Operation 513 London: Leicester Square (27th March 2009)

By God’s grace and great favour we continue to head into London each week to minister the gospel in Leicester Square. In recent weeks we have had some fantastic conversations with people and have seen many Bibles, tracts and DVD’s distributed into the hands of men and women who do not know the Lord. On a very encouraging note I have seen someone attend my church after he stopped to listen to the gospel being preached and then spent some time talking with us afterwards. His name is Yang and he is from China. He is working in the UK and has been here less than six months. When we got talking with him he told us that he knew of Christianity but that he had no idea what it was all about. He was intrigued enough by the message to stop and listen, which was really something. Here was a man who had never heard the gospel before in his life and had never stepped foot in a church. When he attended my church he was quite surprised to learn that very few people in this country attend church, due to such a widespread lack of belief in God, as well as a failure to see the relevance of Christianity to their lives. Yang is very much intrigued by western culture and so his desire to find out more about Christianity is driven by that. It may be that the Lord uses this cultural curiosity to expose him to the truth that has been blinded from him. Whatever the Lord chooses to do, it is my hearts desire that he would come to a saving knowledge of the truth. He has said that he would like to attend church again and he plans on coming to us again next Sunday. Do pray for him.

On Friday night we headed into London minus a stepladder. I had left it on the train the week before and only realised what I had done when I was halfway down the road on the walk home. I have not had the opportunity to purchase another one just yet and so we spent our evening speaking with people one-to-one. Jannah spent some time talking with a group of young Muslim men. She admits that she finds Muslim’s to be quite difficult to talk to, largely due to their unreasonable behaviour. Often they will ask you a question without giving you the opportunity to answer. It is true that they wish to convert us, as we do them, however Islam is a religion that produces an aggressive and militant people. Jannah is experiencing that in many of the conversations she is having when talking with Muslim’s. Even so, she knows that there are some Muslim’s who will genuinely stop to listen and such was the case on Friday night. I was encouraged to hear from Jannah that she had been able to proclaim the gospel to those who did stop to listen.

Ben was able to talk with some young men as well. Although they listened to the gospel they were very indifferent to its message. This can be very discouraging, but we have to keep on sharing the message and trust the Lord that He will cause the seed that is sown to germinate and bring life. I told Ben not to be discouraged. We must simply do our best to drive home the seriousness of the message to those who would dismiss it, and then we must trust the Holy Spirit to open the eyes that are blind.

I had a very encouraging conversation with a young man named Edward. A friend was also with him; however her name has slipped my mind. I find this always to be frustrating but I can pray for them both knowing that the Lord knows exactly who they are. Both Edward and his friend stood to listen for at least half an hour as I shared the gospel with them. I could see I had their whole attention and they appeared to understand that if they were to die in their sins, apart from Christ, they would go to hell (John 8:24). At the end of the conversation I implored them to think carefully about this. They said that they would and Edward took the time to thank me for sharing with them. My heart really went out to them and nothing would please me more than to see them in heaven one day. Do pray for them.

We had a great evening. Closing in prayer we thanked the Lord for all the opportunities He gave us. As we make ourselves available to Him the Lord will open up opportunities for us. We must preach the word, in season and out of season (2 Timothy 4:2), for the Lord Himself has appointed us to make His name known.

Soli Deo Gloria!!

Holiness: Separation from Worldliness

Recently I watched a documentary of a young girl born into a large Christian family. The documentary was displayed on BBC 3, a rare thing indeed in secularised Britain today. Below is a short introductory clip from the documentary.

This young lady is a testament to the Lord's grace and a wonderful upbringing from her parents. It really is so very wonderful to see. If it appears "weird" to anyone it's only because godly behaviour and a strong moral character is so far removed from the normal everyday life of most people today. Accusations have been made against the family, particularly towards Deborah. People have said that she is “isolated from everything.” They have also said that the family is selfish for not being more community focused with the gospel.

