Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

Thanks for your prayers for the ministry if you had a chance today. Sandra & Monsieur each prayed with me to receive Jesus today so that was great.

Sandra was wearing a pink Peasant style short sleeve blouse and blue jeans. She had long blonde hair parted a bit to her left and then zagging back toward center. She had those beauty mark freckles some peeps have, really pretty girl in kind of country girl kind of way. When I first asked her if she wanted to do a survey she said she’d already done one but would do another. (As a side note: there have been over 15 students who did not want to do a survey from a Bible study group because they’d already done one that did not present the gospel. Doing these kind of surveys as another group on campus does, keeps students from hearing the Gospel later from me, often. Paul says of his own work in Acts 20:26 “Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of everyone’s blood, 27 for I did not shrink back from declaring to you the whole plan of God.” If we do things that keep people from hearing the Gospel we are responsible for their blood.) When I asked Sandra what she would say to God if He asked her why He should let her into Heaven she said,” Well, because when I look at others I do not treat them [differently] one person better than the others, everyone’s equal.” She thought she had an 85% chance of going to Heaven and knew Jesus had died for her. She attended a Roman Catholic Church. She listened to the Gospel and affirmed the points I made, knowing Jesus had died. “You should be a priest,” she said. “You make this so relatable.” I said, “I’m a pastor.” “I’ve thought before being a priest would organize everything for you but my wife does that and I wouldn’t want not to be married, I really like my wife, she’s really nice to me.” She accepted that as a good reasoning. So I asked her if she would want to be forgiven for her sins trusting in Jesus to forgive her. She pointed with a long powder blue finger nail touching the circle that represented trusting in Christ. So I asked her if when she asked for forgiveness for her sins if she was hoping she was good enough to be forgiven or had really been trusting in Jesus. It was hard to help her understand what I meant. “I’d really say that I’m as far away from being a good person as I can be. (She meant far along at being a good person) People have abused my good nature for years.” Earlier in talking she seems to have an abusive parent and had had a bad boyfriend. I said that she was trying to live a Christian life on her own and I read the quote in the back of the booklet “Your walk with Christ depends on what you allow Him to do in and through you empowered by the Holy Spirit, not what you do…through your own self effort.” I said Christianity was living inside out by the Spirits power where first you become a good person by asking Him to change you and then you do good things. I said God could also give her the power to forgive the people who had hurt her which otherwise was almost impossible. I explained the prayer to her to receive Christ and she said “That’s right.” I encouraged her that if she receive Christ the Spirit could live inside her giving her strength to be good, not trusting in our own goodness. I encouraged her to pray when she said she had to go to class soon saying if she would I would pray for her each night until spring and one year after that asking God to give her strength to trust in Him. She decided to pray to receive Jesus. Please pray for her to seek God for the strength to forgive. I quickly gave her a Bible study then and said I had a book for her, “You’re going to give me a book!” she said enthusiastically. I gave her 20 Things God Can’t Do showing her the page on forgiveness and saying when I found it hard to forgive I asked God for a Spirit of forgiveness and for his power. I Wrote her name and the date and “forgiven” in the front and gave her a card with our numbers on it saying she could text Ellen or I a prayer request anytime. She stood to go as we were sitting at a table in the Cafeteria and reached over the table to shake my hand saying, “Nice to meet you. Thank you.” “Nice to meet you too,” I replied and she headed off. And seemed happy.

Monsieur was sitting in the MAC arts building lounge. He was a big burly black dude with a thick beard and mustache, wider nose, dark tanned skin. Had a nice smile though, kind face. He wore black jeans and a black t-shirt and a ball cap with a company name on it. He went to a church that was Bible based every Sunday. When I asked him what he would say to God if he died and was asked why He should let him into Heaven, he said, “I would..” thought about this too… “I did right by everyone else and treated everyone like I wanted to be treated; I never held animosity toward myself.” He thought he had a 99% chance of going to Heaven. He knew Jesus had died for him and after I had gone through the Gospel with him I asked if he wanted to be forgiven or thought something else and he said something like “Yeah that one,” pointing at the right circle with God inside. So I said “When you asked God to forgive you before were you thinking I’m a pretty good person and go to church and based on my past record I think he’ll forgive me or were you thinking I know I’ll be forgiven because Jesus died for me?” The first one he said with a “caught me” kind of grin. So I said, “Would you want to be forgiven though, trusting in Jesus.”Yeah,” he replied. So I talked him through the prayer and said he could pray it right now and only God would hear, “Give it a shot?” I asked. “Out loud?” he asked holding the booklet. I said no just silently. And he took the booklet and prayed to receive Christ. When he finished I said enthusiastically, “Your sins are forgiven man! And gave him a fist bump. I went on to explain the Christian life living by the Spirit. He had his own Bible and I encouraged him to read in the book of John and explained the fruit of the Spirit and living inside out. I told him I would be praying for him. I gave him a Bible study and 20 Things God Can’t Do writing his name and the date and “forgiven” in the front. I explained that now he was trusting in the righteousness of Jesus to be his righteousness and the likelihood he would go to Heaven was 100%. “Thanks so much,” he said sincerely. “God bless you man,” I said in return. “Best of luck to you,” he said and I headed out.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance, God truly blessed and bright 2 more peeps to Himself.

In Him,

Bob

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed and life is good over by you. Jasmine prayed with me to receive Jesus and I was able to go through the Gospel with 7 students, 3 were solid Christians so I went through the Gospel with them to encourage them to share their faith, two were good seeds planted I hope. An agnostic who looked like a young Brad Pitt from a UCC church Michael.  He took The Case for Christianity Answer Book.  Sadhnan a woman from India heard the Gospel from me. She had been educated in India in a convent. She seemed moved and I gave her Bible Promises for You she thought she would like to read once in a while. She had two children but looked 18. Pretty with sharp features and freckles. I had a long apologetic discussion with Peter who prayed to Mary. He took my Email to ask me some things after when I refuted every reason he put forward for praying to Mary with common sense and the scripture. I felt for him but I think he was clinging pretty hard to the false hope of praying to Mary. The sad part is you have not really prayed at all as the Dead cannot hear us. So not only did she not forward your requests God never heard them as they were not spoken to him.

