Saturday, Dec. 4th, the Lord blessed us with 25 crossbearers who walked the Crystal River parade to lift up Jesus. Saturday, Dec. 11th, the Lord doubled this number and we had 52 crossbearers in the parade, and 2 more holding crosses at the end of the parade including 2 men in wheel chairs and 1 blind woman carrying Styrofoam crosses. Jimmy Sheets, one of the men in a wheelchair, has purchased our entrance into the 2 parades and has done so for us for the past 3 years. It was his prayer last Christmas, that we would have 50 crossbearers in this years parade, and the Lord answered his prayer! The sight was magnificent and the name of Jesus Christ was glorified! Howard and Stacy Patrick own one of the biggest horses in the country, weighing in at nearly 2,500 lbs (19-20 hands high). It carried a banner saying "Mighty King Jesus", led by Susan Kerner who had a sign saying "Let everything that has breath, praise the Lord!" Brother William Taylor, who carries the cross in his home town in North Carolina, made a special trip for the week to carry the cross in the 2 parades, parking his trailer near mine for the week. We also joined up with Michael Siemer and Ricky Nash to preach on the UF campus in Gainsville Friday. Michael and Ricky held up their crosses at the end of the Inverness parade. We passed out many gospel tracts, 700 Gideon pocket Bibles and candy!

The past week, I have walked the cross in both towns as well as Dunellon. I had two atheists on seperate encounters in Inverness and answered many questions about the Bible and the Gospel for them. One of them was very receptive. At the Bible study at the Sanctuary (a local homeless shelter), I prayed with a woman who was raised as a Jehovah's Witness, and later partook in witchcraft. She received the gospel and asked Jesus Christ into her life.

Richard and I drove back to Crystal River for the holidays, where I hope to walk in the Christmas Parades again this year in Dec. On Friday, Michael Siemer, his daughter Mary, Richard Martin and I went to Gainsville to the University of Florida campus to preach. we've had some ownderful fruit there in the past. Today, though, they were having their homecoming parade. So we held the crosses at the parade and passed out tracts. I had a Catholic young man come and I shared the gospel of Jesus Christ to him. He freely accepted the gospel message, and prayed with me to receive the Lord Jesus Christ into his life. I encouraged him to get involved with the Christian ministry on campus. The Homecoming Queen was standing nearby as I ministered to the young man. She walked over to talk with Michael and said that she was Christian and had seen us on campus about a year ago. She said she was very thankful for our ministry and walked over to the next block where Richard was standing and told him the same.

We began our walk on hwy 41 in Bradenton North of the bridge and walked over the bridge. An SUV pulled up with 3 women inside. One woman came over, a sister in Christ and was excited that I was there. She said her sister wanted to see me (the driver, who was not yet saved). The woman thought I was another guy who holds the cross in town. I assured her that I wasn't the same man, that this was my first time here. As we spoke, she revealed that her sister was not saved and was even at Fantasy Fest last weekend. So I walked to the SUV and spoke to the driver and as I was sharing how my life changed since I was born again 16 years ago, the Holy Spirit fell upon her and she began to weep. I took her hand and she prayed with me to receive Christ into her life

I then anointed her head with oil and prayed for the Lord's healing. Afterwards, the other woman, with a hint of unbelief, asked “Well, how do you feel?” The woman replied, “My head aches gone…” and as she rubbed her neck she looked surprised and said “And the knot on my neck is gone!” The other woman looked very surprised and said “I was just rubbing the knot a minute ago!” and she felt her neck and looked at me like I was an alien and returned into the store looking at me the whole way.

While I was holding the cross waiting for Richard, a man pulled up behind me to go into the barber shop and rejected my tract. He said “Hey, did you know that Jesus was impaled on a stake?” I replied “Hey, did you know that the Bible says that the Watchtower is a deceiver and an antichrist in 2 John verse 7?” (I knew he was a Jehovah's Witness by his question. While they teach that Jesus will NOT return in the flesh, 2 John 7 declares that those who deny his physical return are a deceiver and antichrist!) He then said “You should read your Bible!” oblivious to the fact that I had just confronted his heresy with the Bible!

