The Hellfire Club

-
Image
  “Just past the weir (going up) is Danes’ Field, where the invading Danes once encamped, during their march to Gloucestershire; and a little further still, nestling by a sweet corner of the stream, is what is left of Medmenham Abbey.   The famous Medmenham monks, or “Hell Fire Club,” as they were commonly called, and of whom the notorious Wilkes was a member, were a fraternity whose motto was “Do as you please,” and that invitation still stands over the ruined doorway of the abbey. Many years before this bogus abbey, with its congregation of irreverent jesters, was founded, there stood upon this same spot a monastery of a sterner kind, whose monks were of a somewhat different type to the revellers that were to follow them, five hundred years afterwards.  The Cistercian monks, whose abbey stood there in the thirteenth century, wore no clothes but rough tunics and cowls, and ate no flesh, nor fish, nor eggs. They lay upon straw, and they rose at midnight to mass. They spen...

Personal (lesson in) evangelism

-
Yesterday evening I had an incredible desire to pray about evangelism, so I began, "Lord, because you have given me so many people to talk to . . ." and I had to stop. Then (because we are a home-schooling family), I had a parent-teacher conference (read: "I said to myself") that went something like this:

"Didn't you mean to pray, 'Lord, please give me someone to share the gospel with?'"

"No," I said to myself, "I meant what I said. God has put so many people across my path that I have not shared the gospel with, I should pray for boldness and clarity to speak."

"But that is so profound," I answered myself in amazement. "Who ever heard of praying that way?"

God apparently has. I was caused to remember that obedience to the Great Commission is about "Going" to those who are already there and either do not know there is a Jesus who has made salvation possible, or do not know they need to repent and confess their sin and be cleansed from all unrighteousness.

If I prayed, "Give me someone to share the gospel with," I am assuming one of two things: either there are so many people around me who are truly converted that I cannot find a lost person with whom to speak; or, I am failing to believe God has sent me with His authority to speak. I settled on the fact that God has indeed already given me people to talk with--I just had to obey Him and go do it. And Satan was ready to thwart the gospel.

We got to the store and I got out with my tracts and my wife had already started talking to this guy who was just sitting in his car a couple of spaces over. I got around the car, she dismissed herself and went it, and I approached the man with a tract. I only got to speak with him a couple of minutes for his wife came out and they had to leave, but he took another tract and he smiled alot, then left.

I kept passing out tracts in the store until an incident occurred (for the sake of those involved, I will spare the details) that caused us to cut our shopping trip short for an emergency run back home. I was boiling hot, getting quite angry because I felt I was not able to have an effective ministry. God said, "really?" I forgot it was His work, not mine I was doing.

We were able to return to our shopping and visited another store (as the first was now closed) and I continued passing out tracts. I will just say I love going to the grocery store because the Security guard there knows that if I do my job, his job will be easier . . . think about it.

Evangelism is obedient and easy. Just get out and do it.

Popular posts from this blog

Rock Me, Epictetus!

-
Image
“Keep constant guard over your perceptions, for it is no small thing you are protecting, but your respect, trustworthiness and steadiness, peace of mind, freedom from pain and fear, in a word your freedom. For what would you sell these things?” EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES, 4.3.6 b –8 
Read more

The Smooth-flowing Life

-
Image
Legend has it that the astronomer Ptolemy (1st century A.D.) suggested that falling stars were caused by the gods moving in the heavens, thus knocking stars out of their places. Somehow people reasoned that that if the gods were moving, they must be getting close to earth so they would lift their "prayers" or "wishes" (literally, "desires") whenever they saw the stars falling in hopes the gods would notice and grant a favorable answer. But how does one wish on falling star? Once you see it, it's gone before the wish or prayer can be made! The answer is simple: meteor shower. That's how to get your wish. Mrs. Ann Hodges had a wish fall right into her lap. Sort of. In 1954 Mrs. Hodges was sleeping on the couch when a 8 1/2 pound meteorite fell through her house and into her living room where it bounced off the radio and struck her left hip leaving her with a bruise. Not sure what she was wishing, but that's not how to do it. Epictetus hel...
Read more