Battle Log

Page 93

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Routine.  That’s a big key for me.  Sharing the gospel with people, as a full time job, can be tiring, and difficult, it can even be boring, sometimes, when you're repeating the same information over and over to people who often don’t seem interested.

And, other than dependence on the strength of God, a regular routine really helps me to keep going.  In fact, my online evangelism routine is so solid now, that I find that I enjoy the work more now.  I pray, and start a conversation, the conversation ends, I pray, and repeat.

And I feel my routine is in balance.  I take regular breaks through the day, and take walks.  And I take a whole day away from it all, to focus on rest and family (because we homeschool, my family makes Monday our day off).

I think back to the years when I was new to street evangelism, and the learning process.  I remember being terrified when “evangelism day” would arrive.  And relieved when it was over.  But, my passion for God and telling others about Him overrode my fears.  And the routine helped.

So this is an encouragement to you, to try using routine as an aid in evangelism.  Pick a (regular) time and place and stick to it.  At the moment, there are online outreaches happening daily, with a team of people to work with and learn from.  So feel free to come and join us - you will be welcome, no matter your current experience or ability. :)

(With online evangelism, it’s so much easier to get a conversation started, and you can just get into the “flow” of conversation after conversation.  It’s good, because you can just power through many gospel conversations (and if you are new, learn fast).  But you have to be careful you don’t become too automatic.  These are real people we are communicating with, and we need to take what we do seriously.)

And routine helps me to keep writing these reports three times a week.  But they often feel like I’m just saying the same old thing each time.  I’m at a point now where I feel the time would be better spent just sharing the gospel instead - and I’d probably find that more enjoyable.  I dunno, I guess it’s good for me to do so much writing (and it’s a nice change of routine).  Has my writing improved?  I hope so.  But is it worth it?

Well, I guess I should write about the last two days of outreach ;)  Tuesday (6 hours on Omegle) and Wednesday (4 hours).  So many conversations, I just can’t remember them all.  I normally take notes, a routine I need to re-establish! ;)

But something that has encouraged me is seeing others growing in confidence in online evangelism, e.g.:

“It's really thrilling to read your accounts of the gospel going out. I have been praying for you guys. Keep up the great work.  I've been doing some Omegle text chats. Can't quite get myself to plunge into a video chat yet!”

And then on Tuesday morning: “I had my first VIDEO chat yaay!” and then “Just spoke to two 11 year old girls can you believe.  It was like talking to my Bible Club kids!  God paired me up with the right demographic haha.”

And from another team member, this: 

“
Stranger: Jesus is right
Stranger: U r right
Stranger: From now on
Stranger: Cause after this chat u have made me believe
”

I finished my outreach today with a very long conversation with a guy who was very intelligent, but so easily distracted, and just all over the place.  I had to stop him multiple times and just give him wake up calls to try to get through.  I would warn him that he was suppressing the truth out of love for his sin.  It was a video conversation, but at one point he dropped the following comment via text chat:  “these r the words i needed to hear”.  He took a look at needGod.net, and was impacted by the opening line: “What happens after we die?”.  In the end, I needed to end the conversation, as I don’t think I was making much progress.  I was able to share the gospel.  I hope something I said sticks.  He is in God’s hands.

By the way, the picture shows the stats for needGod.net.  Since we have started online evangelism, there has been a big increase in traffic.  May people read the content on needGod.net and come to understand the gospel.  May people be saved from our feeble efforts, to the glory of God alone.
 

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The last few days of online witnessing has been of great encouragement in many ways but also confirming other worries about the state of the church in the west.

If there has been any learning experience from this it is that the church needs to be clearer in explaining the gospel and more explicit in what is a result of the gospel. Church attendee's who the team has spoken to in large part have never understood why the cross is good news. They often have heard of Jesus dying on the cross and even know the phrase, "Jesus died for your sins" but they have never heard why that is good news.

The predominant issue isn't that people think they can live however they want. Rather it has exposed itself to be that people have never grasped the gospel. Most of the people are "hearing" that it is asking for forgiveness, confessing sin, trying to obey the laws that is the reason that God will save them and then often in the next sentence mentioning that we are saved by grace.

This has been making evangelism easy in many senses because the people already think that God exists and are interested in what He says. (It also sometimes makes it harder because they are more resistant in their pride to acknowledge that they have been wrong). But usually this results in a really encouraging conversation where the person goes on to say, "No one has ever explained this to me before like this".

One stand out like this was with Amy a young Asian girl who attends a Christian school adn church her whole life and after a twenty five minute conversation she came to grasp the gospel and said that she was very thankful that it was explained to her this way. She said she wanted to start reading the gospel of John today.

Another was with Tye a Church attending American who said that it was his goodness that would be the basis for Heaven and after a good conversation, (all the while taking notes) he came to be really clear on the gospel and was so grateful for the chat! Once he understood it he mentioned that it would be wise to move to a different church (who prize the Bible) and he would start reading the Bible for himself.

Please be praying for Amy and Tye that they (and the many others who are like them) would upon grasping the gospel would come to believe it for themselves.

---

On Saturday I (in NZ) was doing online outreach in the morning, and the team in Aussie were on in the Afternoon.