Jasmine was sitting alone in the PE lounge. She was in workout clothes, leggings and a zip up jacket and looked athletic but was not active in any sports at COD. She is a pretty, fair skinned African American girl with a small nose and pretty mouth and perfect smile right out of a magazine. Some people are blessed but it’s not an easy world to be a pretty girl in I imagine. Her hair was pulled up randomly by a colorful headband scarf. She was very nice to me (probably raise to be kind to old people) and had been to church growing up but had not been in a while. When I asked her what she would say to God if she died and He asked her why He should let her into Heaven she said, “Because I learned to forgive those people that at first I didn’t think I had.” She thought she had a 50/50 chance of going to Heaven. When I asked her what the big thing was that Jesus had done to take away her sins she knew Jesus had died for her sins. I went through the rest of the Gospel with her explaining how Jesus had died in her place and his blood cleansed her, turned death into life, “So now you’re alive inside and God can live inside you.” “Ok I follow,” she said with some real joy.  I continued to go through the Gospel writing verses for her and explaining them and then I asked if she would like to be forgiven for her sins and she shook her head saying, “I would like to be forgiven.” So I said that if she’d want to be forgiven trusting in Jesus there was a prayer she could pray and talking her through it I read, “Does this prayer express the desire of your heart?” “Yes it does.” she replied frankly. So I said she could pray it silently so only God would hear. We were alone at a table behind a big post so that worked well and she prayed to receive Jesus. I began to explain the Christian life to her. She said they had a bible but she did not have her own they just all kind of passed it around at her house. So I said I would give her a Bible. It had a box and she was thrilled to get a nice Bible saying, “Thank you, you just made my day!” I showed her the “Where to Turn” passage and told her Jesus’ words were in red, and messianic passages were listed and wrote her name and the date and “forgiven” in the front and she liked that. I gave her a Bible study and 20 Things God Can’t Do writing “Just ask” and “By the Spirit’s Power” in the front. I explained that now trusting in the righteousness of Jesus to be her righteousness the likelihood she would go to Heaven was 100%. I got up to leave and she reached across the table to shake my hand and said, “Thank you.” I said I would see her around maybe and she said with her pretty smile she’d remember I was the one who had made her day that one time. And I headed out glad.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance, God blessed.

In Him,

Bob

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed walking in the Lord. I had a really good day on campus Ivan, Ethan and Zandrix each prayed with me to receive Jesus today.

Ivan was sitting in the ground floor long on the south side of the BIC that has vending machines and looks out onto the atrium of the building; it’s been nicely landscaped like an upper class back yard, stone walls and trees and such. He was sitting at a table on his phone and said he’d do a survey. He had on hoodie with narrow horizontal stripes of brown and grey, a ball cap turned backwards and brown skinny jeans. He had a thick jaw line beard and a mustache that didn’t meet it, only over his lip. Warm tan face, he looked Latino, slightly broader nose heavy eye brows. When I asked him what he would say to God to get into Heaven he said, “I’ve done enough good than bad”[sic] He thought he had a 50+% chance of going to Heaven, which he thought was a good shot. (Hey if they say there is a 50% chance of rain it rains.) He seemed to have come from a Catholic background and his parents were now going to some kind of evangelical church in Carol Stream. He hadn’t understood the Gospel at all and didn’t seem to know Christ had died to take away his sins. I went thought he Gospel and the imputed righteousness of Christ His death, where He died so we would not have to die in hell and his blood that cleaned us. When I’d finished I asked him if he’d want to be forgiven with Christ living inside or if God was on the outside of his life. There are two circles I use in the little booklet, though not in the way the booklet describes, (the 4 laws also does not mention Hell, Christ’s imputed righteousness, blood or that He is God, merely the son of God, ya gotta add a lot to it but I’ve never gotten around to printing up my own booklet). He said, “I’ve been more this one I think.” pointing at the circle with God outside your life. So I asked would you want to have God live inside and be forgiven. “Yeah,” he replied. So I said there was a prayer he could pray. I walked him through it and asked if it was the desire of his heart. He was hesitant so I said something like, “Something not quite you?” He said, “Yeah.” Since he’d seemed really turned in I asked what it was that kept him from praying figuring I might be able to give him a book or thought that would help. He said something like, “Well, right now I’m not going to Church.” I said this wasn’t really about if he was consistently going to Church but if he wanted to begin with God knowing he was forgiven. I went on to read a line at the end of the booklet talking about the Holy Spirit (best line in the book). I said if God was living inside him He would give him the strength to live the Christian life. Maybe some morning when he did not really feel like going to church He might give him the nudge he needed to get up and go, but to begin he had to trust in Christ. The rest could come along in time, but if he trusted in Him and died he would go to Heaven. And I told him the parable in Matt. 20 where everyone received a denarius even those who had not labored very long living for Christ. “I figure I’ll just be happy to be there,” I said. And he laughed with me and agreed and decided then to pray to receive Jesus. I went through some of the Christian life with Him and he did not have his own Bible so I gave him one showing him the “Where to Turn” section and the messianic passages and Jesus words in red. I put his name and the date and “forgiven” in the front. I also gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do writing “By the Spirit’s Power” in the front. I said I would keep him in my prayers. I gave him a Bible study and explained a bit and got up to go and he said, “Thank you, appreciate it,’ with a big smile. I said I’d see him in Heaven and since I was old I’d get there first and he could look me up and I’d show him where all the cool places were.

