Atheists in the Philippines

The Philippines is called the only Christian country in Asia, although this is because a big majority of Filipinos are members of the Roman Catholic church and not because they have repented of their sins and have placed their trust on Jesus Christ. But even if most Filipinos have embraced Catholicism, you can expect that there will be very few atheists in the Philippine society as Catholics also believe in God. So whenever a Christian would share the gospel to a stranger here in the Philippines, stumbling across an atheist is most of the time, the least of his concerns.

When I committed myself actively to the ministry of evangelism about three years ago, it took months of regular witnessing sessions before I faced my first ever atheist. Three years after, the chance of me unknowingly already witnessing to an atheist has been happening more often. I've seen how this group that blatantly deny the existence of the Creator have grown in just three years. This is a very sad news for a country that has boasted itself as "the pearl of the orient seas".

The main culprit for the increase in the number of atheists in the country from my conversations with several of them is the educational sector. Colleges and universities here in the country, when it comes to General Education subject, Philosophy, take two roads... a philosophy that acknowledges the existence of God, and a philosophy that denies the fact of a Supreme Creator. The biggest State-ran university in the Philippines where most college-bound Filipino dreams of attending, for most of their Philosophy professors, takes the dangerous second road. I also know that even in Catholic universities, there are also a few Philosophy professors that subscribe to the No-God road that are brainwashing their students towards this big lie. One time, I preached in the open-air to about twenty atheist students. I asked them where they got their belief. They told me that it was the administrator of their college that influenced them to be atheists. I believe this is one big reason why we, as parents, must have a hand in choosing which school our children will be a part of.

There are also a few Filipino atheists that subscribe to this school of thought that were not influenced by the educational institutions, but instead, came to the conclusion that there is no God because of the things they see around them. They can't seem to understand why a powerful and loving God could allow evil and sufferings to happen. And so, if these things are prominent in our world (evil and sufferings), then there must be no God for if He does exists, He will, for sure, not let these things happen. Atheists like this failed to understand that we, ourselves, allowed evil and sufferings in this world when we allowed sin to rule our lives. They forgot that the original world that God gave us was perfect, void of evil and sufferings. It was sin that cursed our world. Let these atheists go through the mirror of the Law and they'll understand why all of these things are happening.

I have witnessed to one such person in the past. She was sexually harassed by his stepfather and could not understand why God, if He was truly out there, could allow that to happen to her. While spending the whole day in a park crying and questioning God why He allowed what happened to her, she just made the decision not to believe in God's existence anymore. I explained to her the role of sin in this and her part in making the world more sinful using the mirror of the Law. After that, I spoke about what Jesus did to rescue us from the bondage of sin and what she must do to receive His gift of salvation. This teenage girl was in tears when she left my office after deciding to again believe in God and get right with Him through repentance and faith. A few weeks later, she visited me and told me how she has been reading her Bible and how God has been making her realize so many things through His Word.

The fact that atheists in the Philippines has been increasing in number should not scare us away from sharing the gospel just because we're afraid that we might cross paths with them and be engaged in a heated debate about the existence of God. One reason is because we are sure about the truth (that there is a Creator). Secondly, this Creator is with us during these witnessing encounters. Another reason is because, from my comparison with the witnessing encounters with atheists that Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron show in the Way of the Master TV show and my own encounters with several atheists, I've observed that Filipino atheists are still not yet well-versed when it comes to arguments used by atheists in the West. Most Filipino atheists don't even have a firm grasp of Darwin's theory of Natural Selection and the Big Bang Theory. Yes, there are also some atheists there who can overwhelm you with the scientific jargon that they use in defending their belief, but believe me, there are so few of them. You just need to know what they mean when they use their terminologies and you'll be okay. But for most Filipino atheists, we can easily understand what they're saying and answer each of their arguments clearly in defense of their stand. I once asked an atheist I was witnessing to why he can't believe that a building just appeared without a builder, but he can't accept that all of creation has a Creator. He answered me with this... "I'm sure that there's an answer to that. I just don't know it yet."

To explain why they can't place their faith on Jesus Christ, an atheist told me that the Bible was silent about Jesus' life from age 13 to age 30 which maybe a time when He learned some black magic to explain His miracles, making the fundamental Christian belief that He is God a big hoax. I answered him with another question.. "Why do you believe in Jose Rizal (the national hero of the Philippines) when not all about his life was chronicled in books?" I then explained that the Bible only wrote what was significant in Jesus' life here on earth. Jesus 'ministry years was only in His last three years on earth, and so, the Bible focused more on the events of these years. The same goes with biographies about Jose Rizal.

We should also remember that in witnessing to anyone, not just with atheists, our goal is to bring the discussion to the realm of the conscience. We should only spend a few minutes in the realm of the intellect. We will only be there to engage the person in a conversation. As soon as the person gets comfortable talking to us, we should right away deliberately shift to the spiritual by asking the person, "Do you think you're a good person?" Then have them face the mirror of the Law which will later make Jesus' sacrifice at the cross of Calvary make sense for the person. Staying too long in the intellect may only remove the chance of talking about sin, righteousness and judgment, and may only leave both of you bitter with each other. Your purpose for talking to the person will be left unattained if you stay too long in the intellect.

The reality of atheists increasing in number in the Philippines should make us work double time in sharing the gospel. They can be as passionate as you convincing people to get right with God in convincing others to be atheists as well. Before they get to them, let's get to them first. Before they go to their next prospect, let's convince them (the atheists) that their belief has no basis compared to ours that has the whole of creation as proof. In the school that I help manage, I've made it my goal to give the proofs about the existence of God to our students. In my articles in the school's paper, I've written about atheists' arguments against the existence of God and explained why each of them are wrong and illogical. Before that, I've written proofs about the Bible as the divine Word of God using science and history. The prospect is scary if these students get influenced someday by intellectuals to their atheistic beliefs in the colleges they will choose to enroll in. Before that happens, I'm doing my part in establishing in them a rock-solid foundation to a theistic belief.

The truth is that every non-believer has an atheistic mentality within him/her even if he/she believes the existence of God. Why? Because they engage in sin as if there is no God who will someday judge them. Both the atheist and the non-atheist will experience the wrath of God one day if they will not repent of their sins and trust in the saving-grace of Jesus Christ. Their salvation is our duty, us who have already proven He exists because after we got right with Him (by repentance and faith on Jesus), we embraced His commandments (John 14:21). Unless we do something (like swallow our fears), these people will continue to unknowingly line themselves to the mouth of Hell.

(To learn more on how to witness to atheists, please get a hold of the Intermediate Training Course and the book by Ray Comfort with the title "God doesn't believe in atheists" available at our online store.)