The Bible says Christians should not love the world or the things of the world. (1 John 2:15) This is because worldly practises are evil. Yet Christians are to go out into the world and be a light. This family does this; it is certainly something they take seriously. The obvious example of this is Deborah, a young thirteen year old girl who is always ready to give an answer for the hope that lies within her. (1 Peter 3:15) She does not just wait for the world to come to her. No, she takes the hope of the gospel out into her community. This is a wonderful family and a family that models well the Christian life.

Something else that needs to be considered is where this family lives. They live on a farm out in the sticks and that's just the way it is. That is the family business. Deborah is restricted from a greater number of friends because of this. Even so it is quite clear that she is a very confident and mature young girl. Even Deborah's younger sister Kirsty, in the first few minutes of the program, displays a strong degree of confidence and maturity for one her age. The program does not display a girl who is opposed to having friends. It does not display a family that is opposed to societal interaction. What it does show is a Christian family that follows Christ. In Roman times Christians were persecuted because they were considered anti-social. The same attitude is in affect today. Christians do not become "reclusive" because they are anti-social; they simply refrain from participating in those things which are ungodly. The Drapper family is not selfish, it follows Christ.

Some have also used words like “religiosity” when referring to the family’s lifestyle. I think what they refer to as "religiosity" the Bible would call a life committed and devoted to following Christ. Deborah's ultimate authority in life is the Word of God. The same should be for every Christian. Jesus said, "If you love Me, you will obey Me." (John 14:15) This means that the Christian should live a holy and godly life. You cannot do many of the worldly things and still live a godly life. There are many things you can do, but there are also many things you will not do because you hate the darkness and love the light. Deborah's life is indeed a life that shows evidence of someone born-again because her life is modelled not after this world, but rather after Christ.

Others have questioned things like the genuineness of a six-year turning to Christ, as well Jesus using “scare tactics” in order to get people to follow Him. I would respond by saying that six is indeed a very young age. However, people mature at different levels. Consider Samuel, a young boy who ministered before the Lord. (1 Sam. 2:18) The gospel is also so simple a child can understand it. Regarding the next objection, consider these verses...

LUKE 12:5
But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him [God] who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him!

LUKE 13:1-5
There were some present at that very time who told him [Jesus] about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

The Christian life is often a lonely life. Often we are called to make big sacrifices. Deborah has not been coerced and forced into following Christ. She expressly said that she made the decision to become a Christian on her own terms, not because her parents forced her to. She was simply taught the truth and Jesus said, “And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:32) As for the comment that she seems intent on scarring people, well, hell is scary and if people are indifferent to the terrors of hell then they should be scarred so that they will flee from the wrath that is to come and will turn and run to Christ. You may find the following link to a post on Deborah’s website quite interesting… http://deborahdrapper.com/275/

Intro to Islam

Myths About Evolution

Myth 7: Ape-Human DNA Similarities

The “slam dunk” proof for human evolution is, according to evolutionists, the claimed 98% similarity between human and chimp DNA and the evidence of chromosomal fusion. Textbooks tell us that this proves the common ancestry of humans and apes from ape-like beings that lived millions of years ago.

What makes this a myth, however, is that evolutionists forget to mention the problems with this claim. For one thing, the percentage of similarity may sound impressive (depending on which percentage you find), but this represents millions of letters of difference in the DNA. Factor in that many of the differences in the DNA are not represented in the “98% similarity” (such as deletions) and epigenetic differences and the chasm grows. Second, seeing the “history” of humans evolving from chimps in DNA and chromosomes requires a prior commitment to evolution. Evolutionists interpret the data to mean what they want it to mean in light of Darwin’s myth.

Though there are similarities between apes and humans, this too is strong evidence for a common Designer, who gave humanity characteristics unlike any other creature He made. But this doesn’t stop evolutionists, knowingly or not, from using flat-out propaganda as in myth #6.

– Answers in Genesis

The Holiness of God - Part.1

Operation 513 London: Leicester Square (27th February 2009)

On Friday evening we had another big turn out! The team for the night: Carl, Wesley, Oliver, Paul (a friend of Oliver’s), Michael, James Crooke, Jannah, Susi, Steve, Ben, Adam, Katie, Lizzie (a friend from my church), Ashley (a friend of Nigel, who is a good friend of mine) and me. After meeting at Café Nero for a time of prayer and devotions we headed up to the square.

