By Jim Towers
You don’t have to be a preacher, pastor or Jehovah’s Witness to be an evangelist. As a matter of fact it may be an asset for you to just be yourself. Today, God needs all the help He can muster to reach out to a hurting humanity with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
I admit that this was an unusually active day, but being a “people” person I enjoy such a day as this.
Today before going to the gym I checked my e-mail. A loyal reader whom I’ve come to know mailed me from her cell phone. She desperately needed my advice on how to handle a potential suicide. It seems her husband’s friend was suicidal because of the trauma he had recently gone through with the death of his mother. As if that wasn’t enough, his girlfriend broke up with him on his birthday. Now he was teetering on suicide, feeling he didn’t have a friend in the world. I told her what steps I would take. She wrote back later saying she had followed my advice, which was to get him to repent for not making God a part of his life, receive Jesus Christ into his heart, get baptized, begin studying the Bible and join a Bible-believing church.
That is my approach, since most unbelievers are either atheists, agnostics or know nothing about the things of God. If a person is sincerely seeking God’s face for one reason or another they must admit that they have ignored Him in their lives. Of every person I’ve led to Christ in this way no one has ever denied doing so.
Today I look for every opportunity to share Christ with a hurting humanity.
While pedaling the stationary bike and watching the news about Trump’s visit to Jerusalem, it dawned on me that this could be the lead up to the war of Gog and Magog. The night before, I had read that Trump had bombed Syria once again and I was reminded that Damascus would be completely destroyed in the last days. Trump is intent on destroying Isis, and Damascus is their gathering place. In that same news clip the word “peace” came up again and again. We all know that the Bible says, “They shall say peace, peace, and all of a sudden destruction.” Folks, it’s all happening right before our very eyes.
I thought about how the Lord had prompted me to talk to Frank for the past two weeks. Now after seeing that news report at the gym I was determined to stop and warn him. After working out I had to pass by Frank’s house on my way home. I had met Frank a couple of years ago. He is a big burly mechanic with big rough hands. I needed my lawn mower fixed and I had neglected to share Christ with him. We hit it off immediately and I found him to be a gentlemanly and intelligent person in spite of his rough appearance. Lately he had been on my mind and I felt compelled to stop by and share the gospel with him. Upon my arrival I told him that the Lord had laid it on my heart to stop and share the gospel with him. Out of curiosity I asked if he had been praying and seeking God’s face.
It was the wrong question – to which he gave the right answer. “You can’t see God’s face, God is a spirit and you can only see his reflection in the face of His Son Jesus Christ.” It was not at all what I expected to hear. Then he explained himself, saying, “I was raised a Jehovah’s Witness and I don’t want anything to do with no church.”
I met all of his rebuttals with sensible answers, since I had heard all of the resistant blather before.
Then out of the blue he said, “If I were to go I would go to such and such a church.” I knew that church to be a Bible believing one and I agreed that it would be a good choice. What that response told me was that he wasn’t about to go back to the Jehovah’s Witness Kingdom Hall and had been thinking about attending a Bible believing one instead.
A young friend of his who had been listening piped up, “I ain’t going to no church either.”
I let them both give off steam, and then reminded them that things were getting hairy out there in the world and that they should both seek the Lord. I left my card and a tract with the name of my church on it. I had fulfilled my mission with no hard feelings on either side. I felt confident that God would take it from there.
After lunch I had to make another run downtown and on the way I stopped to get coffee at the donut shop. While there I met a lady who confessed that she was terribly afraid of all that was going on in the world, but couldn’t understand it. I told her she could find verification for the end time chaos in the Bible and gave her my card. She said she was Episcopalian and dreaded that Trump was now our president. Although I will discuss politics, I didn’t go there. This wasn’t the time to get into that and it won’t matter one way or another if prophecy is being fulfilled. Only Jesus can bring peace to this fallen world.
When I got home our Catholic neighbor lady came to the car and excitedly told us of an abduction attempt of a child from the mother’s arms at a local mall. “The world’s gone mad, she cried. “I worry for my grandchild.” We invited her into the house and I read II Timothy 3:1-5 to her. She read along with me. “Oh my God,” she said, “it’s all happening just that way.”
The day ended with a call from my lawyer friend in Pensacola. Although he knows I’m a radical Christian he likes me anyway. We had a good conversation with laughter and bantering, but in the midst of it I touched on scripture, something he never refutes, being a Catholic. We talked for a good half hour and finally said our goodbyes. It occurred to me that he had called to see what I had to say about the world situation; one in which he has to wear a bullet proof jacket to court. God had put it in his mind to call me. Realizing that, I sat down at the computer again, even though it was getting late, and wrote to him. I told him how much I appreciated his friendship and that I felt compelled to share the Gospel with him, which I did. It was short and to the point.
It was a very eventful day, and I thank God he could use me in this way. Still I wondered, “Lord, don’t you have any other evangelists in my area?” I didn’t need an answer; it was only a rhetorical question. Then I remembered the verse in the book of Daniel that says, “Those who know their God shall have a wide ministry in those days.”
YBIC
Jim Towers jt.filmmaker@yahoo.com and www.thepropheciesmovie.com and book.