Preaching To Drunks At Ybor City Before Gasparilla.

We have been very busy, but also had a very good time the past week and a half. We got in Thursday afternoon and got set up and got ready to pick up a couple of friends who were flying in for the weekend.
Friday Dad and I went out and picked up the friends we had coming in and got the bullhorns and banners ready for Ybor City that night.
We got out to Ybor City about 9:00. We instantly had a crowd of people that did not like us, which is normal when you preach the Gospel of Christ. Some of us were standing in front of a bar on the one corner. And one of the employees came out and told us that he had called the manager, and that we had to leave the corner. And do it now! We told him that it was our Constitutional right to be there and he would just have to live with it. He ended up leaving and his boss came out and told us that we needed to leave, we told him the same thing as his employee. He told us he was calling the police and we would have to deal with them. We told him we would be quite happy to deal with them when they got here. The police arrived and were talking to the manager about us. In the meantime some of us had moved across the street, but we still left some people over there. There was a group of 2 guy's and their girlfriends who came up and started arguing with us, and acting quite stupid as they were somewhat drunk. I started talking to one of the girls who had asked me what we were doing, and why it was a sin to drink.
As I was answering them their one boy friend popped in and hit my hat off, while hitting my face.
My dad then went over and told the police he wanted to press charges for assault. The police came over and made the punks leave for the time being, but did not do their job. They then called my dad over to talk to him, my sister Hope followed with a camcorder. The officer commanded that Hope stay on the one side of the street while they went to the other side with my dad. Hope told the officer that he was a public officer in a public forum therefore she had every right to record him, he still insisted that she stay on the other side. My mother then took over and followed them. The officer finally allowed her to follow him. Once on the other side they told my dad that we were not allowed out there as we were blocking the sidewalk, and specifically pointing and preaching to particular people, which was not allowed. Dad then read them the Constitution stating that we had the right to be out there. Later on the supervisor came over and apologized for his officers actions. He stated that they were new on the force and didn't know how to deal with the preachers.
It was a good night overall, with alot of witnessing and preaching. But there was alot of drunkenness, and wickedness.
I will do a post next week about the actual parade.

