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Coming Events
Friday January 8, 15, 22 6 – 9 PM Witnessing in San Francisco neighborhoods.
Sat. January 9 12:30 – 4:30 PM Berkeley Outreach (Shattuck and Center St.—outside downtown Berkeley BART station)
Sat. January 16 12 – 4 PM Fifth St. and Market SF.
Sat. January 23 11 AM – 4 PM Fisherman’s Wharf Outreach (Jefferson St. at Powell) SF.
The Justice of God
Dear Christian friends,
All of us at times ask an age-old question: why does God allow so much suffering? This is a difficult question, and many books have been written on the subject. I cannot discuss it completely in this article, but I do want to give some thoughts on it, based on God’s Word. In Luke 13, Jesus’ disciples asked him about why God allowed certain Galilean Jews to be killed by Pilate and why eighteen people died when a tower fell on them. “Do you think they were worse sinners than other men from Galilee,” he asked. “Is that why they suffered? Not at all. And don’t you realize that you also will perish unless you leave your evil ways and turn to God.”
In Ecclesiastes 8, we are told “Because God does not punish sinners instantly, people feel it is safe to do wrong.” The Book of Revelation tells of terrible judgments soon to come upon the earth. Chapter nine tells of a judgment that causes so much torment on the human race that people will desire to die, but they won’t be able to. Another judgment causes a third of the human race to be killed (over two billion people!). Yet we learn that people still did not repent of their sins of murder, sorcery, fornication and theft.
Even many Christians have a hard time accepting the idea of eternal torment for those who reject Christ. People on the street often tell me that this is unfair. Parents punish their children and society punishes criminals–but eternal torment in hell is an infinitely greater punishment.
What they do not understand is that our crimes against God are infinitely greater than our crimes against men. Unlike man’s laws, God’s laws are perfect. He has never mistreated me. I owe God an infinite debt–every good thing I have comes from Him (see Matt. 18:23-35). And God’s mercy towards us is infinitely greater than man’s mercy. God has offered us a complete pardon for our sins–past, present and future. If we reject this pardon, we are totally without excuse. Those who will be cast into the lake of fire will be speechless on judgment day. As their sins are played back before them, they will each see that God is fully just, and that they fully deserve eternal punishment.
In Job chapter 2, God said that Job was a blameless and upright man who feared God and avoided evil. Yet, God allowed Satan to afflict Job with a horrible punishment. When Job complained that God was unfair, God rebuked him strongly. Job repented, realizing he was being self-righteous. The truth is that for Job and for the rest of us “He has not punished us as we deserve for all our sins” (Ps. 103:10). Job could have turned against God, blaming Him for allowing the suffering. Instead, he chose to trust in God’s righteousness, and his suffering soon ended and was forgotten.
If a doctor gives me an aspirin to cure my headache, he is having mercy on me. If he cures me of cancer, he is having much greater mercy on me, because he is saving me from a far worse fate. If we have some glimpse of the horror of eternal Hell, we will begin to appreciate the great mercy God has shown toward us.
The apostle Paul said that he was blameless concerning God’s law. Nonetheless, he considered himself the chief of sinners, unworthy to be an apostle, a wretched man. Like the church of Laodicea, we need to see that we also are wretched. The judgments that we see around the world, horrible as they are, are as nothing compared to the ones that are coming soon upon the world. And the judgments of the Book of Revelation are as nothing compared to the torment of Hell.
“Knowing therefore the terror (solemn fear) of the Lord, we persuade men” (2 Corin. 5:11). The reason we do not witness as we should is because we fear men. Often, we do not witness to friends or strangers because we fear they will reject us. What we need is to fear God more than men. Jesus said, “Fear him who has power to cast into hell” (Luke 12:5). When we have this fear, we will overcome every obstacle to witnessing and warn the wicked with great urgency to get their lives right with God.
Suicide Prevention
by Larry DuBois
On Friday November 6, we were scheduled to witness at Powell and Market. A street performer was playing music there, so we moved to 5th St. and Market, a block away. I saw a couple having some disagreement over a cell phone. The man finally grabbed it away from this woman.
