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A Taste of the Gospel
Preaching at the Circus Parade
A Reversal in Ovadal v. City of Madison
Holding the Line at Mazo
Sowing Seed at the
Farmers' Market
Is It Something We Said?
The Rest of the Story
August 4, 2005
"Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord
may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you."
2 Thessalonians 3:1
Dear Brethren,
I hope you will be encouraged by this report of our public ministry activities, the ministry activities for which you have prayed and supported. Please accept our gratitude for that.
As I have explained in the past, the work of Wisconsin Christians United has been folded into the ministry of Pilgrims Covenant Church, which I pastor. The main emphasis of PCC open-air ministry is spreading the gospel
via preaching, banners, and tract distribution. PCC members have also maintained a weekly, public ministry at several different Planned Parenthood clinics and one
abortion mill. The primary focus of WCU was confronting the sodomite movement and contending against the lies and subterfuge of
New
Sodom. Some of you may be wondering how the new ministry arrangement will affect our overall work. The answer is simple. By the grace of God, we will be more effective, more accountable; have more authority; and bring more glory to God by operating completely as a church of Jesus Christ rather than as a church and a para-church ministry. But all the work which we have been doing will continue to be done. Those wanting to support our work should now make their gifts to PCC and mark them for
"PCC public ministry." Even if you should forget to make that designation, our policy is that any gifts to our church given from those outside of our church unless otherwise designated automatically go into our public ministry work which is reported in this bimonthly newsletter.
Our biggest expense is the
literature which we distribute and make available for free to those who will distribute it in Wisconsin. When all is said and done, I believe that the most important thing we can do is pound away with the truth which exposes
Satan's lies and makes men free indeed. Of course, most of our activity in Wisconsin takes place in the southern half of the state. Beginning this September, we will be doing monthly mass mailings into the northern part of Wisconsin. Each home included in the mailing will receive the brochures
Homosexuality: The Truth and
What the Bible Really Says about Homosexuality. The
Truth brochure is a four-fold which has a gospel message at the end which is as long as many gospel tracts. We will also include our
flyer promoting the passage of the proposed constitutional amendment banning state recognition of so-called same-sex marriage and civil unions. We believe that it is important to contend for truth with the sodomite propaganda machine for a number of reasons, including to defend the Word of God and the liberty of His people. We will also continue to include the marriage amendment flyer in
PCC's weekly lit dropping of the aforementioned tracts and will continue to provide it for others who lit drop that material. For instance, we recently provided two thousand brochures with inserts for a pastor to drop door-to-door on the north side of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
We at PCC are greatly encouraged in the Lord by many things, including the way He has been using the
"Heart of the
Matter" program. We continue to be grateful for such an opportunity to encourage and bring together faithful servants of Christ who otherwise would have never come to know each other. Many of the guests on HOM are not heard any place else, in part because they are uncompromised, frontline Christians laboring against great odds. We receive regular feedback from listeners around the world who are thankful for the benefits derived from the programs. By the grace of God, we often receive similar messages from those who listen to our sermons on
SermonAudio.com. What a blessing it is to know that
God's Word yet has free course in our nation. May we use that gift often and with gratitude.
Pastor Ralph Ovadal
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One corner of our balloon rally picket.
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A Taste of the Gospel
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Some of the PCC survivors
at the end
of a long, hot witness in Monroe.
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The weekend of June 17 brought thousands of people from around the nation and the world to Monroe, Wisconsin, for the World Honda Grand Prix and Monroe Balloon
Rally and Taste of Monroe. On Friday night, we made good use of the big city traffic which came to our small town by setting up signs and banners on two corners of
Monroe's main intersection. Ours was a biblical message about homosexuality and also marriage. The response ranged from murderous to ecstatically happy. The important thing is that many thousands saw the truth being shared and defended by the
Lord's people. We have no doubt that great good comes out of such public testimonies.
