Pastor Tim

yes... this is the Friday Night Notes...


I arrived at Pastor Tim's place at my usual time, said hello to Pastor Tim's wife, and made my way downstairs to pick up some Bible tracts. We usually pray for awhile before going downtown for our night of street preaching, so I was a bit surprised when I noticed that I was all alone downstairs. A few moments later, Pastor Tim's wife came down the stairs to let me know that her husband was ill, and that he wouldn't be able to go preaching with me.

The man is having a real hard time with his lungs. That's what was ailing him tonight, it's what has been ailing him since last winter. Whatever the problem is, it's not going away. This, of course, means that he'll have to slow down and take care of himself more. Willingly, or unwillingly (knowing the stubborn old man, it will be unwillingly). I really felt for the good preacher tonight. I know, without question, that he really wanted to be in the market with me tonight. I know he wanted to proclaim the Gospel of Life to one and all, as he has faithfully done for decades now. I know for a certainty that the last place he wanted to be tonight was in bed sick again.

To all of you, dear readers, who have been following my weekly escapades on the streets of the market, please understand: I am what I am today by the grace of God, and pastor Tim. I'm not the original street preaching soldier. He is. I wasn't even in diapers and the man was knocking on every door of his city with the Gospel of Jesus. How many pastors do you know who have, faithfully, gone out into the highways and byways to proclaim the Gospel, and that, for over 25 years? In my city, he's the only one I know of. He surpasses me (by far) and almost every other Christian I know in several aspects of the Christian experience. Pastor Tim is the best shepherd I have ever had the pleasure of being under.

He is my pastor. He is my best friend. He is my hero.

That's why it really pinches me to see him down and out like this. Please, brothers and sisters, remember pastor Tim in your prayers. Our city needs him (even if it doesn't recognize it), and our fellowship needs him at his best, sharing and proclaiming the Truths of Scripture. I can cover for him on a street corner, or behind a pulpit, but I assure you, I'm a poor substitute. He's the real deal... I just try to keep up.

So, knowing that there was a man lying in bed, wanting to be out preaching the Gospel but couldn't, I went out with much determination. The Lord gave me ability and opportunity to evangelize tonight, two things He didn't give pastor Tim. I wasn't going to treat these graces as common things. Not tonight. I preached my heart out, gave out Bible literature, and walked by every pub/bar/restaurant in the marketplace with my Gospel sign for over three hours.

I had several one-on-one conversations. The first was with a young man who was training to become of Romanist priest. It was quite the conversation. I knew he was a Romanist from the moment he walked up to me: he was wearing a gold crucifix and some "mary" idol around his neck. I explained to him that after having read the Bible, I couldn't be a Romanist any more; the two contradicted one another. He obviously disagreed with that statement, and offered me the usual platitudes that only Romanism had the "sacred traditions" of the apostles, and that these were critically important. I tried my best to show him that 2 Timothy 3:16-17 didn't leave much room for anything else than the Scriptures when it comes to doctrine and practice.

It became quite clear in our conversation that while the young man had already spent two years in a Romanist seminary, he was quite illiterate as far as the Scriptures were concerned. He had all sorts of Romanist arguments, object lessons and so forth, but he never brought up a verse from Scripture and he seemed quite impressed by my ability to quote directly from the Bible. We talked about every possible point of doctrine and how what he believed just didn't jive with the Bible. It proved to be just too much for him.

"You're blowing my mind!" he said, clearly agitated.

I tried to get him to focus on John 3:3; the necessity of the Second Birth. It was clear that the young man had no idea what the term meant. He, like most Romanists, confused it with baptism. I showed him from Ephesians 2 that we are all born spiritually dead, though we have been born physically alive. The Second Birth then is when one becomes spiritually alive in Christ at conversion.

