The Gospel is Not Tupperware

We talk so much about all of the mechanics of cross-cultural missions and ministry and strive to walk deeply in the pool of culture and sound communication. It can be easy to lose sight of Christ if we are not intentional about maintaining Him as central to our ministry and indeed, our very lives. So often we neglect to examine ourselves in light of scripture and with our relationship to the philosophies of our world. Do we recognize just how profoundly we allow ourselves to be affected by our own culture?

The Product
Our consumer driven, individualistic culture has had a far more profound impact on how we understand the Gospel (and how we communicate it) than we like to consider. But we must. You see, if sin is simply something we do, then there must simply be an opposite action to reverse that sin. And if that is the understanding we have of the Gospel, then we start to think of how we can present this opposing action to those who are not Christians. This way they to can compartmentalize their sins and move on. Say this prayer, walk this aisle, sign this card, act this way, sing this song, do all of these things, follow these rules and you can have this personally beneficial religion. The gospel message becomes a sales pitch for a product. Jesus, scripture and the Church become products, totems for the consumer. Christian lifestyle becomes a product, prosperous and personally beneficial. Christianity becomes a means to an end, a service that can provide benefits to the client.

The Pitch
As with any good sales pitch we must convince our client of their need for the product. We replace evangelism and discipleship with marketing. This is then done by extolling the virtues of the product, the benefits that it can offer to the consumer; forgiveness, a better life, happiness, wealth, prosperity, health, heaven, community. But a good salesman also presents the inverse benefits of the product, what will this product prevent; it staves off depression and darkness, protects you from evils and keeps you safely from the fires of hell. But further to that we have to consider the market research, how has this product benefitted others? Just look at all of the fabulous Christians in all of the fabulous churches and how wonderful they have found life to be as a result of this product called gospel. Our personal testimonies become lists of benefits instead of being a story about how Jesus raised us from spiritual death to life. And then, of course, we must report to one another our sales figures. Counting heads and claiming huge numbers of converts. The question we have to ask is; converts to what?

The Pricing
By forgetting the depth of our sin and the magnificence of the redemptive, sanctifying and preserving work of God in our lives and allowing ourselves to compartmentalize our sin, we have made a horrible mistake that has impacted both our relationship with the gospel message and with our Redeemer. The price of the product is presented; prayer, Bible reading, attending church, giving monies. Paying these expenses ensures that the product will always be there when needed. Our perspective should be precisely the opposite, the gospel maintains us, we don't maintain the gospel. God's work in us is daily gospel work, and often that work is hard and it hurts. It is God working is us that which is well pleasing and good, and this by His Spirit for His Glory.

The Tupperware
The gospel is not Tupperware; long lasting, freshness locking, preserving — following Jesus is not simply an investment in our future. It is not a product that we must convince others to buy. It is true, there are so many fantastic blessings to following Christ. The gospel of hope has magnificent rewards. But we err when we forget that all of the blessings that come with following Christ are simply byproducts. Heaven is the bonus, not the prize. What the gospel produces is change, often painful, always entire — change (Ezekiel 36:26), rooted only in a moving of the Holy Spirit. What we get, is Jesus; and in Jesus — life. Jesus is the beginning, middle and end of the Gospel. When we present anything else we make the gospel a sales pitch for a religion to be bought and sold.

The Consumers
We ring our hands and wonder why youth aren't interested in church. Why people buy our product and then seem to fall away, they want a refund. So often, I fear, it is because we have made ourselves salesmen instead of evangelists. We have invested all of our energy in making the Gospel a product, and that appeal to the flesh sets Jesus aside as secondary to the client — the consumer. To be an evangelist of Christ we must bring this good news of Jesus by holding Him high and exclusive.

"He made the One who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." 2 Corinthians 5:21

The Glory of Christ
The Glory of the Gospel is Christ. Proclaiming His Glory by virtue of His nature and character. The change that following Him precipitates is His work in us. We don't have to convince anyone to buy anything we're selling. We are called simply and clearly to proclaim Christ, to disciple and teach. We don't have to convince or manipulate, simply teach; and when unbelievers continue in their unbelief — we teach again, we start over. We proclaim Christ.

