Battle Log

Over the past few months since leaving my last house Church that dispanded, I have become a member of Ivybridge evangelical baptist church, and have been fortunate enough to be able to help lead the way of the master basic evangelism course with around 8 people including the pastor, as well as go out into the town with a few people and witness to the many teenagers who populate the local area on Friday evenings.

I been mostly preaching in Plymouth city centre with my good friend Charles who also used to attend there, and was in the Navy and got converted whilst hearing other open air preaching in Plymouth city centre around 3 years ago! He is a very humble, down to earth man who I am very encouraged to preach with.

Last Saturday in Plymouth, a man called Eddie and wife came along and spoke to me just before I was about to preach. He said he was a recovering heroine user and a Christian, had been in rehab and had now stayed clean for the past 4 months, with his wife being a Christian for many years. They saw our free Bible sign and cross and were encouraged, as they had just that day prayed to meet other Christians for encouragment, and we had a good chat and they have since attended Church with me.

I preached about the man that was in the news that had been convicted for killing his 6 children in the house fire and getting a minimum of 17 years in prison, and whether or not this was justice for taking 6 lives, and how we all intuitively have a moral code of right and wrong, asking people where they believed this came from, and how our conscience pointed to Gods existance and breaking his moral laws. If humans can feel injustice, what must Almight God feel like, and asked people to compare themselves to Gods standard of morality and to see if they would be found guilty before God or not, and the length of the sentence they feel they deserve. This springboard allowed me to speak about Hell being just and fair for law breakers, being eternal as our crimes are against an infinite and Holy God, but how in Jesus our fine can be paid, with God still being just, but showing mercy at the same time.

An angry atheist that we now know well walked past and responded by shouting that God doesnt exist, for if he did then why did he let women get raped without stopping this from happening? Charles and I tried to explain that 1) He must know God exists to argue against him, 2) where did he get his morality from and sense of right and wrong, again showing Gods law was written on his heart, and 3) If God got rid of all sin in the world there would be no one left! That God saw all sin, but as 2 Peter explains, is patient towards us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

He didnt want to listen, but instead called me stupid, swearing at us lots and showing his utter disregard to have a reasonable discussion. A man had been sitting on the bench behind us and listening to what was spoken about, and we ended up having a great conversation, finding out he was an open minded Muslim. We managed to look at Daniel 7 and Mark 2, focusing on who the Son of man was in Daniel, and what Jesus meant by calling himself the Son of Man in Mark 2 when healing the paraletic and forgiving his sin and healing him, and why the Pharisees thought what Jesus did was blasphemy, for 'who can forgive sins but God alone!'. He listened intently, and gladly took a Gideons bible and tract afterwards which was great.

That day we managed to hand out about 10 Gideons new testaments and have encouragement from Christians walking past and other good chats with people who stopped to take the intelligence test. It was a lovely sunny day for a change and God blessed us with good conversations too, and the gospel message resonated around the great acoustics of the shopping mall with many people walking past that day.

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There were 3 of us out in Plymouth last weekend,and I know I didnt reaaly feel much like preaching (sad to say), but God had blessed us with good weather and lots of people in the town that day.

That morning I had been to watch the new James Bond film 'Skyfall' with a lad I supported, and thought I would use this aa a springboard to preach on. Bond has everything most people want in life- excitement, cars, gadgets, fame, women, looks, physique and friends. And yet in the film it showed Bond ageing, with a grey beard and being shot in the arm and bleeding- it showed his mortality. An Email was sent to his Boss 'Q' from the villan, saying- 'remember your sins' which I thought was also quite poigniant.

The film showed how short our life is, and how even though we want to cram in as much sin as we can before we die, we should remember our sins before we faced God, so that

shows us we all have an appointment with death

Man stood there with hood up and sunglasses on. As I was speaking he removed hood and glasses, said Christians were brainwashed, asked questions about homosexuality, the crusades, slavery, he said his Mum had Cancer so there was no God, he said he had past of drugs/ alcohol/ mental health problems, tattoos all over including illuminate all seeing eye in triangle (and he said I was the one that was brainwashed!)

