SOS Monthly Newsletter - December 2006

No Room At The Inn

Dear Christian friends,

As we read the Christmas story, it shouldn't surprise us to learn that there was no room at the Inn. After all, many families were visiting Bethlehem because of the census. What surprises us is that nobody opened their home to Joseph and Mary, especially since she was about to give birth. The Hebrews were known for their hospitality and God had commanded them to take the poor and the stranger into their homes.

In Genesis 18, three men (whom we later learn were angels) visited Abraham, warning him about the judgment God had intended on Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham immediately told his wife to bake some bread and told his servant to kill a choice calf. Abraham knew nothing about these three strangers but he was extremely hospitable to them.

If three strangers came to our door, would we let them in? Would we let Joseph and Mary into our homes? Probably not. We live in dangerous times and will not risk the potential danger to us and our families. In Genesis 19, two angels visited Lot in Sodom. Sodom was certainly a dangerous place, filled with men who wanted to rape the visitors. For Lot, this was all the more reason to insist that these strangers stay at his house. He knew they would not be safe in the streets. In Judges 19, an old man in Gibeah saw a traveler who had no place to stay and insisted he stay at his house, knowing the streets were not safe. Again, the men of the city wanted to rape him.

The Bible has much to say about taking in strangers, "The stranger did not lodge in the street; but I opened my doors to the traveler" Job 31:32. "Is not this the fast that I have chosen...that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house" Isa. 58:6﷓7. "Come...inherit the kingdom prepared for you...for I was a stranger and you took me in" Matt. 25: 34﷓35. "No widow shall be put on the list unless...she has lodged strangers" 1 Tim. 5:10. "Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares," Heb. 13:2.

Most Christians argue that it's too dangerous to take in strangers. They might steal your possessions and, worse yet, might harm someone in your family. These are valid concerns. I believe we should exercise discernment and be sensitive to the Holy Spirit in determining whom we should let into our homes. Lot and the man of Gibeah probably sensed that the strangers visiting them were decent men. I believe that if God has blessed us with a house, at times He will lead strangers to us that he wants us to take in. There will always be an element of risk, but we must allow our lives to be directed by God's Word and His Spirit, not by our fears.

SOS-San Francisco August 10-18, 2007

We have set dates for our 28th annual outreach to the people of San Francisco. This is the 40th anniversary of SF's "Summer of Love." Please set aside these dates for this important outreach. Ask your employer for the week off.

ON THE STREETS

On October 13, we witnessed on Broadway St. in San Francisco. This area is known for topless bars and pornographic bookstores. We set up in front of a store that appeared to be closed. The door was locked and nobody was inside. When the owner arrived, he told us to move away. He told us we couldn’t stand on the sidewalk anywhere near his store. We took our amplifier across the street and moved everyone else to the far side of the sidewalk away from his store. Nonetheless, he called the police. The officer told me that I should assume a business is open, even if the door is locked and nobody is inside! We have been arrested twice at this location, so I am learning never to argue with police officers, even when they make ridiculous statements.

On Sat. October 7, Pastor Mark Whitehead brought 35 Christians from Victory Assembly of God in Ceres (near Modesto). They led worship and ministered to hundreds of people. Afterwards, Mark told me that his church is really getting excited about evangelism.

On October 14, we witnessed in Berkeley. Paul Coca played music and several Christians preached that afternoon. Mike Hunziker prayed with Hong, a homeless man from China. He had received Christ a week ago, but needed strength and encouragement.

On October 21, we attended an evangelism conference in Sacramento taught by Ray Comfort and Todd Friel of Way of the Master Ministries. It was exciting to see about 1200 Christians, including many youth, attending an evangelism conference. Afterwards, about 100 of us witnessed in Old Sacramento. Todd aired tapes of his witnessing conversations from that night on hundreds of radio stations.

On Friday October 27, we witnessed on Valencia St. Tom and Carol sang worship songs. Suddenly, we noticed several thousand people pass by us on bicycles. I was able to preach to this crowd. An extremely anti-Christian movie was playing at a theater a few feet from us. Here is an excerpt from the movie’s description: “The Root of All Evil? The God Delusion: How is it...that despite science having exposed old religious myths, militant faith is back on the march? The mechanism for perpetuating beliefs...leading to murderous intolerance, is by imposing religion on children who are too inexperienced to judge it for themselves...” As you can imagine, the people watching this movie were quite hostile towards us. Matthew Ray, age 23, was visiting us this weekend. As he preached, about ten young people gathered around to listen to him and ask questions about Jesus. By the end of the evening, we had several good conversations and prayed with one man.

