My dad loaned me Hell’s Best Kept Secret by Ray Comfort back at Thanksgiving, and sadly it had set by my night table since then, still waiting to be read. Dad reminded me about it the other day, so I picked it up last night and read through it. It’s a short little book, maybe 150 pages in paperback, but contains a lot of good stuff.
I was not really familiar with Ray Comfort before reading his book. A quick online search shows that he is the main man at Living Waters ministry, and that he’s done a series of TV programs called “The Way of the Master” with Kirk Cameron. His website says that Living Waters “…has been equipping Christians across the world for more than 30 years. We train Christians who want to learn evangelism — by teaching them how to witness the way Jesus did.”
I will admit that a brief browsing of the Living Waters website makes me a bit queasy; products they have for sale include the Intelligent Design vs. Evolution Board Game and novelty Million-Dollar bills that contain a Gospel presentation. I’m not sure I’m to keen on either of those ideas, but then this is supposed to be about the book, right, not about Ray Comfort’s ministry in general.
Mr. Comfort gets right to it in the first chapter. We find out that Hell’s best-kept secret is the message that our sins condemn us to hell unless we trust Christ for salvation. He says that the reason 80 – 90% of “conversions” from altar calls and crusades fail is that people are coming because they are promised something good, that Christianity will make their life better. Then when tribulation comes, people fall away because all of a sudden Christianity isn’t helping them out any more. He gives the illustration of two men on an airplane. If you offer the first one a parachute, telling him it will make his flight more pleasant, the guy will immediately take it off, because it’s heavy and bulky and uncomfortable. If you offer the second one a parachute, telling him to wear it because at any minute he’s gonna have to jump out of the airplane from 20,000 feet, he will thank you profusely and will keep the parachute on regardless of the discomfort, because he has a view of the danger that will come should he not have the parachute.
Comfort quotes profusely (and at times repetitively) from D. L. Moody and Charles Spurgeon, among others, to say that an understanding of our condemnation under the law is a key starting point to understanding the Gospel. In that message I can’t disagree with Comfort – he’s right on. The Good News of salvation through Christ isn’t really good news unless there’s something we need saved from. Where I wrestled with this book wasn’t in the particulars of the message, but was more with my reaction of the entire method he was proposing. The book itself is about 20 years old. I see him writing it to react against what he’d seen at big evangelistic crusades (Billy Graham, maybe?). Then several times in the book he talks about doing streetcorner preaching, or about stopping at a train station and just having the Lord direct him to people who he could sit and talk to. In all those cases, I see them being more prevalent and on-topic 20 years ago than they are today. Let me try to explain.
I think Dr. Tim Keller hit it right on back at the Desiring God 2006 conference when he noted that our world to day is post-Christian. He talked about a historical 20th century progression of evangelism techniques that started with the crusades of Billy Sunday, then later Billy Graham; later it transitioned to the personal evangelism methods found in Evangelism Explosion; then towards the very end of the 20th century and into the 21st we have “seeker services”. Keller postulates that we have three problems in reaching postmoderns: 1) a truth problem – they don’t like our exclusive claim of truth. 2) Guilt problem – it assumes they have a consciousness of guilt. 3) A meaning problem – they don’t believe texts can really get a meaning across.
Number 2 is the one that I think hits it – for many people these days, there is a lot to establish philosophically before we can get to the idea of an absolute standard and guilt before God. Now, I think most of them have an inner understanding of guilt but won’t admit it; they have been convinced that there is no absolute truth, no God to whom they are accountable, and thus their feelings of guilt are a product of some bad thinking on their part. So when we start the discussion, we may not be able to start with “do you understand that you’re guilty before God?”, we may have to start with “what is truth?” and go from there.
I wrote over a year ago that the place that makes sense for me to start the story is with this phrase: “Things aren’t right.” There is a statement we can all pretty much agree on. Yes, some hardcore types may want to argue that there is no “right”, so how can things not be right… but as C. S. Lewis argues in Mere Christianity, you only have to do something bad to that person to get them to start appealing to a universal moral standard. 
Then we can talk about why things are wrong, and how God has a plan to set them right again.
I have over the past few years started tending towards the Calvinist side of Gospel presentation. Not that I’m going over into full five-point Calvinism; that’s a topic for another post. But it seems to me that we are called to proclaim the Gospel to everyone. Even as believers, we need to be reminded of the Gospel, of the good news that God has provided a way for us to be redeemed and to become a part of His kingdom. Non-believers need to hear it, too; how far back in the story we have to start will largely depend on where they are philosophically. For those who still have a Judeo-Christian mindset, we can probably start with Mr. Comfort’s approach and talk about our guilt before God. For those firmly entrenched in postmodernism, we’ll probably have to back up a few steps. Either way, we have good news to share, and we need to share it.
Thanks for taking time to read Ray’s book. While it is a few years old, I am still finding his logic progression in a witness encounter to be very effective. I have heard endless (or at least it seemed some of them would never end) altar call sermons, and in fact responded to one many years ago.
I have been through the Evangelism Explosion experience as a teacher trainer. I have read books about “lifestyle evangelism” and passed out “The Four Spiritual Laws”. I have experimented with various illustrations and methods (logic tracks, really), seeking one I was comfortable with theologically and that got results. Ray Comfort’s is the first time I have found one that is both right theologically and regularly effective.
