“My Priest will get me to Heaven!” – Portsmouth Evangelism

The enemy certainly knows the best time to attack; the Devil has been in the game of trying to silence the gospel for many years, so it should come as no surprise when opposition arises. Thankfully, the Devil is God’s devil. He is limited and bound by the sovereignty of God, so he can only do what is permitted. Today, we experienced a bit of opposition as the outreach got underway. Before arriving in Portsmouth, I found myself in pain from my surgery, but I thought it best to push through. Shortly after setting up for the outreach, a religious Pharisee was sent to give us more grief.

A young man whom I’ve encountered previously came up to me and demanded I apologise to him for disagreeing with him the last time I saw him (read about it here). I refused to apologise and told him I wasn’t interested in debating; instead, I wanted to share the gospel. The man wouldn’t allow that. As I moved away, he followed, trying to argue the entire time. He began to declare I was demon-possessed because my eyes blinked, then he denounced me because I don’t believe the King James Version is necessary for salvation or for the establishment of a true church. I tried to engage with his nonsense, but he refused to answer questions or even discuss; his whole method was to denounce. The man made it very clear that all churches in Portsmouth are false and that he is the only one with the truth. I warned him about his pride and called on him to repent, but he proudly stated he had no need to repent. Eventually, I was able to get away from this deceived religious man, but much time had been wasted. This was just a demonic attack to silence the gospel, so we had to ensure we didn’t surrender.

While all this was happening, two men collecting for charity moved into our area and positioned themselves between the open-air board and the literature table. This made it very hard to engage with people as they harassed those walking past. Another dart had been fired at us.

At about this time, I decided we should commence preaching, but before we started to proclaim, Roger and I prayed together. We committed the opposition into the Lord’s hands and asked Him to remove those who sought to oppose the gospel. When we said ‘Amen’ and opened our eyes, the charity collectors were gone. The ground was now clear for gospel preaching!

My message today was from Romans 6:23 – “Wages or Gift?” There was little engagement, but still, a few heard the good news of salvation. One young man who heard us preach began to chat first with Margaret, then with me. This man was very friendly and open. He had friends who went to church, but he was confused about a few key elements of Christianity. We explained the good news to him and answered his questions.

While we were doing this, Roger preached on “The Message of the Cross.”

Later in the outreach, I found myself speaking with two ladies who work on cruise ships. They had paused at the literature table but weren’t very open; however, both took tracts.

One of the saddest encounters of the day was with an elderly gentleman who rejected a tract when offered one. He told me that he had his own church and religion, so he didn’t need my material. I asked him which church he belonged to, and he said it was the Church of England. With that, he started to share about his religious deeds and how he has been a ‘Christian’ since he was ‘baptised’ as a baby. I asked if he was certain he’d go to Heaven – that question startled him. He replied, “I don’t like that question, and I don’t want to think about it.” I gently pushed back, urging him to consider his salvation. The man replied, “I don’t want to think about it, but I will be fine, as my priest will get me to Heaven.” Sadly, this man was trusting in religion and the works of a human priest as the means of salvation. I quoted 1 Timothy 2:5 to him and pointed the man to Jesus, but he walked away talking about his priest. 

Conversations like that are always discouraging, but soon there was an encouraging chat. A young lady took a tract and began to share her story. She told me she was brought up a Mormon but converted to Islam. She was very friendly and super polite. It was great to hear her story and to discuss a bit about the differences between Christianity and Islam. After talking for a while, she expressed an interest in learning more about biblical Christianity, so I gave her several booklets which present the gospel and address her objections. She was very open and said she’d read all that was given to her.

The final conversation I had was with another young lady who identified as a Muslim. She had stopped at the literature table and was confused about what the Bible teaches. She said at school she had learned a little about the Bible, but no one had explained it to her. She took a Gospel of John, saying it would be nice to discover more about Jesus.

Even though we faced opposition at the beginning, by the end the gospel was spreading. The team handed out numerous tracts, and many were exposed to the good news. Please pray for all those who heard the gospel.

SDG!

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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.

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