Friday Night Notes

the loss of godly wisdom...


It's been such a busy week that I couldn't believe it was again time to go out street preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ; time just flew by! I've been busy putting together a scientific article at my work (Lord willing, I'll be going to Salt Lake City in the spring time to present some interesting data at an international conference), so I have to admit that I felt a bit off tonight. When things get too busy, I have trouble focusing on matters at hand; whether they be at work, at home, or in the case, in the marketplace.

Nevertheless, I made my way downtown with Pastor Tim, figuring that the Lord could strengthen and give me the wisdom I needed to preach His Gospel. I also figured that a tired and frazzled preacher was better than no preacher at all. I'm sure the ungodly and the principalities and powers of darkness would disagree with my assessment, but what do I care what they think!

At first glance, tonight's evangelistic effort seemed to me to be, well, quite fruitless. I say "at first glance" because I'm all too aware of the marvelous things the Lord can do in the background, hidden from view. That said, it was a real spectacle of ungodliness tonight. A street beggar playing old 1960s songs on a guitar got more attention than the Gospel of Life we were preaching. I doubt I gave out more than 10 Bible tracts in over 3 hours of evangelism. All the conversations we had with sinners turned out to be unprofitable, with most of them ending with mockery and contempt toward us.

The words and actions of the masses in the market tonight were a perfect reflection of the state of society in general in the West. Absurdity. Absolute absurdity. Have you been keeping up on the news? In the last five days, this is what made the news:

- An American weapons company was caught putting Scripture references on their products. There is an absurdity right here, but it does end there. A big brouhaha is created over the small inscriptions on the said weapons (a tempest created by those who hate the slightest smell of godliness), which ultimately are only references like 2Cor8:12, not the actual verse, as if these would aggravate how the Middle East views the West. There's a second absurdity.

- A movie named "Creation" is coming out. Problem is, it's a favorable "bio-pic" of Charles Darwin. Absurd. But I'm not done. The film apparently boasts that Darwin "knowing how incendiary his ideas were, wanted to make sure he had incontrovertible evidence to back them up." Incontrovertible evidence? Really? Absurd.

- A Republican won an election in Massachusetts. The American Christian Right is celebrating. The fact that he calls abortion and gay marriage "settled issues", and that he posed nude in a smut magazine named Cosmopolitan, didn't put a damper on the celebrations. Absurd.

- Pat Robertson claimed that the earthquake in Haiti was God taking vengeance for a "pact with the devil"... enough said.

Tonight I dealt with a young man who thought Richard Dawkins was a very intelligent man and that I would do well to get edumacated by him ('cuz u no, us Chrissians ar a dumm bunsh). I spoke to a young woman who spent 4 years in Bible college but couldn't agree with me that my street preaching was in-line with Scripture, that Jesus preached more about Hell than Heaven, or that God could save men through simply preaching repentance and faith in Christ (I told her she wasted her money on her education). I also spoke to a very, very drunk couple who, after reading John 3:36 on a sign I was carrying, said: "I agree with that! We're with ya!"

There is such a bankruptcy of godly wisdom that I feel overwhelmed by the sheer folly of the wicked all around me. Whether they be religious or not. Reminds me of the following verse:

"If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?" (Psalm 11:3)

The foundations are destroyed. All the righteous can do now is to wait on the Lord for:

"The LORD is in his holy temple, the LORD'S throne is in heaven: his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men. The LORD trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth. Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup. For the righteous LORD loveth righteousness; his countenance doth behold the upright." (Psalm 11:4-7)


Rand

Labels: Friday evangelism