John 3:30

He Must Increase, I Must Decrease

catholicism

My First Sunday Morning Sermon

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On March the 6th, 2016, I was honored to preach my first ever Sunday morning sermon at First Baptist Church of New Albany in Ohio.

To skip my comments and just listen to the sermon see below.

A few notable moments. Upon arrival I found out they were happy to allow me to lead the entire service. They had a bulletin already created which they could not get printed. As I was writing it out, I was so glad to see Heaven Came Down, How Great Thou Art and Victory in Jesus listed for singing. Then I noticed a song titled “Let Jesus Come into Your Heart” as the ‘invitation hymn.’

Not opposed to judging a song by its title, I asked if we could change it to “How Firm a Foundation” and they had no problem with that. The service flowed nicely with a skilled pianist and my friend Christopher offering prayer.

They had Scripture reading on their bulletin. I had not prepared for that. Since my sermon was about God’s Word, I thought it would be appropriate and helpful to read Proverbs 30:5-6. I then tested myself and tried to quote Psalm 1 from memory. I did it!! I thought Psalm 1 went nicely with my sermon, and it was the first time I had quoted an entire chapter of Scripture in public from memory (inside a church).

Then my daughter Bailey played perfect renditions of Amazing Grace and How Great Thou Art on her flute for special music. You will notice if you listen to the sermon that I open by talking about the hymns. I then do what I am apt to do (and learned from my own pastor), and I spoke for 20 minutes off the cuff while ignoring my notes. So many things flood to my mind that I want to share.

I really enjoyed myself and was very grateful to my friends Mike Stockwell and Christopher Ledezma who attended along with my 3 oldest children. It was a time of service to God and to one of His local churches. I appreciate everyone who prayed for me and the service. As a hipster Christian might say “God showed up big time.” 😉

Feel free to listen here:

Sylvia Browne, Witchcraft, Prayer & Duck Dynasty

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I recommend you check out my teaching on witchcraft at sermon audio. This teaching is from 2011, but the timeless truths are applicable today.

Additionally, I plan to begin contributing to the Cross Encounters blog. I hope you will check out the store and consider downloading a Classic Sermon.

But I hope you’ll read my first article “Three Typical Responses to Sinners Sinning.“

The AHA and the Vineyard, Columbus

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Does the Abolish Human Abortion organization support the human sex trafficking industry? Using the normal logic they employ, they just may. Bear with me as I flesh this out. Firstly, I do not believe AHA promotes sexual trafficking or child rape and prostitution. So don’t take statements from this post out of context.

The Premise

Recently, there was an unfortunate Facebook thread concerning the Vineyard Church of Columbus and an apparent attack by the Abolish Human Abortion organization.

The post was focused on a particular picture, but more so, the events surrounding the picture. According to AHA,

This “church” does not want to “expose evil” (Ephesians 5:11) it wants to “ignore” it (VineyardCulumbus) [sic].

The spelling error is theirs, not mine 🙂

The picture depicts the Vineyard Church encouraging its members and passersby to ignore the protesters. vineyardpicture Sadly, the AHA resorted to a typical sensationalistic tactic of marketers. The sign put up by the church is referring to the protesters when the word “them” is used. But the caption on the FB picture is clear – Vineyard Church wants to “ignore” evil. It allows skimmers to get the wrong idea immediately.

The Problem

Please allow me to point out that it tells you a lot about AHA when they put quotation marks around the word church when describing the Vineyard. This is clear attack on the authenticity of this body. These types of attacks may be warranted at times, but I do not believe that because this church refused the AHA’s teachings and resources that this qualifies them to be publicly attacked as a false church. The continued testimony in the thread is, in fact, of a group of people who for the sake of Jesus Christ are actively opposing abortion AND providing resources for mothers and families.

The implication that Vineyard Church intends to ignore evil and the babies who need help is a lie, as well. Maybe we should protest lying on their property.

This is what prompted this video by the producers of Babies Are Murdered Here concerning the AHA.

More Irrationality

An advocate of AHA posted the following on the thread. The first portion, enclosed in “\\” is this user quoting another user who seemingly is a member of the church.

\\This is my church, and for the past 6 weeks we have to tell our kids to close their eyes as we drive in and leave because of the obscenely graphic banners of cut up children this group displays along the road. My kids are 6 and 7. They don’t need to see this at that age.\\

I’m less than heartbroken for you.
Did you know that every day you do that, 3000+ children are murdered in this country? Why are people so often so much more concerned over the PORTRAYAL of evil rather than the actual evil itself?

