‘In 25 years as a JW, I’ve never heard that!’ – Winchester Evangelism

Today was a great day in Winchester. This city is one of my ‘hard’ locations, but on this day we saw the Lord work and allow His gospel to spread. As we set up, a local Christian who shares the good news on buses stopped to ask if she could take some of our tracts. We were more than happy to give her resources to help her witness – the more Christians sharing the biblical gospel, the better!

After a few minutes of handing out tracts and speaking to people at the table, I decided to commence preaching. Today, I preached on “Steps to Peace with God.” In this message, I challenge people to ask themselves if they have peace with God, then explain why no one is right with God, and the wonderful news that God has come to rescue us.

At one point in the message, I explained that nothing we do – be it works, religion, or simply being good – will help us have peace with God. I then referenced Isaiah 64:6 to prove the point. As I mentioned this, a lady began to heckle, telling me to be quiet and not to say such things. I replied to her from Scripture, but she wasn’t happy. I later found out she is a committed Roman Catholic who is trusting in her own goodness to save her.

As I was about to finish, another heckler arose – this time a middle- to upper-class British gentleman. He objected to the message, saying, “If God is love, then why are children dying in Gaza?” I answered his objection, but he wasn’t too keen on what I said. He then reaffirmed his opposition to children dying, so I turned it around and asked if he opposed abortion, which has resulted in the murder of hundreds of thousands of children in this nation. The man declared that abortion is a good thing and that there should be more of it. I pointed out his hypocrisy and called on him to repent.

As the outreach continued, team members all had good conversations and handed out numerous tracts. I also met several Aussies, so I knew it was a good day!

Next to preach was Jeremy, who spoke on “The Message of the Cross.” He did a great job showing that the cross is a symbol of wrong (sin), love (Christ dying), and treasure (Jesus Himself).

As Jeremy preached, I spoke to a man at the literature table. He was cagey with me at first, but then revealed he was a long-time Jehovah’s Witness. The man then told me, “The other day, I met a born-again Christian who told me Jesus is God. I’ve never heard such things. Do you believe Jesus is God?” I affirmed the deity of Christ, to which the man stated, “In 25 years as a JW, I’ve never heard that!”

We had a polite and friendly conversation about the divinity of Jesus and the gospel. As we spoke, I shared numerous Scriptures with him, but he never mentioned one. I pointed that out to him, asking, “Only one of us is using the Bible; doesn’t that cause you to wonder if your view is based in Scripture?” The man admitted it was a good question but struggled to untie all his years of indoctrination.

While we spoke, a lady stopped at the table to browse the literature. She then interrupted us and shared her story. She told us that recently she had finished studying with the JWs, and in the final study she saw the truth that the Jehovah’s Witnesses were wrong biblically. This testimony rattled the JW man further. I pointed out to him that in 25 years he had never heard this, and now in a matter of days he’d heard it twice – I stressed that God was being kind in allowing him to hear the truth. The man replied, “What am I supposed to do now?” I shared the good news and urged him to go to the Jesus of the Bible. He took a tract designed for JWs and said he’d be thinking more about what was said.

The Lord truly was at work 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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