Friday street-preaching I encountered a hostility which I have never encountered before.  It actually left me a little disturbed all weekend.

I was there with my little group, 5 of us, and my new PA, graciously provided by God. Because it was raining we set up under the shelter at the train station.

Before long I was preaching and praise the Lord, the anointing fell down on that place. People were listening, some were recording on their mobile phones. One of the ladies with me said it was so amazing that she felt to repent all over again.

But then out came the cops. One of them said that I can’t preach there, I need a permit , blah blah etc. I had done my homework and so very respectfully I told him that I am allowed to preach without a permit as it comes under the Freedom of Speech Act. He acquiesced but told me to turn the PA down, it was too loud (I’ve never had that problem before!).

So we kept going. We had many good conversations with people – a syncretistic muslim who simultaneously is reading the Bible and the Q’uran. He said he is going to come back again to continue our conversation. A confused Christian who thought that his occult gifts had been given him by God in order to help others. He left saying that he is going home to get rid of all his astrology etc books and tapes, renounce it all and repent. I pray that he did.

Then preaching again. Then the anointing again. Then the cops again.

This time he was agitated.

“No, you cant keep doing this! You have to go now!”

I didn’t know what to do to be honest, as I am of the opinion to respect authority. However I knew he was on Satan’s errand and that I was perfectly within my rights to be there.

However, God stepped in on my behalf and the policeman’s partner, whom previously had said nothing, quietly said, “Just turn it down a bit more.”

So I did and I never saw them again.

But that’s when the real fun began. I went around handing out tracts to people and came to a bloke who was physically huge with a long, white beard. He looked like a biker. I tried to hand him a tract and immediately he started blaspheming Jesus. As I could see that the conversation was going nowhere I started to move away from him. That’s when he started on me.

“You crazy, deluded lady! You are crazy.  You think you know Jesus.  Oh you’ve met Him have you?” He said this while looking me in the eye and then openly laughed a mocking laugh at me.

I’ve been called many things before, actually things a lot worse than what he called me. I’ve had horrendous swear words, blasphemies thrown at me while preaching. I’ve had people laugh and shake their heads at me, but somehow this was worse than all of that. I think it’s because he looked at me in the eye while he said it and laughed. It was disturbing. I realised that this man was full of demons.  A mocking spirit was very obvious and I took myself away from him.

It entered my mind that he was so big he could probably kill me with one punch. Now this is not a typical thought for me on the street. I rarely ever feel unsure or threatened out there because the presence of the Lord is so real.

Anyhow I started preaching again and he stayed to heckle me. This was ok by me though. Strange as it sounds I enjoy a good heckle. I find the Holy Spirit anointing is so strong when I am being heckled. Also, it draws a crowd, and therefore more people hear the gospel.

He was screaming at me while I preached. You know – crazy lady, blah blah blah. He was trying to drown me out and he almost did because my PA had been turned down so much. He shut up for a little while until I preached about the coming day of wrath and to flee to Jesus from the wrath that is to come. Well, that set him right off again.

“You are preaching hate!! Hate preacher. I’ll get you for religious vilification.”  For a while all I could hear was the word “hate”.

I realised he was waving around a Q’uran. Aha – not a biker dude, an Aussie muslim convert.

Well he kept going and I kept going. There was a crowd. It was quite fun.

Every now and then though a thought would pop in my mind that he may come over and break my arm with one flick of his wrist. He really hated me, that much I knew.

To my left then I noticed were two men standing there. They looked like workmen because they were wearing orange high-vis vests. They were standing in the rain, although they could have easily fit under the cover. They stood together and quietly talked whilst intensely watching the big man screaming at me.

They never once looked at me, nor even in my direction. They kept their eyes firmly planted on him, and I immediately knew that they were there to protect me. I just knew that my Father had sent them to watch over me and that if screaming man took one step towards me they would intervene.

I wonder if they were angels? I have no idea if they were or not, but I knew like I knew that God had sent them there.

After I finished preaching and started packing up to leave the big man was still screaming at me. He was still saying that he was going to get me for religious vilification.

The two workmen were still standing watching him.  When he finally shut up and started losing interest I looked back and they were gone.

Anyway then we went to McDonalds for lunch and praised God for an awesome time.

One thing I know for sure : that when we obey the Lord He will provide for us and He will watch over us. I left there with the sense that Jesus is happy with us.

God bless you my dear brothers and sisters,

Belinda