Some years ago, after going shopping, I noticed a middle-aged couple, looking rather puzzled and concerned about how best to get a new table and chairs, that they had just purchased, back to their home, which was only a few miles away.

As I surveyed their worried looks I felt compelled to walk over and offer my assistance. My car was an estate, which allowed the much-needed extra space, whereas they only had a standard size car and certainly could not accommodate what they had just purchased.

I remember thinking that after I had offered to help, I would, of course, give them a Bible tract and tell them I had done what I had done because I was a Christian.

Looking back now it seems rather a primitive and childlike way of supplying a need to two total strangers and doing so for my love of the Lord and of course for their lost souls.

So after spending a few minutes loading up my car with their nice table and chairs, I followed them very gingerly for the short distance to their home.

They needed my help and therefore trusted me to actually keep their goods safe until we arrived at their destination. The same is similar to our salvation. We need Jesus to save us and then keep us saved.

As traffic was low and the weather was good, we soon arrived at their house. I instantly jumped out of my car and began to unload the car.

The couple soon joined me and thanked me again for my kindness.

Approaching two complete strangers in need and offering to transport their goods was the easy part, believe it or not. For some reason, however, I now became a little nervous when it came to my explanation as to why I had wanted to help them.

I dug into my pocket and found a gospel tract and then gently informed them that as a Christian I had wanted to help them and this was my way of doing it.

They looked a little bemused and possibly uncomfortable too, but I had said what I wanted to say and felt better for doing so.

I then said goodbye and drove off. They happily took their new table and chairs into their home and hopefully over a nice cup of coffee or two, sat down and read my tract.

What I did on that day was a one-off and I certainly would not encourage women or vulnerable people to do this.

God had placed me in a particular place at a particular time to reach a particular couple in a particular way that He wanted me to.

One Scripture comes to mind as I typed this: “Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 18:3).

CORONATION STREET ACTRESS BURIED

We happened to stumble across scores of people lining the street to catch a glimpse of the late Betty Driver and her Coronation Street co-stars.

We had plenty of Bible tract postcards to distribute to the growing mourners now gathering outside the church, with many others watching the service on a large screen. I wonder who paid for that?

I was however interested from those we spoke to of how much they knew about the late Betty Driver and the part she’d been associated with for over 40 years and what she meant to them as well.

It seemed to me that the fans knew more about these actors and useless celebrities than they did about their own family activities.

(Our video of that day sadly demonstrates how people, when departing from the love of God, still need to have someone or something to believe in, regardless of whether or not they even knew them).

Then watching the faces of the crowd as the coffin was brought out I was reminded of the Bible verse: “As it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.” How true.

Now I am not sure of Miss Driver’s religious affiliations and I can only assume the location for the service was held in Manchester because of the connections of the television soap to the city.

In conclusion, our own death will arrive one day, maybe sooner than we think.

Remember: “…him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out.”

So always be ready and repent today!

JAMES’ STREET REPORT

A glorious warm weekend, once again saw our ministry on the streets and it wasn’t long before two Muslims walked over to me and very sweetly asked for some of the postcard tracts I was giving out.

A brief conversation took place about the Trinity and Jesus being God’s only begotten Son. They seemed well briefed about the differences between Islam and Christianity and even remarked about why there were so many different Christian ministries out and about that day.

(Only Christians take to the streets to proclaim the glorious message of Christ, never the Freemasons or Buddhists).

They seemed in no hurry to leave and later thanked me profusely, even ransacking my large assorted collection of tracts, picking out the ones with the brightest colours.

I pray that seeds were planted and that one day, they will come to know Jesus as their own personal Saviour.

PATRICK’S STREET REPORT

One of the joys of doing street work is to whom the Lord sends across your path. And one such encounter took place on a wet day in a town I haven’t visited for some time. Whilst distributing Bible tracts, a young lady in pink, paused and accepted one, then walked away reading it.

As I turned around later she had returned politely offering it back to me.

She then explained that she was an atheist and would like to return it to me for another to take. The good news was that she stayed to talk about it with me telling me something about herself.

Well, Elizabeth is a student studying science and maths. She was quite happy to offer this personal information to me.

What had happened to her that morning before meeting me was that her class tutorial had been cancelled so she decided to come into town and of course that’s when our paths crossed. I explained to her that nothing happens without God’s timing.

During our enjoyable conversation, she informed me that her mother had attended church when she was a child but her father did not. (Elizabeth attended with her mother until she was given a choice to go or not. She decided not to participate in any religious activity after this.)

What I did find interesting was that her grandmother had presented her with a Bible for her Christening. This had offered the reason to read it but sadly it did not satisfy her enough to pursue an explanation of its pages and of its message of salvation to sinners. I think it did perhaps challenge many of her liberal beliefs and we would later touch on these in our discussions i.e., Darwinism, homosexuality and other topics.

She had it seems debated with some Jehovah’s Witnesses, so I warned her about their theology.

We touched upon other matters and I also explained that we did not wish to recruit her to any church nor did we wish to solicit any money offerings from her. We just wanted her to get saved.

