Where’s the line?

This is the time of year that lots of lines start to form, and they become more apparent to those of us that celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas. There are lines at the stores; perhaps thousands will gather at your local stores on “Black Friday” to take advantage of early Christmas shopping deals. Homeless across the country will line up to get a Thanksgiving meal at your local homeless shelter. Millions will line up so their kids can see Santa at their local mall.

But the longest line of all will be the line to see Jesus on Judgment Day. The Bible says that all people, Christians and pagans alike, will line up to see the King of Kings. Jesus Himself said that there are those who will hear Him say,

“Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”

But, there will be others who hear Him say,

“Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”

Have you noticed that Christians seem to be obsessed with the “end times”? Everywhere you look, from Christian radio to movies about the rapture to nuts like Harold Camping declaring he knows “the day”, when even Jesus Himself said no one knows, people are fascinated with end-times prophecy. Well, the tragedy with all this is that while we debate who’s “pre-trib” or “post-trib” and who we think the Anti-Christ is, an estimated 3 billion people have never heard of Jesus’ first coming! That’s right, the 10/40 Window is absolutely filled with people who have never before heard of Jesus.

This holiday season, when you thank God for the incomparable and priceless gift of His Son, please remember those who have yet to hear. Gospel for Asia is dedicated to proclaiming the Gospel to the nations who haven’t heard, and they have put together the wonderful video below.

Did you know that if just 1% of the U.S. money spent on Christmas last year were given to missions, it would purchase a Bible for every person on the planet?

Please consider giving this year to further the cause of the Gospel. As you watch this video, ask God what part He would have you play.

Halloween brings out the worst in folks?

Halloween is a perfect time to let your light shine before men. I mean, which other day of the year do pagans flock in droves to the Christian’s door?

Just like many of my friends, we celebrated Halloween by giving the little tricksters a dose of reality with their bags of goodies: a giant hundred dollar bill Gospel tract! Kids loved them, and we even had one kid come running to the house and tell us he didn’t want any candy, he just wanted one of the giant bills.

Well, apparently not everyone likes the evangelistic spirit on the day of evil! I guess any spirit except the Holy Spirit is invited. My friend Trish Ramos, over at Fish With Trish (and who works for Living Waters) posted this today:

This came into Living Waters today:

“My kids came home with their bags of halloween treats and as I was separating the good from the bad I found two candies glued to your brochures trying to sell my kids your bulls*&# religion. You piece of f^%#(*% child molesting trash pushing god as a way to molest kids is illegal you should be hunted down and shot like a terrorist.”

I wonder what church he goes to?

I’m guessing that, like most of this world, he attends the church of “me, myself, and I.” Like most of us, he has made a god in his mind that he’s happy with, even if it’s the albatross of atheism. He thinks that this life is about being happy, and someone sure did upset his happiness!

This reminds me of a John Wesley story. John Wesley, the great evangelist, used to train people up in his church, and then they’d get it into their heads that they were called to the ministry. He’d send them out to preach and witness in the market places, and when they came back, he’d ask them, “Did anyone get saved?” If they answered “Yes,” he’d keep them in the ministry. If they answered “No,” he’d ask them a second question: “Did anyone get angry?” If they answered “No” to this, then he would tell them “You are not called to the ministry!”

Let this be an encouragement! I know it’s hard at times, but Jesus did say that if the world hated him, you can be sure it will hate you. The servant is not above his master. That’s not what we want to hear, but it’s the truth; so, we should expect people to get angry when they come face to face with the cross of Christ. Paul said “The preaching of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing.” Foolishness inspires a response.

Now go serve our King!

“Christian” Tee Shirts: The good, the bad, and the downright stupid

My wife and I took our kids to Dollywood a couple of weeks ago. I had read about a lawsuit filed against Dollywood because one partner of a lesbian couple had wanted to wear a “Marriage is so gay” shirt into the park with her “wife” on a recent visit. The park had asked her to turn the shirt inside out, which she found offensive, and so she later filed a lawsuit. Well, Dolly had released a public apology and stated that she supports the gay community.

So I had purposed in my heart to wear my own radical shirt into the park:

Checkmate, false religions!

