An e-mail I received from a chaplain

The policy at the two hospitals in our town is that visiting ministers can only visit those who have given them permission. In other words, the patient must put the minister on a list of approved visitors. You can't just walk down the hallway, going door to door, and witness or pray with patients.

I'm not sure about leaving literature.

You can, however, register with the hospitals and recieve a "clergy" pass, if you want to, that allows you to park in "clergy parking", though I never have.

peace to youraying:

 

Probably not, given the policy.

peace to youraying:

 

Hello Steven2006

First of all, about obeying the rules, the Bible says..........
Acts 5:28-29
V.28 Saying, Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name? and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.
V.29 Then Peter and the [other] apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.

With that said, the Apostles were not leaving tracts, nor were they ministering on private property.

Although we can street preach, we can’t go into a restaurant, and stand on a table and preach, without permission.

Now, if God leads you to share the truth about Christ, to an individual, it doesn’t matter where it is, you need to obey the LORD.
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We should not leave “a tract” anywhere, unless the Lord tells us to.

 

Well said SL, but they also better be sure that's the Lord they are hearing. As many have been won by personal witness and testimony, many have also been driven from the truth by a careless word. The apostles and others throughout the years have often broken the laws of men in spreading the gospel, but they also paid the penalty, including at times their own lives, without complaint or argument.

I will add a personal example. A close friend years ago was a missionary to Cuba. No, I am not that old, it was under the current communist government. He worked for years through official legal channels traveling to other countries, meeting with Cuban officials, and finally received permission to serve. Then another "missionary" who felt called to disobey the law came in on a tourist visa and began passing out literature. The result was the fledling ministry my friend was building was destroyed and his visa was resended and he was sent home to start all over again.

 

I really hope that I DON'T know the fella of whom you speak (the one who disobeyed the law) but I am afraid that I do. When I heard about it I was very upset.

 

Could be, we live in a small world sometimes. The thing is there are always consequences for our actions and when we fail to follow the Spirit, sometimes we are used by our adversary.

 

I dont mind saying this.

Personally...I will place a gospel tract anywhere that I am inclined (by the Lord) to do so, having no concern for the rules that may be in place at the institution.

There comes a time where our mission to propogate the gosple takes precedance over some institutional rule.

If they want to reprimand me...fine. If they want to escort me out...fine.


I will obey my Lord.

 

For the most part I agree that you need to obey the LORD. but I don't know that if they had tracks then that the Apostles would not have used them if they had them.
They did minister on private property according to Mt 10:14.

 

Hello John

Nice to hear from you.

You said........

The reason I said that about them not having tracts, is because I think any kind of paper back then, was very hard to come by.

But as for Matthew 10:14
“And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet.”

You know, over the years of looking at the context of this verse, I consider it to be talking about a “house of worship”, rather than a person’s home, but I may be wrong.

 

I'll probably be the one accused of sidetracking this thread, but I am not- I am actually just responding to this post which does not address the OP at all.

They don't "become" God's elect- they ARE God's elect. Many have it backwards. They accept the Gospel because the ARE God's elect. They are not God's elect because they accept the Gospel.

If they are chosen by God because they chose God then they are better people than those who don't choose God. Therefore they have somewhat whereof they can boast. They can say, "I was smarter than the hordes of humanity that pour into hell." Then they have to some degree merited favor from God by being smarter than the masses of lost humanity. Their salvation is thus merited. They earned it by being smarter. Their lost fellows were not smart enough to choose Christ. Thus god must say to them when they get to heaven- "You are here because of two reasons- my Son Jesus Christ paying for your sins and your intelligence above most of your fellow creatures in choosing me. Congratulations!"

Then salvation is not of grace.


To address the OP- stop leaving the tracks if asked by the administration to stop leaving the tracks.

 

Good morning Luke2427

I too, want to be careful, not to derail this thread, but I just had to respond to your post.

I am certainly not one of those who are deceived by the error of Calvinism, but you hit the nail on the head.
People don’t become elect, they were elect before the foundation of the world.

And for sure, the whole issue with this subject, is salvation by Grace.
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I remember years ago, being told about some famous old preacher, who once said.......
“The more people I win to Christ, the more seem to get elected.”

I have seen many professing Christians, who just “seem" to be elected.
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Thanks for your informative post.

 

Thank you, though I regret you still believe that Calvinism is error.

I am glad we see eye to eye on the other, nonetheless.

 

I must say Luke that that was a good post...:applause:

 

Intelligence has nothing to do with it. Not saying I disagree with your view of the elect, but intelligence has nothing to do with it.

It's a gift god gives us. We take it or we don't. You don't have to be a genius to accept a gift. So even if you don't believe this point of view, and you believe free will, etc...I still don't think intelligence has anything to do with it.

 

Since it is off topic, I was going to leave it be...but then I see others jumping on and congratulating it.

This post was poppycock.

To say that there is some form of "being better than others" by accepting the free gift of salvation, is to imply that those who are saved are basically prideful pharisees, dancing around singing, "na na na na na, we're going to heaven and you're not"...nah, I don't think so.

And the word is "tracts." For people who have a higher education, and a so-called better grasp of the historical languages of the bible, you'd think we'd have mastered the English language first....