I had a lot of great conversations, but three stand out.  One brought me to tears.

The first was with a young man who didn’t want to talk, just type.  I could see him and talk to him though.  So in this way, I was able to share the law and the gospel with him.

I had made sure the guy understood the cost of following Jesus, and to finish up, I asked him a final checking question and he said:

Stranger: I need to trust that Jesus died on the cross for us and paid for our sins

He seemed to be understanding, which is great - praise God.  I then asked if he had any questions:

Stranger: No it's just that I would never expect this you just changed my life thank you

It touched me deeply.  I know it’s nothing I do that will change someone's life.  All glory to God alone.  But, the deepest desire of my heart is for people to be saved.  So I had a good cry, and I’m not ashamed to say it - I’m passionate about this.  It’s so serious, and so real.  He is in God’s hands, may he really be changed by God.  May you be encouraged to see what is important in life, and get out to share the amazing news of Jesus with people.

The second conversation I want to mention was with a lady who was a scientist who worked in nanotechnology!  I don’t come across many people like that on Omegle!  She also didn’t want to talk, only type.  But she was deeply atheist and resistant to any logic of the reality of God.  She was even mocking.  I knew I wasn’t going to make progress and sure enough, she bailed from the conversation.  The reason why this conversation is so significant is because of the third conversation…

About fifteen minutes afterwards, after a string of rejections, I get into another conversation with someone that only wanted to type!  I turned on their video and I was shocked.  It was the same lady from the second conversation!  There were 50,000 people on Omegle at the time, and I’ve never ever been paired with the same person twice.  I said, “I think God wants me to talk to you!”  It felt like an amazing piece of providence.  And I instantly thought to take the conversation on a different tack.  I went with my testimony, to try to find ground she would identify with, so that I would be able to gain the trust to be able to get to the law and the gospel.

Praise God, I was able to at least get to the law, before she bailed again.  But before she bailed, I was able to drop a link to needGod.net.

I sat back in wonder.  May something I said stick, may she look at the website.  May God use it as He wills - for His glory.

Sunday saw the usual practical training outreach online.  Ryan asked me to do the initial demo to the group, and I was nervous - mainly because I didn’t want to get into a long conversation that would hold everyone up from getting to their own harvest opportunities.

I ended up getting into a conversation with two French guys.  Their English wasn’t the best, and it was hard to establish a clear line of reason with them.  I managed to get through the law and the gospel, yet I’m not confident they understood - sadly.

The team then broke into smaller Jitsi groups and we took turns sharing the gospel on Omegle, while sharing our screen for the rest to observe.  It was wonderful getting to know some of the other team members better in between, and we were able to discuss afterwards to learn from each other.  Praise God.

My eldest daughter is still keen to be involved, and so she sat next to me while she had a few goes.  I was really proud of her!  She was so nervous, but it was great watching her confidence grow as she got into it.  She managed to get two people through the law before they bailed on her.  But praise God, he uses our efforts.  We will continue to practice sharing the gospel in our family devotion times.

Glory to God for the weekend of opportunity to share His gospel.  Glory to God, alone, for any fruit.
 

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Online evangelism is like nothing you've ever experienced. Any rejection is minor and the reception glorious!

The team has found that the vast majority of the people on Omegle (from America) a professing Christians who know little of the gospel or a people who are pretty sure they're done with Christianity when they haven't even started. Neither group seems to have a good understanding of the gospel and almost all seem to be believing that it is their own goodness and what they have to offer God that is the reason for their entry into Heaven or their rejection of God.

But over the past weeks each day around ten people from Australia and New Zealand have been gathering digitally, praying together and then heading out into the harvest field to proclaim to good news of the Kingdom!

There have been so many beautiful conversations. Ranging from gang members who professed faith knowing that they could die for it, to ardent atheists turning 180 and saying that today they want to trust that Jesus has taken the punishment for their sin!

A highlight from today was with a man named B, he at first was being silly and then with a bit of warning about the seriousness of eternity and the reality that it could begin for him at any moment he tuned in to listen. Early on in hearing the gospel he noted that he had heard it all before but it was just moments later the he remarked, "Oh that makes sense now". He came to profess a desire to trust in Christ, as the propitiation for his sin and said that he would read the gospel of John.

It was a beautiful day, of outreach and among other conversations a Muslim came to hear of the gospel but rejected it and atheist said, "This is the first time I've ever heard of this and now I will have to consider it" and a third man originally proclaiming his own righteousness was so cut to the heart by the law, seeing his guilt said, "I have to go now".

Please be praying for the many who heard the good news today, that this hearing would result in faith and that they too would desire to see others come to a saving knowledge of the truth!

---

Since my last report, we have added Facebook live streaming (as well as You Tube).  It’s never been easier to watch real life, live, gospel conversations.  We hope you will be encouraged by this, and encouraged to get involved as well!

Today we had a random Christian join our outreach (via Jitsi meeting room).  We have been able to interact with him and he has been able to watch and get a feel for how it works.  This guy is from Canada, and we have never met him before - so encouraged to be able to make new connections like this.

