Spreading the Gospel

 

Do you remember the Bible story about how on Day 6 of the peaceful march around Jericho the authorities told the Israelites, “We are sick of this. If you come back tomorrow, we are going to arrest each and every one of you. STAY HOME!” The Israelites were so chastened by this threat that they all rested on Day 7.  (Me neither.)

Didn’t Saul, soon to be Paul, warn us to give authorities our spiritual rights, and in fact our life, by demanding to be hauled back up the wall after realizing his intended escape was illegal? Oh, he did not?

Isn’t smuggling Bibles into communist countries that ban them illegal and against God’s admonishments to obey those in authority?  What?  You say, "No!"

Thank you, Voice of the Martyrs, for reminders that we are to obey God’s laws when they conflict with man’s laws.  The first half of this post is based on an old The Voice of the Martyrs brochure by Tom White.  I will be paraphrasing some of their many facts. 

There is no requirement for church registration in America.  You can hold a church service anywhere.  If you want to file your church as an exempt from taxes organization, a 501c3 corporation, you can if you fit the criteria, but you don’t have to.  Yet in China, Vietnam, North Korea, Cuba, and previously in Russia, you must register your church with the authorities.

North Korea, in 2000, only had 2 state churches for 60,000 Christians.  If only one church was allowed in Dallas, Texas, would you call all the underground churches throughout the state illegal?  Would you refuse to worship with others because of a state mandate on illegal churches?

Did you know that Fidel Castro, the Communist leader of Cuba, had 100,000 Bibles, owned by the Cuban people, ground up in a sugar mill?  Some people believe Bible smuggling is wrong.  But Cuban church leaders thanked God and brave Bible Smugglers for providing the Word to them.  

You may have a Bible or a book published by Tyndale Publishing House.  Were you aware that William Tyndale hid pages of the Bible in bales of cotton to smuggle them into England?  He was later burned at the stake. 

In Germany, Corrie Ten Boom smuggled a small Bible into a concentration camp.  Watch the movie, or read the book “The Hiding Place” (affiliated links).

In North Korea, Christians have hid hymns in their house walls. 

In Vietnam, a school teacher hid her Bible under her skirt when the police raided her home Bible study.  Should she have given the police her illegal Bible?

Would you turn in a Christian using a government-controlled printing press to print the Bible? Would you have turned in Martin Luther?

Christians are usually law abiding, but God’s law trumps man’s law.  We are not talking about not paying taxes, driving without car insurance or a driver’s license, or disobeying civil laws. We are talking about obeying God.

Early Christians did not submit in matters of worship and ceasing biblical preaching. Read Acts 5:17-42 here, right now. Especially notice the words in Acts 5:20-21, and 29.

Before John MacArthur and other churches opened their doors, Georgi Boorman wrote a very compelling argument about why it was wrong to close the doors in the first place. I have to say that I agree with her. If you can go to the grocery store, you can go to church – and she doesn’t even make such a simplistic remark in her argument! Her argument is based solely on what the Bible says, and goes right along with Bible smuggling and the support of underground churches.

My governor has prohibited singing in churches, indoor church meetings, and Bible studies in private homes (yes, really). Thankfully, governors cannot make the law (this link will take you to a page of videos that clearly explains laws versus mandates and all that is going on so that you can educate yourself.)

So why are people treating guidelines as though they were laws? In the great majority of places, masks are not the law. Few city councils have made it a law. I don’t believe any states have made it the law. Governor “mandates” are not the law.

Staying home is not the law. Having to eat outside is not the law. Shutting down stores, salons, and gyms is not the law. In my county, they are paying restaurants $1000 in hush money to serve people in the street instead of inside. It isn’t the law – these restaurants are voluntarily complying, shooting themselves in the foot. People, you are enslaving yourselves! The government has created fear, and the fear is unfounded. Go to church already! If you are under 60 and in good health, and you leave your house to do anything at all, then you can go to church. Though I don’t fault you for not going if you have to wear a mask. It’s better to stay at home than to be forced to wear a mask.

