Street Witnessing

June 15, 2011
By dreiher2

Botched witnessing opportunity

One of my main motivations for starting faithaloneradio was by watching street witnessing on  wayofthemasterradio (now called wretchedradio). With all due respect to Todd Friel, and Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron, they are giving a false Gospel message that cannot save. In fact, I never saw a single person saved while they were out on the street. I am not saying that I am good at street witnessing, but it almost drives me to tears hearing how they are confusing people. They get them right up to the point where they could believe, and then they say something stupid and lose the opportunity to lead them to Christ.

Today, I listened to one of the folks at LivingWaters (NOT the Living Water from Absolutely free,) whose name is Tony while he was out on a college campus witnessing to people. What struck me was his conversation with a girl, where he asked people to decide if she was a believer or a false convert.

Click here for part 1 part 2

Comments are turned off on his site. Here is the comment I wanted to leave.

DON REIHER’s COMMENT he would have made if he could

He lied to her. He said “I am not doubting you are a believer.” The whole wayofthemaster method is based upon getting people to doubt people’s faith.
There is not a single scripture reference which interpreted correctly, calls people to analyze the KIND of faith they have to determine whether they have the wrong kind of faith and are false professors.
Only people who are believers already, and have everlasting life are challenged that way to test whether they are genuined disciples, not genuine believers. For example 2 Cor 13:5, “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith” is twisted to mean “test your FAITH to see if you have good works and if not you are a false professor.” The passage is addressed to believers. It is obvious from verses 6 following that Paul is not saying, “OK you false professors, you need to REALLY, REALLY, REALLY believe the Gospel.” He simply says they need to be aware they will be disapproved at the Bema seat, which, he has been talking about in the whole book following chapter 3.

Back to the girl on the bench. If I ask you if you believe that 2+2=4 or that George Washington was the first president of the United States, and you said “yes,” why in the world would I respond, “but are your SURE you believe?” Such a question is absurd. You either believe something or you do not.

The problem with the “faith that works” (wayofthemaster) method is that you are implying that whether or not you are a good person is what determines if a person’s works are good enough to get them to heaven or hell. Of course the girl picked that up. She thought, “This guy thinks Jesus makes him good enough to get to heaven, and he thinks I am not good enough. He is judging me.” It is not goodness that is used to judge whether a person goes to heaven or to hell.  The thing that determines whether we go to heaven or hell is whether we are DECLARED righteous, not if we are in some way MADE righteous enough to get there. Again, and again, Reformed Perseverance or Lordship Salvation says things that are not true Biblically. The thing that determines whether a person goes to heaven or hell is not somehow being introspective as to whether your faith is the right kind that makes Jesus give you righteousness that gets you to heaven. No way.

The important thing Jesus stressed over and over was whether you believe in the SAVING MESSAGE or the OBJECT of saving faith in John 3:16,17. You believe in Jesus for everlasting life. You need to believe (not a special kind of belief, just plain old belief) in Jesus Christ, as the granter and guarantor of the promise of “not perish(ing) but have everlasting life.” The implication is that this free gift  really is eternal, that is, it has nothing to do with our works, and it can never be lost. Also, a person who believes in Jesus Christ in this way is 100% sure they have everlasting life, in other words has assurance of salvation. It is impossible to believe 50% in something. You either believe it is true, or you do not. It is a psychological impossibility to believe in a proposition like we see in John 3:16, and disbelieve in the exact proposition at the same time. At the moment a person is convinced of the truth of that proposition, and thus believes in Jesus, they have everlasting life at that moment. Nothing else is required. No confessions, repentances, baptisms, promises, any works at anytime, ever. If  a person asks, “You mean I can believe in Jesus in the way John 3:16 says, and then live as I please for the rest of my life and still go to heaven?”  you HAVE to say yes. Otherwise you are adding works to what they have to do.

I am 99.99% sure this girl does not believe in Jesus as the granter and guarantor of everlasting life to all who simply believe in Him for it. By going down the rabbit trail of whether a person is good enough distracts them from what they really need, which is being persuaded or convinced that Jesus is the granter and guarantor of everlasting life in the way John 3:16,17 proposes it.

I would love to have that girl come to faithaloneradio and get a CLEAR explanation of exactly what a person has to do to get to heaven, and not get sidetracked by thinking about whether they are good enough to get to heaven or not. All you have to do is get them to admit they are a sinner, which she did. You then have to get them to understand that sin leads to death, and that they need the kind of life God offers freely. THEN they are ready for the real saving message that we see in the Gospel of John. I bet she would have gotten saved right there on the spot, if she got a CLEAR saving message, not the muddled up one he gave her.

 

2 Responses to Street Witnessing

  1. dreiher2 on September 1, 2011 at 3:45 am

    I was reading through this article I wrote and I found a mistake.

    >>>
    The problem with the “faith that works” (wayofthemaster) method is that you are implying that whether or not you are a good person is what determines if a person’s works are good enough to get them to heaven or hell.
    <<<

    It should say “. . what determines if a person’s FAITH IS good enough . . .” I think people from the Reformed, Perseverance Lordship camp would agree that works determine if a person’s FAITH is genuine.

    - Don

  2. diane on June 16, 2011 at 2:26 am

    Don, I really liked what you wrote here, and agree. I’m so glad you’re setting up this new website…. faithaloneradio.org.

    I’m not having good success in connecting with you when you’re actually in the room… live. I just click into the link and read what you’ve written here. One of these days I’ll hopefully be able to be present when you’re “live” and chatting with people. Looking forward to that time.

    Diane :-)

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