Pastor Brian McDaniel traveled to Tanzania Africa, to participate in a Pastor’s Conference.
Brian paired himself up with a Pastor friend and a translator and began going to the local open-air coffee shop on the corner square to share the gospel with whoever would listen. He would go there daily to preach and noticed that when he arrived, the local men would all get on their cell phones. Ten minutes later, a bunch of men from the Mosque in white robes would show up. They would sit in the front middle of all the other men gathered around to listen.
Often these men would ask questions about the gospel. Brian would answer, and everyone would clap. One day as Pastor Brian was preaching on this corner square, a fight broke out. One Muslim had been applauding an answer Brian gave to a question about the gospel, and another Muslim hit the man applauding. Thankfully the fight broke up quickly.
One day the group went to a village off of the river. When they arrived, all the natives were waiting on the side.
Pastor Brian went to the square on one of the last days there. He saw everyone get on their cell phones. Then the Imam in their white robes showed up and sat down with one of the prominent leaders at the Mosque. All eyes were on him as he sat down, center front.
He asked, “are you saying today that our good works do not get us heaven?”
Brian responded with this illustration;
Let’s say I came and stole this man’s watch (pointing to one of the men gathered there), and everyone here saw me steal it. I ran to another village and felt terrible for stealing the watch, so I did all kinds of good work for one year. I fed the hungry, I visited the sick, I helped the orphans and widows, I volunteered my work and all kinds of notable good works for one year.
After one year, I decided to walk back to your village. You see me, and I get arrested because I stole the watch. I stand before the judge and tell the judge about all the good works I did in the neighboring village for an entire year. Do you think the judge dropped the charges of stealing the watch? No, because all of the good works did not remove the fact that I stole the watch. The Bible says that the wages of even one sin are death but that the gift of God in Christ Jesus is eternal life.
The leader bowed his head and walked out.
Praise God for His protection and grace. Pray the seeds that were planted grow and bear much fruit.