I’ve seen this line of thinking before. People politely (or impolitely) request that people stop exposing their children (or themselves) to gruesome signs depicting murdered babies. Here are a few examples of the types of responses I’ve seen:

  • You are more offended by the portrayal of evil than the evil itself.
  • If you don’t like it, why don’t you do something about it.

The Analogy

Let’s look at the rationality of this by considering an analogy. Every day, hundreds of thousands of already born humans are used by perverts in the fastest growing criminal industry in the US. It is called human sex trafficking. Average ages of sex slaves from a variety of websites are 12-14 years old. Human sex slaves are forced to perform sex acts with several people daily, resulting in a horrific lifestyle filled with disease, captivity, degradation and poor nutrition. Many of these young people are actually enslaved by the person they had trusted to help them from what they thought was a more dire situation. Becoming pregnant, they are forced into abortions.

Many of them people probably wish they had been aborted themselves. This is a different discussion. Please do not use this to say I advocate for abortion.

Logical Fallacies

Now, do you think it is right to say that the AHA supports human sex trafficking, particularly the trafficking of children for sexual abuse because they are not currently picketing this evil? It is a well understood evil in our society, and can happen anywhere; they don’t even need a facility! But that is the general logic employed by AHA concerning abortion. If you or your church are not actively picketing outside a clinic – you are not truly pro-life. What I think you would find is there is likely an inconsistency in AHA’s application of these principles.

But let’s go further. What if I decided to print images of child rape on posters and display it on the sidewalk outside where AHA members’ children would view it. Does anyone honestly think that is a good idea? The fact that no one wants to or needs to necessarily see the evil depicted visually has no bearing on whether they actually abhor the evil. Did you catch that? It is non sequitur, or logically fallacious, to make the claim that because someone doesn’t want to see pictures of aborted babies, or because they even protest the use of those pictures where their children’s eyes will take them in that that person does not, in fact, oppose abortion.

I strongly oppose human sex trafficking. Not only do I not want my children to view images or videos exposing this evil, but I do not want to see these images myself!

There is no biblical precedent which AHA uses to lambaste churches who don’t do “enough”, and there is no biblical precedent for holding up signs depicting evil. There are evils which are not even to be spoken of. AHA likes to use Ephesians 5:11 to defend “exposing evil,” yet ignored the verse following:

Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. (Ephesians 5:11-12 ESV)

It is shameful to even speak of some of things done by evil doers. It may even be possible that it isn’t necessary to publish visuals of some of these atrocities as well. Not to mention the fact that AHA has no authority over a local church.

Concluding Thoughts

The following has needed to withstand correction. I have been corrected by a number of people that the official stance of AHA is that of only truly born again Christians. They oppose yoking with nonbelievers. I apologize for misrepresenting this point. In my defense, the very first person I met from AHA was as self-professing Catholic who told me they are an organization of Christians who oppose abortions from all denominations. I simply took this at face value.

Look, I’m appreciative that there are people out there who oppose evil. But I am reminded that the AHA opposes evil in a few ways which I do not.

  1. They oppose a particular evil more than others.
  2. They oppose a particular evil at the expense of the gospel. Even though their stance is that of gospel-centered, my personal experience (as can be seen in this comment thread at times) does not seem gospel centered. AHA seems all too defensive and ad hominem attacking all too quickly. I have found (a few) of them to be difficult to have a rational discussion with.
  3. They use tactics which are designed to elicit emotional responses, (incendiary signs), instead of attacking the real problem, the heart. I also oppose the tactic they’ve chosen concerning abortion in regard to protesting a local church.

So, when you feel you are attacked by people who say you are not doing enough about abortion, instead of going on the defensive, ask them how many sex slaves they’ve freed. When you are vilified for wanting to keep your children eyes from imagery that may scare them deeply, ask them if you can show their children a depiction of child rape and its after effects.

Sadly, it seems organizations like this are doing more to hurt the cause than help due to the unbiblical nature and practices of the members. Remember to be compassionate toward these folks, too, as you would any person relying on their own self-righteousness for Heaven’s sake. And if you meet a true believer from this group, greet them as a brother and maybe you will be able to have a useful conversation about the hows and whys of our behavior and association (yoking) with non-believers in spiritual endeavors.

[Note: Some comments have been removed as there was a misunderstanding concerning some links that hadn’t been shared.]

