Battle Log

On Wednesday afternoon the team headed into the mall for another long but joyful day of ministry. Starting soon after lunch and finishing up after 9:30, around five thousands tracts were handed out and many conversations were had!

Some notable and encouraging conversations were had and here is a taste for you, that will hopefully encourage you this Christmas season, to take any opportunity and to even "create" some yourself by asking people the simple question, "What do you think Christmas is about?" followed by mentioning that the original Christmas was about Christ coming into this world and then asking, "Do you think God will let you into Heaven when you die?"

A conversation that followed that very simple progression was had with a young lady named Georgia who made some of the team dinner during the break between the outreaches. In less than five minutes Georgia came to understand what Christ was about, why it is such good news and why this year she should strongly consider what Jesus has to say, "Repent or perish".

Another interesting conversation was with James. He is a biologist and as expected, had combined his biology with his desire for their to be no accountability for his actions and had agreed with the common, yet foolish theory that it is normal and natural to assume that we live in a world with no Creator and therefore no right or wrong.

The first point of call with James, just as with any person is the Gospel. So that is what James got to hear, who God is, what God asked of us, how desperately we have failed to obey, in fact, willfully rebelled and the eternal consequences of these choices. James then got to hear what the kind and humble God has done to save rebel sinners, He came into His own creation to die the death we deserve, suffering the Hell punishment in our place that all those who place their trust in Him can be made right before God and be redeemed to the humanity they were designed to be.

James hadn't heard this before and was seriously challenged about it and not left with any wiggle room. As the conversation flowed though, it was time to begin to answer some of James' objections and all the while, pointing back to the Gospel as the questions were answered.

As the conversation drew to a close the final point that seemed to have James very stumped came off the back of the explanation given as to why humanity know what is good and yet desire to live selfishly and do evil. It was explained that other world religions try to explain why we know what is good and have some adherence to it but fail to explain why humanity is so sinful at the same time. On the other hand atheism has this idea of the "selfish gene" and tries to explain why humanity is inherently selfish and then attempts to paint it as positive.

The issue is, both have major flaws and do not accurately describe the world we live in, with people knowing what is right and sometimes even desiring moral actions whilst being inherently evil and selfish all the time.

What left James speechless is the incompatibility of selfishness with what atheism claims, that the purpose of humanity is to pro-create. His attempted intellectual argument found one massive flaw, that is not how atheists live.

Rather, we find that atheists don't have enough children to even have a sustainable world, the required rate per is 2.1 children per family (to keep the population growing). What we find is that atheists (in America from a 2015 survey) have around 1.6 children per family and agnostics are even lower at 1.3 per family. Why do the statistics not align with the supposed "belief system" that our sole purpose is to procreate. The reason is because this proclaimed "selfish gene", is not a gene at all, it is just a cover term for sin.

The belief system atheist's claim to have, is simply sinful selfishness disguised as intellectualism. Every person knows that children are trying to ones patience at the best of times. A selfish desire to "pass on ones DNA" is in no way powerful enough to overcome the interruption that children will have on ones own abilities to live however they want.

It was pointed out, with one final serious challenge to James, that His attempts to explain the world from an atheistic perspective will always fail and be inconsistent because it simply isn't true. It is just the latest attempt of proud humanity to convince themselves they are not guilty by attempting to explain away the God of this world.

At this James actually had no response, he was challenged with the truth of sin one final time and was pointed to the Gospel, that Jesus could save him from his rebellion, rejection of God and the consequences of it.

One final conversation on more sad note was with an older gentleman. He was asked where he would spend eternity and initially seemed quite pleasant. He said that he didn't think about Heaven and Hell much because he was just living his best life and said that would probably be enough.

When Jesus in Matthew 5:48 was quoted to him, "You must be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect". He responded by mentioning that no one is perfect then asked, "Are you perfect?"

To which the answer was given, "Not at all, but entry to Heaven is certain for those who have trusted in Jesus' perfection and sacrifice on the cross".

He repeated that he wasn't worried about the afterlife and this moment was taken to stress why that is a foolish position to take, "God has been clear that after death comes the judgement and as you currently stand, you will be found guilty of breaking God's law and you will be sent to Hell, your only hope is to come to this same Saviour who came into this world on the very first Christmas to die to save sinners".

It was at this moment he exploded, declaring that did not want any saviour and dropped a few profanities in his request for the team member to leave him, ironically "in peace".

Please be praying for those conversations had today, the tracts handed out and the opportunities God provided to speak with people. Please praise God that His Gospel went forth and that He will do exactly what He desires with it!

Please also be praying for Georgia, James and the older gentleman who wanted to trust in himself. Please pray that this seed falls on good soil and that it will grow and bear much fruit!

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