Battle Log

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Myanmar (Burma) Short Term Missions

The Christchurch (NZ) team made it safely to Yangon, Myanmar (Burma)!  We travelled via Guangzhou in southern China, and because we had a long layover there we had a tour guide take us into the city to see some of the sights.  Of course, this was also an opportunity to share the Gospel with the tour guide!

We arrived in Yangon on Monday, late in the afternoon, to heavy rain and made our way to the hotel where we met up with the team from Australia (and a Kiwi now from Malaysia!).  They had arrived in the morning and had conducted a training event with the local Christians we will be working with.

So Tuesday was the first official day of outreach.  The whole team headed to Sule park and then we split into smaller teams to spread out and share the Gospel!

My team didn’t have translators in the morning, so we loaded up with tracts and headed to a nearby intersection where we all took corners and started to engage with people.  Many tracts were politely distributed.  And, as some of the locals speak English, many Gospel conversations were also had.  In fact, one on the team simply asked everyone he was handing tracts to if they spoke English and ended up having a constant run of Gospel conversations!

The highlight conversation for me was with a man who was deeply indoctrinated in the idea that his good works would get him to heaven.  After I had explained the serious nature of sin via the law of God, and the amazing Gospel of Jesus, I used a checking question to see if he understood the way to heaven. His answer: good works.  So I backed up and re-explained, and I could see understanding starting to dawn in his eyes.  So I used a checking question again.  This time he was slower to answer, being very thoughtful, and said: “I need to trust in Jesus to save me from my sin… but I also need to do good works…”.  So for a third time, I explained that we are saved by faith alone.  He was really understanding now, and the thoughts seemed to be very foreign to him - but he was very interested!  He said he had an appointment, but he wanted to talk more.  Thankfully all the tracts are printed with local contact details, so I encouraged him to get in touch that way.

In another conversation, I found it fascinating that, even though I hadn’t talked about repentance, the guy seemed to be understanding the impact that faith in Christ would have on his life.  He said something like: “But I would have to change my mind about everything I believe; but I can’t change my mind!”.  So I told him to cry out to God and ask Him to change his mind for him.  Repentance and faith in Christ are a gift from God!

During our lunch break, the heavy rain started, and continued all afternoon.  The teams split up and found shelter as best they could.  Tracts continued to be distributed and Gospel conversations were had.

The team debrief in the evening was very encouraging: hearing all the testimony of the wonderful Gospel opportunities God provided.

Please keep the team in Myanmar in your prayers over the next two weeks!  Thank you. :)

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It was good to be in the mall this afternoon in Hobart and even better to have other Christians join me in prayer for the city before we began the outreach. We prayed as we have so often that God would give us the right words to reach out to the people and that the Holy Spirit would act to prepare the hearts of the people for the word.

The afternoon went well with a number of regular visitors coming to talk. It was good to see Mr B again who stayed to listen for the whole time we were in the mall. He has been struggling for some time and while some things have improved in his difficult life, recent loss of his job is making things difficult for him. We prayed together for him at the end of the afternoon. Please pray that God will heal his wounds and give him a job to work in and most of all that God will grant him salvation.

Mr O. also dropped by with an interesting question; what does God think of street art? It seems that there is a new set of artworks (as distinct from graffiti) that have gone up in Hobart CBD. I responded that God obviously would be offended by blasphemous art of any kind, but otherwise the Bible does not give us any clear guidance regarding art. Art that draws us upward to consider the great things God has done and show the beauty of creation are obviously of greater worth than the doodles that are sometimes call “art” today. We chatted a little more and then Mr O. left with a wave and a smile.

During the preaching today Mr J. came and interacted with me for a long period. He disagrees with Christianity and the Bible’s teaching, but praise God he believes that we should be civil in disagreement and everyone is entitled to their own perspective. I was grateful that this young man understood one of the underpinning values of healthy society; the need to disagree without angst. If only some of his “elders and betters” could only learn this lesson!