Carl stood up to preach first and preached faithfully, drawing people into discussing as they walked passed. Carl is really growing as an open-air preacher, and while his style is a little different to mine, he preaches faithfully the Word of God without shying away from the truth. After a while Carl tagged me in and so I stood up to preach the Word of God. After a short while a man began to heckle me concerning the existence of God. He maintained that he could never believe in something he had not seen. I told him that we cannot see the wind yet we know it exists. This of course is because we can feel the wind tangibly. I agree that we rarely feel the Lord in the same way, however we can see the effects of the Lord, just like we can see the effects of the wind. There are many things we believe in that we cannot see. It is not always necessary to have to see something or someone in order to know that that someone or something exists. I could, for example, see a painting without ever having seen the painter. Simple deductive logic will lead me to recognise the intelligent design of the painting, thus helping me to conclude that there must be a designer. I went on to explain to the crowd that the God who made this world commands that all men everywhere repent and believe the Gospel. It is not just God’s wish that all be saved, God commands that all turn from their sin in order to be saved.

After I finished preaching we all engaged in one-to-one conversations. I got talking with two Muslim men who both took a copy of The Jesus Film that we put out on the table. During our conversation it became apparent to me that both men were “pre-armed” with objections towards Christianity. The objection that the Bible is corrupt and has been changed multiple times of course came up. I explained that the Bible has not been changed, we simply have many translations of the Bible into the languages of today, from the Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek manuscripts that we have. They also questioned the divinity of Christ and so I took them to the Scriptures so that they could see that Jesus is clearly shown to be both fully man and fully God. As they left they both took an in-depth gospel tract, for which I was very pleased to see.

Many conversations were had by the team and it was so encouraging to see the gospel being proclaimed. Below is a little report that Michael has written showing his involvement during the evening.

My first encounter was with a guy called Naz, he was a really good natured person.

I took him through the 'good' test, he turned out to be guilty on all accounts but said that he would go to heaven; he believed that God would just forgive him because he had done good things. That led me to take him into a court of law. Throughout our encounter I had to keep taking him back to our own court of law because he was intent on justifying himself. He then wanted to know what the bible says about Hell; which I explained.

He then tried to turn it around by asking me if I had done those things, I told him that I was guilty of breaking all of those commandments and that was why we all need the Savoir.

He then wanted to know why there are so many other religions and how did we know we had the correct one. I explained that prophecy 100% proves the Bible is the word of God. I asked him if he could name who the president of America would be in 700 years time, where he would be born and how he would die. Obviously he couldn't.

I ended by telling him that when he lays his head on his pillow tonight that his conscience, that inner voice that he has no control over would probably start speaking to him. I asked him to think about the things we spoke about. He said he would.

I had two other encounters with Lucy and Angela. Again I gave them a million pound track and asked her the million pound question. She agreed to take the 'good' test. They were both guilty of breaking 4 out of the 10 commandments that I asked them. I went through our own court system with them and ended up sharing the Gospel with them.

The most interesting encounter happened on the way home. This encounter may have had the Lord’s hand in it.

James Crooke told me that he was leaving because he had to be up early in the morning. I was in two minds about leaving with him as I wanted to stay and try to witness to some more people, but I looked at the time and felt lead to leave with him as we both go the same way home.

We got to the station looked up at the board and saw that we had 6 minutes for James to get a ticket. The nearest machine had two people in front of him. Time was ticking so James ran around the corner. With sixty seconds to go James came running around the corner. We got on near the back of the train with about thirty seconds to go.

