Atheist Penn Jillette's Reaction to the Gift of a Bible

Penn Jillette of the magic/comedy act Penn and Teller is a well known atheist. Listen to what he had to say about receiving a Bible after one of his shows.

He asks questions we as Christians should hear, think about and answer.
"How much do you have to hate someone to not proselytize?
How much do you have to hate somebody to believe that everlasting life is possible and not tell them that?"

Here is an exhortation to Evangelize from an atheist! . . .

Evangelism Tip Tuesday ~ Ease on Out of that Comfort Zone!

Are you uneasy or uncomfortable with the thought of sharing your faith? Do you wonder how you can even begin to bring up the subject? Would a tool that both breaks the ice and actually contains the entire Gospel message right on it calm your fears? If you've answered yes, yes and yes to those questions I'd like you to encourage you to get ahold of some good Gospel tracts!

Biblically sound Gospel tracts are one of the greatest resources a Christian could possibly have on hand! I stress Biblically sound because if you walk into your local "Christian Bookstore" you will most likely find that the majority of tracts being sold today are not. Be certain that the Gospel tracts you purchase contain both the Law and Grace! One without the either is not Biblical, nor helpful. (For more details please listen to "Hell's Best Kept Secret". It will help you to see the importance of sharing your faith Biblically, just as Jesus did!)

A fantastic site for getting ahold of excellent tracts is Livingwaters.com.  They sell a wide variety and you will certainly find one (or several) there that you will be enthusiastic to begin using!  

If you'd like to start with some free tracts you can begin using immediately visit needgod.com/resources.shtml.  They offer a free printable tract that contains the same simple 8 question test used at needgod.com.  It is entitled Will your "good" outweigh your "bad"?

If you are fearful of sharing your faith I'd like to first challenge you to do something simple to ease your way into stepping out of your comfort zone! Equip yourself with some great Gospel tracts and simply begin with leaving them in places where others are sure to find them. It doesn't get much easier than this folks!

Here is a list of my favorite spots to leave Gospel tracts. I hope that you will find some of these ideas helpful!:

- Shopping carts ~ Leave a million dollar bill tucked under the child's seat portion of the cart, it's sure to be noticed by the next shopper!

- In mail ~ Place tracts in with letters, cards, gifts or even bill payments.

- With a generous tip ~ This is important! NEVER leave a tract instead of or with a cheap tip! You want this to be well received!

- On seats in restaurant lobbies ~ This is especially easy if they have a spot for reading materials or business cards,ect..

- In hotels ~ I love sticking them in the phone books in hotel rooms, marking sections of the phonebook that people on vacation normally look at such as restaurants.

- In waiting rooms at hospitals, doctors' offices,ect. ~ Anywhere where literature is already setting out makes for a simple place to leave a tract!

- In airplane seat pockets ~ I love putting them in the safety instruction booklets.

- In displays of pamphlets for area tourist sites

- On sinks in a public restroom

- Cubbies where you store belongings at an amusement park

- With menus that are stored on tables at restaurants

- Dressing rooms

- In library books ~ It is so easy to "book mark" with them and leave it for the next reader to find!


... Now go ahead, you can do this! Get out there and take this simple step out of your comfort zone!!

I hope you'll visit again next week, same time, same place for another challenge and more tips for sharing your faith!

Fantastic Flick Friday ~ LUTHER

...Well worth a watch!

Phraseology That Elevates Man and Diminishes the Glory of God

Have you noticed the incredible push in society today to boost the self-esteem of all?  If you were to apply for a part time job at Subway you wouldn't be known as a simple "sandwich maker" you would be a "Sandwich Artist".  If you go for the same job down the street at Jimmy John's you are applying to be a "Rock Star"!  While these titles are laughable, the phraseology adopted by the modern church to make sinners feel more important is not!

Much of the lingo in modern churchianity has elevated deprived man, fed on his pride and presented Almighty God as little more than a lonely school boy, pleading on bended knee that the sinner will "pretty please with a cherry on top" just "give Him a try".   If you don't believe that to be the case, please take a closer look at the language used in many modern churches on any given Sunday. Unbiblical terms and phrases used have spread like a cancer throughout evangelicalism. Sadly, few have taken notice! Common examples being, "Make Jesus Lord and Savior" and "Accept Jesus". Let's think about what is being said there.  No one makes Jesus Lord and Savior, He is Lord and Savior.  The fact that someone is an unregenerate sinner doesn't change the truth of Jesus' Lordship.  Furthermore, Jesus doesn't need our acceptance, we need HIS!  Unfortunately these phrases and countless others have been spoken so frequently in evangelical circles that they have now become as gospel to many.  

I'd urge you, my brothers and sisters in Christ, take a moment to think about the way you speak when presenting the Gospel to the lost.  Do you soften and sweeten it up just a little (or a lot) to make it more palatable?  Do you put them in a position above God Himself, elevating the sinner above the Savior?  The sinner must see his or her truly desperate and deprived state before the good news of the Gospel can be rightly understood and appreciated.  In elevating man in such a way that he believes he is able to make Jesus Lord we depreciate the glory of our Awesome God, cheapening the work of Christ!

If a blind man were about to walk past a stop sign into a busy intersection would you tenderly whisper, "Oh sir, won't you please give yielding a try?" Of course not! You'd boldly shout at the top of your lungs, "STOP!"  You wouldn't care if it sounded "too harsh". You would promptly and clearly articulate the necessary, crucial message!  You would not take the risk that this simple, yet vital instruction could somehow be misinterpreted or misunderstood.

