THE RESCUE SHOP

OUR AUGUST 2011 FIELD REPORT!

2011-08-31T13:14:00.003-03:00

PLEASE DON'T SEND ME TO AFRICA! - Part 1

2011-06-13T00:06:00.003-03:00

Man, this is long overdue... I kept intending on posting the e-mails I sent out during my 3+ week trip to Uganda the last two weeks of January and the first 10 days of February. I'm only getting to it now, believe it or not! So, here goes:

Hello from Uganda!

I thought I'd summarize my first week here in Uganda below. Oh, what a privilege to be here serving the Lord, even if it is only for 23 days! Read on...

Tuesday, Jan. 18 - Friday, Jan. 21

After participating the Dr. Henry Krabbendam's (PEF board member and co-founder of ACTI - The African Christian Training Institute) School of Evangelism (SOE) last week, along with 240 Ugandans from the Teso District, in Palissa (pronounced "pa-lee-SA") in eastern Uganda, and around 6O from Kampala, we went out to put the training into practice in the surrounding neighborhoods as well as in a local health clinic, a hospital and a prison. My two groups - one on Wednesday and one on Thursday - preached the gospel to 34 people, including 23 Muslims! Since Muslims don't believe Jesus died on the cross, nor do they believe in the resurrection, they basically "gut" Christianity of its gospel [i.e., "Good News"], according to 1 Cor. 15:1-6. So when a Christian evangelizes a Muslim, he needs to boldly affirm that gospel and, if he senses skepticism, he should address it.

Therefore, I ask Muslims that if Jesus truly didn't die on the cross and resurrect from the dead, then how do they explain the fact that all the apostles but John died as martyrs preaching that he did? Who would be foolish enough to die for a lie? I tell them that I would rather trust the eyewitness accounts of Jesus' death, burial and resurrection than some religious writings denying those facts written several centuries after the events in question. Up until now no Muslim has had an answer for me.

(Note: Although Uganda officially speaks English, very few people outside the capital - Kampala - speak it. There are around 47 tribal dialects spoken in Uganda, depending on what region you live in. In other words, I'm communicating the gospel through translators up until this point.)

But not all Muslims are totally close-minded. One Muslim lady we shared with couldn't answer many questions we posed to her, so she promised to attend a worship service at the church hosting the PEF School of Evangelism that week. Another Muslim woman invited us as we were walking by to pray for her children, who apparently had malaria. I found it intriguing that a Muslim woman would invite two Christian pastors and a youth leader in to pray for her, so now I know that not all Muslims are so sure about what they supposedly believe. On Thursday, our last day of "practical" training, at least two townspeople were so convicted of their sins that they approached two different groups of evangelists asking, "What must I do (to be saved)?" - right out of the book of Acts (e.g., 2:37)!

This SOE was developed by PEF board member Dr. Henry Krabbendam, a retired Biblical Studies professor from Covenant College in Lookout Mountain, TN. Over the past 27 years "Dr. K," as he has been warmly nicknamed, has been coming to Uganda 2-4 times a year, bringing teams of Covenant College students and/or pastors and laymen to experience what he calls an "abundance culture." Americans can do things here that would be unheard of in the U.S. For example, where in the U.S. can you go up to a house and get a family to stop everything in order to to hear the gospel?And be so well received that they'll give you their only chair, stool or bench to sit on while they sit in the dirt to listen? And to top it off, the family is Muslim??!! Uganda was part of what is commonly known here as The East African Revival, which started back in the late 1920's. One denomination - the Anglicans (Church of Uganda) - has had an average of 100,000 converts a year over the course of its 150 year existence in Uganda. Even today there is a church that has seen over 500 Muslims convert to Christianity and become members of the church! Abundance culture!

Taking advantage of this openness, we went room to room to talk with patients - mostly with malaria - and their families at a local health clinic last Thursday. Again, we were so well received. In addition to preaching the gospel, we prayed over the sick and are trusting in God's healing, especially for those who need a sign of His love and power to help motivate them to repent and believe the gospel. One patient was a pastor... who doesn't own a Bible! Incredible! Did you know that about U.S. $6.50 will buy a Bible in the local dialect? Yet this is very expensive to the majority of Ugandans. I couldn't get my hands on a Bible in the local dialect of that pastor before having to leave the next morning, but I left him in the hands of host church's youth leader, who lives two blocks from the clinic. I am increasingly burdened over the needs that leaders of God's people have here. On the one hand English materials are in such abundance in the West, but few find their way to English-speaking pastors in Africa (not to mention non-English-speaking ones)! Something must be done!

Oh, and that health clinic? The most appropriate word for it: SCARY! It was dirty, had windows missing glass, no screens, one sink to wash hands... that didn't work! Patients lying on vinyl mattresses. If you want a sheet, you have to take your own! No ambulances. If you're in an car accident, the police will put you in the back of their pick-up and take you as fast as possible to the nearest hospital. Assuming you survive the truck ride, you'll be facing the same conditions I just described. In other words, good luck! The wife of one of the pastors on our team - from Birmingham, AL - is a nurse and was horrified!

Okay, I guess that's about it. We headed back to Kampala - a 6 hour drive - to join up with six more pastors from the U.S. We are a team of thirteen Americans and several Ugandans from Kampala on this project, not to mention the hundreds from the towns and surrounding areas that are participating in the School of Evangelism. May our/their tribe increase!

God bless!

Bill

ENDING 2010 STRONG!

2011-01-07T21:19:00.026-02:00

Wow! I can't believe I haven't posted anything here for nearly two months! I guess it had something to do with the school year ending, Christmas, New Year's, etc. I'm sure you can relate.

8-32 BOARD GIVES GOOD ADVICE
Anyway, it's been a good year... especially the second semester. I met last July - while we were in the U.S. for our new mission agency's annual conference - with my The 8-32 Movement advisory board, comprised of two pastors, two mission committee chairmen, a church elder and a very-interested layman. One important piece of advice that I was given was to move 8-32 closer to home by returning to the public university - Fluminense Federal University (UFF) - where our ministry in the Greater Rio de Janeiro area began in 1994! We had wanted to stay away one more semester to allow most of the students we knew while serving with Campus Crusade at UFF had graduated, but I saw the wisdom in my board's advice. I'm sure glad we returned.

ROOTS!
Upon our return our initial strategy was to "filter" out those students at UFF as well as from several private universities in our city - Niterói - by offering a biblical* evangelism course. We had 26 students participate in our class (in person and/or virtually) but, due to four long weekends this past semester, our class lost some momentum. However, we ended with a strong nucleus of eight students and one professor; these will be our key people with whom we plan to kick off the new school year this coming March.

CAMPUS EVANGELISM
On the evangelism front, I developed a banner diagramming Josh McDowell's Lord, Liar or Lunatic? argument to generate interest in seriously considering Christ's claims to be God and the implications of those claims: "You can either accept Him or reject Him as your God, Lord and Savior." Of course, introducing Jesus' role as Savior opened the door for me to share the biblical gospel with my listeners. Aïda and I ended the year having reached - primarily via this method - 1,038 students. Of course we used our campus ministry background in personal evangelism and discipleship to take our Biblical Evangelism module students sharing on campus, which is reflected in our total.

GETTING PERSONAL: Brenda (from our last newsletter)
As Brenda and I (Aïda) approached Livia on Brenda's campus (UniPli) we immediately felt welcomed. ”I love to talk about God," Livia exclaimed. "I've got a whole hour before my bus comes!”
When we started dialoging with Livia she told us she believed she would go to heaven if she were to die that night. But soon, after a few penetrating questions, she agreed that if she were to die that night she would be guilty before God and, according to the Bible, deserve eternal punishment. We asked her if she would like to hear what God had done so that she didn't have to end up in hell. She quickly shot back, "Yes, of course!" After telling Livia the Good News of Jesus' substitutionary atonement and resurrection so that she could be made acceptable before a holy God, she said she wanted to benefit from the gospel by repenting and trusting in Christ. Livia then thanked us and told us that she had only become interested in spiritual issues a month earlier; at that time she decided to check out a class for seekers at a local Catholic church. She confided in us that she didn't get much out of that class because it ended up only being a “self-study” course!

GETTING PERSONAL: André (from our last newsletter)
André, a Telecommunications Engineering student on our main campus - UFF - leads evangelism in his church; however, he had never shared his faith on campus. When he heard of our class he was eager to learn to do evangelism in the university context.
Bill began taking Andre with him to share the gospel one-on-one with students, in addition to involving him in his "mini-talk" evangelism outside the main student cafeteria. As you may remember, Bill effectively uses his "The Trilema of Christ: Lord, Liar or Lunatic?" banner there almost daily to expose students to the gospel. He said that Andre's presence enables him to speak to many more people because Andre deals with students more one-on-one, which frees Bill up to explain his banner – including why each needs Jesus as his or her God, Lord and Savior and how to benefit from His sacrifice for sin – to many more students who stop to watch and listen.
Although he has only done five classes so far, Andre has already grasped the essence of how to share his faith biblically, leading a good number of those he's "practiced on" to repentance and faith in Christ. He even preached to a group of seven neighborhood bar-goers one Saturday during a heavy rainstorm. All were stranded at their sidewalk table. "I was shocked to see all their heads bowed as I led them in a prayer of repentance and faith!" an amazed Andre later exclaimed. And to top it all off we're in the middle of giving our abbreviated Biblical Evangelism Module to Andre's church - plus 3 others - including taking the 60 participants – along with 3 pastors - out into the neighborhood to put their training into practice!

MORE 8-32 COMPONENTS
8-32's Professional component saw me primarily using open air preaching to reach those who work in downtown Rio. The missionary who had some experience working with professionals sensed God's leading to do something different this year, so we didn't develop this component. In fact, until God raises up some interested professionals (ideally graduates from our campus ministry) or a missionary experienced with "marketplace ministry," we're going to put this aspect of our ministry on hold. As far as our Church component, thanks to one of of the UFF students involved in our class, 8-32 developed its Biblical Evangelism module (a 6-8 hour seminar - including an outing in the neighborhood to put the training into practice). Sixty-two people started our course, but only 26 finished. We think it had something to do with the fact that we spread it out over two Sunday afternoons. Live and learn! Next time we'll do it all in one day! Mainly due to my open air preaching 2-3 afternoons a week in downtown Rio, not to mention some select crowd-gathering events like Carnival, Rio's annual Gay Pride parade, several Catholic and Spiritist festivals and New Year's Eve festivities, 8-32 preached the gospel to over 48,000 people in 2010!

WRAP-UP
So, I'd say 8-32 had a good first year of existence. I know one thing: Aïda and I feel free now to do what God has gifted - not to mention called - us to do, and that included preaching the biblical gospel to thousands, teaching and training 160 students and laymen in biblical evangelism, preaching six sermons, teaching 25 weeks of Sunday School, etc.

PEF
On top of that, He has called us to do what we do as part of an excellent little mission agency - in existence since the year Aïda was born (i.e., 1958) - Presbyterian Evangelistic Fellowship - PEF! After participating in PEF's annual Family Conference last July in Elizabethton, TN, we came away totally impressed with the caliber of men and women who, like us, serve the Lord through this organization around the world!

2011: THE NEXT COUPLE OF MONTHS
So, that's about it for now. I hope this recap of The 8-32 Movement in 2010 has been an encouragement. Look out 2011! I'll be starting the year out by heading to Uganda on January 13 to participate in a School of Evangelismand missions project put on by two PEF leaders twice a year there. Since we hope to host them here in Rio next July, I look forward to "testing the waters" with them in Uganda. I also look forward to doing some biblical evangelism in a primarily English-speaking African nation for a change. My previous four trips to Africa have been to Portuguese-speaking countries - with the exception of a couple of days spent preaching at Wits University in Johannesburg, South Africa in February, 2009. God bless!
-----------------------------
* Biblical Evangelism is a term used by author and speaker Ray Comfort of Living Waters Ministries along with actor Kirk Cameron, both of Way of the Master TV & Radio. The principles of Biblical Evangelism can be found in Ray Comfort's book, Hell's Best Kept Secret, which talks about the biblical principles that Jesus laid out for us regarding evangelizing the lost (e.g., using the moral law - the Ten Commandments - to reveal to them their sin and show them their need for a Savior); see Matthew 19:16-30; Mark 10:17-31; Luke 18:18-30 for biblical examples. The basic concept is this: LAW for the proud-hearted; GRACE for the humble-hearted. In other words, we must first show people that they have a “contagious disease" called SIN (John 3:36, Rom 3:23) which will eventually eternally "kill" them (Rom 6:23). By helping people understand this Bad News first - that all will perish and go to hell if they die in their sins - then the cure of the Good News of the gospel (Jesus Christ's' death & resurrection for our sins) will suddenly make total sense! They will be able to clearly understand what they are being saved from (i.e., God's justice, holiness and wrath); the Good News of Jesus Christ will truly be good news! One more important aspect to Biblical Evangelism: One truly converts to Christianity by repenting of his or her sins and by placing his or her faith/trust in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. Both repentance and faith are understood to be gifts of God, so pressuring an unbeliever to "make a decision for Christ" via "the sinner's prayer" is frowned upon.

BIBLICALLY-GROUNDED AFRICAN PASTORS!

2010-11-20T13:57:00.001-02:00

Late last month I had the privilege of attending my first FIEL Ministries pastors/leaders conference in Águas de Lindóia, São Paulo. I, along with over 1,300 pastors and leaders from all over Brazil, was greatly ministered to on the theme The Way of God. God's way is not a new, post-modern/emergent way. In fact, someone has wisely said that we don't need to reinvent - a lá Brian McLaren - Christianity; we need to rediscover it. And rediscover it we did!

With speakers of the caliber of Dr. Joel Beeke, Dr. Steve Lawson and Dr. Don Kistler we were taken back several centuries to sit at the feet of John Calvin, the Puritans and Jonathan Edwards. I stocked up on several Puritan books, which I am currently reading. The wisdom that emerged from the pens - and lives - of those godly men (16th through the 18th centuries) is still educating us today! What a legacy!

I would like to now draw your attention to a very special program highlighted at the conference called "Adopt-a-Pastor," which is coordinated by FIEL for pastors in the Portuguese-speaking world, including several African nations. Having spent two summer vacations in Mozambique, I can honestly say I have developed a deep love for the Mozambican people, especially the Church there. We've also been to Cape Verde and Angola on missions projects, where the need for theologically-solid books is just as acute. For example, a study bible that costs US $50,00 here in Brazil costs US $200.00 in Luanda! Of course the average pastor's salary makes it virtually impossible to acquire such expensive, imported items. Spend a few minutes watching the following video on the Adopt-a-Pastor program in Mozambique. Then, if God leads you to get involved, please follow up on that leading! There are some pastors - and congregations - literally starving for want of the good teaching that comes from good books!

Mozambique Project (English Subtitles) from Editora Fiel on Vimeo.

God bless you!

THE CAMPUS CHRONICLES - Part 2

2010-10-30T13:03:00.005-02:00

This week Aïda - my wife - set up two appointments with two women involved in our Biblical Evangelism course that we're currently offering to university students in Niterói, Rio de Janeiro. One of the women, Brenda Ticiane, studies on a local private campus, Plinio Leite University (UniPli). Aïda met her on her campus and they approached two different students over the course of the hour they had scheduled to do evangelism.

