Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope you had a great day walking with the Lord. I had a good day on campus and Lucien prayed with me to receive Jesus today. Now if I can just get about 300 people to come over with blow dryers to melt the sheet of ice on my driveway, I’ll be set.

Lucien was an interesting looking guy. He was good looking and said he had French blood (from a Grandfather in Mexico) and his name was French. His eyes (eyelids) were Asian, almond shaped, clean shaven. He was sitting on the chairs by the lockers I use by the doors, near the waterfall. (Yeah COD has a waterfall; the stone mason working at another part of the school said the stone around it cost $100,000.) It is off now, but you can sit by the bronze life-size buck leaping at the base of it. My tax dollars at work. Lucien was on his phone, wearing oatmeal colored winter cap pulled down low. He had torn up jeans on and a big hooded parka with a plaid lining and looked like he was headed out. I asked him if he’d do a student survey about God and he said sure. When I asked him one thing he wanted to do before he died he said, “Have children.” If a guy says that, through the years in my experience, it is likely he’ll receive Jesus (or is a Christian). Average college guys are not thinking about family life as teenagers. He thought he had about a 90% chance of going to Heaven and said he went to Catholic school. I asked him what he would say to God if He asked, “Why should I let you into Heaven?” “Why not?” he replied. So I began to go through the Gospel with him so he’d know why. He knew Jesus had died for his sins but had not really been trusting in it saying, “I’m not gonna lie. I went to school those years, but after a while…” “It just starts to kind of bounce off,” I said finishing his thought for him and he said, “Yeah.” As far as religious faith went, he had mostly just been rolling with it. We talked for a long time on about how screwed up the Catholic Church was with Homosexuality and things in society. [Here is an article for an example: Homosexual Subculture Thrives at Catholic Seminary ]

Homosexual Subculture Thrives at Catholic Seminary

I talked to Lucien about the soul and how only Christianity teaches you have a soul that can be damaged or made more healthy or better in this life.(Though other religions teach there is something that goes on after you die.) The Bible was written by God and tells you how your soul can be blessed and thrive. After we’d been talking for a long time we’d hit it off. I had offered him a prayer to receive Jesus and he silently prayed with me to receive Christ towards the end of my time with him. I gave him a Bible Study and 20 Things God Can’t Do to read, writing him name and the date and “forgiven” in the front along with “By the Spirit’s Power” having explained the Christian life. He gave me his email. It was one of the more enjoyable conversations with a student I’ve had all school year. We shook hands and I told him I would be praying for him through spring and the next school year. When he found out how many people I was praying for he said I could leave him off the list saying he’d be ok. But I promised him I would put him on it and as I got up I said I would be praying for him again and he said kindly he’d pray for me too.

I encouraged some Christian students with the Gospel and got a good seed planted with a girl named Sedona. A pretty girl with stick straight blonde hair and a wide smile, who thought she’d probably need God some day but was just a Christmas & Easter person at this point. She sincerely thanked me for telling her the Gospel as I got up to leave.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today. God blessed.

In Him,

Bob

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed walking with Jesus. I had a good day on campus and Nick, Bre  &  Jada  all prayed to receive Jesus today. I also gave a copy of the Student Edition of The Case for Christ to Alexis, a girl who did not think she believed in God but had a Christian boyfriend she debated with and occasionally went to church. Classes and activities were cancelled at school tonight at 5 PM due to weather, so we had to cancel Bible study

Nick was sitting on the 3rd floor of the BIC on some chairs in the hall. He had brown, curly hair, a warm, round face and black rectangular framed glasses. He had a curly beard and mustache and described himself as shy. He was wearing a grey hoodie. When I asked him why God should let him into Heaven he said, “I guess umm… I’ve always tried hard to do my best to help other people through all of my life, kinda along those lines. I never really thought about it.” He thought he had a 50/50 chance to go to Heaven. He had not been to church since he was a little kid. He listened closely to the Gospel and enjoyed the analogies and illustrations I gave him to explain Bible verses. At the end I asked him if he would like to be forgiven for his sins or thought something else. He thought he would like to be forgiven. “Do you believe Jesus is God, died for your sins and rose from the dead?” I asked him. He thought and said, “Yeah I do.” So I asked if he would want to place his trust in that to be forgiven and he said he did. So I offered him the prayer he could pray, walking him through it, asking if he’d like to pray. “”Um.. I mean I guess,” but he meant that as an affirmation and taking the booklet he prayed silently to receive Jesus. I gave him a Bible since he did not have one, and wrote his name and the date and “forgiven” under it, saying he could remember. I gave him 20 Things God Can’t Do writing by the Spirit’s power in the front. I also gave him a Bible study to read and a card with the website for a local church (Compass)  that is doing an on line outreach he could listen to. He seemed really reserved and I thought he would probably not go to Church without being able to check it out from a distance first. But he was happy as we parted and I told him I would be praying for him and he thanked me.

A girl named Isamar walked up then and asked if she could have information for our groups saying, “That was really cool,” having eavesdropped on my conversation with Nick. I gave her a card and she said, “I’ve been looking for something like this,” and asked if I had a Bible. I said I could get one from my truck if she had a minute. So I walked her to her class on the same floor and told her to lean against the wall so I could spot her and I would run get her a bible. I had just over ten minutes to get back to where I was parked and got her one and ran back. So hopefully she can make it to Bible study.