The next day, we set up gospel banners on the square in Monroe, which had been shut down to all vehicular traffic so that a very large car show could be set up. We were able to put
gospel tracts in the hands of many people and also had some very worthwhile one-on-one witness.
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Preaching on a grassy knoll above the
crowd at the circus parade
while
others hand out gospel tracts.
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Preaching at the Circus Parade
On Saturday, June 25, PCC set up gospel banners, preached, and handed out
tracts to teeming crowds at the Great Circus Parade in Baraboo. PCC was joined by a number of Christians who have real hearts to see souls won for Christ. After the parade was over, PCC set up an anti-homosexuality picket at an intersection choked with carloads of people leaving Baraboo.
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A Reversal in
Ovadal v. City of Madison
On July 19, a federal circuit three-judge panel handed us a victory in the case
Ovadal v. the City of Madison. Their verdict reversed a lower court decision which held that the City of Madison was on firm constitutional grounds when they banned PCC from displaying banners on pedestrian overpasses in Madison. We were removed under threat of arrest from such an overpass on September 2, 2003. Our banners which we held on the public sidewalk inside the caged-in overpass read,
"Homosexuality is sin," and, "Christ can set you
free." The city has maintained that their refusal to let us display such signs is not content-based but rather based on safety issues. At the same time, the city refused in the latest court proceeding to agree to ban all signs and banners from the overpass! When we were removed from the overpass, in response to my questioning (recorded on video tape), the police several times stated that we had to go because we were making people angry. As the circuit court noted, there is reasonable suspicion that
Madison's policy boils down to "no Ovadal on overpasses." While handing us the victory, the higher court at the same time remanded the case back to the lower court to give the City of Madison a chance to find a way out of the hole which they have dug. This is quite unusual in such a clear-cut case, but perhaps the court was uncomfortable that they might appear too
"homophobic."
At any rate, we have in our possession video tape of John Kerry supporters on Election Day standing on a City of Madison overpass located on the same highway from which we were removed on September 2, 2003. The Kerry crowd, who were allowed to remain unmolested for hours, held a huge Kerry banner as well as several smaller signs and shouted at drivers over a bull horn! Obviously, that documentation could come in handy in the coming days.
Ovadal v. Madison has provoked quite a bit of discussion among talk show hosts and the free-speech crowd, including a well-known professor of law. The general consensus seems to be a great discomfort with
Madison's attempt to eliminate a message unpopular among many in that town. I have also done a number of interviews since the federal circuit court ruling was handed down. It is clear to me that this case—as time consuming as it has been—has opened many
people's eyes and challenged them to speak out against a growing intolerance of those who stand against the popular culture and the corrupt elite which rule it.
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Holding
the Line at Mazo
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Another day at the beach—the
start of the gospel gauntlet. |
We were back on the parking lot and gravel walk to the Mazo nude beach on Saturday, July 16. This time around, hordes of
"naturists" streamed past our signs and banners as they heard our preaching. The Mazo Beach crowd is the most perverted, hardest-hearted people we deal with in our ministry work. Most refuse to take gospel tracts. On a regular basis, the refusal is accompanied by vile language, graphic threats, and at times, violence. For instance, on the sixteenth, one nudist said he would like to machine gun all of us. Then, for lack of the proper tool to get that job done, he pulled a sharp metal pole out of his backpack and announced that he was going to ram it through a Christian
man's eye. When he started for our brother, a number of our men stepped in until the DNR wardens took control of the situation. At this point, there have been no charges filed against the assailant.
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It was an accident, honest! A woman
"naturist" weighs in with her opinion.
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In another case, a woman on her way to the beach leaped upon one of our signs and smashed it. She also poured a can of Pepsi over yours truly. But as with the man wielding the weapon, the
"lady" in question appears to be in no danger of having charges filed against her. To date, not one nudist has been charged with any violation of the law even though we have documented the many cases of assault and extreme disorderly conduct which they have directed toward us. By the way, the sign which drove the woman into a smashing frenzy stated
"A whore . . . increaseth the transgressors among men (Prov.
