Militant Evangelism! (16 page)

Christians are aware of the tornado of Judgment Day. We can see that Great and Terrible Day moving across the horizon toward unregenerate humanity. We know that we are safe in Christ, but the ungodly are totally unaware that it is heading towards them. They are not alarmed because the tornado doesn't seem to be heading in their direction. They say in their hearts, "The Lord does not see, nor does the God of Jacob understand." But we know that the Justice of Almighty God is gathering wrath, like a massive tornado, storing up fury that will be revealed on the Day of Wrath, and God has given us the sobering job of warning them.

I was encouraged to hear that Paris
Reidhead
, a well-known and respected Bible teacher who went to be with the Lord in 1992, had written across his tombstone the words, "How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation!" He knew his Bible enough to see its message to this sinful world.

Those sincere
Christians
who are concerned about alarming the sinner, are like Dr. Ignorance. They need to see that fear works for the welfare of the sinner, not to his detriment. If he doesn't understand the full and dreadful consequences of sin, he will continue to go back to the waters of iniquity. We don't revel in the trepidation of our hearers, but we see that it is the way of the Spirit of God, that there may be a
fleeing
from the wrath to come.

Garry
Ansdell
, the senior pastor at my home church told me of a distressed mother, who brought her seven year old child to him for counsel. The boy had been stealing substantial amounts of cash from his mother's purse, and seemed to show no remorse when confronted by her. In her frustration, she took the child to the pastor, and when he confronted the boy, there was only silence on the child's part.

Some sleight-of-hand tricks seemed to brighten the sullen face of the boy, but when he was told that he needed to repent and ask both the Lord and his mother to forgive him, the lad remained decidedly mute. So, the pastor picked up the phone and said he was calling the police to have them come and pick him up. The boy's eyes widened, but there was still no sign of sorrow. As the pastor slowly
dialed
the number, he looked at the boy and asked if he knew how to pray. He shook his head, so the pastor led him in a prayer, thinking within his own mind that the boy still wasn't truly sorry. However, when the child opened his eyes there were tears of contrition, and he then turned to his mother and said, "I'm sorry." It was fear of the consequences, coupled with the conviction of his
conscience, that
produced sorrow. He was a thief and his conscience smote him.

As impenitent sinners sit before us, we need not hesitate to summon the Law. Sometimes, we may have to dial through all the Ten Commandments before there is any reaction. Jesus called the Law into action to awaken a "certain lawyer" in Luke 10:25. He actually
dialed
six of the Ten Commandments for the rich young ruler, in Luke 18:18.

I have heard it said that the Ten Commandments are like a balloon—"one hole destroys all of them." If we offend in one point, we are guilty of all. However, the analogy would be better fitting if it was said that man is like a balloon, and the Ten Commandments are like ten sharp needles. Infringe one, and you are the one who perishes. If we didn't transgress the Law through sin, our lives wouldn't be a transient "
vapor
, that appears for a moment,
then
vanishes away."

Yawnese
, the International Language

In the early 90's in Palm Bay, Florida, three youths picked up a video
camera,
and in a sense of bravado, filmed each other and boasted that they had committed a number of burglaries in the area. They then laughed, broke the video cassette and threw it into a river.

Some time
later, two men found the cassette and were stirred by curiosity. They repaired it, and after screening it and seeing its contents, gave the cassette to the police. The guilt of the youths was so
evident,
they didn't even go to trial to defend themselves and were jailed for many years.

When graphic evidence is produced in court which shows absolute guilt, there is an appropriate legal expression. The literal interpretation for the Latin phrase used to describe such an incident is "the thing speaks for itself." That will be the case on Judgment Day for sinful humanity. Every transgression has been recorded by the omniscient eye of a holy Creator "who will bring to judgment every secret thing, whether it is good or evil" (Ecclesiastes 12:14). When Christians forget that fact, they lose sight of their priorities.

Early in 1993, I had the privilege of spending some time with Leonard
Ravenhill
. The well-respected preacher was 85 years old and took the time to share with me some of the wisdom God has given him over the years. He said that there are only two sorts of people on this earth—"those who are dead to sin, and those who are dead in sin."

Then the aged man of God said, "If God would give me one more chance to preach on a world tour, I would speak of the Judgment of believers, the Judgment of sinners, and the Judgment of preachers." I trust that you have similar urgent priorities, and still have opportunity, energy and motivation to warn sinners to flee from the wrath to come. May God give it to each of us if we are lacking.

The result of ignoring the fact of Judgment
Day,
is that there are many pastors who haven't motivation enough to motivate. There is no alarm in the pulpit, and therefore no alarm in the pew. If God is the pastor's ultimate Employer, it's my prayer that He will fire them—not
from
their pulpits, but fire them
in
their pulpits. Enthusiasm for the lost is contagious, and it can spread like wildfire in moments from the pulpit to the pew, if the wind of the Spirit blows that way.

I spent some time in Minneapolis, where the lifestyle is radically different from Southern California. In winter, the sidewalks have snow piled up along the edges of them because it is the legal responsibility of the business owners to keep them clear.

