Militant Evangelism! (23 page)

I once said to a church, "And this woman washed Jesus' hair with her feet. . . " !!???

I could write a book solely on flops, washouts, mess ups, botches, duds, bungles and failures, but who hasn't blown something in his life? Those who
blunder
the least are usually those who attempt the least. Steven Pile, the head of the
Not Terribly Good Club of Great Britain
was recently forced to resign from his position when a book he wrote called,
The Book of Heroic failures,
became an instant best seller.

Gathering Sticks

A young man once asked if I thought he should go to a mission school. I asked him how many people he witnessed to each day, and found that he actually spoke to 6 or 7 people daily about the things of God. His business was carpet-cleaning, and that gave him a personal contact with sinners from various walks of life. We looked at his future as a student. He would go to a Christian training school and spend six months with no one but Christians. Then he would go out and do mission work . . . if he still had a mind to. A wise man once said, "Be careful when you are picking up sticks, that your fire doesn't go out."

If you don't witness and you feel you need training, go to a Bible school where you know they have a burden for the lost, so that you will end up with more zeal than when you went in. Or better
still,
get into a lifestyle where you rub shoulders with the world. I gained what knowledge I have through study and a number of years of open-air preaching. The latter was a case of sink or swim.

A friend of mine was a very proficient "
garbiologist
." He collected the garbage for a local company. He said it wasn't too difficult, because you just picked it up as you went along. The same applies with evangelism. You will pick it up as you go along. It really isn't hard to witness,
if you know what you want to achieve.
It isn't the big deal the devil makes you think it is. Just find someone who is open to Christian things, take them through God's Law, then the cross, repentance, then faith. There's the skeleton. It's just a matter of putting the flesh on as you go. As you make witnessing a regular thing, it will come to you more naturally. In fact, it will come to you
supernaturally,
because you will have the help of God. The best way to learn to swim is to get into the water,
then
once you figure out that it isn't that difficult, you will get back into the water with less fear.

For the Thinking Mind

I was sitting at Long Beach airport feeling quite happy with myself. Good music was being played on the sound system, two people were tapping their feet and one was whistling along with the music. I had been upgraded to first class (because of frequent flying), and was actually looking forward to boarding the plane. It means you get into the plane before the masses, and that takes the stress out of flying.

I had put "Ten Commandment pennies" into the change slots of the telephones, and had placed Christian literature on a number of the seats, and what's more, I had avoided the dreaded cleaning lady.

More than once I have filled an airport with literature, and found to my dismay that the cleaning lady was cleaning up after me by putting all the tracts in the trash.

If you want to break out of the barracks, go to an airport. Where else in today's busy world can you find people sitting, doing nothing? We have one tract which is excellent for airports. It is called the
Book Mark,
and has plenty of "get-away time." It doesn't look at all like a Christian tract,
and gives you plenty of time to get away.
Its heading boosts the ego by saying, "INTELLIGENCE TEST ... for the thinking mind." Below the heading are eight brain-teasers. Number seven asks a question about a man who had broken the Ten Commandments. When he made it to the gates of Heaven, he found that God was "just," and had to by His very nature, punish sin. How could God let him into Heaven and still be just? On side two, it gives all the answers, including an explanation of how God did it through the cross.

At larger city airports, you will find tens of thousands of people. What's more, many of them are from all around the world.
This is your opportunity to begin an International Evangelistic Ministry.
At Dallas airport for example, one airline has about 30 gates. Have someone drop you at gate one and pick you up an hour later at gate thirty. During that hour, you walk through, dropping these boredom-breakers on the empty seats as you go.

I have done it hundreds of times, and never once have I been reprimanded, because what I am doing is totally permissible by law as a constitutional right according to a recent court case:

"The high court said airport authorities may prohibit repeated solicitation of money by political and religious groups. But the court also ruled that such organizations have a First Amendment right to distribute their literature in airports."
(Wall Street Journal,
June 1992).

Maybe you have a library full of good Christian books. Take a handful, and leave one on the seat you've been sitting on. Just make sure you don't do this in an airport that is in a big mess, because the cleaning lady will come along and do her thing.

Are you grateful for Calvary? Then show God your gratitude. Give Him the "widow's mite" of your witness. The incident of the widow giving her last two coins to
God,
shows us that only the gift that costs, counts. God knows that for you to slip a tract onto a seat may be equivalent on a courage level, to some other Christian standing up and preaching. But you can do it. Don't listen to your fears. Say, "If God is for me, nothing can be against me—I can do all things through Christ Who strengthens me." Then do it. Civil law is still on our side—you'll not be thrown

Catching Fan

I am not a big fan of fishing. In fact, I don't like fishing, I like
catching.
But to catch, you have to fish. I love to see people come to the Savior, but that only comes if I continually fish for men and women.

I now want to show you a wonderful witnessing tool. For me to do this, you will need a blank piece of paper. So put this book down for a minute and go and get a piece . . . it will be well worth your while. Go on. It will need to be rectangular in shape, preferably without writing on it. I use this after I have finished witnessing to someone, and I find it excellent as a summation of the whole Law and Gospel message.

Now do
exactly
what I tell you (this may seem complex, but it is in essence very simple). Fold the paper, from the top, down one third. You should now have a square piece in your hand. Fold the left top corner into the middle and crease it down (see next page).

Fold the right corner down and crease it, as though you are making a paper plane. You should now have something that looks like a house with a pointed roof. Continue making a plane by folding the paper in half. Crease it down the
center
.

You should now have something that looks like a paper plane
before you fold the wings down.

Now turn the point of the plane towards the ground, with the shorter edge to your left. Starting at the top left side, place your thumbs and forefingers a little more than a third across to the right, and carefully tear downwards in a straight line, until you have torn the piece off altogether. Place the torn piece on a table where it won't blow away. Then rip off another (little more than a third), vertically (rip it as straight as you can). Place this piece with the other,
then
put the remaining (long) piece on the table, away from the other two strips. Now open the two pieces, and carefully make them into letters. You will find two "L's," and the other pieces of paper will form the letters "E" and "H."

When you put them all together, you will have the word "HELL," (if you have been careful to do exactly as I say). The remaining long piece, when opened, will form a perfect cross.

Here is the story that goes with this:

"A Christian was once talking to an atheist and a 'church-goer.' The atheist said he didn't believe in Heaven, Hell, the cross, or in God (as you are telling this story, you begin folding the paper). The Christian warned him that he would have to face God whether he believed in Him or not.

"The church-goer said he believed everything the Bible said, but he hadn't repented as yet. While the

Christian pleaded with them
both,
a truck came around the corner, up onto the sidewalk and killed the three of them.

"As they stood before the Judgment Throne of God, the ex-atheist looked down and saw a piece of paper in the Christian's hand. He said, 'That's a ticket to get into Heaven,
give it to me!'
The Christian said, 'I'll tell you what I will do. I will give a third of the ticket to each of you'" (this is where you tear off the two strips, and place the longer one away from them. Then you pick up the two pieces and say), "So they took their tickets, and gave them to God. The Lord said, 'Let's see where the tickets say you are to go.'"

As you open them, they spell the word "HELL." Then you say, "The Christian walked up to the Throne and gave his one third of the ticket to God, Who said, "The only way to get
in,
is the way of the cross,' and you open the third piece, revealing the cross.