Witnessing to Atheists

It may be a surprise to many of you that at one dark point in my young adult life, I considered myself an atheist.  Of course, I didn't admit this to anyone, but it was true.  I no longer believed there was a God.  I looked at Christianity as a religion of tradition and the Bible as an ancient book of stories and nothing more.  But things changed for me in 1999 when I was at the age of twenty-four.  That's when I came to believe in Jesus Christ and I committed my life to knowing Him and His Word better, as well as serving Him.  Though it embarrasses me to talk about what I once believed or didn't believe, I have found that it helps those who are trying to witness to those who call themselves atheists, like I once was.  A member of our Church recently asked for my advice because they had been challenged by an atheist to give proof that there was a God.  Since I get asked that kind of thing from time to time, I decided to post the advice that I gave to this person, beginning with the personal motivation behind becoming an atheist.

The main reason why most people become atheists is because if there is no God, there is no moral standard other than one that we make for ourselves.  That is the reason why I became an atheist.  It was later that evolution and other so-called "sciences" provided what seemed like logical reasons for me to think that way.  It took God showing me the difference that He could make in my personal life to convince me that I was wrong about His existence.  When it comes down to it, if God is not real, believing in Him could not change my life in the way that it has been changed.  For me, my life is the greatest evidence that God is real.  Now, the atheists that you witness to may not admit that they have rejected the existence of God for personal, moral reasons, rather than reasonable, logical reasons, but that is probably the motivation behind it.  Most of the time, this is something that they will have to come to realize on their own.  Pointing it out to them, will probably only end the conversation before it has truly begun.

One of the keys to getting an atheist thinking about the existence of God is to point that person to science.  Science has been able to come up with many theories to explain the existence of matter and the existence of life, but it cannot explain the ultimate cause.  Many scientists, though not all, say that "the Big Bang" caused matter to expand and form stars, planets, and all the things in the universe, but they cannot explain where the matter came from that supposedly expanded in the first place.  It is a law of nature that something cannot come from nothing, but the universe requires a beginning, a cause to have started it all.  The only way something can come from nothing is through supernatural means rather than natural, which is what the Bible describes in Hebrews 11:3, saying that "...the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible."  In other words, God made everything from nothing.  That's the only explanation for where matter came from, regardless of whether you argue the Big Bang with him or not.  I like the old saying that "God spoke and 'Bang!' it happened!"

Also, when speaking with atheists, the theory of evolution is a subject that will come up.  Evolutionists believe that they have evidence that creatures can mutate into other species over time (what they call macro-evolution), but there is actually no hard evidence of that.  They try to use adaptation (which they call micro-evolution) as an example of how evolution happens, but the problem is that no matter how much a species adapts to its environment, it is still that same species.  The biggest flaw to be found in Darwin's theory is that at the cellular level, he expected that science would find that things are much more simple, but the technology of his day did not permit him to test that part of his theory.  But we can now and what scientists have found is that life is much more complicated on the cellular level than Darwin ever imagined.  For example, every cell contains the DNA of that creature, which is essentially the schematics and the instructions for how every part of that creature operates.  It is essentially programming.  Programming does not happen at random, it requires a programmer who knows what they are doing to make things work.  DNA is essentially hundreds of thousands of pages worth of information that is extremely precise to make life function.  That is why many micro-biologists who still do not believe in the God of the Bible say that there is evidence for an intelligent designer in every cell of our bodies.  Christians believe that designer is the Creator God who is revealed to us in the Bible.

Evolutionists also often say that the many similarities between species proves that we all have a common ancestor, such as the similarities between apes and humans, but that only reinforces the idea that we have the same designer in common.  To say that life, even in its simplest form, came into being by sheer chance through evolution, is like saying that a tornado could tear through a junkyard, assemble a 747 airplane, paint United Airlines on the side, and have it ready to fly.  There is much more evidence for the Creator than there is for evolution.