In front of a liquor store, I handed a black lady sitting in a car a tract. She loved Jesus and was praising the Lord when her husband came out and looked very stern as he got into the car. About an hour later, I heard someone calling me. It was the same man. I thought he might have read my tract and was coming to dispute with me. Instead, he asked me to pray to the Lord to forgive him for being rude to me. I prayed for him and encouraged him in the Lord. It was clear that the Holy Spirit had convicted him and sent him back to me.

As we walked the crosses down Duval Street in Key West on Friday, we walked past a large gathering of homosexuals who were near naked wearing G-Strings as they danced on a large stage they constructed on the street. Some had breast implants and looked like women, wearing only a g-string! A homosexual speaker trying to talk like a woman mocked God and reveled in his sin on a loudspeaker system from the stage. A John Kerry sign was attached to the stage! They are ALL very aware that the Christians are in favor of Bush for his stand on abortion and the definition of Marriage between a man and woman. So as we walked past them the second time, the speaker had instructed the crowd of Homosexuals to respond as he shouts "WHO are WE going to VOTE for???" And they all respond "JOHN KERRY!"

I confronted one man who was a Democrat on Partial Birth abortion, which John Kerry had cast his vote to prevent from being stopped. When I explained to him what Partial Birth Abortion was, where the doctor stabs the baby in the back of the skull with a surgical tool, and murders the baby AS IT IS BEING BORN, he refused to believe me. They can legally kill the child while it is being birthed! Kerry voted to continue this horrible practice! The man was very angry, but later came back to ask forgiveness as the Holy Spirit began to work on this mans heart!

Some argued with us that politics and religion should not be preached together! We had to explain that today, it is NOT a political issue any more. IT IS A MORAL issue. And YES, we as Christians had better start speaking out and especially with our votes, since, in a democratic nation, if the wicked and unlawful become the majority voters, America will become a very ungodly nation and will find itself being added with Sodom and Gomorrah in Gods Judgment! God will remove his hand of protection and allow our enemies to defeat us! America will become history and will cease to exist!

Although politics was the main topic of many people on the streets, we were there to lift up Jesus Christ and I did have many in depth conversations with unsaved people, giving them the seed of the word of God. Many who think they are Christians, are lost and on their way to hell and don't even know it. When a naked woman walks up and says "I'm a Christian! Stop judging people!" you know that they are deceived and perishing because some preacher has NOT been faithful to God to preach the WHOLE gospel of repentance from sin, and obedience to God!

Two black guys, who were forced by the police to move back behind the crowd, got so angry that they wanted to start a riot. So they called their buddies on the cell phone and while one of them was telling them "BRING THE BASEBALL BATS, THE CHAINS THE GUNS AND GET ALL THE GUYS TOGETHER... WE ARE GOING TO FIGHT....!" I told the other guy, "Hey man, you need to get saved and give your heart to Jesus...!" He humbled himself and said "Your right!" I continued "Man, you need to walk in love and shine the light of Jesus to others..." He continued to receive my word and hugged me saying "Your right man!" His friend was still calling the gangs together for a riot and he pulled on his arm and pointed to me and the cross. The other guy stopped in his tracks, almost like he was in shock. I said the same to him and he too was humbled and the demon that was controlling them departed instantly. They both mellowed out and the first guy said "Hey man, this isn't important, lets leave!" and they departed in the peace of the Lord!

I met 3 Latinos who were drinking a large bottle of Vodka in a back alley. I was cautious as it looked like it could be a drug deal. But when I gave them Gospel tracts, they were all under great conviction as they were backslidden. They received the gospel as I preached to them and instructed them, and at the end, they all prayed with me. They hugged me and thanked me for coming and sharing Jesus with them!