Ethan was sitting in the cafeteria. He was a slightly built guy with a narrow face, kinda looked like “where’s Waldo” without the glasses. Wry smile, perfect teeth. He wore a windbreaker and sweats; he’d been a gymnast and coached now. He wanted to have kids. When I asked him what he say to God if He asked him why he should be let into Heaven he said, “You tell me, you’re the Judge.” When I asked the % he thought his likelihood of going to Heaven was he said, “The questions keep getting harder… %70-30.” I began to go through the Gospel with him and he knew Jesus had died to take away his sins. So I began to tell him the story of the Gospel. In the end he said he’d want to be forgiven with Christ so I asked if when he’d asked for forgiveness for his sins he’d been thinking he was a pretty good person and God would forgive him or had he been sure he’d be forgiven because he knew Jesus had died for him. “It’s hard to size myself up like that,” he replied. So I talked some more with him about growing up with faith and not really thinking about it much and about living “inside out” trusting in the Spirit’s power to live the Christian life. So I said there was a prayer he could pray and after talking him through it I asked if he’d said something like that to God before or if he thought he’d still need to do it. “Yeah,” he decided and prayed to receive Jesus. When he finished he said, “Thank you.” to me. I explained the Christian life to him saying he could begin reading the Bible in John and told him about the fruit of the Spirit and His power giving us all the strength we need to live the Christian life. “I gotta say this was a pretty impressive presentation,” he said as a compliment with a grin. I thanked him and I gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do, writing his name and the date and “forgiven” in the front and “By the Spirit’s power” in the front. I gave him a Bible study explaining it and got his Mail to send him some stuff got up to go and said, maybe I’d see him around, “Nice to meet ya Bob.” And I headed out.

Zandrix was Filipino and kinda small, he had a round head with a slightly larger flat nose and braces on his teeth a bit of an accent. He wore a ball cap turned backwards. He had grey suede half boots and grey skinny jeans on, a cotton light grey ribbed sweater. When I asked him what he would say to God to get into Heaven he said, “Cause I believe in You.” He thought he had a 50% chance of going to Heaven. He knew Jesus had died for our sins. But he listened closely to the Gospel and the imputed righteousness of Christ. He wanted to be forgiven for his sins when I finished going through everything he said he’d want to be forgiven so I asked him if he’d been trusting in Christ or had thought he been thinking he was a good person and God would forgive him. He said “Either way,” and I think I had a bit of a language barrier going on but I think he meant “a little of both”. I talked him through the prayer and I suggested that possibly sometime later he might want to say to God something like the prayer.  I suggested if he wasn’t sure what he’d been trusting in he probably wasn’t trusting in it, but that did not resonate with him to help him think it through. I said “Well you said you would say “Cause I believe in You,” so what did you believe but that Jesus was God and had died for you.” But that seemed to make him realize he had not been trusting in Christ, that was not really what he’d meant. I talked him through the Christian life and said that if he’d wanted to say it to God that God was like a pretty girl, He likes to be asked [for forgiveness] and he grinned at that and agreed. And he decided then he wanted to pray then to receive Jesus. When he’d finished I suggested growing up you really don’t think about it, you go to church and it feels like you and he smiled then and said that was true. So I gave him the book Bible Promises for You and put his name and the date and “forgiven” in the front and “By the Spirit’s Power” having explained to him more of the Christian life. I gave him a Bible study and got his Email and got up to go and said, “IF I see ya I’ll say hi”. He said with a grin, “You too, see ya around.”

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance, God truly blessed.

In Him,

Bob

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope your weekend has been blessed so far and you are enjoying the last couple weeks of official summer. I had a good day Friday on campus though I had to cut it a little short for a Doctor’s appointment.  Saul (pronounced S AH OO L) and Joe each prayed with me to receive Jesus. Both appealed to things their Grandfathers had said or done as a guiding light in their lives–if you are wondering if your grand kids are listening to ya  Also Kimberly, a cute, short round faced, Latina girl with long brown hair in a the Cafeteria was close. She said her Dad took her to church 3 of 4 weeks a month but he was Catholic and she thought of herself as a Christian. She knew basically nothing of the Gospel however and I think she just needed to think it through but said the prayer was the desire of her heart so I am hopefully she will commit to believing in Jesus for salvation. She was bright and cheerful. When I asked her what she would say to God to get into Heaven she exclaimed, “I don’t know!” placing her palms on her cheeks. It was a cute reaction. I hope she knows now what she’d say.

