Are you washed in the Blood of the Lamb?

Date: 10 November 2005 20:22:55

Or, encounters with fruitcake street evangelists...

There I was, minding my own business as I trundled from work to (nearly) home - it's my new fitness regimen, no gyms, no prancing about in lycra, just lots of walking, an average of five miles a day - Billy Bragg on the not-iPod, and someone leapt out from behind a bin and, whilst staring fixedly at my left ear, enquired "are you washed in the Blood of the Lamb?" whilst brandishing a tract that looked suspiciously Chick-ish.

I mean, what sort of question is that to ask someone at 6pm on a Thursday? It all sounds terribly unhygienic if you ask me.

Now of course, what I should have done, instead of mumbling "nothankyou," and dodging past him and the bin, was fix him with a bright and gleaming stare and loudly proclaim "why yes! And have you accepted Our Blessed Lady as your personal intercessor?" but I didn't.

Still, it could have been worse - he could have had a megaphone and bellowed "don't be a sinner, be a winner for Jesus" at me in a Scouse accent.

Now there's an answer to a question I shall await with baited breath when the Last Trump sounds - will anyone stand up and say "I owe my salvation to the man with the megaphone at Oxford Circus, who told me to stop being a sinner and start being a winner for Jesus,"?