Friday Night Notes

still no power...

In our prayers of late, my pastor and I have been asking for power, as in the power of God. In other words, when we go out street preaching, that our preaching wouldn't just be noise in the background of downtown, but that it would have a favorable impact on our hearers. Sadly, I must report that the answer to our prayers, at least for now, was a clear: "no."

After the very first half hour of preaching, my pastor whispered in my ear:

-"They're hard tonight."

-"They're always hard," I replied.

-"Yeah, but they are REALLY hard tonight," he added.

And he was right. The hard speech, the hard looks, the mockery, the reviling... we got it from every side tonight. My pastor was even pushed around and had glass of beer thrown at him (a great and brave 25 year old man took on my 60 year old pastor... what courage...). After 3 hours of this nonsense, it started raining so we took off.

It wasn't all bad though (just mostly... LOL), I did meet up with some of my work colleagues. It was pretty funny, I caught one of them totally off guard. He was walking by me and like so many others he was trying hard not to make eye-contact with the street preacher, but then I called out his name... he must have jumped 3 feet in the air! (LOL)

I could tell the situation was making him very uncomfortable so I didn't keep him. He just said something to the effect that he was approving of what I was doing and wished me a good weekend.

The other colleagues I met up with were in a group, and I doubt they were up to any good. Anyway, one of them, who consequently was on my hockey team, saw the sign but didn't look at who was carrying it. He, of course mocked it, while the three others, who saw me holding the sign just kept quiet in their embarrassment. None of them spoke to me, so I just let them go. I do get the feeling that there will be some questions coming my way when I make it back to work; may the Lord help me be a witness to these poor lost souls.

The aggravation of the night (other than the beer incident) : A young woman, barely dressed, walked up to me to tell me that she HAD BEEN a Christian but that now she was a Buddhist, and that was all okay "because it's all the same god anyway". Well, I couldn't let that nonsense go so I tried reasoning with her that the god's of different faiths were different and that her position could NOT be maintained if she actually cared to find out anything about the faiths in question.

She then explained how she knew she was right and that I was wrong because "this book she was reading explained it all". The book was Angels & Demons by Dan Brown. I rolled my eyes and sighed deeply. I explained to her that she was wasting her time reading a book that twisted Biblical Truths to fit a fictional, blasphemous storyline.

She then asked the BIG QUESTION:

-"So like, you think I'm going to Hell?"

-"Yep," I answered

-"But the Bible doesn't say I am," she affirmed.

-"Oh yes it does!" I replied.

I then told her that Jesus was THE WAY, THE LIFE AND THE TRUTH, and that NONE go to the Father except by Him.

-"The Bible doesn't say that!" she again affirmed.

I flipped out my pocket KJV, turned to John 14:6 and put it to her nose. She read it once. She read it twice. The third time, she read it aloud starting with "wait a minute... wait a minute..." As she read, she kept shaking her head, in disbelief and in rejection. She then affirmed to me that there were verses in the Bible that contradicted John 14:6. When I asked: "Where?", no answer was forthcoming.

Her language, at this point, had taken a filthy turn, so I pulled the plug on the exchange, and she didn't take to that too well. Of course, then the cursings came and the "if you were really a Christian you'd listen to me... blah blah blah. I suppose anything is possible, perhaps the Lord will convict this young woman with John 14:6 over the next few days, but I have to tell you, tonight, her heart, like those of the multitude in the marketplace, was one that was made of stone.

Anyway, that was our night of preaching. Thanks be to God to have kept us safe, and for three solid hours of evangelism for his honour and glory.

Good night, and have a good weekend, dear readers,


Rand