Sharing Jesus

Precious in the sight of the Lord...

2010-03-08T19:51:00.000-06:00

My friend died this morning. He was an 88-year-old, African-American, retired pastor who lived in a nearby nursing home. I've visited him many times over these past few years. Tuesdays and Fridays used to be his day of fasting and prayer: no food or water until about 3:00 or 4:00 in the afternoon.

Several years ago I started going to visit him over lunch time on Tuesday so we could pray together. I really enjoyed our times of prayer, and I know that those times were very, very, special to him.

Some people probably would have wondered what an old, African-American, retired Pastor, would have in common with a young, Caucasian man. It was our bond in the Lord Jesus Christ. And I really did love him!

The greatest grief to this man was his family. It was a mess. He had been married and divorced several times. He had quite a few children, and he was concerned that some of them weren't even saved. The family relationships were really bad. The nursing home actually had restraining orders against a number of his children so that they could not go to the nursing home unless it was a supervised visit (and I believe that would have been too humbling for the children to have submitted to, so they just stayed away).

I was not surprised at some of the challenges in his family, as I saw some of his own struggles with the flesh. He struggled with his temper, and it was a powerful lesson to me that I (who also at times struggle with my temper) CANNOT allow sin into my life. It cannot be tolerated… He even had difficulty getting along with some of the others at the nursing home (almost coming to blows at times?!?). Eventually the nursing home had him medicated, and I saw his personality shift. One of the administrators at the nursing home asked me to document my visits with him because his family didn't visit him and the nursing home needed to show that he was having social contacts. Through the reports they were able to adjust the medication so that his personality was more normal.

Back in 2007 he almost died. I remember visiting him at the ICU and praying with him. We talked about how short our time on earth is and what a blessing it'll be to be with the Lord. I asked him about when his father died, and he shared that it was really hard for him when his dad died. He never was able to say goodbye or hear any final word from his father. When I heard him say that I asked if he would like to leave any last words or testimony for his children. He was thrilled with the idea. He then dictated a two-page testimony to me (it was hard as he would lose his train of thought at different times, and it's hard to write as someone else dictates - but we got it done!).

He wanted 11 copies printed out so that each of his children could have a copy. I was hoping he would recover enough to be able to sign them, and during one of my visits a few months after he had been in the ICU (but was then back in the nursing home) he was able to sign one of them. But it was very difficult for him, and he wasn't able to sign any others. I then took and scanned that signature and printed it on the other 10 copies of his testimony. I sealed the 11 copies in a manila envelope, included a cover letter, and gave it to the nursing home and wrote with a black marker on the outside saying that the envelope contained his last testimony and was to be opened and read at his funeral. (whether it was read at the funeral, I don't know; I didn't feel safe attending it because of the family "drama")

As a side note, I would encourage any Christian who is concerned for the salvation of others to write out something to be read at their funeral, or to record a video that can be played at their funeral. What an incredible opportunity to directly share the gospel with others.

His health had been declining, and he almost died on a Thursday evening. I knew he had been sick and visited him (praying and sharing Scripture as always). I visited again on Friday and he was doing a little bit better. I visited him several times on Saturday and he was improving more. On Sunday my family sang Amazing Grace for him and he was alert enough to sign along with us. He talked about wanting some fried chicken. I wondered if he was going to pull through.

Monday morning I was having my devotion when the phone rang. His daughter was calling. The nursing home had notified her that her father was failing. She was about an hour away and wanted to let me know. I got in my car and drove to the nursing home.

He was unresponsive, his eyes were closed, and he was barely breathing. I knew this would be the last time I would pray with him and read Scripture to him. I got choked up as I tried to read. I started reading Psalm 116 to him, talking about the different verses as I read. Every now and then he would take a shallow breath and then be completely silent for a period of time.

I read down through verse 14 and paused when a hospice nurse came into the room. She tried to take his blood pressure but couldn't get a reading. She then used her stethoscope. She looked up and quietly said, "I can't find a heartbeat, it looks like he's gone."

The next verse I was going to read was verse 15: precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.

Sharing with another barber...

2010-03-02T22:23:00.000-06:00

I've had several blog posts that I've wanted to make over the past few weeks and simply haven't made the time, but I'm hoping to make a few of them over the next week or two.

About three weeks ago I got my hair cut. The barber is a friendly fellow in his 60's. He works on a walk-in basis, so you never know who else will be there while you're having your hair cut. He and I have talked about spiritual things briefly in the past, but I had never had the opportunity (or taken advantage of an opportunity) to really share with him.

I've been praying that God will give me an opportunity to share with this barber, and I was especially hoping it would work out this latest time because I will probably be needing to use a different barber for a period of time (long story why).

As the barber was cutting my hair we talked about a lot of topics, including the death of his neighbor. The man was in his 50's, and was the barber's favorite neighbor. The visitation was the next day and would be followed by the funeral.

As we were talking about death the haircut was being finished up, and no one else had shown up. I was really glad that no one else had shown up (I can only recall one other time in the past few years that there has been no one after me), and after I had paid I tied the death into spiritual things. I said we had talked about a lot of things over the past few years, but something I really like talking about with people is their soul.

I asked him if he believed in a God, and he did (I normally don't start witnessing with such a question…). I asked if he believed in heaven and hell, and he did. I asked if he would be OK if I shared with him a little while, and he said "sure". I know he is a nominal Catholic, and I asked if he believed in the Bible, and he said that he did.

I gently brought up the commandments and we talked about a few of those, and he was open enough to admit that he had broken the commandments. After sharing about those and what the Bible says the consequence for our sin is, I asked him if he knew what the Bible says can be done for someone who is deserving of hell so that they can be saved from such a demise. He said he had no idea, but was open to me sharing with him.

I prefaced what I was going to share by saying that there are too many people taking other people's words for what the Bible says. I encouraged him to double-check everything that I shared with him so he could see for himself.

I shared the story of my grandfather's auto accident and the time that he paid the fine for the guilty driver. I used analogies from the legal system to show what salvation isn't:
- I've confessed my sin
- I'm living a much better life
- My good works will offset my bad ones
- I'm doing good things for God
- God is going to overlook our sin and just forgive us all

And then I went down the Romans road. My goal was to clearly explain what the Bible says about salvation, and all the while encouraging him to repent and place his faith in Jesus, and Jesus alone.

I told him that I felt my responsibility was to share with him, but that (obviously) the final decision was simply between him and God. He could choose to reject the free offer of salvation, or he could repent and turn to Christ.

At one point I shared what Jesus told Nicodemus: you must be born again if you want to see the kingdom of Heaven. I said that I didn't think he was born again, and then specifically asked him if he was born again: he said he wasn't.

We probably talked (with me doing most of the talking - but he was truly listening and was participating in the conversation) for about 20 minutes after the hair cut, and in that time no one else came in. Towards the end of that time I asked if I could pray for him, and he nervously laughed and asked, "Why? Do I look like I need it?" I said that we all do, but he was not comfortable allowing me to pray for him right then.

I strongly encouraged him to be reading his Bible, and to pray and ask God to reveal Himself to him. I suggested he read in the book of John, and that he pray and ask God to show him what it means to be born again.

I left the barber shop that day rejoicing in the opportunity that God gave me. I had really wanted an opportunity to share with him, and was so grateful that he was receptive and would listen.

And since then I've been praying for him every day that the Holy Spirit will work in his heart...

The Pregnancy Test

2010-01-16T21:56:00.002-06:00

Last week I was at a church located in a different state. The church had a real heart for reaching the lost, and I had even noticed a sign out front of the church that said "Free Pregnancy Test" with an arrow pointing in a door.

The evening service was going to be starting in about an hour or so, and I was visiting with the Pastor and a few others. Right then someone walked up and said, "Pastor, there is a very young couple here who would like a pregnancy test." The Pastor said that all of the regular volunteers were already gone (they usually take the sign in when they leave) and he also called his wife: she wasn't available to come to the church right then. The Pastor asked a few of the ladies who were standing there if they would be willing to help the young lady with the pregnancy test, and he said to make sure they also shared the gospel with her. He said it works best to separate the couple (even though it can be hard for the couple to be apart), and that someone else could spend some time talking with the young man. No one was readily volunteering (there weren't many others around), so I said that I would.

We went inside and found a very young couple (she was 17 and he was 18) who were nervously waiting in the hallway. We introduced ourselves and the young man and I went into a side room and sit down to visit for awhile. We started with some small talk (backgrounds, current jobs, family info, churches, etc.) and then I transitioned into spiritual things.

He attends a local "church", but it's not a Bible-believing or Bible-preaching church. He is going through the process to join the church. When I asked what he believes a person can, or must do, in order to spend an eternity in heaven, he wasn't sure. Perhaps confess his sin and pray?

For the next 15 minutes we had time to simply talk about salvation and review God's Word. I didn't press him to make a decision as it didn't seem he was under any conviction (no signs of repentance), and the last thing I would want to do is encourage someone to say a prayer, and then slap him on the back and say "You're saved!"

Eventually the ladies walked into the room and the conversation immediately ended; obviously, he (and his girlfriend) were there for a reason, and he hadn't forgotten the reason.

The pressure of the situation that God was using in this young man's life was diffused by the results of the test.

As I've thought back to that time I've though of a number of things that I probably should have shared with him or talked directly about. But the whole time I was talking with him I had been crying out to the Lord wanting Him to direct the conversation – so I rest in Him, that despite my weakness in being a "rookie" in such a sharing situation, may He use what was shared. And, looking back, I'm so grateful for the opportunity the Lord gave to share with him, and I hope and pray that he thinks about the verses in God's Word that we looked at.

My Wife Sings, and I Fly Airplanes

2009-11-16T14:24:00.002-06:00

I recently attended a Sunday evening worship service at a church that I attended back from about 1990 until 1993. The church had gone through some very difficult, dry, times through the mid-to-late 90's and until recently. A new pastor is now at the church and has undertaken some ambitious programs to attract visitors and seek to grow the church. I've been watching this Pastor's blog and was interesting in meeting him and hearing him preach.

There were only a handful of "old timers" that I recognized at the church – everyone else was a new face. One of the couples I recognized, in particular, stood out. He had been a retired pilot and then farmer, and now a muscular disorder has made him practically an invalid, and who may also be battling some form of dementia, too.

He had just walked up a short flight of stairs and was sitting in chair that was in the foyer trying to catch his breath (that chair is the only chair in the foyer and it's there for him). I shook his hand and visited with him for a few minutes before the service began. He told me, "You know what, my wife sings here, and I fly airplanes." I told him I remembered his wife singing songs at the church, and we talked about him being a pilot. After the service I told him that it had been a blessing to see him again, and he looked at me, paused for a few moments, and then said, "You know what, my wife sings, and I fly airplanes." He then went on to share about some men in the church who had, a few months prior, rented a plane and taking him up for a flight - something which had blessed his heart immensely.

This is a man and his wife who have (as far as I know) been very faithful to the Lord through their lives. They were extremely involved in the pro-life movement, and have sought to faithfully serve the Lord in their local church.

He has such a desire to still work and try to farm that his wife told us of a time recently when he stood a ladder up near his tractor so he could try to get on his tractor and do some mowing. It worked OK for him getting onto the tractor. After he was done he carefully parked the tractor next to the ladder, but in the process of getting down the ladder he slipped and fell. He was unable to get up. His wife noticed the tractor outside parked by the ladder, and when he didn't come inside after a while she went out and, with difficulty, was able to help him sit up. They then tied a rope to the tractor wheel and he was able to pull himself up with that.

I experienced such a mixture of emotions. I was grateful to see them still faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ and thought how precious these two must be to the Lord. And yet my heart broke for this dear man and his health.

And I couldn't help but wonder, when I am his age (if the Lord tarry, and if it be His will) and perhaps in his condition, what will it be that I tell people about myself? What will be the defining characteristics of my life? And, will I still be trying to work, or will I be wanting to just sit around?

May I be busy with the Lord's work while I still have breath and especially while I have my health!

"I must work the works of Him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work." (John 9:4)

I'm Good in That Department

2009-11-10T15:18:00.000-06:00

Saturday was a beautiful day and I was working at my house on some projects. As I was working, an older, distinguished gentleman came walking up the side driveway. He looked identical to Ted Turner, and it turns out he works for Time Warner. He was a salesman, but wasn't pushy at all. We talked about television (he was very surprised to find out that we don't watch television) and I even brought up how liberal Time Warner is as a company. Conversation shifted to a nearby military base where this gentleman has done a fair amount of work, and we talked about the security around the base. That led to talking about how this nation has changed over these past years, and he volunteered, "and I'm not sure it's for the better."

I was praying that the Holy Spirit would give an opportunity to share with him. Actually, I was a little hesitant, at first, to share, because I was in the middle of a work project. God convicted me that my attitude was wrong and I prayed that the Holy Spirit would be working in the man's heart and would give me an opportunity to share.

As we kept talking the subject of neighborhoods that we live in came up. I asked if he attended a church near his home. He ignored my question and kept talking. I went back and asked again. He was sharp enough to realize that I was bringing up spiritual things – and he was very closed to the discussion topic. He put his hands up a bit, waved them back and forth, and said, "Oh, no, no, I'm fine! I'm good in that department." Even though we had enjoyed a few minutes of chit-chat it was clear that simply asking him about church had made him uncomfortable. And, I figured he was already uncomfortable, so why not ask another question? I asked if he had a Bible at his house.

Again, he ignored the question and kept talking. Eventually he backtracked in his conversation and did say that, yes, he had a Bible at his house. I said that was good and encouraged him to be reading in it so that he would know how a person who has broken God's law and is deserving of hell can be born again and forgiven of his sins through the Lord Jesus Christ. I went ahead and helped close the conversation by thanking him for stopping by and he left soon thereafter.

While he was a very friendly, outgoing, and personable person (most good salespeople are), it was interesting to see how quickly he locked up when spiritual things were brought up (and some would say that asking where a person attends church is hardly bringing up spiritual things!). While there's a chance that he is truly "good in that department", the fact that he wasn't willing to confess the Lord Jesus with his mouth ("that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus..." Romans 10:9) makes me suspect that he has not been born again. May the Holy Spirit bring great conviction to his heart.

Ye Must Be Born Again...

2009-09-04T17:04:00.002-05:00

Last year my Dad was sharing the gospel with a JW and the Lord put on his heart an interesting method to share with them. Yesterday they were in our neighborhood as I was walking by my mailbox and I took a moment to share with them.

Actually, I ran into two sets of them and had basically the same conversation with each pair:

Them: Hi, how are you doing?
Me: Are you JW's?
Them: Yes, we are.
Me: I'm sorry… I'm a Christian who believes in Jesus as God and I'm not interested in any of your literature. May I ask you a question?
Them: Sure.
Me: Do you believe in Jesus?
Them: Yes, we do.
Me: Do you obey Him?
Them: Yes, we do.
Me: Have you been born again?
Them: No.
Me: Then why are you disobeying Jesus? He said, in John chapter 3, that "Ye must be born again." Why have you not been born again?
Them: (looking at each other, thinking….) Jesus was talking to Nicodemus, who went to Him at night.
Me: The reason he went at night was because he was a religious man who belonged to a religious organization that didn't believe Jesus was God (that would make him a member of a cult), and he was afraid of what the other members of his religious organization would say if he went to Jesus. It would be the same for you today, if you went to Jesus, be it in the daytime or if you were afraid of what others in your church would say – at night – it doesn't matter - He would tell you the same thing. "Ye must be born again." Why have you not been born again?

They then tried to bring up some crazy idea about the 144,000. I kept going back to being born again, and encouraged them to obey Jesus and be born again – and then said "bye".

I suspect they believe they are part of the 144,000, which is surprising to me. The fact is:

The 144,000 is a specific number (early part of Revelation Chapter 7 talks about the 144,000, and then in verse 9 it talks about a "great multitude, which no man could number" – which clearly shows that John, through the Holy Spirit, was referring to exactly 144,000 people)
In addition, if that isn't clear enough, 4 verses in Revelations 7 (verses 5-8) go through each of the twelve tribes and say that there are exactly 12,000 from each one. The Bible could have said "12,000 from each tribe", but instead if says "Of the tribe of Juda were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Reuben were sealed twelve thousand………."

The Bible is very clear: the 144,000 are 144,000 actual people. Never mind that they are redeemed just like everyone else (Jesus said there is only ONE way to be saved - John 14:6 - and the JW's are purposely ignoring that ONE way).

JW's currently report worldwide membership actively involved at 7 million, convention attendance at 12 million, and annual memorial attendance at 17 million (not sure what memorial attendence is?). If I were a JW and was one of millions that were hoping to be considered one of the actual 144,000, I would be very nervous.

But wait, the nervousness would increase based upon the fact that we are given at least 3 additional clues as to who qualifies to be part of the 144,000:
- They are Jews. Chapter 7:4 "of the children of Israel" (not only must the person be a Jew, but they must be from the proper tribe, as each tribe will only have 12,000).
- They are male (Revelation 7:4 "which were not defiled with women")
- They are virgins (Revelation 7:4 "for they are virgins")

What was odd was that of the JW's I spoke with: all four were women, one had a child (I'm assuming hers) along with her, and one was clearly not ethnically Jewish.

I suspect everything I said while encouraging them to obey Jesus and of their need to be born again fell on deaf ears (such is the danger of believing church doctrine that contradicts clear Bible teaching), but I pray that they will seriously think about the fact that Jesus did say that if we want to enter the kingdom of heaven WE MUST BE BORN AGAIN (John 3:3). Period.

Secular Museum "Credits" Charles Darwin's Theory As Being A Factor That Led To The 16.5 Million Deaths of World War One

2009-07-13T19:48:00.004-05:00

On Friday I had the opportunity to visit the Liberty Memorial and World War One Museum: the nation's official WWI museum. It was a time of mixed emotions: gratitude to God for the freedom He has granted this nation, appreciation for the men who sacrificed so much, and sadness at how many million lost their lives through the devastation of war.

We know that Jesus not only is the Creator of life (Col. 1:16), but He came and brought His perfect peace to earth (John 14:27, 16:33). Unfortunately, He was rejected, and man has chosen instead to follow and believe the lies of Satan, who is a murderer from the beginning (John 8:44), and would be delighted to see the devastation of war.

With this being the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin, I was fascinated by one of the museum's displays. The display was in a room that was explaining the various factors that contributed to the start of World War One. The secular museum was displaying Charles Darwin's book "The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life". The placard next to the book shared that the theories in the book were used by European governments as an argument for colonialism, for dominating non-European peoples, for engaging in arms races, and, inevitably, for war.

Christians can readily see how Charles Darwin's anti-God and unscientific (claiming that everything came into existence from nothing?) theories, if believed, could contribute to war, genocide, racism, slavery, violence, and all sorts of other lawless actions. For, if we were not created by God but instead are chance mutations that randomly evolved over millions of years: then we can do whatever we want as we struggle to survive. Who is to say what we can and cannot do? Who is to say that it's wrong to lie, cheat, steal, or fornicate.

And yet I have seen a number of those who believe in Charles Darwin's theories come to his defense and say that they do not believe his theories contribute to war, destruction, and genocide.

Well, the Nation's Official WWI Museum (a secular museum), openly gives Charles Darwin's theories some of the "credit" for contributing to the start of World War One. 16.5 million people died as a result of that war.

Jesus, when warning the disciples about false prophets, told them, "Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them." (Matthew 7:20) One of the fruits of evolutionary beliefs is war.

The Museum Display.

It is good for me that I have been afflicted….

2009-06-28T17:14:00.001-05:00

It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes. (Psalms 119:71)

I was very sick this past week. The sickest that I have ever been in my life. Multiple days with 103.4 degree fevers, nausea, aches, chills – and then an incessant cough started and went non-stop for almost 24 hours. I was down and out.

God's hand of blessing, protection, and guidance was present throughout the week. When I went into the Dr. the chest xray showed pneumonia, and the blood work showed a massive bacterial infection (highest white blood cell count the Dr. had seen in his 10 years of practice!).

So, how has it been good that I've been afflicted? Seeing as this is a bit of my journal and I don't want to forget some of these things, I'm documenting them here. . .

There isn't anyone better to trust in than Jesus. I had a very important work commitment this weekend (read as: an out-of-state wedding to photograph). I have to confess that I struggled with trusting the Lord through this week. I wrestled with what would happen. And yet not only did a backup plan come together, but Lord provided a perfect substitute in their local area – whom the couple was thrilled with. I couldn't have been happier, and I was able to see how the Lord arranged things for His glory. "The glory of the Lord shall endure for ever" (Psalms 104:31)
Being down and out sick is a great time for evaluating one's heart, life, and attitudes. And I've been finding lots of pride, wrong attitudes, complacency, and focus on self. I feel like I can so readily identify with Peter as he says, "Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord." And yet I know that He is the One I need to be close to, and it's His Spirit that has been revealing these things to me.
I've realized how soft I've become. This week, as I was sick, we've had temperatures in the upper 90's with heat indexes up around 110 degrees. I've been inside my air conditioned house this entire time. And yet I have missionary friends over in the jungles of Indonesia who are constantly battling sickness, malaria, fevers, and other jungle diseases – all without the comfort of air conditioning or easy access to Doctor's. And I've been evaluating how much time I spend lifting them up in prayer? How concerned am I for their physical welfare as they labor for Christ overseas?
I've had a softening in my heart towards those who are sick and infirm. "Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God." (2 Corinthians 1:4) There are so many whose lives are full of what I experienced for those 3 or 4 days. And, for them, there isn't an antibiotic to take that will start them on the road to recovery. Is my heart sensitive towards the suffering of others? Am I genuinely concerned for them?
Missed opportunities to share the gospel have also weighed very heavily on me. What if the Lord had chosen to take me home this past week? What would have mattered in my life? Only that which I had accomplished for Christ. I've thought back to conversations and opportunities I've had over these past few months to share with others that I let slide. May I never, ever, again let an opportunity to share the gospel with someone go by. Even if I was on my deathbed – may I be more concerned about sharing with others than with my self. "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." (Philippians 1:21)

I can look back and see all of this and much, much more. And yet the last thing my flesh wants is to ever be sick again. May my heart welcome whatever the Lord has for me in the future.

And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.
2 Corinthians 12:9-10

Guess I better start going to church...

2009-06-28T17:08:00.002-05:00

A while back I was on the phone with an insurance representative talking about house insurance. At the end of the phone call I asked him if he had ever heard of or taken the good person test – he had no idea. So, we started through it. Of course he felt like he was a good person, and yet he readily acknowledged that he lied, stolen, blasphemed, although he had never committed murder or adultery (yet he had lusted).

When I asked him if God was to judge him based on the 10 commandments if he would be innocent or guilty, he was a bit hesitant to acknowledge guilt. When I asked him whether he felt he would spend an eternity in heaven or hell he hedged even more, eventually saying that if that's how God decides, then it would be hell.

He went on and said, "I guess I had better start going to church." While I was happy for the opportunity to share with him my heart was grieved that he would think the solution to his problem was simply to begin attending some church. People have so confused religion with a relationship with Jesus Christ. It's something I want to constantly be on guard in my own heart: pursuing a religion and not living for my Savior.

I spent the next while sharing with him the different between religion and a relationship with Jesus. The futility of religion (the Jews and Pharisees had a great religion going when Jesus came to earth). We talked about true, Biblical salvation, and I shared with him the story about my grandfather's car wreck and how he subsequently paid the fine for the guilty driver. At the end I asked if he had a Bible at his house (he did) and I encouraged him to read the book of John to learn more about what Jesus did for him.

And now I wonder: has the Lord done anything in his heart? Has he picked up his Bible and spent any time reading? Was our conversation forgotten minutes after it was done? May the Holy Spirit strive with him (Genesis 6:3) and convict him of sin, righteousness, and judgment (

John 8:42 Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me:
for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.

What the ***** do you want!?!

2009-01-12T18:10:00.001-06:00

The other day we were at a nursing home to conduct a worship service. We know a number of the residents who enjoy coming to worship. We also try to meet all of the new residents and invite them as well. Sometimes they'll never come to worship but we're still able to build a friendship with them; we have to keep in mind that our goal is to share the gospel, not simply get people to come to church.

Back to my story… I was checking on a resident to see if he wanted to come to worship. He was asleep in his wheelchair and didn't wake up even when I called his name. Since he hasn't come the past few times, I didn't think it was worth waking him up to invite him.

As I was leaving the room I noticed his roommate, who was in bed, was awake and looking towards me. I knew his name was "Herman" from the sign on the door (and I think I had invited him to church a few weeks prior), and so I stepped over towards his bed.

With a low voice he kinda spat out, "What the **** do you want!?!"

I responded, "Hi Herman, we're here for worship this morning and I was checking on Mr. S. to see if wanted to come to church. We'd love to have you join us as well, but I noticed you're in bed and perhaps not feeling too well today."

His response was, "Oh, well, I think I would have enjoyed coming to church…"

Turns out he was cold, and so I was able to get another blanket for him.

I was laughing a bit as I left his room. I'd never really been "greeted" like that before, and was really surprised that he would then express some interest in joining us for worship!

"I have plenty of time!"

2008-12-09T18:23:00.000-06:00

A telemarketer called the office today. He had a rather strong Indian accent and sounded like an older gentleman. He was offering us the same services that our company provides. I talked with him for a few minutes and even pulled up his company's web site: it looked like a quality web site.

I shared that we didn't have a need for any of their services at this time, but that I would put his web site address into my file in case we ever did need to outsource some work: we could then consider them.

He appreciated that and was about to go when I asked him if I could ask him a question that didn't relate to his company. He said, "Sure."

I asked if he had a minute or two and he said that he did.

When speaking with someone that has a strong accent which indicates that English may not be their primary language, I work at speaking slow and I try to use plain words.

I asked if he had ever taken the Good Person test before, and at first he said "Ok", but when I said, "Have you, William, ever taken the test before?" He then understood and said, "No."

I started into it and didn't get very far at all. He said that he considered himself a good person. He was familiar with the ten commandments (God's measure of our goodness).

At that point he interrupted me and said, "Isn't this taking too long?"

I suspected that he meant to ask something slightly different, but I responded with a, "Is this taking too long? Not at all, I have plenty of time!" and kept going with the test. He laughed when he realized the question that he had asked, interrupted me, and said that HE didn't have time.

So, I encouraged him to visit a web site and finish the test (he said that he would) and we said goodbye.

I was disappointed that he wasn't able to go through the whole test, but, who knows, perhaps he would have gotten in trouble with his boss.

A “Christian” Scam Artist?

2008-11-24T09:21:00.000-06:00

I received a telemarketer phone call from a company selling toner cartridges last week. Fast-talking sales guy that then passed me to another rep who, it turns out, had been listening to the first part of the call. They offer to send a free toner cartridge to test the product out – you don’t have to pay for a month. They’re prices are higher than OEM because they last longer. They don’t have a web site because of a lawsuit from Epson (“Epson has had ink cartridges blowing up on their customers and doesn’t want the truth out, so we had to take down our site and update it but it’ll be back up soon.”)

As I was talking with them they were setting off all sorts of alarms in my mind!

After awhile I asked the gentleman if I could ask him a question that wasn’t related to printers. He said I could.

I began going through the good person test with him. His responses were fascinating as he worked to evade and dodge each question. Has he ever told a lie – sure, everybody does. What would that make him – definitely not a liar! Has he ever stolen something, or taken something without permission – nope. It’s only stealing if you have a habit of it (I challenged him to try that in a court of law, “But judge, I only took one thing and it’s not a habit!!”). Has he ever taken God’s name in vain – never! Has he ever been angry with someone or hated someone – sure, he’s been upset with people before but he has NEVER hated on someone.

I sought to share the gospel with him and he professed that he didn’t need the gospel as he was already going to heaven when he died – because he walked with God.

He owns two Bibles: one he keeps at his house and the other in his car. He regularly reads them.

He skillfully brought he conversation back to the printer cartridges, but, even as we talked about that he then abruptly asked, “Hey, on that Good Person Test, how did I do?”

I shared that he was very typical in his responses, but that some of what he shared had indicated something to me that I would share with him, but felt he probably wouldn’t be open to what I would share. He insisted that I tell him, and I shared with him that I had two concerns: that his salvation may not be genuinely based upon what the Lord Jesus Christ did for him and that, in much the same way that pride is a struggle in my life, it is likely a significant issue in his life.

I gave him the example of him not being willing to admit that he had stolen in the past. He shared that, because it was forgiven by God, it was as if it had never happened. That’s why he wouldn’t admit to any sin.

I took a few moments and tried to gently share with him the difference between a proud heart that will not admit having done any wrong, and a humble heart that realizes it is flesh and is full of sin before God, but is overwhelmed with gratitude for the mercy and forgiveness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Even Paul remembered his past and shared that he had persecuted God’s church and considered himself the chiefest of sinners – even though he was forgiven and pardoned.

It wasn’t too much longer before he realized that I wasn’t going to accept his offer of a trial toner cartridge, and we said “goodbye” to each other.

As I was reaching to disconnect my headset (but still had it in my ear) I could hear him beginning to laugh as he hung up his phone. My guess is that he thought our conversation was rather funny and was going to enjoy replaying it to his buddies.

I did some quick research about the company online and found much negative feedback about the quality of their products. Was the company operating a scam? Perhaps not. Where they selling quality products at a fair price? From my research, it appeared to not be the case.

Oh, Canada

2008-11-17T11:35:00.001-06:00

It’s been quite some time since I posted. As of late I’ve been sharing more on a different blog… Unfortunately, the other blog is not anonymous, and I cannot link to it or link from it back to this one. And, since this is basically my personal witnessing journal I’ll keep adding to it when I have time and an interesting encounter to document.

In addition, we recently added another level of protection to our internet access, and for quite some time it was partially blocking access to Blogger.

I recently spent more than a month traveling, and a portion of that time was spent in Canada. Several things struck me as we were up North:
- How sparsely populated so much of Canada seems
- How many old, small, church buildings I saw
- How little interest in the Lord Jesus Christ there seemed to be

I met some fascinating Canadians...

One was a young lady who was working as a hotel clerk. The hotel had a fancy bus with an expensive political “wrap” parked in the parking lot. We figured the politician was a national politician because the local politicians wouldn’t have the resources for such a nice campaign bus or fancy artwork.

We didn’t recognize the politicians name or the abbreviation for the political party – but I did see a newspaper inside the hotel lobby with the man’s photo in a debate for Prime Minister (so we were right that it was a national figure). After I had finished sending/receiving e-mail (have to keep up with work on the road) I asked the hotel clerk if she knew which political party the candidate was a member of. She had no idea.

I asked her what the political party initials “NDP” stood for (we knew it didn’t stand for the Liberal Party, or the Conservative Party, or the Green Party – my guess is that the N stood for New and the P for Party – but we weren’t sure of the D). She had no idea! She said she knew nothing about politics.

I asked her how old she was (you can’t do this with older women, but young people are generally OK with it) and said I assumed she was old enough to vote? She said she was 20, and she was planning on voting.

I asked her if she knew the various candidates for Prime Minister and what they believed about various issues. She had no idea.

I asked her how she would know who to vote for. She shrugged her shoulders.

I eventually shared some tracts with her and encouraged her to read them. I told her she can get through life OK without knowing anything about politics but that issues of heaven and hell had to be dealt with before death, or the consequences would be tragic.

Missed Opportunity

2008-09-03T16:27:00.000-05:00

I HAVE to be disciplined about carrying tracts in my pocket. If I don’t have them with me I can’t hand them out. Having them in the car is a good start, but not good enough.

I take one of my younger siblings out for lunch each week. Today they picked a restaurant that is often chosen. The lady who was taking the orders was very, very, slow. I could tell that she was new (likely her first day on the job). The kitchen staff was unhappy with her (she was inputting orders incorrectly) and the people in line were upset with the long wait to place their order.

She apologized to us for the delay and I said it was no problem. If I would have had tracts with me it would have been a perfect opportunity to share the gospel with her.

A good reminder to me.

Missionary to India?