“but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles.” 1 Corinthians 1:23  

“For I didn’t think it was a good idea to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” 1 Corinthians 2:2

THE GOSPEL & proselytizing

proselytize • verb [pros-uh-li-tahyz]
To convert or attempt to convert as a proselyte;  recruit.

proselyte • noun [pros-uh-lahyt]
A person who has changed from one opinion, religious belief, sect, or the like, to another; convert.

Why proselytize? Recently on Facebook I observed a conversation initiated by a comment made by an acquaintance of mine. I think it paints a fairly accurate picture of how proselytizing is often received in our culture.

"Why do religious people always *(insert explicative)* talk about God and crap.... I never hear the rest of us talking about how He is not real, do ya now!!!!"

The subsequent comments were generally supportive of this sentiment, many laden with foul language and offering various aggressive ways in which to respond to someone talking about "religion". There is an illustrative point here that I will get to, but first there is the bigger question of, why evangelize at all? Clearly the world doesn't want to hear from us. (John 14:24, John 15:21)

I believe there are three excellent answers to the question "Why proselytize"; and there very well may be a plethora, but these are the very best reasons why we should proselytize, so I will limit this blog to just these.

Number One
First and foremost, it is a command of God that we teach and disciple. There is no greater reason to do anything than that it is a command of our Almighty Father.

"And He said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned." Mark 16:15-16

"Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." Matthew 28:19-20

"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." Acts 1:8

Number Two
The second reason that we should proselytize, although further reasons are not necessary beyond the first, is that, as believers, we should be filled with the Love of God and have no greater desire than to have that flow from us and share with all those who do not know Christ. Another command of God is found in Mark;

"And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that He answered them well, asked Him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:28-31

Here we are commanded to love God and in loving God, love others as ourselves. We have no greater treasure than that which is in Christ Jesus. To love another as ourselves is to share in every way possible, all of the truth of the Gospel with our neighbours. Our love for God (and His for us), our desire to serve Him in our all, naturally becomes a lifestyle of presenting Him.

Number Three
The third reason I feel that we, as followers of Christ, should proselytize is because our world is so very dark and full of false religions, false teachers and humanistic philosophies. This is not a new situation. Heretical religions, false teachers and the over inflated importance of self have all been opposing forces of God since Eve was first deceived in the garden (Genesis 3:1-24, Deuteronomy 11:16, 2 Corinthians 11:3-4). Eve was tempted with self, selfish gain and self indulgence. The serpent offered her the opportunity to be "like God", when in fact, if Eve had considered this at all, she would have realized that she had already been created in God's image (Genesis 1:27). This deception of the Devil was his first lie and continues to be his most powerful weapon. Today we hear and see nothing more predominant than the value and importance of self, and rights and equality, all of which are pieces of an over arching cultural worldview that is contrary to God's Word and the Biblical worldview. False teachers are a blight in this world and serve to turn people aside from the true Gospel of Jesus Christ, and they have been poisoning the earth for thousands of years (Ezekiel 22:28). Today still, false teachers serve only to lead people astray, and they will ultimately be held accountable (James 3:1-9). A friend of mine, Sean Crowe, is writing an excellent blog series on false teachers, you can read part one of the multi-part series by clicking HERE (and I highly recommend that you read through his series). As Sean makes clear in his articles, the greatest danger of false teachers is that they speak in the name of Christianity, yet their teachings are directly contrary to the teachings of scripture.

Aside from false teachers, we must also contend with false religions and cults, some of the most prevalent being Islam, Mormonism, and Jehovah's Witness; but there are many. We must be aware of false teachers, false religions and humanism and be prepared ourselves to respond when confronted with their philosophies;

"Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth." ~ 2 Timothy 2:15.

