Chronicles of some fishers of men (Part I)

In the Sleepy Hollow of ‘Maritzburg the Word of God was preached to every creature who would listen. Here are the chronicles of some fishers of men. Are they worthy to receive praise for their endeavours. No. For without God’s divine work of glorifying Himself, how could we boast or think it was of us. We are merely clay in the Potter’s Hand, vessels for His use … and we thank Him for that.

Saturday May 29^th, 2010

Day 2 at the Royal Agricultural Show, physically alone I found myself out on the streets to partake in the Project Ezra’s reading of the Sermon on the Mount. Taking up a position on the public sidewalk outside the main entrance to the show grounds, I handed out some world cup million peso bills (ala Maradona style) and commenced reading part of Matthew 5 whilst patrons to the show arrived.

The Royal Agricultural Show's main entrance

Shortly – the inevitable took place – I was approached by a steady stream of show officials. First, there was a young lady who wanted to know what I was handing out … followed secondly by a young man who told me I can’t hand out my material, but he none-the-less took one of the tracts himself when I offered it to him, and he was followed by a middle-aged security man who told me that I could not continue where I was because it was show ground property and he did not want to debate me why I was there, and the fourth man, well he went in search of the police to get me to take leave of my activities. I did not have many tracts with me so I had agreed that I would not hand out any more tracts, unless someone asked for one, but I did inform them that I would be reading out of the Bible and speaking to people passing by about eternity and Judgment Day. 

The first security official did not want to hear about my rights to be there and by this he was infringing upon the constitutional bill of rights of every individual, which rights are in part: freedom of movement, freedom of speech and freedom of religion.

The fourth security (yellow vest) official who called the police

To be a step ahead of the show officials, I approached a traffic officer to confirm my rights and also whether I was infringing any bylaws or trespassing laws by being on the public sidewalk and he confirmed that I was within my rights to continue. It was at about this time when the fourth RAS’ security official returned with two African SAPS Law Enforcement officers – by their looking one way and then the other – one could come to the conclusion that they were perplexed who this ‘troublemaker’ was, when I was pointed out to them. It was as if they were unsure of the extent of my ‘trouble making’ – I am sure they were expecting a riotous situation – that I had to wave them over to come to li’l old me as I was the subject of them being summoned. I told them the reason why they had been called and it was then that the one officer said to me: “If you want to teach the people why don’t you do it under the trees?” To me, this was a confirmation God was not going to allow the hindrance of His Word going forth. I thanked them and they departed in the opposite direction from where they came from leaving the security guard perplexed and standing alone.

The Traffic Officer directing traffic at the pedestrian crossing

It was also then that the Traffic Officer directing traffic quipped: “I told you I know my job.” I thanked God for His grace and by showing His wisdom and His authority in the circumstances that prevailed. In soccer terms I best can describe it this way: Almighty God (Score: Infinite) vs. RAS Security (Score: Nil).

From then on, at the pedestrian crossing, I had an unhindered time preaching the Law and the Gospel of Grace to pedestrians waiting to cross the street. It was a joyous time. Our Father God also gave me opportunities to witness to individuals on the island at the crossing. I warned a young lady ‘atheist’ of judgment to come. She heard that she will one-day kneel before Almighty God, the One who she does not believe in and her only escape before Judgment Day will be by God graciously extending the gift of repentance to her by softening her hard heart. There was a young married man who professed to be a christian – who quoted much scripture – but he told me he does not believe in a literal Hell. He did not believe that God would sent people to burn in fire. His ‘god’ was only one of love and not punishment. I reasoned with this young man until I took him to the Judgment at the Great White Throne (Revelation 20:11-15). He then excused himself and told me that he would love to stay and debate these things, but his wife was waiting for him (he was running an errand). I believe he saw the real God of the Bible, the One who does punish lawless sinners in Hell fire. And there were many other ears that got to hear the Gospel of Truth.

Praise God, for He is worthy of all Worship. Amen.