I was discussing evolution when Mr J. came up and when I asked him what he thought of what I was saying he asked a question about God and suffering. How can a good God coexist with suffering? In particular he was thinking of the tragic loss of his Grandfather and the trauma of being threatened at gun point as a child. I discussed the paradox of God and suffering in two ways with Mr J. Firstly, I said that the question under the philosophical one is one of care: Does God care about our suffering? Does God just leave us to suffer or does he do something about it? To this I pointed to Jesus, the Son of God, God in flesh, who came to live, suffer, and die for the sake of sinful people. God cares about us, He cares about our suffering. So much so that he came to share in it and redeem us from it and from death. Secondly, I said that the philosophical question is one of evidence. Baldly put, is God even there? To this I pointed to the amazing world we live in and the mountains of evidence that points us to God being our maker and the sustainer of all life. No reasonable person could deny God has given us more than enough evidence.

At this we went to discuss evolution and the counter claims of that theory regarding fossils and change in animals and people. But the discussion didn’t last for long, there was something bigger that Mr J. wanted to discuss: What did I think of abortion? My initial response was that everything we know from ultrasound and intrauterine surgery indicates that the occupier of the womb is a living person with independent responses and desires. As such any living human person needs to be protected where-ever they are found. No argument can justify the premeditated taking of a human life because of the “right to choose” of another. Mr J. brought forward a number of normal objections that support the pro-choice perspective, for example; impact on the mother’s outlook on life, the mother not being ready, severely disabled children and threat to the life of the mother. Interestingly when pressed on these issues none of them stood up to the consideration of if it was ok then to take a human life.

We discussed for a long while and one particular point that appeared to move him was the consideration of if he as a man had a say in what happened to a baby carried by another. It was the consideration of impact on him as a family member. He would be mourning if he lost a sibling, niece or nephew, a child, or grandchild, because they were part of his family. In the same way any baby he sired would be his family when it was in the womb. Men should be intimately involved in the love, nurture, protection and support of their families. This is no different before they are born.

Ultimately Mr J. left saying that we were unlikely to make him a Christian. I asked him to simple think on these things. I am happy to leave the rest to God, we cannot change people, but He is more than able to change human hearts and minds.

Praise God for all the wonderful opportunities He gives.

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Toowong (QLD) Team

On 10/9/2019, this is the 6th Street Evangelism at Toowong. 
Today, we only had three team members i.e Pastor Lily Tam, Pastor Kiateck Tan and Rev Hung Kwan doing the street evangelism. All others are either engaged in other overseas mission or sick. As the deputy team leader, I again had to run around to have an eyes on team members and take photo of their work. Lily thru fellowship, shared that she is still comfortable only to hand out tracts and prepared to engage in gospel sharing only in an indoor environment. Nevertheless, she comes to serve without ever skipping a week. As for Kiateck, he originally was occupied in other ministry but still managed to come even half an hour later. He got a breakthrough today successful stopping some one to chat on Gospel. With above thing to care about, the available time within this one and a half hour session was limited. God still granted me 5 or 6 meaningful divine appointments with three stood out ones as recap below.

1) Near the main entrance of Toowong Village, Two Chinese young ladies from mainland China took English tracts from Lily , so I stepped up to approach them giving them my Chinese tracts and asked for permission to share. They anyway kept walking while letting me to share. It was just enough time for me to finish the core gospel message before the two ladies had to part. I anyway asked them to ponder on what I said when they read the tract at home. Pray for their comparatively hardened hearts be soften by the work of the Holy Spirit why they read the tract at home.

2) I went back to my usual spot at the foot of the pedestrian bridge, and met several girls who are student of UQ and was registering to hire a bicycle. All of them were in a rush, so I could just ask them to read the tracts back home.

3) Becky from Chongxian重慶, China一she was so nice to let me share despite she really was in a rush for the bus. Yet she still listen attentively and seriously and appeared very receptive to the gospel. She has shown interest to look fro church near by which I recommenced her to the CCCB - St Luica Ryan Street congregation. I also encouraged to connect with Power to Change once she decided to accept Christ for her ongoing spiritual growth.

4) Drew is an UQ students from an Indian family but he was born here. Despite he admitted his family religious background is Hindu, but he appeared to be a very open minded person to gospel and looked very receptive to the issue of sin must be punished. So again I introduced him to get connected with PRC.

