June 4, 2025 • 44 mins
Join us as Ray Comfort teaches us how to share the Gospel with family members, which can be some of the toughest conversations we will ever have. We will also discuss some of the common objections to Christianity and hear about Ray’s upcoming Pacific Rim trip. Don’t miss a minute of this conversation.
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S1 (00:00):
Hi friend, thank you so much for downloading this podcast
and I truly hope you hear something that edifies encourage, equips, enlightens,
and then gets you out there in the marketplace of ideas.
But before you go, I want to tell you about
this month's truth tool. It's called Have You Ever Wondered?
And I absolutely love this topic because if you're like me,
going out into the night sky and looking up and
seeing a million stars, don't you just stop and think
(00:22):
about God? And are you not in a moment of
awe and wonder or looking out over the vast expanse
of an ocean and you start thinking, what is man,
that thou art mindful of him? And it makes you
wonder about the magnificence of God? I think that sense
of wonder was put there on purpose, and this wonderful
book includes a composite of multiple authors who have written
(00:42):
from their perspective as a scientist, or a historian, or
a mathematician or an artist, on why they all have
this sense of awe through the work that they do.
In other words, the heavens declare the glory. And as
it tells us in Romans, we are really without excuse
because his handiwork is everywhere. And this book invites you
to walk through the chapters written by people who all
(01:03):
have a sense of awe and wonder when it comes
to God through their various disciplines in life. It's an
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becoming a partial partner or asking for this month's truth tool.
Have you ever wondered? And now please enjoy the broadcast.
S2 (01:54):
Here are some of the news headlines we're watching.
S3 (01:56):
The conference was over. The over, the president won a pledge.
S4 (01:59):
Americans worshiping government over God.
S5 (02:01):
Extremely rare safety move by a major 17 years.
S4 (02:04):
The Palestinians and Israelis negotiated.
S5 (02:07):
This is not. Hi, friends. Welcome to In the Market.
S1 (02:23):
With Janet Parshall. Thrilled. We're going to spend the hour together.
All right. Get ready. Sit forward a little bit because
when Ray comfort is in the house, he challenges us
to really remember who we are, what we're called to do,
and to be unashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ
and to go out and share that good news, but
to do it in such a way that we remind
people that all have sinned and come short of the
(02:45):
glory of God. Ooh, ooh, that's not very nice in
this culture. It's all about love, isn't it? About toleration,
about diversity and inclusion. And if you start telling somebody
that they're a sinner, Well, wow, what an immediate turnoff.
And then we think. No, I think I'll pass. I
don't I don't have that calling. I don't have that gifting.
It's somebody else's responsibility. Uh, well, there is a specific
(03:06):
gift of evangelism, I will grant you that. But it
is a general call to all believers to go and tell.
More importantly, even if that weren't the directive, I have
a question. How do you keep that good news to yourself?
I mean, if you know what the cure to death is,
you're going to keep that to yourself. If you know
that the worst disease in the world can be eradicated
by what was done by Christ at the cross, you
(03:26):
keep that to yourself. How selfish. How unbelievably selfish. But
more importantly, can you contain that? I can't. The Bible
talks about out of the overflow of the heart, the
mouth speaks. James and John were told to sit down
and be quiet because they were rocking the boat and
they said, we can't stop talking about that which we've
seen and heard. And now if this world that's growing
darker by the minute, that sends us a gazillion cues
(03:49):
a minute that they're searching to know who they are,
where they fit in the world, if God is real
and how they can know him personally. And they've been
fed a pack of lies about if you're good enough
or there is no God, or you're just food for
worms when you die. Well, I tell you what. See
those fields? Last time I checked, they were pretty white, but, uh, workers. Yeah, not.
Not so many. That's what Ray does. He recruits workers.
(04:09):
And I'm so glad that he does. And he does
it in some unbelievably creative ways. I love the way
God makes so many of his children creative. So he
is the founder and CEO of Living Waters, best selling
author of Upwards Over. I'm sure at this point, 90 books,
including How to Know God Exists and The Evidence Bible,
which is fabulous if you don't have a copy. He
co-hosts the award winning TV program way of the master.
(04:29):
That's in every country in the world. He's the executive
producer of movies like 180 and evolution versus God, audacity,
and a whole bunch of other films. He has millions. Millions.
You heard me right. Millions of views on his YouTube channel,
and I hope that that number continues to grow. So
he is going to join us today. And we're going
to talk about several things, not the least of which
is how do you share the good news with your families?
(04:52):
And he's taken a little trip. It's called the Pacific
Rim trip, and we're going to find out about that.
And then he's got a wonderful new booklet out called
Nutshell Answers The Top ten Objections in Christianity. What'd I
tell you? The resources are unlimited. They're creative. They're so excellent.
But first, Ray, the warmest of welcomes. And I got
to ask you a question, because I was reading the
dedication of a book recently and the author of the
(05:15):
book and the entire book, my $0.02 was it was
heresy times ten, but I wanted to hear what was
being bought and sold in the marketplace of ideas. And
the dedication of the book was a real clear hint
to where the author was going as his primary thesis
in the book. And basically he said that the reason
he wrote the book is he wanted people to know
that God loves you, comma, italics, just the way you
(05:38):
are now. If you get on your bike and you
put your dog with the sunglasses out there, and you
head down to the beach and you start taking your
camera and talking to people, and you just walked around saying,
God loves you, comma, just the way you are. You'd
have people standing in line talking to you. What's wrong
with that statement?
S6 (05:53):
It's not biblical. You know God's wrath abides on sinners.
He's a just and holy God. So that finds its
roots in idolatry. Idolatry is the the root cause of
all sin, it would seem, because if you fear God,
you've got a right understanding of God. The Bible says,
through the fear of the Lord, men depart from evil,
and you'll not depart from evil. Well, God is a
(06:14):
great big Santa Claus, celestial Santa Claus, or a divine butler,
or someone that's just smiling at what Hitler did, smiling
at rapists and murderers. No, God's wrath abides on every sinner.
The Bible says that. And every time we sin, we
store up his wrath. That's going to be revealed on
the Day of Judgment. That's a fearful thing. Jesus said, well,
the Bible says it's a fearful thing to fall into
(06:37):
the hands of the living God. Um, I think you've
seen a little video that we put out recently. A
young man came up to me and it's left a
lot of people in tears, but he he, um, he
had no desire for God whatsoever. And what the law
did was to put salt on his tongue. I took
him through the commandments and just created a thirst for righteousness.
(06:57):
And I looked back on my own conversion. I had
no desire for the things of God. I was enjoying
the pleasures of sin for a season before I was
a Christian. But the night I read those words of Jesus,
whoever looks upon a woman to lust for her has
committed adultery already with her in his heart. I began
to say, what? What should I do to be made right?
(07:17):
I didn't thirst for righteousness until I understood that I
as much desire for the word righteousness as a four
year old boy has for the word bath. I just
wasn't interested in righteousness. And yet what the law did
is it put salt on my tongue, made me hunger
and thirst for righteousness. And how can I be made
right with God? That's what made the cross make sense.
(07:38):
If you run around telling people God loves them just
as they are, they're going to continue in sin until
they face a holy God on the day of judgment.
One thing I love doing with our videos, and I
mustn't overdo it as a like sticking in lightning and
rolling thunder at the most unexpected places. So it scares
the living daylights out of people that are watching and
(07:58):
often see the comments. That gave me a terrible fright.
But it's good to be reminded that God created thunder
and he created lightning, and we're not even seeing it
as a as a token of his anger. It's just
nature that he put into into place. And I've been
in a roll of thunder when I was in Reno
many years ago, and it scared the living daylights out
of me. It was so loud. It was one of
(08:19):
those thunder, thunder claps and it claps you around your
ear hole. And that's what we need. A little bit
of fear of God in our hearts, because the fear
of God is the beginning of wisdom and saying, God
loves you and he loves you just as you are,
doesn't put the fear of God in anyone. It makes
them comfortable in their sins.
S1 (08:35):
Mm. So much there. Let me unpack a little bit.
You know, we're told that righteousness exalts a nation. And
as I look around, particularly my vantage point here in Washington, DC,
righteousness is the last thing on the majority of people's
radar screen right now. In fact, if anything, it's not righteousness,
it's licentiousness. It's doing whatever's right in your own eyes.
I'm not bound by the rules. That's your truth. That's
(08:56):
not my truth. I am going to act like a
god because I'm going to create my own moral grid.
So when you talk to people and the videos, this
is a moot question. If you watch the YouTube channel
for Living Waters, because time after time after time, Ray
exemplifies exactly how to do this. Watch this one where
this young man, who was actually praying for a sign
that day, meets up with Ray and asks the Lord
(09:17):
into his heart. It's a powerfully moving person to person
contact with Jesus. But it was that that standard of
righteousness question that really helped this man realize that he
needed Jesus. So my question to you, Ray, after the
break is how does that impact your sharing the gospel
when all around us, the whole concept of righteousness seems
arcane and the antithesis of the exaltation of self? How
(09:39):
does that work when you're sharing the gospel? I'm asking
because when we talk to people then and they reject
an idea of righteousness. How do we handle that? More
with Ray comfort. In fact, we're just getting started. A
whole lot more with Ray right after this. Have you
ever wondered why music moves us so deeply? Or why
(09:59):
beauty takes our breath away? My Truth Tool this month
is a thought provoking book that explores those moments of
wonder we all encounter. It's called. Have You ever Wondered?
Consider how ordinary aspects of life point to the extraordinary
biblical truths. Ask for your copy of. Have you ever
wondered when you give a gift of any amount in
the market, call 877 Janet 58. That's 877 Janet 58
(10:20):
or go to in the market with Janet Parshall. Always
a joy to spend time with. Ray comfort, founder CEO
of Living Waters. Someone who loves Jesus and just cannot
keep the good news to himself. And thank God for that.
By the way, we referenced one of his videos. Let
me make this easy for you. If you just go
to youtube.com, put in Living Waters and a whole bunch
(10:42):
of videos will come up right away, including the one
we just talked about because it's fresh. Just posted. Can
I give you a hug here? Is this sincere, hurting
young man who in the 11 minutes and 44 seconds
we're allowed to be an unseen visitor in this conversation,
turns his life over to Christ. And you see how
Ray is just gentle and loving, doesn't deviate from that
(11:03):
standard of righteousness. And as it turns out, that's exactly
what that young man needed to hear. So this goes
to the question I asked just before the break, because
I think some people retreat on your approach, Ray, because
they're afraid. In this culture you can't talk about righteousness.
Everything is about exaltation of self. Righteousness requires some submission
there to a higher authority, to a moral grid that's
(11:24):
bigger and greater than you are. And we live in
a culture right now that basically says you're your own
truth and you're your own gods. So when you're interacting
with people, do you ever get pushback on this idea
of righteousness? Or maybe you don't even use the word.
S6 (11:36):
No, I don't. I don't get pushback. Usually. I'll probably
probably get murdered this Saturday, but my guys have got
a film. They've been told to film it if that happens. Um,
because that'll go viral. Um, righteousness. Yeah. It's a word
that's foreign to unsaved people in the secular world. I've
not got a clue what it is, so I don't
(11:56):
start with righteousness. I've got an agenda. My agenda is
this I see in my mind this is a person
who is asleep in bed and their house is on fire.
