Mike P. and I met again at 6pm to share the gospel in Helena. We talked with a man smoking a cig by the Lundy shopping center. He said he was a non-practicing Catholic. We find this a lot. He said you had to follow the commandments to get to heaven. I took him through them and he found out he broke them all. He said he would still go to heaven because God is forgiving. I explained the only way was through Christ and what Christ did on the cross. He didn't seem convicted. We left him with a tract. Next we moved over to Carroll College and found a guy to witness to. He had some weird views about God. He thought God was a relationship not really a deity. I took him through the law and gospel. He liked talking but was lost as can be. We gave him a tract and he said he already had several. Turned out, this was the kid TJ witnessed to a while ago. The weird thing about the Catholic Carroll College is that most of the people we talk to are Atheist or Agnostic. I asked the last kid about that and he said that only 40% claimed to be Christians. We actually found more Catholics down town.
We moved to downtown and gave out some tracts. We went up to woman's park and the coffee shop all the kids hang out. In the coffee shop I talked with one of the workers. He said he was a pastors kid. I asked him if he thought the world was in good shape or bad and he said bad. I asked if he thought man was by nature good or bad, he said bad. I asked him what he thought it took to get to heaven and he said to believe. I said in what, he went on for a bit but wouldn't say the name of Jesus. I said it for him. We left him with a tract and went outside.
I started to talk with another kid and Mike disappeared across the street to witness to a bunch of kids. The kid I talked with was a non-practicing Catholic. He thought you needed to be good to get to heaven. I took him through the law and gospel and explained regeneration and stressed the importance of examining himself to see if God gave him a new heart and new desires. He said it made sense but not a lot of conviction.
I looked across the street and saw Mike surrounding a bunch of kids. I could almost see him chewing his gum 100 mph from across the street. He was in a good conversation. I joined in when Mike finished. Turned out there were 3 non-practicing Catholics and a couple that were nothing but lost. We went the law and explained the cross. One of the lost kids developed his theology from the TV show "South Park". We left them with tracts. The Catholics seemed to listen but the other two were happy for us to leave.
We moved to the walking mall and gave out some tracts. Not much going on so we headed back to campus. We ran into a guy by himself that said he grew up Catholic but didn't really believe anymore. I took him through the law and gospel. He had several stumbling blocks that kept him from believing. He questioned me on the inspiration of the Bible. I showed him through Archeology and History that it is inspired, infallible and that it could be trusted without a doubt. He was satisfied and said he never heard that before. We urged him to look into the things of God and get right with Him today. He was convicted and thanked us sincerely for the talk and said no one has ever explained it that clear before. He only understood, though, because of the Holy Spirit quickening him. We gave him a tract and told him where to find a good church.
Carroll College had a sign up that said there was a Bible study so we went to check it out. There was a large number of people showing up. I talked with the preacher and asked him what the gospel was. He explained it perfectly. Praise God! What a refreshing talk after tonight. We couldn't stay but encouraged him and told him we would tell people on campus to show up for his service. We headed back to the truck since it was well after dark.
Mike found a guy at the grocery store and shared the gospel with him for a good length of time. He seemed to be convicted. Praise God. We handed out some more tracts and were done. We were able, by God's grace, to share the gospel with 11 people and gave out plenty of tracts.
September 18th, 2009
Jeremy, Mike H. and I met again for a night of sharing the gospel in Helena. Nothing too exciting happened this time but we got the gospel out. We started at Carroll College and shared the gospel with four kids there. I think we had and agnostic, a protestant and a couple Catholics. The Protestant gave the correct answer to the question, "What does it take to get to heaven?" but the rest missed it by a long shot. We were able to take them all through the law and gospel.
We moved towards downtown and talked to a couple kids at a coffee shop. One was an evolutionist and the other kid was just lost. He had tattoo's all over his arms with Scripture on them. I asked him about them and he said he used to believe it but now doesn't. When I asked him what he thought it took to get to heaven he said to be self-less. I asked him that if all it took to get to heaven was to be self-less then why did Jesus have to come? He said Jesus came to give us an example of self-less. He did admit that Jesus was God though, he just thought he never needed Jesus to get to heaven. They were not humbled by the Law and were very distracted so we left them. We moved up to the Library and saw the street kids. I already witnessed to them before and Mike P. witnessed to them several times and probably TJ as well. They were hardened and like to cuss us out constantly, but there was a few guys I never saw before so we went to them anyway. The one girl with the maroon hair saw me and immediately moved away. The kid had a guitar and played a song for us and then asked for money for vodka. They were all homeless. He was good a the guitar but he dropped the F-bomb throughout the song. I asked them what they thought the purpose of life was. They were clueless. One kid said that God was the table and grass and tree. A pantheist, although he probably never knew the label. He said he did not want to talk about his beliefs. I tried to ask a few more questions but they started singing and playing the guitar really loud and every word in the song was the F-bomb. We left, which was what they wanted.
