Militant Evangelism! (36 page)

On earth I walked with you by day, and never did you show the way.

You knew the Savior in truth and glory,

But never did you tell the story.

My knowledge then was very dim.

You could have led me safe to Him.

Though we lived together, here on earth, you never told me of the second birth.

And now I stand before eternal Hell, because of Heaven's glory you did not tell!

(Anon)

Break
The
Hard Heart

It was John Newton, the converted slave
trader
who wrote "Amazing Grace," who said, "My grand point in preaching, is to break the hard heart, and to heal the broken one." The Law breaks the hard heart and Grace heals the broken one. You can tell if someone is ready for Grace by the fact that their mouth will be stopped. They will not seek to justify themselves, instead they will acknowledge their guilt. If they can personally appropriate Psalm 51, then they are ready for Grace. If they have no sense of their sinfulness to a point of repentance, and you are able to "get a decision," you will probably deliver a premature, still-born baby.

The fruit of "Jesus loves you" evangelism was epitomized recently while preaching in the open air. I touched on the subject of homosexuality, when a young lady verbally defended it. She was in her mid-twenties, very attractive, long blond hair, tastefully made up, and impeccably dressed. However, I detected that the voice tone was
sightly
lower than one would have expected from such a lady, so I asked,
"Are you a guy?”
The voice answered, "Transsexual." Then it said sleazily, "And I've asked Jesus into my heart, darling,
and God loves me just the way I am."

The god of this world may love him just the way he is, but the God of Heaven says, "Let everyone that names the name of Christ, depart from iniquity."

Come and Hear
The
Good News

Imagine if the local police force decided to have an amnesty, in which all criminal charges would be dropped against those who had broken the law, if within a certain period of time they would present their weapons at the local police station. After the offer of amnesty, there would be a massive bust in which every criminal would be rounded up and charged for their crimes. How would the police tell the law-breakers of the good news of the amnesty?

After some discussion, they decide to put advertisements in the police column of the local newspaper. Their reasoning is that law-breakers read their column. The next move is to spend a great deal of finance to make the local police station attractive.

They have the prison bars chrome-plated, have the cells carpeted with luscious carpet, and piped music played throughout the cells. Notices are then put outside the station saying, "Come and hear the good news." They don't mention that they have information that will lead to the biggest bust in the history of the state. Mysteriously, few law-breakers are game enough to make their way down to the station to hear what this good news is about.

Of course, we know that the police are not mindless enough to think that anyone is going to visit a police station when they are guilty of breaking the law, yet this is the mentality of modern evangelism. A church budding is the last place a sinner wants to frequent, so we have reasoned that we must make it more attractive to him, and
entice
him in to hear the "Good News."

Let's now see if we can learn from the police as they use a more realistic strategy. They do not remain within the budding,
but bring their message out to the public
in this manner:

THE PENALTY FOR POSSESSING ANY OF THE FOLLOWING WEAPONS IS A FIVE YEAR IMPRISONMENT ... If you surrender your weapon within seven days we will not lay charges. REMEMBER, FIVE LONG YEARS—don't be foolish, take advantage of this amnesty now!

The police merely preach future punishment to law-breakers, and it gets results!

True conversion not only takes from the enemy, but adds to the ranks of the Army of The Lord ... a two-fold victory, something the enemy isn't too happy about. Think of how God dealt with Saul of Tarsus.

I’m Glad You Asked

I once asked God to use me on a particular day for the extension of His Kingdom, but I couldn't see how He could, as all I had planned was to stay at home all that day and proof-read a new publication.

A
neighbor
had left her key with us, and asked if we could let a repair man into her home, and he arrived as I was praying.

As we chatted, we moved from the natural to the spiritual and I casually asked if he had been born-again. He stunned me with the reply, "I'm glad you asked that!" He then showed me a book he had been reading called "Hungering after God," which he borrowed from the public library. A few minutes later he accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. God had heard my unbelieving prayer, and given me a Nicodemus, so don't get discouraged if you seem to be continually sowing, God will occasionally let you reap, if you are faithful. More than often, I am sowing in tears.

On a recent flight to Dallas, I sat next to a
defense
attorney who didn't think God would punish sin. I reasoned with him about the fact that if a judge in Miami turned a blind eye to the crimes of the Mafia, he would be a corrupt judge, and should be therefore brought of justice himself. Between 1978 and 1988, there were 63,000 unsolved murders in the United States. That means there are at least 63,000 murderers walking around in America who
have
got off free. If God turns a blind eye to what they have done then God is corrupt by nature and should be brought to justice himself. I think the man saw that his god was one made in his own image.

After talking for some time, I said, "Let me present my case." He agreed, so I took him through three of the Commandments, which he acknowledged he had transgressed. He still tried to justify himself and cited a case he had been involved in the previous day.