That didn't even smell the smoke. They're just quite happy
to be in a house that's on fire, and they
don't realise they're in great danger. So what I've got
to do is not only awaken them, but cause them
to be alarmed. I don't want them to lie in
(12:18):
bed and say, yep, you've convinced me my house is
on fire. Thanks a lot. And they just roll over
and snooze off. No, you want them to be alarmed
so they run out of the house. And so often
I'll say to someone, do you realize you're in great danger?
Because I believe you are. Are you in great danger?
I say, no, I'm not. So what's going to happen
to you when you stand before God? Are you a
good person? They say, yeah, I'm a very good person
(12:39):
and that's biblical. Bible says most every man will proclaim
his own goodness. They go about to establish their own righteousness,
being ignorant of the righteousness which is of God. And
so let's see how you're going to do on Judgment Day.
We're going to go to the Ten Commandments. You're familiar
with those. And they say, yeah, sure. Can you name any? Yeah.
You shall not steal, shall not lie. So have you
broken those? Yeah. So you're a lying thief? Well, I
(13:01):
wouldn't say that. I say I would because you just
told me you lied and stolen. Ever use God's name
in vain and say I do it all the time?
People don't realize what they're doing. They're taking the holy
name of God, God's holy name, and using it in
place of a filthy word to express disgust called blasphemy.
And then the the one that got me. Jesus said,
(13:22):
if you look with lust, you commit adultery in the heart.
And so what that does is that that kicks the
conscience into action. The conscience is seared. Uh, the Bible
says that their conscience is seared, as with a hot iron.
I remember seeing a chef in Hawaii many years ago
with a steak. And he says, look at this, this.
I'm just going to seal this. And I watch very closely.
(13:43):
And he just turned it over and seared it on
the outside, both sides. So it looked softly cooked, but
on the inside it was still soft and tender. And
that's what the sinner's conscience is like. It's seared, it's
still got life in there, but it's not evident. And
what you've got to do is take the sharp blade
of God's law and cut into that conscience, because they
know intuitively it's wrong to lie and steal and blaspheme
(14:04):
and lust and fornicate and commit adultery. The work of
the law is written on their heart, the conscience bearing witness.
The word conscience means with knowledge. And so that's the
that's the ally right in the heart of the enemy
that's going to agree with the commandments. And what it
does is it condemns the sinner. That's its purpose. Paul said,
the commandment commandment, which I thought was ordained to life,
(14:27):
brought death to me. He was looking to the commandments
to be his friend on Judgment Day, not as enemy.
But that's the revelation that he had, because they reveal
what we are in truth. They show us we're sinners
and that prepares our heart for Grace and Jenna. If
anything I could point to as opening the eyes with
God's help of a lost person. It's Romans 623. The
(14:50):
wages of sin is death. I spoke to a young
lady about two hours ago on a local college. I said,
do you know what the Bible says causes death? She said, no.
I said, there's wages. God is paying you in death
for your sins. And then I explained it. I said,
it's like a judge looks at a criminal who thinks
he's a good person, but the judge knows he's committed murder.
(15:10):
So he says, I'm going to show you how serious
your crime is. I'm giving you the death sentence. This
is your wages. This is what you've earned. And I
said to this young lady, I said, sin is so
serious to a holy God. He's given you the death sentence.
You're on death row. You're in a nice holding cell
with a nice blue roof, good air conditioning, good lighting.
But this life is a holding cell. And your death
(15:31):
will be evidence to you that God is deadly serious
about sin. And that is an eye opener. You see
their eyes widen because sin, as far as they're concerned,
is something you play with. It's like a little puppy.
It's not like a ferocious tiger, but once they see it,
it's the killer. It's the death always goes hand in
hand with, uh, with sin. The wages of sin is death. Uh,
(15:52):
lust brings forth sin, and sin when it's conceived, brings
forth death. The soul that sins, it shall die. And
so once they see that that what their enemy is,
they begin to smell the smoke, see their danger. And
that's when they begin to be alarmed. And that's when
the gospel comes in, which says, you can run out
of the house now and God will forgive you at
an instant you'll be saved from the fires of hell
(16:13):
if you repent and trust in Jesus. And suddenly the
gospel makes sense because the Bible says the preaching of
the cross is foolishness to those that perish. It's not
just a foolish sounding message, it's foolish to a proud person.
The Bible says God resists the proud, gives grace to
the humble. And I see people just like water off
a duck's back. They resist those commandments, and I think
(16:36):
they're not going to. They're not going to understand the gospel.
And when I get to the gospel, they just haven't
got a clue what I'm talking about. Because a man
who doesn't think he's broken the law won't be impressed
that someone's paid a fine for him. What makes sense
to him? Because he thinks he's a good person who
hasn't broken the law? When someone's humble of heart and says, oh,
I've broken those commandments, I've done things that are morally wrong,
I have drunk iniquity like water. Suddenly the good news
(16:59):
of the fine being paid makes sense. And they embrace.
They embrace the gospel. And it's just so wonderful to see.
S1 (17:05):
Wow. Ray just did a magnificent job explaining exactly what
his approach is. And you can see this in action
by going to his YouTube channel. Millions and millions of
people go there. Just go to YouTube, type in the
word living waters and subscribe. It's right there on mine.
I look at these videos every single day. I want
you to do that as well. There are tutorials they
teach me, and this idea of I'm going to pull
(17:26):
back because I don't want to offend anybody. Well, sin
is an offense. It's deadly. And there was a price
to be paid. Christ paid it. Why would you need
a Savior if you don't realize that you're a sinner?
Just follow suit. Doesn't want to talk about some more
things with Ray, there's always great stuff to talk about
with him. We'll continue right after this. What a joy
(17:57):
to spend time with Ray comfort. He's so, so exemplary
in the way in which he shares the gospel. And
I hope just puts fire in your bones about doing
exactly the same thing. I don't know when Jesus is coming,
but I do know he's not willing that any should perish,
and he gives us the privilege of being able to
share that good news. How come we're not showing up
for work? So I love it when Ray comes because
he gives us a myriad of resources and stories and
(18:18):
examples of what it's like, and we're without excuse, really,
to get out there and really share the good news.
So you wrote something called The Blue Book on evangelism,
and I want to take one section of that book
and talk about it. But first, just the general overview.
I love the title. What was your purpose in putting
this book together?
S6 (18:34):
Well, we have an academy every six months or so,
maybe every year. I don't know, I'm the CEO. I
haven't got a clue. It's called the Ambassadors Academy, where
people from all around the world come and spend three
days with us and learn how to open air, preach.
And we go to Hollywood and places like that so
they can share their faith. We have a minimum amount
of teaching, I think for half a day or something
(18:56):
like that. They visit our studios, visit the ministry, and
we all say hi, and then out they go and
it's life changing. We've had, I think, 27 academies. And
so this is the official book that we use for
the Ambassadors Academy. It's the Ambassadors Guide, and it's filled
with questions that people have asked about evangelism. And I
answer them.
S1 (19:16):
Wow. Well, one of the just marvelous. I didn't know
about that program. Every time I talk to you, I
learn about another aspect of the ministry. That's so awesome.
S6 (19:22):
I learn something else too. This is a first. I've
never done this before. My dog is in the studio
with me.
S1 (19:31):
The question is, are the sunglasses on or off?
S6 (19:34):
No, they're off because it's quite dark in here. But
she's behaving herself. I'm very impressed.
S1 (19:40):
I am too. But if we hear something in the background,
it's not the hounds of hell. So we shouldn't be scared.
S6 (19:44):
Okay, good. Yeah, right.
S1 (19:45):
I'm glad. Okay, good. In this book, one of the
things that you did, because this is adapted right out
of the Blue Book on evangelism, and now we know
how it's tied back to the Academy. You really tackle
what I think is a huge subject. And, oh, it's
so hard for so many people. And that is how
do you go about sharing the gospel with family members
who do not yet believe a thank you for including
(20:06):
that question? And b why is that such a hard
question for people?
S6 (20:10):
Well, it's an easy one to answer. I've got a
sister who's not a Christian, and I'd rather witness to
a thousand machete wielding atheists than speak to her about
the things of God. Um, and it's not because she's
a monster. It's because of, I have said, a thousand atheists.
So what? They don't like me anyway. But if I
(20:30):
upset my sister, I've lost my relationship with her. So
I've got to be very, very careful. And so Zacchaeus
has become a Goliath as far as I'm concerned with
her recently. I don't know what we were talking about
going on cruise ships. And I said something. I'd like
to go on a cruise ship. No, I wouldn't. And
she said, you just lied because I changed my mind.
(20:51):
And she said, you lied. And I thought, oh, boy,
if was a non-Christian, I'd just tear into them and say,
you know, get the log out of your own eye.
Try and pick a speck out of mine. Who do
you think you are? But it was my sister, and
I just had to grin and bear it. My wife
was listening to the conversation because it was on speaker,
and she just thought, what is going on here? So yeah,
(21:11):
with family, you just win them with love. You've got
to you buy them presents when it's not Christmas, send
them gifts when it's not their birthday. Um, go in
and mow the lawn where they want it mowed or not.
Just do good things for them. Uh, because, uh, by
the by the will of God. By by your well-doing
you put to silence the ignorance of foolish men. Scripture says.
And so just be rich in good works, and let
(21:34):
them see your faith rather than hear your faith. Because
when I was a brand new Christian man, I blew it.
I was like a bull in a China shop. I'm
not exaggerating, I, I waited for two weeks before I
unloaded on my mom and dad. That was a long
time for me because they were in their sins and
they die. They go to hell and I love them.
And and so I said, mom, I want to talk
with you. And we went to the bedroom, sat down.
(21:55):
I gave her about an hour. And then same with
my dad. I think I got decisions from them, which
was ridiculous. I didn't understand that salvation is of the Lord.
I thought you could just manipulate someone to get right
with God and you just can't. And that caused a
lot of damage. It took years for that to be, uh,
be healed because of my zeal without knowledge. And so
when you have the knowledge that salvation of the Lord
(22:16):
is of the Lord, that no man comes to the
father unless, uh, no man comes to the son, unless
the father draws him, you know that. You've got to
pray for them, look for opportunities to share the gospel
in the meantime are be rich in good works and
let your good works show your faith.
S1 (22:29):
Wow, you talk about dealing with the concerns in your
prayer closet, and I love the part about the gifts,
but I love the idea that you really do take
this to the Lord. I mean, when you think about it,
we've got a pretty good example in Jesus. His brothers
and sisters rejected him, right? They kind of thought he
was out of his mind. So if they're going to
do that to the Savior himself, you're in pretty good company.
But you saturate this in prayer. You then do that
(22:51):
action so they can see the transformation. But you bring
up something else in this particular part of the book.
S6 (22:56):
Before you bring that up, I'd like to bring something
up that I found interesting because I think about it
a lot. John 17. We have the prayer of Jesus, Jesus,
which is very long. Um, who was there? Who was
there writing with shorthand? Yes.