Here I have presented three great reasons to proselytize, and over the course of this blog series I have shared some of what I feel are the most effective ways (here and here), and some of the ineffective ways (here, here and here), of doing so. But, the comments associated with the Facebook quote at the top of this article do draw attention to some important facts. We, as Christians are a reflection of Christ, yet we seem bent on evangelizing as quickly, efficiently and conveniently as possible; instead of following the commands of Christ in Mark 12:28-31, Matthew 28:19-20, Acts 1:8 and Mark 16:15-16. This can often serve only to turn people off from hearing the Gospel. It is our reasonable service (Romans 12:1-2) to take the time (spending our lives as living sacrifices; which is our purpose before God) to build those relationships and teach the Gospel clearly and appropriately. Penn Jillette is an ardent atheist and is very outspoken with his opinions and philosophies, yet he echoes some important truth about proselytizing, and doing so in a manner that is reflective of Christ. Have a look for yourself;



Evangelism and proselytizing is about so much more than simply hiding tracts in books at the bookstore, wearing quasi-evangelistic t-shirts or going door to door. Although there may be a time and place for those activities, God's Word calls us to disciple, to build relationships and lovingly and respectfully share His Word. We should never engage in these activities while ignoring the needs and opportunities afforded us in our workplace and community to build discipling relationships. If we are living our lives in a context of godliness then we are naturally going to seize every opportunity to share the Love of Christ, but it must always be done in such a way as to not diminish the message.

The world does not want to know Christ or the Gospel (John 15:18-25,), it is our task, as believers, to make them hear (Matthew 10:16). I should point out that this can often lead people into living lives akin to the "social gospel", which is a philosophy that teaches that the world can "see Christ" in our actions alone and we need never actually verbally burden people with the Truth. I am in no way endorsing this, although we are to live lives reflective of Christ, we are commanded to disciple and teach (Matthew 28:19-20, Mark 16:15-16) which is strong language for go and adequately communicate the Gospel in word and deed. There is a great book that deals with the subject of apologetics and evangelism, Ask Them Why by Jay Lucas. His book deals with some of the difficulties in communicating with the world's philosophies.

God calls us to be good stewards, this can be seen in the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30, Luke 19:12-28). We have been given a precious gift (Psalm 32:1-2, Romans 4:7-8, Romans 5:8-9), and we must not squander it and hide our heads in the sand for the sake of self while the world descends into hell (Luke 12:5).

God owns us, we are bound to serve Him (1 Corinthians 6:19-20), we have a physical responsibility to Him (Genesis 1:28-30) and a spiritual responsibility (Mark 12:28-30). The idea that we are free to do as we choose is a deception of the devil (Romans 2:4-5, Hebrews 3:12-13), for everything we do that is not of God is sin (Romans 14:23b), and we are not free to sin (Romans 6:23, 1 John 3:9, 1 John 5:18). We are free to serve God, and to serve God is to proselytize (Matthew 28:19-20, Acts 1:8 and Mark 16:15-16).

Ask Them Why

Ask Them Why
by Jay Lucas

I received a copy of this book at the NCEM general conference last Fall. Our guest speaker, Brian Catalucci from Answers in Genesis touched on some issues very pertinent to the work we are doing with NCEM. Worldview evangelism is very much a part of the Biblical principals and practices that NCEM is engaged in. Brian recommended this book and distributed it among the NCEM membership.

This book, Ask Them Why, written by Jay Lucas, certainly highlights some very important aspects of Worldview evangelism and some of the rather academic approaches that can be taken when communicating with people of various standpoints. Initially I found the book a bit cumbersome to read, as the author asks you to read appendices as they become topically relevant. But once I got my bearings I found the insights and experiences of the author to be invaluable. Most compelling for me was a debate in which the author was engaged. Under the heading of "Appendix C; my Debate With an Atheist", Jay shares a transcription of his opening remarks in the debate. His use of logic and the "Ask Them Why" method draw a compelling picture of how we might best communicate the truth of the Gospel.