My efforts were in vain. The young man just foolishly jumped from one topic to another, trying to confuse the issues; he, on more than one occasion even tried to sow doubt as to the trustworthiness of Scripture with statements like:

"Well, you know, there are so many manuscripts out there, how do we know what parts of the Bible are true... and besides, who wrote the Bible (I answered: God)... sure, God, but St-Paul wrote it...."

He didn't come right out and deny the inspiration of Scripture, but that's where he wanted to go, that was clear. I told him he wasn't a Christian because he wasn't a man of the Scriptures. He answered and told me that I was "missing out" by neglecting the "sacred traditions" of Romanism. To that, I pointed him right back to 2 Timothy 3:16-17:

"All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works."

"If God says, in the Bible, that the man of God is PERFECT, as in COMPLETE, by the Scriptures, what exactly am I missing?"

The young man had no answer. I could tell that I was blowing his mind and upsetting him greatly whenever I brought up a passage of Scripture. I don't think he was at all prepared to meet a saint of God. I pray that the Lord will draw this young man to his Word, even tonight. That though upset, he would, as I did, judge Romanism by the only standard that matters: the Holy Bible.

Finally, on my way back home tonight, I walked by a dance club with my Gospel sign and met a young man called Mike. He ran out of the dance club to see me and said:

"Yeah man, I totally believe that!"

"If you believe this, my friend, what in the world are you doing in that box?" I inquired.

"Oh... yeah... I guess I shouldn't be in there... should I..." he responded, clearly ashamed.

"My friend, the place you just walked out of is an evil place. There is nothing there for a child of God. If you are a child of God, you should hate everything about that house of sin."

"You're right," he said. "I just followed my friends here 'cause I didn't want them to think I was an &%$*@!."

"Let them think that," I responded. "The Lord doesn't care what your friends think, he wants you to be holy."

"Okay," he quickly responded, "but is it okay if I just stay with them for tonight. I'll never do this again, but just for tonight, I'll go along with my friends."

"The Lord wants you out of there now, Mike," I said. "Not later, not in a few hours... now! You know how many souls like you I have met over the years. Souls who are penitent one Friday night, and then, totally sinned-hardened just a few Fridays later?"

I think I really shook some sense into Mike, though I doubt he ended up leaving the club on the spot. I was once a foolish Christian in a bar. Perhaps Mike was one too. Then again, perhaps he's just a deceived sinner. Time will tell. I hope and pray that tonight will be the last Friday night I will see Mike in a bar. I hope and pray the next time I will see Mike, it will be in church.

As I said goodnight to Mike, I turned towards Pastor Tim's house, only to see him standing a few feet from me.

"You were late coming back, so I just wanted to make sure you were still alive," he said jokingly, as we walked back to his place.


And that's the notes for tonight. Again, dear saints, remember Pastor Tim in your prayers; for healing and strength. Pray for me, as I will be preaching the Lord's Day evening service. Also, pray for the young Romanist I dealt with, his name is Justin; and don't forget about Mike.

Dear readers, have a safe weekend... and a blessed Lord's Day.


Rand

Labels: Friday evangelism

Time Travel - Expedition # 6

the allure of evil...

(if you don't know what this is... check out the other Time Travel Expeditions in the menu bar)


'86

We named it Snake Tower. If memory serves, the name was inspired by an evil stronghold in the cartoon series He-Man. It was a decrepit, old wooden barn and silo, long abandoned by its owners. The silo was the tower; the "Snake" epithet was added due to the abundance of garter snakes which slithered all over the place in and around the abandoned farm. We would run through fields, doing our best to avoid detection (farmers were quite leery of having kids fooling around on their property), and then hang out at Snake Tower.

Why we spent so much time there was a mystery to me then, and it remains one today. Perhaps it was the excitement of being in a place that was prohibited, or perhaps it was the fun of playing in and around a deserted structure, but we were there. It was our hangout. We were chased away from our beloved tower often, but that was a poor deterrent. If anything, being chased off one day, only made going back the next day all the more fun.

