Stone the Preacher

Disregarding the foreboding weather forecast, fifteen evangelists faced a torrential downpour at the 25th annual Kingdom Day Parade in honor of Martin Luther King Jr.

Take a look at the images and see if you’d be foolhardy enough to witness in this monsoon. (more…)

Last week’s evangelistic excursion to the Hollywood Christmas Parade was a wonderful opportunity to reach possibly millions of people world-wide with the Gospel. How so? By getting Gospel tracts into the hands of celebrities.

B-list celebrities.

Think about it. What if a star realizes, after reading a Gospel tract, that they will be condemned on the Day of Judgment because of their sin? They understand that they’ve lied, stolen or blasphemed God; they now know that God sees lust as adultery, hatred as murder. They then repent and put their trust in the Savior who suffered and died on a cross for them, was buried for three days and rose again. Then they use their God-given celebrity to preach to the world—until they get fired and are relegated to the B-list. (Read more about this crazy scheme from last year’s parade here.)

Am I nuts? Yep. That’s why I tried my best to get my Giant Hundred Dollar Bill Gospel tracts into the hands of as many celebrities and notables as I could. For instance: Montel Williams got one!

And the cast of General Hospital!

But the really big fish were yet to come. Popular names from TV seasons past as well as the present. They were… (more…)

I remembered what happened a couple of years ago on this date. It was awful. Horrific. 

It wasn’t pretty. Click here to read about it.

Every now and then I take my daughters to the campus of El Camino College where I share my faith on a weekly basis.

They are no idle participants.

Eight-year-old Laurel hands out Gospel tracts while her older sister D.D. takes students through entire Gospel presentations.

I’m very proud of my girls.

One benefit of having my kids on campus is that they get a true perspective of the world they live in—and the world they will grow up into.

We do not have cable television, enjoying instead all nine seasons of “Little House on the Prairie” on DVD. Rarely do we go to the movies. Rampant blasphemy and worldviews  counter to our Christian values keep us away. There are very few video games; our kids actually enjoy playing with each other.

Our college excursions show my girls society as it really is, not as some  Hollywood director chooses to portray it.

Sometimes they get an eyeful….

Recently, in the span of one hour, my girls watched me talk to a woman dressed like a guy—who felt that she really was a man in a woman’s body. 

They saw me shake hands and greet Lena with a smile, a man dressed like a woman.  

Next I spoke to the two mothers of a toddler.

All of these people know I stand for Jesus, and that He’s the only way.

My girls observed their Daddy loving those for whom Christ died.

Without limit.

They get the best college education money can’t  buy.

(Please click here to start at Part 1.)

We finished our business at Living Hope Christian Church by successfully teaching them how to share their faith without fear; they were now on fire with evangelistic zeal.

But we had one more goal in mind: The State Capital! We expected to see thousands gathered around the building protesting, sightseeing… and we were ready to preach to the multitudes with our sound system, Hellboy. 

It was not to be.

We were rained out. Nobody was anywhere near the Capital building except me and my two little girls.

No worries. Another hair-brained evangelistic plan was hatched: Get an Arnold Schwarzennegger million dollar bill Gospel tract into the Governator’s hands.

Who knows? Quite possibly, after reading the message on the back of the bill, he would govern righteously, honoring God and representing the citizenry more accurately. Maybe he would repent, then repeal the ghastly new Harvey Milk holiday he signed into law.

To sleep, perchance, to dream…

First, we had to think through an effective strategy….

One of the most common questions asked at the capital is this: “Is Arnold in today?” We asked it, too. A worker replied that he had spotted him earlier in the day. We were in luck. We streaked to the governor’s office. But first, I paid homage to a great American.

Outside the office, I was curious as to how often Mr. Schwarzennegger actually showed up, the fact being that he lives in Los Angeles and commutes to work. The friendly Mountie answered, “Nearly everyday.”

