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What is the Cure for a Pandemic Greater than the Coronavirus?

The Christian Worldview / David Wheaton
The Truth Network Radio
April 3, 2020 8:00 pm

What is the Cure for a Pandemic Greater than the Coronavirus?

The Christian Worldview / David Wheaton

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April 3, 2020 8:00 pm

Right now the world is focused on a viral pandemic called COVID-19 that many have contracted and from which many have died. But have you considered that there is an even greater spiritual pandemic that is fatal for every person? What would that be?

The answer is the sin pandemic. This pandemic is always terminal physically, and if not “treated” according to God’s word, is terminal spiritually as well. The Bible says, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” and “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 3:23; 6:23)....

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What is the cure for a pandemic even greater than the coronavirus? Ray Comfort joins us today here on the Christian worldview radio program where the mission is to sharpen the biblical worldview of Christians and to share the good news that all people can be reconciled to God through faith in Jesus Christ. I'm David Wheaton, the host, and our website is thechristianworldview.org.

Thank you for joining us this weekend on the Christian worldview. And right now, as everyone knows, the world is focused on a viral pandemic called COVID-19 that many have contracted and from which many have died. But have you considered that there is an even greater spiritual pandemic that is fatal for every person?

What would that be? The answer is the sin pandemic. This pandemic is always terminal physically, and if not, quote, treated according to God's word, is terminal spiritually as well. The Bible says, For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and the wages of that sin is death.

Romans 3 23 and 6 23. Now, people all over the world right now have anxiety. There are grave health risks, financial hardship, and a very uncertain future. But our guest this weekend, Ray Comfort, founder of Living Waters Ministries, joins us to explain how you can have peace and hope through this trial. Ray will show how the viral pandemic is actually a unique opportunity to share the cure for the even greater spiritual pandemic. Also, later in the program, Lydia Kaiser from Child Evangelism Fellowship will join us to offer some constructive ideas to do with your children during this time at home. But let's first get to the first segment of the interview with Ray Comfort.

Ray, it's a privilege to have you back on the program. I want to start out with a question that everyone is thinking and talking about related to the coronavirus right now. It would be very interesting to get your thoughts on this pandemic and a couple of different aspects of it. The health side, the economic side, maybe even the political side, and also the spiritual standpoint as well. Obviously, it's devastating for health, economically terrible, politically disastrous, but spiritually wonderful. I have never, ever seen people so open to the gospel.

I did up until about a week ago go twice a day and done it for over a year to a local college to witness to people and film it to get up for a YouTube channel, witnessing sessions, and I've never seen such openness in the last few weeks because of this virus. I think it's because, have you ever heard of the midlife crisis? Have you had one? You probably have to ask my wife about that.

She may nod in the background on that. Nobody can actually have a midlife crisis because you don't know when the end of your life is going to be, so how can you tell when the middle is? But midlife crisis actually means you realize your mortality. It's when people, often they hit 35, 40, maybe 50, they suddenly think, hang on, everything's falling off.

I'm dying. I'm going to die one day. Death, the grim reaper, instead of being a far off, has suddenly come to the door with this pandemic, and people are thinking about their mortality, which is wonderful. I mean, that's what brought me to Christ.

I remember thinking, man, I'm so happy. I so love life, but life is like standing in a line, people in front of me stepping off a cliff, and I'm leading out of a line saying, how can I get out of this line? I'm part of the ultimate statistic, 10 out of 10 die, and so there was this openness up until a week ago when I was going to the college where young people were saying, I think about death all the time. I'm terrified of dying, and I was able to explain to them the power of faith. Most people think faith is kind of weak, especially atheists. I think weak people have faith, but faith is incredibly strong.

Let me give an illustration, and this is what I've been using with college students and on our videos. If you had to jump out of a plane 10,000 feet without a parachute, would that be fearful? And the person would say, absolutely terrifying. I'd say, yeah. Let's say I gave you a parachute that you knew was going to open.

You trusted it 100%. How would that change things? Let's say everything would change, and I'd say, yeah, now instead of hitting the ground at 120 miles an hour on your face, you're going to land on your feet at about 15 miles an hour. Your faith in that parachute changes everything. Now you can say, oh, now I'm going to jump. I'm saved. I'm safe because of your faith in the parachute. And exactly the same applies with the Savior. If you're going to die in your sins without the Savior, that's terrifying. It's like jumping out of a plane at night with no parachute. People are terrified of death. The Bible calls it the king of terrors, but God and the Savior gives us a parachute.

The Bible actually says, put on the Lord Jesus Christ. David, I'm 70 years old. I might not finish this interview, but the death has lost its sting. I came to this world with nothing, but I leave with my hand in the hands of Jesus. And my faith in Him is in direct proportion to my fears. As long as I have faith, I'll have no fear.