We both sat down, me next to a guy with some earphones on drinking a can of beer and James opposite me next to a lady. I proceeded to pass around some million pound note tracks and to add a bit of light humour, I told all the recipients that they were great when you get the change. I then handed one to the guy sitting next to me drinking the beer. He then looked at the back and said "what's this about" I took him through the good test and as usual he was guilty on all accounts. He said that he had been thinking about these things because his dad was a staunch Catholic and his Gran was a Christian and that she had spoken to him a few times and had been praying for him.

I said to him "speak to your Gran and your father" second thoughts only speak to your Gran and get you father to speak to your Gran. I also said that this could be a divine appointment bearing in mind that we had caught the train with seconds to spare and we could have ended up anywhere else on the train, but we ended up sitting next to him. James said "could we be the answer to his Gran’s prayers?"

He asked some questions on Catholicism and other religions which James explained to him. James also gave him his contact details and asked him to contact him if he had any other questions.

All in all it was a great night of evangelism.

Soli Deo Gloria!!

Operation 513 London: Leicester Square (20th February 2009)

Well the team just continues to grow and it is such an encouragement to see God adding to our numbers. On Friday evening we were back in Leicester Square. The team for the night: Carl, Wesley, my brother James, James Crooke, Oliver (James and Oliver have been once before so it was great to see them back), Steve, Ben, Susi, Jannah, Elyske, Petra, Lorenco (Petra's boyfriend) and me. We were also joined by my Pastor (Doug McMasters) and his wife Royale, their two sons Matt and Ben, Barney (a great friend from church), Katie (a young student over from Texas who is attending our church) and also some of the youth from my church. So we had a great presence in Leicester Square which was fantastic.


I stood up to preach first and God drew a crowd. Not long into my message, however, a young man came and stood in front of and began "preaching to the crowd." What he said made very little sense, however he emphasised man's right not to be told what to do and as a result drew applause from the crowd. At this point I was thinking "Oh brother!" I wanted to counter what he was saying, however I knew that if I did it would simply become a "slogging match" of sorts between us and so I let him say his thing so that he could move on. After he left I refuted his claims and made it clear that all gods are not the same, there is one true God who made this world and He makes the rules. He will judge us one day and He will call us all to account.

A little time after I got engaged in a dialogue with a man named David. He was rather senior in age and somewhat of an intellectual; he admitted that one could not truly be an atheist; however he maintained that the Bible was not a credible book and therefore Christianity was not trustworthy and valid. I explained to him that the Bible is indeed very credible and when we look at the manuscript evidence, the archaeological evidence, prophesies in the Bible, and the amazing statistics found in its pages, we are left believing it to be very credible. After wrangling with him intellectually I moved to address his conscience and took him through the good person test. This allowed me to open up God's law and then declare forth the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ.

David was quite gracious and did not become aggressive, he was a great heckler and he drew people in, which then allowed me to preach the gospel. After he left he took a Bible from me, which was really great. I spent the rest of the time pleading with the crowd to turn to the Lord in repentance in faith.

After I finished preaching open-air I joined with the rest of the team in talking with people one-to-one. I stood by the table that we put out, which is great for getting into one-to-ones. The team was engaged in conversation with people and many tracts and Bibles were taken and so for that we can only rejoice.

Soli Deo Gloria!!

Operation 513 London: Leicester Square (13th February 2009)

On Friday evening the team met once again at Café Nero for a time of prayer and devotions before heading into Leicester square. The team was as follows: Carl, Wesley, Ben, Susi, Petra, Jannah, James, Steve, Wayne, Nigel, Josh, Melissa and Fredee. Josh (president of Operation 513), Fredee and Melissa were at the last leg of their mission trip around the UK and joined up with us for the night. Josh of course is from Brisbane, Australia, and the two girls are from California. Nigel and Wayne are two friends from Mansfield who travelled down to London to join. We truly were blessed to have such a large team; brothers and sisters in Christ from all over partnering to fulfil the great commission!