I informed her that we are in end times and explained why. By now I had given her one of our Bible postcards, which she accepted. I hope she still has it.

I witnessed to her and explained that 150,000 people die each day, many of them suddenly without a warning. Death can visit any age group.

Then as we came to an end I paused to pray for her. During this time she remained standing with us and I was very pleased she did not walk away for whatever reason.

I did give her our website address and maybe she might just get back to us with a comment.

The tragedy to me is that one so young can use atheism, as a rejection of the saving grace of Jesus Christ. But I am hopeful that those negative ideas of her’s will one day depart.

So please pray for Elizabeth and all young people rather like her, still captive to the darkness of their doubts.

STATION OUTREACH

Late afternoon saw Patrick and I outside a local train station, distributing tracts to scores of rush-hour commuters, returning home from work and students from colleges and elsewhere.

(We were initially told by a member of staff that we were on station property, so we moved a few yards away and continued on with our work. This has not happened before, so clearly “someone” wanted to thwart our time there.)

Along with our presence, a local hairdresser was distributing flyers to her new salon. She was very friendly and happily did a swap with me. One of her flyers for one of my tracts.

Throughout our 90 minutes there, I was able to build a bit of a rapport with her and hopefully, she went away with a firm seed planted.

As the day soon became night, an older lady, walked past me, smiled, took my track, walked a yard or so and then stopped. She turned around and walked back and asked me more about what I had just given her.

I informed her that it was a Christian postcard and then used this track as the icebreaker to share the gospel and my testimony. She listened intensely and occasionally but very politely interjected with her thoughts about Christianity.

She was a teacher of many years (I believe she said she taught religious education), so we had a good discussion about world religions and why Christianity is the only faith that can promise eternal life the moment the penitent sinner believes on the Lord. She, of course, knew about the Bible but had never studied or taken its message seriously.

I told her about Hell and why I deserved to go there. She didn’t like my insistence of this but I have found it imperative to underline this point when witnessing to people, especially those that only have a head knowledge of the word of God.

By now I had her total attention and she never really took her eyes off me. I totally believe that she went away shaken by my account but in a very good and positive way.

My final plea to her was to read the Gospel of John, which she graciously agreed to, and then off she went into the night.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Britain is soon to relinquish the blanket ban that prohibits members of the Royal family from marring non-Anglicans, especially Roman Catholics. What the Jesuits were unable to do directly, a professing Anglican (David Cameron) has achieved in less than 2 years in office. Our view remains that in the next ten years (if the rapture hasn’t occurred) the Church of England will be almost 100% Catholic, embracing the remaining Catholic superstitious rituals, i.e., Mary worship, the papacy and transubstantiation.

Twenty-five Egyptian Coptics were murdered in Cairo last week. Certainly, the Daily Mail and the left-wing Daily Mirror newspapers joint condemnation over David Cameron’s Government for their feeble silence in this matter was certainly welcomed. And not a word it seems of protest from our Government when the Iranian Government threatened to hang a Christian who refused to renounce his faith as well. It appears the UK Government is more interested in promoting homosexual rights in nations that enjoy British financial handouts than they do upholding our Christian heritage.

Turkey suffers a substantial earthquake, measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale, which has left hundreds dead. Turkey has been one of the most outstanding critics of Israel in recent months, due to Israel’s forced boarding of a Turkish aid ship and subsequent killing of some its passengers, which was heading towards Gaza with purported aid. The nations Prime Minister recently threatened to send a Turkish naval escort, should further ships set sail from Turkey towards “the occupied territories.” And now after waiting several days, Turkey has accepted help from outside nations, including Israel.

Catholic bishop, Robert Finn of Kansas City, has been accused of being aware of child pornography stored on a priest’s laptop. It seems he failed to notify the police of this “irregularity” in his diocese. If found guilty the 58-year-old Mr. Finn could be looking at a possible jail sentence of 1-2 years. It’s about time the courts came down hard on these so-called “men of God,” whom in the past, have used diplomatic and other feeble excuses to beat the system and as far as I know, he is the first bishop to be brought to trial. If you know of another one then please let us know.

Oh and I noticed that the pope was recently brought into church on a wheeled platform for some ecumenical event. So is this the first public sign of future health problems for Mr. Ratzinger.

This item caught out attention last week concerning Christian churches in Afghanistan. Seems there is not one left standing in the country according to the US State Department. So much for democracy there and did you know it’s costing America and the EU some $440 billion to keep this country afloat. So much for religious freedom in the Hamid Karzai Government.

Israeli soldier, Sgt. Gilad Shalit was released after five long years of forced captivity by Palestinian terrorists. Earlier this year we interviewed one of the organisers of the campaign to free this 25-year-old man. We now send our best wishes and hope that the period of re-adjustment for his family does not take too long. On a personal note, I rather liked the picture of Gilad, now in Israeli uniform, saluting Prime Minister Netanyahu.

 

 

JGB

October 2011

(All Rights Reserved)