He labels his web site “The Way of the Master”, and claims that the witness method he uses is the same one Christ used. That method is to start with the law, namely the Ten Commandments. By these, he quickly confirms to people that not only is “something wrong”, but that that wrong thing is… them. This was Chesterton’s reply to the Editor’s question, “What is wrong with this world”, to which Chesterton replied, “I am”.
I agree that the unsaved audience we witness to today often has a different world view than the audience of 20 or 30 years ago. Back then most people had some church background and a cultural presupposition towards a Christian ethic of right and wrong. That is often not the case today, and it certainly was not the case in Christ’s time nor in the world of the early church. The question, “What is truth?”, is not a new one.
Here is Ray’s basic progression: 1) “So, you are a good person?” 2) “Did you ever tell a lie? What does that make you?” 3) “Did you ever steal something? Come on now, you just told me you were a liar! What does that make you?” 4) (Depending on the audience) ” Did you ever look at a woman to lust after her?” (Christ said that is adultry) or “Did you ever hate someone?” (Christ said that is murder) or “Did you ever dishonor your parents?” By this point they generally are under considerable conviction, or at least convinced that what’s wrong with the world is a least partly their fault.
This whole progression can be done in probably 30 to 60 seconds, depending on how descriptive they are or how many people are involved in the conversation. EE often took a 30 minute introduction and never got that far.
The presentation goes on, “If you died and God were to judge you based on what you just admitted to me, that you are a liar, a thief and an adulterer at heart, would He find you guilty or innocent?” “Punishment or no punishment?” “And what is God’s punishment?”
This is where the postmodern will probably put up a protest, but I think you just have to trust the Holy Spirit to bring a conviction of the truth. There are lots of arguments to make and questions to be addressed, but I rarely have people take me down these bunny trails when I use this presentation.
After this, I use a modified EE illustration of facing an earthly judge with a pile of tickets I can’t ever hope to pay off. The judge says, “Here is your choice. Either these tickets get paid or you go to jail.” I’m a poor man and could never pay them all. Then I ask, “So what happens? I can’t ever pay them.” They, of course, say “Go to jail.”
Then I give the Good News. “There is one other possibility. Suppose the earthly judge was a very merciful and a very rich man. Suppose he took out his own wallet and paid all my fines. Now what happens to me? The fines have all been paid.” At this point most people get a look of unbelief that anyone would do that. I have had people tell me, “That’s not fair!”
“That is exactly the transaction that took place when Christ died on the cross.”
I then relate how God paid my debt to justice through Christ’s death, and how that can be applied to me by simply believing that what Christ did is sufficient to satisfy God.
After that I tell them they need to confess their sins to God and ask Him to forgive them and help them not to sin again. I ask if i can pray for them, and tell them they can pray along in their head if they want to. I try to tell them several times that God is listening to their heart, not their words, and that I won’t judge what is taking place. I pray for them and then encourage them to continue to think about what God has done and is doing.
Sometimes real conversions seem easy to judge by the huge look of relief and joy on a face. Sometimes the results aren’t so clear. That is for God to judge, not me.
I do know that this whole encounter can be concluded in a very few minutes and I do believe it is an accurate presentation that doesn’t give a false sense of security to those who haven’t really believed.
Ray doesn’t generally worry about follow-up. He trusts God will continue to lead and direct in each life. Depending on the situation, it may or may not be possible to do more.
What’s your cut at it? What is working or not working for you? Are there parts of this presentation you are uncomfortable with? I challenge you to try this down at Brewed Awakenings with one or a group of the students. I think you will be pleasantly surprised.
Dad
The one quote I almost pulled in here was something that Voddie Baucham said back at the DG2006 conference, which pretty much mirrors the Chesterton quote. He said something to the effect of “when people ask why bad things happen if God is omnipotent, they have the question backwards, because they are asking ‘why doesn’t God work to serve almighty man?’. What they should be asking is ‘knowing what I did yesterday, how could a holy and omnipotent God still let me live?’ The problem is me. I want the supremacy of me. I want a God who is omnipotent, but not sovereign, so I can wield His power.” Bingo.
As I reflect more on it, I don’t think I really have any trouble with Ray Comfort’s approach. My discomfort is more from my personality; whereas you, Dad, have the outgoing saleman’s personality and gift for conversation, I am the guy who finds almost all solicitation of conversation with strangers to be difficult. This presentation style seems designed toward the quick 5-minutes-and-I-may-never-see-you-again type of opportunity, which is something that doesn’t seem to happen to me very often. So I look at it and think “this doesn’t seem like it’d work for the situations I’ve encountered.” You have many more opportunities come your way in a normal week than I do. Praise God for your opportunities!
Now, that sounded like I’m making excuses, and I certainly don’t want to do that. Pray for me that I will have opportunities to share and willingness to follow through on those opportunities.
You probably have the presentation sequence memorized just by reading through it, but if you don’t, read it a couple more times, and then try it out. I really have tried all different ways of making presentations and this is the one that works for me. It is good for the five minute encounter, but I don’t think it shuts the door to longer conversations or makes it hard to follow up with someone you will see again.
One thing I have found about witnessing is that God gives opportunities when we make it clear to Him and ourselves that we are available. EE taught me that a learned line of reasoning and some prepared illustrations have a lot of value in giving people confidence to take the opportunities that God sends. Organized opportunities for outreach can also do a lot for building confidence. I started using this presentation in a street ministry outreach in Milwaukee and made the biggest use of it at the “Nightmare” Halloween outreach. Those are both “five minutes and I’m gone” situations, but I think the presentation sticks.
If I get over there one of these soon weekends, maybe we could find some place to try it out.
Dad