Both girls were open to conversing, especially after Aïda demonstrated for Brenda how to use the Ten Commandments to appeal to the person's conscience. With questions like "Have you ever told a lie?" in light of the ninth commandment ("Thou shalt not bear false witness.") and "Have you ever taken something that didn't belong to you, including downloading or photocopying things without paying? in reference to the eighth commandment ("Thou shalt not steal."), Aïda was able to show the women she and Brenda had approached that they were sinners ("...sin is the transgression of the Law" - 1 John 3:4 KJV) and subject to an eternal and painful penalty for their crimes (Rom. 6:23; Rev. 21:8; 1 Cor. 6:9-10). One student had claimed to already be a Christian, but knew nothing about the Bible and demonstrated an very unbiblical worldview. She was left with the challenge to "repent and believe the gospel" (Mark 1:15), thus ensuring her conversion and salvation. The other student didn't decide to abandon her sin and place her faith in Jesus as the only one who "... died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures..." (1 Cor. 15:3-4), but at least both left understanding their need for Jesus Christ and what they needed to do to benefit from his sacrifice: repentance and faith.

After her appointment at UniPli Aïda went to meet with Michele Estarneks, a Business Administration student on The 8-32 Movement's main campus, Fluminense Federal University (UFF). Michele had asked a Christian friend of hers to tag along and learn how to do biblical evangelism from Aïda, so the three of them first approached two women. They asked questions related to God's Law, but one declared, "I don't believe that God would send a homosexual to hell who only does good to his fellow man while allowing a horrible person who supposedly converts on his death bed into heaven!" Recognizing her comment as an attempt to flee the implications of breaking God's Law, Aïda wisely directed the student back to her situation before a holy God. Both had to head off to class, but not before hearing of the solution God offers in Christ.

Aïda, Michele and Michele's friend then approached a group of five women in the Biological Sciences area. All claimed to be Christians, but Aïda decided to verify their conversions using our biblical evangelism questionnaire. All but one of the women confirmed they had repented of their sins and were trusting in Christ as their Savior and Lord, so it was good that Aïda decided to take them all through the questionnaire. The one student who wasn't truly converted now understands her true situation before God and what she needs to do to remedy it. Both Michele's friend, who was exposed to our approach for the first time, and two of the women in the group of eight that was evangelized in the Bio-Sci area of campus decided that they want to join our class every Monday afternoon! Aside from the obvious benefits to the unsaved - of Christians doing evangelism - our outreach efforts can be used by God to motivate Christians to "hit the streets" after getting properly equipped!

Meanwhile, after being out all of last week at an excellent conference for pastors and leaders (an annual conference put on by one of the better evangelical publishing companies here in Brazil - Editora Fiel [English site] - that publishes books by John MacArthur, John Piper, Al Mohler, Joel Beeke, Steve Lawson, Puritan authors, etc.), I was back at UFF this week preaching the gospel via my apologetics banner on "The Trilemma of Christ" (see Oct. 7th post) and training new disciples like André Orsi (Telecommunications Engineering-UFF) and freshman Filipe Gonçalves (Physics) in biblical evangelism.

One guy André and I approached was a former church member who had fallen away. After taking him through the Law, I asked him if he would be found innocent or guilty on Judgment Day for having broken God's Law. He said, "Guilty." I then asked him if he'd go to heaven or hell? He said, "Hell." I asked him if that made him worry, to which he answered, "Yes. A lot!" I asked him if he knew what God had done so that he wouldn't have to go to hell when he died. He said he didn't know, so I explained the Good News of Jesus dying for our sins, being buried and resurrecting on the third day. I told him that, in order to benefit from Jesus payment for our sins on the cross, he needed to repent of his sins and place his faith/trust in Jesus as his Savior and Lord. I then showed him Psalm 51, had him read it and asked him if that expressed what he was wanting to say to God. He said it did, but because I sensed a bit of reluctance on his part to talk to God in front of us, I encouraged him to follow repentant David's lead and get right with God ASAP.

Meanwhile, André invited him to his church because he lives relatively close to it. Let's pray for Márcio... that he would truly repent and believe and get plugged into a good church like the one André is a member of.

All in all Aïda and I preached the gospel to 54 students this week - primarily at UFF. At least two of those were "ripe for the pickin'," and the others clearly heard who they were in God's sight (i.e., law-breakers and sinners under condemnation), what God did so that they wouldn't have to spend an eternity in hell (i.e., 1 Cor. 15:3-4) and how they could benefit from what God did (i.e., Mark 1:15). In addition, each was given evangelistic materials to mull over after. And hey, we recruited at least three new students for our biblical evangelism course in the process... while giving hands-on training to some of those already enrolled!

Not a bad week, I'd say. Not a bad week at all!

THE CAMPUS EVANGELISM CHRONICLES, Part 1

2010-10-07T20:31:00.008-03:00

This week has been gear-switching! I put together a vertical banner on The Trilemma of Christ, based on C.S. Lewis' words in his little book, Mere Christianity (The MacMillan Company, 1960, pp. 40-41):

I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God.' That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic - on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg - or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.

Well-known author and speaker Josh McDowell diagrammed Lewis' argument like this:

Of course my banner is in Portuguese, and I added C.S. Lewis' quote at the bottom under the heading "Conclusions of a Scholar." I can assure you these kinds of visual aids really generate a lot of curiosity among students!

For example, the first day I used it - this past Tuesday, Oct. 5, over 70 people stopped to read my banner. I was able to walk 40 of them through the argument, bringing in the gospel at the end by saying, "The most logical way to deal with Jesus' claims is to conclude that He was telling the truth about Himself. The other options present serious problems in common sense terms. If Jesus was telling the truth, He is God. If Jesus is God, by definition He is also Lord over His creation. However, Jesus didn't make the claims He made so that we would agree intellectually with those claims. He made them so that we would make Him Lord of our lives! How do we do that? Well, we first have to recognize that He is not Lord of our lives because of our rebellion against His lordship. We demonstrate our rebellion by breaking His laws: for example, 'Thou shalt not steal,' 'Thou shalt not commit adultery,' 'Thou shalt not bear false witness,' 'Thou shalt not have any other gods besides Me,' etc. When we break a human law, we're subject to the consequences. In the same way, when we break a divine law, we are subject to divine consequences. The Bible says that 'sin is the transgression of the Law' (1 Jn. 3:4) and that the consequences of breaking God's Law - or sinning - is the eternal death penalty (Rom. 6:23). In order to 'make Jesus Christ Lord of your life,' you have to first deal with your sin problem by repenting of your sin (i.e., 'changing your mind' to the point of hating your sin) and depositing your faith in Jesus as your Lord and Savior, as the only one who can solve your dilemma (i.e., Because God is holy and just, He cannot let sinners into heaven and He must execute the sentence He already announced in Romans 6:23). Think seriously about this because, if you die in your rebellion against Jesus as God and Lord, you will not go to heaven when you die. You will end up in hell." At the end I gave each listener an evangelistic tract with The 8-32 Movement's e-mail on the back.

I can't express enough my satisfaction over knowing that I am declaring truth about Jesus Christ in the university context (and in a way they can relate to) as well as clearly presenting the biblical gospel (i.e., bad news + Good News + repentance + faith). God is also bringing Christians to the surface on campus who've been looking for a serious Christian group to plug into.

Speaking of Christians coming out of the woodwork on campus, we had our third week of Biblical Evangelism classes this past Monday. The group was down to six UFF students this week (several had time conflicts and/or tests), one student from a local private university (UNIPLI) and a Math professor from another private university (UNIVERSO). We also had two women participating from the church that is hosting The 8-32 Institute, Red Beach Baptist Church, as well as our two daughters.

During class Aïda and I asked students to put their evangelism training into practice by going out witnessing with us. Aïda set up appointments with two girls, while I set up appointments with three of the guys. Due to extenuating circumstances, I was only able to make one of those appointments, but WHAT AN APPOINTMENT!

I met with Stephan, an Engineering major, to go out sharing. Stephan had already concluded, based on his own studies, that he needs to be biblical in his evangelism. When he saw our poster on campus advertising The 8-32 Institute's Biblical Evangelism classes, he jumped at the chance to be a part! We met a History major by the name of Renato, who was studying alone before heading for lunch. Renato was an interesting person because his mother has been attending evangelical churches the past several years. Despite his mother's influence, Renato has chosen a different "god" - the god of Pantheism. When I read the following passage to him, however, he changed his tune:

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.

Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.

Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them (Rom. 1:18-32).

After sharing the biblical gospel with him during our interview, Renato congratulated us for "hanging in there and patiently dealing with my views." He also said that my reading of the Romans passage to him made him rethink his concept of God. Our prayer is that Renato's concept of God will become that of the God of the Bible. We're also praying that God's Law will continue to have its intended effect, convicting Renato of sin, righteousness and judgment and driving him to the cross of Christ.

After witnessing to Renato, Stephan and I walked over to the main cafeteria on campus. We set up my Lord, Liar or Lunatic banner display outside a main exit. The curiosity level was not as high as the day before, perhaps due to the fact that many students had the opportunity to read the banner while waiting in the lunch line. Tomorrow I will cover some of the key points so that students will want to stop after lunch to "figure out" the crazy American missionary's banner!

To be continued...

CALL IN THE MARINES - Reflections on Those Who Are "Takin' It To The Streets!"

2010-10-02T13:21:00.015-03:00

I was reflecting yesterday on the, sometimes, shocked reactions I get from so-called "Christians" when I am open air preaching (a "nicer" way of saying "street preaching," but can include campus preaching). I remember one group that passed me back in 2007 on its way to an ice hockey game in Atlanta. One guy yelled out, "You're doing it all wrong!" Apparently emphasizing the justice, wrath and fear of the Lord was, to that guy, "doing it all wrong." Another time a lady reacted to my quotation of Psalm 111:10 & Proverbs 9:10, which say, "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom." I was biblically justifying the message on my banner, which used "NFL" in the following acrostic: Need to Fear the Lord! The lady in question blurted, "The Bible doesn't say that! It says, 'The LOVE of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom!'" Such biblical ignorance!

I find it amazing what some so-called "Christians" will come up with to try to get you to stop preaching because, as emergent heretic Rob Bell so honestly puts it in his "Bullhorn Guy" video, "Bullhorn guy, I don't think it's working... I actually think it's making things worse... And to be honest, it's confusing for me, because you and I end up getting painted with the same brush."

In other words, most so-called "Christians" - of which Bell is one - complain about street preachers mainly because of how it reflects on them. They are, frankly, incredibly embarrassed at the thought that someone might actually equate them with the "Bullhorn Guys" out there.

I don't know where you stand on all this, but I am an unashamed "Bullhorn Guy." Why? Because I, along with those who've preached before me, serve a very special purpose in the "Army of God." You could compare us to those who "soften the target" by "being the first ones in" when invasion time comes. Open air preachers are like the Army Special Forces who go in and take out key targets before the main invasion. Or we could be compared to the Marines, who pride themselves on being the first ones to "hit the beach" when the invasion begins. Either way, we serve an important role in God's Army. Let's just say that the success of an evangelistic mission may depend on what we "marines" do either before that mission actually starts or gains momentum.

Think about how open air preachers in the 18th, 19th and even 20th centuries were used of God to spark Great Awakenings and revivals. It is said of John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, that he once preached open air to nearly 20,000 people (without a sound system either!) on the holiness of God. When he finished and everyone had left, there were 1,800 people unconscious and laying all over the field. They had been so convicted regarding God's holiness and their unholiness that the only way they could deal with the "pain" of the Holy Spirit's conviction via Wesley's preaching was to pass out.

Are you beginning to see how important the role of the open air preacher is in God's Army now? So, instead of questioning the validity of God's Special Forces, why don't we think about the benefits they bring to the evangelistic mission of the Church?

First, if it weren't for open air preachers, many people would still be clueless as to which standard God will be using to judge them someday. Let's face it, to say the things street preachers say in most pulpits today would empty churches of all but real believers, and that would be disastrous for the seeker-friendly, emergent and liberal varieties. In other words, there would have to be a lot of downsizing - and even unemployment - which is a price most churches are unwilling to pay.

Second, if it weren't for street preachers, many people would not understand why they really need Jesus. I mean, we have pastors and church members "hawking" Jesus as a cure-all for bad marriages, mediocre sex lives, rebellious teens, financial problems... basically, for anything and everything, including "Your Worst Life Now." Somebody has to tell them the truth regarding their rebellion and the eternal consequences they'll face if they die rebels without the blood of Lamb of God applied to the "doorposts" of their lives.

Third, street preachers prepare the hearts of the lost for the Good News. Let's just say we do the dirty work, which is something many Christians, conditioned by our PC world, aren't willing to do. For the most part Christians today are afraid to tell people straight out that they are wrong, dead wrong. We have gotten so used to hearing everyone else's opinions, but we've also gotten used to having ours "shot down" in the media, in the classroom, in the lunch room, etc. So we clam up when it's our turn to opine! That is sad, so we street preachers are actually doing you less-courageous brothers and sisters a HUGE favor! By not beating around the bush, we're providing you with all sorts of potential witnessing opportunities! My advice? Instead of running for cover like a cowardly soldier in his first beach invasion, take full advantage of the opportunities we provide! Storm the banks! The enemy is out of ammunition!

Lastly, although there could be many more benefits mentioned as to the role of street preachers in God's Army, is the benefit of emboldening Christians. The growing "street preacher movement," which is confirming false teacher Rob Bell's worst fears, is alive and well and serves as a reaction by true believers to the myriad of truth-compromising, unbiblical evangelistic approaches being promoted by so many. Open air preaching is biblical and, despite what the culture-first crowd may tell you, still incredibly relevant! Any time a Christian communicates biblical truth to a non-Christian, that is highly relevant! And as for being biblical, let's not forget that Jesus never said, "Go into all the world and make friends with non-Christians," or "Go into all the world and invite people to your seeker-friendly service." He said, "Go into all the world and PREACH THE GOSPEL TO ALL CREATION." Enough said!

So, the next time you come across a "Bullhorn Guy," read an account of one of his outreaches or watch one of his videos (there are literally hundreds, if not thousands on YouTube), try to think of him as a member of God's Special Forces whose role is to make it easier for YOU to share your faith!

One last thought: Some object to "Bullhorn Guy" because they say he's turning people off. That reasoning totally ignores how the Bible describes people without Christ: DEAD (Eph. 2:1)! Think about that the next time you're tempted to underestimate God's role in a person's salvation. After all, if God doesn't show up, you can befriend an unbeliever all you want and he will NEVER become a Christian. Acts 11:18 says that God has to grant people the ability to repent. Eph. 2:8 says that God has to give saving faith... as a gift! So don't give yourself too much credit for a person's conversion. At the same time, don't blame "Bullhorn Guy" too much for a person's continuation in sinful rebellion. It's called the doctrine of monergism, which says that a person's conversion is all about God and not us. Our role is to PREACH, because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of Christ (Rom. 10:17).

MY FIRST CAMPUS PREACH AS 8-32!

2010-09-10T10:00:00.003-03:00

Today (Sept. 3) I took a step of faith and preached for about 2 and a half hours at a public university campus (UERJ) in a neighboring city (São Gonçalo). This is the first time I've preached at a university here as part of PEF and The 8-32 Movement (I felt led to preach at UFRJ in Rio de Janeiro the day after the Virginia Tech shootings while still with Campus Crusade. Some student even asked me if I was a Mormon!). Since September of 2009 all my preaching has been in downtown Rio de Janeiro or at public events, but never actually on a campus... until today!

