Persecution
Dear Christian friends,
None of us like to be persecuted, but it is an essential part of the Christian life. Jesus said, “Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Paul said, “All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” Persecution has existed throughout Church history. It is the rule, not the exception, for Christians.
Today, Christians are being imprisoned and killed for their faith throughout the world. In the U.S., we think we can avoid persecution. Our legal system appears to give us freedom to preach the gospel, and we do have much freedom. But as our nation becomes more ungodly, people are becoming less tolerant of the Christian message. Ungodly judges find excuses to deny freedom of speech to Christians while expanding the freedom of pornographers to spread their “message.”
After the two witnesses are killed in Revelation 11, “they that dwell on the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts to one another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwell on the earth.” Those who insist on living ungodly lives are tormented by the preaching of Christians. They do not want to be confronted by their sinfulness, and the coming judgment. So they seek to silence our message.
In Jail for Jesus
Over the past 20 years that we have been preaching the gospel in San Francisco, none of us had been arrested or put in jail–until recently. Since last August, Christians in our ministry were twice taken to jail for playing Christian music on Broadway Street. In both cases, they were freed an hour later. Both are still defending themselves in court. Then in February, Eric Livingston was taken to jail, even though he wasn’t even using an amplifier. He was held for 8 hours and released only after we posted $750 bail. This criminal case is still being fought.
Presently, the city is prosecuting Eric for four supposed incidents of “disturbing the peace.” In three of the cases, Eric wasn’t even using an amplifier. In the fourth case, he was playing tape-recorded Christian music over a nine-watt amplifier that does not require a permit. However, the police claim that they can arrest us whenever anyone complains about our preaching, no matter what we are doing.
Last September, we filed a federal lawsuit against the city in order to stop the city from denying us permits and arresting us. We asked for a “preliminary injunction.” The lawsuit involves hundreds of pages of legal arguments and documents proving our claims, including cassette and video tapes. Judge Legge rejected our motion at a 3 minute hearing. We appealed the judge’s decision. On March 27, we received notice that the U.S. Court of Appeals rejected our appeal. In a one paragraph response, they said that the judge was within his bounds in rejecting our motion. (This is the same court that ruled that female mud-wrestling is protected free speech.)
For the past 20 years, we have obtained many hundreds of loudspeaker permits to hold outdoor Christian rallies. These permits were issued routinely to us. We filled out an application form, paid our fee, and a police officer would sign it. Prompted by complaints largely from the homosexual community, the police began giving us problems in 1996. They started requiring our permit requests to be heard at a police hearing. On May 8, 1996, the police department held a hearing on one of our applications. It was publicized in the city’s largest homosexual paper as a “public hearing on anti-gay noise.” About 15 homosexuals opposed our permit, and the permit was denied. Since then, we have been repeatedly been denied loudspeaker permits. This past month, the police department denied four of our requests for loudspeaker permits. Also, for the first time, they are requiring us to pay for the permit applications, even though they refuse to issue the permits. They also refuse to tell us anywhere they will grant us a permit.
As I was praying about this, God reminded me that He is sovereign. Nothing happens that He does not allow. And He causes all things to work together for good for those who love Him. It is hard for us to understand why we are being persecuted. But God uses persecution to strengthen us and demonstrate the reality of our faith to the world.
Meanwhile, we still have much freedom to preach the gospel. We can give out literature, talk with people, preach and even use our nine-watt amplifiers (which do not require a permit). We never know if a policeman will decide to arrest us, but we cannot allow this fear to hinder us from obeying God.
I hope that you will not allow fear to keep you from reaching the lost. We must use the freedom we have before it is gone. The persecution we experience now is nothing compared to what it could soon become. If we Christians hide in our churches and homes instead of being light and salt to the world, wickedness will increase more rapidly. “I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day. Night is coming, when no man can work.”
Coming Events
EVERY FRIDAY 7 PM. Witnessing in various S.F. neighborhoods. Meet at Vineyard, 7th St. and Harrison, San Francisco. Call (510) 531- 5325 for more information.
Saturday May 10 and 17 12-6 PM San Francisco worship rally. Call (510) 531-5325 a few days in advance to confirm location.
Sat. May 17 March for Jesus Public praise and worship in hundreds of cities around the world (but not in San Francisco this year). Call (512) 416-0066 for the march nearest you.
Sat. May 24 12-5 PM. Berkeley witnessing. Call (510) 531-5325 for more information.
June 20-27 SOS-Hollywood. Contact the Oasis, Box 1590, Hollywood, CA 90078, (213) 77-OASIS.
July 4-12 SOS-San Francisco. Set aside this week for our 18th annual outreach to the people of San Francisco.
SOS-San Francisco
July 4-12
Recently, our nation was stunned to learn of 39 people in the “Heaven’s Gate” cult who killed themselves, trying to obtain immortality on a flying saucer. Why would intelligent people who designed “web-sites” for computers blindly follow this cult leader to their deaths? People forsook their husbands, wives, children, and everything they had to follow this leader. Before they died, cult members said they had no desire for the things of this world and wanted to go to a better place.
