Stone the Preacher

Yes. That’s right. I’ve been a Christian for 17 years and a pastor for 9, yet 2 years ago I became sober—minded!

On July 31st of 2005, Ray Comfort taught “Hell’s Best Kept Secret at my church.
And after hearing it—and applying it—I felt that I was born again, again.

On that night he also gave me my first pack of…
…Million Dollar bill Gospel tracts!

I now celebrate 2 years of being free from proclaiming a man-centered, God-loves-you-and-has-a-wonderful-plan-for-your-life Gospel.

Things will never be the same.

(If you have never heard this teaching, then click here to listen!)

(Read the first E-vangie Tale about this experience here.)

A Florida resident who once successfully sued Orlando International Airport for the right to hand out religious literature at Easter time has decided she will sue again. This time Shirley Snyder is suing for the right to distribute flyers and gospel tracts to people at an Orlando public park.

Snyder has retained First Amendment public interest law firm Liberty Counsel to ask the court to declare the city’s parks and recreation policy governing the handouts unconstitutional. Counsel founder Mat Staver explains Snyder was attempting to pass out flyers inviting attendance at her church’s Easter service while at the Cypress Grove Park in Orange County on April 1 — and was informed by a county employee, and later by the park supervisor, that non-approved distribution of literature was prohibited. (To continue reading, click here!)

The motto for our evangelism team is “Go and make—mistakes!” Richard Chavarria made this one on a recent weekend in Huntington Beach:

I handed a man a Million dollar bill Gospel tract.
“What is it?” he asked.

“It’s has the million dollar question on the back,” I replied. “If you died today would you go to Heaven or Hell?” As I asked him this question I noticed two things about him: #1—He seemed to have been drinking a lot as his face was flush red and his speech was slurred. # 2—He was wearing a large cross around his neck.

“I’m going to Heaven because I’m wearing purple,” he stated confidently.

I lost my gentleness and patience when I noticed that he wasn’t wearing any purple. “I haven’t read in the Bible that one gets into Heaven by wearing the color purple.”

“I’m royalty.”

“Are you drunk?” I knew I hit a nerve, so I decided to leave the area, but before I could get half way up the stairs I heard him calling: “Hey you! Hey you!” I stopped, turned around, and there he was in my face.
I immediately sensed that he was angry to the point that if I didn’t watch myself, he would take some action likely to cause me great bodily injury.

“Yeah, I’m a little buzzed… and I’m royalty because those in Heaven will wear the color of royalty which is purple.”

His girlfriend came along side of us as he was talking. “Apologize to him,” she said sternly. I did so immediately, and Mr. Royalty calmed down. He put his hands on my shoulder and I raised mine in anticipation of blocking a punch.

However, he turned away; I did the same.

I hope that next time, Mr Royalty will drink a little more of that living water…

(Read about how to deal with false converts here.)

The following deaths were reported in the L.A. Times. And every person thought they had another day to live.

July 26—A sightseeing plane crashed in the mountains of Misty Fiords National Monument, killing the pilot, two sisters and their husbands on a side trip from a cruise ship, state troopers said.

July 27—Two domesticated elephants rampaged through several villages in northeastern India, killing eight people and injuring five others before being shot to death by police.

July 29—A biplane performing stunts for an air show crashed into a runway in front of thousands of spectators, killing the pilot. Jim LeRoy, 46, was making loop-to-loops with smoke trailing as part of the annual show at Dayton International Airport. His Pitts aircraft slammed onto the runway and caught fire.

The crowd stood stunned as the show was shut down.

“Some talk of it as an unreasonable thing to fright persons to Heaven, but I think it is a reasonable thing to endeavor to fright persons away from Hell. They stand at its brink, and are ready to fall into it, and are senseless of their danger. Is it not a reasonable thing to fright a person out of a house on fire? That tis God’s manner to make men sensible of their misery and unworthiness before He appears in His mercy and love to them.”
Click for brief bio.

Every now and then a miracle happens: One sinner repents, the angels in Heaven rejoice—and we get it on film.

Please pray that this young man will make his calling and election sure by continuing to walk in the truth and persevering till the end.

Why is there a question mark in the title of this video? Well… a prayer doesn’t save you. I’m hopeful that this young man was sincere. But I trust that God saves to the uttermost.

The Bible says that the righteous are as bold as a lion. If you’ve been a bold witness this week for Christ, write down your experience here.

This Saturday we are going to an International Surf Festival in Huntington Beach where Ray Comfort and his preaching team will be also. For details, click here.

