Militant Evangelism! (20 page)

Joseph's life has great lessons for the Christian. Not only is it a hidden "type" of the life of Jesus, but it carries within it instruction, direction, and encouragement.

I have often wondered if Joseph did the right thing in telling his brothers of his dreams. Even his father was upset on hearing of them. Human nature is such an unstable
thing,
it doesn't take much to uncover jealousy within the heart. Knowing my own heart, I am careful to whom I boast of some of the good things God does for me. I would hate to cause another Christian to stumble in any way, because of unwise words on my part. But Joseph insisted on telling his brothers, and it stirred a unified jealous spirit that almost cost him his life.

Sometimes we have no choice. When we come to
a knowledge
of salvation, conscience forces us to speak that which we have seen and heard. To our friends and family, we sound as though we have had but idle dreams. They, like the brothers of Joseph become stirred by the god of this world, and because of the Gospel, direct hatred at us. God however, moves in the life of the Christian, as He did in the life of Joseph, and we find ourselves being lifted to places of responsibility. He found himself as a trusted servant in the household of Potiphar. Things were going good for Joseph, when one lusty lady enters the scene. This was a sinner's dream, contrived in the cunning minds of Hell's residents.

She personifies the seductions of sin as it whispers in the mind of the Christian "stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant."
Don't listen to her voice!
Cry out to God to uncover her wickedness. Plead for Him to make her voice odious to your ears. Ask the Father to make the sweet taste of lust, bitter to your pallet.

Resist sin, and be steadfast in the faith, knowing that it is just the enemy seeking to infiltrate and weaken the ranks of God's army. Say with Joseph, to the bewitching voice of lust, "How could I do this thing and sin against God!"

Look at the spirit that motivated Potiphar's wife. When Joseph didn't yield, she showed how much she really cared, unleashing her acidic heart when he rejected her advances. It was the same spirit that used Judas for its insidious purpose. So Joseph found himself in prison because he wanted to do the right thing. In a world that loves sin, those who stand for righteousness will suffer. In doing so, they may receive a frown from the world, but they have the smile of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.

Fighting Prejudice

A friend once called and asked if I would be interested in getting into a business selling "high tech" personal alarms. He sent me the literature, an alarm, and tapes showing the company's credibility. I was convinced that it could be a way for my eldest son to make a living, but to make sure, I decided to test the product myself. I put on some dressy clothes, a striking tie, and began to beat the sidewalk of our local boulevard.

The experience was horrible. Almost everyone, as soon as they saw I was selling a product, took that as a license to treat me as if I was a con-man. If I was buying something, then I deserved courtesy, but because I was selling, there was immediate
impatience, intolerance and prejudice. Almost every manager to whom I spoke had the presupposition that I was out to hoodwink them. The experience reminded me of the fact the most of us are very prejudiced. We judge people on how they look, the clothes they wear, the style of their hair, and even by the car they drive. Even as Christians, we can be prejudiced. I heard of a pastor of a large church, who sat down with his staff and said, "We are going to watch a video I disagree with" as he switched on our "Hell's Best Kept Secret" teaching. After the screening, he said, "I would just like to say, that I agree with everything on that video." His limited and
secondhand
knowledge had shaped prejudice in his heart. Once he understood the basis of the teaching, he was able to accept it as legitimate.

Unregenerate contemporary humanity is bent on prejudice when it comes to the things of God. Their limited knowledge leaves them with a prejudicial attitude. They have been programmed into thinking that we are fanatical, religious "fundamentalists." However, if they only knew what we have in Christ, if they could only have the light of understanding about the issues of eternity, they would listen with baited breath. This is why our first contact with an unsaved person is so important. We can't let them justify their prejudice. While we speak to them on a natural level, they should be feeling the warmth of a genuine sincere heart. Then, when they find that we are Christians, they should be saying within their minds,
"This person is different.”
These first few minutes are a time to establish basics in both speaking and listening.

The following are listed by a group called
Media Management
as the ten most annoying mistakes made while listening. For business, it can mean a loss of money, but in the Kingdom of God, it can mean that we are not as good a witness as we could be, so we should strive not to fall into these errors:

1.    Lack of eye contact.

2.    Disagreeing with everything said.

3.    Holding side conversations.

4.    Correcting grammar or word choices.

5.    
Answering
before the question is finished.

6.    Not responding.

7.    Bad breath or sitting too close.

8.    Completing speaker's sentences.

9.    Coughing or clearing throat.

10.    Interrupting.

Most of us don't listen very carefully. Take for example the camera crew who took a camera to the streets and asked a number of people what they would do if they found that their best friend was a "homo
sapien
." A number of people said, they
"would never speak to him again!"

Notice also that the first thing on the list is "eye contact." Of all the people on the earth who should be able to look the world in the eye, it is Christians, because we are speaking the Gospel truth. There is no ulterior motive—we are not selling anything, all we are "after," is the person's eternal well-being.

