America used to love God. Sunday used to be the Lord's Day and people dressed up and went to church. Now people tailgate Sunday mornings and spend Fridays in the bar, Saturdays being lazy, and Sundays worshipping the football gods. And cheerleaders and Budweiser.
God is angry at sin. At our sin. At the world shaking their fists and saying we don't care what you throw at us, we will not forfeit our right to have a good time.
Before our desires were to please God. His blessings poured out on lost and saved alike because Blessed is the nation who's God is the Lord says the Bible. The opposite is proving true today. Cursed is the nation who's God is not the Lord. The Bible says the wicked shall be turned into hell and all the nations that FORGET God. Hence the title for this blog. How to you keep America from turning into Hell? Easy, remember God.
It is easier said than done. God is saying he will come back if we repent of our ways and turn to him. That will not happen until the majority of gods are stripped from our nation, and uprooted from our hearts. It would do America good if greed shut down the NHL and NFL and MLB for the next 10 years and if an earthquake sent Hollywood to the ocean, and if an E Bomb wiped out our electricity for the next year. We might have time to talk to God if we weren't so busy texting. And blogging. Don't know anyone like that though.
It is hard for the lost to repent, when the church makes so light of our sins. A Pastor once said he was going to try and start texting his sermons so the teens might actually pay attention. At church if you look around you will see the teens texting. Before we were so advanced they were passing notes back and forth. Now we are more advanced. The adults are drifting off or nodding off or AMENING when you know they don't obey what was just said. Only 8% of Pastors I saw in one study say they have the gift of evangelism. They go and yell at us to give the gospel out instead. And the church says it is first the Pastor's job. So on and on in our spiritual game of chicken and no one is sharing their faith and the lost are dropping faster into hell. But we live just like they do, except we tape the Superbowl and watch it later so we save face and not miss church. And if there is any nudity at the halftime show we say how disgusted it was. Especially after we watched it for the 10th time.
Today, in America, lust is a must, gambling hits the jackpot for the owners, porn is the norm, GO NFL is what we yell, beer is dear, living together has never been better, powerball is spent instead of saving for retirement, more casinos than a flock of flamingos, at the 25cent peep shows the money grows , adult book stores keep open their doors (why are they called that when they only sell porno movies and porno mags?), cable tv -- don't get between it and me!, Hollywood is so so good, Jerry Springer shows keep me on my toes, and well, church, church, that is not something I'll search.
The Bible says Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Jesus commands us to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, minds, souls, and strengths. Anything you love more than God is an idol. Those are some of the things listed above. We need to not add Jesus to our American Idols. Jesus is not into Hinduism. We are to be like those of Thessalonika, who turned from their idols to serve the true and living God.
However another form of idolatry is creating a god in your own image. Just like New Coke, America has it's new formulas for making a god to worship. America's god fits it's image. It is a do as you please, don't worry about judgment, let the good times roll hippie party Jesus. It is the Jesus of the book the Shack. It is Oprahs "all paths lead to God" Jesus. It is the Morgan Freeman God who says call him "G" from the Almighty movies. America's Jesus keeps you as you are and lets you have as many gods as you want with him. Just call on Jesus for heaven, and get as much of the world as you want in the mean time. That is not salvation. Jesus said the DEVIL is the GOD OF THIS WORLD. The devil has many costumes, whether it is wearing the Pope dress, the Santa suit, the TV divine healer white suit and polishes shoes, or the leaders in Washington. WE are born on the devil's team. We worship his gods and don't even realize it. His greatest trick is to get us to worship him and not even realize it.
That is why we must repent. That is why we must be born again. Traded to God's team. Willing to divorce ourselves from the gods of this world. All paths do not lead to God. The bible teaches otherwise, Wide is the path that leadeth to destruction. Most paths lead to Hell, and the GOD OF THIS WORLD. So in a sense that is true, all paths do lead to that god. But that is not Heaven. And that is not the true and living God.
America count the cost. What god or sin is worth going to hell for? And worse for all eternity you will not only suffer in hell with unbearable misery and pain, you will be denied your gods and sins you clung so dearly here on earth. Drunkards will not have one drop of beer forever, and it doesn't sound like the desires will go away either. You spend all week waiting for Happy Hour, just imagine going all eternity without your precious shot of whiskey. If you count the cost, there is not one good reason not to repent and believe the Gospel.
Jesus commands us to repent. Jesus says throw down your idols and raise your hands in surrender and come follow Him. Give up your American idols that are part of the reason America is headed for hell. And then if you turn to Jesus you don't have to join her.
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
You Don't Need Church -- the CHURCH NEEDS YOU!
Yes you do need to go to church. But you don't "got" to go to church. You get to go.
And the truth is you don't need the church as much as the church needs you.
Today's thinking is selfish and backwards. We really don't need more church today. We need to act on what we already were given. I think today there should be a church time out. Until we who profess to be saved actually go out right now with what we have been given, instead of sitting and soaking and selfishly feeding our selves, we have no right eating any more meals at the house of God. We are like a family going to Outback for steaks for 4 pm dinner, Olive Garden for all you can eat pasta at 6 pm and then to the Chinese buffet for 7 pm dinner. Dairy Queen for dessert of course. Then Tim Hortons for coffee and donuts after that. While the world around you is starving.
The lost is dying and going to hell, and we are playing church. When will it dawn on us that this is not a game? That there is a real lake of fire out there that will devour anyone in it's path?
JESUS is coming. We are in 2 Minute Warning mode. The game is almost over, we don't know if we have a time out left or not, and the referee has blown the whistle. There is no next season and once the whistle blows that is it. Jesus says COME UP HITHER and the dead in Christ shall rise and the small children and the babies and the believers will be caught up in the air with Jesus himself. We are right now too caught up with the affairs of this world to care. Some folks will find out too late the reason they were playing church is because they were never saved. When it is game over, you will know for sure who was merely pretending. I will say it again Jesus is coming.
I have to head off for church now, seriously.
But I am trying, folks to get the right balance. Love the church like Jesus does, but cry over the sins of the church like the OT prophets, and cry against sin like John the Baptist, and love the lost like Jesus and preach with fire like Elijah and pray with passion like Paul, and face persecution like Stephen and love Jesus like David and walk on water like Peter and spend time with Jesus like John and make good decisions like Abraham and not love the world like Lot and not betray Jesus for money like Judas and not hate sinners like Jonah and not be lifted up like the Lucifer and not live for forbidden fruit like Eve.
America needs our prayers. And our passion for souls. And if you are willing to pay the price and count the cost, the church needs YOU. It needs to see something real. And then and maybe only then will America wake up.
And the truth is you don't need the church as much as the church needs you.
Today's thinking is selfish and backwards. We really don't need more church today. We need to act on what we already were given. I think today there should be a church time out. Until we who profess to be saved actually go out right now with what we have been given, instead of sitting and soaking and selfishly feeding our selves, we have no right eating any more meals at the house of God. We are like a family going to Outback for steaks for 4 pm dinner, Olive Garden for all you can eat pasta at 6 pm and then to the Chinese buffet for 7 pm dinner. Dairy Queen for dessert of course. Then Tim Hortons for coffee and donuts after that. While the world around you is starving.
The lost is dying and going to hell, and we are playing church. When will it dawn on us that this is not a game? That there is a real lake of fire out there that will devour anyone in it's path?
JESUS is coming. We are in 2 Minute Warning mode. The game is almost over, we don't know if we have a time out left or not, and the referee has blown the whistle. There is no next season and once the whistle blows that is it. Jesus says COME UP HITHER and the dead in Christ shall rise and the small children and the babies and the believers will be caught up in the air with Jesus himself. We are right now too caught up with the affairs of this world to care. Some folks will find out too late the reason they were playing church is because they were never saved. When it is game over, you will know for sure who was merely pretending. I will say it again Jesus is coming.
I have to head off for church now, seriously.
But I am trying, folks to get the right balance. Love the church like Jesus does, but cry over the sins of the church like the OT prophets, and cry against sin like John the Baptist, and love the lost like Jesus and preach with fire like Elijah and pray with passion like Paul, and face persecution like Stephen and love Jesus like David and walk on water like Peter and spend time with Jesus like John and make good decisions like Abraham and not love the world like Lot and not betray Jesus for money like Judas and not hate sinners like Jonah and not be lifted up like the Lucifer and not live for forbidden fruit like Eve.
America needs our prayers. And our passion for souls. And if you are willing to pay the price and count the cost, the church needs YOU. It needs to see something real. And then and maybe only then will America wake up.
Jody Arias -- Lessons from a Killer Girlfriend
Travis Alexander met Jody Arias at a work conference. They had a typical out of marriage boyfriend/girlfriend relationship for America today. It used to be called fornication. When he broke up with her to see other women, she brutally murdered him in 2008. Her case is big headlines today, mostly because of her bizarre contradictions, pathological lies, brutality of the murder, and shocking details that keep emerging each day. She stabbed him 17 or 27 times I believe including the heart and head, she slit his throat ear to ear, and she shot him in the head. She took pictures of the body, called his phone after he was dead, and drove by his house after. She first said she was out of state, then she told police ninjas broke in and killed him and tried to kill her, then she said it was self defense. Her lies never end, and the truth may never come out. She told police she was abused but her journal shows a woman obsessed. She told the courts she felt disgusted by the sexual acts but her texts to him paint a woman who was blinded by lust. When he broke up with her she slashed his tires and he told someone don't be surprised if he ends up dead. She says she doesn't remember stabbing him and says she shot him first. He would not have such extensive knife wounds on his hands if he was shot first. Her tales do not add up and she faces the death penalty though she said no jury would convict her. She looks like a whore in the pictures and a librarian in the courts. It seems obvious she killed him in a jealous rage. If she couldn't have him, no one was going to.
This horrible tragedy brings up a lot of lessons. First, today we treat the American way of dating as harmless. It basically is a if it feels good, do it way to live. Love is viewed as a feeling and relationships are lust driven. When the honeymoon period is over young people, and many adults find someone else to go on a Honeymoon with. We ignore murder suicides in breakups, the effect it has on teen pregnancy, unwed mothers, fatherless children, STD's, emotional turmoil, adultery, and broken homes. This lust driven society makes most marriages unstable, and vows before God meaningless. It actually is why homosexuality is so rampant. Homosexuality and open sodomy are the symptoms of the downward spiral of a nation out of control morally. It is not us being more open minded today than our forefathers. There literally was very little homosexuality years ago. It is not them just being more open. It is spreading like a cancer and is the end result when you keep desiring what God says is forbidden.
Look at the escalation. In the 1900's - 1950's you had a generation of religious families. That is not what God wants. They conformed on the outside but were not free. The marriages stuck together but there was not the thriving marriages you get with 2 who truly love God. Only when you love God can you not love yourself. You have an amazing awesome marriage when you are putting other over self. I testify that in my own marriage. When I demand "my rights" I am miserable and think I deserve better treatment. When I focus on my wife's needs and my children's, it is very fulfilling and very enjoyable. Divorce and adultery happen because people are selfish and don't care about anything but their selves.
In the 1950's marriages were dead, and children didn't want that. They started eying what they couldn't have or do and ate the fruit forbidden to them. That was rather innocent by today's standards, but that is how sin works. It starts small and then takes over a nation. They started holding hands and making out at the drive ins and that fulfilled because that crossed the line enough. Then the bar was raised more and more and more until you have today where nearly anything goes and anything is accepted. Except abstinence.
Lust is adultery. Lust is putting gasoline on the fire that burns within human nature. You cannot satisfy it and only keep pushing the envelope. You can't quench it, and there is great correlation between rape and pornography for example. The bible says it is better for a man to marry than to burn. God gives us the boundary of marriage to protect us, and only the marriage bed satisfies. Only the marriage bed provides a safe haven where you are protected from STD's and protected from emotional scars. That is why adultery is so bad and pornography so wicked. The threats are everywhere and from every angle and men today are being destroyed by it. It promises so much but it only fuels that fire.
Travis was blinded by his lust. His lust is what killed him. The Bible warns of the adulterous woman. The bible says in Proverbs that Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell. Can a man take fire in his bosom and his clothes not be burned? But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul. Her house is the way to Hell, going down to the chambers of death.
The bible says Let no thine heart decline to hear ways, go not astray in her paths. For she hat cast down many wounded; yea, many strong men have been slain by her.
Jesus created marriage to protect us. One man and One woman for life. That is God's design. We think we know better because we have been listening to Hollywood's definition of love for too long. Love is not a feeling it is a decision. We would know that if we were going to the Love Book, the Bible, instead of the Love Boat for our view of Love.
The greatest tragedy of Travis' life is he is in hell right now. He testified himself that the Mormon religion was his salvation. There is no salvation in a false Gospel. It is a man created religion and there are many many holes in it if one wanted the truth. He trusted a false gospel, and he fell for the wicked woman. He suffered a tragic horrible death, and now he is a tortured soul in the flames of Hell. Yes, for his sins for fornication and more. But as we all have sinned, he neglected the remedy. Religion cannot save because there has to be a payment made. Only the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross does that. A false Christ cannot save. The Mormons wrongly teach works save and they teach a false Christ and that Satan and Jesus were brothers. They teach the Book of Mormons to be on the same truth level as the Bible. These are damning heresies and why ultimately Travis in hell.
How about you? Travis is a warning to all of us. His death needs not be in vain if we learn from this that exposes the tragedy of the Mormon religion and the damning of today's dating philosophy. The bible says except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish. If you are looking at pornography, you are being snared by the same wicked adulterous woman. She may not murder you from the pages, but she has the same power to destroy your family and damn your soul.
America needs a major overhaul of sin right now. And the fornications and pornography need to first be removed from the church members before the rest of the world sees how exceedingly sinful it really is.
This horrible tragedy brings up a lot of lessons. First, today we treat the American way of dating as harmless. It basically is a if it feels good, do it way to live. Love is viewed as a feeling and relationships are lust driven. When the honeymoon period is over young people, and many adults find someone else to go on a Honeymoon with. We ignore murder suicides in breakups, the effect it has on teen pregnancy, unwed mothers, fatherless children, STD's, emotional turmoil, adultery, and broken homes. This lust driven society makes most marriages unstable, and vows before God meaningless. It actually is why homosexuality is so rampant. Homosexuality and open sodomy are the symptoms of the downward spiral of a nation out of control morally. It is not us being more open minded today than our forefathers. There literally was very little homosexuality years ago. It is not them just being more open. It is spreading like a cancer and is the end result when you keep desiring what God says is forbidden.
Look at the escalation. In the 1900's - 1950's you had a generation of religious families. That is not what God wants. They conformed on the outside but were not free. The marriages stuck together but there was not the thriving marriages you get with 2 who truly love God. Only when you love God can you not love yourself. You have an amazing awesome marriage when you are putting other over self. I testify that in my own marriage. When I demand "my rights" I am miserable and think I deserve better treatment. When I focus on my wife's needs and my children's, it is very fulfilling and very enjoyable. Divorce and adultery happen because people are selfish and don't care about anything but their selves.
In the 1950's marriages were dead, and children didn't want that. They started eying what they couldn't have or do and ate the fruit forbidden to them. That was rather innocent by today's standards, but that is how sin works. It starts small and then takes over a nation. They started holding hands and making out at the drive ins and that fulfilled because that crossed the line enough. Then the bar was raised more and more and more until you have today where nearly anything goes and anything is accepted. Except abstinence.
Lust is adultery. Lust is putting gasoline on the fire that burns within human nature. You cannot satisfy it and only keep pushing the envelope. You can't quench it, and there is great correlation between rape and pornography for example. The bible says it is better for a man to marry than to burn. God gives us the boundary of marriage to protect us, and only the marriage bed satisfies. Only the marriage bed provides a safe haven where you are protected from STD's and protected from emotional scars. That is why adultery is so bad and pornography so wicked. The threats are everywhere and from every angle and men today are being destroyed by it. It promises so much but it only fuels that fire.
Travis was blinded by his lust. His lust is what killed him. The Bible warns of the adulterous woman. The bible says in Proverbs that Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell. Can a man take fire in his bosom and his clothes not be burned? But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul. Her house is the way to Hell, going down to the chambers of death.
The bible says Let no thine heart decline to hear ways, go not astray in her paths. For she hat cast down many wounded; yea, many strong men have been slain by her.
