No king but King Jesus!

In Duluth there is an on going event called "Bentleyville Tour of Lights" which is a large area decked out in lights. We saw an opportunity to proclaim the name of Jesus, but just as the event began my brother and I fell sick. We were sick for some time, ending up with sinus infections and such. Praise God that He has healed us and we are back on the streets singing the praise of our King! On Thursday we did a "Health Partners" witness and a "Planned Parenthood" witness, then headed down to Bentleyville. My Mom and I held signs that said: "Jesus Came to Give Life" and "The Lord our God, He is Mightily to Save!" We sung carols while Michael and our friend and brother Steve handed out gospel tracts. Before long Mr. Bentley showed up. He was furious with us for being there! "Why are you here?" he yelled. "This does not belong at this event!" He told Steve: "The police told me you would come, but it took you two weeks to get here!" This reminds us of a verse "These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also...!" (Acts 17:6) Mr. Bentley tried all he could to get us to leave, even bodily blocking my brother from handing out tracts! One of his volunteers said she is a Christian, but also said that when someone hands her a tract it "makes me sick"! Another volunteer began to tell those coming to the event who were about to take a tract: "We're sorry they are not part of Bentleyville, they're just soliciting." Over and over. My brother responded by saying "These are free, we are not soliciting." Thankfully a police officer arrived who knew the law and told Mr. Bentley that we have "a Constitutional right" to be there. Praise God!

We returned on Friday night, and hope to go again for many nights to come. What an opportunity to glorify the name of our Lord Jesus Christ! Obviously Mr. Bentley wants his event to be all about HIM and cannot tolerate competition. We are there to proclaim that there is no king but King Jesus! Please pray for us, and for the many people that accept tracts, hear the songs, etc. that they will be convicted by the Spirit of God and come to repentance and faith. One young man named Dan, was very open to hear the gospel, please pray for the salvation of his soul.

Also on Tuesday this week a baby's life was spared at the abortion mill in Duluth! We are praise God! To read that story go here: http://www.sarahsprolife.com/blog/

An Update on Happenings Here

I have been busy, busy, busy, with transplanting tomatoes and herbs and studying Spanish. The plants are going from their seedling soil-less mix to potting dirt and there are a lot that need to be transplanted. I have way too many tomato plants and herbs this year, so I hope to sell some at our local farmers market. I have begun to study Spanish in earnest and that is taking up most of my computer time, but I love it.
Here are some recent pictures, first in the "growing room":

In the foreground are cabbage seedlings.

Out side we have some things growing happily:

Garlic, planted in the fall.


Peas


Pepper Mint
and
Chocolate Mint
I love this stuff, it really tastes like chocolate mint!


Daffodils
and...

Kittens! This is Maria.

Mother's day was a fun day as we had my sister and her four children over. There were three mothers to celebrate! I decided to forget about being an adult for a while and played with the children...it is 1841 and we are pioneers out west, we have finally arrived at the place we wish to settle. There are no cars, planes, phones or computers. Sorry, no flame-throwers either! Oh no, lookout here come some Indians! Actually, we can't understand their language, if we want to trade with them we will have to make them understand by signs....you get the idea, we had fun. :-)

The three Mothers!

The three Stooges..oops, I mean Devin, Ashely and Brittany. :-)

and Matthew
in Grandpa's truck. He is taller than me now!

On Tuesday last week we were out at the abortion clinic bright and early as normal. It had been especially impressed upon us to make sure we share the gospel as we talk to the mothers, pleading for their babies lives. It is wonderful to open our mouths in praises to God as we stand on the streets. We sing hymns, read the Bible, pass out gospel tracts and pray, pray, pray, while we wait for the mothers to come. Spiritually, it is a lot of work! This Tuesday my Mom talked to one mother who said that she was "undecided" about getting the abortion. My Mom talked to her about her baby and told her that God has created her and He has created her baby. She asked this lady what she would say to God when she stands before Him to give an account of what she did to her own child. My Mom asked if she could pray for her, to the which she agreed and afterward gave my Mom a big hug and left the area. A little later we saw her drive away and she smiled and waved at us! We praise God for this life spared from the pains of death and pray that He will draw this dear lady to Himself for salvation.