My friends, how much more important is the message of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ!  Is it not the most vital truth you could possibly share with those who aren't promised even one more heartbeat?  How cruel must we be to withhold the seriousness of that which will impact a soul for all of eternity?

I plead with you to examine the language you use.  While other Christians may understand what you are trying to convey, the unregenerate will not.  Please stick to Biblically solid terms when presenting the gospel to the lost.  The glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ is not our own to edit. We were commanded to call all to repentance, that they would turn from their sins and put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Be faithful to God's Word! Only the Truth of the Gospel has the power to deliver sinners from the just wrath of God.

If your child were gravely ill you wouldn't water down the medication capable of restoring his health, regardless of how hard it was to swallow.  How much more careful we must be in avoiding watering down the only Truth that can save a precious soul from hell!

"8 Reasons Why I Don't Share My Faith"

Are your excuses this funny?

Evangelism Tip Tuesday

ABSOLUTELY LOVE this idea!
Thanks Fish with Trish!

Using Fruit for Fishing Bait?!

"Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." - Matthew 4:19

My question to you is what bait are you using? Are you sharing the gospel as Jesus did? Many people these days are using the wrong bait. Luring people to christianity in a wrong way will only create boatloads of false converts.

Most of you have heard a message like this at one point or another, some sadly on a weekly basis even:
Come to Jesus Christ, ask him to come into your heart and you'll have peace, joy and lasting happiness.
... Boy that sounds nice doesn't it? Many would respond to such an invitation with the false notion that christianity is a prescription to live your best life now. The truth is that this type of bait may fill churches for a time but it will not fill heaven!

Why should we tell people they need Jesus? What have you been told? What are you telling others? Let's get down to the core of the situation that people are in without Christ. What is the serious issue they face? Is our main concern and focus happiness or holiness? Think about that for a moment, would you?

Now of course the fruit of the spirit is produced by a life surrendered fully to the Lord so while soundly saved christians will have love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, this fruit is not legitimate bait. Let me tell you why. If you tell someone to come for the fruit they will come hungry for the wrong thing! Rather than seeing their desperate need for forgiveness, repenting and then hungering to know the God that has been so kind to them in forgiving their nasty sin, you will instead bring lost souls craving happiness in life. It is not about happiness it's about righteousness! The only way for someone to be soundly saved is for them to come before the Lord broken and repentant, done with themselves and ready to take up their cross daily and follow Jesus. Preaching the common modern gospel of Jesus has a greater joy for you will only draw in people with unrepentant hearts selfishly seeking to improve their earthly lives.

In order to show someone their need for a Savior they must first realize that they are in need of saving. They must understand that which they've heard repeated countless times in their lives - Jesus died for you. People need to understand why that was necessary. If someone doesn't understand they are in need of rescuing then telling them someone died on their behalf to rescue them, well it simply won't make any sense! We need to explain to people why Jesus' sacrifice was necessary for their redemption. What is the most effective way to illuminate ones need for a Savior and to show them the sin in their lives that has made them enemies of God with His wrath abiding on them? Lets see what the Word has to say:

I would not have known what sin was except through the law. - Romans 7:7
Apart from the law, sin is dead - Romans 7:8

God has given us His law to reflect how deceitfully wicked our hearts are! So why don't we put what He has given us to use and show people the true reason they need Jesus! Asking a few simple questions will provide them understanding of the situation their sin has put them in...


Would you consider yourself to be a good person?
How about according to Gods standard, the ten commandments? Do you think you've kept them? Lets see ... Have you ever told a lie? Have you ever stolen anything (regardless of it's value, ever taken anything that did not belong to you)? Have you ever taken the Lord's name in vain?

I only named 3 of the 10 commandments yet if you are guilty of any of these you are in serious trouble - the Bible says in James 2:10 "Whoever keeps the whole law yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it."
So according to the Word of God will you be found innocent or guilty on Judgment day? Knowing that God has seen your thought life and every deed done in darkness you know that you would be guilty according to Gods standards. Yet, imagine this, just as the Judge is about to pass sentence and rightly send you away someone you dont even know steps up to the judge and says I will pay their debt in full. The judge says you can now go free because justice has been served. How much gratitude should you have? Well that is what God has done for you! You and I have sinned. We have committed serious crimes against God. God is just and cannot let such crimes go unpunished. Many people think that He is all loving and will simply let it go. He cannot let sin go unpunished! Could you imagine what you would say about a human judge who let law breakers just simply go free - you would surely call him corrupt! God cannot be corrupt. He is holy and just. He will punish law breakers. On our own we would all be heading for hell but that is not His will for us. So He did something absolutely astonishing - He came to this earth in human form in the person of Jesus Christ, fully God, fully man and He lived a perfect sinless life and was crucified. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. - 2 Corinthians 5:21. If we repent (turn from sin) and put our trust in Jesus Christ through His precious blood we can be forgiven and soundly saved!


... See how using the law effectively illuminates the sin that has actually made the person an enemy of God? Showing a person their need for salvation is much more important than passing along another "God loves you and He has a wonderful plan for your life." Yes God is loving but all too often that is the only side of His character that unbelievers hear about therefore they think - if God is so loving He will let me into Heaven, I am not that bad of a person . While God is loving, He is also just.
The Lord is known by his justice; the wicked are ensnared by the work of their hands. - Psalm 9:16

Remember, when you are sharing the gospel do not try to make it more appealing to the lost by throwing fruit on as bait. If you do you run the risk of leading that person into a false conversion. If you want to share the gospel in a way that will truly bring people to a place of repentance and to true salvation you must share the gospel biblically.

For help getting equipped to share the gospel biblically, the way that Jesus did PLEASE check out these sites:
livingwaters.com
wayofthemaster.com