Post by jonathanhulewicz on Mar 26, 2006 22:42:57 GMT -5
A group of us went recently to a small shopping centre directly opposite the biggest church (20,000 plus) in Sydney, Australia with the view of doing some one 2 one witnessing with youth attending the church’s youth group. The church presents a typical “God loves you…etc gospel and uses entertainment to attract crowds. As we arrived we heard a Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones song blaring from loud speakers at the front of the ‘church’ for all to hear. We were absolutely appalled. The majority of young people we spoke to, thought they were saved because of their good works and because they had said the ‘sinner’s prayer’. We were really grieved that so many were being deceived by this church. We soon drew attention to ourselves even though we were witnessing in a public area. Two youth ‘pastors’ approached us and began accusing us of harassing their youth (incidentally, we were only preaching the gospel and not discouraging or stopping anyone from attending the ‘church’). When we challenged them about the secular rock music being played, one of the ‘pastors’ admitted to us that he had no problem listening to John Lennon and the Beetle’s even after we pointed out that John Lennon had called our Saviour a ‘garlic eating Jewish *****’ and that they were one of the most God hating groups that Satan had ever raised from the pit of hell. At this point he blasphemed the Lord’s name and called us Pharisee’s because of our legalistic appearance (we have short hair and dress smartly) and criticism of secular rock music. I asked one of them where a person would go without Christ, he answered PROBABLY hell. I thought that perhaps he hadn’t heard me correctly, so I asked him again. Again, he said probably Hell. At this point we openly rebuked them for preaching a false gospel and being false teachers. Another ‘Christian’ from the ‘church’ told us to F*** OFF and that if we didn’t he would deck us. We told him that he was obviously exhibiting the fruits of the Spirit and we rapidly retreated. We continued to witness, but kept well away from the ‘church’ perimeter.
My two questions. Firstly, were we right to preach the gospel to these deceived young people outside this mega ‘church’ and secondly was it biblical to rebuke openly the two youth ‘pastors’ for being false teachers?
My two questions. Firstly, were we right to preach the gospel to these deceived young people outside this mega ‘church’ and secondly was it biblical to rebuke openly the two youth ‘pastors’ for being false teachers?