This is just the tip of the iceberg concerning what you can say to atheists.  Don't be too disappointed if atheists don't want to listen to anything you have to say.  Though they may have challenged you, they don't really want to be challenged back.  But I am confident that you can plant some seeds to get an atheist thinking.  That person wouldn't be the first atheist to challenge Christianity and then later become a Christian  (C.S. Lewis was one of them, along with Lee Strobel the author of "The Case for Christ").  Make sure to pray that the same thing will happen to that person as well and then watch what God can do.

The Bible says in Psalm 14:1 that "the fool has said in his heart, 'There is no God.'"  I was once a fool, but praise God because He still saves and changes the minds of fools like me!

Mission El Salvador 2011

I just returned last week from El Salvador and my first foreign missionary trip.  I went with a great group of guys that have since become true brothers to me.  We shared an experience that I will never forget.  God used our team of eight, along with the locals that we worked with, to save 147 people and 29 people rededicated their lives to Him!  I haven't seen that many decisions in all of my 12 years of preaching here in the United States.  I was inspired and challenged by what I saw God do there and I thought I might share some of the most memorable moments with you.

First of all, I was greatly impressed with the Christians in El Salvador.  We had some very dedicated volunteers who traveled with us to be our guides, our translators, and our support in a place that is very different than what we are accustomed to.  We could not have made it far without them.  But I was especially surprised by those we worked with in the local Churches.  I have never met more dedicated Christians in all of my life.  We had more than enough volunteers at each Church where we showed up to do door-to-door evangelism.  They came ready and willing to go out and be witnesses to their neighbors.  Together we walked all day long throughout each of their towns, working together to reap God's harvest.  And God truly sent out laborers into His harvest who were willing to work.  Oh what an example they were to me.  They had an obvious burden for the lost around them and they took action accordingly.  The Bible says that a worker in the harvest that has a burden like this "...shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him" (Psalm 126:6, NKJV).  Each night after a full day of door-to-door evangelism, we met with those believers for a celebration service at their Church.  I now know that praise to our Lord and Savior from a grateful heart needs no translation.  It was a beautiful thing to hear their rejoicing over each soul saved and you couldn't help but join in.

On the first day of door-to-door evangelism, I was in a team of four people witnessing our way through a mountain village.  I was with two locals, a man named Sabas and a lady named Alma, of which neither could speak English, but one of our translators, Pedro, went with us as well.  The very first person that we talked to was a man that we met coming down the street.  We shared the Gospel with him and he received Christ on the spot!  That got us all excited and we were really on the hunt after that.  We witnessed to both young and old, both in houses and on the street.  Some rejected the Lord, but most that we talked to accepted Him.  One of the most memorable examples from that day was when we stopped and talked to four mechanics working on a truck.  All four listened as we shared the Gospel.  When we asked them if they would like to pray and receive Christ, two of them laid down their tools and asked Jesus to save them!  Jesus called us to be fishers of men, but any kind of fishing is so much more fun when the fish are biting!  Well, I was having the time of my life that day.

The next day we were in Guatemala, doing another day of door-to-door evangelism.  The team of four people that I was with that day actually saw twice as many people get saved!  My favorite example was when we were visiting with a mother and her three teenage children.  Someone asked them if the missionary from Tennessee could ask them some questions and they said that I could.  I hadn't gotten very far when the woman's oldest child raised his hand and told one of those with me that he was already a Christian.  They asked him how long he had been a Christian and he said that he had just gotten saved earlier that day on the other side of town.  Another team had led him and his friends to Christ on another street!  The boy had just gotten home right before we got there.  And just a few minutes later, his mother, his brother, and his sister all got saved!  Apparently God wanted to save that entire family that day.  I'm just glad I got to be a part of what God did there.

On Sunday, I preached for the first time with a translator.  It took a bit of getting used to, because I had to make sure to pause between each sentence, but it was a good experience for me.  I'm not used to having the opportunity to think before I speak!  As for the Church service, it was nice to see another tribe and tongue worshiping the same Lord and Savior that we worship here.  Their worship was louder and more free than I'm used to, but it was like a breath of fresh air.  I found that even though I couldn't understand most of the words, I couldn't help but join in when they were praising the Lord in Spirit and in Truth.