We set up our dummy, Eutychus’ Sis, on the Redondo Beach Pier last Saturday to attract the crowds.
People would stop in horror; we would preach to them. After three sermons by three evangelists, it was my turn. I gave it a go and when I finished, three policemen greeted me. Someone had complained about the dummy. In fact, according to them a lot of people complained.

“People don’t like that there,” said the lead officer. “They don’t want to be reminded of death while enjoying a day out on the pier.”

“That’s precisely why we put it there,” I explained.

The constables didn’t understand the urgency, so we packed up our stuff and moved along. I’m no dummy; they have guns.

Read more about guys with guns here.

William Lobdell, a Times staff writer, responded to a false Gospel presentation by asking Jesus into his heart at a weekend mountain retreat. Here’s what he wrote:

At the climactic service Sunday, Mike Barris, a pastor-to-be, delivered an old-fashioned altar call. He said we needed to let Jesus into our hearts.

The pastor asked those who wanted to accept Jesus to raise their hands.
My hand pretty much levitated on its own. My new friends in Christ, many of whom I had first met Friday, gave me hugs and slaps on the back.

Unfortunately, because he never repented and trusted fully in the Savior he fell away after witnessing the scandals in church organizations. Disillusioned, he came to this conclusion: “…I considered another possibility: Maybe God didn’t exist.”

This man was not a backslider. He never slid forward in the first place.
Read the article here.
Read “The 10 Reasons Not to Ask Jesus Into Your Heart” here.

Last Tuesday, I posted an article concerning some of the things that are happening to our country as we rapidly decline to an anti-Christian nation. I believe that this is in large part due to our lack of evangelistic zeal and lukewarm Christianity. The most shocking part of the article was the Hindu priest who was allowed to pray to his gods in the U.S. Senate for the very first time. 3 people tried to shout him down and it was recorded as a one minute video:

This was his prayer: “Let us pray. We meditate on the transcendental glory of the deity supreme who is inside the heart of the Earth, inside the life of the sky, and inside the soul of the heaven.”

A Christian commentator said the three Christian activists, Ante Pavkovic, his wife, and his 19-year-old daughter, who were arrested for disrupting the Hindu prayer “are heroes and history will show them as such.”

Do you agree?
Do you condone this type of disruption?
Is it right for the Senate to offer prayers to false, pagan gods?
What responsibility do Christians play in all this?

Frederic Baumann, a resident of Cumming, was arrested on April 22 for distributing tracts outside the Cumming City fairgrounds. The charges? Officials told Baumann that he did not have a parade or demonstration permit.
Attorneys for Baumann are waiting for a judge’s ruling following a hearing this week, in the unusual case and lawsuit against his alleged violation of a parade ordinance.
(Read the rest at OneNewsNow, here.)

(Read Part 1 of 2 here)

A few hours after the debacle at Peet’s Coffee, a few of us tried out a new destination to see if the “bad luck” still clung as we tried to evangelize on Friday the 13th. The new outdoor mall complex catering to the rich ungodly in El Segundo had yet to be tried, so that’s where we headed.

Wrong move.

We hit Starbucks first, some designer cooking pot stores, foo-foo baby suppliers, and name brand sock-sellers… then hit a road block at Whole Foods Market.

I hate that store.

It’s the ultimate in chic-cool with employees sporting gotees, black earplugs, pierced tongues—and those are the women! I always feel out of sorts and out of step when I enter the premises. But! I just love to hand out Gospel tracts and talk about THE ONE TRUE GOD to all the pantheists la-la-ing in the aisles.

“If you died today, would you go to Heaven or Hell?” I asked the all-natural security guard. After taking him through the 10 Commandments to see where he stood with God on Judgment Day, I then handed him a GIANT $100 bill, full Gospel on the back.

“Uh, thank you,” he said, “but can you please not give that to me? The manager is right behind you.”

I turned around quickly to see a foursome huddled together. “Which one is the manager?”

“All of them.”

All four managers approached our little team of three. “You can’t be handing those out here in the store,” said Manager #1.

We moved to the sidewalk, outside the store. “We’ll just hand these Gospel tracts out here, then.”

“You can’t do that; it’s private property.”

“We can do that,” I protested. “It’s a public sidewalk!”

“It’s private property,” he repeated. He pointed to the street. “You can do it there; and we are on the phone to the police.”

We decided to move on down the sidewalk, since all four managers appeared to be calling El Segundo’s finest on their cellphones.

Two of them trailed us, Nokias to ears.