To send your comments for this article, send us an email at

comments@livingwaters-asia.com

The forgotten reason for Christmas

Before writing this article, I tried looking for images about Christmas via Yahoo. The browser was set to show twenty pictures per page. What happened next really disturbed me. Page after page showed pictures that really have no relations to why Christmas day happened. The first picture that had any relation with the real Christmas message (a nativity scene) came out after 563 pictures. Most of the pictures showed Christmas trees, gifts, Santa Claus, holiday lights, the Christmas eve dinner, men and women half naked but with Santa Claus hats on, etc. Even Homer Simpson had more pictures than Jesus being born in a manger when you search for Christmas pictures in the internet. I stopped after finding one and never dared anymore to try searching for Christmas pictures via Google.

It's so sad how the present age has commercialized Christmas. It's now all about gifts and having fun during the holidays. The glorious event where God miraculously sent His only begotten Son, Jesus, into the world through a virgin so that He can save man from his sure punishment in Hell has been downgraded to "chestnuts roasting on an open fire; Jackfrost nipping at your nose", and about "a white Christmas". Definitely, Satan had something to do with this. And you have to hand it to him. He did a great job. Imagine, an event that's suppose to crush the hearts of sinners, with Satan's devises, have made them so comfortable with it. Watch TV broadcasts of public Christmas celebrations and you see people without any Christian affiliations joining, and even leading these Christmas events. Popular music icons and movie stars that encourage hate and immorality are present. Porn stars take a significant part of the celebrations. Corrupt politicians and businessmen fund these Christmas events. Even atheists are joining these celebrations. Why are these people so comfortable in these Christmas events? Simply because Christ is not anymore the central figure of the season. All they know is that "'tis the season to be jolly".

People have become so self-centered when it comes to Christmas. All they care about is the gifts they expect to receive and the fun they'll have during the holidays. They've forgotten that Christmas day is the start of the show of the greatest selfless act ever known in history. Yes, the angels sang when Jesus was born, but only because they knew that it was through Jesus that the Father will finally be able to achieve justice for all of the offenses we have made against His Laws. The star that pointed the Three Wise Men to the newly born Saviour thirty-three years after was replaced by the cross that declared "Justice has been served". Christmas day opened the door of opportunity for the Father to unleash all of His anger on sin as carried by Jesus, His one and only Son. Yes, it pleased the Father to bruise Jesus thirty-three years after (Isaiah 53:10). Christmas had a sad part with it... the suffering that Jesus went through for us. So why are people very preoccupied about receiving gifts on Christmas day when the focus should be surrendering our lives to God on this glorious day, right?

The modern Gospel message is also, again, a culprit why man has forgotten the reason for Christmas. Modern-day preachers have focused on the love that God has for mankind when He sent his only begotten Son so that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16). They've intentionally failed to discuss that it was because of God's need for justice that He sent Jesus into this world. They've left out the part about our sins that made God sacrifice Jesus (His love) so that we won't go to Hell. Preachers today are not anymore shouting "Repentance". Instead, they are telling people "God loves you, just as you are". This is totally untrue for we will only be qualified to receive God's love (Jesus' sacrifice) if we will be willing to turn away from our sins. Any message that does not bring with it a heavy emphasis on the need to repent from the sins we so love to indulge in is NOT the true Gospel message.

As Christians, we should treat this season as a great opportunity to share the real reason for Christmas. We should make it our goal to stop man from forgetting the true message of Christmas. They're all out there, making last minute Christmas shopping. Meet them in the malls and give them Gospel tracts, or better yet, engage them in a short conversation for you to share to them the Gospel. My wife and I recently did this at a nearby mall that just opened in our town. We were so surprised that because of the many people that trooped the mall for Christmas shopping, our three bundles of Gospel tracts were easily distributed within ten minutes. Instead of using up all of your Christmas bonuses on buying material things, why not set aside a portion to buy good Gospel tracts to be inserted inside Christmas cards you will be sending to people (we have lots of them at our online store). You can also organize a group and pay for the expenses of bringing them to a busy place (like malls, parks, bazzars, etc.) to share the Gospel to people roaming around the place. It is only through this that we can make people honor the life-changing message of Christmas.

To all of you, our friends and supporters, we wish you the most meaningful Christmas of all and may we continue to be God's ambassadors of His glorious Gospel!

To send your comments for this article, send us an email at

comments@livingwaters-asia.com

When people go to church for the wrong reasons

The church should be the congregation of people who have realized their offenses against God, repented of it and trusted Jesus for their salvation. Once a person is spiritually baptized to the family of God, he will continue joining this congregation so that he will grow in his knowledge of God and his holy ways. He understands that it is his duty not to forsake the assemblings of the children of God (Heb. 10:25) not because it is through this that he gains salvation but because he knows that this is a way to gain Christian maturity. He treasures the teachings that are released from the pulpit of his church, even those that would bring him hurt, for he knows that whatever comes from the Scriptures is good for him. And so, you can expect that a true child of God who has made it a priority to go to church on a regular basis for a long time to be very mature in terms of daily living and doctrine, and has developed a very deep relationship with his Creator.

But in our present generation, church membership has taken a totally different purpose. For many people, they go to church not for the purpose of gaining Christian maturity but to be a "Christian". The church is not anymore the congregation of the children of God but the gathering of people who needs to have some entry of religious affiliation in their bio-data. Many have affiliated with a church not to develop further humility before a holy God but to engage in their personal interests to which a church has a particular program (e.g., weekend movie viewing, yearly sports tournament, quilting, etc.). Common scenarios like this in present-day churches are clearly the opposite of what we read of the early church in the New Testament that the disciples and the apostle Paul helped establish.

During our recently concluded mission trip at Cagayan (Gospel Buzz '08), our group encountered several church-going people like this. Early on during the trip, we were amazed about how many people we met claimed to be members of the nearby Baptist church. At first, we thought that God has moved mightily in the community we were in. But when we started talking to them about their salvation experiences, we started realizing that most of these people are false converts. One man I talked to who was quite effeminate bragged that he, on occasions, just like most people in that community, attend the nearby Baptist church and he believes that he is already a Christian. When I asked him why he says he is a Christian, he told me that one time in the past, he followed a pastor's invitation to follow a particular prayer that asked Jesus to come to his life. I then explained to him that a person is not saved by following a particular prayer. I then made him evaluate if he is really a Christian by making him examine how much, by true nature, has been obeying God's Laws in his life as the Bible clearly tells us that "if any man be in Christ, he becomes a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, old things are become new (2 Cor. 5:17)". When he was convinced that he was not a real child of God yet, I then talked about the Gospel and what he needed to do to gain salvation (true repentance and faith on Jesus). He later told me that it was the first time that he heard an explanation like this about how one can evade going to Hell. All along he thought that the prayer he followed years before made him a Christian and being in church occasionally not only proves he's one, it also gives him the same religious identity like most of the people around him.