Actually, it wasn’t some big invasion plan like I was gonna start a rally or anything. I just like the shirt and decided to wear it that day. But throughout the day, I noticed people staring at my shirt; on more than one occasion, I turned to make eye contact with someone who was staring at my shirt and they immediately looked away as if they didn’t want to be seen reading it. A hijab-wearing Muslim woman was among them.

I kept thinking about whether a tee shirt could really do anything for evangelism, and (perhaps I turn everything into a problem that needs solving ) I started looking at other shirts that people were wearing. People advertise all sorts of stuff that they probably don’t really care about (like Oakley or Ford or whatever). I saw several “Christian” tee shirts and while standing in long lines for rides, I had lots of time to think about the whole Christian tee shirt idea.

I like the “coexist” shirt pictured above because in a very concise way, it communicates several things. It pronounces judgment on all the false gods of the world and states that all religions and their “prophets” are subject to the judgment of Jesus Christ. It has Scripture, and communicates a simple message that even the most thick-headed person can get. It presents Truth; I like it! You don’t have to wonder what it’s talking about, and it has enough information that someone can realize their own salvation or damnation from this one verse of Scripture.

There are lots of good evangelistic shirts out there. The ones from Voice of the Martyrs have some great truth on them and often point to the horrors of Christian persecution going on in the world. There’s really no reason to wear “church art”.

If a Christian is wearing a Christian tee shirt, you would think that they are attempting to do some evangelism. That’s what you’d think. But there are some real head scratchers out there. I saw this one that day:

So….what’s this about? I know, I know, salvation is through Christ, right? Or is that the message at all? This might seem trendy and cool, but it’s not conveying a lot of truth. Furthermore, are false converts and pagans going to get anything out of that? Isn’t that who evangelism is for? If the only people that “get” your shirt are your church buddies, you should pass on that purchase. Buy something that will witness to the people who don’t want you to know they’re reading your shirt and who are still in denial about their condemned state.

Saw this one too:

I can’t even begin to figure this one out. Jesus is sweet like chocolate and peanut butter? I love Jesus like I love candy? Is this one even blasphemous? I guess they threw in “King of Kings” to church it up a bit, but boy I couldn’t do this.

What about this one:

This seems to say “pick Jesus ’cause He’s a good choice.” Really? Jesus isn’t cool. He’s our Judge. He’s God. The Hebrews wouldn’t even speak God’s Name. The high priest would be smitten dead on the Day of Atonement if he came unclean into the Holy of Holies because THIS GOD was present there. And this is the height of our respect for Him? I’ve seen other shirts like “Jesus is my home boy” and “God’s got my back.” Wow.

Please, brothers and sisters in Christ! Let’s wear something that will compel people to come to Christ because He is the Son of God who bled and died on our behalf. Call them to repentance and let them know that without Christ, they have no hope on the Day of Judgment when God’s wrath is revealed against all lawlessness. Let them know that many will say to Him, “Lord, Lord,” but few there will be that find the narrow road that leads to life. We wouldn’t witness to someone by saying “Jesus is way cooler than Mohammed.” Why in the world would we wear a shirt like that?

You might think I’m overboard with this. Maybe I am, but one thing I learned that day at Dollywood: people do read shirts. And for every person that read mine, they got a dose of Truth that might mean the difference in their eternity. Just like Gospel tracts, God’s Word on a shirt won’t return void, but it has to be His Word!!

But the absolute worst thing I saw the whole time was this:

Translation: One front row seat for Hell, please.

I can’t imagine the theology behind this, except perhaps for a false convert or maybe an atheist or a Catholic that thinks Fat Tuesday is all in good fun. Yuck. If you call yourself a Christian and think this shirt is funny, please email me.

Anyway, I decided that by the end of the day, hundreds of people had thought about Jesus and their state before Him, if only for a second, because of the shirt that I was wearing. Perhaps seeds were planted, but I have decided that if people are meditating on God’s Word, there’s nothing better they could be doing! Look for more radical shirts from yours truly.