I can still clearly remember our first venture to Snake Tower. My friends were in a heated competition: they were trying to catch a longest snake. This is a competition I gladly opted out of due to my fear of anything that slithers and hisses. A short time later, Daniel, my best friend's brother yelled out:

"Hey guys! look what I found!"

Daniel had found a handful of pornographic magazines. Like flies to dung, we gathered around and feasted our eyes on every ungodly page. I was, at that time, learning about God and the Bible through my mother, so I totally knew that what I was doing there was 100% wicked, but the allure was too strong. Besides, at that age, it was so important for me to fit in with my friends, that there was no way I was going to protest or walk away.

After half an hour of that nonsense, we started to make our way back to town. We had crossed one field when my friend David pointed to a tall hill of muddy clay and yelled:

"Last one up is a loser!"

All my friends ran up the muddy hill, making me the loser of the group. It's not that I couldn't outrun my friends; the problem was, I had my good pair of shoes on, and there was no way I was going to suffer my mother's wrath over a mud hill. So I watched, from the bottom, all my friends having a grand old time, throwing and kicking up mud to one another. I eventually got fed up of being the outcast, so I knelt down, picked some of the mud up, and aimed to hit my best friend with it. It was then that I had a good look at the mud my friends were playing in...

"IT'S MANURE!!!" I yelled out, laughing hysterically.

You should have seen the look of horror on my friends' faces as they ran down the hill, doing their best to wipe off the dirt off their faces and hands. After my brief moment of laughter, I too frantically started wiping my hands. Now to be honest, I don't believe it was pure manure, since, it was pretty earthy, and you could only smell a stench if you brought your nose right up to it. Perhaps it was old manure, I don't know, but it certainly didn't look or feel like plain dirt that's for sure.

Looking back on this whole episode now, I guess it was only fitting that after rolling our spirits in immoral filth, that we should do the same with our bodies. Shame on us.


Rand

Labels: Personal

Friday Night Notes

the experienced soldier...


Just before leaving home to make my way to the marketplace, my wife commented that I was no longer looked stressed out or nervous prior to going out preaching the Gospel. That statement took me a bit by surprise; the surprise was that she was correct. I used to physically tremble just prior to our night of street evangelism. I used to hope for rain, or some unforeseen incident that would keep me from going downtown to preach the Gospel to a people who, without question, hated everything about God. It used to take me 30 minutes to 1 hour to get a grip on my fears, and be able to preach the Gospel in a clear, well thought-out manner.

That was then.

I now actually look forward to our evangelistic effort. I actually miss it when I have to skip a Friday night of evangelism. How things have changed! Praise God!

Now don't get me wrong, this is still one of the hardest things I do on any given week. All I'm saying is that it would seem this cowardly, man-fearing chicken is actually becoming a battle-hardened soldier of the Cross. It took awhile (okay... a long while... okay, okay... I really, really long while), but by the grace of God, the old boy is making progress. Tonight, I was threatened to be beaten-up, I had a hard object hurled at me, I had food hurled at me, I was mocked and cursed at. Through it all, I kept cool, completely under control, and I prayed.

The Lord is good.

It was just me and Jesus tonight. My pastor was out on a "date" with his wife, as today was their 39th wedding anniversary. I preached the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and distributed Bible literature for about 3 hours; I also had our 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 sign with me, which always draws people's attention. Here are a few details of some of tonight's events (they are in no particular order):


-Seconds after my arrival in the marketplace, a scantily clad women asked me what I was up to with my Gospel sign. I explained to her that I was going to preach the Gospel of Jesus, hoping that the Lord would save souls. She thought that was a good thing, albeit, kind of weird. I encouraged her to read the Bible, and that's when she came out with this:

"Oh, what Bible do you read? It better be the St-James, 'cause that's the only real Bible!"

"St-James huh?" I said, trying hard not to laugh.

I love the King James version. I totally believe it is the best English translation of the Bible, but one thing is for sure, King James was no "saint".


