Ray Comfort's Blog, page 70

Media Bias of the Worst Kind

There is an interesting parallel between the 33 rescued Chilean minors and the rescuing of lost sinners. The Bible describes the state of the unsaved--"without hope;" "in darkness"…waiting for death to come.

But in Jesus Christ, we are "translated from darkness to light" and given a "living hope." Jesus "came down" and rescued us from the cursed, stale, lifeless grave of a very dark world.

I can't express the joy I have had from the moment I, by the grace of God, burst into the "glorious light."

Of course the miners didn't feel that way about God; not from what a bias media told us: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONQBqOCApC4For Evangelism Resources, please visit LivingWaters.com.

I Almost Met the Professor...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTElttRJ1dwFor Evangelism Resources, please visit LivingWaters.com.

Atheists' Ironic Preoccupation

"Did you see the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life released the results of a survey showing that Atheists an Agnostics know more on religion than...Well the religious. especially the Christians? Just curious to your take on this since you have dealt with our kind for awhile." Caveman73

The survey showed that atheists are more preoccupied with God than the average uncommitted church-goer. For them, it's not a one-hour once-a-week thing. It's 24/7. Atheists think, write, talk, and text about God. They put up billboards, make DVD's, and write books about God. They religiously gather together and confirm each other's beliefs about how God doesn't exist.

It's a kind of infatuation that could even be termed "religious zeal" by psychology. This preoccupation with what they believe is non-existent, exists because atheists have nothing to do. They have no purpose in existence, and this gives them one. If God didn't exist, neither would they.

They hang around Christians like little bugs around a warm camp-fire. I have been bugged by atheists for years, but have developed an immunity to their jabs of poison. I've become as thick-skinned as a not-quite-ripe banana.

To be honest, I enjoy their presence. In more than three years of blogging, I have only had to swat two of them. Come to think about it, I don't think that I've ever met an atheist I didn't like.For Evangelism Resources, please visit LivingWaters.com.

The Promise of Immortality

"Ray, can you provide some proof that Muslims don't have as deep a relationship with Allah as you do with Jesus Christ?" Deb.

I have spoken to many Muslims, as well as studied their religion, and can tell you that they don't have any assurance (as does the Christian) that they will make it to Heaven. For the Muslim, the decision of Heaven or Hell will be made by God on Judgment Day.

Ask them yourself and you will find that they have no idea where they will spend eternity. That's why they strive to do religious works, because their salvation is based on human effort, rather than on the grace of God.

The Christian's relationship with God, however, (his peace, joy, gratitude, love for God, etc.) is build on trust in His promise that because he trusts in Jesus, he is forgiven, and therefore has everlasting life. It has nothing to do with doing any religious works. Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, without any works. Good works issue from his faith, but they have no part in his salvation.

We are saved because of God's goodness, not ours--because we don't have any. A Muslim has no such promise of immortality. You probably won't see this as as any sort of evidence because it's theological in nature. Still, what evidence could I provide that would convince you? The issue comes back to subjectivity, as does almost everything in this life.For Evangelism Resources, please visit LivingWaters.com.

Welcome to the Atheist Church

"And it came to pass on a certain day, as he was teaching, that there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, which were come out of every town of Galilee, and Judaea, and Jerusalem: and the power of the Lord was present to heal them. And, behold, men brought in a bed a man which was taken with a palsy: and they sought means to bring him in, and to lay him before him. And when they could not find by what way they might bring him in because of the multitude, they went upon the housetop, and let him down through the tiling with his couch into the midst before Jesus. And when he saw their faith, he said to him, Man, thy sins are forgiven you. And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone? But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answering said to them, What do you reason in your hearts? Which is easier, to say, Your sins are forgiven you; or to say, Rise up and walk? But that you may know that the Son of man has power upon earth to forgive sins, (he said unto the sick of the palsy,) I say to you, Arise, and take up your couch, and go into your house. And immediately he rose up before them, and took up that whereon he lay, and departed to his own house, glorifying God. And they were all amazed, and they glorified God, and were filled with fear, saying, We have seen strange things to day" (Luke 4:17-26).

Strange things happened indeed. It's not every day that these people saw a paralyzed man miraculously healed, and he was healed because "the power of the Lord was present to heal." God is omniscient (He dwells everywhere), but on this particular occasion He was present to heal. The reason for this was because faith was present, and without faith, it's impossible to please God (see Hebrews 11:6).

Without faith, it's almost impossible to please anyone. Tell your spouse that you don't have any faith in him or her, and watch the reaction. Tell it to your professor that you don't trust him. Or how about telling your boss that you have no faith in him at all, and see how long you have a job.

So many people were pressing in to hear Jesus of Nazareth and to see His miracles that there was no room for these men to take their paralyzed friend to the Savior. So they let him down through the roof, and when Jesus saw their faith, He raised the paralyzed man from his sick-bed. So it goes to show that when your friends let you down, Jesus will raise you up.

But He didn't just raise him up and heal his paralyzed body. He forgave his sins. There is no point in healing a sinner's body and having him end up in Hell. He forgave His sins because He had the power to forgive sins--He was God in human form.

The best friends you have ever had are those who bring you to Jesus, because without Him you are nothing but a paralyzed human being. You are waiting to die, and you can't do anything to help yourself. It's just a matter of time. Today, may you find that what you thought would be the biggest let-down of your life--coming to Jesus Christ, is the most incredible thing that can ever happen to any human being. They find everlasting life.For Evangelism Resources, please visit LivingWaters.com.

Talking to Yourself . . .