In the student center that we manage, students come regularly to apply for the priveledges of the center. To get them, they must fill-out an application form and go through an interview that gives us an opportunity to share the Gospel to them. One item in the application form they fill-out is their religious affiliation. You would think that if a particular student writes "Born-again Christian" in his/her application form, we will forego talking to them about the Gospel. But we don't. False conversion is a reality we consider seriously abounding in our time. It's better to spend time sharing the Gospel to be sure about a person's Christian conversion rather than assume he/she is already a Christian and do nothing to prevent his/her going to Hell, right? Several of the students that apply at our center that claims to be children of God explain that the reason why they believe so is because they attend church regularly, or they are a part of the music ministry, or they engage in church programs that they claim are very enjoyable. This is sad because if you ask them how long they've been going to their church you will realize that with the length of time they've been going there, the biblical Gospel message has not really been explained.

The culprit as to why our churches are filled with people who are false converts is the church itself. Church leaders have changed their church's goal from winning as many souls for Christ to just filling all the empty church pews. In bringing these people to church, church leaders have turned to gimmicks instead of doing it the old-fashion way, and that is by the preaching of sin, righteousness and judgment. I remember Arvin Cunanan, one of the members of the Star Youth Ministries, once told me that before he was soundly saved, whenever he would aim to heed the Great Commission, instead of showing a person his real standing before a just and holy God, he would tell that person about their church's music ministry which he can join to give him an avenue to showcase his musical prowess. Some churches, in the goal of enticing people to attend their services, would focus their sermons on how one can amass blessings from God, even if technically, these people are not entitled to God's many promises because they're not really members of God's family.

I recently saw the Christian movie "Time Changer". It's about a professor of a Bible seminary in the 1800s (Dr. Russel Carlisle) that was transported to the 21st century in order for him to see for himself what effect the teaching of morals will have on society if you will not emphasize that it was God that gave the standard of morality. In one scene, Dr. Carlisle joined a church's visitation activity to people in the community who are interested in attending church. He was paired with a long time member of the church. He was so amazed as he listened to his partner encourage a family to attend their church by exciting them with their church's programs like it's yearly golf tournament for fathers, children's retreat which will allow parents some time off from parenting their rowdy children, the monthly picnic for families, etc., instead of telling them about how their church can help them know more of God and His ways. Sadly speaking, this is a common thing among churches nowadays. But despite this, they still claim that their church is a "purpose driven church".

In our society today, we can see reasons other than what was already mentioned as to why people go to church. There are politicians that affiliate with big churches to get the political support of the members of these churches. Some would go to a particular church because their friends attend it. Some go to a church because everyone in the family does so. I even know of several people in the past that attended the same church I was a part of just so they can be with the girls they were courting. If these are the reasons many people have for attending a church, then the reality is, our churches are filled with false converts.

Unless churches of today turn away from gimmicks and renew a committment to again preach the biblical Gospel message, the church which is supposed to be the instrument that shows people God's requirements for salvation (repentance and faith), and later, aid in bringing these people to a deeper relationship with God, will be the instruments of Satan in populating further his domain. I strongly believe that our generation of churches has produced more false converts than any other generation because of our penchant for gimmicks. Our generation will have to give an account for this someday when we finally face God. A no-nonsense use of God's Laws to show man's sinful state will facilitate true conversion. Not doing so will help facilitate the other. This is exactly the message of Hell's Best Kept Secret (you can hear it at our Free Resources page).

We have very little time left in bringing people to a true relationship with God. All the signs around us prove that. Before we go out to other commnunities to reach people for Christ, why not focus first on the people inside our churches. A lot of them, including people we love so dearly, because of our own doing, think that they are already inside when the truth is, they are still out... out of the family of God. Before it's too late, let's do something about it.

Church, clean up your act!

To send your comments for this article, send us an email at
comments@livingwaters-asia.com

Lines that will make people think

About a month ago, someone asked me to give some lines that I usually bring out to people I witness to so that they will take seriously the message I share to them. In the past 3 years of sharing the gospel the way Jesus did, I have come across so many people who would mock the message and show me that they will never give what I told them any serious thought. I believe that whenever you share the gospel, you will always leave a seed in the hearts of people that God can use to cultivate to eventual repentance and faith on Jesus Christ. But leaving people heavy statements to ponder can also help in the process of their conversion.

Below are some statements I have used in the past to wake-up people regarding their sinfulness and the punishment awaiting them in Hell. Some of these lines, I have adapted from the witnessing encounters of Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron shown in the Way of the Master TV show. Some, I believe, God, Himself, impressed to me during my own witnessing encounters.

“What’s more difficult? Deciding to turn away from the joys of sin or spending eternity in Hell as a result of your sinfulness?” Often times, I encounter people who are convinced about the displeasure of God against sin and the need to repent of it but finds it so difficult to, once and for all, make a move to have no more business with it. The reason is simply because they enjoy indulging with it. Its lure is so powerful that at the first sight of it, they dive to it right away. Saying this line can be a wake-up call to their numbed sanity. When we witness to people, it is so important to make Hell a big reality. Testing the goodness of people against the Ten Commandments makes Hell so reasonable. After that, show them the way out of this punishment that God provided. Then, you make the person realize using this line that if there’s already a way out and you don’t use the solution, then, you are such a foolish person for not choosing to evade Hell.

With this line, you are also making the point that the joys of sin are only for a season but the consequence is forever. You are showing the person you are witnessing to that the enjoyment of sin is not worth sacrificing compared to the enormous payback. Whenever I use this line to people, I am conveying to them that the principle, “You only live once and therefore, enjoy it to the fullest (even if it’s sinful)” is a big foolishness. But instead, they should realize that they only have one lifetime to get right with God or else, Hell awaits them.

"If you are not ready to turn away from your sins at this very moment, God is likewise not ready to save you today." This is a line I use to stress the significant role of repentance towards a person’s salvation. I remember making this statement to a group of homosexuals who have been going for several years in an evangelistic camp that asked our help in counseling attendees. The camp really frustrated us because it focused more on enticing unbelievers to go to Christian churches using “Christian rock music” instead of really showing attendees their sinful state, the punishment awaiting them and what God requires from them so that they can be at peace with Him. This, I believe, is the reason why even if these homosexuals have been coming to this camp for the last 3 to 4 years, no spiritual transformation has really happened in them. All they want is for God to love them and bring them to Heaven without Him meddling with their sinful lifestyle.

When the invitation for anyone who would want to “accept Jesus” into their hearts (without emphasis on repentance) was given out and these homosexuals came forward to the altar, I rushed in front so that I will be the one to counsel them. When I talked to them, I right away brought them to the mirror of the Law. I showed them their sure destination, what God did to save them and what He requires from them in return (repentance and faith). Then, I said this line. They weren’t that excited about Jesus anymore after that. So, was that encounter a failure? No, for I have made them realize that no amount of invitation for Jesus to come into their hearts will give them salvation if there was no corresponding intent to turn away from sin. I’ve laid down the whole deal for them and now, the choices are so clear for them. The ball is now on their court. When we witness to anyone, we should emphasize that it was sin that separated us from God and therefore, it is the decision to forsake sin, coupled with faith on God’s ability to save, that will allow us to be brought back to God’s family.