To be honest, it was kind of frustrating because nobody tried to interrupt me by asking any questions or trying to refute what I was saying (which is normal on U.S. campuses). I think they just didn't know how to react to something like this, unlike the U.S. Campus preaching is just too new here still. When I finished preaching I went around handing out evangelistic tracts, which most took; one professor-looking lady didn't want one, however. I asked her if she had heard what I had been preaching, but she pretended to have been involved in a conversation the whole time. I do remember, however, seeing her sitting alone a good part of her time in that area - an eating area. In the spirit of Acts 18:5-6, I told her that her blood was on her own head while a girl at the next table started to argue with me regarding my motives and methodology, accusing me of breaking the law by discriminating against homosexuals. She even showed me in the Civil Code where I was supposedly being discriminatory. Well, that was just what some other cowardly students were waiting for - who didn't have the guts to raise any objections while I preached; suddenly I found myself engaged in conversation with 8 students - all women except for one rather large, effeminate male. I was loving it! Finally, some reaction!

After handling their questions and objections biblically and seeing them disappear one by one as they headed off to class, one female student was left. Based on a question she had raised earlier, I asked her if she was from an evangelical church (assuming that he might be a false convert). She informed me that she was into Candomblé, which is African Spiritism! I told her she was directly involved in a satanic religion and that the "spirits" they sought to "incorporate" (i.e., become possessed by) in their rituals were demons. I showed her Lev. 19:31, which says, "Do not turn to mediums or spiritists; do not seek them out to be defiled by them. I am the LORD your God."

I'll never forget a former Spiritist-leader-turned-Christian who told me a few years ago that his wife had warned him that the Bible didn't approve of his being a medium. He challenged her to show him where it said that and, if she could, he'd stop immediately. She herself wasn't a Christian and didn't know the Bible, so he continued on as a Spiritist medium another 20 years before he converted! Hopefully God will awaken this student to the folly of her religious practices and convict her to the point of converting to Christianity [On a side note, most of the men who go through the Candomblé rituals become homosexuals, demonstrating a clear spiritual cause behind many homosexual lifestyles.]. At least I believe I gave this student something to think about. Now she knows that the Bible prohibits what she's into, which most have never heard.

When I was leaving I was called over by a couple of campus security guards. They told me that there had been a lot of complaints to the administration - especially regarding the way I had confronted the homosexuality on campus, which is apparently rampant. I discovered that two professors in the School of Education are lesbian partners, while another lesbian professor recently adopted a child. Many of the guys on that campus look and act effeminate, while many of the women appear to be their "sympathizers." I preached that a "gay sympathizer" thinks they're being so loving by accepting their gay friends' lifestyles, but in reality they are being hateful towards them by contributing to their eternal condemnation! Hopefully God will use what I said to shake the "sympathizers" up a bit, not to mention the homosexuals and lesbians.

Back to the security guards: I was told that I could come on campus, but would need to get authorization to preach there in the future. I was thinking, "All I did was speak loudly (i.e., no bullhorn) and not near any classrooms. It sounds like, because they don't like what I said, I'll now have to get permission to 'speak loudly' on a public university campus that I, as a Brazilian resident, pay taxes to keep functioning." I decided to check with the campus administration to make sure this was the case and was told that I would need to submit a request in writing. So, I'm not sure if I'll be given permission to preach the next time, but I'll jump through their hoops and see what happens. I may need to line up a good lawyer if my request is denied. Or I may take a more low-key approach and hold a confrontational sign (vs. banner) to generate some interaction.

Anyway, I just thought I'd share this good news. I don't believe God is leading me to travel around Brazil to preach on the campuses at this point, but the least I can do is get some good experience on Rio's campuses in the event that He calls me to go regional or national in the future. If He doesn't, the schools in the area will at least have the privilege of having a preacher visit them to preach, ideally, once a semester.

HELPING STUDENTS "SEE" ETERNITY!

2010-08-26T10:05:00.000-03:00

This past Tuesday (Aug. 24) I was talking to a college student here in Niterói (state of Rio de Janeiro) who felt all of us will go "to a better place" when we die and that God won't judge anybody. Even when I asked him if he thought God would be just to allow Hitler into this "better place," he said that was up to Him. At the end of our conversation, I told him that if he is right, I'll be fine. I'll go to the "better place" too. But if I'm right, he will end up in hell. He was shocked and said, "What are you doing? Prophesying that I'm going to hell??!!" I told him that I wasn't prophesying anything unless he dies in his sinful rebellion, meaning he'll go to hell. I then quoted Rom. 3:23 and 6:23 to back my claims. Pray for Felipe, who studies Economics at Fluminense Federal University (UFF), that my words will keep ringing in his ears and that he won't be able to sleep until he runs to the Savior, Jesus!

My First YouTube Video!

2010-08-02T03:34:00.003-03:00

I finally figured out how to upload videos from my iPhoto application (Apple OS), so I plan on sharing a lot more visual stuff to accompany my words here. One disclaimer: I didn't edit anything, so please forgive the profanity coming out of the mouths of these two drunk students. For some reason my blog layout cuts off part of the YouTube videos, so if you prefer to see the entire video, click here. Now, here you go!

REPENT FROM WHAT?

2010-07-02T13:50:00.003-03:00

The following question and answer are from the GotQuestions.org website. I thought it would be interesting to record these here plus my comment on the Got Questions blog. Since I preach the need people have to "repent and believe," I am always interested in these kinds of discussions!

Question: "What is repentance and is it necessary for salvation?"

Answer: Many understand the term repentance to mean “turning from sin.” This is not the biblical definition of repentance. In the Bible, the word repent means “to change one’s mind.” The Bible also tells us that true repentance will result in a change of actions (Luke 3:8-14; Acts 3:19). Acts 26:20 declares, “I preached that they should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds.” The full biblical definition of repentance is a change of mind that results in a change of action.

What, then, is the connection between repentance and salvation? The Book of Acts seems to especially focus on repentance in regards to salvation (Acts 2:38; 3:19; 11:18; 17:30; 20:21; 26:20). To repent, in relation to salvation, is to change your mind in regard to Jesus Christ. In Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost (Acts chapter 2), he concludes with a call for the people to repent (Acts 2:38). Repent from what? Peter is calling the people who rejected Jesus (Acts 2:36) to change their minds about Him, to recognize that He is indeed “Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:36). Peter is calling the people to change their minds from rejection of Christ as the Messiah to faith in Him as both Messiah and Savior.

Repentance and faith can be understood as “two sides of the same coin.” It is impossible to place your faith in Jesus Christ as the Savior without first changing your mind about who He is and what He has done. Whether it is repentance from willful rejection or repentance from ignorance or disinterest, it is a change of mind. Biblical repentance, in relation to salvation, is changing your mind from rejection of Christ to faith in Christ.

It is crucially important that we understand repentance is not a work we do to earn salvation. No one can repent and come to God unless God pulls that person to Himself (John 6:44). Acts 5:31 and 11:18 indicate that repentance is something God gives—it is only possible because of His grace. No one can repent unless God grants repentance. All of salvation, including repentance and faith, is a result of God drawing us, opening our eyes, and changing our hearts. God's longsuffering leads us to repentance (2 Peter 3:9), as does His kindness (Romans 2:4).

While repentance is not a work that earns salvation, repentance unto salvation does result in works. It is impossible to truly and fully change your mind without that causing a change in action. In the Bible, repentance results in a change in behavior. That is why John the Baptist called people to “produce fruit in keeping with repentance” (Matthew 3:8). A person who has truly repented from rejection of Christ to faith in Christ will give evidence of a changed life (2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 5:19-23; James 2:14-26). Repentance, properly defined, is necessary for salvation. Biblical repentance is changing your mind about Jesus Christ and turning to God in faith for salvation (Acts 3:19). Turning from sin is not the definition of repentance, but it is one of the results of genuine, faith-based repentance towards the Lord Jesus Christ.

My Comment: I too like your explanation of repentance, but I do see our need to repent having to do with changing one's mind in regard to his or her sin in some of the contexts that you brought up. For example, you mention John the Baptist's emphasis on producing "fruit in keeping with repentance" to support, rightfully, your claim that a change of mind regarding Christ will result in a change of behavior. But was John the Baptist calling people to a change of mind regarding Christ there? Christ hadn't even appeared on the scene yet. Based on the context, it is clear that the Baptist was calling his hearers to a "change of mind" regarding their sin. Two verses earlier Matthew tells us: "Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River." Let's see if we can find "sin" in the context of other "repentance" verses and passages: Luke 5:32 says, "I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." Luke 15:7 says, "I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent." Luke 17:3 says, "So watch yourselves. "If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him." Luke 24:47 says, "and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem." The clincher: "I am afraid that when I come again my God will humble me before you, and I will be grieved over many who have sinned earlier and have not repented of the impurity, sexual sin and debauchery in which they have indulged" (2 Cor. 12:21). I did like your emphasis on repentance being as much a gift as faith is. And you "redeemed yourself" at the end by stating: "Turning from sin is not the definition of repentance, but it is one of the results of genuine, faith-based repentance towards the Lord Jesus Christ." Thanks.

EVANGELISM AT CORPUS CHRISTI 2010

2010-06-04T07:19:00.023-03:00

The Roman Catholic "holy" day, Corpus Christi, is celebrated on a Thursday at the tail end of May or the beginning of June. This year it fell on June 3. Corpus Christi is an affirmation of the doctrine of transubstantiation, which teaches that the eucharist (i.e., communion bread) becomes the literal body of Christ while it is being swallowed. Likewise, the communion wine becomes the blood of Christ. In addition to the conflict this doctrine has with verses that indicate the Lord's Supper to simply be a remembrance or memorial of Christ's sacrifice for us (see 1 Cor. 11:24-25), this problematic doctrine essentially teaches that Christ needs to be sacrificed over and over again, contradicting verses like Heb. 7:26-27.

Along with our desire to lift up biblical truth to a world that will do practically anything to flee its implications, we knew that there would be a big concentration of spiritually lost Catholics participating in the annual Corpus Christi procession (parade). I met my regular preaching partner, Ednilson, in the part of downtown Rio where we normally preach. We carried the two banners we alternately use in our weekly preaching ventures and a bag of evangelistic tracts to the sidewalk along the parade route - just in time for the arrival of the first batch of parade-goers!

I had assumed that an all-Catholic crowd would be less hostile toward us than the Catholic-Spiritist mix normally present at the St. George Festival we preached at in April. Boy was I mistaken! Now for the "play-by-play":

Ednilson held our "You deserve hell" banner - complete with Rev. 21:8 (to justify the affirmation above it) - while I held the 10 Commandments banner and preached with my bullhorn. Things were going pretty smoothly while everyone in the procession, including the archbishop of Rio de Janeiro (click here to see a powerful slide show depicting the deception present in Catholicism), had the opportunity to read our banners and hear our preaching. But as the procession passed us the crowd at the end fanned out, spilling over onto the sidewalk. Suddenly we were SURROUNDED! Ednilson had the tracts he was handing out knocked to the ground by an angry Catholic guy, while another man knocked our bag of tracts off a concrete shelf next to us. Later that same man tried to knock this bag of tracts out of my hand while I talked with a police officer!

Some women and other men started to get pretty hot under the collar over our being there - their faces were transformed with rage - so much so that the municipal guards came up to talk with us. I was thinking, "Okay, here we go! Time to pack it up and call it a day." Two guards began to pull our banners away from the crowds, insisting that we roll them up and put them away. I protested that we were on a public sidewalk and that the procession had already passed. I reminded them that if we had to pack it up and leave, our rights under the Brazilian equivalent to the First Amendment would be infringed upon. I tried to stress that their duty was to protect us from those who would deny us our constitutional rights as we exercised them. However, in our experience the authorities prefer to resolve this kind of problem by removing the source of it, especially since the source of the problem is usually in the minority.

While we were negotiating, three "higher ups" arrived and thankfully pulled the guards aside and apparently told them to back off. At that point two policemen came up to speak with me; I was expecting that they'd give us a hard time too. However, they were very understanding of our rights and only suggested that we move away from our spot to reduce the tension. I insisted that if we did that, it would be our rights that would be violated. They were cool.

Ednilson then reminded me that since the parade had already passed and the thousands in it had already read our banners and heard our preaching, we could pack it up. I agreed, so we moved to the side of a building to break down our banner frames, roll up our banners and put everything away. As we were packing our things another policeman came up and said he'd have to arrest us and put us in jail for "religious intolerance" if we showed up in the vicinity of the Corpus Christi rally at the end of the parade route. I asked him how our banners - with bible verses on them and being unfurled at a supposedly "Christian" event - could be considered "religious intolerance," but his response was just that it was, end of story! We decided not to test him since we had already been able to expose the whole crowd - several thousand people, including priests, nuns and Rio's archbishop - along the route.

Several "side shows" developed during the hour we were on the procession route:

1) We were joined by a Christian couple that was handing out tracts along the parade route. The woman told us later that she was punched and pushed by a Corpus Christi participant when things were getting heated.

2) Detecting my accent, one man attempted to silence me by questioning my being in Brazil legally; I assured him I was. It appears he has some friends in the Federal Police Department - which handles immigration issues - and he told me he'd be "keeping an eye on" me. I didn't give him my name or any other information, so I'm not sure how he plans on going about that!

3) My colleague, Ednilson, was jostled around a couple of times. Poor guy! In addition to being much smaller and skinnier than me, he preaches daily in that area, which makes him a natural target for abuse from the Catholics who don't have the courage to say or do anything when they're one-on-one with him. Being in the majority yesterday definitely gave some of them the courage to take their frustrations out on the smaller of the two preachers!

4) I was asked by a reporter to give my side of the story in light of the "confusion" we caused, but so far I haven't found anything online about what took place.

Although one may question the effectiveness of a confrontation over truth at a Catholic event, especially in light of the hostile reaction of some of the participants, I take a different view of this type of evangelistic approach. There's an old Indian proverb that goes something like this: "When you throw a rock into a pack of dogs, the one that yelps is the one that got hit." In other words, the more violent the reaction some may be having could indicate the level of divine conviction they're experiencing. Also, we cannot forget Isaiah 55:11, which affirms: "So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; it will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it."

All in all the Corpus Christi preach went well. You can focus on the extreme reactions by a loud minority (only 20-30, tops), forgetting that the vast majority read, listened and kept walking. Even the Catholic leadership was confronted with the truth. The thing that stirred things up the most wasn't so much our message, but our presence. It's not politically correct today to attend events to protest against those events. Woe to the person who does so! I saw a video of 8 believers who silently protested with banners at the 2009 March for Jesus in SP. Their banners said "Let's Return to the Pure and Simple Gospel • The Show Has to Stop!" The "S" in "Show" was a dollar sign and the "o" was a one Real coin (i.e., the Brazilian currency).

The denomination that promotes this annual march all over Brazil is heavily into prosperity preaching, and its leaders had recently been in a U.S. jail for nearly a year for trying to take $56,000 into the U.S. without declaring it. How those protesters were booed, had things thrown on them and even had one of their banners destroyed! One leader was overheard egging the crowd on to attack and silence fellow Christians!