One thing this demonstrates is the spiritual hunger, even desperation, that exists in people and the extreme measures they will take to fulfill this need. If only they had known that eternal life comes from Jesus Christ, not a U.F.O. It is too late to help these people, but there are billions of people we can still reach for Jesus. To do this, we must forsake the love of worldly things and obey our Lord’s Great Commission. If we refuse to bring the gospel to the spiritually hungry, the cults are eager to deceive them.
This summer is the 30th anniversary of the “Summer of Love.” Hundreds of people still come to San Francisco as a “spiritual mecca,” looking for love, peace and spiritual fulfillment. During this year’s SOS outreach, we are calling on Christians from all over the U.S. to come to San Francisco to bring God’s Word to these people. This summer, we will be working with two other Christian ministries. “Shake the Nation” Ministry is planning to bring 250-500 youth to the city this week, mostly from Assembly of God and Foursquare churches. And the Vineyard Churches in San Francisco, San Diego and British Columbia are planning to bring several hundred Christians to the city. Together, we are planning some major outdoor rallies.
We have printed 2000 posters and 15,000 bulletin inserts to let Christians know about this outreach. Please help us get this literature to churches, Christian bookstores, and Christian schools in your area. You can give it out at Christian concerts and other events. Also, talk with your pastor and Christian friends and encourage them to get involved. Set aside the week of July 4-12 to attend the SOS outreach and bring a friend.
We have enclosed a registration form with this letter. If you register by May 31, you will receive a free SOS T-shirt.
Free housing is available during the outreach. Bring a sleeping bag and foam pad. If you prefer, we can send you names of hotels in the area. See the bulletin insert enclosed with this newsletter for more outreach details.
Don’t delay. Send in your SOS Registration Form today!
SOS Video
If you’ve never been to an SOS outreach before, let me say that the fellowship with other believers, the times of worship and personal ministry, and the times of outreach all make it an incredible and unforgettable experience. We have prepared a video of last summer’s outreach. The video contains 25 minutes of highlights from the outreach and our 11 minute SOS- San Francisco video, which is edited and narrated in a more professional manner for showing to churches and other groups. This video shows many different kinds of outreach and thousands of people hearing and responding to the gospel in San Francisco.
Ministry News
When the U.S. Court of Appeals denied our request for a “preliminary injunction,” they were saying that we had not proved sufficiently to them that we had been denied permits based upon complaints or allegations of past wrongdoing. The city claims it is simply making reasonable regulations of the “time, place and manner” of our events. We believe that we provided ample proof of discrimination, but apparently not enough for this judge. We still intend to proceed with our lawsuit. We will have more opportunities to prove our case. Also we have more evidence based on the permit denials and arrests since our lawsuit was filed last September. Still, it is an uphill battle, and we covet your prayers. Please pray also for our lawyer, Russell Davis, as he proceeds with the lawsuit and criminal defenses.
After we were denied a permit on March 29, we held our Saturday outreach using two 9 watt amplifiers at 5th St. and Market. Paul Coca, John Rogers, and Tom Burnowski and his family all minis tered through music. Several Christians who were walking by stayed and witnessed with us. We had many good conversations and prayed with a few people, including Robert and Antonio, both of whom live in downtown San Francisco.
Meanwhile, a block down the street, three secular groups played their music all afternoon with full sound systems. One had a 3500 watt amplifier! (Amplifiers over 10 watts require a permit.) They don’t bother getting permits, and the police leave them alone. God, You see what is happening.
At last month’s Berkeley outreach, Paul and Noreen Coca were singing. Al, a street vender whose booth is across the street, walked over and started yelling in Noreen’s ear. Al has done this many times. We have spent hours trying to witness to him. I stopped a police officer and told him what was happening. The officer told Al to leave Noreen alone. Al complained that we were too loud. The officer said he thought our volume was the right level! This is the first time I have ever heard this from a police officer! An even more amazing thing happened that night. Al called us to apologize for his behavior! Please pray for his salvation.
Ministry Needs
Once again we want to thank you for your prayers and support for this ministry. We still have an opening for two Christians to live in our ministry house. This house is not for new believers but for those who are ready for evangelism ministry. We are looking for soldiers who will endure hardship and persist in God’s calling to evangelize the San Francisco Bay Area. We also need someone with basic carpentry and roofing skills to work on our house. Please call me if you can help.
Please pray for those who have responded recently to tracts, including Sameer and Tina (SF), Monique (Oakland), SiJi (age 12, San Jose), Gary (Winterhaven, CA), Howard (New York), and Twillah (Chowchilla, CA women’s prison). Also pray for Colleen from Oakland. She wrote us in response to a tract a year ago. Then she called a few weeks ago and said she had finally committed her life to Christ. Eric Livingston has been bringing her and her son to church the past two weeks.
This month we are offering a special book: Going Fishing: Journeys to the Inner Cities by Ira Nissen. Ira is a retired profes sor from the University of Las Vegas. In this book, Ira shares many of his experiences at SOS-San Francisco outreaches from 1983-1990 as well as at SOS-Hollywood. It is filled with inter esting stories of how God led Ira and others in divine encounters, ministering to lost people at these outreaches. Our Tape of the Month is Evangelism and the Local Church by Ricky Del Rio. Ricky is Pastor of the Abounding Grace Church in New York City. He has also done street evangelism for many years in that city, organizing the annual “Jesus Loves You – New York” outreach.
Yours in His love,
Larry Rosenbaum
