Yesterday, I went with Saul & a few hispanic friends of his to an apartment complex in NE Portland handing out bible tracts. This complex is in one of the poorer neighborhoods & has a mix of cultures, mainly hispanic & white.
One man I talked to at the door said, "Yes" he believed in God Jesus & heaven, & then went on to say that he also used to go door to door with his priest. I said "Oh, are you Catholic?" "No" he responded, he was referring to Sun Myung Moon & the Unification church. This church has many beliefs that are not biblical. One is that they believe Jesus rose from the dead spiritually, but not physically. He didn't have time to talk, so we left a tract & went on.
Then we saw a couple of Jehovah's witnesses walking on the sidewalk, and talked with them. They don't accept Jesus as God in the flesh, but merely a creation (not the creator). But since they accept the bible as God's word, I brought up a scripture in the book of Revelation about Jesus:
Revelation 1:17-18 says:
"When I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the First and the Last: I [am] he that lives, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and I have the keys of hell and of death."
I asked the man, who was it referring to when it said "First & the Last"? He said that was a name & title for Jehovah. (which is true) But then I asked "And who is referred to in the next verse where it says 'I am He that lives and was dead' "? *CHECKMATE* So I asked them to please think about that verse. That Jesus really was Jehovah. They had no answer, but left me a copy of their literature & I gave them a tract.
As we were getting done, there was a man who appeared to be homeless digging through the dumpster foraging out what he could find, & loading it on his bicycle. I approached him and gave him a tract with a dollar in it. (hoping to make it more acceptable to him). He said "Thanks, & thank you for this" he said,waving the tract. Surprised at his openness & acceptance, I offered him a Gideon pocket New Testament.
"Oh", he said, "that looks exactly like the one my pastor gave me." Surprised, I asked where he went to church. "down near 60th and Lombard" he said. (which is Parkrose Deliverance Tabernacle).
So, in retrospect, you never know about people. My initial reaction seeing someone homeless or begging, is that they probably abuse drugs & alcohol. But I'd like to be able to have an initial reaction to them or (JW's or anybody else), that they are just folks like me, someone that Jesus died for, and someone that God has a plan for & a future for.
