SOS Monthly Newsletter - February 2002

Reaching the Sceptic

Dear Christian friends,

Fifty years ago, most Americans believed that the Bible is God's Word. When Christians would show unsaved people the plan of salvation out of the Bible, many would respond by receiving Christ as their savior.

Today, things have changed. Often, when we show someone passages from the Bible, he responds "Why should I believe the Bible?" When we share our testimony of what Jesus has done for us, he may respond, "I get inner peace from yoga (or some other religious practice)."
Today, many people are skeptical of the claims of Christianity. We need to answer their objections, and give them solid reasons for believing in the Bible and in Jesus Christ. In 1 Peter 3:15, we are told, "Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have." The Greek word for answer is "apologia," from which we get the term "apologetics." The word "apologetics" does not mean apologizing for our faith, but rather giving an intelligent defense of our faith.

Christianity is the only religion for which there is convincing evidence of its truthfulness. Mormons point to an inner experience, a "burning in the bosom." Muslims point to the visions of their founder Mohammed. Hindus and Buddhists have mystical experiences. But none of these religions can offer proof beyond these subjective experiences.

There are a number of arguments we can use. One of the tracts we use (Who is this Man?) presents C.S.Lewis's argument that "a man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic...or else he would be the Devil of Hell....Either this man was and is the Son of God; or else a madman or something worse."

Another argument deals with evidence for the resurrection of Christ. This argument deals with legal evidence--the testimonies and reliability of eyewitnesses. People are sentenced to prison every day based solely on the testimony of eyewitnesses. Analyzing various possible explanations of the evidence leads to the most likely conclusion--that he did in fact rise from the dead.

A third argument deals with Old Testament prophecies that were fulfilled by Jesus Christ. The Bible is the only book that predicts the future with perfect accuracy. It was this evidence that confirmed my faith in Jesus Christ as a new believer. Jesus fulfilled about 300 Old Testament prophesies during his lifetime. Many of them are quite specific. Peter Stoner computed the probability of just eight of these prophesies being fulfilled by chance as 1 in 10 with 17 zeros after it! In other words, it is quite impossible that these prophecies were accidentally fulfilled.

I cannot go into these arguments in detail in this newsletter, but I encourage you to do some reading on the subject. Evidence that Demands a Verdict by Josh McDowell or The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel are both good books to start with. Both are available at your Christian bookstore or at Christianbook.com, 800-247-4784.

There are also many excellent web sites that have good answers for almost any question a person might have about Christianity as well as information about every cult and religion. Three sites I recommend: www.carm.org; www.apologeticsindex.org, www.tektonics.org.

While we should be familiar with the evidence for Christianity, we must remember that people are usually not saved by convincing arguments alone. The passage in 1 Peter 3:15 I quoted earlier continues "but do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience." We must be gentle with those we are witnessing to, show respect for them, and back up our words with godly deeds.

When the wise men visited Herod in Matthew 2, they asked him where the Christ would be born. He asked the Jewish priests and teachers, who told him "Bethlehem," based upon Micah 5. Herod believed that the Bible's prophecy in Micah 5 was true, but his response was to kill every male child in Bethlehem. Many people, even after they know that Christianity is true, choose to reject Jesus. Still, we should let them know that there is solid and convincing evidence for the truth of Christianity.

On the Streets

On Saturday December 8, Paul and Noreen Coca and Lono Criss ministered on Telegraph Ave. in Berkeley. Thousands of Christmas shoppers heard the gospel that afternoon. Vincent was one of those we spoke with that day. He lost some of his family members in the Jim Jones incident so he was wary of churches. Still, he let us pray for him. We have witnessed to Naja several times. She was raised an atheist, and is still searching for answers for her life. John is quite close to receiving Christ. "American Eagle" is a Native American whose job is to organize protests. He is a very angry man.

On Saturday December 15, Jews for Jesus ministered at Powell and Market. They sang Christmas songs, Hanukkah songs, and worship songs. This outreach attracted a huge crowd. Tony prayed to receive Christ and asked God for deliverance from sexual immorality and alcohol. We also saw Randy for the first time in seven years, when Eric and Cammie Livingston had ministered to him. After we prayed with Randy, he came to Washington Square with us. He called me Monday morning. He has a job and apartment, but is in danger of losing both if he continues using drugs and alcohol. He did not want to enter a live-in discipleship program, so I prayed with him and suggested a local church where he could receive help.