Thank God for BRAVE PREACHERS leading the way. Read my post all about this on Freedom to Worship. We’ve also had brave barbers, salon owners, and gym owners. The people with the most to lose, entrepreneurs, are having to rise up. We must support them as well!

Here’s a snippet of what John MacArthur had to say about obeying authorities from Michael Foust. Alex Parker covers more of the facts here, “Compliance would be disobedience to a Superior Authority.”

We have it so easy in America.  Did you know that there are more Christian martyrs every single year across the world than at any time in past centuries?  Approximately 200,000 each year. 

Are we going to neglect the Word of God?  Or are we going to abide in Christ and obey His commands? 

• READ the Holy Bible.
• PRAY without ceasing.
• GIVE to Christian churches, Christian missions, and Christian charities. (Store up your treasures in heaven! Matt. 6:20)
• DO unto others as you would have them do unto you.
• MEET with other Christians.
• GO into all the world and preach the good news that Jesus Christ was sacrificed for payment of OUR sins, and was raised to life again on the third day. 
  • When we cry out to God to save us from our just punishment of hell because of our sinning against a Holy God,
  • and we turn away from our sins
  • and accept the free gift of salvation given to us by Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross,
  • by declaring that Jesus is our Lord,
  • and that God raised him from the dead,
  • God will hear us, because at that moment Christ will become our Savior,
  • our mediator to God. This is why we end our prayers, “In Jesus’ name.”

God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. Ephesians 2:8-9

If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (Romans 10:9)

But too many people stop at this point. 

They think that since they are now saved they can go about doing whatever they want, thinking salvation is like a get-out-of-hell-free card, or an insurance policy. They have heard and confessed, they believe Jesus died for them, they’ve accepted the free gift of salvation, and have repented for the moment. They weep for forgiveness on Sunday, but go about their evil business again on Monday.

But true repentance and salvation involves a heart change. Read the very next verse:

For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved.  (Romans 10:10) 

We are also to openly declare our faith in Jesus to others. This would involve spoken words and, as soon as possible, baptism. In the Bible, when people believed and accepted Christ, they were immediately baptized. It is a declaration of your old life of sin being washed away, and the dawn of your living in a new way, following Jesus Christ as Lord of your life.

Then John went from place to place on both sides of the Jordan River, preaching that people should be baptized to show that they had repented of their sins and turned to God to be forgiven. (Luke 3:3)

Luke 3:8a says: “Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God. Don’t just say to each other, ‘We’re safe, for we are descendants of Abraham.’…”

Peter replied, “Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2:38)

Jesus himself tells us in the Parable of the Sower, which is recorded in Matthew 13, that just because you’ve heard the truth, doesn’t mean you are automatically saved.  Read this short parable in the Bible here. Look again at verses 13:19-23. The seed that fell on the footpath was snatched away from the person’s heart by Satan. Another person fell away when problems occurred. Yet another person was lured away by the pursuit of wealth. I want you to be the one who truly hears and understands God’s Word.

• The Most Important Decision of Your Life.  This link will take you to what the Bible says about how to be saved (not just my paraphrased list from above), plus
  • a short article on what the Gospel is,
  • a longer article on WHY Jesus had to die,
  • links to have the Bible read to you,
  • a link to a 30 Day Challenge to read the New Testament in 30 Days,
  • and a link to a Bible-teaching church who closely adheres to the New Testament, where you can watch online or find a similar church near you.

You can have the Bible read to you on the Challenge link, or on YouTube.  Or you can buy your own Bible.  The most popular translation today for English speakers is The New Living Translation (NLT). I’ve linked you to the one I have, the basic hardback, which can take more wear than imitation leather covers.

The New Living Translation

You can get large print for $15 more. This one has a thumb index for $5 more, which helps you find books more easily if you are unfamiliar with the Bible. If you want that feature, be sure to use this link, because I noticed that one seller says the Bible has a thumb index in the picture, but when you click on description it isn’t mentioned.