What is valued today above everything else is the avoidance of conflict over theology, doctrine and solid biblical exegesis. Yet Jude tells us to contend for the faith because what one believes has everything to do with his or her eternal destination. In other words, people's souls are at stake! Therefore, I feel compelled to confront erroneous beliefs and make no apologies about it. My challenge to fellow believers is to join a growing number of bold witnesses who "contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints!" There's too much at stake, especially when one considers that Jesus' second coming could very well be right around the corner. Let's ask God for some holy boldness! Now is not the time to adopt the world's value of political correctness and its postmodern view of truth.

Do keep in mind that many will try to shut you up - even the Church! You'll hear things like, "You have to earn the right to be heard" or "You can't just preach to people! You have to become their friend first." You'll hear well-meaning but, may I add, fearful Christians tweaking the gospel to include social activism and justice. I'm all for justice, but I see no direct command to the Church to "Go into all the world and ensure that the poor are treated justly." I have yet to find a version of the Great Commission (c.f., Mark 16:15, Matthew 28:18-20, etc.) telling us we need to "Go into all the world and make the world a better place...." Besides, the world will become a better place as a result of bold evangelism. Take the Great Awakenings as examples. Profound social change inevitably accompanied gospel preaching. Why? Because genuine new converts took their new creation status seriously, righting wrongs, returning stolen goods, becoming more responsible at home, etc. It is a fact that the crime rate dropped so drastically in some municipalities that the city government had to find other things for the police to do! So don't tell me that the preaching of the Word along with a move of the Holy Spirit doesn't bring about profound social change. We must never deviate from keeping the main thing the main thing! The "main thing" is evangelism, and Satan will do anything and everything to keep the Church from doing what it's supposed to do.

You'll perhaps hear that you have to abandon biblical methods of evangelism, not to mention the biblical content of the gospel, in order to reach a postmodern generation. They'll ask you, "You don't want to scare them off, do you?" or inform you, "That worked back then, but not today." If that's true, then why are we commanded to preach the gospel? That is a method, not a principle! In other words, preaching the gospel is not only biblical, it's the biblical method for getting the gospel to people! You can argue all you want that Jesus was more concerned with getting the gospel out in any way possible vs. pushing a particular method, but what does the text say? PREACH! The burden of proof rests with those who try to explain away Jesus' clear teaching, but I'm sticking with the text. I believe “preaching” to be narrowly defined by the Word of God and the example of the holy men contained therein. The word “kerusso,” the most commonly used Greek word translated into the English word “preach” throughout the NT, literally means: a public crier, a herald, to proclaim and to publish. This is what the Prophets, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Apostles did, and likewise, it is what we should seriously consider doing (Prov. 1:20-33; Isa. 58:1). How about you? Of course, individual, one-on-one "preaching" is biblical as well (i.e., personal evangelism), as long as it takes the initiative to communicate the biblical gospel to an unbeliever. In other words, just as we cannot shy away from boldly preaching the gospel in the public square, we certainly cannot shy away from telling people individually of their true condition before a holy God (i.e., sinful, condemned), the consequences of that condition if they die in it (i.e., hell) and the provision God has made so that they don't have to spend eternity in the Lake of Fire (salvation through repentance from sin and faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior). After all, God is our audience, not men - especially a bunch of unbiblical, so-called "Christians" who seem more concerned about doing what is acceptable to the world (and the Church?) vs. pleasing God. We need to remember that we won't have to answer to the world or even to the Church at the Judgment Seat of Christ. We'll answer to God!

Here's a short music video by a Russian street preacher that is, in my opinion, a good apologetic for open air preaching (Click here if you'd like to watch it in wide screen.).

Excuse the rant, but I am becoming less patient with my critics. Maybe I should just be about my business and not bother, but I'm into truth, remember? And I see a lot of distortion of the truth going on in Christian circles. Let's just say I'm contending for the faith!

WHO WOULD HAVE IMAGINED?

2010-05-22T19:00:00.017-03:00

Who would have imagined that one of the banners we use in our open air preaching ministry (to which I devote 4-9 hours weekly) and that I had made while in the U.S. in February would have such an impact? First, I met a brother in Christ from one of our supporting churches - Pine Valley Bible Church - who has a sign shop. I asked him if he'd be willing to make me three banners in Portuguese, to which he replied, "Of course, Bill. That's what I do!"

I sent the text over by e-mail and Bro. Mark made me three banners. After, he expressed to me some reluctance on his part over the text on two of the banners despite not knowing any Portuguese. If one knows Spanish, however, he can usually figure out the gist of what is being said in Portuguese.

You see, one of the banners boldly proclaimed, "YOU DESERVE HELL." with Rev. 21:8 on one side. On the other was written, "The God of the New Testament says, 'It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God' (Heb. 10:31)." Now, I realize this is very confrontational, but the open air preacher should use whatever he ethically can to arrest the attention of those passing by in their spiritual blindness. To be honest I, along with at least two other North American preachers, have yet to find a more "arresting" phrase than "YOU DESERVE HELL." Frankly, the reactions we get are always interesting.

This past week three reactions stood out. The first was by a 40-something man who quipped, "God doesn't even exist!" as he passed me while I preached. I replied, "God doesn't exist? How convenient! You think that by denying God's existence you'll be free from hell? Let's say you firmly believe that the sun will not rise tomorrow and go around telling people this. But will your belief that the sun won't rise change the fact that the sun will rise? Of course not! In the same way, just because you don't believe that God exists doesn't change anything if He does exist. And if he does exist, just because you don't believe in Him won't change the fact that you're headed for hell!"

The second reaction that stood out was a 20-something guy who flashed the finger toward the banner as he passed by. I told him that he'd give an account to God one day for that, to which he replied with the same obscene gesture directed at me. As negative as his reaction may seem, you have to remember that someone reacting so strongly is obviously experiencing some level of conviction by the Holy Spirit. Otherwise, they would just brush off the hard truth of God's Word.

The reaction that made our week, however, was by another 20-something guy who stopped to talk to my Brazilian colleague, Ednilson - who was holding the banner while I went on campus for a meeting. Ednilson told me later that this guy wanted to "testify" to the effectiveness of our very confrontational banner. Two weeks earlier he had planned to buy some drugs and wine to get stoned and drunk. As he walked through the Largo da Carioca in Downtown Rio he spotted our banner - the Hebrews 10:31 side - from a distance. Instant conviction fell upon him! Ednilson wasn't sure what this guy's spiritual background was, but he was carrying a bible around in a bag under his arm that day and squirmed when he read Heb. 10:31. He told Ednilson, "I knew at that moment that what I was planning to do was sin and that I had better not take sin so lightly. After all, your banner says that it's terrible to come under God's judgment."

As he passed by us that fateful day he said he didn't want to turn around and look at the other side of the banner, but curiosity got the better of him. When he saw "YOU DESERVE HELL." he said under his breath, "Yeah, and if I do drugs and get drunk that's where I'll end up!"

As this guy continued walking, he was suddenly overcome with God-produced sorrow. Second Corinthians 7:10 says, "Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death." He squatted down against a fence and put his head in his hands. Then he decided he should open his bible, and guess which verse he just happened to open to? Hebrews 10:31!!

He wanted to "testify" to Ednilson that day how God had used His written Word - on a banner, of all things - to convict him of his sin, to show him he was nothing more than a false convert and that he needed to repent of his sin and place his trust once and for all in Jesus Christ as his Savior and Lord. He wanted to "testify" to us that God had saved him as a result of our very confrontational banner!

Amen!

REPENTANCE OVER REPUTATION!

2010-05-15T18:02:00.001-03:00

“A foolish physician he is, and a most unfaithful friend, that will let a sick man die for fear of troubling him; and cruel wretches are we to our friends, that will rather suffer them to go quietly to hell, then we will anger them, or hazard our reputation with them.”

- Richard Baxter (Puritan)

"HAVEN'T BEEN CALLED" OR "HAVEN'T HEARD THE CALL?"

2010-05-09T23:32:00.002-03:00

"'Not called!' did you say? 'Not heard the call,' I think you should say. Put your ear down to the Bible, and hear Him bid you go and pull sinners out of the fire of sin. Put your ear down to the burdened, agonized heart of humanity, and listen to its pitiful wail for help. Go stand by the gates of hell, and hear the damned entreat you to go to their father's house and bid their brothers and sisters, and servants and masters not to come there. And then look Christ in the face, whose mercy you have professed to obey, and tell Him whether you will join heart and soul and body and circumstances in the march to publish his mercy to the world."

- William Booth

EVANGELISM AT RIO'S ST. GEORGE FESTIVAL

2010-04-24T21:43:00.016-03:00

For the third year in a row I was able to participate in Rio de Janeiro's annual St. George Festival. St. George was a Roman soldier and Christian who refused to bow down to and worship an image of the deified Roman emperor Diocletian (284-305 A.D.). He paid the ultimate price for his faithfulness to his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, which makes this annual event so ironic!

You see, both Roman Catholics and Spiritists "venerate" St. George to the point of attributing to him supernatural powers such as the ability to answer their prayers. When we arrived at the festival the first thing we saw was a man on stilts and dressed as a clown with his prayer to St. George printed on a sign on his back. Also, due to his military status, St. George is essentially the "patron saint" of the Rio police force and fire department. He is venerated for being a warrior who supposedly will fight for those who put their lives on the line.

In other words, what makes this whole St. George thing so ironic is that people end up doing to St. George what he refused to do (and eventually died for): to worship idols!

After arriving near an outdoor stage where the Catholic Church was holding continuous masses, we faced in the opposite direction so as not to disturb the mass with our bullhorn and began to preach, hand out a great little tract put out by the Baptists here called "How to Have Eternal Life" while holding our two banners high. One of the banners (see above) that I had originally developed to use while preaching to the gay pride parades in Rio and São Paulo had Rom. 1:26-27 and 1 Cor. 6:9-10 on it. Actually, since 1 Cor. 6:9-10 covers a variety of sins - including idolatry - this banner has been a mainstay at most of my preaching events. In the interest of not only giving people the bad news, I made sure I included the following statement at the bottom of this banner: "What's the solution? Abandon your sins and deposit your trust in Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord." The other banner had the Ten Commandments on one side and James 2:10 on the other.

We were a relatively small group of four (three others couldn't participate at the last minute): me, one recent Law School graduate (Alexandre), a Social Work student (Flávia) and an older gentleman from my church (Jorge). While Alexandre and I took turns preaching, whoever wasn't preaching was either holding a banner, handing out tracts and/or talking one-on-one with people.

At one point while Alexandre was preaching I noticed a festival official talking to Flávia. I was thinking, "Oh, here we go again!" You see, last year we had unintentionally stirred up an almost violent reaction on the part of the St. George followers as we preached in front of St. George Catholic Church in the West District of Rio de Janeiro. While preaching against idolatry and several other biblically-erroneous doctrines of the Catholic Church (e.g., purgatory, salvation by faith + works, etc.) we suddenly found ourselves in the midst of a sea of red-shirted (St. George's official color) faithful shouting us down, telling us to leave, beginning to push and shove us while lifting up a huge styrofoam sculpture of St. George - on his horse - in front of our banner so that people would be unable to see the text. We were escorted out of the immediate area by municipal guards for safety reasons, but not before being interviewed by two newspaper reporters (and being filmed by a national TV station).

So, when I saw that festival official speaking with Flávia, then being joined by a municipal guard, I knew we were about to be interrupted. Sure enough, the municipal guard (whom I had spoken with last year while preaching in another part of downtown Rio) called me aside to encourage us to leave in light of the anger our presence was already generating among 10-15 men. We were being accused by those men of doing something illegal because we were promoting "religious intolerance," but the guard assured us we were legal. His only concern was for our safety. I told him that I felt it was his duty to protect us as we exercised the

Brazilian equivalent of the First Amendment, but apparently they don't value the right to free speech as highly as U.S. authorities do. Since the other three had never been in a situation like that, I decided to not make those men any angrier than they already were and followed the advice of the guard to move our outreach to the train station, which was about 300 yards away. In fact, many festival goers were arriving from the west side of the city by train, so it was an opportunity to preach to many before or after their participation in the festival, not to mention to many others who were using the trains that holiday.

Besides the thousands who heard our preaching and/or read our banners, to our knowledge at least four people humbly gave their lives to Christ. Our prayer is that the banner verses, the words that were audibly heard via the preaching (or the one-on-one conversations) and the evangelistic tracts would accomplish God's purpose in each life that was reached.

It was a long day for us, and some of us had some aches and pains during and after the event, but we all felt that we had given our all to lift Jesus Christ up - the Truth - in the midst of such an idolatrous event. Thank you, Jesus, for allowing us to preach the gospel to so many!

IS BEING "SEEKER-FRIENDLY" TRULY FRIENDLY?

2010-04-16T19:21:00.007-03:00

We came across a thought-provoking article recently that points out the problems of a church "going seeker-friendly." Here are some of the more convicting parts:

"I once read through a stack of newspaper and magazine articles that highlight a common thread in the user-friendly phenomenon. These observations from newspaper clippings describe the preaching in user-friendly churches:

• 'There is no fire and brimstone here... Just practical, witty messages.'
• 'Services at [the church featured in the article] have an informal feeling. You won't hear people threatened with hell or referred to as sinners. The goal is to make them feel welcome, not drive them away.'
• 'As with all clergymen [this pastor's] answer is God– but he slips Him in at the end, and even then doesn't get heavy. No ranting, no raving. No fire, no brimstone. He doesn't even use the H-word. Call it Light Gospel. It has the same salvation as the Old Time Religion, but with a third less guilt.'
• 'The sermons are relevant, upbeat, and best of all, short. You won't hear a lot of preaching about sin and damnation, and hell fire. Preaching here doesn't sound like preaching. It is sophisticated, urbane, and friendly talk. It breaks all the stereotypes.'
• '[The pastor] is preaching a very upbeat message... It's a salvationist message, but the idea is not so much being saved from the fires of hell. Rather, it's being saved from meaninglessness and aimlessness in this life. It's more of a soft-sell.'

"So the new rules may be summed like this: Be clever, informal, positive, brief, friendly, and never, never use the H-word." - John MacArthur

"When a sinner wanders into the church and sits through skits, mimes, interpretive dances, and the like, and yet never hears a clear, convicting message about his dangerous and tenuous spiritual situation – that he is a depraved sinner headed for an eternal fire because he is a daily offense to a holy God – how can that be called successful? You could achieve the same level of success by sending a cancer patient to receive treatment from a group of children playing doctor. A sinner must understand the imminent danger he is in if he is ever to look to the Savior." - John MacArthur

"I fear there are some who preach with the view of amusing men, and as long as people can be gathered in crowds, and their ears can be tickled, and they can retire pleased with what they have heard, the orator is content, and folds his hands, and goes back self-satisfied. But Paul did not lay himself out to please the public and collect the crowd. If he did not save them he felt that it was of no avail to interest them. Unless the truth had pierced their hearts, affected their lives, and made new men of them, Paul would have gone home crying, 'Who hath believed our report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?'...

