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Now let's jump in. Jesus commanded us to make disciples of all the nations. That means you, as a Christian, have an obligation to evangelize. How does that impact your day to day life? Let's learn more on today's episode of Clearview Today.
You're listening to Clear View today with Dr. Abadhan Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm Ryan Hill. I'm John Galantis. Welcome to the Clear View Today show.
We're here in the studio with our host, Dr. Abadhan Shah. Dr. Shah, we're talking about evangelism. You know, we've been talking about how to get to know God.
We've talked about His attributes, His holiness, His perfection, His love. But now we're talking about us, our role, our salvation, and then what do we do after we get saved? Right? Yeah. The whole series is get.
To know God, and what do we know about God other than His holiness, His love, and all the rest that we have learned so far is that He is a God who comes down to save us. He is a God who evangelizes. He is the God who brings us the good news of salvation. Evangelism, really, yongalizomai, it's really sharing the good news. And evangel is is good news.
So He is a God who who brings us the good news. That we can be saved, that we can be redeemed.
So now he wants us to cooperate with him. To work with him in taking the same gospel that we received to the ends of the earth. Yeah, is there any other religion on the world that places the same kind of emphasis on evangelism, like people adherence to the religion going and spreading the message of that religion? Yeah, they do. There, there are many others.
Buddhism does that, and Islam does it. It's not evangelism in the same way, but they're spreading the message of their faith.
So Buddhism, Buddhism began in India with Gotam Buddha. We've talked about him on our show before. This founder of Buddhism, which is really not a religion, it's atheism. And after he died, his disciples took their faith, so-called Buddhist faith, which is really atheistic principles, and they went to the neighboring. Countries, they were not quite countries like we have countries today, but they were neighboring kingdoms, and they went into places like Nepal and China, and they began to share their faith, and many people converted to Buddhism to the point that Buddhism in those countries is a major religion, more major than even in India.
Wow. Like in India, it usually goes like Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, and then down here is Christianity, like way way down. But in some of these other parts of the world, like Thailand and other places, Buddhism is the top religion. And so that kind of goes to show how they have. How they have evangelized, in a sense, yeah, it's it's not evangelism in the sense of good news, like the technical term evangelism that comes from Christianity or Christian theology, but it is their way of spreading the message.
Islam had its own quote unquote evangelism, but it's really not evangelism. Emphasizing that because even feels wrong saying it. But their faith began to spread. It left Arabia a generation after Muhammad and began to go to the north, towards Jerusalem, because they considered Jerusalem to be the third holiest site.
So Mecca, Medina, Jerusalem, and then it also went towards North Africa, like towards Egypt. And Tunisia and Libya and all these North African nations, and it began to spread that way, trying to make its way into Europe, where it was eventually stopped.
So, same thing. India, Islam came all the way to India through some of these, you know, Mongols or Moguls. It made its way into India, and that's how. A lot of Islam came to India, and at the time before the British partition, India and Pakistan were one country, and a lot of a lot of Buddhism came into Pakistan. But then, of course, after this partition, anybody who is non-Muslim was kicked out, and they went into India and other places.
All that to say, Buddhism also has its form of. Spreading or Islam has its form of spreading the faith.
Now, big difference between Buddhism and Islam. Buddhism's way of spreading the faith is more kind of peaceful. And again, it's no faith; it's really just principles, and principles because it's atheism. They don't believe in God. Islam, on the other hand, their way of spreading their so-called faith.
Is by threats, so it it moves by the sword.
So they come as powerful rulers, and if you reject Islam, then depends on the ruler. You can stay in the region, you can keep your land, you can keep your property, but you have to pay a heavy tax. It's called the zizia or jizia. You know, it's a it's a tax that non-Muslims have to pay.
So as long as you pay the tax, you can stay.
So what happened in many parts of of the world where Islam went, people became Muslims, not because they were convinced by Islam or the teachings of Muhammad or Quran or the so called, you know, salvation which is not non salvation in Islam. No, they they did it because of the persecution. The foundation of Islam's quote unquote evangelism is power. Is what is what you're saying? It's power control.
