Pastors Peter Simpson and John Sherwood were preaching the gospel in the market square in the centre of Aylesbury on September 13th.
A young man came up to Pastor Simpson to give his thanks to the preachers, being very appreciative of their being willing to make a stand for God’s truth. This was a real encouragement.
Pastor Simpson spoke on Romans 3:10, “There is none righteous, no, not one”. Every human being carries around a great burden of guilt which only the Lord Jesus Christ can remove. All have hopelessly broken God’s commandments. No good works or religious rituals or ceremonies can compensate for sin. Only faith in Christ and in His shed blood can remove a person’s guilt. No one is neutral or innocent. All stand condemned before the holy God, unless they repent and come to the Saviour.
A teenage girl came up to Pastor Simpson whilst he was preaching and said top him that she was a Catholic. The minister responded by asking her, Are you trusting in Jesus Christ for your personal salvation? She said that she was, but sadly did not seem interested in carrying on a serious conversation about spiritual matters.
As Pastor Sherwood was preaching, a lady approached Pastor Simpson as he was handing out tracts and complained about one of the posters on display, and asking if the preachers had permission from the Council to be there. Pastor Simpson responded that no permission was needed. She then said that she was ringing to report the preachers to the Council. It also appears that the Police were contacted as well, because two officers subsequently arrived and asked for Pastor Simpson’s name and address and for a copy of one of the tracts being handed out. The minister handed over the tract. He was under no obligation to give his personal details, but as he had nothing to hide, he did so anyway.
Aș regular readers of these reports will know, the offending poster says, ‘WHAT HAPPENS WHEN A NATION ABANDONS THE BIBLE? Drug-taking, knife crime, no respect for the Lord’s Day, abortion, the LGBT agenda in schools, needless anxiety over climate change’.
The lady (who apparently works for a charity) claimed that the poster was offensive and should not therefore be displayed, and implied that the preachers’ presence was not acceptable in the town. Pastor Simpson asked her if she would support a Pride parade taking place in Aylesbury. She said that she would. The minister responded, “But that would offend me”, trying to make the point that being offended is no reason to start banning the lawful activity of those with whom we disagree. He also referred to the Bible’s teaching on the sinfulness of homosexuality. He was then accused of being homophobic. Pastor Simpson replied, “Stealing is sinful, but that does not mean that I hate all thieves”.
The lady then suggested that the preaching was a pointless exercise because no one was listening anyway (there were very few were people in the immediate vicinity of the preaching area at that precise point). Pastor Simpson responded, with a little irony, that if no one was listening, then there was no reason for her to be concerned about his presence.
The lady’s parting comment was along the lines of, “Why do you not go off and do some useful charitable work instead”? Pastor Simpson replied that as a minister of a church, he was in fact the employee of a registered charity which exists for the public good. Indeed, to preach the message of Jesus Christ crucified for sinners is that greatest act of charity to members of the public which could possibly ever be performed, which is why the pastors will carry on preaching in Aylesbury.