The next day, I got to preach at a rehabilitation center for alcoholics and drug addicts.  That was right up my alley and, ironically, where I preached looked like an alley.  It was an open air space between two buildings that had apartments down one side, a wood stove and grill in the back, a broken down old truck in the front, and a chicken coup in the middle under a tree.  Though it may seem like an unlikely spot, God showed up and did something that He is the only explanation for.  I preached about receiving and living in the strength of Jesus Christ and I gave an invitation for those men to either receive Christ into their lives or rededicate their lives to Him.  At first no-one moved, but then a man came down to rededicate his life and then two more men came to receive Christ.  I later found out that the two men that got saved were new to the rehab center and that they were members of rival gangs.  They had spent the short time that they had been there avoiding one another, with the tension building to a boiling point, but that day they knelt down shoulder to shoulder to ask Jesus to save and change their lives!  What an awesome God we serve!  There is no barrier that He cannot break down.

One of the things that surprised me the most about this trip to El Salvador was the bond that was forged between our team and the Christians that we worked with there.  I have never felt that kind of connection with someone from another country before.  I guess that's because I haven't gotten to know very many people from other countries before, much less Christians from other countries.  I can truly say that the people I met there are my brothers and sisters.  I love them and will miss them.  One of the hardest things about the trip was leaving them.  When we walked past the final checkpoint in the airport, they had to stop there.  They lined up in front of a long glass wall and watched until we were out of sight.  I shared the same feeling of sadness that was revealed on their faces.  But it made me think of that homecoming that we will experience in Heaven.  The more I get to know the Christians of this world, the more wonderful I know Heaven will be.  My hope and prayer is that we will each bring many guests to that homecoming, through sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ in all the world in obedience to His command.  I praise God that I was given the opportunity to go with Him on mission in El Salvador and I can't wait to go again!

El Salvador

I will soon be going on a mission trip to El Salvador in Central America, and so I have been trying to learn some things about this tiny country.  I was surprised by some of the geographical facts, such as it’s the smallest nation in the continental Americas.  It is also the most densely populated country in Central America.  I read about its history; how it gained independence from the Spanish who had conquered it; and how it has gone through more than one period of civil war, with the most recent one ending in 1992.  But the most interesting tidbit about El Salvador that stands out to me is the name.

The Spanish Conquistadors originally named the country "Provincia De Nuestro Señor Jesus Cristo, El Salvador Del Mundo," which means “Province of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior of the World,” but that name was soon shortened to “El Salvador,” which means “the Savior.”  Despite the source of this name, the intentions behind it were good.  The Spanish wanted El Salvador to be a place where people lived under the dominion of Jesus Christ, the Savior, though they went about it the wrong way.

Wherever European Catholics went during the great age of world exploration and discovery, native peoples were more often forced into Christianity than given the opportunity to freely choose to believe on their own.  It is an embarrassment to all Christians that there were many who “converted” to Christianity at the tip of a sword, rather than through hearing and believing the truth of God’s Word.  From the moment that Columbus landed in the Caribbean, the Spanish acted in the name of Christ, but acted like anyone but Christ.  When they named El Salvador the “Province of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior of the World,” the Spanish did so as conquerors claiming dominion in the name of Christ.  But even though their actions were wrong, the name of Jesus is always a good one.  Though Christians can misrepresent the name of Jesus with their actions, He is the One who defines that name and makes it something special regardless.