Jesus created marriage to protect us. One man and One woman for life. That is God's design. We think we know better because we have been listening to Hollywood's definition of love for too long. Love is not a feeling it is a decision. We would know that if we were going to the Love Book, the Bible, instead of the Love Boat for our view of Love.
The greatest tragedy of Travis' life is he is in hell right now. He testified himself that the Mormon religion was his salvation. There is no salvation in a false Gospel. It is a man created religion and there are many many holes in it if one wanted the truth. He trusted a false gospel, and he fell for the wicked woman. He suffered a tragic horrible death, and now he is a tortured soul in the flames of Hell. Yes, for his sins for fornication and more. But as we all have sinned, he neglected the remedy. Religion cannot save because there has to be a payment made. Only the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross does that. A false Christ cannot save. The Mormons wrongly teach works save and they teach a false Christ and that Satan and Jesus were brothers. They teach the Book of Mormons to be on the same truth level as the Bible. These are damning heresies and why ultimately Travis in hell.
How about you? Travis is a warning to all of us. His death needs not be in vain if we learn from this that exposes the tragedy of the Mormon religion and the damning of today's dating philosophy. The bible says except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish. If you are looking at pornography, you are being snared by the same wicked adulterous woman. She may not murder you from the pages, but she has the same power to destroy your family and damn your soul.
America needs a major overhaul of sin right now. And the fornications and pornography need to first be removed from the church members before the rest of the world sees how exceedingly sinful it really is.
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Tract and Witnessing Tips
A warning-- when I try and write a blog post, I end up writing a chapter in a book. The following was never intended to be a blog post. I had wanted to write a short handbook for soulwinning tips to encourage Christians to share their faith. The following is a rough draft of a future book perhaps. This means that it will be longer than my usual posts, but a bit shorter than "War and Peace". I do pray though that it is a blessing. I can't cut and paste yet with just the laptop we have, but once I get a desk top it will be easier to organize my posts and this can be in chapter form. If this is something you find helpful, my longer posts usually work well printed out. Good luck!
Here is a blog post mostly on lessons I learned from giving out tracts. In later posts I can share more witnessing tips. First, know that I am not writing this to show off but to be a blessing to share what God taught me. I chicken out or am too busy to witness far too often but it is God who put this desire in me and 500 years from now I want my life to matter. The Bible says for it is God which worketh in you to will and to do of his good pleasure. Before I was saved, my Friday night desires were to find a bar or go to a hockey game to watch it or do something wicked. Now that I am saved, my desire is to go to a Friday night NHL hockey game or rock concert and preach at it. I want my family to love Jesus and serve him and enjoy God. Training a family to love God and reaching the lost are 2 ways you will make an eternal impact. Fall in love with Jesus and grow as you go.
If you are a Christian that is your duty. Love God and love your neighbor. Our neighbors are headed for hell if they are not born again, and true love means you want them not to perish in hell. God made both heaven and hell, as well as this entire universe. He has thus the power and authority to define the criteria for who enters either place. Ignoring this fact will not save you on judgment day. Telling the God of the Universe who is so holy that he cannot be in the presence of sin about our good works is trying to bribe the God of the Universe. The only hope we have is to have our sins paid for which God did at Calvary 2000 years ago. Jesus is God, but is he your God? If he is you will be saved from the wrath to come. If you are not saved, I urge you not to put it off. God will begin to draw you and as he woos you he will shed light on your sin. You need to repent of a sinfull lifestyle and trust Jesus Christ. He will save you if you come to God HIS WAY. His way is the narrow way that few find. His way though is a wonderful way, and it leads to life, it leads to deliverance from sin which really only brings diseases, misery, and hangovers anyway. Is there any sin worth going to Hell over? When you get saved, Jesus moves in and changes your direction, desires, and destiny. You only have to repent, and change your mind about yourself, your sin, and the Savior, and God will change your life from the inside out. Therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new creature promises the Bible.
The Prince of Preachers Charles Spurgeon said "if you don't care if others be saved, you are not saved yourself, be sure of that." Atlanta Evangelist Mark Cahill says it is not a gift but a command. Two people die every second, Christian do you care? Do you care enough to do something about it? Because it is a command, and not a gift, the only way to get good at it is to practice.
I likely can share what not to do and save you some time. The hardest thing I would say is getting started. We usually are either intimidated, too busy to bother, feel it is a lost cause, or are not prepared with always having tracts on us. However, everytime I open my mouth and God opens that door it is easy once the ball is rolling. However in our minds that ball often feel like a 10 ton boulder. Witnessing makes our Christianity come alive. The devil makes you think you don't know enough. The problem is just sitting and soaking in church will never be enough because if you "don't use it, you lose it." You need to exercise your faith. There is no greater work out than getting OUT and getting the GOSPEL OUT. Just going to church will cause you to be what evangelist Bill Fay called "spiritually constipated"!
It is like the bed room my two 4-and-5 year old boys share. We try and teach them to pick up but once every toy is everywhere except where it belongs, and you can't see the floor, it is a lost cause. Not only the floor but the bunk bed is now in the middle of the room and toys baracade it there. The shelves are bare, the bed is stripped, and they now have to trash the rest of the house because there is no room to play in the room. While my wife is sick, I am in charge of running the house. Instead I blog. Actually with my 4 boys I work from Son up to Son down, but at the end of the day I am not that much ahead of the game.
Their room is where I don't know where to begin. It will sit like that for weeks, then my sister in law will come over and sit herself down on the floor and just start putting things back where they go. An hour later it will be spotless. Until 2 days later when you can't see the floor.
That is like that in witnessing. The hardest part is getting started. Here are some tips to get that ball rolling.
First, here are some baby steps for beginners. You can start by concistantly leaving tracts where you go. I leave tracts in every bathroom stall at stores or whereever. I leave them usually above the toliet paper holder flat against the wall so they are wedged in there. I also always put one in the diaper changing station in the tract box they all have on the inside. Once when I was traveling during a dry spell in my walk with God, I found someone left their testimony tract at a stall at a rest stop. It was a great encouragement to me. I leave them at gas pumps wedged in behind the pump. I put them in bills. I leave one in the shopping cart on the way out and sometimes in some carts on the way in. I have stuffed them in cases of beer and soda. I have put them in pockets in clothing at stores. I put them in between the food trays at fast food restaurants. I put them in newspapers. When I get a credit card application and a self addressed envelope I kindly put a tract inside and return the envelope minus the application. There are a lot of fun ways you can just leave tracts. Once my friend Will entered a catholic church and put them in the church bulletins. My preacher would unroll toilet paper and hide a tract in there. I did that with the big napkin dispenser at Burger King. I try and pray for whoever finds it.
Once your feet are wet, it is good to find some ice breakers. They are like favorite lures regular fishermen just grab by instinct. Whatever you pick, do them enough until you know which lure for what situation and things will be pretty natural. I find ice breakers are the easiest thing to get a conversation going. There are several kinds. The first is simply handing people tracts and wait for someone to ask about it or stop and pause to read it. Another is to use a question that gets people to open up. Another is to use something to make them laugh and then switch gears to the spiritual realm.
Another is to use a gimmick. I had a lot of fun with the trick Bible I ordered a while back but ended up giving it away to a boy when we were witnessing at Delaware Park. It was the size of an 8 x 10 notebook and if you flipped through it one way it was blank pages, another black and white pictures, and another full color pictures. This represented atheism, religion, and Christianity in order. I also had the red scarf you could make vanish in your thumb to show you can't trust everything you see. I was amazed to see my witnessing tool being used in the movie "Night at the Museum" but I don't think it was for the same reasons. I had fun regardless, and tricks bring instant attention and could draw a crowd. I have seen evangelists give out money to answer silly questions. They will ask silly questions and give dollars to those who give the right answer. Then they offer $50 to whoever can prove they are a good person. Good invitation to take someone through the law and prove there is none righteous, no not one.
Mark Cahill said you are not sharing a presentation, but a conversation. Today we think if we don't give them a 5 minute plan and they get saved in 2 more minutes we are failures as as evangelists. We are called to preach the gospel, not lead them in a prayer. The Sinner's prayer does not save, but people like it because it gives them numbers so they look spiritual or worse so they get offerings for their amazing conversion percentage. We are called to confront people with the truth, make them think and plant a seed. If you take credit for your converts, that is all they are. Yours. Not God's.
Ice breakers are often catch phrases you use at various places and they open the door for you talking to them. Sometimes it leads no where but usually you will get them to open up. Picture everyone having this concrete wall up over their heart. You can not get through it. You preach to them and it bounces off. You need to get that wall down.
If I walk into a gas station or at a toll booth, I will at times ask "Are you good at directions?" Then if they say Yes, I will ask "Do you know how to get to heaven?" That is not an original one, but it leads to an original conversation. They smile and it gets them to let down their guard. The ground is now plowed to plant a good seed. Have some good verses memorized as well, as the Word of God is what needs to take root and is the only thing powerful enough to change our stubborn human thinking.
I don't really bring up heaven after that, I get right into the law as soon as I can, but that original question 1) Humbles them a bit because they don't know. 2) peaks their curiosity 3) is something many are interested in 4) gets them to drop their guard. If I find a group of teenagers I might ask some trivia questions. These are the kinds of questions you can give out dollar bills for correct answers if trying to gather a crowd on the street. What is the number one thing people hit and get killed by in cars? Answer: Trees. What is the number one food item people choke on in restaurants? Answer: Hard boiled eggs. How many of each animal did Moses bring on the ark? Answer: it was Noah. What is the name of the raised print deaf people use? Answer: deaf people don't need braille. Imagine you are driving down a mountain and your brakes fail. Your door won't open, your seatbelt is stuck. What do you do? Answer: Stop imagining. Final question, what was the number one killer in America in 2012? Answer: Death. And it will kill you too. Do you know why people die? Answer: The Bible says because of sin, the soul that sinneth it shall die. Let's see if you will die too some day. Ever told a lie?
It is a little formulaic, but you never get the same conversation twice, and you never get the same response. You are asking questions, not going through a 5 point sales pitch and have them repeat a flimsy sinner's prayer. I like the law approach. I had first seen it with Way of the Master and Evangelist Ray Comfort. A word of caution though is it still offers a short cut to salvation. Men in the 1800's were exposed to week long revival meetings where men prayed for weeks beforehand and men prayed for the week during the service. There was no invitation often until the last week. I am still studying out these differences, but there seemed to be back then longer exposure to the convicting hand of God. It seems most of humanity needs to be under a lot heavier conviction than you see today to repent of their ways and turn to Christ. Relgion is men's attempt to save themselves, and man continually reinvents Biblical Christianity to allow them to still live unregerate and do as they want but still "go to Heaven". I say use the law by all means. The Bible says the Law of the LORD is perfect converting the Soul. But I think there needs to be radical convincing of the disease, which the Law does, plus REDEFINING their false religious Christ's they tend to hold on to and look to, plus ROOTING out their false humanistic theories like evolution and their indoctrination that the Bible is just a good book written by man. If someone has been brought up in the American school system, the Bible and the real Jesus Christ is just as foreign to them as the deepest native of Papau New Guinia. All I am saying is take your time. We haven't sown much in the last 100 years in our evangelism, but we are decision making factories and we think we are doing wonderful because of so many decisions. The true test of our evangelism is whether our decision affect the moral climate of our community and our country. That is not happening and our country is getting worse while the church is falling into deeper slumber. The church needs to wake up if the country is to ever turn around. True Biblical evangelism will wake the sleeping and sluggish saints up first. If people are sleeping in church, Charles Spurgeon said, wake up the preacher. Leaders, we set the standard. We need to look around, turn a deaf ear to our multitudes of decisions, and go back to what brought true revival and dedication. Not just decisions.
Ask folks what they believe and why they believe it. Ask if they have a church backgroud or ever read the bible or ever thought they were about to die. I often tell people there are no coicidences and there is a reason we are talking. Often there was a lot of events leading up to our meeting. I have had multiple people tell me they received a tract earlier that day or one that week or a coworker had just been telling him about church or something else that proves it was not a coincidence we met. Yesterday I went to give a guy a tract at the supermarket on the way inside. He said, "remember me?" I often get that, but I usually don't remember me. It is a great encouragement they do though. I had given him the same tract at the Noco gas station a few days ago. They remember and you can pick up where you left off. Ask if they read the tract, if they had any questions, if it made sense. Then try and get another seed in. I will try to get them to church or to my website or get them something with more meat than one tract. On the street I usually will have a $5 dollar general King James Bible with me to preach with and then I usually give it away to someone I witnessed to that didn't have a bible. Put some follow up information in it. One afternoon when I was street preaching and passing out tracts near a bus station in Buffalo, NY, a man went up to me and thanks me sincerely. He said he now knew what bus to take. The original bus he was going to take was to go somewhere to commit suicide. It only makes me regret even more the ones I chickened out over. What was their story? Or the times I was too busy to bother. Or when I forgot tracts.
In a grocery store, I will go up to a guy sometimes my age or younger and ask if they are good at finding things. Then I will ask if they can find God. This usually opens up a conversation and I try to be brief so they don't get in trouble. If I go thru a drive-thru I ask them if they ever heard of a Burger King Christian. I explain that is having it your way and not God's way. It is fun to challenge the McDonald's cashier or Arby's worker to make sure they especially are not Burger King Christians. I will also use things like pizzas or submarines to challenge people. I often have went up to workers at a pizzaria or sub shop and say, "Do you know you can use a piece of pizza (or a sub) to prove God?" Then I will show them my pizza and ask them to prove someone made it. I will say Pizzas prove a Pizza Maker. Your school teaches you that this pizza made it self out of nothing but that defies common sense. The big question now is who made it? If you look at the evidence and follow the trail, you will see Papa John's made this pizza. Now if the pizza came out burned and had anchiovies instead of pepperoni, you wouldn't bring it to Pizza Hut to fix it. You would find the original pizza maker.
That is a lot like God. Creation proves a Creator. I will quote Romans 1:20. The Bible teaches and evidence backs it up that Jesus made us in his image. We have burned hearts (where I can throw the law in) and we need to be rebaked. Going to Budda or Mary or a Priest or Allah instead of Jesus is not going to fix it. Kids today are told from the media, the education system, and the government that evolution has all the facts and they are the smart ones. You won't convince a skeptic with evidence, but when I became a Christian I did not have to leave my brain at the door. You will have to do that to be a Mormon for example, as there is not one shred of archeological evidence for Joseph Smith's claims about American history or giants on the moon. You will have to do that with evolution where you simply believe because someone with a degree told you so. When you become a Christian you merely go with the weight of the evidence and make a small leap of faith in the direction of the evidence. A thief won't seek a police man, and if we are speeding we aren't going to be looking for one either. Most of the time our love of sin clouds common sense. But when you know what you are talking about, are prayed up, and pray to care about sinner's like God cares about sinners your words will open some eyes. Because they will be God's words coming through.
Get in the habit of using some ice breakers and see conversations open up. It is like the Red Sea. There is nothing going on until you take that first step into the water. Then the waters part. Ice breakers get the ball rolling because you are acting on faith but it takes the hardest part away. The first step into the Red Sea is the hardest step. Then the waters part and you see God's hand once you are obedient to do your part.
I tend to now mostly witness on the go, meaning when I am shopping or running errands until my wife gets a bit healthier. You can find ways to witness even when you aren't out "witnessing". Witness to the telemarketer. You can go thru any drive thru and pay for the car behind you. Make sure and tell cashier why or they will think you just thought the person behind you was cute. You can ask how much the car behind you is first. Better if you pay with cash as you can honestly say all you had on you was $10 if their order turns out to be $56. Usually coffee places are cheap and work well. But if you pray first, you usually are not in front of the family of 12 all getting supersized Double whopper value meals.
However, I strongly recommend to fit in your to do list for the week to get out and witness. An even better time than just waiting for divine appointments is when you schedule a block of time just to go soulwinning. Just Go fishing at your favorite fishing spot and make time to fish.
It is funny when we start to go, how unexpected "have to's" creep up and you have to cancel. Keep going. If you can't go this week, go next week. If you are out for a season, jump back in as soon as you are freed up. Have the determination of unsaved men who hunt and it is opening day of deer season. Nothing will stop them from going. If there is a funeral, they will go in there camo and fly there after it is over. Men will spend hours sitting in a boat to catch one fish and throw him back in the water. It is the nature sport version of the exercies bike. A lot of energy to go accomplish nothing. So to go fishing for men when there are potential eternal consequences for going should make this the greatest sport possible. If someone can spend their entire life training to earn an Olympic medal the size of a donut hole, we should be able to get out to do a true activity that will count 500 years from now. Who won the Superbowl 10 years ago? Who knows? Who cares? Yet how much time to we devote to that? Think the devil is trying to distract us and steal our time? Or are we just lazy? Go fish!
