Evangelist: Commandments Basis for Effective Evangelism
by Allie Martin
February 8, 2005
(AgapePress) - A California evangelist and street preacher says Christians must use current events in the news as a bridge to discuss the gospel with those who are lost.Ray Comfort is president of Living Waters Ministries, which equips Christians to share their faith as Jesus did: using the law -- the Ten Commandments -- to let people see their need for a Savior. Based in Bellflower, between Los Angeles and Long Beach, Comfort's ministry regularly has opportunities to witness to many in the entertainment industry. The evangelist says events such as the recent death of entertainer Johnny Carson can be used as a springboard to present the gospel.
"When a celebrity like this dies, it reminds everybody that we have an appointment to keep -- and it's something that people don't normally talk about [because] we're very proud," Comfort says. "You get 30 or 40 people in a room or maybe in an airport, they don't lean across to each other and say 'Boy, I think about dying all the time. Do you?'"
Comfort says people will not commonly do that -- "so it's up to the Christian to bring the subject up," he says. And when they do bring it up, he adds, Christians should be emphasizing the righteousness of Christ and man's need for that righteousness because of sin. True repentance, he says, is an aspect of the conversion to Christ that is often overlooked in "seeker-sensitive" methods of evangelism.
"That's the only reason we should come to Him: seeking forgiveness for our sins -- not seeking improvement in our lifestyle," he says. "That's not biblical to proclaim that, and it's certainly not biblical to say it when you look at what happened to first eleven disciples; they were all martyred horribly for their faith."
And if one were to read John Foxe's Book of Martyrs, Comfort says "it's kind of hard to reconcile that with the [message] that God has a wonderful plan for your life."
Comfort says evangelists such as Charles Spurgeon, Oswald J. Smith, and A.W. Tozer would have considered it heresy to tell someone about Christ without first taking them through the Ten Commandments.
Comfort also produces a weekly television show with former sitcom star Kirk Cameron. The program is called "The Way of the Master."