He kept coming over to the bible table and picking it up, shouting lots, saying at times he feels like killing people, I said hopefully not now, he said well maybe! I kept trying to use what he said to show the listeners that God must exist for his views to be true, such as injustice, right and wrong and absolute truth.

He caused quite a large crowd to gather, caused others to stop and come and listen, and we had encouragement from another christian lady who bought us coffees who had listened to the preaching and what was going on. 2 young people stopped to listen with their baby, and it turns out the day before had been given a bible from someone at another Church. James listen to the preaching and afterwards said he wanted to get right with God. We gave him tracts, a biggest question dvd and info etc. He has since come to church, and shown fruits of repentance etc. 

It was a great day, with a new man from my new Church coming to help and listen and give out tracts which was encouraging, and lots of people stopped to hear the gospel that was preached. God knew who would be listening that day and blessed us with great conversations and witnessing opportunities.

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Today 2 of us met to preach in Plymouth city centre. We set the intelligence test questions up, and pretty soon this drew 2 young men called Adam and Matt- chatted for 3/4 of hour- Matt brought up in church, but his mum treated him bad in life and led to questions about justice etc. After sharing the gospel with them and giving them some tracts, I said it is more important to put the parachute on first before the plane crashes, and then bringing up questions about the plane or where the parachute was made etc can come secondary.

Lots more people stopped to take the Intelligence test- and the great thing is as they stop of their own accord it means they have the time to chat, and after laughing at the questions and answers, are more open to chat or take a tract with the good person test on afterwards.

Today I was preaching on John 9- where Jesus said to the Pharisees ''If you say you are blind, you will see, but if you claim you can see then you are still blind''. Asking people to see if they think they are good and dont need salvation, shows they are still blind, which led in asking people who were walking past if they thought they were s sinner or a bad person or not, which allowed some engagement with people and interaction.

Some of this involved 3 Hecklers- Howard the atheist was one who had previosuly walked apst saying that God didnt exist. I tried using 'presuppositional apologetics' starting with God and using the Christian worldview to show him his atheistic worldview cant stand to scrutiny. I aksed him if absolute truth existed and why, and if he thought rape was wrong, and why. He got quite stressed when his views and opinions could only be shown to be true if God existed and therefore absolute truth existed, which evolution, the big bang and atheism cant account for.

An Angry lady shouted out that Jesus didnt exist, and that all religions are ok to believe and I shouldnt be saying one is right and all others wrong- her boyfriend came and chatted too, quoting leviticus and do I still believe slavery is ok as thats what bible teaches? Quite a few people stopped to listen and this led to a discussion about historical accuracy of the Bible, context and covenants in the Bible and what was for those people at that time, and what Jesus fufilled in his life and death. The lady also shouted out that we evolved from animals and humans were no different to animals. I explained humans were made in Gods image and we are different from animals, even though she may have been acting like one then. The crowd then increased the more, until the third man came along. 

A Drunk man came from behind me- swearing lots, drew a bigger crowd, and him also acknowledging we will all die one day, as the gravestone pointed out. His jeans were hanging down, and as I said to pull his boxers up- he pulled a moonie, which got the crowd going, and eventuallyled to him being taken away by security guards and Police.

With the people all standing around as he was being taken away, I tried to Use the grave stone to preach about certainty of death, asking people if they knew where they would go when they died. The Drunk man had been annoyed I said I knew where I was going when I died, he said no one can know. I explained other religions like RC and Islam teach we cant know, but Christians can know with assurance.

When this all ended, an Elderly Lady was listening to the preaching- and sat down afterwards to chat. She was called Prilla, and I found out she had deep Jewish roots which could be traced back into the Bible she said?, her Mum had read her the Bible when younger, she believed some, but didnt know all it taught. We Managed to give her a Bible and a Tract I received from Messianic Jews whilst in London which the lady also appreciated and said she would read how Jesus is the promised Jewish Messiah. and asked for more understanding of what the true gospel was.

A girl called Becky who was brought up a RC also came and chatted with people about what the truth of the gospel was. Some other Christians came and chatted with people around, was a great day, crowd drew dramatically in space of a few minutes, lots of people stopped and heard the gospel and something to consider and think about.