When speaking to an atheist or someone who does not believe in Hell --- "If one of us is wrong about the existence of Hell and God (you don't believe, I believe) and we both die, think of this. If I’m wrong, I just die and stay at my grave. But if you’re wrong, you have to face God’s eternal punishment for not preparing for the afterlife. . In that case, I’m in a better situation believing in God and Hell, than you, not believing in both." This statement can make an atheist or someone who thinks Hell is unreasonable so, therefore, it should not exist, rethink his belief. After awakening the conscience using the Law, bring these "intellectuals" back to the intellect to make them realize that their stand on this issue is a not-so-intelligent one, and something that is so dangerous. If I tell someone that he has left the stove on and he believes that he didn't, isn't it reasonable that despite his belief, there's a need for him to go back to the kitchen to check it out just to be sure? Logic tells us that there's nothing wrong in being sure. This is what we're trying to make atheists and intellectuals do --- check out the assertions of the Scriptures just to be sure.

I have used this statement several times, even in organized events where there will be some brave guy that thinks he has a right to cut me in the middle of my talk just so he can show everyone his brave stand on this. For the times I’ve used this line, the reaction is always the same… silence. When they respond to you with a deafening silence, you know that you have made them think.

"When you face God on Judgment Day, and He tells you that you're bound for Hell because you did not repent of your sins and trust Jesus for your salvation, and as angels drag you out of God’s presence, we connect eye-to-eye, don’t ever dare accuse me of not warning you." I’ve used this line several times to people who show disinterest to the message I share to them and for people I’ve witnessed to several times and still have not gotten right with God. This statement moves the responsibility of a person’s eternal destiny from us (the Christians who need to share the gospel to unbelievers) to the person himself. In making this statement, we are not really abandoning the goal of winning the person to Christ. We should labor for each person’s salvation until our last breath. What we are doing here is making the person realize that because we have shared to him already how he can be saved, if he goes to Hell someday, he has only but himself to blame for that.

Despite the heaviness of this line, remember to always say this with enough air of love and care to the person this statement is directed to. And so, it will be good to also say after this line that you are saying this because you love the person very much that you don’t want him to make the mistake of ignoring the message you are sharing to him. I’ve used this line with a dear student of mine in the past. I’ve witnessed to her about 3 or 4 times personally and she has heard me speak of this several times in a large group setting. I really pounded her to the gut the last time I spoke to her. I said the line and told her after that she’s someone I care about very much and I can’t bear the idea of her suffering in Hell someday. I also told her before she left that I’ll be praying for her. I know that she respects me enough to think that what I shared to her is unimportant. I also know that the Holy Spirit will continue the work from where I left.

"Please understand that I stand to gain nothing in speaking to you. In fact, I swallowed a lot of my fears in asking to talk to you. If I went through this with nothing for me in return, then don’t you think that what I just talk to you about is really important?" This is a statement you can use to emphasize the importance of your message. This is actually the same as one of the evidences that we point out to prove the truth about Jesus --- the disciples won't die for a lie. We are making people realize that if what we are talking about is not true, then we are being foolish in sacrificing for a lie. We can also see with this line the importance of actively seeking the lost, especially those that you really don't know. Your effort shows your care for others. Waiting for people to come to you so that you can witness to them is what I call an "evangelism of convenience." It's good that whenever God places someone beside you, you witness to them. But when people see that you actively seek them, they will see your faith in the message you have and the urgency you feel to deliver it to next person. When that happens, people start to open their hearts to your message.

"You say that you believe the Bible is God's Word. Then, you should believe that because of your sins, you’re definitely bound for Hell. I just told you what God said you should do to be saved from going to Hell. Then, do as you’re instructed." A lot of people believe that the Bible is God's divine words to our world. They will never dare say that any declaration from the Bible is wrong. We should take advantage of this fact to bring to people’s attention their true standing before a just and holy God. This line can help you do that. If they truly believe in the Bible, they have to accept, that, just like all of us, they have sinned and fell short of the glory of God. They must also take with seriousness the declaration of the Scriptures that because we missed the mark so badly in terms of being good, we are all bound for Hell and that the only way out of this scary situation is the sacrifice of Jesus. Explain further that according to the Bible, the only way we can benefit from Jesus’ sacrifice is if we decide to turn away from our sins and place our trust on Him.

This line works well for Catholics and other people coming from religions claiming to believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God. Using this statement can also help you avoid debates about arguments of people that really do not have any biblical basis. For example, if someone who claims to believe the Bible tells you that he believes homosexuals will be accepted by God in Heaven, tell them that 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 says the opposite and if they truly believe that the Bible is the Word of God then, they should stop believing that lie. The key is to know the background of the person you are talking to (does he believe in the Bible?) so that you’ll know if you need to use this line.

"Statistics say that 150,000 people die everyday around the world, and majority of these people dying really aren't sure if they'll go to Heaven. You can be part of that statistic any day from today. If that happens, can you confidently say that you’ll be in Heaven after you leave this world?" Nothing scares a person more than the thought of death. People must be reminded that the ultimate statistic is that 10 out of 10 die. This world offers a lot that people can be caught up in the process of getting each and everyone of these, forgetting that there is life after this life. Even people who claim to be "Christians" are guilty of this. This line makes the potential of death as real as possible for the person you are witnessing to. You may further make death a reality by saying, "You could die on your way home after our talk", or, "Can you confidently say that you’ll still get to live tomorrow?". Death is scary especially if you have proven to the person you are witnessing to by the use of the Law that death will be his gateway for Hell. You can also tell the person that probably, a big reason why he has not yet been part of the ultimate statistic is because God is still giving him a chance to do what he must do. This will make a person think of the solution you offer from the Bible which the Holy Spirit can use to convict that person to repent and to put his trust on Jesus.

You're goal, whenever you witness to someone, is to make the person THINK. You need not see a person crying his heart out during your witnessing encounter. What you would want is to see a demeanor of seriousness in the person with what you just shared after you part ways. If you need to make the person feel a little bit of fear, then use it. Fear is a legitimate tool in showing a person of the need to get right with God. Fear was the very thing that made the psalmist in Psalm 116:3-4 to run to God for salvation --- “The pains of death surrounded me, And the pangs of Sheol (Hell) laid hold of me; I found trouble and sorrow. Then I called upon the name of the LORD: ‘O LORD, I implore You, deliver my soul!’” I hope you can get to use these lines in your future witnessing encounters. May God bless you as you win souls for Christ.

