The picture here is from the Enterprise, AL, team. This team recently had the joy of working with a return visitor. The woman had previously accepted a Rosary from the team after they answered a question about the Catholic Faith. Today, she seemed happy to see them again and brought them more of her questions.

One of her most pressing ones was about confession. “Why don’t you just go straight to God?”

“We do!” the team replied. They took her to the Bible. “Let’s review John 20:20–23”, which includes Jesus’ words to His apostles: “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” Then the evangelists asked the woman, “How could the apostles possibly forgive or retain sins if no one confesses to them?”

The team then reviewed Matthew 9:1–8 with her, where Jesus heals the paralytic AFTER He declares the man’s sins forgiven, and in which He explicitly declares that the healing was precisely to let them know that He has the authority on earth to forgive sins. The evangelists then especially emphasized verse 8, in which GOD was GLORIFIED, “who had given such authority to human beings”.

By using Scripture, the evangelists helped the woman understand that 1) God has indeed given the apostles and their successors the authority to act as His instruments to either forgive or retain sins, and 2) that their doing so glorifies God.

The woman seemed excited to find out about this. These concepts all seemed to be new to her.

The woman then asked other great questions, all of which the team was able to answer using the Holy Scriptures. Before she left, she asked the team to pray for her and the team asked the same from her. The team thanks the Holy Spirit for His help in answering the woman’s questions and objections. Would you, too, please send up a prayer for the woman and for Team Enterprise?

Would you also please pray for God to send each of our teams more evangelists? We need help. YOU, too, can be a part of this! What is Our Lord asking you? Hit the streets with us? Start your own team? Be a supporting member? Offer prayer or sacrifice? Don’t miss out!