When I got to school I felt like God had someone for me to talk to in the PE building and so I headed that direction and found Saul was sitting in the PE lounge at a table with his back against the Gym. He seemed to know me and I asked if we’d spoken before, “I’ve seen you around,” he said with a slight smile. He’s a Latino, slight build and had a blue Elmhurst college shirt on. He had stick straight hair kind of fluffed up on his head point forward, shorter around his ears. He had a narrow, tan face and was fairly reserved. When I walked up and started talking to him asking if he wanted to do a student survey. He had a bright perfect smile that he did not show much until we’d finished talking and he appear really happy.  When I asked him what he would say to God if he was asked, “Why should I let you into Heaven?” He thought about it conversationally saying something about doing good things and then said, “I make sure I only worship you and Jesus Christ. I help people. I go to work (I have to pay for school), pick up after myself, make sure I act the way my Grandpa said.”  He said he thought he had a 50/50 chance of going to Heaven but explained that when he can’t go to Church because of work he makes it up with personal time with God and prays by himself. He thought you should do things like that not because you have to but want to. He knew when I asked him that Jesus had died to take away his sins. I went through the rest of the Gospel with him. I talked about the Blood of Christ and the imputed righteousness of Christ, (to his credit). I asked if he wanted to be forgiven trusting in Christ and he did. I asked if when he was asking for forgiveness if he’d been thinking he was basically a good person and God would forgive him, as being religious he was the kind of person God forgave, or if he was thinking he’d be forgiven because Jesus had died for him trusting in that. He hadn’t been trusting in Christ. So I said if he’d want to be forgiven placing his trust in those things there was a prayer he could pray and I talked him through it asking if it was the desire of his heart. “Yes,” he said emphatically. So I said he could pray it silently would he like to do that, “Yeah,” he said. “Just pretend I’m not even here,” “Yeah,” he said again. He was quiet for a bit then, I think reading it again and then he pray it barely audibly as I bowed my head with him. When he finished I said he could keep the booklet and explained living the Christian life by the Spirit’s power. He did not have his own Bible but his family had one, saying then, “I’d like my own,” so I said I could give him one and showed him the “Where to Turn” Section and the Messianic passages section saying Jesus words were in red.  I write his name and the date and “forgiven” in the front. I explained that if he would trust now in the righteousness of Jesus to be his righteousness the likelihood he would get into Heaven was 100%. I gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do and wrote By the Sprit’s Power” in the front. I said I’d keep him I my prayers and gave him a Bible Study on the Deity of Christ. I reached out and shook his hand and said, “It was really nice to meet you,” it was he had really been open to the Gospel from the jump. He got a big grin on his face then saying, “It was nice to meet you too, take care.” And I headed out.

I found Joe sitting on a couch in the MAC arts building lounge just chilling out. He had kind of the “Good ol Boy” look with a ball cap on , blue cotton sweats and a blue t-shirt, medium build. He had a couple days growth of beard and mustache that didn’t meet his chin line. Real nice guy, he said he’d been going to a Lutheran Church. He said he wanted to go to Australia. I’d been there and we talked about traveling around the world. When I asked him what he would say to get into Heaven he said, “I lived by the words of my Grandpa and just tried to be a good man.” He later said at his grand Fathers funeral the pastor had talked to him before he died and had asked him how he wanted to be remembered and his Grandpa said.  He just wanted to be thought of as a good man. Of course that wouldn’t save anyone. He knew Jesus had died to take away our sins when I asked him what He had done to do so. He tuned right in to the Gospel and like Saul seemed to be enjoying listening to what I had to say. He though he had about an 80% chance of getting into Heaven. I explained the Gospel to him explaining that the righteousness of God was earned by Christ and could be too his credit. “You don’t go to Heaven because you’re good but because Jesus is good and you’re connected to Him. Like if you marry a millionaire ya got a million bucks, if you get adopted into a billionaire’s family you get to live in the mansion and drive the cars. So God adopts us and gives us the blessings of His family. He gives us the sacrifice for our sins, the blood that cleanses us after that and the righteousness of God that surrounds us. So it’s like ya got someplace to go, Heaven, and something to wear when ya get there, the righteousness of God. (Isaiah 61:10, Romans 13:14). He said he’d want to be forgiven for his sins trusting in Jesus saying, “Well I’m pretty religious so yeah.” I asked if when he asked for forgiveness if he’d been trusting in what Jesus had done to forgive him or if he’d just been hoping he would be good enough to get into Heaven. “Just hoping,” he said with a smile.  So I said there was a prayer he could pray if he wanted to trust in Jesus and I talked him through it asking if he’d want to pray that trusting in Christ and he said, “Yeah sure, of course.” And he prayed to receive Christ.  He had a bible so I explained where to start reading and the Christian life lived trusting in the Spirit “Inside out”.  I gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do and wrote “By the Sprit’s Power” in the front along with his name and the date and “forgiven”.  I explained if he was trusting in the righteousness of Jesus to be his righteousness, the likelihood he would go to Heaven was 100%. “Awesome, sweet!” he replied. I gave him a Bible Study on the Deity of Jesus and he had to go so I got up and said, “Have a good one Joe, nice to meet ya.” ” “Nice to meet ya too,” he said with a grin and he headed for the doors.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance, God truly blessed all 3 students who were willing to talk to me for the hours I was at school were really receptive.

In Him,

Bob

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed today with all good things. I had a good day on campus in as much as I got couple seeds planted. Justin was close to trusting in Christ, in the science building lounge waiting for a ride up against the windows. In the end he’d “pray later tonight” he said. I couldn’t tell if he had much conviction so I was fine with him not praying hoping the Spirit would work on him if he’d truly wanted to trust in Christ. He began answering what he would say to God to get into heaven by saying. “I try to treat other people the way I want to be treated. I try to put myself in others shoes and relate to people. I feel that {would get} me into heaven because if you are not relating to people you are judging peopled putting yourself on the level of God because only God can judge people.” This is of course is true and something I need to hear and Christians need to remember for sure but it is not why God sends you into Heaven. He was a friendly guy with sandy hair and a ball cap on a few days growth of beard. He really kind of looked like a regular guy, a kind face. But as I got up to go after he said he’d probably pray tonight he said, “I think if you believe in God as your savior it is enough.” So possibly he heard the Gospel and understood he needed to trust in the work of Christ and not on righteousness of self justification in your own strength. I explained walking by the Spirit asking for God’s help in all things when he said he found it hard to be devoted to religious things and I gave him the book Bible Promises for You which he really liked and thanked me for, so I’ll pry for him to truly trust in Christ and His righteousness imputed to him. He had been raised Catholic as a kid but had not been to church in 10 years.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance. I think God had some good things for me to do and teach to some Christians too some of whom said they might check out the Bible Study.

