Born a Christian

Born a Christian

Ministry Update August 14, 2016

While Aaron was preaching Friday night, I was standing next to him with a sign that says Jesus Saves His People From Their Sins and a young man named Jacob came and stood beside me. I handed him a Gospel tract. He read it and kept standing there so Erica came over and held my sign for me so I could talk to him. 

I asked Jacob if he was a Christian and he said that he was. I asked him how he became a Christian and he told me that he was born a Christian because he was raised in a Christian home. It is always a red flag when anyone says that they were born a Christian. Jesus said that you can’t even see the kingdom of God unless you are born again (John 3:3). So none of us, not a single one of us are born a Christian. You must be born again.

Jacob continued talking to me and then he said that he made a profession of faith when he was 12 years old, but he recognizes that he wasn’t really saved at that time. He told me that he thought 12 was too young to really understand salvation. As a false convert at age 11, I couldn’t really argue with him. (So what about all these 4 and 5 year olds that claim they are saved in our Baptist churches? Are they really being converted at that young of age?)

So I pressed him some more to see when he really came to faith in Christ. He basically described some dreams or vision where God spoke to him. I’m not saying Jacob isn’t really saved, but I worry about him because this sounds like a really weak testimony. I’m not saying God doesn’t still speak to people. We hear stories all the time of people in the Middle East – Muslims, who God speaks to and directs them to Jesus Christ our Lord. But Jacob mentioned nothing about his own sins nor God’s Holiness. He didn’t say anything about repenting from his sins and putting his faith in Jesus.

I asked him where he goes to church and he says that he doesn’t go anywhere (again, another red flag). I gently reminded him that we are not to neglect fellowshipping with other saints. He just shook his head like he understood. Then he explained why he didn’t like larger churches, so I suggested that he attend Aaron’s church. I grabbed a tract from Erica that has their church’s information on it and gave it to him.

Jacob hung around until after Aaron finished preaching. When we started singing hymns, he began asking Aaron isn’t there a better way to reach people than judging them. Aaron told him that we aren’t judging people. We are pointing out sin. He also told Jacob that Jesus said that we are to judge with righteous judgment (John 7:24). We are to discern between good and evil, right and wrong and we are to help people see their sinfulness and point them to the only Savior.

I brought a message before Aaron called God Judges. I talked about going to the Ark Encounter the week before and how God judged mankind early on and how He is going to judge the world at the end and how none of us can escape judgment except through Christ alone. I quoted Jesus, Peter and Paul about how there will be scoffers in the last days and just to show you how gracious and all knowing our great God is, He sent me to scoffers at that exact moment. So I had live props demonstrating the trustworthiness of the Holy Bible!

A vile man that evidently gets drunk most Friday nights downtown, walked by with a woman and he stopped and asked me a vile question that I won’t even begin to repeat. He walked by twice stating the same wickedness. I exhorted him to repent and trust Jesus.

Later on he walked by a third time while Aaron was preaching and Jacob (who I mentioned earlier) confronted the wicked man and they were toe to toe and face to face for a minute or two. When Jacob walked back over to where I was at the time I told him that the guy does that quite often and that we don’t get fighting mad at him, even though the man is aggravating because of his wickedness. I’m always surprised that the woman doesn’t say anything to him, but she doesn’t.

Aaron had a couple of other good conversations that night. One lady may even come to his church this Sunday. Another person seemed really concerned about her current state with God. Several tracts were handed out and we hope and pray that God will use the tracts, conversations and the preaching to reach people.

At the end of the night, Brian and Grant joined Aaron, Erica, Diana, Elise, Serenity, Desi and myself singing hymns. We sang a lot of hymns. It’s always amazing how people react to hymns. We maybe sang seven or eight songs. Some people mocked and had their friends take pictures of them in front of us. One guy walked by playing some sort of musical instrument and his friend took pictures of him making fun of us.

But we could also see some people driving by singing along with us. We ended the night singing I’ll Fly Away and a man stopped and when we sang the chorus I’ll Fly Away Old Glory, I’ll Fly Away he’d sing In The Morning. Hymns are great because even those who are lost, but grew up in church, the truth of those old hymns are still with them. May God even use the truth of the singing to reach lost souls.

Witnessing At Planned Parenthood

Earlier on Wednesday at lunch time, Aaron and I witnessed at Planned Parenthood. They were busy the whole time that we were there. We sang a couple of hymns, then I brought a message from Matthew 1. I read the genealogy listed there.

I pointed out that each and every name on that list was important to God and how the genealogy listed in Luke goes from Adam to Jesus’ mother Mary. What would have happened if anyone of those people had killed their child in the womb? I pointed out how every life is precious.

 

Illuminati and The Bird

Then while Aaron preached passionately to the lost souls inside of Planned Parenthood (and we know they are lost because no true follower of Jesus would patronize a baby murdering organization like that), one woman walked out and flashed us the illuminati sign.

I’m thinking that she was the one who was actually there for herself because part of the time we could see her friend in the lobby. Aaron preached directly to the woman in the lobby.

When they both left, the woman that earlier flashed the illuminati symbol, flipped us off as she walked to her car. Then when they were trying to pull on the street from the parking lot, she laughed and flipped us off again. The Bible says people love their sins, they love the darkness because their deeds are evil (John 3:19) and this woman seemed to back that verse up all the way.

Aaron and I took turns holding the sign All Abortions Are Murder and the other side says Life Begins At Conception while the other one was preaching. I watched the cars driving by and a few people flipped us off and honked at us (and yes, you can tell the difference between an angry honk and a supporting honk).

But we also had just as many supporters who honked, waved and gave us a thumbs up. It’s always encouraging to see that there are still people in this country who support life, who support babies, who are not sold out to the darkness and evil of child sacrifice.

(These updates are provided to encourage Christians to share their faith in Jesus Christ our Lord with other people. Say you are too timid to talk to anyone? Then I plead with you to get a Gospel tract. Just ask people did you get one of these? You’d be surprised how most people will say, No and then take one from your outstreached arm. Say you can’t afford them? No problem. Go to Fellowship Tract League and they will send them to you for free! Now, what’s holding you back from obeying Jesus? Nothing I hope. Go online or pick up the phone and order some tracts and get started.)