God’s Judgment, misunderstood

A few months ago, someone in my Multiply network wrote an article entitled “If I die tonight, what will I tell God?” I couldn’t resist explaining to the author her erroneous understanding about God’s judgment and the chance to witness to this person. Below is our exchange of answers regarding the topic.

If I die tonight, what will I tell God?

I have been through many near-death experiences already, each one allowing me to glimpse what it would be like to step through that door we call death and see my life here on Earth ending. Each form of death I would have experienced was different yet equally disturbing. I might safely say that each of these experiences helped me to see life in a different way – and that life on Earth is really so fragile. So if I were to die tonight, what exactly would I tell God about how I spent my life on Earth?

The first thing I will tell God is: forgive me for my mistakes. I look back on my youth and I see that I did some things wrong and some things right and some things I did not have any idea of what I was doing until I did them. So that would be my first statement to God.

The second thing I will tell God is: forgive me when I hate people. The commandment to love even my enemies is a very hard commandment to follow and there are days when the people around me are really impossible to love without feeling you are being taken for a fool. Which leads me to my third statement…

Thank you God for my gift of discernment. I have learned a lot on this Earth about how some people are truly trustworthy while others are not worthy of your time. I have learned to interpret certain signs about people like the expression on their faces, the way they talk, the things they say, and the look in their eyes to see what is really going on in their mind, their hearts and their souls. Though I have not always been successful at weeding out the evil people, much of the time I have been able to leave out the bad people from my life. And that is a good gift to have.

Thank you for my friends who have stuck by me through all these years – like the Chums from high school who have always managed to stay in touch somehow, and my other friends gathered from here and there. Thank you that despite my flaws, these friends still consider me a good friend and are themselves good friends in return. My friends may not all be rich but they are good people anyway.

Thank you that I still own myself and have free choice as to what I will become (at this point in time.)

Thank you for the love given to me by my animals. Thank you that I have been honored by their trust, their loyalty, and their unequivocal acceptance of me (even when the people around me are not accepting of me.)

Lastly, I would tell God that I am happy to have been accepted into His circle of loyal followers and that I hope that he will accept even those I love who are more flawed than me. If I die tonight, I will die a happy person because of these things I know I will be able to tell God. I also have a lot of questions to ask but that’s between him and me.

My Reply

This is in response to Eleanore's blog. But I guess everyone who reads my response would benefit from reading this.

Eleanore's question was "If I die tonight, what will I tell God?" I'd like to make everyone understand that when you die and face God you will not be able to ask for forgiveness anymore for mistakes you have committed here on Earth. Hebrews 9:27 tells us this--- "It is appointed unto man to die once and after this the judgment." This verse is explaining to us that we will die once and be judged by God right away base on what we did here on Earth. You can't find anywhere in the Bible that when we die and face God, He will give us a chance to apologize to Him. Apology, or repentance (this is the Bible's word for that) should be done here on Earth and not when you are in front of God's judgment seat. If you don't get right with God while here on Earth, the sure judgment that awaits us is punishment in Hell. This is exactly what Romans 6:23 tells us, "For the payment of sin is death..." And what death is being pointed on here? The book of Revelations tells us that this is the "second death" which the Bible explains as an eternal stay in Hell.

Now here's the question for you, Elaenore and to everyone. Where will God send you when He judges you? Let me help you know by making you answer some questions.

1. Have you ever lied?
2. Have you ever stolen anything, regardless of the value, even if what we are talking about is a piece of candy which your brother or sister owned?
3. Have you ever used God's name in vain like when you are angry or when you are surprised by something and you say "Oh my ____!" This is called blasphemy.
4. Jesus once explained (Matt. 5:27-28) that you have already committed adultery even if you just looked at someone with sexual malice. Have you ever looked at someone with sexual malice?

Chances are you have answered "Yes" to all of these questions and have just admitted that you are a liar, a thief, a blasphemer and an adulterer at heart. You have to realize that you've just admitted to have offended four of God's Ten Commandments. Knowing this, if you die today and face God on Judgment Day and He judges you based on His 10 Laws, do you think you will be innocent or guilty? You know you're guilty, right? And because you're guilty, where do you think God should send you? Heaven or Hell? Unfortunately, Hell. You can't be in Heaven for Heaven is a holy place where the most Holy God resides. You're not and we've just proven that. You can make the argument that God is a forgiving God and He will let you in Heaven. My answer to you is this..."try that in real court." If you stole something and you got caught and the trial judge pronounces you guilty and sentences you to 5 years in jail, do you honestly think that by telling the judge that you believe he is a forgiving judge that he will let you go unpunished? He won't, right? Or you may make the argument that you deserve to go to Heaven because the offenses you’ve made against God's Laws were done years ago and you're not doing them anymore. My answer..."Try that in real court." What if ten years ago, you stole something but you weren't caught and later realized how bad the thing you did is. And so, you decided to become a philanthropist. But ten years after, the police finally was able to arrest you for the crime you committed ten years ago. In court, you were found guilty without reasonable doubt because all the evidences point to you and it also helped that you admitted to committing the crime. The judge sentences you to spend time in jail. Do you think that by making the argument that you committed the crime 10 years ago and that after that you've turned into a philanthropist that the judge will let you go unpunished? I know that you know he won't. Same with God. Now, don't you think that you have such a huge problem right now understanding that because you are guilty of offending God's Laws, you're going straight to Hell just in case you die today? It's really a big problem. The reason why you're going to Hell is because you have sins that you have to pay for. YOUR ONLY WAY OUT IS IF SOMEONE PAYS FOR WHAT YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO PAY. It's as simple as this. You are in a human court and you were sentenced to pay $1,000,000 for a crime you've committed or else you're going to jail. You don't have the money and so some court personnel are now bringing you to your cell when someone you don't even know entered the court room and goes directly to the judge. He tells the judge, "Sir, I've just withdrawn all of my money in the bank. Here's a million dollars, payment for what she is supposed to pay." Because of his sacrifice, you're NOT going to jail anymore.

That's exactly what Jesus did for you 2000 years ago. He is God, creator of everything that we see and don't see. He went down to Earth and took on the form of a man. He lived just like anybody else but the only thing He did not do was commit any sin. 33 years after, people saw Him nailed to a cross, suffering and then died. The story tells us that 3 days after, He rose from the grave. Why did He suffer when He never committed any sin? He went to all of that because He was paying for what we should be paying for. It's as simple as this--- you're the one who did all of the sinning but He was the one who suffered for your sins. Whoa! God really loves you. What He did was a gift. Now, how can you receive that gift? The Bible tells us that we just need to do two things. First and foremost, you have to repent of your sins by admitting that you are a sinner and asking for forgiveness for all of these sins. The attitude for repentance must be one that shows God a real intention and desire to hate sin from now on. Lastly, He wants you to believe and trust that it is ONLY JESUS that can save you, not your own good deeds nor your religion, only Him, that's why you only ask help from Him. The Bible promises us that if we do these two things, we receive the gift and we go to Heaven when we die. Why? Because Jesus' sacrifice at the cross have been credited to your own account. Isn't that great!