5) Bobby is a working young man from Caboolture. He has no religious faith but his brother is a Christian. He was also in a rush to catch the train and skipped very fast on a scooter board. Yet he stopped abruptly to ask if I was handing out tract as he could see my desire when we cross eyes sight. To not delay his catching train, I walked or jogged along his roller scooter to finish the gospel sharing just on our arrival at the train station. He checked and found he still had a few minutes so we kept on chatting and even took a selfie. It was surprised how God has started changing him as a non-religious mind to find interest again in the Gospel. He promised to read the tract and talked to his Christian brother about today divine encounter as a spring board to his final acceptance of Jesus as his Savior and Lord of life.

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Christchurch (NZ) Team

Saturday saw a break from the wet weather (but it alternated between hot and cold depending on the movement of the clouds!) and there were many people out and about in Cathedral Square.  Three conversations from the outreach stand out.

The first was very special in that it was a follow up with two guys that I’ve been talking to since the summer (pictured walking away after the chat).  It was a short conversation where I was able to: 1) show my care and concern, 2) explain how they know God exists, 3) touch on the serious nature of their sin, 4) explain that there is hope only in Jesus, and 5) plead with them to repent and trust: to accept the gift.  It was weird, because one of them kept alluding to scenarios and questions that were covered in the 180 DVD - and so I offered him one and asked him to watch it - which he said he would.  Interestingly, he reminds me of the guy in the DVD with the blue mohawke!

The second was a wonderful follow up with a guy who knows the two guys from the first conversation.  He had his little brother with him.  He said he was still thinking about coming to my church, which I said would be great, but that, more important than coming to my church is that he needed to be saved.  I asked him if he could remember the way to heaven.  His answer: I’ve got to be a good person.  Inwardly I cringed, but I’m not surprised.  There is a blindness to the simple message of the Gospel!  So I took him (and his brother) back through and explained the law and the Gospel again.  I also gave him a 180 DVD.  I’m praying that the Holy Spirit would open their eyes!

The final conversation actually happened after the outreach had ended.  I was walking back to my car, and I handed a tract to a young guy walking past.  He stopped and so I had an opportunity to talk with him: he was very open to a Gospel conversation.  At the end, I asked him, “are you trusting in Jesus?”  To my surprise he said, “yes, I am now”.  I wasn’t expecting that at all!  He was very open to the logic of the conversation, but there didn’t seem to be much emotional response to it.  I encouraged him to get in touch with me (if he is genuine, I want to see him discipled).  I haven’t heard from him yet (a day later).  But he accepted a Bible and a booklet that covered the Gospel in more detail.

Sunday was wet again, but the rain had stopped by the time the outreach started after lunch.  There were three Christians out sharing at the corner of Cashel and Colombo.

Greg had a wonderful conversation (pictured).  And Mike had a great chat with a guy I had talked to the week prior (also pictured).

But I also had a wonderful conversation with three young people with Christian backgrounds.  One claimed to be a Christian, one didn’t, the other didn’t answer.  I was able to take them all through the law and the Gospel.  They all seemed impacted in different ways - as always I leave them in God’s hands.

Like the previous day, I again was able to have a Gospel conversation while on my way back to my car.  The guy heard the law and the Gospel and looked genuinely challenged.  He said he had to go as he had a job interview!  I apologised, and said I hoped I didn’t make him late.  His response was that he really appreciated that I had stopped him - I was encouraged.  May he repent and trust in Christ!

Right, off to the airport in 30 minutes (at the time of writing).  Five of the Christchurch (NZ) team will be joining the Myanmar team for the next two weeks.  So reports will be coming from there (God willing).  Please keep us in your prayers!
 

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Christchurch (NZ) Team

Thursday and Friday saw more rain, wind and cold in a Winter fight back in Christchurch (NZ).

All the outreach time on Thursday was spent at the Northlands bus stops.  A team of two.

At one point, a bus stopped and a whole lot of high school students disgorged.  Andy was offering tracts to them but they were all being refused.  He turned to me and said, “I’m not having a good run!”, he then turned back and the next tract he offered was accepted, and the guy turned to ask about it!  Twenty minutes or so later they were shaking hands after the guy had accepted a Bible - it was a really good Gospel conversation!