We moved onto the parking lot and looked behind us; they still followed.
(more…)

“I feel like I deliver something to the Iraqi people, and I feel good about it when I take these people and send them to the gallows…”

“It is not a nice thing to see someone being killed or dying in front of you…”
Actor Basam Ridha on his current role as Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki’s advisor on judicial matters and executions and the go-to man for all things gallows. (Read the story from the L.A. Times here, registration required.)

A 16-year-old U.S. tourist fell 1,000 feet to his death at an abandoned mine in central Mexico, and rescue workers were trying to recover his body. Witnesses told police that Taylor Crane of Pennsylvania tried to jump over the 10-foot-wide shaft of Cinco Senores mine in San Luis de la Paz in Guanajuato state and fell in.
—From the L.A. Times, 7/22/07

Todd Friel is the co-host of The Way of the Master radio.

The music weeps, the preacher pleads, “Give your heart to Jesus. You have a God shaped hole in your heart and only Jesus can fill it.” Dozens, hundreds or thousands of people who want to get their spiritual life on track make their way to the altar. They ask Jesus into their heart. Cut to three months later. Nobody has seen our new convert in church. The follow up committee calls him and encourages him to attend a Bible study, but to no avail. We label him a backslider and get ready for the next outreach event.

Our beloved child lies in her snuggly warm bed and says, “Yes, Daddy. I want to ask Jesus into my heart.” You lead her in “the prayer” and hope that it sticks. You spend the next ten years questioning if she really, really meant it. Puberty hits and the answer reveals itself. She backslides. We spend the next ten years praying that she will come to her senses.

Telling someone to ask Jesus into their hearts has a very typical result, backsliding.
 The Bible says that a person who is soundly saved puts his hand to the plow and does not look back because he is fit for service. In other words, a true convert cannot backslide. If a person backslides, he never slid forward in the first place. “If any man is in Christ, he is a new creation.” (II Cor.5) No backsliding there.

Brace yourself for this one: with very few if any exceptions, anyone who asked Jesus into their hearts to be saved…is not. If you asked Jesus into your heart because you were told that is what you have to do to become a Christian, you were mis-informed.

If you have ever told someone to ask Jesus into their heart (like I have), you produced a false convert.
 Here is why:

1. It is not in the Bible. There is not a single verse that even hints we should say a prayer inviting Jesus into our hearts.
(more…)

Have you been harassed, harangued, hit or hanged for evangelizing yet?
If not, write your tale here. If so, write it here, too.

To find out where we are going to witness this weekend, click here.

The day lived up to its name.

I’m not superstitious—I don’t knock on wood; I walk under ladders; and I always make it a point to step on cracks. But there was something kinda funny, kinda strange going on when I walked into Peet’s Coffee for a large caffeinated beverage last Friday the 13th.

Now I always hand out Million Dollar bill Gospel tracts there, so I wanted to change things up a little and hand out the GIANT $100 bills to the help behind the counter because the full Gospel message is declared in no uncertain terms.
The attendant, Tudor, thanked me with a big smile, but the twenty-something woman preparing roasted beans was less than enthusiastic when I offered her one.

“That’s extremely pretentious and rude!” she scolded loud enough for the people in Starbucks down the street to hear.

I glanced at Tudor. “What’s up with that?”

“I don’t know,” he replied with a shrug. “I don’t want to get into it.”

Setting her face like flint the woman ignored me, slamming down her little espresso squeezer, clinking her cups in an aggravated way, making darn sure everyone at Peet’s knew she was perturbed—at me!

It sure is hot in here; funny how I didn’t notice it before.

Looking up at the ceiling, then at the menu on the wall, time dragged as I waited for my coffee.

Bam! Clink! Stony-faced-woman continued to ignore me with a deafening silence.

“I’m sorry if I offended you in some way,” I said lamely.

“I don’t like you giving those to my employees. It’s solicitation!”

“Actually it’s not,” I said defensively. “It’s considered leafletting—and it’s legal.”

“It’s proselytizing!” she angrily proclaimed.

“You are right about that,” I said agreeably.

I grabbed my coffee and slowly—awkwardly—walked out the door embarrassed, vowing to write a letter, make a phone call, or send an email to management about how I was treated so unfairly.

I won’t.

But I’ll be baaaaack.

(Read part 2 here.)

(I later realized who this woman was. Click here to read it.)

Charges have been dismissed against a man who was arrested last year for sharing the gospel and distributing religious literature on the campus of Schenectady County Community College in New York state. According to attorneys for minister Greg Davis, a Schenectady city court judge acquitted him of alleged criminal trespass that led to his arrest in September.

