Guilt Trip Evangelism?

About two years ago I stumbled upon a video that talked about effective methods of Evangelism. Thinking I could use some pointers on sharing my faith, I watched this 70 minute video about witnessing and sharing your faith with others. 70 minutes later, I was a different person. I really wasn't the same; it was like seeing something for what it really was and being changed. I had not thought of sharing my faith in the manner that was shown on this video, but now, I will never share my faith any other way again.

For years I shunned from sharing my faith because I wasn't sure what to say. I thought, "they should know they are going to Hell, but I don't want to scare them into salvation." I had a basic understanding of the "Romans road" but didn't really take advantage of what it really said. I knew it talked about death and sin, but I had trouble bringing that up when I rarely did share my faith. When I did witness and share my faith, I would end up basically saying "You've got a God shaped hole in your heart that only Jesus can fill, and if you accept Jesus he will give you peace and everlasting happiness. You will not need anything else in your life." That's the modern gospel which says Jesus will enhance and improve your life. I didn't bring up the fact that they were going to face God on judgment day and He was going to judge them by His divine law found in the scriptures; and if they were found wanting, they would be cast into Hell.

If you had a disease, and I had the cure, and I knew you were sick, but I didn't tell you were dying for fear of offending you or making you feel "unhealthy", how would you feel? If I came up to you and said, "Hey, I have this medicine, not that you are a unhealthy person, but I think your life will improve if you take this, you will feel better, not that you are sick or anything, but you should see what happens." You take the medicine and experience odd side effects. Frustrated you throw the medicine away and become upset with me and the cure. Your anger is actually understandable, because I said you would have better health and improvement in life, but what you received were awkward side effects of the medicine.

However, let's try this scenario again. I sit you down and point out ten clear symptoms of a terrible disease. I show you that you are dying and there is nothing you can do to make yourself better. I do this so I can convince you that you are sick so you will be receptive of the cure I have. When you finally see that you are dying, I offer you the cure and you gladly receive it. While taking the cure, you experience side effects. During these times, will you get out of bed and throw the medicine away and say "Stupid cure!” Of course not, you didn't take the medicine to improve your life and make you feel good; you took it to save your life! The fact that you have side effects will actually make look forward to feeling better.

Now let's look at the modern gospel. This gospel says to put on Jesus and he will give you happiness and everlasting peace and joy. In short, Jesus will make you feel good and will enhance your life. What the person gets is trials temptation and persecution, and he gets upset and leaves Jesus probably to never come back. Now let’s observe the Biblical gospel. The person sees that they have broken God's laws (i.e. Ten Commandments) and they know that there is no way to get to heaven on their own and they are going to Hell. In short, they see their symptoms and realize that they can't get better by themselves. After seeing this you present the Gospel of Jesus Christ and show them that he took their punishment and what they need to do is repent, and trust in Jesus like they would a parachute, not just believe in it, but put it on to save their life. In short, they hear and accept the cure for their disease. While being soundly saved they come under persecution, trials and temptations; they experience side effects. However, these trials draw them closer to God and make them look forward to heaven, just like the diseased person looks forward to being cured. This person will have a deep rooted joy and peace knowing that he will someday feel better, just like a soundly saved person will have joy and peace knowing he is going to heaven. While it's true that Christians will have a deep sound joy and peace in their heart, we should not use those as draw cards for salvation. People get saved to avoid the wrath of God and judgment from His divine Law, not to be happy.

One of the greatest allies we have in our quest for saving souls is the conscience. Conscience literally means "with knowledge". Romans 2:15 says: "Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another..." God has written His divine Law on the hearts of men, and their conscience bears witness of this. They know it's wrong to steal, murder, lust, lie, and commit adultery. So when you ask a person "Have you ever lied?" Their conscience tells them they have, whether they admit to lying or not (every person I have asked has always said yes). So before we give them the Gospel we must first pave the way with God's divine law, such as the 10 commandments, show them they are a sinner, and then present the cure, the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ. Watch this Biblical method in action on the following video. Watch as this confident teen becomes humbled and serious when confronted with God's Holy righteous law.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4472999265167474128&q=%22way+of+the+master%22&hl=en

You know we teach kids in school that they are an animal; they read for homework that they are an animal, and then they watch TV which tells them they are an animal. Later they go out and like an animal kill somebody savagely and the media shouts, “We need gun control!” There missing the point. Maybe we should be asking the following questions first:

Should we have public schools?

Our constitution says in the 10^th amendment “the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people” In other words, anything not spelled out in this document automatically goes to the states or to the people. The federal government has no business in education, welfare, etc.

Should we be teaching them evolution that says there is no God and no absolutes and therefore no rules?

I bet if we taught kids that there is a God and we are accountable to him and that became the basis of our culture again kids would behave a lot better.

Should certain criminals be publicly and speedily executed?

I don’t know why we got a away from this. Watching somebody live on CNN being hanged for a murder or watching the father of the murdered and raped daughter pull the switch on the electric chair would really have an impact on people. Ecclesiastes 8:11

Says: Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.

Should law abiding citizens be allowed to freely carry guns open or concealed to protect themselves?

Imagine with me these few scenarios. A man drives up to a bank to rob it but notices a police car parked in the front. Will he go in and rob the store? No, and the reason is because there is another armed man in there who will fight back. Criminals don’t play fair; it’s what partly makes them criminals. Imagine now we are in England, where not even the police have guns. A man drives up to the same bank to rob it and notices a police car parked out front. Will he rob the bank? Yes! The fact that there is an “officer of the law” inside the building means nothing to him. He has the advantage and he is in control. England has some of the highest number of robberies and most violent crimes than any nation. England also has an evolutionary foundation as well. Imagine with me the last scenario. Back in the U.S. all states take up Vermont’s stance on gun laws, which is none. That’s right, Vermont has no gun laws except the federal laws. A man drives up to the bank to rob it. He notices there are no police cars today. He slides on his mask, pulls out his gun and struts into the building and fires twice in the air. “On the floor everyone!” he yells. But nobody cowers to the floor because not only was every teller in the bank armed, but so was just about everybody waiting in line to cash their checks. Suddenly the sound of weapons sliding out of the leather holsters and the distinct sound of hammers being pulled back meet his ears. “No sir” the bank manager says “YOU get on the floor!”

Anyway just thought I’d share that with you.