In Him,

Bob

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope you had a day blessed with all good things. If ya had a chance to pray today thanks so much. Cody and Esabel prayed to receive Jesus today, great Birthday present for dear old Bob. I also had a great conversation with Mike who wanted to be forgiven and was near a decision for Christ. I gave him The Case for Christianity Answer Booklet and a bible study on the deity of Christ after going through the Gospel with him in upstairs porch overlooking the Science building lounge. Sandy haired kid with a day’s growth of beard wearing cargo shorts and a green shirt. He had warm face, good looking guy. He said he’d been attending a Baptist Church in Oswego. “How about if I attend a couple of your meetings?” He said after checking his schedule. So I hope he will come. Please pray he does.

Cody had only 5 to 10 minutes to get to class. He was sitting at a counter height table in the hallway along the bookstore. His hair was swept across and back as bangs above his forehead, bleach blonde from the sun of Florida from whence he had recently moved. He said his mom had initially brought him to a Catholic church but then they went to a Christian one before moving, but they had not settled on one up here. He had black basket ball shorts on and some light brown facial hair lip and chin and was wearing a purple hoodie. Good looking kid cheeks a bit scared like my own. I gave his some light speed questions as he had to run. When I asked him what he would say to God to get into Heaven he said, “That’s a tough question… I feel it’s more complicated… it’s complicated. I feel I can’t know what I would say because just seeing His face…” He gave some other examples of sudden shock that would leave you speechless. He thought he had a 50/50 shot at going to Heaven. So I began to go through the Gospel with him and he knew Jesus had died. So I explained the Blood of Christ cleanses us as a power in the world and the inherited righteousness of Christ. In the end he wanted to be forgiven with Christ. I said it did not seem like he had put all of this together before. He said he’d “never given it that [level of consideration} the process of the whole thing, but it is who I am inside.” So I offered him the prayer saying he could pray it silently and he agreed and prayed to receive Jesus. I told him about walking by the Spirit living “inside out” and gave him a Bible Study on the Deity of Christ and 20 Things God Can’t Do writing his name and the date and “forgiven” in the front and The Case for Christianity Answer Booklet. I said I’d see him around and he was grateful and headed off to class.

I spoke to an atheist for a time under the stairs; (see some of the discussion below in the PS) He did not have the depth to understand the lack of scientific proof for his faith in atheism. When he had to get to class and I went up the stairs. Esabel was sitting on the stairs and asked me about my NYPD hat. I wear it to commemorate those who heroically died in 9/11. She asked if I had any relatives in the police department there. She was a fan of TV shows portraying the NYPD in some way. We talked a bit and she said she was catholic but went to CRU at school. I said I had started CRU there an asked her some questions about what she would say to God to get into Heaven. “Because I go to church every Sunday… I pray every day for my hip.” She was a just a bit eccentric but nice. She was slight in build and had ringlet curls tinted a bit lighter here and there, African American in features and wore glasses and blue yoga pants and a t-shirt with Asian letters on it. She thought she had a 90% chance of going to Heaven. We were interrupted she called out to her friends across the foyer and staircases and here and there by a target she began so I would steer her back to the point. She listened as I spoke and wanted to be forgiven for her sins. So I said there was a prayer she could pray trusting in Christ and talked her through it. I said, were she to pray it then God could live inside her by faith and it would be like she was “the Energizer Bunny and God was the Batteries”, she’d keep going and going and, “When ya die it’s like you don’t die because God’s inside.” I had told her this earlier, that this is what it meant to know God to be one with Him by the Holy Spirit living in her. She read the prayer along with me and then I asked if she’d like to pray it silently on her own and she said, “Yes,” Emphatically. And she prayed to receive Christ. When she finished I said Now you know that you are forgiven.” “Thanks true,” she said cheerfully and matter of factly. I explained that if she was trusting in the Righteousness of Jesus to be her righteousness the likelihood she would go to Heaven was 100%. She agreed. I gave her Bible Promises for You and put her name and the date and forgiven in the front and also gave her a Bible Study on the Deity of Christ. We chatted bit more about living the Christian life “inside out” by the Spirit’s power and I headed out.

So thanks for your prayers of the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance, God truly blessed.

In Him,

Bob

PS

My conversation with an atheist teenager. He was the kind that has read a bunch of popular atheists and does not realize they are not using science to disprove the existence of God. Evolution is a descriptive theory of what some people say happened to advance life. It is full of holes and has always struck me a magical thinking, since evidentially you never see things evolve beyond their kind and no new life forms are hoping into existence every few years, which would be predicable. The cell is far too complex to have evolved, as we know it now (Darwin thought it to be only as complex as a Jellybean with a ball bering in the middle of it.) and there is not enough time for it to have evolved in Humans. But even were evolution true its claim is that things evolve by randomness and chance. The problem is that “chance” is not a power in the universe; it is a colloquial name for a force, like luck. You use this name when you don’t really know how something happened so you say it happened by chance. So if evolution happens by random selection and a force, what is that force. It is not survival of the finest, because all it means to be fit in evolutionary theory is that you survived and all it means that you survived is that you were fit, it is circular. So the question is why does a given life form or entity wish to survive and what is it that compels these survived life forms to organize into ecologically viable systems? He said everything wants to survive but I pointed out he had said he’d wished he’d not been born and did not want to survive. I told him I did not believe him but if so he was an example of an entity that did not want to survive. What compels life forms to want to survive and be organized? “They just want to survive, everything wants to survive.” is not true or an adequate answer. “Well it is just “chance” that things turned out that way.” But see once again chance is just a colloquial name for a heretofore unnamed power that made things compelled in a certain fashion. What made them want to “evolve” evolutionary theory does not know and cannot say. So then I can say it is God if I want to. Since you have not named the power driving things to evolve I can pick any power I wish. This is why evolution is not incompatible with God and is not a proof text for atheism. It is because even if you do not want to admit there are complex designs emerging, and refuse them to say that points to an intelligent designer. As an evolutionist you have not accounted for the power of force that is the driver, why do life forms wish to survive. Some might say all life is accidental but no one lives that way and no scientist believes in experimentation random chaos can kick in any moment. If you read EO Wilson, On Human Nature you get this very sense of compulsion in life forms.