Buoyed by this bit of good news, we asked if was in right now. (more…)

The image below doesn’t belie the importance of the moment: It’s just a guy holding a hamburger bag while talking to another man on a bike.

Big deal, right? Well, good things can sometimes come in boring photos. (This is part 3 in a series. Click here for part 1, and here for part 2.)

The burger bag guy is Brian, a new student from the one day evangelism class I taught in Sacramento last week. There was a problem here. We were trying to get Brian to sit down and eat with the rest of the students during the lunch break, but he was too busy sharing his faith. And the class hadn’t even finished yet! He had clothes-lined the man as he bicycled through a parking lot!

How rude!

Except Bike-man didn’t think so. He thanked Brian, shook his hand and, I think, gave him a hug, the keys to his car and put him in his will….

We had two goals for this small church in the ‘burbs of Sacramento before our team of five left L.A. to teach this congregation the principles of biblical evangelism: 1) We wanted the Pastor to get on board with street witnessing. 2) We hoped for at least two members out of this church of fifty adults to catch the fire.

It turns out that three adults caught the fire. The man in the photo above, (who will be teaching a class of his own); the Pastor’s son, Dustin; and the church’s administrator, Bonnie, who told me about her own witnessing experience.

She talked to man who didn’t care that he was going to Hell; Bonnie started crying and couldn’t finish the conversation. I reassured her that he’ll never forget that conversation. I reminded Bonnie of what Catherine Booth, wife of William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, once said, “If you haven’t got tears in your eyes, let them hear tears in your voice.”

Bonnie had them in both places.

And what about the pastor, Mark Dahlin? Did he get on fire for this biblical principle that is guaranteed to unlock the heart of a sinner?

I just received an email from him today; it was a letter to his church and it began this way:  

Leaning over into the security vehicle I heard these words over the security officer’s walkie-talkie: “We have a group of Born- Agains in the mall!”  The officer smiled at me, lifted one eyebrow and said,  ”They’re with you aren’t they?” I smiled and told her, “Yes,” then explained the constitutional right we had to be there and told her what we wanted to do.

Uh, oh! I think he learned all too well.

A great attitude can make all the difference when entering into hostile territory with the good news of Jesus Christ. At the 39th Annual West Hollywood Gay Pride Parade we knew we weren’t welcome as Christian evangelists, so we came armed to the teeth, battle-ready. rucksacks packed with… great attitudes! (Start at the beginning of this series by clicking here.)

Anita Alvarado and Liz Ebert, two employees from Living Waters, traversed the entire length of the parade route, from beginning to end, completely emptying their backpacks of Gospel tracts. I was impressed with an account that Anita shared, because she had the right attitude:

There was one conversation where I ended up being chased by a lesbian. The conversation started off with the million dollar bill tract. I asked, “If you were to die, where would you go?”

“I know where I’d go,” she replied, “because my dad is a Pastor at a church out in Texas. I would definitely be going to heaven!”

I then took her through the Commandments. She and I both realized that another lesbian was listening in on our conversation; that’s when she switched and got a little aggressive with her tone of voice. “I’m a decent and good person,” she declared.”

I told her that our goodness won’t get us into heaven. She told me again that she knew where she was going: to heaven. “You can’t afford to be wrong on Judgment Day,” I pleaded. “Please repent of your sins and place your trust in Jesus Christ.”

At that point she folded up the tract I gave her and said, “Here you can have this back, I don’t need it.”

I quickly dropped my hands down and said with a huge smile on my face, “Ooops, I won’t take it back.” She looked at me and tried to put it in my pants pocket and that’s when the chase was on! I ran off (laughing and smiling of course). I said to her, “Give it to someone else! I won’t take it back!” She then caught up to me and forced it in my purse. I then pulled out another tract and ran back to give it to her, but she then just threw it to the ground. I just laughed some more! It was hilarious! Liz thought that I was going to get in a fight.

I will definitely never forget how I spent my 31st birthday!

