence allows, I will take advantage of the wonderful gospel opportunities given me as I give people rides.”
https://mailchi.mp/199a63e5a0a9/cross-encounters-newsletter-what-the-lord-has-done-in-my-absence
LikeLike
Oh man. I just pictured him handing out that terrible halloween is evil chick trac from the 80s!
LikeLike