Richard and I parked at the Suncoast Cathedral in St. Pete. where we had parked 5 years ago when we made this same walk. It has been a wonderful work here, passing out tracts to the people we meet along the roadside, and sharing the gospel with those who are seeking. In the last week, I counted 4 atheists whom the Lord blessed me with an excellent opportunity to share the whole gospel message with. Although none of them surrendered their hearts to Jesus, they were certainly confronted with the seed of truth that may one day bring forth good fruit. I also met a number of backsliders whom I was blessed to be able to encourage and strengthen in the Lord. Explaining the fact that they were under a devils curse while they continued in disobedience, and that if they would surrender their sins and turn back to Jesus, they would find the Lord's blessings, I could see that they knew they needed to turn back to Jesus and live for him. From here, Richard will continue to head to the south, walking hwy 41 in Bradenton and I will head for Haines City, then to Key West to preach at Fantasy Fest!

Last week, I joined up with Richard Martin as he has walked from Crystal River south on Hwy 19 towards St. Petersburg, FL. Last week, as we carried the cross, I had a young woman ask if she could walk with me. For the next few hours of walking, she asked me many questions as I shared with her what the scriptures say about things like the Catholic church, which she has been part of, and the Jehovah's Witnesses, of which one had been giving her a "Home study"! I prayed with one man who asked Jesus to be the Lord of his life!

Michael, Ricky and I have been getting out with the crosses. We put the signs on the crosses exposing the Masonic Lodge (which is very strong in Chattanooga). Two weeks ago, I had one get out and yell at me "YOUR WRONG, YOUR SIGN IS WRONG!" My sign reads "Only Jesus is Worshipful Master, Masons Repent!" So I asked the man "WHICH PART OF MY SIGN IS WRONG? THE PART THAT SAYS THAT ONLY JESUS IS WORSHIPFUL MASTER?" I then got onto my knees and told him, as I demonstrated it, that when he swore the oath to have his tongue ripped out, his throat slit from ear to ear, and be buried in the low tide of the seas if he revealed any of the Masonic secrets, that he put a curse upon his life. He then wanted to argue that in the court of law, you must swear to tell the truth on the Bible (This is always their argument for defense). When I continued to tell him that Jesus said Not to call any man Master, for only Jesus is to be called Master the man drove off angry that we were confronting his idol.

On Friday night, we went to "Nightfall", which is a weekly drunken party in Chattanooga as they block off the main streets downtown for a big party. The 3 of us had lots of people to witness to as they came to ask questions or argue as we passed out tracts. Michael had his cross with the sign attached which is shown below in a photo. It always draws a crowd who want to dispute over what the sign says.

As we took the crosses out again last Saturday exposing the Masons, some of which gave us the common Masonic hand signal, (the middle finger). A young man walked passed me and I asked him if he was saved. He was not! As I shared the gospel message to him, he received it openly, and began to understand the message. He prayed with me to receive Christ Jesus as Lord!

Ricky has had about 3 houses in his neighborhood that have recently been filled with drunks and drug addicts. Cars coming to buy drugs drive through the neighborhood often and the whole thing got pretty intense. So we began to pray that they would either turn to Jesus or move out of the neighborhood. One idea the Lord gave Ricky, was to expose the sin, so he put up the sign shown above, nailed to the cross. The first night, someone left the little sign and had painted "HYPOCRITES" on it. So we painted over their sign and started painting scripture verses on it. Then the neighbors left little messages on the windshield wiper of the truck, basically with more scriptures trying to tell us we were hypocrites. So we took their little messages and also nailed them to the cross. They really hated this and finally after about a week, someone came and took their little messages away. We have remained friendly to the neighbors, and one by one, some of them are coming to talk about their sin problems as we continue to point them to Christ. The message is getting around the other blocks of the neighborhood and creating a big stir. A man on another block confessed that he thought the sign was put up for him personally as he was under very great conviction for his drinking problem!

Last night, just after I prayed with a young man to receive Christ on the walking bridge (which goes over the River), I noticed another man in his late 30's who looked very clearly to be depressed. I went over to talk with the gentleman, and learned that he had been saved over 20 years ago, but had been struggling with a sex sin. Because of this sin, he is now looking at spending the next 20 years in prison. He said "They will kill me in prison! They kill people like me! I'M NOT GOING TO PRISON!" By implication, he was telling me that he would rather kill himself than go to prison. I spent several hours comforting the man, rebuilding his faith in the Lord, and encouraging him NOT to give up the spiritual fight. I then encountered the fruit of a grievous and deadly, damnable doctrine of the Seventh Day Adventist church.

