Pastors Peter Simpson and John Sherwood were proclaiming Jesus Christ and him crucified in the centre of Aylesbury on March 29, helped by Mrs Lesley Pilkington.
Pastor Sherwood spoke to a young man who defended the use of drugs on the grounds that people use herbal remedies for medical illnesses, and cannabis is a plant, and so is a herbal remedy.
The preacher responded that cannabis is used today in a manner which God never intended, and those who use it have put themselves under its power and are enslaved to it.
Furthermore, to take drugs is no different than being dependent upon alcohol, except with possibly seven more serious consequences. Both drugs and alcohol are a substitute for trust in God (sadly, whilst the two pastors were witnessing a drunken man tried to disrupt the witness). They are enticements in a vain search for elation, instead of seeking to find one’s joy in the Lord. To resort to drugs and alcohol is in defiance of the Biblical injunctions to remain sober and alert. For example, the apostle Peter tells us, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8).
Whilst Pastor Simpson was preaching, a man angrily came up to him and uttered a four-letter letter expletive. The minister responded by suggesting that such words hardly represented a coherent rejection of the one true Christian faith. The man sadly responded with a further expletive, as Pastor Simpson appealed to him to actually articulate his objections, but sadly he chose not to. This reminds us of what Paul said to the Romans concerning man’s universe; guilt under God’s holy law,
“What things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God” (Romans 3:19).
A sinful man standing before the holy God should indeed be speechless, for he is without any excuse.
Pastor Sherwood also talked to a group of schoolboys about the purpose of life – why we are here? Is it just to “eat, drink and be merry”? He was particularly focusing upon James 4:14,
“For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away”.
Even young people need urgent need to consider the brevity of life because no one can be sure how long they have upon this earth.
Mrs Pilkington had a brief exchange with a very sad woman who, when she was offered a leaflet, shouted out, “What has Jesus ever done for me?” The witnessing sister responded, “Well, He has died for you, to pay the penalty for your sins”. In other words, What more important thing could He ever have done than that – to open up for you the way to heaven.
She responded that she had never heard such a teaching before, and then asked, “Who is this Jesus anyway”? When Mrs Pilkington tried to explain further, she sadly walked away saying, “It couldn’t be true”. May the Lord open her heart, and indeed the hearts of many others who heard in Aylesbury the need to repent of sin, trust in Christ for salvation, and then serve Him with all of their hearts.