As we were preparing to leave, a young mother and her mother came out of the building smiling and crying (this is always a good sign!). When asked if they had changed their mind, they said Yes! Praise God again! This young mother said that she was not sure what made her do it, but she asked to see her ultra-sound and changed her mind when she saw her baby. They were both so excited, the Grandma of the baby said, "he looks like me!" and "we're going to have a baby!" They were very happy to receive the gift of a diaper bag with baby things and a $100 gift certificate, (we try to give these gift to all those who tell us they have changed their mind). We also gave them a Bible and gospel tract and my Mom was able to share the gospel with them.

You should have seen us after all this happened, we were so excited and praising God! What a joyful time that was, but it was damped by the thought of the seven other mothers who did not come out.

Later on that same Tuesday we went to UMD to hold gospel signs and pass out gospel tracts. There were several good conversations that took place, we pray that God will turn the hearts of these young people to Himself. Steve brought his two daughters Amoriah (3) and Maylea (almost 2) and they helped pass out tracts as well. People enjoy taking tracts from these adorable little girls. Though we were saddened to see how many young women would harden their heart and turn away from that little out-stretched hand. This is most likely because they have had an abortion, since the statistics show 1 out of 3 woman in the US have had an abortion.

Here is part of the crew, my Mom is taking the picture and Josh was somewhere else.

Yesterday abortions were done again and there were thirteen mothers who went in. None said they changed their mind but one did leave early. One pedestrian passing by on the sidewalk began yelling at my Mom. She was very angry that we talk to the mothers who are going to kill their children, she kept saying "I see how things are, you are in your own little box and don't see what is happening." This made my Mom call to mind John 9:39-41, so she asked, "You say you see?" The lady answered "Yes, I see!" My Mom said, "So, you are blind." The lady soon left, but this was a sad reminder of the state many people are in. They believe themselves capable of sight and reason, but do not know that a veil of blindness is yet over their eyes and heart. Proverbs 28:5 Evil men understand not justice: but they that seek the Lord understand all things.

Today I am meditating on this scripture: "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men..." 2 Corinthians 5:10-11

It hit me that here we are given a very good reason to share the gospel, the terror of the Lord! If we take verse ten seriously, than how much do we have to hate someone to not share the gospel with them?! (in the words of an atheist who said, if the gospel is true than that is what he would ask.) and yet so often I let opportunities slip by without a word. Oh Lord, teach me to have the terror of the Lord!

I am busy painting cabinets today....

So I have to make this quick, but I wanted to bring to your attention that one of the guys we go out witnessing with, Steve, has written a couple of great posts on his Street-Preaching Journal ....check it out!


Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil. It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones. Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase: So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.
(Proverbs 3:5-10)

Day of Mercy - Part Two

Read Part One first!

"And there they preached the gospel." Acts 14:7

After the abortion clinic we went to the University of Minnesota Duluth, where Steve and Josh had already been for an hour with a gospel sign. We joined them and the three guys began taking turns preaching to the crowds of students coming off the busses. Sue, who we had talked to on Friday, came by again but did not want to talk to my Mom and I. Instead she talked to Steve and Josh who were answering questions and giving the gospel to a group waiting for a bus. She asked them, why did they want to go to Heaven. Steve answered, "Because God is there." She mentioned needing something more and Steve asked "Why would anyone want anything more than God?" She seemed to be on the defensive and we hope that this is because of God's conviction in her heart. We have been praying for her.

God really does prepare us for the particular people He will bring for us to share the gospel with. He brings the ones who have the questions and needs which He has prepared us to answer. It is very comforting to know this, but amazing to experience. My Mom and I were handing out tracts, when an older man began talking to my Mom about how "turned off" he is by "all this born again stuff." He shared his story of a wound inflicted by a loved one claiming to be born again and how he did not want anything to do with being born again, because of it. My Mom was able to share with him a similar experience of hers and told him that we cannot blame God for other peoples actions. At that he seemed to soften and wanted to read one of our tracts! Please pray for Tim (name changed).