We moved down by the silver star steakhouse and saw an Indian family (from India) coming out of the restaurant. They had a couple kids with them. I did some magic tricks for the kids and started talking to the parents. They said they were Sik, which is kind of like Hinduism but they believe in one God and that all regions are equal and all paths lead to God. They also believe in reincarnation. I started talking about Truth with them and that there can only logically be one truth but the lady didn't want to talk about it. I left them with a tract.
We moved back town to campus and we found one atheist that was nice, unlike the last several groups we ran into. I was at least able to convince this kid into being an agnostic instead of an atheist. We had a good talk and I took him through the law and his phone kept ringing and he said he had to go. We left him with tracts. We were able, by the grace of God, to witness to 9 people and give out a pile of tracts. Praise God.
September 12th, 2009
I met Mike P. and we were off to Boulder to an music and art festival to share the gospel. There wasn't a lot going on, maybe 50-60 people, mostly families. We gave out some tracts and walked down town and met a few men coming from the bar. They had been drinking for a while but I don't think they were drunk. I did a card trick for them and then asked if they were Christians. One of the guy's left and the other stuck around. He said he wasn't and that he grew up in a cult. I took him through the Law and shared the gospel. He said he didn't mind going to Hell if that is where God would send him. That is until I explained what Hell would be like, then he changed his mind. He wasn't too convicted though so we left him with a tract.
We headed back to Helena because there was a lot of people out. We parked at Mike's church and walked over to the Staggering Ox and found some kids to witness to. They were agnostic. I took them through the Law and shared the gospel. One kid had questions, which I answered but he wasn't convicted. Seed was planted. We moved to Carroll College an we found one guy to witness to. He said he was a Christian. I asked him what it took to get to heaven and he said to keep the commandments. I took him through the commandments to see how he was doing on his path to heaven. He broke them all and said God would find him guilty and he would end up in Hell. I shared the gospel with him and explained regeneration. I stressed that if he was saved he would have a new heart and new desires. I told him to examine himself to see if he was in the faith. He said he would. I told him to read the gospel of John. He thanked us and we left.
We weren't prepared for what happened next. I did a few tricks for a couple kids on campus, and they liked it so they called in some of their friends that were walking by. I went into the law and as soon has I mentioned Christ their attitude changed. They were very defensive and went into all the usual arguments. They were all agnostics. We argued over evolution very heavy as well as the crusades and back to science, then into the justice and love of God. They were throwing out all kinds of straw men to us. It got very heated. There is a fine line between a good witness encounter and getting punched sometimes and we were balancing on this line. We debated for 30 minutes very intensely. Every time I tried to bring it back to the cross they would bring up science or carbon dating or the guy in Africa that never heard of Jesus or people are starving. One kid was so fired up he was spouting off that Christians were messed up because we need to all unite and feed the poor. God doesn't matter. The conversation was going no where so I shook their hands and thanked them for the conversation and they grudgedly shook back. This wore us out mentally and spiritually.
We moved back to the church and met our friends Brent and TJ. We prayed and renewed our mind in the Scripture and then headed back out. We decided to avoid the campus and head downtown. We hit the park by the civic center, where all the kids hang out. Brent and TJ took a group of kids and Mike P. and I took another. We witnessed a little but it was the same group Mike witnessed to earlier that day. We were waiting for about 15-20 minutes so we decided to go find TJ and Brent. We walked up the hill and saw that TJ had a big group of kids huddled around and he was preaching the gospel to them. They were very heated and it almost look like they would stone him. We joined in. There were a bunch of Atheist's there firing questions at TJ. I decided to let TJ handle this. One of the Atheist's asked a question while TJ was busy answering another so I piped out the answer. The next thing I knew the group of Atheist's jumped me. They fired off four questions at a time. They were fired up and ready to fight over this subject. When I told the one Atheist that he wasn't smart enough to be an atheist the crowd erupted and we were on that fine line between good witnessing and violence. Like John Wesley said, "When the gospel is preached, people should be getting mad or converted." Well we never saw conversion but we saw people get mad. At one point I had to settle the crowd down. I stopped and shook their hands and introduced my self and said I was enjoyng the conversation and it is good to discuss these things. They agreed and settled down being less obnoxious. We argued into the night. When ever I brought up Christ they changed the subject to science. They wouldn't believe there was a God. I even used the building is proof there is a builder analogy and they wouldn't even admit that. We got into mathematics, defining truth, proof that the bible is inspired and the translation of different manuscripts, Macro and Micro evolution, logic and many other subjects. We debated for hours until 9pm. I ended the conversation and asked if they were hungry and offered to buy them pizza. They agreed but later decided they better get home. They were all interested in science vs. the bible resources so they all gave me their email address so I could send them some info. This entire time TJ, Brent, and Mike P. were debating other groups of kids.