They come. I like the way that you framed it. They come first as rulers, not as theologians, not as deliverers of salvation. They come first and foremost as rulers, and then part of means of controlling the masses is assimilating them into the one religion, right? And and that's by taxing.
Now there have been Muslim. Theologians and philosophers and apologists over the centuries, and even now, especially now, but that's not the norm. That's actually, I would say, in a sense, copying Christianity, really, and yeah.
So over the centuries, a lot of that has happened. You go to India, you'll meet a lot of people who were not Muslims five, six hundred years ago. Their families were Hindus. But because of pressure, they converted. If you go to places like in Europe, like Bosnia and Herzegovina, you know some of these parts of the world turned towards Islam.
Yeah, Albania, especially, turned towards Islam. Yeah, there are Christians there, but they turn to Islam because of fear. They turn to Islam because. They themselves were not grounded in biblical orthodox theology, so when Islam came, a little bit of threat, and they quickly capitulated. And now, if you ever say you're anything but Muslim, they would.
Kill you? Yeah, you know it's a very different world.
Well, I think you outlined the heart behind it pretty well. Is is there's a difference between what we refer to as evangelism and just general proselytizing for other religions that come with fear, that come with terror, that come with coercion? But where Christianity comes, it's saying. We want you to be saved. We want you to have access to forgiveness of sins, eternal life, a family of God that you belong to, a Savior who loves you, a heavenly Father who has a plan for your life.
That's a very different heart behind it than will rule you. You better believe what we believe, and I think it's good to outline the history of of how these religions spread as well, because it's easy for Christians to look at the state of Christianity today and say, "Man, Christianity is just not evangelizing. We we got to get mission, we got to get back to." But at the same time, look at the spread of like you've been studying the spread of Christianity across like Europe for sure, but also like like from the From the moment Paul, we did a we did a documentary a while back for our church, I think in 2017, you guys went and filmed where Paul took the gospel over to Macedonia and and started spreading Christianity westward, and ever since then you've been studying how Christianity has impacted Britain and then therefore the United States. Oh yeah, you know, if if we back up and talk about How did this whole idea of taking the good news of the salvation of the promised one of the Messiah of Jesus of the cross—you know—different ways of saying the same thing?
Well, it all—it goes all the way back to the book of Genesis. Goes back to Genesis twelve, where Abraham was to be a light unto the Gentiles. Yeah, he was supposed to, as he's moving. He was supposed to tell people someone is coming, and me and my wife were the bringers of that someone. Prepare yourself for his coming.
I mean, that's what they were they were doing. Yeah, and then you know, down to the ages, others did the same thing. They were sharing the good news and being a light unto the Gentiles. Unfortunately, many times they failed. They did not share the good news enough.
Sometimes they went along with the false religions they encountered, but overall, that was not God's plan. I think about Jonah specifically. Like, yeah, that's great, great idea. I don't know why. Great, great point.
Ever since I was a little kid, I've always loved the story of Jonah and and just getting older and seeing what the story is actually about. It always, it's not funny. It's actually kind of tragic. But just this thought of. I want you to go and spread the good news.
No, no, I am not. I don't want to. I will run. I will literally run away, and then the fish swallows him. He comes out.
You think he learns his lesson after being in the fish for three days, and then then the fish gets saved. And he's like, "Ah, man, whatever, whatever." But you know that should tell you that that the Old Testament faith—I don't call it Judaism because Judaism is different. Old Testament faith and Judaism are two very different things. Even if they're going to the Old Testament scriptures, they're going to a lot of other things other than Old Testament scriptures. Different thing.
But Old Testament faith—they were evangelistic. They were supposed to be evangelistic. That's right. That's how it was by design. One of the one of the parts of the Bible and studying the Bible that I love so much is is names and and the meanings of people's names.
