British Catholic, Hardened Teens & Seven Deadly Sins.

Now that September is here, the crowds are thickening at the beach, some of the street-performers are coming back; more people to talk to.

Yesterday Bobby struck-up a conversation with a Brit named Tom. Tom professes to be a Roman Catholic & is sure he’s going to Heaven. As Bob and I talked with Tom, he got a bit agitated (probably my fault). Tom asserted that while he ‘believed’ the Bible some of it just didn’t make sense; like Creation, the Flood/Ark & so on. He simply said he didn’t believe ‘every word of the Bible’. You can (I’m sure) see the illogical nature of this philosophy; can one simply pick and choose what to believe or reject in God’s Word....in itself it claims to ALL be true, so if some is false then why would one assert that else is true? Asserting that to be Roman Catholic was just as Christian as any other Christian, I reminded Tom of the official ruling of his church, that if one believes he can be justified before God, by Faith Alone, in Christ Alone, as revealed in Scripture Alone; the church classifies him as Anathema (cursed). I contrasted this with the orthodox teachings of scripture & implored Tom to be sure he was right.

Later, Bobby & I talked to a small crowd of youth (mostly girls and around thirteen years old). We were amazed (though we shouldn’t have been) of their calloused view of God, scripture, death & eternity. A number were mocking of the Gospel, but a couple were asking questions, but simply of how to avoid Hell & not showing real conviction of sin. Over & over we began to answer questions, but the askers were repeatedly distracted by something....anything rather than listen to the truth.

Three young-men began to walk past me, when I noticed that tattooed on the chest of one were the ‘seven deadly sins’ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_deadly_sins). Now that’s an opening for the Gospel if I’ve ever seen one. I began talking with them men, asking them if they’d ever committed any of those sins & transitioning to the Ten Commandments. As usual, I asked if they considered themselves good people; they did. Wow is Proverbs 20:6 ever accurate, “Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness: but a faithful man who can find?”. I showed them their specific sin before the Law of God & they began to experience some discomfort. When talking of Judgment & the Great & Terrible Day of the Lord, two of the three got upset & walked off. One man (Donavan) stayed to hear the Gospel...pray for him.
I passed out tracts to a couple who stopped, read them and came back to thank me. It turned out that they are from Wisconsin (where Bobby’s from). I called Bobby over and we visited with them about the call to evangelism & each Christian’s responsibility to witness to the Lost, for the Glory of Christ. They expressed a concern; they’ve a friend who’s dying & are trying to figure out how to explain the Gospel to him. I directed them to www.wayofthemaster.com for help. Pray that they will become active for the Gospel & that God will strengthen them in witnessing to their dying friend.

After preaching in jail on Friday night & working hard to get our ‘floating-home’ ready to move onto, we only stayed ‘till about 7:30 & didn’t Open Air Preach.
We appreciate your prayers for strength, energy (seems lacking these days), protection (spiritual & physical) & encouragement. Please email and/or leave your comments on this blog....very encouraging!

Glenn.

EASTER SUNDAY

Easter Sunday

What a Blessed day this had been. Last night, I was thinking of a place to attend church today. I’ve been a little frustrated in finding a good place to worship as there seems to be an epidemic in evangelical churches today; preaching a weak Gospel and a soft on the truth…seemingly more of a concern about selling pew space/religion than preaching the truth at all costs. I heard about a website 9marks.org where churches sign a set of doctrinal statements, then are listed geographically. I punched in a zip code and found a couple churches within a half-hour drive of Seawing. Wow, was that a good idea.

The church I found was Grace Baptist Church of Cape Coral. I arrived early to find an adult Sunday school with lots of adults in it…good sign. The sermon (I Peter 1:13-21) was really a bang-up sermon. Guess what…I met a number of people at the church that were street preachers. Their pastor actually supports them…even though some of them go door-to-door (gasp). Awesome!

Some of the preachers drug me home for a great lunch and a sharing of testimonies. What a great time of encouragement. Funny how many folks that are actively preaching the Gospel have a very similar experience; they listened to the modern Gospel, prayed the sinner’s prayer and were assured of their salvation, many serving in the church…only to encounter the Law of the Lord and find they were LOST! They experienced Godly sorrow and were converted. Maybe this is why a pastor once told me that those that have a burden for preaching the Gospel are often at odds with the church.

One of the men (Bob) and I went out on the streets of Fort Myers Beach tonight, sharing the Gospel with all who would listen. Early on, one of the business owners near Times Square challenged us and told us that in Fort Myers Beach, we needed a permit to pass out stuff and talk to people. I reminded her that the United States Constitution protects our right to free speech…though she thought that a local bi-law trumped the constitution. We kept on going and no-one else bothered us…Bob even gave tracts to some police walking by.

I talked to one young-man who had been demon oppressed. He was arguing with me abut baptism, even called his Dad to get ask questions…but he would NOT answer whether he had repented and trusted the Savior. Another couple I met, claimed to have visited Israel, walked where Jesus walked and heard from him a different way of salvation than the bible, but claimed they could not explain it to me, I’ve have to visit Israel. I tried to share all the scripture I could, hoping that the sword of God’s Word would strike at his conscience. Bob and I talked with many, many others challenging them with the sin, righteousness and the judgment to come.

It was SO encouraging to meet with other like-minded believers.

Glenn.

P.S. The subject of being born again and the sinner’s prayer has been on my mind lately, especially as I see so much of the spiritual carnage from this practice. Below are a couple links to both a sermon and a PowerPoint showing the Biblical viewpoint and the HISTORY of the practice…ery interesting:

http://www.christianebooks.com/Jimn_Kyles_sermon.mp3
http://www.christianebooks.com/sfee_presentation.ppt