Encounter with Michael at 3rd Street

Recently, I went with some friends to 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica to do some witnessing. We were out there for about 4 hours and had numerous opportunities to share the gospel with people. One man I spoke with, named Michael, engaged with me in a long conversation about the Bible, the Ten Commandments, History, Science, etc. We did not go into any depth on many subjects, but had a friendly exchange of ideas. Online, he is known as Feredir28 and took the time to start a blog so that we could continue our dialogue. This blog entry will be in response to his latest post here.

Dear Michael,
I appreciated meeting you and all the different topics we were able to discuss the other day at Santa Monica. Based on past experiences, a lot of these sort of conversations tend to go back and forth where I present some article or evidence to support my view and then the other person finds some evidence to support their view, all the while, nothing really fruitful or productive comes from it. The reason being is that you and I have the same evidence, the same facts. For example, we all have the same earth, the same fossil layers, the same plants, the same animals, the same stars, planets, galaxies, etc. The difference is in how we interpret what we see around us based on our presuppositions. These are the things we assume are true, without being able to prove them. This is especially true when dealing with past events. I hope, by explaining the importance of presuppositions below, we can lay a framework for our conversation that will help it to be as fruitful as possible for the both of us, and not just a waste of your time or mine.

Being a history major, you know that all the facts we see around us exist in the present. When we look at fossil layers, where we came from, where animals came from, etc. we are trying to connect the past to the present. Since we weren't there to observe the past events how can we know what happened in order to explain the present? If we had a time machine, that would be great because we could go back and see for sure what happened in the past. As a Christian, I do, in a sense, have a "time machine", and this is the Bible. The Bible claims to be the Word of God, the God who has always been there, and has revealed to us the major events of the past about which we need to know. So I have an eyewitness account of the things that happened in the past where secular scientists do not, they are simply going on their assumptions about the past.

On the basis of the Biblical accounts of Creation, the Fall of man, the Flood, the tower of Babel, etc. I have a set of presuppsitions to build a framework for thinking and interpreting the way I see the evidence around us. As an evolutionist, you have certain beliefs about the past/present that you presuppose (ie. no God, or at least none that performed special acts of Creation), so you interpret the evidence we see different from me.

So, when a Christian and a non-Christian argue about the evidence, it is important to note that we are really arguing about our interpretations of the evidence based on our presuppositions. Because of this, dialogues like this often turn into something like:

Don't you see what I'm talking about?"
"No, I can't. Don't you see how wrong you are?"
"No, I'm not wrong, it's obvious I'm right."
"No, it's not obvious"...and on and on it goes without anything productive coming from it.

It is not until you and I realize that the argument is really about the presuppositions we start with that we will be able to deal with the foundational reasons for our different beliefs and really have some constructive dialogue. It is not until a person puts of a different set of glasses, so to speak, or changes one's presuppositions, that they will be able to interpret the evidence differently. So, as we move forward, I will ask you, for the sake of argument and discussion, to try and put on the Christian "glasses" or presuppositions (without accepting them as true) when looking at some of the evidence around us. I will do the same for you, assuming you are coming from an atheist or agnostic evolutionary perspective.

Now I know you do not believe the Bible, but I do. I believe it gives me the correct basis to understand ourselves, the universe and to correctly interpret the facts around me. To continue our discussion, I would like to start by giving you some examples of how building my thinking on the Bible explains the world around me and is not contradicted by science.

To start with, here is an example. In Genesis 1:11, 21, 24 and 25, God said that he would create all plants and animals in distinct kinds and to reproduce according to their kind. God actually reaffirms this statement 10 times in Genesis 1. Now, this is a foundational presupposition that I then use to build my thinking on the world around me. Now, with this presupposition in mind, let's look at what we observe in the present and see how it fits with what God's Word says.

Based on Genesis, we would expect to find that all plants and animals reproduce within a certain kind and that certain kinds of animals cannot reproduce with other kinds of animals. If we look at biology today, that is exactly what we find. We see that dogs reproduce with dogs, cats reproduce with cats, horses reproduce with horses, whales reproduce with whales, etc. We do not see cats reproducing with dogs or horses reproducing with elephants. Let's consider dogs for a moment. In November 2002 from the journal Science, secular scientists reported the following:

‘The origin of the domestic dog from wolves has been established … we examined the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequence variation among 654 domestic dogs representing all major dog populations worldwide … suggesting a common origin from a single gene pool for all dog populations.’

Reference: Savolainen, P., Zhang, Y.P., Luo, J., Lundeberg, J. and Leitner, T., Genetic evidence for an East Asian origin of domestic dogs, Science 298(5598):1610–1613, 22 November 2002.