As one group of students got off of a bus, I noticed a young man who was looking at our signs. I walked over and handed him a tract, which he took and immediately read from cover to cover. I asked him what he thought about it and he said that he had grown up hearing that God is not as "harsh" as we were portraying Him. I explained the gospel to him using an example Steve had been using, which I think is really good. We can see how much God loves us by looking at Jesus on the cross, that He would take our sins upon Himself and suffer for us like that, the just for the unjust, shows how much He loves us. We can also see how much God hates sin by looking at the cross. When Jesus, God's first begotten son, hung on the cross bearing our sins, God, His Father, crushed Him. Isaiah fifty-three says that in pleased the Lord to bruise Him. God hates sin so much that He poured out the fury of His wrath on His own Son when He was bearing our sins. If God would do that to His own Son, what will He do to unrepentant, unbelieving sinners?

Bryan (name changed) asked what "repent" means. I said "It is a turning away from sin, to God." then explained a little what that means. He wanted to know who he could contact later and talk more about this stuff, so I motioned Steve over who began telling Bryan many of the same things I had already said but in more detail. Bryan asked if he could be saved today! Steve told him, "Yes! The Bible says "Today is the day of Salvation!" Bryan asked if it was not too late for him, because he had lived a rough life. Steve told him that God is merciful and that Jesus bore all his sins on the cross. Bryan said he has many questions, because it is all so new to him. He said that he had been an atheist and that he had just recently started seeing his need for God and had begun to read the Bible. He said that his Dad is an "evangelical Catholic" and that just then he had been on his way to talk to a priest, because they told him that he had to go through classes to get baptized. But he had seen our sign and thought he should talk to us first! Steve told him that he should steer clear of the Catholic church and that one reason for that was even in what Bryan had just said. They told him he needed to go to classes to be baptized, Steve explained, "Jesus said that we need to repent and believe, then be baptized." there is nothing about needing classes in the Bible. Steve offered to take Bryan out to lunch some day soon where they could talk more about all of this, they exchanged contact information and I pray that they will be in touch soon.

I cannot explain what it was like to see someone so tender to the gospel, someone on whose heart God has been working, someone who is on, what I would say is the brink of salvation. We could just see God working on him and I did not want to say or do anything that would turn him away from the Savior. As Steve was talking with him I was strongly impressed that we needed to pray for him before he left. Just before he left, Steve asked him if we could pray for him, then asked me to pray! God is so good!

Please pray for Bryan! Pray that God will save him and will not let the enemy snatch him away.

After that, a guy with a sign came out. His sign said: "Bob loves you, no not like that, embrace Bob" He was an atheist mocking God and the gospel. My Mom spoke with him and found out his name is Saul (name not changed) We pray that God will turn him to be like Paul.

Shortly after he came out, five girls went across the street from us with their own signs which said: "Doesn't God love everyone?" and "I will think what I want", "This is a School, not a Church, keep it to yourself" and some others. Steve began preaching to them, then my Mom, Josh and I went over to talk with them and my Mom gave them the gospel. They claimed to be Christians who did not like our message and did not believe you need to repent to be a Christian. My Mom explained that repent and believe are tied together, you cannot have one without the other and be saved. We left them and Steve went over to them and began preaching very earnestly.

Meanwhile, more atheist had gathered around Saul. They began to mock preaching and to mock God. One falsely accused Michael, turning away, Michael began to pray out loud, thanking God for being counted worthy of false accusation for His name's sake. My Mom and I began to pray out loud, praising God and reading the Bible. The spiritual battle was intense.