2008-09-03T16:23:00.000-05:00

Computer technical support can be a big hassle. While the technician generally seems sincere in wanting to help, they often aren’t very helpful. Then you toss in an overseas call center…

Living in India and working in a US-outsourced computer technical support call center would be a VERY difficult job. They have to work overnight (US Central Time zone) and talk with customers that are generally very disappointed to be talking with someone located in India (who is probably hard to understand). How would we feel if we were trying to help people all day that were very upset to have to talk with us?

Over the past few weeks I have had several opportunities to call a computer manufacturer’s technical support. Turns out, for one of the computers, I could have called their “Gold” support number for support from a US-based call center, but I chose to instead keep talking with the general “overseas” support.

Even though the person wasn’t very knowledgeable, and even though it took longer for them to send me the part than I would have preferred (about 30 minutes start-to-finish before they agreed to send me the warranty-covered part that I needed) I work very hard at being polite, understanding, and gracious.

I know that these technicians face upset and impatient callers all day long. When I call them I want to be different, and I am cognizant of the fact that my attitude and interaction with them during the business portion of the call will impact whether they listen to me share the gospel with them at the end of the call.

The last few times, the person has been open.

While I have found it to be slower, more of a hassle, and less helpful, to get technical support from India than from a US-call center, I have found that the Indian technicians seem to be more open to the gospel.

Traveling to India to share the gospel would be exciting (and expensive); my experience has been that sharing with an Asian-India over the phone simply takes time, patience, and a gentle spirit.

Am I willing to be inconvenienced (speaking to foreign tech support) in order to be able to share the gospel?

Car Pushin'

2008-08-03T11:27:00.002-05:00

Last week I was out with one of my younger brothers for lunch. As we finished lunch I noticed that a car had become stuck on the curb in the parking lot (the young driver had turned too sharp and had put a tire up over the curb into the grass/dirt and couldn’t roll forward over the curb forward, or get enough traction to back up over the curb). It looked like the car could easily be pushed back the way it came (the pushing providing the needed traction), so I suggested we go out and see if we could help.

By the time we were there two of her friends had showed up. Four of them and two of us. Six people (although, only three of us were men). One car. One curb. Should be easy.

The car was in neutral, so we tried (once) pushing. It didn’t budge. I couldn’t figure out why the engine wasn’t running and they weren’t backing it up so I asked her about it. Turns out they were all a bit flustered because of the incident, and the "flustration" appeared to be exasperated by the fact that the car that belonged to a parent. To them, it was as if they had been involved in a significant car wreck and were going to need a tow truck.

Once I got her to start the car I made sure it was put into reverse. I told her to try and back up as we pushed. The car immediately backed right off of and over the curb – back to the pavement where it belonged – requiring practically no pushing effort at all.

They were all extremely grateful for the help (not that my brother and I really did anything), and I took the opportunity to leave them with a few gospel tracts.

It was a reminder to me in several ways:
1. Make sure to carry a number of tracts at all times. I only had two tracts in my pocket. There were four of them. I could have easily given them all one tract each.
2. Seek ways to help those that have a need. The Lord can use those opportunities to open doors to share the gospel. Granted, I didn’t end up spending time sharing directly, but because we took a moment to help with the car they were very receptive to the tract.

I’m definitely guilty of not seeking opportunities to help those in need. May I instead have a heart that is more focused on others than myself! May I remember that one of the reasons why God created me was so that I would be doing good for others: my purpose here on earth is not to serve myself.

Ephesians 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

Unexpected Sharing at Funeral

2008-05-28T22:04:00.003-05:00

Last week one of my neighbors died. A man who professed faith in Jesus and who has struggled with emphysema for the past 12 years. His health was terrible the last year of his life. I’ve known him and his wife for the past 17 years. I mowed their lawn back when I was young and had a lawn mowing business.

In the morning (last week) the EMS/fire/police had been at the house and he was transported to the hospital. On the police scanner his condition was reported as “code yellow” (which is urgent, but not as critical as a “code red”). Later in the day we were surprised to see that he returned home from the hospital in a taxi cab.

That evening I was walking across the street and saw his wife returning from an errand. I went over to talk with her and let her know that we were praying for them. We spoke for a minute or two and then she went inside. I was working on a work project that was across the street from their house.

Shortly thereafter I heard sirens. The sirens became very loud and I looked over and noticed her standing at her front door. A moment later the trucks began arriving. The firemen hurried inside (which I thought was a good thing: I’ve seen a number of times when emergency personnel arrive at a location and seem to take their time gathering gear before walking into the house/apartment). The ambulance arrived and the stretcher was taken up to the door, but never inside. A few minutes later the stretcher was returned to the ambulance. By that time three police cars had arrived.

The stretcher and the three police cars indicated (to me) that he had passed away – and soon after that neighbors confirmed that he had died.

Up and down the street neighbors were outside on their front porch or were gathered in little clumps talking. The sidewalk across the street became busy as a number of people suddenly decided to take walks.

I wondered if that is how it would be when I die: the neighbors out talking and watching the “excitement.” How short our time on earth is.

The visitation was last night. Only a few people were there because the newspaper had a computer malfunction and didn’t print the obituary in time.

We talked with his widow. Through the pain you could see the Lord was strengthening and supporting her. She said he had been ready to go and knew exactly where he was headed. He had chosen to go home from the hospital because he didn’t want to die in the hospital. Her errand had actually been to a nearby church to play the piano for a time of worship.

Today was the funeral. It was actually held at a theater as this gentleman was very involved with the technical aspects of theater (lights/sound/staging).

About a 150 people attended. Mostly older people, and I believe most of them were affiliated with the theater.

I don’t know if it was a Methodist or Presbyterian funeral, but my heart was very, very, heavy as I witnessed the service. The pastor read the opening prayer and the opening comments from a little book. As the service progressed I couldn’t help but wonder if it was all just “words” as they talked so much about God – but only one or two references to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Isaiah 29:13 Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men.

Asking all-loving God to welcome this man into His eternal rest? In the same way that we ask God to accept ourselves?

I don’t recall hearing anything about the blood of Jesus – OR, more importantly, how one can have His blood applied to their own life. Nothing about the cross or repentance. Nothing about believing in Jesus. Nothing about being born again.

An open time of tributes was next. One gentleman shared some heartfelt and humorous anecdotes. No one else got up to share so the pastor moved on to the next special music.

I noticed in the bulletin that there would be another time for “open sharing” after the special music.

I began to wonder if I should get up and share what I remember of our neighbor, and at the same time share the gospel.

But I didn’t want to get up and share. During the special music I prayed and it was very obvious the Lord had spoken to my heart and wanted me to share. I didn’t want that service to pass without someone giving honor to the Lord Jesus Christ – it’s just that I wasn’t excited about being the one to get up and do it… It was out of my comfort zone.

After the song the officiant asked if anyone else had something to share. I got up and went forward.

I don’t recall exactly what I shared. I couldn’t see past the stage lights so I really don’t know how my words were received. Considering more humorous theater testimonies were shared after me I figure my time of sharing probably stuck out like a sore thumb.

It was difficult to know how to share because I truly wanted to respect this man and his dear wife. I was 100% confident that my sharing would not in any way offend her, and I didn’t want to cause any unnecessary offense to those attending, but I did want to uplift the Lord Jesus Christ and directly share the gospel.

After sharing some of the memories I had of this man from the past 17 years of living near him, I shared that the one thing I knew from talking with him and his wife: he was ready to go and knew without a doubt where he was headed. He had placed his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus said that we MUST be born again if we are to enter heaven. While this man had dealt with his sin at the foot of the cross, I said what was important was that WE know where we are headed when we die. If so, this time of separation and heartache is temporary. If we don’t repent and follow Jesus now, this time of separation and loss will be forever.

If this man were alive today I shared that I was confident he would encourage each one to surrender their life to the Lord Jesus Christ, for, in the end, that is all that really matters.

One day it’ll be us that will have passed on. What kind of a life are we living right now? Will people gather and share about the good works that we have done – in the same way that we are gathering and sharing about this man’s good works? Will we know as we face death where we are headed – in the same way that this man knew where he was headed?

After sharing I didn’t have a wonderful sense of elation or euphoria. But I felt I had done the right thing and I knew that I had sought to stand up for the Lord Jesus Christ – the One Whom this man was trusting in for his salvation.

My prayer is that the Lord will somehow use my faltering words for His glory.

You Should Join our Evangelism Team!

2008-05-07T14:17:00.002-05:00

I received a bank statement in the mail today – from a bank which was supposed to have closed my account. The account has $0 in it!

I called the 800# and pressed the option to “close an account”. Almost immediately a very helpful lady came on the line and asked what she could do to assist me. I made a comment about this being the queue for closing accounts and that she probably had an idea what I was wanting to do; she laughed and agreed.

I answered what seemed like 21 questions to confirm my identity and then we talked about closing the account. That process only took a few minutes.

Afterwards she asked me the typical question, “Is there anything else I can do to help you?”

My answer was this, “Actually, you’ve taken care of all the banking issues. But, if you have a minute before the next call comes in I’d like to ask you another, different, question.”

She said, “Absolutely, go ahead.”

She had never heard of or taken the Good Person test – so we started into it. She said she was a good person. She readily admitted to having lied in the past but wouldn’t admit to having ever stolen anything (perhaps because she’s working at a bank and the call may have been recorded??).

At one point she interjected that we aren’t supposed to judge – I said Matthew 7 says we are not to judge lest we be judged, but that Jesus clearly said, “Judge righteous judgment.” I also said that was a bit off topic and we needed to get back to the test…

She admitted to blasphemy. I briefly touched on murder and adultery of the heart – and moved on to summarize everything because I wasn’t sure how open she was to the gospel (especially after the "judge" comment).

When I asked her if she were to die and God judged her based on His 10 commandments if she would be innocent or guilty, she said she would be guilty – but that he is a loving and forgiving God.

I asked if she would spend an eternity in heaven or hell and she said that she asks God to forgive her every day and she’ll spend an eternity with Him.

I started sharing the gospel with her and sought to clarify that asking forgiveness is not what the Bible says results in a person “being born again”. I drew some analogies with our legal system.

I asked if she had a Bible and she said she had one right by her on her desk, and that she reads it all the time.

She then said, “You should be on our evangelism team!”

That caught me off guard and said, “Oh, really, so what do you do on your evangelism team?”

Her response was that they go around and share the gospel with people.

My prayer is that she is clearly presenting the true gospel and that she has been Biblically born again!

"Discover" Credit Cards

2008-05-07T14:06:00.000-05:00

It’s been awhile since I’ve taken time to post… Lately I’ve been able to share the gospel on the phone with a number of people.

At 8:30 p.m. on Friday night my business phone line rang. Caller ID showed an unidentified toll-free number. I suspected it was a telemarketer and was surprised they were calling a business so late in the day. I went ahead and answered the phone.

It was a lady with Discover Credit Card calling to see if they could get us signed up for a credit card. I asked some questions about the credit cards (a few of which she didn’t really know the answer to).

We only talked about credit cards for about two minutes and I said I would save the information in a file and, if we ever were interested in a Discover card, I would call back.

I then said I had asked a lot of questions about the credit cards but I now had a slightly different question for her – if she had a minute before she needed to make her next call. She was available and wondered what I wanted to know.

I asked if she had ever heard of or taken the Good Person test before. She hadn’t heard of it and hadn’t ever taken it.

I said that it only took a few minutes, that everyone should take it at some point in their life, and that there is a “moral” at the end…

She felt she was a good person, despite the fact that I found out she was a lying, thieving, blasphemer. When I said we could look at one more commandment and let her choose between murder and adultery, she chose adultery (most people choose “murder”). While she hadn’t outright broken the commandment, when I shared what Jesus said in Matthew 5:
27 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: 28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.

She said “I figured that was where you were headed” – and she readily acknowledged having broken the commandment in spirit.

When I asked her if God were to judge her (once she dies) based on His 10 commandments whether she would be innocent or guilty, she said “guilty”. When I asked where she thought she would spend an eternity, she said “Hell”.

I then had some time to share the gospel with her.

She had interacted with great interest up until a few minutes of sharing the gospel when she seemed to suddenly become very cold.

The entire time I had been sharing with her (and even before that when we were talking about credit cards!) I had been praying the Holy Spirit would be working in her heart/life – and it seemed she was very open. I wonder if perhaps her manager had walked by or was listening in on the call?

Either way I encouraged her to be reading her Bible in the book of John, where we learn more of what Jesus did for her so that she doesn’t have to spend an eternity suffering in hell for her sin.

I’m continuing to pray for her -- that she will come to place her faith in Jesus as her Savior.

Stepping Into Eternity…

2008-03-03T19:42:00.000-06:00

I have not come very close to death in my life. About eight years ago my great-grandmother, who was living with my grandparents (who live next door to me), passed away. I spent time with her during her last days, but I don’t remember spending a lot of time with her.

I’ve been to various funerals and have stood in front of caskets, looking at the “person who isn’t there.” It is hard not to think of eternity when you are standing in front of the casket of someone you knew who has since passed away.

About a year ago my brother and his wife – who had been praying for a child for the five years they had been married – had a little girl. She was born “code blue” and spent several days in the NICU before Jesus called her home. I supported them as best as possible: they didn’t need a lot of support because of other family members, but I was able to take care of some work projects for my brother so he wouldn’t have to worry about work during those days, I did some behind-the-scenes arranging for prayer support, and I also did a photo shoot for them. Going through the loss of my niece was probably the hardest thing I had faced in my life, and was the closest experience I had had with death – until just recently week.

While my friend at the nursing home (see the previous post) was very sick on February 8th, his health stabilized and he was doing better for another week. But he took another turn for the worse the next Friday evening.

I had stopped by that Friday around lunch time and found his Hospice nurse with him – she was writing reports. When I came into the room he opened his eyes, smiled at me, and tried to reach to shake my hand (my friend has very little control of his muscles, likely caused by a lifetime of alcohol abuse). I reached for his hand and shook it; it was the last time we would shake hands (even though I would hold his hand quite a bit over the next few days).

He had stabilized (somewhat) by Saturday.

When I visited him on Saturday I could tell the end was near. Even though he was becoming unresponsive, he was still stir anytime I leaned over his bed, gripped his hand, and prayed for him.

I didn’t want him to die alone.

He had estranged his two children, although one of them did try to have a relationship with him, and visited him a number of times as he was nearing death. His other child never came to say goodbye.

And that left only me. I spent a number of hours with him Saturday night (until late), occasionally reading scripture to him, praying for him, and holding his hand. His breathing was stable by midnight on Saturday, so I went home to get some rest.

Early Sunday morning I went back to the nursing home, and stayed there until Monday morning at 2:00 a.m. Occasionally I would read Scripture to him and pray for him. As time passed his breathing became more shallow, but it stabilized and it appeared he was doing rather well by the time I left at 2:00 a.m. on Monday morning to go home for some rest.

The nursing home called me at 3:30 a.m. to say that he had passed away.

Was he waiting until I left so that he could die alone? I don’t know.

Was he receiving strength from my being with him? I don’t know.

I wanted him to know that I loved him as a friend, whether he chose to accept the Lord Jesus as his Savior, or whether he chose to reject Jesus.

I have absolute peace knowing that I shared with him the plan of salvation, and I believe he clearly understood what Jesus did for him.

The last time I had visited with him while he was still fully able to have a conversation was about a month ago – in the hospital. I shared with him the story of the thief on the cross, and wanted to make sure he knew that it is never too late to repent of his sins and trust in Jesus. A simple thing to do, but I knew it would require him acknowledging a life of sin and rebellion against God – something that would be hard and would require the involvement of the Holy Spirit in his heart. I had left him with this verse: John 6:37 “… and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.” I wanted him to know that when he was willing to lay everything done and come to Jesus, Jesus would accept him.

It was somewhat hard for me – knowing that he passed away alone. And yet I know that God could have arranged things differently…

While I won’t know until I step into eternity whether or not my friend ever was born again, I do know that the Lord did a work in that man’s heart over the year that I knew him. And I am grateful to the Lord for the opportunity he gave me to interact with this man – and I have missed him more than I thought I would.

I hope and pray that this experience renews my zeal to be sharing with others at the nursing home – and everywhere. Time is short. People are dying.

My Friend Is Dying...

2008-02-08T19:17:00.000-06:00

An elderly gentleman that I have been friends with for about a year is dying. A man who chose a sinful life but knows much about God. He is somewhat a philosopher, and we have discussed many of his questions about God and the Bible over this past year. His health has been failing for quite some time.

During one visit he shared with me that he is an angry old man, and when I added “and bitter” – he agreed (with a smile). And, when he smiles his face lights up and his eyes twinkle.

While this blog is primarily a journal of sorts for myself, if anyone does happen to see this note, please pray for him. I don’t know how much time he has left.

Every time I have visited him I have tried to make sure I share the gospel (even if it a summary version of it in prayer). He has almost always welcomed my prayers for him (only once or twice, when I have asked if I could pray for him, has he said no).

I don’t know if there is anything more pitiful in life than seeing a person about to enter eternity who has rejected the Lord Jesus Christ, a person who has shared that they have no hope beyond the grave.

Do Infants and Unborn Children go to Heaven When They Die?

2008-02-04T18:06:00.000-06:00

I believe the answer to this is “yes”, and is based on at least three Scripture references.

The first reference comes from 2 Samuel, where David is mourning the death of the child born to he and Bathsheba. David knows that the child is with the Lord in heaven.

2 Samuel 12:22-23 (KJV)

22 And he said, While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept: for I said, Who can tell whether GOD will be gracious to me, that the child may live? 23 But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.

The second reference comes from the Old Testament and is a prophecy that refers to a New Testament event: the murder of all the children two years of age and younger by Herod in his attempt to kill Jesus.

Jeremiah 31:15-17

15 Thus saith the LORD; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rahel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not. 16 Thus saith the LORD; Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears: for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the LORD; and they shall come again from the land of the enemy. 17 And there is hope in thine end, saith the LORD, that thy children shall come again to their own border.

The third reference comes from Matthew as Jesus is interacting with little children. The Greek word used for “little children” refers to infants or very young children.

Matthew 19:13-14 (KJV)

13 Then were there brought unto him little children, that he should put his hands on them, and pray: and the disciples rebuked them. 14 But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.

A similar reference is in Mark 10:13-16, where we are told Jesus actually took these little children up into His arms (demonstrating how young they were):

13 And they brought young children to him, that he should touch them: and his disciples rebuked those that brought them. 14 But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. 15 Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein. 16 And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them.

The same Greek word is used to refer to the infant Jesus when Herod encouraged the Wise Men to find Him.

I believe that “Of such is the kingdom of heaven” means exactly that: a significant portion of heaven will be comprised of infants and little children. An infant is too young to place their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and as such, when an unborn child or an infant dies, they are safe in the Lord Jesus.

As to when they reach an age that they are accountable for their sins before God: I do not know exactly when that age is. But I believe God, in His justice does know exactly what that age is for each person.

Sharing the Gospel during a Newsletter Sales Call

2007-12-28T11:52:00.000-06:00

The business line rang at 11:05 and Caller ID showed an unidentified caller (usually means a telemarketer). I decided to go ahead and answer. A moment after I picked up the phone I heard the little click on the other line that confirms it is a telemarketing call. She wanted to talk to the person who handles the internet marketing for our company (yet another confirmation that it was a sales call!).

I said it would be “me” – and she started into the sales pitch. A $299-a-year newsletter with all the best internet marketing tips. We talked for about five minutes about the newsletter and I shared my thoughts/concerns.

After awhile I mentioned something about her sounding like a nice person, and how I wouldn’t want my saying “no” to the sample issue (which was free) to hurt her “conversion rate”. She said I sounded like a nice person – and I had the perfect segue into the Good Person Test.

I asked if she had a minute, and she did. She had never heard of the test before – but was willing to take it. She definitely considered herself a good person.

We went through the commandments:

Lying (guilty, although she doesn’t really consider fibs to be lying)
Stealing (guilty, although probably nothing of any real value)
Blasphemy (guilty, but probably not really taking His name in vain openly, more likely minced oaths).
Murder of the heart (guilty, but she has never really hated someone, although has called people “stupid” or “moron” and has been angry with people).
Adultery of the heart (guilty, and this was the first one that she didn’t justify or try to downplay).

When I asked if God were to judge her if she would be innocent or guilty, she shared that she would be guilty. When I asked if she would go to heaven or hell, she believed heaven.

When I asked “why?” – she didn’t really have a good response. Other than that she tries to be good, and everyone else is also guilty of the same things. We talked about a court of law, and she readily agreed that a judge can’t let someone who has broken the laws go because others do the same. We also talked about how our good can never compensate for the bad that we’ve done (a bank robber that gives some of the money to charity, or a murderer who decides to volunteer his time at a hospital).

When I asked if she knew what a guilty sinner who was headed for hell could do to go to heaven, she had no idea, but she wanted to know if I knew and she then she specifically asked me to share with her.

We spent the next 20 or so minutes discussing God’s incredible plan of salvation, and it made sense to her. At one point she shared that she was moved to tears and that the phone call had made her month.

She used to attend church and occasionally read her Bible – so what I was sharing made sense. She agreed that she has been religious, but that she hasn’t really been born again.

She is a young, single parent with a small child to take care of. I encouraged her that her getting right with God was the most important thing she could do in properly raising her child.

I’ve shared with quite a few people over the phone, but I’m not sure if I’ve ever had someone that was so receptive.

Since this is an anonymous blog I won’t share her name, but I would be grateful for your prayers on her behalf. I’m praying that the light she has received would be acted upon and that the Lord will reveal even more of Himself to her.

At the same time the phone call was very encouraging to me. My schedule has been unbelievably full, and I haven’t had (taken) as many opportunities to share on the phone (today’s phone call took about 25 minutes). May I not be slack in sharing with those that are headed for a hopeless and dark eternity.

Surely God takes our intentions into consideration??

2007-11-30T19:04:00.000-06:00

Today I called my insurance company to make a small adjustment to a policy. Adjusting the policy was quick. The agent then tried to sell me several other products, and we spent a few minutes discussing why I didn’t need them or didn’t feel they would be right for me.

Following that, she said that it is important to them that all questions and issues are fully resolved, and she wanted to make sure she had resolved everything for me. I said that the insurance was all taken care of, but that, if she had another minute before her next call came in, I had a question for her that was a little off topic. Her response: “Sure, go ahead.”

I asked if he she had ever heard of or taken the Good Person test, and she hadn’t. I let her know there was a moral at the end. I like sharing that there will be a moral at I don’t think they will feel I am trying to trap them or trick them (even though I am, in essence, asking them leading questions). On the other hand it’s hard to take the greatest truth in all of creation and refer to it as a moral, it is WAY more than simply a moral. But, an unbeliever would look at a spiritual truth as a moral, so that’s the word I use to give them “heads up” that we are headed somewhere in particular.

When I asked if she felt she was a good person, without even a pause or hesitation, she strongly answered, “Yes, I feel I’m a very good person.”

She wasn’t straightforward when she admitted to breaking the various commandments. Each time I would ask her about a commandment, her response would generally be “Well, I must have.”

That’s how she acknowledged lying and stealing. Despite being almost 60 years old she said she had never taken God’s name in vain.

When I asked about murder she said “No, but I’ve been so angry with some people at times that I’ve felt like doing something!” She said that while laughing, not realizing that she beat me to the “murder of the heart” punch!

When I summarized her condition before God (that other would look at her and see a good person but God, who is Holy and truly Perfect, would look at her and see someone who is a lying, thieving, murderer and adulterer at heart) she said, “Wow, that sounds pretty bad.”

When I asked her whether, after she died, God would judge her as being guilty of breaking His commandments, she said she felt God would view her as being innocent.

When I asked why God would see her as innocent, she said “Surely God takes into consideration our intentions?”

I didn’t go into the fact that when she was angry with someone, or told the lie, or stole something, or lusted – she was doing it with the full intention of being angry/lying/stealing/lusting.

Instead, I briefly shared how a crime is a crime. Our modern justice system is being overrun with Political Correctness and is starting to try and take “intentions” into consideration, but a crime is still a crime.

I shared that God would surely see her as guilty of having broken His commandments considering how many she had just acknowledged breaking, and I asked her where she thought God sent people who had broken His commandments. Her response, “That’s scary, but it’ll be a really crowded place.”

While she had interacted well throughout the “bad news” of the gospel, it was interesting that she wasn’t really interested in hearing the good news – in finding out how a guilty person who has broken God’s commandments and deserves hell can have their penalty paid for them.

So, in closing, I asked if she had a Bible at her house. She did. I asked if she reads it. She doesn’t. I encouraged her to read the book of John to find out what God did for her so that she wouldn’t have to go to hell.

Then I thanked her for helping me with my insurance problem, for taking the time to go through the Good Person test, and we then said goodbye.

The Insurance Audit...

2007-10-17T21:32:00.001-05:00

Insurance audits, or, at least the ones I’ve been through, seem to go very quickly on the telephone. Each year we receive a package in the mail from our company’s insurance agency. Inside are pages and pages to be filled out. The cover letter says that we are welcome to fill out the form and mail it in, fax it in, or simply call in for a phone audit.

I called in last week and went through the phone audit (it took about 5 minutes). I don’t recall whether or not I then shared the gospel with the lady on the phone.

Today we had another call from the insurance agency about an audit related to another policy we have.

The agent and I had a good time on the phone. When I identified myself and company I could hear him beginning to dig through what sounded like an enormous pile of paper as he tried to locate our policy. I made a comment about the paperless office, and “welcome to the 19th century”. He laughed, and said they had tried to go paperless awhile back but it, obviously, hadn’t worked. I said I could tell, as it sounded like he had just dove into a huge recycling bin. He finally found it and we went through the various questions.

Three minutes later he said we were all set until next year. Well, I said, I wouldn’t necessarily be looking forward to the call next year, but, it is always nice to have done. I said they had originally missed us with their first phone call because we were traveling for a month. He asked if it was a vacation, and I said, no, we had a Christian ministry.

I asked if he had a Christian background and he said that he did. I asked if he knew where he was going to go when he died and he laughed – saying someone else had once asked him that same question. I asked what his answer had been and he said whatever it was, the other guy was fairly negative about it! He shared that he, like everyone else, hopes to go heaven.

I asked if he had a minute before the next call came in to take a quick test. He was quiet and I assume he was thinking about it – perhaps he wasn’t very interested in taking the test but couldn’t figure out a way to tell me that politely? I reminded him that he had just asked me a bunch of questions --- surely he had a minute for me to ask him a few? He agreed.

I asked if he was familiar with the ten commandments – and he was. I asked if he had kept all of them, some of them, or none of them. At first he thought he had kept them all – then he said he may have broken one of them!

My next question was whether he could name them all (which he couldn’t) and I wondered aloud how he could have kept commandments that he wasn’t aware of.

We went through a few of them:
- Lying (guilty)
- Stealing (guilty)
- Blasphemy (guilty)
- Adultery of the heart (guilty)

He agreed that he was guilty before God and felt that he would go to hell as a result. I encouraged him to get right with God before it was too late. I said, perhaps, if he didn’t want to get right with God today he could call me back on the day he was going to die and I could share more of the gospel with him, but, unfortunately, he doesn’t know the day he is going to die.

I then shared the good new of the gospel: how a person that has broken God’s law and deserves hell can go to heaven when they die. He listened and agreed with everything I shared. He seemed to be awakened to his need for salvation, but not alarmed about his condition before God.

We talked more about hell, and I asked him if he has a Bible. He does. I asked if he ever reads it.

He response was that he is guilty of having gone to church and read his Bible in the past, but hasn’t been doing that lately.

I gently shared that not attending church and not reading his Bible are probably some of the mildest sins that are currently in his life, and that an unbeliever who isn’t seeking God and hasn’t repented and believed in the Lord Jesus Christ will likely have a lot of serious sin in their life. He humbly agreed that I was right.

He went on to say how grateful he was that I was talking with him as just the other day another gentleman had been sharing with him. He agreed that God was trying to get his attention.

At the end of the call I asked if I could pray for him – and he said that would be good. I thanked God for arranging circumstances so that he and I could talk, and for the work that God was doing in this young man’s life. I asked God to continue convicting him, and at the same time to reveal Jesus as Savior to him. I asked God to open his eyes to the Truth in God’s Word. I thanked God for the health that He had blessed this young man with, and asked God to continue blessing him and his family.

“Oh, I lie all the time!”

2007-10-13T09:29:00.000-05:00

I help a certain church with their finances, and this week needed to apply for a credit card on behalf of that church (ordering any type of product from a web site, these days, is almost impossible without a credit card).

I decided to call and apply for the credit card over the phone.

The card I was applying for was a small business credit card, and at the beginning of the call she had assured me that it would work fine for a small church

At one point in the application process she asked me, “What is the purpose of the business?” My response was along the lines of, “To share the good news of the gospel with those that are lost and dying and headed for an eternity in hell.” Obviously, God has other purposes for the church as well, but it was interesting to be asked the question by a credit card company!

After the application process was done, she didn’t ask if there was anything else she could help me with (which is normally the perfect segue into sharing the gospel). Instead, I had to jump in and say I had another question for her, but that it didn’t have anything to do with the credit card application – did she have just a minute before the next call came in? She had time, so I started into the Good Person Test with her.

She felt she was a good person, and she was then OK with me asking some questions to see how true that was. She said she was familiar with the ten commandments, and felt she had kept most of them.

I started with the 9th commandment: thou shalt not lie. I shared that I have told lies in the past, and I asked her if there was ever a time in her life when she had lied.

Her response? “Oh, I lie all the time!”

I wondered whether it was at work (as people are asking questions about the credit cards?!?) or in her personal life, but I didn’t ask...

I was impressed with her honesty in admitting her habitual lying – although one would have to say that it is an oxymoron to have an honest, habitual liar.

We went through the rest of the test and, after hearing (and agreeing with) the bad news (she was facing an eternity in hell) we went through and she heard the good news of the gospel.

I’m praying that the Holy Spirit will continue to work in her heart and she will surrender her life to the Lord Jesus Christ.

To the Mormon that posted a comment…

2007-09-16T13:45:00.000-05:00

Thank you for stopping by my blog (even though it was just for a minute – and even though it was likely with ulterior motives). As you know, the comment you left was short and perhaps a little flattering, but I had to delete it because it included a link to your blog. While your blog does include the name “Jesus” in it, the Jesus you are referring to is completely different than the Jesus that I preach and share…

I would encourage you to spend even more time than you hopefully already do in the Bible. You are no doubt familiar with Jesus’ command to us that we are to be perfect, just as our Father in Heaven is perfect (Matthew 5:48). If you read Luke 10, you’ll see that Jesus, while talking with a teacher of the law, told him that, in order to avoid “outer darkness” (Jesus didn’t use that exact term, but “outer darkness” and eternal death/torment is the opposite of eternal life and heaven) he had to love God with all his heart and his neighbor as himself – and that sounds like perfection to me.

I know that I am not perfect. Which means that even if I were to live perfectly from this point on for the rest of my life, it would already be too late for me as I have already committed “crimes” against God. (although, yes, even though my sins are forgiven I do strive to live as Jesus would have me)

I wonder how you will ever be able to achieve perfection? What a tremendously heavy burden to bear. How hard it would be to live a perfect life – to have never told a lie (hopefully you haven’t already told one, because, anyone that has told one lie has become a liar), or stolen something from someone (especially easy to do when we are young), and have never wanted something that belongs to someone else (which is – obviously – coveting).

I encourage you to examine your life and see whether you are perfect – or whether you have committed one of the crimes that is listed in Revelation 21:8:

But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.

The lake which burneth with fire and brimstone (which is the second death) is not someplace where you would want to spend eternity – and these are not my words – but God’s Word.

A few stories from the Fair...

2007-09-16T13:42:00.000-05:00

The incident that I remember best from the Fair happened mid-week…

Two teenaged girls came up to the booth wanting a balloon. Everyone else was busy so I started making them balloon hats. I asked if they also wanted something to drink but they said they were fine. I shared that we were there doing balloons and giving out drinks and talking about heaven and hell.