Live streaming has taken some getting used to.  It just feels weird knowing anyone could be watching / listening to the conversation you are having!  But it’s a good thing.  I’ve got nothing to hide, except my mistakes.  And this only gives me an opportunity to apologise and make it right as best as I can.  If you watch, and see any blind spots that I could learn about - please do let me know.  But be nice about it! :)  Proverbs 12:1 (ESV) Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid.

I normally take notes of my gospel conversations, so I can write about them in this report, but for some reason, I haven’t done this over the last two days?  Thursday afternoon is a bit of a blank for me, so I’ll go see some of the things others in the team have been saying…

Ryan: “Just had an amazing chat with two ladies. They initially said we are just a bunch of atoms, nothing happens to us after we die.

Showed them God’s existence, they said “Wow that makes so much sense!”

Explained the gospel, one said “This is amazing! If you had not told me this, I would never have known this, I never would have thought that someone could take my punishment. This is the best chat I have had on Omegle.””

Andy: “Just had the hands down best chat ever on Omegle.
Guy was like...... I've never heard this before..... Gob smacked.... listened intensely, humble like a child. 
He was asking me for web sites to know more.... 
Be encouraged everyone.... the harvest is plentiful....”

Oh, this one is from me, I kinda remember talking to this Muslim: “Epic convo with a Muslim.  But hard of heart, yet he heard the gospel.  Convict him Lord, Save him by your grace.  But ultimately - may You be glorified! ”

Oh yeah, this one is really interesting, from Ryan: “Just chatted to a guy from Christchurch on Omegle named Tyler who has seen Glen Richards witness in Cashell Mall!  He hasn’t spoken to Glen before, but one of his friends has. Encouraged him to say hi to Glen after the Coronavirus season. He thought his good deeds would save him, but grasped the gospel and professed to start believing it today”

Kane: “Fynn Johnson that chat with the Jewish girl Michelle was gold. The look on her face when she read Isaiah 53 then the look on your face when you asked her where she was up to and she said "Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted". #priceless”

Matt: “"Hey man seriously, you've just totally just changed my mind"” & “"audible gasp in" as he grasped the gospel”

Martin: “By God's grace I met a guy from New Zealand and He understood the gospel clearly and we got connected through facebook, continuing our chat through FB. What a joy!@!!!!!!! Praise God !” & “"I prayed for a relationship with Jesus literally today and you gave me the key or the answer to have that relationship.  I think God sent you to fix me" - He just sent me this message through FB .. what can we say? God is so faithful and He is always working Soli Deo Gloria !!!”

Wow, that was super encouraging.  It’s funny, I think you get used to it and desensitised when you are constantly sharing the gospel.  You see a LOT of rejection and resistance.  But when you stand back and look at a highlights reel like that, it’s really, very encouraging.  Glory to God.  God, you are amazing.  That you use feeble messengers like us, and allow us to be involved.  You are wonderful!  May there be fruit, for your glory Lord.  May you receive the reward of your suffering.

Friday is my biggest day of outreach.  Seven hours of evangelism and then an hour writing this report.  I did capture some of my text conversations, I’ll go see if there is anything interesting…

Oh yeah, I started the day with a video chat with a guy from India, it was a poor video connection, so we used text chat a bit as well.  We connected on Facebook, and he said he would follow up with me tomorrow…

I then had a long conversation with a Catholic from Lebanon.  He was resistant, but I relied on questions to get him engaged.  He came to see that I wasn’t trying to pick a fight with him, that I cared.  And also that he was trusting in his works to save him - and why that wouldn’t work.  He came to understand the gospel:

Stranger: Is there any people here on omegle who listen to u?
Stranger: Or a few?
You: Good question. Most skip me. But I have many good conversations with people. Because this is such an important thing to talk about.
You: Heaven is real, Hell is real.
Stranger: Yes

Many video chats, with all sorts of people.  Many faces cross my mind, too many conversations to write about.  Can I encourage you, come join us in the harvest.
 

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Time flies.  Next thing you know we will be in eternity.  I can’t wait.  But till that time, I want to use the gifts and talents God has given me to bring honour to God by making disciples.

Time flies, I can’t believe I’ve been doing online evangelism for nearly six weeks now.  A few months ago, I would never have dreamed I would be doing this.  And yet here I am.  One door closes and another opens.  And oh, what an opportunity it is!  It’s never been easier to get a gospel conversation started.

And yet, it has its downsides.  Anyone thinking of getting involved with online evangelism needs to consider these factors first, and apply wisdom.

As one of my co-elders put it, Omegle is a cesspit.  It’s a place where the depravity of man can so easily rise to the surface.  You can so easily be confronted with dangerous images, links & unwholesome language.  Much more so than on a regular street outreach.  Therefore, this kind of evangelism will not be for everyone!  If this might be a temptation for you - stay away.  If you are a teenager - discuss this with your parents first.  If you are an adult - discuss it with your Elders / Pastors.  And listen to their advice, they care for your soul.

That said, we are having wonderful opportunities to share the hope of Jesus in this dark place.  And we are learning more ways of putting appropriate protections in place.  I’ve already touched on many of those precautions in previous reports, but I’m going to mention them all again here, and cover some new ones as well.

