Witnessing to Skeptics
Dear Christian friends,
Earlier in this century, most Americans believed in Jesus Christ even if they did not serve Him. Today, we have seen a rapid change in our nation. Many if not most Americans no longer believe that the Bible is God’s Word or that Jesus Christ died for our sins. Some are atheists or agnostics. Some have an Eastern or new age concept of an impersonal god or force. Many are involved in occultism–astrology, yoga, channeling, etc. Many who are critical of Christianity will accept Eastern and occult teachings simply because they sound good or seem to line up with some subjective experience they had.
The word “skeptic” comes from the Greek word “skeptikos (inquiring)” and means “one who habitually questions matters generally accepted” or “one who doubts religious doctrines.” How are we to witness to people who tell us they don’t believe in Jesus or the Bible? In Acts 17, Paul spoke to the people of Athens, who were not much different from today’s skeptics. These Athenian philosophers, it is written, “spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell, or to hear some new thing.” Some have argued that Paul must have been out of God’s will in his witnessing that day because there was no indication anyone was saved. However, the scripture gives us no basis for such conjecture. I believe, rather, that this incident is given as an example for us of how to witness to the intellectual skeptic.
I would like to point out three things about Paul’s encounter with the Athenians. First, he was extremely kind, gentle, and patient with them (see 1 Corin. 13, 2 Tim. 2: 23-26). He didn’t rebuke them as many modern preachers would. Instead, he acknowledged a limited truth to their beliefs, but said he had come to bring them to a fuller knowledge of truth.
Also, he explained the gospel in terms these people could understand. He talked about the unknown god, about God as creator of all and not an image to be worshipped, and even quoted from one of their own poets to make his point.
Finally, he didn’t give them more information than they could absorb at that time. He didn’t try to explain the entire gospel to them or give an altar call, but he wanted to lay a foundation for them to understand the gospel in the hope that some would eventually be saved. He spoke of judgment and resurrection as facts they would need to deal with. In speaking to calm, reasoned, intellectuals, he didn’t give a passionate appeal to the emotions, but rather an appeal to the intellect, to their desire to know truth.
Peter exhorted us to “always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect” (1 Peter 3:15). The Greek word used for “answer” here is “apologia,” from which we get the term “apologetics,” which is the study of evidences for the Christian faith. When people ask us to “prove that the Bible is God’s word or that God exists,” they expect us to put Him in a test tube and conduct an experiment. Obviously, this is impossible, but it is possible to give people various kinds of evidence that Christianity is true.
Next month, I want to continue this teaching. Meanwhile, I would suggest you get hold of three books and begin reading them:
1. Know Why You Believe by Paul Little (Intervarsity)
2. Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis (Macmillan)
3. Evidence that Demands a Verdict (Part 1) by Josh McDowell (Here’s Life)
Of these books, the third is the most difficult, but well worth reading. All should be available at your Christian bookstore.
Outreach Reports
I have been hearing some wonderful reports about SOS-San Francisco and other outreaches in San Francisco. Ira Nissen, who has attended most of our SOS outreaches, sent me a twelve page report on SOS filled with wonderful testimonies of how God used him and others during SOS with one divine appointment after another. He wrote about Jimmie, a man with AIDS that they led to Christ, took to a mission, and helped get back home to live with his parents.
Robert prayed to receive Christ in the Mission District. When they went to visit him at his hotel the next day, he had left but they got to witness to the hotel managers, a Hindu couple who said they watched Christian television a lot. They prayed with this couple for salvation and visited them later that week.
Larry was a backslidden Christian who had just gotten fired from his job after four years and was on the streets. He rededicated his life to Christ and Ira let him stay in his car. The next day, Larry talked to his boss, got his job back and a few hundred dollars in back wages, was living in a hotel room, and brought to Ira another young man he had been witnessing to! Ira’s report is filled with such stories, and I wish there was space here to repeat them all.
A brother who had just returned from Lighthouse Ranch, a Christian discipleship ranch in Eureka, told me he spoke to a man who had received a tract during SOS without any personal witness. He was a backslidden Christian and when he read the tract, he decided to rededicate his life to Christ and God led him to Lighthouse Ranch. I didn’t talk with him, but perhaps he received one of our “survival sheets” which has the ranch’s number on it. This demonstrates once again the power of a single gospel tract.