I'm a regular guest on an interesting talk-back radio program called "Religion on the Line." The two hour show has a Catholic priest, a Protestant minister, and a Rabbi as guests each week.

Once Sue and I arrived at the studio, and were let in by the security guard. As we signed the necessary forms, he asked, "How was church today?" I told him it was good, and asked if he was a Christian. He said he was one once, but had fallen away from his faith. I told him that the thing to get him back to the faith was a look at the Ten Commandments. I asked him if he had lied. He had, so I said, "What does that make you?" He hedged, by saying,
"A storyteller."
I smiled and said, "Come on ... what does that make you?" He said, "A liar." He had also stolen, and was therefore a thief, but when I asked him if he had ever broken the Seventh Commandment by lusting after a woman, he said he had never done it. I didn't believe him, so when his eyes looked down in conviction, I put my hand on his to get back his eye contact and said,
"Now be honest."
His eyes then sparkled, and he said,
"I'm gay."
It was then that I lost eye contact.
I was holding his hand!

The other annoyances on the Media Management list are reasonably obvious,
except number seven.
Ask any preacher who has had to endure a time of counselling at an altar call, and he will confirm that when Adam fell, so did his breath. I have had to counsel people while standing sideways as though I wanted them to speak into my ear, when I was really hiding my nose. I have even rubbed my nose while listening to people in an effort to protect the delicate instrument. It should be the
sinner
of whom it is written "Their throat is an open sepulchre," not the Christian. People should not think of Lazarus when the Christian opens his mouth. I remember sitting in a plane listening to a man give his life story. His breath made an open sepulchre seem like the sweet fragile scent of a rose. I kept eyeing the emergency door, and fully expected the other passengers in the plane to have pulled down the oxygen masks to get relief. This man was a walking insect repellent. When he bit into an apple, I thought there would be a burst of applause from the captain, the crew and all those on board. In my heart I was saying, "Thank you Lord, O thank you Lord."

Hi Folks, Give Me Your Money

It was early in the new year of 1993, and the mall in which Sue and I strolled was comparatively quiet after the busy Christmas rush. So when we entered a store, a young man said, "Hi folks, how are you doing?" The cynical thought entered my mind, "You really mean—'Hi folks, I couldn't care less how you're doing. All I want from you is your money.'" Then he said, "If you have any questions, feel free to ask them."

I waited for about ten seconds, strolled across to the counter and said, "I have a question. What is the meaning of life?" He didn't hesitate for a second, but said, "The meaning of
life,
is to live it to the fullest." I said, "That's what you
do
with life,
but what is its purpose?"
He was stumped, so I said, "If you are not a Christian, life is utterly futile, because death will take your life from you, no matter how full it is." He agreed saying, "That's
true,
death is the only sure thing in this life."

God has given all of us a will to live. The most dense of human beings knows that life is better than death, and I know from scripture that all of us are under the power of the fear of death, until we come to the Savior (Hebrews 2:15). The human heart longs for immortality, or at least longevity.

Robert A.
Chesebrough
, the Brooklyn chemist who invented
vaseline
, believed he had the answer for those who wanted to live a long life. He said the answer was to swallow one spoonful of
vaseline
each day. He died at the age of 96 in 1933 ... probably choked.

I told the man in the store that the only two things that are sure in
life,
are death and Judgment

Day, and gave him a penny with the Ten Commandments stamped onto it, saying that was the standard of judgment, that we've all broken the Law, and that we all need the Savior. He agreed, and we parted in good spirits. That three minute conversation put the "eternal" into a transitory stroll through the mall. I didn't go out especially to
witness,
I was just ready for any opportunity if it came along. The attitude of any soldier who wants to please him who enlisted
him,
should be one of vigilance.

The Found "Link."

A friend, who works as an animal control officer, came by my home to visit. As we were talking, he said he had an animal in the back of his truck that would be an excellent evangelical tool for me. My mind rushed through a jungle of animals in anticipation. Was it a snake, to illustrate the subtleties of the devil? Was it an elephant to portray the weight of God's Law? I hoped it would be a monkey, something I have wanted for years. Sue says we have had three children, and that should keep me happy, but a monkey would have so much potential for open-air preaching. I would dress him in blue shorts with suspenders, a red shirt, white socks and sneakers. I would train him to give out tracts to the crowd, spring boarding off him into Darwin's theory of evolution. I would name the chimp "Link," saying that I finally found what evolution says is missing.

As Steve opened up the side of his truck, suddenly I saw the animal he had in mind.
It was a skunk!
I jumped back,
then
ran inside to get Sue. Perhaps if I said I wanted a skunk, she would lean more easily towards a chimp. I used a similar principle to get our first bird. I went into a pet store and suggested we buy a big fat white rabbit. She said, "What do you want that for!" So I said, "How about a little bird then?" and she said, "Alright, just a little bird." If you want a dog, first propose getting a horse; a horse, an elephant; an elephant, a whale, etc.