"Now observe, brethren, if I, or you, or any of us, or all of us, shall have spent our lives merely in amusing men, or educating men, or moralizing men, when we shall come to give our account at the last great day we shall be in a very sorry condition, and we shall have but a very sorry record to render; for of what avail will it be to a man to be educated when he comes to be damned? Of what service will it be to him to have been amused when the trumpet sounds, and heaven and earth are shaking, and the pit opens wide her jaws of fire and swallows up the soul unsaved? Of what avail even to have moralized a man if still he is on the left hand of the judge, and if still, "Depart, ye cursed," shall be his portion?'" [Charles Spurgeon; Soul Saving Our One Business, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Vol. 25 (London: Passmore and Alabaster, 1879), 674-76.]

May we see more pastors raised up with a passion for the lost - a passion that will force them to not mince words! May we see more pastors raised up with a passion for the found - a passion that will force them to biblically feed the sheep!

"Do you still think I deserve hell?"

2010-04-13T14:40:00.002-03:00

Our Easter Emphasis Event at UCAM that I talked about in my last post followed on the coattails of an outreach The 8-32 Movement did during UCAM's once-a-semester beer bash! In all my years of ministering at universities, this was a first! And what was even more radical was recent UCAM grad Alexandre's suggestion that I hoist my "Ten Commandments" banner while others handed out evangelistic tracts with The 8-32 Movement contact info. on it. I confess that I was a bit skeptical at first - not to mention scared - but fortunately everything went smoothly.

After arriving at the entrance to the beer bash and finally finding the student government leader who had promised to let us in for free, the four of us took our positions near the 10 port-a-potties due to the illumination there and a "captive audience" of those lined up to "relieve" themselves :) The music was loud, but we were able to converse intermittently with those who wanted to talk. I came across a couple of "ex" evangelical church members, along with two guys who heard me preach the last night of Carnival - the same day we arrived back in Brazil (Feb. 16). For a full report on that event, see my Carnival & Other Open-Air Adventures post. One of the guys who I preached to at the Carnival outreach sarcastically asked me. "Do you still think I deserve hell?" Meanwhile, the other tried to justify himself as good enough to get into heaven one day. The first guy claimed to be an atheist and felt that all Christians were "idiots," while his friend was too drunk to have a serious conversation with. I told the first guy he had to deny the existence of God because that was the only way he could continue in his sinful rebellion and not feel guilty. Pray for him, although I forgot to get his name, because what are the "chances" of running into the same guy you preached to six weeks earlier in a city of 6 million??!! Oh, by the way, neither of them are students at UCAM! They showed up at the "party" apparently just to drink and . . .

Being in the midst of one of these infamous beer bashes reinforced 8-32's commitment to "transform the world with the Truth." Jesus claimed to be the Truth in John 14:6, while John says that God's Word - the Bible - is truth (17:7). That's why I could proudly hold up a banner in the midst of such blatant sin with the Ten Commandments - from Exodus 20 - on one side and James 2:10 on the other: "For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all." TRUTH . . . in the face of drunkenness, violence (Yes, some fights broke out.), profanity, sensuality (clothing, dancing, kissing, groping, etc.). Will we be allowed into the next event? I'm not sure, but we'll be there either on the inside or the outside because people need to be confronted with the TRUTH, no matter how much they may hate to hear or see it!

All in all we handed out nearly 300 tracts between 9:00 p.m. and midnight, not to mention exposed nearly all 2,000 people at the beer bash to the bad news in the hope that they will be intrinsically motivated to seek out the Good News from 8-32, a Christian friend or family member, a trustworthy internet sight, a Christian bookstore, a local church, etc. This is what we're praying for!

Thanks for helping make Christ an issue at UCAM, in the marketplace and in the Brazilian Church through The 8-32 Movement and the Hamiltons!

Your Co-Laborers in Rio,

Bill & Aïda

"I'm asking that Jesus go back into his tomb..."

2010-04-01T15:57:00.001-03:00

All day yesterday The 8-32 Movement was at Candido Mendes University (UCAM) trying to make the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ an issue. The five of us involved in the outreach set up a display near the elevators that the students use (UCAM's main campus is in a tall office building in downtown Rio.), but were quickly told by a security guard that we needed permission to be there. Alexandre, who recently finished UCAM's Law School and is an 8-32 volunteer, went to talk with the person responsible for giving us permission, but we were denied! I was told I had to pack everything up, which I did, while Alexandre talked with the UCAM's vice president, who came to see what we were planning on doing.

Professor Antonio Luis, the VP, subsequently gave his permission for us to be there saying, with a somewhat-sarcastic smile on his face, "I don't see a problem, although I am of another religion. If the students get too agitated over your display, however, I'm asking that 'Jesus go back into his tomb' until things calm down!"

So, we were back in business! We set everything up again, including my "Did Jesus Really Die?" banner with the five main theories on what happened to Jesus' body, including the true theory of the resurrection. We were taking surveys as a way of identifying students willing to hear how Jesus says someone can become a Christian. One of the survey questions we asked was, "What does Easter stand for?" There was almost a tie between "the resurrection of Jesus" and "a time to gather as a family!" Those who answered the latter normally put that they didn't believe in the God of the Bible and/or were not members of any religious group or church. I guess we are seeing the effects of being raised in a secular family and school environment, although Brazil is still considered the largest Catholic country in the world.

Students trickled in and out of UCAM most of the day until 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. - the "hot hours" on campus when most students arrive after work for night classes. While students waited for the elevators we handed them surveys and asked them to fill them out during class. They would be able to trade their survey for a gum-pop (i.e., a lollipop with gum on the inside) and the Josh McDowell article The Case of the Empty Tomb on their way out. Out of 200 surveys handed out we only received 52 back, but we now have some good contacts to follow up on, including a number of Christians wanting to check out 8-32 next week! To God be the glory!

RECENT PREACHING ADVENTURES IN THE U.S.

2010-02-22T15:11:00.012-03:00

I was debating on whether to include my OPEN AIR PREACHING 101 "class" that I "took" recently with "The Granddaddy of Campus Preachers," Bro. Jed Smock. Well, "Bro. Jed," as he's known on campuses all over the U.S., wrote such an accurate report of my two days with him that I thought I'd include it here:

University of Houston, January 25, 2010

The university has designated free speech areas, which have traffic, but are not the ideal places to get the main flow. I held my YOU DESERVE HELL sign before I started preaching. Two Muslims asked me what it meant. We got into a discussion on the nature of Christ and the Trinity and the inspiration of the Bible. They were civil in their behavior.

After 10 minutes a girl, who had two months ago been converted from Islam, complained about my sign. She might have used the opportunity to witness to the Moslems; but this baby Christian was more interested in correcting me. She said she sinned every day.

Meanwhile, Bill H. arrived. Bill e-mailed me several days ago asking to join me for the day. He wrote, “I got fired from Campus Crusade (after 29 years) last summer for having adopted Ray Comfort's philosophy of evangelism. I was told this is incompatible with CCC's - which I'm sure is no surprise to you! We continue as missionaries in Brazil.”

Bill is home in Houston for the time being preparing to return to Brazil. He first heard me at Vanderbilt University in 1983. Bill took over witnessing to the ex-Muslim concerning our methods and on living holy. Meanwhile, I started preaching and eventually drew a crowd of up to 25. A loud-mouthed Christian girl helped draw attention by arguing vehemently against my sign. After a while a soft-spoken student asked to speak. He rebuked the students for opposing my ministry. “You should be glad that he is here,” he said.

I appreciated his support; however, since the loud mouth girl began arguing with him, as did a few others, his help soon became a distraction. So I moved about 20 feet and began preaching to a class break. Eventually, my defender left and I continued dialoguing with a group of 20 or so. Soon another Christian, who was not so soft spoken, began to defend me. However, the same problem arose as he too soon became a diversion.

About 2 PM I introduced Bill to the crowd as a missionary. He took the Ray Comfort approach of going over the 10 Commandments; he did pretty well at holding the students attention, but gradually individuals began leaving. Bill did stir things shortly when he referred to Mohammed as a pedophile. There were a few Muslims in the group. And there are a lot of Muslims on this campus; there were many females passing by wearing scarves. By 2:30 Bill had lost the crowd. I tried to once again get the attention of students. But by 3 PM I decided to call it a day so that I would miss the rush-hour city traffic.

Bill commended me for the way I humorously interacted with the students. He understands that wit helps hold peoples’ attention. Some who try to preach in the open air never learn to be witty; hence they do not hold attention for long, if they even get anyone’s interest in the first place. Bill shared with me that when he took a restroom break, before he entered the building, he overheard two students discussing my sign. When he was in the men’s room, he heard a student complaining about my sign. Another student said to the complainer that the sign was true; even though he did not agree with my approach. From these two examples overheard by Bill, well away from our preaching spot, I think that it is fair to assume that we sparked discussions about Hell and other religious issues all over campus, very likely even in the classroom.

I try to report daily highlights; but not only can I not tell you everything said and happening within the gathered crowd, I cannot begin to tell you what is happening in the Student Union, classrooms, hallways, dorms, and all over campus. There are even more discussions when students return to their family, homes and apartments. I know a lot of conversations start with, “Let me tell you about the crazy preacher I heard today.” However, from the feedback I have received I know that these conversations often turn into serious talk about the religious issues which I have raised.

Sam Houston State, January 26, 2010
Bill H. accompanied me to Sam Houston State. After about 30 minutes of preaching, I did not gather a crowd although some were listening at a distance. I was surprised because conditions were ideal with a bright sunny warm day and lots of students passing by and many others hanging around the plaza. A man asked if he could interview me with a video for a class. The interview only lasted for 10 minutes. I figured I would have to wait another hour for a break, but I questioned a girl about her belief in God who was sitting not far from me. She said she believed in God, but not the God I preached. She was raised a Baptist, but she claimed the church kicked her out for looking up when she prayed instead of bowing her head. I did not believe her. She then claimed that her father beat her with a rod on her back. I kept challenging her to define the God that she believed in. Meanwhile, students were gathering to listen to our conversation and some entered into the dialogue. Eventually, I drew a crowd of up to 35-40. For forty minutes the crowd was quiet, attentive and respectful. However, some began to get stirred and angry concerning my emphasis on Hell, including a few professing Christians. The man who interviewed me returned with his camera and stood in the crowd; and this time he asked me philosophical questions.
At one point an irate man got in my face complaining that he heard me from the other side of campus. I explained that it was the Holy Ghost carrying my voice and drawing him to hear the Word of God. Someone suggested that it was the wind. I explained that the wind is symbolic of the Holy Spirit. Actually, there was no wind today. Later the irate man calmed down and wanted his picture taken with me.
At 3:30, I introduced Bill H.; however the crowd was not done with me. Soon most of them came over to where I was sitting. Bill continued witnessing to a few. Later, Bill said, “Brother Jed, the students are drawn to you like a magnet.”
At one point Bill successfully chased down a girl who stole one of my signs that he was holding. Earlier I had to recover my chair which another girl had stolen. Bill later remarked that with all the Christians in the crowd none of them helped to recover the sign. I added that neither did they help recover my chair. Of course, most Christians cannot bear my YOU DESERVE HELL sign; so maybe they were glad that someone tried to take it out of the picture.
On our drive to campus Bill informed me that he was a Calvinist. This did not hinder our fellowship or ministry together because both of us are focused on winning souls. Also after spending three decades in CCC, Bill is used to working with people of a different theological perspective.
What I took from my time with Bro. Jed was my need to memorize scripture more and learn how to keep a crowd interested while remaining biblical. Thanks, Bro. Jed!

WE U.S. CHRISTIANS ARE WIMPS!

2010-02-20T13:59:00.003-02:00

In the time that it takes you to watch this video two (2) Christians will have been killed for their belief in Jesus. Please pray for our brothers and sisters enduring tribulation around the world. Words can neither describe nor do justice to these images. May God and Christ be glorfied in their sacrifice.

Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated. The world was not worthy of them. - Hebrews 11:36-38

The question that keeps coming to mind: Am I willing to suffer for Christ, for preaching His life-changing gospel, for freeing people from the jaws of hell? Better yet, are you?

SAVING THE LOST

2010-02-18T00:57:00.001-02:00

Christ's call is to save the lost, not the stiff-necked; He came not to call scoffers but sinners to repentance; not to build and furnish comfortable chapels, churches, and cathedrals at home in which to rock Christian professors to sleep by means of clever essays, stereotyped prayers, and artistic musical performances, but to capture men from the devil's clutches and the very jaws of Hell. This can be accomplished only by a red-hot, unconventional, unfettered devotion, in the power of the Holy Spirit, to the Lord Jesus Christ.

--C.T. Studd (1860-1931) was an English missionary who faithfully served His Saviour in China, India, and Africa.

CARNIVAL & OTHER OPEN AIR ADVENTURES

2010-02-17T17:26:00.006-02:00

After flying all night from Houston, TX to Rio de Janeiro - with intermittent sleep - we arrived at our Brazilian home across the bay from Rio on February 16, 2010. I had a few hours to rest before finally getting my shot at doing some serious evangelism during Rio's world famous - and largest - Carnival. I had intended to preach with Ruben Israel of Bible Believers at Mardi Gras (the U.S. version of Carnival) in New Orleans, but we had to come back to Rio a few days earlier than originally planned due to space limitations on the flights right after Mardi Gras/Carnival.

I understood, after talking with Alexandre, a guy I'm discipling from Candido Mendes University (UCAM), that I'd be preaching with the aid of 2 or 3 guys from the Jews for Jesus Carnival project in the homosexual district of famous Ipanema. However, it became clear that the local Jews for Jesus leaders weren't about to associate their group with a hell fire preacher accompanied by a bullhorn and confrontational banner. So, suddenly, I was on my own. I could have submitted to their approach and been able to don the project t-shirt, but I was anxious to inaugurate my banner - with "You Deserve Hell" and a quote of Rev. 21:8 on one side; a quote of Heb. 10:31 on the other - in sin-soaked Rio de Janeiro. And boy was Rio "sin soaked!"

The first group I encountered in the park just two blocks from the homosexual district was a group of guys (who turned out to be homosexuals) waiting for a bus. I was walking with my banner unfurled and preaching from my bullhorn. It is amazing how people react to the statement "You deserve hell." Even well-meaning, so-called Christians seem to cringe at this biblically true statement (based on such well-known verses as Rom. 6:23 and Rev. 21:8). In my humble opinion, evangelism today is more defined by the culture than by the Bible! Oh, for a return to God's word for our evangelistic training - vs. such emphases as "We need to be connecting with the lost," "You've got to earn the right to be heard" or "That was appropriate for that time period, but this is the 21st century."

Not wanting to take away from legitimate and necessary changes in one's approach (e.g., evangelistic films, the evangelistic use of the Internet, etc.), have people really changed? My Bible tells me that no, people are still sinners under condemnation and in need of a Savior. That's why I still see - and expect to continue to see - a need for confrontational evangelism. Talking about a biblical method that is also one of the most cost-effective ones around! An open air evangelist can literally give thousands of people the bad news they so desperately need to see and hear so that they will either stop to ask him - like they did Peter in Acts 2 - how to be saved or, at least, go their way with God's relentless Word pounding away in their consciences.

Back to Ipanema (Remember the famous Bossa Nova song The Girl from Ipanema?), my homosexual "listeners" began to get a bit too agitated for my tastes. I was getting verbally "assaulted" from all sides to the point of not being able to adequately handle their objections and questions. Meanwhile, a thirty-something woman got into the fray, tearfully asking me for help. What I couldn't figure out was what exactly she needed help with! Finally, amidst all the confusion - complicated by my lack of sleep - I decided to walk to another part of the park. I was initially followed by several homos, who took it upon themselves to "denounce" me to those within earshot. One even hit my banner after trying to grab it and pull it down, but his friends called him off. Another kept unplugging my microphone from my bullhorn while I tried to preach, but I was just grateful he didn't try to cut the cord like some have done with a couple of my open air preacher friends.