For me, the conversation that stands out was one that started suddenly.  I was walking towards someone to offer them a tract when a guy came out of a property right in front of me.  So I offered him the tract instead and asked him if he ever thought about what happens after life.  Initially the guy was resistant and then said that he used to be passionate about Jesus like me and that he had done what I was doing: talking to people about Jesus at bus stops.  But not any more.  He wanted to know my motivation.  But he started walking down the street, so I decided to walk with him!  I told him my motivation was my love for Jesus who had saved me from my sin and hell, and that I wanted to obey Him and tell others about Him.  After some discussion, I ended up switching to my testimony of how I became a Christian.  After a few blocks, the conversation came to a natural end.  He gave me his card and said I should email him.  He’d like a game of chess!  I’m not sure about the game of chess, but I have emailed him with a link to some Gospel material.

Another fascinating encounter was when I approached a guy and he instantly said, "go and get a real job, stop annoying people with your rubbish".  I didn't let this deter me, and I responded with, "OK, well - I don't think it's rubbish.  Tell me, where did the universe come from?"  To my amazement, this caused him to engage in the conversation, and I had an opportunity to explain to him how he knows God exists.  Sadly, his bus came.  But he did take a piece of my "rubbish" (a silent missionary: a Gospel tract)!

On Friday, there were heavy showers in the morning.  We decided to cancel the Gospel + abortion outreach.  Walking in the rain letter boxing tracts is okay (the walking keeps you warm), but standing exposed in cold rain is not wise.  Our new banner, designed to provoke people into discussion, will have to wait!

But the rain had eased to a stop in the afternoon, so a team of four gather for outreach in Cathedral Square and Cashel Mall.  And in spite of the wind and cold, it was a wonderful time of ministry!

Even though there was hardly anyone in Cathedral Square, I decided to open air preach to the few people that were passing.  I know it looks foolish seemingly preaching to no one - but I don’t care.  I’m desperate for the few people that could hear me to hear the good news of Jesus!  At the very least, it’s good practice.  Sure enough, I had a guy approach me.  He was a Christian and wanted to know if anyone was listening.  So I said, well, you are! :)

The afternoon’s conversation that stood out to me was one I watched Roger have with four Muslim girls (pictured).  At one point he used an illusion tract to get them smiling and laughing, but later I noticed the girls all had serious looks on their faces as Roger was discussing the important questions of life with them.  Today they heard the Gospel!
 

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Toowong (QLD) Team

Sept 3, 2019 Toowong Village
We had Kenneth Chan from Power to Change joining us this afternoon for the first time. So altogether we had 5 street Evangelists today including Johnny Hsieh, Lily Tam, Chi Ming Lim and Hung Kwan. Kiateck was taking sick leave again.

I teamed up with Kenneth, he chose to stay with me. It proved to be an ideal kind of team work. All those who stopped by the Spirit to chat with me were mostly UQ students, After listening to my sharing, I referred them to connect with Power To Change through Kenneth. It paved the way for effective follow up.

Because of taking some time to run between the two street evangelism spots for photo taking of the other teams, I only have four complete conversation as recap below: -

1) Jacky Wu from Beijing, who has some previous contact with Christians and heard the Gospel before, but found my sharing very convincing that urged him to take a serious thought to accept Christ. I gave him additional EE3 gospel booklet with a more full scale gospel sharing. Pray that he will make this step of faith soon and get connected with Kenneth to join Power to Change.

2) Stephania and her family have already migrated to Australia from Vietnam. She stopped willingly to listen to my gospel sharing initially with skepticism possibly because of her Buddhist background. But eventually she felt convinced that the way Christ died for us to take punishment of sin on our behalf is sensible and logical. Again I connected her right away with Kenneth for future followup.

3) Ali from Afghanistan is of Muslim family background, but he appeared very open minded to the gospel sharing and were convinced of the redemptive method of Jesus dying on the cross to pay for the punishment of our sin. He was willing to read the tract at home and was encouraged to make his own decision to accept Jesus or not. Again I referred him to connect with Power to Change through Kenneth. Pray that all above divine appointments will bear fruits in His time.