The Way and Pharisees Together?

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Let me begin by saying that I love Catholics. I love more Catholics than a lot of people may due to my own life of Catholicism. I do not personally condemn any Catholics; that isn’t in my power. All I can do is assume that all men who die apart from Christ will perish and be judged by God, and that by the RCC’s own published teaching, no one who holds to it truly trusts Christ alone as Savior by faith nor is born-again. I take NO JOY in this at all. It scares me and causes me great pain and tears. Please, DISAGREE with me all you want about my interpretation of the bible and RCC teaching, but DO NOT accuse me of hating people, especially Catholics or accuse me of enjoying or taking satisfaction in calling Catholics ‘idolaters’ and warning them they are hell-bound apart from the redemption offered by Christ, (as was I were it not for grace. )

The most loving thing I can do for anyone, including Catholics, is to confess God’s Law and Gospel to them in the hopes they will repent and believe.

One of the primary reasons I left Facebook was that I was tired of ending up in “Christian” fights which inevitably ended badly. The part that bothered me the most was how often my 100-200 characters of text in defense of a position was often understood incorrectly. Not so much that people misunderstood my words, but too often people seemed to read into my intention. There’s nothing quite like sitting at home happily discussing theology with someone with whom you believe you share mutual respect only to be labeled as hateful or angry or even evil after making a few statements of disagreement. With that, please enjoy this “twitter thread.” Note: I know very little about Eric Metaxas other than he seems diligent in defending religious freedom in the political realm and he is an ardent marketer of his own books. 🙂


Ok, so after seeing this, I decided to comment. I read the link he posted with what I read to be a “clear recommendation and endorsement” of the article. I was disappointed to see ECT (Evangelicals and Catholics Together) promoted. I didn’t disagree with the concept that the pope is “important,” but I do disagree with the concept that we share a common faith with Roman Catholics (by their own published doctrine). I don’t want to go into it all. If you want to learn more, read here.


Now this shocked me. Let’s break down what was posted about me. Mind you, as far as I know, Eric knows nothing about me.

Hearing from super-righteous dudes

I guess he could have meant it, but given the context I believe he was being sarcastic and demeaning. I could be wrong.

calling the Pope an “idolator & a blasphemer” makes tweeting SWEET. Thanks for schooling us.

Again, he may have been genuinely thankful for a theology lesson. This was not my impression. Instead my impression was that this highly influential public Christian was immediately resorting to sarcasm and ad hominem attacks against someone he doesn’t know simply for stating my opinion (which is widely understood among ‘evangelicals) that the Pope is, in fact, the head of a false religion, making him BY DEFINITION an idolater and blasphemer.


Apparently, I wasn’t the only person who found Eric’s response to be disappointing. See Dan Phillips’ response.

The irony at this point to me being that Eric seemed to be quickly judging me, while basically judging me for what he deemed to be an unrighteous judgement on my part.


No more responses from Eric from this point on. But now a helpful “baptist” decides to join in.


This is a nice thought. She was trying to help; I can see that. But in the spirit of discussion and seeking Truth, I decided to remind this person that according to the RCC, you cannot call yourself “saved” in this life.

WOW! One of the scariest truths. God DOES know the thoughts and intents of our hearts. But the implication that His Graciousness trumps his justice is the problem here. God is severely gracious, to the point of crushing His Only Son for the sins of believers everywhere. But the implication here is that somehow I WAS NOT BEING GRACIOUS because I believed differently from the published RCC doctrine.

I particularly liked my response. Not to be prideful, but I knew it was a good response because it went straight to the heart of her “poor” argument. For her to insist that I am gracious would be a double standard if not applied to all other parties as well. As expected, this tweet was not answered…

Then she posts a sad article about ecumenism. As the title of this blog alludes to, I cannot imagine Jesus, John the Baptist, Peter, Paul or John joining a club called “Christians and Pharisees together” or “The Way and the Judaizers Together.” The point is that the true gospel that saves is more important than any other secondary issue, even abortion, euthanasia and “gay” marriage.

Now, here’s where I found it interesting. After what I assumed was a mature discussion (in 140 characters or less) where adults were sharing ideas, I see this.
Proverbs 15:18 A wrathful man stirreth up strife: but he that is slow to anger appeaseth strife.

Now, I did not take this as a “random” comment. I took the tweet to mean that Susan was implying that I was angry or wrathful and stirring up strife. At this point, I realized (again) that I was not dealing with someone who

  1. Was committed to searching the scriptures to see what was true about Roman Catholicism.
  2. Was mature enough to discuss actual ideas and thoughts and evaluate them based on their own merit.