The name “Jesus” is actually a transliteration of the Hebrew word “Yeshua,” which literally means “salvation,” or “deliverance.”  It’s no wonder that the angel told Joseph to “…call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21, NKJV).  Even His name points to what Jesus came to do:  to save those who need saving.  The Bible explains that Jesus “…did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28, NKJV).  He came to do whatever it would take to save sinners, even though that would require Him to give up His own life.  We don’t have to read it in the Bible to know that “…all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23, NKJV), and it isn’t hard for us to understand that “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23, NKJV).  But what we all need to know is that “…God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8, NKJV).  That means that we are all sinners facing God’s punishment, but our Savior stepped in and took our place to save us.  It’s no wonder that the Bible emphasizes the name of Jesus saying, “…whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:13, NKJV), as well as saying, “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men, by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12, NKJV).

Jesus did all that it takes to save us, but now we have to do our part.  Thankfully, all that is required of us is that we simply believe in who He is and what He did to save us, as the Bible explains, saying, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16, NKJV).  This is about making a personal decision concerning Jesus Christ.  You cannot force someone to believe no more than you can force someone to love you.  A coerced decision to believe in Jesus Christ means nothing.  If a person is to be saved from their sins, be born-again by the Spirit of God, and have a home in Heaven, that person must be given the opportunity to hear about Jesus and believe for themselves.

From what I’ve read of the history of El Salvador, when it was named the “Province of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior of the World,” the people there were not given the opportunity to hear and believe in Jesus Christ without being forced by the Catholics.  And although Catholicism became and still is the main religion of the country, the vast majority of the population has never been confronted with Biblical Christianity and the Good News of Jesus Christ.  Generations have come and gone in El Salvador without coming to believe in and follow the One who truly is the Savior of the world.  That is why mission work in El Salvador is so important.  The missionary hope and prayer for El Salvador is that each individual living there will hear and believe the Gospel, transforming each of their lives into a “Province of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior of the World.”  Nothing better could happen to anyone in this life than that.

Please pray for this upcoming mission trip (April 26-May 4) and the team that will be going.  May God richly bless these efforts and show that He truly is “El Salvador.”

Burning the Qur'an

Yesterday, I heard about a small Church in Florida that is planning on burning copies of the Muslim holy book, the Qur'an, on September 11th this year.  Personally, after all the evil that this book has caused in this world and in my own country, I can understand their desire to burn it, but I also don't think that it's a good idea.  Not only will it antagonize those who already hate us with such religious zeal, even worse, it will hurt the testimony of Christians who participate.  I have two reasons for saying that.

First of all, publicly burning the Qur'an will only serve to offend Muslims and make them less likely to be open to the message of the Gospel.  If one of our missionaries in a Muslim country did that, he would no longer be listened to, destroying any chance of seeing a Muslim convert to Christianity.  As Christians, we are often going to inadvertently offend people simply by telling them about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but we are not supposed to purposely be offensive.  If people get offended, let it be over what God said rather than over what I did.

Secondly, publicly burning the Qur'an may seem like a Biblically supported action to take, but not when you study it more closely.  There is an event recorded in Acts 19:18-19, where many of the people living in Ephesus came to believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ and "came confessing and telling their deeds."  The Bible goes on to say that "...many of those who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all."  These were not Christians burning the religious books of other people.  These were people who had converted to Christianity from other religions and chose to publicly burn their own books.  That's a big difference.

So all in all, I don't want to see any Christian participate in burning the Qur'an on September 11th, because it is simply not a right thing for us to do.  But what I would enjoy seeing is a great host of Muslims choosing to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and rejecting the lies of the Qur'an.  If they decided to burn their own books afterward, it would be all the better!  What a message that would be if a former Muslim set his Qur'an on fire and said, "Compared with the Bible, the Qur'an is of no better use than kindling!"  It would only mean as much coming from someone like that.  May God grant that many of those who believe the Qur'an today would reject it for His Word tomorrow!

