Last year, I interviewed Rich at the 2012 West Hollywood Pride Paradeand asked some very pointed questions about where he would spend eternity. Well, to my delight, I saw him again and he remembered us as the friendly Christians. (The “Christian Thugs” were just down the street. More on them next week. By the way, our message delivered with friendliness and tact is very damaging according to one gay advocate. Read her critique here.)
In this interview you will learn how to answer:
What if someone is born gay?
Why Jesus didn’t speak about homosexuality.
Why “Gay Christians” need to repent.
How close to Heaven can you get?
Disclaimer: I called him “brother” only in the sense of a friend, like saying “bro” or “dude.” No, I don’t consider him a Christian brother.
Two candidates, Wendy Greuel and Eric Garcetti, are vying for the top slot in America’s 2nd largest city. Who will win? More importantly, how do they currently stand before Christ? The bigger question is not whether the people elect them, but has God?
When I gave each a Giant Money Gospel tract and a firm admonition at the last Golden Dragon Parade a few months back, here were their reactions as revealed in these two 17 second videos:
ERIC GARCETTI: ELECT?
WENDY GREUEL: ELECT?
So…are they the elect? If they profess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, and repent of their sins, yes!
Well, Billy wasn’t much of a theologian…nevertheless, we will be heading to the Lawndale Youth Parade this Saturday. What is a Youth Parade? Here’s how the Lawndale website describes it: “[An] annual fun event celebrating the youth in Lawndale and the surrounding communities.”
So there you go! Meet us at Hope Chapel at 8:30 to carpool.
Now, watch a few youths learning how to preach in eight words. Read some reviews from those who’ve watched it below.
Nytephyre wrote: “this is absolutely disgusting. Shame on you for involving children.”
butkicker43 wrote: “you are disgusting involving children, they are to young to comprehend such claims and indoctrinating them into your state of delusion”
thisismyelement05: “you’re ruining that beautiful beach shutup”
Derwydd3: “I probably shouldn’t say this, but I actually feel a bit sorry for Christians sometimes. Everyone ignoring them at the end there was a bit sad really.”
Only one day left to hit the Christmas crush at your local airport. Yes, it’s legal to hand out tracts and witness at these venues. And during the holiday season, it’s especially easy! This currency exchanger at LAX was very friendly but entirely self-deceived before God about her condition.
Download them for free then take them to a print shop and print them on green paper with red ink. There is blank space on the inside for you to stamp your own church name. Download it by clicking here.To see what else the tract says… (more…)
A few years back I posted a video called “Why Christians Don’t Argue With Atheists” where I tried to have a conversation with a guy named Ted that went absolutely nowhere. Well, here’s another “Ted-like” guy who wanted nothing to do with my answers. What could I do but smile, speak graciously and deliver the Word of God when given the opportunity. How did I do?
What I try to do in these encounters is listen and share a little.
I’m not trying to be right, (I am, because the Bible is), I’m not attempting to correct their misunderstanding of Scripture (let them have their opinions), and I sure as heck refuse to speculate where I think long-dead people are spending eternity. No; I want to be the nicest Christian they ever encountered without even once compromising the truth.
After seeing this photo from Ground Zero I was reminded why we need to keep the pro-life issue in the forefront of our evangelistic endeavors.
I handed each of our evangelism team leaders a handful of these 180 Movie tracts and exhorted them to start up a conversation using these questions:
1. Who are these two men?
2. What countries do they represent?
3. What year did the U.S. enter the war?
4. It’s 1943. A German officer has a gun pointed at you. He wants you to get into a bulldozer and drive it forward. In front of the bulldozer is a pit in which there are 300 Jews who have just been shot. Some of them are still alive. He wants you to bury them alive! If you don’t do what he says, he is going to kill you and do it himself. Would you drive it forward? Of course not; you value human life.
5. How then do you feel about abortion? Perhaps you don’t think it’s a human being in the womb. Hitler said the Jews weren’t human–so that he could justify killing them. And besides, you don’t know when life begins, right?
After talking a bit with them about life and death, it’s a very easy transition to asking them this: If you died today, would you go to Heaven or Hell?
With every evangelistic endeavor, we have an opportunity to save lives…and souls!
Here’s an example of how this can be done. (Please ignore my erroneous Beethoven “fact”.)