Davis’s attorney Brian Raum says his client has a regular ministry of public evangelism on college campuses, but on the day in question last fall, an assistant dean at the school told him he “had no right to be there and had to leave.” Click here to read the rest from OneNewNow!

Here are some more nifty ideas when the restaurant you attend is surrounded by strange, lifeless things that others give power to and may even worship. Put your (Gospel) money where it really counts; that’s what I did at this Mongolian BBQ place.

Let those stone idols with eyes that cannot see and ears that cannot hear be the conduit for your well-placed Gospel tracts warning of the condemnation and the blessing of the Savior.

The stones indeed cry out!
(Click here to see some other ideas.)

Huffington is a former California congressman and U.S. Senate nominee who has just come out as a bi-sexual. He is quoted here from an article in the July 15, 2007, L.A. Times, explaining why he has partially underwritten two films containing “gay-Christian” themes.

“I came out because I realized God created all of us in His image, and his image is so broad that it includes everyone. I really hope that some pope—maybe a 1,000 years from now— will say, ‘We were wrong on this issue.’ One day it will happen.”

At what price have Christians kept their mouths shut?

History was made in the Senate last Thursday.

“Let us pray. We meditate on the transcendental glory of the deity supreme who is inside the heart of the Earth, inside the life of the sky, and inside the soul of the heaven.” Those were the words of a chaplain with the Indian Association of Northern Nevada, Rajan Zed, who delivered the first Hindu prayer ever on the floor of the U.S. Senate.

The city on a hill is hidden…

The chaplain of the Family Research Council, Pierre Bynum, says Thursday’s Hindu prayer was a major departure from the “thoughts and plans” of America’s founding fathers. “We sing the song My Country ’tis of Thee, [saying] ‘to Thee we sing.’ The faith of our fathers, is being left behind,” he contends, “and we’re opening up to a bunch of religious ideologies and groups that were not part of our founding documents, were not part of our heritage.” He said the farther America gets away from the faith of its founding fathers, the more troubled and confused the country will become.

…the salt thrown out… a nation soon to be trampled underfoot.

Look closely at what’s missing on the new government issue dollar coins.

“In God We Trust?” I was just informed that it is there—on the edge, small and discreet (so no atheists will be offended?).

“I am the LORD, and there is no other.
I form the light and create darkness,
I bring prosperity and create disaster;
I the LORD, do all these things.”
(Isaiah 45:7)

Todd Friel, the co-host of the daily Way of the Master radio show that teaches people how to witness using the Ten Commandments says the church in America has strayed from biblical evangelism.
He says modern Christianity has made the church the focus of evangelism. “Biblical evangelism used to be, ‘go and make disciples; while going, make disciples.’ [But] in the 21st century — with the best of intentions — instead of sending people out, instead we’ve turned the church into the evangelism arm.”“We’ve been commanded to go,” he emphasizes. “[We need to] stop using the church for the evangelism tool and start hitting the streets ourselves.”

Who’s to blame?

(Articles by OneNewsNow, with permission.)

In commemoration of the annual “Running of the Bulls” in Spain and the two American brothers (one from Hermosa Beach) who got gored in the behinds simultaneously (see it here), I am re-running the first “Appointment with Eternity” that I published last year.

This photo gives another good reason why I ask the million $ question everywhere, which is: “If you were to die today, would you go to Heaven or Hell?”

Click here to see an unfortunate Matador getting the business from a very angry bull in France. Talk about an appointment with eternity!

Here are some people who took their last breaths in the bathroom. I got these from The Bathroom Reader (a very entertaining and funny book):
In 1016, 27-year-old King Edmond II of England was murdered in the bathroom by an assassin who hid behind his primitive toilet. As Edmond sat, the murderer stepped out and shoved his sword twice “into the king’s bowels.”

Movie producer Don Simpson (Top Gun, Flashdance) died in 1996 from what was rumored to be an overdose of cocaine. Actually, he died of a heart attack while going to the bathroom.

Probably the most famous toilet-death was Elvis Presley’s. He died on the pot of a heart attack while “takin’ care of business.” You could say that the “King” died on the “throne”… At the time of his death he was reading a book entitled “The Scientific Search for the Face of Jesus.”

“If a man does not do the will of God, as God requires it of him,
step by step, and day by day, his belief is only thrown away.”
Click here for brief bio.