As he was insisting that it would be better for him to kill himself, than to spend the next 20 years in prison, I asked him "Tell me something! Would it be better to spend 20 years in prison, or eternity in the fires of hell!" He replied "I'm a Seventh Day Adventist, I don't believe in hell!" I then realized, that Satan was using this false teaching of the SDA church to convince this man, that he could kill himself and put his suffering to an end, rather than surrender to Jesus Christ, and allow the will of God to be done in his life.

I then proceeded to take him through Hebrews chapter 4, Romans 14, and Colossians 2:16-17 and when I revealed to him that the Sabbath was a "SHADOW" of Christ, and that Jesus was the "true" REST (Sabbath), he began to understand! He quieted down, and I laid my hand upon his shoulder in the midst of this party, and prayed a long prayer of deliverance, and the rest, the Sabbath rest of Jesus Christ to fall upon him. I could feel the very presence of the Lord as I prayed and I knew that the Spirit of God was resting upon this man.

I embraced the man with a Jesus hug before he left, and could see that he had been uplifted by the Lord in this 2 + hour conversation! Soon afterwards, the fireworks display ending the week long party began to explode. Many other eventful and fruitful conversations took place as the Gospel was preached here at Riverbend! We even met a man that was in the Masonic Lodge, who told us that Jesus and John the Baptist were both in the Masonic Lodge. These men are very deceived!

The past 4 days, we have been witnessing at Riverbend and on Saturday we went to Bonneroo, which is a "Woodstock" type gathering of youth at a rock concert indulging in alchohol, free sex and drugs (last nights news reported that, after they all left, they found the bodies of a male and a female, both overdosed on drugs). The event took place just north of Eagle Mountain in a rural, country, area with over 90,000 youth living in tents and cars. Riverbend is the yearly Chattanooga gathering of rock groups playing in the downtown area of the city.

There is nothing more to report at this time. We are still waiting for the June 22nd court date. We have not heard anything more from the city attorney or the district attorney. We found the two brothers who were shown in the Chattanooga Times Free Press paper that were also run out of town. If we do not hear from the city, I trust that we will, with the help of the other brothers who were run out of town, have to persue a cival rights case against the city. The brother from the news article, said that Chief Walker blew smoke in his face when ordering him to put away his signs and leave. He even boasted to the brother that he had arrest two other men. The brother said "If you arrested those two men for doing what I am doing, then this city is looking at a BIG law suit." How prophetic!

Afterwards, we went to the jailhouse to get some information for our attorney, and a young man who was just released from jail, wept tears as he got on his knees and prayed with us to receive Jesus Christ as Lord. He had thanked us for preaching the gospel and said that he wanted to turn his life back to Christ. So far, we have had one salvation as a result of our arrest.

Channel 3 News called and wanted to interview us again. They came to the job site (we are working building decks) and interviewed us. The story was the top story on the 5 PM news. Their investigation showed that the ordinances we infringed and are being charged for, were vague. When they asked the people at the courthouse about the vagueness of the ordinances, they replied that it was the officers discression as to whether someone has broken them. When they tried to reach the Chief for comment, he would not respond.

The event was Gay Pride Day in Rhea County, Dayton, Tennessee. Dayton is famous for the Scopes trial, where a trial over the teaching of evolution took place in 1925. More recently, Dayton has been in the news when the County Commission had approved a motion in March that prohibits gays from living in the county. Pressure from the gays forced them to rescind the action two days later. Now they are flaunting their sin in the public park.

Michael had brought his family with us, as we had only purposed to hold our crosses on Hwy 27, outside of the event, which was taking place in the city park. We had parked the van in a storefront parking lot. There were police everywhere, the newspaper reported 130 officers were on duty for the event. Michael walked over to the police and asked if we could park here and they said it was ok, but they added “you cannot hand out tracts!”

