An e-mail I received from a chaplain.

[John81]

the mailbox issue aside, I am appalled at the responses I have read, (and I did not read them all) about witnessing in hospitals, jails, etc. Myself having had a jail ministry, I do not understand letting mans policy determine another eternal destiny. I quit the jail ministry for very much the same type of thing--man's policy. One would criticize my move and say that I am no longer reaching the inmates, but I sincerely believe that I did right. Act 5:29 "Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to OBey God rather than men." does this apply too us too? I have been kicked out of malls, bus stations, and similar places because I was "caught" passing out tracts. I did not force anyone to read one, just provided the opportunity. If someone can own a place, and make their own rules, why can't I have a slave in my own home? (Now, I do not want a slave, but make a point.) The Constitution gives me the right to promote "religion", and none can wretch that right from me for now. If we compromise with the "chaplains" that are securing a jOB only, then we become a partaker of another mans sins.

In the military, a man has little choice, I understand, but why not move on after your tenor is up? There is that option. If one has been the subject of "forced compromise" then he must find a way out of it, or live with it, there is no other way. I have given out thousands of tracts at the Shrine Circus, which comes every year here, and been asked to leave by nOBle Shriners many times. i left when asked, but I returned again another time (by the way, by the time they caught me, I had given out 800 tracts already). If we follow the worlds policy in doing the Lord's work, we will eventually be cut off on every side, and the prOBlem would have swelled much bigger than it would have been had we cut it off before it grew. deal with it early, or it will spread. First, the malls (they say they are private property), then the hospitals (which apparently has already begun), and the jails, etc. where will it end? Eventually we will all be figureheads for Christ, and true workers!

By the way, you can put tracts on the flag of the mailbox (in Michigan) as long as it is outside the box. "Baggies" work fine for this, and in rural areas (to keep them dry), one can cover quite a distance driving from mailbox to mailbox, and having a partner hang them on the outside of the box.

We have to live Christ before men and spread the Gospel as we can. If confronted for handing out tracts or sharing the Gospel we can peacefully leave, and perhaps share the Gospel with those who ask us to leave.

Why not put out tracts for those in need? A tract with larger print placed upon the back of a urinal will be read by many men and one might take it with him. Most stall doors in public restrooms have something on the back of them where a tract can be placed to be seen as someone sits there. Tracts placed in library books, books and magazines in waiting rooms and such have the potential to reach many.

It seems especially bad to deprive those in hospitals of the Gospel. Many enter the hospital never to leave alive or to head to hospice because their time is short. Those who are lost desperately need to hear the Gospel as soon as possible!

[chev1958]

OK, I'm going to stir the pot a little here. Irishman quoted Acts 5:29, which we should all agree with. However, where does God tell us to leave printed information around willy-nilly? Scripture tells us in

Romans 10:17 - So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Now, I know this will be a fruitless request, but please try not to misunderstand me. I believe a tract ministry can be greatly used by God, so I am not saying anything against a tract ministry. However, we are commanded to preach the gospel. There is no command in Scripture for a tract ministry. It is man-made.

A shopping mall is private property and the Shriners' circus is a private organization. So, if you are told to stop handing out tracts on someone else's property, you should stop. If you continue and if you're arrested for trespassing, littering, or whatever, you are not being persecuted for Christ. You are violating the law, of which Scripture commands

Heb. 13:17 - OBey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves ...

When I'm witnessing on someone's doorstep, I try to leave them a tract if they're not responding to what I'm saying. If they tell me they don't want one, I don't leave one on the porch when they close the door. I'll visit them again some time later. If they tell me never to come back, I won't.

They have the authority over me when I'm on their property. If I ignore their prohibition, go back to their house, and they have me arrested for trespassing, am I being persecuted for Christ or being prosecuted for breaking the law that does not violate Scripture?