Eternal Security vs. Apostasy

I was having a theological discussion today over what some see as a big problem in Biblical interpretation.  And that is understanding how the perseverance (or eternal security) of believers fits with the Scriptural warnings that appear to be directed toward believers, telling us to beware of falling away from the Lord and His salvation.  If the Bible teaches both in that way, then we have a major contradiction.  But such is not possible in God's perfect and holy Word.  So as usual, the problem must be that our interpretation is creating a contradiction that isn't really there.  There is plenty of Biblical reason to believe that once you are saved, you are always saved, and there is no real Biblical support for saying that a real Christian can fall away from the Lord and lose his or her salvation.  You will see why I believe that.

Personally, I believe in "the eternal security of the believer," and I prefer using that phrase to the term "perseverance."  In the simplest terms, the Bible says that before a person comes to believe in Jesus Christ, that person is "dead in trespasses and sins" (Ephesians 2:1), but when someone truly believes in Jesus Christ, committing their life to Him, they are given "eternal life" (John 3:16).  So, salvation is the receiving of eternal life, and by definition, this kind of life is supposed to last forever.  If it could end in any way, including through an individual's personal action or decision, it would not be "eternal life."  Therefore, once someone has come to have "eternal life," that life will never end, or in other words, their salvation will never be taken away.

"The eternal security of the believer" also involves the preservation of God.  This preservation is a part of God's side of the equation in salvation.  On His part, God did all that it takes to save us from our sins, while on our part, we must believe in what He did to receive that salvation.  After salvation, our part is to live in faithful obedience to God, while God's part is to preserve the eternal life that He has given us through salvation, as Jesus promised in John 10:27-28, saying "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.  And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand."  The way I see it, we didn't deserve salvation to begin with and we sure don't deserve to keep our salvation afterwards, but we have it and keep it through the grace of God alone!

Now we must tackle the idea that the Bible warns believers about the dangers of falling away from salvation.  I personally do not believe that the Bible makes that case, and I have studied each of the passages that are typically used to teach that.  There are passages that speak of believers falling out of fellowship with the Lord and His Church through sin, and there are passages that speak of people falling away from the point of receiving Jesus Christ after hearing the Word of God and continuing in it for a time.  But nowhere does the Bible expressly say that true believers can or will depart from God and lose their salvation.

I think that one of the best passages to clear this up is the parable that Jesus gave concerning the Sower and the seed in Matthew 13:3-9.  Jesus described a sower dropping seed on four types of ground:  "the wayside," "stony places," "among thorns," and "good ground."  Only one, the "good ground" produced a crop to harvest.  The seed that fell on "the wayside" was immediately eaten, and the seed that fell on the "stony places" showed only a little life before dying from lack of a place to take root.  The seed that fell "among thorns" apparently took root, but before they could grow to maturity, "the thorns sprang up and choked them," obviously killing any potential for a crop.

Jesus later explained this parable in Matthew 13:18-23, saying that the "seed" represents "the Word of the Kingdom," or in other words, the message of God's salvation, and the types of ground are those who hear this message.  "The wayside" represents those who hear the Word, but don't understand it.  The birds that come and eat the seed from "the wayside" represent "the wicked one" (obviously Satan) who "comes and snatches away what was sown."  The "stony places" represent those who hear the Word and receive it immediately, but then abandon it when it brings them trouble; proving that one can hear the Word of God and accept it, but not be truly committed to it.  The ground "among thorns" represents those who hear and accept the Word, but do not let it produce fruit in their lives.  But the "good ground" represents true believers who hear and understand the Word, letting the Word produce ever increasing fruit in their lives.  It is on the "good ground" that we see obvious and lasting results.

I think the real problem that people have with believing in "the eternal security of the believer" is the bad example that they have seen among many who profess to be Christian.  I personally know of many examples of those who claim to believe in the Lord Jesus and claim to be one of His followers, and yet they live like the Devil.  I even know of some who claimed to be Christians in the past, but have since rejected Christianity altogether.  Many would say that these examples are proof that a Christian can loose his or her salvation and become an apostate, but I still disagree.  What these examples truly prove is that a person can hear the Word of God, accept it to some degree, and even become involved in the religion of Christianity without ever truly becoming a born-again believer in and follower of the Lord Jesus Christ!  There are too many who never truly reach the point of having a relationship with Jesus Christ, and that is the key to real salvation.  There are far too many people who call themselves "Christian" that are represented by the ground "among thorns," instead of by the "good ground" that a real Christian should be.

