A Fool Forgiven

On The Air

2008-11-05T12:07:00.000-08:00

If you weren't able to tune in to the Reformed Think Tank podcast when I was a guest on Sunday night, you can still listen to it online at the link below. It was a fun show. We covered the roots of Halloween with its symbols and traditions; things still done by both pagans and secular or even Christian people today. I also took number of questions on my experience with Wicca and Druidism. Even if you were able to join us live, you may still want to give it a listen as we went another half hour or more in the after show that you didn't get to hear on the broadcast where I fielded a few more questions and we got into the discussion of how much a Christian should participate in Halloween (if at all).

Episode 44 (10/26/08) - Halloween Show

We didn't get as much into how to share the gospel with a Wiccan or someone involved in paganism as I'd wanted. However, that was covered pretty well the other two times I was on the show. We also talked about maybe doing an upcoming show focusing just on witnessing to modern day pagans. I'll be sure to let you know if and when that comes about.

Some of you had asked where you could find and listen to those past two shows. Click either link below.

Episode 4 (12/23/07) - Christmas Show

Episode 15 (3/16/08) - Easter Show

Lastly, on Sunday's show I recommended the following book for Christians to better understand what has become the fastest growing religion in America and how to share the gospel with those practicing it. It's on sale for $7.99 at ChristianBook.com.

Generation Hex: Understanding the Subtle Dangers of Wicca
by Marla Alupoaicei, Dillon Burroughs

You can also click here for an informative Crosswalk interview with the Generation Hex authors.

Weekly "Fishing" Report (10-26-08)

2008-11-05T12:00:00.000-08:00

I took my bride away last weekend to celebrate our 12th anniversary. In lieu of a weekly "fishing" report, I thought I'd share the following witnessing encounter from the Fool4Given archives.

Thorn was a typical looking highschooler wearing a t-shirt from a popular but very dark rock band. However, it was an open door to share ... what else can you expect when someone tells you they were named after the crown of thorns that Jesus wore? This was also one of the few times I had someone ask what had personally brought me to Christ, so after sharing the biblical gospel with him I was able to go back and recap the message -- telling my own experience of being brought to the narrow gate that swings open on the two hinges of repentance and faith.

Click here for the MP3 audio.

On The Air

2008-10-31T10:34:00.000-07:00

I've been both privileged and blessed to be a special guest on the Reformed Think Tank (formerly 2RB) internet radio program twice in the past. The first time for a Christmas show and the second for Easter. Both times we discussed the pagan roots for many of each holiday's symbols and traditions. Traditions that are alive and well amongst pagan circles today. Each time I've also been able to share some of my testimony and how Christ saved me out of witchcraft and druidism to call me as an evangelist for his gospel on the streets.

The RTT guys are brave enough to have me back yet again. This Sunday (10/26) we're going to look at the next big holiday on both secular and pagan calendars: Halloween. Naturally, we'll look at the pagan origins of this holiday. What's with the costumes, trick-or-treating, jack-o-lanterns, black cats, and so on? We'll also talk about how to share the gospel with Wiccans, Druids and other modern day pagans.

Join us on Sunday (10/26) at 8pm Pacific or download the show and listen to it later.

Click here to listen live or download the podcast.

The show has listeners from all-over the U.S. and around the world. Pray that Christians may be equipped through this. Pray that the gospel is shared clearly for the lost that may be listening. Above all, pray that through our efforts Jesus may receive the honor he is due.

Weekly "Fishing" Report (10-19-08)

2008-10-31T10:33:00.001-07:00

Dave, Darrin and their family moved to Redmond last weekend. This means I'm alone again on the streets. Pray that God will raise up and bring more laborers to join me. I'll stay faithful and keep going out. I've been out there on my own before at various times over the past 3+ years and God has been good in bringing others join me, some for a short time and others for a year or more. In fact, it looks like he has a couple of guys waiting in the wings: Ryan may be able to come out more often and Greg Beals has resurfaced after an extended silence. Keep this in your prayers. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. (John 9:4)

Since I didn't have a "fishing" report for you this week, I went in to the archives and found an open air audio to share. This comes from back in the days when I was preaching open air to the folks waiting for the doors to open at the DMV. One of the hecklers broke from the line to get just inches from my face. I was wondering if he was going to knock me off the stool. Towards the end, he ripped up a tract I gave him and in God-granted compassion I told him "I plead for you."

Click here to listen to the audio.

Weekly "Fishing" Report (10-12-08)

2008-10-21T10:20:00.000-07:00

Downtown was rather quiet on Saturday, but the three of us still went out to do some "fishing". Between a couple of loops around 6th Street and a pass through the park, we gave out around 200 gospel tracts.

Dave witnesses to Reuben on 6th Street

On our second trip down 6th Street, Dave picked up a one-2-one with a young man named Reuben. Reuben said he was a Christian, but he was relying on his own goodness to get him into heaven. Dave took him through The Good Person Test to show him we have no righteousness of our own. It is only through humble repentance and faith in the Savior that we are justified before God.

As Dave talked with Reuben, I engaged a man named Doug that was there with him. Doug said he was Lutheran, but he had a "Heinz 57" blend of spirituality that borrowed from a little bit of everything. The biggest thing that seemed to be confusing him was a druid girlfriend and the things she'd been showing him. I thank God that he saved me from my own past in witchcraft and druidism. Now he grants me the opportunity to point people deceived by the occult to the truth of the gospel. Praise him! I talked with Doug for about 15 minutes gave him a Why Christianity? booklet when we were done.

Pray for Reuben, Doug and the rest of the seed that was sown. May Jesus receive the honor he is due!

Weekly "Fishing" Report (10-05-08)

2008-10-18T13:22:00.000-07:00

Due to a rainy and empty streets, our team opted for Plan B. We ended up at Shari's restaurant where we pulled out our Bibles and sharpened our swords over some hot cups of coffee.

Even without an actual "fishing" report, I still have something cool to share. You may remember three weeks ago, I wrote about our tract sweep at the Chili Days Cook Off and a witnessing encounter I had with seven teenagers there. Last week, I received an email from one of the girls asking where she could find and listen to the recording from it. How cool is that? I sent her the link to the MP3 and now she (and perhaps her friends) get to listen to me share the gospel with them all over again.

Here's what she wrote...

Hi :]

One day while hanging out at the chille cook-off in Riverside Park, some of my friends and I were approached by someone with two cards [[one pink, one blue]].

After he showed us the trick that blew our minds, we were all interveiwed on an audio tape. On the tape was Rachel, Ryan, Skyler, a few other guys, and me. I was wondering when the tape would be on the website.

please reply, and God Bless.
-Tawnie

Click here to listen to the audio from that witnessing encounter.

Weekly "Fishing" Report (09-28-08)

2008-10-16T10:12:00.000-07:00

The streets were kind of quiet on Saturday, but our team still gave out a couple hundred gospel tracts. We made a couple of loops around 6th Street and through Riverside Park. A group at the park really liked the Ticket To Heaven tract. One woman asked for an extra one saying her "old man" needed to see it. They encouraged us and said "God bless" as we headed off. Later, after another woman got a Ticket To Heaven tract, she came back and stopped us to get another one for her friend. She asked how we could be so sure we're going to Heaven, and what made the difference between one side being a ticket to Heaven and the other side being a ticket to Hell. I tried to explain the gospel to her, but it was clear that she was drunk. I tried to start the The Good Person Test, but as soon as we touched on sin she got real flippant and cut things short saying she'd just "see [me] in hell." It was sad. At least, she still had the two tracts with her as she left, and I encouraged her to read them later.

Saturday night, I took our evangelism team (and families) to see the Fireproof movie. Not only was the theater filled for the 7pm showing, but I was thrilled to hear it was sold out for Fri night and even the late matinee yesterday was packed yesterday as well. I pray Jesus works through this and uses it his glory in a great way.

When the movie was over Dave, Darrin and I slipped around to the back of the theater and gave out 200+ Million Dollar Bill tracts as people exited. I figured it'd be a good take-home message of the gospel they saw so clearly in the film and it would also give them the Way of the Master website to check out as well.

Weekly "Fishing" Report (09-21-08)

2008-10-09T14:04:00.000-07:00

Darrin, Dave and I hit the streets per our usual "fishing" schedule on Saturday. A couple hundred gospel tracts went out as we made our loops downtown and through Riverside Park.

Dave shows the Curved Illusion tracts to some kids.

Dave picked up a witnessing encounter with a couple of young men as they headed up 6th Street. He gave them each a tract as an icebreaker, then just walked along with them while talking. It was neat to watch him go through what ended up being a five block one-2-two. These two guys got to hear the clear and simple gospel. Pray for them.

Dave shares the gospel with two young men
as they walk along 6th Street.

I had a chance to come across a group of teen boys that I'd witnessed to back in July. Their names are Chris, Dillan and Squirrels. You may remember my description of them in punk garb and bright multi-colored hair from a past newsletter. As they passed, one of them smiled and nodded to say "hi". Another asked "Remember me?" I told him I certainly did and that I in fact still had the recording of our conversation on my website. I gave him the web address and encouraged him to go and listen to it again. They didn't really stop to talk, so I quickly said that I had a new tract for them to check out and gave them each a Smart Card. It was at least a chance to put the gospel in their hands once more. When I looked over my shoulder I saw one or two of them reading the tracts as they went.

Click here to listen to the MP3 of my first encounter with the guys.

Pray for the seed that was sown. Jesus, may you receive the honor that you're due.

Weekly "Fishing" Report (09-14-08)

2008-10-08T11:37:00.000-07:00

Praise Jesus! Following our presentation at the youth's Big Tent Event on Tuesday, our team size was effectively doubled for street fishing on Saturday. We had three new laborers join us: Jordan, Joey and Ryan. I thank God for these guys.

We split into two teams of three and headed down 6th Street; one group on each side. Darrin and Joey were in my team. We passed out a number of tracts as we made our way to Riverside Park. At the park, we found a festival being held there. It was the Chili Days Cook Off. There were bunches of people there, so we headed back up 6th to find the other guys and regroup.

Dave and Darrin were tag-teaming in a witnessing encounter with some teens when found them. After they wrapped up, we decided to head back to my car and load up on tracts. We only went a block or so before Ryan was in another one-2-two, so Dave stayed behind with him while the rest of us went to get the car. By the time we got back to Dave & Ryan, they were in each in another one-2-one. These guys were on fire! We ended up leaving them there downtown so that we four could get to the park and take advantage of the opportunity there.

We made a tract sweep and gave out between 300-400 Ticket To Heaven tracts at the event. Joey and Jordan were getting into it and it was a blessing to see some new laborers at work. We encountered quite a few people that were glad to see us out sharing the gospel and they encouraged us in our work. That doesn't often happen but it's such a blessing when it does.

I pulled out a stool and looked for a good place to preach open air, but their setup with the booths and ticketed entry area for the cook off didn't really present a spot with good foot traffic. I did, however, pick up a one-2-seven with some teens (Jake, Ryan, Tonnie, Rachel, Skyler, Alex, & Matt). I showed them the Curved Illusion cards as an icebreaker and then asked if they'd do a street interview for our website. Six of them said they were Christian with one atheist. However, their talk and conduct just didn't add up for a group of Christian youth. As I asked questions, it was like it is most of the time. They may go to church or know some of the Christian lingo, but they just aren't fitting the pieces into a clear picture that makes sense. I swung into The Good Person Test and gave the gospel simply and clearly for them. It was interesting, as I was closing one of their friends came up to show them a live snake wrapped around her hand. I was able to keep most of their attention, but I couldn't help thinking how literally the serpent had come in to try and distract them. In the end, they said the gospel made sense and they asked for my website address. Pray for these kids.

Click here for the MP3 audio of the witnessing encounter.

Pray for the seed that was sown and that Jesus' receives the glory he is due.

Left to Right: Dave, Jordan, Joey, Darrin, Ryan

The following comes from an email I received from Ryan regarding his experience on Saturday.

Pre-Game Story: Before I even headed out to meet you guys, I ran into my neighbor. He saw my Jesus shirt and asked about it. I didn't share what Jesus did for him. Can you imagine an easier witnessing encounter? The guy mentions Jesus, asks what religion I am, and I still didn't give him the gospel! I went in the house and Bre asked if I shared my faith with him. I copped an excuse that he caught me off guard. She said "Ryan, you have gospel tracts in your pocket." I laughed and replied, "I mean I didn't get to pray and spend time in the Word." She said "You mean like we just did this morning?" What I realized is that I was showing partiality. You see, I've worried in the past about this guy being a sexual predator towards my wife and kids. My desire for his salvation was small. If only I had the heart of God and could see this man as God saw Saul of Tarsus who was actually preying upon his bride and children. As I walked to meet you, I read from The Way of the Master Minute. The first one I opened to (in the middle of the book) was titled "Caught Off Guard."

Game Time: I loved the preparation time. We huddled in prayer and turned to Jesus as we set ourselves to tell people about him. I was glad we split up. I could sense right off the bat that the first girl who got a tract felt mobbed by all six of us. As Dave, Jordan and I headed off in our group of three, it still wasn't what I was used to. All other witnessing I had ever done has been alone. I also never really used tracts before, so the first thing I was worried about was what to say when handing one out. I decided that "Have you seen these?" was my best bet for now. People usually responded with, "What is it?" Then I'd say, "It's a gospel tract." If they seemed willing to talk I would ask, "Ever think about what happens after you die?"

I learned quickly that people did not like the Ticket To Heaven tract when I handed it to them "Hell" side up. Imagine that! I decided to pay attention to which side was up as I gave them out, since it is Heaven I wish for them... hoping they will not go for the alternative.

Ryan seeks to share the gospel on 6th Street.

I was sweating as we walked down the unshaded side of 6th Street. I'd just been rejected by an older couple, as I looked up and saw a couple of young girls walking away from Dave. One was ripping up a tract and saying "Oh, it's about God. Then -- (rip!) -- I guess I'm going to hell!" I thought, "This is going to be interesting." Though, I did not let myself get discouraged; instead, I remembered Jesus' promise that the world will hate us because they first hated him.

The first good witnessing encounter was with some highschoolers (my favorite). One of them was a girl named Sarah, who used to go to our church. I don't recall the names of the three boys. When one of the boys claimed to be a Christian, Dave walked him through the law and grace, clarifying the gospel and making sure the kid understood what he was claiming. I talked to Sarah a little and felt this was an appointment made by God to encourage the faith that she had. There was a few minutes when it felt as if I was almost open air preaching while the four of them listened. We got them thinking and the seed was planted.

Later, I had another encounter with a few more highschool guys. Yippee! They were Billy, Junior and another kid who sat on the ground tearing up our tract. I started with the Smart Card as an icebreaker. Billy was the most talkative in the group. He had a lot of questions. Junior was skeptical. About ten minutes into the conversation Billy said, "Actually, I don't believe in God". He also claimed that his soul was of no importance to him. I reasoned with him on that one and he admitted that deep down, he really does care about his soul. I gave them some extra tracts. I also gave Billy a Bible. He said wouldn't read it, but we encouraged him to hang on to it and at least take it home.

Ryan in a one-2-one with Jay.

Jay and Keith were brothers. I handed Keith a Ticket To Heaven tract and he asked when I'd given it to him. I said, "It actually explains the gospel on both sides. See?" Keith was confident that he would go to heaven after he died. Jay stayed silent. As Dave engaged Keith with The Good Person Test, I swung around to talk to Jay. He listened very intently and said it made sense. In the end he acknowledged his need to repent and trust Jesus.

That's it for the most part. I believe God was in this, with us, working and revealing himself through us. For his glory!

Blessings, Ryan.

Open Air Exhorting

2008-09-12T15:15:00.000-07:00

R.C. - the youth pastor at our new church - invited our team to do the gospel presentation at the youth's big end of summer event on Tuesday night. He wanted to do something that would really grab the kids' attention and as he put it (1) show them what we do (2) encourage the Christian youth to share their faith and (3) make sure the unsaved kids that were there heard the gospel. After talking it over with him, he gave us the go ahead to basically preach open air right in the middle of things (without letting the youth know what would be going on).

Things started with the kids hanging out, playing games, grabbing snacks and generally socializing. Then Ryan lead us all in some worship songs. They got a short period of free time after that so we could create an impromptu "open air" atmosphere. At a good time I went out into the middle of the yard, got up on a stool and began to draw a crowd. They were going to wrap up the evening with a "silly string" war, so I was asking trivia questions and right answers got them caps with which they could later claim cans for that. It got their attention and we had all of them gathered in a short time (though the pictures don't show it very well there was a good crowd).

I treated it just like a regular open air, and after the crowd was gathered I shifted over to preaching. Dave, Darrin and a couple of others were in the crowd to offer some heckling. We wanted the youth to see how some questions or objections are handled, but weren't sure if they would really heckle on their own since their youth pastor was right there. The guys threw some of the basics at me: "There's no proof God even exists!" "How do you know the Bible is true?" "Who are you to push your religion on me?" "You can't call people sinners! - Judge not lest ye be judged!" One of the kids (Nick ... in the pic above with both hands raised) came forward for The Good Person Test and it swung into the straight line gospel preaching sin, judgment, repentance and grace.

Afterwards, I stepped off the stool and spent a few minutes challenging the Christians there to share their faith. I used Mark Cahill's line by asking (1) Do you really believe? (2) If so, do you care? (3) Do you care enough to do something about it? Each of them got a sample bag of tracts we'd put together. There were seven different tracts and I challenged them to give out one each day over the next week. My card was also in the bags so they had our website for more resources.

It was quiet and somber when I finished. The message had gone out, the exhortation had been given. Now it was in God's hands. Apparently, he chose to use it. My daughter (Willow) confirmed the conviction I thought I'd seen on Nick's face as we went through things. As the silly string war raged around us, two different guys came to say they wanted join us street fishing this Saturday. One is familiar with Way of the Master but hasn't yet put legs to it on the streets. The other had never seen anything like this before and was really excited. He'd grabbed Dave and asked "Is this a show? Do you do this for real? I have got to come out with you guys!" One of the kids stopped me to ask for some extra bags of tracts so he could give them out at school. Finally, a youth leader we tapped as a rent-a-heckler for the OA wanted to let me know he's been reading the Way of the Master book I'd given him last week. God is good!

Click here to check out the MP3 audio.

Pray for the seed that was sown. May Jesus receive the glory he is due.

Weekly "Fishing" Report (09-07-08)

2008-09-12T15:10:00.000-07:00

Saturday was primarily a tract sweep day. We made our usual circuit of 6th Street and Riverside Park and between comic tracts and What If? cards, we gave out 400+ tracts.

The Asian Cultural Arts Festival was being held at the park. A small band was playing some music as I passed through giving comic tracts to the merchants working the booths and the people sitting in chairs around the stage. Meanwhile, Dave busied himself showing the Curved Illusion cards to some folks standing in the back. A blond woman wearing a barely-there belly dancing outfit got up and began to shimmy and sway to the music, drawing attention to herself. It was interesting to note with Dave and Darrin afterwards that she was sitting in a chair in the front row with the music already playing, it wasn't until I'd begun to give out the gospel tracts that she got up and started to dance. Coincidence? I think not. "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood... (Ephesians 6:12)"

We got some nice encouragement as we made our way out of the park. Earlier, I'd given a tract to a man sitting over by the river. As we passed by this second time, he stood up and introduced himself as Neal. He was glad to see us out doing the work and asked what church we go to. When we told him, he said he knew the pastor there fairly well and had good things to say. We spent a few more minutes in fellowship, then thanked him for the encouragement and headed back downtown.

We had a totally different encounter on 6th Street. Let me preface this by saying at one point Dave told us he was feeling good and was looking for a one to one. (Be careful what you ask for.) A few minutes after this, I saw a guy bobbing and rapping loudly as he headed toward us. I gave him a tract as he passed and he literally stopped short, spun on his heel and asked me what it was. I told him it had a gospel message on it. I asked his name, he answered Daniel and that was about the last I got to say. He started talking and just wouldn't stop. It was like a rapid-fire talking cartoon character or something. He talked about churches, the gospel, evangelism and then a muddle that sounded like universalism and conspiracy theories. The whole time he kept shivering like someone standing in the cold, so we suspect he was high on something.

After several long minutes, I tried to break it off by telling Daniel that my friends were down the street waiting for me and we had to go. He said he'd come with us ... that he really didn't have any friends and he wanted to evangelize. My phone rang about that time, so I excused myself to take the call. I thought maybe this would give us a break and he'd lose interest or leave but he just latched onto Dave and kept talking. After the call, we headed back to the park. Dave tried to get a hold of the conversation with Daniel but couldn't get more than two or three words in when Daniel took a breath. Dave tried to clarify points on the gospel, sin or repentance but Daniel kept going. Dave tried to swing into The Good Person Test, but Daniel would avoid it and go off on a tangent. It was wild. Daniel knew scripture. He quoted more from the Bible than most anyone we've met on the streets, but there was something odd about how did it. It reminded me of how Satan used scripture to tempt Jesus. He also got louder and more animated as we went along. It was like he was open air preaching in in that same odd way as we crossed the 6th Street bridge. Darrin said he was like the woman with the spirit of divination in the book of Acts that followed Paul and Silas proclaiming "These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation." I was growing concerned that his scriptural ranting was really going to hinder us and send mixed signals to people that took tracts or passed us. As we walked, I was praying and asking for God to intervene or send him away. Finally, when we headed into the park, Daniel decided to leave. At least he still had the tract and a Gospel of John I'd been able to give him at the start of things. Let's pray he reads one or both of them when he comes down and is in a right mind. Anyways, the encounter was yet another good reminder of the battle we're in and the forces that stand against the gospel. As I referred to with the belly dancer above...

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:12)

Weekly "Fishing" Report (08-31-08)

2008-09-04T10:08:00.000-07:00

Instead of our regular Saturday street fishing this past weekend, we manned the I-5 coffee outreach trailer at the north bound Manzanita rest area from 7pm to Midnight on Sunday night.

It was a good time and a chance to check out another fishing hole. A number of Labor Day travelers stopped to get free coffee, hot cocoa or a snack. They were glad to find us there, especially as it got later in the evening and most still had a few hours to go. Several were making a seriously long drive (i.e. Los Angeles to Portland). We talked with folks, showing them the Curved Illusion or urging them to take a comic tract as they left. Providing coffee and helping to keep them alert on the road is important, but putting the gospel in their hands was our primary objective.

We look forward to taking part in the I-5 coffee ministry again. It's a real blessing to partner with others that actively want to reach the lost with the message of salvation. Each cup that goes out even has a label on it presenting a gospel message entirely from Bible verses along with church contact info.

God so loved the world, He gave His one and only Son, that whoever
believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. Believe in the
Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
But God demonstrates His own love for us in this, while we were still sinners Christ died for us. Christ died for our sins. He was buried and He was raised on the third day."

From the Bible - Calvary Crossroads Church - 541.479.4334

Pray for the seed that was sown. Jesus, may you receive the honor that you're due!