"This book has been written to help Christians of all ages and abilities proclaim and defend the claims of the gospel. The task is not as difficult as many Christians perceive." ~ p. 18

"Ask Them Why", as a model of how best to communicate in the context of postmodernity, is an excellent example of taking into account the worldview of the hearer in evangelism and apologetics in general.

"Ask Them Why reflects an awareness that postmodernism, a dominant worldview, must be addressed... We Christians can be confident that God's truth will stand the test of time and that whenever the next major paradigm shift occurs (post-postmodernism!), the gospel of Jesus Christ will still be rescuing the hearts and minds of men and women, boys and girls." ~ p. 20

The book (the "ATW" method) outlines "the Power of Questions" as a way of communicating within the context of worldview. By communicating through questions you will have great opportunity to allow someone to expose the errors of their position using their own words. We are called to disciple and to teach, this book simply offers us a tool for doing this as effectively as possible.

"(2 Corinthians 10:5) We must rely on the Holy Spirit to touch the hearts of unbelievers, but let us fulfill our obligation to speak the truth and expose error." ~ p. 25

Ask Them Why is broken into three main sections; you first read of the method and the Biblical supports and examples that go with it. The author builds a strong case for both worldview evangelism and the "ATW" method in this portion of the book. The second section of the book is accompanied by a CD that you may or may not listen to. These are dramatized examples of the "ATW" method in action. Using various scenarios and conversations with a variety of standpoints, the author demonstrates the concept in action quite effectively. The final section of the book includes the appendices which offer further insights and examples to help clarify this approach to evangelism.

An issue that arises with both worldview evangelism and more specifically with this sort of communication style is the idea that we must not reason with the World. The idea that we must simply get out there and "preach it" and allow the Holy Spirit to work with whatever words hit the ears of those in need of the Gospel. Yet we are called to know and understand, and prepare ourselves to communicate the Truth;

"But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;" ~ 1 Peter 3:15

Indeed, God Himself does not reject reason;

“Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the Lord, “Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool." ~ Isaiah 1:18

 I like how Lucas deals with this subject in his book, this excerpt is taken from "Appendix E; The Centrality of Logic";

"When Christians disparage the importance of logic, they are not demonstrating Biblical thinking and are not honoring God. When Christians construct arguments through the use of faulty logic, God is not honored. Of all people, Christians should reject faulty arguments no matter how much the conclusions appeal to them. The God of truth is not served by irrationalsim." ~ p. 249

 This idea that logic and reason are of little to no import is not in line with scripture. The Gospel is offensive and confrontational and will be met with debate, question and rejection. As Christians we must be prepared to engage with the world in these respects whenever we dare to present the Gospel. To abandon logic and reason is unwise, and rather contrary to the cause of the Gospel, and to scripture.

The following quote is taken from "Appendix E" of Ask Them Why, and is a quote from the forward to Gordon Clark's book Logic.

"...The laws of logic are the way God thinks. He makes no mistakes, draws no unwarranted conclusions, constructs no invalid arguments. We do, and that is one of the reasons why we are commanded by the apostle Paul to bring all our thoughts into captivity to Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5). We ought to think as Christ does - logically." ~ p. 250

This book is encouraging and enlightening, the concepts and methods outlined in it's pages are thought provoking and certainly of great value to the Christian. It is so important for each of us to know what we believe and why and be able to communicate that in any context; meanwhile taking into account worldviews. I highly recommend this book as a read for anyone who is sold out for the Gospel and wishes to prepare themselves to engage the World with the truth. It is a packed book and I will need to read it once again to get a firmer grasp on all of it.

operation new books

Last year we put out a call for park benches for A.N.B.C., this year we are putting out a call for something a little different.