We crossed the street to stand with Steve and Josh and to hold signs while Josh caught the action on video camera. Their lawyers have told them to keep the video camera rolling while on the streets, so that if someone does something to hurt us, or the police act against the law, we will have evidence. By this time a crowd had gathered around Steve and more signs had been brought out, one of which said: "I will forgive you for $1" Steve told the guy holding it, "The goodness of God is that His forgiveness is free!" At one point in his preaching, Steve said, "We are out here to warn you. If you were in a burning building, it would be the loving thing to do to warn you. That is what we are doing." A guy on the edge of the crowd said, "You're out here to warn us?" He seemed surprised. We gave him a tract which he took away with him. He seemed to be in a very serious state of mind. As I watched all this taking place and saw Steve pleading with these people and reasoning with them for their souls, I thought "This is the goodness and mercy of God!" 1 Corinthians 1:21 says: "For since in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased god by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe." Also read through to verse 31 !

Another guy began asking Steve some very good questions, which Steve used to preach to the crowd. This guy talked with Steve for a long time! I did not get to hear how it ended.

Still another guy talked with my Mom for a good while, asking many questions. He was very surprised when she quoted Psalms 66:18 "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me." He had never heard of that before. Neither had he heard that you can be saved at once ( as in 2Cor. 5:17 "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.") and do not need to work your way to Heaven and eventually hope to get it right in purgatory. Please pray for him as well.

One lady told me that she is a Christian but thinks our message should be "more loving". I mentioned what I had just read in Mark chapter one, before Jesus even got His disciples, He went all throughout Galilee preaching, "repent, and believe the gospel." She said that He did not tell people like the adulteress that they were going to hell. (For the record, we do not say to specific people, 'you are going to hell', we tell who the Bible says are going to hell. Using verses like, 1Cor. 6:9-10 and Galatians 5:19-21) I told her that those people already knew. The Jews knew the law, they did not need to be told that they were sinners, had broken God's law and were under God's wrath. They needed to be told that the Messiah had come and to believe. Later when Paul preached to the Greeks, he went to the public places and debated with them, beginning at creation, then to the law and finally to the cross. If people do not know their sin and their need for a savior, Jesus will mean nothing to them. He will need to be as He is now being portrayed in most modern evangelism, an accessory to your life, someone who will help you and give you good things. What we have lost is the understanding that these people, who have no concept of the Bible, the Laws of God and the history of those who obeyed and those who did not, do not know they need a savior. We must begin where Paul began, at creation and take it from there. Remember that tribe in Papua New Guinea? Our nation has become much like those people.

O.K. I did not quite say all of that to this lady, the gist of it was there though and after I was done she said, "I guess I see what you're saying. God bless you!" Then she left.

This was the longest time we have been out pleading for the lost, to date, eight hours! With a one hour break in between. We got cold! We praise God for the opportunity and for His direction throughout the day! I cannot tell you how happy and excited we were on our way home! When we obey the Lord, it sure makes us happy! Perhaps one thing American Christians are lacking is the joy and happiness in obedience?

"For you remember, brethren, our labor and travail: for laboring night and day, because we would not be a burden unto any of you, we preached unto you the gospel of God. 1 Thessalonians 2:9

About My Grandma and More Witnessing Opportunities

This past Wednesday we received news that my Grandmother needed to have triple bypass surgery, the next day. Her heart was so bad that the artery on one side is completely blocked and the other is eighty-five percent blocked. So, on Thursday morning she had the operation. We praise God that she made it through and is beginning to do a little better, though she is still in the ICU. She is in Illinois so we are not able to be with her, which is hard, especially for my Dad. Thankfully, my two Aunts are with her. Please pray with us for her salvation, God is able to bring her to Himself.

On Friday we were at the abortion clinic early to plead for the babies lives who were appointed to die. When one young mother and her mother parked their car across the street, my Mom went over to offer them information. The young woman rolled down her car window and said she would call the police if my Mom did not leave. My Mom told her that her baby is a person, then showed her a picture of an aborted baby. This made the babies Grandmother jump out of the car and tell my Mom that she would call the police, my Mom told her "Go ahead, I'm not doing anything wrong. This baby is your Grandchild!" Then my Mom showed the young mother, through the closed window, some pictures of developing babies. She looked at them, then began to cry. Her mother jumped out again, yelling at my Mom who continued to calmly answer, "This baby is Your Grandchild." They then drove away and they never came back, as far as we know! We hope and pray that the child was spared. God knows.

