Pilgrims Covenant Church - 8-1-07 Newsletter

It is fitting that I begin this newsletter by thanking all who have supported this ministry work with gifts and through prayer. Both are essential to our work. Every month, we distribute by mail, door-to-door, and during open-air ministry many thousands of our various tracts. We also supply tracts, in many cases at no charge, which others distribute.

Recently, I rewrote our Urgent Plea to Roman Catholics. I have enclosed a copy of that tract with this newsletter. Currently, a missionary in Mexico is translating it into Spanish. This brother, whom we know well and trust much, is sound in doctrine, sound in Spanish, and sound on the biblical text issue. Once he finishes the translation work, we will print up the tract and furnish him with all the copies he wants. There is also a Hispanic pastor in Omaha, Nebraska who has asked us for quantities of that same tract in Spanish since there is a large community of Spanish-speaking Catholics in that city whom he wants to reach. As long as we have the resources to do so, PCC will provide our Urgent Plea to Roman Catholics tract in English or Spanish at no charge to Christian brethren in Wisconsin with whom we are familiar and who will promise to distribute them. Roman Catholics are a very unevangelized people group in this country, in no small measure due to the growth of the ecumenical movement and the silence of so many pastors when it comes to popery. Deliver Thy people, Lord, from such compromise and selfish cowardice.

Every year, Monroe is the site of a hot air balloon rally attended by people from around the country. Local organizers stage a number of events during the three-day affair, including a Taste of Monroe on our town square. As usual, PCC was on the square for that event, holding Scripture signs, handing out gospel tracts, and sharing the gospel. This year, when we first arrived on the square, we received great encouragement from a Christian man and his wife. They both shared the circumstances of their conversion to Christ and then shared their gratitude for our gospel work. We gave out many gospel tracts, spoke with a number of people; and many read our Scripture signs.

Uncharacteristically for Monroe, we also had trouble with a police sergeant who had been stirred up by the event organizers and some local merchants. The officer told me that we would have to cease our gospel ministry or he would take me to jail. I told him to put the cuffs on because we were not going to leave. To make a long story short, I did not end up in jail but did later receive a very sincere letter from Monroe's police chief in which he assured me that the sergeant was not following MPD policy. The chief let me know that he planned on setting the record straight with the merchants and event organizers who started the trouble in the first place. Further, he reiterated that MPD has every intention of protecting our religious liberty. Back to top.

On June 26, a team from PCC once again set up a biblical witness in front of the Cornerstone festival. The 500-acre festival grounds are out in the country near Bushnell, Illinois. Cornerstone is planned and run by the "Jesus People USA" and is supposed to be a Christian event. In reality, it is a carnal orgy featuring strutting, tattooed, pierced, screaming, grunting, growling rock-and-roll performers glorifying themselves on over a dozen stages. Believe me, I am not exaggerating in my description of those performers. For instance, Goth and death metal music, along with everything that goes with them, are standard fare at the Cornerstone "Christian" festival. That eclectic carnival also boasts all manner of displays and workshops. Higher criticism, New Age philosophy, emerging church teachings, and even ungodly films are the order of the day.

As we did last year, we set up a number of signs near the entrance of Cornerstone, signs reading such things as "Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. Psalm 29:2" and "Cornerstone dishonors God." We also gave out hundreds of gospel tracts and "A Letter to Cornerstone Fans from Pastor Ralph Ovadal." Last, but not least, we gave out free CDs featuring two sermons from me. The sermons were titled "A Response to Cornerstone Fans" and "Worship Which Is Acceptable to God." We were no sooner set up than young people—and some not so young—began to stream out of the Cornerstone grounds to bombard us with questions, accusations, comments, and in a couple of cases, some profanity. One constant argument thrown into our faces was that the gospel just doesn't "work" these days and Christians must be like the world to win the world for Christ.

