Battle Log

• Battle Log
• Page 233

It was another glorious night of preaching the gospel with a team of faithful labourers. Watch the following three minute video from the night and be encouraged:

To God alone be all the glory!

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Sunshine Coast Outreach and Legal Update.

Ryan, Justin and I attended Maroocydore Magistrates Court this morning to have a date for our trial set. The process was fairly quick and a date was set for early February 2014. We look forward to being able to defend our rights to participate lawfully in an Authorized Public Assembly under the Peaceful Assembly Act 1992 without fear of being moved on or arrested. We look forward to being free to preach the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour lawfully on the Sunshine Coast, so please pray for the team. 

After court we all headed off to Nambour to the library where we prepared and submitted our "Notice Of Intention To Hold A Public Assembly"  forms which we then delivered to the local police station and the local council offices. We then traveled to Mooloolaba to share the Gospel. 

It was very windy on the coast today. When it is windy it is very difficult to preach "on the box" as it's very difficult to make yourself heard, so we decided to spend the afternoon handing out tracts and getting into conversations with passers by.  All of us got in to many conversations and passed out many tracts including our brand new tract that will  be available for purchase in two days time.... Keep checking our web store for details....  

I love to witness as we meet so many different people. I met several Christians today and talked to them about coming out and sharing their faith with others. Most Christians we meet tell us they don't feel equipped and are scared to share their faith. It's always a great privilege to explain that I once felt like that and I still do from time to time now. I explain that our teams are here to help train people and encourage them as they did for me.  I love to tell them of how much I enjoy the fellowship of being part of the Operation 513 family and what a privilege it is to serve along side my brothers and sisters in Christ. I pray that the people I shared time with today will feel convicted to join our team and help us to proclaim our Lord Jesus Christ to the people of the Sunshine Coast. The harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few. 

One of my conversations this afternoon, was with a gentleman that was on holiday from New Zealand. He was a member of his local Anglican Church there and had been for many many years. He told me he was involved with many difficulties his home church was facing as many within wanted to accept non-biblical and liberal ideals into his church. He told me of the recent battles he had been involved in and the progress that had been made, he seemed resigned to the fact that this was going to be a long and hard and ongoing process. I was encouraged to hear somebody so willing to contend for the faith, and to hear of his desire to keep his church on a biblical track. Please pray for Malcolm. 

Today I didn't spend much time preaching to the unconverted, but I feel I was encouraged and I encouraged other Christians in their personal walks with God.  Its encouraging to know that as Christians we can rely on God to bring people into our lives that help to bring us even closer to Him, and I thank Him so much for these blessings. SDG 

By Kevin Red

 

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Riverfire is one of the busiest night of the year in Brisbane where thousands flock to the city to watch fireworks. Operation 513 kindly donated 16,000 gospel tracts for handing out during the event.

To God be the glory!

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Saturday, 12 October 2013

It has been a few weeks since I have been out on the street witnessing. The reason for this is quite simply fear. I have been afraid of hitting the streets again after two arrests. However, today, I headed over to Glasgow to meet up with a few guys for an afternoon of witnessing. 

When I arrived in Buchanan Street I was immediately struck with how noisy and busy it was. People were everywhere, and many of the best preaching spots were taken up with buskers. After walking the length of the street, Noman and I found a spot that would serve the preaching well.

Noman was the first preacher up. As he preached I handed out tracts and engaged a couple of people in discussion. During this time two police officers walked past, and my heart missed a beat. But, these officers clearly knew the law, as they allowed the preaching to continue. 

During this time a lady approached me to tell me her story. It turns out that four years ago she was on the streets, addicted to drugs and living rough. One day she heard an open-air preacher declare “Jesus gives freedom”. That is all she heard, and she actually scoffed at him. However, that was the seed which the Holy Spirit would use. The lady told me that she could not get those words out of her mind, and eventually it brought her to a place of repentance. She has now completed Bible College and is setting up a ministry to help homeless women. She thought she’d share this with us as an encouragement.

After this I was approached by a man that I had never met, but I knew who he was. His name is Tyler McNabb. Sadly, Tyler is now an apostate. He has forsaken the truth, and followed after Roman Catholicism (James White mentioned him here). 

Tyler wanted to know why we were preaching in a different location as he had been waiting for us elsewhere. I knew that Tyler was going to be out that day, but Noman and I decided that we would not fellowship with darkness. After speaking for a few moments, Tyler extended his hand to me. I replied that I would not be extending the right hand of fellowship to apostates. 