Lot of seeds planted. Praise God. We were able to share the gospel with about 22 people this day.
September 11th, 2009
We had an interesting night of sharing the gospel. God brought TJ together with Jeremy and I. We started at Carroll College and shared the gospel with a couple people. The campus seemed dead so we moved up to the walking mall. I shared the gospel with a couple groups of kids at the movie theater. There was a few in each group that were convicted. All said they would be in Hell if they died tonight. One girl in particular was convicted. She said she has always been afraid to die and she knew if she died tonight she would be in Hell. I shared the hope we have in Christ and that He offers a way out to those who believe. I explained the gospel and asked when she would get right with God and she said soon. We left her with a call for urgency and it seemed like she was being drawn but only time will tell.
We moved up to the walking mall. TJ shared the gospel with three little kids. We moved up to the jail and ran into a weird guy that said he was a Christian but what he did at night was walk around and tell kids scary stories. He didn’t want to talk about Christ.
We got to the St. Johns Library for the Buddhist meeting. There was some famous Buddhist lady in town that was teaching on Buddhism. We got to the meeting late with only ½ hour remaining. Just in time for question and answers. There was about a dozen people there being taught by the guru. The first question I asked was referring to the morality of the eight fold path. I asked who determines what morality is. She responded that we all agree on some things. I responded by questioning that morality is determined by a group of people and she said it is really inside you. I then said It seems to me if there is a moral law inside of us that there must be a moral law giver. They all laughed but couldn’t answer the question. The lady then started talking about Karma and cause and effect. TJ asked her if the cause has always been there. She said yes but didn’t know what the cause was. We do, it is God.
I asked several other questions as they came up like: Is there absolute truth? And what is truth? They said I was not asking the right question and that absolute truth means something else. Then I asked if anyone has ever achieved Nirvana (a Buddhist belief that through countless cycles of reincarnation a man gets to be morally perfect and loses all desire and attachment to anything which brings them to a state of Nirvana, which is bliss or non-existence). They said that people have attained this. I said it was hard to believe that someone has gone their entire life without telling a lie or thinking a covetous thought. One guy was irritated at me and said that I was missing the point. I then asked if Nirvana was achieved by losing all desire, does the Dali Lama desire for Tibet to be free? She stumbled around that one like crazy and somehow justified desiring some things.
They decided to end the meeting. We all had to stand up and show glory and honor to the holy one and repeat a prayer after the lady about the four noble truths. We of course never did it. We never stood but sat and prayed to the only True God, our God, to open eyes to the truth. After it was ended some people left. TJ immediately started sharing the gospel with the lady in front of us. I went to the guru and told her I was a Christian and came to learn about Buddhism vs. Christianity. She said they were almost the same. She talked about the moral principles. I asked her if she agreed with Jesus when He said that He was the Way the Truth and the Life and that no one comes to the Father but through Him. She said He was a good man and a good Buddhist. I said He was God. She said she disagreed with Jesus on that point. I told her the Bible says it is appointed for a man to die once then the judgment, so there is no reincarnation. She disagreed with that too. I told her according to Jesus all those who don’t follow Him will be in Hell for eternity. She disagreed. So Christianity and Buddhism have nothing in common.
I had a good talk with an ex-Catholic minister that was no getting into Buddhism. I explained the law and gospel to him. He said the Bible was misinterpreted. I showed him it was inspired by God because of all the manuscripts we have for the New and Old Testaments as well as through history, science, and archeology. It seemed like he was convicted. We left the meeting and went back down town. TJ shared the gospel with some kids at an ice cream shop.
We got back to the cars at about 10 pm. Praise God, we were able, by God’s grace, to share the gospel with about 16 people one on one as well as give out plenty of tracts.