On Tuesday I asked your thoughts about a man who held up a sign at a gay pride gathering that said: “Lied, Stolen, Lusted? Homosexual, Fornicator, Drunkard? Repent and call on the Lord Jesus to Escape Hell.” He was subsequently molested by the mob (read the account here).

My questions to you were these: What is your opinion regarding this type of evangelistic method? Was this a wise idea? Would you do it?

Here are my comments:

Though I appreciate his zeal and commitment to the Lord, I don’t think that it was the wisest thing to hold out a banner that contained those inflammatory words. When used out of context those terms on the banner seem too judgmental. Unfortunately, to the Gay community, the man looked like those “Repent America” people who hold up condemning signs singling out homosexual behavior (which is, after all, just a branch on the whole tree of sin). Or worse, they will associate him with that heretical, unloving, unChrist-like cult of the Westboro Baptist church,who proclaims that “God hates fags.” (The truth is, God hates sin, homosexual AND heterosexual.)

A more effective message would have been to use the 10 Commandments in an open air or one-to-one encounter, NOT naming the particular sin of homosexuality, but naming the general sins of lying, stealing, blasphemy, adultery, etc. That way, the homosexual community would not feel that the Christians were picking on them—again.

I would certainly caution my evangelism team to be very careful when called to witness or preach to a crowd of gay people. Discretion is a must and can save your life… maybe even some souls—if they hear your message.

A new evangelism class has started with 70 people attending. As part of the homework, my students are to write about their own evangelistic adventures. Click on “comments to read them or write them.

My family and I attended A WOWJAM event that was held in the park just a block from our house.
We found out about this event from flyers we received on our front door. No information was given about it being a Christian outreach. The flyers offered free haircuts, food, prizes, games, face painting, hot meals, singing contests, etc. We took 800 Million Dollar gospel tracts and handed out every single one; only 2 people said “No, thank you.”
I went home and scrounged up about 200 more and returned.

I had many terrific conversations with non-believers, committed believers…

…and people claiming to be Christians but not attending a church.

People were truly interested in the gospel;
many read their tract right on the spot.

My pre-teen daughters, Celina and Makayla, handed out several hundred tracts that explained clearly that if anyone broke any of the 10 Commandments—if they had ever lied, stolen, or misused God’s name—then they’d be seen as lying, thieving, blasphemers who’d face God’s wrath on Judgment Day and end up in Hell to pay for their sins.

Throughout the afternoon the WOWJAM preachers said “God loves you,” “Jesus loves you,” and “God has a distinct purpose for your life;” But most frequently they said “You’re special because God made you.” The words repent, law, and wrath were never mentioned. Few references were made from the Bible. When they finally gave the invitation to accept Christ, they did mention sin a few times, but didn’t explain repentance nor did they ask people to repent.
The preachers DID say that if you prayed a prayer to accept Jesus you would never be the same again. A thousand people or more raised their hands to say a prayer.

“If you do not use the law in gospel proclamation, you will fill the church with false converts.”
—John Wycliffe, 14th century bible translater

We are going to Huntington Beach this Saturday (click here for details) to experience a little of what you will see in this 6 minute video. Ray Comfort takes on this crazy, angry, silly atheist as he preaches in the open air. Talk about fun…

What do you think?

A very zealous evangelist went to a Chicago gay pride parade and unfurled a banner that said: Lied, Stolen, Lusted? Homosexual, Fornicator, Drunkard? Repent and call on the Lord Jesus to Escape Hell.

And this was the result: “…before it was all over I was basically molested, they handled me in vile ways, tried to pull my pants off (thank God I wear a belt.), they tried to burn my banner, steal my banner, my banner and I were soaked with various alchoholic drinks that were hurled at me. They spit and threw something. They bent and tried to steal my banner pole.” Read his blog entry and see the banner here.

What is your opinion regarding this type of evangelistic method? Was this a wise idea? Would you do it?

I’ll give you my opinion on Friday.

Over the last two weeks our evangelism team staked out territory in three separate hometown fairs.

At the Redondo Beach fair we were positioned directly across from the Democratic Party’s booth replete with a life-sized Paris Hilton cut-out. We handed out over 10,000 Gospel tracts in two days.

At another fair in Lomita, our booth faced a Muslim booth where a few interesting conversations were had and a few thousand people picked up the message that spells out their eternal destiny quite clearly.

And at a 4th of July celebration in Torrance, over 15,000 Million dollar bill Gospel tracts were passed out. Towards evening, a park ranger asked us to stop passing out the million dollar tracts because someone got beat up over them. Huh?

We’re just sowing seeds man, sowing seeds.