Donnie Legg told me that another lesbian grabbed a tract out of his hand, ran away, and taunted, “I’ve got your paper! What are you going to do now?”

Smiling, Donnie shouted back to her, “Good grab!”

It’s all a matter of attitude.

Click here to read about the seven parades we attended in the last seven months: From a Christmas Parade, to the Tournament of Roses, to Martin Luther King, Jr., to Chinese New Year, St. Patrick’s Day and an anti-war protest, all linked together, each with a different strategy.

***Check out a ministry that helps ex-homosexuals by clicking here.***

A friend asked me, “When do you dust your feet off?” This was a reference to Jesus telling his twelve disciples, “If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town.” And make no mistake about it, fifteen evangelists were not exactly welcomed to the West Hollywood 39th Annual Gay Pride Parade when we attended. (Start at part 1 by clicking here.)

“I don’t know when to dust my feet off,” I replied. There were so many in this area who needed to turn to God. Had God left this area to utter ruin? Had he completely given them over? Surely there were some here that were struggling with their homosexuality, others experimenting, and some who were just along for the ride. Since we didn’t know for sure and Jesus told us to go into all the world, we gave it our best shot. We attempted to try and save some.

I wondered if some mom somewhere had lost their son or daughter to this lifestyle, some Christian mom. Maybe she was hoping, praying, that someone would reach out to them. Maybe, possibly, we were an answer to prayer. We had the words of eternal life, and we were giving them out freely to whomever would listen.

My friend Donnie Legg, from Florida, accompanied the team to the parade. He loves people and loved the gay community. He was furiously handing out Gospel tracts, throwing out as many life ropes as possible, when he encountered a young woman named Pinky. Watch what happened.

Donnie sent me a later email that filled in some details left out of the video. Here’s what he wrote:

I didn’t mention the fact that after reading the tract Pinky said that it put her under heavy conviction; that’s why she didn’t want to keep it. I explained to her that she would not get out of the lifestyle that she was in by being in the flesh. She needed to heed God’s conviction by repenting, trusting and committing her life to Jesus Christ alone. God would then deliver her from that lifestyle. I was able to go through the law and the gospel with her, and told her if she was truly born again that there were many lost people around her that she could give the tract to. She thanked me for talking to her that way, and turned and walked away with the tract. Keep Pinky in your prayers.

Maybe the only reason we were at the parade was for Pinky.

When do we dust our feet off? After the very last person is snatched out of Hell.

*We handed out well over 20,000 Gospel tracts and had many, many loving conversations that day.*

Click here for Part 6 and watch a video interview with a gay man who had issues with Christians and God.

The photos that you will see in this article are shocking, but for a reason different than you might think. I was careful not to record the wanton depravity and lewdness that was an essential part of this parade, not wanting to glorify in any way what God condemns as wickedness. But the truth must be seen… (Please start this series at part 1 by clicking here.)

A sad reality dawned on all of us as we shared the Gospel at the 39th Annual West Hollywood Gay Pride parade: God gave them over. In the first chapter of the book of Romans in the New Testament, the phrase, “God gave them over…” appears 3 times as it records the downward spiral of a life lived for sin.

And there was no church represented in this parade that could offer any hope, except in the here and now. The churches in this parade, sadly, were also “given over.”

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. (Romans 1:24-25)

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. (Romans 1: 26-27)

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. (Romans 1: 28-32)

We were there—as Christian evangelists—because we loved these people enough to tell them the truth, the truth that their churches wouldn’t tell them, the truth their churches refused to tell them: that God has a standard by which he will judge everyone, the standard of the 10 Commandments.

If they had ever lied, stolen, misused God’s name, or even looked with lust, God would see them as lying thieves, blasphemers and adulterers-at heart. On the Day of Judgment, they would be found guilty and end up in Hell to pay for their sins. They will not go to Hell because they practiced homosexuality, but because they have sinned against God by breaking His Commandments. Homosexuality is just one sin in a long list of sins we all commit.

