Market and Powell 4/10/10

Jim and I took turns preaching. When I am preaching Jim usually walks around the trolley line speaking to people on a more personal level and when Jim preaches I usually pray and look to see if I can spot anyone who is obviously being touched by the Word.

At one point Jim was preaching and he was becoming more and more in earnest - pleading with sinners to come to the Savior. The spiritual warfare was beginning to heat up. A group of young girls were cusing him out and yelling at him to shut up. To the left of him there was that homeless man that I ran into a few weeks before that holds up that sign "why lie, I need a beer." He looks exactly like Gandalf from the Lord of the Rings movies. The demon possessed man from the last time was back as well, swilling vodka from Gandalf's bottle and contradicting everything that Jim was saying; spitting at him , etc. The warfare was getting really intense.

Many in the crowd were shouting at Jim, "Shut up and give that guy money for beer," and stuff like that. I noticed a couple of police officers standing across the plaza. I went over to them and told them that a couple of guys were swilling vodka in public.

Once Gandalf realized that I was probably the one who ratted him out he became like a bear robbed of her cubs. He was screaming bloody murder. Next to me was another guy, well dressed, who claimed to be a Federal Officer. He demanded that we move at least 10 feet away while the police officers finished with the homeless guys. When I asked to see his badge he got upset and then changed stories. Now he was a famous preacher from Tennessee and insisted that us street preachers were the scum of the earth.

I was reeling. People shouting at us from the trolley line, homeless guys threatening our lives, a schizophrenic manic demanding that we leave. The devil was emptying out his bag of tricks.

While all this was transpiring I noticed a young African-American man standing about five feet away from Jim; just staring at him. I asked him his name; he told me Caleb. I said, "Caleb, why are you standing here listening to this guy? What's going on inside of you?" "I don't know" he replied. I asked him, "are you a Christian?" "I don't know," he said. I asked him, "have you been born again?" He shook his head, "no." I said, "do you want to be?" He said that he did.

I walked him through the gospel, gave him a Bible and told him to read the Gospel of John. The Holy Spirit had clearly arrested him through the preaching of the Word. As he walked away he said, "what just happened to me?"

Then I knew why all hell was breaking loose; Caleb was being inwardly called to Christ and whenever this happens the devil rails and yet the gates of hell cannot prevail. Christus victor!!