Ray Comfort's Blog, page 25

Words of Comfort: Full Armor.

Ephesians 6:11-12 we are told to put on the whole armor of God. Many Christians are truthful. They have their heart free of sin, they are sure of their salvation, they rightly use the Word of God. But they are shoeless—they are not prepared to share the gospel. Those who do not advance the cause of the gospel are stationary soldiers; any evangelistic movement is too painful for them. If they are not seeking to save the lost, they are not taking ground for the kingdom of God. Pa...

Words of Comfort: Argument Against the Bible.

“The only real argument against the Bible is an unholy life. When a man argues against the Word of God, follow him home, and see if you cannot discover the reason of his enmity to the Word ofthe Lord. It lies in some sort of sin.” 
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Words of Comfort: Better than Gold.

For the Christian, every day should be Thanksgiving Day. We should be thankful even in the midst of problems. The apostle Paul said, “I am exceedingly joyful in all our tribulation” (2 Corinthians 7:4). He knew that God was working all things together for his good, even his trials (Romans 8:28). Problems will come your way. God will see to it personally that you grow as a Christian. He will allow storms, to send your roots deep into the soil of His Word. We also pray more in th...

Words of Comfort: “Adam didn’t die..."

“Adam didn’t die the day God said he would!”
He certainly did. He died spiritually. The moment he sinned, he became “dead in trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1). Ezekiel 18:4 says, “The soul that sins, it shall die.” It is because we are born spiritually dead that Jesus came to give us spiritual life (John 5:40; 10:10; 14:6; etc.). This is why Jesus told us that we must be born again (John 3:3). When we repent of our sins and believe in Jesus Christ, the Bible tells us that we “pass from deat...

Words of Comfort: Ever-shifting Teachings.

“We are invited, brethren, most earnestly to go away from the old-fashioned belief of our forefathers because of the supposed discoveries of science. What is science? The method by which man tries to hide his ignorance. It should not be so, but so it is. You are not to be dogmatical in theology, my brethren, it is wicked; but for scientific men it is the correct thing. You are never to assert anything very strongly; but scientists may boldly assert what they cannot prove, and may demand...

We're Moving...

As from tomorrow this blog will roll over to another site, where we plan to improve and enlarge each day’s content.

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For Evangelism Resources, please visit LivingWaters.com.

Five Bullets

When John Lennon’s murderer was at a recent parole hearing, the media reported “He has a ‘deep relationship with Christ’ that started when he was in a Christian camp at age 16.” The killer said, “When Mr. Lennon passed me I turned, pulled out my weapon and shot him in the back…I emptied the revolver. Five bullets….I was a Christian before I committed my crime.”

Wait a minute. Christians love their enemies. They don’t lie, they don’t steal, they take illegal drugs, neither do they hate, blaspheme, rape, get drunk, fornicate, or commit adultery. They live in holiness, and they read their Bibles regularly, and not only believe they Scriptures, they obey them. 
And by the way, they don’t murder people. False converts do.

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For Evangelism Resources, please visit LivingWaters.com.

Democrats and God

The Democratic Party’s flip-flop and the resulting anger and confusion about whether or not to put reference to God into their platform, highlighted the great weakness in our political system. The Yes and No vote is reminiscent of another vote that was taken 2,000 years ago, which resulted in the one-man steering committee washing his hands of the whole process.

This is what happens when a nation abandons the Bible as its moral guide. It has no rudder in the stormy sea of human opinion, so it is driven by whatever wind blows the hardest. When the Bible is abandoned, the question is asked, “Is killing a child in the womb morally okay?” The answer comes from those who yell the loudest. The same applies with homosexuality and other moral issues. Abraham Lincoln once said, “Our government rests in public opinion. Whoever can change public opinion, can change the government…” That becomes a weakness and not strength, when the Bible is left out of the equation.

The Scriptures are “a lamp to our feet and a light to out path.” When they are ignored we are left in moral darkness and we will soon forget the truth of the words “God mend thine every flaw, Confirm thy soul in self-control, Thy liberty in law!” Thomas Jefferson said "The greatest danger to American freedom is a government that ignores the Constitution." I propose a small amendment to his words. They should read, "The greatest danger to American freedom is a government that ignores the Scriptures and treats the Constitution as though it was the Word of God."

This fiasco should also remind us of Lincoln’s, “Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right.”



For Evangelism Resources, please visit LivingWaters.com.

Hospitals Kill Two Million in Ten Years

An atheist once asked me "Ray, if my kid gets sick should I take him to the doctors? Or would that be interfering with the work of your God in his life?"

