A Dose of Common Sense

“I am not certain why small business owners, the job creation engine of the country, should see their taxes raised in order to protect bond holders of automobile companies or banks, or for union jobs to be preserved in companies that are clearly not competitive.” -John Mauldin, Frontline Weekly Newsletter, May 2, 2009

You Can’t Make This Stuff Up

I like to scroll through the blogs tagged with “evangelism” on occasion, and if there’s something terribly wrong I’ll comment. If there’s an inspiring story of courage and boldness in witnessing I’ll comment. The other day, I happened upon this blog, dripping with sarcasm towards an event and preacher I’d never heard of–Tony Nolan at Winter Jam.

I truly have no idea what went on Winter Jam, and I’ve never heard of Tony Nolan.  I would normally assume that it would be the usual unbiblical Christian M.O. Trick people into coming to some worldly event, and then pop them with the gospel–not usually a biblical gospel, but a squishy version thereof. However, the blogger was mad at Tony Nolan for mentioning hell and sin, so maybe it wasn’t all that bad.

I decided to pick one facet of the blogger’s mistake that I’ve discussed at length in the past. The mistake is saying that creating converts is a bad thing. I really have little patience for it, because I think it’s a very basic mistake, and comes from either:

1. Saying there are people somewhere between saved and unsaved.
2. Believing that the gospel isn’t adequate for salvation. We need to add our impressive discipleship techniques to make it really work.

Either way, I think we need to stand against those mistakes, and I left a comment asking for the blogger’s definition of convert. He said that a convert is “an individual who simply calls on Jesus and continues living life in their previous manner.” So, according to him all converts are false converts? I don’t know if he thinks a convert is going to heaven or hell, but I say you’ve either converted or you haven’t. You’re either born again, or dead in your sins. If someone converts, and continues living in sin, they are false converts. The problem is that you’re distorting the definition if you’re redefining all converts as false converts.

Later his girlfriend left a comment saying,

This blog was more important then what someones definition of “converts” and “disciples”. I am sure there are many definitions in the dictionary at your local library!!! Do you have a library card??? Oh wait what about the internet you can find it there too. http://www.dictionary.com is a great tool when in doubt.

This portion of her comment was leveled at me, and I decided to play along and said,

I agree that there are accepted definitions of disciple and convert available in every dictionary. Hopefully, the terribly unbiblical use of the terms by [the blogger] will lead him to borrow your dictionary or your Bible.

The latter phrase (borrow your dictionary or your Bible) was replaced by the blogger with “[edited due to negativity].” Furthermore, I was warned that I was in danger of being banned from the blog.

Neither the blogger, nor his girlfriend offered any sort of biblical defense for any of their viewpoints. I think at some point it becomes clear that they have no defense, and don’t know the Bible very well. I pointed this out to them, and the fact that it appears that Tony Nolan and any commenter who disagrees with them is likely to receive the “intense criticism” that they choose not to stand for themselves.

Finally, the blogger defends his criticism of Tony Nolan, saying it’s OK since he’s a public figure. I guess that pesky verse about “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” doesn’t apply if the other person is a public figure. Not only that, but the blogger took the opportunity to heap more criticism upon Tony Nolan for having the audacity to defend himself on the blog. The blatant hypocrisy on display amazes me.

Personally, I have no problem with calling people on their mistakes, and aspire to be teachable and humble when called on my mistakes. The blogger and his girlfriend pulled no punches with their sarcasm, and I think my sarcasm was mild in comparison. I don’t necessarily think I sinned in responding with sarcasm, but I’m open to opinions. I don’t even necessarily think the blogger and his girlfriend sinned with their sarcasm. The sin arises when they demand to be treated differently than they treat others.

What Should I Name My Firstborn Son?

My wife and I are having a terrible time agreeing on what we should name our son, who is due in early May. I’d appreciate your vote, and any thoughts you might have.

Christmas Gospel Tract at the Christmas Parade

A friend and I went to the Christmas parade this evening, and passed out 200 Christmas gospel tracts. (I just uploaded it to the “Downloadable Tracts” page.)  It was a small parade, and I’m very happy with 200 tracts. That’s about 1% of the population of this town.