Bre was laying out on a bench in the PE lounge under the stairs listening to something. She had a large bun of curly hair pulled up on top her head and wore a parka, a sweatshirt and sweatpants. She wore a heavy silver chain around her neck, had a pretty face with full features and was a little larger than an average-sized person. I asked her if she’d do a student survey for our  Bible study group and she agreed and sat right up, giving me the corner of the bench. She was hard to get a read on at first. She attended church regularly. She said her mom was Greek and she wanted to travel there. When I asked her why God should let her into Heaven she said, “I don’t know.” And thinking some more she said, “”Cause I’m me.” I wasn’t sure what she mean exactly, and ferreting it out a bit I think she meant she was genuine. She was certain she was going to Heaven, 99%. I began to explain the Gospel to her and it became clear she had not heard it before. I explained that God wanted to live inside her but first He had to take away her sin. Like a blood transfusion, God wanted to make her his “type” so He could transfuse His life into her. I asked, “So what was the big thing Jesus did to take away your sin?” She didn’t have any idea, so I told her how Jesus lived a perfect life for her, died in her place and His blood became a force in the world that could cleanse her from all her sin.  She interacted with what I was saying a bit then, which was a relief that she  began to open up. When I finished going through the Gospel, I asked if she’d want to be forgiven for her sins and she nodded. I said, “Well, it seems like you never really put all this together before right?” “Right,” she replied. I said if she wanted to be forgiven there was a prayer she could pray and walked her through it, saying she could pray it silently. She agreed and took the booklet. She prayed then to receive Jesus. She had a Bible at home and so I gave her the book, 20 Things God Can’t Do and used it to explain that, when it was hard to forgive someone, you could ask God for a Spirit of forgiveness. “’Cause of what I’ve been through I’ve been getting closer to God,” she replied. “It feels so good to forgive, it’s like a weight is lifted.” I agreed, saying that those that hurt you no longer controlled you when you forgave them. I wrote her name and the date and “forgiven” in the front along with “By the Spirit’s Power” explaining the Christian life. I also gave her a Bible study. I shook her hand in leaving after getting her email and said, “It was so nice to meet you.” “I was nice to meet you too,” she replied warmly with a smile and I headed out of the lounge.

Jada was sitting on the north side ground floor of the BIC at a table in the vending machine lounge. She is a cute black student, smaller kind of pug nose, long braids past her shoulders, long oval face. Cool kid. She was wearing a dark blue NIKE sweatshirt and Adidas sweats. I asked her what she would say to God if she died and he asked her why he should let her into Heaven and she said, “’Cause I’m his child I guess.” She thought she had a 50/50 chance to get into Heaven and had not been to Church much. I began to go through the Gospel with her and when I asked her what Jesus had done to take away her sins, she knew Jesus had died. She listened attentively to the Gospel, stopping me once for clarification, asking if everyone went to Heaven because Jesus had died for sin. I explained it was offered to all, kind of like a free ticket under the name of a famous ball player at the Park. But you had to claim his name to get the ticket. She wanted to be forgiven for her sins when I asked, saying she had always known there was a higher power “who made all this” as she gestured around and out the window at the snow covered landscaping in the atrium. “Do you believe Jesus was God, died for your sins and rose from the dead?” I asked. Jada thought for a second and said, “Yes I think I do.” So I asked her if she would want to place her trust in that to be forgiven, claiming what He had done for her and she said, “Yeah.” So I walked her through the prayer and she took the booklet and prayed.  She finished and kept reading most of the booklet and looked up and said, “Oh sorry.” “No worries,” I said smiling, “Amen?” “Amen,” she replied. I also gave her 20 Things God Can’t Do writing ‘by the Spirit’s power’ in the front and her name, the date and ‘forgiven’. I gave her a Bible Study too, explaining that and also gave her the same website I gave Nick. She shook my hand and laughed, “OK Bob,” when I said I’d see her in Heaven. I told her I would be praying for her as I did all the students, and she thanked me and I headed out.

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

In Him,

Bob

“He has saved us and called us with a holy calling,

not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, 

which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.” 2^nd Timothy 1:9

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

At Christmas time I’m always thinking more about God’s plans, reminded at the time when we commemorate His birth, how much is fulfilled. What a grand plan. Did you ever face a task and it mounted pretty large in your mind, so your solution was to create a plan? We have done that and also encountered people with no plans who failed us recently. We hired men to rebuild our front porch with concrete. I took their bid to get a permit and the city said it would need more detail to be granted a permit. The concrete company said they did not need a permit to rebuild the steps unless they took the foundation out. The process, once started, turned out to be a short nightmare.  They did not build square forms, so I called them out and bent them over until they came out and rebuilt them. They still failed to make the edges even. And 2 stairs, when held against a square, bow out an inch. They wrecked the sides and made them worse “repairing” them. They damaged the brick taking off the railing, and changed the stairs so the railings needed to be altered by a welder. They lied to us and I ended up finishing some of the work myself, drilling holes and installing the railings they had promised to install. In the end, I realized it was because I did not have detailed drawings from them, or written guarantees. The key to it all was that they did not provide a written plan. (They were highly recommended on the internet, however.)  This is completely not like God, whose promises are written down. And in the model of Christ we see His plans are detailed.