I asked them if they knew where they would go when they died, and one hoped for heaven, the other wasn’t sure. I asked what they believed a person had to do to get to heaven – and they had a few guesses but really weren’t sure. We went through the commandments to see if they would be innocent or guilty before God. They both acknowledged that they would be guilty. When I asked where they would spend an eternity they both said “hell.” As I began sharing the gospel with them, it somehow came up in conversation that they were there at the Fair, but not as regular “fair-goers”. They were at a nearby booth with their Church and were handing out water! I couldn’t believe that these two, who were at the Fair likely with the goal of sharing the gospel at their church’s booth, ended up at our booth acknowledging at first that they weren’t sure where they would spend an eternity, and after a few minutes conversation, clearly acknowledging they were both headed for hell! While both seemed interested in the conversation, they didn’t seem too concerned or interested in the solution (even though they did listen as I outlined what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for them).

Sometimes it was interesting to see who would come up to the booth for something to drink. It is very hard for a proud person to accept something for free. There were a number of times that two friends would be walking down the thoroughfare --- one would come over for something to drink and the other would stand back and wait for them. We would usually offer the ‘standing-back-waiting-friend’ something to drink. A lot of times they would accept, but sometimes they said “no, thanks”.

One night after the sun had set we had several fellows stop by that appeared to be in their early 20’s. They were dressed completely in black and had somewhat unkempt/wild hair styles. One had his face painted (it didn’t look like a sport team’s color/pattern). As they somewhat approached the booth, I asked if they would like a balloon – it’s amazing how sometimes others, besides children, enjoy the balloons, and by offering a balloon I knew there would be more time to share the gospel. They said sure – and asked what types of balloons I made. I began going through the list. They eventually settled on a turtle (which is a very small single-balloon animal – whereas some of the wild hats or more complex animals require 4, 5, or even 6 balloons). I started working on the turtle and we began discussing heaven and hell. They were either both really playing along and humoring me, or they were both incredibly receptive. I shared the bad news of the gospel as well as the good and gave them both a detailed tract to read later on. By then I had finished the balloon (I made it very slowly) and they were set. They walked off and I was left picking my jaw up off the ground that they had been open to a balloon and willing to listen to and discuss the gospel.

Another night a young man who was probably about 20 years of age stopped by the booth. He was just standing in front of the booth. I asked if he would like something to drink – and he did. He seemed open, so I began a conversation. I shared the gospel and we talked quite a while. Turns out he had stopped by and talked at length with us last year as well. I probably spent 15-20 minutes (total) with him, and we stepped into the back of the booth so I could give him a Bible and show him a few Scriptures that we had been discussing. At the end of our conversation I prayed for him. The Lord was definitely working in his heart, but he doesn’t seem as if he is willing to surrender quite yet. But he knows that the Holy Spirit will not always convict and that the longer one waits the greater the danger…

Saturday night a young man with many, many piercings happened to stop by (with several of his buddies). He was a former Satanist who had been raised in a Catholic home. He had read the Bible 4 times. To get to heaven, he believes a person has to avoid being a bigot and also not kill anyone that doesn’t deserve to be killed (he didn’t share who makes the decisions on whether a person deserves to be killed). He doesn’t believe God is a loving God. We talked for a few minutes but his spacey answers and constant changing of the subject to something different made me suspect he was high. Instead of prolonging the conversation (which wasn’t getting anywhere) I gave him some tracts and thanked him for stopping by (hopefully he read the tracts later on).

Saturday a young fellow and his (probable) girlfriend stopped by. He was about 18 or 20 years of age. As we began talking/sharing he said he knew where he would spend eternity. I asked where that would be, and he said “Heaven” – and that he sometimes evangelizes a nearby shopping district. I shared that we don’t get to heaven by sharing the gospel with others. We talked for another minute or two and I, out of curiosity, asked if he reads his Bible. Praise the Lord – he does every day. I asked the girlfriend the same question, and was surprised when she, literally, hid behind him because she was either shy or didn’t want to answer. It became obvious that they really weren’t interested in talking more about reading the Bible or what the Bible says about salvation – so they said “goodbye” and headed off.

It was a very good week, despite the time that was invested, and the tremendous heat. Our prayer is that as the Word went forth, it would do a mighty work in hearts, as we know that it will not return unto Him void.

Native missionary pastors…

2007-08-26T21:55:00.000-05:00

I have an incredible (and true) testimony/story to share – but I want to give some background first…

If you haven’t heard of Gospel for Asia or Gospelink – you need to order the free book: Revolution in World Missions. If possible, I would recommend you consider giving a few dollar donation to cover the cost of the book and shipping – but, whether or not you are able to give anything - I encourage you to get the book!

One thing I will mention: I believe the book leans towards not sending any American's out as missionaries but, instead, using that money to sponsor local missionaries in other countries. I can definitely see the incredible logic in that thought as the average American family costs $3,000+ to keep on the field per month while the average local pastor in Africa or Asia often requires only about $100 month for full support. If you do the math that translates to 30 native pastors (who already know the language) vs. one American family. However, I know that when God calls, a person should respond! Perhaps they are called to the field as a Hudson Taylor (to live as the locals in an inexpensive way), but, when He calls, anyone should answer.

Gospel for Asia and Gospelink both allow you to support local pastors that are already on the mission field and that already know the local language. Gospel for Asia works only in India. You are only able to sponsor up to 1/3rd of a missionary (I think it is about $30 or so per month) and you get a report every six months or a year.

Gospelink allows you to sponsor in a variety of countries (Africa and now Asia) and you can partially or fully sponsor a local missionary pastor (full sponsorship is $110 per month). What I really love about Gospelink is that you can personally correspond with your pastor – in fact, they encourage you to do so! In addition, every three months, you will receive a personal letter from your pastor outlining their ministry, how many people they led to the Lord as a result of your support (often an incredible number!), and many times photos will be included.

If you are not already sponsoring a native missionary pastor in a foreign country, I strongly recommend you do so. $110 a month may sound like a lot, but think about that money: it will, in essence, put a full-time missionary onto the field!

The reason I share all this? I have a sister in the Lord that shared a report with me that she had received from the pastor that she fully sponsors. I have transcribed a portion of it below.

(this pastor personally led 19 people to the Lord during the 3-month period that he was reporting about)

“About the preaching of the word and the winning of souls for Christ. God helped me very much.

“I planned to go for door to door evangelism campaign. Before that I sat for two days of prayers, over that programme. After prayers, I started the work. The first day I visited nine houses and three persons were converted, one repented. The second day I found a man and his wife, and his sister-in-law with her two children.

“They welcomed me and gave me a chair. I introduced my subject telling them that I wanted to share with them the word of God. The woman asked me “Which God do you want to talk about?” I answered that it is God the Creator, the One Who sent Jesus Christ His Son to become the Saviour of the world. She said that, “Us, we do not worship Jesus Christ. We worship God in the name of Kimbangu a great prophet.” I told her that this Kimbangu got his power from Jesus Christ, but you have turned the story and started to worship him as God. The Bible says there is no other name on earth which is above Jesus’ name. Then I told them to believe in Jesus Christ, Son of God to be saved. They said “We will not believe because Jesus you are talking about did nothing for us.” I told them that Jesus did a big work at the cross, He came to die for us and God woke him mightily from the dead that is why He is preached everywhere in the world. He resurrected and appeared to people with the power of fire from the Lord, and now He is at the right hand of God. But Kimbangu is still in the tomb waiting for the day of judgment. I continued telling them to believe in Jesus Christ in order to have eternal life. They said “Not now can we believe, he is a man who was born like any person was born.” Finally they told me to leave and come back another day.

“After three days I fasted and pray for them, then I went to meet them again and found them all three. They welcomed me and presented me a chair. I asked them “Brothers, what do you think about the subject we discussed last week with you about Jesus?” One said that we have nothing to think about Jesus, nevertheless what we want to tell you is that you also, you believe in the name of Kibangu, you will live well and be rich. I stood and said the Word from the Bible, in the book of the prophet Jeremiah: “Cursed is a man who trust in man, who make a man become his hand and in his heart he forget God” (Jeremiah 17:5)

“Then I told them that the day Jesus was being baptized the voice came from heaven saying “This is my beloved Son, in Who I am well pleased” – God did not say about Kimbangu that He was His son, he did neither say it about Mohamed neither Kadima, nor to anybody in this world, but God’s voice spoke about Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and Whoever believes in Him should be have eternal life. If you believe in Jesus you become the beloved one of God. And those who have believed in Jesus have been set children of God. They now believed in Jesus Christ and accepted Him as their Lord and Saviour! This happened in Kikala Wamba area, Kamibanga quarter, Kampemba township.”

I added the emphasis throughout the report...

What a blessing to hear of this man of God: he first spent several days in prayer before going out door-to-door. Then, after a visit, he spent several more days fasting and praying for a particular family before he revisited them. Sometimes, here in America, we think that hearts are hard (and, truly, especially because of riches, they are) but that in Africa hearts are open (and, truly, especially because of poverty, they are), but look at the time spent wrestling against principalities and powers! Perhaps we would see more fruit here in America if we invested that much time in prayer and fasting for the souls of those that are around us!

You may not feel led to begin sponsoring a native missionary pastor right now, but, at least, I ask that you order the free book and read it. You will be challenged and encouraged!

Next I hopeto share some of the testimonies from the County Fair...

County Fair Evangelism

2007-08-19T15:04:00.000-05:00

The Lord put it on my brother’s heart to have another County Fair outreach this year, and last week was the week…

A lot of planning and preparation goes into the Fair Outreach. The main concept was to give out free, ice-cold, soda and water, along with gospel tracts (Isaiah 55:1). Last year, in order to draw traffic, I had also made a lot of balloon animals and hats – which we found to be incredibly effective! This year I "trained" a number of others in making some of the basic balloon animals and hats (it’s amazingly easy to do the balloon twisting, and there isn’t a tremendous need for lots of variety in the shapes). Animals are hardest to do, but many of the children simply want bright, big, colorful hats - and those are simple!

Our booth location was in a different space this year, which was a mixed blessing. We estimate that we had about half the traffic that we had last year when we were directly across from the Carnival. But, we felt we were able to have as many, if not more, conversations with people in sharing the gospel. We ended up giving away between two and three thousand gospel tracts. I estimate that we made almost two thousand balloons throughout the week. And we definitely gave away a lot of water and soda! In fact, simply transporting the heavy coolers full of water and soda is one of the biggest challenges for the week (and one of the hottest jobs!).

The Fair started on a Tuesday, which was the first day of the summer that we were issued a Heat Advisory in our region. Of course, the Heat Advisory continued through the end of the Fair. Each night, as we drove to the Fairgrounds, the temperature was close to 100 degree’s, and the heat index was between 105 and 110. And, standing in the sunshine usually adds another 20 or so degree’s to the heat index. Since we usually started at the booth an hour or hour and a half before sunset – we didn’t have to worry about getting cold!.

I spent time before the Fair researching tracts. For those that are curious what we used, here are some of them:

Ronald Reagan Million Dollar Bills – we found these million dollar bills this year that we really like. They feature President Ronald Reagan on the front and have a more detailed gospel message on the back (more detailed than the LivingWaters.com million dollar bill). Another booth at the fair was handing out LivingWater’s million dollar bills (and we had some of those, too), so it was nice to have something different. We also had some of the LivingWaters.com Billion Dollar Bills on hand for those that “already had the million.” Sometimes, with a child, I would ask if they wanted a million or a billion, and every time I asked, they were always sharp enough to choose the billion.

What If? - We had a different tract “focus” for each night of the fair- and the “What If?” tract was one of them. We always tried to give out the main tract of the night along with one of the more detailed tracts (see the next two tracts).

Some of the tracts we ordered from LivingWaters.com:

Are You Good Enough to Go to Heaven - This is a VERY detailed, text-heavy tract. But it does a good job of presenting the gospel. I tried to give out one of these to almost any adult that came by for a soda, and a lot of the youths as well. Sometimes I would give out a million dollar bill along with this tract.

Are You A Good Person? Comic - This is another one that we gave out to many people. It is good for adults, but also ideal for teenagers. If I didn’t give out the text-based one (above) to someone, I always tried to make sure I gave them this one. There were even times during the week that we would offer this tract to a teenager who had already received it earlier in the week, and we would then have the opportunity to discuss the tract with them and see what they thought of it.

Hey Kids - I gave out a lot of these to children after making them a balloon. As I handed it to the child I would make sure it was OK with the child’s parents, and none of the parents ever said "no". A number of parents were even glad when I shared it was a gospel tract which talked about the 10 commandments and heaven and hell. This is an excellent (probably the best I’ve found yet) presentation of the gospel to children. So many children grow up false beliefs about salvation and believe they are saved despite having never repented and without having been born again. This tract helps plant seeds by encouraging children to memorize the ten commandments.

Everything Man has Learned about Women - There are many teen aged “couples” at the Fair. Interestingly enough, this year I also witnessed two verbal fights between boyfriends/girlfriends. We ordered a number of these little booklet tracts to have on hand through the week. (for those that don’t know what the tract is: it is a small 24-page booklet that is blank, and has the gospel message in small print inside the back cover) I ended up giving more of these to fellow's that were in their upper teen’s or early twenty’s (whether or not they had a girlfriend with them). Everyone enjoyed them and it opened the door for a number of conversations.

IQ Triangle Cards - When making balloons for children (whether it was an animal or a hat), we would always talk with them. With teenagers, it was always the gospel. With younger children, it varied. Sometimes it was just about the Fair and school (which was starting the next week) – and then we would give them some children’s tracts afterwards. I gave a lot of these tracts out to teenagers after asking about school starting the next week, and then saying the card was a little bit of an early reading test. We had a lot of fun with these… I would always share that I had missed it until I read the back, and I shared that the gospel message was on the back.

Because we had so many tracts we again wore "work apron belts". We bought them from Home Depot last year for about $1/each. A number of people, last year, wondered if Home Depot sponsored the booth. This year, we covered the Home Depot logo up. In trying to match up the most appropriate tract to each person that we met during the week, I would usually have 10 to 15 different types of tracts in my apron at one time (usually two or three copies of each one) and would have to step to the back of the booth to grab a few more quite often.

We had a number of very interesting interactions throughout the week. I’ll try to share some of those next…

Charlie Coulson - the Drummer Boy

2007-08-04T22:26:00.001-05:00

While researching and purchasing tracts for the County Fair outreach next week, I came across a very powerful testimony. It is the story of a Jewish Army Surgeon during the Civil War, and his incredible conversion. It takes a little while to read, but will greatly encourage your heart. It is very emotional at times.

Click to read (online): Charlie Coulson - the Drummer Boy

It is a "booklet" tract I came across that is published by Pilgrim's Press. (I might post, later on, some of the tracts that we ordered for the fair. Most came from Living Waters, but we found a new million dollar bill that we think we will like better - from OneMillionTracts.com. Anyways, we did get one tract from Pilgrim's Press, although it was a little unusual in that the Pilgrim's Press tracts were not folded- but were delivered "flat").

They were passing out tracts for me!

2007-08-04T22:24:00.000-05:00

Twice, on a recent trip, I had people ask for additional tracts and then give them out to others for me. I try to remember times like these when I run into rejection!

I was in a very, very, small airport. The security people at that airport have always been very friendly and professional. When I was going through security I struck up a conversation with the TSA gentleman that was running the x-ray machine. I’m always careful to follow all the rules (took the laptop out of the bag, made sure liquids were in a clear plastic bag, etc. etc. etc.) – and that seems to help. After I made it through the metal detector (normally I take my belt off but this time the fellow that was running the metal detector said to keep it on as it shouldn’t be a problem – and, he was right) I kept chatting with the x-ray fellow.

It takes me a little while to get all of my gear off the x-ray machine’s conveyor belt and back into pockets and my laptop bag. In my laptop bag I have my supply of tracts. Since there was no one else coming through security right then (as I said – small airport!), the x-ray tech wasn’t busy. I asked him if he had ever been given a million dollar bill, and he said he hadn’t. I gave him one and he was very grateful and duly impressed. I pointed out that the back has the gospel message around the edge (I don’t recall if I gave him a more detailed tract to go with it). Another TSA security agent that was next to him asked if she could have one as well – I said sure. The original x-ray tech then had an idea: he asked if he could have another one so he could give it to his boss who would absolutely love it. I told him I had plenty, and thanked the Lord for the three-fold increase that He gave (one tract to one person expanded to three people).

Due to a rescheduling of flights (delayed flight as a result of a thunderstorm, which would have missed my connection, then rescheduled with a different airline for the following day) I was flying a different airline/route than I usually do. Because of the last-minute change of flights and reservations, I wasn’t able to get the aisle seat on all my flights (which, as I have shared before, makes working on the laptop a slightly more pleasant ordeal).

For one flight, the plane was configured for three seats, aisle, two seats. And it was a longer plane than usual. For that flight, my seat was a window seat on the three-across side. I was one of the last on the flight because I was charging my laptop during the layover. I boarded the plane and went about half way back to my seat (yes, the other two people were already sitting down); but the lady in one of the seats said a gentleman had put his stuff in my seat and then gone back to the restroom and would be returning soon. Fun! Someone thought my seat was their seat… Maybe, I prayed, the Lord could use this to get me an aisle seat!

I had passed two empty seats up closer to the front which would have been perfect: aisle and window on the two-seat side. With such a full flight (they were the only empty seats I had seen up to that point) – it would be great: I could sit in the aisle seat and store stuff in the window seat. However, there were two younger girls that were also in the aisle looking for their seat. Since we were the last ones on the plane I was hoping they were headed further back (they had already passed the two open seats) and I asked them where they were headed. They double-checked their ticket stubs and found out they were supposed to be back up towards the front in those two empty seats.

I figured I would keep heading towards the back looking for an open seat. The flight shouldn’t have been overbooked (the airlines usually deal with overbookings before beginning the boarding process), and I figured any open seat would do. In fact, any open seat had a really good (statistically speaking) chance of being a better seat for doing computer work than the one I was assigned.

This plane had a weird configuration in that there was a little kitchen/galley area on the 3-seat side of the plan about 75% of the way back, with more seats behind it. The only empty seat I saw was an empty AISLE seat in that area, and there was a stewardess working in the galley. I told her what was going on and asked if I could take the open seat. She said “sure.”

The setup for the seats plays a part in the story – so I’ll try to describe it quickly. I was in the aisle seat with a gentleman next to me (turns out he is a believer and we had a great time of fellowship and prayer together). Then the aisle. On the 3-seat side, there was a jump seat by the aisle, and then two seats further over. Behind them, they had a wall and then the galley.

During the takeoff, a stewardess sat in the jump seat, and then folded it up later.

Mid-flight, I had the idea of putting a million-dollar bill tract into the magazine holder in front of the jump-seat. I figured the stewardess would notice it and perhaps ask the people sitting in the seats next to her and they would start a conversation about it. So, that’s what I did. I set the tract so it was sticking out a little bit and then kept on working on my laptop and talking with the brother that was next to me.

Ten or fifteen minutes later the stewardess stopped by the jump seat to get something out of her bag. She immediately noticed the tract and picked it up and began to read it. She started talking with the people in the seats that were right next to her. She then started talking to the people in the row in front of us – showing them the tract asking if they had put the tract there. She asked another row as well. As she turned towards where I was sitting I told her I had put it there for her. She was very grateful and wondered if I had more.

The people she had shown the tract to also wanted some, and she also wanted to give some to her coworkers. I gave her some more million dollar bills along with some other tracts and she began passing them out. She called a few coworkers over and gave them some as well.

She came back and stood in the aisle and I gave her a few more tracts for herself (the others she had given away). I began explaining a little more of what was in the tracts. Turns out, she had a nominal Catholic background and (as routinely is the case) was hoping in her good works to gain her access to heaven. As we went through the ten commandments she acknowledged that she was guilty before God and was beginning to realize that her good works couldn’t earn her salvation. At one point a coworker came by and she told her coworker “Hey, sit down, you need to listen to this!” But the coworker was busy right then.

All in all, it was a blessing to be able to share the gospel with her, and to have what was easily a 10 or 15-fold increase of tracts passed out! I encouraged her to read her Bible (starting in the book of John) and pray to God for Him to reveal Jesus to her – and she promised to do so.

One thing I know: it doesn’t always work like this. In fact, I would have to say this is a rarity – but it was such a blessing and encouragement to my heart.

It is VERY easy to get lazy in passing out tracts. I wonder how many other situations that are similar to this one I have missed out on because I didn’t bother to pass out the initial tract?

Next week we are going to help out with another County Fair outreach. It’ll be hot (forecast is calling for heat indexes up around 105) – which will be good as we’ll be giving out free (ice cold) soda and water, along with tracts. Please pray for us. I will try and post updates…

More thoughts on religous "entertainment" movies... As well as the news...

2007-07-20T14:50:00.001-05:00

BiblicalFirst posted a somewhat lengthy comment on the Tozer article I linked to below. I've been a little behind in my work and personal projects (includes researching tracts for our upcoming County Fair outreach which we're doing again this year) - so I haven't had a lot of time to respond. Instead of posting the comment and trying to respond to it there, I thought I would generally respond to it here…

One of the questions was whether I felt religious movies would include instructional movies which have the intent of teaching history or business or the like? I don't think I would include preaching or teaching videos in the genre of what Tozer was addressing.

The question was asked about the Jesus film and others that are used in outreach. That isn't something I have spent much time studying in Scripture. I can say that I, for one, wouldn't ever feel comfortable being an actor and playing "Jesus". I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Does the end justify the means? Obviously, we would all agree "not". I'm not saying I disagree with the "Jesus" film used as an outreach - I am saying that religious movies are sweeping the nation and drawing many Christians away from what they should be doing (something BiblicalFirst resoundingly agreed with).

I think there is something to be said for the written word -- which is the primary way God choose to communicate with us. If God would have wanted us to visually see Jesus’ ministry from when He was here on earth: it would not have been hard for God to have allowed technology to have advanced to the point where His ministry could have been recorded for us to see. Instead, God chose the written word, and, truly, the spoken word in sharing.

I would liken the parables that Jesus shared as being along those same lines. Many of His parables were based on real life, but, the ones that weren't - I believe He shared as a parable, and didn't act out (with the disciples helping) in a sort of theater-type production.

Moving on from movies - I know there are many Christians that religiously watch the news in order to keep informed of worldly events. I've found two very interesting Scriptures that seem to address the news.

I will include some context, but will bold the particularly applicable sections.

Isaiah 33:14-16 (KJV)
14 The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? 15 He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil; 16 He shall dwell on high: his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure.

I wonder if it is possible to watch the news these days and not hear of bloodshed and to avoid seeing evil?

Ephesians 5:10-12 (KJV)
10 Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. 11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. 12 For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.

If it's a shame to speak of the sinful things that are done in darkness, it would also be wrong to listen to those things being shared about.

The Menace of Religious Movies...

2007-07-06T15:20:00.000-05:00

I saw an interesting article by A. W. Tozer: The Menace of Religious Movies.

The religious movie movement is sweeping the nation, with many Christian organizations supporting and encouraging not only the viewing of entertaining movies, but also the making of them. I'd encourage everyone to read the article. I believe that if all Christians were to stop watching TV and Movies and dedicate that time to the Lord - there would be a revival in our land.

The article was probably written back in the 50's or very early 60's... Back when even regular TV and Movies were NOTHING compared to what is available now.

I apologize for not having posted any recent witnessing encounters. I did have a fascinating experience on one of my last trips that would be neat to share (the type of encounter where other people begin handing out the tracts for you, and bringing their friends to you to hear the gospel!).

The fear of rejection...

2007-05-02T15:10:00.001-05:00

While traveling – and especially when traveling by air – I have found that I always seem to have increased opportunity to share the gospel because I come in contact with so many people. The big question for me always is: will I take advantage of the opportunity?

Fear tends to be the biggest giant I have to face when sharing the gospel: the fear of rejection; the fear that I won’t say the right thing. Both of those fears are based in my pride – and are definitely not based in my reliance on the Lord Jesus Christ. I think I’ve been reflecting on the fear of rejection lately, and that is what I want to focus on today.

The fear of rejection is a very real fear, and since I have experienced rejection a number of times, I know that it is an event that is likely to happen – and so the fear seems even more real.

My prayer is that, if rejection occurs, it would be of the gospel and never of me or my methods. If I am sharing the gospel from a proud, haughty, and hard heart – people will react to me as the messenger. I desire to share with a meek (gentle) spirit:
1 Peter 3:15-16
15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear: 16 Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ.

Lately I had some travel via airplane, and had a lot of opportunities to share. And I had several experiences that relate to rejection.

With one of the flights, I sat next to a gentleman who was friendly, although we didn’t talk a lot since he was busy with his book and I was busy with my laptop. At the end of the flight I gave him a million dollar bill and a tract. He thought it was neat and was thanking me --- until I shared that they were gospel tracts. He then handed them BOTH back and made it clear that he wasn’t interested, and he even seemed offended that I would give them to him in the first place. I experienced a definite dose of rejection.

But, as I think back to that moment – while it was painful - someone politely handing a tract back and saying they aren’t interested really isn’t that bad. He didn’t tear them up into little pieces in front of me and then throw them on the ground. He didn’t spit in my face. He didn’t physically assault me. He didn’t go to the airline and file a complaint that I was harassing him by trying to force my religion on him. He was polite and respectful in doing what I would hope anyone would do that didn’t want the tracts: simply handing them back. And, to be very honest, if someone doesn’t want the tracts I’m offering them, I don’t want to force the tracts on them.

And I think back to Jesus’ words:
John 15:20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept My saying, they will keep yours also.

I have also thought to myself: if I was to face rejection every time I shared the gospel with someone or tried to give out a tract, would that change the command that the Lord has given me to be busy sharing Him with others? When Jesus gave us the instruction to be busy witnessing, he didn’t include a rejection clause:

Matthew 28:18-20
18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth. 19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

In fact, when Jesus tells me that He’ll be with me, it is an encouragement that, even when I face rejection, He’ll be there. He knows exactly what rejection is like.

And yet I still seem to struggle with the fear. I can think right thoughts in my mind, but I still have to make the conscious choice to overcome the fear – through the strength of Christ – instead of giving in to it.

I believe the key to overcoming the fear of rejection is to do just that: step forward and overcome it. By repeatedly doing so, the fear seems to lessen, even though, for me, it doesn’t ever seem to go away.

Practically speaking, how does overcoming the fear result in encouragement? Because not every one rejects the gospel or tracts...

On these recent flights: I faced one rejection, but had perhaps 10 or so instances of acceptance. Two of those remain in my mind. They seem simple and unimportant, but they encouraged my heart.

If you have flown recently, you’ve noticed that the airlines like to board flights REALLY early. And if you aren’t on the plane twenty minutes prior to scheduled departure, they can actually cancel your ticket. I am usually working on my laptop up until the last minute to board the flight, and a number of times I’ve been the last one on the plane – and then I get to sit with everyone for the next 15-20 minutes while we wait for the flight to depart.

While going to board a flight I was, as usual, one of the last ones to the counter. The fellow at the ticket counter was friendly. After he scanned my ticket and handed back the stub (I forget what we were chatting about), I fished in my laptop bag for a million dollar bill and an “Are You Good Enough to Go To Heaven?” tract. I asked if he had ever been given a million dollar bill before, and he hadn’t – but he was very interested in having one. Even when I told him they were gospel tracts that shared from the Bible about heaven and hell – he was genuinely grateful for them. Not only that, but the lady next to him spoke up and said SHE wanted one. I was experiencing the opposite of rejection: I had someone actually ASKING to be given gospel tracts. And that encouraged my heart!

My final flight was an evening flight that was two and a half hours long. A smaller jet (two seats on each side of the aisle). As usual, the flight was pretty much full. I had an aisle seat (makes the laptop easier to work on), and as I approached my seat I could see that a young “tough” would be next to me: a body-builder, heavily tattooed, with a military-style hair cut.

What a pleasant surprise to find out that he was friendly and outgoing. He was in the military and had a few days before he was being sent to Iraq for a 15-month deployment. He had a wife at home and they had recently found out that she was pregnant. As we talked it became evident that he didn’t want to be away from his family for 15 months, and that he was concerned about his safety. He enjoyed sharing about his tattoos (each one was custom, and some of them had cost $300+) and his military career. We touched briefly on spiritual things, but I didn’t feel led to go through the law with him right then. Once the plane was at altitude I started work on my laptop and he slept the rest of the flight.

When we landed we talked some more, and that is when I gave him several tracts. I shared that I would pray for his safety – and he was incredibly grateful and genuinely moved. He thanked me several times for the tracts and he promised that he would read the tracts. Here was a “tough guy” that had not rejected the gospel (well, at least he hadn’t rejected the initial sharing of the gospel), but had instead been willing to open his heart and share his fears and concerns – while promising to read the gospel tracts.

Lord Jesus, may I always speak truth to myself when I am faced with a fear. And when it is the fear of rejection in sharing the gospel, may I rest in Your promise to be with me, and rejoice in Your goodness to me demonstrated in past acceptances of the gospel.

Discussion with an ordained Baptist Deacon?

2007-03-10T15:22:00.000-06:00

Today we were back at the homeless shelter for our once-a-month service. The Lord blessed our time, and our prayer is that He received glory and honor as a result of the service and time there, and that men were challenged and encouraged in their walk with Christ Jesus.

After the service, and while the men were eating I happened to strike up a conversation with a man that was in our area as a result of Hurricane Katrina (he was originally from New Orleans). We talked a bit about his vocation (computers) and then I brought up his relationship with the Lord.

I found out very quickly that he claimed to be an ordained Baptist Deacon, and that he had been to Baptist Seminary. And yet, my heart went out to him as we talked about the Lord Jesus Christ.

I brought up the ten commandments, and when I asked if he had kept some of them, none of them, or all of them, he felt he had basically kept them all – or at least that was his goal. “So, would you consider yourself to be a good person”, I asked. “Definitely good, in fact, I’m awesome!” was the response.

He said that at a Baptist Convention (I wasn’t sure how much of this I was believing, but I didn’t want to debate minor details but rather focus on the major issues) they had discussed the commandments, and decided that the 9th commandment, “thou shalt not steal”, was the most important. I pointed out that God had put the most important one first, but that all of His commandments are important. He would have none of that, and kept explaining the importance of economics and stealing.

As we talked, it soon became very clear that he doesn’t believe the Word of God. He felt that God was logical, and, as such, we could use our logic – apart from God’s Word – to define Who God is. I agreed that God is logical, but said that He has revealed Himself to us in His Word. For example, God said that if we break His law, we are guilty and deserve hell. That’s very logical to me. Here is the law – and here is the consequence (that's the way human court systems also work). This man vehemently disagreed. He felt someone that had only committed 500 sins would be much more worthy of heaven than someone that had committed a million sins.

When I shared Romans 3:23 with him and showed him the verse (For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God), explaining that, in God’s eyes, 1 sin, 500, or 1,000,000 – it doesn’t matter – we have all fallen short of God – he once again vehemently disagreed and felt that was my opinion.

I tried very hard not to argue with him, and it soon became obvious that sharing with him was going nowhere – and that it was fruitless. I gave him a tract to read later on (titled “Are you a good person?”).

At one point I asked him if he was aware that the Jesus had specifically said that no one is good but God - his response was that Jesus didn’t say that (Matthew 19:17 And He said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God… Mark 10:18 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God. Luke 18:19 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that is, God.) At that point, I said the conversation wasn’t of any benefit and that we obviously disagreed, because I believed God’s Word – word for word – and he had chosen not to.

I got up to end the conversation, and was surprised that he got up to continue the conversation with me. He had become very animated and fairly upset through it all.

I pray that the Holy Spirit will use the conversation that we had to get a hold of his heart.

My goal had been to share the truth in gentleness and love, and I trust his becoming upset was a sign that the Lord was working in his heart.

RSS and blog update...

2007-02-14T09:48:00.000-06:00

When Blogger converted my blog to the new format, it also refreshed all of my RSS feed items. Those of you that watch the blog via an RSS reader will see a lot of items showing up as "new" - that are actually old. My latest post is the one about the "queen of heaven".

Queen of Heaven?

2007-02-14T09:28:00.000-06:00

Yesterday evening in our family devotions we were reading in Jeremiah. We read a reference to the “queen of heaven”. I know that Catholics refer to Mary as the queen of heaven, and I decided to do a little research.

I was shocked by what I found.