“180″ the Movie (Caution: graphic content)

If you can watch this and not cry, then you’re much tougher than me. But I warn you: it’s graphic at times.

“This is a video that will change multitudes of hearts, and more importantly, save millions of babies’ lives. You will be shocked as you watch how much our society has forgotten. Please invest 33 minutes of your time. It truly is a matter of life and death.” – Pastor Steve Sanchez

 

“I give my unflinching, joyful, trembling Yes to ’180′. Unflinching, because it’s right. Joyful, because it’s good. Trembling, because this our defeated enemy is still vicious.” —John Piper

 

“Riveting!” —Joni Eareckson Tada

 

“Mind-blowing and unforgettable!” —Randy Alcorn

 

9/11 Anniversary

Today marks the 10th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks on America. For people everywhere, this day means something; everyone seems to know where they were and what they were doing when they learned of the unfolding attacks. I was sitting in a hotel in Tokyo and unable to call my wife. It was another 10 days before I could return to the States, and during that time I had ample opportunities to reflect on my life and my marriage. I realized that in many cases I had been putting my job before my marriage and I vowed to correct that flaw. That vow resulted in me taking a job that doesn’t require me to travel. Maybe you were somehow changed by 9/11 too. Many lost loved ones, and today is a day of remembrance for the heroes that died that day.

Since everyone has some memory of this event in our history, it’s a perfect conversation starter for witnessing. I went out to the park today to hand out tracts and talk to people about what today means. I talked to a few couples and told them that within a week of the 9/11 attacks, churches were filled to capacity across the country; within another month, things had gotten back to “normal” and there were empty pews again. I asked them why they thought this was. One lady said that she thought people liked to pray for those in need, or perhaps they were praying for the health of our country. Then she asked what I thought the reason was.

I told her that people seek God for all sorts of reasons, but the primary reason is for what He can give us. Just like the 9/11 church attendance phenomenon, you can visit hospitals and find people praying in the chapel that don’t regularly attend church. We go to God when He is the only one who can bail us out. Put bluntly:

We want what God can give us, but we don’t really want Him.

You see, He demands something from us. As our Creator, He has said that He will judge the world in righteousness; the problem is, none of us are righteous. So we go about trying to “do good” to make up for that. This isn’t anything new though. At one point in His ministry, Jesus had many disciples. In John chapter 6, Jesus told them that many followed Him not because of who He was, but because of the food that He gave them. He basically told them that they were a bunch of freeloaders and that they should save themselves the trouble of trying to earn salvation. At this point, many of them left Him.

What do you think? Did America’s Christian population explode for the month or two after 9/11? Or did the multitudes of false converts pour into the churches hoping to have their ears tickled and to satisfy the sinking feeling that all was not well with their salvation?

I met a couple in their 40′s who said that they attend a local Baptist church. When I got to this point in the conversation, the lady started getting pretty uncomfortable. She stood suddenly and said, “Well I think it might rain. We’d better go.” With that, she and her husband left.

Even after talking with as many people as I have, I am still amazed that people will claim to be Christian, but get very uncomfortable when you start talking about Jesus Christ. I guess even today, He still has freeloading disciples.

The Angry Agnostic Kid

The Labor Day fair is in town this weekend, so for the third year in a row, we procured a booth for the purpose of handing out tracts and talking with people about eternity. Our booth is situated on the main strip connecting the front gate to all the rides, so everyone that comes to the fair has to stroll past our booth! Honestly, I think the fair organizers appreciate our being there since they gave us the booth space for free, and they’ve made sure that all traffic comes by us. They even put us next to the spinning motorcycle of death, so every time the folks in spandex finish their show, we aim our PA at the crowd and tell them about the One who didn’t just pretend to cheat death — He actually defeated it!

Last night (Friday) was particularly busy, and of the dozens of people we spoke to, one kid stands out.

We have a creepy looking 3D Einstein face with a “Genius Quiz” printed above it. It attracts lots of people that want to come over and see how they fare on the genius scale.