-Moments later, I walked by an old friend of mine. He was having dinner at one of the patio restaurants in the market. Being a professing believer, when he saw me walking by with my Gospel sign, he smiled and said something along the lines of "go get'em". It made me smile.


-Two sodomites walked up to me after listening to me preach for several minutes. As they made their way to my side of the street, I prayed and asked wisdom, a sound mind and genuine love to help me deal with these two lost souls. The prayer was definitely effective. For a good five minutes, the men asked questions concerning my preaching and I answered them truthfully, and tactfully. Despite this, one of the men took one of my tracts, ripped it up and threw it to the ground. I suppose I was, in the end, casting pearls before swine.


-A committed Romanist came by to speak to me tonight. It was clear that this man was a serious Romanist: he had a large "Mary" idol around his neck. He praised my efforts saying that what I was doing was 100% good and that while he knew I wasn't "catholic", he was convinced the Lord would bless me for my evangelistic effort. I thanked the man for his kind words, but I made sure he understood that I didn't believe he could be a Christian and a Romanist at the same time. He understood what I was trying to say (I think the man probably spoke to pastor Tim in the past), but still insisted that we were indeed both in Christ. The Lord show this man mercy, and save him from the deception of the whore of Rome.


-I walked by the "immorality strip" tonight with my Gospel sign. I usually avoid this part of the market because the whole area is hazardous to a preacher: there are second floor patios from which people can throw stuff, there is a strip club which often keeps its front doors open, and some of the most vile and violent sinners tend to concentrate in that area of the market. Well, tonight, as I looked at the people on that strip from a distance, I said to myself: "they need Jesus too." So I walked around giving the people a chance to read my Gospel sign. I offered a Bible tract to but one soul, and that soul threatened to beat me up. No matter, a lot of people who needed to be reminded of the Gospel read something from the Bible tonight. Again, praise the Lord!


And that's the notes for tonight. I'm going to bed now. It's extremely late (or early, depending how you look at it). I hope you all have a pleasant weekend, dear readers.

Have a holy, God-centered Lord's Day, dear saints of God. Remember us street evangelists in your prayers.


Rand

Labels: Friday evangelism

More Impressions on Romanism

just imagine…

In my Bible studies, two portions of Scripture have caught my attention, especially when I compare what I read from the Holy Book with my Romanist upbringing. It never ceases to amaze me just how many Romanists come to this blog, asserting that the teachings of the “Roman Catholicism” are in-line with the Bible, yet whenever I turn to the Sacred Page, I find nothing but contradiction.

Consider:

“Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the LORD spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire: lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure…” (Deuteronomy 4:15-16)

The above passage speaks of when God spoke his commandments to the Israelites in the wilderness. Note, God took special attention not to let any of them (save Moses, an elect of God), see any image of God. Why did God do this? Simple: God knows the depravity of Man. He knows that idolatry comes easily to sinful Man, so the Lord made sure and continues to make sure that no “true” physical images of God ever make it to the eyes of Man (you will note here that we know very little about the physical appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ or any of the New or Old Testament saints… this wasn’t an oversight on God’s part… I assure you of that!).

“God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” (John 4:24)

Spirits have no form, nor any physical substance or shape. Therefore, those who truly worship God according to the above verse do so without “images” and without “objects”. Period. So simple, my 6 year old son understands this perfectly.

To all this, the Romanist objects: “But we don’t ‘worship’ the graven images, so it’s all good. The objects are but tools, symbols to assist us in our devotion to God.”

Consider:

"Now it came to pass in the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign. Twenty and five years old was he when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Abi, the daughter of Zachariah. And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that David his father did. He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan." (2 Kings 18:1-4)

What a fantastic account! Hezekiah, a godly king, comes to power in the kingdom of Judah and the first thing he does is sets himself to do right before God and one of those right things is to rid his kingdom of all manner of altar and graven image to false gods. Where things get real interesting is this final account of Hezekiah’s “breaking-idols-binge”: “…and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan.”

