Whew –
Cold, windy and threat of rain was the order of the day at the last Car Show of the year this past Saturday.
I don’t think the temperature ever made it past 50 degrees (we got to do something about this global warming thing!) while we were there.
Despite the not so friendly outdoor one-to-one witnessing conditions, we had several folks come out to help fulfill the Great Commission and take the gospel to where people are gathered.
Several of the evangelists with us Saturday are taking the Way of the Master class for the first time. We had just completed week six of the WOTM Basic Training Course and the Car Show was the perfect venue for some of the new evangelists to get their feet wet with some spiritual conversations.
Everything was in place and everybody got to the meeting place on time and we were ready to go…….but I forgot my camera!!
D’oh!
Oh, well……
I hope to get some stories from the ‘first-timers’ to post sometime this week. This way we can have their point of view from Saturday and hopefully encourage others out there who are a little intimidated to share their faith.
I had conversations with several folks, but one conversation that stands out is one with a 15 year old boy who attended a local church (I think the church is an emergent church but I can’t say for sure).
When asked the million dollar question (When you die, where do you think you will spend eternity?) he said, “Hopefully Heaven.”
When I asked him if he were to die today and stand before God, what would be the reason God would let him into Heaven?
He didn’t have an answer.
I went through the Law and showed him how God sees him; a lying, thieving, blaspheming adulterer at heart.
He admitted that if God were to sentence him after being found guilty of breaking His Law, he would go to hell.
“Does that concern you? Here you are, 15 years old, and you’re going to hell when you die.”
I asked him what he thought hell was like.
He said, “It’s probably like being in a house on fire with no way to escape.”
I said that was a pretty good description. But now imagine that you can’t escape forever. I said if that is what you think hell is like, it’s going to be a million times worse.
I said, “All liars will have their part in the Lake of Fire. No blasphemer, thief or adulterer will inherit the Kingdom of God.”
His mouth was stopped and I took him through God’s wonderful grace. I implored him to repent and trust Christ today before it was too late.
We left this young man and had several other conversations before I caught up with some of the other new evangelists.
A couple of the newbies were very bold in their witnessing. I hope to get some of their conversations to this blog over the next few days.
Praise God for the turnout of those who wanted to glorify God in their obedience to sharing the gospel. Praise God for the folks he set us up to talk to. Praise God for His Word that will not return void!
Praise God for atoning blood of Jesus Christ!
Atta be, Wayne! (Except for the camera thing. I mean, really, how could you?)
ReplyDeleteMust be kind of exciting to have a crew of evangelists working with you. I have yet to experience what thats like.
I do have one brother from church who is on fire to evangelize now that he has come with me a couple of times. Actually, I think I'm going to have to bring a fire extinguisher next time! He did not realize how great it is to serve the Lord this way. His passion for the lost has increased 10 fold and has committed himself to going out as often as possible.
Now, about the others in the church who do not believe sharing their faith is their calling. Ugh!
I know...how could I???
ReplyDeleteI need a checklist or something. I got so excited because of the number of folks who were going to come out and totally forgot the camera.
It was a blessing to have several folks show up and witness!
Next up on the calendar is the Gay Pride Festival on the 31st.
Even I will be out of my comfort zone for that one. Please be in prayer for us!
You really should be ashamed of yourself for approaching a minor, without his parents knowledge, much less consent, to take advantage of his youth to frighten him into converting to your brand of Christianity.
ReplyDeleteOf course, this is nothing new. Christianity Today did a study a few years ago reporting that over 50% of converts to Evangelicalism do so before the age of 15, and the older people get, the harder it is to win them over. Clearly, it's a lot easier to use the fear of Hell on kids who haven't developed the ability to question all that this notion implies, but sadly, once a person is so taken advantage of, it's very difficult for them to rid themselves of the fear of Hell, even once they do become adults.
