Cults, Christians, and Rain!

Saints,

I have said it a number of times, but “you never know what God is going to do.” Today was no exception.

Since it was raining, Eric, Aaron, and myself went back to “Winter Mode” and ministered in the subways. Eric said that he’s thankful that the city of Boston provides a nice warm place with heat and lights and protection from the rain for us to share the gospel! 🙂

And God provided a wide diversity of people to minister to…

Would you please keep the following in your prayers:

• Sal, a Jehovah’s Witness: We take the subway train from our office into downtown Boston, and I struck up a conversation with a young African American man named Sal. I asked him what he believed, and he was very quick and forceful to say that he believes the Bible and according to Ecclesiastes 9:5, once we die, we sleep with no memories. This is a teaching called “Soul Sleep” and is taught by Jehovah’s Witnesses and Seventh Day Adventists, as well as some others.

  I pointed Sal to the teaching about “Lazarus and the Rich Man” (Luke 16:19-31) which teaches without a doubt that the dead are conscious and not “sleeping.” Sal said that was a parable so you can’t learn from it like that. Aaron made a good point and said, “Even if it is a parable, that doesn’t mean that Jesus lies. Perhaps this specific event didn’t literally happen, but the teaching behind it is trustworthy.” Sal exited the train at that point, but he took a gospel tract, which is HUGE because Jehovah’s Witnesses are not supposed to take religious literature from any other groups! Please pray for Sal.

  Oh, and for more information on what the Bible says about “soul sleep,” I recommend this link: What does the Bible say about soul sleep?.

• Sarah: I approached a young woman in her twenties named Sarah and asked her if she could read Arabic. I mistakenly thought she was a Muslim because she had a head scarf on! It turned out that she is a born-again Christian from the Dominican Republic, and she was wearing her scarf the way she was because she was cold!!! 🙂

  Aaron and I asked her about her testimony and she was encouraged to meet us and thanked us for sharing the gospel with people.

• Kanol, a Seventh Day Adventist: After one of our quick open-air messages, I chatted with a 20-year-old young man named Kanol from Haiti. He is a Seventh Day Adventist. But though he grew up in that “church,” he said he only got serious a few years ago. He immediately wanted to talk about the Sabbath.

  I said, “Kanol, why is it that when I talk with Seventh Day Adventists, they seem to always want to talk about the Saturday Sabbath more than anything? Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s important, but as I study the Scriptures, there are about 800 things more pressing than that. Believing in the Word of God, believing that we’re all sinners, believing that Jesus is God, believing that Jesus is the only substitute, believing that only by grace through faith can we be reconciled to God, and a TON of other topics would all rate as more pressing than what day of the week we gather together. So what’s the deal with the Saturday Sabbath?”

  Kanol was kind and even a bit nervous, but the conversation was completely friendly and not intense. He said the Sabbath is one of the Ten Commandments, so it’s important. I agreed, but showed him Hebrews, chapter 4, that Jesus is our Sabbath rest. We don’t just get one day to rest from mowing the lawn. We get the rest that comes from having our yoke of sin removed! That is soooo much better than the temporal Sabbath that Moses instituted.

  After talking more, Kanol admitted to following the teachings of Ellen White, who he believes to be a prophet of God. I told him that was one of his problems. I pleaded with him to follow the Scriptures, and not Ellen White.

  For more information on Jesus being our Sabbath rest, please see How is Jesus our Sabbath Rest? Also, please see Does God require Sabbath-keeping of Christians? And for more on Seventh Day Adventism and Ellen White, please see the Watchman Expositor’s “Profile” which you can find here: http://www.watchman.org/profile/sdapro.htm.

• Samir, a Muslim: I gave a short gospel message before one of the trains came, and as I usually do, I used a little humor, but delivered the truth of the gospel. When I was done, a man in his 30’s came up to me with a BIG SMILE on his face and said, “You know, I’m a Muslim, but I really like you!”

  I told him I like him too, and asked his name and where he was from. His name is Samir and he is from Algeria (northern Africa).

  He took my testimony tract of how as a Jew, I came to learn that Jesus is the Messiah.

• Elder Ponce and Elder Sousa, Mormons: Near the end of our ministry time, two young men (late teens) walked by and they were obviously Mormon missionaries. You can tell by the black slacks, black ties, white shirts, and black name pins. As is the practice of Mormon missionaries, they wouldn’t give me their first names. Only “Elder Ponce” and “Elder Sousa.” (Did I mention they were in their late teens?) They are both from Brazil.

  I started with a scenario I often use. “Elders, I have a knife in my back and bleeding to death and two minutes to live. I’ve lived a godless life. You’re Mormons so please tell me, ‘What must I do to be right with God?’ I have a minute and a half left.”

  One of them actually said, “Stinks to be you.”

  How sad. “Stinks to be you” is all they had? I told them that one of the thieves on the cross turned to Jesus for salvation and was forgiven in an instant, and if they have a “gospel” that can’t save someone immediately through grace by faith alone, then even if that “gospel” were given to them by an angel, they must reject it.

  I didn’t want to “spar” with arguing with them, but I wanted them to see the gravity of their situation. They are believing a gospel incompatible with what Jesus taught. They gave me their phone number, but wouldn’t give me their email. I want to get them the essay Letter to a Mormon, so please pray I’ll be able to do that.

  Also, if you’re interested in learning more about Mormonism, please see The Riddle of Mormonism.

• An Angry Woman: When I was handing out gospel tracts, a 20-something woman took one. She was with a friend who got immediately angry and yelled at her friend to “give that back to him right now.” It was a bit awkward. Her friend gave the tract back to me. So I asked the one who was angry, “Why are you so upset about this gospel message?” She said that she believes differently than I do. So I said, “That’s fine. Most people do. But it’s just a piece of paper with something to think about. If you don’t agree, then throw it away, but please be open minded to consider it.” But she was very very angry and just walked off at a quick pace.

  In my experience, when someone reacts that harshly, it’s usually because they’ve been hurt in the name of religion, so I have compassion on her. I don’t know her name, but God does. I pray He will reach out to her and she will know the love and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

• A Lot of Christians: Maybe it was because of speaking with a variety of Cult groups, but God also provided a lot of “anonymous” Christian support today. A number of times, more than usual, while handing out tracts, or preaching in the open air, I had people come up to me and shake my hand and say things like “I’m a born-again Christian. Praise God for what you’re doing” or “Keep up the great work. You’re working for Jesus” or other encouraging words. One woman from Haiti even told me that she wished she could speak English well enough to preach the gospel like I was doing. I told her that I wish I could speak Creole so I could preach in Haiti!

I thank God for all the encouragement today and the interesting conversations with people from a variety of cults.

I thank God for your prayers as well. Please pray that the seeds planted through the tract distributions, open-air preaching, and one-on-one discussions will bear fruit to the glory of Christ Jesus our Lord!