Friday Night Notes

the not-so-subtle art of...


PERSUASION. One after the other tonight, people would walk up to me with some argument, some piece of advice, trying hard to persuade me that my devotion to street preaching the Gospel was foolish and should be stopped immediately. The arguments, and tactics ranged greatly; all of them were down right obvious and ridiculously stupid. Some contradicted themselves in their own presentations, others were embarrassed/irritated when I pointed out the fallacies in their arguments. It was all pretty wretched.

I'm sure I mentioned this before, but I really hate being treated like an idiot. When people talk down to me, thinking I'm too dumb to understand their super-high-intellectual philosophies, it annoys me... a lot. You see, I'm a fundamentalist Christian, so that of course means:

- I know nothing about science (despite the fact I work in the field of biological research)
- I know nothing about other religions/cultures (despite the fact I've been challenged by all walks of life over 20 years of my Christian experience)
- I know nothing about my own faith (despite the fact that I devoted my whole life to knowing God and seeking His face day and night)

Annoying. Very annoying.

To add insult to injury, you should see what manner of men/women it is that treat me like an idiot:

- Two young ladies tonight asked me why I preached the Gospel in the open-air and when I gave the standard answer ('cause God commanded His saints to go out into the world and preach the Gospel), they replied that they didn't think I was being terribly effective. I then mentioned the Gospel I preached was the Gospel the apostle Paul and Peter preached, the Gospel Jan Hus preached, the Gospel George Whitefield preached, the Gospel Duncan Campbell preached. The point being that throughout 2000 years of church history, the Lord has worked great works of salvation through the plain preaching of His Gospel. Problem was, neither of the two young ladies had ever heard of Jan Hus, George Whitefield or Duncan Campbell; but I'm the idiot.

- One drunkard tried his best to encourage me to "be my own person", and not follow blindly in the steps of a foolish old man. The not-so-subtle message being that dumb-dumb Rand shouldn't be a lemming, following Pastor Tim without question... 'cause of course, that has to be what I'm doing... right? (my eyes are rolling now)

- Another man, taking exception at my offering Bible tracts to those who passed by me, told me I shouldn't be telling people how to live their lives. He told me that I was wasting my time and was being a nuisance. He continued by saying that I needed to find myself a woman (I'm married), and to start a family (I have four kids) and learn to enjoy a good life (I have a great life). When he paused, I asked him: "So like... are you telling me how to live my life... 'cause... well... that would make you a hypocrite... wouldn't it?" Can you say "brain-lock"? But yeah, I know, I'm the idiot.

I'm going to stop now. I've got two... three... maybe even four other examples of how I was mocked and treated like dirt tonight, but I think you all get the picture. So, I'll stop my whining. The Lord promised that His saints would suffer in this world. The Bible says: "Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong. (1 Corinthians 16:13)

I need to do just that.

On the upside, Pastor Tim spoke with a young man who was looking for a church to attend on the Lord's Day. They spoke for some time and Pastor Tim said the conversation was quite profitable. I handed out a good number of Bible tracts and many souls read the Bible sign I was carrying around. The Lord use our efforts as He sees fit.

With that, I'll close the notes for tonight. It has been a crazy up-and-down week (with very high ups, and very low downs). I look forward to a quiet and restful weekend... especially the Lord's Day.

God bless you, dear readers.


Rand


Ps: a foul-mouthed drunkard came up to me tonight and said that if Jesus came back in his lifetime, he'd crucify Him all over again. My answer was: "Good luck with that."

Labels: Friday evangelism

Friday Night Notes

cold and wet...


It was good to be back preaching the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ in the market. I've missed the last two Fridays of street preaching, so despite a steady light rain, I purposed to go out for some serious evangelism; I get too rusty if I let more than two weeks go by. It's quite the discipline and hard work, this business of street preaching, but I thank the Lord my God every Friday that He has made a street evangelist out of me.

My night of evangelism didn't start out too well. It rained steady during our first hour of preaching, and we got a short visit from a less than favorable police woman. She told me I was being too loud and that I was causing "a disturbance" (there was no one around at the time). It was clear that she didn't like my preaching and that she was hoping that a little intimidation would get me to leave. I rolled my eyes, muttered a "good grief", and went on with my preaching. Probably realizing she didn't have a legal foot to stand on, the officer left, though she did drive by a number of times, glaring at me at every opportunity. The Lord have mercy on her.