Unlike the “groves” and the “high places” which were often the sites of worship to false gods such as Molech, Ashtoreth and Baal, the brazen serpent referred to in this text was an object that the Living God actually used:

“And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.” (Numbers 21:9)

I hope you are all familiar with this account. The Israelites complained and spoke evil against God and His servant Moses and as a punishment against their unthankful, distrustful attitudes, God sent venomous serpents to bite the Israelites. Those who kept their eyes on the brass serpent Moses had made by God’s commandment, survived the snake bites, those who didn’t, perished. This whole account is a type, a picture of what the faith that is in Christ Jesus is like (see John 3).

So the brazen serpent wasn’t part of some heathen practice or religion. The brazen serpent was most likely in the Temple of God, and some Israelites took it upon themselves to burn incense to it; an act that clearly was an act of worship since the righteous king Hezekiah put an end to it. Did the Israelites call the serpent: God? No, I don’t think so. Did they pray before it, saying: “Oh great brazen serpent, save us”? Again, I don’t think so.

So what were they doing? Were they not simply setting up some sort of devotion to an object that reminded them of God and His dealings towards His people? This is the most reasonable and logical assumption; yet, you will notice, God still hated it. This is proven out by the fact that Hezekiah destroyed the idol (for that’s what the once useful tool became, an idol that idolatrous Israel payed tribute to). The people burned incense, paid tribute/devotion, to a religious relic; Hezekiah called it the worship of “a piece of brass”, which is what the word “Nehushtan” means in the Hebrew tongue.

Romanists love to play with words, but in the end, their veneration of objects/images amount to the exact same thing as what we read in 2 Kings 18. There are always excuses to justify sin. As a race of fallen sinners, Mankind has developed an expertise called "excusing and legitimizing all manner of evil". Idolatry is no exception.

“Say among the heathen that the LORD reigneth: the world also shall be established that it shall not be moved: he shall judge the people righteously. Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof. Let the field be joyful, and all that is therein: then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice before the LORD: for he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth: he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth.” (Psalm 93:10-13)

Beware of these verses, all you Romanists, Orthodox and other idolaters. You may have your excuses and rationalizations, but the Lord will judge all in righteousness and truth. Repent and believe on the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.


Rand

Labels: Romanism

No Notes Tonight

on the road again...

Much to my chagrin, I will be travelling all night tonight... so there will be no street preaching for me. My in-laws will be celebrating their 40th anniversary tomorrow, so tonight, we jump in the van and travel 7 hours to the South-West, in order to be part of the celebration.

Please pray for Pastor Tim, dear brothers and sisters-in-the-Lord, as he will most likely be preaching the Gospel by himself tonight (or perhaps tomorrow). Also, I would appreciate your prayers for God's direction in the matter of which church we should visit on the Lord's Day. The last sermon I heard at the church we visited last time was nothing short of atrocious.

We'll be back sometime Sunday night. Until then, the comment box will be moderated, since my enemies are roaming like roaring lions (heh hee).

Have a great weekend, dear readers.


Rand

Saying It Doesn't Make It So

no matter how many people say it...


The Earth is flat.

Man and apes have a common ancestor.

Baby formula is healthier for infants than breast milk.

Negroes are an inferior form of humanity.


At one time or another, all the above statements were widely accepted by a large portion of our world's population. Actually, many still profess to believe at least two of the above statements at the present time, but as the title of this post declares: saying it doesn't make it so.

That's the phrase that came into my mind as I read this article outlining more folly coming out of Vatican City. Consider, some of the points in this "Responses to some Questions Regarding Certain Aspects of the Doctrine on the Church":

"'This one Church of Christ, which we confess in the Creed as one, holy, catholic and apostolic. ... This Church, constituted and organized in this world as a society, subsists in the Catholic Church, governed by the successor of Peter and the Bishops in communion with him'."

