Evangelism Expert Says Soul Winning Begins with Ten Commandments
by Allie Martin
April 6, 2004
(AgapePress) - A southern California evangelist says when it comes to witnessing, Christians need to follow Christ's example -- starting not with God's love, but with God's law.Ray Comfort has taken to the streets virtually every day for more than a decade, sharing the gospel in public places. And the evangelist says whenever he shares the plan of salvation with someone, he always starts with the Ten Commandments.
Comfort says Jesus, as well as the effective evangelists of the early 20th century, used the same method. "They would always preach the moral law before they preached the gospel," the evangelism specialist says, "and by that I mean the Ten Commandments."
Those effective soul winners saw the need to "turn the soil of the heart of the sinner before they planted the seed of the gospel," Comfort says. He explains that the principle is similar to one of the rules of successful farming:
"You don't take good seed and cast it on the hard soil," he says, "or you're going to get a disappointing harvest. What you do is you prepare the soil. You break it up and then you cast the seed. Good seed, good soil, good harvest."
The Southern California street preacher believes evangelism methods that fail to focus on God's law and His judgment are in danger of producing false converts. He says modern methods of evangelizing often fail to produce true penitence in sinners' hearts.
Comfort says there are countless masses of people who say they are Christians, but whose lives prove that they are not. "They're not living in holiness," he says, "and on the day of judgment, they'll cry out to Jesus, 'Lord, Lord ...' and He'll say 'Depart from me you worker of iniquity. I never knew you.'"
The evangelist explains that iniquity means lawless rebellion against God's statutes, and that understanding about the law of God is pivotal to a person's conversion. "Scripture says let everyone that names the name of Christ depart from iniquity -- that same word, which means lawlessness. If there's no regard of the divine law, they'll be no knowledge of sin. If there's no knowledge of sin, there's no repentance," he says.
Comfort has teamed up with actor Kirk Cameron to provide believers with training and resources for effective witnessing. Their ministry is called "The Way of the Master."
