Maraca with Bible Verse

Maraca with Bible Verse
1 Timothy 2:5

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Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Everyday Evangelism - Many Claim the Bible is a Book of Fairy Tales

  Ever wonder why people make claims about the Bible that are false? Now we know they are false claims, but why are people so eager about making sure that these false claims are made known?

   A common false claim is that the Bible was written by men. Actually, the words of the Bible were penned by men, so that part of it is correct. But what the Skeptic is trying to communicate is that basically, the Bible is not God's Word to us. The statement is taking a partial truth, and adding a lie to it, to make the whole premise false.
 
  Another one I have seen a lot of recently is the one about the Bible being a book of fairy-tales. I have to marvel at this one, for, I have not yet seen a debate forum on whether Aesop's Fables are from God or not. Nor have I seen anyone struggling to figure out what God was saying to Zeus and the other Roman/Greek gods and goddesses. I think Greek mythology is interesting. While it is interesting, there is no controversy about those writings being from God or not. No one is concerned, and no one has seemed to have thought about it.

  But when it comes to the Bible, there has always been a struggle with that book. Did you know that in at least 52 countries, the Bible is forbidden? Now let me ask you a question; If the Bible is a book of fairy-tales or mythology, why is it forbidden in so many places? I haven't seen the Iliad forbidden anywhere. Nor have I seen Aesop's Fables forbidden. In some countries, a person will go to prison if they are found possessing a Bible. They must keep their Bibles well hidden for those who would, by force, break into the house if the people living there are suspected of being Christians.

   Could it be that there is a real force behind the hiding of the truth of the Bible? Could we really have an Enemy of our souls that hates us and wants to keep us from the Truth? Remember, Satan is angry at God, and he is angry at people, Christians in particular. (By Christian, I mean people who have realized their sinful state before God and repented of their sins, and who trust in the sacrifice that Jesus provided on the Cross for them). I am aware that another trick of Satan is to take words like 'Christian' or 'religion' and twist their meaning around so people get a warped view of what they are. We need to see through the tricks of the Enemy and not give into his wishes, for his desire is to deceive us and destroy us. He would like to destroy you and your family, and he will if you let him. He comes in the door by telling us lies that we are likely to believe in. Then he has us where he wants us.

                                           

Sunday, July 29, 2012

Everyday Evangelism - The Suggestion to Evangelize While We Have Freedom

Lately, I have been thanking God for the freedoms we have right now, in our country. It would seem like we could take over our country with evangelism, if we wanted to. Just think, the Bible is banned in 52 countries or more around the world. I thank God every day that we have Bibles here, and don't have to be afraid of going to jail because they are in our possession. There are people, right now, that would give anything to be able to have a Bible, but they are hard to come by, for them. How easy it is for us. I probably bought three different Bibles this year, let alone, a case of New Testaments. The Bibles are for me to use, and the New Testaments are to give away. I don't have to be afraid of someone finding my order receipts and coming to my house, and arresting me. Not yet, anyway.

  Here is a plea from a man who lives in Laos. When he first came to Christ, even before he really had a good understanding of the Gospel, he couldn't help, but, to share his faith. He was warned not to evangelize, but continued to do so. Finally, in 1999, he was sentenced to 15 years of prison. Somehow, he did manage to smuggle Bibles into his cell, and he was set free before the sentence was over.

   He has a word for us. He thanks us for praying for him and credits the prayers for him as the reason for his being alive. Here is his request for us "Please pray for my country,...Pray that everyone accepts Jesus Christ, because I know that nothing is worthy in this life except becoming a Christian and following Jesus Christ. I know how hard life is, but I want to encourage believers in America to be strong in their faith. I know many Americans have not accepted Jesus Christ yet, but you have the freedom to proclaim Jesus and share the gospel. Go evangelize in the name of Jesus because you can. You have the right to read the Bible, to pray, and go to church. Please do that."

  Can you hear the desire of this man's heart? He wants us to preach the gospel and do evangelism, because we can do that here. He is right. If Jesus really is precious to us, shouldn't we be telling people of Him? If we love people, shouldn't we be telling them the good news of the Gospel? And what better place than in America, where people have heard the Gospel, but many still haven't. One day, our freedom to do this may be gone. We need to be on our knees and evangelizing, today. Tomorrow, it may be too late.