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed with all good things. An African American, Kiya, prayed to receive Jesus today. (Her name rhymes with Ikea the furniture store). 🙂 Michael trusted in Christ saying he would pray later so I gave in The Case for Christianity Answer Booklet and I’ll be praying for him more.

Kiya was sitting in the big lounge were we have Bible study. She is a big girl and has short braids on the top of her head nice smile. She wore green leggings and a t-shirt and was sitting alone at one of the tables. She said she had just started going back to church but had some anxiety problems, maybe with crowds she did not specify. But she had been baptized (it seemed more recently) and was going to a Bible study. When I asked her what she would say to God to get into heaven she said, “That’s a good question. I know that you just can’t go to Heaven because you are a good person, there’s a thing you have to do. It depends where I am at when I die.” She went on to say she thought she would go to Heaven. I asked her how sure and she said 80%. I began to go through the gospel with her and she knew Jesus had died to take away our sins. She was very serious all throughout. I explained the righteousness of God and His blood that cleansed us from all sin and His imputed righteousness. She paid close attention and as I finished I asked her if she wanted to be forgiven for her sins trusting in Jesus or thought something else. She wanted to be forgiven so I said, “When you are asking for forgiveness for your sins have you been thinking, I am a good person and am going to Bible study so I think God will forgive me or do you think I know I’ll be forgiven ’cause Jesus died for me“? She thought about it and said, “Kind of a little of both, if that’s possible,” saying it like she did not believe it was. “The Bible says you are either living or you are dead,” I replied. She agreed. I said something like, well if you wanted to be forgiven and don’t think you’ve trusting fully in Christ yet there is a prayer you could pray. I talked her through it and asked, “Do you think this is still something you need to do, say this to God?” She nodded that it was so I she could pray the prayer silently like I wasn’t even there. “Ok,” she replied and prayed to receive Christ. I explained the Christian life was reading the Bible and asked if she had one. “I need to get one,” she replied. I gave her one and showed her the “Where to Turn” section that answered questions and the section of fulfilled messianic passages. I put her name and the date and “forgiven” in the front and explained living the Christian life “By the Spirit’s power” And wrote that and “Just Ask” in the front of 20 Things God Can’t Do. I also gave her a Bible study on the deity of Christ. ‘Thank you so much, ” she said smiling and after getting her email I told her I would pray for her and she thanked me again and I was off.

So Thanks for your prayers for the minority and for evangelism today if you had a chance, God truly blessed.

In Him,

Bob

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your weekend has been blessed so far and you are recharging for the run into fall. I had a good day on campus on Friday I got couple seeds planted and also Enzo and Andrew each prayed with me to receive Jesus.

Enzo was sitting on a porch area outside the south side of the MAC arts building that looks down on the outside concert area. There is a picnic bench there and he was sitting alone and the college has few students in attendance on Fridays so we were isolated. He had jeans on and a long sleeve nylon shirt like a cross country runner might wear, I never caught the writing straight away to read it, sitting to his left. He had his hair swept up on top in a heavy mop of brown hair and looked very young though our conversation seemed to have a gravitas feel to it somehow. He had sharp features he actually looked like the cartoon character “Speed Racer” with an Italian nose. He said one day he like to own an Enzo Ferrari. He looked like an Italian sports car driver, though small in stature but you gotta be to fit in that car. When I asked him what he would say to God to get into Heaven he said “Why not?” Probably to see how I would respond. I had a professor who once put the Question “Why” on a final exam in philosophy, one student respond “Why not?” and turned it in and he gave them an A. Fortunately I wasn’t in the class. I told him that story. He thought he had a 50/50 shot at getting into Heaven. I went through the Gospel with him and he knew the blood of Jesus took away our sin saying that. I talked to him about the righteousness of Christ and that he died and rose and we were forgiven by faith. I asked if he would want to be forgiven with God inside or thought something else and he said, “Be forgiven with God inside.” So I asked if growing up he had ever placed his trust in what Jesus had done. “When you ask for forgiveness were you trusting believing Jesus had died for you or did you just know the story?” “Just knew the story,” he replied. So I said if he wanted to be forgiven placing his trust in Christ there was a prayer he could pray and walked him through it asking if he’d want to do it. “Yeah,” he replied and he took the booklet and prayed to receive Jesus. He had not shown much emotion and was concentrating on what I said as I spoke. I explained living the Christian life. He did not have his own Bible so I gave him one writing his name and the date and “forgiven” on the inside and showing him the “Where to Turn” section that pairs Bible verses with common questions of need. I explained if he was now trusting in the righteousness of Jesus to be his righteousness the likelihood he would go to Heaven is 100%. I gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do writing “By the Spirit’s Power” in the front. I gave him a Bible Study too. I asked if he had any questions and he said, “Yeah, what if you are doing something you know is wrong but you don’t know how to get out of it. What would your advice be?” I said the Bible teaches that there is no temptation taken you but such as is common to man and I wrote the verse paraphrasing and later in the day sent it to him in an email. Looking for it I took out Bible Promises for You but the verse wasn’t in it. I gave him the book anyway. I said, “The first thing to do was to pray, God promises to give you an escape but I’m not telling you to jump out and do something… having no knowledge of your situation or who might be hurt” I suggested it might be a test. I explained that God might want you to do something difficult because you know it is the right thing to do. I said I would pray for him each day, and he did not need to tell me what the problem was exactly I would just ask God to give him guidance for the “secret thing”. Writing then “Pray for the secret thing.” on the back of a note card. We talked some more and then I got up to leave and he said, “Thank you Bob.” I said he was welcome and it was good to meet him. “Good to meet you too,” he replied and I headed off.

