E-vangie Tales #67 “Pearls and Pork”

E-vangie Tales

Hard-headed, hard-hearted – that’s how they grow them in Ventura. I wanted to shake the dust off my feet and call down fire from heaven. Or worse still, just plain give up. But I couldn’t. I was on a mission…

While at a Foursquare leadership conference and full of the Holy Spirit and power, I knew that God would knock ’em dead for His kingdom. People would clamor to be saved when confronted with the Law of God, the coming judgment and the eternal reality of hell. Why then did the checker at Vons want to argue with me?

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E-vangie Tales #66 “Stiffneck by the Sea”

6 CommentsE-vangie Tales

The nerve! This guy claimed to be without sin, but was a big, fat liar…

I walked along the Redondo Beach pier with my daughters and we stopped at the Corndog on a Stick stand to give the owner a million bucks and ask about his eternal destiny. He answered that he’d go to heaven because he was a good person.

“So God will let you in?” I asked.

“Yes,” he said as he wiped down a counter distractedly.

“What do you think the Bible says?” I continued.

“Doesn’t matter. I don’t believe the Bible; it was written by men. In fact, I think that people who talk about the Bible are not good people. That book is just a bunch of opinions.”

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E-vangie Tales #66 “Purgatory”

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My little girls screamed with delight as we walked into what was billed as “The South Bay’s Biggest Midway!” We rushed in expecting huge crowds, shoulder shoving show-offs and long lines at the scary rides…but we were pleasantly disappointed. Though there were no dancing clowns, fire-breathing midgets or Shriners in mini-cars, there were also no people. Well, very few people. And Frank the carnival barker…

He sat on the corner ledge of his booth with head in hands. Stuffed animals drooped sadly, hanging on walls in the back and to the side of him. The goldfish-dunkin’ or coin-toss-loss or balloon-poppin’ con was a dud. There he was: a barker with no bite. Or customers. Nobody.

“How’s it going?” I asked cheerfully, knowing all too well how it was going.

“All right,” Frank answered glumly.

“Here. Take this.” I handed him a million dollar bill. He examined it carefully turning it over in his hands. I detected a tiny smile at the edges of his mouth. He looked up at me and said thanks.

“You’re welcome. Now you have to answer the million dollar question…”

“What’s that?” he asked curiously.

“You sure you want to know?” He nodded. “If you were to die today, would you go to heaven or hell?”

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