A New Decade
Dear Christian Friends,
When I was saved in 1970, I thought that Jesus would return within a few years. It was a simple calculation—Israel became a nation in 1948, a generation was another 40 years, and Jesus would return by 1988. Subtract 7 years and the rapture would be in 1981. If instead you started with 1967 (when Jerusalem was unified), that would bring the rapture to 2000. It all fit so well. If you figure one day for 1000 years (2 Pet. 3:8), and date the creation at 4000 BC, that makes 4 days before Christ, 2 days for the church age, 1 day for the millennium, making one full week.
Of course, I knew Jesus had told us that “no man knows the day or the hour” of his return. Still, in the back of my mind, I thought Jesus would return by 2000 at the latest. I still believe that the reestablishment of the nation of Israel is in fact a fulfillment of Bible prophesy. I believe it is a sign of the soon return of our Lord. But long ago I gave up trying to figure out exactly when that would happen.
Another reason I was sure that our Lord’s return was quite soon, was the amount of evil in the world. Certainly, the decadence of the 1960’s was related to the unleashing of Satan. “But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short” Rev. 12.12. Surely it was no coincidence that in the year 1967, in which Jerusalem was reunited, the “hippie” movement also began with a flood of drugs, sexual immorality, and new age thinking.
Here we are entering the second decade of the twenty-first century. The Western world, at least, has become wicked beyond anything we could have imagined 50 years ago. We have certainly come a long way from the world I grew up with in the 1950’s. Who could have imagined that some of our states would be legalizing same-sex marriage in a few decades? One of the biggest and most damaging changes in the past two decades is the epidemic of internet pornography in the Christian world, even among pastors. Rev. 9:21 accurately describes four of the chief sins of our day: “Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries (drug-taking), nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.”
According to Gallup, it is difficult to tell if the number of evangelicals is increasing or decreasing. From 1976 to 2005, the number of Americans who say they have tried to “encourage someone to believe in Jesus Christ or encourage them to accept him as their Lord and savior” has increased from 47% to 52%. The percentage who believe that the Bible is the actual word of God has decreased from 38% to 32%. The number who claim to have had a “born again experience” where they committed their lives to Jesus Christ has increased from 35% to 48%. The number who said yes to all three questions was 22% in 2005, which is probably closer to the true number of evangelicals in the U.S.
In Europe, the situation is far worse. Among Protestant European nations, regular church attendance is from 3-15%. The number of evangelicals, undoubtedly, is far smaller. Church attendance is much higher in Catholic nations—ranging from 18-75%. I have been witnessing for Jesus for almost 40 years now. In my opinion, it has become a lot more difficult to reach people with the gospel. In the early 1970’s, I lived in a Christian ministry house. We did a lot of witnessing to “hippies” who were traveling. At times, we saw someone dramatically saved almost every day. When I came to San Francisco in 1975, I found that many people were willing to pray a “sinner’s prayer” but few were truly converted. After Anita Bryant and Jerry Falwell (1977-80), there was a tendency to equate evangelism with conservative politics, which caused increased opposition to our witnessing. After the Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart scandals (1987-88), a lot of people became cynical about Christianity, believing that all Christian ministers are hypocrites who are involved in secret sin and greedy for money. With each new scandal, it seems that Americans have become increasingly hardened against the gospel.
How are we to reach people for Jesus in this new decade? I believe we need to show people that our Christian faith is genuine. We need to seek to be Christ-like in our behavior—to walk in humility, love, and true holiness. We need to remain faithful to the gospel message. Despite the moral relativism of our times, the gospel message is eternal. We need to make witnessing for Jesus a priority in our lives. If Christians do not believe in the gospel strongly enough to witness to others, why should we expect non-Christians to believe the gospel?