In 2^nd Timothy, we read God has had a plan for us, to save us, before the world began. When we read the hundreds of prophecies that Christ fulfilled, we are convinced even more there was a plan. Plans for Jesus’ birthplace and parentage, the way He died, who He died with and was buried among.  An old idiom states, “God is in the details.” A later idiom says, “The Devil is in the details.” Funny how the Devil seems to always be slipping in and taking God’s place. And evil does seem to be patient and organized, but it is really destructive and chaotic in its ends. The details need not be specific if the end goal is destruction.

It is interesting that evolutionary theory cannot tell you the world is not ordered. That is too obvious with too many working systems. Evolutionary theory simply tries to steal the credit for all this order and claim it was a fantastic, mind-blowing accident. This is, of course, laughable and stupid. But then the average junior high graduate from a suburban school knows far more of the scientific world than Darwin could have dreamed (As evidenced by his poor imagination, billions of years blah blah blah). Darwin was remarkably illiterate, scientifically speaking, by the standards of biology today. According to Dr. John Sanford of Cornell University, we all carry tens of thousands of harmful mutations, and each one us will pass on approximately 100 new mutations to any offspring we have. So humans are not evolving into better organisms, but rather headed toward extinction. In short, Darwin had the plan absolutely wrong and his ignorance has cause a lot of damage.

But then the ignorance of people works great for Satan as he finds it easier to deceive them.  The Devil does not care about people or listen to their petitions.  Why should he? God wishes to help us to do good, and transform our frail attempts. This blesses us and transforms us into better people. But I could care less what a satanist prays for to his devil. Of course, not being an infinite being, Satan never hears what most people say anyway. Satan fulfills the axiom, “Do as thou wilt,” ignoring what people might ask of him, as Satan hates them for being made in God’s image. He does whatever he wants. Except to us. Job teaches us he has to get permission to touch us. And the New Testament says we can resist him and he will flee. [James 4:7]

We are told of God’s plans, that they are good and we are part of them. God’s vision for the world will not turn out as if it was poorly planned. We need not try to get even for others plans against us either. God will use them for our good [Romans 8:28] and take His own vengeance for those who try to damage His workmanship [Romans 12:19]. We can leave these things to Him. I have mentioned before my own inability to plan a day of evangelism. The power of prayer and God’s plans are infinitely better than a day I, or any large organization, could orchestrate, for an afternoon of Christian ministry. It was all laid out before time began, waiting for us to join with you and do it. We can’t continue to do this without your prayers and financial help.

77 students prayed to receive Christ this semester after confessing Christ to me upon hearing the Gospel. Thanks for being a part of it.  Please make mention of them in your prayers, if you would. (An * means they said they would pray later.)

Maya, Paul, Alec, Nashoana, Daniella, Jackie, William, Alexis, John, Mariana*, Justin, Nick, Mark, Jada, Sebastian, Frank*, Celeste, Nick, Sam, Irima, Christian, Joaquin, Dylan, Luis, Mike, Derick, Bridget, Christina, Demya, Tamera, Jalissa, Chamar, Ryan, Patrick, Angelo, Sydney, Adi, Cody, Alyssa, Jane, Zeke, Joey, Kamaria, Drey, Colin, DJ, Stephanie, Jesse, Kyle, Patricia*, Anthony, Cindy, Chuck, Nick, Stephanie, Sean, Jessica, Jocelyn*, Nickie, Jaslynn, Malcolm, Tanner, Nataly, Emily, Lekayla*, Lauren, Oscar, Issac, Patty, Nino, Alec, Mia, Jalen, Steve, Alex, Stephanie, Brian, Josh, Jack, Lionel, Anthony and Jose

In Him,                                                                              bob.thirdwatch@sbcglobal.net

Bob & Ellen                                                                              www.thethirdwatch.org

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Last day of classes for the semester

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope your weekend has blessed in the Lord and you are finding Joy. I had a good day on campus Friday and Anthony and Jose each prayed with me to receive Jesus. So 77 people prayed with me to receive Jesus this Semester. I had a good conversation yesterday with Heather, whose father’s critical spirit had turned her off to Christian things so I will be praying for her to pray to receive Christ. She did not want a book but said, “Isn’t there a movie about that?” speaking of “The Case for Christ”. I said there was and she thought she might check it out. I tried to encourage her not to let stuff with her Dad keep her from having her own relationship with God. She was a bit sad but a nice Latina girl.

