Pastor Peter Simpson was preaching the gospel in the centre of High Wycombe on January 12, helped by three faithful sisters in Christ. It had been raining all morning and more rain was forecast, but, by God’s grace, there was a break in the weather to facilitate some 90 minutes of gospel proclamation.
One man endeavoured to argue with Pastor Simpson that all religions were ultimately one and the same religion. The minister strongly disagreed on the grounds that the Lord Jesus Christ is the only way to receive forgiveness and salvation.
Another man walking by as Pastor Simpson was preaching shouted out that, in contrast to atheism, it is religion which has caused so many wars and so many deaths in the world. The preacher quickly disillusioned him of this totally false notion, referring as an example to the many millions who died under the regime of the atheistic Marxist leader Stalin, either by execution, famine, slave labour or outright massacres (See https://news.stanford.edu/2010/09/23/naimark-stalin-genocide-092310/ ). One might also cite the anti-Christian communist regimes of Hitler, Mao Tse Tung and Pol pot in Cambodia, which were also responsible for millions of deaths.
There were two different groups of young people with whom conversations took place. They were both strongly pro-LGBT, abortion, climate change and supported the politically correct ‘white privilege’ thesis. One of the helpers, Mrs Pilkington, comments, “It is a desperate indictment on our society that so many young people are so indoctrinated with (these) deception and lies. The (mainstream) churches for the most part have abandoned their role in society (as salt and light); hence the great importance of proclaiming the gospel in the public square as we do”.
One young homosexual man had a long talk with Mrs Pilkington, saying that he thought he could be both Christian and ‘gay’. The witnessing sister stated the impossibility of this, and set forth the true gospel and the need for repentance. By God’s grace, he was willing to listen.
Further conversations took place with around half a dozen young people who said that they once were Christians, or that they knew the Bible, but that they no longer believed. They all seemed never to have received any proper Bible-based teaching. After Mrs Pilkington explained the necessity of personal repentance, one young woman allowed her to pray for her.
At one stage Pastor Simpson entered into conversation with one of the two group of young people, which comprised mainly girls, who were either lesbian or very pro-LGBT. One of these girls was utterly shocked when Pastor Simpson said that Islam and all other religions rejecting Jesus Christ as the Son of God and the Bible as the unique word of God were by definition false religions.
The group accused the minister of being hateful and homophobic, because he set forth the Bible’s position on the sinfulness of homosexuality. A Roman Catholic teenage girl told him that he was guilty of not respecting other people, which it was his Christian duty to do.
Pastor Simpson responded, Should I then respect the unrepentant adulterer who has just wrecked his marriage? After all, adultery and homosexuality are listed alongside each other in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 as keeping those who practice them outside of the kingdom of God. If the practice of homosexuality must be respected as being perfectly legitimate, then why not adultery? By adhering to the Biblical teaching on homosexuality Christians no more hate homosexual people than they hate all adulterers, when they assert God’s law concerning adultery, yet the accusation of hatred is so often made. The minister suggested to the girl that by her advocacy of the LGBT position, she was actually claiming that she was wiser than God, who has given to us his moral law for mankind’s benefit.
Another in the group told Pastor Simpson that the reason he was homophobic was because he was an “old white male”. Here we see how the gross errors of critical race theory have taken over the minds of so many young people (but how many churches are challenging this pernicious but fashionable nonsense that one racial group is more sinful than the others). Pastor Simpson responded to the young woman by saying that the Bible teaches respect for one’s elders, and to make skin colour the reason for holding allegedly wrong attitudes (which she had done) is, of course in and of itself racist, but somehow in the bizarre universe which we now inhabit to be abusive towards white people, especially males who are elder, is perfectly acceptable. What a contrast is this hypocrisy to the Biblical teaching that “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23) and “the scripture hath concluded all under sin” (Galatians 3:22).
Those witnessing were encouraged by this outreach in High Wycombe, because, despite the opposition, Biblical truth was uncompromisingly proclaimed in the public square. May the Holy Spirit bring conviction of sin to many who heard.
