Hey Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

Hope ya had a great day walking with the Lord of Hosts.  I had a good day on campus and Khyla prayed with me to receive Jesus.

Khyla was sitting in the hallway and agreed to do a student survey for our Bible Study group.  She is African American, looked pretty tall though she was sitting. (She actually looked big and strong come to think of it.) She had long, straightened hair just past her shoulders and had a kind face.  I sat at her feet.  About half way through the Gospel, a teacher came out of the room across from us and stood staring at my back.  Sensing him there, I turned and said politely, “Can I help you with something?”  He asked if I had permission to do what I was doing, speaking through his big bushy beard and glasses.  This, though he hadn’t heard me say enough to know what I was doing topically, so he was just a hater. I informed him that yes, I had gotten a lawyer who contacted student activities for me and I now carry a letter from the Vice President of student activities giving me permission.  Surprisingly he backed off, after informing me that had I not done that, proselytizing was not permitted on campus, and others were doing it and they need to do what I had done.  Of course, I could have mentioned that not being the cops he had no authority to enforce anything going on in the hallways, and in fact he was wrong about the campus “rules for proselytizing” of which there are in fact none.  If you do simple math you cannot selectively restrict speech between students about religion or anything else without restricting everything else. But I did not want to argue with him, and there were cult girls walking around today pushing their “Mother goddess” lie around to a works salvation beat. So hey, maybe he’ll hassle them, though I doubt it as being satanic he’s on their team.  So I simply said “I do not know what other people were required to do, I just know what I did.”  He then left me in peace, fortunately, as Khyla had a lot to talk about.  Her response to the question what she would tell God to get into Heaven was telling.  “It’s a hard question,” she started. “I would say my life is righteous but I think some of the things… I don’t know.  I am kinda young.  My mother has a true, strong faith in God I would hope to get.  Then, I think it is hard to get it together being so young.  I think I’d be scared standing in front of Him.  It’s a really hard question.”  As I went through the Gospel, she agreed with the things I said; that God loved her and wanted to live inside her with His Holy Spirit. But Khyla could not tell me how God took away her sins at all when I asked “What was the big thing Jesus did back in the day that paid for your sins?” She literally just sat and thought and couldn’t come up with anything. (I was about to explain that part when the bearded, self appointed hall monitor interrupted.)  I went on to tell her the rest after he left, and she stopped me after I mentioned Jesus lived a perfect life asking what I believed about homosexuality.  This is pretty loaded these days, but I said, “Well it’s America, and Homosexuals are free to practice this in America. So I can’t tell them they cannot. Part of the problem for the church,” I went on to say, “is that they have not often said, ‘God’s law is His loving preservation of us.’ And they have not spoke out against other things that the Bible says were destructive and wrong.  Like you are not supposed to get a divorce.  If I lose feelings for my wife, I should pray to get them back and ask for God’s power to love her, not just leave her.  Unless there was adultery then that breaks the marriage and God says you are able to divorce.”   I said that I thought, “This is pretty common in the Black community as there are so few fathers. And without a dominant male influence in the home, boys are 50% more likely to chose homosexuality.” She went on to say that her mother had married a pastor and things seemed fine for awhile. But it turned out he was a homosexual and was having homosexual affairs behind her back.  This really hurt her and her mother and she divorced him.  I told her how sorry I was.  “His father died when he was little, ” she replied. I said that would fit.  “I can tell them that the Bible says that acting out on homosexual feelings is destructive to people who have them. And the Bible teaches you should do things because they are loving to do and if you follow the Bible you will not destroy yourself.” “He is sick now and dying,” she replied. I imagined from his at-risk behavior, and I said that was sad. “I believe the Bible also teaches it is impossible to follow the Bible’s teaching without the power of the Holy Spirit living inside you.  So since that is true, it is not realistic for me to tell a homosexual person they should just suck it up and be ‘celibate’ because I don’t believe they would have the power to do this realistically without God.” (And society would not support them either.)  “So according to the Bible, it is not loving to practice these things. But they could simply respond that they do not believe the Bible.  In the 1950’s, everyone believed this behavior was destructive and the Bible agreed with society. But now someone might tell me I was bigoted to tell someone this. But I’m not saying I hate them or even that society must stop them from doing these things. I am just saying the Bible says it will destroy them.”   We talked some more, but I could tell she was running out of time based on some body language (I think she was waiting for someone to go home.) So I interrupted her and said, “Well just let me finish this, because there is something you need to do.”   I finished going through the Gospel with her, explaining Christ’s imputed righteousness, the offer of forgiveness through His blood, and that she hadn’t done this. She wanted to be forgiven with God inside her, and so I said she could ask for that forgiveness by a prayer and she read through it with me as I explained what it meant.  “I pray a prayer like this every day, for forgiveness,” she said. I said that that was good, and I thought God led me to her to answer her prayer and show her how she could be forgiven through Christ, so He could live inside her and give her eternal life.  She agreed and then prayed it quietly.  I explained the power of the Holy Spirit to her and gave her the Book 20 Things God Can’t Do and a Bible study.  I told her I would be praying for her and got her email to send her some stuff.  I said I would be praying for her to be able to forgive the man her mom used to be married to, since he had not only sinned against her mother but against her too since he was her step-father and she under him in his family.  She was happy to know I would be praying for her and I told her she could send me a prayer request of any kind, that I would pray it.  She was happy and finished putting her phone into her back-pack and I got up to leave and she thanked me and I said,  “God bless you, thanks for talking with me.”

So thanks for your prayers for the ministry and for evangelism today if you had a chance.  I touched base today with some others who had come to Christ or were Christians at school.  It was a good day.

Blessings in Christ,

Bob