Saturday 06-19-10

Tom and I met Marcus out on Mill. We prayed and gave out a few tracts, playing some music through the PA system.

It wasn't real busy, but people were very receptive to taking tracts. Then we played with the light illusion for a while, throwing them back and forth. People will often stop to see what we are doing, and we'll show them how it's done and explain that it's just an illusion and that your eyes can fool you. Next we ask if they would sell an eye for $100,000. Or both for $1,000,000. Most wouldn't, because their eyes are precious to them. We explain that the eyes are just the windows of the soul, and how much more valuable the soul is. Jesus said that it would be better to pluck out an eye, if it causes us to sin, for it is better to enter into heaven with one eye than to be cast into hell with both eyes (Mark 9:47 ).

A large group of young women stopped as we were doing this, and they said they were all Christians. You can never be sure when someone claims this, so you must press a little to see if it's really true or not. I gave them each a "Are You Good Enough to get into Heaven?" tract and the first one answered, "I know I'm not good enough." This is a good sign, because if anyone is good enough to earn their way into heaven, then Christ died in vain. So, I explained that this will help them to be able to share their faith with others, going through the law first and then the grace of God in providing the salvation that we could never earn. They thanked us and continued on their way because the traffic light changed.

A woman named Nicole stopped while Tom was doing Open Air Trivia, but left before the end. Sometimes the conviction is too much and they're unwilling to listen as their conscience condemns them. Maybe she'll reflect on what she's heard later. God's Word does not return void, we are called to be obedient in sharing the Gospel, and God will work in her heart.

We talked to her drunk friends who didn’t think we should be using money to gather a crowd. Yet, Luke 16:9 says to use money, and Paul said that he would be all things to all people that he might save some. If we give away our own money (rather than asking for it like a televangelist), I wouldn't think people would have a problem with that. Well, the problem really isn't about money, but about the Gospel.

A Spanish speaking family stopped, attracted by our light illusion. I started talking to them a bit and then asked Marcus or Tom if they had any Spanish tracts. Neither of them had any with them this night, but Tom talked to them for a while. It turned out that their 13 year old daughter spoke English and the father also knew some. Tom gave them a complete Gospel message and we left them with some tracts for the girl to read and interpret for the rest of her family later.

I did some Open Air Trivia and a man named Al (cool name, huh?) took the Good Person Test. He had recently been released from prison and was a few bucks short for a place to stay for the night. We helped him out with that and he heard the Gospel as well. He thanked us and went on his way.

There was a guy who had been standing nearby for a while and he came over to talk to Tom for a bit. His name was Andre and he didn't agree with what we were preaching. He had some strange beliefs and didn't believe that Jesus Christ is God in human flesh. No amount of Scripture could convince him. He'd just jump to another subject when we provided answers. He was very evasive about what he actually believed, but later let it slip that he believed that Jesus was a black man killed by being hung from a stake. Not really sure where he gets that, but it's not Biblical.

Later, another man who came up smelling of alcohol, said that we shouldn't argue with people. He seemed to want to argue about this so Marcus and I talked to him for a little while. He had heard some street preachers earlier in the week and didn't like their message and decided he'd bring it up to us. He knew some Scripture, but really had a faulty understanding of it. He proudly claimed that he was a whore and had as many women as he could, yet he was still going to heaven because Solomon had 1,000 wives and built the temple to God. We both told him that he needed to repent rather than glory in his sins.

He later admitted that he'd be going to hell, but still just wanted to argue and try to justify himself. After Tom took out his video camera, the man tried to knock it out of his hand and left shortly afterward. It seems that he had just come to waste our time and keep us from talking to others who were more open to discuss the things of God.

We need to watch for this more carefully and not be distracted from the harvest work, as this happened a couple of times this night. Please keep the lost in prayer, and reach out and pull them from the flames.

Soli Deo Gloria