“God Would Never Judge!” – Winchester Evangelism

With the cold weather, I wasn’t expecting much interaction in Winchester, but I was surprised! Despite being in the shade and with the wind blowing, people stopped to engage with the preaching and to ask good questions.

Paul Stinchcombe commenced the preaching by speaking on “A Brief History of Time.” As he preached, an older man paused to listen; he paid attention for a time before walking away. As he left, I engaged him in conversation. He just laughed at the message, “I’ve nearly died three times; I can assure you there is no afterlife!” I replied, “Nearly dying isn’t the same as dying. You are gambling with your eternal destiny.” The man seemed stunned at this statement, so he took a tract before continuing on his way. 

Shortly after, a young man stopped at the free literature table. He wore a large cross and told me he was going to Winchester Cathedral for holy communion. He stopped to ensure we weren’t a cult; once he realised we were orthodox in our views, he relaxed and was very friendly. He took a booklet that explains the gospel from the story of the prodigal son.

As lunchtime drew near, I preached on, “How Can You Be Sure You’ll Go to Heaven?” While explaining Romans 6:23, two lesbians began to engage me. At first, they called out, “It is all about love!” Then they kissed each other. I knew this was an attempt to bait me, so I answered by saying God is love and that love is shown at the cross. This answer caused them to engage further. They started to ask good questions relating to sin and punishment, but they constantly said, “God would never judge!” I reasoned with them about goodness and judgment, and they finally agreed that God would judge certain sins – just not theirs! They listened as the gospel was explained but then had to leave. They left on friendly terms. As they were leaving, Paul offered them a tract; sadly, a lady interrupted stating she was their priest from a local church and she would take care of them. I would hate to be in that woman’s shoes on judgment day – not only does she usurp a role that isn’t hers (1 Timothy 2:12), but she also comforts people in their sin. Her acceptance of sin will only condemn people to hell. May the Lord open her blind religious eyes!

Hecklers often bring in more hecklers, as the two ladies left, a young man began to heckle. This man was a postmodern relativist who didn’t believe in truth or absolutes (both statements he said were true and absolute!). At first, he objected to me saying “He” when referring to God, so he asked, “Why can’t God be a woman?” I answered by asking, “Why are you rejecting God’s preferred pronouns? God says He, so why won’t you accept that?” This seemed to shock the man, so he quickly said, “I’m just asking why God is He, not if He is He.” To answer this, I went to the incarnation to show that Jesus is God in the flesh and that He was truly man and truly God. This wasn’t a good enough answer for the heckler, who kept asking “Why”. So, I said to him, “Why are you a male?” He answered, “Because that is how I was born.” I asked again, “Why?” He said, “Because of genetics.” Which caused me to ask another question – “Why?” The man saw the point, he answered, “Because that is just what I am.” I pointed out that God is just as He is – the question we should be asking isn’t ‘why’ rather it should be, ‘why don’t I believe what God says?’

The heckler changed topics; he was now asking questions about the nature of truth. Once again, I engaged his arguments by pointing to God as the standard. Whenever the heckler found he couldn’t answer, he quickly jumped to another topic. As he did this, people stopped to listen. I could hear from their comments that the heckler wasn’t winning over the crowd. When we engage hecklers, we often aren’t arguing for the one asking the question, rather we are arguing for those listening behind. They are hearing truth and seeing the folly of a worldview without God.

Throughout our discussion, everything remained polite and friendly. Numerous times I pointed to the gospel and called on people to trust in Jesus. At the end, the heckler took a copy of John’s Gospel, promising to read it.

By now, I was freezing, so while I went to get a hot chocolate, Paul preached again. This time on “What’s Your Excuse?” He was able to have a good one-to-one conversation with a lady who stopped to ask for a leaflet.

As we packed down the outreach, a young man stopped. He told us he studies theology and religion, though he doesn’t go to church or believe. The reason he stopped was because he had seen the earlier back and forth between the heckler and me. He found the interaction enlightening, so he took a copy of John’s Gospel.

We rejoice that the gospel spread in Winchester today. Please pray for all those who heard the good news.

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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