Our day at Cornerstone was a hot one, with the temperature hitting over 100º and things getting hot from time to time in other ways as well, including during an over-one-hour-long debate I had with a smirking, biblically illiterate, pony-tailed "youth pastor" who believes sinners do not need to hear the gospel to be saved. His argument was that if a man looks at a beautiful sunrise and says, "I believe there must be a God who made that sunrise," he will be saved. And he was far from the only Universalist in the Cornerstone crowd! I also had a very intense exchange with a three-year seminary student who was determined to show that the Bible is untrustworthy. The debate began with the man's mouth full of smirking and his face filled with contempt. It ended with him in retreat back toward the Cornerstone grounds, his eyes filled with fury and his ears full of preaching.

All of us had numerous other opportunities to "contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints" against angry idolaters furious that we had come against their rock-and-roll god. The wonderful aspect of our various verbal clashes with such types was that there were always young people intently listening to us as we used the Word of God to contend for the His glory and strive for our gospel faith. We also all had times of great blessing when young people who were truly seeking truth would respectfully ask questions and then soberly listen to what we shared with them from the Word of God.

Prior to this year's Cornerstone event, the Chicago Sun Times ran a story on it which contained the following quote:

Members of Pilgrims Covenant Church of Monroe, Wis., voiced objection to Cornerstone's apparent consent regarding styles of music, dress, tattoos, body piercing, and its taste in films. Referring to his experience at the [2006] festival, pastor Ralph Ovadal's blog warns that attempts to "lure the sinner to Jesus with worldly devices is bearing some very evil fruit among the young of this nation."

During our ministry at Cornerstone, I also did an interview with a reporter from the UK newspaper, the London Observer. So once again, I believe, by the grace of God, our message was amplified far beyond our immediate audience.

We left Cornerstone at the end of the day feeling as if the Lord had opened up the heavens and poured out a blessing upon us. We were thankful to have been given the opportunity to reach thousands of young people being corrupted by their own pastors and being made merchandise of by "Jesus People USA." Those young people—many for the first time in their lives—heard the true gospel, heard sound doctrine, and were exposed to biblical Christianity. Back to top.

Every year, we strive to preach a number of times at the farmers' market in Madison on the Capitol Square. This is an event which draws in thousands from a large area. It is also very conducive to open-air preaching and tract distribution as well as Scripture sign and banner display. We were back to the farmers' market on July 21. And the best thing is, the Lord was with us. Six of us men took turns preaching as others of our number handed out gospel tracts and held Scripture signs. While we heard the usual vitriol from a number of mockers—of course including sodomites in the crowd—we also had as much or more encouragement than we have ever had from Christians. We handed out over 1,000 gospel tracts. In addition, we gave out all fifteen Gospels of John we had with us. Those went to individuals who certainly seemed to want them for the right reason. Next time, we will be sure to bring more of those gospels. What a sowing we had! We trust the Lord for the harvest. Back to top.

Every Monday, a few members of PCC join me in ministry at Planned Parenthood of Monroe. Mike Foht covers a time on Thursday, the only other day PPM is open. I have shared in the past about the signs we set up, the tracts we pass out, and the preaching we do to young people as they walk a fairly long distance from the parking lot to the front door of PPM. Of course, our preaching is also heard by others who may be in the area. For instance, recently, the construction workers on a project across the street have been hearing the gospel this way. In fact, several weeks ago after one of them mocked us, the construction workers heard a sermon dedicated and directed just to them.

Since we use Scripture signs on the busy street in front of PP, by that way our gospel message is also reaching many times the number of those actually entering Planned Parenthood. In the back of PPM where the mostly young women park, we also have a five-foot-tall picture of an unborn baby, and we have more Scripture messages.

