Friday Night Notes

trying to teach lunatics...

At least once a year, I have a night of street preaching like tonight; a night in which I find myself dealing with people who are clearly OUT OF THEIR MINDS. Not eccentric. Not simply ignorant. Rather, crazy... insane... a few quarters short of a dollar... nuts. For example, consider this exchange I had with a young man:

"Did you know that Jesus has already returned?" the young man exclaimed.

"Really?" I dryly replied (after a decade of street preaching, an evangelist can get pretty cynical).

"Yes, he's speaking through a woman just across the bridge, 20 minutes from here," the young man continued.

"Uh-huh," I unenthusiastically replied.

"You don't believe me, do you?" the young man asked.

"No," I replied, wishing I had never taken part in this conversation.

"Well, can't say you weren't informed," the young man concluded.

"Oh yeah... can't say I wasn't," I replied with a generous amount of sarcasm.

The Lord Jesus Christ, back and speaking through a woman in Gatineau... I wonder how that all fits with the prophecies in Scripture? Oh dear...

Moments after this great revelation, I had another conversation with a lost soul which ultimately only lasted 5 minutes, but it felt much... much longer. This man spoke to me about a pot smoking, alcohol abusing "Christian" friend of his, how he's seen two leprechauns (yes, dear readers, leprechauns... no kidding) who were trying to steal his gold ring, and how he'd lived 20 lives so far. After 5 minutes of all that non-sense, I let a long, deep sigh out and walked away.

There was plenty of such crazies in the market tonight, and then there was the more mean spirited mockers and scorners. Two young men made it their goal to disrupt the preaching of the Gospel for several minutes tonight, yelling obscenities and blasphemies while I tried to present the Gospel to those who walked by. They ran off when they saw a very unimpressed pastor Tim coming over to have a chat with them. Wasn't too long after this that a woman screamed insults at me from her car as she drove by the spot I was preaching from.

Those two sad events got me wondering: how do these souls feel moments after reviling me so grievously. Do they just brush it all off and have a great evening? Do they enjoy a nice meal at one of the market's restaurants? Does it bring them any lasting satisfaction? I've insulted and mocked people in the past. Not as grievously as some of the things that I've been served, but I have been guilty of that particular sin, and I can say, I've seldom felt good about it (if ever). There's something very distasteful in verbal attacks; they are insensitive, juvenile and cowardly (IMHO).

Anyway, the night wasn't a complete waste: lots of Bible tracts were handed out, lots of lost sinners got to hear the preaching of the Gospel and/or read some Scripture on our Bible signs. Summertime always brings thousands of souls in the marketplace of my city, giving us great opportunity to remind lots of souls of their responsibilities towards God. I even got the attention of the CBC's Mark Kelley, who without a doubt, read our Bible signs before walking away.

The Lord use our evangelistic work as He sees fit, and may He be glorified.

Good night and have a blessed weekend, dear readers.


Rand

Labels: Friday evangelism