Reality Revelations

A middle-aged church-going man asked me, “Why is your church marketing itself like a business?”  I replied by informing him that rather than “marketing” ourselves, we were in fact, fulfilling the biblical command of Christ, who told us “go” not “come.”  In other words, our commitment was to go and tell people about Jesus Christ and what He has done for each one of us, not compel them to come to church to be told that.  At the Read the rest of this entry »

The lady looked to be in her mid-thirties and was of southern European heritage.  She told me that she, “used to go to church,” but had not done so for many years.  She had guilt written all over her when telling me this.  She went on to say that she had been divorced for fourteen years, she had a fourteen year-old daughter which she found difficult to bring up alone and that life for her was, Read the rest of this entry »

I suppose the number of church-affiliated people who told me that they believed in God, in comparison to the non-church-affiliated who said they did not, could have been as high as ninety-five percent.  That figure is purely a guess on my part.  In any case, I was quick to learn that it did not really matter.  Of those ninety-five percent of people, perhaps eighty percent could Read the rest of this entry »

I ministered to a lot of deeply hurting, angry and bitter people during my time as a street minister.  So deep seated were these emotions in many, that not only were they affected mentally but also physically.  Chronic sickness in the community was as common as a cold day in winter and if I was fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to sit, talk and pray with such people, they would Read the rest of this entry »

In the three and a half years I ministered as a public messenger of the Christian gospel, it seemed that just about everybody was an expert when it came to the Bible.  To the clever and the sophisticated, it was a book of out-dated ancient literature used by the religious, the political or otherwise, to control the ignorant, the superstitious or otherwise.  To the not-so-clever and the not-so- sophisticated, it was, “one of a number of books that contained a few truths and guidelines for mankind to live by, but written only by men.”  To others who had no clue as to Read the rest of this entry »

For the first thirty-nine years of my life I knew nothing about the Bible or God.  I was told something about Jesus Christ in my early religious upbringing, but what that personally meant for me I did not have a clue.  Neither did anyone else.  No priest, nun, pastor, ‘reverend’ or church-goer ever told me that the reason Jesus Christ came to earth was to show me who God was and, that this same God honestly loved me and wanted to prove such love, by offering a personal invitation to me to Read the rest of this entry »

As a “hands on” public messenger of the Christian gospel in my local community I learned some powerful truths about human nature.  I learned that everybody holds firmly to a belief system (god) regardless of whether they say they believe in God or not.  It was a fascinating experience to listen to someone tell me something like, “I have no need of any God or religion, that’s for the weak and the superstitious.”  How proud they were to Read the rest of this entry »

Leila was a Ukrainian lady in her early seventies who used to love coming to our church services on a Sunday morning after attending mass at her Ukrainian Catholic church, which was just a few hundred meters up the street.  She was proud of the fact that she attended two services and participated in, “two holy communions today.”  Doing such, gave her the (misguided) belief that this practice would make God very pleased with her and that it would also bring her closer to Him.  In other words, Leila thought that if she wanted to get to heaven, then she’d better work hard at it so God would be impressed with her efforts. Read the rest of this entry »

Ben invited me in for a chat when I introduced myself to him at his door.  He said he was in his late seventies, an ex-digger who fought in New Guinea during the second world war, but now he was, “sick, divorced twice and happy with my lot.”  He was a lovely old bloke but I did not believe that he really was happy with his lot.  I had met numerous returned servicemen from wars and I knew many of them to be suffering in silence.  He asked me why I was, “doing this kind of work” and my reply was, “so you don’t have to die alone and go into a Christ-less eternity.” Read the rest of this entry »