But we weren’t there to give them just the bad news. We weren’t there like the “Sign Guys” at the start of the parade condemning people. No we were there to proclaim in a gentle, loving way the full counsel of God, including the Good News that Jesus died for there sins. If they would repent, turn away from there sins, and put their trust in the Savior they could have everlasting life. Yes, God demonstrated His love for the gay community in this: While they were still sinners, Christ died for them.

That was the real message of hope we were bringing. 

Anything less than the full message of Christ and Luther would turn over in his grave. 

“Satan, the god of all dissension stirs up daily new sects. And last of all others I should never have foreseen or once suspected, he has raised up a sect such as teach that men should not be terrified by the Law, but gently exhorted by the preaching of the grace of Christ.

“The first duty of the Gospel preacher is to declare God’s Law and show the nature of sin.” —Martin Luther (1483-1546)

Click here for Part 5 and read some good news!

  *****

If all this sounds too harsh, may I suggest that you watch this video I made two years ago (in fact, this was my very first YouTube video) of a conversation I had with a young lesbian woman. You will see how respectful we can be when stating the truth.

Click here for Part 5 and read some good news!

How tolerant was the gay community toward the 15 evangelists who attended their Gay Pride Parade in West Hollywood? Not very. Even though we were determined to be friendly, kind, loving and winsome in our attitudes toward this group, you’ll see by the comments below that they don’t necessarily practice “tolerance” as much as they preach it. Read some of the nasty comments below, relayed to me by a few members of our evangelism team. (Start at part 1 by clicking here.)

Ed Lee sent me this random sampling of what was said to him as he shared his faith one-to-one and handed out Gospel tracts:

“Is that some kind of Jesus sh*t? Get that Jesus sh*t away from me!”

“Give me a few more of these so I can wipe my a** with them.”

“Do you have a Bible?  Give it to me so I can wipe my a** with it too!”

“Your propaganda is disgusting!”

“More murder has been committed in the name of Christianity than by anyone else!”

“Do you think Jesus would be condemning us the way you are?”

Jesus loves us just the way were are!”

“Jesus created us this way.”

 Ed adds, “Although I would not say that these comments were representative of the majority, they were not uncommon.”

Rachael Liebregt remembered these experiences as she ministered alongside her husband Dennis:

One group of about six girls stood away from Dennis and I, staring at us and talking about us. Finally, one girl mustered the strength to walk over and throw the tract that I handed to her back at me. The wind blew it back to her, and then it fell near my feet as she walked off. Shortly afterwards the group dispersed.

I had one lady walked up to me, hold out her hand for a pink equality tract, and once she got it, ripped it up, threw it at me, and walked away.

Two women attacked me as I was minding my own business passing out tracts. I never said a word to them, yet one said that I was being judgmental. I tried to talk to her for a while but it went nowhere; she didn’t like the “Gay Equality” tracts.. She asked me all the questions that you had warned us about: ”How did you vote on Prop 8?” I told her that she voted her conscience and I voted my own. She replied, “No I did not vote my conscience; I voted what was RIGHT. Are you a lesbian? Is your husband gay? God is love and you are judgmental!”

Dennis Liebregt, Rachael’s husband, had a few touchy experiences himself:

Well one guy I tried to witness to asked me if I was gay, bi or heterosexual?  When I said hetero he walked off without another word. Another guy came up and grabbed my upper arm and said, “You have beautiful eyes.” I got smacked on my butt by some drunk walking by the crowded bars with those stupid love paddle things. And one guy slapped the tract out of my hand which I tried handing to him.

Dennis adds, “The things we endure for the love of Christ huh? All in all, we had a very blessed time, however, just so sad to see. How much more does God see. God please have mercy on us.”

In part 4, see for yourself the worst offense of all by clicking here! 