The thing that struck us about the parade is that while it was a CHRISTMAS parade, it had very little to do with Christ. A small minority of Christians choose not to celebrate Christmas because they say it has pagan origins. They may or may not be right about its origins, but any paganism that was ever being obscured has come out of hiding, and there is very little Christian about how America celebrates Christmas.

Debate Ended

A serious weakness of Islam is that Muslims can have their sins forgiven if they have a repentant attitude, believe certain doctrines and do certain good deeds. They say the Judge of the universe will overlook justice and forgive their sins on a whim. They don’t understand the requirements of justice.

It is evident that the Creator of the universe is just, and will punish sin. He cannot forgive guilty sinners without justice being served. Not even a traffic court judge can forgive guilty speeders, but Muslims describe Allah as having even less concern for justice than a human judge. Nevertheless, the true God wanted to forgive sinners, and He came and gave His life’s blood to pay for the sins of His people (Acts 20:28). The Christian is given the payment for His sins as a gift. In doing this, God maintains His justice, and shows infinite mercy to His children by paying our penalty Himself. There has never been better news in the history of mankind!

I attempted to share this shortcoming of Islam with a Muslim on her blog. You can check out our conversation here. It appears that I can no longer leave comments on her blog, and I hope that is due to a computer glitch, and not due to the author banning me in order to squelch the truth.

Most of all, I pray that Roqayah (the blog’s author) would pursue the truth in this matter as avoiding eternity in hell depends on having her sins forgiven, as is true for all of us. I pray that she will understand God’s holiness, righteousness and justice, and that it would drive her to seek the Savior.

Jehovah’s Witnesses Just Don’t Get It

Thomas’ Lord and God

In John 20:28, Thomas sees Jesus risen from the dead, and proclaims that Jesus is his Lord and his God. Thomas was a good Jew, and certainly a staunch monotheist. He would never admit that someone besides the LORD was God.

This is a good verse to show Jehovah’s Witnesses. I’ve heard from various sources that they often have never seen this verse. When they see it, their immediate reaction is to say that Thomas was taking the Lord’s name in vain. Supposedly they think this is what Thomas was doing because that is their reaction when they see the verse. I’ve never seen any Jehovah’s Witness do this in person until the other day. In fact, I have it in writing for everyone to see. You can check it out here. The person who said it has made it clear that he or she isn’t a Jehovah’s Witness, but shares many of the same beliefs.

Witnessing to the Real Sinners (Democrats)

You can check out the story of our witnessing at the Democratic National Convention here.

P.s. The title is a joke. All liars will have their part in the lake of fire (Revelation 21:8), and unless you’ve never told a lie, stolen anything or looked at someone with lust, you deserve to spend eternity in hell. God showed the greatest act of love by giving his blood to atone for your sin. If you repent and put your faith in Jesus, you can have your sins forgiven.

Witnessing Turns Ugly

There are limited places to share the Good News with strangers in my small hometown. But the streets of downtown afford a friend and me many opportunities to talk about our faith as people have to stand on the sidewalk outside the bars to smoke. One recent summer weekend outing was more memorable than most.

The weekend before, a guy exiting an establishment handed us an advertisement for the bar’s first annual wet T-shirt contest inside the bar the following Saturday. To the best of my knowledge, no similar event had taken place in this town, and certainly not in the last two years I’d been witnessing downtown. I felt very strongly that if the business owners downtown were stepping up their level of wickedness, we Christians should do something.

I spoke to my pastor about getting some people together to go downtown that evening to witness or sing worship songs. He said he wanted to help, and he made some phone calls. I found out at the last hour, however, that he wasn’t available and no one else was willing to help. By that time, I couldn’t even get my friend on the phone. I decided I had to go alone—with the 8-foot-tall cross we often take downtown to help lure people into talking about the gospel.

Because I knew I didn’t have any backup, I thought it would be wisest to stand with the cross in front of the place quietly and wait for God to bring people to me. Several people did talk to me. I had two very heartbreaking conversations with some people who said they were Christians. One was a woman who planned to enter the contest, and the other was an older man who was serving as a contest judge. Reasoning with them about the Bible was like talking to a brick wall.