Basically, I was on Facebook again. 🙁

Ahhh. The heart of the matter. I have no problem being 100% opposed to the Manhattan Declaration and the entire concept of the ECT. I am NOT ashamed of the GOSPEL for it is the power of God unto salvation [to all men]. Romans 1:16

I ended with this. Once someone begins the Ad Hominem attacks calling you angry because in 140 characters of text they “know,” then the argument is over. I highly doubt this person would believe me that I was not angry…and sadly, I’m afraid she lacks the maturity to have a real biblical argument.

Then hours later, I saw a couple more posts.

I hope you enjoyed the interchange. I am really grateful for Dan stepping in and supporting the biblical viewpoint. I appreciate anyone who wants to discuss Catholic doctrine and the bible. The fact is that if you can see two contradictory statements/viewpoints, you must be able to be honest that they are different. It isn’t “judgmental” to identify differences. It IS judgmental to say that one of the ideas is wrong. This isn’t a bad thing; so don’t let people tell you it is.

For a good article explaining the importance and usefulness of “judging” and refuting the idea that Christians “shouldn’t judge,” click here.

Christmas, Cowards and Killing

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November 24, 2012. Today I led a team of Christians to share the gospel with folks outside the Ohio State vs Michigan game. About 8 of us went to OSU’s campus from 8:45-11:45 am. I preached the entire time, while others passed out tracts or preached on another corner.

After watching the first three quarters of the game at home, 3 of us returned to campus to continue to share the gospel with the lost around 3:45pm. Considering we returned to the same corner, it was no surprise that several people asked, “Are you still here?” I love that we are recognized.

I decided to use Luke 2 as a springboard to some of my preaching today. I also read Psalm 34, Colossians 1, John 1, and 1 John 1 in the open air today, but I read the Christmas account numerous times. Click the preceding link to see whether it is ok for a Christian to celebrate Christmas.

Here is my attempt to embed one of the videos from preaching. It was essentially what is known as “stoplight” preaching, and so you will see me continuously repeat myself as I share the gospel with a new crowd every few minutes.

But toward the end of the video few things happen. For the first time in my preaching career, I was physically affected. A man comes up to me while I’m preaching and you hear him yell that I’m bad for Christianity. Then you can see him push me off my stool. This was the first time today that I was physically pushed from my stool. Although this man wasn’t very rough, you can even see that his own friends know what he did was wrong. Fast forward to the 13 minute mark to see when the more exciting action occurs.

Later that evening, at the corner of Lane Avenue and High Street I was again pushed from my stool. This time is was a much more aggressive push from a man who ran up to push me, so I saw it cominmg. I even braced myself for it and pushed back in an attempt to keep my balance. The significant part of the second encounter is that I was not preaching; I was simply reading the first chapter of 1 John. The simple public reading of God’s Word is enough to convict the hearts of men and draw out their hate – and, as I loudly pointed out to the man who “attacked me” as he ran away, public reading of God’s Word is enough to put men’s cowardice on display as well.

I do not entice people or say extreme things in order that I might elicit a reaction; I used to do that when I first started open air preaching. But today, on several occasions I used the opportunity afforded to me by the public display of evil and rebellion to call out sin. The filthy mouths of the women of Columbus, the hateful and blasphemous men, and the homosexual girls who put their affection for each other on display were not spared the public embarrassment they asked for with their behavior. They also were not spared an opportunity to hear of the forgiveness offered in Christ that I wished for them to receive.

Here is the video.

You will see in the background a woman standing with a couple of signs. These were pro-life signs which depicted an aborted baby and pro-life statements.

Near the end of the video, there is a time when people vocally protested the image on the anti-abortion sign. There are times in street preaching when calling out people for their sin and unrighteousness needs to be done in a dramatic fashion; clearly I believed this was one of those times.

For those of you who are concerned that I sounded “angry;” I was. I believe that I exhibited righteous anger against sin, and use language and a tone which was intended to bring conviction to evildoers and show defense for the innocent. Although I do not agree with the woman’s religious beliefs who held the sign, I agree with her belief that humans are worth protecting from conception, and I believe in she has a right to be there and to be treated with dignity. I watched this woman repeatedly yelled and cursed at, and even spit at once by a man. I am pleased that Christ gave me the courage and boldness to defend her as I loudly and boldly declared the men who committed these acts against her to be cowards. None of them returned to defend themselves.

