Sunday Afternoon Notes

the cursed pride parade...

**Warning: this post contains mature subject matter. To the pastor(s) who post print-outs of my "notes", you may want to skip posting this one.

So today what the abominable "Gay Pride Parade" in my city; and as is our custom, Pastor Tim and I took a couple of Bible signs and headed downtown. We each picked one side of the street the parade would travel down, held up our signs, guarded our eyes, and prayed.

I never know just how much I should describe what it is like to be an evangelist at such a wicked event. Should I describe the men and women I saw who were bound in leather and chains? Or the transvestite man's (I think) lewd behaviour? Should I give examples of some of the vile, wretched, and downright disgusting things that were being uttered all around me? Or how about a description of the men that surrounded me, all of them obviously sexually aroused by the abominations that walked and drove by us? Shall I list all the different ways I was denigrated and humiliated by the mob that surrounded me?

I think I've said enough. To be honest, I don't really care to have a written record of the goings-on of today.

When I first arrived with my Bible sign (2 Peter 2:6 on one side, Psalm 9:17 on the other), a number of the sodomites protested that my sign should not be around children (yes, there were children at the pride parade...). Moments later, a man in the parade took a cane, put it between his legs and pretended to masturbate, and that, within 4 meters of the children my Gospel sign had supposedly scandalized! Needless to say, no one protested.

Take home message: The Bible is no longer a healthy influence on children; a grown man pretending to masturbate in public is quite acceptable.

The parade lasted nearly 2 hours and I assure you, they were two... seriously long... hours. There was the S&M group, then the atheist-homosexual group ('cause why stop at immorality?), the vegetarian-homosexual group, the United "church" group with their homosexual "minister", the drag queens, the homosexual politicians... etc... etc. When the circus of immorality ended, Pastor Tim and I walked behind the vehicle of the parade and let the crowds on each side of the road read our signs. I don't need to tell you that we weren't crowd favorites.

It was during this walk, however, that we met up with other brothers (and sister) in the Lord. Brothers Tim and Brian (I believe from the Metropolitan Bible Church) walked with us keeping an eye out for anyone who would want to do us, or our signs, harm. On our way back home, we also met up with Brother Paul, his wife Kim and James, a friend of theirs. All three of them were doing some street preaching just a block away from where pastor Tim and I were holding up our Bible signs. The Lord bless all these brave souls for their good works, and the genuine love they have toward the lost, even the lost that despised them without a cause.

Now that this post is done, I'm going to do my best to forget this afternoon ever happened.

The Lord use the work that was done, as He sees fit.

To Him be glory and honour, now and forever. Amen.


Rand

Labels: Evangelism

Friday Night Notes

they don't understand... will they ever???

I know I've mentioned this before (probably repeatedly), but there are nights of evangelism in the market where the sheer number of lost souls (most being quite happy to be lost) walking around me just totally overwhelm me. Thousands and thousands of men and women, cursing and blaspheming God; many of them looking onto us preachers with obvious disdain and hatred, for no other reason than the fact that we shed light on their evil ways. I'm telling you, there are nights (like tonight), you can almost physically feel the bitter cold animosity the market revelers have for us. It's not all fun and games this street preaching business.

Before going downtown tonight, I went into Pastor Tim's backyard to pick up our Bible signs and wondered where on of my favorite Bible signs was. It had John 3:16 on one side, and 1 Timothy 1:15 in large letters on the other. Pastor Tim informed me that that particular sign was stolen last week while he was preaching the Gospel with brother Rod and Marcio. Young men on skateboards grabbed the sign when pastor Tim put it down but for a quick minute while he was preaching the Gospel. That story annoyed me quite a bit. Not exactly sure what annoyed me most: the fact that these cowards stole a 65-year old's Bible sign, or that I had lost my favorite preaching tool. My night of evangelism wasn't starting out too well!

By the end of the night, Pastor Tim and I both handed a low number of Bible tracts, and one-on-one conversations were few and far between. No, tonight was a pretty lousy night, all and all. We had a street musician come by and set up his "performance" right in front of our preaching spot (an attempt to rid the market of us). We had two lesbians scheming to do our 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 some mischief (I stood close guard, nothing ultimately happened). Even Christians in the market found a way to be somewhat aggravating: a young lady was really curious to know if our "evangelistic method" actually worked (I tried to explain, but I don't think she got it).

Seeing so little fruit in the souls we were preaching to tonight, I started pondering on Hell; the likely final destination for many of the souls we attempted to minister to. I wondered: "Will these souls ever truly comprehend the gravity of their sins against the Living God?" I still wonder, in Hell, will the damned fully understand the gravity of their sin and how the Lake of Fire is a fitting punishment? I'm going to be thinking about this for a few days...

