Confrontation
Dear Christian friends,
Most of you heard about the confrontation that took place on Halloween night in San Francisco. Larry Lea Ministries had rented the Civic Auditorium for a three day Prayer Breakthrough beginning that night. The local newspapers had written some negative articles about what they termed a “controversial televangelist.” Before long, a collection of satanists, “pagans”, and militant homosexuals had organized a protest against the meetings. On Halloween night, several hundred angry demonstrators tried to keep about 6500 Christians from entering the auditorium, pushing them, yelling in their ears with bullhorns, and throwing a tear gas canister at them as they left that night. The police were present with their riot gear, but did not prevent the demonstrators from harassing Christians. The incident made the national news, as the nation was amazed at a city where people would protest a group of Christians who wanted to rent a building for a prayer meeting. In reporting the event, Pat Robertson commented that this was the beginning of what he expected to be a series of confrontations in the 1990’s between light and darkness, between those who hold to traditional moral values and those who reject such values. I am convinced that the generation that will serve the Antichrist is being raised up now, and that the persecution of believers in the U.S. is soon to begin.
Once again, San Francisco was at the forefront of this satanic movement to stop Christians from gathering to pray. Despite the opposition, thousands of Christians gathered each day for prayer. Larry Lea preached on 2 Chronicles 7:14, that if God’s people would humble themselves, pray, and turn from their wicked ways, that He would heal our land. He spoke about the sin of prayerlessness in the church and called on us to repent of this sin and seek God more fervently. Hundreds of people responded to altar calls for salvation each night. I was really encouraged to see so many Christians join together to pray for San Francisco, and I believe that if we will continue to pray fervently for this city, that God truly will heal our land.
SOS-San Francisco
June 28-July 6, 1991
Recently, I met with Dick Eachus, Northern California Director of Youth with a Mission (YWAM). He agreed to co-sponsor the 1991 SOS-San Francisco outreach with us. Dick will be sending letters to Youth With a Mission bases all over the world inviting them to participate in the outreach. We set our 1991 dates earlier this year to fit in with their schedule and hope that several YWAM teams will be able to join us. Because their schools usually end in late June, this is the best time for them to attend the outreach. This outreach also ends on the Fourth of July weekend, which should help many of you get off work. Set aside these dates, apply now for vacation time, and plan to join us for SOS-San Francisco 1991. Also, our annual Chinese New Year Parade Outreach will be on Saturday March 3. We’ll have more details in next month’s newsletter.
Reports from Other Newsletters
From the Love in Action newsletter: The confrontation that took place during SOS-San Francisco at Civic Center was featured on the front page of one the main local gay newspapers. “Fundies, `Queers’ Clash” screamed the headline on Aug. 30’s Bay Area Reporter. According to the Reporter, one Christian handed onlookers the written testimony of “a former drag queen hooker.” The paper’s report included quotes from John Paulk’s story, as it appeared in our November 1989 newsletter:
“Dressing as a woman gave me the popularity and acceptance I craved, I was proud to be a drag queen…But now I’m a new creature in Christ. I can be loved just because I’m His…Everyone has problems to overcome, whatever their past.”
Love in Action staff member Bob Davies said he was surprised that a pro-gay newspaper would include such quotes. “It’s really exciting to see our message of hope going to every segment of the gay community in San Francisco,” he said.
From the Radical Reality newsletter (Donnie Moore): (During September, Donnie spoke at six S F high and junior high school assemblies and preached two nights at a Mario Murillo tent crusade in San Francisco.) I’ve had people say to me, “What are you going (to San Francisco) for? How difficult it will be!” But I found the response to be overwhelming! The kids were so hungry and starved for love and affection and administrators so willing to help. In almost every school, without exception, the principals were crying after the assembly.
After one assembly a boy named Jeff came up to me and shared with me how he bought a .45 revolver with the intention of killing himself that week. He said when I was giving my “Image Maker” talk in the school that I was talking right to him….Following another assembly, Carlos, a student, told me, “My mother is on crack-cocaine, I don’t know who my dad is. Donnie, life is not worth living.” I looked at him and said, “Carlos, you are right, unless you have something to live for.” I was able to share the love of God and pray for Carlos right there in Balboa High School.
That night, under the tent, half of the Balboa High football team came and answered the invitation to come forward and accept Jesus Christ as their Savior. Even the student body president met Jesus that night.
I went to San Francisco almost mad at the city, thinking, “You are Sodom and Gomorrah!” But after speaking in many public schools, and seeing 200 people walk the aisles to receive Jesus, I see it now as a place with people who have a tremendous need….I have a feeling that we will be back in San Francisco very soon.