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Over the past few weeks we have not had a complete team of people out on the streets due to various commitments, but we have managed to be out on the streets and preach and witness, with God still being faithful and bringing people across our path who need to hear the message. 

Below are several key witnessing opportunities and conversations we had during this time.

Saturday 23rd and Saturday 30th June

-Plymouth has many foreign students studying at University and at the language school, and had the opportunity to share the gospel with Spanish and Russian students with the Living Waters GM28 app on iphone using amp.

-A Heckler walked past saying Religion has started all wars. We got into a debate about how atheism and Communism had actually caused more in the Ukraine, Germany and China. His claim was not reasonable as he had not witnessed every war that had taken place, and so he didnt like the fact his large claim was indeed false. Later on though he came back and we shook hands and he was open, and we discussed his background and previous Church upbringing, and what made him turn away. I managed to give him and his 2 friends lots of various tracts and one chatted about astro physics she had studied did indeed prove the big bang cant happen and that the creation of the Universe pointed to a designer.

-Hari Krishnas were in the city centre today also, going past with a big procession and dancing and music, which gave us a great spring board to preach about what they believe and how other religions believe they can make themselves right with God, and the only true way that God has provided in Jesus Christ.

-A south african man called Ed stopped and chatted a few weeks ago, and we managed to take him through the law and show him his need for a saviour. He was very open and had already been thinking about things, which gave an opportunity to pray for him, and he also prayed to God himself about his sins which was great to see.

-The Gravestone has gotten lots of adults and teenagers stopping to read and think about the age of the death, date of their death and cause of their death, and how we can not determine any of these. We chatted with kids about it and where morality came from if there is no God, which got them thinking about how we know what right and wrong is?

-An interesting student came along who couldn't say paedophillia and rape was wrong, and said that God was selfish wanting people to worship him! He had very radical views, but this led to show people where peoples thoughts and reasoning can lead to if they believe God doesnt exist.

-And finally, some sad and some great news. Dewi, and 21 year old welsh student studying molecular biology at Plymouth university who has been part of our team and church for the last year had to go back to Cardiff to continue his masters. We will miss his enthusiasm and passion in the team and intelligence in witnessing to people, but God has answered our prayers in bringing along another young guy...

-Tom is 21, and came to outreach 2 weeks ago. He said that about 3 years ago nI had given him a million pound note tract and witnessed to him, and even thjough he was with his friends and had a bit to drink, it had gotten him thinking. So, after outreach last week we chatted and he watched 180 movie and God of wonders DVD, and he repented and put his trust in Jesus! Since then, he has watched more DVDs, we have bought him an ESV bible and he is currently taking in the gospel of John, and has already wanted to come out and hand out tracts with us, wants his own, and started to take some teenagers though the intelligence test and good person tests without any guidance, and is really keen which is great. His girlfriend is 21, and is 32 weeks pregnant, and I have also had the opportunity to share and witness to her and give my testimony, and both are hoping to come to housegroup and church now which is fantastic.

Even though we dont need any proof or deserve anything, God is good in showing us how he is working in bringing Tom to faith, 3 years ago since he was last witnessed to. Am now looking forward to helping disciple him and see how God uses him and moves in his life.

 

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Exeter

On Saturday 14th April, 3 of us went to Exeter to preach and witness in the city centre.

It is a city not quite as big as Plymouth, but with lots of people in the city centre shopping in a more compact area, we have never been dissapointed with people always being willing to chat which is great.

We prayed, before setting up the easil and Intelligence test, and immediatly people stopped from distance to have a look and see what they were all about.

2 men who just so happened to stop were a Homosexual couple, who were engaged (I found this out when later on asking them if they had ever lusted!). The conversation at first went off on rabbit trails about supposed Giraffe neck evolution, Penguins that had seperated from normal Penguins so much they apparently were a new species and showed evolution to be true, and how people getting one disease can make them immune to another, showing random and chance benefits, (which again substantiates the impossibility of purposeful design by mother nature, without there being a first cause of God!). 