Weekly "Fishing" Report (08-24-08)

2008-09-04T09:40:00.000-07:00

Our family went camping over the weekend. I packed some tracts and Holly helped me give out a number of them as we checked out Newport and the surrounding sights. We came across Johnny Depp at the Waxworks. I couldn't resist the chance to show him the Curved Illusion. As you can see in the picture above, he appeared to be mesmerized by the trick. (ha-ha)

In lieu of the usual "fishing" report, I thought I'd share a witnessing audio from last Saturday at the Josephine County fair. This comes from the one-2-one I had with Melissa. You may remember from the last newsletter, Melissa was a carny working one of the game booths. She saw my "Name Ten Get $20" shirt and called me over to ask about it. I gave her 60 seconds to name all ten commandments. She got five. I then asked if she's at least kept the commandments she'd just told me that she knew, and that swung into The Good Person Test. Something really neat happened. As we went through the commandments and revealed her sin in lying, stealing, lusting and blasphemy she recognized that she'd be judged guilty by God. I asked her how then would she make it right? How would she settle it up with God? She looked me in the eye and said, "I don't know. I've actually been trying to figure that out." God's timing is great! I then got to share the gospel with her. She'd broken God's Law but Jesus had paid the fine through his death and resurrection. Her repentance and faith in Christ would mean God could dismiss her case on Judgment Day due to lack of evidence ... there would be no sin to see. It really is good news that we get to share. She took a Gospel of John and an Are You Good Enough To Go To Heaven? Tract when we were done.

Click here to listen to the MP3.

Pray for the seed that was sown. May the Lamb of God receive the rewards of his suffering.

Weekly "Fishing" Report (08-17-08)

2008-08-29T17:08:00.000-07:00

At first, it seemed liked we weren't going to make it for street fishing at the Josephine County Fair on Saturday. Car trouble, health problems and 3-digit temperatures all hit that day, but we pushed through. We were at the fairgrounds for an hour and a half. It was hot! Sweat was stinging our eyes and our throats felt like cotton. However, the strength for our labors came by God, through God and for God and ended up having a great time witnessing and sharing the gospel. In the end we'd given out approximately 300 gospel tracts and picked up six different witnessing encounters.

I had the first one-2-one within 100 yards of the gate. Melissa was a carny working one of the game booths. She saw my "Name Ten Get $20" shirt and called me over to ask about it. I gave her 60 seconds to name all ten commandments. She got five (sadly, only two or three is average). I then asked if she's at least kept the commandments she'd just told me that she knew, and that swung into The Good Person Test. Something really neat happened. As we went through the commandments and revealed her sin in lying, stealing, lusting and blasphemy she recognized that she'd be judged guilty by God. I asked her how then would she make it right? How would she settle it up with God? She looked me in the eye and said, "I don't know. I've actually been trying to figure that out." God's timing is great! I then got to share the gospel with her. She'd broken God's Law but Jesus had paid the fine through his death and resurrection. Her repentance and faith in Christ would mean God could dismiss her case on Judgment Day due to lack of evidence ... there would be no sin to see. It really is good news that we get to share. She took a Gospel of John and an Are You Good Enough To Go To Heaven? Tract when we were done.

Jim shares the gospel with Melissa.

Dave had a one-2-four with some teens that go to a local church. He was passing out What If? cards and the girls asked what they were. He said it was a gospel tract and they responded by telling him they had Jesus in their hearts. He questioned them on what they meant and took them through The Good Person Test. They were giggling and chipper as he he started, but as he went over the commandments their tone noticeably changed. As the law began to bring conviction of sin, the girls grew somber and paid real attention to where this was going. They tried to justify themselves, but Dave went over the court room analogy which they said made sense. He then finished by pointing to the cross, where Jesus paid the penalty for their sins in a similar fashion.

Dave witnesses to some teens.

Dave later picked up a one-2-two with Taylor and Dylan. They'd stopped him to ask about my "Name Ten Get $20" shirt. He explained the challenge and gave them each a What If? card. He then asked if they thought they were a good person. Naturally, they both said "yes" and told him they'd grown up going to church. So, Dave took them through The Good Person Test. When he came to the seventh commandment, they both said they hadn't committed adultery. Then Dave told them what Jesus said about lust being adultery in the heart. They got quiet and and realized they were guilty. Dylan said he just had to ask for forgiveness to get out of it. So, Dave explained the necessity of repentance in salvation and explained the courtroom scenario. They understood it. He challenged them to dig deeper in the Bible and thanked them for their time.

Dave in a one-2-two with Taylor and Dylan.

The Lord also provided some encounters with other Christians to encourage us along the way. One man even stopped to pray with us after we talked with him. We came across the CEF folks running the Good News booth. They encouraged us in our street fishing and gave us some gospel presentation wristbands. In another spot, The Emmons Sisters were getting ready to perform and we got to talk with their mom for a bit. She was glad to see we were out sharing the gospel and passing out tracts. It was also neat to see them, as Victoria Emmons stars in the movie Come What May which we actually watched at our church later that evening. (You must see this movie! It's good Christian entertainment with some powerful and wonderful messages.)

I picked up three more one-2-ones with different carnies (Bobby, Jessica, and Quail) as we made our way back toward the gate. It was interesting, the "Name Ten Get $20" seemed to particularly draw the attention of the carnies. None of them could name all ten commandments, but each time created a chance to share the gospel of salvation and all three took an Are You Good Enough To Go To Heaven? tract and a Gospel of John afterwards.

Pray for the seed that was sown. Jesus, may you receive the honor that you're due!

Weekly "Fishing" Report (08-10-08)

2008-08-29T16:45:00.000-07:00

We had a team of four for street fishing on Saturday. Dave's daughter Heather came out with us. It was a blessing. She showed the Curved Illusion cards to a half-dozen or more people and passed out some What If? tracts. Now it has to be said, she's 10-years-old ... so, what's your excuse? The fields are white for harvest, come and join us.

Heather shows someone the Curved Illusion tracts.

We made a couple of loops around our downtown fishing hole and through Riverside Park. At the park, we passed some homeless people gathered under the 6th Street bridge to get out of the sun. I spent a few minutes talking with them after they each took a tract. They weren't sober enough to get into a real one-2-one, but by taking the time to engage them and answer some of their questions it's my hope that they'd be encouraged to hang on to the tracts and read over them when they're sober.

Cargo shorts (for sheer pocket size) seem to
have become the standard team wear.

It was a good "fishing" afternoon. By the time we headed back to our cars, we'd given out more than 200 gospel tracts. Some times we're out there and we pick-up several one-2-ones, other times we're presented with a chance to preach open air, and some days are more of a big tract sweep. Either way, we trust God is doing what he wants to do and we just make ourselves available.

Pray for the seed that was sown. May Jesus receive the honor he is due!

Weekly "Fishing" Report (08-03-08)

2008-08-08T21:21:00.000-07:00

Dave, Darrin and I had a great time street fishing on Saturday. We came across a multi-church praise and worship gathering being held at Riverside Park. Recognizing that many times the mission field today is found within the professing church we made a tract sweep and gave out a good number of Who is Jesus? tracts before heading back 6th Street.

Jim shares the gospel one-2-one with James.

Not long after hitting downtown, I had a one-2-one with a young man named James. It was interesting, because he started the conversation saying he was an atheist. Later he said he thinks there may be a higher power of some sort, which shifted him to an agnostic. Then as we got to the gospel, he said that he'd had some form of Christian background. I tried to clarify things as we covered sin, righteousness, judgment and grace which left him with a picture of the biblical gospel. He said it made sense and it had given him something to chew on. He then took a Gospel of John and a This Was Your Life tract as he left.

Click here to listen to the MP3 audio of the witnessing encounter.

Bumper stickers that caught our eye.

After swinging through the patio outside the Dutch Bros coffeehouse with some tracts, we headed back down 6th Street and noticed some bumper stickers on a car that grabbed our attention: "Prepare to meet thy God" (Amos 4:12). "Are you saved?" and "Ye must be born again" (John 3:7). I stopped to take some pictures, not knowing that the owner (Jesse Boyd) and his friend (Bishnu Shrestha) were just down the block. Jesse told me later that he saw us and thought we might be mocking his car so he was coming back to witness to us. That's great! Naturally, we introduced ourselves. Jesse heads up Full Proof Gospel Ministries and Bishnu is the founder of DSMA Publications and Ministries in Nepal. Jesse had met Bishnu during some missionary trips to Nepal. (See their websites for more details.) Now, they are translating Mark Cahill's two books "One Thing You Can't Do In Heaven" and "One Heartbeat Away" into Nepalese to share with the people there. Praise God! This time, Bishnu had come to visit Jesse in America. Rather than just making it a social visit, they decided to turn it around and hit the road with Bishnu being a Nepal missionary to the U.S. How cool is that?

Anyways, they were driving to Bend and Jesse had gotten tired, so they pulled off here at Grants Pass to rest. After a catnap, they decided to get out and do some street fishing. That's when God brought us across their path. Since they didn't know the area, they asked if they could join us. God is so good! They were giving out a couple of tract booklets that Jesse had written, you can see them in pdf format here: Haven't You Heard? and Blunt Truth. It was a blessed time of refreshing and fellowship. We swapped stories and found we knew several of the same people and resources in the street evangelist circles. They were brothers-in-arms. There are times you can really feel alone in the battle for souls, then God does something like this to remind you that there are others in the fight with you.

Jesse uses a rope trick as an icebreaker.

Jesse picked up a one-2-two with a couple of folks that we've talked to or shared tracts with before. He showed them a rope trick that walked through a gospel presentation. It was a good chance for them to hear the message of the salvation from yet another source. We keep pointing them to the cross and can only pray that God would grant them repentance.

A man showed interest in what Bishnu and Dave were handing out. So they gave him a Who is Jesus? tract and Haven't You Heard? booklet. He said he was a preacher himself, and that he holds a small service in the park with the homeless and bikers. He then explained that it was more like a Native American gathering and that the "services" actually consisted of different people sharing rather than him giving a standard teaching or sermon. He justified the fact that he drinks with the bikers as his way of gaining their trust to then share the gospel with them. Dave swung into The Good Person Test. He was only able to get through three of the commandments, as what he covered was clearly getting to the man. The "preacher" excused himself saying he was busy and wanted to get back to what he was doing. Dave says is wasn't anger or intentional rudeness, but clearly conviction under the truth. Dave thanked him for his time and asked him to read the items they left with him.

Dave, Jesse, Bishnu and Darrin

After wrapping things up, I took Jesse and Bishnu out for dinner. It was chance for further fellowship and encouragement. We then prayed before they had to get back on the road for Bend. Take the time to check out the links I gave you above and pray for these brothers and their ministries.

Pray for the seed that was sown. Jesus, may you receive the honor that you're due.

Weekly "Fishing" Report (07-27-08)

2008-08-01T16:40:00.000-07:00

Since the Back to the Fifties summer celebration hit Grants Pass this past weekend, we went out both Friday and Saturday to take advantage of the fishing opportunities. Darrin was out of town so it was just Dave and I, but God blessed our efforts and the two of us were able to sow a lot of gospel seed.

We made a tract sweep at the concert and street dance held at 6th and G Streets on Friday night and gave out 400+ tracts in under two hours. We got a chuckle out of one girl who took a tract and then turned to her boyfriend saying "You need one of these!" Later, we found Josh down by the Dutch Bros coffeehouse. I first witnessed to Josh back in January '06. Interestingly enough I shared the gospel with him twice in the same day as he was part of two different witnessing encounters. You can listen to those audios here and here.

We've continued to come across Josh here and there over the past couple years and I'd follow-up or share tracts and other things with him. Now, he tells us he and his wife have been going to church for three weeks. Praise God! Pray that God will continue to do a work in Josh and bring him soundly to Christ.

We were out again during our normal street fishing time on Saturday and passed out another 400+ gospel tracts downtown and at the car show at Riverside Park. Dave gave a Who Is Jesus? tract to one woman and she put it on the front window of the car they were showing (see below). I thought that was cool.

Saturday evening, we loaded up on tracts and made a sweep of the parade route for the Classic Car Cruise. We started at the bottom of 6th Street and just made our way up until we ran out of tracts. We gave out 1,500 Good Ol' Days (see front / back) and Million Dollar Bill tracts between the two of us in less than 30 minutes!

Dave passing out tracts at the Classic Car Cruise.

I had some witnessing encounters over the weekend as well. I've been trying something different and it's been interesting. If the person or persons I'm talking to say they've gone to church or come from a Christian background, I've been asking them up front what the gospel is. So far, the silence, stammering and hodgepodge of answers I've received has been both sad and revealing and I thank God for the opportunities to clarify and bring some sense to the gospel. Listen to the two audios and see what you think.

The first was with two teen members of the event staff on Friday. Brandon said he'd been going to youth group with his girlfriend for a year. Jesse wasn't sure what happened after you die, but thought reincarnation would be cool. Click here to listen.

The next was with three young guys on Saturday. I wish I had a picture to share with you. These were the kind of guys you'd think would never be interested in talking over the things of God. They all had bright colored hair: one green, one red and the other with five different colors. Yet, for around 15 minutes I sat there on the sidewalk with them as we discussed sin, righteousness, judgment and God's grace through the cross. Afterwards, they said it made sense. They each took a Gospel of John and a Ten Commandments Coin and I encouraged them to wrestle this out with God. Click here to listen.

Pray for the seed that was sown. Jesus, may you receive the honor that you're due.

Weekly "Fishing" Report (07-20-08)

2008-07-26T12:19:00.000-07:00

Kelly and I took the girls camping this past weekend, so I wasn't in town with the team for our regular Saturday street fishing. However, I still took opportunities as they came to share tracts with people. Even Holly (our nine-year-old) got to sow a seed. John Rickard gave Holly a Pressed Ten Commandments Penny and a tract to go with it. She wouldn't rest until she found someone to give them to. She approached a couple of people, though they didn't take it. Finally, God sent a woman and her dog stumbling right into the camp site. Holly handed her the penny and tract and told her what they were. The woman actually hugged her and said thank you. God is good. It's a blessing to see our kids share the gospel with others like this.

In lieu of the usual "fishing" report, I went into the Fool4Given archives and found this MP3 from one of the chances I had to preach open air on the U.C. Long Beach campus in Los Angeles.

Click here to listen to the audio.

Weekly "Fishing" Report (07-13-08)

2008-07-17T09:54:00.000-07:00

Saturday was hot! 102 degrees of hot while the three of us were on the streets. It was the kind of day where tracts really come in handy. The heat meant people weren't interested in stopping to talk, but it still proved to be a good street fishing time because we were able to put the gospel in their hands anyways. There was a motorcycle rally of some sort going on at Riverside Park. They had a stage and bar-b-q set up at the big pavilion along with a number of booths. I thought of preaching open air, but it really wasn't so much of a crowd as pockets of people scattered about trying to get cool in the shade; some were busy getting their food and others were huddling in the pavilion or around the booths. While I didn't get to pick-up a one-2-one, I was able to make a tract sweep through the event and passed out over a hundred Million Dollar Bill tracts in a matter of minutes.

We also made a couple of passes downtown and gave out a number of tracts there as well. On our way down the the park we caught up with a group of three teen guys. I asked if they'd gotten their Millions yet and gave them each a tract. One of them asked "Is this the one with the million dollar question on it?" He flipped it over and said "Great!" while showing his friends. That was so encouraging. He and the others started reading the gospel message on the back. Before I had a chance to say much of anything further they headed across the street, but they were still checking out the tracts as they went. A little later we came across a group of teens sitting in the shade of the community building at 6th & G Streets. One of them called out and asked us why were were all wearing the same "Fishin' Fools" shirts. I answered that we were a street ministry. He said "cool" and the girl beside him told me she went to a church in Williams. I took the opportunity and tried to ask her more about her church, hoping it might take us into a one-2-two. She was tight-lipped though and just didn't give me an opening. It's strange how the "Christian" in the group can be the one that gives you friction while the others can be open. So, I changed tactics and told the first guy that I wanted to show him one of our most popular tracts. I pulled out that Curved Illusion cards and held them up, asking him which one looked longer. He really like the trick and it drew the attention of the three other people there with them. So, I gave the tracts to the others as well. Meanwhile, the first guy started reading the gospel message on the back of the cards out loud. How cool is that? It didn't become a real conversation or that type of witnessing encounter. There's no MP3 audio worth uploading from it. Still, it was neat to see how God opened the door for the gospel to be shared there ... with this young guy calling us over to them, his reading the cards and the others getting tracts in their hands from our interaction. It was nothing big and flashy, but we knew something had happened there. Sometimes we just have to be available and trust God that maybe we're just planting the seed and he will be faithful to see it watered and harvested in his timing.

Pray for the seed that was sown. May Jesus Christ receive the glory he is due!

Weekly "Fishing" Report (07-06-08)

2008-07-12T14:02:00.000-07:00

We were back on the streets Saturday. Though it's getting hot, we still gave out a good number of gospel tracts between downtown and the park. I tried getting into a couple of one-2-ones, but met with stiff opposition this time out. One was a young teen boy that was surprisingly hardened. He crumpled up the Million Dollar Bill and threw it on the ground shortly after I'd given it to him. He said he was an atheist and he didn't need this *bleeping* stuff. I attempted to get him talking by asking what it was that convinced him to not believe in God, but he just spat out more arrogance and venom. He took off across the street and his friend followed. Thankfully, the friend still had hold of a tract as the left. At times like this, it's good to keep in mind that we're just called to sow the seed and share the gospel. Their response isn't up to us. It's God who chooses if he'll soften their heart and grant them repentance.

And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will. (2 Tim 2:24-26)

The other encounter was at the park where I came across three kids in their late teens sitting on a bench. I gave them each a What If? card and they naturally asked "What if, what?" I asked what if it was their last day on earth, where would they go when they die? The girl was an agnostic and figured there wouldn't be an after life. One of the guys said he was a Christian but was very uncertain with his answers. The last young man wasn't serious at all. They all started acting silly, just cutting up and playing off each other. I tried to bring some direction to the conversation, but it was like herding cats. The sad part is the "Christian" guy told me he was part of the youth group in one of the churches that would be part of Church in the Park that Sunday, yet he was no more serious about the gospel than the others. He was acting just as silly, interruptive and uninterested in me sharing with their group. After spending several minutes trying to take it somewhere and fielding a number of inane questions, I decided it best to cut it off. I think it shocked them a little when I did. I found as I looked back that one or two of them were reading the back of the tracts as we left.

Sometimes, people think just because they can't meet us for street fishing or get out and do something like we're doing that they're not really able to witness or reach the lost. There are a plethora of venues for sharing the gospel if we'll just make ourselves available and watch for the opportunity. Darrin has been going to some of the online community sites and witnessing to people in the chat rooms there. Several times over the past few weeks he's told me about sharing the gospel of salvation with someone, taken a person through The Good Person Test, or answered some questions for a young Christian and pointed them to some online resources. OK, so maybe have your reasons for not hitting the streets. How about some chat room fishing?

Pray for the seed that was sown.

Cardboard Testimonies

2008-07-08T09:42:00.000-07:00

This is powerful!

Weekly "Fishing" Report (06-22-08)

2008-06-26T17:44:00.000-07:00

As the weather gets warmer and we move into summer, we're finding more and more people out on the streets and down at the park on Saturdays. I wanted to share a couple of encounters that I haven't had the chance to write about until now.

We had an interesting encounter with Shawn. I say it's interesting because he actually approached us. We were passing out tracts in front of the community building at 6th & G Streets when he came walking towards holding up has hands and jestingly saying "Uh, oh! It's an ambush." He stopped and asked what we had. Darrin gave him a tract. He glanced through it and started asking us questions. We came to find out Shawn is an English teacher at the high school. He's a former catholic and still believes in God (he says there's too much evidence otherwise) but has been burned by religion. He said he honestly envies those of us who have found faith. He said himself that he's earnestly seeking, but all too often finds discussion of religion ends in a clash as he's seen even between students in his classroom. He was very pleasant and we talked for a bit. Along with the tract he still had from Darrin, I gave him a Why Christianity? booklet which he said he'd be interested to read.

The next encounter was at the park with Jeremy. We'd split up a little bit and were making our way around the playground passing out tracts. I gave a tri-fold tract to a man that was watching his son, but as I continued on past him he called after me. I stopped and went back to see if he wanted to talk. He went to give the tract back to me and said he and his son believe in God, but his ex-wife doesn't. He was worried that her seeing the tract might cause a controversy. I told him I understood and I traded him the tract for a Why Christianity? booklet that would fit easier in a pocket. He thanked me and took that. I met up with Dave and Darrin as we continued our loop and we actually ran into the man with his son on the other side of the playground. I introduced him to the guys. His name is Jeremy. We had a little more of a chance to talk. He's a believer in Christ and is doing what he can to introduce his son to Jesus, but the broken marriage causes some trouble there. He's also been battling cancer for 10 years. The three of us encouraged him and then prayed with him there at the park. I ask if you would, to pray for Jeremy as well.

Last Saturday we stopped in at the Dutch Bros coffeehouse for a smoothie to cool down and take a little edge off the heat during one of our downtown tract sweeps. As Dave and I went to get in line at the counter, Darrin passed out tracts to those sitting on the patio. A girl kind of heckled him saying she was sure she'd go to heaven, but she caught Darrin off-guard and he didn't go anywhere with it. He came inside to join us, feeling bad for not picking up the chance for a one-2-one. After getting our drinks, we headed outside and back down 6th Street which took us past the girl and a friend that had joined her. I said I'd heard she may have some questions and handed her a Why Christianity? booklet. She again began to protest that she knew she'd go to heaven. I asked why and she said because she was a good person. I came around the table to sit across from her and her friend and started taking her through The Good Person Test. She was being loud and silly, but I kept us on track and eventually the friend began to engage in the conversation. Eventually, the first girl really bowed out aside from a silly comment here or there but her friend (Jasmine) started to really ask questions as we talked over sin, righteousness, judgment and grace. I asked Jasmine if the message of the cross made sense when we were done and she said yes. I left her with a tract and a Gospel of John.

Afterward, I let Darrin know he hadn't missed an opportunity when he'd given a tract to the first girl. Jasmine wasn't there yet and as it turned out the witnessing encounter was actually for her. It's a matter of God's timing.

Pray for the seed that was sown. May Jesus receive the glory he is due.

Indescribable

2008-06-20T17:32:00.001-07:00

Todd Bentley and Florida Revival

2008-06-11T15:10:00.000-07:00

Todd Bentley and the "healing revival" in Florida are sweeping like wildfire across the landscape of our churches. Looking into this has raised a number of concerns that I want to share. As someone familiar with the New Age and formerly active in the occult, references to spirit guides, mysticism, astral projection and other manifestations catch my attention. I'll be the first to admit there may well be miracles and signs happening there. However, does this necessarily mean it's of God? As a practicing witch I actively worked with the supernatural and made things happen. In scripture we see that Pharaoh's sorcerers, Simon the Magician, and the girl with a spirit of divination were able to do such things. We as Christians are called to "test the spirits" behind all things by the Word of God. Below is a collection of video clips and articles related to the "Florida Revival." Review this material carefully and prayerfully; asking God for discernment and wisdom. We must also pray that Bentley and those involved will repent and that our brothers and sisters who may be caught up in this will have their eyes opened to the truth of Scripture.