Next, read James 2, here. (Don’t skip this part! Please read it!) With true repentance there will be a change in how we live our life. Doing good works does not save us; it does, however, reflect what is in our heart. This is difficult for many to grasp, especially for Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons, who have a works-based theology. Do not read the Mormon or JW Bible, which has changed many times over the years. How do we know the NLT version is correct? Because the Dead Sea Scrolls were found in 1947, which proves that our Christian Bible, when translated directly from the original Hebrew and Greek, like the NLT version, has not changed over the past 2,000 years! Our Holy Bible can be trusted.

• The Voice of the Martyrs
• Bibles for the World
• The American Bible Society
• Herald of Truth
• World Christian Broadcasting

If you give to these organizations and receive their newsletters, you will be astonished at how reading the Bible in their own language changes lives in amazing ways around the world.  People say they want the Bible in their own language more than they want food and shelter. They talk about the hope, comfort, forgiveness, and happiness their Bible gives them; how it absolutely changes their life.

In America, we have access to all translations at BibleGateway and Biblehub, but most people neglect their Bibles.  We may hoard several translations without ever reading them. Or we may not have one because we come from non-believing families. Or we have a version that isn’t in our present day language and is difficult for us to understand, so we let it gather dust, instead of buying the NLT version.

America is now Biblically illiterate, along with Europe.  One Christmas I asked a neighbor girl, “Whose name is in Christmas?”  She replied, “Chris!”  She’d never heard of Christ, or the true meaning of Christmas and Easter and why we celebrate.  A Jewish friend thought we worshiped Santa and the Easter Bunny. She, too, had never heard of Christ in her childhood. (She’s now a Messianic Jew.) The countries that used to send out the most missionaries are now in need of missionaries from Africa and other places where the root of the Word took hold and produced a good crop. 

What does “Go into all the world” mean? 

World Christian Broadcasting (WorldChristian.org) plays catchy music by a short-wave radio broadcast into shut-off nations and intersperses the Word.  These are life-changing broadcasts, as many have testified.  Why short-wave? No boundaries.

I was privileged to grow up knowing Maurice and Marie Hall, who started WCB.  Here is a link to a short history of how it began.  I remember him retelling the story of how God gave him the idea to broadcast the Word into the world by short-wave radio during WWII.  One Sunday he retold the story of the plane crash mentioned in the link above, and how he was supposed to be with those 3 men, and how hard it was to go on with the work amidst such grief. 

When I was 13, he was my minister.  I loved him so much. I remember kids lining up to enter the church bldg during VBS while he sang, “We’re marching, marching, marching into Bible Schoowel” – he had a very distinctive way of pronouncing “school.” 

He kept his pockets full of hard candy and gum for kids and adults.  He’d ask, “Will you preach God’s word when you grow up?” or “Will you marry a preacher?”  Since our church teaches that we are ALL lay preachers, we could all say “yes!” and receive our candy.

Maurice dictated a book, Where He Leads Me, I Will Follow, and it is wonderful – I only wish it was for sale on Amazon.  Our son read it to me, and it shows how God will use your life to further His will and glorify His name, when you are a follower of Christ.  Even when we have experiences we would not choose for ourselves, like going to war, God will not waste them when we put Him first.

There are so many interesting stories in the book about he and Marie going all over the world to preach, especially to communist countries. He retells many of his heart-pounding adventures. Since it all happened before I was born, I had no idea of any of this until I read his book. 

A few years ago my mom called and said Maurice was in the hospital right around the corner from me.  I went to visit, and as I entered his room, there he was, praying with his wife and son.  Upon being discharged, he gave his book to his nurses.

Here’s a blog post from someone who met him while he was traveling one day in TN.  I found it really interesting! The blogger tells a little bit of how Maurice met Marie. Maurice died in 2019 at age 99 (a short obituary is here).  At his funeral, we sang “Heavenly Sunlight” for one of our songs, because that was the last hymn he sang – he would go through his hymnal each day.  This song is also one of my favorites.

 

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The only way to get the Good and Evil graphic Bible into California prisons today is to support LAMB Services.org; the inmates who receive this Bible write letters saying that for the first time they were able to read the Gospel and understand it.  They’ve sent out 55,000 of them since 2010. Check out the link to see a short synopsis and pictures.