The second greatest reason for this is mostly a guy thing. Us guys do not multi task really well. Women can do eight things at once and pay attention to each task and each kid where I can't switch gears quickly. I can be out to dinner with my family and it is a challenge to switch from making sure I have all the kids one second and then how to get a witness in to the waitress. I can't stop writing when I am all alone-- a 2 sentence blog becomes a 2 part book. When my wife is in the same room talking on the phone a 2 part book becomes 2 sentences. I could give out a tract and forget I had 3 kids with me. Hence, actual scheduled soulwinning is a great idea. Especially when in our busy day to day, what sometimes keeps me from giving out the gospel is not fear of rejection -- it is fear they will entangle me in a conversation for 30 minutes and my wife will wonder where I went. Right now, having a family and children and demands and every minute accounted for. I think being too busy is the biggest threat to my soulwinning efforts, and perhaps others as well. Don't quit, just make sure you keep polishing up on your fishing so you don't just boast about the good old days. I find when you start basking in your past accomplisments, you are like the 2nd string quarterback who wasn't quite ready to retire. You sit on the bench and feel useless but it has been so long since you called a play deep down you hope you won't have to risk making a fool of yourself. You used to before thrive on facing the oppostion. Now you are finding the bench is conforming to your behind and getting rather comfortable.
How often you can get out will depend on your circumstances and how far sinners are from your home. You will do better in the city than the suburbs in all situations. If I knock door to door in an upscale neighborhood they are about to call the police because it looks bad for the community. If I am downtown I get invited inside. Granted, the challenge in the city today is you tend to see that welfare mentality and that the government owes me something. This translates to their view of God and they think they are entitled to heaven and God owes them too. God does not owe us nothing. Again, the law will help humble the proud and reveals to them that they offended God by their actions. It should shut the mouth of the proud.
I like the city better because there are more poor people and more black and spanish people! Yes, I said that. Us upper class white crackers who are usually are often a waste of time, sad to say. You will hear "I'm good" or "I'm all set" a large percentage of the time. We are too self righteouss to need God and too full to want God. That being said, the LAW will bring out the sin in the richest of folks. Ask them if they love money more than God. That is idolatry and no idolator can enter heaven. Ask if they hated anyone. That is murder by God's standards. Ask if they commited adultery or lusted. The Law is for sinners according to Timothy. Rich and poor alike. However, when it comes to giving tracts and getting started, that is not your easiest fish to land.
They would call this racial profiling, but I find a black man my age or younger regardless of how rough he looks is almost always respectful, will listen to me present the law, will often be convicted and honest about their sin, and will have some respect for God and some church background. I find most black guys trust either their church membership or their baptism to get them to heaven, especially if they attend a black baptist church. Spanish are very open to receive tracts, but you need to have spanish tracts on you. I will give them a tract and ask if they read english or spanish, then I will say "Muy importante. Jesus Christo y la camino, la verdad y la verde." Jesus is the way the truth and the life. That is true no matter the language.
Also, if you go to Chick.com you can order chinese tracts when you go to order some General Tso's and pork fried rice. They appreciate your thoughfulness. If you are fishing you would go where the fish are biting. And use the right lures. You wouldn't use a worm to land a whale shark. The general rule is the older the less interested, and the richer the less interested. I would also say the "whiter" the less interested. Look at Europe for example, they are stuck up white European snobs and they rarely want anything to do with God. I will witness to a black guy over someone white like me anyday. You also want to be careful in public places to avoid the "red flags". Not to be mean, but I usually don't give tracts to the Muslims dressed all in black like SandTroopers from Star Wars or two guys holding hands or grumpy middle class white folks. These are more likely to turn you in. My sons are bolder than I am. I gave my 3 year old a couple tracts to hand out to customers at Wal Mart. He immediately went up to a Muslim couple dressed in their black attire with the eye slits. He was braver than I was!
Kids are a great asset to have when you soulwin. This is when it is easier to give a Why is Mary Crying to a 65 year old grandma. 45 I also have no complaints giving black children tracts with their parents right there, but the whites will sometimes have a fit you dare to push your religion on their kids.
On a side note, you will often get asked about slavery whenever you get on a college campus and start witnessing. Note it is usually white folks who ask. I have never had a black person bring up slavery. Most of the time it is a defection tactic. They don't want God to tell them what to do, so they find excuse after excuse to not obey God. You will learn over time about the difference between a sincere question and someone who just wants to argue. I don't waste time arguing, but I will answer their questions. Sometimes one question may be pivotal about their belief in the Bible. Where did Cain get his wife? may be a hostile argument or an honest objection. As far as slavary, I too wondered how could there be great revival in America and people loving God yet see slavary still active? I did some soul searching and research and that is something I would share with someone who had concerns like I did.
I don't know all the answers, but here are some things to think about. First, those who came on the Mayflower faced grueling conditions too. Granted, those coming from Africa weren't coming by their own free will. But if you knew the conditions they left in Africa, how many would have voluntarily put up with horrible conditions to get here? Mostly other Africans sold them to the Europeans. Other Africans were killing them and EATING them. Once in America, not everyone was cruel and hard taskmasters. Many slaves loved their masters and the fact so many choose BIBLE names instead of AFRICAN names proves that. Also, if it was so horrible to be in America why did so many Africans embrace the American Christianity and help form the BIBLE BELT? The respect for God and the gratitude for finding the true and living God has produced fruit that still impacts blacks today. If it didn't I would not be looking for black people to give gospel tracts to and trying to get them to heaven. Finally, why didn't they grab the earliest ship back to Africa once Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclaimation? You had Africans who were enslaved in their country and only knew about their false pagan relgion. Many were being tortured and killed. Many made it to America, but were still enslaved. Yet, many found true freedom in Christ in true Christianity. And their ancesters were free to enjoy the blessings of America and the God of America. And 200 years later they embraced being slaves once again, though this time to the government, by someone of the same race to boot. If it is biblically correct, it will not be policially correct.
If you are not sure how long to go soulwinning, just imagine applying to your actual fishing. The key to any fishing is to take your time. Wait for the fish to come to you. Find out when they are more likely to bite. Spend hours getting the boat ready, pack all the fishing gear, drive hours to the lake, get the boat down the ramp and unhitch everything. Then get the boat to the middle of the lake, hook up the lure, cast the line, and then go home. You likely didn't catch anything. And I am sure that I am not the only one. Americans are too busy for anything. You hear of people in NY City who walk by murder scenes and rapes and wonder how someone could be that evil. I don't think they were being cold, just too busy to do anything. We are like levite in the good samaraitin parable. Too busy to help. Have to get to church. My mother in law did that once. She didn't know it was another church member, but she passed a lady who flipped her car in the snow. My mother in law is the piano player so she had to get to church on time!
I like this the best but things will come up to keep you from doing this regularlly. If you can though, schedule in a time once or twice a week to just go somewhere where people are and start by passing out tracts. We have been to flea markets, college campuses, door to door, downtown, sporting events, street corners, rock concerts, and festivals. Some places will try to kick you out. Other places you will have amazing liberty.
Hand them a tract and just say something simple, "here you go" "did you get one of these", "merry christmas", "good day", "good evening," etc. I try to be genuine, but it is always better if you can give them some truth with it. I might say something like, "I wanted to give you something I wrote. It can change your life if you let it." I might challenge them, I might try and just be friendly, I might say here is a gift. I also might apologize for the fact christians are at home watching TV while the JWs are out knocking doors so I felt I should do something.
You are fishing, just looking for someone to bite. If they pause, God may be drawing them in. If they start talking just let them talk. It is important here to gain experience, to know who is an honest seeker and who just wants to get in an argument. I walk away from the guy who wants to argue. You want to win that JW but he will tie up your time for an hour and you are going head to head intellectually here. Meanwhile, 20 seekers you passed by in that time. The devil loves to get us on rabbit trails or get us tied up. Don't ignore a sincere seekers questions either. He may be stuck on something that he can't get past. Most of the time evolution is a time waster. But say there is a guy who grew up in church but never was saved and then entered college and heard all the evolution propaganda. He might sincerely listen when you tell him that dinosaurs and man were on earth at the same time and they find things that evolutionists refuse to look at. Human footprints fossilized with dinosaurs. Human artifacts below rock layers they claim are billions of years old. T Rex bones still with blood cells intact. All over the world are cave drawings of dinosaurs and rock carvings with humans and dinosaurs. They were on the ark and didn't survive the post-flood conditions, were hunted, and weren't as fast after the flood. Before the flood the earth was mostly land, and had huge trees and plants all over the earth. A brachiosaurous has the nostrils of a horse. It could not breath in the reduced oxygen levels of the post flood. Evolution is not science. True science is 100% in sync with the Bible. A sincere seeker will be interested in knowing there is evidence backing him up if he embraces the bible. A true Christian is not afraid of the truth. And that makes him dangerous to everyone else because no one else is sure of anything but is so insecure they will defend what they are not sure of to their grave.
What is this? some would ask when you hand them a tract. And when they say something besides "I'm all set" or "get away from me!" explain what you are giving them. I start simple, and say it is a gospel tract. Ask questions, don't just go into shoving a presentation down their throat. Get them to dig themselves into a hole, ask why do you believe that? If you ask what they believe first, then you open the door to them letting you talk. You basically earn the right to tell them the gospel when you get them to empty their resources and realize they don't have much backing up what they believe. I am confident in the gospel not only because the truth is on our side and it is the power of God unto salvation, but because the evidence is on our side as well. It is not a religion where you have to leave your brain at the door and believe things that defy common sense like you would have to do if you were a mormon, or Hindu, for example.
Ask them some interesting questions, such as what do you think happens when you die? Do you have a christian background? If you died today where would you go? If what you believe isn't true, would you want to know? That is a very good question and inoffensive one for Catholics, etc. I have seen some good one one one preachers do simple things to get people to not trust themselves and I will use them from time to time. One time I was going through the tolls and it was a bad storm. I asked her if lightening stuck the booth and she died, where she would go? I find that when someone is confronted with the reality of death, they are open because they are scared. Fear is a good thing. Fear is why people agre to chemotherapy. Fear is why poeople put on seatbelts. Anyway, she said she would be ok because she thought in her heart that God would let her in. I said you can't trust ourselves because we can be wrong. I asked her to spell the word SILK. She did. What do cows drink I asked? MILK she said. I said, Nope, they drink water. See you can't trust yourself. And if you are wrong about eternity you are wrong forever.
I planted a seed, and it made her think. That is a successful witness. Now we should pray for God to send someone to water that seed.
Use tracts but be creative, selective, and remember them. I tend to have some in every jacket. It is neat when you find Christmas tracts from a year ago when you finally dig out your winter jacket and think you are out of ammo when you reach in your pocket while talking to someone, but then you discover you had the right in season tract. I usually use my own tracts I write because I find few tracts deal strongly on repentance, and most look boring, and most have some sort of sinner's prayer to pray. My take on that is we are born lost and we offended a holy God. Just as reading a Hallmark card will not forgive a spouse who's husband committed adultery on her, God is not impressed by a flipant prayer. Prayer doesn't save yet that is what these tracts both imply and teach. The law should bring about conviction, and the law should birth a natural apology that God will hear. God runs to a repentant sinner, but most soulwinning fall's on God's deaf ears because they leave off repentance.
A challenge is when you can't remember if you gave them a tract already, and worse if they rejected you. Examples are places you frequent, the coffee drive thru, McDonalds down the street, the local pizza joint. What I will do is ask, "Hey did you get my Christmast tract?" Or if I just got new Chick tracts or just wrote a new one, I will say, "Here's something new for you!" If you gave them one already you can follow up but do not put pressure on them. Did you happen to read the tract I gave you last time? If they say no, I will try and use the law and explain what it said a bit, and often they will take it the second time. How many times did God need to get through to you?? Often our flesh says Go to Hell if we know they rejected us the last time. But we likely did the same thing. Often God will be working on them or they are in a different place than last time. Maybe this week they were just at a funeral.
Here is a blog post mostly on lessons I learned from giving out tracts. In later posts I can share more witnessing tips. First, know that I am not writing this to show off but to be a blessing to share what God taught me. I chicken out or am too busy to witness far too often but it is God who put this desire in me and 500 years from now I want my life to matter. The Bible says for it is God which worketh in you to will and to do of his good pleasure. Before I was saved, my Friday night desires were to find a bar or go to a hockey game to watch it or do something wicked. Now that I am saved, my desire is to go to a Friday night NHL hockey game or rock concert and preach at it. I want my family to love Jesus and serve him and enjoy God. Training a family to love God and reaching the lost are 2 ways you will make an eternal impact. Fall in love with Jesus and grow as you go.
If you are a Christian that is your duty. Love God and love your neighbor. Our neighbors are headed for hell if they are not born again, and true love means you want them not to perish in hell. God made both heaven and hell, as well as this entire universe. He has thus the power and authority to define the criteria for who enters either place. Ignoring this fact will not save you on judgment day. Telling the God of the Universe who is so holy that he cannot be in the presence of sin about our good works is trying to bribe the God of the Universe. The only hope we have is to have our sins paid for which God did at Calvary 2000 years ago. Jesus is God, but is he your God? If he is you will be saved from the wrath to come. If you are not saved, I urge you not to put it off. God will begin to draw you and as he woos you he will shed light on your sin. You need to repent of a sinfull lifestyle and trust Jesus Christ. He will save you if you come to God HIS WAY. His way is the narrow way that few find. His way though is a wonderful way, and it leads to life, it leads to deliverance from sin which really only brings diseases, misery, and hangovers anyway. Is there any sin worth going to Hell over? When you get saved, Jesus moves in and changes your direction, desires, and destiny. You only have to repent, and change your mind about yourself, your sin, and the Savior, and God will change your life from the inside out. Therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new creature promises the Bible.
The Prince of Preachers Charles Spurgeon said "if you don't care if others be saved, you are not saved yourself, be sure of that." Atlanta Evangelist Mark Cahill says it is not a gift but a command. Two people die every second, Christian do you care? Do you care enough to do something about it? Because it is a command, and not a gift, the only way to get good at it is to practice.
I likely can share what not to do and save you some time. The hardest thing I would say is getting started. We usually are either intimidated, too busy to bother, feel it is a lost cause, or are not prepared with always having tracts on us. However, everytime I open my mouth and God opens that door it is easy once the ball is rolling. However in our minds that ball often feel like a 10 ton boulder. Witnessing makes our Christianity come alive. The devil makes you think you don't know enough. The problem is just sitting and soaking in church will never be enough because if you "don't use it, you lose it." You need to exercise your faith. There is no greater work out than getting OUT and getting the GOSPEL OUT. Just going to church will cause you to be what evangelist Bill Fay called "spiritually constipated"!
It is like the bed room my two 4-and-5 year old boys share. We try and teach them to pick up but once every toy is everywhere except where it belongs, and you can't see the floor, it is a lost cause. Not only the floor but the bunk bed is now in the middle of the room and toys baracade it there. The shelves are bare, the bed is stripped, and they now have to trash the rest of the house because there is no room to play in the room. While my wife is sick, I am in charge of running the house. Instead I blog. Actually with my 4 boys I work from Son up to Son down, but at the end of the day I am not that much ahead of the game.
Their room is where I don't know where to begin. It will sit like that for weeks, then my sister in law will come over and sit herself down on the floor and just start putting things back where they go. An hour later it will be spotless. Until 2 days later when you can't see the floor.
That is like that in witnessing. The hardest part is getting started. Here are some tips to get that ball rolling.
First, here are some baby steps for beginners. You can start by concistantly leaving tracts where you go. I leave tracts in every bathroom stall at stores or whereever. I leave them usually above the toliet paper holder flat against the wall so they are wedged in there. I also always put one in the diaper changing station in the tract box they all have on the inside. Once when I was traveling during a dry spell in my walk with God, I found someone left their testimony tract at a stall at a rest stop. It was a great encouragement to me. I leave them at gas pumps wedged in behind the pump. I put them in bills. I leave one in the shopping cart on the way out and sometimes in some carts on the way in. I have stuffed them in cases of beer and soda. I have put them in pockets in clothing at stores. I put them in between the food trays at fast food restaurants. I put them in newspapers. When I get a credit card application and a self addressed envelope I kindly put a tract inside and return the envelope minus the application. There are a lot of fun ways you can just leave tracts. Once my friend Will entered a catholic church and put them in the church bulletins. My preacher would unroll toilet paper and hide a tract in there. I did that with the big napkin dispenser at Burger King. I try and pray for whoever finds it.