Finally, do you truly love yourself? If you do, then don't let this day pass without you doing those two things because you might never live out tomorrow because tomorrow might not come for you anymore. Get right with God here on Earth before death knocks at your door.

Please give this some thought. I won't benefit from writing you this reply, but for sure, it will benefit you to do what God wants you to do. Thanks for reading this!

A Reply to my Reply

Well, actually it was pretty lengthy so no, I didn't read it. For one thing, I believe in a God who is loving and kind, who understands human frailties because His Son also became human for awhile. It would be like that saying that goes like this: You cannot understand a man unless you have walked around in his shoes. I guess God sent Jesus to Earth for that purpose. (That saying I think comes from the book To Kill A Mockingbird.) The God you seem to believe in would damn me to hell for all my mistakes as a child and as a young adult. What a pity then.

We humans are frail and flawed creatures. The God I understand and pray to everyday understands that. For instance, I once heard that one of my college schoolmates (someone in BS Biology in UP Manila) committed suicide by drinking cyanide in his dorm room.) Now, the God I understand would forgive that young man his moment of weakness and lack of courage and his choice of killing himself rather than just opting for a less demanding course in college. I don't think I agree with your post that all of us will be damned to our fate once we die - if so, then that young man must be already in hell somewhere, if not being prepared to be sent to hell come Judgment Day.

I prefer to believe in a more merciful God. Whether that fits into your religious standards is beyond my concern.

I answered back

Well it's unfair for you to comment when you haven't read the whole reply. One thing more, please give me verses from the Bible that says that God will just forgive sins just like that. You just made a god that suits yourself and not one shown in the Bible. Here's an advice. Base what you believe from what the Bible says and not from just any book written by some popular author like Harper Lee. You have to understand this --- God's forgiveness is through the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus. Jesus' sacrifice can only be credited to your own account if you will first repent and decide to turn away from your sins, and then trust that it is only Jesus that can save you, not your religion nor your good works, only Him so you only ask for help from Him (read Ephesians 2:8-9). Please read my entire reply. I made it out of concern. Have a nice day!

Her final say

Well there is no rule that says I gotta read your reply either. As for me, I have a lot of other stuff to write about.

One day, this woman, just many other people, will find out that what they thought of God and His judgments are totally of their creation, not even near the truth. This is the reason why we shouldn’t stop preaching until people get the point of the basis of God’s judgment and how He will carry it out.

For God so loved the world…

A few days ago, on our way back home from visiting a dear Christian friend who was suffering from cancer, I, together with my family (my mom and dad, my wife and son, an adopted 2-year old cousin, and three other companions) were prime witnesses to a gruesome crime of murder. While our vehicle was leisurely burning rubber against the highway of the province of Pangasinan, a green Toyota Corolla in front of us suddenly swerved uncontrollably before it stopped. At first, we just thought that something went wrong with the car. But to our surprise, a man who seemed to have been hostage by the people in control of the car jumped off the trunk of the car. Two men quickly got off the front seats of the car with one of them holding a .45 caliber gun. It was at this point that we got scared, realizing that we could be caught in the middle of a cross-fire. My dad, who was driving, right away turned left to a vacant lot, giving the impression to the man with the gun that we do not want any part of what he was about to do. The man then ran after the man that got off the trunk of their car and shot the poor guy three times at his back. The poor man instantly fell to the ground dead. The gunman, before riding their car, to be sure that the man was really dead, shot the bloody man one more time, this time to the head. The car sped off fast to no where. All of these in the middle of the afternoon with us, including my six year-old son, seeing every detail of this bloody scene.

All of us were left aghast with what we saw. Not even in my wildest imagination did I expect to witness such an act of horror. I had experienced being held-up before together with my brother and sister by criminals during my college days. That experienced was so traumatic for me that it left me sleepless for a couple of days. But this… this was different! I never saw anyone die before until this experience. I believe I can hold my emotions well seeing a person slowly dying of some illness. But seeing someone’s life abruptly ended because of another’s cruelty really evoked strong emotions from me. I was suddened. I was afraid. I was so sad for the victim. But most of all, I was really so angry seconds after the crime happened. The first words that came out of my mouth were “Thank God there’s hell”. I was so furious with the cruelty of the criminals. I wanted them to die at that instance so that they can right away experience the wrath of God in hell. My heart was pumping hard because of what I saw. I experienced some mild chest pains but never told anyone with me so as not to add worry to the emotions each of us were already experiencing. An hour after what we saw, when all of the strong emotions slowly subsided, God started talking to me and made me realize several things.

God reaffirmed to me the fact that hell is reasonable. To say that God is merciful and forgiving, and that punishing someone in hell contradicts his loving nature becomes totally unacceptable after seeing the beastly behavior of the criminals that killed that helpless victim. Do you think these people deserve kind treatment after what they did? I bet you won’t even dare invite them to your birthday celebration. If you feel disgust towards these people, what more a just and holy God. God can never let such people in heaven. Justice must be demanded for the crime that was committed. In the court of God, justice is served when a sinner is punished, and in our case, that punishment is in hell. To say that God will never send anyone to hell totally run against sound reason.

In the minutes after witnessing the crime, I couldn't accept that Jesus likewise died for these criminals. At that moment, I wanted God to exclude them from the list of people He made his sacrifice for. If given the chance to share the gospel to these criminals someday, my mind was saying during that moment that I'd rather pass by them than give them a gospel tract. I wanted them to go to hell. Then God showed me that I was feeling the same way as Jonah after he preached to the people of Nineveh. He regret sharing to them God's message of repentance. He would have wanted that God destroy these sinful people. Then God made me recall how He gave Jonah a gourd to give him some shade from the hot sunlight while sitting outside of the city of Nineveh and how He let a worm kill that gourd the next day, making Jonah angry. Then God told him, "If you showed pity to the gourd that died to which you had no part of creating, so why should I not have pity with 120,000 people I, myself, made, who cannot discern right from wrong?" I then realized that God's sacrifice is for everyone and was designed to exclude no one. This is why the Scriptures tell us that "God is not willing that any should perish (2 Peter 3:9)" and that "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son… (John 3:16)".

And because God's sacrifice is for everyone, including the most hardened criminal, I have now fully realized how amazing God's love really is. It's so easy to love someone who is lovable and endearing. But it will take God's kind of love to show love to someone who is anything but lovable. That’s one peculiar thing that separates God from mankind… His ability to show love even to someone who has insensitively hurt Him with transgressions of His Laws. The Bible explains how this love was shown… "But God demonstrated his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Rom. 5:8)".