In Jeremiah, several times throughout the book, God, through Jeremiah, is exhorting the people of Israel to stop worshipping idols, and to not worship or pour out libations to the queen of heaven. Jeremiah warns of the consequences of idolatry and worshiping anything or anyone other than the God.

Scripture clearly teaches that there is no mediator other than the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Timothy 2:5 “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus”) – which means we are not to pray to anyone other than Him.

The clear teaching of the Catholic Church is that it is good and proper to pray to Mary, and on top of that, the Catholic Church clearly calls her the queen of heaven?!?

Link to the Official Vatican web page

ENCYCLICAL (a letter to be circulated through the Catholic Church) OF POPE PIUS XII ON PROCLAIMING THE QUEENSHIP OF MARY TO THE VENERABLE BRETHREN ….

From the earliest ages of the catholic church a Christian people, whether in time of triumph or more especially in time of crisis, has addressed prayers of petition and hymns of praise and veneration to the Queen of Heaven….

What is even more amazing is that the Catholic Bible actually includes similar references (in Jeremiah) to the dangers of worshipping the “queen of heaven”! Any “good” Catholic, by definition, must worship (that is what praise and veneration is) and idolize the queen of heaven.

I would encourage any Catholic reading this to please spend a few minutes studying this – for yourself – in God’s Word (even the Catholic translation would be acceptable for looking at these verses) and study the references in Jeremiah to the queen of heaven – read the verses before and after to get a feeling for what is happening and the dangers of what the Israelites were doing by their idolatry, and the judgment that was soon coming upon them. I’ll include the verses below for those that would like quick and easy references…

In this first reference Jeremiah was encouraged to not even pray for their repentance because God was so angry with them:

Jeremiah 7:16-20
16 Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me: for I will not hear thee. 17 Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 18 The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger. 19 Do they provoke me to anger? saith the LORD: do they not provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces? 20 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, mine anger and my fury shall be poured out upon this place, upon man, and upon beast, and upon the trees of the field, and upon the fruit of the ground; and it shall burn, and shall not be quenched.

This is a longer reference, and includes a response from the people after being rebuked by Jeremiah for worshipping the queen of heaven. Their response was that they would continue, despite the fact that God’s Word was clearly telling them to stop. God, once again, said that He would destroy them as a result of their not turning from their idolatry.

It’s interesting to note that, in Scripture, prayer is pictured as incense (Rev 5:8; Rev 8:3; Rev 8:4), and these idolatrous Israelites were burning incense to the queen of heaven – and refused to stop! On top of that, the reason they wanted to continue praying to the queen of heaven is that they believed she was answering prayers – something which is claimed by the Catholic Church, but is contrary to Scripture.

Jeremiah 44:15-22
15 Then all the men which knew that their wives had burned incense unto other gods, and all the women that stood by, a great multitude, even all the people that dwelt in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying, 16 As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the LORD, we will not hearken unto thee. 17 But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem: for then had we plenty of victuals, and were well, and saw no evil. 18 But since we left off to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, we have wanted all things, and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine. 19 And when we burned incense to the queen of heaven, and poured out drink offerings unto her, did we make her cakes to worship her, and pour out drink offerings unto her, without our men?
20 Then Jeremiah said unto all the people, to the men, and to the women, and to all the people which had given him that answer, saying, 21 The incense that ye burned in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, ye, and your fathers, your kings, and your princes, and the people of the land, did not the LORD remember them, and came it not into his mind? 22 So that the LORD could no longer bear, because of the evil of your doings, and because of the abominations which ye have committed; therefore is your land a desolation, and an astonishment, and a curse, without an inhabitant, as at this day.

If you have your Bible out, I would encourage you to keep reading and studying past verse 22 in the above section (in your Bible) as the judgment continues, with yet another reference to the “queen of heaven” in verse 25.

I knew the Catholic Church idolized Mary as the queen of heaven, and I knew it was contrary to the clear teachings of Scripture, but I was absolutely struck yesterday evening and this morning with the amazing clarity of God’s Word on the subject, and the incredible parallels between burning incense and offering prayers...

May none of us simply follow the teachings of man or a religious system, but may each of us be in the Word on a daily basis, following after the Lord Jesus Christ and learning of Him!

Yet another open customer service rep...

2007-02-07T16:35:00.000-06:00

We’re back on the road for another few weeks (ministry trip). We are praying that the Lord will provide many open doors to share the gospel as we travel and share at a few small conferences.

Before leaving I called in to our cell phone company to have the data plan changed around a bit. I talked with a gentleman who helped me get everything squared away (actually, later, I found out it was the wrong package and I had to call back in – but at the time, it appeared everything was set!).

After he had helped me with the data plan he asked if there was anything else he could do to help me out. I said the cell phone was all set, but that I had another question not related to cell phones for him – if he had a minute. I had been praying (in my heart) during the phone call that the Lord would give me an opportunity to share with him, and when I asked the question I was praying that the Lord would give him a favorable reply.

He said – “go ahead”. I even double-checked his availability by saying something to the effect of “I know you probably have other calls coming in, but this’ll be quick” – and he again said “not a problem, I have time.”

I asked if he had ever heard of or taken the good person test, and he said that he hadn’t. I said it only takes a few minutes and has a “moral” at the end (that’s how unbelievers would view a spiritual truth, although salvation is far greater than simply a “moral”!). I asked if he considered himself a good person, and he said that most of the time, but, if he’s honest, not all the time. I was impressed with his answer, because a lot of people simply say “Yep, I’m good.”

I asked if he was familiar with the ten commandments, and he was. I asked if he felt he had kept all of them, none of them, or some of them. He felt he had kept most of them – but, again, to be honest, he had broken some of them.

I shared the honesty is a good one to start with, since it is the 9th commandment, that we are to never tell a lie. I acknowledged that I have told lies, and asked if he ever had. He said he had, and when I asked what that would make both he and I, he came up with the word “liars”.

The 8th commandment is that we are to not steal anything. I shared that I have stolen in the past, and that most people have stolen something when they were young, but tend to do less as they grow older - and I asked if he had ever stolen something. He acknowledged that he had stolen something when he was younger. I asked what that would make both of us and he said “thieves”.

The 3rd commandment is to not take God’s name in vain, and while he couldn’t remember a specific time, he was confident he had at some point. I said God calls that “blasphemy”.

I then said that, while people would look at him and see a good person, and he was able to get our cell phone all squared away, God would look at his heart, or mine, and see someone that is a lying, thieving, blasphemer at heart.

I asked if he were to die, and God were to judge him based on those ten commandments, as He says He will, would he be innocent or guilty. He said that, based on those commandments, he would be guilty.

I asked where he would then spend eternity, heaven or hell? He paused for a moment, and said that, he couldn’t say because his coworkers might misunderstand the conversation and think he was swearing, but that it was rather obvious.

I appreciated his sensitivity, and asked if his eternal destination concerned him – it did.

I then spent a few minutes sharing the gospel with him, and encouraging him to repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. He has a Bible at his house, and I encouraged him to be reading in the book of John.

As we talked, I shared the difference between head knowledge (knowing about what Jesus has done for someone – as one would know a historical fact), versus life-changing repentance (actually turning away from the sin in ones life and living fully surrendered to the Lord Jesus Christ) and belief in Jesus. He understood it to the point where he said most people know about Jesus with head knowledge – but they aren’t willing to change the way they life with heart knowledge.

I was surprised at his understanding of what he needed to do, but was saddened that he wouldn’t actually take the step and be broken before the Lord, but I have been praying for his salvation…

A cold telemarketer hangs up on me...

2007-01-11T16:32:00.000-06:00

Earlier this afternoon I received a phone call from a major credit card company. They are offering a credit card that gives 5% rebates on purchases of regular office supplies.

I shared with the lady on the phone that we have a credit card that gives 3% rebates on office supplies (although we hardly ever buy items that qualify!) and are currently happy with the current card. I did say that we would keep them in mind if we ever did want the higher rebate amounts.

She went on to share about the online control panel for the credit card and the controllable spending limits. I shared why that wouldn’t make a difference for us, and said we were happy with our current card.

She went on into some other advantage, and I politely shared why we were happy with our current card, but that we would keep them in mind.

I then confirmed her name (I had heard it at the first, but wasn’t exactly sure I had heard it correctly), and said I had a question for her – she was open. But then I said it didn’t have to do with the credit card – she hesitantly said “OK”.

I asked if she had ever taken the good person test, and she emphatically said that she had. I asked if she had passed it, and she said she did. I said I had taken a good person test, but had failed it. I mentioned that my test had to do with the ten commandments and had an important moral at the end (obviously, the gospel message is WAY beyond a mere “moral” teaching, but, to an unbeliever, it helps them understand that the process is “leading somewhere”).

She was becoming a bit more hesitant to take the test and I encouraged her that it wasn’t a hard one at all. I asked if she considered herself a good person, and she said she did – but she wasn’t wanting to go on!

Since I could sense that she didn’t really want to go on, I even apologized for being “off script” (I could tell that the beginning of the conversation was being read from a script, due to her tone of voice).

She was even a bit defensive about the test, wondering if I was the one that made the judgments and set the rules!

At one point she said this was a business call (meaning she wanted to keep talking about the credit card). I shared that we had talked about business, but I had expressed to her that we were not interested in the credit card, and thought she might be interested in then taking the test.

She was then being quiet, and I actually encouraged her to not hang up on me as she probably doesn’t like it when customers hang up on her (I have had other telemarketers hang up on me before). She then rattled off a goodbye “Thank you for talking with me today and if you have any other questions about our credit card offers please call us at 888-nnn-nnnn, goodbye” and hung up.

I genuinely had an interest in sharing the gospel with her, and was surprised that she didn’t go through the test. I did not bring up the good person test in order to get her off the phone – I could have politely said goodbye and hung up at any time.

I believe telemarketers are harder to share the gospel with because of the types of people they speak with all day. Some people even have a hobby of recording telemarketing calls and “pranking” them with odd questions and conversations.

I was praying that the Holy Spirit would work in her heart while we shared, but she apparently wasn’t open. And, who knows, she could have even had her supervisor listening in on the call at that point (I suspect a lot of those call centers either record their operators phone calls or have supervisors that listen in at different times to make sure the person is “selling” properly).

I did have an opportunity to share on the phone with a customer service rep at an insurance company earlier in the day. It was a short time of sharing, but the Lord Jesus Christ seemed to bless it and I was able to share the gospel and encourage the reading of His Word (especially the book of John).

Today was a blessed reminder that the Lord doesn’t hold me responsible for the way people respond, but He does expect me to be sharing and planting the seed - in gentleness, with concern, and always founded on the truth of His Word.

Ezekiel 3:18-19: When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.

Gospel of John as a tract...

2007-01-09T14:42:00.000-06:00

I know I’ve mentioned this before, but today I was out running errands and when I was grabbing tracts to take with me, I only happened to have million dollar bills and gospels of John on my desk.

Finding good tracts can be hard, and while a well written gospel tract can be very effective, I believe it’s hard to do better than the actual Word of God.

Isaiah 55:11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it SHALL accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. (emphasis and CAPS added)

When checking out at a store today I asked the lady if I had ever given her a million dollar bill before (I didn’t think I had as she looked unfamiliar to me). She said I hadn’t – but was very interested in one. I asked if she liked to read things, and she said she did. I gave her a Gospel of John with a million dollar bill in it as a book mark. She was actually grateful for them and thanked me. While one cannot base the workings of the Spirit and the success of sharing the gospel on how someone first responds to the Word, it was a blessing to have her accept them!

As I’ve posted earlier, I ordered my Gospel of John’s from the Pocket Testament League (www.pocketpower.org). I don’t care for most of the covers they have because they make the Word of God to look like some little religious pamphlet that a cult would be handing out. I went with the plainer cover that shows loaves of bread and is titled “Bread of Life.” They send out the gospels for free, but ask for a donation to cover their shipping costs, and obviously they appreciate donations to cover the printing costs as well.

If you decide to join the Pocket Testament League, I guess there is a way to put in a “referral” or “member” number – so you could put mine in (224553). Supposedly, there is a way that you can see how many gospels you’ve given away on the site, and if other people join using your referral number, you can see how many THEY have given away. I tried checking the site once to see if I could find those stats, but didn’t notice them… But, it would be an encouraging way to see how God might be using the gospels that were handed out to encourage others to do the same.

What does a Muslim have to do to get to heaven?

2006-12-15T13:40:00.001-06:00

I’m sorry I haven’t posted an update in awhile. The Lord has continued to give opportunities to share the gospel, and, as I have found in the past: any time I disobey and keep quiet (in essence, denying my Lord) I regret it bitterly and anytime I obey by sharing (no matter how the person responds) I am blessed and encouraged.

I was recently traveling cross-country... I had a number of opportunities to give out tracts, and even had some rejections. At a McDonald’s we stopped at the pony-tail wearing manager who checked us out, said it was against policy for him to accept a “ticket to heaven” since it was considered soliciting. He did accept an optical illusion tract – but I told him he probably wouldn’t want that either because it had the gospel message on the back. It’s the first time a worker at McDonald’s has ever turned one down – but it was funny – instead of giving back the optical illusion tract he handed it to a co-worker. I guess it is against policy for him, as the manager, to accept a gift of a gospel tract that he can read later, but he can turn and hand it (on the job) to an employee for them to read later!! But, it is a good reminder that we need to be sensitive to others that are “on the job” and also be respectful of private property when we are out and about.

On one of my return flights, I had the privilege of sitting next to a middle-aged man from Canada. As we started talking, I asked about his accent and found he is originally from Kabul, Afghanistan. He immigrated to Canada in 2002. We talked about Afghanistan and his life for a while – and I was fascinated to hear first-hand details of his life and the move to Canada. Eventually, I found out he was a Muslim and began asking questions about the Muslim faith.

I said, as a Christian, I’m always curious when I hear people say that “if you kill an infidel you go to heaven” and other things – to find out whether they were actually in the Koran. I figure there are a lot of professing Muslims that probably don’t even read the Koran, just as there are a lot of “professing” Christians that don’t even read the Bible (Matthew 7:21-23). He agreed that it is a problem: the Muslims that don’t know what the Koran says, and he said the Koran says it is NEVER acceptable to take another’s life (I was a bit surprised with that considering how strict the Islamic law is?!?).

I asked what a Muslim must do to get to heaven according to the Koran. He said you must do good works and be a contributor to society. I asked then about heaven/hell and punishment. He said that bad deeds will be punished: the worse the deed the worse the punishment. I never did understand then, whether that means a person goes to hell first for their punishment, and then to heaven. Or if everyone goes to the same place which is mixed with suffering and then blessing – that part didn’t make sense.

As he shared about his Muslim beliefs, he said that he believes all religion is like the branches of a tree and that they share the same roots. I was so very grateful to the Holy Spirit that this man mentioned that, because it gave the perfect springboard to begin sharing the gospel message with him.

After he was done sharing, I was grateful that he had been open and took the time to share (it was my first real opportunity to talk with and learn from a Muslim who wasn’t wanting to debate or argue, but was genuinely sharing).

I then said he might be curious to hear what the Bible actually teaches about heaven and hell – because I said that there are several things which completely and totally separate Christianity from every other religion in the world (relating to what he said about them all being the same). Over the next hour and a half, I had the opportunity to share from God’s Word, and my heart, and show him these three differences:

Difference #1 - The Bible teaches that there is NOTHING we can do to earn our own salvation in our own good works.

I said that every other religion I have come across appears to have a system whereby you work towards heaven (and he couldn’t disagree because he had just said all religions were the same!). We then looked up a number of Scripture verses and I read them aloud while he intently followed (I would have liked to have him read them out loud, but the time I asked him to, he read silently, so from then on I read them out loud while he followed along).

The main two verses were from Ephesians 2, 8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.

We talked about a lot of different things, but one illustration that the Lord put on my heart I shared with him – and I was a little emotional sharing it, and noticed he also had tears in his eyes…

If he and I were buddies fighting in a war, and were down in a bunker during battle one day, when the enemy threw a hand grenade into the bunker – and he, in order to save my life, jumped on the grenade and was instantly killed (this has happened many times – read the online Medal Of Honor Citations for the US Army). But let’s say he had a wife and a young child back home that were now left all alone. I said I would go back to the States after the war and would do whatever I could to look after and provide for them. He agreed – any soldier would do that. I said I wouldn’t be doing it to earn what he had down for me, or even to pay him back. One could never earn such a gift or repay such a sacrifice. I would be doing it because of my heartfelt gratitude for what he had done. THAT is why Christians do good works – not to earn our salvation, but out of gratitude to the Lord Jesus Christ for what He has done for us.

Difference #2 – The Bible (and Jesus) teach that Jesus is actually GOD.

Every other religion that I am aware of believes that either Jesus was a good person, a teacher, a false prophet, the “son” of God – ANYTHING except that actual truth of what Jesus said and the Bible says: Jesus IS God and was also fully man.

A person CANNOT believe Jesus is simply a prophet (as the Muslims and Jews both believe) – because a prophet can never speak something that is not true. At least twice, while Jesus was on earth, He claimed to be God, and each time the Jews picked up stones to kill him (specifically because He claimed to be God). If Jesus was truly a prophet, the Words He spoke were true (which they are) – and that means He is God. If the words He spoke were not true, then He would have to be a liar. You cannot believe that Jesus was simply a good man or teacher – there is no middle ground. Either He is Who He says He is – or you have to believe something else.

John 8:57-59 (KJV)
57 Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? 58 Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. 59 Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.

John 10:30-33 (KJV)
30 I and my Father are one. 31 Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him. 32 Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me? 33 The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God. (emphasis added)

Difference #3 – A relationship with Jesus is a LIVING relationship – not a stale religion with a set of rules.

Having the Holy Spirit alive and at work in our hearts is a wonderful thing. It is something we cannot comprehend. No other religion (that I am aware of) is a living relationship with the God of Creation (the Lord Jesus Christ) – Praise Jesus!

We talked the entire hour and forty-five minute flight, and stood in the terminal and talked another twenty minutes. He asked some sincere and honest questions about the claims the Bible makes, and I showed him verses and said I would e-mail him others. I am praying that he will e-mail me soon (his e-mail account is blocked so that only people that he e-mails to can e-mail him – that way he doesn’t get junk mail and spam).

I was very, very excited to see the Lord working in hearts!

Black Friday

2006-11-27T14:32:00.000-06:00

What a perfect title for the day of the year that all of America seems to idolize the buying of more worldly possessions. And yet, when everything is all said and done:

Matt 16:26 (KJV) 26 For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

And sadly, for two young men (one of whom was from our town), Friday was truly a black day for them: they both died in an auto accident at 1:30 a.m. after their vehicle left a rural road and hit a tree. The obituaries make no mention of the Lord Jesus Christ, or their relationship with the Lord. The Lord Jesus Christ is the Judge Who will judge all men, but, from all appearances, those two young men, one 21 and the other 22, are both now in hell.

If someone had approached them on Thanksgiving Day (Thursday) and said “Do you think you’ll die tonight in an auto accident?” I will almost guarantee they would have said “No way! Are you crazy?” And yet they are both now gone.

For us, Black Friday was spent with a Pastor and his family that were visiting our family from out of state. We had a wonderful day of fellowship and encouragement in the Lord Jesus Christ.

On Saturday, we went to the nearest large town and one the stores we visited was a major outdoor/adventure store. It was extremely busy. I didn’t need to purchase anything (as was the case with most of the others in the family – I think one person was needing to make a purchase), so we all split up into groups of two or three to see if we could share the life-giving gospel and hand out gospel tracts on the day after Black Friday.

NOT EASY!

We were not doing a mass tract distribution because we respected the fact that we were on private property, and the store wanted people to be shopping. As such, we only gave tracts to people if we had a conversation with them and they were interested in receiving tracts. I had quite a few conversations – and I’ve found the conversations can be hard to start. Not every conversation turns to the Gospel – but that is always the goal…

It started with the older couple outside at a table where they were selling raffle tickets for a shotgun. We talked about hunting (I’m not a hunter of animals, but am a fisher of men) and the weather. Towards the end of the conversation I gave them a few tracts (including a million dollar bill) which they accepted.

Inside, a lady was passing out postcards that encouraged people to sign up for a store credit card. I said “Great – I’ll trade you. I’ll take one of those and you can have these to look at later.” She accepted the tracts and I talked with her about the credit card for a few minutes.
As we walked around in the store I noticed an older gentleman looking at ball caps embroidered with the name of the store on the cap. I remembered the credit card offer in my pocket and pulled it out to start a conversation with him. “Did you know that if you sign up for their credit card they’ll give you a ball cap?” I showed him the postcard and we started talking. We talked about credit cards, interest rates, and society in general for a few minutes before we parted company (I didn’t offer him any tracts).

I went upstairs where I saw an older gentleman leaning on a railing looking out over the store and some of their nature displays. I leaned on the railing next to him and also looked out over the nature displays. After a minute I took my weight off the railing and said “Whoa – I hope we’re not both putting all our weight on this thing – who knows how strong it is.” He laughed, and we started talking about building codes and engineers. He then asked where I was from (nearby), while it turns out he was a tourist from another state. We talked for five or ten minutes. I gave him a little souvenir (a million dollar bill tract) and attempted to bring up the gospel. However, his wife showed up right then and he wanted to move on – so the friendly conversation came to an amicable conclusion.

Instead of actively walking around and fishing for men, I thought I’d sit on a bench near an indoor pond and see if any fish would “jump into the boat” by sharing the bench. Soon after I sat down a young teenage boy sat down and was talking on his walkie-talkie and looking around. I started a conversation by asking if he had a ham radio or a talk-about. He said it was just a talk-about. I mentioned I have my ham license but that the funny thing is, in the more than 10 years since I was licensed, I have never once talked on a ham radio. He was waiting for his parents to pick him up. I looked at my watch and told him I was sitting for a few minutes but had to be up at the front of the store in three minutes to meet up with the rest of my family (we had pre-arranged the schedule). I shared a few tracts with him and encouraged him to show them to his parents and read/discuss them with them.

At the entrance I saw a family of plain brethren gathered and waiting (probably for others that were still shopping). With their conservative clothes they definitely stood out from the other holiday shoppers! I’m guessing they were probably Amish or Mennonite. I went up to the father and said it was a blessing to see some plain brethren (I hope they are OK with that title??), shook his hand, and asked if they believe the Bible is God’s Word. He said they do – so I said he would probably enjoy reading some of the tracts we were handing out at the store. We had a nice chat for another minute or so (they were from out of town and were visiting his sister).

I had a few other conversations that didn’t go far – but, all in all, I had a wonderful time meeting people and learning about them and attempting to share the gospel. From past experience I know that shopping areas can be very difficult places to share the gospel:

Mark 10:25 (KJV) - 25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

but it was worth it! And, as verse 27 says "with God all things are possible"! May the Word of the Lord that is contained in the tracts bring forth much fruit in the lives of those that received the tracts.

Nursing Home Catholics (very sad)

2006-11-14T21:21:00.000-06:00

Catholics that are living in nursing homes are some of the saddest people I know. And truly, if I was in their shoes (approaching death with no hope of heaven) I would be more than sad – I would be petrified.

There are two people at the nursing home that I have invited (a number of times) to attend our service. We preach God’s Word, and most Catholics claim to believe what the Bible says. I have encouraged these two to attend the service, listen to the preaching, and let me know if any word is spoken that isn’t supported by Scripture. Both have, so far, refused to attend. The one is a woman who prefers to spend the time in her room watching TV and reading secular romance novels. I have never seen her reading a Bible and have not seen one in her room. The other is a man (they aren’t related), who prefers to sit by the nurse’s station and read Western novels instead of attending. He doesn’t own or read the Bible. I asked if he would like a Bible (I was going to give him one as a gift) and he said “no”.

We did have a Catholic lady attend our service this last time. She is a relatively new resident at the nursing home. As we spoke of the Lord and her background, she shared that she was a Catholic. I said she was still welcome to attend our service as we worship the Lord Jesus Christ and we preach God’s Word. As we talked, I asked her how a Catholic gets to heaven. Her response was heartbreaking: by attending Mass, taking communion, and attending church (the importance of attending Catholic services was so burned into her mind that she said it twice with different words). No mention of sin, salvation, redemption, or the Lord Jesus Christ.

Acts 4:12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

These people have been lied to and deceived throughout their entire lives (and yes, they, as everyone, ultimately bear the responsibility for believing the lies and not repenting and believing in the Lord Jesus Christ) – and it breaks my heart to see them so close to eternity.

I would implore and beg any Catholic that happens to see this blog: begin reading your Bible before it is too late! While the sooner you forsake false doctrine and repent of your sins and believe in Jesus – the better – all I ask is that you begin by reading God’s Word to see if the things your church teaches you are in accordance with what God says in His Word.

If you will sit down, open God’s Word, and pray “God, if you are real, and if this is your Word, I ask you to reveal Yourself to me. AND, as you reveal Yourself to me, I commit to obeying what You tell me to do” I guarantee He will reveal Himself to you. How can I make such a promise? Actually, God Himself says that He will.

John 7:17 “If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.”

Meaning that if you desire to do God’s will, He will reveal truth to you.

If you will commit to spending 30 minutes a day reading the New Testament with an open heart as you seek God – your life will never be the same.

I have yet to meet a Catholic that spends time in the Word on a daily basis. (I’m not saying such a person doesn’t exist, it’s just that out of the many Catholics I have met, I haven’t yet come across one that reads God’s Word on a daily basis).

How is your relationship with the Lord?

2006-11-13T09:27:00.001-06:00

Or even “Do you have a relationship with the Lord?” ----- I have found that those are not good questions to ask someone when you are attempting to determine if they know the Lord or not.

We went back to the homeless shelter over the weekend for a chapel service. In starting a conversation with one man I asked how his relationship with the Lord was – and he said it was good. I asked if he knew the Lord as his Savior – and he said he did. I was suspecting that neither of those were true, but had already somewhat boxed myself in! After we chatted a few more minutes I brought up the ten commandments and asked if he was familiar with them – he was. I asked if he felt he kept or broken then – he felt he had kept them. So, we took a few minutes to look at God’s law (I like to include myself anytime I’m going through the law with someone), and we both came up guilty. I asked him what would happen on judgment day, after he dies, when God judges his life based on the ten commandments, would he be innocent or guilty – he said he would be guilty. Where would he spend eternity, heaven or hell? Hell.

I spent the next few minutes verbally sharing the gospel with him and encouraging him to repent of his sins and believe on Jesus (and the while praying that the Holy Spirit would bring conviction to his heart), and while he did listen attentively, he didn’t seem very interested in the gospel. I asked if I could pray for him (he let me do so), and then I left him with a more detailed tract – which I encouraged him to read and to look up any Scripture to see for himself what the verse said. I would have given him a small New Testament but he had a Bible in his backpack.

I had noticed another man who was walking with great difficulty. He was probably in his upper 30’s or lower 40’s, using a cane, and wearing a hospital wrist band. I asked him if he had a back injury. He said he had been stabbed in the back by a “friend” (other people use that as a saying, he meant it literally). He professed to be a believer, but when I asked how he was living on a daily basis (in victory over sin or in defeat), and whether the Lord was possibly trying to get his attention in any areas, he said he definitely believed the Lord was trying to get his attention. We talked for a few minutes and I was able to encourage and challenge him (especially his need to deal with any sin in his life and to be in the Word). I then prayed for his physical healing and for his relationship with the Lord.

I also have some things to share after being at our local nursing and being once again reminded of the terrible deception of the Catholics that are there – it breaks my heart…

And by the way, the question “How is your relationship with the Lord” is likely a good thing to ask a believer. But, even then, something more specific may be better, such as “Have you been spending time in the Word lately?” or, “What has the Lord been doing in you life lately.”

A Telemarketer Hears about my Spiritual Birthday

2006-10-23T20:30:00.001-05:00

Today is my 22nd spiritual birthday. This morning, while at work, a telemarketer called. She was interested in selling me an employee handbook which handily summarizes employment law. After listening to her, I shared that we have a family business and, while we do follow the law, we haven’t run into any employee issues which would cause us to need such a reference. I did say I would take down her information and file it away in my contact list under “employment, guide, reference” so that I could pull up the info if we ever had a need for it.

Towards the end of the call, I knew, as a telemarketer, that she wouldn’t be asking me if there was anything else she could help me with (my normal cue to try and share the gospel) – but somehow she said something which enabled me to mention it was my birthday, but not my normal birthday, it was my spiritual birthday. I said I guess that was a bit weird, for a person to celebrate a spiritual birthday. She was trying to say “no it isn’t” but wasn’t really coming up with the words (because, think about it, the average non-believer DOES think it VERY weird to celebrate a spiritual birthday!). I then said that the birthday commemorates the day I was saved. I asked if she knew where she would spend eternity – heaven or hell. She said she hoped she knew. I asked where, and she said she hoped heaven.

I said there was a short test a person could take to see if that was true, and asked if she had ever taken the good person test. She hadn’t, and she was open.

Over the next fifteen minutes we discussed the law (she was guilty of breaking the commandments we discussed). When she acknowledged taking God’s name in vain, I asked if she had any children (she sounded like she was perhaps middle-aged). She said she did. I said she had hopefully never taken God’s name in vain in front of her children (generally, even unbelievers will try to control their cursing of God when they are around their children) – and she said, unfortunately, she HAD done it around her children. It’s interesting that, to date, every person I have asked that (swearing around their children) has said they have done it.

She was open to the gospel, and I able to share with her the plan of salvation (the key being repentance)...

A Christian Headed for Hell??

2006-10-23T20:19:00.000-05:00

We had a weekend ministry trip last week. Before leaving on the trip, I needed to activate a data package for my cell phone. At the end of the customer service phone call, the rep asked me if there was anything else she could help me with.

I said that there was – but that it wasn’t related to the cell phone - - - did she have just a minute for another question? She said she did.

I asked her if she had ever taken the good person test – she hadn’t. But, after I asked, she said that she considers herself to be a good person. We then took a look at the ten commandments, and she readily admitted breaking the ones we discussed (lying, stealing, blasphemy, and murder of the heart).

When I, with a heart of compassion (because I’m guilty of these same crimes before God), summarized her condition before God (that God would see her as a lying, thieving, blasphemous, murderer at heart), she agreed with me.

I asked her if she were to die, and God judged her by His 10 commandments, as He says He will, would she be innocent or guilty. She said she’d be guilty (as would everyone, I said – because we’ve ALL broken His commandments).

I then asked if she would go to heaven or hell. She paused for a second, and said, “hell.”

I asked her if that concerned her, and she said it did.

Over the next ten minutes I shared the gospel with her and discussed what the Lord Jesus did for her – and what she must do in order to receive His gift (simply knowing about Jesus isn’t good enough – in the same way that knowing a parachute would save you does a person no good as they jump out of a plane – they must actually strap the parachute on!). As we talked, I found out that she not only attends church, but she reads her Bible daily (THAT was amazing!), and is attending a “Purpose Driven Life” Bible Study.

Here is a lady attending a Purpose Driven Life Bible Study that readily admitted she is heading for hell! How could this be?!?

I encouraged her to instead begin studying the book of John and to seek to learn as much as she can about Jesus, and what He has done for her, and what He requires of her. I encouraged her to seek after Jesus until she can say “I know I am headed for heaven – because of what Jesus has done for me.”

She was grateful I shared with her, and I was grateful the Lord opened the door for me to share.

The Effectiveness and History of Gospel Tract Distribution

2006-10-15T22:23:00.000-05:00

Is it good to give out gospel tracts? Are they the most effective way to share with the lost? What about the people and churches that do not believe tracts are worthwhile – but instead believe that it is better to use relationships to share the gospel?

Starting off, I want to say that, truly, the best way to share the gospel is to sit down with someone and share with them. Unfortunately, that would tremendously limit our ability to witness to the lost! So often, the deceptions of Satan involve taking a little bit of truth and mixing error with it. Such is the case with those who only believe in “relationship evangelism”. They have taken the truth that it IS truly best to share in person with a lost person, and ignored the fact that a wonderful secondary method of sharing the gospel is giving the person a gospel tract to read!

For those that believe relationship evangelism is the ONLY way to share the gospel, I would ask how many relationships have you started over the past month? How many have you then shared the gospel with?