He said that the judge asked two teenage criminals if they were sorry for their crime. They said they were, so the judge was lenient with them. He then pointed out that if they weren't sorry, he would have given them a very stiff sentence. The attorney actually built a case against himself. I told him that he was a guilty criminal in God's sight, and that if he kept trying to justify himself, he would be found guilty and end up in Hell.

If he would be sorry, repent and put his faith in Jesus, God could show him mercy because of the work of the cross. I gave him a book, and we parted on very good terms.

I embarrass Sue whenever I tell her what I do when I fly. I can understand why. I usually get on a flight, wait until all the passengers have boarded, pull out two or three blankets and at least eight pillows from the overhead lockers, make a bed,
then
snooze. I have got to a point where my comfort is more important than what other passengers think of me.

After the Dallas flight, I waited down the back of another plane, watching as an endless stream of passengers poured on board. I could see one row of three seats halfway down. While I waited, I talked with the flight attendant, who happened to be a Christian. Suddenly, a tall man with snowy-white hair stood up and spoke to her. She walked down the plane, came back and spoke to him. He then walked down the aisle and stole my potential bed! When the flight attendant realized that she had given away my seats, she apologized. It didn't really worry me, because I earlier surmised that if I didn't get a seat, God wanted me to witness to someone next to my designated seat.

I made my way back to my designated seat and found that someone had taken it.
Controlled panic.
I now had no seat! Suddenly, I saw one and plunked myself in it. The young man next to me was in his early twenties, and he didn't hesitate to begin a conversation with me. He was in the army, and said how he was tired of training. He wanted combat. When I asked him if he was afraid of getting killed, he said, "No." Why?—"Because of God." When I asked if he was a Christian, he said, "I'm a protestant." Further on in the conversation, he said how he had been on an earlier flight in a small plane and he was very scared. In fact, when telling me, he used the name of Jesus in blasphemy. I tucked that piece of ammunition away for later on in this battle that God had so evidently directed me to.

When we touched on Christian things later on in the conversation, he admitted he had broken a number of the Commandments. When I told him he had blasphemed the name of Jesus, he was very concerned. He knew he had done that in the past, but had determined never to do it again.

Rarely do I find sinners admitting their sins so readily. After we had been through the Law and the cross, spoken of justification by faith alone, he said that he was without excuse, that he would be a fool not to get right with God. He said that he had gained so much understanding through our conversation. That is the function of the Law—to be a schoolmaster, to bring the knowledge of sin, to prepare the heart for Grace.

Be alert to the tactic of the enemy to
sidetrack
with "red herrings," or "rabbit trails." Occasionally sinners have a genuine difficulty with, "Darwin's theory," "hypocrites in the Church," etc., but in most cases they are nothing but red herrings. We are called to be fishers of men, not herrings. Red herrings are the "hedges" Jesus told us to go to. Sinners make hedges, behind which they try to hide from God, as did Adam. The best way to get to a sinner from behind a
hedge,
is to beat it with the rod of the Law. Flush him out so that he stands naked before his Creator.

When he says, "I don't believe in Judgment Day," just say, "That doesn't matter, you will still perish if you don't repent." A bullet will kill you, even if you don't believe in bullets. God's Word is sharper man a two-edged sword, even if the sinner doesn't believe it:

"... he who has
My
word, let him speak My word faithfully ... is not My Word like a fire?
says
the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?" (Jeremiah 23:29)

Look for your divine directive. No battle is easy. If you go into a conflict armed with the Law, the enemy will discharge fiery darts of discouragement, and if you don't have your shield of faith held high, they will find their mark. Early in 1994, I sat next to a man aiming to witness to him, and found that he had the warmth of an iceberg. My aim was not yet on God's target, so I moved my sights to a woman who made Mr. Iceberg seem sociably hot. Then I sat next to another man whose head was horribly scarred, his eye was disfigured and his arm was in a sling. After I discharged the cannons of God's Law, with a wide eye he confided that he was in a motorbike accident and his parents informed him that while he was in a coma (though he didn't recall it), he said that God had told him that He didn't want him to come to Him yet. He was
very
open and was obviously God's appointment for me at that time.

There is nothing wrong with the weapons God has given to the Church. If the ten cannons of the Ten Commandments are covered in dust, that's our fault not God's. Dust them off, polish them up, move them forward, and aim them down the throats of those whose mouths are opened in rebellion against the heavens. Light the fuse ... then watch their faces turn pale. Better is a little fear in the Day of Grace, which drives the sinner to the cross, than no fear until the Day of Wrath, which will drive the sinner into the Lake of Fire.

CHAPTER NINETEEN: CHARACTER OF THE ENEMY