We are building brand new programs for our summer camps and a brand new 3 day staff training program. For these new programs we have some new materials on deck that we need to acquire for both training ministry and for camper ministry. We are hoping for 8 churches or groups that will partner with us in one of the following projects for printed materials for this years summer camp programs:

PROJECT 1
Cultural training manual for staff training • $450
This is a 152 page book that will assist with training our staff. It is a book written by the The Confederacy of Mainland Mi’kmaq and will be an invaluable tool in staff training. Usually retailing for $15, I have an opportunity to have 100 copies of the book printed for $4 per book plus shipping.

PROJECT 2
God has a Wonderful Plan for Your Life • $200
This book, written by Ray Comfort will be used as part of our staff training program. The book is an excellent teaching tool that will help ensure that all of our staff are on the same page with respect to evangelism and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. $200 will allow us to purchase 144 copies of the book for our staff training purposes.

PROJECT 3
Junior and Teen Camp Cabin Devotions Book • $250
We have the opportunity to purchase a chronological gospel devotional book. $250 will allow us to purchase 200 full colour copies including shipping.

PROJECT 4
Lil' Squirts camp Devotions book • $500
A is for Adam by Ken Ham from Answers in Genesis, this book would be used in conjunction with cabin devotions for our Lil' Squirts camp (ages 5 - 7). $500 will allow us to have 42 copies shipped to us.

PROJECT 5
The Action Bible • $300
A beautiful full colour hard cover book that presents the major Bible stories of the Old Testament from Creation through to Christ. It is presented in graphic novel format (comic book) and will be an excellent tool for ministering to our teen and junior camps. $300 will allow us to have 18 copies including shipping.

PROJECT 6
The Action Bible • $400
A beautiful full colour hard cover book that presents the major Bible stories of the Old Testament from Creation through to Christ. It is presented in graphic novel format (comic book) and will be an excellent tool for ministering to our teen and junior camps. $400 will allow us to have 24 copies including shipping.

PROJECT 7
The Action Bible • $500
A beautiful full colour hard cover book that presents the major Bible stories of the Old Testament from Creation through to Christ. It is presented in graphic novel format (comic book) and will be an excellent tool for ministering to our teen and junior camps. $500 will allow us to have 30 copies including shipping.

PROJECT 8
The Action Bible • $1000
A beautiful full colour hard cover book that presents the major Bible stories of the Old Testament from Creation through to Christ. It is presented in graphic novel format (comic book) and will be an excellent tool for ministering to our teen and junior camps. $1000 will allow us to have 60 copies including shipping.

Please prayerfully consider joining with us in ministry this summer by assisting us with one of these projects. If your church or group would like to join with us for one of these projects please drop me a line and let me know so we can avoid overlaps. ANBC relies on the financial support of churches and individuals who are sold out for the Gospel and sharing it with Canada's First Nations people. We have been so blessed by financial and prayer support over the years and continue to be excited about sharing the Gospel clearly and completely, through good staff training, good cabin devotions and chapel services as well as discipleship! This year, Lord willing, we are hopeful to have some excellent materials to work with.

Thanks for taking the time to read about some of our projects, I look forward to hearing from you.

John 3:16 and Focus on the Family

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." ~ John 3:16

I will preface this blog entry for those of you who may have difficulty with my meaning here. I am not criticizing God's Word, in whole or in part - I am criticizing it's misuse and poor contextualization.

As Christians it is our purpose to evangelize (Matthew 28:19-20, Mark 12:28-31), and make disciples.

Yet, so seldom do we take into consideration just what that means, and by what method we might best achieve making disciples of Christ. It is a very common idea that we need do no work, that God's Word can and will do all of the work and we need to simply "get it out there"; that being stewardly in method is a waste of time.

We live in a culture that is absolutely bent on ease and on convenience, ultimately self is the supreme end goal of man (this is commonly known as humanism). Our "fast food culture" can be easily seen in the way many choose to live, to work, to interact, to worship, to pray, and (wait for it) to evangelize. We've allowed the attitudes of our culture to infect our Faith and the way in which we share it - or don't.