I saw my old friend Richard again tonight, "walking" up and down the same street in an alcohol/drug stupor, begging people for spare change. It was a sad sight. He was near my preaching spot for a couple of hours, but he never came to speak to me, nor did make eye contact. If his mind still functions well enough to remember me, perhaps he felt some shame over his physical/spiritual state. Who knows? The Lord have mercy on his soul.

With that, I close this edition of the Friday Night Notes, dear readers. I want to thank all of you who pray for us on Friday night. You are precious to us!

God bless you all,


Rand

Labels: Friday evangelism

No Notes

a weekend in TO...

I will have no Friday Night Notes for you this week, dear readers. I'm currently over 500 kilometers away from home, visiting "the center of the known galaxy" (if you're Canadian, you know where that is). My family and I will be attending a wedding here tomorrow, so I decided make a "family-focused" weekend of it, by taking my kids to the zoo today. The kids had a great time, and it felt great to spend quality time with "my posse".

Here are some pictures of "our family day":

I trust all went well with the brothers in the market tonight. I'm pretty sure they were going ahead without me.

God bless you all,


Rand

Friday Night Notes

new partners...


Pastor Tim was unable to come out for our customary night of street evangelism again this week (he needed more time to prepare his Sunday sermons), but unlike last week, I wasn't downtown by myself. Brother Rod and his son (new members of our assembly) came out to give out Bible tracts and hold up the Word of Truth. It was good to have three evangelists in the marketplace, our sphere of influence was definitively larger, many sinners were reminded of the Lord Jesus Christ and His Gospel tonight. The Lord show mercy to whom He will show mercy, and harden whom He wills.

As far as Friday night evangelism goes, tonight went pretty smoothly. I think Brother Rod was taken a bit aback at how vile some of the responses to our efforts were. I didn't think the mockery and scorn was too grievous tonight, but then again, I've no doubt developed a thick skin over the years. That said, I must point out that the men performed admirably in their first open-air evangelistic effort in Ottawa's marketplace. They walked all over downtown with Bible signs and were quite zealous at offering Bible tracts to all who would walk by. Brother Rod even preached a bit near the end of our time of evangelism.

The marketplace was very busy tonight, with many souls taking tracts; though few stuck around to talk about the Gospel. Brother Rod seemed to have had a number of conversations, but he made it clear that most weren't too promising. Still, who knows what the Lord will do?

I have to say it felt strange to be the "senior evangelist". On a number of occasions, I found myself giving pointers to my two comrades... instructions on how to survive in the wicked mess that is the marketplace nightlife. Never would have thought I would have grown so accustomed, so familiar and even, more or less, comfortable with this street preacher's life. The Lord indeed works in mysterious ways (and He undoubtedly has quite the sense of humour).

Other than the novelty of having a couple of newbies with me, tonight's endeavour was a lot like last week. No shortage of nonsense, mockery, hatred, vanity and other sinful conversations, but I had much rougher nights. I only had two one-on-one conversations, both with professing believers (if I'm not mistaken, both were charismatics). They both had kind words of encouragement for me; they were genuinely happy to see me preaching the Gospel. The Lord bless them and help them out of the doctrinal error they're in.

With that, I'll close this edition of the Friday Night Notes. I need to get some rest... tomorrow we will be celebrating Pastor Tim's birthday. I'll be nice and keep his age under tabs!

God bless you, dear readers, and thanks again for keeping up with my street preaching escapades.

Have a restful weekend, and a glorious Lord's Day,


Rand

Labels: Friday evangelism

Friday Night Notes

be a short one... my bed is calling...

It was, without a doubt, a quiet and easy-going night of street preaching. I was by myself again since pastor Tim was away, visiting family. I manned our preaching spot for about two hours, and then walked around downtown, offering Bible tracts. After a busy week at work, tonight's two and a half hour endeavour really tired me out.

Gross ungodliness was everywhere. From the man who decided to relieve himself on the front lawn of a downtown apartment complex, to the steady flow of cussing by the marketplace revelers, to the scantily-clad women who looked on me with discuss as I preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ, it was all pretty ugly. All that said, no one really gave me too much trouble. A bit of mockery here and there, but nothing too grievous. For the most part, I was able to preach the Gospel unhindered, and for that, I thank the Lord my God.

The one-on-one conversations were short tonight. A few words here and there with some Christians (for example, a Pentecostal woman said she would pray for me), a Romanist quickly told me that "he was good to go" since he was raised 'Catholic' (oh dear...), and I had a few words with a work colleague of mine... now that was fun. At first, the man didn't recognize me, so when I offered him a Bible tract, he looked on me with disgust. It was funny to see his countenance change when he recognized me.

It will be interesting to see if this surprise meeting will positively or negatively affect our working relationship in the future.

I'm afraid that's all I got for tonight. I absolutely exhausted and it's going past 1am. Please continue to pray for me, dear saints. Life just seems to be getting busier and busier!

Have a blessed weekend, especially the Lord's Day,


Rand

Labels: Friday evangelism