7/11/25

I'm a little bit behind in my (mostly) weekly updates as I got to spend time during the week of the fourth with family of mine that was visiting from out of state! However, here are some fun stories that I think you will find enjoyable from this past week!

This Thursday, we had a wild time at Huntington Beach! After meeting for our Thursday DMC (named "Tabernacle DMC"), Nick and I went to the Huntington Beach pier with a small group and set up our whiteboard for conversational evangelism. We had a gnarly group with us that day - for some, a first in this type of engagement, and others who have had much more experience! We hit the ground running as we had people stopping before we were even fully set up! As we stood there with the empty whiteboard and conversed with each other about what to put on it for the day, an older couple stopped to find out what we were doing. They actually joined our conversation as we discussed what to write for the day, and we later found that they were also out to do evangelism that day with Living Waters Ministries. We decided on the question, "What Was Jesus' Purpose?", and we got right off to an eventful start with an unexpected visit - the Holy Spirit???

That's right folks, we indeed had an encounter with a man who claims to be the Holy Spirit... I've seen a lot of weird stuff at Huntington Beach, but this has made its way to the top of the list so far! I would be in no dispute with this man that there is likely a spirit(s) at play within him, but as to the purity of that spirit... the evidence doesn't look good. Erik Nilsen and the Living Waters evangelist seemed to have spent nearly the entirety of our time on the pier talking with this individual and it appeared to have quite a dynamic expression at times. From the portions of the conversation that I heard live, as well as more information I learned later in the day, the man made a handful of completely valid claims and seems to be fairly knowledgeable in many respects. He seems knowledgeable enough to cause a lot of theological issues for the average level of biblical literacy in America, but I would currently say he is equally concerning to me theologically as the Jehovah's Witnesses are who are always set up just a short distance down the way - granted, the potency of the approach is dramatically different. 

I'm willing to grant someone who is in the process of spiritual formation the margin to imperfectly or inconsistently display the fruits of walking in step with the Spirit, but I find it logically pressing to extend this same level of understanding to someone claiming the identity of the Holy Spirit for themself. I'm not sure the theological implications of the Holy Spirit having the capacity to walk out of step with Himself, but it is both immense heresy and illogical. I do find it comical though, that of the many points he made with vibrant energy, his point about the meaning of "using the Lord's name in vain" was ironically much to his own condemnation. He rightfully explained that this is most accurately addressing those who claim to act on God's behalf and yet do things contrary to God's will or nature; however, his extremely heretical claims about the identity of Jesus (among others) pose serious irony to his rejection of the "cursing" understanding of this command. Any advantage that he thought he could make by avoiding this misunderstanding actually seems to all the more condemn him in his heretical misrepresentation of God and His will. There's nothing quite like some deep irony in a situation!

While this extremely fascinating conversation was taking place to one side of our whiteboard, we had some wonderful conversations on the other - thankfully far less abnormal! Among these many conversations, a few really stuck out to me as highlights!

• There were three young men who engaged with us that all professed to have become Christians about a year ago. We inquired more about how that happened and what that looked like, and Nick asked them if they would consider themselves disciples of Jesus, and after answering affirmative, Nick asked if they would be open to a short "disciple test". They welcomed this handful of questions that are scriptural descriptions of what it looks like to be a disciple of Jesus. These are great questions for any Christian desiring to follow Jesus as they help to reveal to you the condition of your formation to Christ - much in a similar way that the Law provides a mirror for us to accurately see our condition in. After a few of these questions, Nick asked whether or not they still felt that they were living as disciples of Christ - to which I believe they answered affirmatively. However, despite their answer, they seemed to recognize their incomplete devotion in discipleship to Jesus. Nick, emphasizing God's faithfulness to answer prayers, asked whether or not they would want him to pray that God would wreck their lives for Him, or if they weren't ready to pray that. The young men took a good amount of time considering this, and I was actually more relieved to hear them say that they don't want that prayed right now as it indicates that they see a real cost to following Jesus as His disciple. This is such a hard concept for us in our context to comprehend - likely due to both the lack of evident persecution for righteousness and the American culture which removes the teeth of discipleship in its worship of comfort. The fact that they felt concern with this request indicated to me two very good things: 1) They believe that God hears and answers prayers according to His will (which this request would certainly be in line with), and 2) They recognize, at some level, that discipleship to Jesus will cost them everything. I'm probably more excited to see this wrestle one time, than the many that we see who too easily accept Jesus as their Savior, but not as their Lord. God is certainly at work in their hearts, and I pray that the Holy Spirit would continue the work that He has started in them!

• Another highlighted conversation for me was with a sweet little girl who answered our question! She was there with some of her family, but her answer just blew me away! She marked that Jesus' purpose was to teach, and when asked what He came to teach us, she answered, "He came to teach us how to be like Him". We were so touched by the simple and profound answer given by such a young person. It's no wonder why Jesus said that those like this will be greatest in the kingdom of God! I was deeply blessed by this little girl's simple and pure understanding of our walk as disciples - becoming like Jesus characteristically (as opposed to the Mormon meaning which is ontological as well... a whole mess).

We also had a mime come and "engage" with us for a little, as well as his invisible dog. He must've been an introvert because he didn't seem to talk much. Or perhaps our question was deeply thought provoking and he simply had no answer. It could also be the case that he's just aware of the proverbial wisdom about fools being counted as wise for their silence. I'm not sure, but his dog seemed to be quite unruly and he got dragged away before he could answer. Hopefully we'll see him again after he's had some time to think about it!

The last interesting thing that I'll mention from this singular visit to Huntington Beach pier is what we engaged with after we packed up and were walking back to our cars. At the entrance of the pier, there were two men setting up a table labeled "Jews for Jesus", so we stopped to inquire briefly. I have some unsorted feelings about our engagement with them, but I thought that it had humorously awkward aspects that you might appreciate! We talked for a bit and then they welcomed us to pray with them before they got started with their time handing out Bibles and such. We aren't ones to turn down praying with people, so we accepted; however, I was moderately surprised at the potency of their prayers of destruction towards their enemies who might disrupt their ministry. Don't get me wrong, I'm not currently making a statement for, or against, what they prayed publicly, but I will say that the blowing of the shofar at the end really put the icing on the cake for me... I'm still not sure how I feel about it, but it's a pretty comical ending to a rather absurd day at Huntington Beach!