Focus on the Family (which is shrouded in controversy itself) produced and aired a new commercial on January 14, 2012 during the Denver Broncos vs. New England Patriots NFL Playoff game. The video was almost immediately available on YouTube accompanied by the following message;

"Nothing is more important than sharing the life changing message of Jesus Christ's love. Tell someone you know today."

Aside from the fact that The Gospel is about more than the Love of Christ alone and that John 3:16 teaches only one aspect of the Love of Christ; there is also the issue that Christ's Love also perfectly and completely includes God's wrath and fury (Romans 2:6-11), God's hatred (Psalm 5:5), His jealousy (Exodus 20:4-5), His Justice (Job 34:12), His judgement (1 Corinthians 5:13, Psalm 7:11), indeed ALL of His attributes. The Biblical definition of God's perfect Love is far deeper than the inference drawn from John 3:16 alone. So, for Focus on the Family to present this as the message of God's Love is not a complete picture and misrepresents just what the atoning work of Christ is.

It has long been a tradition for John 3:16 to be painted on faces, chests, and emblazoned on banners during football games. In 1993, Steve Taylor even dedicated a song to "Bannerman", touting the honorable brazenness at thwarting the establishment for the sake of the Gospel. Even very recently Timothy Tebow was seen to have the scripture reference painted on his face. Not to mention the mystecism developing around the fact that he passed for 316 yards against the Steelers, and set an NFL playoff record with 31.6 yards per completion; which only serves to prove out the varied response that can come from this sort of Biblical representation. It is true that the passage (John 3:16) was highly Googled following the game, and perhaps it will cause some people to "reach for a Bible", but what then? And what of all the people who now seem to recognize it as a totem instead of a passage from God's Word?

In kind, this is the offering of Focus on the Family to the cause of the Gospel (ostensibly);



God's Word is precious, and will not return void (Isaiah 55:11). It is inerrant and perfect and we must certainly hold tightly to the ultimate Truths therein. John 3:16 is a fantastic passage of scripture, it is filled with Hope and Promise. It is a piece of God's Word. But it simply does not give the complete picture of the gospel. It is a portion of the frame around a beautiful picture of salvation. Without the contents of the frame you are left with a deep mystery.

Indeed there will be many who will see the video of the cute children reciting the well known passage and be filled with a warm feeling, comforted that they have done their part in standing for Christ in America simply by being a Christian. It is true, that there are those who come to Christ simply by reading His Word, in fact I have some good friends whose testimony of Faith is just so. They had no personal influence in their life, they simply had a Bible and they read it and the Holy Spirit worked in them. I am not suggesting that God's Word has no power - but God's Word out of context, in a single verse, is a different story altogether, and often it paints a picture contrary to God's Word.

My concern here lies in the presentation of the gospel, and the utter inadequacy of simplifying it to the point of making it palatable. John 3:16, all by itself says; God sent Jesus, His Son - and whoever believes in Him will go to heaven forever. As Christians we have a context for all of these phrases. But, break it down for the audience and you have a sheer plethora of possibilities;

• Who is God? This will get as varied an answer as the number of times you ask the question. So, we've assumed right off the mark that our audience (whoever it may be) understands God from a purely Biblical perspective. This is as dangerous as it is naive a place to begin from. (Romans 3:11)
  
  
• Who is the only Begotten Son? We have the same problem here as we did for the last question. We live in a World that is filled with false "christs". (Luke 21:8, Ezekiel 22:28) We are sorely remiss to assume that our audience is understanding Christ as He is.
  
  
• What about whosoever believeth? Is it enough to simply believe in Christ? Is this the only relationship we must have to be reconciled to Him? What does the Bible teach about "salvation"? In James 2:19 we are told that even the demons believe and tremble; this does not, however, mean that demons qualify to go to heaven.
  
  
• What about eternal life? So in order to live forever, all I have to do is believe in Jesus? Even if we disregard all of the previous problems that have arisen, we have just presented the gospel as a way for people to save themselves for eternity. We have ensured that their understanding of their relationship with God is strictly for their own benefit. This is prosperity gospel worldview - and it is wrong.

