Greektown Gourmet for Mario

Friday night brought forth some interesting situations. One that is worth mentioning and of slight humor is brother Mike being unable to giveaway doughnut holes. It was near impossible giving them away, even to hungry street people. A few of the regulars of the Greek town district took some doughnuts and in exchange a few minutes to listen to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Coming back up Lafayette we bumped into a guy who wouldn't take a tract, we soon learned the reason why. He was a representative of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, although he wouldn't acknowledge that was the name by which Jehovah's Witnesses operate under. While spewing his indoctrinated rhetoric I made as many attempts as possible to leave him with a single question, "If Jesus is the sole mediator for man (1 Tim 2:5) unto God, then why do I need the Watchtower?" This did not seem to register the point, please pray that his friend next to him, who did take a tract, was listening to the conversation that went on. Pray for Kent also.

Eventually we met up with Mario, who professes Christ and has spoke to other evangelists before. He even seem to recall speaking with us in particular. Mario was hungry and didn't want Mike's dry bagels. It was about five minutes later that a drunk couple stumbled by us and gave Mario a steak dinner they didn't even touch. I guess that's a blessing no? Mike spoke with Mario for some time while I awaited an approaching "Red" who seemed highly inquisitive of what we were up to.

Red, or Theo, or whatever his name was (he claimed a couple) was internationally known in the streets. He was 'reppin' and was a big time playa in the D-Town dope game. However, he was reduced to workin the Greek town streets, and almost possibly preying upon the suburban suckers that get hustled while they visit downtown and have no idea how to say no. Then again, crack will greatly inhibit your judgment and decision making capabilities. We ran into a few of those earlier in the evening. They wanted money for parking, when they said they lost all there money, couldn't stay awake while talking to us, we gave them the Gospel and offered to help them get there car out of the garage, but in following them to the garage, they made an attempt to lose us and we returned back to Beaubien and Lafayette. Theo left us in gratitude and was showing conviction in his eyes as he continued on about really wondering just "WHY" Jesus was so narrow minded?

Mike carried on a conversation with Edward after Mario left and he offered to sell us weed several times while saying that he knew God and walked in His ways. We encouraged him to examine himself against the Scriptures and to repent of his sins. He agreed that 'pimpin poison' was not a reputable line of work for a man of God.

The night ended with Mike and I sitting on a corner chatting about Luke 13:1-9 and just how important that text really is to understand. Also, the power behind it's application to those who consistently dismiss others based on their own experiential understanding of faith and salvation as opposed to the Scriptural diagnosis of what really ocurrs in the sanctification of a believer and the proper response to one who does not show fruit yet may be a brother.