The Real War
Dear Christian Friends
“And whereas our own beloved country…is now afflicted with…war, it is particularly fit for us to recognize the hand of God in this terrible visitation, and in sorrowful remembrance of our own faults and crimes as a nation and as individuals, to humble ourselves before him and pray for his mercy” Abraham Lincoln.
The Persian Gulf War is still very much on our minds. Moslems on both sides call this a “holy war” and think they are assured of a place in heaven if they die in this war. American troops, regardless of their beliefs, are likewise willing to die for what they consider a just cause. Many left their jobs, families, and comfortable lives to live in primitive conditions and risk death in the desert. Regardless of our views on the war, one must be impressed by the dedication of those who are willing to die for their country.
Yet there is another war going on that is much more important than this one–the war between God and Satan for the souls of men. And we as believers are called to give our lives in this battle. Unfortunately, most Christians are A.W.O.L. (Absent Without Leave). We are caught up in worldly pursuits and seemingly unaware that a war is going on and millions of people are dying, headed for eternal torment. Like the men in Luke 14, we all have our excuses for not serving in God’s army.
“Therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No soldier entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who has chosen him to be a soldier” 2 Tim. 2:3-4.
Pray that God will shake us from our complacency, convict us of our disobedience to His call, and send us into battle for His Kingdom–before it is too late.
S F Easter March — Saturday March 30
The Persian Gulf war has forced people to think about death. Many are consumed with fear as they think about those who are dying in battle and the possibility of terrorism at home. But we have a wonderful hope to offer them: Jesus Christ has risen from the dead and those who know Him will live forever with Him. On the day before Easter, Christians will be marching through downtown San Francisco with this message.
The week before, on March 23, over 500 Christians are expected at a Strategies for Cities seminar with John Dawson. The seminar is sponsored by Youth With a Mission, SOS-Ministries, and several San Francisco churches. It will be held at St. Mary’s Cathedral (Geary & Gough St.) from 8 AM to 5 PM. Admission is $15 per person, $20 per couple. During this seminar, John Dawson will be teaching from his book Taking Our Cities for God (see below). We will also be telling people about the Easter march at this seminar, as a way to begin applying John’s teaching.
The march will begin at 1 PM in front of San Francisco City Hall (Polk St. between Grove and McAllister). We will march to the Powell St. BART station (Market & Powell St.), where we will have a worship rally led by the San Francisco Vineyard worship group. The march is based on Graham Kendrick’s “Make Way for Easter” which has been used by tens of thousands of Christians around the world. This will be a wonderful opportunity to reach thousands of people with the real message of Easter, and we hope you will join us.
Taking our Cities for God: How to Break Spiritual Strongholds
John Dawson. Creation House Publishers.
John Dawson is the Los Angeles Director of Youth With a Mission. He organized the 1984 Olympic Outreach involving about 18,000 Christians from over 50 denominations. John has been a friend and advisor to many of us in street ministry. While many Christians long for a peaceful life far from city crowds, John notes that the story of mankind begins in a garden and ends in a city. 91% of Californians and over half of the world’s population lives in urban areas. By the year 2010, 75% of the world will live in cities. If we are to reach the world, we must reach our cities.
John has some important things to say in this book about our priorities as Christians. He writes, “I am committed to political and social action, but I realize that electing good people to office is not half as important as gaining victory over principalities through united prayer.
“The rightly prioritized agenda of a biblical believer should be personal repentance and holy living, leading to united prayer, to revival of the church, to awakening among the lost, to reformation of society and international missionary endeavor. This is the historic path of renewal. We must consciously move toward it in each generation” (p. 136).
John gives an extensive teaching in this book on how to discern the spiritual strongholds of the enemy in your city as well as the redemptive purposes of God in establishing the city. John also shows us how to develop a strategy for breaking spiritual strongholds in our cities and evangelizing them effectively. I strongly recommend this book to all those who take the Great Commission seriously. The book is available for a suggested price of $7.70 (incl. postage–ref # 8027) from Last Days Ministries, Box 40, Lindale, TX 75771.
SOS-San Francisco
June 28-July 6
On February 12, the SOS Ministries Board of Directors met with Dick and Pat Eachus, Directors of Youth with a Mission-Northern California (YWAM), to plan this summer’s SOS-San Francisco outreach. Already, several YWAM bases have expressed interest in coming. A group from King’s Kids (YWAM’s children’s music and drama ministry) will be here. Tim Charles is putting together a worship group from New Life Christian Church to lead worship for the week. We are planning some special activities for July 4 and are contacting potential speakers. We are putting together posters and other literature which we will send you next month. Also, we are looking for churches to house and feed extra groups of people. If a lot of YWAM and other teams come, it will be quite a difficult logistical problem, but it is a problem we welcome. We trust that God will bring us the right people and help us put everything together for an effective outreach to the people of San Francisco. But we very much need your prayers that God will help us, that He will send the needed laborers and provide all our needs. Be sure to set aside that dates of June 28-July 6 for this outreach. God will use it to change your life. He will use you to change many lives.
Ministry News
We have had some interesting and productive outreaches this past month. One Friday night, a team of students from Youth With a Mission in Salem, Oregon joined us in the Tenderloin. Dozens of young people were standing outside a sold-out rock concert at the Warfield Theater and we witnessed to them all night. Then the concert ended and we preached to over 1000 people as they left the concert. We stayed out until 12:30 AM, talking with interested people. One young man I spoke with knew Jesus is the truth, but was afraid of losing his friends if he became a Christian.
One Saturday we witnessed in Hayward with a team from the Full Gospel Mission. They have recently started a discipleship program for men and feed dozens of street people every day. I spoke with one man who rededicated his life to Christ and was admitted into their program. On February 9, a worship group from San Jose led us in a worship rally at the Powell St. BART station. We prayed with several backsliders who rededicated their lives to Christ. We were able to refer some of them to Christian discipleship programs.
Last Saturday we witnessed on Telegraph Ave. in Berkeley. We were joined by the Berkeley Neighborhood Church. Their musicians sang some beautiful worship songs. Many people received tracts and we had many good conversations, but one street vendor across the street became violently angry at us. He broke one of our microphones and later tried to break our other microphone. We stopped preaching and called the police. Thirty minutes later an officer arrived–the one who had arrested me last year! I was very apprehensive, but he was polite and talked with the vendor so we were able to continue preaching until our permit ran out. Please pray that the Holy Spirit will restrain him and others who would want to stop the preaching of God’s Word.
I received the following letter from a brother who supports this ministry: I thank God for each of you and thank Him for your ministry. I used to join in some of your witness programs–at Civic Center and on the streets, before I was 80 years of age. But the past few years my strength is much less and I pray for you and send a little financial help when I can. God bless you and love you deeply.
This past month has been a hard one for our appliances. Our washer, (gas) dryer, one refrigerator, and an oven are now broken! If you have any of these appliances in good condition, or can fix them, please contact us right away.
Our Tape of the Month is “Take Him to the Streets” by Jonathan Gainsbrugh. Jonathan has been involved in evangelism ministry for many years and is currently Director of the Center for Church Growth at Capital Christian Center in Sacramento. God bless you all. I hope to see you at the Easter March on March 30. Remember to pray for us as we prepare for SOS-San Francisco.
Yours in His love,
Larry Rosenbaum