In recent weeks, the Lord has been pleased to bring genuine, visible conviction of sin through our witness. For instance, on two separate occasions in the past couple of weeks, I have had the blessing of spending quite a long period of time talking with young couples. In both cases, the young women have been very humble, very respectful, and very convicted of sin, to the point of having tears in their eyes. Both confessed to having felt guilty on account of their immoral behavior. Both seemed eager to hear of God's love and mercy to sinners who repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Both also took tracts. In one case, I ended my witness to the couple by reminding them that repentance includes turning away from sin and toward the Lord. I said, "You can begin by turning away from this place, going home, reading the tracts I gave you, and then seeking the Lord while He may be found." What a blessing it was when they looked at each other, nodded, and literally turned away from Planned Parenthood. In the other case, the young man went into PPM to be tested for some sort of disease, but both he and the young woman promised to read the gospel tracts I had given them. The young lady was by far the most convicted, visibly moved by the gospel. She expressed heartfelt thanks to me and my wife several times, even by turning and doing so one last time after the couple had walked a distance away. It is such opportunities which keep us manning our weekly vigil at Planned Parenthood. Back to top.

A horrific sodomite torture of a little boy and torture/murder of a woman took place in Portage in May. With people in the area thinking about homosexuality, we felt it was a very good time to educate them about that very thing. The old saying is "Strike while the iron is hot." PCC lit dropped a large number of homes in Portage with our tracts on homosexuality in the weeks following the crime, and we did a bulk mailing to rural Portage homes.

During the time reported on by this newsletter, PCC also lit dropped the city of Crystal Lake, Illinois after two high school girls there were charged with hate crimes and a number of other charges for passing out at school a homemade flyer against homosexuality. Back to top.

During the time reported on in this newsletter, we supplied tracts of various kinds which were not only lit dropped at homes but also given out at different public events. On July 14 and 15, our Christian brother Pete Smagacz single-handedly gave over 1,000 of our Urgent Plea to Roman Catholics tracts to attendees of evangelist Luis Palau's Heartland Festival in Omaha, Nebraska. By Palau's invitation, the local Roman Catholic archdiocese was deeply involved in the Heartland Festival, both in the planning and in the evangelistic work. Further, the diocese set up a large tent on the festival grounds in which they gave away literature and sold Roman Catholic items. As a service to festival goers, Roman Catholic priests also heard confessions right on the grounds! So we felt very blessed by Pete's ministry and by being able to supply him with our Urgent Plea tracts.

PCC's Mike Foht gave out a good quantity of our gospel tracts at the huge Summerfest in Milwaukee. Mike also gives out our tracts weekly at an abortion mill in Madison where he ministers and during his weekly street preaching outings, often with brother Dale Stanford, in Madison and occasionally Wisconsin Dells.

In addition to all of their other duties, many unseen and unsung, and participation in open-air ministry, Janet and Joy have also been doing a biweekly gospel lit drop.

And we are thankful for the zeal of a brother from Rockford who has been attending our church. This brother, who is a painter by vocation, has already handed out quite a quantity of our gospel tracts in Rockford.

Thanks again to all who have been praying for us and providing us with the means to share so much truth with so many people in so many places. And on that note, here is a summary of our door-to-door lit dropping and mailings.

• Door-to-Door Lit Dropping • Heaven or Hell? gospel tracts: Janesville, Madison, Monroe, South Wayne, Wisconsin Dells, and Woodford, Wisconsin; Freeport, Illinois. • Bible or Truth: Boscobel, Genoa, Madison, Mequon, Portage, Richland Center, River Falls, Shorewood, Two Rivers, Watertown, Whitefish Bay, and Williams Bay, Wisconsin; Crystal Lake and Rockton, Illinois; Dubuque, Iowa.

• PCC provided literature at no cost for distribution by brethren in the following places: Milwaukee, Wisconsin (Bible); and Omaha, Nebraska (Urgent Plea).

• PCC provided literature at cost for distribution in the following places: Fond du Lac (Bible, Truth, Heaven or Hell?, No Excuses, Urgent Plea); LaCrosse (No Excuses); Milwaukee (Urgent Plea); Racine (Urgent Plea); and West Bend (Heaven or Hell?), Wisconsin; Independence, Missouri (No Excuses); Great Falls, Montana (Bible, A Little Discrimination Can Be a Good Thing); Omaha, Nebraska (Heaven or Hell?); Hamilton, Ohio (Bible, Truth); and Amarillo, Texas (Truth).