Friday Night Notes

the not-so-subtle art of...


PERSUASION. One after the other tonight, people would walk up to me with some argument, some piece of advice, trying hard to persuade me that my devotion to street preaching the Gospel was foolish and should be stopped immediately. The arguments, and tactics ranged greatly; all of them were down right obvious and ridiculously stupid. Some contradicted themselves in their own presentations, others were embarrassed/irritated when I pointed out the fallacies in their arguments. It was all pretty wretched.

I'm sure I mentioned this before, but I really hate being treated like an idiot. When people talk down to me, thinking I'm too dumb to understand their super-high-intellectual philosophies, it annoys me... a lot. You see, I'm a fundamentalist Christian, so that of course means:

- I know nothing about science (despite the fact I work in the field of biological research)
- I know nothing about other religions/cultures (despite the fact I've been challenged by all walks of life over 20 years of my Christian experience)
- I know nothing about my own faith (despite the fact that I devoted my whole life to knowing God and seeking His face day and night)

Annoying. Very annoying.

To add insult to injury, you should see what manner of men/women it is that treat me like an idiot:

- Two young ladies tonight asked me why I preached the Gospel in the open-air and when I gave the standard answer ('cause God commanded His saints to go out into the world and preach the Gospel), they replied that they didn't think I was being terribly effective. I then mentioned the Gospel I preached was the Gospel the apostle Paul and Peter preached, the Gospel Jan Hus preached, the Gospel George Whitefield preached, the Gospel Duncan Campbell preached. The point being that throughout 2000 years of church history, the Lord has worked great works of salvation through the plain preaching of His Gospel. Problem was, neither of the two young ladies had ever heard of Jan Hus, George Whitefield or Duncan Campbell; but I'm the idiot.

- One drunkard tried his best to encourage me to "be my own person", and not follow blindly in the steps of a foolish old man. The not-so-subtle message being that dumb-dumb Rand shouldn't be a lemming, following Pastor Tim without question... 'cause of course, that has to be what I'm doing... right? (my eyes are rolling now)

- Another man, taking exception at my offering Bible tracts to those who passed by me, told me I shouldn't be telling people how to live their lives. He told me that I was wasting my time and was being a nuisance. He continued by saying that I needed to find myself a woman (I'm married), and to start a family (I have four kids) and learn to enjoy a good life (I have a great life). When he paused, I asked him: "So like... are you telling me how to live my life... 'cause... well... that would make you a hypocrite... wouldn't it?" Can you say "brain-lock"? But yeah, I know, I'm the idiot.

I'm going to stop now. I've got two... three... maybe even four other examples of how I was mocked and treated like dirt tonight, but I think you all get the picture. So, I'll stop my whining. The Lord promised that His saints would suffer in this world. The Bible says: "Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong. (1 Corinthians 16:13)

I need to do just that.

On the upside, Pastor Tim spoke with a young man who was looking for a church to attend on the Lord's Day. They spoke for some time and Pastor Tim said the conversation was quite profitable. I handed out a good number of Bible tracts and many souls read the Bible sign I was carrying around. The Lord use our efforts as He sees fit.

With that, I'll close the notes for tonight. It has been a crazy up-and-down week (with very high ups, and very low downs). I look forward to a quiet and restful weekend... especially the Lord's Day.

God bless you, dear readers.


Rand


Ps: a foul-mouthed drunkard came up to me tonight and said that if Jesus came back in his lifetime, he'd crucify Him all over again. My answer was: "Good luck with that."

Labels: Friday evangelism