Dealing with the Police
On Friday December 4, we witnessed at Powell and Market, in the center of San Francisco. The area was filled with Christmas shoppers. We were able to share with them the “reason for the season.” Eric Martinez sang worship songs. A police officer approached Eric while he was singing. He said we were too loud, so we turned down our sound. We did this several times, but the officer kept telling us to turn it lower. Our sound level was so low that the people in the area could not hear us. The officer was still threatening to arrest us. We asked him what law we were violating and he said, “I’ll put it on the citation.” According to police regulations, officers are supposed to look up codes when a request is made. However, most officers don’t want to do this. We just stood there for a while, and eventually the officer left. We continued to minister, and he didn’t return.
On Friday December 11, it was raining, so we witnessed at Powell and O’Farrell in San Francisco, one block from Union Square. For about five years, we have used this location on rainy days, because of the large overhang on this corner that protects us from the rain. That night, we had about six encounters with police officers and security guards. Several security guards told us we couldn’t be there. Finally, an officer told us we would have to shut down. I asked him to tell us what law we were violating. He said there was a person in a nearby hotel who “always” complains about amplifiers in the area. So he wanted to shut us down based upon a complaint he hadn’t even received. Eventually, he told us we could stay unless he received a complaint.
On December 12, we were scheduled to witness at Fisherman’s Wharf. However, the weather forecast predicted 100% chance of rain. There are very few people at the Wharf on rainy days, so we decided to return to Powell and O’Farrell. While I was parking the car, a Police Lieutenant told the group they could not use that location. He said they were blocking the store doorway, even though they were on the side of the building, not in front of the door. When I returned, I brought my video camera and spoke with the Lieutenant. Seeing the video camera, he said he would shut us down if he got any complaints but would not stop us otherwise. Tim Moon sang Christmas carols and worship songs, and Loi and I preached, for five hours. Despite the rain, thousands of people passed by us that afternoon and heard the gospel.
In order to prevent problems, we taped our Christian signs on a corner across the street from us. Someone tore down our signs and took one of them. We found it three blocks down the street.
As I write this, I realize that these things will seem strange to a lot of Christians. Even though the U.S. is supposed to have freedom of speech and religion, almost every person who seeks to proclaim the gospel in a public place will have difficulties with the police. Most officers have little knowledge of noise ordinances or Constitutional rights. Unless a Christian is willing to stand up for his right to preach the gospel, he will probably be shut down by the police. In Berkeley in the 1980’s and in San Francisco in the 1990’s, the police made a serious effort to stop us from witnessing, If we had not fought to defend our Constitutional rights, we would no longer be able to preach the gospel in these cities. “All who live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution” (2 Tim. 3:12).
Coming Events
Note: Outreaches are subject to change. Call (510) 761-6120 to confirm outreaches or for more information.
Friday January 8, 15, 22, 29 Witnessing in San Francisco neighborhoods. 7:30 – 10 PM (Call for location.)
Saturday January 9, 16, 23, 30 San Francisco or Berkeley Evangelism Outreach (outreach location depends on weather. Call Sat. from 8-10 AM for location.)
Ministry Needs
Thank you again for your prayers and financial support for this ministry. The economic recession has affected our ministry, as it has many others. Our donations for the past year are down 28%. We trust that God will continue to provide for our needs as He always has.
After serving in this ministry for three years, Larry DuBois has decided to move to Sacramento. Larry was our best preacher, and did a lot of our ministry administrative work. He will continue to update our web site. We will miss him greatly.
We have two openings in our Oakland ministry house. We are looking for men in their 20’s or 30’s who are spiritually strong and are committed to evangelism. We need to train younger believers in evangelism – to reach a new generation and help us continue this work of evangelizing San Francisco and Berkeley. We are also open to having older Christian men live in this house. Please pray that God will bring the right people for our house.
On December 8, Berkeley passed a new noise ordinance which could make it more difficult for us to get permits. Please pray that we will continue to be able to minister there. Our CD of the Month is The Gospel in Today’s World by Winkie Pratney. For over 30 years, Winkie has been traveling 150,000 miles a year ministering to millions of Christian youth.
Yours in His Love,
Larry Rosenbaum