When I got to school I realized I had not been upstairs on the 3^rd floor of the BIC as often so I went up there and right away bumped into Anthony. He had Latino coloring had conservatively cut wavy almost curly dark hair. Wearing jeans and a shirt features like a Greek, not sharp, good looking kid. He only had a piece of paper with him and was sitting on a bench alone, no backpack or coat but it turned out he was waiting for a friend’s class to get out. When I asked him why God should let him into Heaven he said, “Cause I tried making my happiness spread to others.” He thought he had about a 75% chance of going to Heaven and when I asked if he went to church he said, “Not as often as I should, I’d to go more.” He listened closely to the Gospel but he could not think of what Jesus had done to take away his sins. He listened closely to the Gospel that Jesus had died for him and Rose from the dead, His blood cleansed him so God could live inside him and His righteousness was to his credit. After hearing he believed and when I asked if he would like to be forgiven with God living inside him or thought something else. First he said he felt like people lived inside him parents and friends. I said in a way that was true our friends become a part of us as to our parents and shape us. “The bible talks about a great cloud of witnesses,” I said and so it seemed like even after they are gone others can watch our lives. But this would be a little different as God could become one with him and given Him strength to live life. Then he said, “I feel like I would rather have Him living inside me.” So I explained there was a prayer he could pray to be forgiven and walked him through it saying he could pray so only God would hear him, “What do you think, God could live inside you for Christmas?” He nodded and took the booklet and prayed beside me to receive Jesus. He did not have his own Bible so I gave him one and put his name and the date and “forgiven” in the front. I explained the Christian life living inside out and wrote “By the Spirit’s Power” in the front of 20 Things God Can’t Do and just finished, quickly explaining the Bible study on the deity of Jesus as his friend had walked out and was waiting, glued to his phone. I told him I would pray for him each night until a year from spring and gave him a card with the link for Compass Church suggesting he could listen to some sermons. As he got up to leave, he thanked me and I said, “Yeah, God bless you man.” “You too, drive safe,” he replied and headed off with his friend.

Jose was sitting down the end of the same hall in a stuffed chair in the lounge with the vending machines. He had on a winter cap with a bit of curly hair coming out. He was on the short side. He had a neatly trimmed mustache his beard was thin but long was thicker on his chin and a couple inches up his jaw line. Looked kind of rough and tumble. He said he was a boxer and had just gotten the plate out of his arm and wrist from a motorcycle accident that had also broken his leg badly. He then showed me a picture of him in a leg cast in a wheel chair. He hoped to box again but visions of glory were now diminished. He said he knew there was a God from being saved from the crash. He had only gone to church when he was very small but had not remembered anything from it, having gone with Grandparents. He was wearing a winter jacket and jeans and a dark shirt. I asked him what he would say if he died and God asked him, “Why should I let you into Heaven?” He replied, “Show me the good I’ve done in my life and the bad and see if it evens out. I feel like if I was that bad God would have taken me out.” “Yeah, but God lets some evil people live long lives like Castro, he killed a lot of people in Cuba,” I replied. He agreed. He thought he had a 50/50 chance of going to Heaven. He didn’t know what Jesus had done to take away his sins so I explained everything to him clearly and he understood that Jesus had been killed but he wanted to die and His blood cleansed him so God could live inside.  I asked him if he would want to be forgiven with God inside after going through many verses and talking him through the Gospel and he said he would. I explained a prayer he could pray and he said, “I’ll probably pray that every night now.” So I said he could pray it right now, “Not like I’d hear you but God would hear, wanna do it?” “Yeah,” he replied. He prayed then to receive Jesus. He gave me his email and we talked more about life and how it could be dangerous. “You really have a gift for explaining all this,” he said so I know God had really been at work. I wrote his name and the date and “forgiven” and “By the Spirit’s Power” and gave him a Bible study to explain the Christ’s claims to be God. He was grateful and I told him I would pray for him each night and gave him a card for Compass Church to listen to sermons on line and I got up and headed out.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry this semester and for Evangelism yesterday if you had a chance, God truly blessed. 77 is a good semester of work.

In Him,

Bob

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope life went as hoped today or Jesus meant it didn’t matter. I had another pretty slow day on campus and pretty much chatted up peeps I already know (because they prayed with me to receive Christ in the past). But a blonde blue eye girl named Shelby was very close to the kingdom of God. Her family went to church and she just wasn’t sure about Jesus after I had gone through the Gospel with her saying, “I guess I’m kinda agnostic.” But she was very open so I gave her a copy of the student edition of The Case for Christ. I also gave her a Bible study on the Deity of Christ and she genuinely thanked me. So I will keep her in my prayers. I also bumped into Lionel. On May 14th I had gone through the Gospel with him and then his friend Justin had prayed to receive Christ. And on August 25 Lionel was there when John had trusted Christ, another guy on the track team he knows. I had given Lionel the book 20 Things God Can’t Do in May and the little booklet which it is really a color copy of a version of the 4 Laws. There is a bit different content and I add a lot to it. In August he said he’d kept it but had not trusted Christ so I kidded him about how he would not go to Heaven if he did not receive Jesus and let it be. Several times since then I had passed him in the PE lounge and he’d given me a smile and a nod or said hey if I said hi to him a bit different manner towards me. I was suspicious he had trusted in Christ since he was grinning at me the first time I’d seen him and I had been praying for him every night since May 14. I bumped into him today as I said. I decided to ask him if he had prayed the prayer in that little booklet and he said he had prayed to receive Jesus and he had “been reading the book with the quotes in it” which is 20 Things God Can’t Do. So that was great. I told him I had been praying for him every night and Merry Christmas. He is a quiet guy but he said Merry Christmas back. He has short braids on the top, shorter on the side’s afro. Jett black dude, good looking guy just about my height. So please pray he continues to grow in the Lord.

So Thanks for your prayers for the ministry and Evangelism today if you had a chance. School is pretty empty and tomorrow is the last day but I’ll go back one more time before break to see who is around.

