Friday Night Notes

"And I said to myself... what a wicked word..."

Another three solid hours of street preaching done with both my pastor and brother Laz, and let me tell ya, it was COLD. Winter is well on its way up here in Canada. The downside of this is that standing on a street corner, the preacher has a tendency of... well... freezing! The upside, of course, is that the women who are going to bars, are wearing far more clothing.

While there most certainly wasn't any signs of revival tonight, the Lord did bless us by keeping us safe from harm, and we did share the Gospel message with a great number of people. Here are the highlights:

The Good:

-->I had a conversation with a man named Hugo. He came to me with the incredibly unoriginal philosophy: "Christianity, Islam, Buddhism... etc... in the end, it's all the same thing." I told him that the only reason he believed that was because he knew absolutely nothing of the teachings of each faith. I quoted John 14:6: "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."

"What room is there for Mohammed's way or Buddha's way when you consider that verse, my friend?" I inquired.

He took my correction rather well and accepted a Gospel tract, so please pray that the Lord would start a work in Hugo's life.


-->Two young ladies came by as I was preaching. They were both obviously drunk. One of them asked me:

"Can you tell us where we could find a good bar?"

"There is no such thing as a "good" bar," I answered.

One of the ladies just mocked me, but the other became quite earnest. She started reading my Gospel sign:

"He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him." (John 3:36)

"The wrath abides on you tonight young lady, because you are in a wicked way, the way of drunkeness," I said.

Her mocking friend eventually coaxed her into walking away, but I could tell the Scriptures had had an effect on her. Please pray that this young lady wake up tomorrow thinking about the words she read and heard.


The Bad:

-->A older couple walked by me tonight as I was preaching. The man exclaimed: "GET A JOB!" A rather ignorant comment, considering I had just finished a 40-hour work week.


-->A young lady walked up to me and told me that she wasn't concerned about going to Heaven when she died because, as far as she was concerned, she was already in Heaven. I asked her:

"How many people died in the various Hurricanes in the US and Mexico? How many have died in Pakistan where the earthquake hit? How many people are dying of AIDS in Africa? Quite the 'heaven' you are living in my dear."

Unable to respond, she walked away and gave money to a drunk beggar who was sitting on the sidewalk a few yards away. She couldn't come to God by the Gospel, so she had decided that she was going to find "another way" to justification; that is, justification by works. Funny, how the more things change, the more they remain the same.


The Incredibly Sad:

My "incredibly sad" moment tonight comes from a young man who is probably my brother-in-the-Lord. As I mentioned before, there is another group of street preachers who present the Gospel on Friday nights. We don't have any association with them because their soteriology is terrible.

Anyway, a young man who was with this "other group" walked up to brother Laz and I as we were distributing Bible literature.

"Why do you carry around a sign with a Bible verse on it?" he inquired.

"So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God," I answered.

"Yes, but do people take you seriously?" he pressed on.

"As seriously as they take the Scriptures, and that varies a lot from person to person," I answered.

The conversation didn't last too long after that, and it was a good thing, because I was finding all of this rather aggravating. Can you imagine, a born-again saint, doing evangelism, unable to see the merit of putting a verse from the Word of God before the people's eyes??? This is the effect of New Evangelicalism on many of today's Christians I'm afraid. "Don't rock the boat; don't say anything that might offend unbelievers; only speak of God's grace and love; don't get too doctrinal."

How utterly sad.



And that's the notes for tonight... I'm tired, and it's time for bed. Good night dear readers.


Rand