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Without this, you cannot evangelize

Evangelist Ray Comfort, who produced the pro-life film “180,” passes out DVD copies of the 33-minute video at UCLA, Oct. 25, 2011.
Evangelist Ray Comfort, who produced the pro-life film “180,” passes out DVD copies of the 33-minute video at UCLA, Oct. 25, 2011. | (Photo: CJScott/Carol Scott)

It's love. Those who love must evangelize. Even a hardened atheist knows that. Penn Jillette (of Penn & Teller fame) said that a Christian who believes Hell exists and yet doesn't warn unsaved people is hateful. And he's right.

So you're a professing Christian, you don't reach out to the lost, and that makes you a little nervous about your salvation. To be blunt, it would mean Hell and not Heaven. What should you then do? First, don't evangelize! Not yet. If you're a false convert, your lack of concern for the lost is just a symptom that reveals you've never been saved in the first place. It would be very wise, therefore, not to put the cart before the horse. You instead need to truly repent and trust in Jesus alone.

This is often called a "rededication" or a "recommitment." Call it what you will, but whatever you do, make your call and election sure (2 Peter 1:10). Cry out to God and fling yourself on His mercy right now, and when you've tasted that the Lord is good, evangelism will simply be evidence of your salvation. The horse will be before the cart.

One way then to become effective as a witness of Jesus Christ is to always carry gospel tracts on your person. That's what I've done almost from the moment I was saved. As a ministry, we not only offer unique tracts and evangelism resources to help you, but we provide evangelism training in the form of video courses, book studies, and even a three-day Academy here in Southern California—where we take you onto the streets for one-on-one witnessing and open-air preaching in Hollywood and other locations.

Once you truly know the Lord, you will be horrified that millions of human beings just like you and me will end up in Hell if they die in their sins. So, you will live to share your faith—to share the gospel with the dying world that surrounds you.

While many rightly frown on the Internet because it contains so much evil, I thank God for it because it has opened doors to the ungodly through our Christian movies. Our Living Waters YouTube channel has had over 60,000,000 views, and we opted not to receive the income from advertising at the beginning of each clip because we didn't want the ads to distract or hinder the gospel. These videos aren't freely online for entertainment—entertaining though they may be to some. They are to reach the lost, and to train you in street witnessing and apologetics, showing how you can effectively reach this dying world through biblical evangelism. If you like evangelistic movies that make the way of salvation very clear, we have created several movies on topics of interest to today's society. Share these freely with your friends, enemies, coworkers, strangers, and family. Share them with anyone who is breathing. That's the only criteria.

If you know people who aren't Christians, or who think they are saved but don't have the things that accompany salvation, don't just tell them to watch our clips and movies. Instead, mix in a little discretion, by saying, "I'd appreciate hearing your opinion about this movie." That will make them feel that what they think is valued, and it will give them a genuine incentive for watching.

In the past, many Christian films have had both cheesy acting and less-than-stellar production. That's a nice way of saying they were pretty awful. We wanted to produce films that you'd be proud to show your unsaved friends and family. We hopefully did our part, and we would be grateful if you would do yours by helping us get these videos to the unsaved.

And as many come to faith in Christ, we will rejoice together: "So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase" (1 Corinthians 3:7).

Ray Comfort is the Founder and CEO of Living Waters and the bestselling author of more than 80 books, including God Has a Wonderful Plan for Your Life, How to Know God Exists, and The Evidence Bible. He cohosts the award-winning television program "Way of the Master," seen in almost 200 countries, and is the Executive Producer of "180," "Evolution vs. God," "Audacity," and other films. He is married to Sue and has three grown children, and hasn't left the house without gospel tracts for decades. You can learn more about his ministry at LivingWaters.com.

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