I was handing out the big hundred dollar bill tracts to people walking by, and I noticed that my buddy Tim was over to the side speaking with a guy and (presumably) his girlfriend who had come over to take the genius quiz. They were listening intently to what Tim was saying (I couldn’t hear what he was saying), so I went back to handing out tracts. Several minutes later I noticed that the guy seemed to be looking a little agitated, so I walked over closer to listen in.

I heard the guy say,

“But the Bible was written by men a very long time ago and it’s been copied so many times.”

I couldn’t help getting involved. I said, “Is that a problem?” He said, “But it’s very old! You can’t depend on it.” Oh boy.

I said, “Do you know anything about the Dead Sea Scrolls?” He said, “Yes, they were discovered in 1942 I think.” I said, “Did you know that the oldest scrolls found date back to 100 B.C.? And did you know that at the time those scrolls were found, they were 1,000 years older than our oldest manuscript?” He said, “So?” I said, “So here’s the point. You claim we can’t trust them because they’re old. A copy of Isaiah was found in Qumran that dated to 100 B.C., and it matched perfectly with our much more ‘recent’ manuscripts. In other words, it hadn’t changed. The Bible’s text is not only reliable, but it’s far more reliable than any other ancient book you’ll come in contact with.”

He start raising his voice saying that there are other ancient books like Homer. I asked him if he knew the difference between Homer and Jesus? He didn’t. I told him that when a book claims to be inspired by God, it had better have more going for it than age. Isaiah wrote accurately of Jesus’ trial and condemnation 800 years before Jesus was born. David, in Psalm 22, described Jesus’ death by crucifixion 1,000 years before Jesus was born and 800 years before the Romans invented crucifixion. This says nothing of the myriad prophecies regarding Babylon’s overthrow of Israel and the movement of Israel throughout the Old Testament. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Ezekiel, Micah, Malachi, they ALL prophesied about Israel and about the Messiah, and the truth of their prophecies can be demonstrated in Jesus.”

He said, “So? I can write books too.” I said, “Jesus claimed to be God.” He said, “I could claim that too.” I said, “Can you raise yourself from the dead?” He said, “No. But you don’t know that he did either.”

We continued to talk about the 500 witnesses who saw Jesus after His resurrection, and on pain of death, were willing to testify to His being alive again. No court of law could possibly prosecute a case when 500 witnesses were willing to testify to an alibi. I said, “How old are you?” He said “17.”

I said , “We aren’t talking about whether you like red and I like blue. You might not like the idea of Hell, but that is irrelevant. I don’t know you, but I can guarantee that the 3,400 year old book of Genesis describes you and the sinful desires of your heart perfectly. The God who made you declares that there will be a day of reckoning, and you will stand before Him. And on that day, it will be just you and Him. It won’t be you, me, and Him. You are still very young, and I pray that you live long enough to realize that your perceptions and feelings about reality are not reliable and cannot be trusted. I pray that you will repent and trust in Jesus Christ before it’s too late.”

He said,

“That’s it. You guys are just claiming that some book is true like you know it is, and no one can know that.”

With that, he walked away and disappeared into the crowd.

But wait! There’s more. About 15 minutes later, I was handing out tracts again and I saw him come walking up to the booth. He seemed to have calmed down and he obviously wanted to say something. I walked over and he said, “Look, I wanted to apologize. What you guys have told me has really given me something to think about. I am going to pray about this.” I said, “My name is Glenn.” He said, “I’m Nick.” We shook hands, and I thanked him for coming back.

Wow! First of all, I have to say that Nick was a real man for coming back like that. Whether he believes what we were saying or not, it takes a certain maturity to quell tension with an apology, especially since he was already extricated from the situation. It may be that his girlfriend coerced him into coming back; I don’t know.

Please join me in praying for Nick. He’s too young to be indoctrinated this way, and I am praying that God will open Nick’s eyes to the Truth before it’s too late.

Another day and STILL no Armageddon!

Oh man, we should've handed out more tracts!

Well, I guess the Harold Camping followers are hiding under rocks now, but it’s not the same rocks Revelation says we’ll be hiding under during the real deal. Of course, the atheists and nay sayers must have had a good laugh when the end of the world didn’t come at 6pm Eastern time on May 21st. While we easily shake our heads at the false prophets and their followers, we need to remember that every time this happens, people become a little more inocculated against Biblical Christianity.