23:27-28)." Coincidence?
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One-on-one witness
at the
farmers' market.
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Getting the gospel from
both
sides
at the farmers' market. |
With the Lord's help, we will continue to fight it out over Mazo Beach and hold the line against public nudity.
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Preparing to preach to the thousands
making the circuit around
the
square at the farmers' market.
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Taking a turn at preaching in Madison. |
Sowing Seed
at the
Farmers' Market
We had a wonderful day of witness at the packed farmers' market on the Capitol Square in Madison on Saturday, July 30. Even though Madison is arguably the most anti-God town in Wisconsin and the majority of the people who frequent the
farmers' market know us well, we were able to hand out 1,500 gospel tracts and have some very good one-on-one witness. We also preached for several hours from a number of different locations on the square. Again we rejoice that the Word of the Lord yet has such free course in our nation, much to the frustration of those who despise the gospel.
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Is It Something We Said?
Planned Parenthood and Pilgrims Covenant Church have been locked in mortal battle in Monroe for over sixteen years. We have engaged in many different efforts to alert the public of
PP's tax-funded campaign of murder and perversion; but most importantly, we have maintained a weekly ministry in front of PPM, holding signs, preaching, witnessing, and handing out tracts. We are blessed to know that the Lord has been pleased to save souls and unborn lives through that ministry. At this point, Planned
Parenthood's Monroe "health center" has been reduced to being open five hours per week.
Two years ago, PP purchased a house and moved into it since no one would rent to them any longer for some reason. At that time, PPM supporters were boasting of the full-service health center that they were going to run out of their new spacious office. But the Scriptures testify,
"Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a
fall" (Proverbs 16:18).
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The front steps of Monroe
Planned
Parenthood's "health center."
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At present, Planned Parenthood's "health center" in Monroe looks like an abandoned house waiting to be condemned and demolished. The porch is sagging, the roof needs patching, the sidewalk is broken up, and the place needs a paint job. In fact, no one is even mowing the lawn!
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PPM: The back yard.
Yes, those are real weeds.
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We are in a win-win situation. If PP closes up shop in Monroe, we will praise God. If PP decides to sink more money in their clinic and tries to be open more hours, we will increase our activity against them and make sure their money goes down the drain. And we will praise God again for the opportunity to strike such a blow against such a vile organization.
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The Rest of the Story
On July 4, members of PCC handed out gospel tracts at a parade in Evansville. On June 11, PCC members handed out our tract
An Urgent Plea to Roman Catholics at a Catholic festival in Monroe. We did not get out many tracts, but we hope that the ones we did get out were read by many Catholics. On June 25, my wife and I lit dropped
What the Bible Really Says about Homosexuality in Stephens City, Virginia. I was in that state to preach at the funeral of a brother in the Lord. In the month of June, PCC tracts were distributed at pridefests in Chicago, Seattle, Philadelphia, Milwaukee, and Omaha. PCC lit dropped homes in the following towns with either the
Truth or
Bible brochure: Cassville,
Glenhaven, Beloit, Shullsburg, Linden, Cobb, Kewaskum, Jackson, Boscobel, DeForest, Delavan, Fennimore, Lake Geneva, and Stoughton, Wisconsin; and Orangeville, Illinois. PCC lit was sent to Christians in the following cities for distribution: Brookfield, Eagle, Little Suamico, Milwaukee (north and south sides), Monroe, Viroqua, Waukesha, and Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin; Amarillo and Missouri City, Texas; Collegeville, Pennsylvania; Coloma, Michigan; La Vista and Omaha, Nebraska; Lewistown, Montana; and Penns Grove, New Jersey.
Please note:
We have a new box number. Our address now is: P.O. Box 314, Monroe, WI 53566. Back
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