Hate would not be too strong a word to describe the attitude of the people toward our evangelism team as we covertly attended the 39th Annual West Hollywood Pride Parade. They hated our values, they hated our God… though they did like Jesus: Jesus Smith. Yes, they loved another Jesus—not our Jesus—a Jesus who was tolerant, a Jesus who was non-judgmental, not concerned about sin, a Jesus who was accepting of homosexuality—in other words, a Jesus who never existed. (Read part 1 by clicking here.)

In the gay community tolerance is the religion, widely preached, not practiced. No one in West Hollywood who subscribed to the gay agenda was tolerant of born again believers. We were the ones, of course, who, along with the Mormons and Catholics, voted that marriage should be between one man and one woman. When Proposition 8 was voted in, thrown out, then re-instated, we were the people, the H8ers, the religious right—the Nazis—who were wrong. We were the bigots, those Fundamentalist Fanatics who should be labeled as terrorists and nuts—in their eyes.

No one tolerated us.

Aware that we were not welcome in this venue we devised a strategy of non-confrontation, sort of. We did not go into this community with the intention of preaching in the open air; no, that could prove fatal. We planned on preaching the Gospel through one-to-one conversations and handing out Gospel tracts, lots of Gospel tracts. We made 5,000 specially designed ”Got Equality?” tracts on pink card stock. There was no mention of homosexuality, marriage, gay or lesbian in the entire message, just the law and Gospel.

We planned on combating ignorance and intolerance in three ways:

1) We were not going to discuss what the bible says about homosexuality unless asked. Even then we would be careful about how we answered, knowing that this type of discussion would only elicit an argument—and get us off track of what we really came to do: preach the Law and Gospel. Besides, this community already knows what the bible says. We would seek to understand in a gracious way.

Here’s a sample of what we might say if confronted with that question:

Gay person: So what does the bible say about homosexuality?

Evangelist: What do you think it says?

At that point, the gay person would explain his perspective, why we were wrong, and why he was right. The evangelist, in turn, would transition the conversation into a question of whether he thought he was good enough to get to Heaven. End of debate.

2) We were going to gently steer around the Proposition 8 question.

Sample conversation:

Gay person: How did you vote on Prop 8?

Evangelist: How did you vote?

Gay Person: I voted against it. I believe all people have the right to marry.

Evangelist: I’m glad that you felt free to vote your conscience. Isn’t it great that in America we have the right to vote according to our consciences. I believe you voted in the right way, according to your conscience; I, too, voted according to mine. It’s wonderful that we can disagree and still be respectful of one another, isn’t it?

3) We would employ a cheerful attitude and gracious demeanor; we would be warm and friendly. This would be so unlike the Christian haters who shake their fingers and bibles and signs, while condemning everyone to Hell.

The sad fact is that these poor people are condemned already according to Jesus Christ (see John 3:18; John 3:36). We were there to explain this fact, warn them, and not let bad our attitudes get in the way.

Did it work? The Sheriffs who patrolled the area noticed that we were different than the usual “Christians” who haunt these parades. One Sheriff said, “I like the way that you share the Gospel with these people.”

If only the tolerant gay community had responded to us in the same way; unfortunately, they didn’t.

Click here to read part 3 which shows you some of the persecution we endured.

Note the address of the building on the right of the exit of the Pride Festival.

Fifteen evangelists considered that to be a foreshadowing of what was to come as we attempted to reach a few of the estimated 400,000 revelers attending the 39th Annual West Hollywood Pride Parade with the Gospel of Christ.

Parades are typically happy, fun, and exciting. People are carefree in celebration as they cheer their favorite float, marching band or dignitary. But what happens when a spectator cannot celebrate or shout for joy as paraders pass on by? What do you do when cannot rejoice with those who rejoice because what they are rejoicing over is gross perversion?

That was our dilemma as Christians in the midst of Sodom.

As time allows, and as I wrestle over my thoughts and attitudes about what we experienced yesterday, I will write about the unsettling nature of what it was like sharing our faith in the blackest heart of darkness.

Read about hate and prejudice in the gay community by clicking here for part 2!