Spain – The Police And The Cowardly Lion
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AGWM personnel in Spain, Bill and Diane Jackson, and members of their team had regularly been ministering and preaching in the park. But one day the police came, saying someone had filed a complaint about this. They asked if permission had been obtained to use the sound system. The Jacksons had asked but been refused, and so now the police said they would have to preach and sing without the sound system. They continued ministering for another half hour, but as Bill states, “The wind was taken out of our sails. For months we had preached and testified using the sound system. Young people would come to listen. Now, suddenly, our voices were taken away. We would be at the mercy of passing cars, honking horns, and noisy crowds.
For the next three weeks, we were like the cowardly lion in ‘The Wizard of Oz.’ Any excuse was good enough. But Jesus was telling us to trust in Him and His power. He said, ‘Bill, I don’t need a sound system to touch lives.’ I knew He was right.
I know that whoever called the police thought they had seen the end of our evangelism ministry there in the center of Zamora, (and for three weeks they were right!) But what they meant for evil, God used for good. After those three weeks, God has worked in amazing ways.
First, the team who goes out to minister in the streets has grown from 5 or 6 to around 20. Second, since we aren’t using a microphone, we are able to preach just walking around and among those who are seated and passing by. I felt a wonderful sense of anointing and power fall upon me. How liberating it is to be able to move around and preach!
Third, as we preached and sang, team members handed out literature and talked with people. We are expecting some great results from those conversations. Fourth, there was absolutely no opposition to our singing and preaching.
Fifth, several friends and acquaintances passed by. Some acted like they didn’t know us, many waved, and others came up to greet us, even while we were preaching or singing. We were able to give them tracts as well.
So we are just beginning to see the miraculous things God can do. Because someone got mad and called the police, and the police came and told us that we had to preach ‘unplugged’, we are seeing that God can work, even through ‘cowardly lions.’”