I remembered the apostle Paul. He called himself “the chief of sinners”. Why? He was likewise a murderer like the criminals I saw. But he was different. His victims were the very Christians God entrusted the preaching of His life-saving gospel to. He really took the offensive against God. And yet, God saved him. All of us humans know how hard it is to love someone who has hurt us. But God did it. A song explains well God’s kind of love that He gave to us…"It took a miracle to put the stars in place. It took a miracle to hang the world in space. But when He saved my soul, cleanse and made me whole, it took a miracle of love and grace." Yes. God's love to mankind when He sent Jesus to die for us at the cross is a great miracle because it is beyond what man’s mind can ever conceive.

After realizing this, I was dumbfounded. From someone who was angry and had so many questions to God hours before, I was left worshipping God in my mind. I was silently singing praises to God the rest of the trip back home. I now had a deeper understanding of Him that I never had in my years as a Christian. Before, I already knew that God had loved us beyond the kind of love that we, as humans can give. But that knowledge was only in my intellect. Now, I know more about that love because God has made me experience it when He made me realize that if I was that criminal, He still will offer His sacrifice to me as a way for me to evade sure punishment in hell. I can never ever fathom that love. I’m just so glad and thankful that I was a recipient of it.

About thirty minutes to our home, I talked to my son who was sitting at the third row of my parent’s vehicle. Knowing pretty well that my son saw everything, I was worried that he might realize many things about the experience incorrectly. But I didn’t really know what to tell him. Will I tell him that this was something ordinary? Nope. That will only scare him about life. Will I tell him that what he saw was just an act from a movie that was being shot? No, no, no. My son is intelligent enough to know from our reactions what’s reel and what’s real. Besides, I’ll be lying if I tell him that. The only thing I told him was this… “Son, you saw how wicked people are. That’s the reason why we should continue sharing the gospel to people so that God could change them and save them from going to hell.” We have in our hearts the only cure to man’s wickedness… Jesus. Until we share to them how they can have Jesus in their lives (repentance towards God and faith on Jesus Christ --- Acts 20:21), man will continue to drown deeper into their sinful state.

The only way we can live safer in this world is if everyone that surrounds us would have Jesus in their lives. God is the only one that can change sinners. That’s why we must never stop sharing the gospel. Don’t dare leaving your home without a pack of gospel tracts to be given out to the person you sit beside with in the bus or to the person you walk pass by on your way to work or to school. You’ll never know if the person you will share the gospel to is the next criminal who is about to commit a crime or the next victim of a crime. And so, before they add to their sins, or before they plunge to an eternity of punishment, let’s give them the gospel.

Lastly, I’ve realized that a modern gospel message that says “God loves you”, and one devoid of the talk of sin and hell will never work well on a hardened sinner. Why? Simply because the ingredients to salvation are repentance and faith. If we will eliminate the talk of sin then what is there to repent of? We must show these sinners how angry God is with what they are doing and how He wants justice to be served for all the gruesome sins they have committed. 2 Corinthians 7:10 tells us that “godly sorrow works repentance to salvation…” Salvation cannot be received unless repentance takes place. Consequently, repentance will never take place unless a godly kind of sorrow is experienced. But first of all, man must be shown his sins before he can experience godly sorrow. And so, a no-talk-of-sin approach just so we can avoid “offending” the person we are witnessing to can never accomplish repentance. Repentance is not as simple as saying “sorry”. It is more than that. True repentance involves a great amount of shame on the sinner’s part that he decides to, once and for all, turn away from sin and from now on, follow Jesus in his life. Talk of sin using the Ten Commandments wounds a person to the point of helplessness. But the thing is, when this feeling of helplessness is achieved, the person now becomes ready for the cure and the gospel becomes that medicine that heals his wounds because he now learns that Jesus has paid for all his sins in a great show of love and sacrifice at Calvary 2000 years ago.

I have so many things to thank God for in our recent experience. First, I’m glad He did not let my family be caught in the gun fire that might have wounded, or worst, killed any of us. Second, being the only witnesses, I thank God that the gunman did not turn to us and killed us also so that there won’t be any witnesses to his crime. Third, He never allowed that the car of the criminals did not breakdown or else, they would have ran to us, hi-jacked our vehicle to make it their get away ride. In that event, they might have asked my dad and mom to vacate the front seats, or just killed them to have the seats for themselves and took off with us as their new hostages. Or, they could have just killed all of us. But praise the Lord for His protection!

But most of all, I thank God for the things He had made me realize about Him and the life that I have right now. I have a deeper appreciation of His love now than ever. I now fully know why it was called “Amazing Grace”. I now have a renewed passion to share the gospel to more people as I can, to any one, regardless of what they’ve done in the past, knowing that God likewise made His sacrifice for them. Yes, now I fully know, that God so loved the world.

When the Holy Spirit moves…

One wrong notion among Christians is that it is expected that whenever you share the gospel to someone, you should be able to lead that person to a decision to get right with God. And because of the difficulty in achieving this end, two things tend to happen. First, Christians are moved to preach a modern gospel message that is so appealing to everyone but very much lacking of emphasis when it comes to the need to repent of sins just so they can get the “result” that they want even if the conversion of the person that was forced to say the “sinner’s prayer” is very much questionable. Second, Christians totally abandon their duty to share the gospel message to the lost.

Many of us have failed to realize that it is not our job to convict people to get right with God. That’s the Holy Spirit’s job. Our duty is to just declare the gospel. The instruction in Mark 16:15 is this: “…,Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” Nothing was said about us doing the “saving” or the “convicting”. So, if our job is to only declare the gospel, you can do it several ways. My May 2008 article gives some suggestions on how you can engage yourself in your God-commissioned duty in our modern time with the kind of technology that we have. For this article, I will share some stories of how the Holy Spirit moved in people after faithful Christians did what they’re supposed to do.

A good friend of my family, Bro.Buddy Valdez, told me how his very effortless act of giving his German subordinate a gospel tract opened the door for the Holy Spirit to start talking to this guy. Buddy is a captain of a big ship transporting things from one country to another. One time, he and an immediate subordinate of his were silently doing their job of navigating their ship in the middle of I don’t know where. Buddy so casually pulled out from his shirt pocket a copy of the “Are you a good person?” comic tract which he purchased from us before he went to this assignment and gave it to his German subordinate. There were no words spoken between them after he handed the tract to him. After a few minutes the German guy softly said, “That really hit me,” while wiping his tears. You know God had dealt with him through that tract. As to whether that guy got right with God is something Heaven will reveal to us someday. But as one song said, “Tears are a language God understands”.

Before that, Buddy was stuck for about a week in some country in Africa, waiting for the ship he is to captain. Left with nothing to do after tasting all of the food in the buffet table in the hotel he stayed at, my friend decided to go out to distribute some tracts. Being in a country with a totally different culture and belief system as the Philippines, he was quite nervous at the start. But he knew that he needed to do what he’s supposed to do and so, he swallowed up all his fears and gave tracts to people around. After several tracts given away, a group of Africans that received gospel tracts from him told him that they are Christians too and that they were so blessed with what he was doing. If I remember it right, these Africans even invited my friend to their church. While there, he gave them a stack of gospel tracts for them to distribute. Buddy’s obedience to the Great Commission not only made the Holy Spirit move in the lives of non-Christians, it also paved the way for God to move in believers’ lives.

