Friday Night Notes

the hatred of the ungodly, the ignorance of the people of faith...


I just got back from our night of street preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I thought about waiting a few hours before writing this post, but I think typing on my laptop is helping me deal with all the thoughts and emotions that are affecting me right now. Just a few minutes ago, I was spat on by a young woman who really hated our Bible signs, I was cursed at with words I would really, really like to forget, and I was threatened with violence by yet another young man. All that in took place in roughly 10 minutes. That level of hatred in such a relatively short amount of time, I must say, is quite overwhelming.

I'm not a hateful man. Really. The thought of harming others makes me uncomfortable, and logically, being harmed by others, either physically or emotionally, makes me just as uncomfortable. You can call me a "sissy" if you like, but when I find myself surrounded by people who hate me for whatever reason, I fear. So right now, as I'm writing this post, I'm slowly getting a grip on myself again. Keep that in mind as you read this post.

The night wasn't all bad. We preached the Gospel for about 3 hours without incident. We were mocked and insulted a few times, but nothing overly grievous. The only aggravation I had to deal with in the first 2 hours of our street preaching was the ignorance of a few so-called Christians. On two or three occasions tonight, I was faced with a person claiming to be a Christian, who objected to our 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 and John 3:36 signs. It's not that they didn't believe in the inspiration of these Scriptures, but that they shouldn't be utilized in evangelism. "You need to show God's love in salvation, not only preach doom and gloom," I was told by a young lady. I answered that the people of our city no longer had the slightest concept of what sin is... drunkenness is a disease... homosexuality is an alternative lifestyle... etc. Without an understanding of what sin is, how in the world can a person understand the Lord's salvation? I think I got somewhere with one of the ladies I dealt with on this issue.

Tia and Harriett were back tonight. These are two ladies I mentioned in my last post who really had no interest in repentance and faith in Christ, but who did want to know more about why I was preaching the Gospel. Again, these two ladies showed alot of respect for me and again asked me a few questions about the Gospel. They even brought in a couple of their friends to join in the conversation. I truly hope the Lord will ruin their sinful night in the marketplace tonight, and will give them eyes to see, and ears to hear the Truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Matthew 13:10-17).

I'm pretty sure I wasted a good 20 minutes with a man named Jason who tried really hard to come up with some logical argument that would prove to me that faith in the Bible is irrational. He failed. He was pretty upset when he found out that I was a scientist... it was like I had blasphemed the great "Temple of Science" by contending for the existence of God. He was absolutely incensed that there is a school that gave me a diploma in the field of science. Doesn't everyone know by now that science is only for atheists, or people who at least behave like atheists? And that's no joke, the day is coming...

It was after this waste of time that we decided to head back home. Pastor Tim and I each took a side of the street, to let people read our Bible signs as we walked towards home. That's when a couple of young men and a young woman came up behind me and started to criticize my sign. The young lady started spitting at the signs, whilst cursing vilely.

"Doesn't the Bible say God will forgive everyone," one of the young men said.

"It does not," I answered.

"I'm sure it does," the young man replied.

"Well, show me, in the Bible, where you get this concept," I answered.

With that, this young man gave up and walked further ahead, but the young lady, well, she was still spitting. The other man then took up the fight his friend had started claiming that it was proven that the world was millions of years old so my faith in the Bible was ludicrous. I asked him what he did for a living and he, after a long pause, said he was a geologist (an obvious lie). I then told him I was a biologist/biochemist and that I had not seen this irrefutable proof that the Earth was indeed millions of years old. Like Jason above, this grated the young man's nerves to the point that he got right into my face and pretty much expressed his pure, unadulterated hatred for me.

After this sweetheart moment, and I mean seconds after, another young man showed up, and again got right in my face pushing me back sometimes with his hands, other times with his chest, yelling:

"You stupid f*#$, your so full of s*&%, and you'll never get any sex... you understand you crazy $#%&*#@..."

I really couldn't help smiling at this point for the only one acting crazy at that point, was this poor fool. In an attempt to diffuse the tension, I looked up at the man with a calm demeanor showed him my wedding band and said:

"Guy, I'm married."

Well, I hoped that this man would have realized that his assumption was lacking, and that he would then leave me alone. Boy, did I ever gauge that situation wrong. The man got way more agitated and continued to push me, cursing and making lewd, disgusting remarks about my family (which, I must admit, was beginning to get under my skin). The man finally left me alone when he saw that there were many eyes on him, and that he probably wouldn't get away with doing me any harm.

The Lord show mercy to these sad souls. Honestly, I don't feel anger towards them. I feel sorry for them. Especially after a few minutes at home. I looked at my beautiful wife, my beautiful children, the good life that the Lord has given me, all the spiritual blessings with which he blessed me... and they have nothing of this. The Bible says:

"The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble." (Proverbs 4:19)

The Lord has given me light, but all they have is darkness. I will pray for them. Please, brothers and sisters-in-the-Lord, pray for them as well; and please pray that the Lord would continue to work on me, that I would be of good courage, to declare His Gospel so long as I draw breath.

I'm going to try to meditate on and take comfort in Psalm 140 for awhile, and then turn in for bed. God bless you all, dear readers...


Rand

Labels: Friday evangelism