However, afetr about 15 minutes of semantics, we finally managed to get onto bigger issues of where they would spend eternity. We went through the law, and I mentioned that lots of people who were Gay seemed adamant that it would be unfair for God to send them to hell simply for being Gay, when most felt that they had been 'born that way', and so couldnt help their semingly natural inclinations towards the same sex.

However, amazingly when I shared that people were all guilty before God regardless of their sexual orientation, as we had all lied/ stolen/ dishonoured Gods name etc, then the issue never came up. I explained that hetrosuxual fornication was equally as bad a homosexualioty, and so God wasnt just picking on Gay people. I shared the reason why were out that day, their current state before a Holy God, but what a loving God had done for sinners like them so they could be reconciled to him. The chat lasted about 30 minutes all together, and both guys were very amicable and willing to listen, and greatfully took tracts each and shook hands, so was a purposeful converasatiuon and I pray God works with their conscience now they know the truth.

We continued handing out tracts and eventually I preached on the 100yr sinking of the Titanic which was today, and the spiritual links and implications this true story had with the onlookers that day, as surely they, like the passengers on board thought that their life was unsinkable and that there was plenty of time to be rescued if anything bad did ever happen.. Quite a few people stopped to listen, and continued reading the intelligence test while I spoke, and this led to a couple of good conversations afterwards with people.

 

After lunch the weather got worse and so we had to take shelter underneath a shopping arcade, but managed to speak with 2 teenage lads who walked past, and got them and a couple of others to do the intelligence test. They were up for chatting further, and understood they would be guilty according to Gods standards if they had died that day, and seemed to understaood the good news of what God had done for people like them in their place. One lad took an ESV new testament and some tracts which was great, and again we pray the Holy Spirit will continue to arrest them and they get right with God.

On the Train on the way home, 3 German tourists sat next to me, and so I was able to take one of them through the gospel using the GM28 app on my phone- it did all the talking for me, and I didnt even have to speak with the woman. She went through the questionnaire in German by herself, and her friend listend too, and afterwards she handed me back the phone and didnt say anymore. I feel from their looks afterwards thery didnt agree with what it said, but again that is thankfully not our job to make the gospel palletable, and only God knows where that womans heart is with him, but at least she got to hear the truth- the rest is between her and God. There were also others on board the train who were open to chat and take tracts which was great, including a student who thought he was sort of a Chrtistian as he got baptised in a Roman Catholic church age 3! I said to him that all that did was get him wet, but to read the tract to find out the truth of how someone can be saved.

 Russ, Charles and Tony were out in Plymouth that day trying out the Churches new 140 pound portable amp system with ipod docks etc which is fantastic. We have wireless mikes now too, and so Russ was able to play part of the gospel of John through the ipod on it and they said it made quite an impact.

Charles co0ntinues to go out on the streets of Plymouth and preach by himself when he can, and Russ has been having more opportunities to share his testimony and the gospel around different Churches and mens meetings around Plymouth which is great. Next Saturday Russ and I (God willing) will be attending the next Avanti event in Brighton with Tony Anthony etc which is great for encouragement and fellowship. SDG!

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On Friday 7th and Saturday 8th of April over Easter weekend, 4 of us hit the streets of Plymouth again with our cross, tracts, soap box and intelligence test questions to preach about the significance of this weekend and what it truly meant.

We had prayer and then had many great conversations with people, including...

-A Woman saying we were not following the OT by wearing mixed fibre clothes, and why did we pick and choose what we obeyed and what we didnt? She didnt want to listen to the explanation, anmd instead pretended to put herself on the cross!

-I managed to chat to 3 Muslims on the saturday who had a table and were distributing literature and Korans in Arabic and English to people. I managed to chat with them for about 40 minutes, and they asked the 5 common questions-

The Bible doesnt say that Jesus is God

The Bible talks about Mohammed being sent from God

The Bible has been corrupted

They didnt agree with the concept of the trinity, that God was one and not three

That Jesus didnt die on a cross but his body was switched

You cant have assurance into heaven, you only know when you die

and one who said he used to be a Christian, but wasnt born again!

