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Face-to-face with the truth; in the street, |
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Wednesday, May 14, 2008 "Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth." "Know this also, that in the last days perilous
times shall come, for men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous,
boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
without natural affection, trucebreakers, false Paul said it well when he spoke of these days. Those we publicly confront think little or nothing of cursing and swearing in front of our children. They have little if any natural affection. When something bad happens to a street preacher, the crowd roars its approval. They are unholy and highminded. Pleasure is their ultimate goal, not truth. They despise those who are good. They call good evil, and they call evil good. They have their heads on backwards. Many are "religious" but deny God's power to punish them. For many of them God is not a thinking, loving being, but some kind of energy that holds everything together, and something that they are a part of. Many of these college students cannot follow a straight line of logic. When you tell them the truth, their minds twist and contort, and they cannot understand you. They are blinded by Satan. They hate the light because they love their evil deeds. Darkness has made it impossible for them to see the light of the world.
I asked one "Campus Crusader" what we call a person who steals. He could hardly bring himself to say it, but finally said, "A thief." So I asked him why it would be any less accurate to call a person an adulterer or a homosexual or a prostitute or a murderer, if that's what they are. He answered that we are all sinners and are all born with original sin, as if that means that we are not to do God's will by preaching the gospel and speaking the truth. Most modern Christians believe the Catholic doctrine of "original sin," and they use that exact term, too. In vain the Catholics baptize infants to wash away the original sin, and in vain the protestants ape Rome in its folly. Certainly we do have the knowledge of good and evil — for that is the fruit that Adam partook of — but no one makes anyone sin, not even God. It is true that because of Adam sin passed upon all men, but this is the controversy and the mystery. If we all have a "sin nature," then why do some sinners sin more than others? Why do some only shoplift while others become serial killers? We all die due to Adams sin, that is true, but that is the consequence of his sin. I do not say that if I could have lived sinless my entire life that I would not die physically. That is not revealed to us in God's word. What I do say, however, is that no one can blame God for the wretched state they are in. Men are not condemned eternally because of Adam's sin, but for their own sin. "Yet you say, 'Why? Doesn't the son bear the iniquity of the father?' When the son has done that which is lawful and right, and has kept all my statutes and has done them, he shall surely live. The soul that sins, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him." (Ezekiel 18:19, 20) Campus Christians love to say, "Well, we all sin every day." Thereby making an excuse for sin. It's another Catholic teaching of walking carelessly with God and being absolved through confession. They argue against holiness by saying, "But nobody's perfect! We're all sinners!" They do not even understand that we have a position of righteousness, which makes us saints. The girl in blue told me outright that God doesn't really expect us to be perfect, as the scripture states. But I am not a sinner. To sin is not my policy. I do not wake up each morning with a sin list as I once did. I am a new creature, a saint. I am set apart and holy, and I live unto the Lord my God. I am not "a sinner." A sinner is one with a policy against God, a policy of selfishness and lust. So, whether it be sinners or Campus Christians telling us we're "not doing it right," every day is a challenge.
They like to say that scientists have created new species of fruit flies, which cannot mate with other species, and so I tell them, "But it's still a fruit fly!" Modern science defines what a species is, and attempts to retroactively apply that definition to the Bible, whereas God says that the man, animals and plants will merely bring forth after their own kind. If they cannot bring forth with another, they are of different kinds. Oh, they say, but what about a donkey and a horse, or a tiger and a lion (a liger). They can mate, but the offspring are most often sterile. I just tell them that both lions and tigers are hybrids of the same kind, which were geographically separated, just as we breed dogs, and this gene variation will generally not allow those two to go beyond one generation.
They want to know where God comes from. I tell them this is a mystery we will never know (will we know when we are with him? I don't think so. I don't think that it is in the capacity of our beings to understand eternity past). I ask them where matter and energy came from, which is the basis of their "faith." They have no answers. At least with God you have intelligence which has created the LAWS of nature by which the entire universe is controlled. Their faith is in dirt. But our God is the Lord! When we come to an impasse, I feed them even more of God's word, and remind them that they have no excuse, for the things which may be know about God have clearly been revealed in the creation. All of creation shouts out his name! The heavens declare his handiwork! Some plant, and others water; but God brings forth the increase. Faith comes by hearing the word of God!
"For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and does not return there, but waters the earth, and makes it bring forth and bud that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes forth out of my mouth; it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." (Isaiah 55:10, 11) Friday, May 23, 2008 we will be ministering at Lane Tech High School in Chicago. Pray that hearts will be changed. Pray that we should have boldness. Pray that the police leave us alone. Thanks for reading this report. If you would like to help out with tracts and gas for this ministry, that would be appreciated. We have about $37.00 left in our tract and gas fund. We do not use any donations for living expenses or personal transportation. You are free to join us anytime we do ministry. Contact us if you would like to join us. Please see the calendar page at our website for listed events. KNOW
JESUS |
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accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors,
heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God, having a
form of godliness, but denying the power thereof. From such turn away. For
these are the sort which creep into houses and lead astray silly women
laden with sins, led away with all kinds of lusts. Ever learning, and
never able to come to the knowledge of the truth." (2nd Timothy
3:1-7)
The
"Campus Christians" spew out the same rhetoric year after year.
"You're going to turn people off with your message." . . .
"You're turning away the very people you're trying to reach." .
. . "You guys are undoing all that we have accomplished." . . .
"Don't you think that's derogatory and disrespectful [saying that
homosexuality is a sin]?" When I opened my Bible, the young man in
the top photo said, "Oh, you're gonna rock the word, huh?" And I
said, "Well, I'm going to read the word," and he said, "No,
man, it's rockin' the word. Jesus rocks!"
This
small group in front of Stephanie and me went around and around about
evolution. They chuckle nervously between themselves when I say I don't
need a degree in biology to understand that a single-celled organism
cannot change into a human over many billions of years. Over and over (for
years) I ask them to show me the photos of the fossils that show a gradual
progression between one type of life form and another. They merely say,
"Oh, they're there! They're there!" I ask "Where?" And
they tell me they are in the museums, and in their books. I ask them to
show me, but no one takes the bait. So easy for them it would be to just
go and get the proof. After all, I tell them, you're the ones saying that
you are studying science, and yet you treat an unproven hypothesis as if
it had been proven. Oh, they say, we don't need total proof to know
something has happened. I say, bring me something showing the proof, but
don't bring me nice drawings of supposed intermediate forms.
The
young man in orange was careful to let me know that evolution is not a
religion, as our signs states, but I told him that due to the fact that
there is no proof for evolution, then what he has is faith, not science.
As if he didn't get the point of my sign. His retort was that we
Christians have faith in a book, so I explained to him and his friends
that the Bible is reliable in prophecy, in history, in judgment, in logic,
and is consistent in its story of redemption. I said... "It just
makes sense, you guys! All the other religions preach salvation (or a
better afterlife/reincarnation) through systems of good works! But how
good would you need to be?!!! You already have the stain of sin on you
from your past evil works. How can you erase that? Only the blood of Jesus
can cleanse you from your sins!"
We
stayed from about 11:30 a.m. until 6:00 p.m., even though it was extremely
difficult to gather a crowd, unlike the week before, where we had crowds
of up to150. This day was a final exam day, and few wanted to stop. Even
so, we were not discouraged or disheartened, for the seed was planted.