So You Are Your Own god
Joshua and I witnessed downtown Friday night and it was Art Walk, the first Friday of the month. So there were a lot of people downtown that we hadn’t seen before. We walked around and handed out tracts. We talked to one young couple – Pete and Jody. Pete and Joshua are both electricians, so they had a lot in common and had a good discussion. I gave Jody the curved illusion tracts and she loved them. After Joshua and Pete had talked, I asked Jody and Pete what they think happens after you die. Jody sounded like a true believer, based on her response. Pete, on the other hand was quite different. In fact, Joshua told him at one point, “So you are your own god.”
Pete was a very pleasant and likeable young man. That is, until we started talking religion. His whole demeanor changed. He started talking more loudly as he got wound up. The best I can tell, he’s not a Buddhist, but he believes that we keep being reincarnated and just keep coming back forever. Joshua kept trying to reason with him and show Pete that he really can’t have morals without taking them from God. But Pete was having none of that. Pete makes his own rules and he decides what’s right and wrong. He believes it’s what’s inside of us that matters. I couldn’t hardly get a word in edgewise, but at that point I stated that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, who can know it (Jeremiah 17:9).
Have You Ever Blasphemed God’s Name?
Joshua tried to run him through some of the 10 Commandments. Pete admitted to lying, stealing and blaspheming God. I guess to make sure that we believed him that he blasphemes God, he proved it to us right there on the spot. He said f God, f that motherf_____. Joshua kept trying to bring him back to where he gets his morals from and Pete said that they come from inside him. That’s when Joshua told him Pete “So you are your own god.” Pete gladly admitted that. Ironically at one point Pete said that he wasn’t afraid to die and that if God is real and causes Pete to burn forever, that he’ll gladly do so because he still lived his life his way. He also tore up the Gospel tract that had been handed to him. Not long after that, Joshua bid him a good night and we walked on. Very sad encounter, but sometimes they are just that way.
We ran into a guy named Doug that goes to Joshua’s church. He was witnessing with Greg and Richard who belong to a Calvary Chapel church. They come out once a month and hand out water and get into Gospel conversations. I know Greg has done this for years. Joshua and I were going to witness with them but decided we didn’t need five guys on one corner at the square. So we walked on down to South and Walnut and handed out tracts there. There was a large group of people that came out an art shop near by and they were pleased to see us out there. I think they were from Hope Baptist Church. They thanked us for being out there. Joshua and I tried to get into more conversations, but most people were on a mission to get to their next stop for Art Walk. But we handed out a lot of tracts.
Joshua was handing out Wedding Invitation tracts that Allen came up with. I was surprised at how popular they were. He’d walk up to people and say “You are invited to the wedding.” Most people would chuckle and take the tract. I have to admit if someone said this to me, I wouldn’t take it. But they were a big hit. In fact, Joshua was about to run out of them and he looked across the street and saw Allen walking down the sidewalk. Joshua hollered at him and ran over there. He told Allen that he was about out of the wedding invitation tracts and Allen had a bunch of them on him, so He gave Joshua a good handful of tracts. Not long after that, we called it a night. But it was nice to see that Allen and his friend Carl were just getting started witnessing about the time Joshua and I were finishing up. In fact Allen joked with us earlier that they are the second shift. I love how God provides evangelists to share the glorious Gospel.
What Makes You Come Out Here And Just Say The Mean Things?
A student came up to me on Wednesday and asked, “What makes you come out here and just say the mean things?” I replied, “I don’t just say the mean things. The Gospel means Good News. Jesus is the only way of salvation. That’s why you need to repent and put your trust in Him.” His reply was that students are just hearing me condemn them. I told him that I’m not condemning anyone. The Bible condemns unrepentant people. God condemns unbelievers. He argued that I was just trying to scare students. I assured him that I’m just telling them what the Bible says. Without Christ, you will die in your sins.
Ironically, he stopped me literally right before I discussed how Jesus talked about Hell more than anyone else in the Bible. I went on to quote Jesus in Matthew 5 and Mark 9 where the Lord says Hell is a place where their worm dieth not and the fire is never quenched. So I ask you, how is it unloving to warn people to flee from the wrath to come? I respectfully disagree with the young man. Telling people life is all sunshine and rainbows, enjoy life and ignore God would be most unloving I could do. Pointing out that we have all sinned against God and that Jesus is the only Savior is actually the most loving thing that we (Christians) can do. I handed out tracts before and after the message. Several students took tracts.
(These updates are given to encourage Christians to share the Gospel with others. The message won’t always be well received, but we are to be obedient to our Lord nonetheless. Salvation is of the Lord.)