S1 (23:09):
I thought that so many times.
S6 (23:11):
Yeah, we've got the details of everything he said in
that long prayer. And, you know, disciples, I mean, slow down, Jesus,
I didn't. Could you say that again, I missed it.
I'm writing. I'm writing on a sand script or whatever
they used in those days, but it just shows the
inspiration of Scripture that God let us have an ear
into what Jesus was praying. The intimate prayer with his father.
S1 (23:33):
Oh, that's so interesting. You bring that up. Because, Ray,
first of all, I love that passage because there's so
many things that John writes about in that, in this
private conversation between the son and his father. And I've
often said that God didn't have to give us permission
to step into the privacy of that moment and hear
this communication between the father and the son. But am
I so glad he did? Because in that prayer, there's
(23:56):
so much he says. First of all, he's praying for me.
He's on his way to Calvary, and he's praying for me.
That's overwhelming. Second of all, he says, I don't want
to take him out of the world. I want you
to sanctify them with thy word. Thy word is truth.
Underscores the power and the authority of scriptures. And not
only that, but going out and telling is exactly what's
reiterated again in John 17. Because you're not supposed to
(24:17):
keep this good news to yourself. My prayer is not
that you keep them out of the world. You got
to go into the world to tell somebody about Jesus.
I want to continue with this conversation about how we
share the good news with our family members. Gulp. I
know it's tough. And then so many other things I
want to talk about the Pacific Rim trip that's coming
up too. And I also want to talk this this
wonderful new booklet about how you deal with ten of
the biggest objections to Christianity. A ton of stuff from
(24:40):
Living Waters. I got a whole hour of race time
and I feel like I barely scratched the surface. So
you check it out at Living waters.com. Back after.
S5 (24:46):
This.
S1 (24:58):
Anyone can read the news every day on in the market.
We're committed to telling the news as seen through the
lens of Scripture. As Christians, we must be informed about
what's going on in the world and respond appropriately. When
you become a partial partner, you ensure that we continue
here on your station, equipping the church to discuss current events,
using the Bible as our solid foundation. Why not become
a partial partner today? Call 877 Janet 58, or go
(25:20):
online to in the market with Janet Parshall. We're visiting
with Ray comfort, who's the founder and CEO of Living
Waters and the best selling author of dozens and dozens
and dozens of books, including How to Know God Exists
and The Evidence Bible. Let me say again, if you
don't have an evidence Bible, you really, really should. It
is a treasured part of your legacy. Library. He co-hosts
(25:41):
the award winning TV program way of the master. It's
on every country in the world. He's an executive producer
of films like 180, evolution versus God, audacity, the list
goes on and on and on. And he teaches us
how to share the gospel of Jesus Christ. You want
to know how that's done? Just go to YouTube, subscribe
to Living Waters, become one of the multiple millions of
people I am one to watch these videos, to learn
(26:03):
how to be bold and effective in sharing the good
news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. So we're talking
about this Blue book of evangelism. By the way, I
have a link on that. If you're interested in getting
a copy, go to the information page, click on through
and you can get a copy of this as well.
But we were talking about one section that was in
this book about how you share the good news with
your family. Some of the toughest stuff out there, and
as we noted earlier, we're in good company. It was
(26:24):
tough for Jesus and his family, too. And so one
of the things that was raised, and I'm not surprised, Ray,
and you hinted at this in the reaction with your sister,
is that a lot of family members who know us,
they know the good, the bad and the ugly. Okay.
They were there. They saw us. They know everything about us.
And so it's real easy to say, you say one thing,
you live another way. And there's the issue of being hypocritical.
(26:45):
How do we tackle that?
S6 (26:47):
Yeah. You don't want any hypocrisy in life. I don't
care what people call me. Stumpy, ugly, whatever. Just don't
call me a hypocrite because I don't like being called
a hypocrite. I want people to say I disagree with him,
but he's genuine in what he believes. I'd hate to
be thought of as a hypocrite. And nothing destroys a
testimony like just a tiny bit of hypocrisy. Just sit
(27:08):
down with your family and watch a dirty movie that's
going to destroy your testimony, or let out a word
that you shouldn't, shouldn't say as a Christian, that's Christian,
that's going to store your testimony. So you have to
be strive to be perfect. You're not perfect, but you're
going to strive to be blameless. And, uh, and so
you have to have very sensitive conscience and, and, and
realize that, you know, my sisters mentioned in the book
(27:30):
of Psalms. Oh, really? A lot of people are. Yeah.
It's I can't remember where the psalm is, but it
says and they say, aha, aha. It says in Psalms.
And that's exactly what they say. Um, you know, you're
supposed to be a Christian. Look at that. You're you're
wearing shoes that are just too fancy for you. Who
(27:51):
do you think you are?
S1 (27:54):
But I bet Jesus heard the same thing. Who do
you think you are? I mean, I bet that was
a cover. We don't know. And I'm certainly not going
to do bad sloppy eisegesis here. But it seems to
me that when you think that your brother is out
of his mind, you grew up with him, you're certainly
not going to suddenly look at him as the Savior
of the world. And obviously that changes. James goes on
and heads the church at Jerusalem, loses his life for
the cause of the cross. But I bet it was.
(28:15):
Are you kidding? Except that the problem would have been
Jesus would have been a perfect child, so they really
wouldn't have had a lot of things to go after
him about.
S6 (28:22):
Absolutely. You know, one thing can really help is an accent.
Go to another country and they think you're intelligent. That's
what I did.
S1 (28:32):
That's fabulous. All right, one last thing. Talk to me
about the person who says we put the fun in dysfunctional.
They're not talking to me. I'm trying to communicate. They're
not responding to my emails. They won't take my call.
And yet, like you and your mom and dad and, boy,
there isn't a one of us who I don't think
at the beginning of our walk with the Lord didn't
hit the bull in the China shop part. You just
you can't keep that good news to yourself. And then
(28:53):
if you love people, you especially want your loved ones
to make sure that they're never going to be absent
from God for all of eternity. So I get the
urgency there. But again, sometimes our emotions precedes our judgment
on that. So if you're cut off, if there really
isn't a good way to communicate. I love the encouraging
advice that you give in the blueprint, the Blue Book
of Evangelism, because you say, there's still things we can do.
(29:14):
Talk to me about that.
S6 (29:15):
Yeah, I. I love sending people that don't like me.
A gift basket and I've sent a lot of gift baskets.
Harry and David, I actually. This. You want to hear
a disaster? Here's a disaster. It's the worst disaster I've
ever experienced. I went to we were going to do
one of our movies. I'm not sure what it was. Oh.
The fool. Um. And we showed it at the arc, and, uh,
(29:39):
I found out that in Kentucky at that same date
for the premiere, there was an atheist convention. So I
got ten fruit baskets delivered to them from me, inviting
them to the premiere. And Harry and David delivered them
the day after the convention ended.
S1 (29:57):
Oh, no.
S6 (29:59):
Yes.
S1 (30:02):
So the hotel staff had a great time, didn't they?
S6 (30:04):
Yes I did. I think they must have. Oh, it was, uh.
It was. I was very, very sad. But I've learned
Romans 828 all things work together for good. Even fruit
baskets that arrive a day late.
S1 (30:17):
Exactly, exactly. But yeah, you you talk about the fact
that we have to stop and step back and understand
that this is the work of the Holy Spirit. And
when we really get into the power of prayer and
intercessory prayer, even if I can't talk to a loved one,
you know, I've thought to myself how precious it is
that I have been given permission to enter the throne
(30:37):
room of grace, and nothing, and no one can keep
me out of that prayer, that conversation with my Heavenly Father.
So even if I can't talk to an earthly relative,
I can certainly talk to my Heavenly Father and ask
him for intercession. And that's that's an encouragement. We you know,
we are not responsible for anybody's salvation. We can even
plant the seed water or you're there for the harvest.
(30:57):
But the bottom line is, isn't it wonderful that we
have no restraints? Even if a family member won't talk
to us, we can still pray for them and they
can't stop it.
S6 (31:05):
Hit them in the prayer closet. That's what I like doing. Um.
S1 (31:10):
I'm sure that's in first Maccabees one nine. I just
haven't found it yet.
S6 (31:14):
Yes, but you've got to put yourself in their position.
You've got to put yourself in their position. Imagine if
you were in their shoes and they had become a
religious person, and they want to share with you their
cultish beliefs. Right? That's that's how they're kind of feeling.
And so that gives me an empathy and understanding of
why they're like they are with their arm stretched out
a bit. You know, just let's talk about other things
(31:36):
and not that. But there's the the wonderful question that
I just keep telling people about. Just ask anyone, you
can even do this with Uncle Arthur at the Christmas table. Um,
do you think there's an afterlife? You don't mention God, Jesus, heaven, hell,
the Bible, sin, righteousness and judgment. Just ask for his opinion.
Do you think there's an afterlife? And that can provoke
(31:56):
a wonderful conversation that can steer towards the things of God. Um.
Do you think there's an afterlife? Uncle Arthur, what do
you think? No, I don't think so. You don't think
there's heaven and hell? Do you believe in God? Do
you ever read the Bible? It says there's a heaven
and hell. Do you believe that? And as you know,
the Old Testament, God promised he would destroy death. In
the New Testament tells us how he did it. Did
you know that all you're doing is asking questions and
(32:19):
it can provoke thought and say, look, thanks for listening
to me. I really appreciate it. And I often do that.
Really thank people from my heart for listening to me,
because it's a privilege to share the gospel with someone
and for someone to give you their ear, give you
their time, and you're talking about the thing that matters most.
And that's what I often say to people say, you know,
no one talks about their fear of death. So we're
(32:39):
going to talk about that which matters most. You know,
what's going to happen to you when you die. And
they're all thinking about it. It's a horror beyond words.
And so to bring it out into the open is
a wonderful healing for them.
S1 (32:50):
Yeah. And also, you just exemplified the fact that asking
questions is non-controversial. It's non-confrontational, and it's a wonderful way
of dialoguing without someone thinking you're talking at them rather
than talking with them. I think so often as believers,
we're we're so and I understand that in most cases,
I think it comes from a good place. But just
listen first, right? I mean, if we use Jesus again
(33:12):
as our example, how did he know exactly the right
thing to say to a farmer or a fisherman or
a woman caught in the act of adultery? He was
aware and listening to what was happening before he gave
the response. I know he's God incarnate, but there's a
takeaway on how to effectively engage people, it seems to me.
S6 (33:27):
Yeah, and he's given us his Holy Spirit. The Holy
Spirit gives us wisdom and leads us into all truth
and gives us understanding. And so that's my great hope.
I often when I get onto my bike with my
dog wearing sunglasses, sunglasses are on the dog, not the bike.
And that's not a bad idea.
S1 (33:48):
That will get even more people talking to you, I'm sure.
S6 (33:50):
Yes. Yeah. So I'm just saying, Lord, if this is
a waste of time, if you don't help me, and
I often say, I don't know if you've seen the
video of Mario, a guy that I spoke to that
just broke down in tears and said, I think 5
million views or something like that. I often say to
the Lord as I get on the bike. Give me
a Mario. Give me a Mario. Someone whose heart you're prepared.