Can a real Christian go astray?  Yes, but not without being absolutely miserable.  Can a real Christian become an apostate?  No, because a real Christian has "eternal life" that is preserved by the One who gave it.  With the great weight of Biblical support behind it, eternal security beats the idea of apostasy every time!

Missing... but not out of action!

To anyone who reads my blog, you may have noticed that I haven't written a new post in the past few months. I do apologize, but inspiration hasn't hit me when I had sufficient time to write. I will be writing again very soon. So don't think that I am missing in action. I've just been missing, but not out of action.

My life and ministry offline has been quite busy the past few months. We had a great Vacation Bible School, with God saving 4 children! My family and I then took a much needed vacation in South Dakota and Wyoming. There's nothing like a 4,814 mile road trip to recharge the batteries! Since we've been back, God has continued to work in our Church and we have seen Him save 5 people in the past month!

Pray that God will continue to change and save lives through our family. That's what ministry is all about!

Avatar: A Compromised Movie

I finally got around to watching the movie, "Avatar," which is currently considered the best movie ever, or at least that's what the commercials say. I have heard a lot of people tell me how good it is, but I have also heard some bad reviews. Naturally, I wanted to see it for myself. So my wife and I watched it last night without the kids, as we do with any movie that we are unsure of. After seeing it, I now know why Christian movie reviewers issued serious warnings to families. I'm not going to say that Christian parents should think twice before letting their kids watch this movie; I'm going to say that Christian parents should have their heads examined if they know what's in this movie and then let their kids watch it anyway. Now before you get mad, let me tell you why I say that.

Do you remember the old spy movies, where a secret agent is sent in on a mission of national security or some such thing? Invariably in those movies something goes badly wrong and the spy contacts his superiors to report that the mission has been compromised. Well, Avatar has all the makings of a great movie for all ages, complete with a grand adventure, a moral lesson, spectacular special effects, and edge-of-your-seat action, but this movie has been compromised.

For example, curse words were sprinkled throughout the entire movie, including the repeated use of God's name in the worst possible way, not to mention the use of the name of Jesus as an expletive on more than one occasion. And if that were not enough, the very human-like, alien natives were barely clothed, especially the females whose breasts were almost completely exposed and visible in many scenes. There was also the scene that stopped just short of showing two aliens mating.

This may not seem like something that would compromise a movie to those who aren't Christians, but it should be considered compromise by a follower of Christ! Anything that serves to compromise our values and beliefs is a compromise to watch or hear. The old adage is very true that says, "Garbage in means garbage out!" The Bible says, "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God" (Romans 12:2, NKJV). The Bible also says, "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things" (Philippians 4:8, ESV). Not only are we supposed to act differently as Christians, we are supposed to think differently as well. After watching a movie like "Avatar," I felt like I needed to wash my ears out! I'll never watch it again because I don't want it to influence my thinking or my actions, and I'll never let my kids watch it for the same reason.

Now I'm not saying that we should shelter our kids from the world around them, but rather guard and mold our children so that they can have a Christian impact on the world around them. I want for my kids what God wants for all of His children: "...be wise in what is good, and simple concerning evil" (Romans 16:19, NKJV), or in other words, "know more about what is good and know hardly anything about what is wrong!" Christian parents need to be praying for their kids in the way that Jesus prayed for us, saying, "I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world" (John 17:15-18, NKJV).

One of these days, my kids are going to be going out into this world on their own. That is a fact that I fear, but must face and prepare for. While there's still time, I want to equip my children for that moment so that when it comes, their mission will not be compromised. My prayer and my plea is that all Christian parents will do the same. Sometimes that decision can be as simple as what you let them watch on the television. Don't give your kids a compromised movie; give them a sanctified life for their good and the glory of God!