4) Finally, I caught up with an Aussie lady Cheryl. She was nice and kind to stop for a chat despite she was in a hurry to get back to work. She appeared to have no professing faith but again was very receptive to what I shared.

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Christchurch (NZ) Team

Tuesday saw two outreaches in the city, the first (before lunch) was centered around Cathedral Square, and the second (after lunch) was centered around Ara.

As soon as I had set up my flip chart in Cathedral Square I instantly had a “regular” stop to chat.  He is normally very resistant to Gospel conversations but of late I have noticed some softening, and I was surprised today to see how open he was.  In a roundabout way, I was able to talk about God's law with him, and then about the good news of Jesus.  He accepted an After Life tract and we shook hands multiple times before he moved on.  I was very encouraged.

After he moved on, things were a bit slow in the Square, and so I decided to pack up and move down to Cashel Mall.  As I came to the Hereford intersection, A guy I had talked to months ago in summer came running up to me.  He called me "the God man" and was very keen to talk.  We crossed the intersection and sat down.  He had obviously been thinking deeply about the important questions of life, and was wrestling with them.  He was also struggling with difficult circumstances in his life.  As we were talking, I had opportunities to address important Gospel concepts, for example, he generally thought of himself as a good person (in contrast to me!), so I was able to address this by showing him the mirror of God’s law.  Then there was a point where we were talking about Jesus, and he started talking about how Jesus had had a crown of thorns pushed into his head.  To my surprise he burst into tears contemplating this.  But the moment was broken when two of his friends suddenly appeared and he needed to compose himself.  Later, we talked a lot about the purpose of suffering.  It’s hard for me to know what’s really going on with this guy.  But I am very encouraged by his openness.  I never made it to Cashel Mall.

After lunch I headed through Cathedral Square on my way down High Street to Ara.  I was handing out tracts as I went, and this led to a conversation with a young JW.  I cut to the chase with him to discover where his hope lay.  I was surprised how honest he was in saying that his hope lay in his own good works!  I was able to explain why his good works would never be good enough, and why our only hope was in Jesus paying our fine on our behalf.  He was, sadly, completely unmoved.

As I exited the Square, offering tracts, I was abruptly rejected by three young women.  One of them told me not to shove my religion on her.  I tried to get them to engage in a conversation, but she then proceed to say that if I wasn’t a women, then I didn’t have a say (although she used cruder words than that) - an obvious reference to our stand against the murder of preborn babies.  Very sad; she continued to yell something as they walked off through the Square.  God have mercy on them.

Outside Ara, I was very encouraged to have the guy who had bought me a coffee a few weeks ago approach me and shake my hand!  He wanted to catch up, and offered to buy me a sausage roll and another coffee - but he didn’t want to disturb my work, so told me to come into the convenience store across from Ara (where he worked) when I was done.

I had almost a constant run of great Gospel conversations with people outside Ara before finishing the outreach and heading over to catch up with my new friend.  It turns out that this guy, a Christian, had received Gospel tracts from me on two separate occasions before he next saw me outside Ara a few weeks ago and decided to buy me the coffee.  This encouraged me, as it means the Gospel message is really getting out there if I’m double hitting people like that!  And I was encouraged to know that I had encouraged him in simply giving him those tracts.  He now knows I don’t like coffee, so he got me a hot chocolate this time! ;)  I’m very blessed and grateful.  What is interesting is that this guys name is none other than David Livingstone! (A pioneering missionary of the London Missionary Society.)

And to top off the day, as I was heading back through Cathedral Square on the way to my car, I bumped into the guy I’d had the long chat with at the end of the first outreach of the day.  It seemed appropriate that I offered him the sausage roll David had given me.  He gratefully accepted it!  What a blessing to be able to pass on my blessing.  Oh may he receive the greatest blessing: Christ!

Wednesday saw heavy rain as forecast.  I headed to Riccarton anyway, and was surprised to see that road works had ruined my usual outreach spot!  But this just caused me to find a new spot - which I found down by the Riccarton bus stops.  In spite of the rain, I had some great Gospel conversations and was able to pass out a good number of tracts.