I started preaching toward a heterosexual night club and was told I should go home since it was past my bedtime! One indiscreet woman expressed her disapproval of my message by bending over and "flashing" me with her gluteus maximus! A guy kept telling me to preach to his friends - by name - who had cans of beers in their hands. The "flasher" then threw her can of beer in my direction, but was well off the mark.

I decided to move on and preach to the folks waiting at the bus stop on the other side of the park. That group was calm and seemed particularly attentive. When I moved in the direction of the side of the park where I had encountered the homo crowd two guys stopped in front of me to read my banner. I soon discovered that they were Irish, so I had a good time challenging their presuppositions regarding the bible and Jesus Christ - in English! One of them seemed more "in tune" with the things of God, but the other was in blatant rebellion against his Maker.

I made one more attempt to preach to the nightclub on the other side of the park, and to my surprise, encountered two Americans - one from my old stompin' ground of San Diego. They both wanted pictures with me before discovering that I was a fellow American with a banner - in Portuguese - that said "You deserve hell." One told me in a rather crude way that I was courageous (i.e., "Bill, you've got b_ _ _ _!"), while I challenged each to seriously consider their true condition before a holy God and how to remedy it. One of the Americans - an airline pilot - told me he'd meet up with me again somewhere to continue the conversation . . . as he walked off with his Brazilian "date" (i.e., one-night-stand?).

It was already 3:00 a.m. and I could tell I was too tired to keep going, so I packed it up and headed for home. However, my curiosity led me to check out the Lapa area of downtown Rio, which is notorious for being one, big all-night block party during Carnival. Things were all lit up with hundreds of people still going strong at 3:30 in the morning. Next year I know where I'll be going! The Ipanema park was dimly lit, had at any given moment only 75-100 people in it and NO POLICE! The Lapa makes more sense . . . next year!

MISSIONARIES: Why Do We Do What We Do?

2010-02-03T19:15:00.005-02:00

Somebody visiting my blog may be wondering what I/we do and why I/we do it. So, without further ado, presenting . . .

THE 8-32 MOVEMENT

Transforming the World with the Truth

8-32's mission is to "Produce change agents in the Brazilian university, workplace and Church via the bold, deep and urgent exposition of the Truth (John 8:32; 14:6)."

8-32's focus is on REACHING students, professionals and unconverted church members with the biblical gospel, DEVELOPING true converts into effective Christian leaders and MOBILIZING these leaders for the worldwide harvest (Matt. 9:35-38; 28:18-20; Mk. 16:15). In addition to evangelism and one-on-one/small-group discipleship, 8-32 seeks to train Christians from these primary target audiences - via the 8-32 Institute - in Christian/biblical worldview, biblical evangelism, apologetics, bible study methods, etc.

Our day-to-day ministry activities may include campus evangelism in Rio de Janeiro, "happy hour" evangelistic meetings with professionals, discipleship of key students and professionals, planning meetings, proclamation of Truth (i.e., open air preaching) in Rio's business district, ministry materials development and experimentation, classroom training, etc. Occasional ministry activities include retreats, training projects, conferences, proclamation of Truth (i.e., open air preaching) at morally questionable events (e.g., Carnival, gay pride parades, religious festivals, night clubs, etc.), short-term missions projects to other regions in Brazil or other countries (especially other Portuguese-speaking nations), etc.

Now, this is what we do, but why do we do it? In the ultimate analysis, we all exist to glorify God, right (Is. 43:7; 1 Cor. 10:31)? There are lots of ways to glorify God, but we are convinced that serving God on the foreign mission field is where we can glorify Him most effectively and efficiently. In other words, we are able to invest the best hours of our day and the best days of our week in the Harvest (Matt. 9:35-38), which is why the Son of God came to earth (Lk. 19:10) in the first place. In addition, we get to hold HIM up through sound teaching and preaching for the edification of His Church. Finally, we get to do all of this in a nation that has been predicted by at least one missions' statesman to become the world's missionary-sending leader: BRAZIL!

So, that's about it. Feel free to comment on what we do and why. God bless!

ADOPTION AND THE CHRISTIAN

2010-01-06T19:54:00.002-02:00

A BIBLICAL PERSPECTIVE ON ADOPTION

"A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families, he leads forth the prisoners with singing; but the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land" (Psalm 68:5-6 - NIV).

COMMENT: Who would you consider to be lonelier than a baby or child without a mother and father to lovingly care for it? Since it is God who arranges families for these lonely children, do you really want to try to stand in the way of His will by not even considering the possibility of adopting a family-less child?

"For He chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love Hepredestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will — to the praise of His glorious grace, which He has freely given us in the One He loves" (Eph. 1:4-6 - NIV)

COMMENT: What's interesting to note here is that we were predestined to be adopted . . . before the creation of the world! In other words, adoption was God's original plan. With that said, why do we tend to look at adoption as a last resort? Shouldn't we, like God, be more proactive in this area? Has it ever occurred to you that God may have already picked out one or more orphaned children for you to raise, regardless of how many biological children you may or may not currently have?

"For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, 'Abba! Father!'" (Rom. 8:15 - NASB).

COMMENT: The emphasis here is on the confidence our adoption into God's family brings us, to "the Spirit-produced awareness of the rich reality that God has made us His children and, therefore, that we can come before Him without fear of hesitation as our beloved Father. It includes the confidence that we are truly sons of God" (John MacArthur). Since we have this kind of confidence with our adoptive Father, couldn't we at least entertain the thought of offering an earthly model of that kind of confidence to some adopted earthly children?

"But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, 'Abba! Father!'" (Gal. 4:4-6 – NASB).

COMMENT: Notice the beginning of the sentence immediately following "…that we might receive the adoption of sons!" It says, "Because you are sons…" In other words, once adopted into God's family, we are sons (and daughters) of God. . . . case closed! Does this not give us an indication of how we are to view adoption? I mean, if it's good enough for God, who are we to question our possible involvement? God has set the precedent, has He not?

CONCLUSION: Think about it! If every Christian couple decided to adopt an orphan into its family, giving it all the rights of a biological child, several things would happen:

1) Every adoptable child would have the opportunity to be raised in a loving home/family environment;

2) Every adopted child would be raised in the Lord (vs. in a non-Christian – or even homosexual – home!);

3) Christian childless couples would be able to raise a family;

4) Couples with biological children would be able to create "a culture of adoption" in their biological (and adopted) children that would benefit future adoptable children.

I am not writing on this topic in a vacuum. My wife and I adopted our two daughters while on the mission field in Brazil. Our daughters are both Brazilians. Our oldest, Amelia Elinor, just turned 18 (We adopted her when she was nine months from a Spiritist orphanage.); Jessica Sarah is 12. Jessica was only one month old when we were able to adopt her from a Catholic orphanage.

Many Brazilian Christians counseled us against adoption on the basis that a child may be inheriting the curse of God on his or her biological "father" (i.e., parents) due to his sins. They based this on Exodus 20:5 (NASB), which says, ". . . for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me . . ." We first need to consider the context for that statement. This affirmation was given in the context of the Second Commandment, which was idolatry. In other words, an idolatrous father – a God hater - would be causing his great grandchildren some sort of consequence for his idolatry. But even if we choose not to limit the context to idolatry, a subsequent Old Testament verse negates the generational curse found in Exodus: "The person who sins will die The son will not bear the punishment for the father's iniquity, nor will the father bear the punishment for the son's iniquity; the righteousness of the righteous will be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked will be upon himself" (Ezekiel 18:20 - NASB).

Another issue that was brought up was that you often don't know the genetic tendencies of an adopted child. While this is true, that isn't necessarily a bad thing. Think about it! If you have a genetic tendency to develop a certain type of cancer, your adopted child could be free from this tendency! Isn't that a good thing? Sure, there are more unknowns with adopted children, but just because you know your biological child's tendencies doesn't make it any easier to accept his or her serious illness. How many biological parents are suffering with their biological children over a serious illness? So far we have been spared such a scenario – with our adopted daughters. Ultimately, God is in charge, right? If He chooses to allow a serious illness take place with either a biological or an adopted child, so be it! I will thank Him in the midst of the storm. Will you?

I could cite countless examples of adoptions that worked, but our human nature tends to grab onto the "horror stories," which I'm sure exist. I think it all comes down to one's view of God. If God is a sovereign God, that is part of His nature. In other words, He can't be in control of some areas and not of others. When you have biological children, you take what God has given you and you learn to live with it. Should we consider treating adopted children any other way? When we first laid eyes on Amelia, our oldest daughter, we were not initially very impressed. Amelia didn't look like she could have been our biological child, but that didn't matter in light of her need for loving, Christian parents. We were given 24 hours to decide if we were going to adopt her or not, and the whole time I couldn't get her face out of my mind! We reasoned that we wanted to adopt a child and Amelia needed to be adopted, so who were we to try to hold out for a child that looked more like we wanted her to look?

When the opportunity came to adopt Jessica, I was out of the country. Aïda took Amelia to see recently born Jessica in the orphanage. Then she e-mailed me, telling me about this opportunity. I was ecstatic! I stopped by the orphanage on my way home from the airport the day I arrived in Rio de Janeiro to meet my potential second daughter. Again, Jessica didn't look like she would have been a result of Bill and Aïda, but we knew she was the one God had handpicked for us!

We've had our ups and downs over the years with our two daughters, as would any biological parents with their biological children. But when it's all said and done, we have absolutely NO regrets on having adopted these two wonderful girls who are developing into the women God wants them to be! We want to encourage you to take off your cultural glasses regarding adoption and put on scriptural glasses. When and if you do, you'll be glad you did! In other words, you'll have NO regrets! If you are an adopted child of God, you can be assured that God has NO regrets over His adoption of you either!

CHRISTMAS: It's about THE CROSS!

2009-12-10T12:13:00.003-02:00

I highly recommend that you take a few minutes to watch this music video and either learn about or be reminded of the real meaning of Christmas! ENJOY!

ANOTHER DEFENSE OF OPEN AIR PREACHING!

2009-12-09T10:55:00.003-02:00

"Bible Jim" Webber sent me this video, and I have to admit it is one of the best gospel explanations I've ever seen. Apart from his not emphasizing one's need for repentance in this particular video (edited out?), I know he preaches conversion by "repentance and faith," according to Acts 20:21. Otherwise this is an excellent example on what campus/open air preaching can do to "stir things up" and get people talking about eternally significant things. Enjoy!

If you have trouble watching it here due to the reduction of the screen, go here and watch it on YouTube.

ARE YOU A CHRISTIAN . . . REALLY?

2009-11-23T22:22:00.003-02:00

The following video is a wake-up call. I haven't figured out how to get the full screen on my blog, so I recommend that you watch it on YouTube. It's called TRUTH. I don't care how committed to God you think you are, there's always room for more commitment. In fact, a "tame" commitment might just mean that you have never truly converted! Watch this and, by all means, apply it as the Holy Spirit leads!

IS YOUR CHURCH A MILITARY UNIT?

2009-11-23T15:47:00.005-02:00

A ministry partner (i.e., financial/prayer supporter) of ours reacted to my previous blog entry (see below). I thought it would interesting to share here what I wrote to her:

You're right. Not everyone is called to be a street preacher, but we are ALL called to witness! Yes, members of our local body need caring for as well, but I believe that we should care for one another always with the goal of getting each other back out into the "fray." In other words, I look at the local church as, first and foremost, a military unit. Our common bond is as soldiers of Christ. We sometimes get hurt and need medical attention (I reject the analogy of the church as a hospital; it can have that function regarding some members, but as a military hospital, it exists to heal soldiers so that they can be productive soldiers again.), but always with the goal of getting back out into the battle.

The main battle I see before us - biblically - is the evangelization of the world (although Jude 3 says that we should contend/battle for the purity of the faith). Everything else is subservient to that purpose: worship services, special ministries, Sunday School, bible studies - which exist to prepare soldiers for the battle (for hearts and minds - for souls).

In the military, during wartime, every non-combatant role exists to prepare, supply, and support those who are on the front lines. Everyone knows his or her function. The analogy breaks down a bit here because, in the case of God's army, everyone is called to do battle for souls to some degree. In other words, there should be no "desk jockeys" in God's army. But the aspect of the army's priorities apply to any army, God's or otherwise.

So, what best would characterize your church? A military unit, a hospital, a night club, a counseling center . . . or what? As scary as it may appear to be, let's make it our goal to be soldiers of the cross with all that role implies. In my case I, along with my wife, have been deployed to the front lines overseas. In your case, your role may be that of "homeland security." Either way, we have a job to do, and our commander-in-chief (not Obama) deserves a 100% effort, doesn't He?

EVANGELIZING THE OLD-FASHIONED, BIBLICAL WAY!

2009-11-20T15:10:00.004-02:00

As we try to get our new ministry, The 8-32 Movement, off the ground, two days a week I have been going on the campus of Cândido Mendes University (UCAM) in Rio de Janeiro's business district (known as "The Center") to share my faith and to try to scrounge up some Christians interested in revolutionizing their campus for Christ. Actually, I was unable to go on campus for two weeks (the last week of October and the first week of November) due to our trip to Collierville, TN (just outside of Memphis) for the Worldview Weekend Training Institute. My wife, Aïda, is now in charge of training and materials (including the development of a transferable - for training purposes - evangelistic tool) for our new ministry (under the umbrella of PEF), where we are targeting university students and professors, professionals and churches. Our motto is Knowing, Living and Proclaiming Biblical Truth in a Postmodern World. We are doing this by reaching, developing and mobilizing students, professionals (including professors) and churches for the worldwide harvest. We reach via biblical evangelism, develop via apologetics and biblical/theological/worldview training and mobilize via short-term missions projects and long-term service opportunities.

Besides my wife and me, The 8-32 Movement (given this name based on John 8:32) has enlisted the participation of former Priority Associates (Campus Crusade for Christ) staff member, Erica Ribeiro, to help us get the professional component off the ground. Erica is currently discipling and training three professional women on the staff of Rio de Janeiro State University (UERJ).

Getting back to my ministry activities in downtown Rio, I have found, in light of my strengths and gifting, the best of both ministry worlds! Not only do I get to interact with students about their faith (or lack thereof), but I get to open air preach in the notorious "Largo da Carioca," where tens of thousands of people pass daily. "Carioca," as this nerve center is commonly called, is a smorgasbord of sights, sounds and experiences. You never know what's going to happen next!

For example, I was introduced to a slightly-built preacher two months ago when a crowd gathered around him and an older gentleman decided to start slapping him! I intervened, holding the aggressor at bay long enough for the municipal guards to show up. I wrongly assumed they would uphold the preacher's right to preach, but they hauled him off and warned him to stop. Seeing a crowd of nearly 100 gathering out of curiosity, I whipped out my bullhorn and began preaching! After scolding the guards for violating the Brazilian equivalent to the preacher's First Amendment rights, I started to use God's Law to show the crowd its need for a Savior. After asserting that the Ten Commandments condemn lying, I asked anyone who felt they had never lied to raise their hand. Two men raised their hands. I told them they were lying about lying, and asserted that I knew they were sinners based on Romans 3:23. One guy grumbled something as he walked away, but the other guy - probably in his late teens to early twenties - started getting visibly angry, saying I had no right, as a foreigner, to be preaching. I responded with the fact that I may have been in Brazil longer than he, assuming he was 18 years old or less. He looked like he wanted to attack me, but his friend ushered him out of the area.

