Sharing With Traditional Catholics

We are back from Boston, and the trip went well. With all that went on, it will be hard to discuss everything in one e-mail, so I plan to give some highlights of the weekend. In the area of one-on-one evangelism, many conversations took place. We dealt with statements ranging from “a loving God cannot punish people who lie in hell” to “I believe Jesus is a communist.”  We faced questions like, “how can a loving God allow evil in the world?” Some of the questions and statements are easier than others, but none can be taken lightly. They must be handled with zeal for biblical accuracy to teach people the truth.

I will share this one conversation we had with this married couple. They were traditional Catholics “not practicing.” As the conversation started, they said they believed in the Bible and the truth found in it; however, as we began to probe a bit deeper, we found out that their view of God was very low and inaccurate compared to scripture. They did not believe that God would punish anyone in hell for lying. (Read Rev 21:8) Just as I told this couple lying is just one of the many sins humans carry out against their creator. When someone is punished for eternity in hell lying is just one brick on the wall of wrath they will face for eternity.  I want to take us back to the beginning of the conversation. They stated their belief in the word of God, yet they denied it in the statement, “God will not punish people in hell for lying.”

I am finding this prevalent throughout America; people are their basis of absolute moral truth. And in this, there is no foundation for absolutes other than personal preference at the moment.  The husband proved our case and point by telling a story of someone who harmed his child and how he was seeking justice for the harm done; however, he was thinking about just dropping the case altogether. This statement is based on feeling rather than absolute standards. He felt he should drop the charges; feeling has nothing to do with something being either right or wrong.   I brought this couple to the cross of Christ and the payment he paid for lying and killing “sin” and how they could receive salvation and assurance of that salvation through self-examination of their lives through the Bible.

In the area of open-air preaching, we preached to a crowd of somewhere around two hundred people, “praise God.” There was a protest against the leadership in Egypt at Harvard square, so I took this opportunity to proclaim the Gospel to all that would listen. I used the platform of them wanting justice in Egypt to convey the justice that God will administer on judgment day.  I showed who God is John 14:6, who a man is Romans 3:23, and the beauty of the Gospel of Jesus Christ John 3:16. Several were very attentive to what was said, but the crowd started to chant for their protest so loud that I could not speak over all of them.  Michael and I moved locations and set up in front of a universal church right at the entrance of Harvard. I preached on the contradiction of universalism by showing that all religions cannot lead to the same place; they all have different opinions on origin, meaning, morality and destiny. I preached on the exclusivity of Christianity from john 14:6.  Overall it was an amazing trip. I learned a whole lot.

Please don’t forget men to take someone along with you when you travel; mentoring this way allows the person being mentored firsthand experience and time to field questions when the day is done. It also provides room for growth for the mentor.  Thank you for all your prayers and support of our ministry.