"Sometimes I ask myself... Who Would Jesus Mock?" Lurker

Stop asking yourself the question, and instead read your Bible, and you will see that Jesus mocked the religious leaders and others--calling them all sort of bad names--snakes, dogs, hypocrites, blind guides, and even camel-swallowers and gnat-strainers. I'm sure He would call you a fool because of your professed atheism (oh...He already did--see Psalm 14:1). Look at how God mocks rebellious sinners:

"Surely I will pour out my spirit on you; I will make my words known to you. Because I have called and you refused, I have stretched out my hand and no one regarded, because you disdained all my counsel, and would have none of my rebuke, I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your terror comes, when your terror comes like a storm, and your destruction comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you" (Proverbs 1:23-27).

The problem is that you have this strange but common view of Jesus--as though He was some sort of pale-faced and weak pacifist, who turned the other cheek because He didn't have the strength of character to fight back. But the principle of "turn the cheek" is, you go ahead and hit me if you wish and I won't hit you back--God will, if He sees fit to do so.

This is what the Bible says of Jesus and why He didn't fight back:

"Who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth; Who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously..."(1 Peter 2:22-23).

The first time Jesus came, He came as the sacrificial Lamb of God, meek and lowly, to suffer for the sin of the world. The second time He comes, He will come as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, to bring Justice to a wicked world:

"This same Jesus is when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, when He comes, in that Day, to be glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who believe, because our testimony among you was believed" (2 Thessalonians 7:10).

So make sure you trust in His mercy, through repentance and faith in Him, or you will come until His terrible wrath:

"He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son. And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life" (1 John 5:10-12).For Evangelism Resources, please visit LivingWaters.com.

Atheists Ignore Dawkin's Advice

As you may remember, last year teams passed out more than 220,000 copies of Darwin's Origin of Species, which contained a 50-page Foreword explaining Intelligent Design and presenting the gospel. Approximately 170,000 of these were given to students in 100 of America's top universities.

A clearly angered Richard Dawkins, who had encouraged students to tear out the Foreword, called me "an idiot" on CNN when asked for his thoughts on the giveaway. In March of 2010, when the Professor lectured in Australia and New Zealand, teams gave away over 20,000 books at his meetings. On that occasion he called me a "flat-earther."

During this past week, Professor Dawkins has been speaking in five U.S. universities, so we made sure that books were given away at every meeting. In New York City, after he held up a copy of the book (pictured) and told students to ignore it, students ignored him, and a thousand of them took copies.

The problem with any message is getting it to the people you want to reach. Over the last week we have been able to get the book directly into the hands of thousands of atheists throughout the country. I was so delighted that the professor had pulled them all together for us, that I sent him a gift basket and a thank you note. Last night we gave out over 800 books in Pasadena. When Professor Dawkins was offered another book, he refused and said, "Oh, he's here too."

Promotional literature for his tour said, "Science can provide the answers to many of the questions life on earth poses; questions previously considered better addressed by spiritual authorities." That's just not true. Believers in evolution haven't a clue where we came from, what we are doing here, or where we go after we die. To look to professor Dawkins for answers to life's big questions, is like looking to a blind man for advice about what color you should paint your house.For Evangelism Resources, please visit LivingWaters.com.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RAAhT... Evangelism ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RAAhTL4ArgFor Evangelism Resources, please visit LivingWaters.com.

Scientific Experiment

Could it be that this entire universe was the result of random chance, with no Intelligent Designer? I am thinking of conducting an experiment to see if it could be.

We have 12 chickens in a coop. They are confined to an area of about 100 square feet. I will get 12 laptops, put them in the coop, and see how long it takes for them to put their feet square on the keys and type out the complete works of William Shakespeare. The moment they complete the work, it will prove that chance can create design. All it takes is time. The key is time.

But that also poses a couple of problems. Chickens die off every few years, so they will need to be replaced. So will the laptops. And they will need to link to one screen, and the person waiting for Hamlet, etc., to appear will also die off, in time.

Then there's the continuing cost of the laptops and their replacements. Perhaps Microsoft would like to be a sponsor.

This whole thing could take some time. I had better give it some serious thought. I think that's what was missing in the first place. Thought.For Evangelism Resources, please visit LivingWaters.com.

One Bill to Another

I'm not a big fan of Bill O'Reilly. I watch his program but often change the channel because of the content. However, I was thrilled with his recent interview with Bill Maher. Maher calls anyone who believes in God an idiot, and he used the old, "The Bible says that if you find your neighbor working on a Sunday, you are to kill him" to show how dumb Christians are.

He then backed up his statement by saying that the verse was in the book of Deuteronomy. Maher not only got the book wrong (it's in Exodus), but he got the day wrong, and he got the interpretation wrong. Nowhere are Christians told to kill someone who works on the Sabbath. The verse is from Mosaic civil law for the ancient Hebrew nation. It has nothing to do with Christians in America, 3,000 years later.

O'Reilly said that he personally lived by the New Testament--where Jesus said to love your neighbor as yourself, and not to go around calling people "idiots." He didn't use well-thought-out presuppositional apologetics. Neither did he confound Maher with powerful biblical theology, but by saying what he did, he made the normally quick-witted and confident Maher look like a bitter, intolerant, hate-filled, didn't-have-my-facts together Christ-ophobic. Which he is.

Never mind. Mr. Maher will retreat to the safety of his fan-base to confirm his beliefs, and get his confidence back.

Pic. Angela GeorgeFor Evangelism Resources, please visit LivingWaters.com.