Once your feet are wet, it is good to find some ice breakers. They are like favorite lures regular fishermen just grab by instinct. Whatever you pick, do them enough until you know which lure for what situation and things will be pretty natural. I find ice breakers are the easiest thing to get a conversation going. There are several kinds. The first is simply handing people tracts and wait for someone to ask about it or stop and pause to read it. Another is to use a question that gets people to open up. Another is to use something to make them laugh and then switch gears to the spiritual realm.
Another is to use a gimmick. I had a lot of fun with the trick Bible I ordered a while back but ended up giving it away to a boy when we were witnessing at Delaware Park. It was the size of an 8 x 10 notebook and if you flipped through it one way it was blank pages, another black and white pictures, and another full color pictures. This represented atheism, religion, and Christianity in order. I also had the red scarf you could make vanish in your thumb to show you can't trust everything you see. I was amazed to see my witnessing tool being used in the movie "Night at the Museum" but I don't think it was for the same reasons. I had fun regardless, and tricks bring instant attention and could draw a crowd. I have seen evangelists give out money to answer silly questions. They will ask silly questions and give dollars to those who give the right answer. Then they offer $50 to whoever can prove they are a good person. Good invitation to take someone through the law and prove there is none righteous, no not one.
Mark Cahill said you are not sharing a presentation, but a conversation. Today we think if we don't give them a 5 minute plan and they get saved in 2 more minutes we are failures as as evangelists. We are called to preach the gospel, not lead them in a prayer. The Sinner's prayer does not save, but people like it because it gives them numbers so they look spiritual or worse so they get offerings for their amazing conversion percentage. We are called to confront people with the truth, make them think and plant a seed. If you take credit for your converts, that is all they are. Yours. Not God's.
Ice breakers are often catch phrases you use at various places and they open the door for you talking to them. Sometimes it leads no where but usually you will get them to open up. Picture everyone having this concrete wall up over their heart. You can not get through it. You preach to them and it bounces off. You need to get that wall down.
If I walk into a gas station or at a toll booth, I will at times ask "Are you good at directions?" Then if they say Yes, I will ask "Do you know how to get to heaven?" That is not an original one, but it leads to an original conversation. They smile and it gets them to let down their guard. The ground is now plowed to plant a good seed. Have some good verses memorized as well, as the Word of God is what needs to take root and is the only thing powerful enough to change our stubborn human thinking.
I don't really bring up heaven after that, I get right into the law as soon as I can, but that original question 1) Humbles them a bit because they don't know. 2) peaks their curiosity 3) is something many are interested in 4) gets them to drop their guard. If I find a group of teenagers I might ask some trivia questions. These are the kinds of questions you can give out dollar bills for correct answers if trying to gather a crowd on the street. What is the number one thing people hit and get killed by in cars? Answer: Trees. What is the number one food item people choke on in restaurants? Answer: Hard boiled eggs. How many of each animal did Moses bring on the ark? Answer: it was Noah. What is the name of the raised print deaf people use? Answer: deaf people don't need braille. Imagine you are driving down a mountain and your brakes fail. Your door won't open, your seatbelt is stuck. What do you do? Answer: Stop imagining. Final question, what was the number one killer in America in 2012? Answer: Death. And it will kill you too. Do you know why people die? Answer: The Bible says because of sin, the soul that sinneth it shall die. Let's see if you will die too some day. Ever told a lie?
It is a little formulaic, but you never get the same conversation twice, and you never get the same response. You are asking questions, not going through a 5 point sales pitch and have them repeat a flimsy sinner's prayer. I like the law approach. I had first seen it with Way of the Master and Evangelist Ray Comfort. A word of caution though is it still offers a short cut to salvation. Men in the 1800's were exposed to week long revival meetings where men prayed for weeks beforehand and men prayed for the week during the service. There was no invitation often until the last week. I am still studying out these differences, but there seemed to be back then longer exposure to the convicting hand of God. It seems most of humanity needs to be under a lot heavier conviction than you see today to repent of their ways and turn to Christ. Relgion is men's attempt to save themselves, and man continually reinvents Biblical Christianity to allow them to still live unregerate and do as they want but still "go to Heaven". I say use the law by all means. The Bible says the Law of the LORD is perfect converting the Soul. But I think there needs to be radical convincing of the disease, which the Law does, plus REDEFINING their false religious Christ's they tend to hold on to and look to, plus ROOTING out their false humanistic theories like evolution and their indoctrination that the Bible is just a good book written by man. If someone has been brought up in the American school system, the Bible and the real Jesus Christ is just as foreign to them as the deepest native of Papau New Guinia. All I am saying is take your time. We haven't sown much in the last 100 years in our evangelism, but we are decision making factories and we think we are doing wonderful because of so many decisions. The true test of our evangelism is whether our decision affect the moral climate of our community and our country. That is not happening and our country is getting worse while the church is falling into deeper slumber. The church needs to wake up if the country is to ever turn around. True Biblical evangelism will wake the sleeping and sluggish saints up first. If people are sleeping in church, Charles Spurgeon said, wake up the preacher. Leaders, we set the standard. We need to look around, turn a deaf ear to our multitudes of decisions, and go back to what brought true revival and dedication. Not just decisions.
Ask folks what they believe and why they believe it. Ask if they have a church backgroud or ever read the bible or ever thought they were about to die. I often tell people there are no coicidences and there is a reason we are talking. Often there was a lot of events leading up to our meeting. I have had multiple people tell me they received a tract earlier that day or one that week or a coworker had just been telling him about church or something else that proves it was not a coincidence we met. Yesterday I went to give a guy a tract at the supermarket on the way inside. He said, "remember me?" I often get that, but I usually don't remember me. It is a great encouragement they do though. I had given him the same tract at the Noco gas station a few days ago. They remember and you can pick up where you left off. Ask if they read the tract, if they had any questions, if it made sense. Then try and get another seed in. I will try to get them to church or to my website or get them something with more meat than one tract. On the street I usually will have a $5 dollar general King James Bible with me to preach with and then I usually give it away to someone I witnessed to that didn't have a bible. Put some follow up information in it. One afternoon when I was street preaching and passing out tracts near a bus station in Buffalo, NY, a man went up to me and thanks me sincerely. He said he now knew what bus to take. The original bus he was going to take was to go somewhere to commit suicide. It only makes me regret even more the ones I chickened out over. What was their story? Or the times I was too busy to bother. Or when I forgot tracts.
In a grocery store, I will go up to a guy sometimes my age or younger and ask if they are good at finding things. Then I will ask if they can find God. This usually opens up a conversation and I try to be brief so they don't get in trouble. If I go thru a drive-thru I ask them if they ever heard of a Burger King Christian. I explain that is having it your way and not God's way. It is fun to challenge the McDonald's cashier or Arby's worker to make sure they especially are not Burger King Christians. I will also use things like pizzas or submarines to challenge people. I often have went up to workers at a pizzaria or sub shop and say, "Do you know you can use a piece of pizza (or a sub) to prove God?" Then I will show them my pizza and ask them to prove someone made it. I will say Pizzas prove a Pizza Maker. Your school teaches you that this pizza made it self out of nothing but that defies common sense. The big question now is who made it? If you look at the evidence and follow the trail, you will see Papa John's made this pizza. Now if the pizza came out burned and had anchiovies instead of pepperoni, you wouldn't bring it to Pizza Hut to fix it. You would find the original pizza maker.
That is a lot like God. Creation proves a Creator. I will quote Romans 1:20. The Bible teaches and evidence backs it up that Jesus made us in his image. We have burned hearts (where I can throw the law in) and we need to be rebaked. Going to Budda or Mary or a Priest or Allah instead of Jesus is not going to fix it. Kids today are told from the media, the education system, and the government that evolution has all the facts and they are the smart ones. You won't convince a skeptic with evidence, but when I became a Christian I did not have to leave my brain at the door. You will have to do that to be a Mormon for example, as there is not one shred of archeological evidence for Joseph Smith's claims about American history or giants on the moon. You will have to do that with evolution where you simply believe because someone with a degree told you so. When you become a Christian you merely go with the weight of the evidence and make a small leap of faith in the direction of the evidence. A thief won't seek a police man, and if we are speeding we aren't going to be looking for one either. Most of the time our love of sin clouds common sense. But when you know what you are talking about, are prayed up, and pray to care about sinner's like God cares about sinners your words will open some eyes. Because they will be God's words coming through.
Get in the habit of using some ice breakers and see conversations open up. It is like the Red Sea. There is nothing going on until you take that first step into the water. Then the waters part. Ice breakers get the ball rolling because you are acting on faith but it takes the hardest part away. The first step into the Red Sea is the hardest step. Then the waters part and you see God's hand once you are obedient to do your part.
I tend to now mostly witness on the go, meaning when I am shopping or running errands until my wife gets a bit healthier. You can find ways to witness even when you aren't out "witnessing". Witness to the telemarketer. You can go thru any drive thru and pay for the car behind you. Make sure and tell cashier why or they will think you just thought the person behind you was cute. You can ask how much the car behind you is first. Better if you pay with cash as you can honestly say all you had on you was $10 if their order turns out to be $56. Usually coffee places are cheap and work well. But if you pray first, you usually are not in front of the family of 12 all getting supersized Double whopper value meals.
However, I strongly recommend to fit in your to do list for the week to get out and witness. An even better time than just waiting for divine appointments is when you schedule a block of time just to go soulwinning. Just Go fishing at your favorite fishing spot and make time to fish.
It is funny when we start to go, how unexpected "have to's" creep up and you have to cancel. Keep going. If you can't go this week, go next week. If you are out for a season, jump back in as soon as you are freed up. Have the determination of unsaved men who hunt and it is opening day of deer season. Nothing will stop them from going. If there is a funeral, they will go in there camo and fly there after it is over. Men will spend hours sitting in a boat to catch one fish and throw him back in the water. It is the nature sport version of the exercies bike. A lot of energy to go accomplish nothing. So to go fishing for men when there are potential eternal consequences for going should make this the greatest sport possible. If someone can spend their entire life training to earn an Olympic medal the size of a donut hole, we should be able to get out to do a true activity that will count 500 years from now. Who won the Superbowl 10 years ago? Who knows? Who cares? Yet how much time to we devote to that? Think the devil is trying to distract us and steal our time? Or are we just lazy? Go fish!
The second greatest reason for this is mostly a guy thing. Us guys do not multi task really well. Women can do eight things at once and pay attention to each task and each kid where I can't switch gears quickly. I can be out to dinner with my family and it is a challenge to switch from making sure I have all the kids one second and then how to get a witness in to the waitress. I can't stop writing when I am all alone-- a 2 sentence blog becomes a 2 part book. When my wife is in the same room talking on the phone a 2 part book becomes 2 sentences. I could give out a tract and forget I had 3 kids with me. Hence, actual scheduled soulwinning is a great idea. Especially when in our busy day to day, what sometimes keeps me from giving out the gospel is not fear of rejection -- it is fear they will entangle me in a conversation for 30 minutes and my wife will wonder where I went. Right now, having a family and children and demands and every minute accounted for. I think being too busy is the biggest threat to my soulwinning efforts, and perhaps others as well. Don't quit, just make sure you keep polishing up on your fishing so you don't just boast about the good old days. I find when you start basking in your past accomplisments, you are like the 2nd string quarterback who wasn't quite ready to retire. You sit on the bench and feel useless but it has been so long since you called a play deep down you hope you won't have to risk making a fool of yourself. You used to before thrive on facing the oppostion. Now you are finding the bench is conforming to your behind and getting rather comfortable.
How often you can get out will depend on your circumstances and how far sinners are from your home. You will do better in the city than the suburbs in all situations. If I knock door to door in an upscale neighborhood they are about to call the police because it looks bad for the community. If I am downtown I get invited inside. Granted, the challenge in the city today is you tend to see that welfare mentality and that the government owes me something. This translates to their view of God and they think they are entitled to heaven and God owes them too. God does not owe us nothing. Again, the law will help humble the proud and reveals to them that they offended God by their actions. It should shut the mouth of the proud.
I like the city better because there are more poor people and more black and spanish people! Yes, I said that. Us upper class white crackers who are usually are often a waste of time, sad to say. You will hear "I'm good" or "I'm all set" a large percentage of the time. We are too self righteouss to need God and too full to want God. That being said, the LAW will bring out the sin in the richest of folks. Ask them if they love money more than God. That is idolatry and no idolator can enter heaven. Ask if they hated anyone. That is murder by God's standards. Ask if they commited adultery or lusted. The Law is for sinners according to Timothy. Rich and poor alike. However, when it comes to giving tracts and getting started, that is not your easiest fish to land.
They would call this racial profiling, but I find a black man my age or younger regardless of how rough he looks is almost always respectful, will listen to me present the law, will often be convicted and honest about their sin, and will have some respect for God and some church background. I find most black guys trust either their church membership or their baptism to get them to heaven, especially if they attend a black baptist church. Spanish are very open to receive tracts, but you need to have spanish tracts on you. I will give them a tract and ask if they read english or spanish, then I will say "Muy importante. Jesus Christo y la camino, la verdad y la verde." Jesus is the way the truth and the life. That is true no matter the language.
Also, if you go to Chick.com you can order chinese tracts when you go to order some General Tso's and pork fried rice. They appreciate your thoughfulness. If you are fishing you would go where the fish are biting. And use the right lures. You wouldn't use a worm to land a whale shark. The general rule is the older the less interested, and the richer the less interested. I would also say the "whiter" the less interested. Look at Europe for example, they are stuck up white European snobs and they rarely want anything to do with God. I will witness to a black guy over someone white like me anyday. You also want to be careful in public places to avoid the "red flags". Not to be mean, but I usually don't give tracts to the Muslims dressed all in black like SandTroopers from Star Wars or two guys holding hands or grumpy middle class white folks. These are more likely to turn you in. My sons are bolder than I am. I gave my 3 year old a couple tracts to hand out to customers at Wal Mart. He immediately went up to a Muslim couple dressed in their black attire with the eye slits. He was braver than I was!
Kids are a great asset to have when you soulwin. This is when it is easier to give a Why is Mary Crying to a 65 year old grandma. 45 I also have no complaints giving black children tracts with their parents right there, but the whites will sometimes have a fit you dare to push your religion on their kids.
On a side note, you will often get asked about slavery whenever you get on a college campus and start witnessing. Note it is usually white folks who ask. I have never had a black person bring up slavery. Most of the time it is a defection tactic. They don't want God to tell them what to do, so they find excuse after excuse to not obey God. You will learn over time about the difference between a sincere question and someone who just wants to argue. I don't waste time arguing, but I will answer their questions. Sometimes one question may be pivotal about their belief in the Bible. Where did Cain get his wife? may be a hostile argument or an honest objection. As far as slavary, I too wondered how could there be great revival in America and people loving God yet see slavary still active? I did some soul searching and research and that is something I would share with someone who had concerns like I did.
I don't know all the answers, but here are some things to think about. First, those who came on the Mayflower faced grueling conditions too. Granted, those coming from Africa weren't coming by their own free will. But if you knew the conditions they left in Africa, how many would have voluntarily put up with horrible conditions to get here? Mostly other Africans sold them to the Europeans. Other Africans were killing them and EATING them. Once in America, not everyone was cruel and hard taskmasters. Many slaves loved their masters and the fact so many choose BIBLE names instead of AFRICAN names proves that. Also, if it was so horrible to be in America why did so many Africans embrace the American Christianity and help form the BIBLE BELT? The respect for God and the gratitude for finding the true and living God has produced fruit that still impacts blacks today. If it didn't I would not be looking for black people to give gospel tracts to and trying to get them to heaven. Finally, why didn't they grab the earliest ship back to Africa once Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclaimation? You had Africans who were enslaved in their country and only knew about their false pagan relgion. Many were being tortured and killed. Many made it to America, but were still enslaved. Yet, many found true freedom in Christ in true Christianity. And their ancesters were free to enjoy the blessings of America and the God of America. And 200 years later they embraced being slaves once again, though this time to the government, by someone of the same race to boot. If it is biblically correct, it will not be policially correct.