John G Paton Missionary To The New Hebrides

John Gibson Paton

John Paton was born to James and Janet Paton on May 24 of the year 1824, in a farm cottage in Braehead Scotland near Dumfries. His father, who was a stocking manufacturer, was a good and godly man who prayed three times daily. John was born to a large family, being the first of 11 children.
John one day during family prayer heard the door open and close softly. When prayer was through, he ran over and picked up a box which contained a new suit for the growing child. John found out later that the school teacher had given it to him. At the age of twelve young John left school because his teacher had an ugly temper. He came home one day complaining that the teacher had wrongly accused and disciplined him. The boy’s parents finally persuaded the lad to go back the next day, but John was back home almost right away saying the teacher had seen the lad and started kicking him. So this caused John to start as an apprentice to his father learning the trade of stocking for 14 hours a day, yet still got in 2 hours of study on lunch break.
As a youth he felt God calling him to be a missionary overseas. He started working with a surveying company to earn more money so he could get an education. After a few years of working with the company, the manager called him into his office and told John he had heard about John’s desire to work hard and earn enough money to go and complete college. He told John that if he would sign a contract for seven years he would get a raise and a promotion. John told him that he could not do that as it was a long time and he was under contract to someone else. The manager asked him who this person was? John replied, “I have given my life to the Lord Jesus Christ and have committed to work overseas as a missionary”. The manager got mad and told him to sign the contract or he was fired. John thought and replied that he would have to be fired. The manager told him to get his pay and leave. John did this right away.
John finally ended up walking to Glasgow, forty miles away, to start working in a school to earn a college education. He worked hard and soon earned a degree.
John was ordained by a reformed Presbyterian Pastor on March 23rd 1858. John was married to Mary Ann Robson April 2nd 1858. 14 days later, April 16th, with a Mr. Joseph Copeland, Mary, and John set sail for the South Pacific leaving Scotland as missionaries.
They landed at Tanna, an island in the southern part of the New Hebrides on November 5th 1858, and built a small house at Port Resolution. The natives they were to be missionaries to were reported to be cannibals. Those savages which were near them ran about constantly, and they were enveloped in superstition, occultism, and heathenism at its worst. The men ran about in complete nakedness, while the women wore little leaf aprons. Three months later February 12th 1859 a son Peter Robert Robson was born to the family, 19 days later his wife Mary died from tropical fever; soon after Peter died at 36 days of age. It was a sad time for John. Yet through all this he still witnessed faithfully and survived many attacks on his life, including once when a passing ship arrived and took John and another missionary couple, Mr. and Mrs. Mathieson from another part of the island to safety on Aneitym, a friendly island nearby.
From there John went back to Australia and then to Scotland. While in these places he was going to try and arouse interest in the missionary work in the New Hebrides and raise money to buy a ship for the work. Later he raised a much larger sum with which to build a mission steamship. While in Edinburgh Scotland on June 17th 1864 John married Margaret (Maggie) Whitecross, a descendant of the so called Whitecross Knights.
Arriving back in the New Hebrides August 1866, John and his wife Maggie set up a mission house on Aniwa Island, the closest island to Tanna, the island of John’s earlier work. Here they lived in a small native hut, while building a house for themselves and two houses for orphan children. They later also erected a church, and printing house etc.
Here in Aniwa they found the natives just as bad, with the same superstition, occultism, cannibalism, indecency etc.
Yet they still continued on their missionary work. They ended up having six of their ten children in Aniwa, four of them dying in infancy. Their fourth son Frank, born in Aniwa, later ended up becoming a missionary to the New Hebride islands.
John learned the language and put it into writing, while Maggie lead a class of about fifty women and children. These women and children would soon become experts at sewing, plaiting hats, reading, singing, etc.
They trained teachers, translated, taught, printed the Scriptures, ministered to the sick and dying, gave out medicine, taught the use of tools, and held worship services every Sunday,
After many years of hard work, tragedies, and trials, the whole island of Aniwa professed Christianity. In 1899 he saw the Aniwa Bible printed, and missionaries established on 25 of the 30 islands in the New Hebrides.
Margaret died at the age of 64 on May 16th 1905, while at “Kennet”, believed to be the family home at 74 Princess St. New Victoria.
John G. survived his wife by two years, dying at the age of 82 on January 28th 1907. He was at Cross Street, Canterbury, Victoria, Australia.
They are both buried at Boroondara, at the intersection of High and Park Hill Rd, Kew Victoria, Australia.
Just look at how much this man suffered and yet he still followed and worked for God. What an example he is to us.

The Life Of Christ On Earth.

I would like to deal with the subject of Jesus Christ while he was here on earth.

1. First I would like to deal with some prophecies in the Old Testament that were fulfilled by Jesus when he was here on earth.

A. Is. 9:7 says He will be an heir to the throne of David. We see this prophecy fulfilled in Matt. 1:1.
B. Micah 5:2 We see that he is too be born in Bethlehem, this is fulfilled in Matt. 2:1.
C. Is. 7:14 He is to be born of a virgin. The fulfillment of this prophecy is in Matt. 1:18.
D. His hands and His feet are to be pierced according to Psalms 22:16. This is fulfilled when He is put on the cross in John 20:27.
E. His side is to be pierced according to Zechariah 12:10 this is also fulfilled while he is on the cross in John 19:37.

2. His childhood life.

A. We see that mother was a virgin Matt.1:18.
B. He is born in a manger because there is no room in the inn. Luke 2:7.
C. He has both a prophet (Simeon) and a prophetess (Anna) say that He is the Christ.
In Luke 2:25-38

3. His ministry as a child.

A. We see that He started His ministry at the early age of 12. Luke 2:42-49.

That is all for now thanks for looking.