Now, if you're on the public sidewalk handing out tracts or preaching, there's nothing they can legally do. They may try, and if you get arrested, then you're being persecuted for Christ. That's the situation when the apostles were arrested in the public square of the Temple (Acts 29). That's what happened a couple of years ago in Philadelphia, when a Christian group was standing along the sidewalk holding signs protesting a sodomite parade. They were arrested while on a public sidewalk. They were being persecuted for Christ.

Anxiously awaiting your comments ...

[DennisD]

OK, I'm going to stir the pot a little here. Irishman quoted Acts 5:29, which we should all agree with. However, where does God tell us to leave printed information around willy-nilly? Scripture tells us in


Now, I know this will be a fruitless request, but please try not to misunderstand me. I believe a tract ministry can be greatly used by God, so I am not saying anything against a tract ministry. However, we are commanded to preach the gospel. There is no command in Scripture for a tract ministry. It is man-made.

A shopping mall is private property and the Shriners' circus is a private organization. So, if you are told to stop handing out tracts on someone else's property, you should stop. If you continue and if you're arrested for trespassing, littering, or whatever, you are not being persecuted for Christ. You are violating the law, of which Scripture commands


When I'm witnessing on someone's doorstep, I try to leave them a tract if they're not responding to what I'm saying. If they tell me they don't want one, I don't leave one on the porch when they close the door. I'll visit them again some time later. If they tell me never to come back, I won't.

They have the authority over me when I'm on their property. If I ignore their prohibition, go back to their house, and they have me arrested for trespassing, am I being persecuted for Christ or being prosecuted for breaking the law that does not violate Scripture?

Now, if you're on the public sidewalk handing out tracts or preaching, there's nothing they can legally do. They may try, and if you get arrested, then you're being persecuted for Christ. That's the situation when the apostles were arrested in the public square of the Temple (Acts 29). That's what happened a couple of years ago in Philadelphia, when a Christian group was standing along the sidewalk holding signs protesting a sodomite parade. They were arrested while on a public sidewalk. They were being persecuted for Christ.

Anxiously awaiting your comments ...

I don't think anything you said was off base (surely seems you said it with respect to me), thank you for typing it out.

[trc123]

OK, I'm going to stir the pot a little here. Irishman quoted Acts 5:29, which we should all agree with. However, where does God tell us to leave printed information around willy-nilly? Scripture tells us in


Now, I know this will be a fruitless request, but please try not to misunderstand me. I believe a tract ministry can be greatly used by God, so I am not saying anything against a tract ministry. However, we are commanded to preach the gospel. There is no command in Scripture for a tract ministry. It is man-made.

A shopping mall is private property and the Shriners' circus is a private organization. So, if you are told to stop handing out tracts on someone else's property, you should stop. If you continue and if you're arrested for trespassing, littering, or whatever, you are not being persecuted for Christ. You are violating the law, of which Scripture commands


When I'm witnessing on someone's doorstep, I try to leave them a tract if they're not responding to what I'm saying. If they tell me they don't want one, I don't leave one on the porch when they close the door. I'll visit them again some time later. If they tell me never to come back, I won't.

They have the authority over me when I'm on their property. If I ignore their prohibition, go back to their house, and they have me arrested for trespassing, am I being persecuted for Christ or being prosecuted for breaking the law that does not violate Scripture?

Now, if you're on the public sidewalk handing out tracts or preaching, there's nothing they can legally do. They may try, and if you get arrested, then you're being persecuted for Christ. That's the situation when the apostles were arrested in the public square of the Temple (Acts 29). That's what happened a couple of years ago in Philadelphia, when a Christian group was standing along the sidewalk holding signs protesting a sodomite parade. They were arrested while on a public sidewalk. They were being persecuted for Christ.

Anxiously awaiting your comments ...

Agreed.

