4th of July

We headed out to the Louisiana State Capital building to share the Gospel with those attending the T.E.A. Party event. About 30 minutes before they got started, I stood up and began to preach. It didn't take long before the Department of Public Safety officers came over on a complaint from one of the organizers. They were both extremely professional as they made sure that we intended to cease what we were doing by 6:00pm when the T.E.A. Party was to start up. We assured them we would and we continued. Someone from the event yelled out a disclaimer that we were in no way associated with their group which we had already done in the beginning of our message. They played their music loudly in an effort to drown us out but it didn't work. After I had finished, two guys walked up and began to question our method and our motivation. They suggested we should give away water with a sign saying "If you're thirsty, take some water...If your soul is thirsty ask us about living water." My response was we were simply following Scripture in preaching the Gospel to all creation. (Mark 16:15) They even went so far as to ask me how many people were saved as a result of what we have been doing for the last 6 years. I was truthful when I told him that I had no idea but he pressed so I gave him a number....I told him 5. He quickly jumped on that and questioned our effectiveness based on that number. We reminded him that Noah preached for 120 years and got "0" so I'll stay faithful to deliver the Biblical Gospel message and allow God to save the souls.

While I was speaking with them, Anthony took the megaphone and went to the other side of the property and began to preach. By the time I got there, he already had plenty of hecklers and most claimed to be Christian. One man got right in his face! The DPS officers came over and settled things down in order for us to continue.

When we finished there, we headed to the levee at the USS Kidd to preach to the crowd there. There was a large group of people gathered on the steps of the levee as the time for the fireworks drew near. The police were right above us on top of a Suburban as Anthony began to preach. About 2 minutes into his presentation, two men got up from their seats and walked directly in front of Anthony and stood between him and the crowd. Anthony moved to his left to get around them but they changed their position to get back in front of him. A young lady got up and joined them so I asked them to please move so that we could continue to exercise our Constitutionally protected freedom. Needless to say, they refused. I asked the police to help and they said they had someone working on it as we speak. The police called us over to the handrail and told us we had to stop or they would arrest us. When asked what law we were violating, they told us it was by order of their superior and we could either follow their order or get arrested. We told them that according to city ordinance Sec. 12:103 that we were well within our rights to use the megaphone so they made some more phone calls as we continued.

The Chief of Police, Jeff LeDuff, came over and asked us to do him a favor and to stop what we were doing. He told us that we were not breaking any laws but we would be doing him a favor if we stopped. He explained that he was a Christian and a member of Healing Place Church so he understood why we were doing what we were doing but asked us to quit anyway...even though we had a Constitutional right to do so and were well within local laws and ordinances.

Why is it that people who claim to be Christians are usually the most vocally against what we do to fulfill the Great Commission? The answer, I believe, is a result of a couple of things:

1. They are really not Christians

2. They go to a church that discounts the seriousness of sin by never preaching on it. Their members begin to believe by default or by direct teaching that God would never send anyone to hell and that Christ's sacrifice is universal.

3. Their church regularly makes "altar calls" that begin with "every head bowed and every eye closed".

4. Their church does not believe in the Sovereignty of God and believe that salvation is by the will of man and is not a sovereign act of God.

There were a few at each event that thanked us for the Gospel being preached. Scripture tells us that one of the marks of a true believer is that they love the Word. We won't try to "nice" anyone into the Kingdom. We will bring the unadulterated Gospel regardless of the reaction or response. But let me make it clear that we do so in humility (1Cor 2:2-5; 2Cor 4:7), with much fear and with compassion that comes from the heart of Jesus Christ and the knowledge of what happens to those who die in their sins apart from Christ.

Please pray for us and for those who hear the Gospel.

Baton Rouge Tea Party

Headed downtown to preach to the crowds gathering for the Baton Rouge Tea Party. I was unable to attend the last Tea Party event on April 15 of this year. My brothers in Christ were able to hand out about 300 tracts and even ran into a little trouble with the event organizers. They tried to drown him out but the crowd started to chant "Let him preach!" That is the power of the Holy Spirit making straight the way of the Lord. When God's hand moves, no one can stop Him. This year we take some amplification with us so I'm sure the organizers will be a little more peeved. We will not interrupt them because we will preach prior to the scheduled beginning of their event. I am blessed to have the Christians who support and participate what we do in the name of Jesus to seek and save the lost.

The Death of George Tiller

As we are all aware, George Tiller was murdered in his church on Sunday, May 31st. All true believers should be sad and broken over the victim as well as the suspect. One man made himself judge, jury and executioner and carried out an act that is absolutely inexcusable because he murdered a man created in the image of God. With no Biblical authority, Scott Roeder is believed to have taken human life and has ushered George Tiller into the presence of Almighty God.

Regardless of how you feel about George Tiller, what happened this past Sunday is a travesty. What is interesting is how the press has harped on the fact that Dr. Tiller was in church. My question is: "Why was this man in church?" He is not a Christian yet it is reported that he is an usher in that congregation. Where is church discipline? How can a practicing baby murderer be allowed in the congregation of a Protestant church? Why had the pastor of that flock never exercised the Biblical edict of requiring a practicing sinner to repent or leave the congregation? This is what is wrong with the "church" in America. That anyone could sit in that church while a practicing murderer is allowed to participate in worship and praise of Almighty God is as shocking as his murder.

The irony of his murder is all over the map. George Tiller's widow was quoted describing the slaying as "an unspeakable tragedy." She also said, "This is particularly heart-wrenching because George was shot down in his house of worship, a place of peace." Wow! All of a sudden the idea that human life would be suddenly and violently destroyed in a "place of peace" is unacceptable. I believe the womb is also a place of peace but that did not stop Tiller from entering it and suddenly and violently destroying human life. Where is the outrage for the innocent life ended by George Tiller? Why was his widow not utterly shocked at the practice of her husband? Too much irony here.

