“Why Did God Allow My Sister to Die?” – Portsmouth Evangelism

Psalm 37:23 reminds us that our very steps are guided by the Lord. Today, we saw His direction as we made our way into the city centre of Portsmouth to share the good news. As we walked along Commercial Road, we noticed a busker had set up in our usual preaching location; then we saw another busker in our secondary preaching spot. What were we to do? We kept walking, looking for the best place to preach – then we saw it. A location outside a closed shop, near where people could sit and listen. The only problem was that it was in a quieter part of the street – but we had no choice. This was to be our location, and it turned out to be the perfect spot!

As we began to set up the open-air board and the free literature table, people started to make their way over to us to ask for Bibles. Throughout the outreach, even though this part of the street wasn’t too busy, the table had a steady stream of people browsing the material. It was also encouraging to see several of our regulars find us and want to talk further about the Lord.

I was the only preacher for the day, so I started off by speaking on “God is Love!” This is a new open-air message that shows three different ways God demonstrates love towards humanity. As I proclaimed the message, an elderly couple who appeared to be in their 80s began to mock and ridicule. At first, the man called out a few curse words, then the woman he was with joined in. Knowing that they were in the latter part of their life (Psalm 90:10), I decided the best course of action was to directly challenge them.

I warned them from Scripture that they would soon appear before the judgement seat of Christ to give an account of their rejection of Him and His Word. I also pointed out that they would give an account for every word they had spoken – including the mockery they were currently displaying (Matthew 12:36). As they continued to blaspheme God, I quoted the words of Jesus in Luke 13:3, calling on them to repent. They soon walked off, continuing in the life of sin they had known for so long.

The sad reality is that this older couple are only a few short breaths away from eternal Hell. They are marching willingly towards the wrath of God, and they don’t care. It is truly heartbreaking to see people rush towards damnation without giving it a second thought. They’ve now been warned and called to turn, so we rest in the knowledge that the Judge of all the earth will do right (Genesis 18:25).

But while some mocked, others listened and were open to the good news. At the end of my open-air message, I called on people to trust in Jesus, then offered copies of John’s Gospel to anyone who would like to find out more about the Saviour. It was encouraging to see eight people request copies of the Gospel of John.

While I was preaching, Nigel was busy over at the literature table. He was in a deep conversation with a lady who had been very moved by the gospel. This conversation started before I preached and continued well after I had finished. It was long and meaningful. The lady teared up on several occasions as she heard the good news, and she listened as Nigel pointed her to the Saviour. She gladly took a Bible and a referral to Grace Baptist Church.

Around this time, Margaret was engaged in conversation with an older gentleman who was a lifelong entertainer and is related to a famous British performer. She brought me into the discussion as this man was ready to proclaim his own goodness; in fact, he declared he was nearly perfect. Together, we went through five of the Ten Commandments, and he admitted to breaking them all. He listened as I explained that Jesus came to rescue sinners like him. After the discussion, he took a copy of the New Testament, saying he would read it.

Another encouraging conversation today was with a young man who identified as an agnostic. He freely admitted that ‘someone’ must have made everything, as we exist; his question was, “Who is the Creator?” Using John 1:18, I showed the young man that Jesus reveals to us who God is, and from there I explained the gospel. He was interested and said it made sense. He took a copy of John’s Gospel, saying he would need to look into Jesus further.

By now, it was time to preach once again, so this time I spoke on “God and Humanity.” In this message, I explain that God created us, but we’ve all put up a wall of sin between us and Him. As I spoke, a couple stopped and began to heckle. Sometimes hecklers ask questions they don’t really want answers to, but these ones asked good questions and genuinely wanted to know the truth.

One of them asked a deeply personal question: “Why did God allow my sister to die a few weeks ago?” As she asked the question, you could see the pain on her face – this was raw and real. This wasn’t someone attempting a ‘gotcha’; she wanted answers.

The first thing I did was sympathise with her and express my condolences – we should grieve with those who grieve (Romans 12:15). Then, I began to carefully answer her question. I rephrased it slightly to remove the personal nature of the issue and said, “You want to know why bad things happen, is that right?” She nodded in agreement, so starting with Genesis, I explained how humanity turned its back on God, which brought sin into the world, resulting in death and suffering.

I then took her to the cross and explained that Jesus came to deal with sin and to offer life. At this point, the man she was with asked, “Why did Jesus have to die?” This provided the perfect opening to explain how Christ paid the full penalty for our sin. After listening, the man said, “I can see that; it makes sense.”

While I dealt with the hecklers, the crowd grew as people stopped to listen. I made sure to keep looping everything back to the gospel, and then asked, “The question we need to wrestle with is: where will we go after we die?” The hecklers agreed that was the biggest question, which allowed me once again to share the good news.

Both hecklers took copies of John’s Gospel, and the lady who had the questions about suffering took a copy of the booklet Why All the Suffering?

Another lady who had been listening also took a copy of John’s Gospel. Margaret spoke with her afterwards; she was open to hearing the gospel and seemed moved by the preaching. She was seeking, so she was urged to trust in Jesus.

The Lord was once again kind to the city of Portsmouth. He allowed His truth to spread – please pray He’ll bring many to salvation.

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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