"...the word 'subsists' can only be attributed to the Catholic Church alone precisely because it refers to the mark of unity that we profess in the symbols of the faith (I believe... in the 'one' Church); and this 'one' Church subsists in the Catholic Church."

"'It follows that these separated churches and Communities, though we believe they suffer from defects, are deprived neither of significance nor importance in the mystery of salvation. In fact the Spirit of Christ has not refrained from using them as instruments of salvation, whose value derives from that fullness of grace and of truth which has been entrusted to the Catholic Church.'"

Now in case you are not following what the significance of this wordy nonsense is, let me explain. In the above statements, Rome affirms that it is the only legitimate "Church" in the world and every other denomination are defective. They can still be used of the Lord, but still if and when that happens, it is still all thanks to Romanism... somehow. The document doesn't end it there, it continues to speak on the subject of these defects:

"According to Catholic doctrine, these Communities do not enjoy apostolic succession in the sacrament of Orders, and are, therefore, deprived of a constitutive element of the Church. These ecclesial Communities which, specifically because of the absence of the sacramental priesthood, have not preserved the genuine and integral substance of the Eucharistic Mystery cannot, according to Catholic doctrine, be called 'Churches' in the proper sense."

Again, in plain english: if you are not a Romanist, your place of worship isn't a church. It's an "ecclesial community"... at best.

Now, before you misunderstand the sentiment behind this post, let me clarify: I am in no way appalled or distressed by this article. If anything, I am happier with the new Romanist antichrist (pope) than I ever was with JPII. Unlike JPII, whose ecumenism often downplayed Romanist doctrine, this pope actually sticks to his guns when it comes to Romanist dogma. It makes it far easier for a child of God to see the wickedness and the false teachings of Romanism.

The true sentiment behind this post is one of sadness and exasperation. The fact of the matter is, for many millions of Romanists, this re-affirmation of their ecclesiology will further harden them against the Word of God, and God's true Church. I truly hope you have noticed that in the document in question, not one Scriptural reference can be found. Not one. If you are wondering why, the answer is simple: neither the Romanist leadership, or its followers care in the least about what the Scriptures teach.

It's a sad mess, but other than calling it a mess, declaring the Gospel of Truth and praying for God's mercy and grace, there really isn't much a child of God can do. Let the evolutionist believe in his "tree of life". Let the racist believe his prejudice against those who do not look like him. Let the Romanist believe that his wicked religion is the sole "Church". God will judge. Make sure of that, God will judge.

"For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works." (Matthew 16:27)


Rand

Labels: Romanism, Stupid

9:39 PM

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Friday Night Notes

a few words from the front lines...

I exhausted. Absolutely spent. I can't think of one part of my body that isn't, in some way, sore. These notes might be short, I really need to get to bed.

My pastor and I were once again at our post in the market to preach the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to the "untoward generation" before us. We preached, distributed bible tracts and walked about the streets of downtown with our Gospel signs for three hours tonight, and sadly, we have the same complaint Peter had: "Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing" (Luke 5:5). Still, the Lord was glorified in the marketplace through his ambassadors tonight.

Compared to other Friday nights, I have passed out very few Bible tracts tonight, but God be magnified, a whole lot of people in bars and pubs read my 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 sign as I walked by pretty much all the abominable houses. There were plenty of scoffing, mockery and I was even "boo-ed" when I walked by a Scottish pub, but that's fine; they read the Scriptures, so there is hope:

"So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." (Isaiah 55:11)

"For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report? So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." (Romans 10:13-17)

I am still amazed at the power of 1 Corinthians 6:9-10. I can walk around with our John 3:16 sign or our Romans 6:23 sign, and be completely ignored by the people downtown. Not so with 1 Corinthians 6:9-10. No one can ignore it, no one is indifferent to it. They HAVE to scoff, they HAVE to call me stupid or hateful, they have to yell at me to leave. It's really something to see.