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. (1John 4:1, ESV)

For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. (Matthew 24:24, ESV)

What genuine revival looks like.
In contrast to Lakeland Florida, click here and take a look at what genuine revival looks like with what is happening in China.

What genuine revival does not look like.
If you want a summary of the whole letter below, you can click this link to read the article there and also watch this video that shows what happens back stage at the "revival" in Florida -- crawling and rolling around, hysterical laughter, convulsions, Todd Bentley tackling people to the ground ... in other words, chaos.)

"Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits. Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness." (Matthew 7:15-23, ESV)

Examining the Fruit

False Healing or False Prophet
Read this article about a man whose friend (a pastor) was seeking healing from chronic bone cancer. He went to Florida for a healing on May 18, 2008. Todd Bentley proclaimed that he was healed and yet he died a week later.

But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die. And if you say in your heart, "How may we know the word that the LORD has not spoken?" -- when a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him. (Deuteronomy 18:20-22, ESV)

Brutality & Violence
In this video, Todd Bentley proudly talks about kicking an old lady in the face, along with punching, leg dropping and choking people during his services.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. (Galatians 5:22-23a, ESV)

Some supporters have tried to argue that Smith Wigglesworth also punched someone in the stomach to heal them of cancer. However, a look at his book Apostle of Faith will show that Wigglesworth and Bentley are not operating in the same spirit or manner at all.

For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. (2 Timothy 3:2-4, ESV)

Mysticism and Angelic Manifestations
Angelic Hosts is an article written by Todd Bentley in 2003 detailing some of the history behind this movement with special reference to an "angel" named Emma. Click here to read an article that reveals the disturbing circumstances behind Bentley's introduction to Emma. Next read this article that examines it even further.

Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind. (Colossians 2:18, ESV)

Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, (1Timothy 4:1, ESV)

In one God TV broadcast from Lakeland Florida, a person on the platform says - "The anointing, I used to feel it in my hand, now I feel it in my spine - it's weird!" The occult Kundalini spirit is reported by its devotees to reside in the spine. As seen in this article, there are many similarities between Kundalini manifestations and what is happening in Florida. This should raise some flags. Scripture calls us to "test the spirits" since counterfeit spirits could mimic the Holy Spirit.

In this video, Bob Jones and Todd Bentley speak about being caught up in the third heaven while they sat in a restaurant. During their trip to heaven, they both smell vanilla (imagine that in a restaurant). Bentley also talks about an "angel of light" ministering to the viewer.

For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds. (2 Corinthians 11:13-15, ESV)

Body Art
People might assume that Todd Bentley's extensive tattoos and piercings came from before he was a Christian. However, the truth is they are a fairly recent thing. As seen in this video, Bentley is talking in Toronto about an encounter with another "angel" without the tattoos and piercings. Despite what some people may say, the Bible does not expressly speak against body art - tattoos or piercing - as we know it today (see this article). Some may even point out that when a person sees a preacher or Christian speaker with tattoos, they may be lead to think "I can trust this man" or "they can relate to me." This would be OK if the individual had genuinely "been there and done that." However, as we see Bentley's body art came afterwards. Why the change? Perhaps it's an effort to be more appealing to a younger or more worldly crowd. While the Bible doesn't expressly speak against the body art itself, it does say we are to examine the intentions of our heart. Can a professing Christian really get tattoos and piercings to this degree that aren't either an expression of rebellion, pride, or otherwise drawing attention to self? I've heard Bentley says he just wants to be natural. Yet, as someone else pointed out, Scripture says the natural man and cannot know the things of God (1 Cor 2:14).

And he said to them, "You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God. (Luke 16:15, ESV)

Prosperity Teaching
A quote from Todd Bentley's Angelic Hosts (linked to above): "I was at another meeting in Atlanta when my wife, Shonnah, saw two financial angels walk into the service and pour oil out on the pastor. Shonnah then knew there was financial breakthrough coming. That night two people wrote the pastor cheques for $16,000 and $17,000 and others also wrote cheques to Fresh Fire for thousands of dollars, which we used for missions to the nations. In addition, many people experienced great financial blessing as well. The day after this angelic visitation one guy had millions of dollars released to him-he had been waiting for about 10 years for this breakthrough. All this financial release came because my wife saw two financial angels walk up and stand on the platform. Can you imagine? We need to pray for the Father to give us financial angels for our lives, our church and region. With this angelic assistance, we will prevail and overcome the warfare trying to hold back our financial breakthrough. Some of you don't know how to use the angels in intercession like this. You don't even know whether it's OK or not."

Another quote from Bentley: "Father, give me the angels in heaven right now that are assigned to get me money and wealth. And let those angels be released on my behalf. Let them go into the four corners of the earth and gather me money. Let them gather my partners."

"No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money." (Luke 16:13, ESV)

One can't help but wonder if the ragged Pastors in the China video above should be asking for wealth instead of living so simply while they plant hundreds of churches and led tens of thousands to Christ.

Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated-- of whom the world was not worthy -- wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. (Hebrews 11:35a-38, ESV)

Manifestations of Jesus
Todd Bentley speaks in this clip of a pink rainbow coming from Jesus which is "love and emotions." (Maybe he should try reading Revelation 1.) He then tells the viewer that Jesus wants to visit us all personally.

...for we walk by faith, not by sight. (2 Corinthians 5:7, ESV)

Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." (John 20:29, ESV)

Not About Jesus
Some people may argue that Todd Bentley gives glory to Jesus, so how can this be wrong? Bentley clearly says in this video that the church must now believe in "The Angel" and the supernatural, because the church already believes in Jesus. Even when he shouts "Jesus" a hundred times from the platform, that doesn't mean he is pointing to the Jesus Christ of the Bible or proclaiming the biblical gospel and bringing him glory. You can add Jesus to a ministry and say it's for his glory, but unless the words and deeds being attributed to his name are in line with scripture it is not giving glory to Jesus. Remember, after all, that the Jehovah's Witnesses have a Jesus, Mormonism has a Jesus, the New Age has a Jesus, even Islam has a Jesus. Also, consider the girl possessed by a spirit of divination in Acts 16:16-17. She seemed to be giving glory to God, however, Paul rebuked the spirit within her. One interesting fact worth noting is that she wasn't proclaiming "the" way to salvation but actually in the original greek "a" way to salvation.

For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough. (2 Corinthians 11:4, ESV)

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel-- not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. (Galatians 1:6-9, ESV)

Possessed by Demons?
In this video, Todd Bentley says that supposedly after getting saved had 25 demons come out of him while attending a Catholic Mass. Can light and darkness dwell together? How can one indwelt by the Holy Spirit (God himself) also be the housing place for demons?

Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. (1John 4:4, ESV)

We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him. (1 John 5:18, ESV)

Chaos and Disorder
The Bible clearly teaches that there should be order in our churches. Obviously, different cultures may have different expressions and definitions of order. However, the fits of people attending the revival as seen in this video (and further bizarre antics in this video) should be considered disorderly for even the most liberal of Christians. They may put some soft Christian music behind it and dress it up a bit, but step back and look at what's really going on – crawling and rolling around, hysterical laughter, convulsions. Lest we forget, we're admonished to practice self-control several times throughout the New Testament and it is specifically listed as one of the Fruits of the Spirit.

But all things should be done decently and in order. (1 Corinthians 14:40, ESV)

But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. (1 Thessalonians 5:8, ESV)

Finally My Brothers (and Sisters)
Again, I ask that you review this material carefully and prayerfully; asking God for discernment and wisdom. Pray also that Todd Bentley and those involved will repent. Pray that our brothers and sisters who may be caught up in this will have their eyes opened to the truth of Scripture. Pray that Jesus would receive the glory he is due!

For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. (2 Timothy 4:3-5, ESV)

Here are some others that are raising the call about this:

Oprah's Big Lie

2008-06-05T14:28:00.001-07:00

Nothing to do with religion? Right. We = God is just some of the deceit Oprah is spreading.

This is the 10 minute trailer for the the Don't Drink the Kool-Aid DVD, Volume I. Full version available at CSteeleOnline.com.

The Cross: God Dies

2008-05-28T19:17:00.000-07:00

Wow! Mark Driscoll preached a great sermon on the cross here. Click above to play the video. For more messages and information go to MarsHillChurch.org.

Strong Gospel Preaching Rapper

2008-05-26T12:36:00.000-07:00

I like the strong message and biblical themes I've seen coming out of the Christian rap or hip-hop movement. Some of you may not agree with the style. Either way, you can't deny the powerful message this brother is preaching.

Weekly "Fishing" Report (05-11-08)

2008-05-22T12:12:00.000-07:00

Saturday was the downtown Wine Stroll as well as the Pow Wow at Riverside Park. Dave, Darrin and I met, loaded up with tracts and prepared for some good street fishing. We gave away a bunch of the Curved Illusion tracts to the wine strollers by offering free "field sobriety tests" which also garnered some good laughs.

The park was a different story. We got to the Pow Wow and immediately sensed the presence or spirit that hung over the place. A few hundred people were gathered around the circle. Drummers were beating out an earthy rhythm as the dancers moved and shuffled to it. My heart was heavy. The whole sense of the place was hauntingly similar to the pagan gatherings and festivals I'd been part of in the past. Even the dancers were a mix of those in full Native American dress and the pagans wearing their tie-dye, crystals and dreadlocks. Merchants, banners and giant puppet-like costumes all pointed to earth and even goddess worship.

The three of us had little to say. I could tell the others were as troubled as I was to witness what was happening in the heart of our city. We quietly made our way around the outside of the crowd. It was overwhelming and we just couldn't seem to find a place to start. We regrouped a little ways off to the side and prayed. Finally feeling ready, we began a tract sweep. We passed out several tracts, but people were largely resistant and even antagonistic. One man tore a tract up in front of me, others chased us down to give them back. All the while there was that heavy presence hanging over the place which actually began to make me sick to my stomach.

After completing the tract sweep, we headed over to the playground for a breather and to see who might be around there. I found a group of five teens sitting at a picnic table. I used the Curved Illusion cards as an icebreaker and got into a conversation with Sam who turned out to be a Jehovah's Witness. It was an interesting exchange and I used the opportunity to walk through The Good Person Test and present the gospel of salvation by grace through faith alone (Ephesians 2:8-9) while the others listened in. Sam was mired in his cult's religion and revealed something that concerns me still. He couldn't have been more than his mid to late teens and he really knew his stuff. He pulled JW Bible verses and doctrine from memory, which would run circles around most of the youth in our churches today, and perhaps even most of the adults. It was a good example of how we really do need to study and show ourselves as workmen approved rightly handling the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15) and be prepared to give a reason for the hope that lies within us (1 Peter 3:15). Please, if there's any way through resources or The Way of the Master training we can help encourage or equip you in sharing your faith ... just let us know.

Pray for the seed that was sown. Pray for our city! With two New Age witchcraft shops and an active Egyptian temple on the main drag downtown, this pagan Pow Wow in our main city park is just another part of a rising trend. Now is the time for the Christians to stand up and be salt and light.

"Surely I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! (Revelation 21:8)

How does God feel about sin?

2008-05-10T12:57:00.000-07:00

Pastor Mark Driscoll explains how none of us are good people and how God feels about that.

Weekly "Fishing" Report (05-04-08)

2008-05-08T13:45:00.000-07:00

Praise the Lord of the Harvest! We were joined by another laborer on Saturday. Jeff Long moved to Rogue River from the coast a little bit ago and after a couple of email exchanges he was able to meet Dave, Darrin and me for some street fishing.

Jeff catches a one-2-two and Dutch Bros.

The weather was good and we gave out somewhere around 300 tracts as we made a couple of loops of loop of 6th street and passed through the park. Jeff picked up a couple of conversations, one with a Daoist he met at the Dutch Bros coffee hut.

Jim hands out some Curved Illusion tracts.

On our way out of the park, I picked up a one-2-two with a couple of young frisbee golfers. After giving them a Who is Jesus? tract I asked if they came from a Christian background. One said he was Mormon and the other said he was a Christian. They agreed to a street interview, so I asked a couple of questions to break the ice and then asked what they think happens after we die. The Christian said he didn't know, there were too many possibilities. The Mormon said there would be a judgment. I probed a little further and found they knew some of the catch phrases like "repentance" or that you had to believe or trust God to go to heaven, but they couldn't fit the puzzle pieces together in a way that made real sense. I took the opportunity to explain the gospel of salvation and walked them through sin, judgment and grace through Jesus. Three of their friends showed up a little ways into things and stood by as we talked, which let them hear it as well.

Click here for a YouTube video of the witnessing encounter.

Pray for the seed that was sown. Jesus, may you receive the honor that you're due.

Weekly "Fishing" Report (04-27-08)

2008-05-07T20:16:00.000-07:00

The warmer weather is now bringing out more foot traffic around our downtown fishing hole and at the park. Dave, Darrin and I gave out approximately 350-400 gospel tracts on Saturday. I decided to test some more bold and up front tracts this time and passed out the new Who Is Jesus? one from our friends at One Million Tracts. I was surprised at how readily they were taken or received and went through two full packs. Praise God!

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes. (Romans 1:16)"

I attempted to pick up a one-2-five with some girls in their early to mid-teens. Half of them took tracts while the others declined. One of them in particular seemed very troubled by the mention of Jesus. She stormed off as I engaged a couple of the others that had said they didn't even think Jesus really existed. I asked if they believe Julius Caesar existed. They asked me who that was. (What are our schools teaching these kids?) I then asked how they knew George Washington or Abraham Lincoln were actually real (trying to steer toward recorded eye witness accounts). One of the girls said "Abraham Lincoln was a president. Jesus was never president." They also started to get giggly and silly with each other. It was here that I realized I was grasping at straws. The girl that had stormed off now returned and antagonistically said "You want to know what I think of Jesus? This is what I think of Jesus!" She grabbed a tract from one of the other girls, tore it up and threw it back in her lap. She then mockingly told me "My dad doesn't like me talking with strangers, so you'd better leave." I gave another tract to the girl with the torn up one. I told them it's important that they look into this, and I left.

We had a similar encounter a young man in front of the Havoc shop. Earlier that afternoon Dave or Darrin had tried to give him a tract. Now as we passed him, he was chasing a hacky sack into the street. He saw us and stopped to put his thumbs in his ears, wiggle his fingers, stick out his tongue and blow a raspberry at us. It was really quite childish for a guy at least 16 or 17-years-old. It looked even funnier with him wearing the black, punk garb he had on. What came to mind was asking "Is that the best you can do?" Really, if they're going to mock or taunt us, can't it be at least be an intelligent exchange? The sad truth is, we often encounter more adamant hecklers and opposition from within the modern church.

"If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified. (1 Peter 4:14)"

Pray for the seed that's been sown and for our team as we labor in the field. May Jesus receive the honor he is due!

The Tolerance Rant

2008-04-26T10:46:00.000-07:00

Taken from a sermon on Nehemiah 13, in this clip Mark Driscoll is enraged over the "tolerance" that's crept over God's people and has diminished the Gospel. "When tolerance overtakes truthfulness...the feelings of people take over the feelings of God ... passion diminishes to passivity ... and people just don't care."

Weekly "Fishing" Report (04-20-08)

2008-04-22T17:12:00.000-07:00

Greg reports that he and Creighton made a tract sweep at the Pear Blossom parade last Saturday. They got there about an hour before the parade started. After beginning things with prayer, Creighton thought it might be a good idea to just start handing out tracts on each side of the street following the direction the parade would be going. They went from intersection of Court and Central (where the parade starts) and went all the way to Main St. The parade started before they actually got to Main. After the "tract attack" they prayed over the seed they'd sown. When Greg got home, he took inventory of how many tracts went out. They were handing out the Jumbo Ten Million Dollar Bills which came in a box of 18 packs of 100 each. They'd emptied one box and had six packs left in the second box. Doing the math, our brothers passed out 3,000 tracts in a little over two hours! I thank God for these two laborers!

Jim and Matt

You may want to read the "Fishing" Report for 4/13 on how God brought us and Matt together.

I called Matt on Friday to let him know I was listening to a great sermon on addiction and had burned it to CD for him. I asked when I might be able to find him downtown. He said he'd like to plan on meeting up and going out on the streets with us on Saturday. I told him we're actually doing a team field trip to see the Expelled movie and then pass out tracts in the theater and outside afterwards. I said he was invited and I'd get him the ticket if he'd come with us. He said he would and we made plans to pick him up at 3pm.

I called Matt on Saturday at 11am to confirm he was coming. He apologized profusely saying he'd spaced it and had made another appointment at 2pm. I told him it was OK, we'd really like him to come and just to call me if things changed. He said he hoped it wouldn't take him too long and he'd try to meet us at the theater if he could. We hung up and then he called me about an hour later to say he'd just canceled the appointment and would be at Dutch Bros for us to pick him up at 3pm as planned. Praise God! The movie and fellowship was good. Afterwards, he helped us pass out around 30 Scientific Facts in the Bible booklets to people as they left the theater.

This morning, Matt called to say he was walking around downtown and had his Bible with him. He asked if I could meet him after work to go over some of it with him. What a blessing and honor for God to allow me to disciple this younger brother in Christ. Please keep Matt in your prayers. He's shared with me that his 21st birthday is coming up soon and he realizes that could be a stumbling block in his battle with alcohol. However, he also shared that as of Saturday he'd been sober for a week. God is good! Pray for me and the rest of the team that we'll have wisdom and discernment to share with Matt.

Weekly "Fishing" Report (04-13-08)

2008-04-20T20:15:00.000-07:00

Street fishing on Saturday was a good time. There was some type of "murder mystery" contest going on downtown where people would register and then go from business to business gathering clues. Some cast members were also dressed in costume and outside on the sidewalk where they'd talk to people in-character. Though we hadn't planned it in advance with Dave, Darrin and I wearing our black Fishin-Fools shirts and passing out What If? tracts it must have looked like we had something to do with the event. People readily took the tracts and often even said "thank-you". Rarely have tracts gone out so easily. We went through 250-300 that afternoon.

One of the kids that hangs out downtown
put a tract on her skateboard.

We came across Amber and Ashley with some of their friends. I first talked with these girls over two years ago and have been able to continue sharing tracts and other things with them. They wave and say "hi" when they see our team. Once or twice, Ashely has told some of the teens to pay attention and listen to me as she passed by while I was in a one-2-one. The two of them have also told me they've gone to my website to listen back over the MP3 from that first witnessing encounter, so I've in effect been able to share the gospel with them all over again. (Click here for the audio.) Amber had her skateboard sitting beside her and I noticed she had one of the What If? tracts glued to the bottom of it. It was tattered and worn, so I gave her and Ashley some new ones. One of the guys with them saw the tracts and asked for one himself. As I said, the gospel tracts went out very easily that day.

The most amazing encounter came as we passed the Dutch Bros coffee house. As usual, there was a bunch of young people hanging out on the patio and in the parking lot. I made a pass through them to give out some tracts. A girl at one table said she'd already gotten a What If? tract, so I showed her the Curved Illusion cards. The group at the table all took some. As we were leaving, a guy called out and came after us. He wore a black t-shirt, with big spacers in his earlobes, a nose ring and closely shave head. However, when he caught up to us he asked if we knew where he could get a Bible. You just can't judge a book by its cover. His name is Matt. He at one time felt close to God but has since fallen hard into drugs and alcohol. He's fighting to be free and is seeking God but the Bible he had fell into some water and he can't even turn the pages now. I gave him a Gospel of John that I had with me and also my card. I asked him to call me and since I'm off work on Monday I'd make it a point to get a Bible to him. He said he'd call and that I could usually find him just hanging out there at Dutch Bros.

When we left, we headed over to see if I might have a New Testament in my car. However, after just a block or so I changed my mind and told the guys I wanted to just go down to the Evangel's Christian bookstore and buy a Bible for Matt. The store was only a few blocks away and I wanted to put it in his hands as soon as possible. After buying the Bible we scooted back up to Dutch Bros, but I was disappointed to find that Matt had already left. All I could do was trust to the fact I told him to call me since I'd have a Bible for him on Monday, and I prayed God would bring him back across my path.

Cut to Monday. I headed out to run some errands and since I'd be walking downtown I put the Bible in my pocket, hoping I might come across Matt. I made a point to pass by Dutch Bros, even though it was only 11am and I didn't expect to find him there. However, there he was sitting by himself on the patio. I gave him the Bible and he was really appreciative. Since he was alone, he was able to be more open and talk this time. Just two weeks ago, he'd had a radical blue and green moh awk and seven more piercings in his face. He was trying to clean up and tone it down. He's seeing a probation officer of some sort and was honest in telling them that they'd be disappointed with finding alcohol and marijuana in his recent urine test. However, he says that's come a long way from where he used to be on cocaine, heroine, and other such drugs. He admits he has an alcohol dependency and he seems to recognize that God is the only one that can set him free. He was heading from there to Walmart to get a phone. He made sure that he had my number and promised to call me once he got it.

We parted ways and I headed over to the bank. After that, I stopped in at Evangel's just to see what was new. Matt was there! He was still carrying the Bible and one of the employees was helping him check on some Christian books on addiction. I said I'd help him look into some resources too, but also reminded him that he's got the best book on breaking addiction and bondage right there in the Bible. He said he understood that and commented that it was the Bible saying to honor your father and mother that had lead him to get rid of those other piercings he used to have. I got to talk with him a little bit more outside the store. I could relate with him some from my own drug use in the past. I told him how I'd gone for at least two years smoking pot where I never saw a sober day; it was how I coped back then. He said that was him with drinking. In fact, he confessed these last two days were the first he'd been sober in a long time. The most touching thing he shared was that he'd just recently cried out for God to bring someone into his life because he was about to give up ... then we met on Saturday. God is good!

Matt headed off to get a phone and called me about a half-hour later to give me his number. I told him I'd be available to perhaps meet on Mondays over coffee just to talk and go through the Bible. He's even wanting to come out on some Saturdays with us for the fellowship and to grow in God.

Weekly "Fishing" Report (04-06-08)

2008-04-19T11:36:00.000-07:00

Saturday was damp and cold, which meant foot traffic was a lot lighter downtown and at the park. We still gave out a number of gospel tracts.

Last week I told you about an occult temple that's opened along our fishing hole. This Saturday we noticed a sign in another of the new age metaphysical shops on 6th Street.

Swan Ramachi
author of Romancing the Awakened Soul
in store today.
A man who walked with Jesus Christ.
Come in and ask him about "The Gift" and Judas Iscariot.