Thank you for your continued prayers for the Christchurch (NZ) team.  I’m reminded that, without God, we labour in vain!
 

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This team featured a Father's Day special today, a.k.a., sharing His message of how a sinner can be reconciled to God the Father who with the Son and the Holy Spirit is the one true God. One of our petitions for this aspect of gospel ministry is that our gracious God would grant us opportunities to converse with those He wishes to be spoken to at this time. Among the results that we ask prayer for are:

     - 2 separate Asian couples who now have heard God's good news and are considering how to respond;

     - 3 teenagers one of whom seemed indifferent after hearing, another who had never heard who seemed interested and one who had needed to hear so his thinking could be conformed to God's revelation, i.e. the Bible;

     - a grandma, her son and his daughter who had some Biblical background. He grasped the great truth in Rom. 4. May he keep on speaking to his Mum who needed to understand this and that he will teach others in the family unit;

     - Jaime, who was invited to do the Good Person test as she walked by and declined but said that she was coming back. I was surprised when she returned and was ready to do it. We got through the test then Ryan came to help with the checking questions. She seemed to grasp it on the 3rd or 4th check. She said that this would be good for her children who were fishing with their father out on the jetty. She was encouraged to attend a local church that Ryan recommended and to read her Bible Jaime left with a gospel of John with some tracts inside it.

     - the ones who passed by and scurried away when they saw the 'down escalator'. 

     - the other chats we had, the tracts handed out and whatever else the Lord was doing that we are unaware of.

You guessed it: we went home rejoicing and thanking God for this opportunity to glorify Him alone.

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Christchurch (NZ) Team

Saturday was the last day of winter!  I have survived a winter of outreach in Christchurch.  Sunday was the first day of spring.  And both days were warm.  It was the first time in months I got down to one layer of clothing.  My reflections on a winter of outreach is that in some ways it’s easier.  To deal with the cold, put on another layer (I was regularly wearing four); but under the hot sun, all you can do is find shade!  But summer will hopefully bring more people out to share the Gospel with.  Both Saturday and Sunday saw evidence that that would be the case.  Looking forward to the busy summer of outreach ahead!

On Saturday, a team of two were in Cathedral Square.  It was so good to have my friend, Andy Bell, with me on this outreach.

I had some early discouragement, as I walked past one of the stall vendors, I thought I heard him say “go away”.  I Ignored it and kept going, but it really impacted me for some reason.  I regularly pray for that particular guy, I want the best for him and I hope he comes to trust in Christ.

The outreach was a bit slow initially, and I was saying to Andy that you sometimes have to be a bit patient.  Sure enough, Gospel conversations got started.  I ended up helping an older gentleman with directions (he refused to talk about spiritual things, or take a tract).  When I turned around Andy was in a conversation with a lady interested in the flip chart!  So I left him to it and ended up getting into two Gospel conversations of my own.  By the time the second one had finished, I turned around and Andy was taking another set of people through the flip chart (pictured)!  A nice busy time of ministry.  Andy said he was feeling a bit rusty, but it was so wonderful that he was sharing the good news of Christ anyway!

It was nearly time to finish the outreach when a young man decided to give the flip chart a try.  The simplicity of the message seemed to hit home: I was able to use a checking question to confirm that he understood.  He said his Mum was open to spiritual things and wanted to believe in God and go to heaven.  So I gave him two tracts - one for them both.

Sunday was very encouraging in that I had a very new Christian join me.  He had been watching Ray Comfort on You Tube, and we met him when he came to listen to the open air preaching a couple of Friday’s ago in Cathedral Square.  Although he had only become a Christian a few months ago, and only recently been baptised, it was so encouraging seeing how keen he is to share the good news of Jesus, in spite of the natural fears of doing so.  I reassured him that it was fine to just observe and get a feel for it first.  Eventually he asked if he could distribute some tracts!  And he did a great job!  Very polite.  He is keen to keep joining the team on Sunday afternoons.  And it was wonderful to hear his testimony afterwards and talk about things over a hot chocolate.  May many more people start trusting in Christ and then getting out to share of the wonderful hope of eternal life found by faith in Christ!  Join us! :)
 

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Redcliffe (QLD) Team

The Flourishing of the Gospel in Redcliffe!

