A YWAM team in Thailand ministers to male sex tourists in the red-light districts of Bangkok. They begin by conducting non-intrusive surveys of male tourists to find out if they are open to reading an “outreach pack” once they return to their hotel rooms. As the core team prays, they are led to specific areas of the red-light district and find men who are open to deeper conversations about life and spirituality. These are seen as confirmations that many men seeking sex in Thailand are also seeking something much deeper. Church groups and YWAM outreach teams assist the core team to reach these men with the Gospel. This is one in a series of regular reports from our team in Bangkok. – Editor, YWAM International Communications Network.

Please click here for part one of Jack’s story: www.ywam.org/articles/article.asp?AID=560

Jack's Story, Part Two

I met up with Jack and his daughter three days later. He dropped off his daughter at their hotel so he could speak to me privately. It was easy to see deep sadness in Jack’s eyes. He trusted me enough after our first meetings that I felt comfortable asking him further questions about what brought him to this place in his life.

Jack’s Story

Jack told me that he used to be Catholic and that when he was young he saw things in the church that caused him not to trust Christians or believe in God. As the years went by, Jack began to care only about his life and his business. When war broke out in his native Croatia, Jack lost everything, and for awhile he had nothing. When the war ended, he launched another successful business, until the Croatian government took everything from him. Undeterred, Jack started yet another business, which was lucrative. As time went on, however, his life began to further unravel. He lost his wife, and began to ask deep questions about the meaning of his life. He left Croatia with his daughter seeking happiness but also seeking God. He studied at a U.S. school that taught that all religions are good and lead to the same God. He believed this teaching.

After recounting this story, Jack told me this: ““You know Samuel, I’m 45 years old and am here with you and you are nearly the same age as my daughter. But I feel peace when I am talking with you and that there is hope. I really enjoy my time with you." I said to him, “Jack, all you told me about your past life means one thing and this thing is fact. The fact is: you can't control anything in your life, but you can choose to keep your hope or to lose your hope." Then he asked me, “What do you believe and what is your hope?” I reminded him about how I found hope and about what I believe in. There is a real God who is constantly calling us and searching for us, I told Jack. I told him that what happened in both our lives is proof that we can’t control anything.

Closer to Faith

After I was done telling him my story of how I quit my business to be a full-time missionary, Jack said to me, “You know Samuel, while you were telling me your testimony about how you have lost your life for Jesus, I remembered some words from the Bible. It’s been a very long time since I read the Bible and I don't normally remember anything from the Bible, but I remembered these words, when Jesus said, ‘Not what I will, but what you will.’ It’s so easy for me to feel the power and the love of God through you as you speak to me. I can’t understand how you got this faith to do all of that for God. I am looking for this faith but I can't understand this faith. What does faith mean really? How can I get this faith that you have, in my life?”

Then I asked him if we could read Hebrews 11 together. From that chapter I explained what faith and hope mean, and how we need God to give us this faith, because without God we can't have faith. I told him about the faith I have from God and how that led me to hope. We talked about this particular subject for two hours!

Jack said, “I can understand your beliefs about our life here in this world and the hope of heaven, but I feel that the other religions can lead to the same hope if the people live in peace and do good things." I answered him, “The other religions can't lead to heaven. I believe Jesus, who said, ‘I am the only way and no one comes to the Father except through me." I proceeded to explain to him how Satan built his kingdom by creating false religious systems and that from the very first day he spoke to Adam and Eve in the Garden, until now, and until the next coming of Jesus, he will be creating religious systems that deceive people. I gave Jack some examples from the five most famous religions and I explained to him some of the beliefs of these religions and how each religion has different beliefs. Then I talked to Jack about hope. I said, “How can each religion lead to heaven or to the same hope or to God?" Jack smiled and I continued, “If you want to find the real God and know Him and have a real relationship with Him, you need to read the Bible." Jack replied, “I can have this relationship in my heart, I don't need the Bible."

I replied this way: I said, “I know that you have rules in your company, so let’s say, for example, that one of these rules say your day off is Sunday, and another rule is that you sell one of your items for $100. However, there is another company that wants to destroy your company, so this company puts some new, bad employees in your company. These bad employees give your old employees false rules, telling them that the day off is Friday, not Sunday. And so you find that the some of your employees don't come on Friday. They also tell your salesmen to sell your items for $50, so you begin to lose money and customers, because of these bad employees who came from your enemy company. So tell me, how will you deal with this situation? Will you change your rules to abide by the false rules? How will you judge the employees who caused this loss? Will you judge them by your original rules or the enemy’s rules? That is exactly what happened in our world, even among Christians. The enemy came and created false teachings. So how will God judge the world? Will He judge the world by His rules or the enemy’s rules?”

I stopped talking, waiting for him to answer. There was silence for a minute. Then Jack smiled and said, “You’re right! I believe in all that you just said and it makes sense to me. I agree with you that Jesus is the way to God, but I need some time to understand and know more about God and Jesus. But you succeeded; you showed me the need to read the Bible and I know that you were sent by God to me. I wonder what my faith and relationship with God will look like if I meet you a year from now! I would never have expected to meet with a 24 year old from Egypt who wants to speak with me about God!”

We then prayed together. I am amazed at how God is working in this man, that after six hours of talking about God with Jack, he believed. It shows me that people are hungry for God and are only waiting for others to lead them to Him.

You can find out more about the MST Project by visiting www.mstproject.com or email them at – info@mstproject.com. You can check out the new MST Project video titled "Hurts and Pains" at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Bgj8MY_xt8

http://ywam.org/articles/article.asp?AID=560