What of Sin? What of Repentence? What of God's Wrath? What of a real and humble relationship with God! John 3:16 is the end of an excellent presentation of the gospel. Yet, in a corrupt world, it is a misleading piece of scripture that can, by itself, potentially do more harm than good. It provides people with enough information and a false confidence to be permanently insulated against ever coming to a real saving knowledge of Jesus Christ in repentance. Pared down, it is cultural syncretism at best. The two most commonly know scripture verses, outside of the Church, are John 3:16 and Matthew 7:1 (though often, not even understood in context of being from scripture), yet both are taken out of context and misunderstood, and used to build worldview. It is sad, and it is a reflection on how we, the Church, present God's Word to the world.

Let's not forget the aspect of this issue, that this commercial by Focus on the Family is so very clearly NOT intended to be evangelism, as is evidenced by the plea for funds at the conclusion of the 40 second clip. This is a commercial intended to elicit an emotional response, while presenting a familiar and comfortable feeling to the viewer. It is a marketing campaign targeted at Christians, thinly veiling itself as evangelism. I would go so far as to suggest that this somewhat sinister approach to fundraising is something that Christ would take great exception to. read Matthew 21:12-13, Mark 11:15-18.

Know God's Word, read it daily, fellowship with other Christians, attend your church regularly, pray as often as possible and be equipped to share the gospel. Know it yourself first, then in all obedience and adequacy, preach the gospel completely and with great clarity. How you present the gospel, taking into consideration those to whom you are speaking, is vital to allow you to be certain that they are hearing what you are striving to convey; attention to method has merit. It's what we're here for. It is time to stop lazy evangelism, poor evangelism and strive to have full, rich lives in Christ.

I highly recommend that you take twelve minutes to hear an excellent and complete presentation of the Gospel, in the video below Paul Washer brings clarity to the Truth, and offers an example of how to present the Gospel of Jesus Christ to a World that does not want to hear it!

180 Movie and evangelism

We live in a corrupt world. More specifically, we live in a corrupt culture. In North America the Christian Church is bombarded at every turn by some of the most insidious attacks imaginable. Some, so insidious that, in fact, the church at large often miss them for what they are, and adopt them. Even when these attacks are not missed, many who profess Christ refuse to stand openly and oppose them. We as the Body of Christ have a responsibility to stand in the Gap for the Land, to oppose evil and present the Truth of God's Word at every opportunity - for the sake of those who do not know.

"And I sought for a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found none." ~ Ezekiel 22:30

Yet we waffle, at every turn. To live a Godly life, to live as Christ is to live presenting the truth verbally and holistically. In our actions, our lifestyle, and our convictions.

"For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead." ~ James 2:26

Yet we fail to live out our faith. We fear the world, we fear our peers, we fear... persecution. The real question is 'Are you being persecuted? Why not?

"Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived." ~ 2 Timothy 3:12-13

It's time to stand up in spite of ourselves and preach the gospel and uphold the Cross of Christ before a people who do not want to hear it!

Ray Comfort, evangelist, preacher, author and film maker has recently released a movie. It is a 33 minute long documentary, and it is very compelling. It draws an unsettling correlation between the horrors of Nazi Germany and the massively destructive (yet generally accepted) practice of abortion in America. It stands up in the face of "tolerance" and in the face of the ever humanistic call of "MY rights and freedoms" and preaches the gospel. It opposes, with the Truth, the veiled eyes of an entire culture.

It is free to watch and I highly recommend that you do so. It is a graphic film and does contain some graphic content, so if you are under sixteen I would suggest you have a parent watch it first. I've posted it here for your convenience. But the challenge to you is to watch it and then share it publicly - to spite the reaction you may receive from your peers. God's Word, the Gospel, is worth so much more than your "reputation" (whatever that is) or social comfort. Anything done for Christ is not done in vain.

"Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain." ~ 1 Corinthians 15:58