Battle Log

Wednesday, 2 September, 2020

Posted 2 September 2020, 7:10 PM by Glen Richards. Permalink

Tuesday was the first day of spring!  I’ve now survived two winters - although, with online evangelism, it is so much easier navigating the weather.  And it just so happened, that the first day of spring was very wet, so online I went.

I had two conversations where I was able to deploy Google Translate to great effect.

The first was with a person who spoke Spanish and ZERO English.  I was amazed at the progress I made.  But sadly I didn’t get past the law with this person before the connection flaked out.

Stranger: Culpable
Stranger: But he would forgive me
Stranger: Creo
Stranger: He forgives me, I'm sure he's my friend
Stranger: I've never sinned and he knows it
You: But you have! You have lied, stolen, and your anger is like murder to God.
You: Do you know someone who is perfect and willing to die for you to receive your punishment from hell?
You: needGod.net
You: Still there?
Stranger has disconnected.

The last conversation of the outreach was with a girl who spoke portugese but could speak a little english as well.  After the chat, I would say she was already a Christian.  The conversation became quite pastoral with focus on justification by faith alone and why a Christian can have assurance of salvation.  And yet I didn’t want her to have a false sense of assurance and so there was talk about the fruit of repentance that will come in a Christian.  Ultimately, I pointed her to her pastors / church / family - as these people know her, where I had only just met her.  She seemed incredibly grateful for the conversation.  And I was incredibly grateful for Google Translate!  If she is not saved, may God change her heart; but if she is, may she continue to grow and be used by God for His glory!

I had an amazing conversation with three girls from Lebanon!  I don’t think I’ve talked to anyone from that country before.  They were Maronites (a form of Christianity) - something I’ve never heard of before and had to do a little research on later.  They looked to their good deeds as the way to salvation, and so I shared the law and the gospel - they came to grasp it very quickly.  I challenged them to respond to the gospel, and showed them why they are not really Christians.  One of them had a question about homosexuality - which I answered.  They seemed to really appreciate the conversation.

On Wednesday I spent two hours in the city before joining the Aussie team for two hours online.

There were four highlight conversations in the city.

Firstly I approached a construction worker who was engrossed in something on his phone - I expected him to not want to talk to me, so I was surprised by his friendliness!  He had a Christian background, but was pleasantly surprised when he came to understand the gospel.  He gladly received a follow up tract.

Then saw a guy coming who I thought would be keen for a chat.  I positioned myself to try to start a conversation when two ladies went past from the other direction.  I offered tracts and was surprised when they accepted them!  I quickly moved into a gospel conversation and they stopped to engage - they both seemed interested.  I could tell they didn’t have much time, so I moved quickly to explain the law and the gospel before they indeed moved on.

I encounter the Unicef workers a lot, who are out getting sign ups.  As I went past one of them, they approached me - not to sign me up, but they wanted to talk about the deep questions of life.  I ended up having a long conversation - and yet there was a deep resistance to the logic I was trying to share.  I was able to share the gospel - but it seemed to bounce off.  Eventually I wound up the conversation.  Apparently she had already received a tract from me.  This time, she accepted a “Which one is right?” and “How we know God exists and why it matters” before I moved on.

I finally made it down to Ara, and managed to get into a good conversation with two guys who were also resistant.  Eventually one of them said, “look, as long as I’m a good person, I’ll be okay” - the perfect opportunity to segway into the law!  The didn’t give me an opportunity to get to the gospel - but they did take tracts.

Online I had some good conversations.  The first was with a guy who didn’t seem to be responsive, and took some time to grasp the gospel.  He just didn’t seem interested, and I was surprised that he hadn’t disconnected.  And yet, to my surprise, it turns out he was very interested.  At the end of the conversation, he opened up about a fear of death - that he now understood the solution to!

I then had a fascinating text conversation with a person who had pretty good answers but was likely a false convert:

Stranger: Hi
You: Hi :)
Stranger: You <can’t repeat>?
You: What do you think happens after life?
You: No, I'm not, and I don't want to be.
Stranger: Ok
You: But, what do you think happens after life?
Stranger: I think that we go to heaven if we accept Christ as our saviour
You: Interesting answer! :) What did Jesus do so he could save us? And what did he save us from?
Stranger: He died in the cross for us and saved us from a lifetime of suffering
You: Right, he saved us from the punishment we deserve for our sins!
You: Have you accepted the gift of Jesus?
Stranger: Yes
Stranger: When I was in 4th grade
You: What do we have to do to accept that gift?
Stranger: It's not that hard you just accept him into your heart
You: The Bible says we are saved by grace, through faith.... we need to TRUST that Jesus died for our sins.
You: And Jesus dieing for our sins is the only reason we go to heaven.
You: Out of 100, how sure are you that you are going to heaven?
Stranger: Honestly I don't know I've accepted him as my saviour but I'm still not sure
Stranger: Why are you here?
You: ok, that is why I'm asking you these questions, because Hell is real and very serious - I don't want you to go there!
You: I'm here because I'm a Christian, and I want to share the good news of Jesus with people :)
Stranger: Well a word of advice don't do it on here
You: We can be 100% certain we are going to heaven, because our forgiveness is not based on how good we are but how good Jesus was - and that he died and rose for our sins.
You: But
You: Our life will be changed if we are trusting that Jesus died for us.
You: There are many false converts.
You: A word of advice - NO ONE should be here. It's a nasty place. But nasty people need Jesus.
You: needGod.net
Stranger: Ok I think I've had enough. Thanks for the lesson that I've heard to many times. Good bye
You: Why did you ask me If I'm <can’t repeat>?
You: Why are you here?
You: Has your life been changed by the gift of Jesus? Are you a false convert?
You: Read 1 John
You: I say that because I care for you.
Stranger: You know God may say that being <can’t repeat> is a sin but it's not it's completely and humanly natural
You: Read Matthew 5
Stranger: And you can't care for me... You don't even know me
You: Jesus said if you just look at someone with lust, it's like committing adultery with them in your heart
You: I care enough about you to spend time here to confront you with truth.
Stranger: Like I said before I've had enough have a nice day good bye
You: Your soul is the most important thing you have. To gain it, you must lose it.
You: needGod.net
Stranger: Good bye
You: needGod.net
Stranger: Stop sending that
You: The fact that you haven't left, shows that you care very much about this conversation.
You: God gives grace to the humble, but resists the proud heart. Don't be proud. :)
You: If you have any questions, I'm happy to answer, I'm not your enemy.
Stranger: <expletive> I guess I just wanted the last word which i have good bye
Stranger has disconnected.