From a biblical perspective, this means they are all within the same kind (one of the kinds that God created to reproduce ‘after their own kind’ as we read above from Genesis 1). Now, if all dogs are from the same kind then only two of the original dog kind were needed on Noah's Ark. Once these original dogs left the Ark and they reproduced, new species of dogs formed as they moved to different places on the earth, but they all remained dogs, nonetheless.

For instance, as they spread out over the earth, environmental factors influenced which specific species would survive based on their genetic traits. For example, as dogs migrated north into Alaska, all the long haired dogs would survive while all the short haired dogs would die off because the long-haired dogs were better suited for survival in a cold climate. After a few generations of long-haired dogs reproducing together, the genetic information to produce a short-haired dog would be lost. This is natural selection, which fits perfectly within the biblical framework. Similarly, the long-haired dogs that traveled south after leaving the Ark to the warmer climates would eventually die off and the short-haired dogs would survive. Again, the genetic information for long hair would have been naturally selected out of the gene pool due to the warm environment. However, the long haired dogs up north and the short haired dogs down south would still be dogs and able to interbreed with one another. This is an example of natural selection as well as speciation which are both scientifically verifiable and observable and were predicted thousands of years ago in the Genesis account of Creation.

An important point to learn here is that natural selection actually removes information from the gene pool (remember that after a few generations in cold climates the genetic information for short hair would be lost due to natural selection).This is precisely opposite of what needs to happen for molecules-to-man evolution to take place. To go from a single cell to a multi-cellular organism, vast amounts of genetic information need to be added to the gene pool. Most evolutionists use natural selection/speciation as evidence for molecules-to-man evolution but such changes have nothing to do with one kind of animal changing into a different kind of animal.

Now let me ask you to defend your position concerning the same subject. Based on your way of thinking, your presuppositions about the past, show me how your beliefs make sense of the same evidence. And please point out where my science and logic are wrong as well.

My overall goal, Michael, is to help you to see that God's Word can be trusted and that Jesus Christ is the Creator and Redeemer of all mankind. Also, my goal is to remind you that, like myself, you are a sinner in need of forgiveness, which your conscience testifies to when you look at God's moral law and that Jesus Christ is the only hope for you. He died on the cross for you, because of His great love, and commands you to repent and put your trust in Him alone to save you. Ultimately, I cannot convince you of this truth, nor is it my job to, only God can do that. But I care about you and will do whatever I can to help you on this journey.

My friend recently reminded me that the Bible doesn't attempt to prove that God exists. It simply speaks as though He does. I can try my best, but I might not be able to prove to you that God is real and has revealed himself through the person of Jesus Christ. What I can do is introduce Him to you through His Son Jesus Christ, and you can judge for yourself if the Words of Christ in the Bible convince you of His existence. You may be familiar with the following verses from Scripture:

"So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ." (Romans 10:17)

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek." (Romans 1:16)

"And I, when I came to you, brothers, I did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God." (1 Corinthians 2:1-5)

I look forward to hearing from you!

Keep the Light Shining

Moon Over Pigeon Point Lighthouse
Credit & Copyright: Tyler Westcott

He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ.

Colossians 1:28

A lighthouse keeper gained a reputation as being a very kind man. He would give free fuel to ships that miscalculated the amount of fuel needed to reach their destination port. One night during a storm, lightning struck his lighthouse and put out his light. He immediately turned on his generator, but it soon ran out of fuel, and he had given his reserves to passing ships. During the dark night, a ship struck the rocks and many lives were lost. At his trial, the judge knew of the lighthouse keeper’s reputation as a kind man and wept as he gave sentence. He accused the lighthouse keeper of neglecting his primary responsibility—to keep the light shining. The Church can so often get caught up in legitimate acts of kindness—standing for political righteousness, feeding the hungry, etc.—but our primary task is to warn sinners of danger. We are to keep the light of the gospel shining so that sinners can avoid the jagged-edged rocks of wrath and escape being eternally damned.

My friend, I stand in judgment now,

and feel that you’re to blame somehow.

On earth I walked with you by day,

and never did you show the way.

You knew the Savior in truth and glory,

But never did you tell the story.

My knowledge then was very dim.

You could have led me safe to Him.

Though we lived together, here on earth,

you never told me of the second birth.

And now I stand before eternal hell,

because of heaven’s glory you did not tell!