Should a Christian use medicine, or should we simply trust God to heal us when we are sick? The Bible has the answer. It was the wisdom of Solomon (in Proverbs 17:22) that said that a merry heart does good "like a medicine". So it’s not just a merry heart that does good. Medicines also do us good.

Here’s what Sue and I would do when our kids were young and became sick. We would pray for them, and take them to the doctor if it was more than a minor complaint. If the doctor saw fit to put him in the hospital, we would pray even more--that God would give wisdom to the doctors, because hospitals have become very dangerous places.

You may not realize it, but around 40,000 people die on roads in the United States each year. However, a massive 200,000 people die in hospitals because of medical mistakes and infections. That means that in ten years two million people die while in the care of our medical professionals. That’s frightening and that fact should make us want to pray.

One way to keep out of hospitals is to control our appetite. Listen to the somewhat cutting verse from Proverbs 23:2 about that appetite we so often have to fight: “And put a knife to your throat.” If you are a man or woman given to appetite, you must learn to cultivate the virtue of self-control. There are many serious complications and terrible diseases that result in an untimely death, that come with obesity.

An incredible 58 million Americans are overweight, while 40 million are obese, and three million morbidly obese. You pastor and friends may not feel comfortable telling you that you are killing yourself with your knife and fork, but I can. Think of it--40 million Americans are obese! No wonder our health care system is staggering under the weight of that overload.

I have to tell you that I am not overweight, but I do have a monster of an appetite within me that wants me to be overweight. That monster wants control, and I have to daily beat him into submission. His name is “Adam,” (that is, my sinful nature) and he not only wants control of my mouth, but also my eyes, ears, tongue and my mind. If I give in to him, the Bible says that the result will be death. So I have no choice. I have to fight with everything I have.

By the way, obesity is not always caused genetically, as some maintain. Neither is it a disease (although some medical conditions and certain foods may cause weight gain). When the Americans liberated those who were in concentration camps in 1945, they found that there were no obese people. They were all skinny. Obesity is almost always caused by self-indulgence--by eating too much food or by eating the wrong food. A good rule to live by for healthy living, is: "If God created it (vegetables, fruit, etc.), eat it. If man has messed with it, read the label, carefully."

So here’s some practical advice. Serve your meal up on a small plate. It will look like more. Then leave something on the plate and put it in the refrigerator for later. Drink hot drinks where the monster roars and wants to be feed. That can often help, and make sure you read your Bible daily. It’s God’s instruction book on how to live this life, and how to get to the next. Don’t ignore it.

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For Evangelism Resources, please visit LivingWaters.com.

Get Here, Now! Mr. President

Most people pray. Sadly, much of our praying is a little selfish. We pray to get something or someone, to win a game or to get health or wealth. Many end up disillusioned. They don’t get what they want. There are a few who simply pray that God would appear, or do some miracles before they will even believe in His existence. They want some sort of “sign,” then they will believe.

But I wonder what you would think of the mentality of someone who said "Some time ago I emailed the White House and told the President that he needed to be at my house last Friday, with a gift for me. He didn’t show up, so I believe that he doesn’t exist." I’m sure you would think that that person was either naive or mentally challenged.

If you have ever prayed for something and felt that your prayer didn't get past the ceiling, you are probably right. Just as there is a certain procedure that you must go through to have an audience with the President, so there is certain procedure that you must go through to have an audience with God, or you want get one. You have His promise on that.

Here’s some information that may help you. The first thing to understand is that we are enemies of God, and that His wrath abides on us until we come to faith in Jesus. John 3:36 says “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” We are rebels. So the odds of getting an audience are greatly stacked against us.

The Bible even tells us that our sins have made a separation between us and God, so that He will not hear us. You can read that in Isaiah 59. The Scriptures tell us that He resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. So it would be wise to stop clicking our fingers and expecting God to come running like some sort of divine butler. It doesn’t work that way.

Listen to James 4:3-4): “You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” So, if you want an audience with God, you need to become a friend of God, and you can do that by surrendering to His will. Once you have His smile, then you have His ear, so to speak. And to get His smile you and I must humble ourselves, repent, and trust the Savior--and that will give you direct access so that, as the Bible says, “you can come boldly before the Throne of Grace.”

Then make sure you understand that God always answers prayer. That way you will never be disappointed. Sometimes He says "Yes" and grants our desires. Sometimes He says "No" and doesn’t. Other times He makes us wait so that we learn to exercise faith and patience.

Most people don’t understand that there are at least two types of the will of God. There’s His permissive will, where He will allow things to happen to the Christian. These may not seem to be beneficial for us--trials, tribulations and persecution, but God promises to work these things out for our good, in the light of eternity.

Then there is the perfect will of God, and you can read all about that in His Word--the Bible. 
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