Friday Night Notes

paganism is back...

Brother Laz and I were out for our customary Friday night street preaching. I spent a huge part of the 3 hours we were out preaching, since Brother Laz was stricken with a bad case of "the nerves". You see, the street where we usually preach was full of musicians and beggars, so we had to find another spot from which to preach. I'm afraid the different environment was a psychological obstacle for my poor friend (funny... wasn't too long ago, such things would have gotten me all flustered). It took a bit of time, but he conquered his fear and did some pretty good preaching; he actually had a sermon prepared and delivered it well.

The marketplace was again full of revelers who didn't care much for the Gospel; sadly, the street musicians (if you call the noise they were making music) had a far bigger appeal.

I took a moment to look at a particular group tonight who were out with these "tribal drums". They banged loudly on those things while a woman danced lasciviously in front of them. Large numbers of people stopped and enjoyed the show, some of them dancing along to the beat... and that's when it came to me:

-"Absolute paganism."

The show they were putting on tonight was the EXACT same wicked nonsense heathen tribes in the middle of the Amazon, or Africa indulge in. There it was, right in front of me: a group of "musicians" with piercings and tattoos all over their bodies, playing dark beats to incite lewdness. Poor Canada, how far down we've fallen. How did it come to this? Easy:

"And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient." (Romans 1:28)

Despite this sad realization, I did have a few good moments tonight. My first was when a young man walked by me and asked me what God's name was. Now having visited, on several occasions, the so-called "Jehovah's Witnesses" when I was seeking the Truth, I knew that this young man was a JW and was trying to set me up. You see, the WatchTower instructs it's followers to ask "what is God's name?" so that they can teach that God's name is Jehovah, and that ONLY Jehovah is God, denying the Trinity. So this is how I dealt with the young man:

-"My friend, God's name is Jesus. The name that is above all names, as stated in Philippians 2:9, is Jesus' name, and pure logic dictates that the highest name, goes to the Highest Person, and you can't get any higher than God."

He just shrugged and walked away. The Lord be merciful to him, as he was with me.

A second high point came as we were walking about with our Gospel's signs. I was walking by a Resto-Bar patio when a man waved his hand at me from his table. He and his friend walked up to me and asked for a Bible tract that I had in my hand. I gladly gave him one.

-"What are you doing out here tonight? You trying to get people in the Catholic church or something?" he inquired.

-"Nope," I answered, "just trying to get people to read the Bible and to be saved in Christ Jesus, my friend."

-"Argh! I don't have a Bible," he added.

I reached in my pocket and pulled out a pocket-sized Gospel of John and handed it to him.

-"There!" I replied, "that'll get you started."

We then had a small chat about our ministry and the importance of the Bible. It was good. The fellows name was Peter and his friend was Brian. Please pray that the Lord will cause these men to seek God's face.

And finally a third high: I handed a French Gospel of John to one of the bakers who were hard at work preparing the bread that would be sold tomorrow morning. We were preaching very near the bakery tonight, so when the young man saw me walk by with a Gospel sign, he politely asked me to stop walking so he could read what I was carrying. The man was French and my sign was in English, so I played the translator. He thanked me and accepted a Gospel of John. Pray for this man also.

So all and all, the city is still quite an ungodly place, but there is hope, sweet hope...

"It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD." (Lamentations 3:26)


Rand