I do appreciate the amazing amount of support that was given for this weekend. There were people who supplied food for the conference and prayer time we held at our church Friday night. A dear saint acted as a taxi for us throughout the day today; several others prepared lunch and supplied drinks for us between evangelistic trips; and my dear bride served people and cooked and cleaned for two straight days.

Most of all, my precious Lord and Savior Jesus Christ provided exceedingly and abundantly more than we could have asked. The answers to prayers were numerous. The appointments were divine; the fellowship was sweet; and the preaching was Christ-exalting, by His grace and power.

Here is the second video of the day:

Miami (OH) @ The Ohio State University & Why I’m Rooting for Michigan

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September 1, 2012. The Redhawks of Miami University (not “The U”) are visiting Columbus to face off against Urban Meyer’s Buckeyes. The Tressel era is over. Memories of Appalachian State vs. That Team Up North swirl in my head. Hopefully, we’ll be ready to play.

But I had a different mission today than to watch football. Upon the urging of Bill Adams from Sports Fan Outreach International, and as a representative of Jesus Christ and Berean Baptist Church, I led a team of evangelists to the campus of The Ohio State University. After some back and forth, we finally agreed upon a time. Working around work schedules, we decided we’d arrive around 2:45, about 30 minutes before we’d expect the game to end, and stay until 6 or 7 to preach the gospel, distribute tracts and engage in one on one conversations.

My report below is intended to show you the surpassing power and love of God. His sovereignty, goodness and mercy were made manifest today in ways that are exceedingly and abundantly more than we could’ve hoped. Bear with my details and general wordiness, and try to enjoy the story in spite of my poor ability to transcribe it!

I am a firm believer that when you set out to serve the Lord you will face spiritual opposition. That is, you will encounter forces of the demonic who will try to thwart the mission. As difficult as this often makes life, I’ve found comfort in the opposition. I actually feel somewhat empowered in a sense, with an innate knowledge that the opposition means I’m clearly on the Lord’s side, the side I want to be on! Nevertheless, the point of the story is not to explain how I or we overcame any spiritual forces, but about how incapable I am against them. It is the power of Christ that overcomes spiritual wickedness; and God put that on display today, if only to humble us.

The story starts August 31st (Friday night). The plans are set. I’ll be picking up Matt at 1:30, meeting at Jerry’s; Jerry will pick up Fred and take us to campus. On my way home from coaching football, I have car trouble. I shut it off at a stoplight to restart it, it makes weird noise, but restarts. My daughter, Bailey, and I arrive home, but not before smelling smoke. We thought the car would explode!

So I wake up Saturday morning and my car won’t start…it won’t even turn over! Bless be the name of the Lord that allowed me to make it to my driveway the night before right before my car basically died. A call to AAA and a tow later, and I’m without a vehicle. I let Matt know he can drive. Sounds ok…except Matt’s life has been flipped upside down by family obligations last minute. Matt juggles it all and tells us he’ll meet us on campus. Jerry agrees to pick everyone else up. Joe, from Mansfield, is still on his way. All will be well, we suppose. I call the pastor to send out a prayer request to our congregation which he does right away. Then I call Tom Wilson, one of our deacons, and he prays for us and commits to continue. I feel like the Lord has already displayed His mighty hand! Even through the misfires, we are on track! Praise God. He has kept us faithful through all this and has enabled us to change our plans.

Now I realize I do not own a stool to stand on for preaching. So I find one I like online and call a friend to pick it up for me (remember, I’m without a car). Instead, Mary offers to simply bring me a stool which I can borrow! Now I have all the equipment I need; a stool, charged amp and speaker, microphone with new batteries, thousands of tracts, 27 bibles with our church information stuffed inside, a cooler of snacks and water, my personal bible and a Cleveland Browns poncho – excellent for covering boxes of bibles and our cordless speaker in the event of rain (and one really good looking combo of brown and orange as well).

The fellowship was sweet, as usual, as we made our way to Lane and Olentangy River Rd. As soon as we got there, Fred, Joe and I started passing out tracts. I immediately got into a great conversation with two young men from Lancaster who were raised Catholic, but understood the message of the gospel of grace. If I remember correctly, their names were Kyle and Ethan (sorry if you are reading this and I just got your name wrong!). If you are a brother or sister in Christ, please take a moment to pray for these two men.