People in countries that forbid the Bible can now download The Good and Evil Bible, in their own language, from No Greater Joy Ministries.  Christians that support this ministry foot the bill for the rest of the world. (I suggest you buy one for a young man in your life. It’s on sale right now.)

One day I was driving down our crowded freeway when a billboard caught my eye. “If you die tonight, heaven or hell?” with a phone number. Over the years there have been several sayings, all with the same number, 1-855-For-Truth. When I received my end of the year statement from LAMB, I was surprised to see pictures of these billboards – this group helps to fund and answer a 24 hour hotline, and they get lots of calls!

Did God create evil?  This is often asked as a “gotcha” question, since God created everything.  Years ago an e-mail circulated about a fictitious experience of Albert Einstein.  I’ve removed the fictitious story and just stated the truth:

Absence of heat is cold.  Every object can be studied by the heat that makes it have, or transmit, energy.  At absolute zero all matter becomes inert and incapable of reaction because of the total absence of heat.

Absence of light is darkness.  We can study light by using a prism to break white light into colors and study wavelengths of each color, but we can’t measure darkness.  So how do we tell how dark a space is?  We measure the amount of light present. 

Absence of God is evil.  God did not create evil – it’s what happens when man doesn’t have God’s love.  We need to share God’s love letter, and instruction book, with the world: the written word, our Holy Bible, about the Word Incarnate in the resurrected Jesus Christ.

What does the Bible say about us providing the funds for all of these groups and how do we do it? Matt 28:19, “Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” This is known as The Great Commission. There are hundreds of verses about giving money, time, goods, food, clothing, medicine, and the Gospel message. Hebrews 13:16 says, “And don’t forget to do good and to share with those in need. These are the sacrifices that please God.” When we provide the funds to missionaries, we get to reap the same eternal rewards! We are like the soldiers who stay behind guarding, while the missionaries are like David and his men who go to battle (1 Sam. 30:24-25). Paul talks many times about the churches supporting him, other missionaries, and other churches in need. I have a list of Christian charities we support, and I just rotate through the list with each paycheck received.

The Bible tells us what will happen after we die:

Matt. 25:37-46 ³⁷ “Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸ Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? ³⁹ When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’

⁴⁰ “And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’

⁴¹ “Then the King will turn to those on the left and say, ‘Away with you, you cursed ones, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his demons. ⁴² For I was hungry, and you didn’t feed me. I was thirsty, and you didn’t give me a drink. ⁴³ I was a stranger, and you didn’t invite me into your home. I was naked, and you didn’t give me clothing. I was sick and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.’

⁴⁴ “Then they will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and not help you?’

⁴⁵ “And he will answer, ‘I tell you the truth, when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help me.’ ⁴⁶ “And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous will go into eternal life.”

The Bible tells us that WORKS do not save us, JESUS saves us, but it also says that faith without works is dead. Faith without good deeds is useless. If your heart has not changed when you accept Jesus, then you had a “false” conversion. Your “fruit”, your deeds, how you live your life after you choose to follow Jesus proves your conversion. Please read James 2:14-26 right here. Don’t just take my explanation – read it straight from the Bible!

Many years ago I heard Ray Comfort present the gospel so clearly at a homeschool meeting.  Today, you can still see him talking with people in Huntington Beach, but he also goes around the world, and thousands have now heard the gospel when watching him on YouTube.  I think he has hit the nail on the head with this short 4 minute analogy: 

 

What I like about Ray Comfort’s videos are his analogies.  He teaches in stories, just like Jesus. 

 

If you have time for this longer video, you will be blessed.  I don’t know why it keeps starting at 8 minutes in. Start at the beginning if you want. The ending made me cry to see these people grasp the true Gospel. You see their hearts changing!  These videos teach you how to DO and GO.  People are so ready to hear the Gospel!  Not everyone accepts Jesus, but Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron have planted many seeds.  I hope you will watch.

May God bless you as you share the gospel and give money towards helping others fulfill The Great Commission around the world.  Christ is our only hope.

Janine