Firstly, on Omegle, to get out of a conversation: hit the escape key on your keyboard twice.  The first time will prompt if you are sure.  The second time will disconnect you from the person you are talking to.  The other option is to just close the browser tab.

If you are doing video conversations, being able to initially (or constantly) hide the video feed of the other person is a must.  We now have three ways of doing this:

1. Physically hide the video feed.  You can do this in many ways.  But one way is to take a piece of paper, like a gospel tract, fold it in half, and then put it over the top of your screen (as per the picture).

2. Next is to have another window sitting over top of the video feed.  In my pictured example, I am using Notepad2 to do this.  Notepad2 is a free download from here.  The added benefit of using Notepad2 is that you can turn on the highlighted “Always On Top” feature (accessed from the Settings menu), so that even when you have another window selected (like Omegle in your web browser), Notepad2 will always stay on top of it.

3. Finally, you can install a Chrome browser extension so that you can completely hide the video feeds HTML element.  Here are the instructions for how to do that:

   1. In Chrome, go to: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/remove-html-elements/enegojdnkeicfoiknhfjaedhlckeahmf

   2. Click the “Add to Chrome” Bufton.

   3. To use it, press the new HTML icon that is now near your address bar and then click on the part of the website you want to hide.

   4. Press Ctrl+Z to undo what you have hidden once you know the person can be trusted.

   5. To turn off the extension, simply press the HTML button again.

   6. There is also a way to toggle the Remove HTML elements extension (that you’ve installed) via your keyboard in Chrome (without having to click the HTML button with your mouse).

   7. Go to chrome://extensions/shortcuts in your address bar and on that page set a key combination to activate/deactivate it

   8. I have set mine as Ctrl+Space

You can also use the Chrome browser extension to hide inappropriate lines of text chat (esp. appropriate if you are live streaming, as per below)

Another thing to do is have accountability in place.  Have others in the room with you when you are doing online evangelism.  Or join an online outreach team (see this link to be part of ours) where you are all together in a virtual meeting room with your screen shared into it.

Our online outreach team now live streams via YouTube - which provides another layer of accountability.  Everything we say and do can be seen by anyone.

So, in summary, online evangelism is a wonderful opportunity - and we want to encourage it!  But it’s not for everyone.  If you are going to get involved, put precautions in place to protect yourself.

As to the last two days of outreach (which this report covers), I can only summarise it as many wonderful conversations, with many who were up to no good, but encountered the gospel instead.  At least twice over these last two days, I heard people thank me for being on Omegle and sharing what I am.  And I’ve had many opportunities to tell people to get off Omegle - it's a place they shouldn’t be.  After hearing the gospel, they understand what I mean!

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The social distancing of this time has some difficulties in reaching out but also some amazing benefits that come with it. Here in Hobart we are all keeping each other at arm’s length and trying to keep out of public as much as possible. We work from home and do outreach online where possible. 

Each day people are encouraged to get an hour’s exercise and with this in mind I have each Tuesday and Friday been walking through Hobart praying for the city. During this time, I have encountered many people I know or who know me from the outreach in the Mall. This has been a blessing and lead to many gospel conversations.

One of the recent conversations was with a young man who walked past me and yelled “Homophobe”. I called out that he should come back and speak to me if he really believed that was true, that he should show some courage. Praise God this young man had just that. After about 15 minutes he came back. We talked for quite some time and discussed what the bible says to homosexuals like his friends and to heterosexuals like he and I. It was good to be able to show him respect in hearing what he had to say, but at the same time to defend God’s good ways and wisdom.

Real marriage is between one man and one woman for life, faithful before and during, until death parts us. All the fake simulacrums that this heart sick society throws up for us are destructive parodies that ultimately lead us away from God and true joy that can only be found in Him. While we did not agree by the end of our discussion, we both agreed it would be good to talk more, so I encouraged him to come and see me at speakers, corner sometime when the restrictions are lifted.

Another of the discussions I had was with a frequent visitor to the mall, a troubled lady that often is under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs. She said that things were difficult, confusing even, at the moment and it was hard to know where to look. I smiled and looked to the heavens saying "I look to Him, I look to Jesus". She smiled and agreed, "That's where we should be looking isn't it? I do believe in Him." I encouraged her to follow him closely and with that she left. I pray that she will repent of all sin and look to Jesus every day.

There have also been a large number of Christians that have stopped to share a moment of fellowship in passing. These precious folks have repeatedly lifted my spirits and reminded me of the love of our Father in heaven. It is wonderful to see the joy on the faces of my brothers and sisters. They are such a witness in these times. There are so many people who are fearful and heavy laden, yet they are confident in the King of all kings!

They are delighting in the joyful reality that nothing of these current trials will be remembered in the life to come. Their treasure, safe in heaven, cannot be threatened by disease any more than any of the other slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. And oh, the ways that they are speaking of their Lord and Saviour! The gospel is going out and the people of Australia have been humbled such that they are listening as never before.

May God graciously raise up a great throng of saved souls through these times. Glory to Him alone!