I was sorta waiting for Matt to begin preaching; not sure what was holding him up. I finally stepped on the stool to preach. Very few people stopped to listen, but it was a stoplight scenario, so there were regularly 100 or so people waiting for a green light every 3 minutes for a good half an hour. Fred said he overheard someone say, “those guys were at the Super Bowl, too.” That made me chuckle!

Well, as usual, we met some “Christians.” One self-identified Christian girl gave me the middle finger and yelled F#6% you at me as I preached. I used this as an opportunity to talk about how when a person becomes a Christian, they begin to love righteousness and hate wickedness. I thank God for people like this young lady. She unwittingly drew attention to me and to my message of Christ’s glory, while embarrassing herself in her drunkenness. I remember when Ray Comfort said the best thing that can ever happen to you is a heckler; it makes sense to me now after some time preaching.

We spent a couple hours. The other major highlight was when the guys who drive the bicycles with the carriages on the back took exception to my message. They began to yell things about Satan and generally chuckle and snicker. They eventually got really close to me and cranked up some heavy metal. Again, thanks to God for bringing folks that close in order to draw attention to the message of grace and hope and forgiveness of sins which was being preached. I really enjoyed them, although I called them out a couple times as illustrations. I think they ended up pretty embarrassed by their own foolish behavior. I genuinely told them I wanted them to be forgiven of all their sins, including their attempt to thwart the preaching of God’s Word. May God grant them repentance (that’s the only way anyone exercises it).

Finally, Fred left to go home, and Joe and I still hadn’t found Matt! It turns out he was still stuck in traffic almost 2.5 hours later! Joe and I ambled to Lane and High, where there would be more foot traffic. By 6ish, Matt finally met us. Admitting he was parked illegally, we brainstormed and found a place where he could move his car. We recommended that he go to a gas station and buy a drink; Matt left. As Joe and I waited for him, I noticed Matt kept patting his pockets from across the street. I ran over to find he’d lost his wallet! He had just bought gas. We stopped and prayed. I prayed that the Lord would return Matt’s wallet to him, even if it was in a miraculous way. After a thorough car search, Matt left to go back to where he had bought gas an hour earlier.

As I made my way back across the street, I noticed my cellphone was missing! This was amazing. I had just finished speaking to Joe about spiritual warfare, and now it seemed like somehow someone was trying to prevent us from evangelizing! I went to where Matt had parked his car to look for his wallet and then look for my phone. I found neither. Eventually, I just went back to Joe and started preaching again. There were some people who had questions, and some people who just wanted to heckle, including a really inquisitive lady named Juliana. While discussing the gospel with a couple of young men, Matt walked up and handed me my phone. Praise God, I had just left it in his car when I searched for his wallet!

Matt had checked the gas station and it wasn’t there. So Matt, not realizing I had already checked, went back to his ‘illegal’ parking spot to check for his wallet. As he walked around hoping to find it, a man approached him covered head to toe in Michigan garb. “Are you Matt?” he asked. Matt instantly knew the guy must have had his wallet. What a miracle! Had Matt not planned to buy a drink, he may not have noticed his wallet was missing, and had I kept my cellphone, I may have let him know not to check the parking lot where he ultimately ran into this guy! Matt said, “We gotta root for Michigan tonight!”

Now, having seen the Lord answer prayer and overcome all these things on our behalf, we continued to evangelize for a bit. We got into a long conversation with Juliana who had much disagreement with the bible. Please pray she will have her eyes opened to God’s truth. She was enjoyable to talk to, but I had the feeling at the time and even more so now, that she was just a stall tactic. She occupied our time for a while…and I’m not sure the conversation was entirely fruitful. It actually ended with her saying “Shame on you,” to us and returning the bible we had given her that she had put in her bag.

One other quick anecdote: One young man told us absolute truth did not exist. I asked him if that was absolutely true. He said, “Yes.” When confronted by the fact that his statement was self-refuting, he just sorta got annoyed and walked away. It bothered him that we confessed to have the only message of truth about God.

All in all, it was an excellent day. I still do not have a car until Tuesday, but Matt’s nightmare ride around campus and lost wallet fiasco are all history. Joe was encouraged and encouraged us; and Fred…well Fred’s always just happy to go out. I trust the Lord did wonderful things in the hearts of men and women today. I hope he allows us to see some of those things in this life.

If you are still reading, you are a dear person. I suspect I’d have stopped by now, citing the unnecessary details and general wordiness of the author!

Thank you!