According to the web site, Mr. Whistler’s Art, “this portrait was reputedly executed on the back of an old canvas, and was begun when a model fell ill and could not pose. Whistler’s mother initially stood for the painting, but had to sit because of her frailty. This is the first painting by Whistler to be called an “arrangement” of colours, a daring statement considering this was a portrait of his own mother. However, Whistler also succeeded in conveying something of her strong Protestant character in the sombre pose, expression and colouring.” This 1871 portrait has been called a Victorian Mona Lisa.
The Whistler below is a whole ‘nother matter. I have no idea what got into this guy, but this Venice Beach pseudo-icon sure wasn’t whistling Dixie. This is one of my more stranger interviews. Enjoy.
I tried a different approach with this very friendly gay man at last weekend’s PRIDE Parade. After the interview I thought it was appropriate to apologize for the Hate Preachers right across the street. (You can read my dialogue with this preacher by clicking here.)
Interesting men take Gospel tracts at events like these. Watch for the surprise!(And stay tuned for two important reports from the Pride Parade 2012 coming up: One concerns an interview with a very friendly gay man, his evasive answers, and my comments about this community; the other, a rebuke to the hate preachers who were delivering their unloving messages at this event.)
In my continuing series on how evangelism can go wrong (Oh! There are so many ways!), I now demonstrate how you can be made a laughing stock as your message is ignored. (This is a continuing series. To start at Part 1, click here.)
Most of the time when I share my faith with someone on the street they will listen to my entire presentation sometimes asking questions and occasionally challenging me. A lot of them will thank me, and less frequently, will even want to repent and put their trust in the Savior.
Then there are those times when I am cut off in mid-spiel, interrupted rudely, chastised sternly or abused. Then they walk away. What should an evangelist do? Here’s what I did at the Doo Dah Parade when a lady did just that: walked away. What would you have done? (Evangelism Gone Wrong is an ongoing series. To start at Part 1, click here. To go to Part 14,click here.)
I recently re-watched one of my favorite films, “The Apostle.” The scene that runs from 3:27-10:00 is one of the most heart-wrenching acts of evangelistic compassion I’ve ever experienced on film. Have you seen it? What did you think about it? Do you have this kind of heart for the lost? (Read more about this film below the video.) See the full movie by clicking here.
You may quibble with this man’s style of evangelism, but not with his commitment. Every time I’ve seen this scene it stirs me up to be more on-fire for God.
The reason I like this film so much is best explained by Robert Duvall who financed the 5 million dollar budget out of his own pocket when no studio at the time wanted to do a “religious” film. (It has since made nearly 20 million dollars.) (more…)
This is an interview with a student at El Camino College who was so concerned about his eternal destination he wolfed down blueberries. During the interview an Occupy protest marched on by, a school administrator looked on disapprovingly with her police escort (she later threatened to withhold our campus permit because of a complaint that we were too forceful), and an atheist shook a bottle at me. Enjoy!
I was almost caned by Charlie Chaplin on Hollywood Blvd. last Saturday…but I stood my ground!
If you share your faith every day sooner or later you are going to run into someone who does not appreciate your message. In the video below, a character on Hollywood Blvd. dressed as that old time silent movie icon was so irritated at my message that he threatened me two times with a cane beating on my head. Notice in the very first frame that Charlie pulled away suddenly when I pulled out my “Heckler Repellent,” that is, my Flip Video camera. (This is only to be used in the event of a potential violent act perpetrated on your person; otherwise you want a heckler to engage you. Also notice the Asian man standing in front of me. Tony Yuwas an alert “bodyguard” during these tense moments.)
Normally, I don’t single people people out in my open air messages, but since he was anonymous character I chose to use Charlie’s disgusted reactions as a springboard for my preaching. The point of this was to draw other people in to hear the message.
In this second video, a “Christian” gets drawn into the action. He starts to accost me by shouting that I’m an embarrassment until I train my video camera on him.
It sometimes gets a little rough on the Boulevard. One tourist didn’t pay a Catwoman character for a picture taken, Catwoman cussed her out, then the tourist punched her—all this happened while I was preaching!
Nevertheless, in the background there are always those people silently listening, quietly paying attention, mulling over the words that we speak, gently considering the message as we offer them a fighting chance for Heaven.
How did you do on your Everyday commitment last month? Post your totals in the comments section below—and keep on preaching! Want to join the Club? Then click here.