The other day was unusual because not only was there strong opposition to our message, including the police trying to shut us down, but there were also some of the most open and tender hearts you could hope for!
The stories are below in the prayer requests.
Please be in prayer for:
- Lissette: Lissette is a Hispanic woman we met while fellow Missionary Aaron Wentz was sharing the gospel. Literally in the middle of his message, a Policeman interrupted him and told him he had to stop speaking immediately. Aaron kept calm and asked the Officer what the problem was. We learned that one of the people “got offended” and complained. Aaron gently pointed out that, while we do not intend to offend, anything is going to offend somebody, and the courts have decided in our favor. He even mentioned specific rulings.
But here’s where it got interesting. A woman sitting near us spoke to the Officer and said, “I want to hear the rest of what this man [Aaron] has to say!”Another gentleman disagreed, saying something like, “I don’t want to hear about God.”
This woman, who we would later learn her name to be Lissette, started arguing with the offended man right in front of us and the Officer!!! She’d say, “He didn’t say anything offensive,” and he’d counter with “God shouldn’t be talked about in public.” Back and forth. Finally, Lissette told the heckler that he was going to go to Hell! Wow!The train came, the offended heckler got on the train, and the Officer told us we could continue our ministry without moving. (A huge praise for that!)
But Lissette intentionally missed her train so she could talk with us more. She told us she recently watched a movie about the “end of the world” and it scared her and she doesn’t want to go to Hell and wants to know about who God is and how to be forgiven.
She gladly gave us her address and phone number (she doesn’t have an email address) and she gladly took a Gospel of John and some Spanish and English gospel tracts!!! Lissette communicated fine in English, but we could tell she was more comfortable with Spanish.
A friend of the ministry, Christina, who came to faith last year through hearing OAC present the gospel in the streets of Boston, has already been in contact with Lissette. Christina also is Spanish-speaking, and it’s great to be able to plug the two of them together and so Lissette can go to church with Christina. Please keep Lissette (and the man who was so offended) in your prayers for salvation!
-
Jamie: Jamie is a woman in her 30’s who heard our friend Ray Cobb preaching the gospel and chatted with him afterwards. Ray is a long-time friend of the ministry and regularly comes out with us to evangelize. (There’s a photo of Jamie and Ray below.) Jamie admitted that she doesn’t know much about faith in Christ but she wants to, and she readily took a New Testament we gave her. We also recommended a good church and she said she’d attend.
-
Jay: Jay is an 18-year-old young man who I engaged in conversation after a gospel presentation. He said he believed in “Science” rather than “God.” I think I surprised him when I said I believe in science too, as long as it’s good science. Good science is used to put broken bones together. Good science is used to make the computers we’re using right now. But there isn’t any Science that can explain where matter first came from.
Since I suspected Jay was pretty bright, I engaged him in what is often called Presuppositional Apologetics, and explained that without the God of the Bible, it would be impossible to explain the existence of the preconditions necessary for Science in the first place. This is heavy stuff, but he was pretty bright, so I’m sure he could handle it.
If anyone is interested in Presuppositional Apologetics, contact me offline and we can chat. Good stuff!
Jay gave me his email address and I’ve already contacted him.
-
Offended Man: Near the beginning of one of our quick open-air messages, as soon as the word “God” was mentioned, a man in his 20’s very loudly got up, stated “Oh, I can’t believe this!”, and fast-walked away. He was carrying luggage on wheels that made noise so it was quite noticeable. I didn’t get his name, but God knows his name. Please pray for him. It’s not usual for people to get soooo offended just at the mention of God, so I’m sure there’s more to his story that we’ll never know. Perhaps he’s been hurt in the name of Religion. My sympathy and compassion goes with him. I wish he had stayed so we could have had a meaningful dialog about it. Please keep him in prayer.
-
Girls from Rwanda, Serbia, Eritrea, and Vietnam: I saw four girls who looked to be college-aged all chatting with one another, so I approached them with a “Red and Blue Curved Illusion.” This is a GREAT way to share the gospel with a small crowd. You ask them which colored card looks longer, and then when you move the cards, the one that first looked longer now looks shorter. This leads into discussion about how easily our senses can be tricked, and when it comes to eternal matters, we can’t trust our eyes.
They loved the illusion and all agreed is made a good point. They each took gospel tracts in English, and in their own language as well. How amazing to have a group of kids together from four different countries! (There are a few photos of me with them below.)
Also, if you want your own copy of this great ice-breaker, you can order them from Custom Tract Source by clicking here.
In addition to handing out hundreds of gospel tracts in a number of languages, we continue to see an increase of Muslim women being open to taking The Gospel of Luke in Arabic from us.
Here are some photos. Please click on them to enlarge.
We have sooo much to be thankful because God is definitely working in peoples’ hearts.
Thank you so much for your prayers, encouragement, and financial support so that the gospel can be proclaimed to people from all over the world in Boston. 🙂
with love in Christ,
Mark
P.S. As always, please feel free to forward this along to others who you think will be encouraged by the testimonies! 🙂
Proud to be your friend. You and your amazing family are doing wonderful things.
Thank you Ariella! And I speak for the Sohmer’s when I say that we’re proud to be friends with you and your amazing family as well. And you’re doing wonderful things too. Raising three little ones and keeping track of Chris is no easy task!
If you throw a rock at a pack of dogs, the one that yelps the loudest is the one that was hit! Of course, as you proclaim the Gospel, you are not seeking to injure, but to heal.
Trusting God to continue the work He’s evidently begun in the hearts of the offended folks.
Alice, very well put! When somebody acts nasty, I feel bad for them and pray more for them. They have likely been hurt in the name of religion, an occurrence that sadly happens far too often.