Monday, November 16, 2009

Helena art walk night

It was cold outside but we had a fire in us to share the gospel tonight. Jeremy R. and I met Peter's and Mike H. for a night of evangelism on Friday. We prayed before we started and moved towards the college by way of the staggering ox.

Magician
I saw the magician that I wrote about in an earlier post. He said he has thought a lot about the gospel and is reading the Bible but doesn't know if it is true. Mike H. invited him to his Bible study and it sounded like he was interested in going. Praise God.

Hardee's guy
We moved over to Hardee's and I saw the ex-gang member who I shared the gospel with before and mailed him a Bible. He said he was reading it and was very grateful. Mike also invited him to his Bible study and he too seemed interested in going.

Carroll College
We moved to the College and ran into a group of about 7 kids going to eat. I did some magic tricks and asked them what their religion was. They were all Catholic with one agnostic and one professing Christian. I asked them what it took to get to heaven and they surprisingly gave some fair answers. The Christian said Jesus and the others said the grace of God. I already forgot the rest of our conversation but it was surprisingly good.

The First Date
Now this had to be awkward. I witnessed to a couple going out on their first date at Carroll. The guy thought he had to be good to get to heaven and the girl thought good looks and charm gets you in. First time I have heard that one. I started taking them through some commandments. They both admitted to be liars, thieves and blasphemers. I told them this conversation was a good way to get to know each other. They said they would be guilty before God if they died but still thought they would go to Heaven because God forgives everyone. I explained justice and then the Gospel but they were not too convicted.

The Football Players
We got into a good conversation with two Carroll football players. They were Catholic and lost. They said they had to be good to get to heaven. I took them through the law and they admitted to breaking them but still thought they would get to heave because they confess sins to a priest. They went on to tell me the Catholic church teaches that all religions can go to heaven and that the Bible can't be taken literally. They were shocked I took the Bible literally and called me a fundamentalist. We argued about the infallibility of Scripture for quite a while. He said the Bible is to be taken figuratively. I asked him what he thought Jesus meant when He said He was the Way, the Truth, and the Life, no one comes to the Father but through me. After I quoted this verse the kid said he didn't agree with my interpretation. I said I never interpreted it, I just stated the text. The conversation was going no where. The one kid was openly defiant and said he would be Catholic until the day he died. I guess he liked it because he could sin all day long and not have to give an account for it. The only problem is that his beliefs do not negate reality. He will be in Hell without Christ whether he believes it or not.

Downtown
We moved downtown where they were having an art walk. There had to have been over a thousand people downtown. People just wandered from store to store looking at art and drinking wine, a perfect opportunity to share the gospel. We gave out tracts as we moved throughout the crowd.

Angry Parents
Peter's got hammered by some parents. He was sharing the gospel with some kids when an angry mom came up to him and asked what he was doing. He said that he was telling the kids about Jesus. She told him that he better not ever talk to her kids about Jesus, said a few other select words and stormed off with the kids. I saw the family later in the night and gave the dad a million dollar bill gospel tract and the kids and the dad were actually fighting over who got to keep it.

The Apostate church
We walked past some guys handing out some kind of flier, so I traded him for one of my tracts. It turned out they were from a new church starting up in town. They invited us to come and explained that it was not "churchy" and they canceled worship every 4th Sunday to do stuff. As he talked a thousand red flags went up in my mind so I asked him what the gospel was. He looked like a deer in the headlights. He stumbled around and tried to get his friend to answer the question and then confessed that he himself was the pastor! He asked if this was a loaded question and said he should know the answer to the question of what the gospel was. I agreed and said that I gave him an easy question for a pastor to answer. He stumbled around and gave me all kinds of junk that had nothing to do with the gospel. He finally concluded with, "the gospel is what makes your life better." Wow, a pastor that doesn't know what the gospel is. I explained the gospel to him. He said he didn't know I wanted "churchy" language or he could of gave it. I asked what he thought it took to get to heaven. He tried to quote Romans 10:9 but messed it up and said in was Romans 10:10. I corrected him and he was frustrated. I explained it and we moved on. I wish now that we would have stayed and rebuked them more but there were still plenty of lost souls to share the truth with. His church is called Headwaters church, avoid it like the plague.

We finally found a soundly saved man. Praise God!!!
I asked a kid standing on the street what he thought it took to get to heaven. He said, "do you really want to know the answer to that question?" I said yes. He repeated, "do you really want to know?" I said yes, but was suspicious that he was going to start talking about aliens or something. He never. He started talking about the Holiness of God and then moved into the sinfulness of man and the fall. He proceeded into the Cross of Christ and the call for repentance and faith. I was so happy I started smiling. He thought I was mocking him and started getting even more passionate and said if you don't receive Christ you will be in Hell. Praise God. We explained to him we were Christians. He asked what we were doing at the art show and we told him we were sharing the gospel and he was happy. We had a good talk. In a world that hates Jesus Christ, it is refreshing to find another brother.

Atheists again
We saw our atheist friends again, the guys we debated at Hill park for half the night. They mocked us a little, I did a magic trick for them, then they mocked us some more and left. They said they didn't know about God and haven't changed since the last time we talked.

Group of Catholics
I did some tricks for a group of Catholics. I guess there were about 5 Catholics and one proclaiming Christian. I asked them if they could name the ten commandments. They started to and got most of them but wouldn't name the second one and split the tenth in two. This is because the Catholic church taught them this. The Catholic church actually changed the ten commandments, if you can even fathom that. They removed the 2nd commandment, which is do not make for yourself a graven image of anything. This makes since because the Catholic church has many graven images that some worship. Countless statues of saints and Mary. To keep ten commandments they had to split the tenth into two. So in the Catholic Bible the 9th commandment is: do not covet your neighbors wife and the 10th is: do not covet your neighbors house. After we talked about this I took them through them and they broke them all anyway. I explained the gospel to them, but as soon as I started talking about Jesus their whole demeanor changed and they wanted out of there. I let them go and we moved on.

Another Catholic
I witnessed to an older man who was a Catholic who was proud to go to the Cathedral. He fell into the usual wrong answer to the question of what it takes to get to heaven. He, like almost all Catholics, even the priest I witnessed to, said you have to be good. I took him through the law and the gospel. Seed planted.

The three stooges
I witnessed to three girls who said they were Christians, as they were drinking plenty on the street. One said she was a Christian but didn't believe in what Jesus did anymore. What??? As I tried to explain they gospel they bolted.

What a great night of sharing the gospel. Praise God!

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