It was evident that the city was making every provision to accommodate the homosexuals in their town. Three other brothers drove up and said that they had signs, but were ordered by the police to put them away and leave, even though they were no where near the event. We pulled the crosses out of the van and two officers came over and said that we could not hold signs. At this point, our crosses were leaning against the van. We argued the point that we have a constitutional right to carry our cross in their town, and that in every city we have visited in America, we have had the freedom to carry our crosses. So the officer called the Chief of police, Chief Kenneth Walker. The Chief drove up, and ordered us, pointing to my van “Get into that vehicle and get out of here.” We told him “No, we are going to carry our crosses in your town” and pleaded our case with the right to do so. Michael had his video camera turned on, which was pointed at the Chief and the Chief slapped his arm down causing the batteries to fall out of the camera. Michael said “That was assault and battery what you just did” and he said to the officers (there were about 7 or 8 standing around us) “did any of you see what he just did?” One of them replied “I didn't see anything”, and Michael turned to the 3 brothers that were with us and they said “yes, we saw it!” The Chief continued saying that we have no permit. I informed him that my recorder was turned on and that I was recording all that is being said. In the meantime, Michael replaced the batteries and turned his camera back on. The recorders were latter proved to be invaluable as the Chief wrote a false arrest report!

Again the Chief argued that we have to have a permit, and Michael insisted that we don't have to have a permit, the Supreme Court has ruled that a highway is a highway and we have the right to carry our crosses on the highway. When Michael stated that we have a constitutional right to be here and we have attorneys that will come in and nail them if they hinder us, the Chief took Michaels arm and twisted it behind him and handcuffed him. He then took my arm and did the same. As the Chief handcuffed me I prayed "Lord, please forgive this man!" and, in hearing my words, he tightened the handcuff extremely tight, an unseen gesture of showing his displeasure in my prayer for him. It was clear that he was mad at us and as the handcuff became so tight that it was cutting of my blood circulation I cried out! Another officer with some compassion came over and loosened the cuff on my wrist as he softly said that he had seen us carrying our crosses in Dayton before. I don't think this officer liked what the Chief was doing.

They put us in a “paddy wagon” and took us to jail where they booked us, fingerprinted and photographed us. One of the brothers came to the jail and paid our bond to get us out of jail, but we still have a court date set for next Friday at 9 AM. As we came out of the jail, Channel 3 news was there with the cameras and interviewed us. The evening news on channel 3 gave our side of the story. The Tennessean was also there to interview:

We later learned that the Chief had purposed to run every evangelical Christian who would be bold enough to speak the gospel, out of town. Another Christian brother was in the newspaper holding a sign with a scripture so we called him to find out what happened to him. He said that the Chief blew cigar smoke in his face and told him that if he didn't leave he would put him in jail, adding a comment that he had already taken two other Christians to jail. So the brother left. The newspapers reported that 8 other Christians, whom the Chief called "troublemakers" were run out of town.

Further notes on this story; I must report that, although the ACLJ (Jay Sekulow's group) never responded to my e-mail asking them for help, that the American Family Radio group found us. Steve Crampton of the AFA, after reading about us in the news, called us and asked if we would like him to defend us, which we joyfully accepted! When I received a copy of the arrest report, I was shocked to find that the Chief had outright lied and gave a false report. Obviously, we had not broken any laws, and he had to "beef up" the report to make it appear that we had intended to break the law. Our audio and video recordings, which we presented the District Attorney and City Attorney, clarified the truth and the city was more than happy to pay us some compensation and remove the arrest report from our record if we agreed not to press charges against the city for false arrest. We agreed and the matter was brought to a conclusion with a letter of apology from the Chief of Police.

Upon arrival, I had to laugh at this sign which has been put up on Billboards by the Seventh Day Adventist cult around Chattanooga. After we confronted the SDA's several years ago, and exposed their error on the evening news (Michael was intrerviewed by the news as we stood outside of the SDA college at Collegedale, TN) they responded by showing the world their true colors! What the sign says is this: Sunday worship is the Mark of the Beast. That means that every Christian who loves the Lord Jesus Christ, but worships him on Sunday, will be cast into the Lake of Fire! It simply proves one thing about the SDA church... Jesus is NOT their salvation.... Sabbath keeping IS their salvation! They are sending a book to every house they can, with heretical, false teachings to convince the reader that Sunday worship is the Mark of the Beast! You can study more on this at my web page on the SDA church!

