Coming Events
Friday June 10, 17, 24 4-6:30 PM Witnessing in San Francisco neighborhoods.
Saturday June 11, 18, 25 1—5:30 PM Witnessing at Fisherman’s Wharf, Embarcadero between Powell and Taylor.
SOS-San Francisco
Outreach Schedule
Year 43
Wed. July 6 16th & Mission 3-7 PM
Thurs. July 7 825 Market St. (near 4th) 3-7 PM
Fri. July 8 Fisherman’s Wharf (Powell and Jefferson St.) 4-8 PM
Sat. July 9 Fisherman’s Wharf (Embarcadero between Powell and Taylor St.) 1-5:30 PM
RACING TOWARDS ARMAGEDDON
Dear Christian friends,
So much has happened in the world since I wrote our last newsletter. I am writing this newsletter, the June newsletter, on May 9. Many things could change by the time you read it. One important thing I didn’t mention last month is the Senate confirmation hearings that led to the confirmation of Ketanji Jackson to the US Supreme Court on April 7. During these hearings, Jackson said that she could not define the word “woman.” Biden nominated her because he considered her to be a “black woman,” but she does not know what a woman is. Despite this, all Democrats and two Republicans in the Senate voted to confirm her.
Meanwhile, in Florida, a law was passed that protects Kindergartener through third graders from “woke” indoctrination regarding sexuality and gender ideology. There was much national outcry from the radical Left against this bill.
Some of that outcry came from the Disney Corporation, which, as you know, operates a gigantic theme park in Florida. In a leaked video Disney corporate president Karey Burke says, “as the mother [of] one transgender child and one pansexual child,” she supports having “many, many, many LGBTQIA characters in our stories” and wants a minimum of 50 percent of characters to be LGBTQIA and racial minorities. As a result, the Florida legislature voted to eliminate Disney’s special status largely freeing them from allowing them to self-govern.
In many, perhaps most, public schools, small children are taught “critical race theory” that tells all white children that they are evil and must do something to redeem themselves. After Florida’s law passed, officials there found that all 54 available math textbooks were indoctrinating children. What about textbooks in other subjects? After this indoctrination, many of these children decide to identify as “gay” or even “transgender.” That way, they can become part of an “oppressed minority.” In many places, there is tremendous pressure on children and teens to do this in order to be accepted by their friends. Anecdotally, on the streets, it has become increasingly common for us to speak with teens, and even pre-teens, who say they are gay, lesbian or transgender.
Also, this past month, the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, agreed to buy Twitter and make it private. The reason he gave for this was to make Twitter a platform for “free speech.” Immediately, most of the mainstream media screamed that this will destroy democracy. This reminded me of some of the slogans in George Orwell’s dystopian book “1984”: “War is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength.” It is amazing that our media, once the guardians of free speech, now insist that they and our government must have the power to censor all public speech in order to “save” our democracy.
Meanwhile, the US government has established a “Disinformation Governance Board” and Biden appointed an extreme Leftist to run the board. Our government is determined to censor any content it considers to be “disinformation,” namely, any opinion that differs from the official government position. Since the 2016 election, in which Trump was unexpectedly elected President, there were two impeachments of the President, and four years of accusations made against him. Every accusation eventually was proved false, yet none of these were labeled “disinformation.” Instead, countless people were removed from social media sites for posts that later turned out to be truthful.
Similar censorship was used to prevent anyone, including well-respected Epidemiologists and Virologists, from disagreeing with the COVID rules being imposed throughout the world. For two years, anyone who said that the virus causing COVID came from a Wuhan lab was removed from social media and this was declared “fake news.” Eventually, the mainstream media and US government admitted that this is the most likely source of the virus. On May 2, a new peer-reviewed study of over 600 million people in Europe was released showing that increased mask usage is associated with a higher death rate during the pandemic.
Meanwhile, video was leaked from Shanghai, China, showing thousands of people screaming from their apartments that they were starving. This city, with over 26 million people, was totally shut down for at least 2 weeks, with most people locked inside their apartments unable to leave. Food was supposed to be delivered to them, but many people were not getting food and were starving. They also could not obtain any medical care. As I write, this lockdown is still in effect, but gradually being eased, with some being allowed to return to work. This lockdown was a response to 25 COVID deaths in that city.
In this brief newsletter, I only have room to mention a few of the many evil things that are going on in our world. These things are very disturbing to all of us. I will close with these words of Jesus from Matthew 24:
“And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.
“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.”
On the Streets
On Fri. March 11, we witnessed at 16th and Mission. Mike witnessed to Efrom and Emerson, both 15. They seemed to be very interested in hearing the gospel. He also witnessed to four other teens that night. Mike also spoke with Stefanie, whom he had seen several times before. She had attended an evangelical church several years before and understood the gospel. She also realized she was addicted to alcohol and wanted to get into a program. She had a bottle of Vodka next to her and Mike asked if she was willing to throw it out. She said, “no” and started drinking. After that, she appeared demonized and started heckling one of our preachers.
On Sat. March 12, we witnessed at Fisherman’s Wharf and at Pier 39. Tim Moon and his band played music. I was able to give gospel tracts to many teenagers as they were boarding a tour bus. One of the port officers ordered us to take down our banners. He said nothing could be tied to the port fences. I pointed out a nearby spray painter that had equipment tied to the same fence. I asked him if he would order them to take it down. He said, “when I get around to it.” He never did. I filed a complaint about his discriminatory behavior with the port officials. (As I write this on May 9, we have not seen that port officer again. Several Christians saw him turning over hot dog stands and pouring out drinks sold by unpermitted vendors. Perhaps he was fired for his outrageous and dangerous behavior.)
On Fri. March 25, we witnessed at 4th and Market. Mike spoke with Ait, a young Syrian man who walks the streets with a sign saying “They have their rays on you” along with his website address. He is an atheist, and believes the human race is being bombarded with microwave rays that are making us all sick. Mike spoke with him about the Bible, and Ait said he could disprove the Bible. Andy got his phone number and plans to get together with him and show him evidence that the Bible is true.
A Final Word
Thank you again for your prayers and financial support for this ministry.
Please pray for our 43rd annual SOS –San Francisco Outreach, July 6-9. A team from Good Shepherd Church in Sacramento is planning to join us. If you live in the SF area, I hope you can also join us for this important outreach, so we can reach many people in the SF Bay Area with the gospel message before it is too late for them.
Yours in His love,
Larry Rosenbaum