[irishman]

OK, I'm going to stir the pot a little here. Irishman quoted Acts 5:29, which we should all agree with. However, where does God tell us to leave printed information around willy-nilly? Scripture tells us in


Now, I know this will be a fruitless request, but please try not to misunderstand me. I believe a tract ministry can be greatly used by God, so I am not saying anything against a tract ministry. However, we are commanded to preach the gospel. There is no command in Scripture for a tract ministry. It is man-made.

A shopping mall is private property and the Shriners' circus is a private organization. So, if you are told to stop handing out tracts on someone else's property, you should stop. If you continue and if you're arrested for trespassing, littering, or whatever, you are not being persecuted for Christ. You are violating the law, of which Scripture commands


When I'm witnessing on someone's doorstep, I try to leave them a tract if they're not responding to what I'm saying. If they tell me they don't want one, I don't leave one on the porch when they close the door. I'll visit them again some time later. If they tell me never to come back, I won't.

They have the authority over me when I'm on their property. If I ignore their prohibition, go back to their house, and they have me arrested for trespassing, am I being persecuted for Christ or being prosecuted for breaking the law that does not violate Scripture?

Now, if you're on the public sidewalk handing out tracts or preaching, there's nothing they can legally do. They may try, and if you get arrested, then you're being persecuted for Christ. That's the situation when the apostles were arrested in the public square of the Temple (Acts 29). That's what happened a couple of years ago in Philadelphia, when a Christian group was standing along the sidewalk holding signs protesting a sodomite parade. They were arrested while on a public sidewalk. They were being persecuted for Christ.

Anxiously awaiting your comments ...

if you look up the word "publish" you will find 15 mentions of it in the Bible, a few which refer to writings, and a few which can go either way. I would say that to proclaim the Gospel, whether written or spoken (as they read, they "hear" the words anyway) is our main OBjective, and I stand on the premise that "private property" will rOB us of the right to publish our beliefs. It is a ploy of the government, and the worldly system they function under, to undermine the Gospel, and they have found a "legal" way to do so. I too believe in being subject to higher powers, but that subjection could be a willingness to take whatever punishment they see fit to give us. In other words, if I can't keep the law that is unjust, I must suffer the consequences like anyone else, but I still have that choice. Do I compromise, or suffer the penalty for not compromising? As concerning the promotion of the Gospel, one must set priorities. Do I allow mens policies to deter others from hearing or reading the Word, or do I simply quit? Again, the ball is in my court. If I return later, having not at least tried to reach them, and they perish in the meantime, my efforts are of no avail. How important is it to get the Gospel out? of course the world is not interested in souls; they will not see the urgency of the situation, and we should not expect them to, but does that mean that we back off because they do not care?

(By the way, "Shriners" are upper class Masons, and they have an agenda of their own.)

[JerryNumbers]

OK, I'm going to stir the pot a little here. Irishman quoted Acts 5:29, which we should all agree with. However, where does God tell us to leave printed information around willy-nilly? Scripture tells us in


Now, I know this will be a fruitless request, but please try not to misunderstand me. I believe a tract ministry can be greatly used by God, so I am not saying anything against a tract ministry. However, we are commanded to preach the gospel. There is no command in Scripture for a tract ministry. It is man-made.

A shopping mall is private property and the Shriners' circus is a private organization. So, if you are told to stop handing out tracts on someone else's property, you should stop. If you continue and if you're arrested for trespassing, littering, or whatever, you are not being persecuted for Christ. You are violating the law, of which Scripture commands


When I'm witnessing on someone's doorstep, I try to leave them a tract if they're not responding to what I'm saying. If they tell me they don't want one, I don't leave one on the porch when they close the door. I'll visit them again some time later. If they tell me never to come back, I won't.

They have the authority over me when I'm on their property. If I ignore their prohibition, go back to their house, and they have me arrested for trespassing, am I being persecuted for Christ or being prosecuted for breaking the law that does not violate Scripture?

