Back on the Street in Lakewood - 2/19/2011

It's been a while since I've been on the street, but Saturday I went back out to Sinagra Park in Lakewood. A friend from church, Chris, joined up with me. I displayed my cross while Chris handed out tracts and engaged a few people in conversation as they passed by. As much as I like talking to people about Christ, I usually wait for them to come up to me- not the other way around- that is something I need to work on. I was glad to have someone alongside of me who took that initiative.

We arrived in Lakewood around 4:00 PM. Chris engaged a young man walking by who considered himself to be a good person, but Chris quickly took him through some of the commandments to show him how God viewed him.

Another young man who was 20 walked by and we engaged in conversation. He told he was on his way to his church for a youth activity. He told us his church was an Assembly of God church and there were about 30 youths in this group. Chris gave him about 30 tracts to distribute to the youth, which he said he would.

We got to talking a bit and he asked a few questions Chris and I really couldn't definitively answer. He asked about people having supernatural experiences where they were taken to heaven or hell. I told him I didn't really have an opinion on this because Scripture doesn't describe experiences like this. I told him I believed God has already revealed everything that is necessary for us in the Bible.

I offered one piece of advice when regarding revelation from God: Revelations 22:18-19: "I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book."

I made sure to ask the young man about repentance and his response concerned me a bit. Chris also asked this young man to go on YouTube and find Paul Washer's Shocking Message (to 5,000 youth). If you have never watched or listened to this message, please do. I also asked him to listen to Hell's Best Kept Secret. Chris wrote down this information on a tract and gave it to him.

Chris also engaged a man named Brendan in conversation while he was waiting for the bus. Brendan told us he attends mass regularly at a Catholic Church. Chris started off taking Brendan through the law and I remember at one point Brendan said, "But I haven't murdered anyone...' Chris asked him if he had ever hated anyone, and it was difficult to get him to admit to it. I'm sure Chris told him God views hate as murder in the heart. The conversation started going off on a tangent a little bit and Brendan had to leave to catch the bus.

Before Branden had come up, a group of youths passing by inquired about the cross and asked "ready for what?" I told them that it was appointed for man once to die and then comes judgment (Hebrews 9:27), and asked if they were ready to face God for judgment. One of them had some choice words for God that I will not repeat.

One analogy I made sure to always use in our conversations was the parachute analogy: if you were on a crashing plane and there was a parachute that could save you, just "believing" in the parachute doesn't save you. You have to strap on the parachute, trust the parachute with your life, and jump from the plane. In the same sense, you have to put on the Lord Jesus (Romans 13:14), trust Him with your life, and repent of your sins (turn away from them).

I'm not sure how often I will be able to go out on the streets- I'm hoping at least once a weekend now that it is getting warmer. I'm also thankful for some new faces in church who also have a heart for evangelism who will now join me.

The Pharisees and the Catholic Church

If the law was enough for people in the Old Testament and Jesus had to sternly correct the Pharisaical additions to it, why isn't the Bible (the doctrine of Sola Scriptura) enough for us today?

The Catholic Church amounts to the same as the Pharisees of Jesus' day. It is they who Jesus spoke of in Matthews 23:15: "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves."

"Jesus Judy"

My wife and I had dinner with my parents today and my mother asked me if I remembered one of her friends named Judy. I didn't go into this with the intent one way or the other to talk about religion (I knew if I did, it would only be a dead end), but it came up. She said she called her "Jesus Judy" because all she talked about was Jesus. She was making a reference to how I always talk about Jesus. I do not think Jesus is the only thing I talk about (to say that literally is a stretch for anyone- for "no seeks after God" [Romans 3:11]) , but it must come off that way.

If anyone else were to tell me that, I wouldn't have much of a problem with it, but when it comes from family, it rings a little differently for some reason. What is even more troubling is that it comes from someone who claims to be a born again Christian.

Ezekiel 36:26 says, "And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh." It should be natural for a born again Christian to want to talk about Jesus. Consider all he has done for us.

We (myself included) have all sinned and deserve death for our sin (Romans 6:23). That is not harsh- that is the truth. I think more people need to be told this. Jesus lived a perfect, sinless life and died as a propitiation for our sins (Romans 3:25). He took on death so you wouldn't have to go to Hell if you repent and trust in Him. He paid the ultimate price for nothing of his own doing, but something we did, and you want to scold someone for "only" talking about Him?

I can't talk about religion to my father. He is Catholic and when I try to bring up Scripture, he always blows me off. I tried explaining that I don't watch Dancing With the Stars because they dance around practically naked on that TV show and I don't want to fall into lust by watching it. He compared me to a legalist and he didn't see the problem with occasionally having a thought like that.

He told me the way I am acting (in his mind, legalism) is how it used to be and how the Catholic church has gotten more "liberal" recently. He described how it used to be prohibited to eat anything from 12:00 on the night before service down to just one hour before if taking communion. The ironic twist is that this is legalism and he doesn't see it, yet calling sin for what it is in one's life is prohibited because Jesus said not to judge. This is so frustrating because so many people use this as a defense! Read the rest of the paragraph and don't take it out of context!

Matthew 7:1-5: “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye."

It would be wrong for me to call out sin in your life that I am participating in myself, but once I have dealt with it in my life, I see clearly to help you.