When it isn’t possible to sit down and share with someone, I firmly believe the next best way to share the gospel with that person is via a gospel tract. You can then, in essence, share with them through the text later on (if they read it). Over the course of the past year, our family has handed tracts to hundred’s of people with whom we didn’t have time to build a relationship: at many stores (workers and customers), restaurants (to workers and people that were waiting to be served and even patrons at various tables!), the County Fair (we shared personally with hundred’s, but gave out Gospel tracts to thousands that we didn’t have time to build a relationship with), people on the street, people who were out exercising – many, many people! While we have desired to share more with each person, time was too limiting. Instead, we were able to give them a tract and encourage them to read it later.

When a delivery person was at our house the other day we only had a few minutes with him during the unloading process. Not enough time to build a relationship. However, I asked him if he had ever been given a million dollar bill – and he said once, a long time ago, for a promotion – but he didn’t have it anymore and would love another one. I asked him if he likes to read and he said he does. I then gave him a gospel of John (one of the best tracts available since it is strictly God’s Word!) with a million dollar bill in it. He sincerely thanked me, promised to read it, and put it in the bib pocket of his overalls.

Think of it this way… Did God only communicate to us in verbal form only? No. He also communicated to us in written form through His Word. Tracts are a great example of communicating with others through the written word.

Are Tracts Effective? YES!

It is definitely important that you find “good” tracts (ones that include a clear gospel message; we have liked some of the ones from www.LivingWaters.com – but, it is more important that you find ones you like than ones we like!)

A missionary we know that is currently serving the Lord overseas – when he was younger - repented of his sin and trusted Jesus after picking a soggy tract up off of a country road, bringing it home, drying it out, and then reading it. Curiosity is an incredible driving force in people!

Since December of last year (about the time I started this blog), I have given out between 1,000 and 2,000 gospel tracts. To date, I have not heard back from a single person that received a tract. Am I discouraged? NO! Seeds are being sown. I am not responsible for the sinner’s response; my responsibility is simply to share. (read Ezekiel 33:7-9 and see that God required the blood of the wicked at Ezekiel’s’ hand if he wouldn’t share)

If you doubt the effectiveness of tracts, I encourage you to download the MP3 titled “Miracle on George Street” and spend the next 10 minutes listening to it (a big "thank you" to Rand for hosting the file). If your heart is soft you will be moved to tears. If you are not motivated to start passing out gospel tracts – then your heart is hard. Charles Spurgeon, the Prince of Preachers, said, "Have you no wish for others to be saved? Then you are not saved yourself. Be sure of that."

But, you say, I DO desire to see people saved – just not by handing out tracts. If you search your soul I believe the real reason you will find for not wanting to pass out gospel tracts is a fear of man. In Mark 8:38, Jesus said: “Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

The History of Gospel Tracts

Gospel tracts arrived soon after the invention of the printing press in the 1400’s. I haven’t been able to find out too much about their history, but did find an interesting article online that not only shares the History of Gospel Tracts, but also a number of amazing testimonies to their effectiveness. http://www.faithalone.org/journal/1994ii/Brown.html

Ways to Give Out Tracts
I’ve shared a number of ways that I use for giving out tracts already on the blog… Here are a few of the most common times I give out tracts:

At stores/banks/restaurants
When paying bills (I always include one or two in the envelope)
With people that are waiting (whether in line, or sitting on a bench somewhere)
To delivery people

I’d love to hear from any of my readers how they give out tracts.

One thing I try to be careful about is littering. I know a number of people who truly love the Lord and are seeking the lost recommend leaving tracts throughout buildings, on the floor, in restrooms, at payphones, etc. We have struggled with that issue ourselves, and can’t seem to get past the Scriptural commandment for us to obey authorities (Romans 13:1-2), and so I always try to hand a tract to a person – not leave one lying around in such a manner as would be considered littering. I do leave tracts with the tip if I eat at a restaurant, and I have left them on a person’s desk before, but I’m always careful to not litter. (once I left one on the windshield of a man’s truck at the grocery store, but I had just had a conversation with him)

I would also love to hear from any reader’s who are not currently passing out tracts. Why are you not? Are you willing to give them a try? Would you be willing to buy some?

I’d recommend you order pack of Million Dollar Bills, and the comic “Are You a Good Person”, or the plain text tract Are You Good Enough to Go To Heaven (which is VERY thorough), and then give the million dollar bills out with one of the more detailed tracts. It'll cost you about $25 for the tracts, but you will be equipped to share the gospel with about 200~300 people as a result. The weak link in the entire "chain" will be you (or me!) - are we willing to give these out and start conversations with people?

I use this blog as a personal journal, part of the goal being to encourage me when I'm discouraged in sharing with the lost. This post was primarily written to encourage and build up another. Anyone is free to report back and let us know how your, perhaps, first, tract distribution has gone...

Share with the lost!

October's trip to the homeless shelter...

2006-10-14T21:23:00.000-05:00

Today we (as a family - actually, the men in our family) went to the homeless shelter to help with the lunch chapel service. It is about a forty-five minute drive, and we arrived early so that we could setup for some music (we have some traditional "bluegrass" instruments that we use in sharing hymns).

The service is fairly traditional (starts with prayer, then some congregational hymns, followed by the special hymn that we shared, and then the message). I was able to preach today, and had a wonderful time. It was exciting in that the Lord impressed the message on my heart about a month ago. I love preparing messages when the Lord is flooding my heart with His message. Truthfully, there is no such thing as "message preparation" when the Lord isn't speaking to one's heart!

It is always amazing to seek to balance the Lord's love with His justice while sharing with the men. So many hard hearts, and so much pride - and yet there are so many wounded and hurting souls. My prayer is that I will never get in the way of what the Lord would want to accomplish.

After the service I had an opportunity to talk with some of the men (sometimes it is very hard to find men that will open up and share). The first ones I talked with were actually missionaries from foreign countries that were in our town for a missions conference. One man was from Papua New Guinea (and is serving as a missionary to the Solomon Islands), the other was from Colombia. They had a young man with them who was hosting them here in the States, and as he volunteers at the homeless shelter, and their missions conference didn't start until this evening, they came to see what the homeless shelter was like. I had a wonderful time fellowshipping with them.

However, our goal in being there is to share with the lost, so after a wonderful few minutes we brought the conversation to a close and I moved on, looking for those that were open. I talked with one gentleman for a few minutes, but then he got up to join the food line.

As the men were eating I tried to start a conversation with one table, and while doing so a gentleman at the next table over called me over with a question about what we were talking about. I spent the rest of the time talking with this man (Steve) - who turned out to be a believer who was excited about his walk with the Lord, and is learning and growing every day. He spends most of his time reading God's Word - and is at the homeless shelter while he awaits surgery and medical treatment for several conditions that he has. We talked about his testimony (how he met the Lord), the importance of staying in the Word on a daily basis, along with where he was currently reading and what the Lord was showing him. We had a nice time of fellowship and sharing, and then it was time to leave.

I was a bit disappointed that I wasn't able to share one-on-one with a lost person that was seeking the Lord, but I was able to share with the entire group (about 50-60 men) during the service. Praise the Lord for His grace during the message - and may the Spirit be moving in hearts...

An update...

2006-10-14T21:22:00.000-05:00

It seems like it has been forever since I posted. However, the purpose of my blog is not the usual purpose that people have when they blog. My goal in creating this blog was primarily that it would serve as a journal for me – a journal that is a testimony to the Lord Jesus Christ! A journal that would be a source of encouragement when I was discouraged about sharing the Lord with the lost. As such, I haven’t had time to make postings over the past few weeks.

Personally, I was on the road for a month-long ministry trip. I had opportunities to share the gospel through speaking with many, and was even able to speak on the subject of evangelism a number of times. I was able to pass out quite a few tracts. I wish I had come back with many stories about personal witnessing encounters, but I don’t have many stories. I do feel I missed some opportunities to share the gospel – and I have been repenting before the Lord of that.

I have compiled an article about the effectiveness of gospel tracts (primarily in response to Meg’s questions) and am hoping to post it soon. I need to find a way to upload an MP3 file that will accompany the article.

We (as a family, and me, personally) have been unbelievably busy as of late. Not only on the trip (where, in addition to the ministry opportunities and conferences I was at, I was also working every spare moment for my regular vocation). Whenever we return from a trip there is always a lot of projects to catch up on… However, the Lord gives grace, and enables us to accomplish what He would have us to accomplish.

We did go to the homeless shelter for a service today – I’ll post about that bedtime…

The RESULTS of sharing over the phone (and a hard heart story)...

2006-09-11T23:13:00.000-05:00

We’re on the road again, a month-long ministry trip. I’m still planning on posting about tracts, but wanted to give some quick updates…

My father was sharing on the phone last week with a customer service rep using the same method the Lord has led us to use in sharing many other times over the phone. He encouraged the lady to repent and surrender to the Lord that night when she was at home. The next day he ended up talking to the same lady at the same company – and she had done it! Only time will tell if it was a genuine surrender to the Lord – but Praise Him for a sinner that repented (notice Scripture says that the angels rejoice over a sinner that repents – not over a person that “says a prayer”)! May I be diligent to ALWAYS seek to share the gospel when I have phone conversations.

We pass out a number of tracts while traveling, and seek to talk with people as opportunities arise. I haven’t had any unique interactions, but my father did.

Yesterday, at a gas station, he was asking the attendant if he knew where he would spend eternity. The answer “absolutely, I’m headed for hell.” My father asked him if that concerned him, and he said no. Did pain bother him? Nope, he felt he could get used to it.

My father pointed at the lighters that were there and said he didn’t see him holding his finger over the flame. The young man said, “not a problem” and grabbed a lighter, lit it, held his finger over the flame for a second, and then turned it off and said “see!” My father pointed out that it was only a second, not an eternity, and the young man said that he didn’t want to make a mess on the counter (although my father noticed him holding the finger against the glass of the counter as if it was smarting). We are praying that the finger will hurt over these next few days and the Holy Spirit will use that to convict him.

My father asked if he had ever read the Bible, and he said he had – and the Koran, and other religious books. My father asked if he had ever read the Bible and told God that, if He was real and revealed Himself to the young man – he would promise to obey. The young man said he had done that. At one point in his life, he had looked up to the ceiling, and basically swore at God (and he demonstrated for my father). What was interesting, the young man said, was that three minutes after he had previously done that, his ceiling had collapsed on him. My father was flabbergasted and said “Didn’t you see God’s hand and choose to surrender and believe?” and the young man simply said “nope, it was an old ceiling.”

Amazing how hard the human heart can be!

I’ll post more as time allows (being on the road, keeping up with my regular work via the laptop, and ministering while traveling – keeps me very busy).

A Gospel of John and Wal-Mart

2006-08-24T11:44:00.000-05:00

(I was going to post about gospel tracts next – but was excited about this and wanted to share it)

While getting ready to run some errands at Wal-Mart, I was “loading my pockets”: wallet, cell phone (clips on belt), breath mints, keys – and my pocket New Testament. Instead of the New Testament, though, I decided to get a Gospel of John and a million dollar bill to go with it. I hadn’t ever given out a Gospel of John as a tract before, and thought I would give it a try.

When I was ready to check out at Wal-Mart, the lane I ended up in had a middle-aged woman with a crew-cut hairstyle running the register. I thought, “There is no way she’ll be receptive to a tract, and DEFINITELY not a Gospel of John.” Whenever I am giving out a million dollar bill tract at a store while I’m paying for merchandise, I always make sure I get the tract out AFTER I’m done paying. This time, while I was signing the credit card slip, I asked the checker if I had ever given her a million dollar bill before. She said no – but expressed interest in getting one. I asked if she liked to read – and she said she loves to read. I said that was great, because I had a Gospel of John in my pocket that had a million dollar bill in it. I pulled the Gospel out and gave it to her. She was happy to receive it – and thanked me for it! She had a huge smile and was starting to look through it right then (and there were several people waiting in line!).

I was amazed at her reception – when I had already convinced myself that she would reject the Gospel.

And yet, in thinking back to the outing, I missed several opportunities to hand out other tracts because I didn’t have enough in my pockets. I had had a key copied at Wal-Mart, and was helped by a very friendly older gentleman back in the automotive section. In addition, the lady that had been helping a long line of automotive customers had just finished with everyone in the line right as the man was finishing making the keys – I could have easily shared some gospel tracts with both of them.

For anyone else that is interested in some Gospel of John’s (www.pocketpower.org) – I got mine from the Pocket Testament League. They have a number of different Gospels of Johns; although I didn’t care for a number of the various covers (one was a lighthouse, and made me think of a certain cult that hands out religious “literature” to people). I had found a plainer cover that shows loaves of bread and is titled “Bread of Life.” They send out the gospels for free, but ask for a donation to cover their shipping costs, and obviously they appreciate donations to cover the printing costs as well. I had ordered Gospels to have at the Fair about a month ago. I put in an order for 60, and the fulfillment costs were $12 (which translated to $.20 per gospel); I donated an additional $12 to cover the cost of the printing, so my total cost per gospel was $.40.

If you decide to join the Pocket Testament League, please put my “member” number (224553) in when you sign up. Supposedly, there is a way that you can see how many gospels you’ve given away on the site, and if other people join using your referral number, you can see how many THEY have given away. It sounds like an exciting way to witness “multiplication” (much like the claims that multi-level marketing makes – but without the cost, and with the benefit of the gospel being shared!!).

The Pocket Testament League strongly encourages their members to order 30 gospels a month and then give one away per day. They also have an Evangelism Boot camp that is available through e-mail and is something I’ll probably sign up for.

An update, and totals from the Fair...

2006-08-21T21:49:00.000-05:00

This has been a quiet week for me. I came down with a cold following the Fair (I was drained physically and not surprised that I caught something!) and have been resting.

I was excited to be able to share the gospel with a customer service rep on the phone last week. We had ordered a product for our business, but then were called and told the order was on “verification hold” until I called back in to authorize the order. I called in and authorized the order (took 10 minutes on hold, and then 1 minute of talking), and then spent about 10-15 minutes sharing the gospel with a lady who admitted she was headed for hell, but claimed to be a Christian, and also wanted to run her life as it is. I shared with much compassion and gentleness, but was also very direct with her, to the point of telling her she was defaming the name of Christ by claiming to be a Christian while choosing to run her own life. At the end of the call, I could tell she was under heavy conviction. I said I hoped I hadn’t ruined her day, but that it was something she needed to deal with, and she said it was absolutely the case and she thanked me for sharing.

Meg asked about totals from the Fair. I just talked with my brother this evening and have some updated totals. I don’t have a problem sharing specifics since this is an anonymous blog :-) and even if I had underwritten the entire project (which I didn’t), the Lord would get the credit for it anyways – not a person… If this is a help to you in considering such a project – it’s worth it to share it.

Booth at the Fair: $150
8x3 vinyl banner: $80
3,100 soda’s/waters: $775
(the prices varied, but the average price per drink, with tax, was probably right at $.25)
1,000 balloons: $60
4,000 tracts: $350
42 x 20 pound bags of ice: $150
Coolers: borrowed from believers
10 x 10 canopy: borrowed from a church

Total: about $1,500

(there were other expenses, like overnight freight for some tracts because we thought we were running low, but the above represents the major expenses)

Even though we are one family, there are a number of us that are working to support families, so everyone contributed to the project. There were also several other brothers in Christ that wanted to participate financially in the project (one even let us use his pickup truck for the week for transporting coolers – and that was a huge blessing).

While no one surrendered their life to the Lord while we were talking with them at the Fair, there were quite a few who were under heavy conviction and said they were going to get right with God. We don’t push people to “say a prayer” on the spot – if we had simply pushed for that we would have had a number that were willing to say a prayer to get their “ticket to heaven”. However, we were encouraging people to repent of their sins, believe in Jesus, and give Him control of their lives – and that’s a serious thing for a person to do!

I wonder how many people are reading this blog and perhaps haven’t even given full control of their life to the Lord. I had been “saved” for a number of years before I finally gave control of every area of my life to the Lord. In looking back I can’t even say for sure when I was saved. Was it when I prayed, or when I was finally willing to yield everything to Him?

Meg also asked about tracts, their history, and their effectiveness. I’ll likely be posting about that in a few days…

Final County Fair 2006 Report

2006-08-14T10:25:00.000-05:00

What an incredible week. The Lord worked in a mighty way, and sustained us through the late nights and hot weather. Today, as the Lord's day, has been a wonderful day of worship, rest, and recovery.

Friday was a much busier night. The temperature was more moderate (lower 90's, but as soon as the sun had set it was very pleasant), and the crowds were quite large. We probably gave out about 750 sodas and/or waters. The goal was to give each person two tracts with each soda (although some people already had received a certain tract, and we gave them a different one; or, a parent might stop by with several children and the parent was the primary one to receive a tract).

Again, I did hundreds of balloons for children and a number for teenagers.

We had more opportunities to speak one-on-one with people. The wonderful thing was that the tracts we handed out focused on whether we are "Good People" in God's eyes. By handing those tracts out, we could immediately start a conversation with the person about being a good person, or, the next night, if they said they had already received a certain tract, we could ask if they read it, and if they were a good person.

The days seemed to run together, but Friday and Saturday brought even more opportunities to share one-on-one. I recall several instances being able to share with teenage boys about salvation. One had started asking about unicorns in the Bible, and then after we talked about unicorns, we branched into salvation (check out AnswersInGenesis.org for more information about Unicorns in the Bible). He said he didn't truly know the Lord, even though he had prayed when he was younger and occasionally attended church. We not only talked about salvation and the gospel, we talked about what it means to surrender our lives to Jesus - and give Him control of everything. In essence, we were "counting the cost" of surrendering one's life to Jesus.

A lot of groups were even open to the gospel. Sometimes we'd be able to run through the "Good Person" test with four or five people. We had a few people get upset and storm off (one Pastor's son, partway through the "Good Person" test - which he was failing - threw his unopened soda to the ground with such force that it burst and then stormed off saying in disgust "Jesus is my Savior and I don't need any of this!" - wow)

Friday night I got to talk to a "goth" couple. They had walked by the booth a number of times throughout the week and refused drinks a number of times. Finally, late Friday night, when I offered them a balloon they stopped and said "sure." Turns out the girl had young twin sisters and was interested in two identical balloons for them - and they accepted sodas and tracts while they were there.

We haven't figured out the total's for the week: I estimate:
- 2,000~2,500 sodas/waters
- perhaps 4,000 gospel tracts
- opportunity to share individually with perhaps several hundred people

One incredible example of how the Lord works in hearts was in relation to the booth that was next to us. On one side we had a sporting goods store that had several ATV's on display. On the other side there was a water purification company. I don't believe they were actually selling units, but they were giving out free pens and asking people to sign up for a gift card and a free water test kit. It appeared to be a mother and teenage daughter that were working at the booth, along with others at different times. The daughter was not dressed in a Godly fashion.

I'm not sure we had any interactions with the daughter the various nights of the fair (other than giving her a soda and tract), but on Saturday afternoon she stopped by to talk with my sister and sister-in-law. She shared that the previous week they had been at a different Fair and had been next to a ministry of some sort, and that she was becoming convicted about her sin and an eternity in hell. Then, she was amazed that we would be directly next to her at this Fair. Turns out, simply by being next to her those nights at the Fair she was feeling the heavy conviction of the Holy Spirit. She said one of the nights she had a breakdown of some sort - and she had a question for my sister. Was it possible for her to accept Jesus as her Savior but still live as she wanted to?

We believe that one of the biggest reasons for our "success" throughout the week was that we were not affiliated with any church, and were not "funded" by a churches advertising budget. We had a number of people ask what church we were with, and they were always surprised to find out that we were just a family with a desire to share the gospel, and were providing the refreshments ourselves. People that were from churches received the regular "salvation" tracts as well as a special tract for Christians.

The County Fair – First Three Evenings

2006-08-11T12:51:00.000-05:00

Wow – what an experience! I had no idea what to expect, and the Fair has lived up to that expectation.

We’ve been at the Fair Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday evenings. Each evening we arrived about 6:00. We’ve left at various times…

Tuesday and Wednesday were VERY hot (as we arrived at the Fair Wednesday the temperature was 104 degrees). We have an awning, but I’m usually standing in front of it so I get a bit of sunshine until the sun sets about 8:30. Thursday evening was cooler – but was also raining! Yet it was only sprinkles, and they stopped after an hour or two.

We gave away about 400 drinks on Tuesday evening, and probably about 1,000 tracts. And yes – everyone was right – we quickly ran out of water. We brought a much larger percentage of water on Wednesday evening and gave away close to 600 drinks (and probably 1,500 tracts). It’s funny to watch little drink carts drive up and down the main walkway advertising $1 soda’s/water – while we have them for free.

We’ve had lots of opportunities to share the gospel. Besides giving out tracts with drinks as time permits, a good portion of my time each evening is spent in front of the booth making balloon animals and hats for children. It definitely helps draw people to the booth! I’ll usually give the children a tract with the ten commandments in it (designed for children) – and always make sure their parents are OK with it (I have yet to have any parent say “no” – they are always grateful!).

Despite spending most of my time making balloons, I still had opportunities to personally witness to several people on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings. One evening I noticed a young fellow with his girlfriend standing in the walkway outside the booth – talking. I walked over and asked if they had ever gotten a million dollar bill. Neither had, and they both wanted one. I said it had the million dollar question on the back, asking whether they would spend eternity in heaven or hell. We kept talking and I was able to share with them for about five minutes.

One thing we’ve noticed is that a lot of the young people have short attention spans due to the excitement all around. It’s hard to interact with a group of three or four at once because they are always looking around.

Thursday evening was absolutely incredible. Due to the rain and cooler temperatures (about 30 degree’s cooler than Wednesday evening!) the attendance was lower, and less people stopped by for soda or water. However, we still gave away 200-300 drinks and a lot of tracts. We stayed later Thursday evening, and I kept doing balloons while they took down the awning and packed up the coolers.

What was amazing was the teenagers that then showed up! The carnival was shutting down (along with all the booths), but I don’t think they wanted to go home yet. I started doing balloons and sharing the gospel with a group of kids – and continued doing so for the next hour or so. I had a group of between 5 and 15 kids almost the whole time, and there were different ones (most would get a balloon, talk for a while, and then move on).

I gave out all the tracts I had in my apron pockets, and more after my younger brother showed back up (they had hauled everything to the van and were waiting) and fetched some more tracts. I found a more effective way to keep a group of teenagers involved in the balloons: make them all balloon hats, but work on the hats in a random fashion. I’d start by getting everyone one balloon twisted in the base hat shape – and put it on them. Then, as we kept talking (I went through the good person test with a number of the groups), I’d keep adding balloons to the various hats. Girls usually got flower hats, and the guys usually got wild and colorful "crazy hats".

In talking with one group, one of the girls said she had tried to commit suicide when she was younger, and that her father is in prison (for drugs) and her mother lives in a different state. A young fellow shared how his friend recently died. Amazing opportunities!

Some of the young people said they would stop by our booth this evening for a free soda and to talk some more.

If you want to learn some basic balloon twisting, get Balloon Magic - by Marvin Hardy. Amazon has used copies available for $2 or $3. The book is incredible. I use some of the basic shapes, and then do some additional hats I’ve learned elsewhere.

Then, go to T Myers web store. Order several 260 blaster pumps (they are very durable – but you’ll want to always have a spare.

Then, go to the list of Balloons.

I usually get the Qualatex 260Q carnival assortment (bags of 250 cost about $12), as well as Yellow Bee Bodies.

That’s all you need to get started!

Yet another customer service opportunity…

2006-08-07T11:28:00.000-05:00

I needed to call a bank today and order some checks. A routine phone call; I was on hold for a few minutes, and then a few minutes with the customer service rep. In fact, I spent more time answering security questions than I did actually ordering checks!

He concluded the main part of the phone call with the usual question: is there anything else I can do for you?

I said I was set, but that they must be quite busy this morning because I’d had to wait on hold a few minutes. He agreed, and said that their managers were offering them overtime opportunities – which he enjoyed.

I then said that, I didn’t want to take his time on a busy morning, but I did have one other question for him, but that it wasn’t related to banking. He said that wasn’t a problem at all, to take whatever time I wanted and go ahead. I asked if he had ever taken the good person test and he said that he hadn’t.

We then had a good time going through the test. He definitely considered himself to be a good person. He was familiar with the ten commandments, couldn’t name them all, but felt he had kept most of them. He admitted to lying, stealing, blasphemy, and anger (murder of the heart). He said that if he died, and God judged him based on those commandments, he would be guilty. Then, he acknowledged he would be headed for hell – and that it concerned him.

I was once again amazed that, in a few minutes, a banking phone call had turned to an opportunity to witness, and the young man I was speaking with had just acknowledged his guilt before God and the fact that he was headed for hell.

Turns out he has a Bible at home, and occasionally reads it. I didn’t ask if he attends church, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he does. And yet, here is a nominally religious person that is headed for hell! What a travesty!

I wonder how many people read my blog that are in the exact same condition as that young man. Perhaps you also occasionally read your Bible. Perhaps you know a number of facts about God, and about Jesus. Facts will not save you. What you need is a Savior – and yet you must be willing to repent of your sins and believe (with all your heart) on Jesus. Then you must be willing to obey Him!

Repentance is a key aspect of salvation (not only feeling sorry about ones’ sins, but TURNING from them):

Acts 3:19 Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out …

Acts 17:30 … but now commandeth all men every where to repent:

Acts 2:38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

(Keep in mind that baptism doesn’t save a person, but is something that a believer chooses to do after they are saved as a public demonstration of what has happened in their heart. For example, the thief on the cross wasn’t baptized, yet he went to heaven because he repented and trusted in Christ. Not only was the thief not baptized, but he didn’t take communion either!)

As I talked with the young man and encouraged him to get right with God, the idea of hypocritical Christians came up. I shared Matthew 7:21-23 with him (which says people that claim to be Christians but haven’t been saved by Jesus and don’t have a transformed life as a result – are headed for hell) and he agreed. Although he did say that he doesn’t follow anyone, but is his own person. I said that one of his biggest challenges in surrendering his life to Jesus would be that he would have to lay down his will. I said that if he were to study the times in Scripture when people came to Jesus, they always had to be willing to surrender what was most important in their lives. What was fascinating was that the young man agreed with me – but wasn’t ready to get right with God yet.

Since we had already discussed the gospel, the rest of the call we stayed focused on the importance of not delaying our salvation. We talked about trees (once they are bent, it is very difficult to straighten), and how a life that is lived in sin will result in a hard heart – a heart that may not be willing to repent at the end of one’s life (assuming one lives to an old age).

At the end of the call, when I said I hoped I hadn’t taken too much of his time, he said “not at all”, and thanked me for sharing with him.

I pray that he will surrender his life to Jesus before it is too late. If not, he’ll have an eternity in hell to think back to this conversation when he was given the gospel – and yet rejected it. (it’s an interesting study – and perhaps I’ll write about it later – but several Scriptures give an indication that people will have memory in hell and part of their torment will be recalling their life and the way they rejected Christ)

I almost hung up?! But then the Lord opened the door…

2006-08-01T22:25:00.000-05:00

I called to deal with financial software package that had renewed automatically without notifying me. I talked with rep about ways to be notified next year before the renewal (this particular software package has been known to raise their payroll service rates between 50% and 100% in any given year!)…

She had a little bit of an accent, so I suspected she was working in an overseas call center. I worked at speaking very clearly and distinctly while I was on the phone with her.

Afterwards, she asked if I would be willing to take a short customer service survey. I asked (kidding her a bit) if we would win anything as a result. She patiently explained that it was a survey for customer satisfaction and that it only took a little while. I said that would be fine, I don’t mind taking short customer service surveys.

I prayed for the Holy Spirit to open a door, and if the opportunity presented itself, that the Spirit would convict her of sin, righteousness, and judgment. (John 16:8 And when he [the Holy Spirit] is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment).

I then asked if she had just a minute before her next phone call came in because I had a question I wanted to ask her – but said it didn’t relate to business. She was curious and asked what the question was. I said it was a little test, and there was a moral at the end. I said if she had to go at some point it wasn’t a problem, and that it only took a few minutes.

I then asked if she had ever heard of the “Good Person” test. She paused, and hesitantly said she hadn’t. I said it was simple enough, and starts out asking if she would consider herself to be a good person. She paused, and then said “Yes, I would consider myself a good person.”

I said that is how most people view themselves… I asked if she was familiar with the ten commandments. She, again, hesitantly said she was (either she was apprehensive about the call or the possible language differences were causing her to think through each question before she was able to answer). I normally ask if a person feels they have kept all of them, some of them or none, but this time I started right into them.

She started to say that she couldn’t recall all of them, and I said it didn’t matter – we weren’t going to talk about all of them – just a few. I said the 9th commandment is that we are not supposed to lie; I asked if she had ever, in her life, told a lie, a half-truth, or an exaggeration. She had. I said I had done the same. “If we’ve both told lies, what would we be called?” I think the language barrier surfaced as she wasn’t able to quickly come up with the word, so I rather quickly supplied the “liar” term, and she readily agreed.

I said the 8th commandment is that we are not supposed to ever steal from others. I asked if she had ever, in her life, taken something from someone else without permission, even if it was something small, like a cookie from her parents or a toy from a sibling. She said she had done so – when she was young. I said I had done the same. I didn’t ask for the term, but said that we would both then be called “thieves” (and she agreed).

We talked a little about the 3rd commandment (taking God’s name in vain) and she said she had never done that – so we moved on.

Next was the 6th commandment: murder. I asked if she had ever killed someone, and she said “no” (and laughed – usually, when I ask the murder question it is a light hearted moment). I said that was good, but said there was bad news: God created us and knows our hearts and our thoughts, and that if we are even angry in our hearts towards someone God sees it as murder of the heart. I asked if she had ever been angry with others, and she quickly said yes.

I then summarized everything – saying that people would see her as a good person, and she obviously does a good job at her work, but that God would look at her heart (or mine), and see someone who is a lying, thieving, murderer at heart.

I asked if she were to die tonight and God judged her based on those ten commandments, as He says He will, would she be innocent or guilty. She said she would be guilty.

I then asked if she, being guilty, would spent eternity in heaven or hell.

She responded that God would make that decision. I readily agreed with her, but said that God, just like any fair judge and legal system, has told us exactly how He will “rule” when our case comes up. Ezekiel 18:20 – “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.”

I asked her if she was in the United States or another country – and she said she was in a different country. I said that her country surely had a justice system that had laws and consequences for breaking them, and that the judges were required to give out consequences. She said they did. I said that if she did something wrong in her country, even if her father was the judge, he would still be required to pass judgment on her and give her a consequence. She agreed (and I could tell, was understanding the analogy)… I said that is how it is with God. As a good Judge He is required to pass judgment on those that sin.

We talked more about the consequences of sin, and I asked if she had a Bible. She did, and used to read it when she was a student, but now with her job she was too busy. I encouraged her to get back into the Word to discover what Jesus has done for her so that she doesn’t have to spend an eternity in hell.

I outlined the plan of salvation for her, and was careful to stress the importance of surrendering her life fully to Christ; of repenting (stopping) the sinful activities that she was involved in and following Christ with her whole heart – not as so many hypocrites who go to church on Sunday but live like the world the rest of the week and are unknowingly headed for hell.

Matthew 7:21-23 21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

We talked for several more minutes, and discussed several more analogies. When I felt the Spirit saying that enough had been shared, I said I was ready to go on to the customer service survey anytime. She then asked me for my e-mail address (I thought maybe to e-mail me the survey – which I had thought was on the phone) but she went on to say that she might have a spiritual question for me. I said that would be great as we have a web site with a contact form, and that my sister is probably about her age, or that my mother would love to help answer her questions.

I had also asked her if she had any Christians that she knew who were true Christians (and not hypocrites). She didn’t know of any. I asked if she knew of any Christian missionaries or pastors near her – and she said she had a friend who was a missionary in Africa. I encouraged her to get in contact with the missionary and ask her any questions she had.

I can’t fit the whole 10~15 minute conversation into a blog post – but this is the majority of it.

I was amazed at how close I came to simply saying goodbye to her and moving on to the customer satisfaction survey – without taking the time to try and share the gospel. How wonderful to see the Holy Spirit working in a heart, and to be able to the channel He used.

