LaVrai.COM - The Truth - Not Afraid To Look Like A ‘Fool’

I live in New York City and in this city, there is no shortage of ‘weirdos’ and colorful characters. In the subway you have musicians and singers, break dancers and even a magician or two…and many of them perform right on the train car, in front of your very eyes. In these situations, you have no choice but to witness whatever they want to display.

Another group of ‘characters’ that I sometimes encounter on the trains are evangelists. They are usually men holding a bible, pacing back and forth through the car, saying this and that about GOD and Jesus. I bring this up because I just read a blog post by a woman who took a day trip with her family and decided to ride the metro rail (subway system) to get from point A to point B and back. She had never taken the metro before, she noted, and was amazed and aghast at the sheer number of people. While on her way home she took a good look at her surroundings, at all of the people on the train car. She leaned over and asked her husband, “Do you think all these people know Jesus is coming back?” She writes that at that very moment, she felt a tug (you know, that tug) to evangelize, because most likely, Jesus was the farthest thought in any of those people’s minds. But she didn’t obey. She was afraid of looking like a crazy person.

Have you ever been in such a position? Have you ever disobeyed the Holy Spirit because He moved you to do something you thought would make you look foolish or crazy?

After reading this woman’s blog, I started to consider how I myself had reacted to those evangelists I had witnessed on the trains so many times. I never thought them to be crazy (although I do remember thinking one particular man to be odd because of the way he spoke). I thought, it is not for popularity that these folks get up before a crowd of New Yorkers (who have no problems expressing their feelings and opinions) and preach the Word of GOD. This is New York! One of the gayest cities in the world (yes, I mean, with a large homosexual population). No one wants to hear about Jesus, or hell or sin here, it seems so often. So I know it must be the LORD that has called these people to do what they do and risk becoming pariahs, or being mocked and called crazy by those whom they were reaching out to.

The question is, though: Will I trust and obey the Holy Spirit when He compels me to speak? I would like to think that I would, but to be quite honest, I get scared just thinking about it. It’s no big thing talking with acquaintances, close friends or family members about my faith, but I know these people and these people know me. They know I’m not some kind of weirdo or a nut job. So there is no risk there. But what about amongst a group of people who have no gripes judging you and dismissing you as a cook because you speak the Word of GOD? A GOD whom they say does not exist or is cruel and cold if HE does exist?

I pray to GOD everyday that HE strengthens me, encourages me and increases my faith and boldness and prepares for whatever may come. I know HE will use me, as HE uses me now on the Internet. But there will come a time when imprisoned I may have to preach the Gospel, as Paul and Silas did when they were beaten and thrown into prison. There will be no internet, no computers, no chat rooms or blogs. It will have to be done face-to-face…in the middle of the street, in Central Park, in Times Square, on the subway, on the elevator amongst a whole throng of potentially hostile people– and it will have to be done, because it will be a matter of life and death (spiritually and literally speaking).

Acts 16 (Amplified):

20.And when they had brought them [Paul and Silas] before the magistrates, they declared, These fellows are Jews and they are throwing our city into great confusion.

21.They encourage the practice of customs which it is unlawful for us Romans to accept or observe!

22.The crowd [also] joined in the attack upon them, and the rulers tore the clothes off of them and commanded that they be beaten with rods.

23.And when they had struck them with many blows, they threw them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely.

24.He, having received [so strict a] charge, put them into the inner prison (the dungeon) and fastened their feet in the stocks.

25.But about midnight, as Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the [other] prisoners were listening to them,

26.Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the very foundations of the prison were shaken; and at once all the doors were opened and everyone’s shackles were unfastened.

27.When the jailer, startled out of his sleep, saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was on the point of killing himself, because he supposed that the prisoners had escaped.

28.But Paul shouted, Do not harm yourself, for we are all here!

29.Then [the jailer] called for lights and rushed in, and trembling and terrified he fell down before Paul and Silas.

30.And he brought them out [of the dungeon] and said, Men, what is it necessary for me to do that I may be saved?