It was great, and I have since studied and read a lot more from Christian apologetic books on Islam and 5 Muslims that came to faith in Christ, and so I am really looking forward to having more conversations with them in the future now I can see where they are coming from, and what their own Koran actually says!

-Lots of Teenagers again enjoyed taking the intelligence test questions which led to many great questions and tracts given out.

-2 Catholic Irish lads listened as Charles preached the gospel, and afterwards they stayed to chat. This led on to discussions about confessing your sisn to a priest and if this actually achieved anything, compared to Ephesians 2 v 8-9. The let us pray for them and they both prayed themselves afterwards for right teaching about what to believe was Biblical truth etc.

-2 teenage girls that Russ and Charles prayed for after they listend to preaching and took the intelligence test

-4 lads chatted to said that the scars on my leg and information about how life must have started had made them think, one guy knodded his head when I said people didnt like thinking about God because of their sin etc. and they listened to conversation for about 15 minutes before taking tracts.

A JW man walked past saiying that people may listen if we stopped shouting at them! (Even though the picture looks that way) we explained that people needed to hear the message, and we were not shouting but proclaiming what the Bible said.

 

It was another great 2 days, with different people listening and hopefully hearing the truth of what this weekend was all about, the God man Jesus Christ!

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On Saturday 12th March, 9 of us from Plymouth/ Southampton and Taunton met at Taunton for an outreach.

Mike and Rachel Overd had recently been in the papers for alleged 'Homosexual discrimination' when open air preaching a year ago, and had come to court a few months ago, with the verdict being 'Not guilty'. This was the first time they had open air preached in Taunton since winning the case, and so we all went to support them there that day.

Rachel also writes a blog about their outreaches, and commented that we had an interesting conversation with a disabled man called Dave. He was in a wheelchair after being in a car accident, and was at first quite antagoniostic to the gospel, blaming God, and questioning why things had happened this way. However, the man had a good chat with Mike after he preached, and his demenour changed and he took a tract and said he would come and speak to them again.

When I preached, 3 older teens pushing a baby in a pram were quite loud mouthed, and persiste3d to shout out 'Who made God'. They didnt seem to like my response that God didnt need a creator, as he himself was the creator of all things, and is outside the dimension of time. An 'Infinite regress' would mean that if everyone had a creator, then the list would never end. I tried to show them that science proved energy and matter are both not eternal and so cant have been around for ever, that our universe has a beginning,a nd therefore something, or someone must have been there to cause it to come into existence. They shouted out a few things, which got others listening, and Wayne, Russ and Dewi had good chats with all 3 afterwards and they seem to be more open to listen to one to one conversations,a nd tooks tracts to read about what was said.

Again the intelligence test board questions worked a treat in getting teenagers to stop and test their IQ,a nd then to lead them onto bigger questions of life, whether they believed in a God or not, what happened after death, and if there was a heaven, if they believd they were good enough to go there. Many came past as this was new for them, and so many were abvle to hear the gospel and take tracts that refuted the fairy tale of evolution, andthat showed them God had made the Universe, and so was in charge of their life, and they needed to make peace with him, through the cross. Many seemed wide eyed and open to the message which was great.

We were preaching in quite a narrow stretch of shops, and a cafe owner phoned the Police. 2 Officers came, and almost threatened to arrest us, not for what we were saying, but almost for breaking section 5 and causing a nuisance and distressing people! WEe had long chats with them about what was being dsaid, the manner in which it weas being done, and the parameters of the law and where we wewre supposedly crossing its boundaries or not. This led to boith Policemen hearing 5 of us open air preach, and good in depth conversations with Dewi, one of our team, who also took a tract to read, which was great.

Lots of tracts went out, several Christians walked past and encouraged us, and people heard various people open air preach in different styles for about 3hrs that day. We plan to meet up again soon, and some of us are hoping to meet for the Olympic outreach in London in the upcoming months. It was great to have a fresh 'Fishing hole', and to use tracts that the locals had not seen before, which made conversations new and open for great discussions about creation, evoluition, eternal life and most importantly, the gospel.