When we celebrated the 2nd year anniversary of the Star Youth Ministries last April 19, 2008, we decided to celebrate it not with a program in a restaurant with friends and supporters just like the previous year, but instead, by doing what we enjoy doing the most --- going out in the streets to share the gospel. We went to a nearby town in our province and gave-out gospel tracts and did one-to-one witnessing whenever the opportunity presented itself. After about an hour, we left the place and ate lunch together. A month later, a cousin of mine who happens to be a pastor in that town told me that a couple whom he had not met before attended his church the previous Sunday. He asked them why they chose to go to his church. The couple explained that a few weeks back, there were a group of young people that were giving out gospel tracts in the town plaza. They were given a copy and at home, they read it. They understood what it was talking about, and did what was suggested that they do (repent of their sins and put their faith in Jesus). They also read an advice at the end of the tract that says that they should go to a church that preaches the same thing as the tract so that they can further learn more about God, and so, there they were. When they showed my cousin the gospel tract, it was the tract that we gave out during our 2nd year anniversary.

A few years back, when I was just starting to use the Way of the Master in my witnessing encounters, I was able to share the gospel with a couple of prostitutes one evening. At first, I did not know that they were prostitutes. I only realized that they were such when I saw that they were with this pimp that was going around asking people if they wanted to have some casual sex. I asked these two women and their pimp if I can talk to them for 5 to 10 minutes. They said “yes”. So I went through the steps and by the time the pimp realized that I was talking about God, he left. I showed the two women their sinfulness, their sure punishment in Hell and what Jesus did to pay for their sins. I then explained what they needed to do so that Jesus’ sacrifice at the cross can be credited as payment for their own sins. To close our conversation, I told them that if they love themselves very much, they must not go to sleep that night without them getting right with God because they really don’t know if they will still get to wake-up the next day. As I was about to leave them, they stopped me and told me that they already so badly want to get right with God that moment. And so, I asked them to talk to God personally. I never asked them to repeat a prayer that I will be saying. All the words came from them. After they prayed, they said that they felt something different from inside of them. It’s as if a big load was removed from them.

Before I left these two women, I told them to start reading their Bible so that they will know more about their Savior. They told me that they don’t have a copy at their homes but they will try to look for one. A couple of days later, I saw one of the women one afternoon in a park. I told her to meet me the next day in that park and I’ll give her a Bible. She then told me not to bother anymore because she has already borrowed a Bible from a friend of hers and she has been reading it since. God has really demonstrated through these women His power to change even the most hardened sinner.

Another time, I was asked to preach in an evangelistic camp. Even before I went to the venue, the organizers of the camp had already told me that my audience was a bunch of very intimidating people as evidenced by their tattoos and piercings in their bodies. In fact, there was even one of them that stole a cellular phone owned by one of the camp counselors the night before. The phone has not re-surfaced up to the time I started preaching despite several requests made by the camp organizers in the sessions for it to be returned.

My message that day was about Lazarus and the Rich man. I explained to everyone that the reason why the Rich man was in Hell was because of his sins and the reason why Lazarus was in Heaven was because he has received a gift from God (Romans 6:23). I then explained that the only way for them to evade Hell and instead, go to Heaven is by showing God a true desire to turn away from their sins once and for all and for them to trust in Jesus for their salvation. There were a number of them that came forward when the invitation was given. After the session, something great happened. The phone was returned by the one that stole it. It happened that he really got convicted with the message and decided to get right with God. In order for him to show his true repentance, he swallowed up all his pride, went to the owner of the phone and gave it back. Now that’s evidence of a true conversion.

In John 14:26, Jesus informs us that after He goes back to Heaven "…the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in His name, He shall teach us all things, and bring all things to our remembrance, whatsoever He had said unto us." In this verse, Jesus was telling us something that should remove all our fears when it comes to speaking about the gospel to others. He was telling us, in simple terms, that when we witness to someone, we are just like microphones that transmit God’s message to people. The microphone is not the one speaking. It’s the person who talks through the microphone that speaks. God just needs us to be His microphone. All He needs is our willingness to be used by Him. He is the one that will do the talking through us.

God does not really require us to be eloquent speakers. In fact, He wants us to be the opposite. He wants someone who will acknowledge his/her weaknesses so that He can fully work through us. This was exactly the reason why the apostle Paul became the most successful evangelist in the New Testament time. 1 Corinthians chapter 2 gives us Paul’s testimony when it comes to sharing the gospel. He said that he was poor when it comes to public speaking, that he knew nothing but the gospel and that he often felt weakness and trembling because of fear. But that was all God needed. Paul had everything God needed to transform him into the kind of person He wants him to be. He went on to become a great man of God, delivering God’s message of salvation even to the ends of the world.

When God added three thousand souls to the church in the early parts of the Book of Acts, it was not because Peter and the disciples were good preachers. Remember that their previous vocations (e.g., fishermen, tax collectors, etc.) did not require them to have the traits of a public speaker. The success of the early church was solely due to the moving of the Holy Spirit. But we must also remember that if we really want the Holy Spirit to fully release His power through us, we must do it His way.

First, we must be living a holy life. If there’s any sin in our hearts, it’s impossible for the Holy Spirit to use us. Therefore, we must regularly confess our sins to God so that we can be cleanse from all our unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). Second, we must be ready to give people an answer for the hope that is in us with meekness and fear (1 Peter 3:15). This means that we must be willing instruments with humility and dependence on God. Finally, if we preach, we must do it in a way that pleases the Holy Spirit. John 16:8 tells us that “…when He is come, He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.” This verse is telling us that the kind of gospel message that the Holy Spirit preaches is one that shows a person his sins, the required righteousness by God, not our own righteousness, and the judgment that awaits this world because it received not the lordship of Jesus. The modern gospel message that tells people that “God has a wonderful plan for our lives” clearly is not in-tuned to the kind of message that pleases the Holy Spirit.

Praise the Lord for the Holy Spirit! Without Him, everything that we will do will fail. His power is the reason why everything that we will do for Jesus will have eternal value. He is the reason why once upon a time in our lives, after the gospel was shared to us by someone who cared for our soul, we were deeply convicted of our embarrassing sinfulness. He was the one that brought us to our knees to ask God for forgiveness and to ask Jesus to save us from our sure punishment in Hell. Today, let us open the gate for the Holy Spirit to again work in the life of a person by delivering the gospel to another person who is unknowingly making his way to Hell. Declare the gospel and from there, step aside, and let the Holy Spirit finish the work.