Like the people were named specific things for specific reasons, and that's something that you know when Elizabeth and I. You know, we started talking about having kids. We wanted to carry that into naming our kids, not just for family names.
Some of our kids have family names, but naming them things for specific reasons. And our thirdborn's name is related to evangelism, Evangeline Grace. We wanted her and her siblings to always remember. You know, no matter what you do, no matter where you go, always carry the good news of God's grace. Your primary responsibility is to be evangelist, sharing the good news of the gospel.
That's right. And that mindset was not only among the Old Testament people, but it was among the people following Judaism when the temple went down and all that. They they were they were still evangelizing, but in the wrong way. And then when the church began to grow, it was it was very natural for them to do that. I mean, we know from right here in Acts chapter one verse four.
And being assembled together with them, he commanded them. Jesus commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which he said, "You have heard from me." For John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. Therefore, when they had come together, they asked him, saying, "Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" And he said to them, It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority, but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. Wow, this was not a radical thought. This was always there in the Old Testament, albeit.
Here's here's here was here's was the catch, when people accepted the promised one, the man of promise, the Messiah, the coming suffering servant of God. Different ways that he has been described. They not only were saved, but then they would keep the Old Testament laws. They would have to keep the Old Testament. Sacrificial systems and go to the temple and do those things.
That's now part of what you do as well. The Ethiopian eunuch had come into Jerusalem to celebrate some feast. That's why he was there because he was Ethiopian.
Somehow he had come to accept the faith, the Old Testament faith. And he was there in Jerusalem, and that's when he bought a scroll of Isaiah. And as he's reading, he's on Isaiah fifty-three, and he's like, "Who is this? Who is this? This prophet is talking about.
Is he talking about himself or someone else?" And that's when Philip the evangelist evangelist jumps in the chariot with him and begins to explain to him about Jesus. And but the whole point is. This this Ethiopian eunuch was one because of somebody took him the news, and then God corrected him and put him on the right track. That's right. But the whole idea that we need to be going was always there among God's people, always there.
And then Jesus, Jesus reemphasized that. Yeah, we think of the modern day, like the International Mission Board or crew, these college campus crusades. We think of all these things as like the modern version of evangelism. But this is something that is built into the foundation of our faith. It's not like, hey, we've got this really, really great thing.
Now we're taking the responsibility on ourselves to go out and share it. It's this is this is something that not only is it is it part of our faith, but it's something that Jesus Himself commanded us to do.
Well, it's integral to who we are as. Believers, because if I truly believe that there is a God of the universe and that one day there is a judgment coming for those who do not believe in Him, then the most hateful, hate-filled, unloving thing I can do is not tell you about it, not warn you. Like, hey, this is coming. Here's how you. Here's the life raft.
Here's here's how you jump out of the way of the boulder. Here's how you avoid certain disaster. Is by believing in Jesus as your Savior. Yeah, I saw an interview from Pin Gillette. You know, the Pin and Teller.
Yeah, Pin and Teller. And he he was he's a If you've never, if you don't know this, he's a, I don't say an antagonistic atheist, but he's a hardcore atheist. Like he's very outspoken, and he said in an interview, "I never get upset with Christians evangelizing to me or proselytizing because I at least respect that they they care." I think the Christians who don't evangelize are the most hypocritical. Yeah, like you said, the most hateful people. Yeah, because if they really believe what they're saying, yeah, they should be out evangelizing.
Hundred percent. That's right. Yeah. Well, going back to What it means for us, well, right from not just Philip the evangelist, but others began to go out after the day of Pentecost. They began to go out.
Some went for trade purposes, but some were actually sent out by the church. I mean, you hear in the book of Acts, Peter and and the leading apostles commissioning people, and then Paul was commissioned to go out. And then Paul and Barnabas went out, and then you know Paul and Silas went out when there was a conflict over Mark. But but you see them like going out. This was not a new practice.
This was part of how they thought. And then when you study church history, you know we were talking earlier about how Christianity came to India and all those kind of things. It came because people came. We we have such a kind of a limited and distorted understanding of how the missions movement went about. We do know about modern missions.