(Anonymous)

“Each person we meet on a daily basis who does not know Christ is hell-bound. That may make

some folks bristle—but it’s a fact. When we refuse to warn people that their actions and lifestyles have eternal consequences, we’re not doing them any favors. If everybody feels good about his or her sin, why would anyone repent?” Franklin Graham

“If they are breathing...they need Jesus.” Mark Cahill

Source: The Evidence Bible

Sunday Afternoon at the Pier

Sunday afternoon, I went back out to the pier with my friend Al from church. It was a beautiful day, warm and sunny, and many people were out enjoying the weather. On my way down to the pier I had a great conversation with an older gentleman named Richard as we walked down to the pier. Richard believed he was going to heaven and when I asked him how he knew that he began to talk about the importance of living according to civilization's standards. We talked about Nazi Germany's standards, the Aztecs standards, and American standards, which one should we live by? He was very clever with words and then finally I asked him about the standard of the Ten Commandments. He agreed it was a good universal standard of morality. As we discussed a few of them he told me he had never lied, at least never to deceive anyone. He also told me he had never stolen anything in his entire life (he was probably in his 70s). He told me he had never blasphemed and if he had, it was in a conversation that as a whole was glorifying to God...what....??? I just kept going. He did admit to lust, which is adultery of the heart, and hatred, which is murder of the heart. I then shared James 2:10 with him and how if we break the Law in one point, we are guilty of breaking all of it. At this point, he said "no one in the world will make it to heaven then". This is always encouraging when people come to that realization on their own, which is really the work of the Law, written on the people's conscience (Rom 2:15, Gal 3:24, Rom 3:19-20, Rom 7:7). He told me at this point, that the message I am sharing is not one he would like to hear, nor would anyone else for that matter.

(BTW, that is also an encouraging response, because it shows me that the Law was doing its work to stop the mouth of justification (Romans 3:19) and show the person’s sin to be exceedingly sinful (Romans 7:7). Only then, will they be able to appreciate the wonderful gift God has given to us in His Son).

At that point, I was able to tell him that what I have shared with him is only half the message, the bad news, and that my main purpose for coming down to the pier is to share the good news with people. But unless people truly understand the bad news, they will never understand and appreciate the good news. It was then that I was able to share the gospel with him; the love that God demonstrated for him at Calvary, and the amazing grace and mercy of our God, Jesus Christ. He listened quietly as I explained the exchange that took place on the cross and how God commands all men everywhere to repent (Acts 17:30) and trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior (Romans 10:9). He nodded in agreement as I shared with him some Old Testament prophecies about Jesus' life and death and seemed to be somewhat familiar with the Bible. Finally, I asked where he was at spiritually and if he had ever put his faith in Christ to save him. Richard told me he had trusted in Jesus before but had never heard the gospel presented as he had heard it today. After hearing the entirety of the message I came to share with people, he then encouraged me to continue doing what I was doing. I encouraged him to truly trust in Jesus ALONE and not to trust in himself or his works. We all are in desperate need of forgiveness and being "good" is something we are incapable of. I thank God for the conversation I was able to have with Richard and pray for him to trust alone in Jesus for salvation.

After talking with Richard I had some short conversations with other people and then ran into a lady named Josephina. She was just sitting on a bench enjoying the view of the ocean so I walked up to her and said hello. It was only a few benches up from the bench where I had sat and spoken with a young man named Ruben less than 48 hours earlier. As we talked she told me that she would like to spend eternity at the beach and that she wanted her ashes scattered there. She wasn’t sure where she would go when she died, but told me she had been looking into other religions recently. She was brought up Catholic but was looking for a better fit. As I took her through some of the Commandments, she told me she had told at least 12,000 lies in her lifetime. She also told me she had stolen, blasphemed and lusted (adultery of the heart). Then she said that God would probably see her as innocent on Judgment Day because He is good. That’s a fairly common response but it doesn’t make any sense.

Imagine a scenario where you come home one day to find a man in your home who had just murdered your family and was covered in their blood. You overtake the man and begin strangling him when your better judgment prevails and you tie him up and call the police. At the criminal’s court case, after he admits to the murder of your family, the judge simply lets him go because the judge is such a “good and loving judge.” That is absurd in the highest degree and there would be a public outcry. You would probably call governors and senators asking for the judge to be put in jail because he is more of a criminal than the criminals he excuses. Well, that is exactly what it would be like if God simply let liars, thieves, blasphemers, murders, adulterers, etc. into heaven simply because He is good. A good judge is the one who justly sentences people and makes sure the penalty for their crime is paid. After explaining this to her she agreed that God would be justified in sending her to hell for breaking His Law.