This sort of nonsense has been going on since Jesus first said

“But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.” – Matthew 24:36

The disciples didn’t know when the end of the world would come, and apparently neither did Jesus. Since He said only the Father knew, then we must assume that Harold Camping is out of the running (remember that the next time he surfaces with some claim to knowledge). Despite the Master Himself telling us that, some less-fortunate people end up buying into people like Jim Jones, David Koresh, and Harold Camping. Maybe that’s why we should spend more time reading our Bibles and less time reading the latest rock star preacher’s guide to a better life.

The problem isn’t that we have nut jobs among us. The problem is that when people who claim to be Christ followers, and who claim to be Biblical Christian, come out with nonsense like the “Bible Code” idiocy, more people are likely to associate normal Christianity with them.

The Apostle Peter wrote this:

“you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, 3 knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. 4 They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” – 2 Peter 3:2-4

I believe that the scoffers are already here, and Harold Camping is creating more of them.

Good Friday Gospel Assualt

To celebrate the death and resurrection of the most important man who ever lived, I decided to take a day of vacation yesterday and travel around Huntsville preaching and witnessing. Paul couldn’t stand being left out, so he took the day off too. Actually, Paul is sort of my adrenaline. Without him, I never seem to have the same boldness.

Oh man, not this guy again!

We started out at the courthouse at 9am. Things were pretty calm since court had just opened, so we passed out around 10 tracts and couldn’t find anyone else to give one to. There were some folks hanging around the smoking area up by the courthouse, so I got on the rubbermaid podium and belted out a 5 minute sermon. I told people that, just like inside that courthouse, on the Day of Judgment, people are going to hope that they hear “not guilty”. However, there is nothing that a human judge could ever do that would compare to God’s wrath toward sin. I begged people to consider their state before God during this Easter season, when the sinless lamb of God bled and died to buy the pardon of anyone who will repent and put their faith in Him.

When I started shouting, people came and stood to hear what was going on; they listened to the whole thing. There was one lady who stood for a few minutes, and then whispered to Paul, “It is really refreshing to hear someone out here preaching the Truth! I wish I could stay and listen, but I have to get back to work inside.” Wow, we sure don’t hear encouragement like that very often!

Paul was up next. He seems to have a voice made for open-air preaching. Mine gives out after just a few minutes, but Paul seems to really be able to throw his voice without sounding like he’s a shouting maniac. He talked about sin and righteousness and what repentance is all about.

We left the courthouse and decided to head over to Bridge Street to see what was going on. Lots of people turned out to get some tracts! We handed out a few dozen, then Paul had the idea to do some on-camera interviews. I interviewed a young man named Braxton who said, “Yes, I’m a Christian, although a lot of people probably wouldn’t think so.” Yeah….about that. I started by asking what he thought Easter was about, and he said, “That’s when Jesus was reborn.” Well…ummmm…..no. I took him through the good person test, and the interview turned out okay. Only took about 5 minutes, so Paul interviewed another guy named Jackson. Paul told Jackson, “Let’s say I’m a nonbeliever and I’m about to die.” Jackson did a great job sticking to his guns and telling Paul it doesn’t matter what he’s done or how good he thinks he is; if he hasn’t repented and put his faith in Jesus alone, he’s gonna be a crispy critter. Good job, Jackson! We rewarded Jackson with a copy of Mark Cahill’s “One Thing You Can’t Do In Heaven”. If you haven’t read that book, you’re really missing out!

We then walked around Bridge Street for a while handing out tracts. We somehow managed to give one to the property manager, and she very politely asked us to knock it off! Oh, well. We can’t quit now! It was just 11am, so we headed back to Big Spring Park and handed out a bunch of tracts to people hanging around in the park.

We went back to the court house and preached one more time, then headed to get some lunch. While we were there at lunch, Paul decided to tract up the place. I was watching as he did; he went around to each table and gave the person(s) sitting there a million dollar bill tract. One thing that sticks in my mind is an Episcopal priest who was sitting near us (and was wearing his shirt and collar and a big gold cross that would make M.C. Hammer envious); Paul handed him a tract, and he looked it over, rolled his eyes at the guy he was sitting with, and dropped the tract on the table where it still sat after he left. Hmmmmmm…..not too sure what to think about that one.