This set his wife off. She decided to come down and tell me that God is Love and I wasn’t very nice. I replied by pointing out what the Scripture says about apostasy, and how she needs to repent. Tyler interrupted at this point, and said, “I want to have a rational discussion.” My answer was, “I want to have a Biblical one.” With that they left. Please pray that the Lord converts them. 

After Noman finished preaching, I stood up to preach. I spoke about how Jesus needs to be lifted high as he alone is Saviour. I only spoke for about twenty-minutes, and then handed over to Craig to preach. 

Craig is from Glasgow, so he sounds like the people we are trying to reach. His accent actually drew the attention of the people. They stopped to listen, and some even began to heckle. Craig did a good job in answering their objections and pointing people to Jesus. 

Overall it was a good day in Glasgow. Quite a few conversations were had, and many heard the Gospel. Please pray the Lord softens hearts. 

Soli Deo Gloria! 

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South-East England (UK) Team

Romford was teeming with people today we I approached the high St.  We were blessed with good weather this Saturday and prayed it would continue as such.  Todays team consisted of Chuck, Jacob, Jacob's Pastor named Joe, Mario who was a newbie and Myself.  We set up and prayed for the day and I began to speak.  I preached from Romans 1 about how all men know God exists and suppress this truth.  Eventually I had a gentleman heckle me who was wearing a nice suit.  I soon recognized that he knew the Bible fairly well but accused me of not telling the truth about Sabbath worship.  Eventually he confessed to being a Seventh Day Adventist who had recently been at church.  

His major argument rested on this type of statement -

If (P) Jesus said the Sabbath has changed, then (Q) it would have changed.  (~P) Jesus never said the day changed,

Ergo  (~Q) the day of worship must be Saturday.  

This is the fallacy of denying the antecedent - If P, then Q.   Not P.  Therefore, not Q.  (I have also heard JWs and Muslims use this line of reasoning in denying the Deity of Christ).  

Needless to say when this error was pointed out to the gentlemen he didn't like it and rather than concede that his reasoning may be at fault he just continued to talk over me and not engage in dialog.  Instead I decided to move on swiftly and continue preaching the Gospel and by that time my crowd had tripled in size, Praise God!  I concluded my message by explaining the need to repent and turn to Christ in faith as He is the only name by which we can be saved.  

Chuck preached too and I handed out tracts.  A number of Christians were very encouraged by the preaching.  The other team members were also busy chatting and handing out tracts to the public.  It was a good day of gospel proclamation and God showed us favor with the civil authorities and crowds.  SDG!! 

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Maroochydore and Mooloolaba 

It's been  hectic for several weeks now with the arrests and legal challenges we have been facing. We have all been arrested twice,  falsely imprisoned and had to make several difficult decisions regarding these things, however we as a team have decided to fight for our rights to political and religious freedom in Australia. I am going to avoid commenting on our current legal battle for the time being except to state that things are proceeding as expected and we are actively seeking to legally gain our civil liberties and freedoms on the Sunshine Coast. Please could I ask you to pray for our ministry and the government and it's representatives at this time. 

This morning Ryan, Justin and I met early as we had been invited to attend a meeting with council.  We met and prayed and then we travelled to Nambour to the meeting with the council. The meeting unfortunately was as we expected and was really a waste of time and an opportunity again for the council to tell us how wrong our interpretation of the law was. We left upbeat thanking God that he would use this meeting to further His purposes. 

Due to bail restrictions we we unable to preach in Nambour today so we headed to Maroochydore and met with a friend named Michael. Michael is a local Christian businessman and a keen evangelist. Apart from most graciously providing lunch for us he also told us the best spots to preach and give out tracts in the area. So having enjoyed a meal and some fellowship we headed to the Plaza. We set ourselves up outside the Plaza and passed out many tracts and we all got involved in conversations. Ryan spent some time with three young lads, one of the lads said he was a Christian but his brother had talked him out of it of late. He seemed keen on finding out more and all four  had a long conversation together. The young men all said they would think about things some more after Ryan explained the good news to them.  As we were leaving and heading back to the car, I was giving out tracts and then I met with another young man who said he wanted to find out more as he was unsure about the Christian Faith. We talked about the ten commandments, sin and the coming Judgement followed of course by the good news. He was happy to take a free bible and an invitation to a Christianity Explored course invitation from my local church. Please pray that he will repent and put his trust in Jesus Christ and that he will read the bible and attend the course to find out more. 

We then headed for the crowds at Mooloolaba beach.  I started the preaching off reading from Romans 1, and talking about how although people know the truth of God they suppress that knowledge in favour of living selfish sinful lives denying all knowledge of God. I was near a large coffee shop and many people turned to listen to the message. I was approached by three "lighthearted" hecklers, who I had a fruitful conversation with. I pray the Lord left them with something more serious to consider than they had expected I ended the preaching with a call to faith and repentance, and also a thank you for listening to the captive coffee shop audience.  

