Greetings from The Good News Friends,
God works in mysterious ways! I took a cab to church and found a lost wallet and managed to contact the owner and make arrangements to return it to her. This led to a conversation with the cab driver, Salvador, who said he was a believer until the minister who preached about living a pure life was found visiting prostitutes. I explained that we cannot place our faith in any man but in Jesus alone who will never fail us. I had the pleasure of praying with him as he wanted to rededicate his life to following Jesus. Also, I was able to give a Bible to the gal who lost her wallet. Praise the Lord who works all things for good!!
We all attended Heritage Baptist Sunday morning and Pastor Recker preached an excellent message on apostasy! So few Pastors talk about false teachers/teaching and yet Paul warned the church with tears for three years, that after his departure savage wolves would come in, not sparing the flock and from among them, men would rise up speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after themselves. Acts 20:27-32. Praise the Lord for a Pastor who is faithful to warn the sheep as a true Shepherd and not shun preaching the full counsel of God!
We had a very fruitful time of ministry at the book table and gave many Bibles, New Testaments, and gospels of John away as well as much helpful literature to those who are confused and searching.
I was able to give Bibles to two Hindu women who were eager to research Christianity and pray for them. One young man was so excited to find a Hebrew/English Bible. He said he had been searching for it and received it with great joy!
Unfortunately, so many are buying the lie that all paths lead to God and even finding ways to twist the Scriptures to support this delusion. Some are incensed when we explain that, according to the Bible, Jesus is the only true God and Savior and that there is salvation is in no one else. Chris was duped by this but seemed open enough to read, Reinventing Jesus Christ by Warren Smith. Smith came out of New Age and is helping many others to discern truth from error.
We pray that those who receive the truth will allow it to take root in their hearts and that God by His power and grace will turn their eyes from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to the power of God! Acts 26:18
We have also been praying about how we can encourage and equip others to contend for the faith. We decided to begin an apologetic ministry on Wednesday nights. This coming Wednesday, we will view 2 dvds from Compass.org. One is on eschatology from the book of Daniel and the other; refuting evolution using the laws of Science by Mike Riddle. We look forward to some lively discussion!
We met two girls at church on Sunday who are excited about joining us, and we trust God will add many more who have a desire to be built up and equipped to intelligently defend God's Word against the increasing tide of apostasy!
For more information we can be reached at thegoodnewsfriends@yahooo.com All are welcome to the study!
Shalom Aleichem Dwayna,We had an eventful day to say the least this Sunday. It seems like there was some spiritual warfare going on, first at church. Aside from that, we received a wonderful message from Pastor Recker preaching from 1 John, as well as 2 John and 3 John, regarding Gnosticism and false teachers in the early church and how they dealt with it. A lot of what transpired in the early church we also see today in abundance in the form of apostasy, poor teaching, wrong doctrines and false religions.
We girls and friends are so blessed to be able to dispel the lies of the enemy as well as false teachers with this wonderful ministry we have been provided.
We set up at our underground location at 42nd Street/Times Square with our various materials and books, including Bibles and cds, dvds and cassette tapes.
I was able to converse with one woman, whose name I believe was Patricia, who was so pleased to see that we had not only Bibles in Hebrew/English (Old and New Testaments), but also had various apologetic tracts for the Jewish mindset. She had a friend named Moishe who she explained was asking her a lot of questions regarding her faith and devotion to Jesus and was very inquisitive. I was happy to be able to provide her the Bibles, a CD testimony from Stan Telchin, a Jewish well-known author who came to faith in the Messiah, Yeshua (Jesus) and various tracts. I then prayed with her that she would be able to give these items to Moishe and that he would be receptive to them and continue on his search for The Way (HaDerekh), The Truth and The Life!!
As I was going through our containers with materials, I came across some tracts in French and said to myself and to God, Lord, I wonder if I will ever get to use these, and sure enough, a lady came over who had an accent and was looking for something to read. I remembered we had a tract regarding eternity in French, the very one I had seen a few minutes beforehand, and I was absolutely giddy to be able to give it to her, at which point I told her that it was God who wanted her to have it and it was not a coincidence.
I had a conversation with a young Latino man named Jonathan. He seemed fixated on the date 2012 and was convinced that the world was coming to an end. I explained to him that the world would not be ending anytime soon as, according to eschatology (the study of prophetic events and timelines), the Rapture had to first take place, then the 7 years of Tribulation, the Messiah's Millennial Kingdom, the White Throne Judgment, and then at that time the heavens and earth would be dissolved and a new heavens and earth created and we would then be in eternity.
He kept saying what made me so sure that the Bible is true regarding the times we are in, and I explained that many of the prophecies have come true and have been fulfilled; many are being fulfilled as we speak, especially the founding of Israel and the return of the Jewish people to the land of promise of exile of 2000 years, the decadence of society and the increase in wars, rumours of war, pestilences, etc. as alluded to in Matthew 24. I encouraged him to seek out the Truth of the Bible and salvation in Jesus Christ through repentance from sin and baptism of the Holy Spirit. I also encouraged him to attend a Bible church and then invited him to come visit at our church.
There were other encounters with people, all the Bibles were taken, some of the Hebrew Bibles were taken, and many of the books concerning the New Age movement as well. We handed out some of the children's books on Psalms. An apologetic concerning Islam was also handed out.
Suzi and I sang a few worship songs to the Lord and one young man came over and joined in with us!!
Another man decided to make a donation since he was taking several of the Bibles and books and didn't want to leave us empty-handed.
Again, many people could not believe that the materials were free of charge.... How wonderful to be able to provide a priceless gift with no cost!!!
We have several returning inquirers every week and now many of them are becoming familiar to us.
We finished up around 6:45 p.m.
We ended the evening with prayers for all the encounters we had that day, praying for seeds to be implanted, for fruit to spring forth, for salvation to occur. We continue in prayer for co-laborers and, as always, for more donations of materials...
We also are so thankful for those ministries who have partnered with us and supplied us with numerous books, tracts and Bibles!! God bless you all.
Shalom!
Heidi
