Militant Evangelism! (22 page)

As we looked at the heritage of the university, I noticed a party of children, all around 11 years old, standing in the grounds of the university. They seemed to be a tour party who were having a break from the tour, so I approached them with one of our

I.Q. test
tracts,
then did some sleight-of-hand. Before I knew it, I was surrounded by 80 children, and preached to them for 10-15 minutes. When one of them recited most of the Ten Commandments by memory, I gave him a few dollars as a reward. This seemed to get the attention of the rest, who not only listened, but
fought
over tracts when I finished speaking to them.

That afternoon, I set up a soapbox in front of about 20 students who were lazing on the grass, studying. Most of them didn't appreciate my presence one bit, and a few began heckling with conviction enough to enlarge the crowd to about 80 students. I was thrilled because I had heard that, even though 96% of mainstream America believes in God, this is down to 65% in "ivy league" universities such as Yale.

When an atheistic heckler denied God's existence, I asked him if he had ever seen a building which didn't have a builder, a painting without a painter, a car without a maker. Had he ever seen anything that was made, which didn't have a maker. It is such simple reasoning, but as these thought's entered his ears, it was as though a light came on in his mind, and he seemed then to listen with an open heart.

The next day, Brian took me into the heart of New York by train, and we spoke at Washington Square in Greenwich
village
. The place reminded me of the square in which I spoke for many years, but there were a lot more people, and a lot more drugs. When we preached, we had much opposition. One woman fumed because I said that abortion was wrong. When I asked her if her baby was born a month premature, if she would cut its throat herself if she didn't want it, she said she would. At least she was consistent.

As we were leaving the square, Brian said, "We will preach on the train going back through the Bronx." I thought,
"You've got to be kidding!
The Bronx has a murderous reputation at the best of times. If people were offended when preached to in the open, from which they could leave, how much more angered would they be if they couldn't get out!"

The train went through the Bronx, and it was packed to capacity. Brian broke the ice this time. He made his way into the middle of the carriage of 90 people, introduced himself and began preaching. Not one soul objected. They just sat there and listened. I felt so proud of this new friend of mine as he boldly warned them of Judgment Day, and preached the cross of Calvary. In fact, I became so encouraged, I tapped him on the shoulder and whispered, "Hurry up, I want to preach."

We
both preached
, gave out over 300 tracts, and felt so excited, we could hardly sleep that night.

When I told a friend in California that we had preached on the trains in New York, he widened his eyes and said, "What about the
conductor?"
I smiled and said, "Oh, we didn't have any music ... we just went straight into the preaching."

The Land of
Uz

A man once challenged Charles Spurgeon to give him one scripture against infant baptism, and he would give one to Spurgeon which supported the practice. The man said, "Suffer the little children to come to
Me
." Spurgeon looked at the man and said, "There was a man in the land of
Uz
, whose name was Job ... (Job 1:1)." The man protested,
"That verse has nothing to do with infant baptism!"
To which the wise preacher answered,"...
And neither has yours."

There are certain doctrines that are built upon very feeble foundations. There are one or two scriptures to support a particular interpretation, but when it comes to our responsibility to reach out to the lost, there stands before us a great concrete infrastructure to build upon. The reason Jesus came to this earth was to save sinners from Eternal Justice. The solid steel-enforced
framework of many foundational scriptures support
our evangelical obligations.

When you break out from your securities and seek the lost, even if it's dropping tracts on seats at an airport, you are in the front line of the battle. We need each other, so link arms through the Spirit with your brethren throughout the world. Determine to take advantage of every minute of the day to reach this world while there is still time. When you are not witnessing, be in an attitude of prayer, praying that God will make you effective, that He will give you wisdom, and the motivation to break free from the fears that hinder you from reaching out to the world. Keep yourself always ready to share your faith, so that you will never be caught off-guard.

Years ago, someone told me that a new convert was about to have an abortion. When I inquired as to when, I found out that the operation was about to take place that very afternoon at two o'clock. It was already one o'clock as I sped into the hospital parking lot. I ran through the hospital and up to the second floor, praying that God would give me the words, the wisdom, and the discretion to stop this young woman taking the life of her child.

When I entered her room I found her sitting on the bed. She had already had her pre-operative medication. I looked into her eyes and said the only thing that came to mind—
"Please ...
don't do this thing." She smiled warmly and said, "It's alright. I'm not going through with it. I have just finished praying,
“God, if you don't want me to have an abortion, make Ray Comfort come in and speak to me
. ”

I left the hospital walking on air. God had just used me in the saving of a human life. He didn't use my words or my wisdom, he just used me. It gave me a warm feeling to know that God would take the time to do such a thing.