On October 28, we witnessed at Fisherman’s Wharf. Paul Coca sang and several of us preached. One police officer threatened to arrest us and confiscate our sound system. Eventually he allowed us to continue ministering after we agreed to be very quiet. He did not confront other groups that were playing very loud music that afternoon.

Matthew Ray preaches at the Wharf
Loi witnesses to young men in Berkeley
Jessi preaches to bicyclists on
Valencia St
Mike prays with Hong in Berkeley


Legal Update

In 1996, after the San Francisco Police Department had arrested us several times for “disturbing the peace” and denied several of our permits in response to complaints, we filed a civil rights lawsuit in Federal Court. In 1999, Judge Legge dismissed our lawsuit. We appealed to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. In 2001, they reversed the dismissal and ordered that our case be brought to trial. The case was assigned to Judge Chesney, who held a two-week trial in December, 2002. For the next two years we filed various briefs and had oral arguments. On January 12, 2005, Judge Chesney ruled against us.

In regards to our arrests for disturbing the peace, she agreed that the police must have probable cause to believe that we are not preaching for the purpose of communicating a message but rather are only trying to disturb a complainant with loud noise. However, she said that the fact that we continued to preach after being informed of a complaint is sufficient evidence that our real purpose was to disturb the complainant. This is true even when we did not know there was a complainant!

Her ruling also directly contradicted the 9th Circuit’s Memorandum that was issued in our case. For example, the 9th Circuit said “the plaintiffs need not show actual intent to discriminate on the basis of viewpoint.” However, Judge Chesney said that we must prove that the city intended to discriminate on the basis of viewpoint.

We appealed this case once again to the 9th Circuit. We filed our final brief in the case in December, 2005. We finally have a date for oral arguments – Thurs. December 7 at 9:30 AM. Attorney Rick Nelson from American Liberties Institute will come here from Florida to argue the case. Our case will be assigned to a three-judge panel. We hope that they will realize that Judge Chesney’s ruling allows the police to avoid respecting people’s constitutional rights and also violates their own order. However, we have seen a lot of outrageous decisions from our courts recently. As increasing numbers of judges dislike the Christian message and seek to restrict Christian preaching, our freedom could soon disappear. This case is an important one. Win or lose, others will cite this case as a precedent in arguing future cases.

Please pray for the three judges who will rule on our case (T G Nelson, Ronald Gould and Consuelo Maria Callahan), that they will reverse Judge Chesney’s ruling. While we have had no serious problems with the police during the past eight years, this could change at any time. At any moment, they could decide to arrest us and confiscate our sound system, as an officer threatened to do on October 28. A legal victory would help protect us from such arrests.

Coming Events

Note: Outreaches are subject to change. Call (510) 531-5325 or 213-3092 (cell phone) to confirm outreaches or for more information.

Friday December 1, 8, 15 7:30 - 10 PM Witnessing in San Francisco neighborhoods.

Sat. December 2 and 16 12:30 – 4:30 PM Berkeley Outreach (Telegraph and Haste St.), Chuck Girard will be here on Sat. Dec. 16.

Sat. December 9 12-5 PM San Francisco Outreach (UN Plaza, 7th St. and Market)

Ministry News and Needs

Thank you so much for your prayers and financial support for this ministry. We can now take donations by credit card through our web site. We also have a new forum on the web site where you can discuss topics related to evangelism. We have printed 60,000 new tracts and hope to print another 60,000 within the next few months. We still need a musician to lead worship on the streets on Friday nights.

For those of you who didn’t get last month’s newsletter, we have a new member of our evangelism house. Bethany Elie taught elementary school at the International Christian School in Kabul, Afghanistan for two years. Before that, she taught for six years in South Korea. She plans to visit a large Afghani community in Fremont once a week. She also wants to minister to youth groups about evangelism. If you live in the Bay Area and your church would like for Bethany to share about her experiences on the mission field and teach on evangelism, please let me know.

Our Tape of the Month is Ministry to the Homeless by Jerry Brandt. Jerry ministered with us for several years and is now director of Action Evangelism in Tampa, FL .

I hope many of you will join us for one of our Christmas outreaches on Saturday December 9 or 16. Christmas is certainly an excellent time to let people know that God sent Jesus into the world to be our Savior.

Joy to the world! The Lord is come. Let earth receive her king. Let every heart prepare Him room....I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and New Year.

Yours in His love,

 

Larry Rosenbaum

 

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