It was troubling and disturbing. Sadly, however, it's just more of the same. I did a google for Swan Ramachi when I got home. I found what I expected. He's described as a "contemporary mystic" with a background as a Shaman. He has been taught by many "Masters of Enlightenment" and has the ability to see energy as color. According to his website -- "Often times we find ourselves caught up in ideologies, dogmas and the need to follow someone else's truth, this results in a feeling of alienation, separation and confusion. These teachings offer the individual opportunities and signposts that deliver what is needed to honor the path of " I AM ". Your feelings and thoughts are a gateway to recognizing your sense of power and rightness with yourself. Once you find yourself no one else can ever disrupt this " I AM " that is your true power." It's the core new age deception, the lie of the serpent -- "your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God" (Gen 3:5). Then, just as we've also seen with Oprah and her new age gurus, they blend in these references to Christ and both the church and the world are getting confused.

We need to be praying and reading our Bible's like never before. A firm grasp in the Word is our defense against the lie and this equips us to reach those being lead astray.

Weekly "Fishing" Report (03-30-08)

2008-04-12T14:56:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share some pictures that I took of the window in a new age metaphysical shop at our local fishing hole. (Click either picture for a larger image.) Take it from a former witch, this is an licensed and active occult temple. Who would have believed ten or twenty years ago that this would be right along the main downtown drag of our small city? It reminds me more and more of Frank Perreti's novels This Present Darkness and Piercing the Darkness. Sadly, this is a more and more common occurrence all around our country. Saints, we should be in prayer.

Sometimes people ask me how best to witness to a Wiccan or pagan. Law and grace evangelism works just as well here as with anyone else. What they practice at this temple is just like any other world religion at its core. They've bound themselves up in works. Click here to see the 42 Laws of Maat.

Our tract sweep around 6th St and Riverside Park brought me to two different one-2-ones on Saturday. The first was rather heart wrenching. Ethan was 17-years-old. Dressed in black and punk garb with several death symbols, he was just sitting on a bench when I met him. As we talked, I learned even at his age he'd already developed a drinking problem. His one piece of advice that he wanted to share was a basic distrust or paranoia toward the media and government. He had no real idea of what happens after we die. As he put it, it was enough for him to just figure out what he was doing next. An air of apathy or hopelessness hung around him. He held no particular spiritual beliefs, since as he put it he never really had a stable home life to learn from. In fact his mom had just thrown him out recently. I tried to swing things around to the gospel, but just couldn't seem to make a connection. However, he took an Atheist Test tract from me right as a couple of his friends showed up. I tried to bring them into the conversation, but they were disruptive and either drunk or stoned and I couldn't get any further. However, they liked the Curved Illusion when I showed it to them and I was able the put tracts in their hands before I left.

Mike was the next one-2-one...

The Baha'i Faith: A syncretistic sect of Islam that has evolved into a major independent religion with approximately five million believers worldwide. Bahai's teach that Moses, Buddha, Krishna, Jesus, Muhammad, Zoroaster, and others formed a succession of divine messengers. A nineteenth-century Persian teacher, the Bab (or Gate), predicted the coming of Baha'u'llah, the most recent messenger and founder of Baha'i. The movement's goals involve establishing a new global order of sexual equality, a one-world economic system to eliminate poverty, and a one-world religion. (The Concise Guide To Today's Religions and Spirituality, James K. Walker and Watchman Fellowship)

Click here to download or listen to the MP3 audio of our one-2-one. We covered a lot, I'll just touch on the highlights below.

This was an interesting encounter from the start. I've seen Mike when we've been out before, but he's never really been open. In fact, I didn't know it but Dave had just tried giving him a tract a few minutes before I showed him the Curved Illusion and Mike had refused. However, as you can hear in the audio he easily took the tracts from me. I even told him there was a gospel message on the back and he said "cool".

He started by saying how he normally gets upset when someone hands out tracts because he has his own faith and usually doesn't share unless someone asks him about it. Naturally, I asked what faith he follows and that lead into an hour and a half witnessing encounter! What he told me fully confirmed the description of Baha'i above. I was a little surprised to hear him freely say their objective is to create a new government akin to the European Union. Mike said Baha'i was able to borrow from other faiths since they recognize other religious leaders and prophets (including Jesus). I questioned him on this, explaining that my own experience and understanding doesn't allow Christianity to be lumped in with other world religions. I asked him how Baha'i views the Bible, pointing out that Jesus' own words in John 14:6 are exclusive - "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

Mike's response was that the Bible had been chopped up and mistranslated by the Roman Catholic Church and thus couldn't be trusted. By comparison he said the writings of Baha'u'llah were translated from the original Persian and were thus more reliable. I answered that may be what we used to think until the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered. I then started to tell him about the manuscript evidence for the Bible. At this point he said a call had come up on his cell phone and we'd have to cut the conversation short. It had been about ten minutes and I figured at this point it was over, but he took my card saying he would get in touch to pick this up at another time.

Mike headed off and I got to talking the other guys. However, in a few minutes Mike returned and I struck up the conversation with him again. I told him that I'd been in an eclectic religion myself (Wicca) and after coming to Christ I just couldn't see how Christianity could mix with any other faith. I said I'd explain my understanding of why and I then wanted him to explain his view or what Baha'i had to say about it. I laid out the biblical gospel of sin, righteousness, judgment and grace. I then asked Mike what the salvation message in Baha'i was. You really should listen to the audio, the 29 second pause after this question is really telling.

Next, I reasoned that Jesus couldn't be just a prophet; it had to be God himself on the cross as the propitiation for our sins. Further, I couldn't see how another core belief in Baha'i made sense when looking at a passage like 2 Thessalonians 1:7-8 -- "... when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus." If Baha'u'llah was another coming of Christ, then what the Bible says here didn't happen. His answer was that we're the angels its taking about ... happily proclaiming the arrival of Baha'u'llah. As for the reference to fire or judgment, he swung back to the idea of errors in translation. As he put it, Baha'u'llah came to add to scripture and reveal more from it. This brought me back to better explaining the reliability of scripture. He was stunned at the staggering manuscript evidence for the New Testament compare to other historical records like Julius Caesar or the Trojan Wars. As told him, even secular scholars will admit the Bible is the most authenticated book in antiquity.

Unfortunately, this is where my MP3 recorder ran out. We talked for another 20 minutes or so from there. I showed him Matthew 24:23-27 --"Then if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or 'There he is!' do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand. So, if they say to you, 'Look, he is in the wilderness,' do not go out. If they say, 'Look, he is in the inner rooms,' do not believe it. For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man." Not only should the warning about false christs give pause for thought, but I further pointed out how the end of that passage ties in with what we saw in 2 Thessalonians earlier. The return of Christ will be globally noticable and unmistakable. I'd never heard of Baha'u'llah in any real detail until now. Mike's response was still that the Bible shouldn't be taken literally. OK, yes, when Jesus says "I am the door" this doesn't mean he's a plank of wood that swings on hinges ... the Bible should simply be read plainly. God says what he means and means what he says and these passages are pretty clear.

He told me about the Bab and how Baha'u'llah was his most faithful disciple. I asked him if Baha'u'llah was Christ, why would he need a teacher? He amended that to say the Bab was actually a frontrunner like John the Baptist. He told me some more of Baha'u'llah's background and history, finally ending with his death and burial in a shrine. I asked if the tomb was empty. It isn't. So, if Baha'u'llah was another coming of Christ why wouldn't he have risen from the dead as Jesus had? Mike said that wasn't something he needed to do. Baha'u'llah came to enhance and expound on scripture. The Bible was out dated. An example he gave was how Baha'u'llah added more commandments because the Bible only had ten and that couldn't be enough. I pointed out that ten was more than enough when you understood their purpose. I turned to Galatians 3:24 - "So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith." The commandments show our transgression and reveal our sin for what it is. We can't even keep these ten, why would we need more? Jesus further ups the bar to show lust is adultery of the heart and anger is murder in the sight of God. This gave me a place to end and bring it all together. I told Mike the difference is that biblical Christianity has a reason for the cross and empty tomb. We broke the law, yet Jesus' sacrifice pays the fine. The tomb is empty because he conquered death and hell. That's why he is the way, the truth and the life. Baha'i simply doesn't answer that.

We wrapped up with Mike agreeing we'd watch for each other out on the streets and that he'd also email me so we might continue the exchange. He then told me of a Baha'i representative in Grants Pass that we realized Paul Kaiser and some of the others got to talk with at the Grower's Market during XE'07 last July. That may be another opportunity to share the truth, we'll see what God has in store.

Pray for Mike, Ethan and the other seed that was sown. May the Lamb of God receive the reward of his suffering!

The Church of Oprah

2008-03-31T07:52:00.001-07:00

A Powerful Lesson From ER

2008-03-18T07:47:00.000-07:00

Back on 2RB

2008-03-16T13:57:00.000-07:00

The brave souls at the Two Reformed Brothers internet radio show have invited me back as a special guest this Sunday night. You can listen live online at 8pm PST (11pm EST) via the link below. A line will also be open for callers with questions. If you miss the live broadcast, you can catch it in the show archives on the website or download the podcast afterwards.

Pray that I share and speak in a way God may use to reach and help others and that we see Christ glorified.

Our favorite Pagan is back!

Well, Jim Jones isn’t actually a Pagan anymore… but he used to be! As a witch and acolyte to a druidic high priest he celebrated some of the same Easter traditions Christians do — bunnies, colored eggs, easter baskets, new clothes — and he’s back on 2RB this week. You may be shocked to find that many things you thought were simply secular have actual pagan roots. He’ll provide you the 411 so that you can make an informed decision about what your family celebrates… and as a street evangelist, Jim will tell you how you can use Easter time as a springboard to reach Pagans with the gospel.

www.blogtalkradio.com/tworeformedbrothers

Kirk Cameron on TBN's Praise the Lord - March 13th

2008-03-14T06:31:00.000-07:00

Kirk Cameron hosts Karen Kingsbury, Steve Green, Dr. Marshall Foster and Avalon in Costa Mesa, CA. Kirk also screened the new promo for the Third Season of the Way of the Master television program.

While I rarely watch anything on TBN, when Kirk is a guest host it is usually must see TV. For those who missed it, you can watch it below. (Click the "play" button to start. High speed internet suggested).

Weekly "Fishing" Report (03-09-08)

2008-03-13T10:30:00.000-07:00

I took my daughter to the pediatrician on Wednesday. When we came out of the office, I found a World's Best Optical Illusions tract on the window of my car. Looking around the parking lot, I saw other vehicles had tracts like America, America on them as well. Praise God! He's raising up other laborers.

Our team of three was out again on Saturday. We're starting to see some warmer spring weather so the foot traffic and the number of people at Riverside Park is steadily increasing. We made a couple of passes along our usual stretch of 6th Street and a loop through the park where we gave out a good number of gospel tracts. We didn't pick up any one-2-ones but we still had an encouraging encounter at the park. A minivan slowed as it passed us and a young woman rolled down the window. She held up the Ticket to Heaven tract I'd given her. She said "This is wonderful. Good work guys!" God is good. Often times we face either opposition or indifference when we're laboring in the field, but he is faithful and puts encouragement like this across our paths to give us that second wind and enable us to keep going.

Someone shredded one of the tracts. A sign of conviction?

The encouragement came just in time too. As we made our final pass up 6th Street and headed for our cars, we found where someone had torn one of the tracts to shreds that Dave had given them. (We placed another one of the tracts in the corner of the picture above for contract.) It's amazing when a person will take the time or go to the effort to actually destroy the tracts. Sometimes this can be disheartening, but then I realize if nothing else God will be glorified through it. I can only figure it's a sign of conviction. At the time of judgment they will not be able to say God was unfair ... that they never had a chance or never received the gospel message. It had been placed in their hands and they'd recognized what it was enough to stand there and tear it up. Pray that the Holy Spirit may take what this person had seen or read and use it to continue working on their heart.

Pray for the seed that was sown. Jesus, may you receive the honor that you're due!

Evilution

2008-03-07T13:29:00.000-08:00

A cool animation with a message.

Respecting Christ

2008-03-05T12:42:00.000-08:00

We met for street fishing on Saturday and were able to to give out some Tickets to Heaven and other tracts before rain and hail drove us off the streets.

We retreated to Denny's where we once again pulled out our Bible's and sharpened our swords over coffee. Something interesting came up and I thought I'd pass it along.

However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband. (Ephesians 5:33)

In Ephesians 5 we see that the roles of husbands and wives in marriage also reflect the relationship of Christ and his church. The verse above commands the husband to love his wife. The word is "agapao" meaning an unconditional agape love; this is further revealed in v25 which adds "as Christ loved the church". With that in mind, look back at v33 to see the role or response the wife is called to - she is to respect her husband. This is even more interesting when we consider this is not only talking about earthly marriage (small scale) but also the relationship between the church and our Lord (grand scale). Isn't there something that's missing in the response of the Bride of Christ to her heavenly husband today?

Has our modern church forsaken its respect, reverence, awe ... and dare I say fear of the Lord? There a plethora of songs, sermons and articles out there about God's love for us and our love for him ... but what about our call as his bride to respect him?

It's all over the place in Proverbs. This is just a handful from what I found with a search at BibleGateway.com.

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge. (Proverbs 1:7a)

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom,and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight. (Proverbs 9:10)

The fear of the LORD is instruction in wisdom. (Proverbs 15:33a)

The fear of the LORD leads to life. (Proverbs 19:23a)

The word used here is "yirah" which means to hold in awe or morally reverence.

Notice the instruction from Moses below. What is given first? Note also that loving the Lord is listed separately, so we may logically conclude that our respect for the Lord and love for him are not necessarily the same thing.

And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the LORD, which I am commanding you today for your good? (Deuteronomy 10:12-13)

Some will probably say, but Jim ... that's Old Testament! Things in the New Testament age are different. Let's see...

In reference to the ministry of reconciliation, the Apostle Paul says "Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. (2 Corinthians 5:11a)"

You're probably familiar with the story of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts chapter 5, if not stop here and read it (verses 1-11). Notice the response at the end is that "great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things. (Acts 5:11)" Further, we see in verses immediately following (vv12-14) that this response lead to active evangelism, the people holding the church in esteem and God readily increasing the number of believers.

Lastly, I know people will say "but Jesus said the greatest commandment was to 'LOVE the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength' (Mark 12:30, emphasis mine)" True. However, note how Jesus and the Apostle John further define this love for God...

"If you love me, you will keep my commandments." (John 14:10)

"If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love." (John 15:10)

"For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome." (1 John 5:3)

The spirit of each of these three verses seems to harken back to what we saw from Moses in Deuteronomy 10:12-13, don't they? Within our love for God should lay an inherent "yirah" -- an awe, reverence and obedience ... RESPECT. Perhaps this is the response that lead the apostles to refer to themselves as bondslaves to Christ.

The Lord loves us in "agape" form as we see commanded of husbands in the opening verse; a love that even lays down his life for his bride.

In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. (1 John 4:10)

We then as his bride should respond in respect, reverence and awe for who he is and his amazing grace, but is this the heart of the church today?

Anyways, this just came up in our study and conversation on Saturday and I've been trying to gel my thoughts and put them to words since then. It's something I'm just scratching the surface on, but it has put words to something I'm sensing is missing on the landscape of most of the church today. Chew on it, kick it around amongst yourselves and see what comes of it. I welcome your thoughts, input and feedback.

Jesus, may you receive the honor that you're due!

Weekly "Fishing" Report (02-03-08)

2008-03-05T10:28:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday was another rainy day, so our team headed to Denny's for coffee and some Bible study. It ended up being where God wanted us anyways.

Shortly after we got there, a man and his wife stopped at our table. He looked at our team sweatshirts and the Bibles we were reading and with a stern expression said, "You now it's not politically correct to be doing that here." I told him, "I guess I just have to decide if I'm going to please God or please man." He then smiled saying, "That's the right answer." He introduced himself as the pastor of Dayspring Baptist church. I told him about our street evangelism ministry and showed him the Curved Illusion tracts. He said he'd show them to his youth group that night, and I gave him some "What happens to your My Space when you die?" tracts to share with them as well. We exchanged cards and he said to call him sometime so we could have lunch together. Praise God! The church is only a couple of blocks down the street from my home and I've tried a few times to get introduced there. Once again, when God opens a door in his timing it's always that much easier and simpler. Isn't it?

We spent the next couple of hours digging into scripture and "sharpening our swords" while showing the Curved Illusion cards to waiters/waitresses and those brought to sit at tables or booths near us. It was a good time and we thank God for bringing us to labor for the gospel wherever we are lead.

Pray for the seed that was sown.

Weekly "Fishing" Report (01-27-08)

2008-03-05T10:25:00.000-08:00

It was another rainy day last Saturday. Dave, Darrin and I still made a pass through downtown and a loop through the park to give out a few gospel tracts before heading for Elmer's restaurant where we dug into the Bible over some coffee.

Something really neat happened when we got there. As I was taking off my coat, I pulled my tracts out of my pocket and set them on the table. Our waitress saw the pink and blue Curved Illusion cards and asked "what are those?" I held up a pair asked which one looked longer before switching them to show her the trick. She got a real kick of it and was very happy when I gave them to her. A few minutes later, she was back and asking for five more sets to give to the other waitresses that she'd shown them to. Even though we'd been rained off the streets, God worked it so that seed was being sown and the gospel message was being shared there around the restaurant. He is good!

Pray for the seed that was sown.

A critique of Rob Bell's Nooma video "Dust"

2008-02-07T20:54:00.000-08:00

John & Kirk on Salvation

2008-01-12T12:32:00.000-08:00

John MacArthur and Kirk Cameron discuss how salvation is impossible in every sense outside of the sovereign grace and love of Jesus Christ.

Weekly "Fishing" Report (01-06-08)

2008-01-10T07:58:00.001-08:00

We got rained out again on Saturday, so I took the team to Elmer's Restaurant for some iced tea, fellowship and digging into God's Word.

Rather than leave this space empty, I thought I'd do a flashback with an audio from a past open air I did at Riverside Park. Click the link below to give it a listen.

Gazebo at Riverside Park -- It looked like we'd get rained out, but we found a park ministry that was feeding a group of homeless people where they could shelter in the gazebo at the park. I took the opportunity to preach the gospel while we were there.

Huckabee's Iowa Victory

2008-01-05T10:03:00.000-08:00

Mike Huckabee won a decisive victory in the Iowa Caucuses on Thursday night and is in a good position for the road to the White House. Huckabee was outspent 20-to-1 by Mitt Romney in that state. This goes to show that money is less important than a candidate's message to the people. I encourage you to visit Huckabee's website MikeHuckabee.com to learn more about his campaign.

Here is a great piece by Byron York (NR White House Correspondent) on the Iowa Caucus win.

Weekly "Fishing" Report (12-30-07)

2008-01-04T17:19:00.000-08:00

We got rained out on Saturday, but not before we gave out a handful of What If? tracts downtown. Dave also had a one-2-one with an older gentleman. Once the rain picked up, I took the team to Shari's Restaurant for coffee where we opened our Bibles and spent some time in fellowship and sharpening our swords.

Weekly "Fishing" Report (12-23-07)

2008-01-04T17:18:00.001-08:00

Greg joined me, Dave, and Darrin for street fishing on Saturday. It was cold and wet, but God blessed our efforts and we were able to give out approximately 800 Ban Happy Holidays gospel tracts to the last minute shoppers in the Fred Meyer and Walmart parking lots. Though the chill in the air didn't lend to people wanting to stop and talk, Dave still picked up a one-2-one with one of the cart wranglers named Travis. The way Dave explains it, Travis attends a local church but as all too often is the case he couldn't really put the puzzle pieces together into a clear and simple picture of the gospel. They talked for about 10 to 15 minutes and Dave helped fill the gaps to reveal God's grace and salvation through repentance and faith in Christ.

Pray for the seed that was sown and that Jesus will receive the honor He is due.

Radio Interview Tonight

2007-12-23T13:33:00.000-08:00

I wanted to let you know that I've been invited to be a special guest on the Two Reformed Brothers internet radio program tonight (Sunday). You can listen live online at 8pm PST (11pm EST) via the link below.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/tworeformedbrothers

Two Reformed Brothers, Paul & Jeff, will be interviewing Jim Jones, former wiccan and acolyte to a druidic high priest to talk about the origins of many Christmas traditions and how Christ delivered his family from paganism. Call in at (646) 478-0802 with questions for our guest.

If you miss the live broadcast, you can also catch it in the show archives on the website or download the podcast afterwards.

Pray that I share and speak in a way God may use to reach and help others and that we see Christ glorified.

What Really Matters

2007-12-22T21:00:00.000-08:00

Huckabee for President in 2008: MikeHuckabee.com

Weekly "Fishing" Report (12-16-07)

2007-12-20T09:14:00.000-08:00

It's time for one of those "it's so cool when we get to work with God" stories.

When we met for street fishing on Saturday, I first suggested to Dave and Darrin that maybe we should just skip over to the Fred Meyer and Walmart parking lots for some tract sweeps. However, we chose to go ahead and make one pass downtown before heading over there. When we got to the bottom of 6th Street, we opted for a loop through Riverside Park even though it looked deserted. Here's where it got good.

A handful of people were in the park setting up all sorts of Christmas decorations: lots of lights and different displays. Aside from one small nativity scene at the entrance and a couple of scattered yard signs, as you may expect any reference to Jesus was lost amongst the Santas, snowmen and reindeer that were all over the place.

We passed a couple of guys working on one of the displays and I joked with them as I gave them each a Ban Happy Holidays tract. As we moved on, one of the men said "You don't have a big belly!" I stopped and tried to figure out what he meant. He said it again, "You don't have a big belly!" He then made a comment about us being Santa's helpers. I told him "No, we're out helping the other one ... the one born in a manger." He cocked his head and asked what we were doing tomorrow. I told him we'd be at church and we had a Christmas lunch after that. Why?

He came over to us and said "I've got a perfect spot for you." I had no clue what he meant, but he showed us an open spot between a couple of the displays across from the playground. He told us they had another nativity scene there last year, but someone had stolen the figures of Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus. All they had left were the wise men. He showed us the three plastic, light-up figures and said if we could come up with the rest we could have the spot. He was hoping to have a nativity scene at both of the entrances, so they'd be one of the first things people see. I told him we'd be interested. In fact, we'd be at Walmart later and I knew they had a similar nativity set with Mary, Joseph and Jesus there. We exchanged cards, and I learned his name was Charles. He then pulled out some cash and said he didn't know how much it would cost but he gave me a $20. He said if I brought him a receipt the Lion's Club would pay for it. Wow!

We told him we'd be back tomorrow and looped around a bit more of the park. I then had a thought and went back to give Charles some of the Christmas Quizzes I had in my tract bag. I also asked if we'd be able to put up a sign with the display. (While including the nativity would be nice, I wanted it to have a message or include the gospel somehow.) He said sure. We could have a sign 6'x3' or smaller. I told him we'd put a Bible verse or something on it. He actually encouraged us to also promote our ministry or include somewhere for people to go (like a website). I was amazed! God can make things so easy when He's at work and we're just available.

After making our way back up 6th Street, we headed over to Walmart. Sure enough we found the nativity set there with Mary, Joseph and Jesus. Dave then noticed a picture on the box that showed additional figures you could add to it. The three wise men shown were the same three they already had at the park. It was a perfect match!