31.And they answered, Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ [give yourself up to Him, take yourself out of your own keeping and entrust yourself into His keeping] and you will be saved, [and this applies both to] you and your household as well.

32.And they declared the Word of the Lord [the doctrine concerning the attainment through Christ of eternal salvation in the kingdom of God] to him and to all who were in his house.

33.And he took them the same hour of the night and bathed [them because of their bloody] wounds, and he was baptized immediately and all [the members of] his [household]

This also reminds me of another incident. It was after leaving a Broadway show near Times Square. I was walking with my family and many other people were around, some having just left the show, too, I’m sure. There was the voice of a woman crying out behind us. It got louder and louder and many of us turned to see what the commotion was, as it isn’t a normal day in NYC unless there is some kind of commotion.

When I looked I saw a ‘regular’ looking young woman, dressed as if she was probably coming from watching this Broadway play herself. She looked ‘together’ and sane. But she had an anguished expression on her face and she was weeping loudly and yelling, “But they don’t know that you’re coming! But they don’t know that you’re coming!”

Most people around me, I saw that they just dismissed her as another NYC nut. But as a Christian, I found some meaning in her words, expression and behavior. My thought was, this is a woman of GOD and HE has burdened her with a message, and she is terrified at HIS Word because she knows that, as in Noah’s time, we will be caught unawares when the LORD returns as a thief in the night. Maybe I was reading into it. “But they don’t know that you’re coming!” ..I will never forget those words or the scene of this woman rushing in anguish with tears streaming down her face. “But they don’t know that you’re coming!”

And it is true, isn’t it? The majority of the world don’t believe in or acknowledge GOD and HIS Son Jesus the Christ, so of course they don’t believe in HIS return to earth. They mock these apocalypse and end times ‘freaks’ for believing in fairy tales and myths. They call us weak, pathetic, crazy fools who are mindless for believing in what science most certainly disproves. They are your brother, your sister, even your husbands and wifes. They are your children. You’re best friend. Your boss, your co-worker, that nice custodial worker who empties your trash cans everyday. They are the pleasant gentleman at the Dunkin Donuts or Starbucks you go to all the time. They are your mail carrier, your grocer, your next door neighbor. They are youths who help carry your bags, who goes to school with your kids. They sit next to you in doctors’ offices, at church and stand in front of you and behind you in lines. You see them walking down the street, moving through malls and moving along with you at a snail’s pace during rush hour.

The majority of the world are unbelievers and a majority of the world will suffer eternal damnation because they reject GOD and His Only Begotten Son. What would you do to help save them from being cut off and relegated to the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth? Are you willing to look crazy?

If you are eating in a crowded, upscale restaurant and the Holy Spirit says, ‘Speak! Tell them what thus says the LORD!’ Would you do it? In the laundromat - would you do it? In the office at work - would you do it? In the supermarket - would you do it? In the movie theater - would you do it? In the middle of church - would you do it?

Would you do it? Would I?

I CHARGE [you] in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, Who is to judge the living and the dead, and by (in the light of) His coming and His kingdom: Herald and preach the Word! Keep your sense of urgency [stand by, be at hand and ready], whether the opportunity seems to be favorable or unfavorable. [Whether it is convenient or inconvenient, whether it is welcome or unwelcome, you as preacher of the Word are to show people in what way their lives are wrong.] And convince them, rebuking and correcting, warning and urging and encouraging them, being unflagging and inexhaustible in patience and teaching.

For the time is coming when [people] will not tolerate (endure) sound and wholesome instruction, but, having ears itching [for something pleasing and gratifying], they will gather to themselves one teacher after another to a considerable number, chosen to satisfy their own liking and to foster the errors they hold, And will turn aside from hearing the truth and wander off into myths and man-made fictions. As for you, be calm and cool and steady, accept and suffer unflinchingly every hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fully perform all the duties of your ministry.

– 2 Timothy 4:1-5, Amplified

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