After lunch we went over to Park Place mall for some witnessing. We had several good conversations and handed out another hundred tracts inside the mall! We stayed at the mall until about 2:30. It was an awesome day; lots of people heard the Gospel, and we ended up finding more places we can go witness and do interviews. Praise the Lord!

One request – Jesus bled and died on that cross for you if you’re a born-again believer. He didn’t have a little loincloth like Hollywood depicts. He was nailed to that cross naked. For you. Won’t you go tell someone about Him this week?

Yes, Virginia, There is Absolute Truth! Part 2 of 2

See Part 1 here.

We talked with several more people that day. We were asking people to “answer our question of the day,” which was “Are you a good person?” Several said “yes”, a few said “no”, and some what “what?”

While I talked with the atheists, a lady who works at the university took it upon herself to start inviting people over to take our poll. After the atheists had to go to class, I walked over to her and she was asking me all about our ministry and how often we come out. It turns out she’s a Christian and was very encouraged to see people out sharing their faith in this way. Apparently there are some other people who come to campus occasionally and twist Scripture to mean all sorts of crazy things, and people have started avoiding them. But, we had no such problems! We ended up giving out over 200 Gospel tracts and had probably at least a dozen good conversations.

One particular guy came walking by and sort of looked our direction. Our new friend yelled to him, “Hey! Come take our poll!” He steered over just long enough to see the question, and then as he continued walking past he shouted back, “Nobody’s as good as they could be!” I asked him what he meant, and he came walking back. He said, “We are all capable of infinite good or infinite bad,” then started walking away again. I am not quite sure what that even means, but I said “Really? Do you think you’re as good as you could be?” He turned around  and came back. This time he stayed; he replied, “No, I don’t guess so.”

I said, “The point of this test is that while we all think we’re pretty decent people, the fact is that none of us are good enough to get into heaven.” He sort of stared at me blankly. I continued, “Have you ever considered that every major world religion, with the exception of Christianity, says that if we do enough good deeds, we might go to heaven?” He kept staring at me blankly.

So I kept talking, “Every religion in some way, shape or form, teaches that if you strive with all your heart to be a good person, you might go to heaven or the nothingness, as Buddhists put it. But Christianity is distinctly different. Jesus said nobody is good enough to get into heaven, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags.” His demeanor changed a little and I could tell he had heard this before. I said, “Have you ever lied, stolen, or lusted?” He admitted he had. I said, “That means that you, just like me, have broken God’s moral commands. If He were to judge you by that right now, would you be guilty, or would you be innocent?” He admitted that he would be guilty. He then admitted he would be headed for Hell.

I said, “Does that concern you?” He really started to look a little disturbed and said, “Yes it does.” I asked him if he had any idea what God did so that he wouldn’t have to face the penalty for those sins. He very meekly replied, “Died on a cross?”

I said, “Yes! He did. Jesus, God’s Son, died on a cross to take your place. He was forsaken so that you could be forgiven. The fine was paid by Him, but do you know what God requires of you to partake in what Jesus did?” He said he didn’t.

I told him that he must repent of his sins, turn from them, acknowledge his guilt before God, and pray that Jesus will change his heart and make him a new creation. He said he wanted to do it, but it seemed so hard.

I said, “Man, you don’t have to do it on your own! God promises that He will give you a new heart. He will change your desires! All He requires is that you lay your life down for Him, and He will change you from the inside out.”

Then he said those words that I can still hear: “I believe everything you’re saying. How do I repent? I don’t want to go to Hell! What do I need to do?”

Wow! It hit me like a ton of bricks and suddenly I felt like a moron. Here I was all suited up, ready for spiritual battles with atheists and Wiccans, but I was not ready for God to open someone’s heart and change a destiny right there in front of me. I had to ask God to forgive me! (Silently, of course )

I said, “What is stopping you from doing it right now?” He said , “Nothing.” So I walked with him over to a little grassy area and prayed with him. I prayed that God would open his eyes to the Truth of the Bible, and grant him a new heart with new desires.” I chatted with him for a little while longer, and encouraged him to pour his heart out to God before his head hit the pillow that night.