As he walked away the woman ran and attempted to jump over a railing that overlooks the BART plaza from Market Street. It happened so fast but I saw her go over head first. She was of short stature and it took her two attempts. About this time her husband ran and grabbed her. At this point she swung around and now was hanging feet down as her husband had a hold of both her hands.
Although he had a hold of her, he could not pull her back up over the rail although he was a young fellow with a healthy build. Immediately I and a few others, Dave, Andy, and Micah, ran over and grabbed hold of her and pulled her to safety. The police were across the plaza and someone yelled for them. They ended up taking her into custody for psychiatric evaluation.
After the commotion was over we learned that the couple was involved in an arranged marriage. Both of them were East Indian and the man was a Muslim named Mohammed. Yvonne was able to minister to and pray with both of them.
On the Streets
On November 7 we witnessed in downtown Berkeley. Chuck Girard, Paul and Noreen Coca, and Scott Crawford all joined us. Mike ministered to Allie, 20, who lives in San Francisco and had been invited there by Daniel. Daniel had been witnessing to her and she was saved the day before. Daniel also brought Jared, who had been saved two weeks earlier in San Francisco. Daniel had been praying that God would touch someone through his dreams. Afterwards, he felt led to pray the “Lord’s Prayer.” About the same time, Jared woke from a nightmare and started saying the “Lord’s Prayer.” He went online to look for a nearby church and found Bethel Church, where he met Daniel. He is now living in the Christian house where Daniel lives.
That day, Dave witnessed to Abdus, a Pakistani Muslim in his 20’s, Neal, a teenager from a Hindu family, and Chris, a secular humanist. He also witnessed to Yee Won, who was here for 4 months from China and was studying with a Christian group. He read John 3:16 and asked her to put in her name where it says “the world” and “whosoever.”
On Fri. Nov. 13 we witnessed on Castro St. This is the center for militant homosexuality in the city. We are low-key here and don’t preach or use signs because of the hostility. We pass out tracts and talk with people. We gave out several hundred tracts that night and had a few good conversations. Kathy and Dave both witnessed to Tobias, 16, who was likely a male prostitute. He was humble and receptive to the gospel. They referred him to City Impact, where he could get help. Kathy and Dave also witnessed to Ramon, who is in his 40’s. He has cirrhosis of the liver but had stopped drinking. They shared the gospel with him and prayed for him.
The next day, we witnessed at 5th and Market. We set up a table with a variety of Christian tracts and pamphlets, and spoke with several people who stopped to look at the literature. Dave witnessed to one of them, Eloise, who is into the New Age but was very interested in the tracts. He also witnessed to Mario, 20, who is from Columbia and was quite receptive to the gospel. Mike witnessed to Michael, who was an atheist but appreciated their conversation.
On Fri. Nov. 20 we witnessed at 16th and Mission St. Allan witnessed to Daniel, an American Indian who was listening to our preaching. Mike witnessed to Mark, who was an intellectual. Mike gave him a book by Mark Cahill. Dave and Teresa witnessed to Anna, who was from an evangelical background but was not saved. Jerry gave Gwendolyn a Bible. Dave and Mike witnessed to her. She has two children and is pregnant, but has an abusive husband so she is staying at a women’s shelter.
The next day we witnessed at Fisherman’s Wharf. Tim Moon played music. Mike witnessed to Randy, a Jehovah’s Witness who was quite friendly, but had problems with the Trinity. He also witnessed to two young men from Tonga. Dave witnessed to Josue, a shopkeeper who works across the street from us. He did not understand why Jesus had to suffer, so Dave explained it to him. He also witnessed to Samantha, who works at an ice cream shop across the street from us. After sharing the gospel with her for 20 minutes, she said she agreed with the gospel message but was not ready to become a Christian.
Ministry Needs
Thank you again for your prayers and financial support for this ministry. With your help, we were able to print 60,000 more tracts. We found a printer in South Dakota who printed and mailed them to us for less than 2 cents each, a very good price.
Please pray for those we have witnessed to recently, including those who are mentioned in this newsletter. We also still need a musician for Friday night outreaches.
I hope many of you will join us for an outreach this next month.
Yours in His love,
Larry Rosenbaum