Very Pleasant Night
My wife and I witnessed downtown Friday night and we had a very pleasant night. We handed out New Testaments to start with. A couple of young girls walked by us and said they didn’t need them, but the one girl said you should walk around and talk to people. I looked at my wife and she thought it was a good idea. She asked me what I thought. My first thought was I have to “protect the corner where I preach.” But I told her that I wouldn’t mind walking around afterwards.
Shortly after that I brought a message, Are You In Your Right Mind taken from Luke 8:26-39 where Jesus heals the demon possessed man. After Jesus heals him, the man is clothed, in his right mind and sitting at the feet of Jesus. My wife told me a couple of weeks ago that people can hear me more clearly when I don’t speak as loud. (Sometimes I can’t help it, I get excited and start talking louder). So Friday night I tried very hard to just speak to people, share truth and not raise my voice at all.
People Listened To Quieter Message
The amazing part was I noticed a guy who stopped and stood sort of behind me and he listened to all but about the last 30 seconds of the message. Two men directly across the street listened. Some other guys farther down by in front of the Outland Ballroom stood there and listened. Then the two girls that walked by us earlier stopped across the street and sat down on the curb and listened. Obviously if the goal is to get people to hear the message, talking in a normal voice and not talking loudly seemed to be much more effective. (And my wife says I never listen to her).
After the message, we walked around like the young lady recommended we should do. Closest to us was a man and a woman standing near their bicycles. I offered them both New Testaments and they took them. The guy said that he always took the Gideon New Testaments when he was in school and that they remind him of the old children’s Christian songs such as I’m in the Lord’s Army. He started singing the song and Polly and I joined in with him.
Next, we ran into the girl that said we should walk around. She was walking around with her friend. So I told her that we took her advice. She said that she appreciated that my message was from my heart. I thanked her and we continued walking. After that I talked briefly to an atheist who always complains that open-air preaching offends everyone and it brings such negativity downtown after I preach. I thanked him for his thoughts and handed him a tract. Surprisingly, he took it.
Nice Preach
As we walked up the other side of the street heading back the other direction, we ended up right in front of the Outland Ballroom. I was able to hand out several tracts there. One guy looked up at me and said nice preach earlier. I thanked him and we moved on. Around the corner we handed out more tracts. I only got a couple in a fairly large group’s hands when one of the guys told me that they are all workers at Kamp Kanakuk. It’s a Christian summer camp in Branson, MO.
There was only one mocker in a car that stopped in the street and yelled while I was preaching. We had many more encouragers and listeners Friday night. Again, my wife and I had an enjoyable time walking around. It was a beautiful night in the upper 70s with a nice breeze. And it was nice not having the crazed guy from the previous two weeks out harassing us. Yes, it was a very pleasant night and may God give the increase to the seeds that were planted.
John Or Legion?
On Wednesday I witnessed at Planned Parenthood. I had barely started when a guy in a white Mustang pulled into the parking lot. The guy walked up to me and said his name is John and I told him that I’m Dennis. He started right in complaining that they don’t even do abortions at this clinic. I told him that he’s wrong. They brag that they have three different doctors willing to perform medical abortions here. John went nuts and started screaming in my face after he conceded that it didn’t really matter if they perform abortions here or not, that I was being a bully for trying to stop women from getting an abortion. I thought to myself that he’s right that there is a bully out here, but it’s not me.
Obviously he wasn’t really interested in talking so I went back to reading the Bible verses I was reading before he interrupted me. He kept accusing me of being a bully, that I was a Beta and not an Alpha male. Evidently since he served in the Army Airborne, he thought being an Alpha male would intimidate me. he kept barking at me to look at him, but I just kept reading Scripture and when I did look up, I preached to the left and the right of him. He got right in my face, nose to nose and kept yelling at me.
Angry Guy Directs Anger Toward Bob
Bob who comes out every now and then when he can, happened to be driving by, so he stopped, walked up and took the Matthew 1:21 sign out of my hand and held it up and John immediately surged over to Bob, yelling and screaming in his face, nose to nose. While Bob took the heat from this extremely angry guy, I was able to continue preaching. Bob tried to talk to him, but couldn’t really talk much. John told Bob that his name was Legion (probably because I read the story earlier) and he got a kick out of acting like he was demon possessed. I really doubt that he has a demon inside him, but the fact that he’s letting Satan control him is sad.
John or Legion told Bob that he grew up in a Christian home, but now neither of his parents are believers and obviously John isn’t a follower of Christ either. It sounds like the whole family are living proof of what the Apostle John said, they went out from us because they were never part of us. John or Legion also told Bob that he served in Afghanistan and Iraq both and that he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder.
Grateful For Veteran’s Service To Our Country
I’m grateful that he served our country and I’m sorry that he has PTSD, but I really hate that he’s such a vile God-mocker. John was so riled up, that we had people from businesses on both sides of Planned Parenthood come up and record what was going on. Evidently someone called the police on the angry guy because after 20 or 30 minutes, two police officers showed up.
After they talked to him, he just got back in his car and drove off. One of the officer’s told me that my amp was too loud and that they’ve had several complaints. He pointed to the back of his car and said that’s about 30 feet which is what the city ordinance is. I didn’t argue with him, but the city ordinance is unconstitutional.
The Supreme Courts of the United States of America has already ruled three different times that low amplification is allowed. I only use a 25 watt voice booster. But I told the officer that I had no problem turning it off because I’m actually louder without it. The purpose of the voice booster is merely to protect my voice and keeps it from sounding like I’m yelling. He kept saying that I didn’t have to turn it off, just down. But I just turned it off completely. As annoying as John or Legion was, he definitely drew a crowd and many people including John heard the Gospel and they heard several Bible verses that Bob and I both were quoting. I very much appreciated Bob stopping to help me out.
(These updates are given to encourage Christians to share the Gospel with others)