Someone who's got a humble heart and who will embrace
(34:12):
the gospel. Please give that to me, because I know
what it's going to do is multiply that gospel message
and get to the ears of literally millions. So that's
my earnest prayer.
S1 (34:22):
Wow. That's amazing. Talk to me. And there's so much
you want to ask you, but I want to do
a quick segue here and ask you to tell me
about the Pacific Rim trip. Now, in case people haven't
picked up on the accent. All right. You're from New Zealand,
and so the Pacific Rim is in that area. So
it's more than just going back to your homeland. What's
going on?
S6 (34:41):
Yeah, well, um, we've actually done the trip. It's been done.
It's been filmed, and it's in production at the moment. Yeah,
it's very exciting. I've seen I've seen a lot of
the footage. And what actually did is I sent the guys,
I didn't go, I stayed in California. I roughed it
at home.
S1 (35:00):
With your dog and the bike with the sunglasses. I've
all worked out. I got it, okay.
S6 (35:04):
And what they did is they fed that in. They
said while we're in, you know, Fiji and Tahiti and
Samoa raised back in California. And they just fed in
witnessing clips into the footage, which is just great. But
they went to Australia where they talk funny in Australia
and they, they went to Sydney, I think, in Melbourne
and preached on the streets there and witnessed two people.
(35:25):
Australia is pretty hard, uh, spiritually it's not like America.
Same with New Zealand, a pretty secular. But they trace
my steps. They went back to where I open air,
preached almost every day for 12 years. Uh, and I
crossed swords with a guy called the Wizard, a guy
who dressed like a wizard. And he was a friendly enemy.
He let me preach off his ladder often to his crowd,
(35:45):
and he had crowds like 3 or 400. It was
just wonderful. So they went back and spoke to him.
He's like 115 now. Well not quite. I think he's
in his late 80s. Uh, but they had a wonderful
we gave him an evidence Bible signed by me because
we haven't seen each other for about 35 years. And
he it was just very moving. And then they trace
the steps back to where I, um, where a portion
(36:06):
of sermon by Charles Spurgeon sparked my understanding of what
Jesus did when he opened up the commandments. And they
went back to where I actually found that. So it's
very interesting. And then they went to Tahiti and Fiji
and Samoa and Hawaii and, uh, it's very exciting. It's
the wow.
S1 (36:22):
When we come back, I want to. Well, that's exactly right. And,
you know, it's the whole truth of the whole gospel
to the whole world, including the Pacific Rim. A couple
of questions, because I want to ask you where we
can find that video. I've seen it, so I know
it's available of you taking that ladder from the wizard
and the friendship that developed there. So I want to
know how people can still see that. And then when
(36:43):
are we going to be able to see this completed trip?
Because it's going to be fantastic. Ray, comfort is with us.
Don't forget, we got a lot of information on our
information page back after this. We're spending the hour with
Ray comfort, who's the founder and CEO of Living Waters,
the author of so many books. great YouTube channel, the
list goes on and on and on. Just go to
(37:03):
Living waters.com, and there's just so many excellent resources out there.
Two that I have featured is one, the Blue Book
on Evangelism. It was explaining earlier, this is part of
their academy, and it really does break down how to
share the gospel and answers lots of tough questions. I
just pulled a couple that was how do you share
the gospel with your family members? And then another new
booklet that he's got out is called Nutshell Answers The
(37:24):
Top ten Objections to Christianity. I'm going to touch on
that in a bit, but I left two hanging participles.
One is I love the story about the relationship you
have with, quote, the wizard and how he really turned
around and said, okay, I've got this audience now you
get to share the gospel with them. And there was
a friendship that ensued as a result of that, I
got to see that video. I don't know how in
the world I did. Is it still available for people
(37:45):
to see?
S6 (37:46):
Yeah, it's called The Full Effect and it's about me.
I'm the Fool, and it's a very compelling story. And
it starts off with a wizard where it all started,
and you see him in his prime on his ladder,
and it was the day I left to come to
live in the US. And it's a very moving moment.
S1 (38:05):
Yeah, absolutely. And yet you still left an indelible mark
because he took that Bible and he remembered you. And
how precious is that? You know, again, God is not
willing that any should perish. Let's hope he comes to
read that book and know the Lord is his personal
Savior before he steps into eternity. The other part is
the series looks absolutely fabulous. I mean, you don't stop
and think unless you're a missionary and that's where your
(38:27):
heart or your mission serves. You're not thinking about Fiji
and Tahiti and all of these other areas, and yet
it's still the gospel of Jesus Christ. So when you
put this all together, because I can't wait to see it.
S6 (38:38):
You can see it now on living TV, TV. Living
waters TV. It's all there, ready to go. And all
the other episodes that we've got 165 episodes, uh, on
that same platform.
S1 (38:53):
And that is a new. That's a relatively new platform,
isn't it? Right.
S6 (38:56):
Yes. Yes, it's yes. Brand new. Um, did you see
the series? Went to Europe and preached the gospel in
13 countries in 13 days. That was a wonderful time.
I think I might have told you before that the
whole idea, my idea was they would eat healthy and
get plenty of sleep. And after three days we were
eating fast food and no one had been to sleep.
It was just. It was crazy.
S1 (39:18):
Wow. But it's exhilarating, isn't it? To be able to
share and to see the different response. And it doesn't
make any difference whether you live in Paris or whether
you live in Fiji. It's still the same God shaped
void in the human heart. It's still the same Savior.
It's still the same gospel message. And that to me,
always just underscores the power and the authority of the Scripture.
There isn't a European version and a Pacific Rim version.
(39:39):
It's one message of salvation and one. Well, like the
Bible tells us, one faith, one baptism, right? I mean,
it's the same wherever you go, which I think is fabulous.
You touched quickly on the climate, and I'm fascinated by this,
that it's kind of hard spiritually for New Zealand and Australia.
Why do you think that is?
S6 (39:57):
I'm not sure. America. I remember when I first came
over here, 1350 Christian radio stations, and there was New
Zealand had one Christian radio station. It took 13 years
to get a licence. Australia didn't have any because that's
just a land of criminals and Ken Ham. And so
they're very hard and secular.
S1 (40:17):
Less people saw that slip in. Exactly. Okay, good.
S6 (40:22):
We text each other every day. Have done for years.
Most texts we've ever done with each other is 220
in 1 day. All of them are insults from him
saying how ugly I am because he can't. He can't
show love. He's Australian, so he does it in insults.
S1 (40:38):
But I got to tell you what. Speaking of him,
this is a diversion, but I'm glad we're taking it.
You posted two days ago that the media was lying
about Ken Ham's arc. Talk to me about this. I
thought this was fascinating.
S6 (40:51):
Yes. The Associated Press did a little video on the Ark.
It hasn't had that many views with No wonder. And
they just filmed nobody there. And it was just crazy.
They filmed the big, big boat and no one standing
around it. Then they two people going through the museum.
And so I said, they're just not being truthful here.
And so I got footage of hundreds or even thousands
(41:14):
lining up to see that ark. And I've been to
the Smithsonian Institute and in DC, I think it is.
And it's nothing compared to the Ark. The ark is
so classily done. I'm just surprised Ken had anything to
do with it.
S1 (41:27):
Well, there's slipped by again, but you got to pay
attention here. Well, you know, what's interesting is a couple
of stories. Number one, remember last week they talked again
about they think this might be the remains of a boat,
and it's on a mountain in Turkey. And that kind
of resurfaces on a regular basis. And the other thing, too,
is it's the anniversary of the infamous scopes trial. So
(41:48):
I'm thinking, okay, in the newsroom, that was the angle
they were going to take. So I don't know, let's
go to those crazy creationists. And so we'll talk about
what's going on at the Ark. And yet, as you say,
it draws people from around the world. And so you
put together a wonderful video supporting him and pointing out
the fact that there was such a surprise. We repeat ourselves,
such dishonesty in the secular press reporting about the popularity
(42:11):
of this.
S6 (42:12):
Absolutely. And if you want to upset Ken Ham, call
it a boat, I always do. He says it's not
a boat. I says, I like your boat, Ken. It's
got New Zealand wood in it, hasn't it? Because they
use New Zealand wood for the ark, so you can't
get past that.
S1 (42:26):
Oh dear. And you'll never be able to claim Australian wood. Right.
There you go.
S6 (42:29):
That's right. Amazing.
S1 (42:31):
Let me touch quickly. Let me touch quickly on the
booklet which is wonderful. Nutshell answers. And it's the top
ten objections to Christianity. You can get a copy by
clicking on through and finding out how you can purchase
some of these and do it. And they're wonderful gospel tracts,
by the way, part of Ken's bio and I should
read this every time is always. He's never left his
house without a gospel track in decades.
S6 (42:54):
And did you say Ken's bio?
S1 (42:56):
Did I say.
S6 (42:56):
I think you did. Okay, this interview is over.
S7 (43:00):
It's now over. It's finished. Exactly.
S1 (43:02):
Sorry, Ken. We'll get back to me later on that one.
S7 (43:05):
So you never leave without a track.
S1 (43:09):
So in this, you take a look at 50 or
10 questions, which I think are terrific. Let me just
pull one out. And that is an objection that says
a loving God wouldn't send people to hell. Talk to
me about this.
S6 (43:20):
Yeah. Loving God. God doesn't send anyone to hell. Sin
takes them there. The same as a judge. Judge doesn't judge,
doesn't send someone to prison. His crimes send him there.
And that's what people don't understand. The judge just carries
out justice. And on Judgment Day, God will do that
which is right. And that's a fearful thing when you
realize your own guilt and your own secret sins.
S1 (43:39):
Yeah. Amen and amen. Now, that's one of ten objections.
These are marvelous gospel tracts to be able to use
and to teach yourself. Because you're going to hear these
things in the marketplace, you're going to know how to respond.
So living waters calm living waters dot fabulous new streaming
platform with content that's out of this world, quite literally.
So this trip on the Pacific Rim that's now up
(44:01):
there for you to be able to watch the Blue
Book on evangelism. I've got that as a direct link
so you can find out how to get your copy
in this marvelous little booklet called Nutshell Answers the top
ten Objections to Christianity direct link for those but a
ton of resources at Living waters.com. And just don't forget,
go to YouTube, put in the word Living waters, subscribe
to the channel. And I don't know how his team
(44:22):
does this, but I'm telling you, there's fresh material there constantly.
I can't keep up, but every minute I spend watching
those is an encouragement to me. It's a tutorial for me,
and quite frankly, it puts fire in my bones to
want to share the good news of Jesus Christ. Love
you Ray. Thank you for all that you do. Love
our conversations. Thank you friend. Check out all the resources
and then ask the Lord to open the door of
opportunity and go and tell somebody the good news. Thanks friends.
(44:45):
We'll see you next time on In the Market with
Janet Parshall.
Hi friend, thank you so much for downloading this podcast
and I truly hope you hear something that edifies encourage, equips, enlightens,
and then gets you out there in the marketplace of ideas.
