Battle Log

• Battle Log
• Gold Coast (QLD) Team

 

Preacher forced to knees, and marched off by QLD Police

Wow what a day. It was raining on the Gold Coast and the surf was in turmoil. Waves, rips, loads of sand being thrown up in the waves. Gale force winds were approaching and the water was the highest on the beach, it had been for a long time. Considering it was wet weather, the beach front, because of its unusual nature, was bringing heaps of people out to watch. Which made our preaching job easier.

I jumped up to preach first, and had a few breif discussions with some interesting people. One family man accussed christians of being paedofiles, to which I responded that Christ taught: Mat 18:6  But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.

He also made the claim there was no God, but could not support his claim. I responded with proof of the existence of God. One lady who came into the crowd after this came in, and told me to be quiet. Saying I had shouldn't tell people what to think. Which I though (privately), was both hypocritical and an attempt to take away the civil freedoms we have in this great nation of Australia to speak freely in a public space.

The Australian Constitution in Chapter Five, Section 116 says: "Commonwealth not to legislate in respect of religion.The Commonwealth shall not make any law for establishing any religion, or for imposing any religious observance, or for prohibiting the free exercise of any religion, and no religious test shall be required as a qualification for any office or public trust under the Commonwealth." {Emphasis mine}

I love that phrase "Dieu et - mon droit", french for "God, and my right"

I stepped down, and Ryan Hemelaar got up to preach. He preached for a good bit, but the rain was coming down hard, and I could see no observers except Josh Williamson. So Ryan jumped up and I sent the team to cover, and to move to Phase Two of wet weather Evangelism.

Leaving bags with one man, Ryan and I took off to hand tracts out down the mall, and as soon as it was dry, we headed back to the preaching spot. The other boys were already bringing our bags, which was fantastic. We decided to stay, even if it rained this time.

Josh Williamson was first up this time, and he also did a fine job preaching. After he finished his sermon on humanities absolute end: death. He passed the baton to me, to preach the gospel in. I always love preaching with Josh Williamson, since he reads a lot, and this gives him a good share of knowledge and answers for the public's "questions for", and "objections to" Jesus Christ as the only Saviour from God's wrath at man's sin.

By God's grace I preached the gospel, and then proceeded to dialogue with a few people. At this point it had been raining for about ten minutes, and some young men I was talking too, had stayed in the rain, as they must have found the subject interesting. It was at this time that two officers of the Queensland Police, arrived and commanded me to step down, and as I did so, they forced me to my knees, and held and locked my arms out 90 degrees to my body. I will release the details of what ensued, after we have completed our official media release, and we are aware that the Queensland Crime and Misconduct Commission are working on the incident.

What I can say, is that David Lazenby and Tania Shliahov was able to hand out many many tracts, simply because the police treated me the way they did. To God be the glory, great things he hath done. I bow to Jesus Christ, who has all power in heaven and in earth. David Lazenby is a local member of the our Gold Coast team, and he is a member of the local independant baptist church "Nerang Baptist Church".

For the glory of God alone,

May the Lamb that was slain, recieve the reward of His suffering,

josh mitchell

 

View previous Gold Coast (QLD) report (9 December 2007)

---

Gold Coast Team (QLD)

Meets 7:15-10pm Friday nights at Surfers Paradise on Cavill Avenue.

Contact Ryan Hemelaar for more information.

---