Andrew was the last person I talked to I had been at school several hours and there was almost no one around but he was one of about 4 people in the cafeteria sitting at the counter looking out the window. He said he’d do a student survey; he was a very reserved guy. He looked Latino he had a slightly larger nose, near perfect smile and wore black rimmed glasses. His thick brown hair had a line of white in it, very short on the sides it was combed up in a neat wedge on the top of his head. He really looked like the proverbial common man. He had a nice poly white t-shirt on and tan shorts. When I asked him what he would say to God to get into Heaven he said, “If God could look back at all the good things… He’d see all the good things that I’ve done. And [as for] the bad things, we make mistakes… we’re sensitive creatures.” He thought he had an 80% chance of going to Heaven. I began to go through the Gospel with him and it turned out he had gone to a “Christian Church” but had not gone in a while. I said God wanted to live inside him and give him eternal life but first He had to make him “His Type” by taking away his sins. I asked what the big thing was that Jesus had done to forgive him. He didn’t have any idea. So I explained the death and cleansing blood of Christ and his imputed righteousness and resurrection. He listened to everything and I asked if he would want to be forgiven for his sins trusting in Jesus. And he said he would. I said then, “It’s doesn’t seem like you ever had a chance to put all this together before right?” He should his head agreeing, keeping eye contact with me. So I talked him through the prayer and then read, saying, “It says here, ‘Does this prayer express the desire of your heart?’ So would you say it did?” “It actually does,” he replied. “Well, you could pray this right now, not so I would hear you but God would hear and he’d forgive you and you’d know you were going to Heaven, wanna do it?” “Yeah,” he replied. I handed him the booklet then and he prayed to receive Christ. I went on to explain the Christian life asking for the power of the Holy Spirit to give him the strength to do anything God was asking him to do. I gave him a Bible Study too. I gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do writing his name and the date and “forgiven” in the front and “By the Spirit’s Power”. I explained “This is 100%,” pointing at the question. Because if you’re trusting in the righteousness of Jesus to be your righteousness, how righteous is Jesus? 100% righteous, what’s His righteousness worth? An infinite amount.” We finished talking and I got up to go saying, “Nice to meet you man.” “Nice to meet you too,” he replied. “God bless you.” “God bless you too,” he replied and I headed off.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance, God truly blessed.

In Him,

Bob

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed walking with the Lord. I had a good day on campus and Bobbi prayed with me to receive Jesus. I also got a couple seeds planted with a couple students, Azari an older black student with 2 boys was on the verge of trusting Christ but felt there were contradictions in the Bible. She could not name any for me to resolve for her (no one ever can as there are not any you can help folks see the point in) but then her bus came so I gave her The Case for Christianity Answer Book and she got my email thinking she might ask me some questions.

Bobbi was sitting in the PE lounge talking to a guy (Tee) across a table that had to run to class and said she’d do a student survey. She had a round face, big toothed smile wide features and a short curly afro that had been permed into larger curls. She was cute with big eyes, long eye lashes and a v-neck blouse showing the tattoo on her left breast in cursive writing. I’m not sure what it said, not being willing to stare at it long enough to read the letters for obvious reasons. She was bigger in stature, not fat and wore shredded jeans and a windbreaker, nice kid. She had grown up going to Church and when I asked her why God should let her into Heaven she said, “I was reborn, I repented.” She was 95% sure she was going to Heaven. She could not really recall what Jesus had done to take away her sins at first but it came back to her. She said she’d want to be forgiven. I asked her if when she did something wrong and asked for forgiveness if she was thinking she was a good person and God would forgive her or if she thought, “I know I’ll be forgiven because Jesus died for me?” She had not been thinking about Jesus dying for her sins. It seemed like she thought she’d try to be better. But to be sure I said that if she was not sure she’d been trusting in Christ there was a prayer she could pray and I talked her through it. I asked if she had ever prayed a prayer like that or ever told God she would want to be forgiven trusting in Jesus. She smiled and shook her head “No”. So I asked if she wanted to pray and do it and she said, “I’m doing it,” reading already silently as I’d encouraged her to do. So I said, “Sorry,” (for interrupting) and she finished praying to receive Jesus. I said she could pick between 20 Things God Can’t Do and a book of Bible promises. She wanted the first one so I explained living the Christian life to her and wrote “By the Spirit’s Power” in the front. Then I wrote her name and the date and “forgiven”. It seemed to me she wanted the other book too so I asked her if she’d like it and she said, “Yes,” with a big grin so I put her name in the front of that too. She then began to ask me about demons and if they could speak out loud. I said they can speak words you hear in your mind or speak possessing someone. She said she heard voices sometimes and had thought she was nuts and checked herself into a medical program of some kind at one point, her family members thought she needed help. She said she knew things sometimes that had been told her but did not want to tell people because they would wonder how she could know that. I said we have guardian angels and there might be evil forces that observe us and others and so know things people have otherwise kept secret. They can tell you details about other people just because they can watch you in private moments. I told her some people hear Angles speaking or get a word of knowledge from God where they know things they otherwise would not know. I said it had never happened to me but I had thoughts that troubled me sometimes (discouragement or unforgiveness for example) so I would just pray “Lord take the thoughts of Satan out of my Heart”. I then wrote that in the front of the book. I said to her, “When I prayed that the thoughts would immediately stop.” I wrote several Bible verses in the front of the book, “Test the spirits” saying not all were from the Lord encouraging her to pray the prayer that takes satanic thoughts way when he is trying to mess with you. I explained how some verses applied to her situation, “Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.” “Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” We talked some more and I got her email address to send her some stuff and gave her my cell phone number in case she needed me to pray about something so she could text me. “It was so nice to meet ya, you’re great.” I said. “Thank you,” she said in a sing song tone. And I headed out and so did she.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance, God blessed. I also went through the Gospel with two really faithful black guys, one an artist (Brian) in photography and video and a football player (Lucas). I explained Christ’s imputed righteousness to them giving them assurance of salvation and it was a blessing to chat them up too.

