Pastors Peter Simpson and John Sherwood, and Mr Graham Parkhouse from Epsom, were preaching the gospel in Slough High Street on July 25th.
A passing Muslim was offered a leaflet by Pastor Simpson who told him that it was about the Christian faith. A polite discussion then ensued about why it was necessary to be a Christian in contrast to following the religion of Islam.
Pastor Simpson emphasised that salvation cannot be earned, because the Muslim was saying that he hoped he would get to heaven on the grounds of trying to be good. The minister stated that salvation is the free gift of God, and that no human merit can cancel out a single sin.
The minister also asked the Muslim if he thought Mohammed was without sin. He responded that no one is perfect. He was then asked about Mohammed’s 12 wives, along with Islam’s teaching this it is possible for a Muslim man to take up to four wives. Pastor Simpson argued that this is adultery in the sight of God. The Muslim disagreed stating that as long as the husband could support four wives, there was nothing wrong with such an arrangement. Pastor Simpson came back, stating that if a man marries one wife, to then make it known that he is then thinking about having three more wives would be very hurtful and unloving to his first wife.
One of the texts which Pastor Simpson preached from was Proverbs 3:7 – “Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil”. Men must not trust to human wisdom, “for the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God”
(1 Corinthians 3:19). The minister challenged passers-by with the question, “What happens when you die?” Man-made wisdom has no answer other than the cynical, “When you’re dead, you’re dead”. Heaven and hell, however, are eternal realities.
As the preacher was saying these things, a man walked past and pointed to a pendant around his neck in the form of a football, implying that football was his god and that nothing else in life matters. Pastor Simpson warned him that devotion to a football team would be of no avail to him on the Day of Judgement.
It was so sad that this man had not the remotest desire to take the gospel message seriously. May the Lord yet awaken him to the brevity of life and to the need to sort out the eternal destiny of his immortal spirit, before it is too late. Indeed, may many others also who heard the gospel in Slough upon this day come quickly to the same realisation.