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On Saturday 3rd March, 7 of us met up in Plymouth city centre for open air preaching and one to one witnessing. WE prayed for the day and thanked God for the lovely weather we had and the masses of people out on the streets that day. We had a new banner which Wayne our pastor had made, and an updated intelligence test question sheet which was much bigger and had more questions on.

-An angry, adamant Atheist evolutionist comes along our path quite a lot now intentionally heckling us and trying to stir us up and but in with conversations, while we are trying to witness to people (Can be seen in the picture below). Russ had a good chat with him, when the guy said that things were designed to appear that they had design, but had actually evolved. When Russ asked him to namke something that had ever been designed without a designer, he was stumped, and made the ypoung peoplke there laugh, which showed the flaw in his logic.

-Many young peoiple again came up and were doing the intelligence test questions, which we have now updated and revamped, with visual ones from Living Waters on there as well. These are always really effective, and lead into many discussions about our intellect, how we know if something is right or not, and beliefs about the existence of God etc.

-A lady called Carol stopped to read our Intelligence test questions, and we chatted for about 15 minutes about how someone gets to heaven, what the Bible says about forgiveness and her predicament as she currently not saved. It was great to hear her questions and she took a tract and had a Bible at home, and so I encouraged her to read John chapter 3.

-Charles had a good discussion with a man I had previously witnessed to when preaching, who was a Psychologist, and his circular questions about why the world was in such a state if there was a God, or where the Bible talked about Dinosaurs. He said that no one could persuade him otherswise, and so we explained that yes, only God could open his heart to believe.

-I have just finished reading a book called '99% Ape' which was given to teachers at the school I work at and they were encouraged o read it to understand more about evolution when teaching science (It has a whole chapter attacking God and the Bible and Genesis!). I preached and said evolutionists are racist, due to the books views on where black people came from, and also from information on the Kent Hovind videos. I said that man was made with a purpose as we are made in Goids image, and said no wonder youg people act the way they do today, if they believe they have no reason or existence or purpose in life if we evolved from ape like ancestors. A man walked past who got angry at this and complained to a PCSO who came and had a word with me, saying I couldnt say that evolutionists were racist. I asked him if he had even seen what evolutionists believed!.

This led to another angry man shouting at me about it, and Charles, who is Nigerian, managed to chat with him and he took a tract and had a good discussion about where man had come from.

Russ, Charles and myself all preached that day, and lots of tracts went out, and the gospel explained to lots of people. We prayed afterwards that the devil would not steal any seeds planted and that God would open peoples hearts to repent and believe the gospel.

 

Charles, Dewi and Russ trying to witness to teenagers,

and deal with Atheist at same time.                         New open air preaching banner

  

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Todays weather was really bad, with heavy rain and wind, and so when we met at mine for prayer and fellowship before hand, from the natural, things didnt look good. Howevere we prayed for hecklers and good conversations, and God blessed us, even though the weather didnt stop.

Charles preached first, and our amp had got wet, and so had to project his voice. Most people were hurrying past sheltering themselves from the elements, but again we think we have a ministry for husbands who wait outside shops for theior wives to finish their shopping, as quite a few stood and listened while he spoke.

I then preached and tried to explain to people what would make us come out on a day like today, with the weather being as bad as it was. We said it was the Love of God that compeleld us, and even though survivors of the Titanic m,ay have been damp and cold and wet and miserable after finding a liferaft to save them, that wouldnt have stopped them, from trying to reach out and try to pull others into the boat with them.

2 Older teens stopped to listen to the preaching, and I managed to engage them in conversation, and whilst this was going on, 3 other teens from the shcool I work at recognised me and also stopped to listen. This led to great discussion with them all, and managing to reason with them and to make sure they all had tracts to take with them. We briefly mkentioned the subject of evolution, and so I am sure that next week we will now be able to go into further discussion about the false ideas it leads to, and how creation DEMANDS a Creator. 2 girls also stopped to listen to the preaching, and Dewi managed to engage them with conversation and explain the gospel to them.