I wonder how many customer service phone calls I have ended without trying to share the gospel. Will their be people in hell because I didn’t take the time to share?

What about you – are you sharing? Do you have a faith to share?

The upcoming County Fair!

2006-07-28T23:00:00.000-05:00

Our County Fair is coming up in a few weeks. The Lord put it on my brother’s heart to have a booth and give away free soda and gospel tracts. He’s asked if the rest of the family will help he and his wife at the booth. It sounds like a great opportunity – and we’re all excited. But, WOW, there are a lot of details to work through.

The first challenge relates to the soda. What type, and how much. A fountain is out of the question because we won’t have a water line, and it would be too expensive to rent. The Fair is expecting 17,000-22,000 people during the week – but we expect only 1 in 10, or 1 in 20 to be willing to accept a free soda (people will wonder what the catch is). The next choice was either 2 liter’s or can’s. The can’s are nice in that we then don’t need cups or ice to go in the cups. So, we’re planning on can’s.

The next problem is how to chill so many cans. We thought about trying to chill the cans, then put them into coolers with a layer of ice in-between. Then we realized that the old house that is on the property next to us (that the Lord provided for us earlier this year) has a refrigerator – and we could take that out to the fair. By taking all the shelves out, and stacking carefully (but, even then, we’ll have to have spacers between each layer to allow air circulation), we figure we can get about 200 cans in the fridge. By filling the fridge each night, we’ll have a cool supply the next evening. We can also put about 50-75 in the freezer, and estimate they’ll be cold in 1.5 to 2 hours, and then can move them to the fridge. We’ll still bring a cooler, so that we can take cans out (in batches) of the fridge, put them in cooler (with some ice), and serve from there.

A lot of logistics – and still lots to be done. We need to make sure we have A LOT of good tracts. I also need to look at my balloon animal supplies. If things get slow, I can always draw children by making balloon animals (and then the others at the booth can offer soda and tracts to the adults). Also, we’ll need a banner designed and printed up for the booth…

One big question is whether people will accept free soda’s. Another idea we have for next year (depending upon how this year goes), would be to pay for a food license (our current license for this year isn’t a food license – so we can’t sell food – but we can give it away!) and then sell soda’s at cost. While most people may not want to accept “charity” (in a free soda), a lot of people may be willing to buy an ice-cold soda for $.25, or even $.20. If we get a food license, we’ll be put in the food court, and we might end up making some of the other food vendors upset if we’re selling cheap soda’s. I don’t think they’ll be bothered this year since we’ll be in a different area, and we’re not sure how many people will be aware that we’ll be giving out soda’s.

We’ve already started praying for hearts and repentance and salvations during that week. May the Holy Spirit work powerfully in hearts!

I’ll post updates as the Fair draws closer and then during and/or after the week.

Passing out some tracts…

2006-07-27T22:58:00.000-05:00

I haven’t had a tremendous amount of opportunities to share the gospel lately (although, that does bring up the issue of “am I waiting for opportunities to fall in my lap or am I out making opportunities?”)… I’ve been quite busy with work, and haven’t been out and about much.

The times that I have been out I’ve usually remembered to carry tracts.

I needed to replace my bicycle tires and inner tubes, and had ordered the needed parts online. I then proceeded to spend three hours one evening trying to put the new tube and tire onto my bike. I have never had such a tight tire! I even broke a plastic tire iron trying to get the tire on. I then figured I would take it down to the bike store and see if they could do it. Not a problem – they said – and it’ll only cost $4 a tire! What a bargain… I dropped off the two tires on a Saturday. On Mondy afternoon I called, and they said the tires would be ready in ten minutes. I gave them closer to thirty, and when I showed up they were fighting them. It took two technicians an hour to get the two tires changed. They stuck by their estimate and were only going to charge me $8 – but I gave them $20. (how does this relate to the gospel?!?) After paying them the $20, I asked the fellow at the register if he ever been given a million dollar bill before. He said he hadn’t – but was very interested in one. I gave it to him – along with another gospel tract – and he was very grateful.

I walked out of the store and got in my car. In front of my car, sitting on bench in the shade, was a fellow with a cane. I grabbed four tracts and went over to him. I asked if he’d like something to read and gave him the tracts. He said “thanks”. I told him they were gospel tracts from the Bible, and weren’t weird or from a cult. He thanked me again and started reading them as I drove off.

I have to continually challenge/remind myself of the importance of passing out tracts during routine errands. It is very easy to give out tracts to a number of people while running errands. And yet, it is far more comfortable to NOT give out tracts, and to NOT risk rejection (it is definitely not pleasant when the checkout person tells you - and everyone else backed up in the line - that they don't want your tract). However, if all believers were to pass out a few tracts every time they are out of their house and running errands - think of how many people would hear/read the Gospel message?

Starting a conversation - and sharing the gospel...

2006-07-20T23:01:00.000-05:00

Last month we were on the road traveling. I’ve been needing to write out some details of an exciting opportunity the Lord gave me – and I finally have a few minutes.

We were in a large city in Colorado for a conference. One evening we had some time after the conference, and we met up with another family at a restaurant for dinner. The adults sat at one table, and the children sat at another long table/booth area nearby (there weren’t enough seats for us all to be together).

As the meal was about over, I got up to go chat with some of the children and see how they were doing. I noticed an older gentleman had sat down near them – but was eating alone. I went over near him, but started by chatting with the children a bit about the meal. I then turned to him and said that I hoped the children hadn’t bothered him at all. He said they hadn’t.

I chatted with him a little about the area, and us being from out of town. We talked about the restaurant a bit, and then I gave him a few gospel tracts, and we started talking through the “good person test” – he was very open and interested. Turns out, he’s been a nominal Catholic all his life. Yet after going through the commandments (and acknowledging guilt), he admitted that he was headed for hell! I was able to share the gospel with him – and spent about 15-20 minutes sitting and talking.

When we were wrapping up the conversation, he said he believed God had sent me to talk with him that evening. I agreed, and said I felt the Lord was working in his heart and trying to get his attention. I encouraged him to get right with God before it is too late – as this could be the last time God tried to get his attention (Gen 6:3 And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man…). He again thanked me for sharing, and I headed back to the “adults” table to rejoin the conversation.

I was reminded, once again, of how important it is to ALWAYS be seeking to start conversations with strangers. Not every conversation will turn into an opportunity to share the gospel. But, by starting a conversation, one at least has A CHANCE to possibly share the gospel – whereas, by NOT starting a conversation, there is NO CHANCE at all to share the gospel.

That's Up To God!

2006-07-12T20:08:00.001-05:00

I was on the phone recently with a business phone call. At the end of the call I decided to attempt to share the gospel. The person had a few minutes, and so I started through the good person test (I let him know that there was a moral at the end – so he wouldn’t be too concerned about the leading questions).

The phone call was to a company that values security, so all telephone calls are recorded (occasionally you could hear the beep in the background).

As we went through the commandments I was surprised when he admitted to having committed adultery. Following the commandments, I asked the summary question (if you were to die, and God were to judge you based on the ten commandments, would you be innocent or guilty). He said that would be up to God to decide.

I said that he had, unfortunately, just made it really easy for God, because he had just admitted to breaking four out of the ten commandments. God wouldn’t even have to review (as He will) this man’s entire life, but could simply replay this one conversation and he would have an admission to the breaking of God’s commandments. So, I then asked again, if he were to die, and God judged him using this phone call as evidence, would he be innocent or guilty – and he admitted guilt.

I was then able to share the gospel with him, and encouraged him to be reading his Bible every day, and to get right with God before it is too late.

The Church Security Guard…

2006-07-11T21:30:00.000-05:00

While we were at a conference last month, I had an interesting witnessing opportunity. The conference that we were at was a Christian conference, and was being hosted in a large Christian church.

Partway through the conference the Lord put on my heart that I should be attempting to share the gospel with some of the staff that were helping at the conference, several of whom appeared to be lost (obviously, we can never judge one’s salvation, but, we do know from Scripture that the fruit of one’s life testifies as to whether they know Christ, and when one sees a person that blends in to the world and doesn’t appear to have any fruit of the Spirit, one tends to suspect the person doesn’t know Jesus).

Near the front entrance there was a desk, behind which sat an older gentleman, who was the conference security guard. At one point I had a few minutes and stopped by the desk. I started the conversation by asking some questions that I genuinely wanted to know about: had he ever had anything exciting happen while he was working as a guard (they’d had several people at different conferences or worship services faint); was the job boring; did he enjoy his work; etc. I then segued into the gospel by asking him if this was just his job, or if it was his church as well. He said it was both.

I We chatted about the church a bit, and then I started into the good person test. I was surprised when he felt he had kept the ten commandments! We went through several of the commandments: lying, stealing, blasphemy, and adultery – which he readily admitted to. I then asked if he were to die, and God judged him based on those ten commandments, as He says He will, would he be innocent or guilty. He said it depends upon how you look at it.

I said God has told us how he’ll look at it, and that we just went through four of the commandments and he was guilty of breaking them all, so if God judged him based on just those four commandments, would he be innocent or guilty. He finally admitted he would be guilty. I asked if he would go to heaven or hell, and again he hedged!

Here was a church-going man, who admitted to breaking the commandments, but didn’t appear to have any clear idea about true salvation, heaven and hell, and from what Jesus had redeemed him.

Instead of pressing the point of heaven or hell we then talked about the false hope that many have. Those that would claim to be Christians but aren’t. We talked about the various court-system analogies (confessing one’s sin, trying to live right, and doing good works) and how such strategies are useless when it comes to our eternal destiny. He agreed with everything.

I then shared the gospel with him – which he also agreed with.

I was concerned for his soul as he appeared to know some things about God in his head, but it didn’t appear to have changed his heart!

All in all, we had an excellent conversation (he enjoyed our talk as well!) and he definitely heard the entire gospel: from breaking the commandments to what Jesus has done for him.

Two rejections, and then a request for the gospel…

2006-07-08T21:23:00.000-05:00

We went to the City Mission today for a lunch chapel service (we help with the service the second Saturday of each month – when we aren’t traveling). We brought all of our instruments to do a special music (something the men seem to enjoy each time). I played the piano during the worship time, and then my brother preached during the message.

After the chapel service, the men go through the food line. Since the chapel is basically the dining room, they return to their seats/tables to eat. We always bake homemade cookies to give out to the men, and will give each a gospel tract with the cookie.

About 75 men were present. One or two turned down a cookie, and between 5 and 10 rejected the tract.

One gentleman, as he came through the line, said “You don’t want to hear me respond to that thing” (referring to the gospel tract). I said it would be hard to respond to something he hadn’t read, and he went on with some of the most bitter, angry words I have ever heard. His heart was as hard and cold to the gospel as any I’ve ever met before (except perhaps one other person at the Mission earlier this year). I’m always surprised such men come to a Christian Mission and sit through an hour worship service, considering there are other Missions in the area that are not Christian Missions!

After everyone had gone through the meal line and the tracts were passed out, I tried to move around the room talking with the men. It is often very hard to start a conversation, and I tried to get several conversations going – but didn’t get far.

I started chatting with one gentleman about the oranges he had chosen for lunch. We (or I) talked a bit about food, when all of a sudden he asked, “Why are you talking to me?” I said the goal was to have an opportunity to talk with people and, if they were interested, to share the gospel. I asked if he was a believer, and he said he believed in himself. I asked if he believed in God, and he said he absolutely didn’t want to talk about that. I said the burden of our heart was to share the gospel with men, and that was why we were there, but if he wasn’t interested in talking, he didn’t have to. He said he definitely didn’t want to talk.

I was a bit discouraged following two very strong rejections in such a short time. I, once again, tried to start a few other conversations but they went nowhere.

As I was walking back across the room a fellow waved me over to where he was and said he needed to talk. I thought, “Oh, no – I wonder what this is all about.” Generally, at the Mission, every time in the past that someone has waved me over and wanted to talk, they have always wanted to argue and debate, or had special needs and wanted to personally ask for money.

We sat down at an empty table and he started sharing with me. He’s struggled with drugs and alcohol. He has two children with his girlfriend. He recently lost his job. The gas was turned off at their house that week, and his girlfriend kicked him out. He stopped by the house earlier that day to get his church clothes (he attends a local church and even plays bass guitar during worship), and his six year-old daughter told him that she needed to say goodbye because her mother had said that would be the last time she would ever see her daddy. He says he was completely shocked (it was like a knife to his heart), but all he could do was hug and kiss his children and say goodbye.

I asked if he thought perhaps God was removing everything from his life in order to get his attention, and he said he felt that was what was happening. He felt, right when he heard those words, that he had truly come to the absolute end of it all. Despite being in church all his life (and being a part of the worship team), he said he doesn’t truly know Jesus.

We went through the commandments, and he genuinely understood and admitted guilt to each one we discussed (as I admitted guilt to as well). When I asked if he would be innocent or guilty before God, he said he would be guilty. When I asked if he would go to heaven or hell, he said that he would definitely be going to hell. I asked if that concerned him, and he said it absolutely did.

What a blessing, following two very cold rejections and many failed attempts at conversation, to have a person hungry for the good news of the gospel! It was a joy to share with him about Jesus – and yet this man has been in church all his life and knew much in his head. But he, as I had done for many years, had lived a hypocritical life. Claiming on the outside to be a Christian (and appearing that way to some degree to others), but not having freedom in his heart.

We read through some of the Scripture relating to salvation, as well as Matthew 7:21-23 about those that will think they are headed for heaven but will find out they aren’t. I encouraged him to seek Jesus with his whole heart, to repent of his life of sin, to surrender all the idols in his life, to reconcile with the people in his life that he has wronged, and to be in Scripture all day, every day, as he seeks the Lord. I was able to give him a New Testament, and show him a chain of Scriptures that deals with salvation. I encouraged him to read the book of John over and over again, and to seek to know Jesus.

It was special to pray with him – and to commit to continuing to lift him up in prayer. I’m praying that the Lord will continue to work mightily in his life. And not only was I praising the Lord for working in his life, but I was praising the Lord for encouraging my heart by, after two rejections, sending me something that has never happened before at the Mission: an honest seeker calling me over and asking about the Lord (whereas I have started conversations and then been able to share with someone).

Praise the Lord!

Credit Card Fee’s Removed, and the Gospel Shared

2006-07-05T16:32:00.000-05:00

I had a credit card for quite some time – and suddenly was hit was a yearly renewal fee. I called to have the card cancelled and the fee removed, and ended up switching to a different credit card with the same company that doesn’t involve a yearly fee (and I was able to share the entire gospel message with the customer service rep!).

It’s now been a month or two, and I received a statement from the company (along with my new credit card) – that showed I still owed the yearly renewal. On top of that, I was being charged late fee’s and interest. I figured the late fee’s would go away, but with another statement I just received I noticed they were still there (although, finally, the credit removing the yearly renewal was finally credited off).

So, I called into the credit card company. We chatted about the fee’s and renewal problem, and the young man helped me deal with the account. He put me on hold for five or so minutes while he straightened out the account. When he came back on, we talked about the rebates I can get with the credit card. When that was done, and we were ending the call, he asked if there was anything else he could help me with. I said there was, but that it wasn’t related to credit cards and was a bit off-topic.

He said he had some time, so I could go ahead. I said if he had another call come in and needed to go – no problem – just let me know. I asked if he had ever taken the “good person test”, and he said he hadn’t. I said it only took a few minutes and had a moral at the end (that way he would know the questions were “leading somewhere” and wouldn’t feel as if I was baiting him).

I asked if he felt he was a good person, and he said yes, but that he also did bad things at times. I asked if he was familiar with the ten commandments, and he was. I said the ten commandments give us a true idea of whether we are good or not.

First commandment we discussed was lying, and he readily admitted lying, but said most lies were to protect people and avoid a problem – not to deceive. The example he gave was if he got home really late, and his mother asked where he had been (and he had been with his buddies at a club or with a girlfriend), he would lie and say something different. I said that was a perfect example of lying to deceive someone, and on top of that, I said that was also breaking the fifth commandment, which tells us to honor our father and mother.

Next we discussed stealing, and he admitted (on a phone line that was being recorded – every now and then you could hear the little beep) he had stolen in the past.

Next I asked about using God’s name in vain. He said he’s done that, although not usually on purpose. We talked about how, even doing it accidentally, is still a serious thing because it shows how little we care for God’s name to let it slip out as a curse word. I shared that doing so was blasphemy.

Next we talked about adultery. I asked if he had ever committed adultery. He paused for a moment, and then asked a question to clarify the meaning of my question, and then said, yes, he had done it. I still went on to share how looking with lust is the same as committing adultery.

I summarized his condition before God (a lying, thieving, blasphemous, adulterer – I didn’t have to say “in heart” because of his acknowledgment), and asked if, when he dies and God judges him based on the ten commandments, if he would be innocent or guilty. He said he would be guilty. I asked if he would then go to heaven or hell, and he said heaven – because God will judge everyone the same. I agreed and said that God would absolutely judge everyone the same – all are guilty of breaking the ten commandments.

He then said he didn’t feel those things were so bad. I asked if he had a Bible at his house and encouraged him to read Revelation 21:7-8. I said that God is so holy that not only will murders and rapists go to hell, but also adulterers (which I realized he was guilty of), thieves, and – the scary part of that verse - even liars will spend eternity in the lake of fire. I also encouraged him to read James 2, where we are told that, even if we could keep all the commandments our whole life, and then break one of them, we are guilty of breaking them all. I encouraged him to then read the gospel of John to see what Jesus had done for him.

Since he was still open and had time, we talked more about what Jesus had done – and how Jesus will give victory over sin. I talked about the cost of surrendering to Jesus and repenting of one’s sin. I gave a few specific examples of things he would need to do when he came to Jesus, and things he would need to stop doing.

We talked about how God has so richly blessed him with life, health, eyesight, friends, and a job – and how, despite all of that, he was purposely breaking God’s commandments, and was using God’s name as a curse word. We talked about the futility of life, and how God will not always “strive with man” (Genesis 6:3 – meaning God will eventually stop bringing conviction to a person). I asked if there were other, true (not hypocritical Christians) in his life that had been sharing with him about heaven and hell and what Jesus had done for him – and he said there were. I shared how patient God was being with him – and yet he was resisting God’s grace.

I then shared how the decision was his and his alone. I encouraged him to get right with God before it was too late. I gave him our web site address so that he could e-mail us with any questions at any time – and encouraged him to also talk more with his friends.

Several times during the call I mentioned that I didn’t want to take too much of his time, but each time, he said it was fine and to go on.

What a blessing to be able to share the gospel while having to call a credit card company about my account!

Another Barber hears the Gospel

2006-07-03T11:41:00.000-05:00

I’ve been thinking I need to get my haircut at a different barber, as the barber shop I’ve been two has primarily two barbers, and they’ve both now heard the gospel. However, I didn’t make a decision to go to a new barber – and I’ve been needing a haircut. So, I went to the usual barbershop.

I was doubly-blessed when I walked in the door: not only was the person in front of me finishing up (this shop is walk-in only – no appointments), but it was a different barber than usual! I had forgotten that there were three barbers that worked at the shop on various days. I had never been in on a Sunday or Monday – which are the only two days this barber works.

We started chatting, and after awhile I mentioned a trip that we had been on with our ministry. He asked about the ministry, and I shared that we encourage Christian homeschool families, as well as anyone that is seeking to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. It was a great opportunity to ask if he had a Christian background. Turns out, he was raised in the Baptist church.

I then said he would be familiar with the 10 commandments (he was), and asked if he felt he had kept some of them, none of them, or most of them. He said he had kept them all. I said I’d talked to a number of people and most tend to miss them, but we’d give it a shot and see.

We worked through lying, stealing, blasphemy, adultery (of the heart), and murder (of the heart). He acknowledged guilt in each area – and we had a good time talking about them. I said that when he dies, and God judges him based on those 10 commandments, if he would be innocent or guilty. He hedged… He said he felt that God would decide at that point. I said that he had just made it easy for God by acknowledging that he had broken five out of the five we talked about, and since God is aware of everything, God had just heard his own admission, and could judge his whole life based on that simple admission (without even having to replay his whole life of events). He agreed (and laughed).

I then said that God judges our entrance to heaven based on whether we’ve kept or broken His commandments, and asked if he would go to heaven or hell. Instead of answering, he asked if that was truly how God judges us. I shared the story of the Rich Young Ruler who came to Jesus and asked how he could gain eternal life, and Jesus asked if he had kept the commandments. The young man thought he had, but turns out he hadn’t (funny thing was that, as I was sharing about that, I realized the exact same thing had happened with the barber, first he said he was innocent, and then had acknowledged guilt).

We talked for another ten or so minutes about the gospel. I shared about repentance and surrendering one’s life to Jesus. We talked about being in the Word on a daily basis (which the barber said he does) – but he doesn’t attend church (because he’s usually working). We talked about living a hypocritical life (he’s aware of others that claim to be Christians but don’t live like one).

As we were finishing up, an older gentlemen showed up for his hair cut. A minute later a lady and her three children arrived. Following that, another gentlemen arrived.

I was praising the Lord for the opportunity to share (and I pray the Holy Spirit continues to work in this man’s life) as well as how nicely the timing worked out!

Sharing at McDonald’s

2006-05-29T16:08:00.000-05:00

While traveling today, we ate dinner at a McDonald’s in a very small Nevada town (the McDonald’s was the only fast-food restaurant in town (and the others were not normal sit-down restaurants). When we walked in, there were only six customers sitting at tables: two young men at one table and about four young girls at another table (they weren’t together).

I asked the guys if the McDonald’s was the hangout location for young folks – as that was all I saw in the restaurant – and he looked around (perhaps not realizing it was only young people in the McDonald’s). We started talking about the town, and I found out they were there working on a power plant and were only there seasonally, then they would be heading back to their homes in Texas.

After chatting for awhile I asked if they had ever been given a million dollar bill (they hadn’t), so I gave them one, along with an IQ test tract and an “Are You Good Enough to Go to Heaven” tract. As I explained what each one was, we then got down to the third tract. I asked if they had a Christian background – and they said no. I asked if they considered themselves to be good people, and one said yes the other said he wasn’t sure. We then went through the commandments. The one that said he was a good person readily admitted to lying, stealing, blasphemy, and adultery of the heart. The other one didn’t want to admit lying or stealing, and right then his phone rang and he got up to talk on the phone. When I asked if God judged him if he would be guilty or innocent, he acknowledged guilt – but wouldn’t admit to a destination in hell.

We talked for a while about how valuable his soul is (he said he had never really thought about heaven or hell). His friend showed back up, and I brought him up to speed with where we were. The conversation had been lighthearted and fun – and continued to be, although it became a bit more serious as we progressed.

I shared the various methods many people use to try and get to heaven (confessing, being good, or doing good works) and as we talked about each in relation to a court of law, they agreed that those methods don’t make sense. I then shared the story of my Grandfather and his traffic court situation, and they agreed that it was OK for an innocent person to pay the fine for a guilty person.

I shared the gospel with them, and explained what Jesus had done for them, but that it required their willingness to surrender everything to Him. After a bit more sharing, the food was ready (someone else in my family had ordered for me) so I said I hoped I hadn’t ruined their dinner (they said I hadn’t) and I went to eat. While eating, I realized I hadn’t offered them Bibles (they didn’t have any at the trailer they were living in during their work project), so I went back over and asked if they would be interested in having a Bible. They both were. I gave them both a pocket New Testament, and folded down a page where a chain of salvation Scriptures begins; I also showed them where John was.

They were genuinely grateful for what I had shared with them and the Bibles, and waved (from outside the building – I had been sitting at a table with my back to them while they were inside the building) as they left.

I was amazed at how open they two young guys were that appeared on the surface to have no interest in spiritual things.

Three Catholics…

2006-05-28T14:49:00.000-05:00

I spoke just last week on the telephone with a young Catholic lady who didn’t know where she would spend eternity. Her hope was that she would, at the moment of her death, be in “sanctifying grace” and able to go to heaven. She had no Scripture reference upon which to base her belief – only the teachings of a church. It’s very interesting as we have known a number of Catholics at the nursing home where we have church – and it has been a very sad to see them due to the lack of hope and Jesus in their religion.

In particular, I remember back to one Sunday morning when we arrived at church. In talking with one of the ladies at the nursing home, we found out that four people had passed away that week (quite a few for a nursing home with 42 residents). Out of the four that passed away, we knew three, and all three were Catholics with no firm hope of heaven.

The first was Robert. Robert was a peculiar person as far as mannerisms and personality, but was probably one of the most intelligent and smartest people I have ever met. His mind was unbelievable, and he must have had a photographic memory. He could remember names and dates for any and all events in recent, and even not-so-recent, history. He didn’t simply know that a particular church in our town had burned down in the past, or that a certain couple had gotten married about 20 years ago – he knew the exact days and more in regards to those events.

He also was a devout Catholic, and loved God. Despite his belief in Scripture as being God’s Word, he wasn’t able to accept and believe what God’s word says. In talking with him one day, I asked him if he knew for sure where he would spend eternity. He didn’t know – but he hoped it would be in heaven. I asked if it would be OK if I shared with him a verse from Scripture – and he was interested. I turned to 1 John 5:13, and read: “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.” Robert agreed with me that the verse says we can know for sure where we will spend eternity, but he wasn’t able to believe it. Why wasn’t he able to believe it? I believe it was due to his involvement in the Catholic church. I encouraged him that, if he ever wanted to talk more and know for sure where he would spend eternity - based on what Scripture says - to let me know. Over the next few years I shared this verse with him again several times, and although he agreed that the message of the verse was clear – he wasn’t able or willing to find out what I John says we need to do in order to know where we will spend eternity.

Robert was one of the ones that died, and our hope is that he surrendered his life to Christ, and believed only in the finished work of Christ on the cross for his redemption – before he passed away and stood before God and was judged according to his life.

Another one of those who passed away was “Shorty” – a very, very, tiny, older lady who we knew for a number of years. Several times she would ask me to stand and hold my arm straight out from my side, she would then get out of her wheelchair, and show how she could walk under my arm and still have plenty of clearance. I’m about 6’ 2”, and she was probably about 4’ 6” or shorter. However, we found out very quickly, in talking with her, that her words were not wholesome, and even though she was often joking and making light of what she said, we weren’t able to allow the younger children to talk with her.

One particular Sunday, after she had been with us at church, I felt the Lord impressing upon my heart the importance of sharing with her. Since salvation always begins with a knowledge of our own sin, as we talked I asked her what she believed about her past – and if she had ever broken God’s commandments. I shared with her examples of how I had broken God’s law, and asked if she had ever lied, or stolen something, or been unloving to someone. She would absolutely not acknowledge ever committing sin, and became upset and indignant that we would think she – a good Catholic – would ever have done something that would be considered sin. I would have to say that out of all those I have been able to share with, she became the most upset of any.

Generally, I would never share or keep talking with someone who became upset, and yet in this case, my heart was very concerned for her – the person the children weren’t able to talk with because of her foul language. This instance when we talked with her and she was unwilling to acknowledge any sin or wrongdoing on her part over the course of her life was several months before she died. I don’t recall her attending church ever after that point, or having a conversation with her.

We were reminded of 1 John 1:10, which says: “If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.” Our prayer is that Shorty, before she died, repented of and acknowledged her sin before God, and her need of a Savior.

While Robert and Shorty were two that we knew who were a bit unique, Ms. Hannah stood out for being very ordinary. She was a tiny, sweet, grandmotherly lady. Conversation with her was pleasant, and by all appearances she was a moral and upright person. Ms. Hannah liked our family and started attending the church services, but after a few weeks of listening to the preaching (which was from the Bible and addressed issues of our sin, our need of a savior, and other topics) – she stopped staying for the preaching. She would be in church for the singing, but always left when the Word of God was opened.

We hope that Ms. Hannah surrendered her life to Christ before she passed away – as He is our only way of escaping hell.

As J.C. Ryle pointed out – let us not lose hope, as even the thief on the cross was able to be saved at the last moment of his life, but let us not presume upon the future, as it was only one of the thieves that was saved – the other entered eternity without a Savior.

It’s easy to be lazy. . .

2006-05-10T15:49:00.000-05:00

I feel I fail in sharing my faith far more often than I obey and share my faith. Lately, I’ve been a bit lazy and have not attempted to share with some of the telephone contacts I’ve talked with – usually it is with a very poor excuse: being very busy.

However, I’ve been purposing to take the time that it requires to share, and just yesterday and today I’ve been amazed at being able to share the full plan of salvation with an open listener on the phone. Each phone call took between 5 and 15 minutes to share with the person, but each one was open and listened. I gave each of them plenty of “outs” (by making sure they truly had time, by letting them know that if a call came in it was no probably to let me go, and by occasionally making sure they were OK) – and they all continued to be interested.

I pray that the Lord will work in their hearts – especially the gentleman I shared with a few minutes ago. He works at the phone company, and helped me renew our contracts on our regular phone line and long distance. Afterwards, he asked if there was anything else he could help me with – and I branched into the “Good Person Test” with my usual comments (“My business is all taken care of, but if you have a minute without other calls coming in, I have a bit of an off-topic question for you: have you ever heard of or taken the Good Person Test?”). He was open to the test, and acknowledged breaking each one (lying, stealing, blasphemy, murder of the heart, and adultery of the heart). He seemed to realize, for the first time, that anger and lust are truly serious sins in God’s eyes. As we then talked about heaven and hell, he said he “hoped to go to heaven” – but it was obvious he wasn’t sure. The sharing from that point on took a different route as we talked about more about guilt and destination – but he was very open. He promised to consider these things, and, when I apologized for taking his time and hoped I hadn’t been “preaching at him” – he said he truly appreciated me sharing those things with him and that he would take them to heart. What a blessing…

Starbucks Coffee Shop

2006-04-25T01:16:00.000-05:00

I don’t drink coffee, but some in my family do. While we were traveling this evening, we stopped at a Starbucks Coffee Shop. There were two young fellows having chilled coffee drinks and talking together. I only had one million dollar bill tract with me, but I gave it to one of them and we started talking.

One had recently graduated from his first four years of school on his way to becoming a dentist (his father is also a dentist). The other fellow used to work construction, but is not currently working anywhere.

After talking about the region for awhile, I mentioned the conference we were at was a Christian conference, and asked if they had a Christian background. One had been raised as an Episcopalian, the other a JW. All three of us went through the “good person” test. They were OK with the test, but the mood became a bit more somber.

At one point the young man who used to be a JW did aske me if I believed Jesus was God, and I shared for just a few seconds that that was what Scripture says, and gave a brief example of how Jesus accepted worship, whereas angels never did (Rev 19:10 And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.) Jesus accepted worship from men – for Him to do so, if He isn’t God, would be blasphemy. Then we went back to the law.

We talked for probably 15 or so minutes, and they both agreed with much of what I was able to share – and I encouraged them to get right with God before it is too late.

As the conversation drew to a close I said I hoped I hadn’t spoiled their evening, and they both said I hadn’t (perhaps they were simply being polite). And yet I did share that while guilt and discussions of hell are not pleasant, they are needful for us all to address.

The conversation was doubly-encouraging considering a young man I tried to share with at a park earlier in the day – and whom had been open enough to talk for a little while, but was clearly not interested. He was an environmentalist that was raised a Catholic. He went through the commandments, but didn’t want to admit any guilt – “his god” doesn’t see things so black and white, and is more forgiving. We talked a little about idolatry, but it was clear he was happy in his own religion… The goal isn’t to argue, and seed cannot be planted on rocky soil (in fact, according to Jesus’ parable, planting in rocky soil will actually result in a false convert that dies out later and isn’t genuine), so hopefully by sharing the law in a loving manner he would have something to think about which might eventually be used of the Lord to soften his heart (so it would no longer be considered “rocky soil”).

Talking with a driver. . .

2006-04-18T21:12:00.000-05:00

While driving this morning we ran into some bad weather: snow, strong winds, slipperly roads, and ice. The Lord was very gracious and protected us as we drove. We passed several accidents, including an overturned semi and a jackknifed camper/trailer.