That's what you know, William Carey and others. But missions was always there. There's a great book by George Smith. This book is titled "The Conversion of India from Panteanus to the Present Time," going back to eighty-one ninety-three. Wow, to eighteen ninety-three.
I mean, this is around the time when the this book was was written, and You know, in this book, the chapters are very interesting. Jewish traders to Western India. Jewish traders, I mean, that's how far back the gospel, even before the coming of Jesus, the gospel was coming to India. Like someone is coming, and then in time it came. Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
And then you know, as tradition has it, Thomas. One of the disciples of Jesus came to India. He brought the gospel with him. Wow! You know, we've got about maybe ten minutes left in the show, Doctor Shub.
But there are people out there who are listening who says, "Listen, I'm I'm with you. I know I need to be evangelizing, but I just don't know what to say. I I've never shared my faith, even though I've been saved X amount of years. But just the thought of going out and talking to people about Jesus makes me nervous. How do you address people who have that concern?
Great, great point. There are many programs and plans out there, and I am, for one, not against them. I went through some. I went through Evangelism Explosion by D. James Kennedy.
Some of you may remember that back in the nineties. Went through CWT continuous witnessing training, faith Bobby Welch and some of y'all may remember that from from Florida. I mean, these are great programs. Sharing Jesus without fear, Romans Road, the Net for spiritual laws. These are just different ways that you can share the gospel.
Some of these programs are now sort of out of favor. People don't do those anymore. They feel like they were just like a formula, like a script, like a script that you're kind of doing a script with me, and I get that. But then, what is your script? What are you going to say?
If you think all these programs are too scripted, then what is your, you know, what do you say? What is the solution? What do you say to the lost person? Here's what I would recommend. Forget about seeing the plan of salvation as a formula.
See it more as your testimony. You are simply being a witness.
Now, what is a witness? What is a witness?
Someone who has seen something and then relates what they've seen, or experienced something and relates what they've experienced. Exactly. Like when when the police investigate a crime, they're looking for witnesses. What does that mean? What have you seen?
Tell us.
So also in the Bible, we are we are called witnesses, like Luke chapter twenty four verse sixteen. Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
Now pay attention to verse forty eight, Luke twenty four forty eight. And you are witnesses of these things. You are witnesses. I think that's really encouraging for people to hear because I think a lot of people think that they have to be the lead defense. Like it's on me to make sure that person gets saved.
And if I don't say this right, then that person's going to hell forever. If I don't pick the right words or preach the gospel or go through this program, and I think just the the freedom of saying God has called you to be a witness. Yeah, not the not the lead lawyer, not the lead defense, but a witness. Just tell what you saw. All about your life, and let God do the rest.
That's where a lot of the nerves come in, I think. Is like if I misspeak or if I say something wrong, or if I don't remember a reference correctly, then this person is doomed eternally forever.
Well, that's what you hear people say, right? I just wouldn't know what to say. Yeah, like, yeah, like you, they're being asked to preach. All you're doing is sharing your experience. That's right.
Share your life before Christ, how you met Christ, and then what your life has been like since. Absolutely. I mean, that's what. Acts chapter one verse eight. Jesus said, "And you shall be witnesses to me.
Tell them what you know about me. Yeah. Tell them what I came to do, and I did it. Tell them the difference that is making in your life. That's it.
Tell them. And you don't have to be me, Pastor Shaw, Doctor Shaw. You don't have to be." Billy Graham, you don't have to be some famous evangelist of history. You know, you can be you. Just tell them what you have seen and heard.
In Acts, you hear that word "witnesses" repeated again and again. Acts two thirty two, this Jesus, God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses. Acts four thirty three, and with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. Acts five thirty two, and we are his witnesses to these things, and so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him. Acts thirteen thirty one, he meaning Jesus was seen for many days by those who came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his witnesses to the people.