I have had a few one-on-one conversations with people who realized through reading 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 that they were part of these who "shall not inherit the kingdom of God". Sadly though, most of them gloried in their rebellion, proudly exclaiming that they were drunkards, idolaters and fornicators.

"Well... I'm not going to Heaven then... and I don't care!" one soul said.

How I wish I could accurately relay to you the vexation of heart and sorrow I feel when I see so many souls, blind and dead in their sins and transgressions, and the pride they take in their wickedness. How I wish I could put the fear of God into their souls, that they may live, but I can't. All I can do is declare the Gospel and pray for the salvation of the Lord.

And on that note, I close the notes. It's time for this old man to get some rest. The Lord use our labour tonight as He sees fit.

Good night, dear readers. Have a wonderful, soul-refreshing Lord's Day, dear saints of God.


Rand

Labels: Friday evangelism

What A Wonderful World?

the horror of this ungodly generation...

Just try to imagine the shock and horror of the farmer in this story:

Click Here!

Stories like this drive me so insane, I would hang everyone of those ungodly wretches that perpetrated this heinous crime, and wouldn't lose one night of sleep over it.

How absolutely horrific!

How true the Bible speaks when describing the ungodly of this world:

"And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them." (Romans 1:28-32)

What a wonderful world! Isn't that what Louis Armstrong sang? Burying babies alive in India, the slaughter of millions of baby girls all over Asia, and the hacking of unborn infants in North America.

Indeed, what a wonderful world...


Rand

Labels: Pure Evil

Submitted For Your Consideration

Rome's way, or the Bible way...


"And they said, Cornelius the centurion, a just man, and one that feareth God, and of good report among all the nation of the Jews, was warned from God by an holy angel to send for thee into his house, and to hear words of thee. Then called he them in, and lodged them. And on the morrow Peter went away with them, and certain brethren from Joppa accompanied him. And the morrow after they entered into Caesarea. And Cornelius waited for them, and had called together his kinsmen and near friends. And as Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him, and fell down at his feet, and worshipped him. But Peter took him up, saying, Stand up; I myself also am a man." (Acts 10:22-26)


Question:


Romanists believe that the apostle Peter was the first pope. Clearly (just look at the above image), Romanists have no problems "falling down" and kneeling at the pope's feet. So tell me...


Had Peter forgotten he was the pope, when he met Cornelius?


Rand

Labels: Romanism

Sunday Afternoon Notes (Canada Day)

now that was MASS evangelism...

Well, this is where I spent my afternoon (click here).

Right after morning church service, I picked up my John 3:36 Gospel sign and made my way through the downtown marketplace, making sure that everyone in the restaurants and patios got a chance to read the sign. I was the recipient of plenty of scoffing, but I pressed on. I made my way to the downtown streets which were blocked off (no cars could access these streets) for the Canada Day festivities, and walked amongst hundreds, actually make that thousands of people going to, or coming from Parliament Hill.

I walked around with the Gospel sign for about an hour, trying as best I could to pass out some Gospel literature at the same time. This was quite a chore. The problem was the wind pushing my sign; it affected my balance, and that in turn made it difficult for me to free up a hand to offer the literature to the people around me. I finally decided to stand on a street corner (see picture), put down my sign, which stabilized it quite effectively, and I was then able to offer Bible tracts.

I was pleasantly surprised with how receptive the people were; the only violent outburst I had to deal with was by a young man who tried to rip my sign out of my hands. He failed and I think he decided not to try it again when he heard the sharp disapproval of all those around him. Before and after this incident, I gave out a whole lot of tracts, the Lord use them as He sees fit. My pastor also reported having passed out a record number of Bible tracts. Praise God.