We stopped for lunch, and I started chatting with a gentlemen that was also waiting for his lunch. Turns out, he had been driving a uHaul that morning and had been blown off the road. A rail possibly saved his life as it kept him off of a steep slope. He said he sat in the cab (in the ditch) for about ten minutes after the wreck trembling. I said that it sounded like the Lord saved his life for a reason – and he agreed. I then gave him three tracts: the million dollar bill, the IQ test bookmark, and the “are you good enough to go to heaven”. I explained each one – and he was grateful for them.

Later, as he was heading out the door he thanked me again and said he would read each of them.

Our waitress at dinner tonight was also very grateful for the three tracts...

Another Backslidden Believer (cell phone customer service)

2006-04-12T23:59:00.000-05:00

A few days ago we received a cell phone bill that included hundred’s of dollars of overage charges (the bill itself was 30 pages long!). I had to dig out all our recent phone bills and do a lot of comparing and researching to figure out what went wrong. I traced the error back to something we were incorrectly told by the cell phone company on a specific date, and some of it to us using more minutes than we expected (meaning we did owe some!).

I called in and spent quite some time with the cell phone company, politely working through the issues. The main gentleman that helped me took a lot of time to understand the issues, and then spent time working further on the issues to correct them. He called back later that evening (as I was having dinner) and spent another thirty minutes reviewing the final changes with me.

A failure: I was anxious to get back to my dinner and didn’t feel like sharing with him – so I didn’t share. I did ask to speak with his manager and shared with her how much help this individual had been to us.

However, the next day, in the evening, unexpectedly, this young man called back with a further update on the cell phone situation; he shared that all the credits had been approved, and he was going to follow-up with our other phone company to make sure we weren’t charged late fee’s while they waited for the credits to flow through. This time, the Lord put it on my heart to share with him.

As usual, at the end of the call he asked if there was anything else he could help with. I said there wasn’t anything relating to business, but I had a person question for him. He laughed (but was curious), and asked what it was. I asked if he had ever heard of, or taken, the “good person” test. He thought it sounded funny – but said he hadn’t. I again gave the usual “if you’re too busy and need to go, no problem, just let me know” and then started into it. I also gave him a heads-up that there was a moral at the end (otherwise I believe people have tended to feel that I’m “baiting them along” somewhat).

He readily admitted to lying, and even came up with the proper label. He readily admitted to stealing, and came close with the title (first guess was “a stealer?”). He readily admitted to taking God’s name in vain (which I said I hoped had never happened at work! – and he laughed and said, unfortunately, it had). Next I gave him the choice of looking at murder or adultery – and he choose adultery. He was then the first person I have ever had admit to committing adultery (and this was while on a customer service phone call – which could be monitored by his employers!). I still went on and shared how God looks at the heart, and even the thought – in God’s eyes – is a sin before Him.

I summarized his condition before God, and asked if he, when God judges him as He says He will, would be innocent or guilty. His response: guilty. I asked if he would go to heaven or hell, and he said: heaven. I asked why, and he gave one of the most theologically correct answers I’ve heard: because he was hoping (perhaps he said trusting) in the blood of Jesus to cover his sin.

I said that was wonderful (Praise the Lord!) and affirmed his faith with him. Then, I moved on to the follow-up test for believers.

I shared how Scripture encourages us as believers to examine ourselves to see if our salvation is genuine:

2 Corinthians 13:5 Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?

I also shared that anytime Scripture refers to a person’s salvation and walk with the Lord, it never refers to a prayer that was said, but always refers to the person’s way of life:

1 John 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. (and many other verses)

I then asked him, brother to brother in the Lord, if he is currently living as the Lord would have him to live or if he is bound by sin. He paused for a moment, and said that he is bound by sin.

We continued talking for a little while, and I shared a brief portion of my testimony with him. He asked if it would be OK to call back at some point to discuss further – as he said the Lord has been doing quite a bit in his heart and life lately. I absolutely gave him permission and encouraged him to surrender everything to Jesus, and to be reading the Word and obeying it.

I’m praying that – whether or not he calls – God works in this young man’s heart and transforms him into a powerful, dynamic, believer that is not encumbered with sin.

John 8:34-36:
34 Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. 35 And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: [but] the Son abideth ever. 36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

Fishing at the Pond

2006-04-07T21:24:00.000-05:00

This past week the Lord has dealt with me regarding some sin that had been in my heart. I had several people that I needed to set things right with. While driving back from my last appointment, I passed a little pond in our town, and saw a fellow out fishing. The thought crossed my mind that I should pull over, walk through the grass, and see if I could share the Lord with him. I instantly dismissed the thought as I needed to get home and back to work, but also realized that the thought was likely from the Lord (I doubt it was Satan giving me such an idea) and, hence, was important to obey. I pulled off, parked, put some tracts in one pocket and a Bible in the other, and set out. Since this was the fourth day of my fast, and I had already been out all morning, I was a bit light headed and feeling fairly sick.

I walked over to the fellow, and prayed for the Spirit's continued working in my heart and in the heart of the gentleman. The conversation started off easily enough in talking about the fish and the pond. He had caught a few small perch. He had been in town only about 9 months so doesn't know how much fish are usually stocked in the pond. I mentioned that the pond is next to the nursing home where our church meets (first mention of something relating to the Lord to see how he responded).

After we finished talking about fish, I pulled out a million dollar bill and asked if he had ever gotten one of them. He hadn't. I mentioned that the back of the bill was a gospel tract. He wondered what church we attended, and so we talked churches for a few minutes (he attends a different church in town). I shared that the tracts aren't about a church, but about dealing with sin and our eternity.

I found out his name was John.

I was able to share some of my testimony with him, and how the Lord wants everything from us - not just lip service. As we talked further, he opened up and shared more and more about his background. Turns out his struggle is with alcohol, and he had gotten drunk the previous night, been rude to his wife that morning, was practically out of money, behind on his bills, had two small children, and was out fishing to try and clear his mind.

As we talked there were several times the conversation could easily have come to a conclusion, but it continued. His background was a difficult one, and included being jailed in the 90's for murder. He shared that the real murderer had turned state's witness and as a result was never prosecuted. John said that he only had a Public Defender, and that the trial was a long ordeal. He feels he was close to God while in jail – but went right back to the way he was when we he was released. In fact, he said the real murderer was the one who gave him a ride home from jail. He readily agreed that it is easy to act like a hypocrite – and that the heart has to be changed.

Now, he is here in our town, with no job and pretty much out of money. He’s done some odd jobs for his pastor and the pastor’s son-in-law and family, but those jobs are coming to an end. I encouraged him to be willing to give everything up and surrender to the Lord. But I also encouraged him that it would be a difficult thing for him, as he would probably have to give up those things he loves most: his alcohol, his bitter custody fight for more visitation, his reputation, etc. He agreed that what was the Lord wanted, but I’m not sure he is willing.

Hopefully, the Lord will work mightily in his life as he considers surrendering to the Lord.

No matter what decision John makes, I was tremendously encouraged in obeying the prompting of the Spirit in my life - and was praising the Lord for what He is doing in my life.

Another Telemarketing Success

2006-03-21T09:45:00.000-06:00

I subscribe to a magazine which often costs $17 a year. However, I received a telemarketing call from an organization that is able to sell the subscription for $13 a year. I decided to go ahead and renew my subscription (I’ve ordered through this telemarketing company in the past).

I’ve been a little discouraged in my recent phone conversations because so many have been “busy” that they haven’t wanted to take time for the test.

This time it was nice to receive the telemarketing call after work hours when I had plenty of time to share! After we talked through the magazine options and I was all squared away with my subscription, she asked if there was anything else she could help me with – a perfect question!

I said I had two questions, but they were not related to the magazine and were only if she had time. She was curious, and said to go ahead. The first question was whether her accent was from Texas or the south – and she said it was from Tennessee. We talked about accents for a minute, and then I moved on to the good person test.

I again said it was only if she had a minute (which she did), so we started into the test. I asked if she felt she was a good person, and she said yes. I asked if she was familiar with the ten commandments, and she said yes. I asked if she felt she had kept the commandments, all, or some, or none – and she said most of them.

As we started into the commandments, she was hesitant to admit ever lying (perhaps because the call was being recorded?) – but she did come up with the word “liar.” She was also hesitant to admit stealing (she couldn’t recall a specific time but “must have at some point”). She never has taken God’s name in vain (“well, probably accidentally sometime”). When we discussed murder – I started by asking if she had ever killed someone – she said no. She’s the first one that then turned around and asked me if I had ever killed someone (I had admitted to the previous violation’s of God’s commandments so perhaps she thought I had also committed murder?!?). The conversation was still light-hearted at this point, and when I mentioned that God knows our hearts and thoughts, and that Jesus said that if we are angry with someone we commit murder in our heart, she said she had never been “that” angry with someone. I said that Jesus didn’t say “how” angry we had to be, just: angry.

I summarized her condition by saying that others would look at her as a nice person that is friendly, a good magazine salesperson, but when God looks at her, He would see someone that is a lying, thieving, blaspheming, murderer at heart. I said this was the moral to the story (I had mentioned at the beginning that the test had a “moral” at the end – although I need to come up with a better term than “moral” because I don’t like to in any way equate the gospel to a “moral”), if she were to die tonight, and God judged her based on the ten commandments, would she be innocent or guilty? She said she’d like to be innocent, but based on the ones we just talked about, she’d be guilty. I reminded her that we only looked at four out of the ten – and then asked where God sends guilty people – to heaven or hell. She said she knew the answer but couldn’t say it because it would be against their language rules – but that it was OK for me to say.

I then shared some of the ways people try to deal with their guilt before God (confessing their sin, trying to be good, and doing “good works” for God) and how ineffective each of those would be in a regular court of law. I then shared the story of my grandfather paying the fine for a person that caused an accident and was guilty before the court. The telemarketer was touched by the story, and agreed that an innocent person can pay the fine for a guilty person.

I then summarized the gospel, and shared how Jesus had given His life for her, and that He wanted her life in exchange. He didn’t want another hypocrite, but someone that will truly give their life to Him.

I was very encouraged because, despite her not sharing a tremendous amount with me, I truly feel it was because she felt constrained by the rules at her work, and yet she was open to me sharing. At times she reminded me it was OK for me to keep sharing, but that she couldn’t say too much. I encouraged her to read her Bible in the book of John, and to visit www.NeedGod.com for more information.

At the end, she thanked me for sharing with her, and I thanked her for helping me with my magazine subscription.

I was very encouraged to be able to share with someone that was open, and considered this a tremendous success – not because the person immediately repented and gave their life to Christ – but because I was able to share the Gospel with someone that appeared to have a soft heart of “good soil” – the result is up to her.

Another Trip to the Mission

2006-03-11T20:26:00.000-06:00

Went to the rescue mission in the nearby large city this afternoon. We helped with a church service, and also did some music.

As we were unloading the van at the mission, I noticed an older gentleman sitting across the street with a crutch. I play the upright acoustic bass and was holding that, but I went across the street to talk with him. I asked how he injured himself and found out his back had problems – and that a few days before he hadn’t even been able to walk at all. He asked about my instrument, and I shared what it was, what it was for, and invited him in to the service. He declined, as he was waiting for friends to pick him up (interestingly enough, when we left, he was still out side but in a different location).

I gave him a tract (Ticket to Heaven) which he was receptive to, so I started into the good person test with him. He was open and interested as we discussed the different commandments. He admitted breaking them, and was quick to come up with the proper terms (“liar”, and “thief”). After summarizing his condition before God, he admitted he would be guilty of breaking them, that he would likely spend an eternity in hell, and that it concerned him. I was able to share the gospel with him, and he was open and listened for several minutes. He was familiar with the gospel (he has likely attended church before) – so I wondered if his heart was somewhat hardened to it (something like “Oh, I’ve heard that before”).

Inside, the group of men seemed a bit colder than usual. After the service, I was a bit disappointed with the conversations (especially considering the last time I was there I had been able to share the gospel with three men who were very receptive!).

I was able to give out a few “ten commandment pennies” (and the accompanying tract that explains it), but the conversations weren’t going anywhere. A fellow at a nearby table called me over, said he knew more about the Bible than I, and started asking questions. It became VERY obvious, VERY quickly, that his favorite verses are ones that are out of context, misapplied, and misunderstood.

He believed that Paul, when he said that he becomes ‘as those without the law in order to win those without the law’ – he feels Paul wasn’t talking about the ceremonial Jewish law, but rather the law of God (do not murder, do not steal, do not commit adultery). He also believed that when Paul said in Romans 7 that he does the things he doesn’t want to do, and doesn’t do the things he wants to do, that Paul was admitting to having committed adultery and fornication numerous times (since Paul had used the analogy of marriage at the beginning of the chapter to illustrate how the law has power over a person while they are alive to the law).

I shared with him regarding his interpretation of those Scriptures, but he was so focused on using grace as an occasion for the flesh and to justify and excuse his sin, that he wasn’t open.

The liberty we are called to, is liberty from sin and from the ceremonial law – NOT freedom to commit sin!

Galatians 5:13 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.

Eventually, when he saw that I wasn’t agreeing with him but was becoming more direct in discussing salvation and his need for Jesus, he got up and left.

I also had an opportunity to meet the most angry, bitter, and closed person I have ever met at the shelter. While the men were coming through the line getting their meal, we offered them each a large, homemade cookie, as well as a gospel tract. This one person accepted a cookie but was very upset that I would offer him a tract. He said he was unhappy with having to already hear an hour of that stuff, he didn’t need more, and he believed in freedom of religion (interestingly enough, I believe his actual comment should have been “freedom FROM religion”).

Later, after the meal was over I was walking by as he was throwing his plate and napkin away. I asked him why he came to a Gospel Mission if he was so upset with the gospel message. Instead of responding to my question he again expressed his anger, his frustration at having to listen to an hour of stuff he didn’t agree with, and even how he hated our superior “better than others” belief. I said that was not true, and said to the contrary, we believe we are ALL sinners (and such a statement had been made several times during the message!). He didn’t want to hear it and simply said I could do him a big favor by leaving him alone – at which point he turned and walked away.

My heart was saddened by someone with so much obvious anger and bitterness. I would have love to have heard his story – but he wouldn’t consider talking with me because he wouldn’t have wanted me to share anything with him. I’m praying the Holy Spirit will work in his heart, as he is obviously at a point in his life where he has many needs.

A Quick Pizza Discussion

2006-03-08T20:19:00.000-06:00

I took a young relative out for pizza today. Two ladies were at the pizza place in front of us, and they were told their pizza would be ready in a few minutes. When we placed our order, we were told it would be just a minute (the type of pizza we ordered was just coming out of the oven – whereas the pizza ordered by the ladies was just being put into the oven). While I was paying for the pizza, my young relative offered the two ladies a million dollar bill tract. She was then explaining to them what it was as I finished paying and joined the conversation.

I knew I wouldn’t have long, so I explained that it was a form of the good person test on the back of the million dollar bill, and asked if they felt they were good people. I was surprised that they both felt they weren’t. I said it was important to deal with because it impacted our eternity in heaven or hell. The one lady asked which church I went to, and after I answered I asked about the two of them (one attends a Lutheran Church and the other is Catholic). After asking the Lutheran (who was raised Baptist and was familiar with salvation and had been saved) if she was living as the Lord would have her to live, she said she was trying. I was a little bold and encouraged her that trying might be good, but we can live as He wants us to if we are obeying Him.

The Catholic at some point made a comment about everyone being headed for hell, and so I took the opportunity to say that that was an unfortunate aspect to being a Catholic – not ever knowing where they will spend eternity. How not even the Pope himself knows if he will enter heaven or hell. I said it was very unfortunate because the Bible is VERY clear that a person that is headed for heaven can know it for sure.

I encouraged her to get her Bible out and read I John 5:13: (KJV) These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.

What is interesting to note, is that even the Catholic Bible uses a somewhat similar translation for I John 5:13: (NAB) I write these things to you so that you may know that you have eternal life, you who believe in the name of the Son of God.

I didn’t share this with them, but Dave Hunt points out in his book “A Woman Rides the Beast”, that any Catholic that believes that their sins are forgiven and that they will for sure enter heaven when they die, that person is anathema (meaning “cursed”). The Council of Trent, Six, XVI, Canon 13 states: If anyone says that in order to obtain the remission of sins it is necessary for every man to believe with certainty and without any hesitation arising from his own weakness and indisposition that his sins are forgiven him, let him be anathema.

I John is written so that we may know we are going to heaven (something which is only possible if our sins are forgiven – because sinners cannot enter heaven).

We only had a minute or two of conversation until the pizza’s were ready – but I pray the Lord will use that time in their lives.

Ordering a Chair from a "Semi-Concerned" Person

2006-03-06T20:17:00.000-06:00

We needed a new chair in the office and had recently received a catalog from an office furniture supply company. They had a number of nice-looking ergonomic chairs, as well as an extended warranty. I gave them a call to confirm the length of their warranty (15 years!) and to see about ordering a chair.

I talked with a customer service representative who was helpful and answered my various questions. I then placed a chair on order. In the midst of the call she had to put me on hold to answer another line, so I knew they were a bit busy.

Following the order, I said it sounded like she was fairly busy, but if she had another minute I had a quick off-topic question for her. She was curious, and said to go ahead. I asked if she had ever taken the “good person” test – and she said she hadn’t. She was up for it, so we started into it.

She had fun with the test, and we looked at lying, stealing, and blasphemy. She readily admitted each offense. I had told her up front that there was a moral to the story – so, after summarizing her results (she laughed as we went through the results), I said, here is the moral of the story: if you were to die tonight and God judged you based on His ten commandments, would you be innocent or guilty? She quickly said “I’d be guilty.” I then said, “and where would you spend eternity, in heaven or hell?” She replied, “Hell, I guess.”

I asked if that concerned her, and she said ‘yes.’ After I asked if she had heard the gospel before and if she had a Bible, I once again asked how she was doing time-wise. She said it was a little longer than she had expected (I thought I was going fairly quickly – and had left out the illustration about the car accident and the court of law!) and she would probably need to go. I was surprised that a moment ago she had expressed concern over spending an eternity in hell, but here she was too busy to hear the solution to her problem! I said I understood she was busy, thanked her for helping me with the chair order, and for taking the test, and then encouraged her to think about those ten commandments and her relationship with God, and to visit NeedGod.com for further information.

Another Day – Another Barber

2006-02-23T20:13:00.000-06:00

I’ve decided to visit some new barbers so I can share the gospel with some new people. I’m quickly learning that most regular barbers (I’m not referring to “hair stylists”) are older fellow’s that are generally “good” people: they attend church, are easy-going, very easy to talk to, and know about God - - but don’t seem to have any real relationship with Him, and likely are thinking somewhat about the “tip” a person might leave all throughout the haircut and conversation.

I’ve also found it is a little different in sharing with a barber that you don’t know. Today I started by asking about his background – and we talked about my occupation at the same time. The first reference to spiritual issues occurred when he mentioned that he cuts hair a few days a week at the VA facility that is nearby. As we talked about the VA facility and the latest Veterans Administration funding cuts, I asked if they still had a nursing home at the VA. He said they do. I mentioned our church meets in a local nursing home once a week.

Eventually, I mentioned that the other barber who worked at the same store and had cut my hair last month was a Catholic – and I asked him if he was a Catholic. He was. We then began discussing the commandments. He was very defensive of his lying! He felt white lies were just fine, as long as they weren’t hurtful to others. He wouldn’t readily admit to stealing, but said he must have when he was young. He said he had definitely taken God’s name in vain (and, since I knew he was a church-attending Catholic I was able to be surprised and say, “What?? I thought you said you were a Catholic?? Taking God’s name in vain?!”). I asked if he had children (four – and a number of grandchildren), and I said I hoped he didn’t swear around them (he assured me he hadn’t – and I said that was good). When I asked if he wanted to talk about murder or adultery he said either was fine with him because he hadn’t done either of them! As I shared how God looks at the heart and that anger and hate are similar to murder, he only partially agreed. He shared how he gets angry at people at different times, but has never wished anyone dead (other than perhaps Hussein or other dictators).

I then shared the moral of the story: how others would look at him and see a good, church-going person, but God would look at him and see someone that has lied, stolen, blasphemed, and committed murder in his heart. I then asked if God were to judge him based on those commandments, would he be innocent or guilty – and he said he would be as guilty as everyone else. I asked if he would go to heaven or hell and he said he hoped heaven.

There wasn’t a whole lot of time left, but we did then talk about “false” hope and the various analogies of a criminal before an honest judge. It was neat because the story I share about my grandfather being in a car wreck occurred in front of the very location I was having my hair cut!

I left him with the “Are You Good Enough to Go To Heaven” tract (which is very detailed) – and encouraged him to read his Bible. I also left an IQ Test bookmark. I’ll be praying for his salvation and will be interested in having my hair cut by him at least once more to see if I can follow-up on our talk.

A Telemarketer Hangs Up On Me!

2006-02-16T20:12:00.000-06:00

I spoke with a telemarketer that was attempting to sell us VOIP service (telephone over internet). I talked with her for a while and explained how we don’t currently need the service – but I took down all her information so that, should we need the service in the future, I will be able to contact her.

After doing so, I asked about the good person test – and she had never taken it. I started into the test but could tell she was fairly nervous. I guess the Lord was bringing great convicting to bear in her heart, because as we started talking about stealing, she abruptly hung the telephone up (without even saying goodbye!).

The Friendly Tax Agent

2006-02-16T20:10:00.000-06:00

While on the trip out of country I was preparing a workshop that dealt with business. Since a portion of the workshop addressed taxes, I realized I needed some information about that country’s tax system (yes – the smart thing would have been to deal with the issue before leaving on the trip, but I don’t recall ever referring to myself as smart). While at the hotel I did a little research on the internet and then called their tax agency. I spoke with a helpful lady about the various tax laws – probably 15 minutes of tax talk. Afterwards, I thanked her, said all my tax questions were set, but mentioned that I had an off-topic question if she had a minute.

She was curious, and asked what I wanted to know. I asked about the good person test and then started into it. She was open – and laughed as we worked our way through it. She admitted guilt. But it was interesting to hear her arguments against God when we got to guilt/innocence and then destiny. On the one hand, she was amazingly open and understood everything I was sharing, and yet on the other hand she didn’t seem to fully believe in God. I attributed some of it to the different culture (less open belief in God) – but what a blessing to be able to share with someone that was so open!

Talking with the Hotel Staff

2006-02-10T19:01:00.000-06:00

I’m out of country right now at a conference. The conference is being held at a hotel/conference center facility – and we’re staying at the hotel. We’ve had opportunity to interact with a number of the hotel/convention staff over these days – and I thought I would write about two of the more memorable instances (several times conversations were started, but the person had other things to do and needed to leave part way through the conversation).

While the staff were cleaning up the conference center one night I started talking with two of the ladies that were cleaning up. As we talked, I gave them souvenirs from the States (million dollar bills) and explained that they were tracts. We started talking through the commandments – and they were open to the discussion. We made it through most of the commandments (of which they were guilty) – even though they didn’t really have a belief in God (we found more people with such a belief while we were in the other country – as compared to America). Unfortunately, after discussing their guilt and destiny in hell, another staff member came by lugging some heavy water containers and asked for their help. The two ladies seemed glad to help and end the conversation – but they left with tracts and an encouragement to read their Bibles and get right with God.

In riding an elevator one evening I was with a member of the hotel staff – and offered him a souvenir from the States (a million dollar bill). He took it – and was VERY happy with it. Turns out he collects currency, and was anxious to take this one home, flatten it (I had folded it in my pocket), and mount it in his collection. I did share that it was a gospel tract, and he said he would read the back, but he wasn’t too interested in talking about the gospel (but he was willing to talk about money!).

Overcoming Fear of Man!

2006-02-03T18:57:00.000-06:00

Another good title for this post would be “Giving Directions (a wonderful way to share)”.

While on my walk this morning I saw a large truck with roofing supplies drive by. Since the street I walk on has several new housing developments, I assumed they were headed for one of them. Sure enough, as I approached my turn-around point I saw the truck parked by the exit to one of the developments. In fact, he was blocking where I needed to cross the street and rolled back a few feet as I walked past (I smiled and waved at him – I always try to be friendly). Shortly thereafter I hit the turn around point and started back, and saw the truck still parked there.

I figured he was lost and wondered if I should stop and see if I could help, and perhaps have an opportunity to witness. I quickly figured it wasn’t a good idea as I was busy, I’m not very familiar with the new developments in town and probably wouldn’t be able to help him, and he was probably already late for making a delivery. (It’s amazing how quickly logical reasons why not to share the gospel come to mind in various situations) But when the Lord reminded me I would probably never see him again and it wouldn’t hurt to stop and try, I walked up to the truck (passenger side – there were two fellows in the cab), and then climbed up the step as they rolled down the window.

They were both Hispanic, but spoke rather good English (the driver much better than his helper). They had a map and were looking for a particular development – the name of which rang a bell but I couldn’t recall where it was. We chatted about the delivery for a minute or two (they had called their boss for more info and were waiting to hear back) when I pulled out some million dollar bills and asked if they had seen them before. They hadn’t.

The helper was handing it back when I said they could keep them. I shared that it was a gospel tract, and said the back had something similar to the ‘good person’ test that talks about the ten commandments. I asked if they had ever heard of the ten commandments and they said no. I asked if they go to church, and the driver said sometimes. So, we started into the test. There were occasional language issues – for example, at first he said he had never told a lie. As I questioned him further, he realized what I was asking and said ‘yes’ – he does that daily! His helper was engrossed in the map at this point and, since he didn’t understand as much English, I kept talking with the driver.

Next we discussed stealing (he admitted to that), blasphemy (readily admitted), and murder of the heart (also readily admitted) – and he understood as I shared how God would look at this heart – and how he had a conscience that tells him when he does something wrong. When I asked if he were to die and God were to judge him based on those commandments if he would be innocent or guilty, he thought for a moment and said ‘guilty’. When I asked if he would go to heaven or hell, he said he wasn’t sure.

I didn’t belabor the point but explained how all crime should have a punishment, and if we break God’s law it is fair and reasonable to expect punishment. He agreed. We went through some of the various analogies: a guilty criminal before a good judge, the futility of trying to simply live better (“judge, I promise I’ll never murder someone again”), the value of his soul compared to his eyes, the blessings of his family and job that the Lord has given him.

It was a little awkward hanging onto the mirror and standing on the fuel tank/step while talking, but it was the only option. We spent about twenty minutes talking, and then I gave them some more tracts and they headed off (they waved several times as they drove off).

My only regret was not encouraging him where to read when we talked about Bible reading. He had a Bible at his house (in Spanish – I told him my Bible at home is English and Spanish since I’m trying to learn some Spanish) and I did encourage him to read it as he gets right with God, but I didn’t encourage him to read in the book of John.

A Customer Service Call with a Backslidden(?) Believer

2006-02-02T18:54:00.000-06:00

I needed to call my insurance company, and as I was dialing through their phone system I received a pop-up message on my computer from a family member asking that I not use the phone so they can make a call. Since I wasn’t talking with anyone at the moment, I hung up and waited until the phone line was available to make the call.

I called back in and had business taken care of in a few minutes. Many companies have their customer service reps – before hanging up – ask if there is anything else they can help with. I said that my business was all squared away but I had an unrelated question for him – had he ever taken the good person test? He hadn’t – so I started right into it. He felt he was a good person, and that he had kept most of the commandments.

We started with lying (he felt everyone had done that – but yet it was hard for him to admit the word “liar”), then stealing (again, something he feels everyone has done), followed by blaspheme (taking God’s name in vain). He chose to discuss murder instead of adultery (when I gave him the choice), and then he agreed that God looks on the heart. It didn’t seem like he was really getting into the test as he was a bit quiet – so I was wondering how much farther he would go (would he make it to the gospel part?). When I told him that – compared to man – he’s probably better than most, but God would look at him, as he has admitted himself, as a lying, thieving, blasphemous, murderer at heart – I didn’t hear him laugh as some people do. I told him this was the moral to the story: if he were to die and stand before God, and God were to judge him based on the 10 commandments, would he be innocent or guilty. His response: “Guilty, but I would go to heaven because I am trusting in Jesus for the forgiveness of my sins.”

I was very surprised, as his response was one of the most theologically correct responses I’ve ever received from a believer who has taken the test. As we talked about salvation and what it means he was started becoming more open. I asked if he was living for the Lord and he said “not really.” I asked if he was attending church – not regularly. I asked if he was in the Word on a daily basis – no.

As we kept talking it became apparent that – assuming he is saved (which he genuinely believes that he is) – he has backslidden in his faith. I asked if there was any particular sin that he was bound to and he said there was. I asked if he was living on his own or with his family – and he said he has a family. My heart went out to him, and I gently encouraged him to get right with God, as the proof of our salvation isn’t in our verbal testimony but rather the way we live. We aren’t saved by living a certain way, but the way we live demonstrates our salvation.

I asked if there were any Godly men that he would look up to as a mentor and be willing to go to and share his struggle with, and who he would be willing to be accountable. He said he had someone he could do that with. I encouraged him to not delay – and that no matter what he was struggling with, all temptation is common to men – he isn’t alone in his struggle.

We talked for about 20 to 30 minutes, and then I asked if I could pray for him. He was grateful for the prayer and the sharing and said it was a blessing to him and that he needed to hear it. He genuinely sounded contrite and you could tell a spiritual war was being fought in his heart (as he acknowledged was the case).

The one regret I have is not specifically asking if I could call back and see how he is doing. I still can do so as I know the 800#, and have his full name – so he wouldn’t be hard to get in touch with. He’s been on my heart all today and I’ve been praying for him.

I also had my hair cut today, and went to a different barber. I’ve already shared with my regular barber, who believes he will go to heaven because he strives to keep the ten commandments (and he feels God will simply forgive his past failures). Since he has clearly heard the gospel, I thought I would try a new barber and see how it works to share with a captive audience. It was perfect because the new barber has his shop in the front portion of a grocery store, and the conversation he was having with another client as I waited my turn was regarding shop lifting. Later, as I was having my hair cut I asked about his background and found out he is a Catholic – and feels he has kept most of the commandments. I only was able to work through three of them (which he readily confessed), because we were talking about other subjects in-between. I didn’t get to judgment, or the gospel, but the foundation is definitely laid for the next time I get my hair cut. In the mean time, I’ll be praying that the Lord will be working in his heart.

A Trip to Wal-Mart

2006-01-28T18:52:00.001-06:00

As I walked by the check-out aisle I noticed a lady sitting next to a demo table. I started a conversation (asking how many she had sold) and we chatted for a while. I gave her a tract and a ten commandment coin, and we began working through the commandments. Another Wal-Mart employee showed up (she was going to take over the demo table for the other lady) and all three of us discussed the commandments. Both of them had a Christian background but neither was living for the Lord. Both understood the basics of salvation, but their walk with the Lord was questionable. In fact, one of them believed a person could be “saved” – but not quite yet “delivered” from sin. A lot of our discussion focused on repenting and obeying – along with the tests for salvation in I John. We talked about a person being securely in Jesus’ hands when they are saved – and that NO ONE can take them out of the Lord’s hand. We talked quite a bit about false converts, and how many of Jesus’ parables dealt with false converts (the wheat and the tares, the sheep and the goats, the soil, etc.). Considering the one lady wasn’t attending church and wasn’t reading her Bible, I encouraged her to seriously consider her salvation. I asked if I were to give her a Bible – would she read it? She surprised me by saying she would. I showed her how the chain of Scriptures that deal with salvation work, bent down the page that starts the chain of Scriptures, and also wrote that page number in the front. I gave both of them the more detailed “Are You Good Enough to Go To Heaven?” tracts – and then moved on.

The jewelry counter was next – a watch battery needed to be replaced. I talked with the worker behind the counter as she replaced the battery, and after awhile I gave her a Million Dollar Bill tract and we began through the good person test. She wasn’t quite as open as some, but was still receptive. After a minute or two, the phone rang and she had to go over to the Shoe Department to look something up for a customer. We had almost finished the “bad news” portion of the gospel – so I summarized the rest quickly and encouraged her to get a Bible and seek the Lord with her whole heart.

It didn’t take long to find the rest of the items I needed, and I was glad that the lines weren’t long. As I checked out I gave the checker a Titanic tract – for which he thanked me.