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Another wonderful weekend of online outreach, that culminated in the practical training outreach on Sunday afternoon (NZ & AU time).  It was a bit chaotic - but we managed to split up into pairings and get out there to encourage each other in sharing the gospel.

One of my daughters was keen to join the outreach, and so we paired up on my computer (as per the picture).  I gave Haley opportunities to get involved in the gospel conversations - and she did really well! :)

I think it might have something to do with it being the weekend, because I had more people being inappropriate than usual, but that’s okay: a) precautions were in place, and b) those people need the gospel.

Had a lot of conversations, they are a bit of a blur.  No real standouts - the last one was with a Muslim from Egypt.  He heard the gospel - praise God for that - but he was quite resistant. At the end, he said he would check out needGod.net.

Reflecting on Saturday, I worked the morning shift (NZ time), and then the Aussie team took the afternoon / evening shift.

It was great having various people joining me on Jitsi throughout the morning.  Emma (from NZ) was there, and some from Aussie came and went.

One of the text based Omegle conversations involved a guy who thought he was good, but the law deeply impacted him taking away that self-righteousness.  He heard the gospel, but seemed a bit stunned.  He ended up bailing on me before I could make sure he really understood.  I felt a bit grieved by that, but there is nothing more I can do.  They are in God’s hands.  Here is how it ended:

Stranger: are you priest btw
You: He does what he pleases, but he can't deny his nature.
You: no, i'm not a priest.
You: Just a Christian that wants to share hope.
Stranger: love you man!
You: I am a rebel, that deserves hell, and I'm not going there
Stranger: ur good
You: no, I'm bad
You: But Jesus is good
Stranger: u will be in heaven
Stranger: believe me
You: why?
You: What do we have to do to go to heaven?
Stranger: because look at what ur doing now
Stranger: ur giving me hope
You: I'm doing good deeds, but that does not get me to heaven
Stranger has disconnected.

A highlight video conversation was with a young Pacific Islander who heard the law and the gospel, and then I started working through a suite of checking questions.  Because of this, I could tell he wasn’t grasping the gospel and was able to track back to re-explain.  I then moved to another checking question, and then he suddenly bailed.  Sometimes that happens, you think it’s going well, and the person is engaging, and then they go.  Were they understanding and uncomfortable with this new information?  We’ll never know, we just move on and keep sharing the gospel.

Another video conversation I was having with a Muslim was going really well, and then suddenly the video and audio died.  It’s just out of your hands, but you keep going :)

A text conversation I had with a Hindu guy ended interestingly.  They were initially resistant to the reality of the law and I was gently trying to reason with them on it, in the hope they would open up to hear the gospel.  As soon as I shifted the conversation to lust, they became very sleepy:

You: Lust is adultery in the heart.
Stranger: ok bye ..I am sleepy
You: needGod.net
Stranger: its 4am
You: see ya
Stranger: sorry bro
You: God Bless
Stranger: gn
Stranger: same to you bro
Stranger has disconnected.

I’m still hanging out in IRC, but it’s not my focus.  Even in my own time, from time to time, I will follow the conversation and interject.  I’m starting to get to know these people, who are happy to talk about the deep things in life.  I don’t let myself get baited into apologetical rabbit trails, but will continue to be a witness for Christ and share the gospel as I can.

Christians, be encouraged to continue to share Jesus wherever you are, and if you don’t have other opportunity, join us online - we would love to labour for our Lord with you!

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Online evangelism just keeps getting better.  Our latest tweaks involve giving people more access: Christians to be encouraged in evangelism, Unbelievers to hear the good news of the gospel.

Firstly, the team is now staying together in our Jitsi meeting found here: https://meet.jit.si/Operation513 throughout the outreach.  It’s an open meeting room, anyone can join or leave as they like.  But we will stay hanging out here for mutual encouragement.  Also, as much as possible, one of the team will always be sharing their screen and audio into this meeting room, so those that join can come and listen to a gospel conversation: Christians to be encouraged through observation and by asking questions, unbelievers to hear the gospel and be able to ask questions.

For Christians, the objective is ultimately to encourage you into more evangelism: online or otherwise.  For unbelievers, the objective is to allow them to hear the gospel, that God would save them, and then ultimately to encourage them into discipleship & evangelism: online or otherwise.

There should be something happening there at these times:

Sun 1-3pm (Practical Training Outreach)
Mon 1-5pm, 7-10pm
Tue 11am-5pm
Wed 11am-5pm
Thu 11am-5pm, 7-10pm
Fri 6:30-10:30am, 11am-5pm
Sat 6:30-10:30am, 1-5pm

These times are all in AEST (GMT+10), so adjust them based on your own timezone (e.g., add 2 hours if you are in NZ).

The other addition is that we are going to start live streaming these gospel chats on YouTube. This means anyone can go to this URL to just watch what we do: https://www.youtube.com/user/Operation513/ - subscribe to get notified of when the live stream starts.

We pray that God would use these feeble efforts for His glory alone.

We will continue to make changes to the way we do things, as appropriate.

So this report is covering the online evangelism for Thursday and Friday.  And there has just been so much happening, just for me, let alone everyone else in the team, I can’t talk about it all, or barely remember it all.  Praise God for that!