Michael Siemer and I traveled to the UF campus in Gainesville the 17th and again on the 19th. From 12 noon until 7 PM, non-stop, we had college students asking questions about the Bible. I prayed with several young men, one of whom I spent nearly 4 hours ministering to, answering questions. He was seeking the truth and, although he didn't pray to receive Christ, he thanked me and had heard the full gospel message. At one point, while I was talking with this fellow, 2 Mormons stopped to listen in on the conversation. They stayed and listened for about an hour and finally left. I made sure that I confronted the lies of the Mormon doctrines as I proclaimed the gospel to the young man. It was a VERY fruitful day of proclaiming God's Word.

On the 19th, Michael brought his daughter Mary. At age 14, she is very sharp and able to confront these college kids with the truth of the gospel. We were able to preach the gospel to Jews, Muslims, athiests, agnostics, wiccans and others. Again, it was non-stop ministry as we had students asking questions about the Bible for over 6 hours.

I was especially blessed to have the opportunity to meet a man named Lee, who found my web site about Mardi Gras and read every page on my web site, as well as the web sites of Lance and Michael and Richard. He wanted to do a documentary on the street preaching at Mardi Gras. After Lance and I met with him, we found that he had a very sincere heart and felt the Lord was well pleased to let him join us and film some of the events. Lee is not yet a Christian, but I do believe that he is being drawn by the Spirit of God to become a son of the living God. Lee said that this Mardi Gras outreach of such a large variety of street ministries was much bigger than he thought, and wants to return to get more coverage next year before completing the documentary.

The first night after we arrived in New Orleans, Lance, Feather and I went out and scouted out Bourbon Street. Lance had one man, who was greatly being drawn by the spirit of God. He was near tears as Lance shared the gospel, but the man's friends pulled him away before Lance could lead him to Jesus. We met up with another brother in Christ who had a cross made of PVC. He told us the police were being very strict this year not allowing wooden crosses on Bourbon Street. They will ONLY allow crosses made out of PVC. So we all built crosses using PVC. Michael's had a sound system inside for preaching, which he painted to give a wood like appearance. Lance used Foam-it (an expanding foam) on the exterior to create a wood like texture, and then spray painted it to look like wood. It was effective as a curious policeman came over to check out the cross, thinking it was wood, and after touching the foam the officer hesitated and said “Hey, that looks real!” and then walked away!

Lance then put his banners on the cross to lift up the name of Jesus. One of the banners said “Be Holy for the Lord is Holy”! I thought it amusing when people using cell phones, trying to give a locator for their friends to find them, would shout over the noise “LOOK FOR THE CROSS THAT SAYS “BE HOLY FOR THE LORD IS HOLY!” Or, they would say “I'M UNDER THE CROSS! LOOK FOR THE CROSS!”

The PVC cross aroused the anger of some of the revilers. A young man who said he was raised Amish (a group of Christians that life a simple live without many of today's modern conveniences) started beating my cross saying “JESUS DIDN'T DIE ON A PVC CROSS! THIS IS NOT WOOD!” I told him he needed to be saved and even explained to him that the police forbid us to use wooden crosses on Bourbon Street. He was very drunk so he didn't really hear me and continued to beat on my cross violently, pulling down on the cross beam which I feared might break the cross so I grabbed a brother who was witnessing to another man and asked him to get the police. That sobered up the drunk and he begged me not to have him arrested. Now he listened as I explained why we had PVC crosses instead of wood. He wasn't willing to turn his life over to Christ and finally walked on.

Lance and I took one day to prayer walk the French Quarter with Francis and Chris. Lance and I were passing out tracts wearing our robes and carrying the cross. Lance was a good distance ahead of me when I noticed about 7men in suits standing together. I thought they were business men visiting the city and went to hand them a tract. Then I noticed that they had salvation tracts in their hands.

So I said "If your page isn't Jesus, then your on the wrong page!" At this, they began to walk away! But 2 of them were still here, off to the other side of the walkway so I turned to them and asked "What page are you guys on anyway?" One of them replied "We don't agree with our method!" They hated our way of presenting the gospel by our physical appearances and never once looked at our hearts!