With our spirits high, we hit the parking lot to give out more tracts and candy canes. By the end of the night around 300 gospel tracts had gone out ... but that was just a bonus compared to what God had opened for us at the park.

Sunday afternoon, we were down at the park setting up the nativity scene. Charles also provided us with a lighted angel, poles to make a couple of arches over the setting and lights to string around them. The display at the other end didn't even have that. Dave came up with a 4'x2' board for a sign and Kelly painted it to say:

"She will bear a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus,
for He will save His people from thejavascript:void(0)
Publish Postir sins." (Matt 1:21)

Fool4Given.com

From what I've seen so far, lots of cars and people are going through the park each night to see the lights and decorations. They'll be on display through Christmas. Pray that Christ may be glorified by what we are able to do and that God uses it to reach souls.

Naughty or Nice?

2007-12-19T11:36:00.001-08:00

Weekly "Fishing" Report (12-9-07)

2007-12-14T13:32:00.000-08:00

Greg took his church's youth group to a Switchfoot concert and challenged them to hand out gospel tracts while there. He tells me he handed out about 200 tracts within ten minutes to the people in line. I thank God for you, bro.

On Saturday, our team made a tract sweep downtown giving out approximately 300 candy canes and Ban Happy Holidays tracts. We then shifted over to the Walmart parking lot and passed out another 200. We dealt with a few rejections but an equal if not greater number of people thanked us, encouraged us and even said things like "God bless you!" or "Merry CHRISTmas!" after seeing the tract.

People were busy and it was getting chilly, so we didn't really pick up any one-2-ones. I had one guy tell me he "didn't like Jesus" after he glanced at the tract. However, he was showing off in front of his friends and I didn't follow him up on it. (Perhaps I should have.) At Walmart, Darrin had a young woman ask him to explain what the tract was about. He struck up a brief one-2-one, but her boyfriend was distracting things and kept the conversation from going very far.

Still, around 500 gospel tracts went out. Pray for the seed that was sown. May Jesus receive the glory He is due!

Pastors and Pews

2007-12-11T12:00:00.000-08:00

Mike Huckabee speaking in Des Moines, IA.

Huckabee for President in 2008: MikeHuckabee.com

Weekly "Fishing" Report (12-2-07)

2007-12-06T11:40:00.000-08:00

It was the three of us (Dave, Darrin and me) for street fishing on Saturday. The weather was cloudy and cold but we still found people downtown, probably because the Christmas parade was coming up later. We gave out a decent number of gospel tracts and I was able to pick up a one-2-two with a couple of teens. One came from a non-Christian background and the other said his family was “Catholic or something.” Neither of them had any real grasp of the gospel. The one from the “Catholic” family knew forgiveness fit in there somehow, but without any understanding of repentance and faith in Jesus it was a jumbled mess. I'd used the Christmas Quiz as an icebreaker and the last question on it is “If Santa used God’s Ten Commandments as the standard of naughty and nice, how would you measure up? “ This led us into The Good Person Test and a talk about sin, righteousness, judgment and grace. Now, with the cross added to the equation, God's forgiveness made sense. I gave them both a copy of the Christmas Quiz with a recap of the gospel and the Living Waters website on the back. Pray for these two young guys.

An eight-year-old seed sower.

We regrouped around 5:15 at our cars to load up on Ban Happy Holidays tracts and candy canes for a big tract sweep at the parade. My daughter, Holly, joined us. It was such a blessing to have an eight-year-old in our ranks who was eager to share the truth about Jesus with strangers. OK, people she's eight and she's out there ... what's your excuse? We also met up with Ken, a youth pastor with a heart for evangelism from a local church. Between the five of us, we passed out 700 tracts in under an hour. On the way back to our cars, we passed the staging area for the floats getting ready for the parade. Holly excitedly pointed out one that was a living nativity scene. It was a neat way to end the night. Praise God!

At least our small city will still include the nativity
in its Christmas parade.

Pray for the seed that was sown. May the Lamb of God receive the reward of His suffering!

The Unwrapping of Christmas

2007-12-04T08:15:00.000-08:00

DVD available from Jeremiah Films.

It's About the Cross (A Christmas Song)

2007-12-02T15:26:00.001-08:00

"She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." (Matt 1:21 ESV)

Weekly "Fishing" Report (11-25-07)

2007-11-30T09:36:00.000-08:00

Greg and Kevin arrived at the Walmart in Medford around 4:10 a.m. on Friday to tract sweep the lines of shoppers waiting for the Day-After Thanksgiving sales. He tells me they gave out at least 500 gospel tracts that morning. I thank God for these guys! (I was in bed that morning with a cold.)

When we met for street fishing on Saturday, Dave and Darrin had an interesting story to share with me. Two Mormon missionaries showed up at their door earlier that day. Dave invited them inside where it was warm while he and Darrin grabbed their Bibles. The Mormons gave their pitch, but they weren't ready for what came next. Dave and Darrin followed up by taking them through The Good Person Test; showing why Jesus died on the the cross and why grace is a gift from God (see Ephesians 2:8-9). Dave says the Mormons looked like two deer caught in headlights. He asked if they wanted to leave and they just nodded. Pray for these two young men. They couldn't get out of there fast enough, but they left having heard the truth.

Dave talks one-2-one.

It was cold and dreary on Saturday, but we still gave out 250 tracts. Dave even had the chance to encourage a Christian woman who was excited to have someone actually give her a gospel tract. We made a loop downtown of 6th Street and then wrapped up at the Walmart parking lot, wishing people a "Merry Christmas" while passing out Ban Happy Holidays tracts. We had very few rejections and a lot of people seemed to smile and thank us. At least in Grants Pass we can still use Christmas to point to Christ and the gospel. We even have a large nativity scene in the heart of downtown. This season is a good time of year for tract sweeps and starting one-2-ones with the Christmas Quiz.

Nativity scene displayed on a downtown rooftop.

Lastly, I want to include something else that happened this week. Lupita's is a little Mexican restaurant near where I work. It's one of those kind with a walk-up window; no indoor seating and two or three tables outside. Anyways, I've stopped there two or three times in the past to get lunch and have given the cashier a gospel tract or left one in their tip bucket. This time on Wednesday I gave the cashier a Ban Happy Holidays tract and said "Merry Christmas."

He looked it over then said "Hey! Are you the same guy with the ones that say What If?" I told him it had to be me or someone on our team. He said "Those are really good. They make you think. I've even translated them for some of the others that work here that don't speak English."

Praise God! It was totally unexpected. I told him I actually had some tracts in Spanish, but that I don't usually carry them since we rarely encounter someone on the streets here in Grants Pass that doesn't speak English. He said to bring them anything I had. I was so encouraged I walked home and grabbed a handful of the spanish tracts I had and took them to him before heading back to work.

It just goes to show, God's at work even when we're not aware of it. We just need to be sowing the seed. Stay faithful and keep pushing the plow.

Pray for the seed that was sown. Jesus, may You receive the honor that You're due!

Review of Rob Bell's "The Gods Are Not Angry"

2007-11-27T09:44:00.000-08:00

The following is a review by fellow street evangelist and brother in Christ, Jon Speed. In the spirit of 2 Timothy 4:3-5, I felt it important to post here and share.

I must admit that most of my exposure to the teaching of the Emergent Church has been limited to a few brushes with Christian student organizations on college campuses while doing open-air preaching. However, the predominant philosophy of the movement, unbelieving post-modernism, is as common as American pennies to anyone who has done any amount of evangelism amongst college aged students.

When Rob Bell came to Dallas, TX for a stop on his “The Gods Are Not Angry” tour, we went primarily for the purpose of passing out Gospel tracts after the event let out. God had other plans and we ended up getting free tickets to the event.

Bell’s presentation was very basic in terms of the medium that he uses to communicate. The stage was empty with the exception of a large model of an altar. While Bell does not use a half hour diatribe with three points beginning with the letter “p” to communicate his position (something he criticizes in his presentation), the listener has to be prepared for a two hour diatribe with no point at all.

The crowd that came out to hear Bell was as entertaining as Bell himself. Apparently the Emergent movement is not beyond that bane of popular American Christianity: idol worship. It was amazing to see so many of the men dressed like Bell, many even sporting the same dark rimmed glasses.

Bell’s thesis follows this line of reasoning: 1) mankind has offered sacrifices to various conceptions of God because he must in order to keep receiving blessings (harvest, children, etc.) or because he has offended God and must earn back the favor of whatever deity he or she is worshipping. 2) The sacrifice concept was developed in primitive “caveman-like” eras over lengthy periods of time, which assumes the accuracy of Darwinian evolution. 3) The story of redemptive history in the Bible is not about sacrifices dealing with the issue of sin, but showing that God’s true character is not like that of the angry, vengeful and demanding pagan deities (he uses one of the feasts in Leviticus to make this point). 4) That Jesus Christ’s sacrifice has done away with not only the Old Testament sacrificial system, but also all pagan sacrificial systems (through a poor misrepresentation of Hebrews). Thus, he comes to the conclusion that Christ died to prove to the human race that God is not angry with them, that He loves them pretty much as they are, and that there is no need to repent. This is what leads many critics of the movement to conclude that Bell and others are Universalists. 5) The effect of this brand of “Christianity” (using this term loosely) is that people who have been impacted by this message do good things for others.

The errors in Bell’s “doctrine” are apparent to anyone who bothers to take the time to examine his teaching on even a cursory level. While sociologists may conclude that godless cultures instituted sacrificial systems as a lame attempt to deal with their guilt as well as an attempt to coerce deity to bless their work, the Bible does not teach anywhere that the sacrificial system of the true God was designed to correct the errors in popular pagan thinking. In fact, it does teach that these cultures developed these systems as a deviation and perversion of the truth. It teaches that they rebelled against the truth and in a manifestation of (gasp!) God’s wrath, they became more and more degenerate (Romans 1:18-32). It teaches that their problem was sin, which is why the biblical sacrificial system was instituted in the first place, even as far back as Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:21).

Bell’s handling of the texts in Hebrews can be characterized as either: 1) theological revisionism or 2) woefully ignorant. In light of Bell’s years in ministry and training, it’s probably best to characterize the teaching as the former rather than the latter. To suggest that Hebrews 10 teaches that Christ’s sacrifice had anything to do with pagan sacrificial systems is ludicrous. That text compares the sacrifices of Yom Kippur with Christ’s perfect sacrifice and speaks of the superiority of Christ’s work to that of the Old Testament sacrificial system. In order to come to the conclusion that Bell comes to, it is necessary to ignore both the immediate context of Hebrews 10 and the entire book of Hebrews. For a general exposition of Hebrews 10, click here: http://www.countrysidebible.org/media/s1c1070916a.mp3.

Bell mangled the definition of repentance, stating that repentance is not turning from sin. Rather, he says it is a “celebration” of life in Christ. He further stated that anyone who tells you that you need to repent is not talking about Christianity. If he is right, then John the Baptist (Matthew 3:2), Peter (Acts 3:19), Paul (Acts 20:21) and the Lord Jesus Christ Himself (Matthew 4:17; 9:13) weren’t preaching Christianity. In order to come to this conclusion, Bell has to ignore all of the Old and New Testament evidence that repentance is turning from sin and turning to Christ alone in faith. He has to ignore the Jewish conception of repentance (which was not lost on the Jewish believers of the early church) which was turning from sin to turn to God (Ezekiel 18).

So, to summarize, Bell has reduced the death of Christ to an act of God intended to demonstrate that God is not angry with us. There was no mention of Christ’s substitutionary death for our sin (2 Corinthians 5:21), a revision of repentance, and no mention of a need for true saving faith in Christ alone for salvation. In short, in two hours of diatribe, there was not a mention of the true Gospel and an elaborate, witty presentation of a false one.

After the event was over, we went outside of the theater to pass out tracts. We could do it confidently, knowing that we belonged there because the tracts gave the missing and accurate information. Whatever Rob Bell is teaching, it is not orthodox Christianity. If those in the “Emergent Conversation” are to have any hope, they will have to turn from their questioning of everything biblical and admit that the Bible has the answers.

Blessings,

Jon

Seventh-Day Adventism: The Spirit Behind the Church

2007-11-24T09:36:00.000-08:00

This hard-hitting, eye opening documentary explores the teaching of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, it's origins and the changes which have occurred throughout the years. It examines the claims of the religion's founder, the late prophetess Ellen G. White, and compares her unique beliefs with Biblical truth.

You will meet a number of former high-ranking church leaders, many of them fourth generation members, and discover what happened when they embarked on a journey to uncover the truth about their organization. You will be shocked by what they found.

The DVD can be ordered online here.

Weekly "Fishing" Report (11-18-07)

2007-11-23T10:57:00.000-08:00

It was raining on Saturday when Dave, Darrin and I met for street fishing. However, we decided not to call it off or hole up somewhere, so we prayed and headed out to see what the Lord may have planned. It had lessened to a light sprinkle as we headed down 6th Street, so there was some foot traffic and though people weren't inclined to stop and talk we were still able to pass out a few tracts.

The park was empty because of the weather, so rather than stopping there we headed back up 6th St and gave out some more tracts. I passed a What If? card to a young Hispanic man. Not long after that he stopped us as he was coming back down the street to ask if he could have one of the cards to give to his uncle. How cool is that? I love it when not only does someone appreciate the gospel message on the tract you gave them, but they also want to share it with someone else. Of course, I gave him another What If? card and I also showed him the Curved Illusion to take with him as well.

We passed Havoc (the head shop I've mentioned before) and Dave gave some tracts to the kids hanging out front. He's been using the Satan: god of This World tract with the goth/punk street kids since they really go for the cover.

As we passed by, one of them called after us. “Hey! What is this?” He was in his late teens, wearing all black with a chain belt and hood. Dave turned and asked him if he'd like to talk about it. This lead them into a twenty minute one-2-one. The kid's name was Jake. As Dave tells it, Jake was really lost. He believed in a “god” of some sort but tried to blend that with the evolutionist and humanist views he's gotten in school. Dave tried to shed some light on the gospel by taking him through The Good Person Test, but when it came to Jake realizing he'd stand guilty before God he stoicly said he'd just take the judgment and pay the penalty. He said he didn't want anyone else taking what he deserved. It was sad. As they finished talking, Dave asked if Jake had a Bible. He said no because his mom was a pagan (meaning a Wiccan or something like that). Please mention Jake in your prayers. I had a couple of pictures of him and Dave talking, but Jake asked that I not post them so I'm respecting his wishes.

Pray for the seed that was sown. Jesus, may You receive the honor that You're due.

Bullwhip Guy

2007-11-15T17:23:00.000-08:00

This satire piece is a response to Rob Bell's Nooma video titled Bullhorn.

For another excellent Bullhorn response by Todd Friel click here.

Man killed at one of our fishing holes.

2007-11-08T09:21:00.000-08:00

The picture above is of a cross that has been placed where a young man (Wayne) was killed in the walkway beside the post office where we often witness and talk to the street kids that hang out there. It really makes you stop and think. How long do you really have to share the gospel with someone? How many times do you really get to come across their path and share God's plan of salvation before they've passed from this life and into eternity? This life is like a vapor, here today and gone tomorrow. Lord give us compassion and a sense of urgency to keep pushing the plow and focus on the task at hand.

Here's an article in the Medford Mail Tribune about his death.

I was looking at the witnessing audios on my website and found that I had a chance to share the gospel with Wayne. I don’t know where he stood with God at the time of his death, but I’m glad to know God at least gave me the chance to share the message of salvation with this man.

Click here for the audio.

Weekly "Fishing" Report (11-04-07)

2007-11-07T15:23:00.000-08:00

We set up a table out front of our home on Halloween night as an outreach. Our team had prepared 500 goodie-bags for the kids with candy and a Creepy Cash gospel tract in them. We also offered coffee or cocoa plus a Jumbo $10-Million tract for the adults. When the trick-or-treating traffic started to diminish, Dave and I grabbed a few hundred of the goodie-bags and dropped down to tract sweep the big harvest festival being held at River Valley Church. By the end of the night, all 500 bags with tracts had been given out. Praise God for a chance to shine the Light of the Gospel into the dark night of the year.

Kathleen joined Dave, Darrin and me for street fishing on Saturday. We started with prayer and then headed over to 6th Street. A few people were gathered near the post office and we stopped to give out tracts and some New Testaments that Kathleen had brought with her. She and I also had a chance to talk with a woman named Christie. Christie was homeless and in a pretty rough spot in her life. She appeared to be intoxicated, but we did what we could to share the gospel with her. Though I'm not sure how much of what was said really sank in, she took a Gospel of John and a tract that will recap the gospel message. Now it's between her and the Holy Spirit.

Dave and Kathleen share with a gentleman at the park.

We continued down 6th Street to Riverside park where we picked up a few more one-2-ones. I met Jeff, a non-practicing Catholic, and was able to share the gospel with him. After that I came across Thomas and his young son Caleb. Thomas is a professing Christian but he hasn't yet found a home church since moving to Grants Pass. I asked him why he would be going to heaven and he answered because he's a good person and has lead a moral life. I then took him through The Good Person Test to put the puzzle pieces together and help him understand God's plan of salvation. You don't go to heaven because you're a good person (you're not), you get to go to heaven even though you're a bad person because through Christ you can be forgiven by a very good God. Meanwhile, Dave and Kathleen were talking with Jim, an older gentleman that Dave has witnessed to at least twice before. It's wonderful that God keeps allowing these chances to follow-up with Jim and it's our hope that the Holy Spirit will be doing a work in this man's life.

Click the links below for MP3 audios of a couple of the witnessing encounters:

We then headed back up 6th Street and passed out some more tracts. At the Dutch Bros coffee hut, we met Pastor Gene Anderson and a group from the House of Prayer. They were doing some street fishing of their own, so we shared some hugs and encouragement. It's such a blessing to meet other people with a heart for reaching out on the streets. Our team then headed back to our cars and closed in prayer.

Pray for the seed that was sown. Jesus, may You receive the honor that You are due.

Kirk Cameron on TBN's Praise the Lord - October 25th

2007-10-26T15:11:00.000-07:00

Kirk Cameron hosts Cece Winans, Liz Curtis Higgs, Pastor Johnny Hunt, Dr. Ravi Zacharias and Travis Cottrell in Costa Mesa, CA.

While I rarely watch anything on TBN, when Kirk is a guest host it is usually must see TV. For those who missed it, you can watch it below. (Click the "play" button to start. High speed internet suggested).

A Letter From Hell

2007-10-25T12:43:00.000-07:00

Weekly "Fishing" Report (10-21-07)

2007-10-24T09:44:00.000-07:00

It had been raining on Saturday and though God blessed us by causing it to clear up by the time our team hit the streets there wasn't a lot of foot traffic downtown or at the park. We didn't pick up any one-2-ones, but collectively we still passed out a few dozen tracts. We gave out Are You Under a Curse? or the God of This World tracts while telling people to have a safe Halloween. Most everyone smiled and said "thank" you as they took them.

Our Lord is sovereign, so even when it's rainy and the number of people is lighter we can trust He's accomplishing what He wills. Pray for the seed that was sown. May the Lamb of God receive the rewards of His suffering!

2007-10-18T09:19:00.001-07:00

Weekly "Fishing" Report (10-14-07)

2007-10-17T10:30:00.000-07:00

Dave, Darrin and I hit the streets again on Saturday. We gave out a number of tracts even though foot traffic downtown was a little sparse. We then we found a good number of people gathered at Riverside Park. After a prayer for boldness, I hopped up on a bench to preach open air to a group of thirty or so gathered around the playground. God was at work. Instead of encountering a heckler, people actually came and sat down or turned my way to listen to the clear and simple gospel message.

Click here for the 8 minute MP3 audio.

Afterwards, a young man that'd been listening to the open air came over to talk with our team. His name was Madison and we learned he was a new Christian. It was a blessing to talk with and encourage him for a few minutes. This was also a God thing, because I'd actually been in line behind him at Walmart a few days earlier. I'd really felt prompted to talk to him at time time, but I unfortunately let it slip by and soon he'd paid for his things and was gone. Now God had brought us together again there at the park. Praise our Lord that He is sovereign and faithful to see His will done, even when we fumble.

Pray for the seed that was sown. Jesus, may You receive the honor that You're due!

Weekly "Fishing" Report (10-07-07)

2007-10-10T09:50:00.000-07:00

This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil." (John 3:19)

This is a poster we found in a store front window on 6th Street. While Grants Pass is being invited to embrace their "dark side" we have a call from our Lord to bring Light and Life to this city. We invite you to join us in taking the gospel to the streets. Even if you think you may be ready to actually talk to people, we can always use prayer support and welcome you to stand by and for us. If you're not in Grants Pass, contact us and we'll do what we can to help connect you with a local street evangelism team in your area.

The "Art Along the Rogue" celebration was being held on Saturday. It's an annual event when they block off a portion of H St where people can do chalk art on the street and bands perform on stage. A lot of people gather there and in past years we've hit it to do tract sweeps and some open air preaching. This time the foot traffic at the street corners wasn't conducive for an open air but Dave, Darrin and I still made a sweep through the area and gave out between 200 to 300 gospel tracts.

We also made our usual passes through the downtown area where God further blessed me with a couple of witnessing encounters. The most memorable was with six teen boys. The main three I talked with were named Jacob, Jeremiah and Matthew. Bible names ... go figure. It started with me giving them a What If? card. They asked what it was, so I said the big question was on the back. What if this was your last day on earth? Where will you go when you die? They gave a couple of goofy responses, but Jacob said he'd go to heaven. When I asked why, he said because he deserves to. It was a perfect opening to The Good Person Test. I reasoned with them for the next few minutes about sin, righteousness, judgment and God's grace in the cross. It was amazing to see how receptive these guys were as they listened. Afterwards, Jacob said "Thanks. This helped me a lot." I offered him a Gospel of John and the others asked for one too. Jeremiah asked where I go to church. I told him and he said "Man! I want to go to that church." They'd heard the truth and at least knew it for what it was. Praise God!

Click here for the MP3 audio of the encounter.

Pray for the seed that was sown. May the Lamb of God receive the glory He is due!

Paul Washer gives the Gospel

2007-10-04T17:47:00.000-07:00

Weekly "Fishing" Report (09-23-07)

2007-10-03T09:25:00.000-07:00

Greg Beals came up from Medford to join me and Dave for street fishing on Saturday. Foot traffic downtown and at Riverside park was kind of light, but I was still able to give out 100+ tracts (You Are Here and Eye of God) and I know the others passed out a number of tracts as well.

We passed a couple of teen girls on our way up 6th Street. As I handed them each an Eye of God tract, one of the girls bluntly said "I don't believe in God." I quickly responded with "OK, but you can still believe in the Hubble Telescope. The picture was taken with it." She didn't have an answer for that, so she took the tract. Greg was a quick to follow-up and and stepped in to say he'd heard that one of them didn't believe in God. He told them he was curious what they thought happened after we die. That took him into a one-2-two as Dave and I continued on around the corner. What had started with one of the girls trying to rebuff us ended up with Greg talking to them and sharing the gospel for a good 15 to 20 minutes. I thank God for you, bro.