If you are not sure how long to go soulwinning, just imagine applying to your actual fishing. The key to any fishing is to take your time. Wait for the fish to come to you. Find out when they are more likely to bite. Spend hours getting the boat ready, pack all the fishing gear, drive hours to the lake, get the boat down the ramp and unhitch everything. Then get the boat to the middle of the lake, hook up the lure, cast the line, and then go home. You likely didn't catch anything. And I am sure that I am not the only one. Americans are too busy for anything. You hear of people in NY City who walk by murder scenes and rapes and wonder how someone could be that evil. I don't think they were being cold, just too busy to do anything. We are like levite in the good samaraitin parable. Too busy to help. Have to get to church. My mother in law did that once. She didn't know it was another church member, but she passed a lady who flipped her car in the snow. My mother in law is the piano player so she had to get to church on time!
I like this the best but things will come up to keep you from doing this regularlly. If you can though, schedule in a time once or twice a week to just go somewhere where people are and start by passing out tracts. We have been to flea markets, college campuses, door to door, downtown, sporting events, street corners, rock concerts, and festivals. Some places will try to kick you out. Other places you will have amazing liberty.
Hand them a tract and just say something simple, "here you go" "did you get one of these", "merry christmas", "good day", "good evening," etc. I try to be genuine, but it is always better if you can give them some truth with it. I might say something like, "I wanted to give you something I wrote. It can change your life if you let it." I might challenge them, I might try and just be friendly, I might say here is a gift. I also might apologize for the fact christians are at home watching TV while the JWs are out knocking doors so I felt I should do something.
You are fishing, just looking for someone to bite. If they pause, God may be drawing them in. If they start talking just let them talk. It is important here to gain experience, to know who is an honest seeker and who just wants to get in an argument. I walk away from the guy who wants to argue. You want to win that JW but he will tie up your time for an hour and you are going head to head intellectually here. Meanwhile, 20 seekers you passed by in that time. The devil loves to get us on rabbit trails or get us tied up. Don't ignore a sincere seekers questions either. He may be stuck on something that he can't get past. Most of the time evolution is a time waster. But say there is a guy who grew up in church but never was saved and then entered college and heard all the evolution propaganda. He might sincerely listen when you tell him that dinosaurs and man were on earth at the same time and they find things that evolutionists refuse to look at. Human footprints fossilized with dinosaurs. Human artifacts below rock layers they claim are billions of years old. T Rex bones still with blood cells intact. All over the world are cave drawings of dinosaurs and rock carvings with humans and dinosaurs. They were on the ark and didn't survive the post-flood conditions, were hunted, and weren't as fast after the flood. Before the flood the earth was mostly land, and had huge trees and plants all over the earth. A brachiosaurous has the nostrils of a horse. It could not breath in the reduced oxygen levels of the post flood. Evolution is not science. True science is 100% in sync with the Bible. A sincere seeker will be interested in knowing there is evidence backing him up if he embraces the bible. A true Christian is not afraid of the truth. And that makes him dangerous to everyone else because no one else is sure of anything but is so insecure they will defend what they are not sure of to their grave.
What is this? some would ask when you hand them a tract. And when they say something besides "I'm all set" or "get away from me!" explain what you are giving them. I start simple, and say it is a gospel tract. Ask questions, don't just go into shoving a presentation down their throat. Get them to dig themselves into a hole, ask why do you believe that? If you ask what they believe first, then you open the door to them letting you talk. You basically earn the right to tell them the gospel when you get them to empty their resources and realize they don't have much backing up what they believe. I am confident in the gospel not only because the truth is on our side and it is the power of God unto salvation, but because the evidence is on our side as well. It is not a religion where you have to leave your brain at the door and believe things that defy common sense like you would have to do if you were a mormon, or Hindu, for example.
Ask them some interesting questions, such as what do you think happens when you die? Do you have a christian background? If you died today where would you go? If what you believe isn't true, would you want to know? That is a very good question and inoffensive one for Catholics, etc. I have seen some good one one one preachers do simple things to get people to not trust themselves and I will use them from time to time. One time I was going through the tolls and it was a bad storm. I asked her if lightening stuck the booth and she died, where she would go? I find that when someone is confronted with the reality of death, they are open because they are scared. Fear is a good thing. Fear is why people agre to chemotherapy. Fear is why poeople put on seatbelts. Anyway, she said she would be ok because she thought in her heart that God would let her in. I said you can't trust ourselves because we can be wrong. I asked her to spell the word SILK. She did. What do cows drink I asked? MILK she said. I said, Nope, they drink water. See you can't trust yourself. And if you are wrong about eternity you are wrong forever.
I planted a seed, and it made her think. That is a successful witness. Now we should pray for God to send someone to water that seed.
Use tracts but be creative, selective, and remember them. I tend to have some in every jacket. It is neat when you find Christmas tracts from a year ago when you finally dig out your winter jacket and think you are out of ammo when you reach in your pocket while talking to someone, but then you discover you had the right in season tract. I usually use my own tracts I write because I find few tracts deal strongly on repentance, and most look boring, and most have some sort of sinner's prayer to pray. My take on that is we are born lost and we offended a holy God. Just as reading a Hallmark card will not forgive a spouse who's husband committed adultery on her, God is not impressed by a flipant prayer. Prayer doesn't save yet that is what these tracts both imply and teach. The law should bring about conviction, and the law should birth a natural apology that God will hear. God runs to a repentant sinner, but most soulwinning fall's on God's deaf ears because they leave off repentance.
A challenge is when you can't remember if you gave them a tract already, and worse if they rejected you. Examples are places you frequent, the coffee drive thru, McDonalds down the street, the local pizza joint. What I will do is ask, "Hey did you get my Christmast tract?" Or if I just got new Chick tracts or just wrote a new one, I will say, "Here's something new for you!" If you gave them one already you can follow up but do not put pressure on them. Did you happen to read the tract I gave you last time? If they say no, I will try and use the law and explain what it said a bit, and often they will take it the second time. How many times did God need to get through to you?? Often our flesh says Go to Hell if we know they rejected us the last time. But we likely did the same thing. Often God will be working on them or they are in a different place than last time. Maybe this week they were just at a funeral.
Monday, February 25, 2013
Sam I Am needs the GREAT I AM!!
An Ode to the Modern Christian
Today I woke up late because I messed up my alarm.
I didn't have time to read my bible, but that caused me no harm.
I got my son ready for school and ironed his clothes.
Yes, we didn't pray together but my son has no foes.
His lunch I packed well, with snacks and some jello.
I muttered a prayer before breakfast, just to say hello.
Some people might think it silly, others quite odd
to see how much we accomplish as Christians without needing God.
I remembered to brush my teeth, and remembered to shower.
but time on my knees I neglected, so no wonder there's no power.
I checked CNN.com today, and also read about the old Sabres back up goalie.
I peaked later at my bible. God why oh why can't I be holy?
I would have prayed had I not overslept because I was tired.
On the drive, I thought "Go to hell" at the place last year I was fired.
I stopped by Tim Hortons for hot coffee and a donut snack
and I shoulda coulda woulda given that girl there a tract.
you would think i would cry out to everyone and yell,
about how there is a lake of fire and a real place called hell.
why don't i tell them? why do i pick and choose?
if they are already headed for hell, what do i have to lose?
am i afraid i will get spit on or afraid they will go crazy?
am I afraid they will fire me? or am I just being lazy?
do i just rationalize that i probably already gave them a witness?
why am i so out of shape when it comes to my spiritual fitness?
is my rubber spine merely broken and in need of a cast?
am i so addicted to sugar now that is why i won't fast?
i will not witness though it's true, i will not witness at the drive thru.
i will not will not when at work, i will not will not if they called me a jerk.
i will not witness to a sinner, i will not preach at family dinner.
i will not witness to my physician, i will not challenge the backslid christian.
I will not witness to Cousin Izzy, I will not will not, much too busy.
I should be ashamed, I should truly care, but maybe my salvation is simply hot air!
Today I woke up late because I messed up my alarm.
I didn't have time to read my bible, but that caused me no harm.
I got my son ready for school and ironed his clothes.
Yes, we didn't pray together but my son has no foes.
His lunch I packed well, with snacks and some jello.
I muttered a prayer before breakfast, just to say hello.
Some people might think it silly, others quite odd
to see how much we accomplish as Christians without needing God.
I remembered to brush my teeth, and remembered to shower.
but time on my knees I neglected, so no wonder there's no power.
I checked CNN.com today, and also read about the old Sabres back up goalie.
I peaked later at my bible. God why oh why can't I be holy?
I would have prayed had I not overslept because I was tired.
On the drive, I thought "Go to hell" at the place last year I was fired.
I stopped by Tim Hortons for hot coffee and a donut snack
and I shoulda coulda woulda given that girl there a tract.
you would think i would cry out to everyone and yell,
about how there is a lake of fire and a real place called hell.
why don't i tell them? why do i pick and choose?
if they are already headed for hell, what do i have to lose?
am i afraid i will get spit on or afraid they will go crazy?
am I afraid they will fire me? or am I just being lazy?
do i just rationalize that i probably already gave them a witness?
why am i so out of shape when it comes to my spiritual fitness?
is my rubber spine merely broken and in need of a cast?
am i so addicted to sugar now that is why i won't fast?
i will not witness though it's true, i will not witness at the drive thru.
i will not will not when at work, i will not will not if they called me a jerk.
i will not witness to a sinner, i will not preach at family dinner.
i will not witness to my physician, i will not challenge the backslid christian.
I will not witness to Cousin Izzy, I will not will not, much too busy.
I should be ashamed, I should truly care, but maybe my salvation is simply hot air!
I feel like Mr. Incredible
That is not a good thing. I will get into that in a paragraph or three.
Sometimes it seems I see more truth in the Disney movies instead of at what 99% of churches give out today. I have to say I do love church. I know you don't believe me. But what bothers me about church sometimes is while it supposed to be a haven of rest, it is not supposed to be a retirement community. It is not just to get us holy huddling instead of going out into the world. It is not supposed to be like we are on board a Boeing 747 during a devastating earthquake where we can fly in the clouds and enjoy the in flight movies and ignore what is going on below us. It is not a sand pit where we can hide our heads like little ostriches and ignore the world going to hell.
It sometimes seems that the church wants to cocoon you and wants to give you happiness instead of joy. Often we escaped the Titanic and are singing songs of deliverance and praise while our lifeboats are only half full and people are crying out to be rescued. Church is wonderful, but when there is a world out there going to hell and you can leave service and walk right past a dying world and not give it another thought, I wonder if we are missing something. We give testimonies, and I know I have done that, of wonderful moments when we gave out a gospel tract and someone was excited and at first we were afraid but was glad we did. Yet, that person was never seen again by us, and is still likely on their way to hell.
I think church today is like our homes. If we have a decent house, we can drive around the neighborhood and see houses falling apart and feel good about ours. We could spend a month in Haiti and we would no longer whine about only having 1 & 1/2 baths. However, if we start watching the home makeover shows we start longing for a better home. We get discontent a bit, and we start dreaming of what could be. A sunroof or two. Espresso bar in the bathroom next to the walk in stone floor all glass shower. Waterfall in the living room. Dark oak cupboards and a drop down wall screen tv. We start picturing the family outings and Christmas dinner and spending our golden years there.
All I am saying is if you start reading about real revivals in the 1800's and the fruit of the preaching, you won't be content with what you see in church today. I don't know the right attitude to have. I really wish everything I saw in church was real. However, I have seen too many people give glowing testimonies of how they got saved at such and such a meeting, and then I hear them 2 years later saying how this time they really got saved. I watched a young married guy do that for the 4th time in 6 years and then a few months later he's cheating on his wife and finally divorcing her. I saw a guy my age who grew up in the church and was "saved" give this powerful confession and really get saved this time, and then I watched him get baptized. Next I knew he "came out" and was living with another GUY. I go to funerals for families on my wife's side (my side is Catholic and Greek Orthodox and salvation is completely foreign but after every funeral they are gloriously ushered into heaven according the the priest) and hear how so and so is in heaven because they were led to the Lord 20 years ago. They sure fooled me. Chain smoker Grandma Thelma was saved? Sure she was.
With myself I long to be holier. I don't know if I am pleasing God half the time or not. I don't feel like I am making a dent at all in my family let alone this country. I long for the power to usher in revival, but am I willing to pay the price? I likely am too addicted to sugar to do any sort of long term fast to gain any ground. I resist the world but enjoy a good Disney movie. I vow to not eat the King's meat like Daniel but I will drop $25 on a Porterhouse steak from Outback. I spent $9 on cupcakes at the Supermarket today for my son's birthday. That would feed a family in the Philippines for a month. And their kids wouldn't complain they didn't get the soccer cupcakes.
Speaking of Disney, I find they share in my longings. Brave is about finding your destiny and not wanting the old boring same old life of everyone else. I think that is what I feel. I want adventure in the great wide open. I want to be like the pioneers in the 1800's and the circuit riding preachers and I want to have the courage to witness freely and not let the world get me. In the Lion King, Simba is told, REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE. We don't know who we are anymore. We are supposed to be Christians. Why do sodomites have courage to dress ridiculous and in triump, shout from the rooftops their disgusting lifestyle and we who are victors who have the truth and the power to save someone from the Lake of Fire for eternity act ashmed? Or we don't believe. Or we are afraid?
I think the movie that best speaks of where we are as Christians is the Incredibles. Here we have superheros who get sued for saving someone who didn't want to be saved. Soon after there is the Superhero relocation program and they have to go back to normal lives and pretend to fit in. The son of Mr. Incredible isn't allowed to do sports because he would always win. The dad is miserable working a regular job while the world is being ransacked, and the wife is busy distracted by the busyness of life, changing diapers and unpacking boxes. Deep down they know something is missing because they let the world box them up and put them on a shelf because they couldn't handle them.
That is how I feel. I am a Superhero because Jesus is inside me. I have a God given assignment that will self destruct at any moment to save as many as possible before the world as we know it is blown up to smithereens. I have an instruction manual telling me what to do. And I have a world, as well as the church today, telling me to stay and fit in. Don't make waves. Don't expose our sin. Don't care about your sin. Why be such a party pooper? Yes the ship is sinking, but the water looks fine! Come on in! Just don't dare to be a Daniel.
Sometimes it seems I see more truth in the Disney movies instead of at what 99% of churches give out today. I have to say I do love church. I know you don't believe me. But what bothers me about church sometimes is while it supposed to be a haven of rest, it is not supposed to be a retirement community. It is not just to get us holy huddling instead of going out into the world. It is not supposed to be like we are on board a Boeing 747 during a devastating earthquake where we can fly in the clouds and enjoy the in flight movies and ignore what is going on below us. It is not a sand pit where we can hide our heads like little ostriches and ignore the world going to hell.
It sometimes seems that the church wants to cocoon you and wants to give you happiness instead of joy. Often we escaped the Titanic and are singing songs of deliverance and praise while our lifeboats are only half full and people are crying out to be rescued. Church is wonderful, but when there is a world out there going to hell and you can leave service and walk right past a dying world and not give it another thought, I wonder if we are missing something. We give testimonies, and I know I have done that, of wonderful moments when we gave out a gospel tract and someone was excited and at first we were afraid but was glad we did. Yet, that person was never seen again by us, and is still likely on their way to hell.
I think church today is like our homes. If we have a decent house, we can drive around the neighborhood and see houses falling apart and feel good about ours. We could spend a month in Haiti and we would no longer whine about only having 1 & 1/2 baths. However, if we start watching the home makeover shows we start longing for a better home. We get discontent a bit, and we start dreaming of what could be. A sunroof or two. Espresso bar in the bathroom next to the walk in stone floor all glass shower. Waterfall in the living room. Dark oak cupboards and a drop down wall screen tv. We start picturing the family outings and Christmas dinner and spending our golden years there.