When we were done at the abortion clinic, we went to the University of Minnesota Duluth with Josh for a witnessing outreach. We held two gospel signs, while Josh and Michael preached.

One student made his own sign to protest us, which said: "Don't Worry God Loves You No Matter What". Josh had a good conversation with him and found out that he believes the teachings of a certain professor who takes all the "good out of different religions" and believes that, not the "bad". Josh was able to ask some very pointed questions showing the faultiness of that faith and expounded on the resurrection of Jesus as difference between other religions and the Bible. We pray for this young mans salvation.

Remember the lady I talked to on Tuesday the Twentieth? That short conversation had made me think more about our obedience to the gospel versus trying to make the gospel more appealing to the carnal mind. She came back to talk with me this Friday, I'll change her name to Sue.

She told my Mom and I that she is a pantheist, believing that everything is god and that god is everything. My Mom gave her the gospel, which Sue clearly could not understand. She does not believe in life after death and thinks that life is an end in it's self, because it is so "full and beautiful". My Mom explained to her that she is in the darkness and does not know it, using the example of a room that is slowly growing darker and you do not know it is so dark until you turn on the light. We told her that what she believes does not change the way things are, that in the end she will stand before Jesus who is the judge and she will confess that He is Lord. We said that people have so many ideas about the way things are, but what really matters in the end is what God says about things and whether or not we obeyed Him.

At one point I asked her, "Why are you alive? Where do you come from?"

She answered, "From my parents."
"In the beginning where did it all start?"

"With the Big Bang."

"Nobody knows who started that?"

"No, there are some theories, but no one really knows."

"God tells us what happened. He was there, He tells us what He did. You see, the Bible is a history book, written by God who made every thing."

She wondered how anyone could not believe in the big bang and said "Evolution is so beautiful."

"Millions and Billions of years of death, bloodshed and cancer, is beautiful?" I asked.

"Yes, it is."

"By what you are saying, you are showing me that you are in darkness. It does not matter what we tell you or if we are able to answer all your questions and explain everything to you, you would still not believe unless God opens your eyes. It has to be God who shows Himself to you."

She left then but short while after leaving she came back saying that she had thought of some more questions.

She asked, "Does God ever change?"
"No, in His Word He tells us that He never changes."

"Do people change?"
"Yes, all the time."

"Will people who are redeemed still change in Heaven?" She had earlier told us that she thought Heaven was pointless and boring.

I answered, "When we die, our bodies are changed. We will not have flesh and blood like we have now, we will be different. We do not really know what Heaven is like, it is not something we can understand or grasp with our human minds. If God told us what it is like we would not understand, it is too wonderful. We know that we will be praising God and that we will have work to do, but what it is I do not know."

She asked, "If God is all powerful, then why did He make man, since He does not need us?"

We told her that it is true that God does not need us, yet He made us for His glory. Life is not about us but about Him. We ended by saying, that we would pray that God would show Himself to her. Please pray with us for the salvation of Sue.

The thing I love about this conversation was the peace God gave me to just stay true to the Word. It did not matter to me that she said and thought it was "silly" and that it made no sense at all to her. I did not have to think up witty things to say or remember tons of facts to throw at her about the validity of the Bible. I just spoke as God led me, staying true to His Word, knowing that she would not understand unless He opened her eyes. I even told her that her reasoning proved to me even more that God's word is true because He told us that the carnal mind would not understand these things unless He opened their eyes! There is such peace knowing that it is God's work to cause her to understand, not mine! Praise God!!! I love it!

Here is a short clip of me talking with Sue:

Here is the link to our teams YouTube sight where you will find more videos of us: The Way Ministries