While Greg was in the one-2-two, I noticed a voice mail on my phone. Steven had called to find out where we were and he ended up joining up for the last hour or so of street fishing. It was God's timing, because He set things up for the witnessing encounter to come shortly after that. We made one final pass down 6th Street and met a couple near H Street (Dave and Diane). I gave them each an Eye of God tract and that got us talking. They both seemed a bit New Age as they talked about God-energy and other such concepts, but eventually we agreed that the soul was eternal and would face heaven or hell after death. This swung into sharing the gospel as I took them through The Good Person Test. They both became very thoughtful as we talked. Dave then asked if we'd seen anyone affected by our street ministry. Steven raise his hand and said "right here." He then shared his testimony of being a drunk on the streets before I and others came out to share the gospel and God laid hold of him nine months ago. Dave said he remembered Steven from back then, and the gears were turning behind his eyes as he mulled this over. I was amazed at how God had brought Steven and us together a few minutes earlier to have the right combination to share and impact this man. Dave and Diane each took a Gospel of John and a tract to recap what we'd talked about.

Pray for the seed that was sown. Jesus, may You receive the honor that You're due.

Weekly "Fishing" Report (09-16-07)

2007-09-20T17:05:00.000-07:00

The fall Wine Stroll was being held downtown on Saturday. This is a great opportunity to pull out the pink & blue Curved Illusion tracts and offer people a "free field sobriety test." It gets some good laughs and puts the gospel message in many hands.

We also made our usual pass through Riverside Park where we picked up a few witnessing encounters. I met three young men named Kevin, Alan and Corey. Kevin said he'd been a Christian for 14 years (since the age of 5). Alan had just started going to church six months ago. Corey was an atheist and just sat off to the side listening to us. I told Kevin and Alan to imagine they died and stood before God. God asks why He should let them in to Heaven ... what would they say? Kevin answered that the blood of Jesus covered him. Alan said he “hoped” he was among those God had chosen. We then went through The Good Person Test to fit the pieces together. I told Alan that 1st John chapter 5 tells us the apostle John wrote these things that we might know we have eternal life. We don't have to just hope, but if we’ll bow our knee in humble repentance and call out to Christ in faith we can be assured of our salvation. They shook my hand after that. Kevin said he was grateful to see us out there and that he'd pray for us.

Dave was blessed with a chance to follow up with Jim, an older gentleman he'd had a one-2-one with a couple of weeks ago. Dave says that Jim was rather closed when they first spoke, but this time around he was much more open to talk about the things of God.

My most memorable encounter that afternoon was with Fred. He was a gentleman perhaps in his early fifties sitting at a picnic table near the river and sorting through his tackle box. I used the Curved Illusion tract to break the ice and we got into some small talk. Unfortunately, I found that like sometimes happens the longer we chatted about nothing in general the harder it became to then shift over to the gospel. At one point I actually turned to break it off and leave, but Fred kept the conversation going so I stayed. A few more minutes passed by and I prayed 'God, please give me an opening to share the gospel with him.' Fred went quiet and as awkward as it sounded I asked, "You mentioned that you'd lived here for about 15 years. Do you come from a Christian background or go to church around here?" He said his grandmother had been Mormon but his dad really wasn't anything in particular. His mom was Foursquare. He said he'd been going to Jubilation Fellowship off and on and asked what denomination it was ... Baptist, Protestant, etc. I took the opportunity to explain that Protestant meant the Christian denominations that had split off from the Roman Catholic Church and then under that umbrella you have Baptist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Foursquare, etc. He thought about this for a second then asked, so do they all teach the same gospel? Bingo! There was my opening and the door was wide open. Praise God! He makes it so easy when He sets it up.

I sat down and told Fred I'd give him a quick "Gospel 101" then he could see how it fits together. We covered the basics of sin, righteousness, judgment and grace. His face changed and he looked almost sad. He told me he fully believed Jesus was God in the flesh. However, he wanted to know what I thought of someone who'd received Christ as his Savior, but continued to sin. I probed a bit. I could tell Fred was talking about himself, but I wanted to find out if he meant a one-time stumbling in sin or an on-going practicing of it. Fred is a truck driver and spends a lot of time on the road in the western states. He's wrestling with some of the fleshly lusts that all too often accompany such a lifestyle. We talked about the differences between horizontal repentance (man-centered regret) and vertical repentance (recognizing our sin against God).

For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death. (2 Corinthians 7:10)

I pointed to the importance of understanding what happened at Calvary; looking into the mirror of the Ten Commandments and then to the cross ... back and forth as the Holy Spirit works on you and breaks your heart. When we recognize our sin for what it is -- a wicked offense against God and the very thing that put our Lord on the cross -- it loses its allure and shine. We see our lust is another strike on the nail in Christ's wrist. We went over this for a while. It was a good talk. Fred was seeking; he asked several questions and I clarified as best I could. The rest is in the hands of the Holy Spirit.

We talked a bit longer about the differences he was hearing between some programs on Christian radio. I then left him with a Why Christianity? booklet along with my card, encouraging him to call or contact me if he wanted. Please, pray for Fred and the other seed that was sown.

Jesus, may You receive the honor that You're due!

Weekly "Fishing" Report (09-09-07)

2007-09-13T11:49:00.000-07:00

Saturday was a slower pace; foot traffic on the streets was light and there wasn't as many people at the park. We passed out a number of gospel tracts, but didn't pick up any one-2-ones. However, we discovered something else that was a real encouragement to us. As we made our way along 6th St we found a few different tracts on the sidewalk or in the street. We could tell another group must have been out there sharing the gospel. We picked up a few of the tracts and read them. It was a good solid gospel message, but there was nothing on the tracts to let us know who had given them out. We tucked them in our pockets or Bibles and hoped that God might somehow reveal who these other fishermen were.

When we got to the 7-11 at the corner of 6th & M St, we heard a guy call out "Hey! Are you out sharing the gospel?" The man had a big smile on his face. His name is Donny and he attends the Calvary Chapel church. We've met before and he knows about our street evangelism team. After I introduced him to Darrin and Dave, Donny excitedly told us how a group from his church had gone out Friday night to witness and pass out gospel tracts downtown. We showed him a couple of the tracts we'd found and he confirmed it was them. Praise God as he continues to raise up laborers!

This was one of the tracts we found.
Click here to read it online.

Weekly "Fishing" Report (09-02-07)

2007-09-08T10:10:00.000-07:00

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:12, ESV)

Street Fishing on Saturday was interesting ... to say the least. We prayed and then Dave, Darrin and I headed down 6th Street for Riverside Park. At the park Dave stopped and attempted to strike up a one-2-one, so Darrin and I made a sweep around the playground and gave tracts to the adults there. I tracted a couple sitting at one of the tables and after I'd gone by, the young man (Ashley) called after me "Hey! What is this?" He looked at the back of the tract and then said loudly "Come here and talk to me!" I wasn't going to turn down a potential one-2-one, so I headed over to him. He looked again at the What If? tract asking "What is this?" I told him we were challenging people to think with the questions on the back, but the most important one was 'What if this was your last day on earth? What happens after you die?' He said he wanted to talk about it, but then said we should do it away from the children. That seemed a little odd, but I followed him over onto the lawn by the soccer fields. Dave and Darrin saw it and moved to where they could keep and eye on us, but kept their distance and prayed.

The encounter was unusual from the start. He launched into accusing me and saying that handing him the tract was like assault because it mentions hell. I really never take a tract back once I've given it out. If someone tries to give it back to me -- depending on how they're acting -- I'll either encourage them to give it to someone else or tell them I've given them God's Word and it's up to them to do with it what they will. However, for some reason this time I found myself telling him "if it bothers you, just throw it away." I said for example that I get handed things that may bother me or that I don't agree with like a flyer for homosexual marriage or an ad for a some concert and I'll just throw them away. However, he wouldn't let go of it and just kept holding the tract.

He challenged me with "How dare you claim to know what happens after death!" So I tried to reason with him regarding judgment. God exists (building = builder, creation = creator) and we have a conscience showing we've done wrong against him. Ashley didn't want to hear it. Each time I started making logical sense like this, he'd take a 90-degree turn and head off to another topic. It felt like I was having two different conversations. Sometimes he'd be civil and polite, like when I asked his name and he actually shook my hand, then other times he'd be animated and antagonistic. I want to stress he wasn't drunk or acting like a druggie. His pupils weren't dilated, but were actually quite small. His eyes were red around the edges but it looked like more from lack of sleep than being high. He was pretty much like your run-of-the-mill 20-something college student, but there was something very tense about him.

Then I realized this was a whole different encounter when he leaned toward me and declared "I am the Holy Spirit! I am the Creator! Right now I'm very disappointed in what you are doing." Now I've met a few people that have said they're God or that we each have God or the divine within us. However, I've never heard someone actually say it like he did. I said "No, you're not." He paused and asked "What'd you say?" I answered "No... you are not." He leaned toward me and said "What?!" With a little indignation, I said "No man can look upon the face of God and live, and I'm looking right into yours." Though he'd challenged pretty much everything else I'd brought up, he just let that pass.

The conversation ranged across topics like a fencing match. Each time he sensed I'd gained a firm foothold in my response, he'd swing 90-degrees and head off to another one. Adding to the chaos was the very real sense that I was dealing with more than just the flesh-and-blood man before me. At one point, Ashley said "This is so psychological! You're only talking to people like this because you're afraid of death." Suddenly I felt fear trying to sweep in. It hit me that I had no idea what he may have in his pockets. I caught a brief mental image of him sticking me with a knife, but then the Holy Spirit took hold with an incredible steadfast assurance. Our Lord is faithful and he is on the throne; he would either take care of me there or he'd take care of my family afterwards. I answered "No, I'm not afraid at all. Death has no sting because I know what's waiting for me out there." He waived his arms and shook his head in frustration.

I'm still not sure why (perhaps a prompting from the Spirit), but at least a half dozen times I went against my usual rule and kept telling him to just throw the tract away, but he still wouldn't. As he continued to veer off and shift from topic to topic, we came around to whether or not the Bible is true. I started to build a case for scripture but he didn't want to hear it. He wouldn't get past the fact that it talked about hell. I told him if we could trust it being unlike any other book (66 books by 40 authors over 1,500 years), plus being archaeologically sound, scientifically sound, and prophetically true we come to a point where we can trust it on the reality of hell.

Underneath it all I wasn't as concerned about being right as I was with conveying the concern and compassion that motivated me to share my faith. I tried to reason with him by using the example of a fatal disease and how he wouldn't appreciate the cure unless he first recognized his symptoms and the severity of his condition. I told him "I'm trying to show you how you can be saved" and he came back with a very unusual response ... "and I'm trying to save you." I told him I'd show him a difference between us and asked if he thought he was a good person. He naturally answered yes. I said that's the difference, because I'd say I wasn't. I'm a wretched sinner. Probably a worse one than him. I've lied, stolen, lusted, practiced witchcraft and more. He then actually took a pleading tone, saying "See ... you don't have to look at yourself that way. You don't have to think you're a sinner." I thought back to how he'd said he was trying to save me. It honestly felt like an evangelist for Christ and an evangelist for Satan we're squaring off there at the park.

I said I simply believed what I found in scripture and that's why I'm out there warning people and sharing my faith. I asked him for any proof what-so-ever that there were errors or contradictions in the Bible. He said he couldn't think of any right then, but asked for my email address. I wrote it on the back of a tract and gave it to him. We stopped there and he left with his girlfriend ... now carrying two tracts.

Meanwhile, in the midst of praying over my encounter with Ashley, Dave had noticed a young man (Kits) sitting at a picnic table and watching the two of us. His interest in our exchange provided a springboard into a one-2-one and Dave had a chance to share the gospel with him. Please, pray for Ashley and Kits.

The three of us regrouped and spent some needed time in prayer. We then headed up 6th Street and passed by the Dutch Bros coffeehouse giving out a number of tracts before heading back to our cars. That's when the second bizarre encounter occurred. I was putting things away in my trunk when I heard someone making a loud woop-woop sound and yelling "Look, a holy man! There's a holy man over here!" (Click here to hear an example of the sound.)

There was a young man with a bicycle sitting on a bench across the intersection from us. He was making the odd sound and yelling to a group of forty or so street kids gathered in the shade on the other side of the parking lot behind him. "Holy men are here! Come see the holy men!" He was probably in his early twenties, thin, wearing all black. He wasn't a homeless vagrant or someone that appeared otherwise insane. He also didn't act drunk or high. However, something definitely had him stirred up over our presence across the street. He continued calling for the others to "See the holy man!" between his woop-woop sounds. It felt like the encounter Paul and Silas had with the demon-possessed woman in Acts.

As we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gain by fortune-telling. She followed Paul and us, crying out, "These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation." (Acts 16:16-17, ESV)

Some of the street kids had come over to his corner to check things out and this seemed to prod him on a little more. He said loudly that he'd get the license plate numbers for the holy men and hopped on his bike to ride over to us. I guess he didn't know I could hear his comment about the license plates because he tried to coyly make small talk with Dave about his car being a hatchback while he checked it out. He then scooted up behind me and just stared. I turned and calmly asked if there was anything I could do for him. He quickly took off, hissing under his breath "Stop being so bold and holy on the streets." I tried to let him know there's nothing holy or good about me that doesn't come from Christ, but it was drowned out by the loud woop-woops he was making as he rode away.

We closed in prayer and left it in God's hands. I'm not worried about this guy getting the numbers. We've been parking our cars in that same place while street fishing for two years, the plates are there if they want them. Plus, our Lord is sovereign and there's no threat someone can pose that God doesn't allow (see John 19:11). It's just interesting that we had two such encounters in the one afternoon. Praise God if our witness is being seen as enough trouble to the kingdom of darkness that it's starting to show itself.

Keep us in prayer. May Jesus be glorified in what we do.

Street Fishing

2007-09-04T10:08:00.000-07:00

The Fool4Given team in action. Witnessing one-2-one and preaching open air. Taking the Gospel to the streets.

I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season. (2 Timothy 4:1-2a)

Weekly "Fishing" Report (08-26-07)

2007-09-01T14:35:00.000-07:00

There was a motorcycle show in Medford on Saturday. They had a misprint in the paper on the date, so Greg didn't know when it was until that same day. Still, he remembered having plenty of the "red, white and blue" Let Freedom Ring tracts in his trunk and figured they'd be just right for the Harley riders, so he headed into town. He found a section of downtown Medford closed to traffic where a live band was playing. Greg says he gave tracts to pretty much everybody there, with very few rejections once they saw the american flag on the front. I thank God for you, bro!

Meanwhile Darrin, Dave and I hit the streets here in Grants Pass. It was a really unusual "fishing" afternoon, considering I didn't cover more than two blocks the whole time! After we opened in prayer, I spotted a group of teens in the parking lot across from us. Sensing it may provide a one-2-one, I headed over there and one member of the group came out to meet us on his skateboard. His name is Kevin and I've spoke with him and his friend Dennis before. I first met them back in January '06. (Click here for the audio of the original witnessing encounter.) Since then I've come across him a few other times and he's always been interested in what new tracts I may have. He and his friends call themselves Juggalos, which means they're followers of the band Insane Clown Posse or "ICP". It's really a strange scenerio. The band actually disciples their fans in some very twisted theology about the afterlife and other spiritual matters. I used this follow-up encounter on Saturday to just treat it like another religion and address the differences between biblical Christianity and their beliefs. Kevin took a Why Christianity? booklet when I gave it to him. I'll continue to pray God would shine the light of truth into the shadows ICP is feeding their fans like this.

Following the walkway by the post office, Dave got into a one-2-one with a Messianic Jew while I picked up a witnessing encounter with Casey and Brenda. Brenda was the quiet type, but she listened while Casey and I talked. He'd just gotten out of prison on Monday and just five days later here was God putting the gospel in front of him. He came from a Christian background, but when I asked him if he were to stand before God on Judgment Day and God asked why he should let him into heaven... what would he say? Casey didn't have an answer. I walked him through a message of sin, righteousness, judgment and the grace offered in Jesus Christ and helped him fit the pieces together. Afterwards, he and Brenda each got a Gospel of John and a pretty thorough tract. Pray for the two of them. As we were talking, I also learned that Casey was Kevin's uncle! There's no coincidences with God.

As I finished talking with those two, Steven caught my attention. He's the young man that has come to Christ since I'd had a chance to witness and talk with him about seven months ago. (If you haven't read Steven's story in my XE'07 report, click here to do so.) It was a real blessing to talk with this brother and hear some more of his testimony. I thank God for what he's doing in and through Steven and also that he'd sent him to encourage us that afternoon. We'd had a rough week as a team and God knew what we needed in this time of fellowship to wrap up the afternoon.

In closing, I wanted to mention a little something I found cool. Darrin plays an online multi-user adventure game and he told me that he'll take his character into the cities in the game and find a busy area where he can preach open-air with his character. He's able to type messages which appear for the other people on screen to see and he'll proclaim the gospel this way. He even gets "virtual hecklers" amongst the other players, but that just means they're seeing what he shares. Praise God! I encourage each of you to find new fields and places to cast your nets like this. Time is short and hell is hot!

Pray for the seed that was sown. Jesus, may you receive the honor that you're due.

2007-08-31T12:51:00.000-07:00

Click here and listen to this 3.5 minute audio by Adrian Rogers.

Allow Me to Re-Introduce the Christ

2007-08-28T17:43:00.000-07:00

"For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect." (Matt 24:24, emphasis mine)

A Parable of Fishless Fishermen

2007-08-25T10:56:00.000-07:00

Now it came to pass that a group existed who called themselves fishermen. And lo, there were many fish in the waters all around. In fact the whole area was surrounded by streams and lakes filled with fish. And the fish were hungry.

Week after week, month after month, and year after year these who called themselves fishermen met in meetings and talked about their call to fish, the abundance of fish, and how they might go about fishing. Year after year they carefully defined what fishing means, defended fishing as an occupation, and declared that fishing is always to be a primary task of fishermen.

Continually they searched for new and better methods of fishing and for new and better definitions of fishing. Further they said, "The fishing industry exists by fishing as fire exists by burning." They loved slogans such as "Fishing is the task of every fisherman," "Every fisherman is a fisher," and "A fisherman's outpost for every fisherman's club." They sponsored special meetings called "Fishermen's Campaigns" and "The Month for Fishermen to Fish." They sponsored costly nationwide and worldwide congresses to discuss fishing and to promote fishing and hear about all the ways of fishing such as the new fishing equipment, fish calls, and whether any new bait was discovered.

These fishermen built large, beautiful buildings called "Fishing Headquarters." The plea was that everyone should be a fisherman and every fisherman should fish. One thing they didn't do, however; they didn't fish.

In addition to meeting regularly, they organized a board to send out fishermen to other places where there were many fish. All the fishermen seemed to agree that what is needed is a board which could challenge fishermen to be faithful in fishing. The board was formed by those who had the great vision and courage to speak about fishing, to define fishing, and to promote the idea of fishing in faraway streams and lakes where many other fish of different colors lived.

Also the board hired staffs and appointed committees and held many meetings to define fishing, to defend fishing, and to decide what new streams should be thought about. But the staff and committee members did not fish.

Large, elaborate, and expensive training centers were built whose original and primary purpose was to teach fishermen how to fish. Over the years courses were offered on the needs of fish, the nature of fish, where to find fish, the psychological reactions of fish, and how to approach and feed fish. Those who taught had doctorates in fishology. But the teachers did not fish. They only taught fishing. Year after year, after tedious training, many were graduated and were given fishing licenses. They were sent to do full-time fishing, some to distant waters which were filled with fish.

Some spent much study and travel to learn the history of fishing and to see faraway places where the founding fathers did great fishing in the centuries past. They lauded the faithful fishermen of years before who handed down the idea of fishing.

Further, the fishermen built large printing houses to publish fishing guides. Presses were kept busy day and night to produce materials solely devoted to fishing methods, equipment, and programs to arrange and to encourage meetings to talk about fishing. A speakers' bureau was also provided to schedule special speakers on the subject of fishing.

Many who felt the call to be fishermen responded. They were commissioned and sent to fish. But like the fishermen back home they never fished. Like the fishermen back home they engaged in all kinds of other occupations. They built power plants to pump water for fish and tractors to plow new waterways. They made all kinds of equipment to travel here and there to look at fish hatcheries. Some also said they wanted to be part of the fishing party, but they felt called to furnish fishing equipment. Others felt their job was to relate to the fish in a good way so the fish would know the difference between good and bad fishermen. Others felt that simply letting the fish know they were nice, land-loving neighbors and how loving and kind they were was enough.

After one stirring meeting on "The Necessity for Fishing," one young fellow left the meeting and went fishing. The next day he reported he had caught two outstanding fish. He was honored for his excellent catch and scheduled to visit all the big meetings possible to tell how he did it. So he quit his fishing in order to have time to tell about the experience to the other fishermen. He was also placed on the Fishermen's General Board as a person having considerable experience.

Now it's true that many of the fishermen sacrificed and put up with all kinds of difficulties. Some lived near the water and bore the smell of dead fish every day. They received the ridicule of some who made fun of their fishermen's clubs and the fact that they claimed to be fishermen yet never fished. They wondered about those who felt it was of little use to attend the weekly meetings to talk about fishing. After all, were they not following the Master who said, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men?"

Imagine how hurt some were when one day a person suggested that those who didn't catch fish were really not fishermen, no matter how much they claimed to be. Yet it did sound correct. Is a person a fisherman if year after year he never catches a fish? Is one following if he isn't fishing?

And Jesus said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men." (Mark 1:17)

by John Drescher

Weekly "Fishing" Report (08-12-07)

2007-08-22T11:41:00.000-07:00

There wasn't a lot of foot traffic downtown as we met for street fishing on Saturday so we headed for Riverside Park. Dave got into a one-2-two almost immediately while David and I did a tract sweep through the park.

I came across a young man that I recognized sitting on a bench and reading a book near the river, so I stopped to talk. I'd met Peter on the streets a couple of times before. The first time was just before Christmas. We had been using the Christmas Quiz as an icebreaker and I was engaged in a one-2-three when Peter stopped to listen. He joined in the conversation; saying some of the right things like a new Christian. However, other things just didn't fit. I guess you could say the walk didn't quite match the talk. You can download or listen to the audio of that witnessing encounter back in December by clicking here. Peter had his baby with him in a stroller and it was cold, so afterwards he asked if we could give him a ride home. Carla and her sons (Tait and Creighton) were with us, and they offered to drive him. I rode along while Greg and some of the others stayed at the fishing hole. Peter lived out past the community college, which gave us another 20 minutes or so to talk with him. He wasn't with or married to the baby's mother and there were other things going on in his life. We shared and witnessed as we could and then left him in God's hands.