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 had some good apologetic discussions and got two seeds pretty well planted. Migul took the student edition of The Case for Christ to read and was genuinely searching and was grateful. I had a philosophy student (Andy) who thought there probably was a God but went only as far as that, so not quite agnostic talk to me for nearly 30 minutes. We talked of God and the Bible and the presumed contradictions in the NT gospels (there are not any you cannot resolve in my view), metaphysics in general and other issues. He rejected Revelation unless it came directly to him existentially. He saw no obligation to believe it otherwise. His name was Andy. Of course God’s book of nature is a direct revelation to all men and so is the Bible if you read it prayerfully and allow the Holy Spirit to speak. I told him many things, the Easter apologetic as follows among them:

Q: Do you believe in God? A: He thought he did. Q:do you believe God can do anything He wants (not any stupid self-contradictory thing you can come up with)? A: Ok Yes that is part of my idea of God. Q; then could God become a man? A: kind of stuck with a yes there. Q: if God became a man would He tell people the truth? A: If you believe in a greatest of all possible beings (Descartes or Anselm via Aristotle, God as an infinite or most perfect being) God would tell the truth. Q; What would happen to a man who knew the truth and spoke it to the corrupt powers of his day. A: They would kill him, they would kill you today in D.C. if you did the same thing. Q: Given all the above, if they killed God what would God do next? Answer I said is: He would rise from the dead. So the Christian story proceeds through logically possibilities if you grant there is a God.

Before this I walked around the corner and saw that two Mormons had cornered a girl Tamara (cute petite black girl) who prayed to receive Jesus this year on some chairs in the hallway on the first floor of the BIC. So I went over and gave her five and said, “What’s up?” I read their name tags “Elder Hollis” and “Elder Anderson” and started in with them. I told them stuff politely for 15 or 20 minutes to steer them away from her and try to shake them loose from the lies they believed. Another Christian campus worker I know (Jim) tagged in after me. I gave each one a Rose Publication hand out. To Hollis I gave “100 Prophecies fulfilled by Jesus” to Anderson I gave scholarly samplings on “Why Trust the Bible”. I said this was the kind of thing they would have to come up with to be convincing in a University setting. If they had anything remotely considered scholarly that would be accepted outside Brigham Young University to please contact me and gave them my phone# and email on a card. In case you never looked into it the Book of Mormon takes place in North and Central America, (somewhere) by 400AD. Most of the locations mentioned in it they cannot today find (conversely all the places mentioned in the NT we can locate), though the Latter Day Saints church owns a Mountain in NY state where a battle took place the book mentions where about a million people died. Unfortunately for them they have never found any human bones on the hill. Which I pointed out to them.  Telling me to just read the book of Mormon and ask God for a feeling was not worth doing in my view as there were absolutely no facts to support it. He said he had not told me to ask for a feeling and I said that was all that was left to me since there was no scholarly fact to support anything in the book of Mormon. I pointed out to the Elders that in its pages we find Horses, Wheels, Chariots, Steel swords, Metallurgy for coins and barley and hops. But we know for certain none of those things existed here until a 1,000 years later brought by the Spanish. So historically speaking the Book of Mormon is demonstrably false. I said that if they were not sure on a historical level of the book and had not investigated its history and it turned out they believed something wrong, but were telling people it was the truth they would be held accountable for it by God, and be responsible for spreading lies. They walked away unconvinced as far as I could see but I know God might have used something I said to plant a seed that He can trigger later.

That plus 2 hours of chatting up the peeps at Bible study made for a long day and I am wiped out and will be glad for a bit of Christmas break. But there are 3 more days so I hope a few more will come in still this year.

Thanks for praying, God gave me words.

Peace,

Bob

Hey Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed and life was grand. I had a good day on campus chatting with the peeps. Josh prayed with me to receive Jesus.

I felt provoked to head up to the third floor of the BIC as I approached the elevators at the back southwest corner. Maybe being tired as I am at this point in the semester I just felt like a ride and up feels like progress. But I soon found Josh sitting in the hallway on a bench outside a glass walled lounge so God had probably nudged me. I asked if he’d like to do a student survey and he said, “I will if you would like me too,” thinking to do me a favor I think, which is what I was trying to do for him. I replied something like I would if he was willing and introduced myself and sat down getting his name. He had bright red hair and a thin mustache, bit of a chin beard, all to match. He was a good looking kid. He wore dark blue nylon sweats and a lighter blue t-shirt. He said he went to Catholic Church regularly when I asked. When I asked him what he would say to God if He asked why should I let you into Heaven? he said, “That’s an interesting question…” and began to ponder over it a bit. “I might not been the best at fulfilling the 10 Commandments but it does not mean I’m a bad person.” So I began to go through the Gospel with him and he tuned right in with a good spirit as I explained you had to be perfect to get into Heaven (Matthew 5:48), which would mean if God left it at that everyone would go to Hell and he saw the problem. He remembered Jesus had died for his sins and I explained that, how His blood cleansed us from all sin and He died in our place his righteousness was our righteousness. He wanted to be forgiven for his sins and I suggested he might not have realized all this before to commit his life to it as a man but if he wanted to trust in what Jesus had done to take away his sins there was a prayer he could pray. Finishing explaining it I said, “It says here, does this prayer express the desire of your heart?” He said it did. So I said if he wanted to he could pray and then know his sins were forgiven, and God would like inside him, silently in his heart. “Not so I could hear but God would hear,” I said. “Why not,” he replied. And I handed it to him and said, “Just pretend I’m not even here.” “Exactly,” he replied. It seemed like he took a long time to pray but I think at one point we were both waiting for the other to look over. He did not have his own Bible so I gave him one writing his name and the date and “forgiven” in the front which he liked. And I showed him there was a “Where to Turn” section in the back and one on Messianic passages. I also gave him a Bible study on the Deity of Christ and 20 Things God Can’t Do writing “By the Holy Spirit’s power” in the front explaining everything God was asking him to do he’d give him the power to do. His class was starting in minutes so he had to go. “Thank you Bob, I appreciate it,” he said shaking my hand. “Yeah, you have a good one,” I replied. “I’ll see you in Heaven you can tell me how it went.” “Sounds good,” he replied. “Merry Christmas!” I said over my shoulder as I walked off. “Merry Christmas to you as well,” he replied and we parted ways.