But before you go, I want to tell you about
this month's truth tool. It's called Have You Ever Wondered?
And I absolutely love this topic because if you're like me,
going out into the night sky and looking up and
seeing a million stars, don't you just stop and think
(00:22):
about God? And are you not in a moment of
awe and wonder or looking out over the vast expanse
of an ocean and you start thinking, what is man,
that thou art mindful of him? And it makes you
wonder about the magnificence of God? I think that sense
of wonder was put there on purpose, and this wonderful
book includes a composite of multiple authors who have written
(00:42):
from their perspective as a scientist, or a historian, or
a mathematician or an artist, on why they all have
this sense of awe through the work that they do.
In other words, the heavens declare the glory. And as
it tells us in Romans, we are really without excuse
because his handiwork is everywhere. And this book invites you
to walk through the chapters written by people who all
(01:03):
have a sense of awe and wonder when it comes
to God through their various disciplines in life. It's an
amazing book and it's yours. For a gift of any amount,
just call 877 Janet 58. That's 877 Janet 58. Ask
for a copy of Have You Ever Wondered? And we'll
send it right off to you as my way of
saying thank you, because we are listener supported radio. Or
you can go online to in the market with Janet
(01:24):
Parshall and you're also on the website, consider becoming a
partial partner. Those are people who give every single month
at a level of their own choosing. You always get
the truth tool, but in addition to that, you get
a weekly newsletter that includes my writing and an audio
piece just for my partial partner. So 877 Janet 58
or the website in the market with Janet Parshall. Consider
(01:46):
becoming a partial partner or asking for this month's truth tool.
Have you ever wondered? And now please enjoy the broadcast.
S2 (01:54):
Here are some of the news headlines we're watching.
S3 (01:56):
The conference was over. The over, the president won a pledge.
S4 (01:59):
Americans worshiping government over God.
S5 (02:01):
Extremely rare safety move by a major 17 years.
S4 (02:04):
The Palestinians and Israelis negotiated.
S5 (02:07):
This is not. Hi, friends. Welcome to In the Market.
S1 (02:23):
With Janet Parshall. Thrilled. We're going to spend the hour together.
All right. Get ready. Sit forward a little bit because
when Ray comfort is in the house, he challenges us
to really remember who we are, what we're called to do,
and to be unashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ
and to go out and share that good news, but
to do it in such a way that we remind
people that all have sinned and come short of the
(02:45):
glory of God. Ooh, ooh, that's not very nice in
this culture. It's all about love, isn't it? About toleration,
about diversity and inclusion. And if you start telling somebody
that they're a sinner, Well, wow, what an immediate turnoff.
And then we think. No, I think I'll pass. I
don't I don't have that calling. I don't have that gifting.
It's somebody else's responsibility. Uh, well, there is a specific
(03:06):
gift of evangelism, I will grant you that. But it
is a general call to all believers to go and tell.
More importantly, even if that weren't the directive, I have
a question. How do you keep that good news to yourself?
I mean, if you know what the cure to death is,
you're going to keep that to yourself. If you know
that the worst disease in the world can be eradicated
by what was done by Christ at the cross, you
(03:26):
keep that to yourself. How selfish. How unbelievably selfish. But
more importantly, can you contain that? I can't. The Bible
talks about out of the overflow of the heart, the
mouth speaks. James and John were told to sit down
and be quiet because they were rocking the boat and
they said, we can't stop talking about that which we've
seen and heard. And now if this world that's growing
darker by the minute, that sends us a gazillion cues
(03:49):
a minute that they're searching to know who they are,
where they fit in the world, if God is real
and how they can know him personally. And they've been
fed a pack of lies about if you're good enough
or there is no God, or you're just food for
worms when you die. Well, I tell you what. See
those fields? Last time I checked, they were pretty white, but, uh, workers. Yeah, not.
Not so many. That's what Ray does. He recruits workers.
(04:09):
And I'm so glad that he does. And he does
it in some unbelievably creative ways. I love the way
God makes so many of his children creative. So he
is the founder and CEO of Living Waters, best selling
author of Upwards Over. I'm sure at this point, 90 books,
including How to Know God Exists and The Evidence Bible,
which is fabulous if you don't have a copy. He
co-hosts the award winning TV program way of the master.
(04:29):
That's in every country in the world. He's the executive
producer of movies like 180 and evolution versus God, audacity,
and a whole bunch of other films. He has millions. Millions.
You heard me right. Millions of views on his YouTube channel,
and I hope that that number continues to grow. So
he is going to join us today. And we're going
to talk about several things, not the least of which
is how do you share the good news with your families?
(04:52):
And he's taken a little trip. It's called the Pacific
Rim trip, and we're going to find out about that.
And then he's got a wonderful new booklet out called
Nutshell Answers The Top ten Objections in Christianity. What'd I
tell you? The resources are unlimited. They're creative. They're so excellent.
But first, Ray, the warmest of welcomes. And I got
to ask you a question, because I was reading the
dedication of a book recently and the author of the
(05:15):
book and the entire book, my $0.02 was it was
heresy times ten, but I wanted to hear what was
being bought and sold in the marketplace of ideas. And
the dedication of the book was a real clear hint
to where the author was going as his primary thesis
in the book. And basically he said that the reason
he wrote the book is he wanted people to know
that God loves you, comma, italics, just the way you
(05:38):
are now. If you get on your bike and you
put your dog with the sunglasses out there, and you
head down to the beach and you start taking your
camera and talking to people, and you just walked around saying,
God loves you, comma, just the way you are. You'd
have people standing in line talking to you. What's wrong
with that statement?
S6 (05:53):
It's not biblical. You know God's wrath abides on sinners.
He's a just and holy God. So that finds its
roots in idolatry. Idolatry is the the root cause of
all sin, it would seem, because if you fear God,
you've got a right understanding of God. The Bible says,
through the fear of the Lord, men depart from evil,
and you'll not depart from evil. Well, God is a
(06:14):
great big Santa Claus, celestial Santa Claus, or a divine butler,
or someone that's just smiling at what Hitler did, smiling
at rapists and murderers. No, God's wrath abides on every sinner.
The Bible says that. And every time we sin, we
store up his wrath. That's going to be revealed on
the Day of Judgment. That's a fearful thing. Jesus said, well,
the Bible says it's a fearful thing to fall into
(06:37):
the hands of the living God. Um, I think you've
seen a little video that we put out recently. A
young man came up to me and it's left a
lot of people in tears, but he he, um, he
had no desire for God whatsoever. And what the law
did was to put salt on his tongue. I took
him through the commandments and just created a thirst for righteousness.
(06:57):
And I looked back on my own conversion. I had
no desire for the things of God. I was enjoying
the pleasures of sin for a season before I was
a Christian. But the night I read those words of Jesus,
whoever looks upon a woman to lust for her has
committed adultery already with her in his heart. I began
to say, what? What should I do to be made right?
(07:17):
I didn't thirst for righteousness until I understood that I
as much desire for the word righteousness as a four
year old boy has for the word bath. I just
wasn't interested in righteousness. And yet what the law did
is it put salt on my tongue, made me hunger
and thirst for righteousness. And how can I be made
right with God? That's what made the cross make sense.
(07:38):
If you run around telling people God loves them just
as they are, they're going to continue in sin until
they face a holy God on the day of judgment.
One thing I love doing with our videos, and I
mustn't overdo it as a like sticking in lightning and
rolling thunder at the most unexpected places. So it scares
the living daylights out of people that are watching and
(07:58):
often see the comments. That gave me a terrible fright.
But it's good to be reminded that God created thunder
and he created lightning, and we're not even seeing it
as a as a token of his anger. It's just
nature that he put into into place. And I've been
in a roll of thunder when I was in Reno
many years ago, and it scared the living daylights out
of me. It was so loud. It was one of
(08:19):
those thunder, thunder claps and it claps you around your
ear hole. And that's what we need. A little bit
of fear of God in our hearts, because the fear
of God is the beginning of wisdom and saying, God
loves you and he loves you just as you are,
doesn't put the fear of God in anyone. It makes
them comfortable in their sins.
S1 (08:35):
Mm. So much there. Let me unpack a little bit.
You know, we're told that righteousness exalts a nation. And
as I look around, particularly my vantage point here in Washington, DC,
righteousness is the last thing on the majority of people's
radar screen right now. In fact, if anything, it's not righteousness,
it's licentiousness. It's doing whatever's right in your own eyes.
I'm not bound by the rules. That's your truth. That's
(08:56):
not my truth. I am going to act like a
god because I'm going to create my own moral grid.
So when you talk to people and the videos, this
is a moot question. If you watch the YouTube channel
for Living Waters, because time after time after time, Ray
exemplifies exactly how to do this. Watch this one where
this young man, who was actually praying for a sign
that day, meets up with Ray and asks the Lord
(09:17):
into his heart. It's a powerfully moving person to person
contact with Jesus. But it was that that standard of
righteousness question that really helped this man realize that he
needed Jesus. So my question to you, Ray, after the
break is how does that impact your sharing the gospel
when all around us, the whole concept of righteousness seems
arcane and the antithesis of the exaltation of self? How
(09:39):
does that work when you're sharing the gospel? I'm asking
because when we talk to people then and they reject
an idea of righteousness. How do we handle that? More
with Ray comfort. In fact, we're just getting started. A
whole lot more with Ray right after this. Have you
ever wondered why music moves us so deeply? Or why
(09:59):
beauty takes our breath away? My Truth Tool this month
is a thought provoking book that explores those moments of
wonder we all encounter. It's called. Have You ever Wondered?
Consider how ordinary aspects of life point to the extraordinary
biblical truths. Ask for your copy of. Have you ever
wondered when you give a gift of any amount in
the market, call 877 Janet 58. That's 877 Janet 58
(10:20):
or go to in the market with Janet Parshall. Always
a joy to spend time with. Ray comfort, founder CEO
of Living Waters. Someone who loves Jesus and just cannot
keep the good news to himself. And thank God for that.
By the way, we referenced one of his videos. Let
me make this easy for you. If you just go
to youtube.com, put in Living Waters and a whole bunch
(10:42):
of videos will come up right away, including the one
we just talked about because it's fresh. Just posted. Can
I give you a hug here? Is this sincere, hurting
young man who in the 11 minutes and 44 seconds
we're allowed to be an unseen visitor in this conversation,
turns his life over to Christ. And you see how
Ray is just gentle and loving, doesn't deviate from that
(11:03):
standard of righteousness. And as it turns out, that's exactly
what that young man needed to hear. So this goes
to the question I asked just before the break, because
I think some people retreat on your approach, Ray, because
they're afraid. In this culture you can't talk about righteousness.
Everything is about exaltation of self. Righteousness requires some submission
there to a higher authority, to a moral grid that's
(11:24):
bigger and greater than you are. And we live in
a culture right now that basically says you're your own
truth and you're your own gods. So when you're interacting
with people, do you ever get pushback on this idea
of righteousness? Or maybe you don't even use the word.