This exchange reminded me of the great evangelist, George Whitefield. Now there was a man who knew how to cause a "disturbance" with his open-air evangelism! Check out this excerpt from Wikipedia:

"Benjamin Franklin once attended a revival meeting in Philadelphia and was greatly impressed with Whitefield's ability to deliver a message to such a large group. Franklin had dismissed reports of Whitefield preaching to crowds of the order of tens of thousands in England as exaggeration. When listening to Whitefield preaching from the Philadelphia court house, Franklin walked away towards his shop in Market Street until he could no longer hear Whitefield distinctly. He then estimated his distance from Whitefield and calculated the area of a semi-circle centred on Whitefield. Allowing two square feet per person he realized that Whitefield really could be heard by tens of thousands of people in the open air."

Moments after that nonsense, a young man walked up to me as I was preaching and ordered me to "shut up". When I asked him what was the problem, the young man said nothing. So, I went back to my preaching. Somewhat annoyed with me, the man started asking me to tell him about Jesus; this wasn't an expression of interest, he was trying to find some fault with whatever I had to say. After putting up with a few of his "gotcha" questions (he never did "get" me), I asked him if he had been drinking. The young man was a bit erratic and I didn't want to waste my time on someone who was under the influence of alcohol.

"No, I haven't been drinking," the young man answered. "It wouldn't make sense for me to be seeking God while I'm drunk."

"You're right," I answered.

A couple of more "gotcha" questions came up, and that's when the young man got close enough to me for me to detect the stench of alcohol on his breath. So I stopped all the questioning and whispered to him:

"You're a liar."

"What do you mean?" the man said.

"I'm going to ask you again: have you been drinking tonight?" I replied.

The funny thing about our conversation was that he was doing his best through all sorts of questions to find fault with me, and in two simple questions, I had found fault with him. I suggested that he go home, sober up, and make it a point to seek God with all his heart. He was quite annoyed. He said he would come back to talk to me some other day when he was sober. I guess we'll see.

Pastor Tim and I were blessed by the encouragement and kind words of a Christian woman who showed up during our second hour of evangelism, and a man named Nathan during our third hour of evangelism. The Lord bless them abundantly for they have seriously refreshed a couple of weary preachers.

It was during our second hour of preaching that I shared a few words with a street beggar named René. He claimed that the Lord had saved him from heroin addiction and alcoholism. He was genuinely pleased that I was preaching the Gospel, but I was disturbed by his begging and the company he kept (men that I know for a fact are drug users and alcoholics). Not having any proof of sin however, I took the man's word and encouraged him to keep seeking the Lord. I will no doubt be seeing him in the weeks ahead... the Lord help him and save him!

In our final hour, pastor Tim and I had a few short one-on-one conversations with sinners... some good, some not-so-good. One woman stands out in my memory. She was an elderly woman, and it was clear as she walked toward me that she had a bee in her bonnet. She quickly snapped at me with:

"All religion is good for is causing wars!"

I laughed. Then I said:

"You were just itching to spew out the nonsense, weren't you? You feel good getting that off your chest and 'setting me straight'?"

The woman seemed a bit annoyed by my assessment of the situation. I tried to show her the distinction between false religion and carnal lusts which creates "wars and fightings" (James 4:1), and the Living Faith which only breeds peace and righteousness (2 Corinthians 13:11). She would have none of it, so she walked away angrily. The Lord, again, have mercy.


And that's all I have to report for tonight, dear readers. Please remember Pastor Tim and I in your prayers, dear saints. The cold season is upon us here in Canada, making street evangelism all the more challenging.

Have a blessed weekend and a glorious Lord's Day, dear friends.


Rand

Labels: Friday evangelism

No Notes

sicky-wicky...

I was unable to go out street preaching tonight, due to a nasty cold.

Please continue to pray for pastor Tim's preaching efforts.

Have a blessed weekend everyone,


Rand

No Notes Tonight

family business...

Hello dear readers,

There will be no street preaching reports from me tonight. I will be away this weekend visiting family.

Remember Pastor Tim in your prayers, he will undoubtedly soldier on in my absence.

Have a blessed weekend,


Rand