This article came from 'Voice of the Martyrs' magazine, August 2012 

Monday, July 16, 2012

Tim Keller on Evangelism Best Practices | Tim Brister

Tim Keller on Evangelism Best Practices | Tim Brister

Here is an article with some evangelism thoughts. I like the first one, although I struggle with how to do this one right. Let people around you know you are a Christian in a natural, unforced way. I remember coming up with ideas on how to let people around know that you are a Christian, like using Christian cliches like, "Praise the Lord" or "Praise God". Bumper stickers were a favorite too. I could never use the cliches though, because it seemed so unnatural. What has worked a couple of times, is to have a good conversation with a Christian friend, and be in a place where people can hear your conversation. Let it be a natural dialog, not put on. I have heard of people doing the cliche thing and it really looks unnatural and put on.
   Asking people questions is a good way to get into a dialog with someone. And who knows. Perhaps the dialog will lead right into the Gospel or into a truth the other person needs to hear. Always be kind and considerate. That doesn't mean you have to participate in sinful activities. Remember, Jesus was a friend to sinners, but He never condoned sin. But He did reach deep into the hearts of sinful people by being a friend.
  One other thing; people love to talk about themselves. Let them talk about themselves. And don't correct them when they say things that you know are wrong. Not yet, anyway.
  Somehow, we met a couple last night, who were homeless, and claimed to need money to take the woman to the hospital. She seemed to be in a lot of pain, and appeared sick. We gave them a little money, and listened to their story. They were living together in a tent. She was divorced and had two children who were living with their father. Anyway, I know in the past, I would have wondered what to do with people who were living in sin. We showed compassion to them and prayed for them (included the Gospel in the prayer). We didn't blast them out of the water because they were living together. I would love to see them again, and explain the Gospel to them further. Pray for them. Their names were Steven and Therese I think.

Monday, July 2, 2012

Everyday Evangelism - Battling at my Grocery Store

   I have a few favorite grocery stores, and some of them I frequent quite often. One of them I might be frequently less often though, for people who work there seemed to be distressed about my giving out tracts. As you will recall, I was at this particular grocery store a couple of weeks ago, and I offered a tract to an older woman getting into her car, and she was not happy when I told her it was a Gospel tract. I went into the store after that and bought a few items, and as I was on my way out a man who had a 'customer service' badge on appeared to be looking for me and stopped me to inform me that I was not allowed to pass tracts out in the parking lot. I was really surprised because this particular brand of grocery stores tries to please their customers and make their customers happy.
   I decided I had two options. One would be to go to another one of these grocery stores down the road, or, use smaller tracts when I go into this particular one. So, today I went back to this particular store, and brought a prescription in to be refilled. I didn't even buy anything and was in the store probably no more than 5 minutes.
  On my way out, I went over to the Coke machines like I normally do, and put a million dollar bill in the place where you can put dollar bills in to get change. Before I left the store, as I was passing the 'customer service' department, I checked to see if Ryan was there, the man who told me I wasn't allowed to pass out tracts a couple of weeks ago. I did not see him there, and as I exited, I didn't really see anyone who would notice my putting the tract into the Coke machine.
  I was on my way out, right at the exit door, when I hear someone saying something out loud and it had the word 'trash' in it. I turned around and one of the workers (possibly a bag boy?) pulled the tract out angrily and walked away. Maybe it was a store manager, I don't know, but, I am beginning to think that my presence in the store will either be welcoming (which it has been all along with most people) or it will be unwelcoming. I have to go back to pick up my prescription tomorrow and will see what happens then. I may get banned from the store.
   I have to think about what usually happened when Paul was in different places preaching the Gospel. The results were pretty much the same. Some people listened and wanted to hear more. Other people opposed him. People responded. People rejected. That's just the nature of preaching the Gospel in a darkened world. Some people are going to be totally irritated by it. Others will be thankful throughout eternity for hearing the words of life.
  If you think of it, I would ask for prayer for me. I don't want to react in a sinful way to people when they stop me from doing this. I don't want anger in my heart towards them. And I still want the open door to have opportunities to talk to people about the Gospel there. Thanks.

                                                 
Next time I'm using a 10 Commandment Coin instead!