All I am saying is if you start reading about real revivals in the 1800's and the fruit of the preaching, you won't be content with what you see in church today. I don't know the right attitude to have. I really wish everything I saw in church was real. However, I have seen too many people give glowing testimonies of how they got saved at such and such a meeting, and then I hear them 2 years later saying how this time they really got saved. I watched a young married guy do that for the 4th time in 6 years and then a few months later he's cheating on his wife and finally divorcing her. I saw a guy my age who grew up in the church and was "saved" give this powerful confession and really get saved this time, and then I watched him get baptized. Next I knew he "came out" and was living with another GUY. I go to funerals for families on my wife's side (my side is Catholic and Greek Orthodox and salvation is completely foreign but after every funeral they are gloriously ushered into heaven according the the priest) and hear how so and so is in heaven because they were led to the Lord 20 years ago. They sure fooled me. Chain smoker Grandma Thelma was saved? Sure she was.
With myself I long to be holier. I don't know if I am pleasing God half the time or not. I don't feel like I am making a dent at all in my family let alone this country. I long for the power to usher in revival, but am I willing to pay the price? I likely am too addicted to sugar to do any sort of long term fast to gain any ground. I resist the world but enjoy a good Disney movie. I vow to not eat the King's meat like Daniel but I will drop $25 on a Porterhouse steak from Outback. I spent $9 on cupcakes at the Supermarket today for my son's birthday. That would feed a family in the Philippines for a month. And their kids wouldn't complain they didn't get the soccer cupcakes.
Speaking of Disney, I find they share in my longings. Brave is about finding your destiny and not wanting the old boring same old life of everyone else. I think that is what I feel. I want adventure in the great wide open. I want to be like the pioneers in the 1800's and the circuit riding preachers and I want to have the courage to witness freely and not let the world get me. In the Lion King, Simba is told, REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE. We don't know who we are anymore. We are supposed to be Christians. Why do sodomites have courage to dress ridiculous and in triump, shout from the rooftops their disgusting lifestyle and we who are victors who have the truth and the power to save someone from the Lake of Fire for eternity act ashmed? Or we don't believe. Or we are afraid?
I think the movie that best speaks of where we are as Christians is the Incredibles. Here we have superheros who get sued for saving someone who didn't want to be saved. Soon after there is the Superhero relocation program and they have to go back to normal lives and pretend to fit in. The son of Mr. Incredible isn't allowed to do sports because he would always win. The dad is miserable working a regular job while the world is being ransacked, and the wife is busy distracted by the busyness of life, changing diapers and unpacking boxes. Deep down they know something is missing because they let the world box them up and put them on a shelf because they couldn't handle them.
That is how I feel. I am a Superhero because Jesus is inside me. I have a God given assignment that will self destruct at any moment to save as many as possible before the world as we know it is blown up to smithereens. I have an instruction manual telling me what to do. And I have a world, as well as the church today, telling me to stay and fit in. Don't make waves. Don't expose our sin. Don't care about your sin. Why be such a party pooper? Yes the ship is sinking, but the water looks fine! Come on in! Just don't dare to be a Daniel.
The Sin of Presumption
To presume means to take something for granted. Presumptuous is taking too much for granted, showing over confidence, arrogance, or effrontery; too bold or forward according to Webster's Dictionary. The Catholic Church in their official church doctrines calls knowing if you are saved or knowing you are going to heaven "The sin of presumption". Modern evangelism is the other side of the coin. No matter how obvious it is you lack what defines a Christian, and you lack the fruits of the Holy Spirit which the truly saved possess, and you never repented biblically, you are saved to the uttermost. You are taught not to doubt it, you are taught that God cannot lie so if you asked to be saved you are or God is a liar, and you are taught that you will never lose it.
Pastor Farley of Shady Acres Baptist Church in Texas said, "yes, it's once saved, always saved, but heavy on the ONCE SAVED." This issue I have tried to tackle from various angles, and as I pray what to write, I keep coming back to this topic. False conversions is a topic constantly on my heart because so much is at stake. America is literally heading to total self-destruction and the rest of the world is not too far behind. It is like America is a steamrolling locomotive, going full speed and unable to see the bridge is out. Other countries are cars America is pulling spiritually. Preachers stand miles ahead of the big gaping hole that would be obvious if anyone was willing to look. They are calling the train to put on the brakes, to passengers to get out of the car, for the train master to open his eyes. The passengers are many, but few take the warnings seriously. They are busy playing card games with the other passengers or with their heads buried in the newspapers reading about the hockey game last night or who won best picture at the Oscars. They are laughing and smiling and drinking their morning coffee and do not want anything to deter them or distract them from their destination.
America doesn't care because it's churches do not care. There needs to be a voice in the wilderness crying out REPENT. I love the church, but I am a bit disillusioned by what I see. I see at many churches sparks that something real is going on, but these sparks need to keep building. And we need to continue going in that direction toward total abandonment and total selling out. I think the church needs to do several things if America has any hope.
1. We need to get back to the "formula" that brought the Great Awakening. There may be too much world in us that even if we had all the ingredients, we could still not recreate it. I like Ray Comfort's Way of the Master approach to evangelism, and it uses the law so men see their sin. The concern I have is while everything is legitimate and it produces true Holy Spirit conviction, it is still in the course of a 10-20 minute conversation. During the Great Awakening, with nothing more than horses for transportation, 14,000 people gathered in a town of 12,000 people and listened to men like John Wesley preach 4 hour sermons on the holiness of God and the righteousness of God. It seems we will do anything possible to run from God and continue in our sin. I think most people need long exposure, and need to be completely pulled through over the flames of Hell and be face to face with God for them to truly repent. 5 minutes of the law is better than nothing, but it still seems that is not enough.
2. We need to sell out and get a movement going of people willing to fast and pray for America and the churches, to witness and give out solid Gospel literature, and lift each other in prayer. My vision for the End Times Vol Fire Co. is sort of a Pre-Tribulation Force.
3. Church leaders need to be willing to not be swayed by tears of emotion or excitement and numbers. Instead the barometer of whether we have revival is if the community around us is being affected. If it is not, then all we did was make a bunch of noise. I see us all "get on fire" after a week of revival meetings, but in the 10 years since I have been saved I have yet to see it last in me nor anyone else. Church leaders need to be willing to betray their bible college Alma mater and their favorite
4. We need to give seekers a longer exposure to the holiness of God before we "let them get saved" and we need to junk the traditions such as the sinner's prayer, raising of hands, Romans' Road, etc that have made salvation into being able to nod at a few places and repeat a man made prayer and accept a man centered gospel. At the very least sinners in America who are indoctrinated to the false Jesus of Roman Catholicism and the false theory of evolution need a solid bible study on the foundations of Genesis and the book of John. Then through the book of Romans for the full Romans Highway, not just the Romans Road. Then they need to be asked if there is any sin in their hearts or lives they would not be willing to give up. Then true biblical repentance and saving faith can be shown. Time is needed to convince of the disease as well as explain the TRUE cure and HOW to take the cure!
Pastor Farley of Shady Acres Baptist Church in Texas said, "yes, it's once saved, always saved, but heavy on the ONCE SAVED." This issue I have tried to tackle from various angles, and as I pray what to write, I keep coming back to this topic. False conversions is a topic constantly on my heart because so much is at stake. America is literally heading to total self-destruction and the rest of the world is not too far behind. It is like America is a steamrolling locomotive, going full speed and unable to see the bridge is out. Other countries are cars America is pulling spiritually. Preachers stand miles ahead of the big gaping hole that would be obvious if anyone was willing to look. They are calling the train to put on the brakes, to passengers to get out of the car, for the train master to open his eyes. The passengers are many, but few take the warnings seriously. They are busy playing card games with the other passengers or with their heads buried in the newspapers reading about the hockey game last night or who won best picture at the Oscars. They are laughing and smiling and drinking their morning coffee and do not want anything to deter them or distract them from their destination.
America doesn't care because it's churches do not care. There needs to be a voice in the wilderness crying out REPENT. I love the church, but I am a bit disillusioned by what I see. I see at many churches sparks that something real is going on, but these sparks need to keep building. And we need to continue going in that direction toward total abandonment and total selling out. I think the church needs to do several things if America has any hope.
1. We need to get back to the "formula" that brought the Great Awakening. There may be too much world in us that even if we had all the ingredients, we could still not recreate it. I like Ray Comfort's Way of the Master approach to evangelism, and it uses the law so men see their sin. The concern I have is while everything is legitimate and it produces true Holy Spirit conviction, it is still in the course of a 10-20 minute conversation. During the Great Awakening, with nothing more than horses for transportation, 14,000 people gathered in a town of 12,000 people and listened to men like John Wesley preach 4 hour sermons on the holiness of God and the righteousness of God. It seems we will do anything possible to run from God and continue in our sin. I think most people need long exposure, and need to be completely pulled through over the flames of Hell and be face to face with God for them to truly repent. 5 minutes of the law is better than nothing, but it still seems that is not enough.
2. We need to sell out and get a movement going of people willing to fast and pray for America and the churches, to witness and give out solid Gospel literature, and lift each other in prayer. My vision for the End Times Vol Fire Co. is sort of a Pre-Tribulation Force.
3. Church leaders need to be willing to not be swayed by tears of emotion or excitement and numbers. Instead the barometer of whether we have revival is if the community around us is being affected. If it is not, then all we did was make a bunch of noise. I see us all "get on fire" after a week of revival meetings, but in the 10 years since I have been saved I have yet to see it last in me nor anyone else. Church leaders need to be willing to betray their bible college Alma mater and their favorite
4. We need to give seekers a longer exposure to the holiness of God before we "let them get saved" and we need to junk the traditions such as the sinner's prayer, raising of hands, Romans' Road, etc that have made salvation into being able to nod at a few places and repeat a man made prayer and accept a man centered gospel. At the very least sinners in America who are indoctrinated to the false Jesus of Roman Catholicism and the false theory of evolution need a solid bible study on the foundations of Genesis and the book of John. Then through the book of Romans for the full Romans Highway, not just the Romans Road. Then they need to be asked if there is any sin in their hearts or lives they would not be willing to give up. Then true biblical repentance and saving faith can be shown. Time is needed to convince of the disease as well as explain the TRUE cure and HOW to take the cure!
Sunday, February 24, 2013
America, You've Come a Long Way Baby!
Evolution and Mr. Obama think the best is yet to come. We are getting bigger and better and faster and smarter and learning how to get along with our fellow countries and our government is getting stronger and taking over more of our everyday lives. That is a great thing according to them. In reality, things are getting worse and worse and worse. Perversion is normalized. Sin abounds and is boasted about. The weather continues to put people out of homes and bankrupt insurance companies. Our factories are closing and people are out of work and now many companies won't hire you if you aren't currently working. Our dollar is basically backed by the promise of a bankrupt nation when it used to be backed by the gold standard. Now there is no standard. We will just print more when we need it. We pass Go and print another $200 and we roll the dice some more and love being the banker. The Bible says things will get worse on all fronts until the Lord returns and straightens this whole mess out. In the last days, the Bible says, perilous times shall come. It just doesn't say how long the end times will last. But it clearly warns the worst is yet to come. Until then we are not to look to the government but look to God and find out who he is and what he wants us to do.
The Bible is the history book of the universe and gives a play by play to the coming destruction as well. It doesn't say to go today and rebuild the ark, or go save the whales (and collect the entire set) or find intelligent life somewhere else (when they found since the television was invented there isn't much intelligent life here anyway). It says to seek ye the Lord while he may be found. It says for you to repent and turn to Christ, and then preach the gospel to everyone you find and lead them to safety too.
I really think most people think things are fine and don't even want to think about negative things that can send rain on their American parade. They are cruising aboard America the Titanic with the iceberg of judgment dead ahead, and they see the lifeboats being lowered and they hear the sirens wailing and they hear the Preachers on the lifeboats telling them they are going to sink, and they plug their ears and continue on. They go to movies and tv to get away from thinking about things getting worse. They medicate and drink and go to bars and mindless sporting events and they do anything and everything but get on the life boat. They numb themselves with anything to stay oblivious. We still have 15 minutes before the boat sinks! Let's have another round!
I don't know what more God has to do to get our attention. We were wide awake and looking for God after 9/11 but soon after 9/12 we again hit the snooze button. Cancer, disease, hurricanes, $4/gallon gas, food shortages, droughts, storms, blizzards, earthquakes, tsunamis, meteors, asteroids, volcanoes, our government heading toward dictatorship, mass shootings, suicides, homicides, infanticide, pesticides, overdoses, floods, wars, overseas turmoil, environmental disasters, addictions increasing, families self destructing, world wide famines, and a crashing economy has really yet to cause the average American to see there is a problem. And it definitely hasn't caused America to fall to it's knees in repentance. The chaos and confusion has helped Amheiser Busch of St. Louis Missouri and helped the shrinks and Prozac manufacturers and helped cardiologists, but it hasn't caused people to look more to Jesus. And it hasn't woke the church up.
Look just back 60 years ago or so to see things are getting worse. We weren't incredibly devoted to Jesus Christ back then, but we are riding still on the fumes of the revival fires of the Great Awakening even 100 years later. God seemed to be put on the back burner, but his blessings were slow to leave because God is long suffering I believe. We had more than with less, and we weren't in this mad rat race, having 2 parents working (if they were still together), paying for day care, driving to every activity, and seeing each year go by quicker and quicker. Life today is a blur. Christmas season seems now always just around the corner. The NFL season lasts all year. Life is not slowing down as we spiral toward the end.
Then, families lived together, ate together, and talked together. There were only 3 channels of TV to watch but it wasn't the focus of home life. Dad worked and only worked 5 days a week and was home for dinner. Mom took care of the house and the children. The children were obedient and survived without Ritalin. There wasn't credit card debt, yet the average family had a car and a house and could take a vacation once in a while and could eat out once in a while. They didn't need to pay for storage or cable or cell phones and when you called someone there was no caller ID, no call waiting, no answering machines. Usually someone was home to answer. You survived without texting or Nintendo.
You played outside and you were not out of shape so you could handle actually playing baseball without a joystick. Dinner was actually made without a microwave and you could grocery shop once a week and be fine. Families ate 3 square meals and didn't spend all afternoon sitting in front of a TV chomping down chips and Soda. You didn't have Tim Hortons drivethru every time you ran an errand. Dad wasn't on Lipitor and Mom wasn't on Valium. There were no school shootings. You went to church on Sunday and didn't waste the day watching 1 pm, 4 pm and Sunday night football. On Thanksgiving you actually talked with your family instead of watching TV all day. Yes, we have come a long way indeed. The family is falling apart, we are not content, we are miserable and spiraling out of control. Our kids have everything yet are spoiled brats, and we have 200 channels but nothing worth watching.
I read that today's generation has more health advances but are much sicker today because of obesity and lack of exercise. Duh. We have this I can live how I want attitude because we have a pill for every ill and a med for what we're fed. Why eat right when there is Lipitor? This attitude translates to our churches and our spiritual problem. Why get right with God when there is prozac? Who needs the Prince of Peace when there is Valium and Xanax? Who needs the wonderful counselor when there is Oprah and Dr. Phil? Who needs church when weekends were made for Michelob? Who needs the Bible when there is so much TV to watch?
Until we see that America is on the path to destruction, we won't see any need to change the course we are on. I fear that by the time America wakes up it will be much too late. Bottom line, America needs to get right with God.
That can never happen until the churches stop just playing church. There is a lot at stake folks. The end really is near but eternity is even closer than you think.
The Bible is the history book of the universe and gives a play by play to the coming destruction as well. It doesn't say to go today and rebuild the ark, or go save the whales (and collect the entire set) or find intelligent life somewhere else (when they found since the television was invented there isn't much intelligent life here anyway). It says to seek ye the Lord while he may be found. It says for you to repent and turn to Christ, and then preach the gospel to everyone you find and lead them to safety too.
I really think most people think things are fine and don't even want to think about negative things that can send rain on their American parade. They are cruising aboard America the Titanic with the iceberg of judgment dead ahead, and they see the lifeboats being lowered and they hear the sirens wailing and they hear the Preachers on the lifeboats telling them they are going to sink, and they plug their ears and continue on. They go to movies and tv to get away from thinking about things getting worse. They medicate and drink and go to bars and mindless sporting events and they do anything and everything but get on the life boat. They numb themselves with anything to stay oblivious. We still have 15 minutes before the boat sinks! Let's have another round!