S6 (11:36):
No, I don't. I don't get pushback. Usually. I'll probably
probably get murdered this Saturday, but my guys have got
a film. They've been told to film it if that happens. Um,
because that'll go viral. Um, righteousness. Yeah. It's a word
that's foreign to unsaved people in the secular world. I've
not got a clue what it is, so I don't
(11:56):
start with righteousness. I've got an agenda. My agenda is
this I see in my mind this is a person
who is asleep in bed and their house is on fire.
That didn't even smell the smoke. They're just quite happy
to be in a house that's on fire, and they
don't realise they're in great danger. So what I've got
to do is not only awaken them, but cause them
to be alarmed. I don't want them to lie in
(12:18):
bed and say, yep, you've convinced me my house is
on fire. Thanks a lot. And they just roll over
and snooze off. No, you want them to be alarmed
so they run out of the house. And so often
I'll say to someone, do you realize you're in great danger?
Because I believe you are. Are you in great danger?
I say, no, I'm not. So what's going to happen
to you when you stand before God? Are you a
good person? They say, yeah, I'm a very good person
(12:39):
and that's biblical. Bible says most every man will proclaim
his own goodness. They go about to establish their own righteousness,
being ignorant of the righteousness which is of God. And
so let's see how you're going to do on Judgment Day.
We're going to go to the Ten Commandments. You're familiar
with those. And they say, yeah, sure. Can you name any? Yeah.
You shall not steal, shall not lie. So have you
broken those? Yeah. So you're a lying thief? Well, I
(13:01):
wouldn't say that. I say I would because you just
told me you lied and stolen. Ever use God's name
in vain and say I do it all the time?
People don't realize what they're doing. They're taking the holy
name of God, God's holy name, and using it in
place of a filthy word to express disgust called blasphemy.
And then the the one that got me. Jesus said,
(13:22):
if you look with lust, you commit adultery in the heart.
And so what that does is that that kicks the
conscience into action. The conscience is seared. Uh, the Bible
says that their conscience is seared, as with a hot iron.
I remember seeing a chef in Hawaii many years ago
with a steak. And he says, look at this, this.
I'm just going to seal this. And I watch very closely.
(13:43):
And he just turned it over and seared it on
the outside, both sides. So it looked softly cooked, but
on the inside it was still soft and tender. And
that's what the sinner's conscience is like. It's seared, it's
still got life in there, but it's not evident. And
what you've got to do is take the sharp blade
of God's law and cut into that conscience, because they
know intuitively it's wrong to lie and steal and blaspheme
(14:04):
and lust and fornicate and commit adultery. The work of
the law is written on their heart, the conscience bearing witness.
The word conscience means with knowledge. And so that's the
that's the ally right in the heart of the enemy
that's going to agree with the commandments. And what it
does is it condemns the sinner. That's its purpose. Paul said,
the commandment commandment, which I thought was ordained to life,
(14:27):
brought death to me. He was looking to the commandments
to be his friend on Judgment Day, not as enemy.
But that's the revelation that he had, because they reveal
what we are in truth. They show us we're sinners
and that prepares our heart for Grace and Jenna. If
anything I could point to as opening the eyes with
God's help of a lost person. It's Romans 623. The
(14:50):
wages of sin is death. I spoke to a young
lady about two hours ago on a local college. I said,
do you know what the Bible says causes death? She said, no.
I said, there's wages. God is paying you in death
for your sins. And then I explained it. I said,
it's like a judge looks at a criminal who thinks
he's a good person, but the judge knows he's committed murder.
(15:10):
So he says, I'm going to show you how serious
your crime is. I'm giving you the death sentence. This
is your wages. This is what you've earned. And I
said to this young lady, I said, sin is so
serious to a holy God. He's given you the death sentence.
You're on death row. You're in a nice holding cell
with a nice blue roof, good air conditioning, good lighting.
But this life is a holding cell. And your death
(15:31):
will be evidence to you that God is deadly serious
about sin. And that is an eye opener. You see
their eyes widen because sin, as far as they're concerned,
is something you play with. It's like a little puppy.
It's not like a ferocious tiger, but once they see it,
it's the killer. It's the death always goes hand in
hand with, uh, with sin. The wages of sin is death. Uh,
(15:52):
lust brings forth sin, and sin when it's conceived, brings
forth death. The soul that sins, it shall die. And
so once they see that that what their enemy is,
they begin to smell the smoke, see their danger. And
that's when they begin to be alarmed. And that's when
the gospel comes in, which says, you can run out
of the house now and God will forgive you at
an instant you'll be saved from the fires of hell
(16:13):
if you repent and trust in Jesus. And suddenly the
gospel makes sense because the Bible says the preaching of
the cross is foolishness to those that perish. It's not
just a foolish sounding message, it's foolish to a proud person.
The Bible says God resists the proud, gives grace to
the humble. And I see people just like water off
a duck's back. They resist those commandments, and I think
(16:36):
they're not going to. They're not going to understand the gospel.
And when I get to the gospel, they just haven't
got a clue what I'm talking about. Because a man
who doesn't think he's broken the law won't be impressed
that someone's paid a fine for him. What makes sense
to him? Because he thinks he's a good person who
hasn't broken the law? When someone's humble of heart and says, oh,
I've broken those commandments, I've done things that are morally wrong,
I have drunk iniquity like water. Suddenly the good news
(16:59):
of the fine being paid makes sense. And they embrace.
They embrace the gospel. And it's just so wonderful to see.
S1 (17:05):
Wow. Ray just did a magnificent job explaining exactly what
his approach is. And you can see this in action
by going to his YouTube channel. Millions and millions of
people go there. Just go to YouTube, type in the
word living waters and subscribe. It's right there on mine.
I look at these videos every single day. I want
you to do that as well. There are tutorials they
teach me, and this idea of I'm going to pull
(17:26):
back because I don't want to offend anybody. Well, sin
is an offense. It's deadly. And there was a price
to be paid. Christ paid it. Why would you need
a Savior if you don't realize that you're a sinner?
Just follow suit. Doesn't want to talk about some more
things with Ray, there's always great stuff to talk about
with him. We'll continue right after this. What a joy
(17:57):
to spend time with Ray comfort. He's so, so exemplary
in the way in which he shares the gospel. And
I hope just puts fire in your bones about doing
exactly the same thing. I don't know when Jesus is coming,
but I do know he's not willing that any should perish,
and he gives us the privilege of being able to
share that good news. How come we're not showing up
for work? So I love it when Ray comes because
he gives us a myriad of resources and stories and
(18:18):
examples of what it's like, and we're without excuse, really,
to get out there and really share the good news.
So you wrote something called The Blue Book on evangelism,
and I want to take one section of that book
and talk about it. But first, just the general overview.
I love the title. What was your purpose in putting
this book together?
S6 (18:34):
Well, we have an academy every six months or so,
maybe every year. I don't know, I'm the CEO. I
haven't got a clue. It's called the Ambassadors Academy, where
people from all around the world come and spend three
days with us and learn how to open air, preach.
And we go to Hollywood and places like that so
they can share their faith. We have a minimum amount
of teaching, I think for half a day or something
(18:56):
like that. They visit our studios, visit the ministry, and
we all say hi, and then out they go and
it's life changing. We've had, I think, 27 academies. And
so this is the official book that we use for
the Ambassadors Academy. It's the Ambassadors Guide, and it's filled
with questions that people have asked about evangelism. And I
answer them.
S1 (19:16):
Wow. Well, one of the just marvelous. I didn't know
about that program. Every time I talk to you, I
learn about another aspect of the ministry. That's so awesome.
S6 (19:22):
I learn something else too. This is a first. I've
never done this before. My dog is in the studio
with me.
S1 (19:31):
The question is, are the sunglasses on or off?
S6 (19:34):
No, they're off because it's quite dark in here. But
she's behaving herself. I'm very impressed.
S1 (19:40):
I am too. But if we hear something in the background,
it's not the hounds of hell. So we shouldn't be scared.
S6 (19:44):
Okay, good. Yeah, right.
S1 (19:45):
I'm glad. Okay, good. In this book, one of the
things that you did, because this is adapted right out
of the Blue Book on evangelism, and now we know
how it's tied back to the Academy. You really tackle
what I think is a huge subject. And, oh, it's
so hard for so many people. And that is how
do you go about sharing the gospel with family members
who do not yet believe a thank you for including
(20:06):
that question? And b why is that such a hard
question for people?
S6 (20:10):
Well, it's an easy one to answer. I've got a
sister who's not a Christian, and I'd rather witness to
a thousand machete wielding atheists than speak to her about
the things of God. Um, and it's not because she's
a monster. It's because of, I have said, a thousand atheists.
So what? They don't like me anyway. But if I
(20:30):
upset my sister, I've lost my relationship with her. So
I've got to be very, very careful. And so Zacchaeus
has become a Goliath as far as I'm concerned with
her recently. I don't know what we were talking about
going on cruise ships. And I said something. I'd like
to go on a cruise ship. No, I wouldn't. And
she said, you just lied because I changed my mind.
(20:51):
And she said, you lied. And I thought, oh, boy,
if was a non-Christian, I'd just tear into them and say,
you know, get the log out of your own eye.
Try and pick a speck out of mine. Who do
you think you are? But it was my sister, and
I just had to grin and bear it. My wife
was listening to the conversation because it was on speaker,
and she just thought, what is going on here? So yeah,
(21:11):
with family, you just win them with love. You've got
to you buy them presents when it's not Christmas, send
them gifts when it's not their birthday. Um, go in
and mow the lawn where they want it mowed or not.
Just do good things for them. Uh, because, uh, by
the by the will of God. By by your well-doing
you put to silence the ignorance of foolish men. Scripture says.
And so just be rich in good works, and let
(21:34):
them see your faith rather than hear your faith. Because
when I was a brand new Christian man, I blew it.
I was like a bull in a China shop. I'm
not exaggerating, I, I waited for two weeks before I
unloaded on my mom and dad. That was a long
time for me because they were in their sins and
they die. They go to hell and I love them.
And and so I said, mom, I want to talk
with you. And we went to the bedroom, sat down.
(21:55):
I gave her about an hour. And then same with
my dad. I think I got decisions from them, which
was ridiculous. I didn't understand that salvation is of the Lord.
I thought you could just manipulate someone to get right
with God and you just can't. And that caused a
lot of damage. It took years for that to be, uh,
be healed because of my zeal without knowledge. And so
when you have the knowledge that salvation of the Lord
(22:16):
is of the Lord, that no man comes to the
father unless, uh, no man comes to the son, unless
the father draws him, you know that. You've got to
pray for them, look for opportunities to share the gospel
in the meantime are be rich in good works and
let your good works show your faith.
S1 (22:29):
Wow, you talk about dealing with the concerns in your
prayer closet, and I love the part about the gifts,
but I love the idea that you really do take
this to the Lord. I mean, when you think about it,
we've got a pretty good example in Jesus. His brothers
and sisters rejected him, right? They kind of thought he
was out of his mind. So if they're going to
do that to the Savior himself, you're in pretty good company.
But you saturate this in prayer. You then do that
(22:51):
action so they can see the transformation. But you bring
up something else in this particular part of the book.