What an amazing day! Six Christians from different churches joined together under the banner of Operation 513 to share the good news of Jesus in Redcliffe. Over recent months we have noticed an increasing hardness of the ground, but today was radically different. There was a freedom and openness to the gospel ministry today. One of the team members remarked that they hadn’t see a day like this in over eighteen months. After a hard week, it was truly refreshing to see the gospel go forth.

The biggest challenge that faced the team today was finding somewhere to park our cars as the waterfront was quite busy with people enjoying the last day of winter. Due to traffic problems we were a few minutes late in arriving for the outreach, but upon arrival we instantly got stuck into the work.

As I set up the Free Bible table, members of the team began to hand out tracts. Shortly thereafter, conversations began. People were open to talking; with some asking really good questions and listening intently to the biblical answers.

One really good conversation I had was with John from India. He stopped after I handed him a tract, then asked, “Do you think you’ll go to Heaven?” He smiled, then replied, “There is no Heaven, and there is no Hell. There is just here and now.” John then went on to tell me that he came from a Christian background, and that he believed Jesus to be a very good and moral teacher. I asked him, “Would Jesus be a good teacher, if He told lies or gave false information?” John said that anyone who lied wouldn’t be good. I then pointed out that Christ spoke of Heaven and Hell; and that Jesus said the wicked will be judged forever. John seemed to really enjoy the way this conversation was going, so he started to talk about wickedness and how evil men seem to prosper in this life. He wanted to know why evil existed and why God didn’t destroy sinners. This line of questioning was very helpful as it provided me an opening to present the biblical gospel. I spoke to John about how all of humanity is corrupt; and that we all deserve death and Hell. I pointed out that if God judged us in the way that John demanded, then both him and I would be in Hell right now. John was taken back by this comment as he didn’t believe he was a wicked man. He said that he lived true to his loving instincts, which he believed aligned with the Ten Commandments.

I agreed that the Ten Commandments are a loving standard, so we began to look at them together. As we walked through the Law, it became very clear that all the world is guilty, including John and I. John at this stage was looking for an excuse to justify his sin; to do this he pointed to many of the dictators from history. He said, “They are evil men, yet many of them went unpunished. I am not like them, so God wouldn’t judge me.” I explained to John that all men are guilty of sin, and deserve Hell, as we have chosen to rebel against our Creator; and that by our actions we are born cut off from God, and we continue in a state of war with the Eternal God. John agreed to this, so I pointed out that one of the sins John needed to repent of was his self-righteousness, as he thought himself to be better than everyone else. I was a little cautious in being so direct with John, but in reply he simply he hung his head and said, “You are right. I agree.”

John then said, “But what can we do? We are all just the product of evolution. I must strive to be the fittest to survive.” I answered by saying that he didn’t really believe in survival of the fittest, as if he did, he wouldn’t be complaining about the dictators, as they were just the fittest in their area. I then addressed the issue of Darwinian Evolution, explaining that Darwin would have made John lower than me due to his skin colour. I also addressed some of the scientific arguments that John raised.

As our conversation drew to a close, I reminded John of the gospel. He took some booklets on different apologetic subjects, and also a gospel book. He then shook my hand and said, “Thank-you for talking to me and answering my questions. When I was a child my Pastors would not answer the hard questions, yet you stand here and give me very good answers. If they had answered, I am sure my life would be much different.”

As John left, I was reminded of the command we are given in 1 Peter 3:15 - “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defence to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you…”

Churches and individuals need to be trained in apologetics and gospel ministry. We must be prepared to answer the objections and questions the world is asking. By spending time engaging in apologetics, we are actually not trying to win an argument, instead we are clearing the ground for the gospel seed to be planted; apologetics and evangelism are the best of mates.

The rest of the day was spent in gospel conversations, distributing tracts and seeing many people take literature from the Free Bible table. Today was radically different to what we have seen in recent months. We rejoice in the Lord for answering the many prayers that have been offered up by Christians worldwide. May the Lord allow the light to continue to shine in Redcliffe.

SDG!

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