Now, if you're on the public sidewalk handing out tracts or preaching, there's nothing they can legally do. They may try, and if you get arrested, then you're being persecuted for Christ. That's the situation when the apostles were arrested in the public square of the Temple (Acts 29). That's what happened a couple of years ago in Philadelphia, when a Christian group was standing along the sidewalk holding signs protesting a sodomite parade. They were arrested while on a public sidewalk. They were being persecuted for Christ.

Anxiously awaiting your comments ...

Your right on.

When on other people's property, we must OBey their wishes, if we don't, don't we them become thugs?

That is why I stated in one post of mine, get permission first, and I might add, if permission is not grated, don't do it. And of course public property would be different.

How would you like for people to come on your property doing something you do not like, and do not want on your property.

Mt 7:12 ¶ Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.

Surely we would do unto others as we wish them to do unto us.

[John81]

Agreed, if someone doesn't want us preaching or handing out literature on their property we peacefully leave.

[irishman]

y'know, I would not like someone coming on my property and soliciting their doctrines and such, but my house is not open to the public either! By the way, Trailer parks around here have "no soliciting" signs, and by that they mean no promoting the Gospel (even though we are not soliciting). We have been kicked out of them too, who is going to reach those people? Now many of them are closed to us especially when we ask permission and they flat out refuse us. I do not violate their wishes under those circumstances, but all those people are not getting the Gospel because they don't want it! I just quit asking! Guess what? i wasn't asking to be saved either, until the Word convicted me! I did not want to hear it, and even openly opposed those "preachers", but the Holy Spirit led someone to approach me anyway, and share the Gospel with me. Where does it end? When one park discovers that another had made it policy that we could not go door to door, they adapt it too! Before long, we have no place to go because man has forbid it! can't you see that your thinking is counter-productive? If a bus station is public enough to cater to all men and women, black yellow or white, they ought to be public enough to accept the Word of God. if not, we are "out of business" and we hide behind the law to justify ourselves.

Sure, we can still stand on the sidewalk, but they will deal with that later when it is generally accepted that a public place is privately owned. Someone can own the sidewalk too, I suppose! (like city-owned property). Things happen one step at a time. Go ahead and do it your way, and I will continue my way (trying hard to be without offense, but without compromise); whose to say what will come of it? I will admit though that I have lost my effectiveness in the jail, but I also have gotten others to go, and they have had many saved; they did not make an issue of the KJB though, and I did..

[JerryNumbers]

Many times we just don't have the answers to everything.

[Bro Jim]

We try to get the Gospel out however we can. In the parable of the sower the broadcast method was use. If you talk with any publick ministry group they will tell you there is the right and wrong ways to get the Gospel out, within the laws of the land.

Just a note, at a door, I always hand the the tract first, it seems that it is just natural for someone to take something that is being handed to them. Once they have its their, and I will say if they try to hand it back, "No thank you you may keep it." Edited December 16, 2010 by Bro Jim

[irishman]

We try to get the Gospel out however we can. In the parable of the sower the broadcast method was use. If you talk with any publick ministry group they will tell you there is the right and wrong ways to get the Gospel out, within the laws of the land.

Just a note, at a door, I always hand the the tract first, it seems that it is just natural for someone to take something that is being handed to them. Once they have its their, and I will say if they try to hand it back, "No thank you you may keep it."

Actually, Bro Jim, you are right; I can think of nowhere in Scripture where the Gospel was not verbally proclaimed. With that said, a tract is not an offense to unbelievers unless they read it! they do not have to do so; in voicing the Gospel however, they have not much choice if they are in ear-shot of the preacher (as in street preaching). I do not like to hear people swear loud enough so I can hear them either, but they do so anyway. If they were to write out their cuss words, I would not have to read them, and therefore I would not be offended. It is the same with them hearing the Gospel. Don't get me wrong, I am for street preaching, and in fact, had a street preaching ministry at the church I used to attend, just making a point about the advantage of using tracts.