Yet, I never really realized what God had used me for until about two years later at a church picnic, when I saw a cute little girl playing by herself on the grass. As I bent down to her, I realized that this was the same child that was going to be aborted. It was then, as I looked into her little face, that I fully understood what God had used me for that day.

The most zealous of us hasn't any real depth of understanding as to what God is using us for when we are involved in evangelism. We have a measure of appreciation that He is using us to plant the seed of the Gospel in the hearts of those who are in the shadow of death. However, I don't think it will fully dawn upon us as to what He is using us for, until the Day when a vast sea of billions of humanity stand before the Judgment Throne of Almighty God. The Great Shepherd stands from the great white throne, and separates the sheep from the goats. Suddenly, we see someone to whom we passed a tract or someone we witnessed to, separated to everlasting life!

Perhaps then, and only then, will we fully comprehend what God is using us for, but it is my prayer that He will give us some measure of understanding now as to the privilege we have, in being entrusted with the Gospel of everlasting life.

CHAPTER TWELVE: PRINCIPALS FOR VICTORY

"Let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the
armor
of light" (Romans 13:12).

I
n August of 1992,
Reader's Digest
published an article called "How 'average' people excel." It related how 'fast-trackers,'
people
who succeed in school, often fizzle. Their main problem is that they are driven by their own inflated ego, and they set goals too high for themselves. They, more than anybody, understand how clever they are, so they are never happy with playing second fiddle to anyone. In other words, their pride is their own downfall. The article, written from a purely secular point of view, had some very relevant thoughts that we may apply to the Army of God. Here are the keys found by a corporate consultant, who interviewed over 190 men and women that one would consider to be "ordinary" individuals who had achieved secular success:

1.    Learn self-discipline.
This is the key to being successful as a soldier. Of course, we don't measure success in dollars as the world does, we measure it in terms of our lives being pleasing to God.
Selfdiscipline
means discipline of self, and this in turn means discipline to Jesus. It means that we read the Word daily, and obey what it says. Self-discipline means self-denial. It means listening to the voice of our conscience, and the voice of the Spirit. Consider Jesus in this respect. His ministry was a complete denial of self, from the temptation in the wilderness, to Calvary itself. He denied His own will, and disciplined Himself to the will of the Father for the sake of the Kingdom of God.

2.    Bring out the best in people.
There is nothing more pathetic than a selfish person. The Christian has crucified selfishness, and now lives to love his
neighbor
as much as he loves himself. The dividends are rich. He who loves others will be loved himself, and he who brings out the best in others will bring out the best in himself. Jesus lived and died for others.

3.    Build a knowledge base.
Think of Jesus as He sat as a twelve year old at the feet of those who could give Him understanding of the Scriptures. He grew in grace and in the knowledge of the things of the Kingdom of God. We are commanded, "giving all diligence, and to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge . . . " To do so is to enrich the life of the Christian.

4.    Develop special skills.
Our skills are not in the natural realm. We seek skills that will save sinners from everlasting damnation. We long to be
skillful
by rightly dividing the Word of truth, a
skillful
workman that needs not be ashamed. We develop
a dexterity
that we might be sensitive to the voice of the Spirit, so that we might speak a word in season to those who are weary.

5.    Keep promises.
A Christian would rather die than not keep his word. He "swears to his own hurt" (Psalm 15:4). If he says he will do something, he will do it if it is at all possible. In doing so, he is merely following after righteousness, and simply doing what is upright.

6.    Bounce back from defeat.
You may lose a battle here and there, but remember who wins the war. I have had many conflicts that seemed to be failures; begun writing books that I have abandoned. I have printed tracts that I have thrown into the trash, floundered while fishing for men. I have wasted money on projects that have failed; have preached dry sermons, prayed pathetic prayers, and made just about every blunder one can make.

When our ministry first started back in 1974, we published a Christian paper called "Living Waters." On the back I ran a large advertisement headed with the words "Problems? Just call this number. You don't have to say a word ... just listen." The number was for a local
Dial-a-sermon,
and I thought it would be a blessing to those who found themselves needing comfort. Unfortunately, I forgot to include the area code and some poor woman in another part of the country began getting calls with heavy breathing on the line. People with problems called her and they didn't say a word. They just listened.

I heard once about a Christian who approached a young man who was selling
Playboy
magazines, and asked him what he was going to do on Judgment Day, when God held him accountable for every sale.
The man gave his life to the Savior.
The incident was a fresh encouragement to be bold.

Just after that, I was reading a newspaper in an airport in Hawaii, when a stranger walked by and asked, "Any good news?" I said, "Yes. If you repent of your sins and give your life to Jesus Christ, you will pass from death into life."
Do you know what happened?
Nothing ... the guy was a Christian!