So…..lesson learned! Never go out without expecting God to do something amazing. It’s such an honor that God would use someone like me to proclaim the simple message of His Gospel! I am amazed more every day what He is doing in and through me.

Now go share your faith!

Yes, Virginia, There is Absolute Truth! Part 1 of 2

Paul and I went to the local university Wednesday to pass out tracts like we normally do. Usually we get around 30-40 tracts passed out during the hour that we’re there, and have just a few conversations. This time Paul decided to bring a white board and he wrote “Are You A Good Person?” on there with the options “Yes”, “No”, and “Maybe” on the bottom. As people would walk by, we’d invite them to cast their vote. It was an amazing success!

Atheist: One who is blind but doesn't know it.

I had a group of three people come walking up and I handed them all one of the million dollar bill tracts. I struck up a conversation and one of them said “What is this?” referring to the bill. I said “It’s a Gospel message.” At that, he reached in his bag and pulled out a “What is an Atheist?” brochure and handed it to me. He had a look on his face like he thought it would strike terror in me to know that he didn’t believe in God. I asked them all why they are atheists, and they gave the standard answers: “We don’t see the need for any god, we are happy without such beliefs, we don’t see any evidence, etc. , etc., etc.”

So the atheist says, “THERE IS NO GOD!” What does God have to say about them? Plenty!

The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”
They are corrupt, doing abominable iniquity;
there is none who does good.
(Psalm 53:1, ESV)

Try to remember that verse the next time you see an atheist with his chest stuck out or spewing some silly claim in an internet forum. One of the things I’ve learned about atheists: they tend to be nice people who, for some reason, don’t want there to be a God. In Romans 1, the Apostle Paul says that everyone has built-in knowledge of God, but some suppress that truth in unrighteousness. In modern English, that means that they do not want to be held accountable for their sins. They are happy to keep on lusting, fornicating, lying, stealing, or whatever pet sin they have. If you are a born-again Christian, then you know that everyone has his or her own pet sin(s), and only through the Cross of Christ can we be set free. No one escapes this, but atheists are so fearful of their own judgment that they deny the existence of God! So, rather than fear atheists, we should take pity on them.

I had a nice conversation with those three, and I’m sure they thought I was some ignorant old guy out proselytizing. They were physics majors, and I am twice the age of the oldest one. I have a PhD in engineering, and I can engage these students at their level. However, I have figured out that they always have some escape mechanism. It doesn’t matter how much more you know about a subject than them since they have their “feelings”, and even if they won’t admit it, they cannot lay down their weapons because to do so would expose their true weaknesses. They might be angry at God for some childhood memory, or maybe they can’t believe He would allow such evil to exist in the world. Whatever the reason, they can’t come to grips with reality.

Rather than talk about particle dynamics or plane wave propagation, it’s best to talk about the human condition. In other words, use God’s Word. When you get right down to it, it’s God’s Word that will save them (not scientific discussions), and it’s God’s Word that is sharper than any two-edged sword, cutting through all nonsense and separating man’s “wisdom” from Truth.

So, I talked to them about people. We talked about the true differences between us and animals. Animals do not build platforms and deliver speeches to convince other animals of their opinions. Animals are not created in the image of God. Animals are not accountable for sin. Animals do not have a conscience. We do. Our conscience is God’s Law written on our hearts, and even atheists know what that means.

Of course, they didn’t hit their knees and pray to God for forgiveness. But they did walk away with some seeds planted in their stony hearts. And that’s all Jesus asked us to do, isn’t it?

So plant seeds! Go out and tell people what God has done; but don’t leave out the part about what God is still going to do. Atheists are to be pitied most of all because they convince themselves that it’s okay to pretend they are God. They pretend that they are the creator, and they shall answer to no one. So go share your faith and tell them about the one to whom they are accountable!

Up Next: Part 2, “I don’t want to go to Hell!”