At this point, I was able to share the good news of the gospel with her and show her how God himself stepped into that courtroom and took her penalty upon himself to save her from hell. God was demonstrating justice and at the same time demonstrating his tremendous love and mercy to the guilty criminals who were sentenced to death. After sharing this with her, I asked her if she had repented and trusted in Christ she said “oh yeah, I did that a long time ago.” Interesting…Twenty minutes earlier she was telling me she was looking for a religion that was a better fit but was now saying the she had put her faith in Jesus. My heart breaks when I see people like this who think they are ok with God because they have simply prayed a prayer or been baptized or have accepted Jesus into their heart at some point in their life. Like Nicodemus they have no concept of what it means to be born again. If they are not born again, they will not enter the kingdom of God. They seem to believe in Jesus but do not trust him. I shared Matthew 7 where people actually call Jesus “Lord” but Jesus tells them to depart from him because he never knew them. I pleaded with her and encouraged her to examine herself (2 Cor 13:5) in light of 1 John to see if she has truly been saved. In the end, she thanked me for talking to her and was going to give these things some thought. I invited her to King’s Harbor and she said she would probably come visit sometime which would be awesome. I thank God for the opportunity to meet Josephina and pray that she truly does surrender her life to Christ once and for all!

Friday Night Follow Up

Friday night was pretty mellow but God always blesses our time as we go out to share the gospel with people. I spoke with a young man named Ruben who was just sitting on a bench listening to some music on his IPOD. God prompted me to go talk to him so I did. As we talked I asked him about heaven and he believed that honest people would go to heaven. A few minutes later he admitted to lying many times as we looked at a few of the Ten Commandments. After seeing how he had broken God's Law not once, but many times, he agreed that he would be guilty when he stood before him on Judgment Day. Being guilty, and God being good and just, he realized he would be justly sent to hell if he died today. He said that truth concerned him. I was then able to share with him the tremendous love of God demonstrated through Jesus Christ dying for us on the cross so that we could be forgiven and made right with God. I also shared with him some Old Testament prophecies that relate to Christmas and he was amazed. He had never seen or understood the fulfillment of prophecies before and how they prove to us that the Bible is the Word of God and can be trusted. At the end of our conversation I asked him when he thought he WOULD repent and trust Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. He said he needed to do it but didn't know when he actually would. I then asked him when he thought he SHOULD repent and trust Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and he said "as soon as possible"! Amen. At that moment, you could see that he understood the urgency of the message I had shared with him. Rather than ask him if he wanted to do that right then and there by saying a prayer, I just told him that if God is drawing him to do that, not to put it off, that today is the day of salvation (2 Cor 6:2). I encouraged him to humble himself when he got home that night, get alone with God, and confess your sins to God and beg him to forgive you and to save you. I encouraged him to read his bible every day and to obey what he read. I left him with my email and prayed for him as we parted ways. About 20 minutes later I saw him from a distance as he was leaving the pier area and he raised his hand high and waved to me as he left. I waved back and whispered a prayer for him. Please pray that Ruben humbles himself and trusts Jesus as Lord and Savior.

Redondo Beach Pier Follow Up

Last night, we went down to the Redondo Beach Pier to witness to people. Since the time change, the Pier is not as crowded as it usually is but there's still plenty of people to converse with about the gospel. Last night was pretty empty compared to normal so I ventured down to the lower side of the pier by the arcade. At one point during the evening I gave some gospel tracts to a guy named Jesse and a girl named Danielle. I asked them if they knew where they would go if they were to die and Jesse mentioned that he would be going to hell. He said his family was Christian but was not sure how to go about changing his life. I was able to talk with him about the commandments, our need for a Savior, and that being born again is entirely something that God does inside of us and it's not something we can do on our own. Just like we had nothing to do with being born physically, we don't have anything to do with being born again spiritually (John 3:8). However, the Bible commands all me everywhere to repent (Matthew 4:17, 3:2, Luke 13:3, 24:47, Acts 2:38, 3:19, 11:18, 17:30, 20:21, 2 Peter 3:9) and put their faith in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:8-9) and that is what he should seek to do to be made right with God. God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6) and I encouraged him to humble himself, confess his sins to God (1 John 1:9), beg God to forgive him and ask God to change him from the inside out.

One of the neat things about our conversation is that he mentioned his Brother Manny and how he had seen God change his life. Halfway through our conversation, his brother Manny walked up and was able to listen to the conversation Jesse and I had. After speaking with Jesse, I said hi to Manny and he asked if he could simply pray for me. It was a great encouragement to me. God had Jesse and Danielle down there last night and our conversation was not an accident. I was reminded of how important it is to step out of our comfort zone and walk into people's lives to share Jesus Christ with them. You never know who God will lead you to.

