Short Notes

needed a break...
I finished work at 8pm tonight (I had been running around since 7am this morning), which coincidentally, is when Pastor Tim and I make our way to the marketplace for our few hours of open-air evangelism.  I knew I wouldn't last too long, so I didn't bother dropping my stuff off at Pastor Tim's house, and just made my way downtown.  I preached for about half an hour, and called it a night.  The good preacher continued in my absence.

In that half-hour, I had a couple of one-on-one conversations, but gave out very few Gospel tracts.  I spoke to a young woman who wanted to know what my thoughts were on premarital sex.  I explained what the Bible taught on the matter, that is, how it is an especially grievous and damaging sin.  The woman and her partner had little to offer as far as a counter-argument, and yet, I got the distinct impression for both of them that despite the reasonableness of Biblical teaching, neither of them were going to change their ways.  The Lord open their eyes.

I spoke to another woman who claimed to be a Bible reader, and yet, she was quite perplexed by my John 3:36 sign.  It was as if the teaching of John 3:36 was completely foreign to her.  It made me question whether she truly spent any time in God's Word.

That's what I saw all around me tonight.  A people who sort of knew better, but didn't care to do better.  A people who, if forced to, could see the uprightness and virtue of God's ways, but couldn't be bothered.

The picture at the top of this post... I snapped that shot as I left Pastor Tim to catch my bus home.  Twenty to thirty men and woman, watching three bums banging on drums as if it were something remarkable.  The same three or four beats... over and over again... sometimes they would bang loudly... other times softly... but in the end, the same annoying three or four beats.  It reminded me of this article, written by conservative commentator, Mark Steyn: Gradus and Narcissum.  The bottom line?  We are in a culture of ease, where anything that requires the slightest discipline, or tiniest amount of hard work is tossed aside, and the path of least resistance is taken.  It's what most in Canada are doing with the Gospel, and now we have a populace who are mesmerized by tattooed, multi-pierced floaters, banging the same beats on drums, over and over again.

Even on my way back home, a young couple sat behind me, and I couldn't help but overhear their conversation:

"Are you religious?" the young woman asked.

"Not really," answered the young man. "I do pray from time to time, but only when I really need something, or if I'm in deep trouble.  I don't read the Bible, follow any rules, or anything like that.  I just go to God when I want something."

I kid you not, that's exactly what he said, and he was laughing as he said it.  No discipline, no earnest seeking the Truth, just keeping a concept of God, in case something messed up his life of ease.  What a mess!

The young lady said she wasn't at all religious, and that she had never been in a church.  She said the only church she had seen the inside of was on TV.  Her words made it clear that she had spent no time at all in learning about God's Word or religion in general.  Whatever spiritual teachings she had received, she got from prime-time television.  Again, what a mess.

I have asked, and continue to ask that the Lord would both revive His Church and awaken Western Countries, which once, not that long ago, feared the Lord.

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

There is little left of the foundations, dear saints... we need to pray.


Rand