We moved along the sea front giving out tracts as we went and finally we found a suitable location for Ryan to preach. As Ryan preached several business owners appeared claiming we were breaking the law. One particularly said he was a Christian but didn't think that Christians should disrupt business. Ryan continued as Justin and I talked to the business owners and passed out many tracts.  

Further along the seafront again Justin got up and preached. I could see several people actively listening to his message. Justin is much more softly spoken than Ryan or I, but he used his tone and knowledge of the scripture to full effect as people had to turn an ear to listen. I really enjoy listening to a gospel presentation from Justin and wish I could sometimes just sit and listen, but quickly Ryan and I both got into separate conversation with professing Christians. Of course anyone who professes to be a Christian is asked questions so we can be sure if they understand the gospel.  The young man I got talking to was very excited to hear the preaching and his gospel knowledge was sound. He was on holiday from NSW and was enjoying some family time in Mooloolaba. We talked about preaching and evangelism and he considered it very important personally which was of course a pleasure to hear. I pray as he grows he keeps this conviction and learns to actively share his faith. I pointed him towards some good free resources to look at when he got home. 

For me today has been an absolute privilege, I have enjoyed serving my Lord and saviour and working with Ryan and Justin who I love as brothers in Him. I thank and praise God for giving us all a day without hassle from the police or council as we preach and also for the many encouraging words and conversations we have had.   

SDG.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Watch the video battle log report from the night as we see some people let go of their atheism:

To God be the glory!

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One couple that we spoke to tonight were from the Revival Centres International and their beliefs were very contrary to Scripture. They thought that no one in the Old Testament was saved, they thought that baptism was a requirement for justification and that everyone must speak in tongues.

Soli Deo Gloria!

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What an immense privilege we as Christians have to speak with people about something that is of eternal value.

Here's a 4 minute video report from the night:

To the praise of His name!

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South-East England (UK) Team

The Operation 513 Team evangelized Basildon today and we were blessed with fabulous weather.  The team consisted of Rob, Chuck and Myself and a young man named Sasha who lived nearby and had contacted me through the website.  We set up and prayed.  This was Rob's first time in Basildon and it was his first outreach since coming back from Canada, therefore it was his job to start !!  Rob began to preach using his new amplifier which is very loud and clear; he was soon approached by a man who said "the ten commandments were great advice for life".  However, as Rob unpacked the commandments the Holiness of the Law began to expose the mans sin to which he began to get angry and walk away.  

As Rob continued more people gathered to listen and/or heckle.  A young couple came up and began to ask "why we were forcing our beliefs on people" etc.  Rob dealt with the arguments very succinctly and soon the girl confessed to being a pagan.  The conversation was cut short by a lesbian yelling that we were "judgmental", to which Rob turned the accusation against her and asked her not to judge us either.  Another lady asked about Bible translations and was thankful for the answers she received.  A girl named Sarah who grew up in a Christian home also had a number of good questions and the Gospel was preached to her.  Also a grandmother and her daughter and grandchildren came up and asked "the problem of evil question" relating it to specific events in their life.  Rob responded with empathy and decorum to which the grandmother kind of appreciated his response but her daughter was not interested.  

We eventually encountered a  "christian" lady who said we were not preaching the Gospel but preaching condemnation.  She was very frustrating and tried to stand infront of Rob and tell everyone that "God loves everybody and has wonderful plan for thier life".  It made me question if she had ever read Ps 5:5, 11:5, Mal 1:3, Rom 9:13 etc or the large number of passages that explain about Gods hatred and anger towards human wickedness and sin.  Anyways, Rob countered these foolish objections by reading John 3.16-20 which makes clear that God's love is for those who repent and those who do not repent are already condemed.

During the course of the afternoon many hecklers came and went but the content of the message had obviously offended the lesbian, because she called the police.  Soon enough the police arrived and questioned the crowd of angry bystanders who were telling all sorts of lies about us.  The police did not ask Rob to stop preaching but waited till he had finished before questioning him.  Eventually the police arrested Rob for breaching Section 5 of the Public Order Act claiming that he had used language that "caused harassment, alarm or distress".  Rob was taken to the Basildon Police Station and I called the Christian Legal Center for help.  Later that evening the CLC lawyer arrived and had an interview with Rob and the Police and all trumped up charges were dropped with no further action to be taken !!  

Rob was vindicated but felt vilified.  It does remind me of when Jesus tells His disciples "Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you" Matt 5:11-12.  By Gods grace we live to preach another day, Praise be to God!! SDG.

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