While I was paying, a checker in the next line over said “Aren’t you the guy with the million dollar bills?” I said I was – and asked if she had one. She did.

When I was done paying for my purchases, I stopped over at her register and asked if she accepts large bills. She said they do, and I said I had one for her. I pulled out the Giant Thousand Dollar Bill Tract and she was excited. I again pointed out the gospel on the back and she turned it over and started reading it. A mother and her 11 year-old daughter were just finishing up paying and the mother said she’d be interested in one of those. I said that was all I had, but I did have some Million Dollar Bills. She was even more excited about the Million Dollar Bill – and her daughter wanted one as well. I also gave the daughter an IQ test.

The checker with the Giant Thousand Dollar Bill tract was interested in our church information – and I shared that the tracts are about getting right with God and not attending church – that a person can attend church all their life and still spend eternity in hell. She readily agreed. I did share the time our church meets – but, again, encouraged her that the real issue is a person’s heart.

The “problem” with Sharing Christ while doing routine errands is that routine errands take quite a bit longer – but what better way is there for spending our time?

Phone Rejection…

2006-01-24T18:50:00.000-06:00

Phone rejections seem to occur more often than tract rejections. I was in the process of ordering some products for a client, and had questions about the vendor’s web site that I was using to place the order. I called in and talked with Jennifer – who was helpful. It was a very short conversation, and at the end, I didn’t ask about the Good Person test because I felt she would be closed. As soon as I hung up I wished I had at least tried.

Later, as I was finishing up the order on the web site, I ran into additional problems and called back – again, Jennifer answered my questions. This time, after discussing business I asked about the Good Person test. She had never taken it before – but when I asked if she had just a minute she said no… I said that was OK, thanked her for her help, and life went on.

Rejection is never pleasant, but I need to remember that they aren’t rejecting me, but the Lord. On top of that, it’s important to realize that people are busy with work, they are being paid by their employer to do a job, and it might very well be that they don’t have time.

First SOULWINNING Outing - A Report!

2006-01-21T21:58:00.000-06:00

Today was the first day that I went out and went “soul winning”. It was a very interesting experience, and I was surprised at how things went…

Yesterday, my sister, while out at lunch with a relative, ran into a believer from a nearby church that shared he was going soul winning in a nearby large town on Saturday afternoon – and that I (or any others) was welcome to join him. My heart confirmed that it would be a good thing to do, so I called him that evening and we talked through the plans.

The idea was to meet up with some other believers, drive to a spot in the city that has a lot of people (a popular shopping district): set up a table with free hot cocoa near the park fountain (with a sign asking “are you going to heaven?”), those at the table would share with the people that stopped for something warm to drink, while others would head out in groups of two and pass out tracts and witness throughout the shopping district.

I rode with the brother into the city and everyone then met at another brother’s house. As we got out of our vehicle to go inside and meet, I noticed two young boys playing football next door. I grabbed a few tracts and went over. I asked if they were playing tackle football, and they said “yes.” I asked what would happen if they were tackled on the cement, and they simply shrugged their shoulders. I pulled out a million dollar bill tract and offered it to them – they were duly impressed. I then pulled out an IQ test (“paris in the the spring”) and went through that. It took them several tries before they saw the double words! I then explained what was on the back of the cards, and began going through the good person test with them.

I found out their ages (9 and 10) as we went through the test. They both readily acknowledged breaking the various commandments. Despite both of them having attended Catholic church, neither one of them had any idea of the good news of the gospel – and they both acknowledged concern over their eternal destiny in hell. I spent 10 to 15 minutes sharing the gospel with them, and encouraged them to get right with God while they are young. I gave them some more in-depth tracts, told them that everything I was sharing was from the Bible, and encouraged them to read it and to find a relationship with Christ. As I headed over to the house we were meeting in, they both thanked me and returned to their game.

After we had a time of prayer and planning at the brother’s house, we set out for the shopping district. We found parking, and loaded up with tracts. Once we were set (while still in the parking lot), I noticed two young fellows walking towards their car to leave the parking lot. I hustled over to them (one was already in the car, but the passenger had only opened his door to get into the car) and asked if he had ever been given a million dollar bill. He hadn’t – and thought it was very cool. I asked if he’d ever taken the good person test, and he said no. I asked if he was a good person, and he said yes. I’ve found it’s a lot more fun to take two friends through the good person test, because you can bounce questions off either one – so I then asked him if his friend in the car was a good person – he said he wasn’t (with a big laugh). I asked his friend if he also wanted to take the good person test, and he said “sure” – so he got out of the car and came around to talk with us.

We had a great time going through the test –as the one fellow continued painting his friend with a broad, black brush! I finally asked him what he was doing with him as a friend – and we all laughed. After the test, they acknowledged a destiny in hell, and that it concerned them. As we talked, the conversation was still upbeat and friendly, but you could see a visible shift as they became more serious and somber. They were truly listening and thinking. We discussed the various methods people use to try and “pay for their fine” (from promising to not break the law in the future, to confessing their guilt, to attempting to bribe the judge with good words), and they could see the futility of each. I then shared the gospel with them, and they appeared to understand. I asked if they had Bibles, and they both did. I encouraged them to read in the book of John – and to not delay in getting right with God. At the end, they thanked me for sharing and then headed off.

As we were walking back through the parking lot a couple rejected a million dollar bill tract, but another couple (with a child) accepted it. Two other young fellows were over by their sporty little car chatting – so I went over and asked if they would like a million dollar bill. They both did. We talked, and neither had taken the good person test – so we started into it. They caught on rather quickly and had fun with it. But, they, too, became more serious as we discussed the consequences to those “commandments” that were fun to joke about breaking. I again shared the various man-centered approaches to God (confession, seeking to do better, and good works) and they agreed that those don’t erase the penalty. I then shared the gospel and encouraged them to get right with God before it is too late. They were receptive and listened attentively (and interjected their thoughts as we talked – it wasn’t a one-way conversation!). We probably talked for about 10 minutes, and then I left them with some more in-depth tracts.

So far, we hadn’t gotten out of the parking lot, and, including the two boys playing football, had already been able to share with 6 people! I had a suspicion, though, that we were doing far better than we would when we got to the shopping district.

In crossing the street we stopped at the island in the middle of the intersection to talk with the homeless man that was holding a sign and asking for money. I said the only thing I could share with him had to do with his eternal destiny, and gave him the million dollar bill – which he thought was great. We started talking, and again worked through the good person test, followed by eternal destiny (hell), and then the gospel. It was probably 10 or 15 minutes of interaction in the middle of the intersection. I again encouraged him to get right with God, and not to simply say a prayer and go to church and be like a hypocrite. He agreed that churches are full of people that go to church on Sunday and then cuss and swear and live dishonest lives the rest of the week – and he agreed that God wanted more than that. Supposedly this man has a master’s degree in biology – and I was inclined to believe him. I’m not sure why he was on the street, but he wasn’t anything like so many whose minds are ruined by drugs and alcohol. Before we left I asked if I could pray with him and he said ‘yes.’ In prayer, I asked God to open his eyes and reveal to him his condition before God, his breaking of the commandments (as we all have), and that he will stand before a righteous judge when he dies. I asked that God would reveal Himself and His Son Jesus to him, and that he would turn over his life to Christ, and would live for Him. Afterwards, he thanked me and we headed off.

We met another homeless person with a sign on the other side of the intersection and tried to talk with him, but he was less communicative and seemed to have a mind that was dulled with drugs or alcohol. We gave him a million dollar bill and started to talk with him, but after awhile he said he wasn’t interested. I said it was fine – he didn’t have to talk with us – but encouraged him to get right with God before it is too late and to read the back of the million dollar bill.

We then arrived at the fountain and talked with the brothers at the table for a few minutes. The initial plan had been an hour and a half in the shopping district, but we only had about 45-60 minutes left. So, we set out.

I have never had so many rejections in trying to hand out tracts or share the gospel as I did in that upscale shopping district. It was amazing! At times, it was actually hard to pass out a million dollar bill – sometimes there would be three or four rejections in a row before someone would accept it!

I was paired up with a younger brother from another family, and we were simply walking around trying to start conversations and pass out tracts. The million dollar bill made a great ice breaker, but it was also nice anytime someone had a dog (I like dogs and enjoy meeting them – although not all of them enjoy meeting me) and we could talk about that. Despite the many rejections, we were able to share with a number of people. Several started through the good person test but would leave as they started to feel conviction. Others went through and heard the gospel and understood it, but it wasn’t resonating within. Several times in sharing with a couple, the lady would be receptive whereas the man wouldn’t be. Or perhaps the mother would be open, but the father would say they needed to run along. I would always apologize for interrupting – and then they would say it was no problem and no interruption (but they still were heading off!).

The challenge was starting conversations with people. I tried to say “Hi!” to almost everyone we passed, and started a number of conversations that didn’t go anywhere.

At the designated time we met back at the table. Several of the brothers went to get the vehicles so they could load everything up. I noticed a lady with a pit bull over by the fountain and asked if anyone had shared with her yet. Since no one had, I headed over.

A bonus when sharing with some that has a pet dog is being able to meet the dog. Keep in mind that not all dogs are friendly – I’ve had several nip at me while I held out my hand to them. Turns out the pit bull was still a puppy (just shy of 1 year old) and was very friendly.

The lady accepted a million dollar bill and then we went through the good person test. When it got to innocence/guilt and heaven/hell she quickly said heaven because God has forgiven her. As we talked further, she mentioned her father was a minister. From our discussion I somewhat doubted whether she had a proper understanding of salvation and whether she was living for Jesus (two clues: she was smoking a cigarette while we talked, and she isn’t in the Word very often) – but it was still a good opportunity to share. We talked for about five minutes, and I encouraged her to be in the Word on a daily basis. I left her with a “Are You Good Enough to Go to Heaven” tract and then rejoined the group.

Interestingly enough, in summary, I found out that:
- Setting aside a time to go “soul winning” doesn’t make the process any easier, it is still difficult to approach strangers.
- As a result of an afternoon of “soul winning”, I was able to share the plan of salvation with about 15 people (and the majority of those were VERY open and realized their need).
- Having someone along with you can bolster your confidence.
- There appeared to be more success in the parking lot, neighborhood, and fountain area rather than in the shopping district.

Two Phone Calls - Two Chances to Share

2006-01-19T21:49:00.000-06:00

While making two phone calls this morning related to business I was able to share the complete plan of salvation with two customer service representatives that were very open and receptive to their need for salvation.

The first – after calling and ordering some product for our business, at the end of our phone call, I asked the lady if she had ever taken the ‘good person’ test. She hadn’t. I said it would only take a minute or two, and that if other calls were coming in and she needed to go – it wouldn’t be a problem and she should just let me know. We went through the commandments and she acknowledged guilt in each area. She was hoping to go to heaven, though, due to her confession and repentance. After hearing the courtroom analogy she readily agreed that simply confessing and repenting doesn’t change the fact a crime was committed. We probably spent 5 or 7 minutes, total, discussing her soul as she was very receptive. I encouraged her to repent and give her life to Christ before it is too late.

The second – I needed to call one of our major software vendors to discuss product registration questions. I called their 800 number and immediately got through (which was very nice). It didn’t take long to have my questions answered, at the end it was perfect, because the rep asked if there was anything else she could help me with. I said everything relating to the software was squared away, but I wondered if she had ever taken the good person test. She hadn’t – and I said it would only take a minute, and if other calls were coming in and she needed to go to just let me know… I even gave her a heads-up warning that everyone tends to fail the test – but I said it was fun and had a moral at the end.

I asked if she felt she was a good person, and she said yes. I asked if I could ask a few questions to see if that was true – and then asked if she was familiar with the 10 commandments. She wasn’t! I said most people are, and surely she has heard of some of them. I said one of them is “thou shalt not lie” and asked if she has ever lied – she had. I asked what that would make her, and she said a “temporarily bad person.” True, I said, but particularly, if I told lies what would she call me. She said it wouldn’t be a “liar” unless she knew the background information behind the lie. I said, “Isn’t it true that if I murder someone I’m a murdered, and if I lie, I’m a liar?” She agreed… So, we moved on to stealing, which she readily admitted. She had a hard time coming up with the word for someone that steals (a thief), so I helped her. Next was taking God’s name in vain, which she also readily admitted. For the fourth one, I actually gave her a choice – she could choose between murder and adultery. She laughed and said ‘murder’, but was a bit more serious as we went through the fact that God doesn’t simply see what we do, but also what we think. She acknowledged being angry at people, and laughed as we reviewed her confessed condition: a lying, thieving, blasphemous, murderer at heart. When asked about guilt before God, she said she would definitely be guilty, and when asked about heaven or hell, she didn’t outright answer but said it is something that concerned her.

We continued talking about how to “fix the problem” – and went through:
- Confession (won’t help a guilty criminal)
- Trying not to do it again (won’t help a guilty criminal)
- Doing good works (won’t help a guilty criminal – as it is considered either bribery or irrelevant to the case at hand)

We talked then about the good news of the gospel, and I encouraged her to repent, acknowledge her sin to God, cry out for His mercy, turn from the sin she’s involved in, give her life completely to Him, and start reading her Bible.

One very interesting aspect of the conversation was the opportunity to warn her of the seriousness of giving her life to Christ. We talked about hypocrites that go to church and know about Jesus, but haven’t been changed by Him – and how that would be similar to jumping out of a plane knowing that a parachute would save you, but not actually PUTTING IT ON. I encouraged her that, when she repents and “puts on Jesus” – her life will change. As we had been talking about the gospel, she had she shared about her “roommate”, who was her best friend. She lives in the same house (or apartment) as he for financial reasons – yet their relationship is completely platonic. His parents were very upset when he moved out of their house and in with her – and even had him meet with a pastor (who basically sided with the young man and agreed he needed to grow up at some point and move out?!?).

I was very surprised that this issue would come up, and was trying to seek the leading of the Holy Spirit in even sharing with her. Generally, as a young man, when sharing with someone that is a young lady, I have generally shared over the phone the first time - but will not follow-up (e-mail or future phone calls) with them to avoid the appearance of evil in my own life; but, if they are interested in follow-up, will encourage them to talk with my mother or sister.

In this instance, I felt the Lord giving boldness to address the issue that she had brought up. It's interesting how often, in talking with a guilty sinner, they will bring up the issue that is weighing on their heart. In talking with her, she agreed that such a living arrangement gave the appearance of evil. As we talked about giving her life to Christ and then fully obeying Him, I shared that one of the first things that would likely change would be the living arrangement – and the difficulty and challenges that would come as a result. And yet, the Lord would give her grace as she obeyed, and she would never regret obeying the Lord once she gave her life to Him.

Another Trip to the Homeless Mission

2006-01-14T21:43:00.000-06:00

First time going to the Mission with a supply of tracts. We brought the Titanic story tract and handed them out with home-made cookies as the men came out of the kitchen with their lunch. I don’t believe anyone turned down the tract, and it was good to see how many were reading their tracts.

Before the service started I saw a young African-American gentleman sitting near the front. I went over and gave him an IQ tract and said he would enjoy reading it. We chatted and I brought up the 10 commandments to see if he had kept them. We talked for a while and he admitted guilt, but he didn’t seem to be fully into the conversation. A number of others around us appeared to be listening, and at one point another gentlemen interjected by saying, “Why all this talk about judgment?” I reminded him that we all will eventually die and face judgment, and we’d better prepare now – and switched back to the conversation. I encouraged him to get right with God before it is too late. My goal was to plead with him, not preach at him.

One interesting part of the “good person test” – when I was talking about how anger is similar to murder, he shared that he had NEVER been angry with someone, so he wasn’t guilty of committing murder in his heart. A few minutes later, he was chatting with his buddy next to him, and the subject of the “yellow-vested city workers” came up (I believe these on police or city workers that are attempting to clean up the city and have encounters with the homeless). He said that he wished someone with a gun would go out and take care of them because he can’t stand them. I was absolutely floored, and reminded him that just minutes ago he had professed to be innocent of ever being angry with someone, and here he was – not only angry – but so angry with people that he wanted them to be dead. A perfect picture of someone that is committing murder in their heart!

I didn’t think our conversation had much of an impact on him, but after the service he shared with Dad that he had been deeply convicted by the Lord that he should be living for Jesus – and here he was at 32 years of age (I had shared I was 26) and there was no reason why he couldn’t live right. I was very encouraged to think he had been listening.

After the service and after passing out the tracts and cookies I went around the room to see who was interested in talking. It always seems very difficult to start a conversation with someone. Some of the fellows are open – others are very closed. I’ve had people get up and leave in the middle of conversations before!

I never got past small talk with a few men (I commented on either the food, the weather, the service, or the Titanic tract and would see what their response was). Eventually an older Hispanic gentlemen was open to conversation so we talked for awhile. I asked him about his background (he was a Catholic) and I said he should be familiar with the ten commandments. He was, although he said he couldn’t name them. I laughed and said I couldn’t until recently, and had just started learning them. I asked if he felt he has kept them, and he said “most”. I asked if we could go through some of them, and he said yes. We went through lying, stealing, blasphemy, and murder – all of which he admitted to (in action, or in his heart). He seemed genuinely open as we talked about guilt, judgment, and hell – so we then talked about salvation, and repenting of our sins, turning from them, and giving our entire life to Jesus. I encouraged him to read his Bible and to seek Jesus with his whole heart. He then had a work detail to join, so I prayed with him – he thanked me, and headed off.

It wasn’t quite time to leave yet, so I headed over to another table that still had a few fellows at it. It was about half-way back from the front, and since there was a Bible open on it I asked if this was the ‘Godly’ table where men sat that were seeking the Lord. They laughed and a few of the guys gave different responses. I asked if anyone had read the Titanic tract and we talked about that for a few moments… One gentleman in particular seemed open so I carried on the conversation with him – asking if he had gone through the “good person” test during the message. He wasn’t fully familiar with the ten commandments, but was open to the questions. He readily admitted guilt and an eternity in hell, and said he was in the process of seeking Jesus. He said he was struggling with ‘letting go.’ What a blessing to talk with someone who knows in his heart what is right and is seeking for it! I encouraged him to stay in the Word and continue until he has given up everything and only has Jesus.

On the way back from the Mission we stopped for a soda and chips. While checking out we talked with the clerk – and Dad offered to buy him a candy bar. He declined, but commented on Dad being a “nice guy”. I asked him if he was a nice guy as well, and he said “yes”. I asked if he was good enough to get to heaven and gave him the tract with the same title. I said it had a fair amount of text in it but was something everyone should read through. He took the tract and said he would definitely read it through later on.

Another failure…

2006-01-10T21:37:00.000-06:00

While stretching after my walk I noticed a repairman getting tools out of his truck at a nearby house. The Lord prompted me to go over and give him some tracts and perhaps run through the “Good Person” test, but I delayed. By the time I was ready to get up and head over, he was already heading back into the house. If I had obeyed the Lord the first time, the fellow would have been there while I walked over…

One Month Report!

2006-01-09T21:38:00.000-06:00

Over the past month as I’ve started to obey the Lord’s command to share with others, I’ve been keeping track of some numbers. The numbers have been overwhelmingly encouraging (very few rejections, and even those were minor ones where a person would usually say “ No thanks” when offered a tract).

Here is the good news:

Total:

Tracts: 155
Individual People: 97
Led to witness: 6
“Thank you”: 84
Simply accepted: 9
Rejected: 4

Phone Sharing (with telemarketers or customer service reps)
Open: 17
Closed/cold: 1
Plan of salvation: 8
Already saved: 6

Complete strangers who heard the entire gospel plan (most would first admit they were headed for hell, some were phone based, some were simply conversations): 20

The bad news is that, as a result of not being faithful, if I were to total up how many months have passed since I turned 18 and was somewhat an adult, the following numbers represent about how many people didn’t hear the gospel because of me:

Total: (from the time I was 18 through 26 – about 100 months of not faithfully sharing)

Tracts not given: 15,500
Individual People: 9,700
No witness: 600
Not thanked: 8,400
Not accepted: 900
Not rejected: 400

Phone sharing that never occurred
Open: 1,700
Closed/cold: 100
Plan of salvation: 800
Already saved: 600

Complete strangers who DIDN’T hear the gospel plan: 2,000

What an amazingly convicting set of numbers.

I wonder how many people will read these numbers and yet continue to build up numbers in the “tracts not passed out” section.

Visiting a Hospital

2006-01-08T21:33:00.000-06:00

An elderly lady in our church (which meets at a nursing home) fell and broke her hip on Friday (at the same Wal-Mart, about the same time I was also there). The Lord put it on my heart to visit her on Sunday afternoon – so my brother and I drove the hour to the hospital she was in (a beautiful, state of the art facility!). I brought a supply of tracts, several New Testaments, my Bible, and a balloon pump and balloons.

During the visit we talked, prayed, read Scripture, and I made up some balloon flowers. She was encouraged by us taking the time to stop by – even though she was in a lot of pain!

Following that we stopped by the nurse’s station and asked if they had anyone else on the floor that might be interested in a balloon or two. She introduced us to an elderly lady and we talked while I made some balloons. Afterwards I asked if she had a Christian background (she did), and I said I had some gospel tracts that she might enjoy reading (people in hospitals don’t have much else to do). I left her with a few tracts and checked back in at the nurse’s station. The nurse that was there said all the other nurses were gone right then and suggested we check in at the nurse’s station at the other end of the floor.

On the way down we passed a room with an open door and noticed an older gentlemen sitting in the bed reading the paper. I stopped, stepped in, and asked if he’d like a balloon. He wondered who the balloon was for, and I asked his name. It was Mike. I said the balloon was for Mike – so we talked and I made a few balloons. He was lonely (no family) and grateful for the visit. I left him with some tracts (and the balloons).

We went on to the next nurse’s station and when I explained I had some time if they knew of someone that wanted a balloon, the nurse jokingly said she would – so, I gave her a million dollar bill tract (which she was grateful for). She checked one room and the lady wasn’t available, but suggested we head into a different room and visit bed #2.

The room had a number of people in it (both beds were occupied and both people had visitors). It is a little bit disconcerting to walk into a room of strangers! I did so (walking past bed #1 and around the curtain to bed #2 – asking if it was OK for us to come on in) and said I had just finished visiting a friend with a broken hip, and that I had a few extra minutes and some spare balloons, and that the nurse had suggested we stop in – I said I’d make him a balloon unless he was too old for those types of things. He laughed and said he definitely was too old, but was interested in one anyways. I introduced myself and my brother and found out his name – along with his visitors (family members). We talked and laughed while I attempted to make a deer balloon (it was a deer with antlers, front legs, and a body – but no back legs or tail since I ran out of balloon!) and then made a parrot. After the visit I asked if he had a Christian background and offered some tracts. I said they were Biblically based and weren’t from a cult or anything weird – he was very interested. They were grateful for the visit, balloons, and tracts, as we headed out…

We stopped then at bed #1 and did the same routine – explained why we were there, introduced ourselves, and asked if he would like a balloon. We again talked and laughed while doing some balloons and then left them with some gospel tracts before heading out.

Errands Take Longer...

2006-01-06T21:28:00.000-06:00

Sharing with others can lengthen the time it takes to run errands - sometimes quite a bit!

I had to run some errands over lunch. I stopped back by the dry-cleaner and talked with the same lady as last week. I asked if she had read the tracts and she said ‘yes’. I asked if she had gotten right with God and she said ‘no’. I said “Isn’t that taking an awfully big risk? Because you could die at any moment” – and she agreed. I left her the Ray Comfort “Save Yourself some Pain” tract and said I would be praying for her.

Then, it was off to Wal-Mart. I gave a lady I passed in the store a million dollar bill and pointed out the gospel message on the back – she thanked me for it. After checking out I gave the checker a million dollar bill and an IQ test – she was appreciative of both and started to read them right then (no one else was in line behind me). She laughed about the fact that it was one of those IQ tests that has trick questions, but I also encouraged her not to skip the important one about the gospel. She asked if there were answers on the back as she flipped it over – I told her not to read the answers first!

As I was leaving a fellow was outside the door having a cigarette. I asked if he had gotten one of the million dollar bills before, and he said ‘yes’ (but he still took it). I said that was fine, he could pass this one on to someone else, and pointed out the gospel message on the back. He asked what church we go to, and we started talking. It wasn’t long before the good person test came up (he was a nominal Catholic that was, as he admitted, headed for hell). I gave him a New Testament and showed him how to follow the chain of Scriptures that discuss salvation.

In the parking lot I asked two ladies if they would like a ticket to heaven, the one looked at the other and they kept walking past without accepting it – the other lady called back “we’re all going to heaven”. Two lessons learned:

Don’t say it’s a ticket to heaven, simply hand it to them and ask “Did you get one of these?” They probably won’t be as defensive, or perhaps they’ll ask what it is...
Also, the proper response when someone says that everyone is going to heaven is to ask “Even murders?” That way, if they keep walking off they at least have the question in their mind that not everyone is going to heaven.

This Time – No Failure

2006-01-06T21:27:00.000-06:00

I was a few minutes late in leaving for my walk. Low and behold, the gentleman from the 3^rd (when I failed to share) was just setting out for a walk. I stopped and chatted with him. Turns out he used to walk every day but broke his foot and is just now getting back into the routine. I introduced myself and learned his name. Since he seemed like he was ready to head off I didn’t prolong the conversation – but there is a now an established “friendship” to build on in the future (hopefully, the near future).

State Prison Warden Receives a Tract

2006-01-04T16:16:00.000-06:00

I recently read a great article by Ray Comfort about fear of man - and not being embarrassed or ashamed of a person. Today, I was out at lunch with a friend when I noticed the Warden of a State Prison was having lunch with several of his associates at a table nearby. I recognized him from newspaper photos. I thought it would be good to give him a tract, but didn’t want to interrupt.

While we were part-way through our meal I noticed he and his associates had just finished their lunch and were getting up to leave. I got up, walked over, and asked if he was the warden and shared how I recognized him. I asked if he had ever gotten a million dollar bill tract before – and he hadn’t – but he liked it. We chatted a bit, and I also gave him a ticket to heaven (he said he needed one of those). Since I had several of each tract, I gave him extras that he could pass along to others. He then thanked me and headed out. In looking back I realized I should have introduced myself by name, but in being caught up in the moment I didn’t.

So, it was a good opportunity to give a tract to a person who I would consider to be somewhat important, while at the same time a good learning opportunity (it is always good to introduce myself to people by name as it shows respect - although I don't want to do it out of pride).

A Missed Opportunity

2006-01-03T16:07:00.000-06:00

While on my walk this morning a friendly, older, gentleman that I have had slight interactions with before was out in his yard. We exchanged greetings as I walked by. I believe the Lord prompted me to stop and have a conversation, but I kept on going – and was able to regret my action the entire rest of my walk. I have purposed to share with him the next time he is out as I pass by I’ll stop by, introduce myself, give him a million dollar bill (or a ticket to heaven) and see if we can discuss his soul.

A Trip to our Little Mall…

2006-01-02T15:01:00.001-06:00

With the arrival of the New Year I needed to stop by and get a calendar, and, upon announcing my plans, a number of others (family member) also asked me to get calendars for them. I took a pocketful of tracts since I knew I would be around a number of other people at our little mall.

After buying calendars I gave the lady working the checkout some tracts and started talking about spiritual things. After going through the “good person” test she said she was saved – but as we talked further it didn’t sound like she was living for the Lord (she hasn’t been attending church, doesn’t read her Bible, and works at a kiosk which also sells some wicked calendars). We only talked for several minutes, and she again heard the gospel, as well as the importance of following what the Lord has told us in his Word…

I headed off to Sears to see if there were any good deals on shirts (I’m hard to fit, in terms of measurements I have a small neck, small to medium chest, and large/long arms - yes, I know, I should probably look into shirts that are sized for orangutans). As I was walking through the mall I handed out a few tracts to men that were waiting outside stores for their wives.

At Sears, as I was looking through the shirts a teenager with several younger boys (probably brothers) came through the area, and it was obvious he was having trouble controlling them. I said I had something he could use to keep the boys’ attention and gave him a million dollar bill tract, as well as an IQ test tract. I told him they were gospel tracts and to make sure he read the backs. Then I shared the curved illusion tract with the younger boys. They enjoyed the illusion and I showed them the gospel message on the back – and then gave it to them. They thanked me, and I went back to browsing. About that time their mother arrived and they were very excitedly showing her their tracts. I shared with her that they were gospel tracts that the boys would enjoy – and she shared that they were out shopping for funeral clothes since her father-in-law had passed away the day before. I expressed my condolences. On the positive side, a family that was going through a death now had gospel tracts, but, I also feel I should have shared more with the mother. Missed opportunities are never pleasant to reflect upon.

Afterwards I went to a hardware store looking for a part for my brother. As I was checking out I gave the lady a ten-commandment collector’s coin as well as an optical illusion card. She was grateful for them, and even surprised they were for her to keep (she thought I was simply showing them to her and that she had to give them back)!

I was about to leave the mall and noticed the lady at the movie theater ticket counter. It was noon, and we have a very small mall – the place was practically deserted. Since she wasn’t doing anything I walked over and asked if she was interested in reading something. I gave her a million dollar bill and said it contained the “good person” test on the back side. I asked if she had ever taken the “good person” test and she said ‘no’. I asked if she wanted to take it and she hesitantly said she would.

We started with lying, then stealing (she professed and maintained innocence in regards to stealing and I didn’t belabor the point), followed by blaspheme and murder. Part way through she said, ‘I don’t think I want to take this test!’ I asked if she wanted to stop because she was failing it – but then shared that we ALL fail the “good person” test. At the end, she acknowledged guilt before God and, in a quieter voice, said she would be headed for hell – and that it concerned her. It was exciting to share the gospel with her.

We talked about deadly diseases, and I asked if she had a terminal disease, would she seek a cure or simply live the rest of her life trying to have as much fun as possible? She said she would seek for a cure. I shared how our sin is a deadly disease, that the ten commandments are clear indicators that we have this disease, and I said I was offering her the cure.

I encouraged her to not simply pray and then go to church, as God doesn’t want another “church attending hypocrite” – He wants her heart and her life (you could tell she really understood that point). I challenged her to get right with God and deal with her sin and guilt.

I gave her a more in-depth tract (and shared that it went back through the “good person” test in more detail) and that it had our website on the back, and that my mother or sister would be more than willing to answer any questions she has about the Bible and God. She thanked me for sharing and I then went on my way. She heard and understood the gospel - and we're praying that she will repent and put her trust in Christ.

A Dry Cleaner Moved to Tears...

2005-12-29T21:48:00.000-06:00

On my way to a business appointment this morning I dropped some dry cleaning off at the cleaners. I chatted with an older lady (Kelly) while she filled out the ticket. We talked about how busy they have been here at the end of the year, and she said they even had to work the day after Christmas. When I was done I handed her a million dollar bill tract and shared that it was a gospel tract.

She was very interested in the tract and turned it over and immediately began to read. I said that it contained something similar to the “Good Person Test” and asked if she had ever taken that test. She said she hadn’t – so I started into it.

In response to my questions: she said she felt she was a good person, she knew the ten commandments, she hadn’t always kept them, she had lied (although at first she shared thought it made her a sinner, but when I asked what she would call me if I told lies – she came up with the word “liar), she had stolen (at first she said she hadn’t, but when I encouraged her to listen to the voice of her conscience and think back – even to her childhood – she shared that she had stolen lipstick), she had blasphemed, and she had murdered. As is often the case, she laughed when I went through the horrible list describing her soul – but became serious when I asked if she would be innocent or guilty before God (she then said “guilty”).

As we discussed the commandments I noticed she had tears in her eyes – and was thrilled to see the Lord at work in her heart.

When I asked whether she would then go to heaven or hell, she said ‘hell’- and after I asked if she was concerned, she said she was.

We talked about the value of her eyes, and how her soul is far more valuable, and that she needs to deal with her sin. I shared that doing good works isn’t what earns salvation (‘polishing the judges car is bribery and will bring more consequences’) and that simply confessing isn’t enough (‘pleading guilty doesn’t remove punishment’). She had a Bible and I encouraged her to read it. Another customer came in about that time, so I left her a “Are You Good Enough to Go to Heaven” tract and encouraged her to read that.