I said "So what is it that you don't agree with?" Although they wanted to come against our robes and crosses, knowing that no scripture would condemn this, they chose to use Lance's hair to judge us. "You guys have long hair!" he retorted! I had my head covering on and said "I'm bald!" So they looked at Lance and said "He has long hair!" I countered "It's NOT a sin to have long

Paul used the hair covering as an illustration in this chapter, and used the worldly example that, by nature it's a shame for a man to have long hair, illustrating that a woman should have a man as her covering, and man should not have a covering because Jesus is HIS covering, not having ANYTHING AT ALL to do with hair. The vow of a Nazarite (Num. 6:5) forbids the man to cut his hair during the time of the vow, Samson was forbidden by God to have his hair cut, and there are other examples in the Bible. Paul completes the whole discourse by saying "But if any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God." The "hair" issue was NOT a custom in the church's of God!

Then, they turned and walked away from me. No greetings of love, no fellowship of the saints, they didn't even invite me to their church, not even a smile. They had HARD HEARTS. The 2nd guy then turned to me as he was walking away and with one last statement to find accusation he looked at my Bible and asked "What version of the Bible is that!" I said "King James!" And he walked on. I then asked loudly, "What if it was a SPANISH version, or PORTUGUESE!" I knew by his question that they are “King James Only” adherents, condemning those who would read ANY other version! I once heard of a missionary who came to Honduras to preach “King James ONLY” to a people that don't speak English! My heart sank as these "brothers" were offended at me, and refused to even acknowledge me as their brother in Christ! I was an outcast to them! SCUM!

When I caught up to Lance, who had stopped to watch and wait for me, he said they wouldn't even talk to him. But he found one of their tracts on the ground, it was an Independent Baptist Church. I've had similar experiences in various places where I have met these brothers in Christ. In Chattanooga, they have made up tracts attacking the gifts of the Holy Spirit, another doctrine which they have misunderstood, and gave 10 reasons why it was the work of Satan. I sent them a doctrinal reply refuting ALL 10 reasons, and showing that the writer of that tract was near, if not already, guilty of Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit! They never replied to my letter. Instead of giving literature to save the lost, they focused their attention to attacking the body of Christ!

On Monday, the night of the Praise Rally, I decided that I would return to the church after the rally instead of staying out on the streets until 3 AM as we had the past five nights. My feet were very sore and Fat Tuesday (Mardi Gras day), is a long 7 to 10 hour day on our feet so I returned to the camp to rest. One of the brothers who returned with us joined me in the coffee shop at the church and began asking questions about a variety of false teachings of the Catholic church, and the Seventh Day Adventists. We ended up on the topic of the gifts of the Holy Spirit and as I shared the wonderful power of the gifts that God has for us to empower the believer to be a witness for Jesus Christ (Acts 1:8), he expressed a hunger for the laying on of hands and the impartation of the gifts of the spirit. Several other spirit filled sisters and I prayed for him as he wept and cried out to the Lord for the infilling of the Holy Spirit, which God graciously and faithfully gave to him. (Luke 11:11-13) He was truly refreshed when we finished praying for him.

Tuesday (Mardi Gras day), was a foggy, rainy day. We made it out to the streets around 2-3 PM. Michael and part of our group went to Jackson Square to contend with the annual God mockers that gather each year, waiting for us, to make mockery of us. Lance, his daughters, Talitha, Feather and I went to Bourbon Street to hand out tracts. It was refreshing for me to have a year where we didn't have to contend with these mockers who only want to harass the Christians in Jackson Square but rather we were in a position where we could reach the lost sheep who were wandering the streets.

Although each one of us have testimonies of souls that turned to Jesus and were saved, others came to ask questions of which we could only plant seed for a future harvest! One woman, a backslider, asked me to pray for her. She stayed with me for a while as I ministered to her, encouraging her in the Lord, and finally she said “I think I will leave this party and go home!” At the end of the night as we prepared to head back to the church, a man prayed to receive Jesus Christ into his heart, and learning that his friends had abandoned him, we offered to take him home. So we completed this years ministry with a soul being saved from the fire, and delivering him safely to his doorsteps of home.