Results of the Work – 2/17/2020

Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I hope your day was blessed walking with Jesus. I had a slow day on campus sort of in terms of how many with whom I went through the Gospel. Dave prayed to receive Jesus. Hanad, a Muslim, had an interesting conversation with me after I went through the Gospel with Him. His philosophy class was discussing the existence of God. He thought it was impossible for something to come out of nothing and I agreed telling him the Latin phrase for it they teach you in Philosophy, Ex nihilo nihil fit.  I explained this had not really been a serious question in Philosophy since Alvin Plantinga wrote about God and did his work philosophically on warranted belief; a belief in God is justified in the narrow sense. I told him the lightweights that taught at COD might think it is an issue in class here, but in a place like UCLA or a major philosophy department the issue of God’s existence is accepted. He took a copy of a creation magazine from me.  He also took the booklet I had gone through with him. I explained the problem of evil was an issue for every world view. For evolutionists their problem was that they could not say what Good and Evil even were, it was all relative. Earlier I had spent the first hour answering questions for a guy I had been through the Gospel with, who said he’d gotten what I was saying more now. His name is Brandon. His family has a funeral business which he plans to go into to become a mortician. This is a tough job, handling a lot of people through their grief while at the same time selling them a service. But I helped him with some issues and some questions he had about modern society.

Dave was an interesting guy, sitting on a couch in the hall that runs along the books store. He was short, wearing black jeans and a shiny red Underarmor short-sleeve shirt. He had stick straight brown hair and a bit of facial hair. Looked a little bit the hillbilly. He was originally from Florida and wanted to return and was in the program to become a tech for radiology and MRI exams. He stopped me in the middle of going through the Gospel with several questions about hauntings, ghosts and the like down in Florida north of Tampa that he’d heard of. I explained to him that once you die you either go to Heaven or Hell. But demons impersonate humans after their death because they want to deceive people into thinking they will have options of where they will go after death and that there will not be a judgment.  They also want people to think about other things and distract them from thinking about God and to make it seem like the afterlife is filled with speculative ideas. When I asked him what he would say to God if he died and were asked “Why should I let you into Heaven” he said, “First I’d say Why not? And then I would prove it. [why he should be let in] I would show Him what happened—what I did.“ He thought he had a 50/50 chance of going to Heaven and had been to several Churches starting out Catholic as a kid. I explained God wanted to take away his sin and what Jesus had done. Jesus’ righteousness could be to his credit, His blood cleansing him and His sacrifice the just payment for his sins. I told him he had to trust in that by faith. I asked if he wanted to be forgiven or thought something else and he said, “The one on the right, be forgiven.” And he pointed at the circle in the booklet with God on the thrown of your life. I said if he wanted to trust in what Jesus had done he could pray to receive His forgiveness. “Hmm,” he softly mused. I walked him through a prayer he could pray asking if it was the desire of his heart. He nodded, so I said he could pray it silently so only God would hear and asked if he’d wanna do that. Shaking his head in affirmation he took the booklet and prayed to receive Jesus. He said he had a Bible in his car and thought the first book I’d offered him he had at home so he decided he take a copy of Bible Promises for You. I wrote his name and the date and “forgiven” in the front and “By the Spirit’s Power” having explained trusting in the Spirit would give him all the strength he needed to live the Christian life. I gave him a Bible Study and we talk a bit more. I invited him to the Bible study and said regardless I’d see him in Heaven. He said, “I’ll probably see you around.” “OK, if ya do be sure and say hi,” I replied and he said he would and I headed off.

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

In Him,

Bob