(CNN) — Saudi Arabia has asked florists and gift shops to remove all red items until after Valentine’s Day, calling the celebration of such a holiday a sin, local media reported Monday.
With a ban on red gift items over Valentine’s Day in Saudi Arabia, a black market in red roses has flowered.
Every year, officials with the conservative Muslim kingdom’s Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice clamp down on shops a few days before February 14, instructing them to remove red roses, red wrapping paper, gift boxes and teddy bears. On the eve of the holiday, they raid stores and seize symbols of love. Read the rest from CNN here.
Watch what happens when “Righteous Richard” Chavarria and myself preach to the thousands waiting in the grandstands for the parade to start at the 2010 Tournament of Roses. 
Sir, how dare you post this on the internet !!!!!!!!!!!!!
looked closer at the Sign Guy, I recognized that he was one of the good ones. We served together at Way of the Master’s evangelism boot camp, 
Imagine that you are a pastor of a 
And how would you feel, as the pastor of a small church in the ‘burbs of Sacramento, when, after the evangelism training the next day, while handing out Gospel tracts outside a shopping mall, you see that very same instructor, the one who was escorted off state property the day before, now being surrounded by vicious mall security and being told to leave the premises, though once again, he was doing nothing wrong or illegal.
Now, imagine that it’s evening and you are the pastor of that small church in the ‘burbs of Sacramento, and you’re now in the old downtown district of the city, and you see something that the instructor warned you about. You try not to panic. The instructor tries not to panic.
Here’s the wall from where I was pushed while preaching to the shuttle bus line last weekend. No, you can’t see the guy shoving me (
There’s a little joke on our evangelism team that whenever something bad happens, it happens to me. Whether it’s 
John Wesley (1703-1791), in recounting a preaching session gone bad, wrote this in his journal: “When we came pretty near the town, both men and women saluted us, first with bad words and then with dirt and stones. My horses soon left them behind, but not till they had broken one of the windows [of the carriage], the glass of which came pouring in upon me, but did me no further hurt.” 
Want a real adrenaline rush? Get your preaching stool, set it up in front of a Beer Garden in the heat of the afternoon… and watch what happens!
Two weeks ago I was smacked in the face by an irate fan as I preached at a stop light across from the Staples Center at the first game of the NBA Finals 
I have a little memento from the NBA Finals on my face. It was a little gift graciously offered from a drunken fan waiting to cross at a traffic signal. He gave me this precious present because of my preaching. 
But we forgot about the downside: What Idol fans could see and hear more clearly, so could Security. They nabbed Richard, and sent him packing.
Then a man with a cell phone told me to stop. I ignored him because I thought he was just a regular
guy, and continued to preach the good news. He asked me again to stop, but since he was an ordinary guy, I just preached away. That’s when he dialed up a number and called who-knows-who? Ghostbusters? Holy Ghostbusters? I preached on.
“Worship the [clinical name]!” C’mon everybody! Worship the [clinical name]!” Then her boyfriend (poor sap), dragged her inside the theater. Okay. I admit that my style was cramped a little after that one.
handing out Gospel tracts. That’s when Mr. Hard-Look-Red-Jacket-man told us to leave.
Why was this man on his cell phone reporting my activities?
stool, stood upon it, cleared my throat, ahem, and—preached! Yessiree, I preached my little heart out—and no one stopped me. In fact, after I was done 
“Righteous Richard” preached again, as did Ed, then me. Then Richard, Ed, myself… Where were those Security guards anyway? Why were we allowed to preach the forbidden Gospel among all these “IDOLaters” with nary a hoot or boot?
We weren’t mean. We weren’t angry. We spoke pleasantly, but with authority. We were called on the carpet to preach the Good News that no one had to go to Hell, that there was a choice. If only they would repent—turn away from their sins–and put their trust in the Savior, Jesus Christ, then they could be forgiven, the old would become new, they would become… born again, no longer enemies of God, but friends.
A Chinese flag. A few others had them, too. “Do you guys speak English?” No hands went up. Blank stares. Then it dawned on me: these guys are from China. More specifically, Beijing. They didn’t respond to my preaching because they couldn’t understand a word! I bowed sheepishly as I handed each band member a million dollar bill Gospel tract, and gave them high fives. See it here: (57 seconds)
Still, it would be kinda nice to relax, stroll along the parade route without a worry in the world, keep my big mouth shut, throw in the towel and… just join the sign guys. Life would be so much easier.
I could just hear them say, “There goes another Jim Jones in handcuffs.”