I don't know what more God has to do to get our attention. We were wide awake and looking for God after 9/11 but soon after 9/12 we again hit the snooze button. Cancer, disease, hurricanes, $4/gallon gas, food shortages, droughts, storms, blizzards, earthquakes, tsunamis, meteors, asteroids, volcanoes, our government heading toward dictatorship, mass shootings, suicides, homicides, infanticide, pesticides, overdoses, floods, wars, overseas turmoil, environmental disasters, addictions increasing, families self destructing, world wide famines, and a crashing economy has really yet to cause the average American to see there is a problem. And it definitely hasn't caused America to fall to it's knees in repentance. The chaos and confusion has helped Amheiser Busch of St. Louis Missouri and helped the shrinks and Prozac manufacturers and helped cardiologists, but it hasn't caused people to look more to Jesus. And it hasn't woke the church up.
Look just back 60 years ago or so to see things are getting worse. We weren't incredibly devoted to Jesus Christ back then, but we are riding still on the fumes of the revival fires of the Great Awakening even 100 years later. God seemed to be put on the back burner, but his blessings were slow to leave because God is long suffering I believe. We had more than with less, and we weren't in this mad rat race, having 2 parents working (if they were still together), paying for day care, driving to every activity, and seeing each year go by quicker and quicker. Life today is a blur. Christmas season seems now always just around the corner. The NFL season lasts all year. Life is not slowing down as we spiral toward the end.
Then, families lived together, ate together, and talked together. There were only 3 channels of TV to watch but it wasn't the focus of home life. Dad worked and only worked 5 days a week and was home for dinner. Mom took care of the house and the children. The children were obedient and survived without Ritalin. There wasn't credit card debt, yet the average family had a car and a house and could take a vacation once in a while and could eat out once in a while. They didn't need to pay for storage or cable or cell phones and when you called someone there was no caller ID, no call waiting, no answering machines. Usually someone was home to answer. You survived without texting or Nintendo.
You played outside and you were not out of shape so you could handle actually playing baseball without a joystick. Dinner was actually made without a microwave and you could grocery shop once a week and be fine. Families ate 3 square meals and didn't spend all afternoon sitting in front of a TV chomping down chips and Soda. You didn't have Tim Hortons drivethru every time you ran an errand. Dad wasn't on Lipitor and Mom wasn't on Valium. There were no school shootings. You went to church on Sunday and didn't waste the day watching 1 pm, 4 pm and Sunday night football. On Thanksgiving you actually talked with your family instead of watching TV all day. Yes, we have come a long way indeed. The family is falling apart, we are not content, we are miserable and spiraling out of control. Our kids have everything yet are spoiled brats, and we have 200 channels but nothing worth watching.
I read that today's generation has more health advances but are much sicker today because of obesity and lack of exercise. Duh. We have this I can live how I want attitude because we have a pill for every ill and a med for what we're fed. Why eat right when there is Lipitor? This attitude translates to our churches and our spiritual problem. Why get right with God when there is prozac? Who needs the Prince of Peace when there is Valium and Xanax? Who needs the wonderful counselor when there is Oprah and Dr. Phil? Who needs church when weekends were made for Michelob? Who needs the Bible when there is so much TV to watch?
Until we see that America is on the path to destruction, we won't see any need to change the course we are on. I fear that by the time America wakes up it will be much too late. Bottom line, America needs to get right with God.
That can never happen until the churches stop just playing church. There is a lot at stake folks. The end really is near but eternity is even closer than you think.
Saturday, February 23, 2013
The 2013 Oscar winner for best actor is....Mr. Average Christian!!!!
Congrats to the 2013 Average Christian! He is a great actor. Pastor Coulson from Canada said the reason God raised up Hollywood is because the church is filled with actors.
Again, I am for the church. I do not hate the church. But the will of God is for us to first be saved God's way, and go to church to be fed and go out and give it to the world, preaching the gospel to every creature. The church's mindset today is typically not biblical. It is instead a permanent nursery taking care of "Baby Christians" and instead of being a light house to light the world outside it is a bug zapper trying to use the things of this world to wow and attract the lost. If they are mesmerized by the performance and personality of man, they will merely be pressured to conform to the degree of spirituality around them. They will do what is minimally required to fit in and "keep their membership" and they will not evangelize because you cannot give what you don't have. Most of the church does not have Christ, so is it any wonder that approximately 98% of Christians in America today never ever share their faith?
Think of it like this. You won't see someone who is not convinced sharing their faith. You may see them out trying to build their church or doing some sort of mission work because their religion teaches this as requirements for heaven. It is like being a telemarketer or working for Geico. You need to produce to advance, and you need to meet your quota or you will be fired. You will see those who HAVE to go out or they won't go to heaven (according to their false teachings) out on a Saturday morning and devoting their free time to this because they feel they have to. And they see that is what others do in their circles so they do this to be accepted. By others, and by God they think. That is not salvation. In the "truth" camp, the ones who at least know the Cure is Jesus, yet they often take the cure wrong (without repentance) or don't convince of the disease (which makes Jesus an experimental flu shot). And in the truth camp, people again want to be accepted, so today's modern methods are more comfortable because that is what everyone else has been doing the past 100 years and it is what the big polished preachers push, and it is what makes the lost love you instead of want to crucify you.
This is what the modern methods typically produce--- Sunday Christians who fit right in with everyone else the rest of the week. If you didn't see them at church you would never know they were Christians. It is like when you are expecting company and you throw the toys under the bed, dirt under the rug, and the laundry in the room you can shut the door in. The house looks wonderful, but how would it look with a surprise visit? The Tuesday Christian has their spiritual house ready at that moment. Most Christians fight with their wives on the way to church and smile and nod all through church.
We need to be honest with ourselves and get right with God. Is your Christianity lasting 7 days? If not why not?
Again, I am for the church. I do not hate the church. But the will of God is for us to first be saved God's way, and go to church to be fed and go out and give it to the world, preaching the gospel to every creature. The church's mindset today is typically not biblical. It is instead a permanent nursery taking care of "Baby Christians" and instead of being a light house to light the world outside it is a bug zapper trying to use the things of this world to wow and attract the lost. If they are mesmerized by the performance and personality of man, they will merely be pressured to conform to the degree of spirituality around them. They will do what is minimally required to fit in and "keep their membership" and they will not evangelize because you cannot give what you don't have. Most of the church does not have Christ, so is it any wonder that approximately 98% of Christians in America today never ever share their faith?
Think of it like this. You won't see someone who is not convinced sharing their faith. You may see them out trying to build their church or doing some sort of mission work because their religion teaches this as requirements for heaven. It is like being a telemarketer or working for Geico. You need to produce to advance, and you need to meet your quota or you will be fired. You will see those who HAVE to go out or they won't go to heaven (according to their false teachings) out on a Saturday morning and devoting their free time to this because they feel they have to. And they see that is what others do in their circles so they do this to be accepted. By others, and by God they think. That is not salvation. In the "truth" camp, the ones who at least know the Cure is Jesus, yet they often take the cure wrong (without repentance) or don't convince of the disease (which makes Jesus an experimental flu shot). And in the truth camp, people again want to be accepted, so today's modern methods are more comfortable because that is what everyone else has been doing the past 100 years and it is what the big polished preachers push, and it is what makes the lost love you instead of want to crucify you.
This is what the modern methods typically produce--- Sunday Christians who fit right in with everyone else the rest of the week. If you didn't see them at church you would never know they were Christians. It is like when you are expecting company and you throw the toys under the bed, dirt under the rug, and the laundry in the room you can shut the door in. The house looks wonderful, but how would it look with a surprise visit? The Tuesday Christian has their spiritual house ready at that moment. Most Christians fight with their wives on the way to church and smile and nod all through church.
We need to be honest with ourselves and get right with God. Is your Christianity lasting 7 days? If not why not?
Friday, February 22, 2013
You Can Run But You Can't Hide
Unless you are in a bubble, you should notice the world getting worse. Just this week a 20 year old in South California shot who I am assuming his girlfriend to death in his home, killed 2 others and himself after hijacking cars. A young women was found dead after several days in a water container on the roof of a California hotel. A rap star in Vegas was gunned down at a red light. A South African Olympian is accused of gunning down his live in girlfriend. Three young girls were raped and thrown in a well in India I believe. Winter storms threaten Arizona. I could go on and on. Next week will likely be worse. The Bible says in the end times perilous times will come. Things will get worse according to the Bible. The best is yet to come according to the Obama crowd. God is saying right now, what else has to happen before you start believing this book?
My college text books from 15 years ago are already out dated. Yet the Bible is current, with events unfolding before our eyes. It said at the end, men will be lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, they will deny the world wide flood, they will be proud and violent, and knowledge and travel will increase. Yet people are more willing to look to the Mayans instead of the Bible. But if the Bible says things will get worse during this period of the last days we are in, it should be obvious to even the blindest liberal that something is rotten in the state of Denmark. And New York. And California. And Ohio. And the 47 other states.
It is not just Bible believers who think this world has gone nuts. I had a great conversation yesterday with ladies at my wife's salon and they know things are not right. I have noticed a pattern going on. First, this idea of end times horror and the world going to hell soon is not just Christians going overboard. There is an overall movement of people building underground shelters and companies are on the rise that make survival gear.
Second, there has been a wave the past 15 years or so of disaster films and end times films. Left behind series have been big, but Hollywood has produced many big hits about total annihilation. They produced Deep impact, 2012, The Day after Tomorrow, and Knowing. These seem to be that despite the world being destroyed or almost destroyed, the human race gets to start over and there is usually some sort of government deliverance. The government is the one to build an ark and save the world and the animals too or the government is the one building underground shelters. Arrogancy abounds and they say we will survive whatever gets thrown at us and you need us to persevere not only the human race but animal kind as well. Salvation comes from government or aliens is their lesson.
You see how the pride and vanity of mankind. The love of religion is men love to try and save themselves. They refuse to come to Christ. They refuse to look to him despite all the signs of his coming in a book from 2000 years ago coming to life and unfolding before our eyes. If we had a newspaper from the future we would devour every page and I am sure 85 million people all would miraculously win the lottery on the same day and collect $0.52 before taxes. Yet the Bible is more than that and few take it seriously. The survival shelters show how mankind is desperate for a way to protect themselves in the end instead of obeying the Bible. If you repent and believe the Gospel, Jesus Christ himself will pull you to safety before the end hits. The government is going down with the ship. Don't count on them or anyone else.
The name of the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous runneth into it and is safe says the Bible. Don't order an underground shelter, but you need to get to the Lord before it is too late.
This is from Wayoflife.org. "Atlas Survival Shelters, designed to be buried 3.5 feet underground, are available for $10,000 per person. At BePrepared.com you can buy everything you need for survival, including a year’s supply of MRE (meals ready to eat) for $4,200. At Safer America stores you can stock up on gas masks and biohazard suits. There is no doubt that we live in troublesome times as describe in Bible prophecy. The same Book that prophesied of Christ’s first coming, including the details of His crucifixion, prophesy of His second coming. It will be preceded by a period of time that Jesus called the Great Tribulation, a time far more destructive than any the world has ever witnessed, but it cannot be survived in an underground shelter."
"The Bible says the Antichrist will rule for seven years with conditions growing progressively worse, longer than any shelter stockpile will last. No one will be able to buy or sell without his mark. The Antichrist is no ordinary man. He will be supported by Satan and his hoards of demons. A far better solution is to put one’s faith in Jesus Christ and be washed in His blood and serve in His great harvest field while you wait for the imminent Rapture. It’s not time to hide in a hole; it’s time to preach the gospel to the ends of the earth. The reason why Christ has not yet returned is His love for souls (2 Peter 3:9). The Rapture of New Testament believers is not a fictional scenario; it is the promise of a God who cannot lie. “But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief”"
(1 Thessalonians 5:4).
My college text books from 15 years ago are already out dated. Yet the Bible is current, with events unfolding before our eyes. It said at the end, men will be lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, they will deny the world wide flood, they will be proud and violent, and knowledge and travel will increase. Yet people are more willing to look to the Mayans instead of the Bible. But if the Bible says things will get worse during this period of the last days we are in, it should be obvious to even the blindest liberal that something is rotten in the state of Denmark. And New York. And California. And Ohio. And the 47 other states.
It is not just Bible believers who think this world has gone nuts. I had a great conversation yesterday with ladies at my wife's salon and they know things are not right. I have noticed a pattern going on. First, this idea of end times horror and the world going to hell soon is not just Christians going overboard. There is an overall movement of people building underground shelters and companies are on the rise that make survival gear.
Second, there has been a wave the past 15 years or so of disaster films and end times films. Left behind series have been big, but Hollywood has produced many big hits about total annihilation. They produced Deep impact, 2012, The Day after Tomorrow, and Knowing. These seem to be that despite the world being destroyed or almost destroyed, the human race gets to start over and there is usually some sort of government deliverance. The government is the one to build an ark and save the world and the animals too or the government is the one building underground shelters. Arrogancy abounds and they say we will survive whatever gets thrown at us and you need us to persevere not only the human race but animal kind as well. Salvation comes from government or aliens is their lesson.
You see how the pride and vanity of mankind. The love of religion is men love to try and save themselves. They refuse to come to Christ. They refuse to look to him despite all the signs of his coming in a book from 2000 years ago coming to life and unfolding before our eyes. If we had a newspaper from the future we would devour every page and I am sure 85 million people all would miraculously win the lottery on the same day and collect $0.52 before taxes. Yet the Bible is more than that and few take it seriously. The survival shelters show how mankind is desperate for a way to protect themselves in the end instead of obeying the Bible. If you repent and believe the Gospel, Jesus Christ himself will pull you to safety before the end hits. The government is going down with the ship. Don't count on them or anyone else.
The name of the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous runneth into it and is safe says the Bible. Don't order an underground shelter, but you need to get to the Lord before it is too late.
This is from Wayoflife.org. "Atlas Survival Shelters, designed to be buried 3.5 feet underground, are available for $10,000 per person. At BePrepared.com you can buy everything you need for survival, including a year’s supply of MRE (meals ready to eat) for $4,200. At Safer America stores you can stock up on gas masks and biohazard suits. There is no doubt that we live in troublesome times as describe in Bible prophecy. The same Book that prophesied of Christ’s first coming, including the details of His crucifixion, prophesy of His second coming. It will be preceded by a period of time that Jesus called the Great Tribulation, a time far more destructive than any the world has ever witnessed, but it cannot be survived in an underground shelter."
"The Bible says the Antichrist will rule for seven years with conditions growing progressively worse, longer than any shelter stockpile will last. No one will be able to buy or sell without his mark. The Antichrist is no ordinary man. He will be supported by Satan and his hoards of demons. A far better solution is to put one’s faith in Jesus Christ and be washed in His blood and serve in His great harvest field while you wait for the imminent Rapture. It’s not time to hide in a hole; it’s time to preach the gospel to the ends of the earth. The reason why Christ has not yet returned is His love for souls (2 Peter 3:9). The Rapture of New Testament believers is not a fictional scenario; it is the promise of a God who cannot lie. “But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief”"
(1 Thessalonians 5:4).
Field of Dreams
I do not hate church. I love the church, I just don't understand today's thinking. The church is not getting the job done, and the church would rather pretend everything is fine. The true barometer for how the church is doing is the world outside them. If 11 disciples (I don't count Judas!) turned the world upside down, I would think 111,000 churches should at least register a blip on the radar screen. Instead a great hero of Christianity today is Quarterback Tim Tebo, who works on Sundays, does underwear commercials, and cancels a church he was going to speak at because the Pastor is for traditional BIBLICAL marriage.
The church is supposed to set the tone for the community around them and it should morally restrain the perversion around them. It used to do that. Christians internally have God controlling them so they live different than the lost person, but before this morality governed the hearts of men around them. The Bible was respected by those who knew God and those who didn't. Today, the average Christian doesn't even read it.
I have been to all kinds of churches and denominations and I think that we are radically different today than the churches seen in the book of Acts. First, we are almost completely preaching a man-centered humanistic gospel of life enhancement. We are not preaching on sin, and we are not exposing YOUR sin, and we are not helping you REPENT of your sin. That may make you feel better when you are there, but you won't thank us when you end up in hell forever. We instead story tell and are more entertainers and polished smiley motivational coaches and ear tickling Fish Oil Salesmen. We repeat cliches and mantras and cut and paste certain Bible verses and wax eloquent but God sees right through it. Instead of using the Law and Holiness of God to convict you of your sin and bring you to repentance and salvation, we use drama and music and rah rah rah messages and pump you up or make you cry or make you laugh. And we draw you emotionally and you make an emotional decision to go to heaven. Then you leave unchanged and maybe come back if they were warm and phony, I mean warm and friendly. And if you come back enough they give you a job or put you in the choir and you never leave, though 50 years from now you die still the same and end up in hell with the flat out Satan worshippers. Seems unfair, but the Bible warns us about false prophets. Today we are told not to question anything and not be harsh or judgmental. I will go with the Bible.