I’d been standing there for more than an hour when a man, about 60 years old, came over from across the street. We’d never met before, and he introduced himself with a threat: Either I would move on—or he’d knock me into the gutter. I calmly told him I was standing on a public sidewalk and tried to ignore him, hoping he would realize I wouldn’t be moved, and walk away. I was wrong. Before I could react, he hit me above the left eye with his wooden cane. While the pain wasn’t great, a goose egg appeared almost immediately. I pulled out my phone to call the police. The guy tried to knock the phone out of my hand. Thankfully, some other people got him under control, and I called 911.

When the police arrived, they asked me some questions and then arrested the man, who was still sitting on a nearby bench. After the police left, I returned to my place on the sidewalk and the once-calm group seemed to turn against me. Soon, my friend showed up, and we decided to move on to the next bar. As soon as we left, we heard cheering as the contest, which was supposed to start at 7 p.m., started at about 8:30.

The police recommended the guy be charged with 2nd degree assault (two to eight years in the state penitentiary); the district attorney called me and said they were lowering the charges to 3rd degree assault (up to two years in the county jail). That’s fine with me—all I got was a goose egg (which later turned into a black eye). I also found out that his name is Melvin.

The cross, a rich symbol of God’s grace and mercy, seems to be offensive to many. I’ve asked myself why people like Melvin care what I think, and why they bother to ridicule me or my faith. While I know that many of these individuals are under alcohol’s influence, I firmly believe the Holy Spirit’s power is at work, convicting of sin and prompting people to think about their eternal future and examine the Bible.

I struggle with whether my decision that night to witness alone downtown was wise. But I do believe God’s power was at work that evening, and I hope He will use my efforts to plant seeds that lead to salvation in the hearts of Melvin and the others with whom my path crossed that night.

My First Time Open-Air Preaching

When my friend and I go downtown to witness, we usually talk to people hanging around the bars. Occasionally, there is a little rock concert that attracts 100-200 teen-agers. We enjoy when this happens, because we get to talk to some new people. We stopped at the first bar and talked to a guy for a little while. As we left, we noticed that there was a concert, and a bunch of kids hanging out on the sidewalk. My friend asked if I wanted to open-air preach, and I hesitantly agreed. I’ve never open-air preached before.

We passed out a few tracts, and my friend gestured at me to start preaching.

I said something like,

“In John 3, Jesus said unless you are born again, you will not see the kingdom of God. What that means is that we are born dead in our sins, and we must be reborn. You can test yourself to see if you were born dead in your sins by looking at the Ten Commandments. The ninth commandment is you shall not lie. If you’ve ever told a lie, you’re a liar. If you’ve ever stolen something, you’ve broken the 8th commandment, and you’re a thief. Jesus said that if you’ve ever looked at a woman with lust, you’ve committed adultery with her in your heart. If you’re guilty of any of those, you’re going to be guilty on Judgment Day, and you’ll deserve hell.

But Jesus paid the penalty for our sins. If you repent, meaning that you turn from your sin, and put your faith in Jesus, your sins will be forgiven, and you’ll be born again.”

The whole thing barely took 2 minutes, and then my friend started preaching. Part of me wishes I had a recording of it so that I could know what I did wrong. I know I left parts out that I wish I would have included, like the part about Jesus rising from the dead. The other part of me is glad there is no recording, because I’m sure I stumbled over the words, and my public speaking leaves much to be desired, and it’s probably better not to have a permanent record of my poor quality speech.

We stayed there for at least another hour, and had several great conversations. One kid told me he didn’t believe in heaven and hell, and just thinks that you just cease to exist when you die. By the end of the conversation, he seemed to believe everything I told him, but wanted to wait until his death bed to repent. I tried to point out some shortcomings with that plan, but he seemed set on his plan. However, he agreed to read the Bible, and think about our conversation.

In spite of the lack of quality in my proclamation, the gospel is the power of God unto salvation (Romans 1:16). While we can debate how effective my attempt at open-air preaching was, I think the Bible makes it clear that it’s the message of the gospel that saves, not the coolness of the person delivering it.

If anyone wishes to disagree with me on this point, they will be joining many other Christians in pointing out how my evangelism is being done wrong—other Christians like the 17 year old kid with a Mohawk, who smokes pot and gets drunk, a kid with a 1 inch diameter hole in his ear lobe and doesn’t know whether he’s born again, and a band member who said the most vile things to a young girl who professed to be a lesbian.