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 you day was blessed today and it’s getting warmer on the weekend over by you as it is promised here. I had a good day on campus and Stephanie and Brian each prayed with me to receive Jesus. I had a good conversation with Gilda too who had doubts but gratefully took the student edition of  The Case for Christ and “100 Prophecies Fulfilled by Jesus”  [Rose Publication]. Also Victor a US Marine who seemed close heard the Gospel.

Stephanie was sitting in one of the bigger lounges on the 1st floor of the BIC. She had a short haircut, kinda shaggy on either side of her ear; stick straight, near black hair. She looked Native American in features and coloring. She had a red hoodie on with the words pony writing a dozen times on a ribbon up her sleeves and black pants. She was drinking a large coffee and as I talked she placed her chin on the cup lid sitting on the arm table between us and listened. When I asked her what she would say if God asked her why He should let her into Heaven she thought for a while said, “You tell me why you shouldn’t let me in and I’ll give you a counter argument.” She went to Church every Sunday and thought she had about a 50% chance of going to Heaven. I went through the Gospel with her and she listened carefully and she knew Jesus died to take away her sins but she had not trusted in the Gospel. She was interested in everything I said though, that His blood cleansed her and His righteousness was to her credit. And that she did not get to Heaven by being good enough but by trusting in the work and person of Christ. I asked her if she would want to be forgiven or thought something else and she thought for a long while and I waited and she finally said, “I don’t want a life without Jesus.” So I asked her if she wanted to place her trust in Him there was a prayer she could pray and I explained it. Then I said something like: You know you grow up in the Church and never quite think about it but this would be a way as an adult to tell God you are trusting in what Jesus has done to be forgiven. I asked if she’d like to pray it silently and she just said, “Sure.” Then she silently prayed to receive Christ. I talked to her then about living “inside out” I wrote “By the Spirit’s power” and her name, the date and “forgiven “in the front of 20 Things God Can’t Do and she thanked me. I gave her a bible study and also explained the symbolism of the mass commemorating that Jesus had died for her and so she was forgiven and that when she took it she could just say “thank you.” I told her if she would trust in the righteousness of Jesus to be her righteousness the likelihood she would go to Heaven was 100%. She had to run to class then but she reached out to shake my hand and smiled and said, “Thank you. Nice meeting you.” “Nice meeting you too, you’re welcome.” And she headed out of the lounge.

Brian had dark hair and looked ethnically from the country of India. He had no accent and seemed American. He had a beard/mustache, thin on his cheeks and heavy on his chin and jaw line. He was a good looking guy, bigger than me, wore Clark Kent glasses, black sweats and a t-shirt. He was sitting in the big lounge where we have Bible Study at a table waiting for his ride to call him. We talked a long time as I walked him through the philosophical ideas he had been encountering in his philosophy class. We talked about how they compared to Christian thought. He talked about Aristotle and Descartes and liked Descartes’ idea that God’s Existence is derived immediately from the clear and distinct idea of a supremely perfect being. When I asked him what he would say to God if asked why He should let him into Heaven he said, “Oh wow, the soul bit…” He thought some and then said, “I would say to Him I thought I’ve done my best to help others… Lived the best life that I could.” He thought he had a 50/50 shot at going to Heaven. I explained to him that the problem of our getting into Heaven was that Heaven was not just a place it was a presence. So our real problem was ontological (the study of being). Our being does not match God’s being so we have to be perfected to be in God’s presence or we’d be like a paper bag trying to hold fire. We had to be changed, and only Christianity taught the soul could be transformed in this life. Other religions might teach that a part of you goes on after but the soul of humans as a part of us that is changed by God’s presence in us and transformed for the better is exclusively Christian. I explained some of the differences in the different denominational ideas in Christianity, his questions were about Catholicism and I explained sacramentalism to him suggesting that if this were true (though the Bible did not expressly say the sacraments contributed to the wellbeing or growth of the soul) this effect would still be accomplished by the Holy Spirit. So then not by the sacraments being turned into a charm of some kind by being spoken over, and this charm then affecting you. We talked more about the mass in this light. That the Blood of Jesus that now cleanses us from all sin (1John 1:7 Hebrew 9:22) is now a power in the world. Because God lives in us and cannot be one with sin, if the Mass were required to cleanse us from sin God’s presence would have to leave us between our times of taking the mass  once we sin–until we could be cleansed again by another sacramental experience (or do an act of prescribed confession and penance). Sacraments would only have power if the Holy Spirit decided to recognize and use them and would be insufficient to keep us one with God as we cannot do them every moment. This all made sense to Him. After I went through the Gospel (and I had to hurry at the end as his friend who it turned out had been waiting called him), he said he wanted to be forgiven. He hesitated to pray in a rush for just a moment and then decided saying, “I have to go to… yeah sure.” I quickly gave him a Bible study on the Deity of Christ and wrote “By the Spirit’s power” his name and the date and “forgiven” in the front of 20 Things God Can’t Do. Then he got up grabbing his jacket and said, “Awesome sir, thank you,” and shook my hand. I said he was welcome and he ran off.