He also acted like every "translation" of the Bible had different meaning. I mentioned they had the same meanings, except the New World Translation (used by Jehovah's Witnesses) and he asked me how I couldn't be sure about it, also. This is about where I cut my losses.

He also scoffed at me when I mentioned repentance and said he had just repented- through confession. I tried to explain the difference between the two but he wouldn't let me.

It is very frustrating to have two parents, one who says they are a born again Christian and then my father, a Catholic, who won't talk about religion- even his own. My mother thinks MacArthur is too harsh on the Catholic church. My father is the product of a religion where he is taught he can earn his way to Heaven by going to confession and not having any mortal sins on his soul when he dies. This is self-righteousness at the core and I will continue to condone Catholic doctrine.

What in the world is going on here?

Life in the Catholic Church

The Catholic Church teaches that if you die with a mortal sin without going to confession and confessing it, they are going to Hell. This is directly quoted from Catholic.com:

Question: Does the Catholic church teach that someone dying with mortal sin always goes to hell? With so many unexpected deaths, accidents, there must be a second chance to say "I'm sorry."

Answer: At the last moment it may be possible to repent. But some people die so quickly that they may not have that moment. If a person dies as God’s enemy—which is what we are in mortal sin—then he goes to hell by his own choice. Most of us have had a lifetime to choose him.

Does this sound like someone who is "Dead to Sin, Alive to God" (Romans 6)?

I have noticed recently that I have become quite a legalist and I feel like I am constantly sinning. Then I feel like if I don't confess my sin right away, that I will be going to Hell. The remnants of Catholicism are still there.

This is not someone who is free to serve God, but someone who is living in constant fear of going to Hell and walking around on egg shells all day. This has actually prevented me from going out with my cross- which is exactly what the enemy wants. How could I display a cross asking, "Are You Ready?" when I don't feel ready myself?

Someone once told me this about confession: "Say what you want, but the fact that I have to confess my sins to a priest makes me think twice before committing them." If that is the only motivation to not sin, there is a serious problem.

We are called to confess our sins (1 John 1:9), but this act of confession is merely another "work." Imagine a criminal who stands in front of a judge who confesses to a crime. Will his confession nullify the need for his punishment? Of course not!

For me, life in the Catholic Church was about keeping the Law. When you break it, if you don't confess before you die, they say you go to Hell (see above- their words, not mine). It was about what you did not do- not about the things I did for God.

In his book “Go and Sin No More: A Call to Holiness,” Dr. Michael L. Brown talks about the difference between holiness and legalism. “Holiness,” Brown explains, “is being like Jesus in thought, word and deed. As Samuel Lucas noted, ‘The essence of true holiness consists in conformity to the nature and will of God.’” He also describes legalism. “It has several different forms, but all of them flow from the same source, namely, religion without relationship, emphasizing standards more than the Savior. To an unsaved person the legalist preaches justification by works, saying, ‘You’re a wicked sinner and you need to get rid of all your filthy habits if you want the Lord to accept you.’ There is no in grace in this message, no exalting of the life-changing, sin-cleansing power of the blood of Jesus, no clear proclamation of mercy. The declaration of God’s love express through the Cross is muffled- if it is even heard at all. Consequently, the proof of the new birth is seen almost entirely in what someone no longer does.”

To give a good analogy of holiness and legalism (like Catholicism), Brown continues,

“Let me illustrate this with the amusing story or two farmers who had a talk about Christianity. One of them said to his friend, ‘I hear that you’re a Christian.’

‘That’s right,’ the other replied.

‘Well, what does it mean to be a Christian?’ the curious farmer asked.

‘Well, I don’t drink, smoke, or run around with women.’

‘In the case,’ the friend responded, ‘my mule must be a Christian too, because my mule doesn’t drink, smoke, or run around with women!’”

Do you see the difference? When I ask someone what it means to be a Christian, they should tell me they have sinned against a holy God and their just reward is hell, but God loved us so much that He sent His One and only Son to die for our sins. If we will repent of our sins and place our trust in Jesus alone, we can have eternal life. This is a different message than just telling someone what not to do.

Here is what the Bible says about the Law:

Romans 3:21: "But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law."
Galatians 2:19: "For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God."
Galatians 3:19: "Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions."

Romans 3 tells us that "For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."

Galatians 3:10-11: "For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, 'Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.' Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for 'The righteous shall live by faith.'"

Galatians 3:21-22: "Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe."

There is no salvation in keeping the Law, because none of us have kept it!

Romans 5:21: "Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men."

The idea that I am justified by going to confession with a Catholic priest is repulsive to me. I am justified through Christ's blood- not the act of going to confession in a Catholic church. Christ dying for my sins was not enough?

Galatians 2:21: "I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose."

A Catholic Says: We Do Not Pray To Mary

Anyone who goes to a Catholic church is familiar with the Hail Mary. I grew up in a Ukrainian Byzantine Catholic church and this is how I remember reciting it:

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.
Blessed are thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for our sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen

I don't know how any one can say this isn't praying to Mary. When we pray to Jesus, aren't we asking things of him? In the prayer above, people are asking Mary to pray for sinners. How can one say that asking Mary for something isn't praying to her? This is clearly idolatry.

Jesus said in John 14:6, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." Except through who? Jesus. Not Mary. Jesus.

Here is what 1 Corinthians 6 has to say about idolaters:
"Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God."

Repent today and trust in your Savior alone for your salvation!