Pastor Peter Simpson was preaching the gospel in Slough High Street on September 20th.
A Muslim walked by and Pastor Simpson asked him if his sins were forgiven and, if so, on what basis. He replied. “Allah will be merciful”. The minister explained that God has to have a basis on which to be merciful. Sins can only be forgiven after justice has been first been satisfied, and the justice for the sins of men is only dealt with by the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. May the Lord open this Muslim’s heart.
A Indian lady came by as Pastor Simpson was preaching. She appeared to be interested and so the preacher asked her a question about her faith, but she sadly replied, “I only speak Punjabi”. Whilst those witnessing do have access to some tracts in Punjabi, it is a matter for concern that there will be regularly not a few in the high street in Slough who will simply not understand what is being preached because of the language issue. Yes, the literature in different languages can of course be profitably employed, but there is a special power and authority in the preached word (Romans 10:14-15), and how it is desired that as many as possible might be able to come under its sound.
Another passer-by when asked if he was a Christian replied, “I am a Catholic”. Pastor Simpson asked him if he thought that he was a good person. The man replied that he generally was, although he had obviously done some wrong things, The Penn minister endeavoured to emphasise the seriousness of sin, and that whatever good works or acts of obedience a man might engage in, any subsequent sin cancels it out. This is exactly what the Bible teaches :
“When a righteous man turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and dieth in them; for his iniquity that he hath done shall he die” (Ezekiel 18:26). In any case all are guilty of breaking God’s commandments, and no good works can compensate for this.
The Catholic gentleman sadly did not seem concerned about his spiritual condition, but may the Holy Spirit cause him to be deeply convicted and to seek mercy in Christ, abandoning all reliance on his own good works or religious affiliation.
Pastor Simpson and the Polish Christian man who was helping him in the witness entered into conversation with a group of Asian schoolchildren, and again asked them, “Are you a good person?” They responded that they thought that they were, and so the Minister warned them how the Bible teaches that “there is none righteous, no, not one” (Romans 3:10).
One young man who heard the preaching claimed that Jesus lives inside everyone. He was told that the Lord only comes to dwell within those who repent and trust in Him. Christ’s indwelling by the power of the Spirit is only fro those who believe. As Peter declared on the day of Pentecost,
“Repent, and be baptised every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost” (Acts 2:38). The reception of Christ to dwell within the heart by His Spirit is only for those who have seen the enormity of their sin and who have engaged in heartfelt repentance and a fleeing to Christ as the only possible remedy.
A further conversation was entered into with another group of schoolchildren, who stated that the LGBT agenda was being promoted in their school and how it was impossible to express any disagreement with it. This is truly a shocking state of affairs, and appears to be hard evidence of what is happening in various schools throughout the country and of the way young peoples minds are being corrupted. A case in point is the school chaplain, Dr. Bernard Randall, who was sacked from being a chaplain at a Church of England school for defending the right of pupils to question the School’s policies on LGBT issues.
May many in Slough who heard the gospel preached and with whom conversations took place think seriously about the Biblical truth which they heard, and come earnestly to the only Saviour of sinners, the Lord Jesus Christ.
