“I Will Never Repent!” – Portsmouth Evangelism
Summer has finally arrived in the UK. It was hot as the outreach commenced in Portsmouth, and I thought that due to the heat, not many people would engage with the preaching… I was wrong!
From the outset, people were happy to talk about Jesus and take material. While we set up the literature table, a convert to the Jehovah’s Witnesses cult came to speak with us. She told me that for the past year, she has been studying with the JWs and has many questions. She took a booklet on the deity of Christ and one about the gospel.
The preaching began when I spoke on the subject of “Your Life.” A few people paused to listen, with one man heckling. The heckler yelled out, “What about the 11,000 Palestinian children who have been killed since October?” I answered his question by saying it was wrong, then challenged him to explain why he believed it was wrong. The man replied that the killing of children in all circumstances is evil – no matter who they are or where they are located. I agreed, so I asked him, “Based on what you said, will you right now condemn the practice of killing children in this country in the name of ‘choice,’ or as it is called, abortion?” The man ranted and refused to answer. What I was trying to show was that the man was deflecting away from the issue at hand. He wanted to deal with matters a long way off, as it meant the gospel wouldn’t be personal to him. My question brought it back home, which wasn’t acceptable to him. He stormed off ranting.
After the open air, the heckler returned. This time he yelled at me that Christianity was the cause of the war in the Middle East. I asked him to prove his case since both Israel and the Palestinians aren’t Christians. He then launched into a tirade about evangelicals forcing their beliefs upon people and shared how his wife shoves the Bible down his throat via the means of Christian radio (I would recommend she reads 1 Peter 3:1-2). I urged the man to repent, but once again he stormed away ranting.
As I started to do something else, the heckler came back for a third time. This time he was furious that I told him to repent. He let fly a few words that can’t be repeated, and then again, he went on his way.
Things were certainly lively, but that is the nature of street work. The team continued with our mission. People were handing out tracts, while others shared the good news with those who wanted to listen. After several minutes of doing this, Roger decided to preach. He started his message by saying, “The Bible has the answer!” Then our heckler returned for the fourth time. This time he was mad and demanded he have an opportunity to speak. Roger tagged me in, and we began to engage with the heckler.
Before the heckler got too far into his talk, I extended my hand and asked for his name. He told me, and we shook hands. I then encouraged him to speak only if I was allowed to challenge what he said. He agreed. The heckler declared that he believed that God was all-loving and that Jesus was wrong to say He was the only way to be saved. We went back and forth, and I tried to engage his arguments while bringing things back to the gospel.
As this went on, others began to engage. One lady claimed that the only reason I could preach was due to my ‘white privilege.’ I pointed out that I support freedom of speech and that I know many Christian preachers who aren’t white. She replied, “But people would turn their noses up at a black preacher.” I replied, “They are turning their noses up at me, and I’m white!” She shook my hand, then left. I was now back to dealing with the original heckler.
A crowd gathered and watched as we went back and forth. As the discussion continued, the heckles became odder. Somehow the heckler started to talk about George Bush and then claimed I worked for the Government. He told the crowd I was being paid by the British Government to force Christianity upon them. At this point, I asked one of the team members to engage the heckler on a one-to-one basis, but before this could be done, the heckler shouted in anger and with a raised clenched fist, “I will never repent!” The issue with the heckler wasn’t academic or apologetic, the issue was he loved sin and hated God (John 3:19-20).
People may wonder if it is worth engaging the heckler, and I must say I think it was. I knew the heckler was closed and hardened, but those listening were not. It was very encouraging to see many people in the crowd taking tracts and asking for copies of John’s Gospel. By the end of the outreach, we had seen 28 people request copies of the Gospel of John so they could discover more about Jesus.
After preaching, I was approached by a man who took issue with a Bible verse we had displayed – 1 Timothy 1:15. He didn’t like the fact it declared that Jesus would rescue sinners, since the man believed he hadn’t sinned. Using the Ten Commandments, I showed the man that all of us have turned our backs on God, and then using the original verse, I explained the good news. The man quickly changed topics and wanted to argue about whether Jesus existed, science, evolution, the Big Bang, etc. I answered his questions and kept bringing them back to the gospel. In the end, I had to walk away from the conversation since the man declared he wouldn’t accept any words I said. It would have been foolish to continue.
Before the outreach concluded, a local pastor encouraged me to preach once more. I did a short message from 1 Timothy 1:15 and urged people to come to the Saviour.
It was a lively and busy day in Portsmouth. Please pray for all those who heard the good news – especially the heckler!
SDG!
______
Josh Williamson is a full-time evangelist with The Open-Air Mission. Since 1853, OAM has been sharing the good news on the streets of the United Kingdom. To stay updated about the work of the Mission, please sign up for the free quarterly magazine and monthly prayer notes.
SUBSCRIBE TO OUR MAGAZINE AND PRAYER NOTES