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2011 SOAPA VEGAS REPORT CHAPTER 1

The 2011 Las Vegas, NV. SOAPA Conference report…

We have just completed the first SOAPA conference ever held west of the Rocky Mountains in Las Vegas, NV. It was surely one of the best meetings we have ever had since our humble beginnings back in 2004. We began holding these annual meetings for the express purpose of training, exhortation, encouragement and fellowship among those who are called to the ministry of open air preaching.

The Las Vegas SOAPA Conference was happily attended by brethren from the Midwest, Southeast, West Coast and from across the Canadian border along with a group of men from the immediate Las Vegas area including Bible Jim Webber who also was one of our guest speakers…

The meeting was held at Arizona Charlie’s Hotel and Casino, the casino is separate from the hotel and the meeting space was also part of a separate building so both our SOAPA conference and accommodations were actually quite private.

Bible Jim addressed the group on both Thursday and Friday. He began his message on Thursday by asking us how many people were on the planet at this time in history…there are over 6 billion souls on the planet today. More people are alive today then the total number of people who have lived on the planet since Adam and Eve occupied the Garden of Eden. Of those who are alive today how many have actually heard the Gospel? Of those that have heard the Gospel how many have become Christians? How many Christians are actually involved in sharing their faith? How many are actually going out and preaching the Word in public according to the Biblical model?

Bro. Jim Webber diagramed the answers that were provided in a bar chart format. The point of these questions leads to the conclusion that the percentage of those who are actually taking the Gospel into the highways and hedges in the form of open air preaching is very, very, very small relative to the number of professing Christians in the world today…the concluding estimate demonstrated visually that we, as a group, comprise about 0.0001% of the total number of professing Christians worldwide…a mere pen dot on the

chart! Consequently then, the men who have responded to the call of God relative to the ministry of open air preaching is very small indeed. Therefore this gathering of open air preachers represents of a rare breed of Christian men. Bible Jim stated unequivocally that it was both an honor and a privilege to be in the company of such men…

He went on to then make another point which had to do with getting along with each other during and after the conference…when you consider the fact that you are part of such a very small number of men responding to the call of God in this ministry then it behooves

each one of us to make every effort to keep the peace as we join together in the work of preaching the Gospel. Bible Jim emphasized the importance Ephesians Chapter 4:1-7 which says: 1 I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, 2 With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; 3 Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; 5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. 7 But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.

Bible Jim went on to speak on the necessity of demonstrating a Godly attitude towards each other. He admonished the men to make every effort to pursue peace among the brethren at a meeting such as this and advised us to keep our particular doctrinal sword in its scabbard during the meeting as we focus our attention on our immediate goal…the saving of souls through the public proclamation of the Soul Saving Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ! We are grateful that Bible Jim did not place any emphasis on 1Pe 5:14 Greet ye one another with a kiss of charity. Peace be with you all that are in Christ Jesus.

Amen…

Bible Jim brought a very crucial message to the brethren and one that will be made available on the SOAPA Youtube channel http://www.youtube.com/user/southernpreachers

Both Bro. Ruben and Bible Jim have the combined experience of over 50 years of open air ministry. It was our unique privilege of having both of these Godly men address key subjects, topics, issues and concerns related to the open air ministry. They took time to address questions related to practical matters concerning open air preaching. They imparted both practical and spiritual wisdom gleaned from decades of open air preaching with the guidance and direction of the Holy Ghost. One of the questions asked had to do with some of the top reasons why so many seem to “drop out” and just disappear from the front line ministry of the public proclamation of the Gospel. The answer that Bro. Ruben gave was (a) Sin (b) they take a wife and start a family (c) They don’t get the financial support they need from churches and so they end up having to go back to work and have trouble

integrating their work schedule with open air preaching, maintaining a house, cars and other obligations (d) Then you have some who had a lot of initial zeal for open air preaching and after a while, when the zeal fades away so do they and they move on to something else…they were only in it for a season. Bro. Jim said that during the 35 plus years he has been open air preaching that one of the primary culprits causing men to fall out of this ministry is individual PRIDE and ARROGANCE. He has seen men come and go but it is those who base their open air ministry on what he called an agenda driven platform and paradigm. When your commitment to open air preaching of the Gospel is based upon an agenda which is compounded with a type of ministerial pride and arrogance you are not long for the battle…

Bro. Ruben spoke twice during the conference, his first topic had to do with the conditional aspects of a relationship with God. He pointed out that salvation itself is conditional, that contrary to what the Unitarian/Universalist Church would like to believe about the power of God’s love, the love of God never saved anyone. The Bible does not say that just because God loves the sinner that the sinner will be saved from eternal Hell. God demonstrated His love toward sinners but He never saves a sinner apart from that sinner repenting of their sins and trusting in the blood that was shed as a payment (the demonstration of God’s love) for his or her sins…The Bible does not say that sinners are saved by Grace alone…it says that they are saved by faith, a faith that is alive, a living and active faith, a faith that works…saving faith. Another example of the conditional aspect of the relationship between God and man is found in the arena of prayer. Sin will hinder or outright prevent your prayers from being answered…if you regard iniquity in your heart… Ps 66:18 “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me” thus, the ear of God is not accessible to all people everywhere at all times irrespective of the condition of their heart and their disposition towards God through their faith in the One mediator between God and man….Our Lord Jesus Christ. Unbelief is another aspect related to the conditional dynamics involved in seeing God answer one’s prayers. Heb 3:1-194 For we are made partakers of

Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end; 15 While it is said, To day if ye will

hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. 16 For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. 17 But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not?

19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.

Bro. Ruben also expounded on John 14: 15 “ If ye love me, keep my commandments.” This verse seems pretty straight forward but the modern liberal pastor along with his counterpart Mr. Neoevangelical pastor have a special way of interpreting verses like this…Ruben refers to these false shepherds as Pastor Pig Nose, Swine Dog…and when the time came to articulate their views of such raw commandments Bro. Ruben pulled out the Pastor Pig Nose glasses and began explaining this verse from the liberal/Neoevangelical perspective which reads: If ye love me then let me know it by your praise and worship, tell me how much you love me by singing songs of praise and adoration. The fact is that this principle applies in heaven itself…it was not enough for the Lord to look down upon mankind and say “I love you sinners”…it had to be demonstrated, manifested and lifted up so that all men could see it. The love that God had in His heart for the broken and searching soul was not effective in securing peace and wholeness for the weary sinner as long as it remained in heaven. God’s love, no matter how strong and powerful it is, remains helpless to save sinners from Hellfire and damnation apart from the physical demonstration of that love. Take a look at John 3:16 in light of this point. If we were to cut up John 3:16 and delete half the key words from the verse it would read: For God so loved the world, that whosoever believeth should have everlasting life.

This is the liberal/Neoevangelical interpretation of this verse. There is no need to repent of anything, there is no Hell, no need for blood atonement, no need for obedience to the commandments of the Lord…just believe, that’s it. This is the false gospel according to Rob Bell and the Unitarian/Universalist non-Christian sect. But that is not the case at all, God DEMONSTRATED HIS LOVE ON THE CROSS by shedding His blood to redeem those who repent and believe.

16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

The conditional aspect of John 3:16 is that Not believing in the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ results in Hellfire, condemnation and damnation.