Other Outreach News
Last month we received a call from Michael, who received a tract at the Powell St. BART station during SOS. Michael asked, “How to I pray?” and we were able to pray with him over the phone. Michael is a student at the University of California and we referred him to a church in Berkeley.
On October 10, Forever Grateful led us in a powerful worship rally at the Powell St. BART station. Hundreds of people gathered to listen, and we had many good conversations and prayed with several people for salvation and other needs. On October 17, the drama group from Messenger International performed at the BART station. Many people watched the skits and heard the gospel message as it was communicated through them. The skits were filmed by channel 42, a local Christian TV station.
Also in October, we witnessed on Haight St., the Tenderloin, Broadway St., Castro St. and Polk St. On November 2-3, we witnessed at Fisherman’s Wharf and on Telegraph Ave. in Berkeley. At the Wharf, we had tremendous freedom to preach without opposition and had some excellent conversations. In Berkeley, we had a lot of opposition when we first started preaching. After we prayed, Java “the Hate Man” and several other enemies of the gospel left. We had freedom to preach and talk with many interested people all afternoon.
Witnessing to Skeptics, Part 2
An increasing number of the people we witness to in Berkeley and San Francisco, but also everywhere in the U.S., do not believe in the Bible or the God of the Bible. Last month, I began a teaching on how to witness to these people. Today, I want to discuss the use of Bible prophesy. The Bible is unique among books in that it is the only book that predicts the future with perfect accuracy. Shortly after I was saved, I received a booklet “Messiah in Both Testaments” which compared Old Testament prophecies of the coming of Messiah with their New Testament fulfillments. This booklet helped confirm my faith in Jesus. As a Jew, I had been taught that the Old Testament was God’s word and that the Messiah had not yet come. Yet reading these words from the Old Testament, and seeing how clearly they referred to Jesus, removed my remaining doubts about Him being the Messiah. I encourage you to become familiar with these prophetic passages, especially Isa. 53, Psalm 22, Daniel 9 and Zech. 12. These scriptures are particularly effective with Jews, even unbelieving Jews, but they can be used with anyone to show that the Bible is not just another book.
You can also use many modern day examples of fulfilled prophesy. Talk about the nation of Israel, how it is the only nation ever to be cast out of its homeland for more than one generation and return, how Hebrew is the only dead language ever to return to life, and that the nation has survived despite incredible opposition and is still at the center of world conflicts. Next, talk about Revelation and the mark of the beast, that the Bible predicts that a future world ruler called the Antichrist will put a mark on each person’s hand or forehead without which he cannot buy or sell. We now have the technology for such a mark, with bar codes on all our food, computers, lasers, ATM’s etc. Also, the uniting of Europe scheduled in 1992 with one currency and the reuniting of Germany all seems to point to a reestablishment of the old Roman Empire in line with the prophesy of Daniel 2. Then mention Jesus’ comment that he would return at a time when the world was on the verge of total destruction (Matt. 24:22), something that was impossible until 30 years ago but a reality today. Often, you can use articles from today’s news–such as events in Israel and Iraq.
It is important in communicating these things to avoid arguments. Remember that “the servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves, if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil” (2 Tim. 2:24-26). I believe that if you share these things in this attitude of gentleness and love, you will be planting gospel seeds in people’s hearts that will one day bear much fruit.
Christmas Outreach–December 22-23
On Saturday December 22, the worship group from Russian Gospel Temple will be joining us at the Powell St. BART station for a Christmas outreach. This group has recently returned from ministry in the Soviet Union and has produced a worship tape that is being widely distributed throughout Russia. They will be leading us in Christmas carols and special Christmas music. On Sunday December 23, we will be joining Vineyard Christian Fellowship for a “Make Way for Christmas” march through downtown San Francisco ending with a worship rally at the Powell St. BART Station. Thousands of people will be in the area doing their Christmas shopping that weekend and this is the time of the year that they are most open to the gospel. I strongly encourage you to set aside this time to join us for this outreach, and I believe God will use you to bring the true message of Christmas to someone.
Ministry Needs
Again, I want to thank you for your prayers and financial support for this ministry. At times, the spiritual warfare we face is really intense and we really covet your prayers. I don’t like to talk much about finances in this newsletter, but we do need your continued financial support. Our income has declined somewhat since SOS, while our expenses continue throughout the year. Finally, we need more workers to join us on Friday night and Saturday afternoon. Consider joining us on a regular basis. Satan will often attack us as we are going to an outreach, but after it’s over we usually are overflowing with joy.
Our Tape of the Month is “Ministering Christ with Signs and Wonders” by Sondra Berry Young. Sondra will be leading an outreach with hundreds of Christians to the Rose Parade in Pasadena on New Year’s Eve. It’s a great outreach and if you are interested, call her at (714) 650-0525.
Yours in His love,
Larry Rosenbaum
