Signs of the Times
Dear Christian friends,
I am amazed at the speed at which our world situation is changing. Major events are occurring almost every day. In the past few months, since the Gulf War ended, there have been a number of significant events. First, Saddam Hussein was able to put down the rebellions against him and millions of Kurds became refugees. Then, a typhoon hit Bangladesh killing about 200,000 people and leaving many more in danger of death from disease or starvation. Most recently, a 30 year old rebellion in Ethiopia ended with a new government in power. The old government had forced millions into starvation through its ruthless policies. Despite the horrible situation in Ethiopia, conditions are worse in neighboring Sudan and Somalia. In fact, a million refugees have entered Ethiopia from these nations! These countries are devastated by continual wars and poor economic planning.
Meanwhile, there are plans to reorganize NATO with fewer weapons and fewer U.S. forces. It is felt that the Soviet threat is gone. President Bush is proposing that the U.S. give economic assistance to the Soviet Union. However, while the U.S. has gotten rid of many of its weapons in Europe, the Soviet Union simply moved its tanks. Despite their economic problems, they are still producing an ultra‑modern submarine every 37 days.
In November 1987, Gorbachev reportedly said in a speech to the Politburo, “Gentlemen, comrades, do not be concerned about all you hear about glasnost and perestroika and democracy in the coming years. These are primarily for outward consumption. There will be no significant internal change within the Soviet Union, other than for cosmetic purposes. Our purpose is to disarm the Americans and let them fall asleep. We want to accomplish three things: One, we want the Americans to withdraw conventional forces from Europe. Two, we want them to withdraw nuclear forces from Europe. Three, we want the Americans to stop proceeding with Strategic Defense Initiative” (The McAlvany Intelligence Advisor, Denver, CO. Special Report, Fall 1989).
Back at home, our nation continues on its spiritual decline. By the year 2000, more Americans will have died of AIDS than from all our wars combined. The savings and loan scandal will cost us $500 billion dollars. Our banks are now in danger of a similar collapse. Insurance companies are now beginning to go bankrupt. Yesterday, I read that the Toxic Waste Superfund is expected to cost a trillion dollars, most of which goes to lawyers and administration, not to clean up wastes! Our jails are so overcrowded that they are having riots, while dangerous criminals are put back on the streets because there is no room for them. And then there’s the drug epidemic, satanism, mass murders, the pornography epidemic, abortion, the suicide machine, etc. This world is truly a sinking ship. People keep trying to patch it up, but it’s too late. I thank God that we have a hope‑‑Jesus Christ is returning soon. We who know and obey Him will live forever with Him in a new world where there will be everlasting righteousness! There isn’t much time left. We need to redeem the time for the days are evil‑‑using it to rescue as many people as possible from this sinking ship.
Northern California Prophesy Conference
October 3‑5
With world events moving so rapidly, we need to understand how these events fit in with Bible prophesy. Many of today’s leading Bible teachers will be discussing modern events as they relate to the Bible at a conference titled “Century’s End: Prophesy in Perspective” on October 3‑5. Confirmed speakers include David Hocking, Chuck Smith, Jack Hayford, Chuck Swindoll, Ray Stedman and Earl Radmacher. The conference will be held at Capital Christian Center in Sacramento. For more information, contact New Hope Christian Fellowship, 1650 Tribute Rd., Sacramento, CA 95815, (916) 649‑9064. New Hope is also planning its annual worship conference on September 20‑22. New Hope Christian Fellowship has been a vital part of SOS Ministries since our inception and we strongly urge you to attend one or both of these conferences.
Berkeley Report
During the past year, we have focused most of our attention on reaching San Francisco. However, we continue to do outreaches in Berkeley about twice a month on Saturday afternoon. When we first began witnessing in Berkeley, we faced tremendous opposition both from local people and the police. People would scream in our ears for hours, tear up our equipment, and throw things at us. Even though we got loudspeaker permits for preaching, the police would regularly cite us and I was twice put in jail. Each time, the case was dismissed in court, but the police continued to harrass us. Two years ago, we filed a lawsuit to stop the arrests. The legal process is slow and we still don’t have a trial date. However, we have spent many days in depositions at which their lawyers ask us questions with a court reporter present. The whole process is very expensive and it is a miracle that we have been able to continue the case with no money. However, since the lawsuit was filed, the police have treated us much better. Our worship leader Tim Charles was cited once during last year’s SOS outreach, but the citation was never turned in. Otherwise, they have not cited or arrested us.
Meanwhile, we have tried a new approach on the streets. We are playing a lot of music, either with a guitar player or by playing cassettes through our amplifier. We preach short messages between songs. We are getting a lot less opposition from local people. Last Saturday, several people approached us with questions. One was a scientist who had studied fossils for 25 years. Several others were punk rockers. One student was saved recently after listening to the preaching for months from his hotel room on Telegraph Ave. We intend to continue the outreach in Berkeley and believe that God will bring a substantial harvest from it. Also, our church has started an evangelism team that is preaching in Berkeley on Wednesday afternoons and Friday nights. Pray for them as they have been experiencing some intense warfare.
Other Outreach News
The Festival on the Lake is probably the largest outdoor event in Oakland. It draws 50,000 people a day for a fair at Lake Merritt. We stood at the main entrance and preached for over four hours there, reaching over 10,000 people, and gave out several thousand tracts there on Saturday June 1. Many of the young people we witnessed to were involved in drugs and gangs.
On Sunday morning June 2, the San Francisco Foursquare Church sponsored a dramatic musical “Acts I and II” in front of the San Francisco City Hall. A drama group called Upper Room Productions performed the musical, which covered the events of the first two chapters of the book of Acts. The Foursquare church brought out extra chairs. Several dozen street people and tourists came over to watch the performance. Afterwards, I spoke with a homeless man who said he had never been to church but was touched by the gospel presentation.
Even though SOS‑San Francisco ends on July 6, we will be doing outreaches throughout the summer. On Saturday July 20, a worship group from Jubilee Christian Center in San Jose will be leading a rally at the Powell St. BART station. They have done several outreaches with us, and are anointed musicians who love to share the gospel.
A brother from Sacramento, Paul Temple, has made twenty beautiful banners for us to use in outreaches and marches. They proclaim the truths of God’s word in a very festive way, and have been a great help to us. Paul organizes marches and rallies throughout Northern California and he will be bringing several worship groups to the Powell St. BART station on Saturday August 10.
A Final Word
Next month, Lord willing, I’ll be sending out a report on SOS‑San Francisco. I am really excited about the outreach. We already have more advance registrations than last year, in addition to the YWAM teams and King’s Kids. Also, we are getting a lot more involvement from local San Francisco churches this year. We are planning several special outreaches with these churches.
Once again, I want to thank you for your prayers and financial support. We were able to get a laser printer so we can do typesetting in our office. Also, we were able to purchase 500 New Testaments for the summer outreach. As I mentioned above, we will be needing a few thousand dollars to cover our lawyer’s out of pocket expenses for our Berkeley court case. If you would like to help with this need, indicate “legal” on your check.
Our Tape of the Month is “Legal Issues in Evangelism” by Michael Imfeld. Michael is a Christian attorney who has been involved in several First Amendment cases. This is one of the best teachings I’ve heard about our legal rights when it comes to preaching the gospel.
Yours in His love,
Larry Rosenbaum