The downside of today's endeavour is that we didn't get a whole lot of preaching done; actually, I was the only one who preached, and that, for only about one hour. You see, having arrived downtown late (around lunch time instead of our usual 10 am), there was no adequate place to preach from; at every street corner there were musicians, buskers and other entertainers. I was nonetheless able to preach from our usual preaching spot in the market and my time there was quite good. A fair number of people came to my side of the street to get literature or to ask questions.

Some came to me today with genuine questions which showed an interest in the Bible and in the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, but there were a whole lot of nonsense too. One fellow asked me if I had any literature that proved the existence of God. His question perplexed me and when I tried to explain that it was by faith that we had to come to God, he immediately affirmed that that meant I was wasting my time in preaching the Gospel. All this seemed quite logical to him, I suppose, but his logic was lost on me.

Then there were the "blasphemy against the Holy Spirit" boys. You may have heard of this nonsense: you see, some atheistic groups have decided to seal their fate by "blaspheming the Holy Spirit". They usually do this on camera as some great statement against the Faith, it's quite a foolish and prideful exercise. Anyway, three young men came by and brought up the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, and even quoted it to me from Scripture. I immediately knew the manner of men I was dealing with.

"A person can't blaspheme the Holy Spirit in this age, my poor friend," I said.

"What do you mean I can't... the Bible says I can," he protested.

"No friend, only people who lived in the age when Jesus was on Earth could blaspheme the Holy Spirit," I continued. "And the only other time men will be able to blaspheme the Holy Spirit is in the age to come, when the Lord Jesus will once again be on Earth."

I showed them Matthew 12:32 and explained that the Pharisees had blasphemed the Holy Spirit by attributing to Satan a miracle that was clearly wrought by the power of the Holy Spirit, hence the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. Such clear and manifest miracles are not in happening in this church age, they will only return after the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the "world" or "age" that is to come.

You should have seen the poor lads faces. They were so let down that they couldn't completely and certainly damn their souls, they left with long faces. What a warped culture I live in.

A few moments after that exchange, a man pointed me out to his son and said:

"What a dumb way to spend Canada Day!"

"This is a great way to spend Canada," I protested, "and it's an excellent way to be spending the Lord's Day, that's what today is first and foremost."

"Well, I don't believe in all that God stuff," he replied smugly.

"You will," I answered. "One way or another, you will."

These are but two examples of some of the exchanges I had with the people downtown. I really don't have much to report by way of evidence of conversion, I prayed that the Lord would use us as instruments to save His elect, and perhaps He will yet work some great work through our testimony, but we'll just have to wait on the Lord for that.

"I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD." (Psalm 27:13-14)

Now, I'm going to rest. I sure need it. I have done 8-10 hours of street evangelism in the last 3 days... I'm exhausted. The next stressful evangelistic effort will be the "Pride Parade" which will probably happen in a couple of weeks. Remember me in your prayers, dear saints of God, I surely need it.

Have a good week, dear readers, and thank you for your e-mails/comments/phone calls of encouragement and admonishment, they have truly refreshed me these last few weeks. The Lord bless you.


Rand

Labels: Evangelism

Same old... same old...

a bad case of the nerves...

Every year is the same. One could set a watch to it. The night before Canada Day, I'm up way too late, feeling extremely nervous. I totally confess, right now, I'm totally undone.

Don't ask me why.

I've been steadily preaching the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ in the open-air for over 6 years now. Every Friday I'm out there, and for the most part, I have conquered my fears on these evangelistic endeavours; but that simply doesn't seem to make any difference the night before our evangelistic effort on Canada Day. I don't know if it's the larger crowds, the different location of our preaching, or the fact that we preach for a longer period of time, but dear reader, my knees are quivering.

Oh, I'll get over it. Don't worry about that. I'll make my way downtown tomorrow... it'll take me a few minutes, and all will be well. That knowledge however, offers me little peace right now.

I hate being a chicken.

I'm going to pray now. Probably should have done that instead of wasting 20 minutes whining about my carnal fears in this post.


Rand

Labels: Fear of Man