So, it's never a dull moment in the "Carioca!" This past Wednesday I was preaching against the gay agenda in our schools here, and a guy stopped to listen. He interrupted me to inform me that a well-known comic book series was introducing the gay lifestyle into its stories; 5 minutes later he handed me a copy of the comic book in question, pointing out the subtle, yet clear, message: "Let's all be tolerant of our gay friends and their choices." I'm going to boycott this comic book publisher from now on, as well as encourage others to do the same! Absurd!

When I was wrapping things up, a guy shows up and asks me to look up a verse in my bible for him. He then took issue with the fact that the verse translated God's OT name - Yahweh - as LORD. I knew I had a Jehovah's Witness (JW) on my hands, so I asked him about his view of Jesus. I confess that I didn't handle the situation the way I would have liked to (Hindsight is always 20/20.), so I plan to take a different approach next time. I encourage you to get your hands on the following tract and/or memorize it's approach to dealing with JW's. I know I will! Fortunately there's a Portuguese version.

To finalize, I came across the following video that graphically explains the benefits of open air and campus preaching. Yeah, it's considered controversial today and the results are not often immediate; nevertheless, God uses it to change lives. Invest just 7 minutes to see what I mean:

GOD EXPANDS OPEN AIR TO CZECH REPUBLIC

2009-10-26T14:36:00.007-02:00

(I received the following post in an e-mail from open-air preacher Bro. Jim Webber, author of Blood Power. I find this young street evangelist's testimony compelling, to say the least! I ask you to read it and respond as God leads. Pavel's e-mail is: pavel.zalio@email.cz. When you consider all that other Czech heroes of the faith went through to preach the gospel in what's now known as The Czech Republic, we Christians should seriously consider investing in someone willing to pay the price to get the gospel out. Such men are a rare breed in this day and age, and will become rarer in light of the recent "hate crimes" legislation passed by Congress - and only awaiting Barack Obama's signature to go into effect.)

Dear brothers in Christ Jesus,

My name is Pavel Zalio and I am from the Czech Republic. I was saved in June 2007 by miraculous power of the Lord Jesus Christ when calling on His name and asking Him to save my soul from hell and bring me to heavens with Him. Instantly a beam of light touched my heart. In the warmth of that light my heart melted down and disappeared; the same happened with my mind and on the top of it an unspeakable joy engulfed me. It happened in a hotel room in Beijing,China. I had no Christian background and knew no Christians.

After something like four days after this I stopped my wanderings, took my backpack and went back to my country, the Czech Republic. Before that the good Lord put a strong love on my heart for people of my country. After coming back I started to work with handicapped people, but after three months they dismissed me as I was too much for them. Then I translated a book God In My Corner - by two-time heavyweight boxing champion George Foreman - into Czech language, but failed with publishing it.

I started to preach on the streets in the spring of 2008 after seeing some pictures of bro. Ruben Israel and other brothers on the Internet. Then i got the book Blood Power by bro. James Webber (alias Bible Jim) which helped me to enforce my position theologically. I started with a simple proclamation that people were in a great trouble and the Lord Jesus is their one and only chance to be saved from the coming misery and wrath of God which is about to fall on this earth. God's judgement.

Just about recently I started to gain little bit of confidence and self respect, as before I was depressed and humiliated everywhere I went by family, church, material conditions etc. I got little bit of peace when preaching after I moved to a garden hut and had a stable spot where I could sleep and pray undisturbed. Before that I prayed at public restrooms before going to preach and lived in an old ambulance car. That time Satan went heavily on me telling me I was a
loser, I lost it and so on. But God was telling me: "Seek first the heavenly kingdom and the rest will be added to you."

About almost a month ago there was the Pope of Rome visiting the city where I currently stay: Brno. I went there with a sign saying the Pope = the Antichrist, which I made after much prayer, reading the Bible and also fasting - which not always is a successful endeavour for me. The other side of my banner said: Trust Jesus. I had the great opportunity to preach to about 120 thousand attendants of the open air mass and all of them had to pass the block I was standing at.
Some Catholics were coming to my block threatening they would beat me up. But God always stopped them so they could only yell at me, waving their hands around me. Sometimes waving their Vatican flags or shouting Viva Papa, Viva Mama (for Mary), while I was preaching the Bible against so called "tradition," which is just another name for a bunch of satanic lies.

In one moment a big tattooed muscular man came to me telling me I should move as I was ruining his business at that spot. I refused, he pressed on me, but when I asked him to show me papers that he had that spot rented he went away. When the situation got quite hot the police came, handcuffed me and arrested me. They drove me away and after some discussions with their boss with walkie-talkies they took the picture of my sign and then let me go. So I went back to the location but before reaching my spot I was arrested by another police patrol. I was handcuffed again and after some time spent in their police car I was asked for the second time that day if I am freely willing to go with them to the police station in the center of the city to give them an explanation. I said - no. Handcuffs again and we were on the way to that station anyway. There they hold me for about two hours. I refused to answer any of their questions and also sign any paper but used the time to witness to almost every police officer I met. After two hours they let me go but confiscated
my banner. That day was a great blessing. I never did such a big event before besides one homo parade which was also a great blessing.

The next day I went to see an ombudsman for human rights and was told to send an appeal against such police conduct, which I did. Now I am waiting for the answer from the police. Problem is that it is police itself who will investigate my complaint. But I am decided to run this case as long as God is willing.

Statistics say that his country, Czech Republic, is the most atheist country in Europe. The majority of people who think they are Christians are Catholics. Major society hates churches because of our past when catholic church together with a secular power burnt at the stake Jan Hus plus other people and persecuted true Christians. (Catholic church was always on the side of our oppressors with just one exception - the communist regime. Because the catholic priests
were persecuted some people think they were the martyrs for the faith and thus their faith must be the right faith. With this logic the contemporary widespreading sect (cult) called Falun Gong, whose leader claims he is the Messiah, would have to be also right as they are persecuted by Chinese communist regime as well. Satan uses the
natural tendency of man to sympathize with the victims to lead people into his snares.) I believe that Almighty God didn't give up on our nation and calls us to repentance that we changed from once Godly nation to a nation of cowards, drunkards, fornicators, money lovers, pot smokers, TV idolaters, showbusiness stars worshipers, thieves, new-agers, Me-god believers ("I just believe in myself."), "good persons," etc.

I would like to ask you, if you could financially support my ministry here in Czech republic. I have enough money for food and have enough clothes, but I need money to expand my ministry and start printing stickers, gospel tracts and the other things. I got in touch with bro. Petar in Norway and just talking with him on the phone was a great source of encouragement.

Recently I started with a public transportation ministry. I was very much delighted with its effect. Once a young men get off the bus with me and had many questions about Jesus Christ being the only way. Two weeks ago I went to a rosicrucian meeting (an occult sect), and I stood up and publicly rebuked their satanic new age lies. When leaving the hall a man joined me and I had a pleasure to answer his question about why I believe the Bible is the true word of God and why Jesus is THE ONLY way to be enlightened (that is what all these buddhists, taoist, new-agers are looking for but cannot find it without acknowledging that they are, deep down, rotted sinners totally dependent on the mercy of Almighty God). This just passed Sunday I got so angry with the Jehovah's Witnesses for promoting their false teaching with a systemacy (sic) of the sons of darkness that I went to their Kingdom Hall after the service was finished and rebuked them in their own lobby.

My next event is a concert of Harlem Gospel Choir. They have posters all around the city and in the middle of them is Barack Obama with a huge smile. I don't understand how the charity program called Feed the Children, which is promoted by this music group, goes together with Obama's pro-abortion position. That's why I want to go there
and expose this conflict of interests. I have a hope and faith that this time I will not go alone as one brother wants to go there with me. Please pray for us.

I have many ideas and see many occasions how to reach the lost of this world, but being a lonely soldier can get very heavily (sic) on ones mind and heart. If I could get just a little bit of support that would turn into a great blessing for everybody. I believe that we have an example in the Bible when saints help other saints in their needs.

Philippians 4:10-17

I rejoice greatly in the Lord that at last you have renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you have been concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength. Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles. Moreover, as
you Philippians know, in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel, when I set out from Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you only; for even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid again and again when I was in need. Not that I am looking for a gift, but I am
looking for what may be credited to your account.

Once a brother who saw me turning an old ambulance car into a Christian vehicle gave me 20 dollars without me asking him a word. It is hard to describe for me how happy I was and how much easier it was for me to work on that car.

2 Corinthians 8:13-15

Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. Then there will be equality, as it is written: "He who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little did not have too little.

If any of you would like to contribute to my ministry here in the Czech republic than you can do so by contacting me at pavel.zalio@email.cz or by sending your support to the account below.

Bank address:

CSOB a.s.
Dobrovskeho 4
682 01 Vyskov
Czech republic
account number: 201037352
IBAN: CZ910300 0000 000201037352
SWIFT #(BIC): CEKOCZPP

My adress: Pavel Zalio (removed by request of Bro. Pavel).

Thank you very much for reading this letter and may God bless all ofyou and sustains you in the fight for the heavenly prize!

Pavel
Brno, Czech Republic

THE "CHRISTIAN'S" WAKE-UP CALL!

2009-10-13T11:57:00.002-03:00

I'm actually sitting here dumbfounded. Wow! Do yourself a tremendous favor and invest the next 12 minutes by watching a video that could very well change your life - forever - and that of your family and friends:

RIO DE JANEIRO WILL HOST THE 2016 OLYMPICS!

2009-10-03T01:33:00.006-03:00

Frankly, I doubted that this would happen. I mean, you have the president of the United States going to Denmark to push his hometown, Chicago. You have Madrid already building two-thirds of its facilities and mobilizing 100,000 people to show their support of their city's Olympic bid.

Now, I live just across the bay from Rio and, apart from some signs here and there, I hadn't picked up much enthusiasm on the part of Rio's residents. But I was wrong, in a BIG way! I was in downtown Rio today (Oct. 2) meeting with my Cândido Mendes University disciple, Alexandre, when my wife calls and tells me both Chicago and Tokyo were out of the running! It was down to Rio and Madrid. She asked me if I was going to Copacabana to preach to the 100,000 residents gathered there to watch, on the beach, the announcement of the winner. Alexandre had to go to a job interview, so I took the Metro (subway) to famous Copacabana Beach!

As soon as I got off the subway, I heard some teens up ahead of me screaming. I knew then what had happened, but I waited until I could get near the beach to confirm, by a street vendor, Rio's selection as the host of the 2016 Olympics. Here's the video Rio used this morning in Copenhagen to try to "sell" the city to the International Olympic Committee (I recommend that you double click on the screen below to take you to full screen on YouTube, where you can watch it in High Quality and/or watch it Full Screen on your computer.)

When I got to the beach, WOW! There were people all over the place, dancing, singing, yelling, smiling. I was thinking, "Okay, how do I play off this and preach to these people?" So I started off telling people that it was God who gave this BIG present to Rio de Janeiro, and all of us would benefit by having the Olympics in Rio. But then I challenged them to think how they were going to thank God for His gift. Were they going to continue doing the same old things, or were they going to get right with Him? Were they going to abandon their sins, or were they going to continue in their rebellion?

I only had one heckler - an older woman - who chided me on "raining on their parade" while not being tolerant of those holding beliefs in other ways, other religions. I replied that Jesus is the ONLY way and that was why I needed to be there preaching this. She said I was forcing my beliefs on them, and I asked, "How?" "By using that bullhorn! You're forcing people to believe what you believe with that thing!" I replied that I was on a public sidewalk in a high-trafficked area, so how was I forcing anybody to believe anything? This drew a small crowd (Hecklers are actually a blessing in disguise, because people are kind of like sharks: When they "smell" blood, they flock to the source to see what's going on!), which I continued preaching to.

Later I noticed one man being particularly attentive. When he approached me to take an evangelistic tract, I stopped preaching long enough for him to ask me if I taught the things I was preaching about anywhere. I told him I didn't pastor a church, so I didn't have a set place where I taught. However, I gave him my phone number if he wanted to set up a time to talk more. We'll see.

Why am I grateful for Rio's selection as the host of the 2016 Olympics? Because Rio will receive the world, and that means there will be tens (or hundreds?) of thousands to reach with the gospel, not to mention millions of Brazilians! I envision this as a tremendous opportunity for the spread of the gospel and, unlike Beijing, the gospel will be able to go out unhindered. I expect there to be an effort on the part of the Church from around the world to organize and execute an evangelistic campaign to reach athletes and fans from both open and closed countries.

May we be ready to take full advantage of this unique opportunity - for the glory of God!

OUTSIDE THE FOUR WALLS!

2009-09-27T23:11:00.008-03:00

Leonard Ravenhill. Have you heard of him? I nicknamed him "Leonard Raving-hill" due to his scathing books criticizing the state of the Church. I had never heard him preach, however. He is actually a very proper English gentleman. But oh, how his words hit home!

On Ravenhill's tombstone is written the following:

"CARRIED BY ANGELS"

LEONARD RAVENHILL

1907 - 1994

"ARE THE THINGS YOU ARE LIVING FOR WORTH CHRIST DYING FOR?"

Wow! How much more convicting can one get? To give you a taste of "Raving-hill" preaching on a subject dear to my heart - street evangelism - I ask you to watch the following video.

This gave you just a taste of Ravenhill (He doesn't speak the whole time in this video.), but I found this video powerful because it couples exhortation with application. I am so privileged to be at the point in my life that I can stand in the middle of a busy thoroughfare on a stool and plead with passers-by to repent and believe the gospel! And I am in ever-growing company, thanks to Ray Comfort's ministry and the exposure that YouTube offers open air preachers like Brother Jed Smock, "Bible Jim" Webber and Ruben Israel, who've been doing this kind of ministry for decades! May our tribe increase - for God's glory and the salvation of men!

THE GOATS AMONG US

2009-09-12T10:53:00.004-03:00

Sometimes Christians can be so naïve! I'm a Christian, so I include myself in the previous statement. Check out this report on The Goats Among Us!

"Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS'" (Matt. 7:21-23).

Then start looking around you at the next church service you attend. Parents Beware! Children Beware! Young Women Beware! Young Men Beware!

NEW MISSION - OLD MISSION

2009-09-05T14:57:00.017-03:00

As you may be aware, Aïda and I left the staff of Campus Crusade for Christ in early July after 26 and 29 years respectively. If you would like to read a detailed explanation as to why, take a look at my July 10 blog post.

NEW MISSION

Sensing that God wanted us to continue ministering in Brazil, we began looking into various mission agencies to see which would be the best fit for us. I even went to the U.S. the last week of July to try to nail something down. After dozens of e-mails and phone calls, we finally settled on a mission agency that we had never heard of before until the beginning of August: PEF (Presbyterian Evangelistic Fellowship).

Why PEF? We aren't Presbyterian, but we can certainly identify with reformed theology. What really "sealed the deal," however, was the strong evangelistic emphasis that PEF has (hence, it's name!), including open air preaching! You see, CCC made it clear that open air preaching was not to be a part of my ministry on Crusade time. No problem - I did it in my free time. But now I am free to preach to anyone, anytime, anywhere (which just happens to be PEF's motto!).