I also recently ran into a couple named Victor and Rachel who are engaged to be married. They said they were Christian but didn't seem to understand the gospel. I was able to encourage them in their walk with the Lord and their future marriage. Again, you never know who God will lead you to, but it's always exciting to trust Him and let Him lead the way!

Below are some links to the audio. My hope is that they encourage you in your walk with Christ.



Link to Audio

Black Friday

This past Friday was Black Friday. I think I have gone shopping on Black Friday once about 5 years ago but have never been one who gets up before dawn to take part in the "early bird" sales each year. This past  Friday was a bit different in that it was the first time I got up before dawn to go to the stores on Black Friday. A few months back I realized for the first time what an awesome opportunity Black Friday presented to reaching a lot of people in a short period of time with the Gospel. This year, myself and a few others decided to get up early to go share the gospel with the people waiting in line.
Our schedule was as follows:
1. Kohl's (South Bay Galleria) - Doors open at 3am so we got there at 230 am.
2. Target (across the street from Kohl's) - Doors open at 4am so we would go there after Kohl's.
3. Best Buy (Hawthorne) - Doors open at 5am so we got there at 415 am.
4. Best Buy (El Segundo) - Doors open at 5am so we got there right before they opened.

It was quite a morning. Personally, I was expecting to see less than 50 people or so waiting outside of these stores so I was blown away by what I saw when I drove up to Kohl's at 230 am. First, when I passed by Target, which didn't open until 4am, there must have been 500 people outside with blankets and chairs waiting to go in when they opened. Kohl's probably had 400 people outside and cars were steadily streaming into the parking lot. I immediately got nervous and excited at the shear number of people outside of these stores knowing that in a few minutes we would be sharing the gospel with them. Our plan was to start from the back of the line handing out Million Dollar Bill gospel tracts to the people in line and then preach the gospel to them as they stood in line after they had a chance to read the message on the gospel tracts. Up until about 6 months ago I would have never pictured myself as someone who would address a group of strangers by publicly declaring the gospel to them. Since then, God has been changing my heart in that area and giving me a burden to share the gospel with all creation. A lot of the change has to do with the way I see the early church living out their faith which I wrote about in an earlier blog post.

When we got to Kohl's we passed out a lot of tracts and then Tony and I shared a message with the people in line. Tony started off showing people that God exists by pointing to creation as well as fulfilled prophecies in the Bible. I followed that up with God's Law, using the Ten Commandments to show people their sin before God and that they are in desperate need of a Savior, and then sharing the grace of God shown to us through Christ's death and resurrection. Tony then came back up and shared why so many people reject the gift (John 3:16-22) and encouraged them to repent and trust Christ today for salvation.

By the time we were done, there were probably an additional 200 people in line and we passed tracts out to them before we left. At Target, we distributed tracts to everybody in line and then one of the workers told us that we were not aloud to be there handing out literature. Rather than arguing with them, we decided to go to Best Buy since we had already had the opportunity to give tracts to everybody in line. At Best Buy, there were another 500-600 people in line and we spent about half an hour going through the line, talking to people and sharing the gospel with them. Our friend Carlos Ramos shared a short gospel message with the crowd and by then it was about 445. With 15 minutes left we went to the Best Buy in El Segundo and passed out tracts to the people standing in line right before they started letting people inside.

Overall, we probably distributed 2000 tracts with people on Black Friday. Most everybody took tracts and some even asked for extra to give to their family. We received some negative comments from a handful of people and also some very encouraging comments from other believers in line who thanked us for being out there sharing the gospel with people. At the end of the morning, we rejoiced that we were able to reach that many people and prayed for the seeds that were sown and for the Holy Spirit to convict people of sin, righteousness and judgment. I thank God for Black Friday and how Christians can take advantage of worldly gatherings to share the gospel with multitudes of people, especially ones who might not ever step foot into a gospel preaching church.

Below is an audio player and link to some of the audio from the message we shared with the people standing in line at Kohl's. I pray that it might be used to encourage you in your walk with Christ.



Link to Audio

Connected Testimonies

Last night we had our regular outing at the RB Pier and were able to engage people in meaningful conversations about Christ. While we were out there I ran into a Brother named Frank who started a ministry called Connected Testimonies. I encourage you to check out there website and ministry and spread the word. It's based on Revelation 12:11:

And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death.

Their goal is to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with a lost world and share the power of God to transform lives through the testimonies of people who have been born again and saved by Jesus Christ. It's always a blessing to see how God connects people and he connected us last night down at the Redondo Beach Pier. It's so encouraging to see how God gives people creative ideas to use things of this world to reach the lost for Jesus Christ!