The church keeps you busy, bogged down with activities and puts you on guilt trips if you dare put your family first. They reward the YES men and the ones who worship the Pastor and are willing to drink the kool aid. They say search the scriptures but they don't expect you to. They then absorb you in their building and tell you that if you don't tithe your car will break down, and then they get enough of you and build the church bigger and bigger and soon there is so much work around the church and so many bills, you can't expect to now go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature now. The Bible commands us to go, but once the church gets big enough, it is big enough for everyone now in the whole world to pay a visit, so who needs to leave the comfortable air conditioning?
I am being a bit harsh, but folks, we need to get back to old fashioned Christianity. We are so prideful today that we think God is for our covetousness and pride and that he is going to strike anyone dead with multiple lightening strikes if you even think something bad about HIS church. The problem is HE has left most of the churches and is outside the door knocking to be let back in. The great thing about American Christianity is you really don't need the Holy Ghost when you have CCM music to work them into a frenzy.
In the scriptures, God tears the hide off the Shepherds who feed themselves and says WHOA to the hypocrites and pharisees. God holds leaders to a higher standard and today no matter where I turn if you take a stand the leaders want you gone. I was kicked out of the Megachurch the Chapel's Vintage College group for addressing some doctrinal issues and asked to not come back. I was screamed at by a men's pastor at Eastern Hills Wesleyan Church because I told him I was grieved over my lost Catholic family going to hell. He yelled at me for daring to judge Catholics and said he thinks the Pope is saved. I think that Pastor needs to be saved. I entered the Independent Baptist Church expecting a breath of fresh air, but I am still choking from the polluted cloud of dirt I found.
When the church awakens, then America may have a chance. The world is asleep because the church is asleep at the wheel. The church is asleep because the Pastors are asleep. Our job should not be to keep the members happy and comfortable on the plush stadium seating. Our job should be to make them uncomfortable and make them want to get up and GO YE into all the world and PREACH THE GOSPEL to every creature. Note the Great Commission is GO YE.
The problem is the Church has become a field of dreams. Mostly this refers to that baseball Kevin Costner movie. He was told "If you build it he will come." So he built this baseball field and bottom line baseball players from long ago came to play and cars lined up to watch. Now we build our churches and wait. And wait. And send out flyers. And wait.
We are not supposed to sit on our blessed assurance and wait for sinners to come. Lost people don't go to church, but we have turned the church into a keep lost people busy and fat and happy and they will come, and then you can get a bigger building one day and get even more lost people in to fill the seats and pay the bills. The problem is you don't build a church to gather in the lost goats. Those not saved are spiritually dead, walking corpses in a spiritual sense. The church is not supposed to be a morgue you fill with dead LOST people and when there is no room you then expand. The church is supposed to be a training facility and prepare it's SAVED members for WAR. Church members are supposed to then go out and fight and reach the world.
It is not if you build it they will come. IT is GO YE INTO ALL THE WORLD AND PREACH THE GOSPEL TO EVERY CREATURE. EVERY includes the majority who will never enter the church walls. Why is the church today too busy to see that? And too busy to care?
The church is supposed to set the tone for the community around them and it should morally restrain the perversion around them. It used to do that. Christians internally have God controlling them so they live different than the lost person, but before this morality governed the hearts of men around them. The Bible was respected by those who knew God and those who didn't. Today, the average Christian doesn't even read it.
I have been to all kinds of churches and denominations and I think that we are radically different today than the churches seen in the book of Acts. First, we are almost completely preaching a man-centered humanistic gospel of life enhancement. We are not preaching on sin, and we are not exposing YOUR sin, and we are not helping you REPENT of your sin. That may make you feel better when you are there, but you won't thank us when you end up in hell forever. We instead story tell and are more entertainers and polished smiley motivational coaches and ear tickling Fish Oil Salesmen. We repeat cliches and mantras and cut and paste certain Bible verses and wax eloquent but God sees right through it. Instead of using the Law and Holiness of God to convict you of your sin and bring you to repentance and salvation, we use drama and music and rah rah rah messages and pump you up or make you cry or make you laugh. And we draw you emotionally and you make an emotional decision to go to heaven. Then you leave unchanged and maybe come back if they were warm and phony, I mean warm and friendly. And if you come back enough they give you a job or put you in the choir and you never leave, though 50 years from now you die still the same and end up in hell with the flat out Satan worshippers. Seems unfair, but the Bible warns us about false prophets. Today we are told not to question anything and not be harsh or judgmental. I will go with the Bible.
The church keeps you busy, bogged down with activities and puts you on guilt trips if you dare put your family first. They reward the YES men and the ones who worship the Pastor and are willing to drink the kool aid. They say search the scriptures but they don't expect you to. They then absorb you in their building and tell you that if you don't tithe your car will break down, and then they get enough of you and build the church bigger and bigger and soon there is so much work around the church and so many bills, you can't expect to now go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature now. The Bible commands us to go, but once the church gets big enough, it is big enough for everyone now in the whole world to pay a visit, so who needs to leave the comfortable air conditioning?
I am being a bit harsh, but folks, we need to get back to old fashioned Christianity. We are so prideful today that we think God is for our covetousness and pride and that he is going to strike anyone dead with multiple lightening strikes if you even think something bad about HIS church. The problem is HE has left most of the churches and is outside the door knocking to be let back in. The great thing about American Christianity is you really don't need the Holy Ghost when you have CCM music to work them into a frenzy.
In the scriptures, God tears the hide off the Shepherds who feed themselves and says WHOA to the hypocrites and pharisees. God holds leaders to a higher standard and today no matter where I turn if you take a stand the leaders want you gone. I was kicked out of the Megachurch the Chapel's Vintage College group for addressing some doctrinal issues and asked to not come back. I was screamed at by a men's pastor at Eastern Hills Wesleyan Church because I told him I was grieved over my lost Catholic family going to hell. He yelled at me for daring to judge Catholics and said he thinks the Pope is saved. I think that Pastor needs to be saved. I entered the Independent Baptist Church expecting a breath of fresh air, but I am still choking from the polluted cloud of dirt I found.
When the church awakens, then America may have a chance. The world is asleep because the church is asleep at the wheel. The church is asleep because the Pastors are asleep. Our job should not be to keep the members happy and comfortable on the plush stadium seating. Our job should be to make them uncomfortable and make them want to get up and GO YE into all the world and PREACH THE GOSPEL to every creature. Note the Great Commission is GO YE.
The problem is the Church has become a field of dreams. Mostly this refers to that baseball Kevin Costner movie. He was told "If you build it he will come." So he built this baseball field and bottom line baseball players from long ago came to play and cars lined up to watch. Now we build our churches and wait. And wait. And send out flyers. And wait.
We are not supposed to sit on our blessed assurance and wait for sinners to come. Lost people don't go to church, but we have turned the church into a keep lost people busy and fat and happy and they will come, and then you can get a bigger building one day and get even more lost people in to fill the seats and pay the bills. The problem is you don't build a church to gather in the lost goats. Those not saved are spiritually dead, walking corpses in a spiritual sense. The church is not supposed to be a morgue you fill with dead LOST people and when there is no room you then expand. The church is supposed to be a training facility and prepare it's SAVED members for WAR. Church members are supposed to then go out and fight and reach the world.
It is not if you build it they will come. IT is GO YE INTO ALL THE WORLD AND PREACH THE GOSPEL TO EVERY CREATURE. EVERY includes the majority who will never enter the church walls. Why is the church today too busy to see that? And too busy to care?
Monday, February 18, 2013
Mike the Baptist
Before Jesus came the first time, there was the forerunner John the Baptist. He was a voice, crying in the wilderness. He didn't fit in this world, and his zeal for God was only matched by his hatred of sin. The religious couldn't stand him and the "church" thought he was too fanatical, too negative, and must not be right with God because he wasn't telling sinners JESUS LOVES YOU.
It would make sense God would raise up John the Baptists again before his return. Someone that says THUS SAITH THE LORD. Someone who is a spokesman for God demanding that men everywhere would REPENT. Maybe a Sam the Baptist or a Jim the Baptist or a Will the Baptist or a Greg the Baptist too.
Hi, I am Mike the Baptist. Nice to meet you.
I think that is one reason why God seems to be raising up more street preachers and why there is more opposition to them. Many of them aren't well received, but it seems the church today is so ashamed of a public proclamation and looking bad to the community they are some of our harshest critics. Most Christians would rather be watching the game than preaching outside it. Most Christians would rather be inside the rock concert than preaching there. Especially if they are a Christian rock band.
I like the street. I have never seen the power of God stronger than when I am out in front of a crowd and simply lifting my voice and preaching what I think God wants me to say. Once on the way to a Sabres / Devils Hockey game, the simple message came to me to preach out there. "You don't choose the devil's team. You are born on it. That is why Jesus said YE MUST BE BORN AGAIN!"
I preach any or all of this at times and most of this came from just being out there. You need to be saved. It is not enough to go to church. It is not enough to get baptized. You need to be saved. YOU NEED TO BE SAVED! Jesus saves from Hell and from sin. God loves you but he hates your sin. You need to repent and believe the gospel. Jesus died for sinners. Are they any sinners out there? If you told a lie you qualify!!! God knows what you're thinking, God knows what you're doing, God knows what you're drinking, God knows what you're chewing. Relgion is like professional wrestling -- the closer you get the phonier it looks. Jesus is coming back,but he is not coming for the Catholics. He is not coming for the Mormons, He is not coming for the JW's, He is not coming for the Muslims. He is coming for the saved, washed in hte blood saints. Are you saved or will you be left behind? What is it going to take for God to wake you up? When you die and end up in Hell? Turn from your booze to the Bible and your immoral sex to salvation. God is against sodomy, God is against the lottery, God is against hockey idolatry.
Today you might be more like Noah, preaching and not getting a single convert. The false gospel soulwinners come back reporting 52 saved, which meant they got 52 to pray a prayer to go to heaven, and in reality they came back with 52 2-fold children of Hell. But on the prayer letter the soulwinner looks impressive and that is what is muddying the playing field. The street preacher is despised and rejected and a voice crying in the wilderness and Christians are offended, and hence he must not be of God. Marvel not says the Bible if the world hates you. What is sad is the church seems to say they stand for Jesus but if someone actually wants to live out what the Bible says, the average modern church distances themselves from them. In fact, I preached at one sodomite parade. It was disgusting and you really saw a group of people shaking their fists and God and boasting about their rebellion and sin. In that parade marched church after church supporting them. Cross dressers, nakedness, same sex embracing, spitting on the street preachers, all sorts of vile filth.
Yet you have churches who say WE DON'T CARE WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS. Where is the stand with God? Where is the cry against sin? Yes we all sin, yes I am not better. But I don't want anyone to go to hell either. This is now a war. A War against the devil ultimately. Some of them are already reprobates. I don't know if they can't get saved or they just won't get saved, but some of them hate God and will die shaking their fists at God. We still need to warn them, but more importantly we need to stop saying they can push their filth on the world. Christians are being forced into the closet as the sodomites and everyone else come rushing out of the closet with bells on. They are not ashamed of their wickedness and they are proud of their sinful ways. I had a guy tell me he thanks "god" everyday for his boyfriend. He is deluded but that is most of the world. They have been told God loves them so much to the point they have no fear of God and they think God is fine with their lifestyle and god led them to their same-sex partner. And if a sodomite is offended, they all run to his aid. If a Christian is offended, we stiffen our necks and say, well serves him right for not minding his own business.
We need Preachers to get out from behind the pulpit and get out on the street like never before. When they start hauling us off to jail, we need churches bailing us out and helping us and standing with us and storming the prison cells and making sure our families are ok. We need the church to say it is ok if you lose your job for standing for Jesus. We will help you, we will get those still holding jobs to help you with your bills. Instead the church distances themselves because they think you must be doing something wrong to get persecution. Did not Jesus say those who live Godly will be persecuted? Why then does persecution seem so foreign to the church and so unexpected?
Maybe, we aren't as much in God's will as we think we are.
It would make sense God would raise up John the Baptists again before his return. Someone that says THUS SAITH THE LORD. Someone who is a spokesman for God demanding that men everywhere would REPENT. Maybe a Sam the Baptist or a Jim the Baptist or a Will the Baptist or a Greg the Baptist too.
Hi, I am Mike the Baptist. Nice to meet you.
I think that is one reason why God seems to be raising up more street preachers and why there is more opposition to them. Many of them aren't well received, but it seems the church today is so ashamed of a public proclamation and looking bad to the community they are some of our harshest critics. Most Christians would rather be watching the game than preaching outside it. Most Christians would rather be inside the rock concert than preaching there. Especially if they are a Christian rock band.
I like the street. I have never seen the power of God stronger than when I am out in front of a crowd and simply lifting my voice and preaching what I think God wants me to say. Once on the way to a Sabres / Devils Hockey game, the simple message came to me to preach out there. "You don't choose the devil's team. You are born on it. That is why Jesus said YE MUST BE BORN AGAIN!"
I preach any or all of this at times and most of this came from just being out there. You need to be saved. It is not enough to go to church. It is not enough to get baptized. You need to be saved. YOU NEED TO BE SAVED! Jesus saves from Hell and from sin. God loves you but he hates your sin. You need to repent and believe the gospel. Jesus died for sinners. Are they any sinners out there? If you told a lie you qualify!!! God knows what you're thinking, God knows what you're doing, God knows what you're drinking, God knows what you're chewing. Relgion is like professional wrestling -- the closer you get the phonier it looks. Jesus is coming back,but he is not coming for the Catholics. He is not coming for the Mormons, He is not coming for the JW's, He is not coming for the Muslims. He is coming for the saved, washed in hte blood saints. Are you saved or will you be left behind? What is it going to take for God to wake you up? When you die and end up in Hell? Turn from your booze to the Bible and your immoral sex to salvation. God is against sodomy, God is against the lottery, God is against hockey idolatry.
Today you might be more like Noah, preaching and not getting a single convert. The false gospel soulwinners come back reporting 52 saved, which meant they got 52 to pray a prayer to go to heaven, and in reality they came back with 52 2-fold children of Hell. But on the prayer letter the soulwinner looks impressive and that is what is muddying the playing field. The street preacher is despised and rejected and a voice crying in the wilderness and Christians are offended, and hence he must not be of God. Marvel not says the Bible if the world hates you. What is sad is the church seems to say they stand for Jesus but if someone actually wants to live out what the Bible says, the average modern church distances themselves from them. In fact, I preached at one sodomite parade. It was disgusting and you really saw a group of people shaking their fists and God and boasting about their rebellion and sin. In that parade marched church after church supporting them. Cross dressers, nakedness, same sex embracing, spitting on the street preachers, all sorts of vile filth.
Yet you have churches who say WE DON'T CARE WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS. Where is the stand with God? Where is the cry against sin? Yes we all sin, yes I am not better. But I don't want anyone to go to hell either. This is now a war. A War against the devil ultimately. Some of them are already reprobates. I don't know if they can't get saved or they just won't get saved, but some of them hate God and will die shaking their fists at God. We still need to warn them, but more importantly we need to stop saying they can push their filth on the world. Christians are being forced into the closet as the sodomites and everyone else come rushing out of the closet with bells on. They are not ashamed of their wickedness and they are proud of their sinful ways. I had a guy tell me he thanks "god" everyday for his boyfriend. He is deluded but that is most of the world. They have been told God loves them so much to the point they have no fear of God and they think God is fine with their lifestyle and god led them to their same-sex partner. And if a sodomite is offended, they all run to his aid. If a Christian is offended, we stiffen our necks and say, well serves him right for not minding his own business.
We need Preachers to get out from behind the pulpit and get out on the street like never before. When they start hauling us off to jail, we need churches bailing us out and helping us and standing with us and storming the prison cells and making sure our families are ok. We need the church to say it is ok if you lose your job for standing for Jesus. We will help you, we will get those still holding jobs to help you with your bills. Instead the church distances themselves because they think you must be doing something wrong to get persecution. Did not Jesus say those who live Godly will be persecuted? Why then does persecution seem so foreign to the church and so unexpected?
Maybe, we aren't as much in God's will as we think we are.
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