We headed to our usual spot and set up our table that has free Bibles, DVDs and tracts for people to take away. Once we were sorted I stood up to preach. I had not even been preaching for even five minutes when four police officers approached me and asked me to step down. They told me that they did not permit public speaking in Leicester Square because it draws a crowd, which "lends itself to pick pocketing." This seemed ridiculous to me and I explained to the officer that we had been coming to Leicester Square for over a year. I asked him if we had broken the law and he said no. With Josh coming to give support we pointed out to the officers that there were buskers in the square that also brought in a crowd, as did the nightclubs, but he simply said he was not interested in them and was concerned simply with what we were doing. It was quite apparent that they were not prepared to let us continue so we asked them what we would be arrested for, since we were not guilty of breaking any law. We were told that we would be taken in for anti-social behaviour. At this point righteous indignation arose in us and we decided we needed to speak with the inspector at the station. We had been discriminated against and it was only right that we made a stand concerning our rights (see Acts 16:35-39).

Josh, Steve and me then made our way to the police station. Before leaving we told the team to remain in the square and hand out tracts and speak to people one-to-one. Arriving at the police station we waited until we were able to speak with the station inspector. Josh took the lead in this and I was really impressed with the way he handled himself. He was very assertive and bold, but at the same time he was deeply respectful and courteous. He did use strong words with the inspector and told him that we had been discriminated against and as such felt vilified. The inspector was very apologetic and agreed with us that we had done nothing wrong. He said that we were not in breach of any law. He assured me that we were totally within our rights to preach open-air in Leicester Square, provided of course we did not deliver hate speech. We of course had no problem with this and thanked him for his time. We headed back to the team and told them the good news. They of course were very encouraged.

I stood up once again and preached a solid gospel message. God brought people to listen and you can see that in the photos below. The gentleman in the white cap was a good sport and agreed to go through the good person test. It's always good to be able to do this as it brings a bit of humour and also keeps the crowd interested.

After I preached Josh stood up to preach and he did a wonderful job of defended the faith against a number of objections that came from those listening. Josh is incredibly knowledgeable in the field of apologetics and I always find it inspiring when I go witnessing with him.

During both open-air sessions the team spoke with many people and handed out many tracts. God was so very good to us and we give Him all the glory that He sovereignly intervened and used us to proclaim His gospel in the midst of persecution. It was a great night of ministry and one we will remember!

Soli Deo Gloria!

Operation 513 London: Leicester Square (30th January 2009)

Friday evening saw the team come together once more for a night of evangelism. The team was as follows: James (my younger brother), Steve, Ben, Carl, Jannah, Susi, Philip, and me. We met at Café Nero for a time of devotions and prayer and then headed into Leicester Square to minister the gospel.

After standing up to preach it wasn't long before people stopped to listen and make comments. One of the first to do this was a man named Ali. After I explained to Ali that we are all sinners, that we have all lied and stolen and looked with lust, he asked me this question: How can I redeem myself? This allowed me to explain to him that we cannot redeem ourselves; we cannot make ourselves right with God. The only way we can be made right with God is through trusting in the One who died in our place so that the wrath of God might be satisfied. This is the love of God, poured out through Jesus Christ.

Later on I was heckled by a man who held a thick philosophy book in his hand. He asked some challenging questions and he certainly had a keen ear. I had explained that there is nothing we can do to save ourselves, and then a few minutes later I said that in order to be saved we must repent and believe in Christ. He pulled me up on this and said that I had contradicted myself. I explained that Scripture tells us we cannot repent and believe unless God gives us the grace to repent and believe. Even so, God commands all men everywhere to repent and believe. God is able to do this because all have sinned and have fallen short of His glory. God is sovereign and He saves those who are His. We must tell people that even though they cannot cause themselves to be born-again, unless they turn from their sin and trust in Christ they will be cast into hell. Our job is to strip a person of all hope they have in saving themselves, so that they would throw themselves on the mercy of God.

After I finished preaching open-air the team set about speaking with people one-to-one. Steve manned the table that held the free Bibles and tracts we put out. Everyone was engaged in conversation and we all had the opportunity to proclaim the gospel to the people of London. It is a real joy for me to see how the team has grown and to see men and women of God who desire above all else to proclaim the name of Jesus.

Soli Deo Gloria!

The Watchmaker