The highlight from Thursday was a conversation I had with a young atheist - he was wearing a cool hat with horns.  He had been a Christian up to 5 years prior, but a Christian camp (which he said was cultish) had put him off.  But it was clear he had never understood the gospel, and although he initially wanted to leave the conversation, he became engaged, and then genuinely impacted as I explained the gospel to him.  In particular, the fireman analogy (explaining the fruit of repentance) brought the balance he sensed was missing - yet he now understood that the sacrifice of Jesus, and his faith alone in that, was the only thing that would save him.

Friday was a long day of outreach.  Here is what stands out:

Conversations with four young men who were all open, and all came to grasp the gospel.  For example, one of those kids, who said he was a Christian, said that before our conversation he thought he had to trust in Jesus AND do good deeds to go to heaven.  But he came to grasp the gospel and said, “I'm going to talk to my Dad about this, you've made my week!”

I had a conversation with an intelligent young girl who was very resistant.  She said that someone from my team had already talked to her!  But she said it was an American, so maybe it was another team?  I wasn’t able to share the gospel with her, sadly she didn’t want to hear it.

I finished my day with a great conversation with an open Muslim guy from Morocco.

Thank you so much for your continued prayer and support of the Operation 513 team, we are in awe of God at the opportunities he is giving us online.  All glory to Him for any fruit.  Come, join us! :)
 

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Emma: “Hey Glen - righto I need to give this online evangelism a crack.”
Me: “Pick a time and we can show you how it works... no pressure, observation is fine”
Emma: “ah Im scared!  yep okay that 'll be cool. thanks!  So....maybe tomorrow :)”
Me: “Yip, me too! Haha”

The next day.

Me: “See ya at 3pm :)”
Emma: “Yes :) Phil is going to join me as well if that's okay.  He's keen to give it a go too.”
Me: “Awesome! :)”

Sure enough, Phil & Emma joined the virtual meeting.  I was late, as I was still in a longish video gospel conversation with a guy from Canada.  But when I finally joined, Matt was doing an Omegle demo to them and the rest of the team.

Phil & Emma then joined me in our own virtual meeting room, where we were able to discuss online evangelism.  I then shared my screen and audio and proceeded to do another demo for them - with a late teen girl who was happy to hear the gospel, and then ask questions.  And then another - this time with a Muslim from the UK.  He was open, but we sensed he knew where it was going and bailed before I could share the gospel.  But I had managed to drop a link to needGod.net before he left.

After further discussion, Phil was keen to give it a go!  And Emma too.  And so I left them to it.

It’s so encouraging to see people giving it a try!  And if you are not keen for video chat (yet), you can start with text based Omegle chat.  And there are other options too.

You may be wondering, “but how do I start the conversation?”  Here is a suggestion: “Hi there, hey, I’ve got a deep question for you, what do you think happens after life?”  It’s not as hard as you think, because you are willingly entering a conversation with a complete stranger, and so are they - it really does lower the barrier (the social awkwardness) to asking direct questions like that.  Give it a try, you’d be surprised how many are keen to talk about the deep questions of life.  And if it doesn’t go well, smile and say, “check out needGod.net, have a nice day”.  And then hit ESC twice on your keyboard.  Pray, then try again!

Earlier in the afternoon, I entered an Omegle video chat and was greeted with the pictured view!  The guy had Hot Wheels (tm) all over his walls!  A great conversation starter!  And then I noticed he had a t-shirt on with a picture of Jesus on a surfboard!  It just couldn’t get better, as it gave me an easy way to swing the conversation from the natural to the spiritual.  In this case, the guy heard the law, but I could tell he was going to exit the conversation, so I quickly dropped a link to needGod.net.  To my surprise, he looked at it and then, under his breath, as though talking to himself, said: “I’ll copy that so I don’t lose it”.  He then proceeded to tell me how things worked in the world (in a nice way), and then, unsurprisingly, bailed - he was gone forever.  But he heard the bad news, and he has access to the good news.  He is in God’s hands.

I’ve mentioned IRC (Internet Relay Chat) a few times in my reports, and I continue to keep this in the background.  Yesterday, I managed to get into a great conversation with a guy who thought there was an objective standard of morality that didn’t require God.  As the conversation ended, I “preached” the gospel in the channel, but I became aware of a newbie to the channel.  Long story short, it turns out the newbie is a Christian I’ve worked with many times in street evangelism!  David had been reading my battle logs (haha, I say this all the time, but - people are actually reading them ) and so checked out IRC for himself.  It turns out that he had already taken on the guy I had just been discussing with, about the very same subject (and I never realised, because I came into the channel after David was there).  

I’m so encouraged to see Christians getting involved, as they can!  Praise God, glory to Him.

Today God gave me a special opportunity to talk about the gospel in IRC.  Sadly, the conversation was on the topic of drugs.  I am Zedude.  I’ve done my best to cut out unrelated chat lines.  With multiple people contributing to the conversation it can get hard to follow everything, but I hope you can make out what was going on.