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today had a chance. God was guiding me and blessed the work.

In Him,

Bob

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed and it was sunny all day. I had a good day on campus and, Jalen, Grant and Alex each prayed with me to receive Jesus today. I went through the Gospel with 6 people all together. 2 others claimed to be Christians though they could not tell me initially what they would appeal to get into Heaven. A very big and wide black guy named Steve, and a religious Catholic named Luca.

Jalen was sitting in the Cafeteria at a table looking at his computer. He was a middle sized black guy a bit bigger than I am. He had on a quilted black coat and a black shirt and black sweats, a winter cap on his head and a beard that was a bit heavier around his mouth. He wore a large silver crucifix around his neck that I believe he said later his Grandma gave him. He had a warm friendly face and modest features. He hadn’t been to church in about 5 years since they’d moved out of the city to Naperville, they just hadn’t gotten reconnected. But I got his email so I’ll send him a link to Compass Church there (I ran out of their cards). When I asked him what he would say if he died and God asked why should I let you into Heaven he thought for a moment and said, “I would say I’m kind to people and I try to help people much as I can. I love animals. I want to go through those pearly gates and meet God himself. I try to stay out of trouble.” When I asked him the likelihood he would get into Heaven when he died he said, “A good 80%.” As I went through the Gospel he vaguely remembered that Jesus had died to take away our sins but he was still enthusiastic to hear the Gospel–How the blood of Jesus cleansed him so God could live inside him and after I had explained the righteousness of God to His credit and how all that was the gift of God who He adopted us he said, “That’s amazing!” So I am pretty sure he had not had it spelled out before memory. He was very grateful to understand everything but had not been trusting in Jesus to save him. So I asked him If he would want to be forgiven for his sins or thought something else. He enthusiastically said he’d want to be forgiven. I talked him through the prayer and asked if he would like to pray it silently to receive forgiveness and he said, “Yeah. Yeah, yes.” So I said he could pray it right now silently and he took the booklet and said, “Ok, yeah. Thanks you very much.” God really gave me an audience with him. When he had finished I explained living the Christian life “inside out”.  I gave him a Bible, that he was really grateful for, showing him the “Where to Turn” section and the Messianic prophecies fulfilled encouraging him to read in John. I wrote his name and the date and “forgiven” in the front. I wrote “By the Spirit’s Power” in the front of 20 Things God Can’t Do and explained that a bit (the 100 verses in the back) and a Bible Study on the Deity of Christ telling him I was “loading him up for Christmas”. And he liked that and was grateful. He was really a great guy and I gave him my contact information and said, “Merry Christmas man!” “Merry Christmas to you too Bob,” he replied and I got up to go and as I walked away I heard him say enthusiastically to himself, “All right!” He was the most outwardly expressive and enthusiastic guy who has prayed with me in a while, pretty great.