I've actually written an entire book on this topic--"Hell? No! Why You Can Be Certain There's No Such Place As Hell," (for anyone interested, you can get a free Ecopy of my book at my website: www.ricklannoye.com), but if I may, I'd like to share with you one of the many points I make in it to illustrate why adult reasoning (the ability to think an idea through to its logical conclusions) makes the notion of Hell, clearly, ludicrous:
Let's say you end up in Heaven trying to sing endless praises to a God who is, simultaneously, torturing billions of others. Unless you are given a de facto lobotomy (in which case, YOU would no longer be YOU, so you might as well have not had a soul to begin with), you would have to begin wondering, "When am I next?" and the joy of Heaven would be lost, replaced by gloom and foreboding! Why? Because you could never rely on a God who is so mean to be honest about making any exceptions.
After all, which is more difficult? For God to actively cause so much immense pain, for so many, for so long, or to go back on whatever promises he made to a few others that he would not put them in Hell too at some point?
It would be like accepting an invitation to live as a guest with one of these maniacal men we've been hearing about lately who kidnap, imprison, rape and torture young girls in secret basements. Can you imagine such a guy, simultaneously, having some other young lady as his dinner date, and treating her with respect and care? And even if he did for a while, wouldn't his true nature unleash itself upon her at some point in time, as it has on so many others? Of course!
Thanks for stopping by Rick -
ReplyDeleteI'm actually surprised it took as long as it did for someone to comment as you just did.
Am I ashamed of witnessing the soul saving gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to a 'minor'?
No, of course not.
The ‘minor’ was there with his family. His mom and dad were only a few feet away near the car they had entered for the Car Show.
But that is beside the point.
This ‘minor’ is capable of determining whether or not there is a Hell on his own accord. He now has a better understanding of what sin is. He now knows that God hates that sin. He now knows that when he dies in those sins he will face a Holy and Righteous Judge who will cast not only him, but all those who die in their sins, into a Hell that burns forever for breaking His law.
I’m glad you have used your freedom of speech to write a book on the non-existence of Hell. I was simply using my free speech rights to tell him there is a Hell and a God who will judge him for sinning against Him.
This ‘minor’ could have simply told me that he didn’t want to talk. He could have walked away after saying, “No thanks.”
But I have found that the youth (15 to young twenties) have a curiosity about spiritual things. They are willing to engage in conversation and even debate the subject. They are not yet hardened by society and close minded to categorically state, “There is no Hell”.
Actually, now that I think about it, to say “There is no Hell” is to make an absolute statement. To make an absolute statement one would need absolute knowledge. To have absolute knowledge one would need to be all knowing. To be all knowing one would have to be God!
I know you are not all knowing, Rick.
Is it possible that, with all the knowledge you still have yet to come across, you may not have all the information about God?
Is it possible?
Maybe you don’t understand the true nature of God and why He must punish law breakers if He is a good God.
Check out these links –
http://www.carm.org/religious-movements/universalism/does-god-hate-anyone
http://www.carm.org/religious-movements/universalism/does-eternal-punishment-deny-gods-justice
http://www.carm.org/religious-movements/islam/why-it-necessary-god-die-our-sins
God is holy and just. God does not delight, as you seem to suggest, in the eternal punishment of anyone.
God desires that none should perish but all should come to repentance.
Because of this desire, God became a man in the person of Jesus Christ. God so loved the world that He gave His Son to die in our place so we would not have to spend eternity in Hell. Jesus died in our place while we were still sinners.
The good news is this – Three days after dying a horrible brutal death on the cross (the wrath of God came down on Christ for your sins…and mine) God raised Christ from dead so you and I could have forgiveness of our sins and eternal life with Him.
The Bible says you must repent and put you trust in Christ to save you.
Please do this today before you die and find out the horrible reality of your mistake of putting your faith in the non-existence of Hell.
Interesting discussion! I do have to wonder, though: "adult" logic is certainly valuable, but it doesn't undo the fact that Christ spoke on multiple occasions about Hell, and the description he provides is where Christians derive this concept of Hell from. Do you possibly deny these specific sayings attributed to Jesus are historical, or should I expect some fascinating long-winded neo-interpretation that is likely eviscerated by Occam's Razor?
ReplyDeleteSorry for the skepticism. Maybe I'll give your e-book a read, Rick.