[2020-04-22 13:00:55] [Zedude] Afternoon!
[2020-04-22 13:46:45] → android1 joined (~androirc@unaffiliated/vadre)
[2020-04-22 13:48:45] [android1] passionate about truth
[2020-04-22 13:50:24] [Zedude] android1: you are passionate about truth?
[2020-04-22 13:51:25] [android1] michael highway to heaven
[2020-04-22 13:51:48] [Zedude] Huh?
[2020-04-22 13:51:58] [android1] highway to heaven
[2020-04-22 13:52:09] [Zedude] Are you on it?
[2020-04-22 13:52:20] [android1] are you a club24 member
[2020-04-22 13:52:24] [Zedude] no
[2020-04-22 13:52:31] [android1] sign ip
[2020-04-22 13:52:44] [Zedude] It's a narrow road to heaven, btw
[2020-04-22 13:54:12] [Zedude] android1: are you a good person?  Will you go to heaven when you die?
[2020-04-22 13:56:37] [pbxman] what are your thoughts on psychedelic trips doc235 ?
[2020-04-22 13:56:48] [doc235] i love them
[2020-04-22 14:00:10] [doc235] i seen a blue dragon in my kitchen :)
[2020-04-22 14:00:30] [_Sam--] I see a knee dragon on my wall
[2020-04-22 14:01:51] [Zedude] Drugs: here be dragons
[2020-04-22 14:07:13] ← android1 left (~androirc@unaffiliated/vadre): "Quit"
[2020-04-22 14:11:01] [Zedude] Well, if this life is all there is, might as well make the most of it.  But then I read Ecclesiastes and I cried like a baby.
[2020-04-22 14:11:16] [dumbguy] Zenude: sup
[2020-04-22 14:11:29] [pbxman] why Zedude? what did touch you?
[2020-04-22 14:12:25] [Zedude] Well, I saw life as so meaningless, and Ecclesiastes confirmed that for me - and touched me in a deep way.  It put it into perspective for me.
[2020-04-22 14:16:03] [Zedude] .bible ecc 12:13
[2020-04-22 14:16:04] [HEYYOUGUYS] (Zedude) Ecclesiastes 12:13 Having heard everything, I have reached this conclusion: Fear God and keep his commandments, because this is the whole duty of man. 
[2020-04-22 14:16:10] [Zedude] .bible ecc 12:14
[2020-04-22 14:16:10] [HEYYOUGUYS] (Zedude) Ecclesiastes 12:14 For God will evaluate every deed, including every secret thing, whether good or evil. 
[2020-04-22 14:16:45] [pbxman] Zedude, how do you think god will evaluate you? What do you expect to get from god?
[2020-04-22 14:17:12] [Zedude] pbxman, by his standard written on my heart: my conscience.
[2020-04-22 14:17:33] [Zedude] A standard I fail.
[2020-04-22 14:17:34] [dave0] Zedude: is ecclesiastes new testament?
[2020-04-22 14:17:39] [Zedude] No, OT
[2020-04-22 14:17:46] [dave0] oh ok
[2020-04-22 14:17:53] [pbxman] Zedude, do you take confession ?
[2020-04-22 14:18:03] [Zedude] pbxman, no.
[2020-04-22 14:18:16] [pbxman] Zedude, do you expect to be rewarded by god?
[2020-04-22 14:18:18] [Zedude] We have direct access to God, through Jesus sacrifice
[2020-04-22 14:18:45] [dave0] nope, sacrifice means nothing
[2020-04-22 14:18:46] [Zedude] no, I'm not worth of any reward; and any I get, I want to cast before Jesus in honour of him.
[2020-04-22 14:19:22] [dave0] another religious snake who thinks the torture and murder of an innocent man for no reason is "good"
[2020-04-22 14:19:25] [pbxman] Zedude, do you think deep meditation or psychedelics could get you closer to Jesus?
[2020-04-22 14:19:28] [Zedude] dave0: through the cross, the temple veil was torn top to bottom.
[2020-04-22 14:19:42] [dave0] Zedude: means nothing
[2020-04-22 14:20:19] [dave0] who said he had to die? what can he teach in death that he couldn't teach in life?
[2020-04-22 14:20:20] [Zedude] dave0: it wasn't for no reason.  Jesus did it willingly, to satsify justice and offer mercy.
[2020-04-22 14:20:25] [pbxman] dave0,  According to the bible Jesus knew what would happen to him
[2020-04-22 14:20:26] [hi63vj] Do you beleive in magic?
[2020-04-22 14:20:33] [dave0] Zedude: it's meaningless
[2020-04-22 14:20:35] [Zedude] dave0: at a cost we won't be able to comprehend.
[2020-04-22 14:20:52] [Zedude] pbxman: no further away
[2020-04-22 14:21:18] [dave0] knowing it would happen changes nothing
[2020-04-22 14:21:34] [Zedude] dave0: ?
[2020-04-22 14:21:51] [pbxman] to me meditation and psychedelics is what gets me closer to the source of consciousness or "god" 
[2020-04-22 14:22:11] [Zedude] pbxman: key statement: "to me".  What matters is what is true.
[2020-04-22 14:22:25] [dave0] Zedude: so you say killing jesus was a good thing?
[2020-04-22 14:22:32] [pbxman] Zedude, truth is complicated word in matters of faith
[2020-04-22 14:22:33] [Zedude] dave0: yes
[2020-04-22 14:22:41] [dave0] Zedude: snake