After having a meal at a restaurant, I walked up to the counter and heard the man I was with, say, "There is ice on
your
sidewalk. I fell over while carrying my child and he hit his head on the ground!" The lady behind the counter was extremely apologetic, because it was the restaurant's responsibility not only to clear the sidewalk of snow, but if conditions produced an invisible sheet of ice on the sidewalk, they were to scatter salt on it. It was then I discovered an interesting property of salt. The scattered salt generates heat and actually melts the ice.

That's how Christians can have a salty influence among those brethren who have grown cold towards the lost. Our enthusiasm for evangelism can melt their icy hearts.

Some time ago, I contacted a radio station and asked if they had recordings of noises such as horns honking, doors slamming, etc. When I found that they had such a recording, I located yawns on it, and had them duplicate ten minutes worth. I duplicated those ten minutes several times to make a one hour cassette tape. Just for fun, I had a tape jacket printed, and called the tape "
Yawnese
... the international language—60 minutes of pure, genuine, non-stop yawns." It had a variety of uses. It was the insomniac's dream. It was also invaluable for those late night visitors that won't leave. One could quietly put the tape on and watch as the guests began to yawn and look at their watches.

I noticed that seeing a yawn can start a yawn, and hearing one has the same effect. In fact, just
reading
about yawning can trigger the desire. A congregation can detect a yawn in the pulpit. If the pastor is lacking in zeal for the unsaved, invariably, so will they. Evangelism to them will be one big yawn. The preference in the pulpit will determine the priority of the pew. If you don't believe it, listen to how many a congregation prays, and you will often hear the same phrases, expressions and even personal characteristics of the pastor. If he focuses merely on doctrines of self-improvement, so will the flock.

There are however, numbers of pastors who have not lost sight of the Great Commission. In January of 1993, I was invited to the Dallas area by a pastor who asked me to speak at his Sunday church services. He was a little disappointed, because he had invited me to go out witnessing on the Saturday night, and a thunderstorm arrived about an hour after my plane landed. I had never seen anything like it. There was such intensity of
lightning, that
every few seconds, the sky would light up like noonday. Then it rained cats and dogs (they were everywhere). It looked like we wouldn't have the opportunity to go outdoors, so we decided that we would go and witness at a mall.

The pastor was very gracious and gave me a choice as to whether or not I wanted to go witnessing, saying he would understand if I wanted to rest after the flight. I could
either rest
up in my hotel, or with the help of God, seek and save the lost. The temptation was there to rest, but I of course chose the latter.

The words "lifestyle evangelism"
have
come to mean to many that we merely live a Christian life in contrast to that of the ungodly, in the hope that
some day
they will be drawn to our light. But, if we want to see people saved, we will try and save them. Who could ever stand passively on a river bank hoping a drowning person will somehow be drawn to us so that we could then rescue them? The Scriptures use a more fearful analogy—fire rather than water: "Others save with fear, pulling them from the fire" (Jude 1:23). This pastor was putting legs to his prayers, and was going to the sinner.

It was dinner time, and he dropped me off at the entrance of a restaurant while he parked the car. Then, a few minutes later, we were seated in a warm and dry atmosphere as a waitress made us feel at home. As she began to walk away, I said, "Here's a little gift for you," and handed her a glistening penny with the Ten Commandments pressed into it. She took the penny and, predictably, asked what it was. When I told her, she said sincerely, "Thank you very much."

When another waitress brought the menus to us, I gave her an "I.Q." tract, and said that she might like to try it when she had a moment to spare. A few minutes later, another waitress came and asked if she could
buy
a penny. I gave her one,
then
the first waitress returned and said she had failed the I.Q. test. It was then that I saw another waitress standing behind the pastor. She smiled, so I gave her a penny. When she was very open to Christian things, I gave her a signed copy of one of my books, for which she seemed very grateful.

Notice that we didn't just sit there hoping that our light would draw sinners to us, but we made an effort to reach out.
This is "lifestyle evangelism" as it should be. If people are drowning in their sins everywhere we go, then we should make an effort to save them, everywhere we go.

As we paid our bill in the lobby, four or five members of the staff stood around us and asked us questions as to
who
we were, etc. To let our light shine is merely a matter of letting the love of God flow
through
us, rather than stop
in
us.

When we came out of the restaurant, the storm had passed. So the pastor (Mike) gave me a choice as to where we could now go—either to the "cowboy" part of town, the "prostitute," or the "punk" area. Somehow I didn't feel like trying to witness to guys twice my size in high heel boots and ten gallon hats. The last place I want to visit when I am away from Sue would be a prostitute area, especially in the light of so many preachers falling, or diving into sexual sin. I remember feeling unspiritual years ago, when I heard of a well-known preacher who would boldly go into brothels and witness to prostitutes. Here was one man who seemed to be able to keep the red blood in his veins, cool. It turned out that he eventually fell sexually, and left his wife for another woman.