Wednesday, April 8, 2009

God is turning the hearts of men back to him

so last night, our little humble group made our way over to UCSD for our normal Tuesday night prayer meeting there, but this time it was a little bit different! =]]
tonight, Richard Dawkins, the renown Atheist was presenting a lecture and receiving a reward at one of the buildings near the La Jolla playhouse on UCSD campus. JHOP San Diego had a group of about 25 that i saw at least in the line all day waiting and praying for this man an for the meeting in general. we showed up too late to get parking near the playhouse, or even get in line to be inside, so we had different plans of just doing prayer and worship outside of the playhouse as the JHOP crew was doing work inside.

first, on the inside, the group was praying for confusion and for love and truth to break out, that people would come to know Christ, not become a product of one of the four horsemen, what Dawkins is called on occasion. Dawkins stumbled through his presentation and then there was a time for open Q&A, and by the grace of God, the JHOP team was right next to the microphone, so they had about 10 people jump up to ask questions. instead of questions, they really just looked at Dawkins and in front of about 400+ Atheists, asked Dawkins to repent for making a mockery of God and to turn his heart to the Lord. they all started in laughter, and kept laughing, until the other 5 in line did the same thing. they had to actually cut the QA time and the session ended a little earlier than expected.

meanwhile, during the session, we were right out in front on a lawn playing worship, lifting up prayers and asking for the truth to set free and love to overcome. within this time, we had a couple walk by that were Atheists and made a quick joke about us being the Atheists, haha. we said we were actually do prayer and worship, and asked if they would like to join. the man said yes, but seemed confused on it and so they decided to walk around the area. we kept pressing in during this time and kept asking God to just pour down love, mercy, truth, joy and liberty! sooner than later, the man came back and sat down listening to us play. so one of the guys with us went over to talk to him and another with his girlfriend. at this point a bunch of people were getting out of the lecture and walking by hearing us play and pray. there was one guy who said that Jesus sucked, but the man who sat down with us immediately replied that Jesus is actually pretty cool hahahahaha! not only that but also, the JHOP crew just got out as well and we were getting into some more worship! than the guy sitting with the Atheist man who joined us asked if we could pray for him. we all prayed over him and in this time, he said he had never felt more love, seen more joy or been in the reality of love and genuine people before like this! he was completely overwhelmed with the Holy Spirit! this Atheist man, Mike, also stated that he had never felt so accepted before because whenever he goes into these lectures he feels like he is being bashed on, which was insane to hear! right after this, a security guard walks by and says the Lord is saying job well done and also that this man received his touch tonight hahaha, prophetic!
we then said bye to Mike who exchanged numbers with JHOP and we look forward to hearing more about him.

overall, we were blessed to see God move in the ways he did and it was crazy to see that in our faithful remnant of people in the sea of non believers, waves of mercy and love came crashing upon us and upon this man who now knows love and the reality that God is God! God did amazing things tonight and it was truly a honor and privilege to be a part of it! may the Lord bless you with this testimony and release you into even deeper than this! because of love

4 comments:

Niall said...

first, on the inside, the group was praying for confusion and for love and truth to break out, that people would come to know Christ, not become a product of one of the four horsemen, what Dawkins is called on occasion. Dawkins stumbled through his presentation and then there was a time for open Q&A, and by the grace of God, the JHOP team was right next to the microphone, so they had about 10 people jump up to ask questions. instead of questions, they really just looked at Dawkins and in front of about 400+ Atheists, asked Dawkins to repent for making a mockery of God and to turn his heart to the Lord. they all started in laughter, and kept laughing, until the other 5 in line did the same thing. they had to actually cut the QA time and the session ended a little earlier than expected.




I'm unsure as to why this is good. If we stand behind the Gospel and are intelligent in how we interact with people like Dawkins who have EXTREMELY valid and true things to say about the evils of organized religion, then the Gospel will win out. I think a more effective thing would have been to have posed questions that made people think, rather than filibustering the time slot. I just feel like this response makes Christians look like we are shying away from a good intellectual debate, which truly, is silly.

Niall said...

Also, please explain JHOP to me. Based on this and everything I just read (on their website) I'm slightly troubled by the organization.

Just would like to know your thoughts my friend.

Niall

Gudymente said...

JHOP is a house of prayer (Justice House of Prayer). They hold prayer meetings and operate much like a church. They do ministry, evangelism, and DEFINITELY operate in the gifts of the Spirit (tongues, prophecy, healings, visions, ect...). They want to bring revival back to America and they believe that the only way to do that is through prayer.

If you want, Trevor, Typie and me are going to RHOP (Refuge House of Prayer) this Saturday and I would love you to come. It's from 7-10 so just hit me up if you wanna go.

As for the Q&A thing, i am kinda torn. I do feel like what you said has validity. I wasn't inside, I was outside worshipping and praying with friends from my school. And when I first heard it I was kinda like "was that beneficial?" On the other hand, no one's going to persuade Dockins through well placed questions (I understand you could also argue no one's going to persuade him through telling him to repent). And whatever good things he has to say about institutionalized religion, he also tells people that if they post a video on youtube of themselves blaspheming the Holy Spirit he will give them a free book. And I think that outweighs any "good" he says.

In conclusions, I think your cynicism of what they did is good and valid. But I don't focus on that part personally, I'm blown away that God can use us to show God's love to a hardcore atheist at an atheist "conference."

Love you man

Niall said...

In conclusions, I think your cynicism of what they did is good and valid. But I don't focus on that part personally, I'm blown away that God can use us to show God's love to a hardcore atheist at an atheist "conference."

Absolutely agreed. Also absolutely not sticking up for Dawkins. I don't think that much of what he says, if any, has a positive affect on the outcomes of humanity, despite his best intentions.

I would love to go on sat. but sadly I have to close at work that night. Maybe hang out at some other point?