In addition to my open air preaching PEF accepted us along with the following ministry focus and goals (as mentioned in my July 10 post):

1) REACHING , EQUIPPING and MOBILIZING students, professors and young professionals - interdenominationally - for the worldwide spiritual harvest. REACHING: through what we call "Intentional Evangelism," which is flexible in style and methodology while remaining faithful to biblical content; EQUIPPING: via one-on-one and small-group discipleship and training; MOBILIZING: through accountability to one's ministry goals, short and long-term missions, etc.

2) TRAINING Believers (those in our day-to-day ministry scope - see item 1 above - and local churches) in Bible study methods, theology, Christian worldview, apologetics and "Intentional Evangelism." Most Christians in Brazil have no idea what a Christian worldview is and do not have the basis to defend their faith; bible study and holding a consistently biblical theology are weak areas here as well (as they seem to be in the U.S. too!).

3) Teaching faithful men to do the same (i.e., spiritual leadership multiplication - 2 Tim. 2:2).

OLD MISSION

The past couple of weeks since I've been back in Brazil have been adventuresome, to say the least. Two weeks ago we went on a private, very Catholic campus (i.e., nuns in habits all over the place!) where some evangelical students who want our help study. We're not sure how much we'll be able to do there yet, but we're up for new challenges! We did get to share with a foreign student - Embelina from Cape Verde (off the coast of West Africa and where I directed CCC's first-ever international summer project back in 1998) - who, despite her Catholic upbringing, realized for the first time in her life why she needs Jesus (Rom. 3:23 & 6:23) and demonstrated repentance and faith!

Then on Friday of that same week I met with the student leader of an autonomous Christian campus group who wants our help at his private university! This student - Alexandre - started his group three years ago under the supervision of his home church (Church of the Nazarene). Since he is actively involved in evangelism via Jews for Jesus, I knew I was dealing with someone passionate about reaching the lost. Alexandre has a small group of 15-20 students who meet weekly on a campus that, although Catholic, is very open to the gospel! So we plan on starting to work with his group via theoretical and practical evangelism training as well as discipleship. We'd also like to establish a partnership between Alexandre's church and our ministry on his campus - Cândido Mendes University (UCAM). Needless-to-say, we are very excited over these developments!

This past week I went back to UCAM and tried out a new evangelistic tool - together with Alexandre - that I developed based on the evangelistic presentation on the www.TheGoodPersonTest.net link. One student, Alan (a sophomore Law School student (Yes, Law is an undergraduate major in Latin America!), willingly went through the presentation, agreeing that he had broken God's Law and that he is guilty and deserving of hell. However, what I didn't expect was his level of apathy regarding the possibility of going to hell one day. As a nominal Catholic, Alan said he was willing to risk dying in his sins and "enjoying life" now vs. getting right with God. It was a good learning experience for me on how to approach such apathy in the future, and I don't intend to waste it.

I also preached open air twice this past week, trying out my new foldable stool that I can easily carry in my backpack. I preached in a new location in Rio's business district yesterday: an outdoor amphitheater! I couldn't believe how the sound of my voice - with help from my trusty bullhorn, of course - traveled! As people passed by on their way to catch the ferry or the bus home for the long weekend, I could see their heads turn as they heard my preaching from 80-100 yards away! God's word won't return void (Is. 55:11)! Several people came to listen to my preaching in the amphitheater, and they each received gospel tracts at the end.

Some ask if the open air approach is effective. My response is,"If you're talking about seeing people fall to their knees in repentance and faith before my eyes, no. But if you're talking about God's word going out and being used by the Holy Spirit to convict the hearers of sin, righteousness and coming judgement (Jn. 16:8), my answer would be a resounding 'yes!'"

The following are two videos about campus preacher Tom Short that answer the question: "Does open air preaching work?"

You see, this aspect of evangelism has been neglected by the Evangelical Church for nearly an entire century. In the interest of being "politically correct," the Church's evangelistic philosophy backed away from the biblical approach to adopt a less aggressive approach. Some, like I used to, may think "political correctness" is a product of the 1990's, but in reality it was first popularized in Protestant circles by the liberal pastor/theologian Harry Emerson Fosdick back in the 1920's (I read this somewhere, but can't find the exact reference to support my statement . . . yet.). Eventually Fosdick's persistence, along with the inroads of theological liberalism in America's seminaries, would mean that being PC trumped being biblically honest with people. May we return to the biblical gospel and evangelism again, not worrying about preaching something that might offend. In fact, a biblical presentation of the gospel will always offend some. It goes with the territory!

"Brothers, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished" (Gal. 5:11 - NIV).

"Just as it is written, 'BEHOLD, I LAY IN ZION A STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE, AND HE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED'" (Rom. 9:33 - NASB).

"and '

A stone of stumbling,

and a rock of offense.'

They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do" (1 Pet. 2:8 - ESV).

WISDOM'S WAKE-UP CALL!

2009-09-05T14:50:00.009-03:00

“In answer to your inquiry, I consider that the chief dangers which confront the coming century (the 20th - my addition) will be religion without the Holy Ghost, Christianity without Christ, forgiveness without repentance, salvation without regeneration, politics without God, and heaven without hell.” - William Booth (founder of The Salvation Army)

My comment: Was Booth a prophet or what?!

Spurgeon's Challenge

2009-08-20T08:21:00.002-03:00

“If sinners will be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our bodies. And if they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees, imploring them to stay. If hell must be filled, at least let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go there unwarned and unprayed for.” (Charles Spurgeon)

LIVES - FOR ALL ETERNITY - ARE AT STAKE!

2009-08-06T15:27:00.012-03:00

We received the following e-mail from a Christian friend - by the name of Rebekah from Trinidad & Tobago - who has started an pro-life NGO because she and others see the legalization of abortion on the horizon there.

Hi!

As I am seeking to understand what is going on and to separate truth from propaganda, I have been praying and these 2 verses came up in my scripture reading this morning. I was asking myself, "What is wrong with an interfaith project? To what extent do we align or work with the unbeliever?" I have met resistance trying to raise the issue of the Emerging Church with my own pastor and his wife. In fact, I forwarded this article and she told me, "Jesus dined with sinners." End of discussion.

I prayed, read and came across these 2 verses. I am emotional and passionate about the things of God, His truth and in not causing any to be deceived, including myself. I was reminded that Jesus spoke the truth and this caused divisions in the world - sheep / goat; wheat / chaff. Am I being too emotional?

Luke 12:49-56

"I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is completed! Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law." He said to the crowd: "When you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say, 'It's going to rain,' and it does. And when the south wind blows, you say, 'It's going to be hot,' and it is. Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky. How is it that you don't know how to interpret this present time?"

Here's the answer I sent to her, which might encourage you as you "contend for the faith" (Jude 3)!

Hey Rebekah!

Yes, Jesus ate with sinners, but they were repentant ones! Otherwise, they wouldn't have approached Him. Sin hates being exposed (John 3:20), but a repentant sinner has no problem being in the light. On the common fight for life, I don't see such a problem aligning myself with unbelievers. But when it comes to biblical truth, how can I be aligned with a heretic and an apostate? False teachers were rampant in the Early Church, as they are in the Church today. How did Jesus and Paul deal with them? I'm reading The Jesus You Can't Ignore by John MacArthur (Thomas Nelson, 2009). He points out that Jesus was most opposed to the religious hypocrites of His day. Some misread this and make Jesus into someone against "legalistic" Bible teachers who advocate separation from the world and/or heresy. But Jesus was against those who, in the name of God, took people down the wide path to destruction. I'd compare them to liberal church leaders in the mainline Protestant denominations, to Emerging Church and Contemplative Spirituality leaders (e.g., Rob Bell, Brian McLaren, Eugene Peterson, Dallas Willard, Richard Foster, Brennan Manning, etc.), to Prosperity Gospel leaders (Joel Olsteen, Benny Hinn, Paul & Jan Crouch, Creflo Dollar, Todd Bentley, etc.), to any leader who has moved away from orthodox Bible teaching (or is endorsing those who've moved away: Rick Warren, Bill Hybels, etc.), etc. These guys are wolves - albeit, "nice" wolves, in most cases - in sheep's clothing and are thus dangerous! They are leading so many away from solid, biblical truth! They are, frankly, leading millions to hell!

So, keep being "too emotional!" Then, let your "emotions" turn into a determined effort to expose error wherever it may be found in order to alert the Church in T&T! Lives - for all eternity - are at stake!

Go for it, Rebekah!

"Stick & Stir" Videos!

2009-08-05T14:24:00.007-03:00

These could be the most important 14 minutes of your time that you've ever invested in something. Watch this video N-O-W!!!

The following video is possibly the most important video you will ever watch on YouTube! If you have always assumed you've been a Christian, is it possible that you've been mistaken? Paul counseled the Corinthian church to, in 2 Corinthians 13:5, "Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you--unless indeed you fail the test?"

B-I-G CHANGES!

2009-07-10T12:48:00.011-03:00

It sure has been a while, hasn't it? Sorry! Actually, my blog became the focus of a recent discussion between us and Campus Crusade for Christ's HR department. For that reason I decided to "lay low" for a while.

As the title says, we recently have gone through a major transition. To get right to the point, as of July 2 we are no longer missionaries with CCC! If you're shocked, imagine our shock after 29 years on staff (as of July 1, 2009), in my case, and 26 years, in Aïda's!

Now, you are probably curious as to what happened, so I will quote from an e-mail we sent out to several pastors and missions committee leaders of churches on our support team:

Dear Pastor _______,

After coming to the conclusion that differences in ministry emphases between us and Brazilian CCC were too serious to be ignored any longer, we started the process of transferring from this important nation to Jamaica - with the goal of leaving Brazil by the end of 2010. One ministry emphasis difference, for example, had to do with our style of ministry, which is that of "slugging it out in the trenches" on campus alongside our staff and students; the leadership here, however, wants all campus staff to take a more supervisory role that doesn't fit our personalities and strengths as well.

While we were deciding the best time to announce our transfer plans, unbeknownst to us the CCC leadership here had requested that CCC-U.S. terminate our ministry here in Brazil due to our ministry emphasis differences. Sometime while processing our mutual transfer requests - ours and that of CCC-Brazil - someone in the CCC Human Resources department in Orlando read my blog and concluded that we had incorporated something "incompatible" with CCC into our philosophy of evangelism: that of Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron's THE WAY OF THE MASTER (WOTM - www.wayofthemaster.com ). We didn't agree that WOTM is incompatible with CCC because, here in Brazil, we have seen a great need to make the issue of Law 2 of THE FOUR SPIRITUAL LAWS ("Man is sinful and separated from God...") as clear as possible. For example, most Spiritists (Brazil is the world's largest Spiritist nation.), not to mention students in general, do not believe that man is sinful. So, in an effort to make the gospel as clear as possible by clearly explaining man's sinfulness, we have used some of WOTM's material. We were told that in CCC the focus is on Law 1 ("God loves you and offers a wonderful plan for your life.") and not on Law 2. That was news to us!

We've discovered that in the U.S. there have been some problems on some campuses between CCC students and some students who have adhered to the WOTM philosophy. So, in a way we can understand CCC's concerns; but Brazil is not the U.S. In fact, most Christians here have never heard of WOTM and its emphasis on the use of God's Law in evangelism and biblical conversion via repentance and faith. But since we were trying to transfer to another country as U.S. staff, the American policy on WOTM became the main issue in our case.

As a result of all this, we were told that our philosophy of evangelism was incompatible with CCC's and that we were being "dismissed" due to "our disagreement" with CCC's philosophy of evangelism. We don't consider it so much a "disagreement," but a desire to make the issue clear. Oh well.

One other area that the Brazilian leadership team mentioned as problematic about us was that we were too concerned about the truth (of God's Word). They said that we were, as a result, being "legalistic." We believe that what was really behind their criticism was the fact that we pointed out some of the Emerging Church trends and authors adopted and promoted by some of the leadership here. Since we both got M.A.'s in Exegetical Theology (from Western Conservative Baptist Seminary in Portland, OR), we'd like to think we have a little more discernment than the average CCC staff member regarding some of the heresies that go hand in hand with the Emerging Church. We found this trend among our leadership truly disturbing, but understandable in light of their church backgrounds and the little information available in Portuguese on the Emerging Church.

Now, being dismissed was obviously a hard pill to swallow at first. We've been serving with CCC since 1980 (in my case) and 1983 (in Aïda's case)! You may be finding it a hard pill to swallow too. But you know what? We are actually glad that this happened now! Why? Well, we feel freed up now to pursue God's call in some needed areas here in Brazil - but now as missionaries with another mission agency.

Because we see some really great needs in Brazil and because we have a heart for evangelism and discipleship, we believe that the Lord is not yet done with us in Brazil. We welcome your input on our situation and future, but we are seriously thinking about starting a ministry with another mission here in Brazil with the following emphases:

1) REACHING , EQUIPPING and MOBILIZING students, professors and young professionals for the worldwide spiritual harvest;*

2) Training Christians in Bible study methods, theology, Christian worldview, apologetics and "Intentional Evangelism;** and

3) Teaching faithful men to do the same (i.e., spiritual leadership multiplication - 2 Tim. 2:2).

I (Bill) am planning a trip up to Houston at the end of July for the purpose of meeting with our ministry partners there to explain in person what we see as the next steps that God is directing us to take. I also hope to replace any lost support due to our transition at that time, as well as gather resources and form partnerships that will help us launch our new ministry once back in Brazil!

One more thing: Although we will be planning out our new ministry over the next several weeks and months, we don't want to give you the idea that we won't be doing evangelism, discipleship and training. On the contrary, we hope to do get something going at a local private university (where Campus Crusade has never ministered), while developing or translating the training curriculum that we will use to equip students, professors, professionals and churches in the areas mentioned above. Believe me, we'll have our hands full as we try to start something from scratch! Exciting times!

* REACHING: through what we call "Intentional Evangelism," which is flexible in style and methodology while remaining faithful to biblical content. Of course, "Intentional Evangelism" includes one of Bill's area of expertise: open air preaching; EQUIPPING: via one-on-one and small-group discipleship and training; MOBILIZING: through accountability to one's ministry goals, short and long-term missions, etc.

** Most Christians here have no idea what a Christian worldview is and do not have the basis to defend their faith; Systematic Theology and Bible study are really weak areas here.

Well, there you have it! This is where we're at now. It's kind of sad to see CCC's leadership reject WOTM, but in light of some of the problems that have been caused for CCC, it's actually understandable. When CCC had problems with zealous tongues speakers back in the 70's, it established a policy for its staff stating that one would have to suspend the public and private use of the gift while on staff. Although CCC never took a theological position on the issue of tongues, it took a practical position on it. In the same way, CCC seems to have clamped down on those staff into WOTM without taking a theological position against it. Hopefully the day will come when WOTM will not be seen as so controversial and will be assimilated into CCC's ministry philosophy. That would be my prayer, at least.

What is ironic in all of this is that all that Ray Comfort did was research into how evangelism was done pre-20th century, bringing back an emphasis on the use of the Law and on biblical conversion via repentance and faith. Although these emphases have been labeled WOTM by many, they actually were the emphases of the Church throughout history - until the political correctness of the 20th century Church.