Grant was sitting on the bench by the bank and said he’d do a survey. He had a bit of a barely there mustache and short blondish hair, pretty tall, short stick straight hair. Seemed kind of business like in jeans and a winter jacket. He remained very circumspect the entire time we talked. He described himself in three words as an “American Christian Conservative.” And I said, “Yeah, that’d be me too.” When I asked him what he would say to God to get into Heaven he said, “That I tried my best to be a good person. I’ve been a believer my whole life. I trust His judgment. It’s up to Him.” He thought he had an 85% chance of getting into Heaven. As I explained the Grace of God in the sacrifice of Christ and that he did not go to Heaven because he was good but because Jesus was good he said, “It’s not like Karma then.” “Not at all,” I replied and explained Buddhism a bit. A former missionary a short pretty lady with curly brown hair walked up. I had been talking with him for a half hour explaining the work of the Holy Spirit’s power in living the Christian life. He had yet to pray to receive Christ (though I had completed the Gospel) as he was asking questions, about God’s leading and how to make decisions. She walked up and was very complimentary of what I had said and told him everything I had said was true. “I know,” he replied. She said she was a former missionary and I assume she was trying to help, Christians interrupt me sometimes. It throws of the connection and usually a student is pressed for time. It does not really seem to help. But what do I know I can’t read a student’s mind. Anyway we rebounded well (she’d only stayed a few minutes) as he still wanted to pick my mind. I explained that because all things worked together for good (I’d told him that during the Gospel saying your good stuff can’t fix your bad stuff) we could ask for God’s guidance. Then by His Spirit we could ask for peace about a decision, if we had already thought about it and were sure it was moral by God’s word. If God gave us peace about more than one option we could simply pick one, knowing God would control our destiny for good. I explained that the Bible encouraged us to make choices and to pray, telling us our prayer had effect. So there was some way God worked free will into His providence for our future. It might have something to do with His being beyond time and knowing things outside our dimensional reality (this to answer another question). I think one day this will make sense to us. I told him the most important thing was to always ask for God’s help. When Jesus encouraged us to “become as a child” He did not mean to become stupid, there were 12 year old children smarter than us at Harvard right now. But every night they called their moms. Why? Because children are dependent. God wants us to be dependent upon him. “Your problem is that the guidance you need is from the Holy Spirit living inside you. Until you have asked God to forgive your sins, trusting in Jesus work on the cross, He dies not live in you to become one with you. You basically have your sox on over your shoes and wonder why your sox are wearing out.” He smiled at that and I showed him the prayer again asking if he would like to pray it and he said ok and prayed to receive Jesus. You could see something lift in him after praying it was great. I gave him a Rose Publication on Bible Promises and 20 Things God Can’t Do writing his name and the date and “forgiven” and “By the Spirit’s Power” in the front. He said he had a Bible he’d gotten from the Presbyterians. I don’t know who that was they must have put up a table at some point and given way Bibles. So I encouraged him to begin reading in John. I explained living inside out and gave him a Bible study. He finally had to run so I gave him my contact information and he said he appreciated my explaining everything and he ran off having recently realized he was about to be late for something. We’d spoken for nearly an hour.

I went to my locker pretty tapped out and got my coat and bundled up and headed out to the doors between me and the truck. As I go through the last lounge at the doorway where I park if there is anyone sitting unoccupied I’ll ask then to do a survey on my way out. I’m half grateful at that point if they say no since I’m tapped when I leave. So I walked by Alex and he said, “yes” I was surprised but I took off my gloves and earmuffs and unzipped my coat and began. He looked 17 was shorter than me by a head or so. He wore light blue pants and red tennis shoes. He had a very young tenor voice for a guy. He had short reddish hair, some freckles, a barely perceptible smattering of beard under his chin and jaw line and an earring in his right ear. He had on a jacket and jeans and was waiting for his dad it turned out. He had a back pack with about 50 nickel size round pins I never got a good look at on the front sitting on the ledge of the window where we sat. He seemed like a very kind soul. He said he wanted to go to Ireland, was Irish and looked it (the proverbial Irish Tenor). I asked him if he died what he would say to God to get into heaven and he said, “That’s a hard question.” Then thinking some more he had nothing so I said, “Do you think you might say that?” “I think so,” he replied, “I wouldn’t know what to say. I really don’t think I did anything to deserve to be in Heaven but I didn’t do anything to deserve not to go either.” He thought he had about a 50% chance of getting to Heaven. He said he had not been to Church since he was small and could not remember what kind it was. As I went through the Gospel I asked him, “Do you know the big thing Jesus did to take away your sins.” “Unhuh,” he replied, the way someone says it when they don’t know. So I explained the death of Christ for his sins, the blood that ceased him and the righteousness of God to his credit and that Jesus had risen from the dead to prove it to the peeps. He gave polite affirmation of it all as I went through. So I asked if he wanted to be forgiven for his sins with God living inside him or thought something else and he said he’d “be the first one”. So I said if he wanted to trust in that there was a prayer he could pray and, after I explained it, I asked if he would want to pray silently to receive Jesus. He became very quiet and almost whispered, “Yes.” So I said he could pray then like I wasn’t there and asked if he like to, “Yes,” he said very softly and seriously again and prayed to receive Jesus. I explained the Christian life inside out then and his dad walked up ( guy a bit shorter than me with a belly and a salt and pepper beard, seemed cool) and he said, “This is my dad.” I nodded to him and kept teaching Alex as I saw I’d pretty much run out of time. Something I said about trusting in God caught his dad’s attention and he said, “I’ve been telling him that his whole life.” I acknowledged him but kept focused on Alex and wrote his name and the date and “forgiven” in the front of the book Bible Promises for You to read and a Bible study in the Deity of Christ.  He did not have a bible so I had said if he’d like to wait I would get him one from my truck and he’d agreed but mentioning it again after his dad came up his dad said they had two Bibles at home. I regret now not getting him one with the stuff in back of his own so I hope I bump into him later. But it prompted me to give him the Rose Publication “Following Jesus”. I did not want to make his dad wait anymore and my truck was a decent walk away.  I told him God could forgive anything and gave him my contact info saying he could contact me about anything. I shook his hand which was small in mine but he had a solid grip and said I’d pray for him through spring and one year after and wished them Merry Christmas. The wished it back to me. I wish now I had offered his dad a booklet to read but my guess is he will look at what I gave Alex or God would have prompted me that way. I hope it wasn’t because I was tired.

So thanks for your prayers for the Ministry and for Evangelism today if you had a chance, God truly blessed. 70 students have prayed to receive Jesus this semester so far.

Love ya,

Bob