I received a call from a woman who told me how she had been visiting a Bay Area church last year even though she wasn’t saved, picked up an SOS flier, came to the outreach, got saved and participated in the rest of the outreach! The man she was living with also got saved, as well as their three children.Last year, she joined us for another outreach and on the way home saw a 14 year old she knew on the streets. The girl was abused by her parents, so she got her parents’ permission to take her into her home, and she is now living with them and serving God.
Today, my pastor Dennis McNally told me that this summer, while he was in Kansas City, he met an airline pilot who told him that several years ago he was witnessed to at SOS, rededicated his life to Christ, came to several SOS meetings, and is still active in God’s service.
Mario Murillo San Francisco Crusade
From September 9-19, Mario Murillo set up a tent in downtown San Francisco for a crusade. From September 15-19, Scott Hinkle led a street outreach in conjunction with this crusade. On September 15, their workers joined us for our worship rally at the Powell St. BART station. One brother was handing out tracts when a man tried to grab his Bible to tear it up. However, a police man was nearby so instead he began talking with the Christian. He told him how he had been severely injured from the Vietnam war. The brother prayed with him and immediately he received his hearing, part of his sight, and was healed of lameness! He also was saved and baptized in the Holy Spirit! I spoke with him that day, spent most of Monday with him, and he brought a friend to Mario’s meeting on Tuesday, who also prayed for salvation.
During Mario’s outreach, we witnessed in the downtown and Mission districts and invited many people to the crusade. Many people we had invited came to the meetings and responded to the altar calls. There were many wonderful testimonies, including that of two lesbians who were saved and delivered from demons. Youth evangelist Donnie Moore spoke two nights at the crusade. He had spoken to 5000 high school and junior high students in S San Francisco that week in school assemblies. School officials were so impressed with the meetings that they gave him permission to speak in every public school in San Francisco and Oakland. Many of the students later attended the crusade, and one night half the Balboa High School football team and the student body president responded to altar calls!
A Final Word
I am excited to hear all these wonderful reports of the work God is doing in San Francisco. While it is often very difficult ministering to people in San Francisco and Berkeley, I am convinced that God has us here for a reason and desires to bring a harvest of souls from these cities. Recently, Berkeley students have faced two tragedies, a fraternity fire that killed three students and a terrorist who shot nine people and killed one student. Instead of our regular Wednesday outreach on Telegraph Avenue, we have begun preaching on campus at Sproul Hall. We get permits when we can, a different day each week. We will still be witnessing on Telegraph Avenue some Saturday afternoons.
We have also begun a regular outreach in the Haight-Ashbury district on the second Friday of each month. We join with the Vineyard Christian Fellowship and meet there at 7:30 PM. Last month, we got to talk with many of the hundreds of young people who congregate on this street, including some satanists and Nazis.
In September, I attended the National Street Ministries Conference in Dallas. About 1000 people attend this conference, including leaders of many street ministries and others who want to learn about street evangelism. It was good seeing many friends from other ministries, and making new friends. I also was able to give out information about the International Street and Evangelism Ministries Assn. (ISEMA), a network of street ministries that I am involved with. I also will be attending the Youth With a Mission Regional Staff Conference next week, looking for ways we can work with them more closely.
Please continue to pray for us. Satan considers the people of San Francisco and Berkeley his property, and he does not like us rescuing them from his grasp. Often, when people come from other places to work with us, they come under intense spiritual attack as Satan makes every effort to get them to leave.
Again, I want to thank all of you for your prayers and financial support for this ministry. One need we have is for a new copy machine. The one we have produces copies that are barely readable, and I am told it’s not worth fixing.
Our Tape of the Month is “The Next Move of God” by Mario Murillo, which was given at one of our ISEMA evangelism conferences. God bless you all. I hope you can join us for one of our outreaches this next month. “Forever Grateful” will be with us on November 10 and December 1 and “The Liberators” from San Francisco Christian Center will join us on November 17.
Yours in His love,
Larry Rosenbaum