And one more. Acts twenty three eleven, but the following night the Lord stood by him means stood by Paul and said, "Be of good cheer, Paul, for as you have testified from me in Jerusalem, so you must also bear witness at Rome." Bear witness means tell people who I am and tell people what I've done in your life. And what he can do in theirs as well. Yeah, absolutely. Maybe as we're as we're wrapping up a little bit, talk about the faith that it has to take.
Because all those people that you mentioned, the apostles, Paul, all of these people saw Jesus with their eyes; they were eyewitness. But I just have to go. I just have this this book. I have these writings. I have their word, separated by two thousand something years, and I am supposed to tell you what they saw.
How do we do that as Christians?
Well, there is a difference there. You know, I wasn't there. At the hill called Calvary, watching Jesus crucified and then dying, and the body taken down and put in the grave, I wasn't there. I wasn't there when, on the third day, as the disciples showed up, the women came first, and then the men came, and the tomb was empty. Jesus had risen.
I wasn't there when he came into the upper room and showed his hands and feet to his disciples and told Thomas, you know, touch this and touch here. I wasn't there. We are, more accurately speaking, we are faith witnesses, not eyewitnesses. We are faith witnesses, and that is just as good a witness. Yeah.
That by faith we know that everything that book has said about him is true. He said, "Well, how do you know that? That happened two thousand years ago. I understand, but something radically shifted in this world two thousand years ago. I mean, to the point that we say two thousand years ago, all of human history is divided into before and after this one event.
That's right. Then you have to investigate and say." What was that event when when someone like Bart Ehrman, you know, claims that all this is bunk and all that kind of stuff? And yeah, there was a Jesus, but we're not quite sure, you know. Blah blah blah blah blah. When he does those kinds of things, I'm like so disingenuous.
Yeah, at least be an honest scholar. I mean, I mean, you are misleading people. You are undermining. Their faith by, I would say, deceit. It's deceit.
At least admit that something radical happened. And he would say, "Well, I believe something radical happened." Okay, well, let's take the next step. What is that something? Right. But if he immediately go to historical skepticism and say, "Well, we cannot know," so something happened.
We just can't know. I guess that's it. The end. Story over. How about with with all the degrees you have, with all the education you have?
Why don't you dig deeper and get down to the heart? Truth that there was a person who was there, and that person claimed to be the son of God, and that person fulfilled the promises and the prophecies, and he was seen by eyewitnesses. And those eyewitnesses either hated him or they began to believe in him to the point that they were willing to die for their faith. Let Let's go back to those things. Just because people without degrees, or who made some hermeneutical mistakes, or did not have all the updated understanding of grammar and linguistics and theology and manuscripts, just because they had those conclusions, does not mean their conclusions were wrong.
Right? Okay. Just because I'm reading a civil war diary that describes what happened at, say, Appomattox. And that person does not follow all the conventions of history or historical writing does not mean that person was was lying when he says, you know, Lee showed up and they surrendered and there was a big cry and but everybody worked together and they moved on. And then you have other scholars who come along and and go into the fine details of how the surrender took place and what was the communication and what were the terms and did it take effect immediate?
Okay, a lot more. But we cannot deny the conclusion that at Apamatic something happened.
So also two thousand years ago, something happened. That's right, and that something changed the world and changed those people. And you need to come to grips with that. Amen. Amen.
And our prayer is that through this episode, through shows like this, that you would understand that two thousand years ago, that thing that happened is the very hope that you need. Is the hope of the gospel, the hope that Jesus Christ came and died on the cross for your sins to make a way for you to salvation and make a place for you in heaven. That's right. And we hope this show is a big part of that. You know, the this the spirit of evangelism.
You know, there's a reason we're making this show. It's not just so we can be on the radio for a half hour every single day. It's so that the gospel of Jesus. Christ gets into your heart, your family's heart, your children's heart, your church member's heart, and so we hope that this again is a great resource for you guys, and hopefully you've been inspired to carry the gospel in your way even this afternoon. Several ways you can do that.
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