FYI I do not violate their wishes when they ask outright that I "leave them alone", or make it very OBvious that they do not want to hear it, instead, I just go and do what I feel the Lord would have me to do,. When they ask me to leave, I do leave graciously, although I had a partner that wanted to "get in their face" when they chased us off! Sometimes I spent the time settling down the man I went "tracting" with! That could just as easily happen with verbal confrontation too though. Anyway, I do not stubbornly do it anyway, regardless of their wishes or property, at least not when they openly express to me that I am not welcome or wanted there. However, If I see a "no soliciting" sign, I do not avoid the opportunity to be a witness, one way or another. At the trailer parks, when they (the office) ask us to leave, we leave graciously, hoping to leave the door open for others at another time. I may go back the next year though, you never know what changes may have taken place by then. I just wonder where it will end when others get word that private owners of public places can deter the promotion of the Gospel; I imagine others will get on the bandwagon, and do much the same thing where they are. Eventually, they would stop all public preaching, and tracting if we allow it to go that far.


by the way, the parable of the sower does not say HOW the seed was spread, just that it was! If you refer to the verses that speak of "hearing", then realize that it also speaks of "seeing" (reading?); besides, when one reads to himself, he "hears" the Word, otherwise why read the Bible at all, just go to church and get preached at!

"Hearing" can also mean "heeding", as the case may be in the Parable of the Sower. it may be speaking of both aspects of hearing, "jumping" back and forth as the text calls for it.


"But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear." Mt. 13:16

"For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them." Mt. 13:17, etc. Edited December 16, 2010 by irishman

[John81]

We try to get the Gospel out however we can. In the parable of the sower the broadcast method was use. If you talk with any publick ministry group they will tell you there is the right and wrong ways to get the Gospel out, within the laws of the land.

Just a note, at a door, I always hand the the tract first, it seems that it is just natural for someone to take something that is being handed to them. Once they have its their, and I will say if they try to hand it back, "No thank you you may keep it."

Also to be remembered, we are not all called to the same form of ministry. Just because we may use different methods of spreading the Gospel doesn't mean any of us are wrong or some are "more right" than others. God calls some, but certainly not all, to be street preachers, some to knock on doors, some to pass out tracts, some to witness to virtually every person they meet, some to financially support certain missionaries in spreading the Gospel, some to financially support local soulwinners, some as prayer warriors for those spreading the Gospel, some are called to prison ministry, hospital ministry, country fair ministry, etc.

[JerryNumbers]

We try to get the Gospel out however we can. In the parable of the sower the broadcast method was use. If you talk with any publick ministry group they will tell you there is the right and wrong ways to get the Gospel out, within the laws of the land.

Just a note, at a door, I always hand the the tract first, it seems that it is just natural for someone to take something that is being handed to them. Once they have its their, and I will say if they try to hand it back, "No thank you you may keep it."

Right, its never right to do wrong to do right. Yet many Christians try that route.

[JerryNumbers]

Also to be remembered, we are not all called to the same form of ministry. Just because we may use different methods of spreading the Gospel doesn't mean any of us are wrong or some are "more right" than others. God calls some, but certainly not all, to be street preachers, some to knock on doors, some to pass out tracts, some to witness to virtually every person they meet, some to financially support certain missionaries in spreading the Gospel, some to financially support local soulwinners, some as prayer warriors for those spreading the Gospel, some are called to prison ministry, hospital ministry, country fair ministry, etc.

I agree mostly with what you say. Yet let me say this. Some will financially support missions, and other type of ministries to spread the Gospel, them do nothing else, that is totally wrong, we are all called to spread the Word. Every child of God can spread the Word in some manner.

Many years ago it was common for the rich parents to hire someone to fulfill their military honors, supporing such ministries as we are talking about here, even with many dollars, does not take the place of ones personal witnessing for their Lord. The person may not be a street preacher, yet if they're truly saved God has gave them some ablity to get the Word out. They need to be sure to use it and not use excuses of any kind.