He was smoking a cigarette and staring angrily ahead at the commotion in front of him, ready to pounce on his opponent’s words. Then, the preacher caught his eye.

“You’re not a Christian smoking cigarettes,” the preacher yelled. “You’re a child of the devil!”

And so, the debate between Jeremy Liles, a sophomore in paper science and engineering, and Preacher Micah Armstrong began.

Armstrong stood in the Brickyard, Bible in hand, spouting off verses, preaching what he said was Christ’s message and arguing with any student who dared to show any opposition.

He is only at N.C. State for two days, he said, but was determined to spread his message — clearly and loudly to the entire campus.

“I believe the mission today was very successful,” he said to the crowd surrounding him. “Every student on this campus knows they are living in sin and going to hell … unless they repent.”

Liles said a lot of preachers like Armstrong are just misled in their beliefs.

“I respect their overall goal,” Liles said. “But they’re doing it wrong. The Bible says ‘love your neighbor as yourself.'”

Armstrong said this is the first time he has been on NCSU’s campus and he spent the last week at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

“I feel the message was very effective,” he said in an interview.

According to Armstrong in the interview, although many students did not like his message, they heard it and needed to accept it.

Tyler Pleasants, a sophomore in parks, recreation and tourism management, said although he didn’t think Armstrong was purposely trying to stir trouble, he wasn’t going about his preaching the right way.

“I was walking by earlier and just listened to everything he was saying without love and compassion for others,” Pleasants said.

He said unlike Armstrong was portraying, Christianity is based on unconditional love.

Jeremy Watson, a sophomore in business, agreed.

“This guy is just radical beyond radical, really,” he said. “I believe as a Christian that you should treat all people fairly.”

As students argued with Armstrong back and forth, he always found a way to rebuke their questions.

“Jesus said ‘I’m not here to call the righteous, but sinners to repentence,'” he told them.

According to Armstrong, in response to a student’s question about whether or not he thought he was Jesus, he is not Jesus but “Christ-like.”

Armstrong said he had the right to judge people based on their actions.

Troy Blalock, a First Year College freshman, said his friends called him to the Brickyard to see Armstrong because they knew that Blalock is a strong Christian.

Blalock came with his Bible ready.

“[The preacher] is kind of just bashing people,” he said. “He’s not trying to talk to you about it.”

When one student told Armstrong that he can’t yell at people, but that he had to love them, Armstrong said, “I love you sinners — that’s why I rebuke you for your sins and tell you the truth.”

Another student told Armstrong that name-calling was a sin.

“No, Jesus called people ‘fools’ twice,” Amstrong retorted.

Liles said he doesn’t think there a solution for preachers like Armstrong except “for him to realize his falsehood and sins.”

According to Liles, Armstrong was contradictory because he would admit to sin, yet say things like he was not a sinner.

“He’s avoiding a lot of the questions we’re asking him,” Liles said. “He’s not listening to other people, Christian or not.”

Other students decided to throw a football back and forth across the crowd as Armstrong continued to speak.

After the crowd began to get out of hand, two officers arrived at the scene.

Senior Officer M. Tallarino said Campus Police had problems with previous Brickyard preachers, but Armstrong cooperated although he went a little past the alloted time of his permit.

“These types of the things that they preach or say tend to incite some folks,” Tallarino said.

But, according to Tallarino, it is under his first amendment right and it exposes students to culture.