Frontline Ministries of Wisconsin

Face-to-face with the truth; in the street,
on campus and in the public square.

Saturday, July 12, 2008
Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin

Buffoons and Water Balloons

"For the preaching of the cross is foolishness to them that perish; but unto
us who are saved it is the power of God." (1st Corinthians 1:18)

"As it is written, Behold, I lay in Zion a stumblingstone and rock of offence:
and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed." (Romans 9:33)

Wisconsin Dells, attraction for buffoons, backsliders, drunks, fornicators,
homosexuals, women dressed like hookers and... some inquiring souls.

I once read an article by a dear brother street preacher who said, "Avoid preaching at night." In his defense, he was saying this to help street ministers avoid going to jail, but I find the night a great time to preach. There is a different atmosphere, especially in a tourist area, like Wisconsin Dells. On college campuses, during the day is the best time of course, but at night, I don't end up with a bad sunburn. Not every street preacher has a nice head of hair like Jed Smock to block out those burning rays. Certainly there are more drunks and revelers, but I don't necessarily agree that drunks don't remember what you say to them. Some may have blackouts, but most are not that far gone. I've had good talks with people who've had a few too many. Even so, there are plenty of people on the street where we minister who are sober, and we go there to talk to whoever will listen.
     This night was especially fruitful. Many seeds were planted, and no doubt a lot of watering was done. God will bring in the harvest. As we were walking to our setup spot, we ran into some old Christian acquaintances who seemed embarrassed by us, and we weren't even set up yet! Their big thing is to ride their Harley motorcycle and wear all of the Harley clothing, and to go to Christian motorcycle rallies. When they wanted to buy the motorcycle, they were looking for a "sign from God" to buy it, and so when a tornado knocked down lots of trees on their land, they took that as a sign that God wanted them to have the bike. So, they cut and sold the trees and bought the motorcycle for, I think, $20,000. I said, "Hey, how are you?" and their body language said, "We need to get away." I said again, "What are you doing?" And they said, "Oh, just being tourists, but we've gotta go." Even so, I saw them hurry past us quickly later where we were set up." I said, "Hey, come and pass out some tracts." and they said, "No, we've gotta go." I am not ashamed of the Gospel, Paul said.
     We saw at least two lesbian couples walking and holding hands, flaunting their perversity here at the upper Midwest's biggest tourist trap. A really drunk blond woman railed on us and scolded us for a good twenty minutes, and helped to draw a good crowd. She screamed at us that we were disgusting people for having the signs we had, and said we were terrible parents for having our kids out there, and brainwashing them. She yelled, "Your kids don't even know anything about this stuff, and you make them come out here?!" Funny thing is, an hour later, a young man came up to me and told me how smart and informed my son is. A woman, who said she was the mother of the drunk blond, came up and grabbed one of our signs and turned it around backward. I turned it back around and asked nicely for her not to touch our property. As her daughter was screaming and yelling about our kids and our signs (I suspect she's had an abortion), I called out to her and I said, "Do you have any kids?" She screamed back, "Yeah, I have four!" I said, "So where are your kids while you're out getting drunk? Is that being a good mother?" She just yelled some more and said something about them being with their father. Her mother came up to me and got real close and said, "I'm almost about to slap you in the face." I just chuckled it off and she went away.
     I preached with much boldness this night, and I saw the serious countenances of many who stopped for long periods of time to listen to the preaching and have conversations with the faithful. I was glad that I brought my "soapbox" with me. It is a platform I built that is wider at the base so that it can't be kicked over. It gets my voice above the crowd, and especially above the hecklers. The more crowded it is, the more I tend to step up onto it. Our faithful brother Chris Pechan joined us from Minneapolis again, and stayed the entire evening, enthusiastically sharing his faith with many on the sidewalk. It was heartening to see him, and a joy to be with him. He has been a believer for three years, and has a heart for ministry.
    A Christian brother from Richland Center, along with his two teenagers (very nice kids, too) stayed for at least two hours listening and taking in the commotion. He greatly encouraged us and gave us $30 toward tracts at the end of the night! Later I learned that someone had tried to give twenty dollars to my boys, and they had refused. I told them, "Next time, take it!" The person had not been a believer, so I said, "Less money for beer for them, more for tracts!"
     A family from Columbia, who were not Catholics (!), were happy to receive literature from us in Spanish entitled, "From Tradition to Truth." They are seen here in a photo reading that material. When I asked if they were Catholics, they said, "No, we're Christian."
     Two brothers wandered in and out of a bar to talk with us at various intervals. The long-haired brother was sometimes obnoxious and at other times contrite. The other brother was loud and obnoxious and difficult to deal with. What I needed was a good "heckler handler"! A heckler handler is a Christian brother who will cleverly and discreetly draw a heckler aside into a conversation and draw off the fire.
     Two couples, who were together, stopped to listen and throw their two "ignorant of the scriptures" cents in. The male of the one couple said he was a Catholic, and began to defend the Catholic religion, but then began to cast doubt on the Bible. He said, I believe that if you do a good deed, it cancels out a bad deed." I attempted to explain what the Bible said, that all of our righteousnesses are like filthy rags, and that our righteousness needs to exceed the righteousness of the Jewish priests and scribes (which was feigned). I told him what the Gospel was, and how God's way was the only way, that we were not to make up our own way. The female of the other couple said she was a born again evangelical! She was dressed very immodestly, with her breasts pushing out of her shirt. Both couples admitted to sleeping with their partners, and I read them 1st Corinthians 6:9,10, where it says that fornicators and idolaters and homosexuals and thieves are all condemned, but can be washed. I told them how the Bible, even Jesus, says that we are condemned before we believe, and that to be the friend of the world is to be the enemy of God. The one young man told me, "Well, then I guess I'm the enemy of God!" So I told him, "Then I guess your Catholicism is a meaningless sham." This was all done in a civil manner and without argument. I encouraged them all to read the Bible for themselves, as I do with everybody.
     There were two other couples who stayed and spoke with either Chris or my wife for over an hour each. One of the couple seemed just curious, but were serious and listened intently. My wife shared with them extensively. The other couple were very young, and Chris ministered to them. The young woman, especially, had an almost desperate look on her face as she listened to Chris's testimony and witness. I pray that her eyes will be opened.
     The evening ended with a barrage of water balloons being tossed off the roof of the building we were in front of, luckily missing everyone. It would have been bad if they had hit a baby or small child laying back in a stroller. Buffoons all!

What are you doing most Saturday nights? Join us sometime if your heart is moved. There's nothing to it. Proceed at your own pace.

We will not be ministering on July 19th, as we will be picking up our two daughters from the airport on that evening. Come for a potluck at our place after church on Sunday. Please!

Brother Charles

KNOW JESUS
KNOW PEACE