I next met Peter on a Monday a couple of months ago. He was coming out of the Evangels bookstore reading his Bible. I was wearing a t-shirt with a quote from Charles Spurgeon on it - "Have you no wish for others to be saved? Then you are not saved yourself. Be sure of that." He stopped to ask me about it, and we got to talking. I didn't recognize or remember him from the prior encounter, so it kind of became another one-2-one. After a bit, he asked me to go across the street to the Calvary Chapel church with him where they have free coffee and we could talk some more. He asked a lot of questions and I did what I could to open the Bible to him. His main issue was that he was struggling with sin. He and the mother of his baby were now living together. They were "engaged" but with no definite plans of getting married. He knew this was wrong in the Lord's eyes, but admitted he wasn't willing to surrender or deal with it in a definite way. We talked for another half-hour or more. I touched again on the issues of sin, righteous judgment and grace. I also shared the story about a father and son going fishing amongst the alligators, trying to help him see the error in recognizing Jesus' sacrifice at the cross but continuing to pursue his sin. Then once again I left him with his Creator to wrestle it out.

Now Peter had been brought across my path this third time and I got to see real fruit from God working in his life. First off, he was reading Fox's Book of Martyrs ... that's not typical reading for a disinterested Christian. Secondly, Peter made a point of letting me know he and his fiancee have set a date next month (September 8th) to get married and get that dealt with. Thirdly, he is really interested in witnessing and sharing his faith. He'd seen me talking to some Mormons recently and was full of questions about how to witness to them. As we walked through some things, I could tell he'd been reading and studying his Bible. Dave had finished with his one-2-two by this time and came up to join us. Peter asked if he could walk with us as we headed back up 6th Street and we invited him along.

I hope I can express well enough how different Peter was from the other two times we'd talked. He continued to ask questions about witnessing and sharing his faith. I told him that one approach I often use when talking with Mormons or Jehovah's Witnesses is saying "Pretend that as we're talking here on the sidewalk, a car goes by and you hear POP! POP! It's a drive by shooting and I just took one or maybe two bullets in the back. I'm not going to make it 'til an ambulance comes. You can't save my life. I'll die in maybe three minutes. I say 'Help me! You seem to be Christian or something like that. Tell me what I need to do to be saved and have eternal life. What do you tell me?" (They don't have a good answer. It shows that their's is a works-righteous religion.) Peter, however, stepped right in and said "I know what I'd say! You've sinned against God. It's only the blood of Jesus that will protect you on Judgment Day. You have to repent and believe in him to save you." You could hear in his voice and see in his face that he got it now. The gospel was personal and real to him. He really wanted us to help equip him and prepare him to more readily share his faith. I loaded him up with a Hell's Best Kept Secret CD, a DVD with a good evangelistic message, a Why Christianity? booklet and a pack of What If? tracts. I also gave him a card with my number and our website on it so he can get in touch with me.

God is good! Often times we don't get to see the fruits of our labor this side of glory, but lately he's been gracious to bring us back across some of these people so we can see the impact and work he is doing in Grants Pass.

As we made our way back up 6th Street, we passed the Havoc shop where the young men had run away from me last week (see the 8/5 Fishing Report). No one was outside this time, but before we knew it David opened the door to step inside and tract the guy at the counter. Praise God for boldness in the field.

Please pray for the seed that was sown. Jesus, may you receive the glory that you're due!

Weekly "Fishing" Report (08-05-07)

2007-08-14T12:26:00.000-07:00

Saturday we had a team of five come together for street fishing: Terry, Dave, Darrin, David and me. We opened in prayer and then made a sweep of our regular fishing hole as we headed for Riverside Park.

Something really interesting happened and I'll do my best to describe it. As we were making our way toward the park, I spied a group of ten to fifteen guys hanging outside of Havoc (a punk/goth head shop). They wore a lot of black, t-shirts with the Ramones or Misfits or skulls on them, body piercings and other things you'd expect in such a crowd. I couldn't resist the opportunity, so I cut across the street. Some of the others paused a bit and then followed too. When I got to the group, I said "you look like guys that have to have some opinions. I'm wanting to talk to people about what happens after death, spiritual things, or stuff like that. How about it?" They didn't say a word to each other or make any gestures, but they all stood up as a group turned and ran into the shop. Lit cigarettes dropped to the sidewalk and they even left their sodas sitting there. They couldn't get away from me fast enough! I expected them to mock the Christian guy, or maybe one or two would talk to me but show off and be full of bravado in front of their cronies. Maybe they'd curse or swear at me for invading their turf; they outnumbered me a dozen to one. Even with the others coming across the street behind me, we're far from an intimidating group (trust me) and there was more of the punks than there was of us. The simple fact was these guys fled! All I could think of was this quote from the Bible...

"This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God." (John 3:19-21, NASB, emphasis mine)

When we got to the bridge, I noticed a big number of people coming up from the jetboats. Apparently a couple of the excursions had just returned and the boats were letting out. I scooted across the street and stood at the corner where the line passed by. In a matter of minutes I gave out close to 200 Ticket to Heaven tracts; what an opportunity. Praise God!

At the park, Dave got into a one-2-one and I picked up a one-2-three while the rest of the team made a tract sweep. We then headed back up 6th Street and the group that fled the light outside of Havoc actually became a springboard for a different witnessing encounter. I saw a group of street kids sitting outside Zarafina's (a witch shop). Some of them looked similar to members of the previous group, so I headed across the street and asked "are you the guys that ran away from me before?" They gave me curious looks and asked "what guys?" I told them how I tried to talk to the other group but they ran into the shop. Now they were really curious ... "what were you talking to them about?" Bingo! I said I was doing some street interviews about different beliefs, what happens after we die and things like that. One said he didn't want to do it, but the others were interested and I swung into a one-2-five. They had names like Stenso, Riddles, Yo-Yo, etc. They laughed and joked and cut up with each other as we started, but then a girl came along on her skateboard that I'd first done a street interview and one-2-one with months ago. She recognized me and told me she and her friend were just on my website the other night listening to the audio of me talking with them. She knew what I was doing here and actually told the others to pay attention. She was also with a guy that had been a rather antagonistic heckler during one of my XE'07 open airs at the park. Before they left, he apologized for how he'd acted and shook my hand saying he'd like to talk with me more some other time.

As I witnessed to this group, two of these guys really began to pay attention to me. Ironically, one was the post-modern "Christian" who had said he didn't want to be a part of it at the start and the other was Stenso. I wish I had a video rather than audio of the encounter, because their faces were completely changed by the end. Their bravado and foolish laughter was gone, and you could see in their eyes they were thinking on eternal things. I left them both with a Why Christianity? booklet. Riddles had also asked for one of the tracts I was carrying. Please pray for these guys. You can listen to or download the audio of the encounter by clicking here.

We continued back up 6th Street and Dave used the What If? tracts to swing into a one-2-two with a couple of young women. This was his second time on the streets with us and he was readily casting the net. I thank God for you, bro! We closed with a quick Bible study God had put on my heart to share with the team and then prayer. It was a great afternoon on the streets. What a blessing to join our Lord in his mission to seek and save the lost.

Please pray for the seed that was sown. May Jesus receive the honor he is due!

Why is Jesus so narrow minded?

2007-08-14T12:20:00.000-07:00

In the Bible we read Jesus repeatedly explaining himself to be the exclusive means of forgiveness. Jesus does not give room for any other paths to God. He is clear that things such as forgiveness, love, joy and heaven are found exclusively in him. According to Jesus any other ‘way’ is not a way at all but a sham; Jesus claims nothing less than exclusive authority and ability to save sinners. (Jn. 14.6; Mat. 7.13-14)

So to why is Jesus so narrow minded?

because there is only one God

The bible teaches that there are not many Gods but rather just one. And from this one God everything that has been made was made. This same God now sustains everything with his own power & sovereignty. People may claim that there are other Gods, however, God, in response, says that this is not true. God is intolerant of competition. (Is. 44.6-8; Acts 17.24-28)

because of the high standards of God

God has made everything for himself, to give him pleasure. His standard is inflexible. He demands absolute perfection. The way in which this shows itself is by loving him with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength. This is shown through passionate devotion & obedience to God.

Even the slightest variation from God’s design is rebellion & God views rebellion as worse than treason. The consequence for rebellion is death; expressed now in terms of death, sickness, and inability to earn his favor, and ultimately in terms of eternal condemnation. Where perfect love for God is lacking certain & relentless divine judgment is present. (Mat. 22.36-40; Rom. 3.23; Rom. 6.23; Col. 1.16; Jam. 2.10)

because it is the truth

Jesus himself being God is perfect & cannot lie. So we must remember that if Jesus said it then it is true! Jesus became a man to live here on earth. In his life he showed perfect & sinless love through obedience to God. Jesus is the only substitute for rebels. Our responsibility as humanity is to please God according to his standards (this we did not do), however, Jesus did.

And further Jesus also satisfied the inflexible justice of God by bearing the eternal judgment of God on the cross. Jesus distinguishes himself as the only one eligible to live perfectly and pay adequately for rebels who stand in God’s righteous crosshairs. (2 Cor. 14.6; Tit. 1.2; Heb. 1.3)

JESUS’ narrow MESSAGE for everyone

God was satisfied with Jesus work furnishing proof by raising him from the dead. Now Jesus commands his followers to tell everyone the glorious truth that he is the only Savior; the only one who is able to give rebels forgiveness, life, joy & heaven.

This forgiveness is not automatic like voting when we are 18; instead it comes by recognizing Jesus as king & ruler over our lives. In doing this we turn from rebellion (sin) & turn to Jesus (submission). It is this posture of submission to Jesus as king & following him as Lord that characterizes the Christian life & gives God pleasure.

While there is not room on Jesus’ narrow road for other saviors, there is room for everyone who will come to him for life. Jesus’ truth telling then shows him to not only be the exclusive Savior, but the loving Savior! (Jn. 14.6; Acts 17.30-31; 1 Tim. 2.5; Jn. 3.16-18)

by Erik Raymond

XE'07 Report (cont.)

2007-08-09T11:17:00.000-07:00

Something I forgot to mention on Day 2 was the Hellgate open air. While we were at the park I'd point out to the others how there was a constant line with dozens of people waiting to go on the Hellgate jebboat excursions. It's a big tourist attraction and the lines remain like that all throughout the day. This has been a source of frustration for me, because it's a great opportunity to preach the gospel open air, except that they're on the other side of the river. Where they line up is private property for the hotel. We've dropped Million Dollar Bill tracts from the 6th Street Bridge to people coming and going from the line, but that's been the extent of it. Unless we could preach from a boat or jet-ski in the river I couldn't think of a way to do an open air.

However, this second day of XE provided a way! As things wound down at the park, a group of us headed up the 7th Street bridge which overlooks where they load the jetboats. Bart fired up his video camera. Dave angled the amp over the railing. I turned on the mic and gave the gospel to the people getting in the boats and lined up along the docks.

Day 3

Seven of us gathered for breakfast and then prayer and worship in the park. I call it snot and tears Sunday. Many prayers were salted with sobs and tears. The last day of an event like this is always emotional. The culmination of God's work throughout the weekend is coming to a head. Our hearts are softened and we're more aware of the burden we carry for the gospel. We also know friends will be leaving and heading back home when it's done. It was a blessed time and something so vital. I've learned the battle is really on our knees before we even walk out on the street.

We then hopped over to take a group photo at the Hellgate sign and loaded up to head for Ashland. The environment in Ashland there is a lot different from what we'd encountered in Grants Pass. It's a university campus city ... much more pagan and openly liberal. People there seem to be hesitant to take tracts, so you have to rely more on just talking and preaching. Rick DeVos joined us as we found a place and set up next to the Lincoln statue at the entrance to Lithia Park. There was quite a bit of foot traffic through there and we found ourselves in one-2-ones before the open airing started. Greg and Paul were engaged with a shirtless guy that seemed to express multiple personalities in drastic shifts. He hung around the place pretty much the full time and played a fiddle, being nice and courteous one moment and then cursing or challenging us the next. Meanwhile, I had a pretty good conversation with some agnostic evolutionists. Rick "the machine" had a series of one-2-ones and David talked with a man that had "Jesus is the Lord - Son of God" signs on his bike. Paul and I then rotated through a few open airs and were blessed with some hecklers (i.e. the George Bush Hater and Mr. "F" Bomb) which helped draw attention and a few crowds. Our spot was also near a large green area where people could sit without showing themselves to the preacher, but those of us playing "rent a crowd" noticed that that they were listening too. Plus, there were some apartments and townhouses above us where people would come on their balconies to hear the open air.

Last year, we experienced some real spiritual warfare when we went to Ashland. I know several of you were aware of it and were praying for us this time. I thank God for you. It made a real difference! The police in Ashland were favorable toward us. During the second open air, as I was preaching, an officer came up and asked if we had a permit for the amplification. I told him we didn't know that we'd need one. He said he'd check, so as I continued he walked off and called in to someone. He came back shortly and said we needed the permit, so we had to turn the amp off but could continue on otherwise. I confirmed it was OK to just raise my voice and he said that was fine. We preached and did one-2-ones for another couple of hours after that. He and another officer were in and out of the area a times, but had no problem with us after that. They were primarily keeping an eye on the antagonistic fiddle player. In fact, I asked more about the amplification permits and one of them was very helpful in telling me where I could get one if we'd be in the park and where to get one for the city. It was surprising, considering the opposition we'd encountered in Grants Pass Saturday night. Praise God!

We broke camp a little after 2pm for a late lunch and a mini graduation with certificates and sharing stories. Bart had to leave a little earlier and after lunch we sent the Pauls on their way. I thank God that these three brothers were able to make the trek up from California to join us. Paul, David, Darrin and I then made our own ways home for much needed showers and sleep.

It was three long hard days of labor in the fields, and I praise Adonai for every moment of it. Providing Christ tarries, we plan to have one each year during the Back to the 50s weekend. Put it on your calendar now ... we'd love to have you join us for XE'08!

Pray for the seed that was sown. Jesus, may you receive the honor you are due!

XE'07 Report (cont.)

2007-08-09T11:14:00.000-07:00

Day 2

Another laborer was added to our ranks as Dave Self joined us for his first time on Saturday. After breakfast, our group had a moving time of prayer and worship along the river at the park. God was working on us and preparing us for what lay ahead. It seemed the theme that kept coming up in our prayers was humility.

We then hit the Grower's Market for the first part of the day. It's another situation where the merchants buying permits turns a public city lot into private property. However, there are two specific corners that remain a public forum and we planted camp on both of them. Greg, David and I took turns preaching open air on the first corner while the Pauls set up their Prayer Station on the other. The rest of the team got busy with tracts and witnessing. In fact, Dave Self picked up his first one-2-one that morning. After a couple of hours we shifted over to the Prayer Station corner and wrapped up with Paul and I trading off some open airs.

We then headed for Riverside Park where the classic car show was in full swing. We set up a spot where there was a decent amount of foot traffic at one end of the food and merchant booths. It was hot, so some of the team took turns resting in the shade as Bart, Paul, David and I rotated through open airs. There's a blessing in every trial, however, and the heat eventually introduced us to some of the best snow cones we'd tasted!

Otto approached me during an open air.

Something that really stands out to me is how God was faithful throughout the weekend to bolster us and keep our spirits up. As we faced opposition, battled the heat and even dealt with our own flesh, we'd periodically have God send someone to talk to us or encourage us in our labors. For example, a heckler might curse us or storm off but then after the open air someone would come to shake our hand and thank us for what we're doing. The shop where I stopped to get an Island Juice was Christian owned with open Bibles on the tables. They loved the tracts we showed them and encouraged us in our work. Otto Reichart is an elderly German gentleman that approached me during an open air at the growers market. Paul got to talk with him and learned he'd written a book titled Otto Pray! Otto Pray! about his harrowing trials as a Christian opposing the Hitler Regime. At the park Paul got to talk with another man that stopped to encourage us. He had been an open air preacher himself in Mexico. (You can see him holding the boomerangs in the photo video with Paul.) Yet another woman involved with ministry and the CMA stopped to let us know how she appreciated seeing us out there. Little encounters like this served to fan the sparks within us and urge us along.

This man had been an OA preacher in Mexico.

After dinner, we made our tract sweep at the Classic Car Cruise. It was great! We passed out between 3,000 to 3,500 tracts within a half hour. Considering the population of Grants Pass is just around 30,000 that's like 10% of the city getting the gospel in their hand that evening. As we were regrouping, we came across Pastor Gene and his team from The House of Prayer. They're a church I've gotten to know that has a heart for evangelism. Pastor Gene had a case of This Was Your Life tracts under his arm and they were out sweeping the cruise route as well. I introduced them to our XE crew and we gathered in a corner of the parking lot for prayer.

Our group then headed for the same corner we'd been at last night across from the concert stage, but the president of the Town Center Association was waiting for us this time. He said we couldn't be there. He claimed the lady last night had told us we had to move a whole block down and away from the plaza. He also claimed the police had told us we couldn't be there. As I reported for Day 1, this simply wasn't the case. The woman had pointed us to any of the three corners across the street from where we'd first set up. I even went back a second time to confirm with her after we'd moved. In fact, the police had been around to monitor the drunk heckler that was getting in Paul's face, they were fine with us and I have pictures of them playing with tracts and posing with Paul. Rather than fight it out and waste an hour or more of our limited time that evening, we acquiesced and shifted down a block. However, Greg did ask what we need to do to be allowed in that area next year, and the man told us to contact him before March. I have business cards for him and the woman we first talked to, and I plan to confer with some of the Christian legal organizations to review our rights before following up for next year.

God is sovereign though, and hindsight showed us that next corner down is where he wanted us. We set up for open air and I immediately ended up with people stopping back to back to talk on the heckler's mic. We talked about what happens after you die and I'd take them through the clear and simple gospel. Meanwhile, Pastor Gene and some of his people came across us and set up a second line of witnessing. As people would either finish at the hecklers mic or just stroll past the open air, Gene would pick them up at the corner and witness to them there. An older gentleman then showed up that wanted to banter about atheism and evolution. Paul had been trying to pick up an atheist heckler all night, so I handed the open air over to him.

I was getting some pictures of Bart and the others in one-2-ones when four drunk girls come swaying on the scene. They were young (probably no more than 18) and completely intoxicated. They laughed and fumbled around with the hecklers mic for a bit and then went to literally hang and drape themselves on Paul. He held his ground though and called them on their sin, which sent them stumbling off down the street as they fled the light.

Paul wrapped up the open air and stepped off the stool to continue talking with the evolutionist. It was kind of a mixed witnessing encounter, because there was also a high strung Native American heckler that had been hanging around. Then our newest team member (Dave Self) stepped in and drew him off to the side. Dave talked with him for quite some time while Paul continued with the older gentleman. Considering this was Dave's second one-2-one ever, his boldness and compassion was something to really thank God for.

In the end, there was no question God had led us to share the truth right where he wanted us that night. It was well after 11pm as we wrapped up. We were tired but it was that good kind of tired you feel after hard work. Many of us were running low on steam from lack of sleep, but we'd just draw on Christ's strength with another day ahead of us.

Stay tuned for Day 3...

XE'07 Report

2007-08-02T12:00:00.000-07:00

Paul Kaiser and his son (Little Paul) got in Thursday night. They had dinner and spent the night at our place which gave them a chance to meet my wife (Kelly) and girls (Willow and Holly). It was a great time of fellowship.

Little Paul and the girls got busy with the Playstation while we grown-ups sat around the table and talked. You could tell we were evangelist families. The conversation shifted to apologetics and witnessing to Mormons and then wrapped up with a concordance and Bible spread out on the table for an impromptu study on Balaam and false prophets. (We're either hopeless or we just love what we do!)

Even though we headed to bed by 11pm, Paul and I probably didn't get more than three hours of sleep that night. We were like kids the night before Christmas.

Day 1

We met Greg and David for breakfast at 7am. As we prepared for the Friday morning meeting, I was determined to lay aside my plans and expectations for the event. I'd see to the organizing and basic flow, but really wanted his ministry to be done his way that weekend. Our Lord is so faithful! Within minutes of setting down at the table, he showed us he was in control. Last week, I encountered a guy standing on a street corner in a tie-dyed shirt and holding a "Hell has Christians in it! (Matt 7:21)" sign. Talking to him, something seemed a bit on the fringe. He wanted to join us for the weekend, but I had an uneasy feeling about it. I sought godly counsel and put it before God. Then, this morning he walked into the restaurant and sat down at the counter right near our table. He recognized me and almost immediately told me he was leaving the area for Eugene! It was an answer to prayer ... the first concern for the weekend was removed. Praise Adonai!

We started the meeting at our church's youth house with seven people. A few that had registered or said they'd be there didn't show, but rather than get discouraged I again left it in God's hands. (Besides, this was double what we had last year.) As we opened with worship and prayer, God went to work raising up laborers.

First Carla Deems and her son Tait showed up at the door. A little later, Rick DeVos and Dave Mazzella came in. While we watched one of Ray Comfort's open air preaching videos, I got a call from my pastor. A gentleman from another church had called to ask about hooking up for part of our event. My pastor fielded the call and explained what we were doing and that usually there's training prior to going out on the street. However, he also knew the church this man went to and the pastor there and said he felt comfortable passing the message along if I wanted to contact him. I stepped out to call the gentleman back. He had pastored a couple of churches, was familiar with The Way of the Master and was active in passing out tracts. I made arrangements for him to find our group at a couple of the locations we'd be at. In the end, God effectively doubled our ranks to have more than a dozen seed sowers on the streets at different times throughout the weekend!

After lunch, we hit our usual downtown fishing hole on 6th Street. I started with an open air down amongst the shops and sidewalk sales. After that, the others jumped in picking up one-2-ones. Paul and the gang had a couple of good exchanges first with a Buddhist and then a Oneness Pentecostal.

My most memorable encounter that afternoon was with Steven. After recognizing me and David, he came up and told me I owed him $20. (I was wearing my "Name Ten Get $20" shirt.) I wasn't sure if he was playing me or not, so he further explained that he'd named all Ten Commandments but I didn't have the money to give him at the time because I was heading to Reignite in Las Vegas. To be fair, he went through and named all ten again and I gave him the $20. He then told me what had happened since our encounter seven months ago. At that time, he'd been like most of the guys hanging out on the streets. He was a drunk and most often loitering in their usual haunt (the walkway beside the post office). That's where I'd met him and talked with him. Since then, he has given himself to Christ. He has been clean sober these past seven months. He's reading the Word and is plugged into a church where they're finishing a Way of the Master course. He's using what he's learning in the training to be a witness in a homeless ministry and gets the chance to help disciple some of the men that respond through that. Something that really touched me is how he said -- "If you'd given me this $20 seven months ago it would've been a temptation and would have probably just gone to buy beer. I think God had you wait, because now it's going straight to the homeless ministry." God is good!

Me and Steven

We broke for dinner and then set up in the main drag for the festival and concerts. We were moved from our first corner by the event staff (permits somehow making public area now private property), but the woman pointed us to another good and busy spot just across the street. She also gave us her card in case there were questions or anyone else talked to us. We set up with Bart's video camera and did a couple of street interviews. We actually met two sets of Mormons that day and Paul got to talk to the second pair on camera. Trouble started once we put out the dead-body (dummy in a sheet). The event staff were claiming they'd gotten several complaints within a few minutes. Parents were offended and saying it scared the kids. I don't think it was really the case, after all you should see Grants Pass at Halloween. However, the police were called and the woman we'd talked to on the first corner came over. They said as long as we put the dummy away we were OK. We stayed there about four hours! Paul had some good open air crowds thanks to a drunk heckler and debating Christians while the rest of the gang kept busy with tracts and one-2-ones.