S6 (22:56):
Before you bring that up, I'd like to bring something
up that I found interesting because I think about it
a lot. John 17. We have the prayer of Jesus, Jesus,
which is very long. Um, who was there? Who was
there writing with shorthand? Yes.
S1 (23:09):
I thought that so many times.
S6 (23:11):
Yeah, we've got the details of everything he said in
that long prayer. And, you know, disciples, I mean, slow down, Jesus,
I didn't. Could you say that again, I missed it.
I'm writing. I'm writing on a sand script or whatever
they used in those days, but it just shows the
inspiration of Scripture that God let us have an ear
into what Jesus was praying. The intimate prayer with his father.
S1 (23:33):
Oh, that's so interesting. You bring that up. Because, Ray,
first of all, I love that passage because there's so
many things that John writes about in that, in this
private conversation between the son and his father. And I've
often said that God didn't have to give us permission
to step into the privacy of that moment and hear
this communication between the father and the son. But am
I so glad he did? Because in that prayer, there's
(23:56):
so much he says. First of all, he's praying for me.
He's on his way to Calvary, and he's praying for me.
That's overwhelming. Second of all, he says, I don't want
to take him out of the world. I want you
to sanctify them with thy word. Thy word is truth.
Underscores the power and the authority of scriptures. And not
only that, but going out and telling is exactly what's
reiterated again in John 17. Because you're not supposed to
(24:17):
keep this good news to yourself. My prayer is not
that you keep them out of the world. You got
to go into the world to tell somebody about Jesus.
I want to continue with this conversation about how we
share the good news with our family members. Gulp. I
know it's tough. And then so many other things I
want to talk about the Pacific Rim trip that's coming
up too. And I also want to talk this this
wonderful new booklet about how you deal with ten of
the biggest objections to Christianity. A ton of stuff from
(24:40):
Living Waters. I got a whole hour of race time
and I feel like I barely scratched the surface. So
you check it out at Living waters.com. Back after.
S5 (24:46):
This.
S1 (24:58):
Anyone can read the news every day on in the market.
We're committed to telling the news as seen through the
lens of Scripture. As Christians, we must be informed about
what's going on in the world and respond appropriately. When
you become a partial partner, you ensure that we continue
here on your station, equipping the church to discuss current events,
using the Bible as our solid foundation. Why not become
a partial partner today? Call 877 Janet 58, or go
(25:20):
online to in the market with Janet Parshall. We're visiting
with Ray comfort, who's the founder and CEO of Living
Waters and the best selling author of dozens and dozens
and dozens of books, including How to Know God Exists
and The Evidence Bible. Let me say again, if you
don't have an evidence Bible, you really, really should. It
is a treasured part of your legacy. Library. He co-hosts
(25:41):
the award winning TV program way of the master. It's
on every country in the world. He's an executive producer
of films like 180, evolution versus God, audacity, the list
goes on and on and on. And he teaches us
how to share the gospel of Jesus Christ. You want
to know how that's done? Just go to YouTube, subscribe
to Living Waters, become one of the multiple millions of
people I am one to watch these videos, to learn
(26:03):
how to be bold and effective in sharing the good
news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. So we're talking
about this Blue book of evangelism. By the way, I
have a link on that. If you're interested in getting
a copy, go to the information page, click on through
and you can get a copy of this as well.
But we were talking about one section that was in
this book about how you share the good news with
your family. Some of the toughest stuff out there, and
as we noted earlier, we're in good company. It was
(26:24):
tough for Jesus and his family, too. And so one
of the things that was raised, and I'm not surprised, Ray,
and you hinted at this in the reaction with your sister,
is that a lot of family members who know us,
they know the good, the bad and the ugly. Okay.
They were there. They saw us. They know everything about us.
And so it's real easy to say, you say one thing,
you live another way. And there's the issue of being hypocritical.
(26:45):
How do we tackle that?
S6 (26:47):
Yeah. You don't want any hypocrisy in life. I don't
care what people call me. Stumpy, ugly, whatever. Just don't
call me a hypocrite because I don't like being called
a hypocrite. I want people to say I disagree with him,
but he's genuine in what he believes. I'd hate to
be thought of as a hypocrite. And nothing destroys a
testimony like just a tiny bit of hypocrisy. Just sit
(27:08):
down with your family and watch a dirty movie that's
going to destroy your testimony, or let out a word
that you shouldn't, shouldn't say as a Christian, that's Christian,
that's going to store your testimony. So you have to
be strive to be perfect. You're not perfect, but you're
going to strive to be blameless. And, uh, and so
you have to have very sensitive conscience and, and, and
realize that, you know, my sisters mentioned in the book
(27:30):
of Psalms. Oh, really? A lot of people are. Yeah.
It's I can't remember where the psalm is, but it
says and they say, aha, aha. It says in Psalms.
And that's exactly what they say. Um, you know, you're
supposed to be a Christian. Look at that. You're you're
wearing shoes that are just too fancy for you. Who
(27:51):
do you think you are?
S1 (27:54):
But I bet Jesus heard the same thing. Who do
you think you are? I mean, I bet that was
a cover. We don't know. And I'm certainly not going
to do bad sloppy eisegesis here. But it seems to
me that when you think that your brother is out
of his mind, you grew up with him, you're certainly
not going to suddenly look at him as the Savior
of the world. And obviously that changes. James goes on
and heads the church at Jerusalem, loses his life for
the cause of the cross. But I bet it was.
(28:15):
Are you kidding? Except that the problem would have been
Jesus would have been a perfect child, so they really
wouldn't have had a lot of things to go after
him about.
S6 (28:22):
Absolutely. You know, one thing can really help is an accent.
Go to another country and they think you're intelligent. That's
what I did.
S1 (28:32):
That's fabulous. All right, one last thing. Talk to me
about the person who says we put the fun in dysfunctional.
They're not talking to me. I'm trying to communicate. They're
not responding to my emails. They won't take my call.
And yet, like you and your mom and dad and, boy,
there isn't a one of us who I don't think
at the beginning of our walk with the Lord didn't
hit the bull in the China shop part. You just
you can't keep that good news to yourself. And then
(28:53):
if you love people, you especially want your loved ones
to make sure that they're never going to be absent
from God for all of eternity. So I get the
urgency there. But again, sometimes our emotions precedes our judgment
on that. So if you're cut off, if there really
isn't a good way to communicate. I love the encouraging
advice that you give in the blueprint, the Blue Book
of Evangelism, because you say, there's still things we can do.
(29:14):
Talk to me about that.
S6 (29:15):
Yeah, I. I love sending people that don't like me.
A gift basket and I've sent a lot of gift baskets.
Harry and David, I actually. This. You want to hear
a disaster? Here's a disaster. It's the worst disaster I've
ever experienced. I went to we were going to do
one of our movies. I'm not sure what it was. Oh.
The fool. Um. And we showed it at the arc, and, uh,
(29:39):
I found out that in Kentucky at that same date
for the premiere, there was an atheist convention. So I
got ten fruit baskets delivered to them from me, inviting
them to the premiere. And Harry and David delivered them
the day after the convention ended.
S1 (29:57):
Oh, no.
S6 (29:59):
Yes.
S1 (30:02):
So the hotel staff had a great time, didn't they?
S6 (30:04):
Yes I did. I think they must have. Oh, it was, uh.
It was. I was very, very sad. But I've learned
Romans 828 all things work together for good. Even fruit
baskets that arrive a day late.
S1 (30:17):
Exactly, exactly. But yeah, you you talk about the fact
that we have to stop and step back and understand
that this is the work of the Holy Spirit. And
when we really get into the power of prayer and
intercessory prayer, even if I can't talk to a loved one,
you know, I've thought to myself how precious it is
that I have been given permission to enter the throne
(30:37):
room of grace, and nothing, and no one can keep
me out of that prayer, that conversation with my Heavenly Father.
So even if I can't talk to an earthly relative,
I can certainly talk to my Heavenly Father and ask
him for intercession. And that's that's an encouragement. We you know,
we are not responsible for anybody's salvation. We can even
plant the seed water or you're there for the harvest.
(30:57):
But the bottom line is, isn't it wonderful that we
have no restraints? Even if a family member won't talk
to us, we can still pray for them and they
can't stop it.
S6 (31:05):
Hit them in the prayer closet. That's what I like doing. Um.
S1 (31:10):
I'm sure that's in first Maccabees one nine. I just
haven't found it yet.
S6 (31:14):
Yes, but you've got to put yourself in their position.
You've got to put yourself in their position. Imagine if
you were in their shoes and they had become a
religious person, and they want to share with you their
cultish beliefs. Right? That's that's how they're kind of feeling.
And so that gives me an empathy and understanding of
why they're like they are with their arm stretched out
a bit. You know, just let's talk about other things
(31:36):
and not that. But there's the the wonderful question that
I just keep telling people about. Just ask anyone, you
can even do this with Uncle Arthur at the Christmas table. Um,
do you think there's an afterlife? You don't mention God, Jesus, heaven, hell,
the Bible, sin, righteousness and judgment. Just ask for his opinion.
Do you think there's an afterlife? And that can provoke
(31:56):
a wonderful conversation that can steer towards the things of God. Um.
Do you think there's an afterlife? Uncle Arthur, what do
you think? No, I don't think so. You don't think
there's heaven and hell? Do you believe in God? Do
you ever read the Bible? It says there's a heaven
and hell. Do you believe that? And as you know,
the Old Testament, God promised he would destroy death. In
the New Testament tells us how he did it. Did
you know that all you're doing is asking questions and
(32:19):
it can provoke thought and say, look, thanks for listening
to me. I really appreciate it. And I often do that.
Really thank people from my heart for listening to me,
because it's a privilege to share the gospel with someone
and for someone to give you their ear, give you
their time, and you're talking about the thing that matters most.
And that's what I often say to people say, you know,
no one talks about their fear of death. So we're
(32:39):
going to talk about that which matters most. You know,
what's going to happen to you when you die. And
they're all thinking about it. It's a horror beyond words.
And so to bring it out into the open is
a wonderful healing for them.
S1 (32:50):
Yeah. And also, you just exemplified the fact that asking
questions is non-controversial. It's non-confrontational, and it's a wonderful way
of dialoguing without someone thinking you're talking at them rather
than talking with them. I think so often as believers,
we're we're so and I understand that in most cases,
I think it comes from a good place. But just
listen first, right? I mean, if we use Jesus again
(33:12):
as our example, how did he know exactly the right
thing to say to a farmer or a fisherman or
a woman caught in the act of adultery? He was
aware and listening to what was happening before he gave
the response. I know he's God incarnate, but there's a
takeaway on how to effectively engage people, it seems to me.
S6 (33:27):
Yeah, and he's given us his Holy Spirit. The Holy
Spirit gives us wisdom and leads us into all truth
and gives us understanding. And so that's my great hope.
I often when I get onto my bike with my
dog wearing sunglasses, sunglasses are on the dog, not the bike.
And that's not a bad idea.
S1 (33:48):
That will get even more people talking to you, I'm sure.
