The Jesus Freaks gathered again on
Friday night at the Mall of America for an evening of fellowship and
witnessing. It is great to know that when we go to MOA, we know that
the weather will not be a problem, and there are always great crowds
of people. We headed out in our groups to witness for Christ.
I worked on my own for a bit, walking
around and handing out “Genius” and “180” DVDs. Sometimes
people wouldn’t be interested, other times I needed to explain who
John Lennon was and the Beatles, and other times people quickly
volunteered to take the free DVDs.
Then I met back up with Ted and Mike,
and then Ted and I broke off and continued walking. We encountered so
many people who were not Christians, but were willing to stand and
talk with us for up to 20-30 minutes at a time. We met a man who told
us he believed there is some “greater being” out there, and that
he had studied many of the worlds religions and believed they were
all referencing the same God. Happiness and not hurting others were
the keys to living a good life. Ted explained to the man that the
only way to salvation was through Jesus Christ, and emphasized that
Christ was crucified and rose again. I emphasized the authority of
God and emphasized that if the man believed there was a God out
there, didn’t he think that this God would be just, and would also
want to connect with his people through Christ Jesus. After a great
dialogue, the man conceded that perhaps he needed to go back through
the Bible and take it into account once again. It was such a fruitful
conversation and all agreed that God likely intended for us to meet
in this way.
Later on in the night, I was passing
out “180” DVDs as we walked, and after giving some to a group of
people, a man stopped us and asked us what the DVD was about. We
stopped and explained the DVD, and proceeded to witness to this man
for about 20 minutes or so. He was working at one of the mall kiosks.
He too said he had read all of the religious texts and questioned us
thoroughly regarding our views regarding why God would take sides in
a war, why God would allow bad things to happen to people, if we
observed the Sabbath, why there were different versions of the Bible,
if we believed in miracles, how the stars must be from the big bang,
and how we could explain the existence of dinosaurs. Ted and I
responded to each of his questions as best we could, and while doing
so, we mixed in the Gospel where we could. It is a great feeling to
work through these questions, and it is also very rewarding to do so
with people who have taken the time to study “religion”. These
people are searching for the answers, but they are looking in the
wrong places. I really do feel that most all of the people we
witnessed to would be returning home to open up their Bible once
again.
The Holy Spirit was with us through the
entire night, leading us into and through deep and affecting
conversations. And at times I did not have all of the answers for
some of these questions. When I got home I went straight away to seek
out those answers in the Bible. They are all there. And in two weeks
I will go back out to witness, armed with new understanding and
information.
Phil