Russ preached, and we got our answer to prayer! A woman walked past with a dog and made some angry comments, claiming that Russ had sworn whilst he was preaching. He obviously hadnt, and tried to reason with her as she walked past about what he had allegedly said. Unbeknown to us, a man behind Russ knew the woman, and was also adamant to stick up for her, and so came stormig around the corner to approach Russ to his face about what he had supposedly said. The claims were entirely false, but this didnt stop the rather large and angry man from acting rather aggressivly and intimidatingly, being the same height as Russ even though Russ was standing on a soap box! Before we needed to go over and aprehend the situation, 2 security guards from the nearby store where he had just came from marched up to him, pulled him away, and deneid Russ had said anything wrong.

This caused a few to stop and listen, before Russ finished his message. A lady who sells helium balloons always is opposite us when we preach, and numerous times has asked us to hold her balloons whilst she goes to the toilet and gets a drink. This leads to good conversations with her and lots of tracts, and finally this week Dewi spoke to her about if she had read an of them and thought about what they had said? This time she said she had, and so was good to kinow us being in the same spot every week was at least being recognised and people were listening behind the scenes.

All of todays conversations happened with really bad weather, when most people were rushing by with coats up, umbrellas and sheltereing away from the street where we were. Hwoever God was faithful again to allow people to stop and here the good news of the gospel, and we pray that unbeknown to us, many are hearing and responding to the gospel as Gods spirit draws them to repentance and faith in the Saviour.

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Last Saturday 4 of us went into the city centre again to preach and hand oiut gospel tracts to passers by in the city of Plymouth.

WE all took it in turn to preach, which resulted in mixed responses. Many people hang around outside the shops waiting for their wives to finish shopping, which leads to quite a few stares and remarks.

Charles was witnessing to a group of about 7 teens, who on first appearences seemed quite antagonistic, feeling that we were trying top scare them into believing in God by talking about God. We tried to reason with them, that just like the many adverts that warn you to make sure you wereyour seatbelt, even though they are blunt, shocking and to the point, Gods warning about Hell is not to force you to believe in him, but to show his justice and righteousness.

I used this analogy that actually the seatbelts adverts were loving, as the consequences, death, were far worse. We chatted for a further 10 minutes about how we had both become Christians, and that we were not 'good' people ourselves, but trying to warn people of their fate of dying with out Christ, but the amazing provision he had demonstrated of his love on the cross.

The conversation actually ended very well, with all of them taking a tract, and shaking hands, saying there was something for them to now consider and think about.

We had another gentleman called Ben come across to chat to us whilst we wee preaching. At first we thought he had some genuine questions, but then realised he had many red herrings he was trying to tangle us with. He aid he used to be a Christioan, but then the more he read of the OT with the NT, found many supposed 'mistakes' and 'contradictions'. He also said he didnt believe with the scriptures that said that Homosexuality was a sin, even though he said he himself wasnt.

He turned out to be a false convert, who was trying to weigh us down and trying to take our time away from preaching and handing out tracts. WE managed to finish the discussions with him, and I gave him my email, and I said I would be more than happy to discuss any quesrions he had. Unsuprisingly enough, he never replied!

In the afternoon after the outreach, I handed a mpn tract to a guy at the same bustop at me. I asked him if he had understood it, after he had read it. He said that he did, and that he was a Christian. I then asked him what Church he went to, and he said he was a JW! By funny coincidence (or Gods timing!) wew were both getting the same bus, and so manmaged to carry the discussion on. The conversation got onto me saying that as a Christian, I could say I knew I was going to Heaven when I died, because of what Jesus had done for me. He could only say the 144,000 'good' JW's wewre in Heaven, but that him and everyone else would end up on the new earth. He didnt believe in Hell, believed most people went to the new earth, maybe including Adolf Hitler! and he also wouldnt agree with breaking Gods laws meanrt we were guilty before him.

He believed that God was all loving and merciful, knew we were just human, and would forgive us all.

I should have said he was breaking 2nd commandment- Idolatory, but left him with the MPN tract and another about which was the right way to Heaven. A seemingly semi-drunk man on the seat next to him chipped in on the conversation too, which was really surreal, especially for all the other passengers listening to us, but prayed good seed fell on good soil, somewhere!

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