Later that afternoon, the Last Days Harvest Band from Sacramento ministered at Washington Square. Few people were in the park because of the cold weather. Still, we ministered to many people on the sidewalks around the park. I witnessed to a young man from Amsterdam named Ernst. Like many young Europeans, Ernst was an atheist. I was able to give him some reasons why I believe in God and Jesus Christ.

On Sunday afternoon, I received a call from Mark Beckwith. He had organized an outreach that evening at the Embarcadero with a Christian group called "the Rock." The person who was supposed to set up the sound system for the outreach had gotten sick, and he asked me to help. I have very little experience operating our sound system, but we were able to get it working. About 300 Christians from different San Francisco churches participated, and another 200 others were drawn by the music, so it was well worth the effort.

Please pray for some other people we have witnessed to recently. Camille had met Johnny at a prison she ministers in. She saw him again on Market St. on December 1. He said he came to the Lord in prison, but is having a hard time forgiving himself for killing the man who murdered his daughter, and also cannot forgive that man. We took him to Cityteam Ministries but he did not stay long. George and his friend are addicted to drugs but want to get back with the Lord. Diane is a Jehovah's Witness, but was surprisingly open to the gospel. Melody is a believer who is letting fear control her.

	Jews for Jesus at Powell & Market St.
	Terry ministers to Randy at Washington square.
	Mark ministers to Michael at Washington Square

Coming Events

Note: All outreaches are subject to change. Call (510) 531-5325 or (510) 244-0277 (pager) to confirm outreaches or for more information.

Friday February 8, 15, 22 7:30-10 PM Witnessing in various S. F. neighborhoods. (Call for meeting location.)

Sat. February 9 and 23 San Francisco "Church on the Street" worship rallies. 12-1 PM. Powell and Market St. 1:30-5 PM. United Nations Plaza (7th St. and Market)

Sat. February 16 Berkeley Outreach. 12:30

February 8-13 Mardi Gras Outreach, New Orleans. Call (404) 727-0054.

Ministry Needs

Because there are so few people in Washington Square in the winter, we won't be ministering there until next April. Instead, we will hold two outreaches monthly at United Nations Plaza.

Union Square is still closed for remodeling and is scheduled to reopen July 1. Please pray that we will be able to get permits there when it reopens. I have been told that the city may change the permit process at this park.

When Union Square first closed last year, I checked into other possible places to get permits. One good location was Yerba Buena Gardens, near 4th and Market St. in downtown San Francisco. Even though it is city-owned property, they wanted to charge us $15,000 for each permit! This is clearly illegal. (A Federal appeals court found that a $6 fee was excessive and unconstitutional!) We do not want to get involved in any more lawsuits, but if the city tries a similar tactic at Union Square, we may be forced to do so.

Thank you for your prayers and financial support for this ministry. We offer a yearlong live-in evangelism-training program for those who want practical experience in evangelism. Call or write us if you are interested. We also need Christians who can witness with us on Friday nights and Saturday afternoons. We especially need musicians to sing and lead worship on the streets on Friday nights. We are printing 40,000 of our new "September 11" tract (in red, white and blue) as well as 100,000 other tracts. The cost is about $2000.
We have scheduled our 23rd annual SOS-San Francisco outreach for June 21-29. Please set aside these dates. Ask your boss to give you the week off, or use some of your vacation time. Please pray for us as we prepare for this important outreach. Pray that God will provide our needs and guide us in planning the outreach.
Our Tape of the Month is The New Age Movement by Tal Brooke. Tal is Director of Spiritual Counterfeits Project in Berkeley, a ministry to people involved in new religious movements.
Today, our nation is at war. A soldier is concerned with one thing--fighting and defeating the enemy. We are fighting a spiritual battle. We need to concern ourselves with one thing--rescuing those whom our enemy, Satan, has deceived with his lies. Please join us in this effort. I hope you can participate in one of our outreaches this next month.

Yours in His love,
Larry Rosenbaum