Providence and the Universalist

I met TJ for a few hours to share the gospel downtown. We met at Costco for a cheap lunch. In the parking lot I saw a man walking across the parking lot so I ran him down and gave him a tract and asked if he was a Christian. He said he thought he was. I asked what it took to get to heaven and he said he didn't know (goes to the foursquare church in town). I took him through the law and he was very convicted. He was in the pre-release program. I explained the gospel and his eyes lit up. I asked if it made sense and he said it did. This is where God's providence comes in. God's preserving and governing all His creatures and their actions. He looked at me and said, "It is very strange you stopped me, a complete stranger, in the middle of this parking lot and asked me these questions." He said, "I have been struggling with these questions for months and have been looking for these answers and then you stopped me and explained them all to me." I told them that God was after him and sets up appointments like these. We had a good talk for a while longer. I told him to go to Hyatt's church, Calvary Baptist. Praise God!

We moved downtown next. TJ started witnessing to a guy who said he studies the Jehovah Witnesses and Mormons and Christians and that they were all the same. He told TJ all you have to do to get to heaven was believe in God. I asked him, "Believe just like the Devil does and your in?" He said that the Devil doesn't believe in God. So I asked him if he thought the Devil was an atheist. He eventually admitted his wrong. I took him through the commandments which he barely admitted to breaking and still said he was a great person, even though he broke God's law. He said God wouldn't send anyone to Hell because Hell doesn't exist. He was a Universalist. I told him that we get almost the entire doctrine of Hell from Jesus and His teachings. He said the Bible was wrong. I told him that Revelation 21:8 said all liars will have their part in the lake of fire. He got fired up himself. The conversation went south from here. I never even got to the gospel, which was fine because he wasn't humbled anyway.

We went up to the library and gave out tracts. There were a lot of people funneling in and out. Most willingly took the tracts except on big, tough guy, or so he thought. He asked us if we were giving out anything useful. TJ told him that we were giving out gospel tracts and asked if he wanted one. He got mad and said "no!" as he stormed off. As he walked away I said, "I take it your not a Christian". He said he certainly was. I asked him why he is so mad that we are giving out the gospel then. He piped with a lame answer. TJ told him he had a question for him. The tough guy said he had about 100 questions for us. We told him to start asking and he stormed off.

We met another kid in pre-release. He said he grew up Christian and is now with his grandma who takes him to the Catholic Church. He didn't know what it took to get to heaven but wanted to know. I took him through the law which he willingly admitted he broke. I explained the cross and it seemed to make sense to him. He wanted to know more. We told him to repent and trust in Jesus. He said he thought he did that. We talked about regeneration and told him to examine himself. We told him about a good church to go to, gave him our contact info, and told him that someone would pick him up for church if he wanted.

Great afternoon of sharing the Gospel. God answered our prayers of putting people in our path that he wanted us to talk to. Praise God!