S6 (33:50):
Yes. Yeah. So I'm just saying, Lord, if this is
a waste of time, if you don't help me, and
I often say, I don't know if you've seen the
video of Mario, a guy that I spoke to that
just broke down in tears and said, I think 5
million views or something like that. I often say to
the Lord as I get on the bike. Give me
a Mario. Give me a Mario. Someone whose heart you're prepared.
Someone who's got a humble heart and who will embrace
(34:12):
the gospel. Please give that to me, because I know
what it's going to do is multiply that gospel message
and get to the ears of literally millions. So that's
my earnest prayer.
S1 (34:22):
Wow. That's amazing. Talk to me. And there's so much
you want to ask you, but I want to do
a quick segue here and ask you to tell me
about the Pacific Rim trip. Now, in case people haven't
picked up on the accent. All right. You're from New Zealand,
and so the Pacific Rim is in that area. So
it's more than just going back to your homeland. What's
going on?
S6 (34:41):
Yeah, well, um, we've actually done the trip. It's been done.
It's been filmed, and it's in production at the moment. Yeah,
it's very exciting. I've seen I've seen a lot of
the footage. And what actually did is I sent the guys,
I didn't go, I stayed in California. I roughed it
at home.
S1 (35:00):
With your dog and the bike with the sunglasses. I've
all worked out. I got it, okay.
S6 (35:04):
And what they did is they fed that in. They
said while we're in, you know, Fiji and Tahiti and
Samoa raised back in California. And they just fed in
witnessing clips into the footage, which is just great. But
they went to Australia where they talk funny in Australia
and they, they went to Sydney, I think, in Melbourne
and preached on the streets there and witnessed two people.
(35:25):
Australia is pretty hard, uh, spiritually it's not like America.
Same with New Zealand, a pretty secular. But they trace
my steps. They went back to where I open air,
preached almost every day for 12 years. Uh, and I
crossed swords with a guy called the Wizard, a guy
who dressed like a wizard. And he was a friendly enemy.
He let me preach off his ladder often to his crowd,
(35:45):
and he had crowds like 3 or 400. It was
just wonderful. So they went back and spoke to him.
He's like 115 now. Well not quite. I think he's
in his late 80s. Uh, but they had a wonderful
we gave him an evidence Bible signed by me because
we haven't seen each other for about 35 years. And
he it was just very moving. And then they trace
the steps back to where I, um, where a portion
(36:06):
of sermon by Charles Spurgeon sparked my understanding of what
Jesus did when he opened up the commandments. And they
went back to where I actually found that. So it's
very interesting. And then they went to Tahiti and Fiji
and Samoa and Hawaii and, uh, it's very exciting. It's
the wow.
S1 (36:22):
When we come back, I want to. Well, that's exactly right. And,
you know, it's the whole truth of the whole gospel
to the whole world, including the Pacific Rim. A couple
of questions, because I want to ask you where we
can find that video. I've seen it, so I know
it's available of you taking that ladder from the wizard
and the friendship that developed there. So I want to
know how people can still see that. And then when
(36:43):
are we going to be able to see this completed trip?
Because it's going to be fantastic. Ray, comfort is with us.
Don't forget, we got a lot of information on our
information page back after this. We're spending the hour with
Ray comfort, who's the founder and CEO of Living Waters,
the author of so many books. great YouTube channel, the
list goes on and on and on. Just go to
(37:03):
Living waters.com, and there's just so many excellent resources out there.
Two that I have featured is one, the Blue Book
on Evangelism. It was explaining earlier, this is part of
their academy, and it really does break down how to
share the gospel and answers lots of tough questions. I
just pulled a couple that was how do you share
the gospel with your family members? And then another new
booklet that he's got out is called Nutshell Answers The
(37:24):
Top ten Objections to Christianity. I'm going to touch on
that in a bit, but I left two hanging participles.
One is I love the story about the relationship you
have with, quote, the wizard and how he really turned
around and said, okay, I've got this audience now you
get to share the gospel with them. And there was
a friendship that ensued as a result of that, I
got to see that video. I don't know how in
the world I did. Is it still available for people
(37:45):
to see?
S6 (37:46):
Yeah, it's called The Full Effect and it's about me.
I'm the Fool, and it's a very compelling story. And
it starts off with a wizard where it all started,
and you see him in his prime on his ladder,
and it was the day I left to come to
live in the US. And it's a very moving moment.
S1 (38:05):
Yeah, absolutely. And yet you still left an indelible mark
because he took that Bible and he remembered you. And
how precious is that? You know, again, God is not
willing that any should perish. Let's hope he comes to
read that book and know the Lord is his personal
Savior before he steps into eternity. The other part is
the series looks absolutely fabulous. I mean, you don't stop
and think unless you're a missionary and that's where your
(38:27):
heart or your mission serves. You're not thinking about Fiji
and Tahiti and all of these other areas, and yet
it's still the gospel of Jesus Christ. So when you
put this all together, because I can't wait to see it.
S6 (38:38):
You can see it now on living TV, TV. Living
waters TV. It's all there, ready to go. And all
the other episodes that we've got 165 episodes, uh, on
that same platform.
S1 (38:53):
And that is a new. That's a relatively new platform,
isn't it? Right.
S6 (38:56):
Yes. Yes, it's yes. Brand new. Um, did you see
the series? Went to Europe and preached the gospel in
13 countries in 13 days. That was a wonderful time.
I think I might have told you before that the
whole idea, my idea was they would eat healthy and
get plenty of sleep. And after three days we were
eating fast food and no one had been to sleep.
It was just. It was crazy.
S1 (39:18):
Wow. But it's exhilarating, isn't it? To be able to
share and to see the different response. And it doesn't
make any difference whether you live in Paris or whether
you live in Fiji. It's still the same God shaped
void in the human heart. It's still the same Savior.
It's still the same gospel message. And that to me,
always just underscores the power and the authority of the Scripture.
There isn't a European version and a Pacific Rim version.
(39:39):
It's one message of salvation and one. Well, like the
Bible tells us, one faith, one baptism, right? I mean,
it's the same wherever you go, which I think is fabulous.
You touched quickly on the climate, and I'm fascinated by this,
that it's kind of hard spiritually for New Zealand and Australia.
Why do you think that is?
S6 (39:57):
I'm not sure. America. I remember when I first came
over here, 1350 Christian radio stations, and there was New
Zealand had one Christian radio station. It took 13 years
to get a licence. Australia didn't have any because that's
just a land of criminals and Ken Ham. And so
they're very hard and secular.
S1 (40:17):
Less people saw that slip in. Exactly. Okay, good.
S6 (40:22):
We text each other every day. Have done for years.
Most texts we've ever done with each other is 220
in 1 day. All of them are insults from him
saying how ugly I am because he can't. He can't
show love. He's Australian, so he does it in insults.
S1 (40:38):
But I got to tell you what. Speaking of him,
this is a diversion, but I'm glad we're taking it.
You posted two days ago that the media was lying
about Ken Ham's arc. Talk to me about this. I
thought this was fascinating.
S6 (40:51):
Yes. The Associated Press did a little video on the Ark.
It hasn't had that many views with No wonder. And
they just filmed nobody there. And it was just crazy.
They filmed the big, big boat and no one standing
around it. Then they two people going through the museum.
And so I said, they're just not being truthful here.
And so I got footage of hundreds or even thousands
(41:14):
lining up to see that ark. And I've been to
the Smithsonian Institute and in DC, I think it is.
And it's nothing compared to the Ark. The ark is
so classily done. I'm just surprised Ken had anything to
do with it.
S1 (41:27):
Well, there's slipped by again, but you got to pay
attention here. Well, you know, what's interesting is a couple
of stories. Number one, remember last week they talked again
about they think this might be the remains of a boat,
and it's on a mountain in Turkey. And that kind
of resurfaces on a regular basis. And the other thing, too,
is it's the anniversary of the infamous scopes trial. So
(41:48):
I'm thinking, okay, in the newsroom, that was the angle
they were going to take. So I don't know, let's
go to those crazy creationists. And so we'll talk about
what's going on at the Ark. And yet, as you say,
it draws people from around the world. And so you
put together a wonderful video supporting him and pointing out
the fact that there was such a surprise. We repeat ourselves,
such dishonesty in the secular press reporting about the popularity
(42:11):
of this.
S6 (42:12):
Absolutely. And if you want to upset Ken Ham, call
it a boat, I always do. He says it's not
a boat. I says, I like your boat, Ken. It's
got New Zealand wood in it, hasn't it? Because they
use New Zealand wood for the ark, so you can't
get past that.
S1 (42:26):
Oh dear. And you'll never be able to claim Australian wood. Right.
There you go.
S6 (42:29):
That's right. Amazing.
S1 (42:31):
Let me touch quickly. Let me touch quickly on the
booklet which is wonderful. Nutshell answers. And it's the top
ten objections to Christianity. You can get a copy by
clicking on through and finding out how you can purchase
some of these and do it. And they're wonderful gospel tracts,
by the way, part of Ken's bio and I should
read this every time is always. He's never left his
house without a gospel track in decades.
S6 (42:54):
And did you say Ken's bio?
S1 (42:56):
Did I say.
S6 (42:56):
I think you did. Okay, this interview is over.
S7 (43:00):
It's now over. It's finished. Exactly.
S1 (43:02):
Sorry, Ken. We'll get back to me later on that one.
S7 (43:05):
So you never leave without a track.
S1 (43:09):
So in this, you take a look at 50 or
10 questions, which I think are terrific. Let me just
pull one out. And that is an objection that says
a loving God wouldn't send people to hell. Talk to
me about this.
S6 (43:20):
Yeah. Loving God. God doesn't send anyone to hell. Sin
takes them there. The same as a judge. Judge doesn't judge,
doesn't send someone to prison. His crimes send him there.
And that's what people don't understand. The judge just carries
out justice. And on Judgment Day, God will do that
which is right. And that's a fearful thing when you
realize your own guilt and your own secret sins.
S1 (43:39):
Yeah. Amen and amen. Now, that's one of ten objections.
These are marvelous gospel tracts to be able to use
and to teach yourself. Because you're going to hear these
things in the marketplace, you're going to know how to respond.
So living waters calm living waters dot fabulous new streaming
platform with content that's out of this world, quite literally.
So this trip on the Pacific Rim that's now up
(44:01):
there for you to be able to watch the Blue
Book on evangelism. I've got that as a direct link
so you can find out how to get your copy
in this marvelous little booklet called Nutshell Answers the top
ten Objections to Christianity direct link for those but a
ton of resources at Living waters.com. And just don't forget,
go to YouTube, put in the word Living waters, subscribe
to the channel. And I don't know how his team
(44:22):
does this, but I'm telling you, there's fresh material there constantly.
I can't keep up, but every minute I spend watching
those is an encouragement to me. It's a tutorial for me,
and quite frankly, it puts fire in my bones to
want to share the good news of Jesus Christ. Love
you Ray. Thank you for all that you do. Love
our conversations. Thank you friend. Check out all the resources
and then ask the Lord to open the door of
opportunity and go and tell somebody the good news. Thanks friends.
(44:45):
We'll see you next time on In the Market with
Janet Parshall.
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