In Him,

Bob

Hey sisters and brothers in Christ,

I hope ya had a great day walking with Jesus. I had a good day on campus and Isabelle and McPaul each prayed with me to receive Jesus today. His friend Jared asked for a booklet to think about it. I had a long conversation that I think made some headway with a cute round-faced Islamic girl, Massa with a tiny nose.  She had dyed her hair close to blonde and was from Syria. She was dating and not very committed to Islam. But I gave her scholarly evidence for the Bible in a Rose hand out and pointed out how Islam and the Quran had changed giving her a little pamphlet on Jesus and the Quran.

Isabelle was sitting in the hallway at a counter height table on the ground floor that wraps around more or less westward toward the bookstore. Her hair was dyed blonde, halfway from the ends upward and she had sharp features, tall, thin and pretty. Her nose in profile was kind of a perfect triangular shape. She wore skinny jeans, black with holes in them and a white t-shirt. She was up for doing a survey about God. She said she wanted to travel the country and I talked to her about going to the lodges of the National Parks. When I asked her what she would say to God to get into Heaven, she really struggled saying, “Ahh let’s see…” I tried to help, asking her if she went to Church. She was a faithful Catholic in Elmhurst. So I asked her what her church might say would get her into Heaven, but she could not think of anything and in the end had to settle on “I don’t know.” She thought she had a 50/50 chance to go to Heaven saying, “it depends.” But she wasn’t sure what it depended on. I began to go through the Gospel with her, saying some of it would probably come back to her, but literally nothing did. She was happy to find out that Jesus had died to take away her sins and I pointed out that that is what the Mass was about. ‘The wafer is symbolic of Jesus’ body and the wine His blood.” So I suggested when she took it she should say “thank you,” because it commemorates that He had died for her so her sins could be forgiven. She liked that and resonated with the Gospel. I asked her if she would like to be forgiven trusting in Jesus so He could live inside her or thought something else. “This one,” she said convinced, pointing at the circle with Jesus inside. “Well, it seems like you hadn’t ever put all this together to place your trust in it.” She agreed, so I said if she would like to trust in Jesus there was a prayer she could pray. I talked her through it, saying she could, “Pray it silently and God would hear the thoughts of your heart.” “Sure,” she said brightly. And she prayed to receive Jesus as I stood by the table looking down. She crossed herself as she finished and I began to explain the power of the Spirit to live the Christian life. I gave her a copy of 20 Things God Can’t Do writing by the  Spirit’s Power in the front and then writing her name and the date and “forgiven” on the inside of the cover. I gave her a Bible Study on the Deity of Jesus and got her email address to send her some stuff. I explained that if she was trusting in the righteousness of Jesus to be her righteousness, the likelihood she would go to Heaven was 100%. She thanked me and was happy. I said I’d see her in Heaven and she laughed and I headed out.

I was walking through the big lounge were we have Bible Study and 4 black guys were sitting at a table together so I asked, “Anyone here wanna do a student survey on what you think about God and stuff, find out how to go to Heaven?” I explained it was for a Bible study group. McPaul, with his back to the glass wall, said he would do one. They guy next to him, Jared, asked for a booklet when we were finished, saying he’d been listening. I said maybe I’d see him around and we could talk about it more. A big dude walked up and introduced himself and I shook his hand. He went to the other end of the table and a white girl had walked up to the other end of the table too and that got the rest talking, so I focused on having a conversation with McPaul, kneeling on the floor next to where he sat. He wore a blue polo shirt with a white coat he had buttoned up to the top. A bit of chin hair and a pencil thin mustache. He had a mop of short braids on the top of his head and was a doppelgänger for a young Malcolm-Jamal Warner. (The oldest son on the Cosby show.) When I asked him what he would say to God to get into Heaven he said, “I feel like He would let me into Heaven. I’m a follower of Christ. I do good, give back.” I asked him the % likelihood he would get into Heaven and he said, “75%, only because I have lived my life to the fullest and go to Church.” When I asked him what the big thing was that Jesus had done to take away his sins he though a second and said, “He sacrificed himself.” I said, “Right,” and went on to explain the blood of Christ cleansing us and that the imputed righteousness of Christ could be to our credit as He perfectly fulfilled the Law. He said he would want to be forgiven trusting in Jesus. So I pointed out that his answer suggested he had been trusting in his good works to earn him Heaven and he agreed. I said he could pray a prayer and trust in Jesus and know he was forgiven and said he could do it and no one would know (everyone else was distracted and talking between each other) as we sat there. I asked if he wanted to pray silently. “Yeah,” he said. When he finished he reached out his hand to me to shake mine and said, “Thank you.” as I shook his hand. “Yeah, you’re welcome man,” I replied. I gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do writing his name and the date and “forgiven” in the front and also and explained the power of living the Christian life, relying on God’s Holy Spirit. He had a Bible so I gave him a Bible Study and explained a couple ways Jesus claimed to be God. “Nice to meet you,” he said as I got up to leave after thanking me a few more times. “Nice to meet you too,” I replied and headed out.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance. God truly blessed. I also got to give some follow up books to Danni and Thomas, who prayed to receive Jesus last year.

In Him,

Bob