[2020-04-22 14:22:44] [_Sam--] I support the Jews and Romans decision to kill Jesus.
[2020-04-22 14:22:54] [_Sam--] He was going around bringing people from the dead for no reason.
[2020-04-22 14:22:56] [Zedude] dave0: why?
[2020-04-22 14:23:16] [dave0] Zedude: you argue for killing people?
[2020-04-22 14:23:27] [Zedude] pbxman: truth is not complicated, it is true :)
[2020-04-22 14:23:30] [pbxman] .bible john 19:30
[2020-04-22 14:23:31] [HEYYOUGUYS] (pbxman) John 19:30 When he had received the sour wine, Jesus said, “It is completed!” Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. 
[2020-04-22 14:23:39] [_Sam--] If some dude came around today and started bringing dead people back to life in a morgue, would you want that dude alive?
[2020-04-22 14:23:43] [Zedude] dave0: I argue for truth and justice.
[2020-04-22 14:23:44] [_Sam--] Or would you want that dude killed?
[2020-04-22 14:24:12] [dave0] Zedude: you call murder truth and justice
[2020-04-22 14:24:31] [Zedude] dave0: no.  Murder is objectively wrong.
[2020-04-22 14:24:39] [pbxman] according to the bible he said "it is completed" so he came here for a purpose
[2020-04-22 14:24:50] [dave0] Zedude: no. you say it is good
[2020-04-22 14:25:04] [dave0] Zedude: because you are a snake
[2020-04-22 14:25:17] [_Sam--] It's like lots of other jews before jesus had powers too
[2020-04-22 14:25:22] [_Sam--] And they did good things with them
[2020-04-22 14:25:24] [_Sam--] Like parted a sea
[2020-04-22 14:25:29] [_Sam--] and helped Jews
[2020-04-22 14:25:36] [_Sam--] All Jesus did was bring some people back from the dead
[2020-04-22 14:25:37] [dave0] for which good deed do you stone him
[2020-04-22 14:25:40] [_Sam--] and caught a couple fish
[2020-04-22 14:25:42] [_Sam--] That's it
[2020-04-22 14:25:44] [_Sam--] BFD
[2020-04-22 14:25:46] [Zedude] dave0: Jesus willing went to the cross, to satisfy the justice of God.  God kills, but it is not murder, it is justice.  By what standard am I a snake?
[2020-04-22 14:26:07] [dave0] Zedude: by your own standard that murder is objectively wrong
[2020-04-22 14:26:23] ⇐ pbxman quit (~pbxman@84.78.242.15): Remote host closed the connection
[2020-04-22 14:26:56] [Zedude] dave0: I don't have a standard, but God does.  Justice.  We all believe in it.  But God is also merciful.
[2020-04-22 14:27:01] [dave0] yep god kills, jesus hasn't killed yet, murder is truth and justice... and you ask why you are a snake
[2020-04-22 14:27:30] [Zedude] dave0: you are twisting my words.  Why?  Why are you so angry?
[2020-04-22 14:27:39] [dave0] Zedude: you've never heard his voice or seen his form
[2020-04-22 14:27:53] [dave0] because i hate it when religious idiots advocate murder
[2020-04-22 14:28:10] [dave0] i hate it when anyone advocates murder
[2020-04-22 14:28:29] [Zedude] dave0: true - directly I haven't.  But I hear his voice indirecly, through the Bible.  Written language is objective.
[2020-04-22 14:28:51] [Zedude] dave0: I never ever advocate for murder.
[2020-04-22 14:29:03] [CrystalMath] _Sam--: see i'm only partially jewish, the most i ever did was caused a particular flame to burn more strongly from a large distance
[2020-04-22 14:29:12] [_Sam--] Capital Punishment
[2020-04-22 14:29:14] [_Sam--] I for an I
[2020-04-22 14:29:22] [_Sam--] People get killed in proper justice.
[2020-04-22 14:29:23] [Zedude] dave0: but I did murder - I murdered Jesus.  My life should be forfiet.
[2020-04-22 14:29:36] [dave0] snake
[2020-04-22 14:29:42] [Zedude] yes I am
[2020-04-22 14:30:13] [Zedude] I deserve Hell.  Cos I'm a snake.  But I'm not going there.  Because my justice has been satisfied by Jesus.  And I have accepted his mercy.
[2020-04-22 14:30:24] [CrystalMath] apart from also doing some gentile magic tricks
[2020-04-22 14:31:09] [Zedude] And that mercy and grace is available to all of you.  https://needgod.net/
[2020-04-22 14:31:12] [HEYYOUGUYS] Title: Need God - What's After Life?

And then the conversation died out.  That was the last thing I said.  There was silence.  With up to 300 people in the channel, I just pray that some of them were listening.  That some follow the link.  Do your best to share the gospel, leave the results in God’s hands - what more can we do?  The great thing is that I’m regularly in that channel, people can follow up with me if they want.

 

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