September 9th, 2009
I assumed the man was lost when I met him today because of his cussing and the fact that he had enough hard liquor in his house to supply several bars in town. I asked if he was a Christian and he said kind of. I asked him what he thought it took to get to heaven and he said to love your neighbor as yourself. I have heard this many times usually from Catholics. I asked him if he thought that anyone in the world has done this. He said only one, Jesus. So I took him through the commandments and he told me he broke them all many times. He said he would be in heaven though because God is forgiving. I explained the justice of God and he said that heaven would be empty. I then explained the cross. It seemed to make sense. He asked me a few questions that I have heard a hundred times. He asked about a man on an island that never heard of Jesus. I answered the question and he seemed to be satisfied. He then told me he was a devout Catholic. I said I also grew up Catholic. We talked about the church but I explained again the importance of Jesus and His substitution on the cross. We had a good talk. Seed planted.
Monday, August 31st, 2009
We met in Helena at about 6:00 pm. Six men were ready to sacrifice themselves for the sake of the gospel. We started at Carroll College. The University is usually a good place to start up deep conversations about God. Even though it is a Catholic College the majority of people there are agnostic or lost in some other form of religion. We split up in groups of two and would meet up later. Brent and I would be in a group. We found two kids walking across campus so I started up a conversation with them. They were both agnostic. We went through the law and gospel but they were not convinced. They admitted they would be going to Hell if the Bible was true but they didn’t want to believe the Bible was true so they never cared. I said that if I jumped off the campus building and didn’t believe in gravity I would still fall and die. So your belief in something doesn’t negate reality. They still weren’t convicted so we ended. They shook our hands and thanked us. We left them with tracts and moved on.
We met three more kids. One was Catholic, one said he was a Christian and one was agnostic. They were, however, all lost. The Catholic thought everyone would be in heaven even Hitler, the “Christian” thought you had to be good to get to heaven and the agnostic didn’t believe in heaven. I took them through the commandments and they admitted to breaking them all. I shared the good news of the gospel but they hardened their hearts. They did thank us, however, and shook our hands. We left them with tracts.
We met back with the others. Mike H. and Mark were able, by God’s grace to witness to six people. One lady was interested and they invited her to Bible study. Mike and Yoshi found a Russian and got into a debate for the entire time. Mike and I decided to continue sharing the gospel after the others had to leave. We walked up to the walking mall and found two homeless men who had heard it all before. We shared the gospel anyway and explained our motives. I asked them if they found the cure to cancer would they tell everyone they could. They said they would. I said that we have the cure to death and we want everyone to know before they are dead.
We moved up to the Cathedral but no one was around so we headed back to campus. We found two kids leaving the food court. They were both Catholic and thought you had to keep the commandments to get to heaven. I took them through the Law and they trembled and said they broke them all. At first they were joking around and then they were heavily convicted. They had a few objections but I answered them. I explained that 10 out of 10 die and they couldn’t escape death. They knew if they died tonight they would be in Hell. The Holy Spirit was convicting them. I shared what Jesus did on the cross and the penalty He paid for their sin. The good news made sense to them. We left them with tracts and left them with God. We will let God save them, since He is the only one that can anyway. Praise God. We ended the night with great zeal.
Saturday, August 29th, 2009
My family, Tim K. and his family, Jay and his son, met Mike and Yoshi at the Library to share the gospel with those who are perishing. Mike, Yoshi, and I shared the gospel with some "street kids", as I call them anyway. They are the typical kids, most of which live on the street or with friends, that present themselves as non-conformists to the world. You recognize them by their dyed hair, tattoo's, piercings all over and wearing all black clothes. They were all agnostic. Some were made at us and called us all kinds of names, as usual. Some were open to talking. They heard the law and gospel but didn't care. A crazy distraction from the devil did happen at this time. We were sharing what Jesus did on the cross when all of a sudden a 10 year old (I'm guessing) came flying out of the bushes with a fake sword screaming at the top of his lungs like he was shot. He ran through the park hysterical. Everyone was distracted and went to see what the deal was. Turned out the kid just got stung by a bee! Ah, the devils schemes. We moved down the walking mall and I shared the gospel with four kids about 15 years old. They all said they were going to Hell after we went through the law but it didn't seem like there was a lot of conviction. Shared the gospel and left them with tracts. Later we saw them again at Starbucks so I stopped in and talked with them some more. They had four or so more friends with them now. Some were mocking and others had questions. I answered their questions and stirred them up a little to provoke good conversation. I shared the gospel with the 8 or 9 kids in the middle of Starbucks while the rest of the occupants watched on. Praise God. We left them with tracts.
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