Reaction to Tracting at the Remembrance Day assembly.

Thursday, November 20th 2008, 10:46 PM 55 5
I received a phone call this morning from a Christian friend asking if I had read the local newspaper last night. She emailed me a copy of the letter to the editor so I could read it and I've included the link to that. This is a large PDF file. Please go to page 5 and scroll down to the bottom right. The letter is titled "Truly Offended". http://home.cablerocket.com/~zorq/current/ci.pdf

I've been praying for an opportunity to reach a larger group of people here and I think this may be exactly what I've been hoping for.

I remember approaching this woman at the legion and giving MDB tracts to her, her husband (who is dealing with life-threatening health issues) and their two friends. I am well aware that this woman is anti-God and quite outspoken and I did hesitate approaching their table, but I really felt God nudging me to do it anyways. Yes, the Gospel is offensive to those who are perishing! No wonder she was offended!

I find her complaint to be interesting in view of the fact that we had just left a Remembrance Day service in a Christian Church, organized by the legion executive with my pastor who preached from the gospel (albeit briefly)and paraded to the Cenotaph where there was another service, also led by my pastor. Once inside the legion, I passed out tracts for approximately fifteen minutes and not one of the legion executive present asked what I was doing or asked me to stop. Had they asked me to stop, I would have obliged them immediately.

When my friend broke the news of the letter to me this morning, initially I had this sick feeling which quickly passed when I realized that this would be a huge opportunity for me to witness via the local newspaper for all here to read. The more it sank in, the more excited I became. I can respond, or not respond and that is what I am pondering. The local newspaper owner (whom I used to work for prior to me being saved) loves contention! It sells newspapers! I'm quite certain he would allow me equal opportunity to respond, but I doubt he would let me preach (since he deleted the "religious sales pitch" from her letter) so I would have to word my response very carefully in order to see it go to print. (You all know what I would LIKE to say...the gospel message in 90 seconds or less, but THAT'S not an option.)

Another thought is that this letter may also bring forth additional opportunities to discuss with people I run into who might ask how I feel about that letter in the paper. It would be an easy transition into the Law and Gospel. I couldn't ask for a better conversation starter! We all know each other here and anyone who reads that letter will know that it was a complaint about what I was doing. I pray that God will provide many opportunities to witness to individuals or small groups of people. The only reason I do this is because I love God and I love people and the eternal life of the lost weighs heavily on my heart.

I pray that God is glorified throughout this...however I decide to handle it.