Do not misunderstand my position here. I do not rejoice at his death.....not one bit. I know his destiny and it breaks my heart that anyone would reject the Gospel and it's offer of eternal life through surrender to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Though he went to church or served as an usher or his wife was in the choir or put money in the plate there is no way that a man can wantonly take human life, charge a fee to do so, defend the practice and have a heart surrendered to the King. Yes, I am judging...but I judge according to the Word of God and that man will pay for every life he slaughtered. All he had to do was to repent and put his faith and trust in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of all of his sins and for the only righteousness he could ever have before a Holy God and he would have been saved! Yes...even someone who has performed as many murders as he did. The power of God to save to the utmost is not hindered by the volume or magnitude of our sin...thanks be to God! Pray for his family; pray for Scott Roeder; pray that abortion would be made illegal in this country. It is murder.

An Odd Reaction

This past Friday, the 8th of May, a man in line at the DMV actually tried to call 9-1-1 to report my preaching open-air. I have never had anyone call 9-1-1 on me before. A brother in Christ informed him that he was waisting his time since it was my Constitutional right to be there and I also had written permission from the Colonel of the Louisiana State Police. Just thought it was odd.

Healing Place Church sells out

I had to write about the most blatant apostasy that has been recently demonstrated. Joel Osteen hosted a "Night of Hope" on the 25th of April. The title was, to say the least, misleading. Pastor Dino Rizzo from Healing Place Church here in Baton Rouge was apparently invited by the Osteen's to attend the "event". Instead of refusing to participate in the marketing of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, he excitedly posted on his blog how thrilled he was to be there. I opened the Scriptures and searched for Biblical precedent for charging people to hear the Gospel but could find no example by the prophets or the apostles for the practice.

How could anyone who is a true Christian charge admission to hear the Word of God? How could anyone who is a true Christian support, promote and participate in such a travesty? Motivational speakers charge for the hearing of their message and the participants gladly pony up in the hope of getting a boost to their self image or their career goals. So it can be concluded, Scripturally speaking, that Joel Osteen does not preach the Gospel (at least not the Biblical message of sin, righteousness and judgment to come along with the grace of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ) and he is nothing more than a motivational speaker. My concern with all of this is that he is leading people to believe HIS message as truth. It does make you feel good and if anyone is truly saved it will not be because of his preaching but in spite of it.

Pastor Dino Rizzo has facilitated in the promotion of this false teacher and has done so in a way that is nearly idolatrous. Joel Osteen is a man...a sinner like me in need of a Savior. To see him as some sort of giant of the faith knowing full well that he does not preach the truth of God's Word is idolatry. Pastor Dino either knowingly promotes a false teacher or is deceived by the post-modern belief system authored by the father of lies. I know this sounds harsh but Christians cannot stand by and say nothing as the Gospel is hijacked and distorted by people who call themselves Christians but do not know the Gospel. When muslim extremists do things in the name of their god that kill innocent people we are shocked that those in that belief system who want us to believe that islam is a religion of peace do not speak out against these actions. As a Christian, I refuse to stand by and say nothing as those who claim to be Christians do things that bring reproach to my God and my faith.

Pastor Dino Rizzo twittered most of his activities to all the HPC followers as he toured New York City. Interestingly enough, with all the opportunities to preach the true Gospel to the lost of New York City he never once mentioned that he took seriously the Great Commission and opened his mouth for the sake of the souls of that city. It seems that the only "proper" time to preach the Gospel is in a stadium where you can charge money or in the pulpit. What a shame it is that Christ died for the sins of the world and we won't tell anyone how they can have their sins washed away because we don't want to offend anyone. Let's concern ourselves with the opinions of men instead of God.

What about all the poor who could not afford the ticket price to come and hear the so-called "message of hope"? Are their souls not important? Did Christ not die for them or was it only for those who could afford the charge? If I am wrong about this please tell me. I want to know and if so I will repent.

The DMV

I must be doing something wrong. I got applause this morning and a hug from a woman in the line as I handed out tracts. I truly do not expect applause but I realize that we have a strong Christian base in Baton Rouge, LA so I guess the message was effective.
I'm going to LSU's campus in the morning. ESPN College Gameday is filming from Baton Rouge as LSU is hosting #1 ranked Alabama. The crowd should be enormous and I hope to put a million dollar bill into the hands of Lee Courso, Kirk Herbstreet, and Chris Fowler. We'll see what happens.

Election Day

I went to the polls Tuesday, November 4th but not with the intention to vote. I voted absentee about 2 weeks prior so I avoided the long lines on election day as far as voting is concerned but it was the long lines that I wanted. At lunch time, a good line formed at an elementary school and it was moving slowly. I grabbed my tracts and headed in. I was overwhelmed with fear knowing that the polling officials would try to stop me but prayer got me through it. I didn't get 20 words in when the officials asked me to stop. I was not electioneering and felt I was in my rights to speak. She said I was interfering with the election process and that some people had complained. Interestingly enough, no one had even spoken to her at this point. She said I was not allowed to be there unless I was voting at the precinct so I asked her to show me those rules. She left and by God's providence I was able to finish my message before she got back.

This morning I went to the DMV and was able to deliver the Gospel to a sizable crowd. A DPS officer told me I couldn't solicit on state property so I told him that I had written permission from his boss (the Colonel of the State Police). He backed off and took one of the Million Dollar bills after I offered him one. He was very nice and seemed to really appreciate what I was doing. Just an update of what I have been up to and how faithful our Father is.