Battle Log

Due to NZ being in lock down due to COVID-19, Thursday and Friday were another two days of online evangelism for me.

At the moment, my main place to have conversations is Omegle.  Same as on the streets, you get a lot of rejections from people simply not interested.  But also, same as on the streets, you can get into wonderful gospel conversations with a little bit of patience.

On Thursday, I had a gem of a conversation.  I’m going to give you some highlights.  This is an added bonus of online evangelism: you can keep the text of all your conversations!  I hope this will encourage you (I’ve done a lot of snipping).

This person was very open to the conversation: Believed in God, heaven and hell, admitted they would be guilty.  But they were slowly becoming aware of the implications of that and wanted to put their head in the sand, but at the same time were interested:

You: So if I've broken His laws, I would deserve hell - right?
Stranger: I'm supposed to be sleeping. it’s literally 2:30am
Stranger: yh u would deserve hell bc u broke his laws
You: Well, there is hope for heaven, can I share that before you go to bed.
Stranger: yh

I then shared the gospel.  The response was encouraging:

You: We must trust that Jesus paid the fine for our sins.
You: Trust is another word for faith...
You: We are saved by grace, through faith.
Stranger: wow
You: It is not our good deeds.
Stranger: that’s amazing
You: You said it! I agree
You: That is why I want to share this with people.
Stranger: thank you so much. that’s made me appreciate life more

So it’s one thing getting a person to appreciate life more, but that won’t save you.  So I continued to work with this person.  I explained the cost of following Jesus, and started using checking questions to get them thinking through what I was sharing.

You: so may I ask you: what must you do to go to heaven?
Stranger: ummm i think just be grateful for life and don’t regret any second of it
Stranger: is there supposed to be a right answer
You: But if I had murdered someone, I can still be grateful for life.

Stranger: i’m really confused
You: Jesus, who is God, paid the fine for our sins, when he died on the cross.
You: That's okay, I'm happy to slow down, I want you to understand this, it's so important.
Stranger: ok

I now realised I had them engaged enough, that I could slow down, and backtrack to go over things in a different way.

And then I got this:

Stranger: wow you have made me feel so much better
You: Why?
You: Why do you feel better?
Stranger: just learning
You: cool :)

Feeling better is great, but it won’t save you from hell.  So I persisted.  This encouraged me, as it showed the person was starting to understand:

You: And that is have someone pay your fine.

Stranger: like jesus payed for our fines

And then later this:

You: So, what did I say you need to do to be saved?
Stranger: trusting jesus to pay our sins

Stranger: i think
You: You got it!
Stranger: YAAAAYYYY
Stranger: WOOOOOO
You: Now, what is stopping you from doing that?
You: What is stopping you from trusting that Jesus died to pay for your sin?
Stranger: idk
Stranger: sorry
You: Let me explain what I mean.

I then moved on to continue explaining the cost of following Jesus, and I got this:

Stranger: i don’t understand sorry
You: All good, let me explain :)
You: Let me give you an example.

You: Am I making sense?
Stranger: yh it’s all adding up now
You: Good. So the paradox is that Jesus is a gift... that will cost you.
You: For that reason, most people reject the gift.

For some reason, the person I was talking to became concerned for their Mum - the thought of losing a loved one.

You: Well we will all die one day.
Stranger: ik
Stranger: ok now i’m gonna cry
You: Has your mum died recently?
Stranger: no
You: Is she alive?
Stranger: it’s just the thought
You: :)
Stranger: yh shes alive
You: Yes, we love our parents - I understand.
You: Well, there is hope for eternal life.
You: Trust in Jesus sacrifice to be saved, knowing your life will come into submission of him as your Lord. Then tell your mum about the amazing gift of Jesus! :)
Stranger: i will
You: ok.
You: Do you have a Bible?
Stranger: well i have to go now i have to go sleep
You: ok
You: Thanks for talking with me.
Stranger: no i don’t have a bible
Stranger: aw it was amazing talking
You: ok, well get one, plenty of free ones as apps on your phone. Start at the book of John.
You: And then find a church (a good one).
Stranger: ok
Stranger: i used to go church but i don’t go as much
You: https://www.9marks.org/church-search/
You: http://livingwaters.com/
You: Thanks for your time! God bless you!
Stranger: god bless! x
Stranger: bye
You: bye :)

It all became rushed at the end as I realised the person was going to leave.  I wanted to connect them to a Bible and a good church.  But ultimately, it is God who saves through the weakness of us sharing the good news (even online!).  I have to leave this person in God’s hands.  I have no idea who they are and I will never see them again.  If God saves them, there will be a desire to read the Bible, and to find a good local church.

I’ve started thinking of other places where I can find groups of people online to talk to.  I will experiment, and if any of them work out, I’ll write about them in future Battle Logs.

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