Check out the photo video below and stay tuned for Day 2...

Weekly "Fishing" Report (07-29-07)

2007-08-02T11:46:00.000-07:00

Praise God for everything he did in and through us during eXtreme Evangelism 2007! A whole lot of ground was covered for the Kingdom this weekend. I thank God for every one who was there. We had more than a dozen street fishers in action. I've put together a photo video that'll take you through the three days of the event.

I'm still playing a bit of catch up. Stay tuned for stories and more that I plan to send out later this week.

Mark 8:34-38

2007-07-22T23:03:00.000-07:00

Every now and then a seemingly familiar passage can surprise you or catch your attention in a new way. Such was the case for me the other day.

"If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? For what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels." (Mark 8:34-38, NASB, emphasis mine)

OK, let me try to explain what I saw here ... or rather my madness.

It's not about religion, it's about relationship.
Jesus is my "personal" Lord and savior.
It's all about knowing him.

These may all be good things to say (on the surface). However, I'm finding more and more they're a subtle way for the modern church to hide. Joe Churchgoer feels content with attending service, singing worship songs, his quiet time and leading his family in devotions. He's cultivating the "relationship" and that's what (or in his mind all) that counts. Again, this can seem good on the surface but the error comes when other aspects of our walk are laid aside in pursuit of the warm fuzziness or perceived intimacy of the "relationship" (note I use quotes around the word to try to convey my point).

I even had someone tell me "I have to remember my doctrinal infallibility isn't what is going to get me to Heaven, it's my relationship with Jesus." This came up as I was trying to express some concerns regarding errors and even heresies in a book he was reading by a popular evangelical author.

Aside from allowing doctrinal error to be overlooked, I see the most common side effect of this movement is hiding from evangelism as they just snuggle closer and closer in their "relationship" with Jesus. Ironically, it seems to become a Religion of Relationship ... "I don't have to do this because I'm already doing that."

However, as I see it. We can't separate Christ from the gospel. The person of Jesus is the crux of the message of salvation, and the Gospel is about Christ (see 1 Cor 15:1-3). So, when I came across this scripture the other day I had a couple of things hit me.

...whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's...

We're not only to seek a relationship with Christ (which is good in itself) but to likewise surrender ourselves to the cause of the gospel. To the same degree and passion we pursue Jesus, we're to also pursue the gospel ... our lives are to be given to both. The way I see it, this verse shatters the modern approach to forsake evangelism because we're already giving our time to Jesus (I can't even get that to make sense to me).

...whoever is ashamed of Me and My words...

The way I look at it, risking being ashamed of his words seems to imply that we should be sharing them. Afterall, the world wouldn't be ashamed of his words ... they don't care. It's those entrusted with his message (the church) to which this admonishment applies. Again, this seems to shatter the idea that we don't need to be preaching or sharing the gospel. Actions and good works alone aren't what we're called to do. I remember speaking with the missionary family from Israel and how they pointed out so many ministries would come over there and boast about the great things they were doing for God in that area ... yet never speak of Jesus or his words in sharing the message of salvation. This passage says we must unashamedly be speaking what he spoke -- "repent and believe in the gospel. (Mark 1:15b)" I'd also go so far as to say we take them both as they are in scripture: biblical Jesus and biblical gospel. You can't water down the words or cheapen the doctrine in an attempt to overlook error (let alone heresy) because we're trusting in a "relationship" with a comfortable Jesus as our safety net.

Surrendering to one means surrendering to the other. We can't separate Jesus from the gospel. His own words don't permit us that convenience.

... OK I'm stepping off my dixie cup now.

Weekly "Fishing" Report (07-15-07)

2007-07-21T11:19:00.001-07:00

We had a small group gather on Saturday for a Next Step Training. Two of them were newcomers, and I praise God for continuing to raise up laborers. Greg blessed us with an intimate time of prayer and worship at the start. I thank God for you, bro. After that the training consisted of three segments where we watched a video followed by a period of discussion or Q&A. The topics we covered were facing your fears, the top ten questions and objections that come up in a witnessing encounter, and exposing the myth of the modern message. It was a time of coming together to sharpen our swords. I was encouraged by the group as much as I hope they were encouraged to press on in the battle four souls.

Weekly "Fishing" Report (07-08-07)

2007-07-20T17:26:00.000-07:00

OK, I've got a bit to catch up on here...

Our trip to Disneyland was fun and a much needed vacation for our family. I was able to pass out a number of tracts. The second day while waiting for Disneyland to open, we got to talking with the family in line behind us and found out they were missionaries (see pic below). They live and minister as Christians in Israel and were here in the U.S. on vacation. We swapped stories and encouraged each other. It was a sweet time of fellowship before the park opened.

Their ministry is Zeraphath Ministries (see 1 Kings 17). They primarily care for widows and orphans. It was really interesting to hear them comment from their point of the view on the problems we're aware of with the watered-down modern gospel. Renee (the mother/wife) told us how they see so many U.S. organizations report doing these "great things in the name of God" over there yet they never mention Jesus or the gospel of salvation.

Another observation that troubled Kelly and me was the overwhelming presence of death and occultic symbols we encountered at Disneyland. The missionary family remarked about the same thing. Shirts, bags and other souvenirs with skulls and such were everywhere. Part of it was due to the popularity of the Pirates of the Caribbean movie and attraction, along with the Indiana Jones ride. However, the degree and sheer excessiveness of this presence was troubling for somewhere that's supposed to be for children and families. While shopping for shirts or jackets, my wife noticed one with Tinkerbell on it that was very feminine and "girly" looking and yet it had a very creepy looking skull worked into the swoops and design in the background. Why is that even necessary? Men, women, children were carrying or wearing this stuff all over the place in what's called the "happiest place on earth". Granted, they'll say it's just for fun or entertainment.

It made me think of this passage...

For he who finds me finds life
And obtains favor from the LORD.
But he who sins against me injures himself;
All those who hate me love death.
(Proverbs 8:35-36, emphasis mine)

Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.

On July 4th, Greg lead a tract attack at the Central Point parade. (I thank God for you, bro!) Here's the note he sent me about it...

Well, Praise the Lord!

Cheri and Monica showed up and about a block into tracting, Marilee (who is our church's teen group) showed up so we had two people on each side of the street. We started at around 8:00 a.m. and finished around 12:30 p.m. We handed out 3,300+ tracts!!! The Parade keeps growing each year, so I'm thanking God for putting together a team for this 4th of July tract attack!

In Christ til the nets are full,

Greg

As for me... I gave out around 300 tracts at the Ashland parade. I had more tracts with me, but we were there with more of our family so I didn't push it beyond that. The culture and atmosphere in Ashland is so different: university party campus, plus very pagan and neo-hippie. Kelly pointed out that we didn't pray before showing up and starting to sow seed, and I noticed what she meant.

The parade had a strong pagan overtone to it: different troops of belly dancers, the Myth Makers, the gay pride group and several liberal or socialist interests. I curiously watched to see if there would be any church or Christian organization in the parade. The first religious group to show was a troop of Mormon missionaries in their white shirts and singing the national anthem. Next was a band from a Jewish synagogue. Later, I must admit I was thrilled to see a man dressed as Jesus and carrying a cross. The people with him carried signs saying "He died for our sins" and "There is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name ... by which we must be saved. (Acts 4:12)" At least there was a small light in the midst of the darkness!

Afterwards, we went to Lithia Park where they had a bunch of booths, exhibits crafts. etc. You could feel the pagan spirit of the place even more openly there. The Myth Makers troop had set up with their costumes, drumming, and dancing right next to the fountain in the square. A man and woman at a booth near the entrance to the park were calling out and offering a free copy of the metaphysical directory: psychics, energy healers, tarot, wicca and more. The jewish booth was right next to them. Shortly in from there was the gay pride booth on the left and the Mormon booth on the right, followed by the metaphysical library, and a buffet of liberal interest groups.

I was still passing out tracts. A woman actually came back to ask me about one she'd taken. She was a Christian and really glad to find us there. As she said, it felt like we were walking through Ephesus. She and her daughter were from out of town, and were visiting their friend who is very into the new age, crystals and healing. We talked for a few minutes, sharing some fellowship and encouraging each other. I gave her some tracts to share with others and my card. Kelly and I prayed for her that night, because we know what it can be like to have friends and family caught up in that seductive delusion.

Note: If you're coming to XE'07, be ready for the battle when we hit Lithia Park and the streets of Ashland on that Sunday.

On Saturday, David and I did some street fishing at Riverside Park and downtown along 6th Street. My most memorable encounter was with Heather. You would've thought she was unapproachable, or the last person that would talk with you about the things of God. She's was 18 and dressed in typical gothic garb: layers of black, fingerless gloves, and a wiccan pentacle hanging around her neck. She was sketching in an artist's pad as we passed and I caught a glimpse of the blindfolded skull that she was drawing. David and I kept walking, but I felt the tug of the Spirit to stop and talk with her. I told her I was doing some street interviews on what people thought of the afterlife, spirituality and the differing views of what happens after we die. She said she'd love to talk about such a hot-button topic, so I sat next to her on the bench and began what turned into an hour-long one-2-one. It was a great witnessing encounter. Her father is an anarchist, but the rest of her family is apparently Episcopalian. She actually commented that one regret was not looking further into Christianity to at least know what it was about. I walked her through sin, righteousness, judgment and grace -- clearly painting a picture of the gospel so she could understand Christianity and recognize the difference between it and all the other world religions. She was very engaged in the conversation, and presented some good questions and objections. In the end, she wasn't ready to surrender to Christ but I'd given her quite a bit to think about. I left her with a Gospel of John and a very thorough tract to recap our conversation. Click here to download or listen to the MP3 audio of the one-2-one. Please pray for Heather, and that the Holy Spirit will continue to lead her to the cross.

Pray for all the other seed that was sown, and that Jesus will receive the honor he is due.

Weekly "Fishing" Report (06-17-07)

2007-06-20T09:34:00.000-07:00

Our regular trio got together for street fishing on Saturday. After prayer, we headed down 6th Street, passing out tracts on our way to Riverside Park. I showed the Curved Illusion cards to a family at the park and got to talking with the mother. When I told her the cards were a gospel tract, she said she recognized them from the TV program with Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron. She was familiar with the Way of the Master, so rather than it being a normal one-2-one I got to share with another Christian. She was really encouraged to see us out actively sharing our faith. I gave her my card and pointed her to our website for more information and resources. Praise God! Pray that he continues to raise up laborers.

After finishing a tract sweep around the playground, I met up with Darrin and David and they shared some encouraging news of their own. Darrin had shown the Curved Illusion cards to some kids down along the river and given a "What If?" tract to their mother. As they were leaving the mother actually followed them and asked for some more tracts to share with people. How cool! I love it when the fish end up fishing themselves.

The encounter that really stands out to me came right as we left the park to head back downtown. I met a young man named Kevin. I gave him a "Do Not Read" tract and he asked what it was. I answered that it had a gospel message on it and asked if he had a Christian background. He stopped and said "yes". It had to be a divine appointment. I was amazed at how ready he was to talk. Kevin told me he'd grown up going to church. His dad played in the worship band. However, when he was 16 his dad killed himself and he hadn't been back to church since then. I asked if he was angry with God. He said he wasn't, but that going to church reminded him too much of his dad. As we talked it was clear that Kevin was another example of someone going to church and getting some of the puzzle pieces, but they're not able to bring them together in a clear picture of the gospel. I took him through the Good Person Test and we looked at sin, righteousness and judgement. He said it made the cross make sense. A friend of his actually came to interrupt us at one point. The guy was rather rough looking, with his shirt open and a big marijuana leaf on his cap. However, Kevin just told his friend to head off and look him up later and he kept talking with me. As I said, I think God was doing something there and that I'd been able to give Kevin something he needed to hear right then. We wrapped up and I gave him a Gospel of John along with a pretty thorough tract to recap what we'd talked about. Now it's between him and God. May the Holy Spirit continue to work on Kevin and bring him to a full repentance and faith in Christ.

I caught up with the guys and we made another pass along 6th Street, where David picked up a one-2-one with a gentleman near the Dutch Bros coffee hut. (Unfortunately the batteries in my camera died, so I didn't get any pictures.) We finished up back at the park, and I had another chance to talk with the woman that was familiar with the Way of the Master. She asked how it went that afternoon and I told her about the encounter with Kevin. She was thrilled to hear it.

Praise God! It's a blessing to labor in the fields with him. Pray for the seed that was sown.

Weekly "Fishing" Report (06-10-07)

2007-06-12T11:02:00.000-07:00

It was sprinkling here and there on Saturday. Though the clouds looked like they could promise some more serious rain, three of us still went out to try and get in some street fishing while the weather permitted.

Darrin, David and I decided check a couple of parks and see if anyone might still be there. There were some diehards still watching a baseball game at Reinhart park, so we did a tract sweep through there. Riverside Park had more people and we gave out a number of tracts there as well. We came across a couple of Christians who said they were glad that we were out sharing the Word. It's sometimes unexpected, but it's always a blessing when God gives you that boost of encouragement where often we face opposition in the cause of the gospel.

We didn't really pick up any one-2-ones that afternoon. The looming threat of rain meant people at the parks weren't as interested in talking. So, we decided to continue with the tract sweep and headed up 6th Street towards downtown. The weather wasn't hampering the jetboat excursions (probably because people get wet on them as it is), and a couple of the boats were unloading as we came over the bridge. The walkway went right beneath us, so David stopped to drop a few handfulls of Million Dollar Bills over the crowd as they passed through. As the bills fluttered down, it reminded me of the Way of the Mater episode where Ray and Kirk do the same thing at Grand Central Station. Afterwards, I saw people reading the tracts and as we passed back by Darrin commented that none of them had been left laying around.

A couple of teens passed us while we'd stopped at a cross walk on the way back to my car. One of them smiled and pointed at me saying, "Hey! I know you." It was Matt. I had witnessed to him and another teen named Jordan just last week. (Click here to listen to the audio of the encounter.) It was great to get such a warm smile from him and see that he remembered our conversation. Even more amazing is that Matt had seemed to be the one that was a little more detached or distracted in that one-2-two last week. If I'd had to guess, I wouldn't have thought he was the one out of the two of them that I was getting through to. However, in this little follow-up encounter there at the crosswalk, God let me see differently. I goes to show that we never really know who God may be working on as we go about sharing our faith.

Matt and the kid he was with were on their way to 7-11. Since they didn't really stop to talk, I gave him one of the new "Do Not Read" tracts I had on me. Matt glanced at the front and smiled again. His friend was looking at the tract over his shoulder as they headed off. Please, pray that the Holy Spirit continues to work on Matt and for the rest of the seed that was sown. Jesus, may you receive the honor that you're due!

Weekly "Fishing" Report (06-03-07)

2007-06-05T15:02:00.000-07:00

Darrin, David and I met up for street fishing on Saturday. We did a couple of sweeps along 6th Street and a loop through Riverside Park. There weren't as many people out as we would've expected, but God had his plans and we just made ourselves available. In the end we were able to give out a good number of gospel tracts and the slower pace allowed us the chance to buy a meal for a Christian brother in need.

David shows the Curved Illusion tracts to a mother at the park.

I picked up a one-2-two with a couple of teens named Matt and Jordan while at the park. They were the typical type of skateboarders that hang out around there, but contrary to looks they were very open to talk. We had a half-hour conversation about the gospel, salvation and the things of God. In fact, after I had turned off my MP3 recorder they had a few more questions and we wrapped up by looking at chapter three in the Gospel of John.

Click here to listen to the MP3 audio of the witnessing encounter.

Meanwhile, Greg was down in Gold Hill at the Gold Dust Days parade and says he passed out at least 300 tracts while he was there. I thank God for you, bro!

Lord Jesus, thank you for another chance to labor alongside you in the fields!

Weekly "Fishing" Report (05-27-07)

2007-05-30T11:03:00.000-07:00

We had a team of six that met on Saturday. Carla, Tait, Creighton and Greg came up from Medford to join David and me for a tract sweep and witnessing at the Boatnik. It's a big Memorial Day celebration here in Grants Pass with jet boat races, a carnival and other exhibitions throughout the weekend. The group from Medford had to leave a little early, but we fanned out once we got to the park and passed out at least 1,000 gospel tracts while they where there.

This was also my first chance to use our "What If?" sign. It worked well and lead to six different one-2-ones or one-2-mores. For the most part I just stayed in one place and people would come and ask about it. I'd answer "What if this was your last day here on earth? What happens after you die?" It would then open up into a conversation and witnessing encounter from there. A few times people said they thought they'd go to heaven, but when I asked "why" they couldn't really articulate a reason. It was a chance to help put the gospel together in a way that made sense.

The young man wearing the tie-dyed shirt in the picture below was a different encounter. His name is Steve, and he told me he'd go to hell. I asked why and he said he was a Jew and that's what Christians thought. I told him it wasn't being a Jew that would send him to hell and asked if I could explain what it was I believed. I took him through sin, righteousness and judgment. When it came to grace, I started back in the Old Testament where God killed the first animal to replace the fig leaves Adam and Eve tried to use to cover themselves after they sinned. I then skipped ahead to Abraham sacrificing Isaac, and how Isaac was spared and a ram was substituted for him. I talked about Passover and how the blood of a lamb on the doorposts meant that death would pass over them. Then we looked at Yom Kippur and how a lamb would be sacrificed each year to cover sins. Finally, we came to John the Baptist pointing to Jesus and saying he was the Lamb of God to take away the sins of the people. We then looked at what happened at the cross. Afterwards, Steve thanked me for talking with him.

Kelly and I took our daughters to Boatnik on Sunday for some family time. While in line at one of the coffee & drink trailers I gave a couple of "What If?" tracts to the girls in front of me. They asked what they were, so I told them I was just challenging people to think. What if this was their last day on earth? What happens after they die? They glanced over the tracts as they paid for their drinks and left.

The lady working in the trailer asked if I was witnessing. I said I was. She told me she'd been starting to share her faith as well, and how she loved watching Kirk Cameron on the Way of the Master. She said she'd recently witnessed to her brother using the law and saw how it made a real difference in making the gospel and grace make sense. I gave her some of the tracts to share with people and my card with our website on it. It was a real encouragement to come across a like mind and spirit there in the midst of things. Adonai is good!

On Monday, Greg did a tract sweep at the Memorial Day parade in White City. He stopped to check out some booths setup in a small park and saw one had a banner that asked "Are you going to Heaven?" Greg got to talking with the two men running the booth and learned they're from a local church. One of them had been trained in biblical evangelism and the Way of the Master, and they were there to share the gospel as well. Praise God!

Jesus, may you receive the honor that you're due!

How do you know you are saved?

2007-05-24T17:09:00.000-07:00

Weekly "Fishing" Report (05-20-07)

2007-05-23T07:05:00.000-07:00

Darrin, David and I gathered for street fishing on Saturday. The weather was nice, so we started at Riverside Park, Several people were at the park; gathered at the playground and along the river. The Sons of Thunder motorcycle ministry was also there for an event hosted by SPARC. They had a table or two set up with Bibles and other materials. After dropping in to say hi to a couple of familiar faces, we moved on to sweep through the park and then did a "downtown" pass along 6th Street. A good number of tracts went out and God blessed me with a couple of conversations along the way.

My most memorable witnessing encounter was with Thorn. He was a young man I met on the corner of 6th & G Streets. Since he was waiting for a ride, I asked if he'd do a street interview and it turned into a good one-2-one from there. He was a typical looking highschooler wearing a t-shirt from a popular but dark rock band. However, it was an open door to share ... what else can you expect when someone tells you they were named after the crown of thorns that Jesus wore? This was also one of the few times I had someone ask what had personally brought me to Christ, so after sharing the biblical gospel with him I was able to go back and recap the message -- telling my own experience of being brought to the narrow gate that swings open on the two hinges of repentance and faith. I pray God allows the seed that was sown to find good soil in in this young man.

Click here for the MP3 audio of the one-2-one.

Greg, Carla and Creighton from the Medford team met at 1:30pm at Food 4 Less on Sunday. Greg says the parking lot was full of people. They stayed for a little over an hour, handing out Let Freedom Ring tracts and telling people to "have a safe Memorial Day next weekend!" Most people took them. Greg has also told me they have the manager's OK to be there in the parking lot as long as they're giving the tracts to people and not putting them directly on cars. God is so good!

Pray for the seed that was sown. Jesus, may you receive the honor that you're due.

Weekly "Fishing" Report (05-13-07)

2007-05-22T09:43:00.000-07:00

On Saturday Darrin, David and I hit the Native American Pow Wow that was being held at Riverside Park to do some "fishing".

There was a good number of people there, browsing the merchant booths and watching the various exhibitions that were going on. The three of us split up and did a sweep through the crowd. In the end we passed out at least 400 gospel tracts.

Most of the people were distracted by watching the dances and such. A couple of times I tried striking up a one-2-one only to find out the person didn't speak english. However, I did have a rather nice witnessing encounter with a young woman named Corie. She apparently frequents these things. She wore a feather in her hair and other native american items that she told me she'd got at other pow wows. I asked her a few questions that showed she believed in angels and some kind of higher power, though she thought our spirits just lingered on earth after we die. She was baptized in a Christian church when she was nine, but her family didn't really attend church now. She was trying to piece things together, so I walked her through a typical one-2-one in a way she said made sense. We covered sin, righteousness, judgment and God's grace in the cross. I pray God will continue to work on her from there.

Click here for the MP3 audio of the one2-one with Corie.

Note: If you listen to the audio you may notice something I wanted to point out. After taking Corie through the law and showing that she'd stand guilty and condemned before God, I emphasize the most important question I could ask her is how can she make it right with God (setting it up for the cross and grace). It was at that point that someone walks up and interrupts us. After that I was able to get back and finish the one-2-one... but I find it interesting that it's at the moment I'm about to reveal God's grace to Corie that we get interrupted.

As we headed back to the car, I picked up a one-2-two with a couple of younger girls named Rachel (12) and Hannah (11). It was interesting. When I asked what they thought happened after we die Hannah said she thought our soul goes to Heaven but our body would just rot in the ground. Since they mentioned Heaven, I asked if they also thought there was a Hell. Rachel said her friend had told her that if you lie or steal you would go to Hell, but she couldn't figure that out because everyone lies ... so that would mean we are all going to Hell. It was an open door to share the gospel with with them. These girls asked a lot of good questions, but it was also sad to see how the world was seeking to confuse them at such a young age. We touched on ghosts, witchcraft and even neanderthal man. I pray that this conversation opens the door for the Holy Spirit to bring them into the truth and light.

Pray for the seed that was sown. May Jesus receive the honor He is due.