If I totally trust the parachute when I jump, no fear. If I have fear, it means I don't have faith. And so my faith will actually regulate what fear I have when I pass through death, if it's not instantaneous. And so that's the message we've got for this dying world. God has dealt with the problem.

The Bible says Jesus Christ has abolished death and brought life and immortality light through the gospel. So we have a glorious message. And this terrible pandemic has made people open to the gospel, which is wonderful. So well said and so based on biblical truth, Ray.

Thank you for that, Ray. Comfort today here on the Christian Real View Radio program talking about what is the cure for the pandemic that's even greater than the coronavirus. Ray, during this time where there's been so many closures across the country, even of churches, Easter coming up, do you think churches should be complying with these shutdown orders, you know, sort of like Peter and John in Acts 4 in front of the authorities saying, stop preaching the gospel? And they said, no, we have to obey God rather than men. Do you think churches should be complying with these orders when comparatively, you know, you have abortion clinics, they're able to remain open? Yeah, our church has complied and we've gone online and it's been really wonderful. What we've got to do is remember the church is not the building.

We tend to think, oh, it's the building, but it's not. The church is the body of Christ and you cannot stop the body of Christ from doing the will of God. I remember years ago when I was open air preaching Down Under in New Zealand, this is like 30 years ago.

I did it for 12 years almost every day. And one day I arrived to where I preached at a place called Speakers Corner and there was a crowd there. And there were some peace protesters who were protesting about peace. And I started preaching and they ran across and shut me up. They just surrounded me and said, we're over here. You just be quiet.

We're having a protest. We don't want people distracted. And so they stopped me preaching. Well, a friend of mine got up and started speaking because he saw what had happened and they went over and stopped him. So I jumped up immediately as soon as they stopped him and started preaching. And I tell you, you don't know how powerful the Spirit of God is in you until someone tries to put him out.

It's like you try and blow out a flame with wind. Winds of adversity don't stop the flame of the gospel. And so you look at the Book of Acts when Saul of Tarsus created havoc within the church and great persecution came to the church.

This is what it says. Therefore, they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word. They are suddenly reminded they were to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.

Now, we're in a difficult position because of the fact that we're restricted to our homes. Well, what we've got to remember is we still have this incredible thing called the Internet. Our YouTube channel has got over one hundred and twelve million views, one hundred and twelve million. It's just exploded because people are sharing these videos. They have the gospel in them and they're sharing them.

And so people hear the gospel from the point of view of a fly in the wall. You know, I've got a dog named Sam, and I've noticed that when Sam sees a cat, he goes crazy. I mean, every muscle in his body goes tense and this first ends up. He's got an intuitive understanding.

This is the enemy and I've got to chase it. But when he sees another dog, totally different attitude, whether it's a chihuahua or a Great Dane. I mean, a Great Dane looks like a horse and a chihuahua looks like a rat. But he recognizes them as being his kind. And I haven't shown him a book of dog differences.

He intuitively knows that. And you and I are the same. We're fascinated by our own kind. You know, if you ever see a pan of a crowd at a football game or a Super Bowl, they pan the crowd and you think, oh, there's a guy looks like Uncle Fred. Oh, look, she looks like Aunt Martha. Look at the size of her hair.

That is amazing. We're fascinated by our own kind. And this goes on steroids when you watch a YouTube channel like ours where you actually see people react to questions like, are you afraid of dying?

What do you think happens after someone dies? And people talking about what people don't normally talk about. That's fascinating because you're not intimidated by some sweaty preacher who's clutching a Bible, has his tie loose and he's pointing his finger at you. You're a fly on the wall and you get to hear the gospel from a third person point of view. And so that's why the channel is being frequented by so many, used by so many because it's fascinating and it contains the gospel. And so I encourage Christians to do that instead of sitting at home looking at the wall.

Get online, get the URL, copy the address of the video and just drop it into the comment sections of anywhere you can find online and just say, hey, this is incredible. You've got to see this. Love to know your thoughts. And away you go. And you're making the best use of your time.

Redeem the time for the days are boring. Great comfort with us today on the program. And you can go to his website, livingwaters.com. They have all sorts of videos there. Just click on a video, watch it yourself.

You like it. You want to share it. Copy the URL.

Just forward it out to someone you know who needs to hear it or watch it. Or also, like you even mentioned, even some of those comment sections and articles. I read those all the time, Ray.

It's amazing what comes out of the human mind in those comment sections on articles. Now, speaking of street preaching, you of course do this regularly. Just a little bit off topic here today. But I'm hearing some stories in the news about cracking down on street preachers here in this country. What has been your sense of where the freedom of assembly and freedom of speech and religion is going?

And how are street preachers really the canary in the coal mine about those constitutional rights in a culture? I went to open air preach last Saturday. No, I decided to go on a Thursday. I thought, well, I've actually changed how I do it. I took a microphone, two microphones, two microphone stands, and I put them six feet away from each other. And I got people to come up. I had a sign coming up saying, I'll pay you to come and talk to me. And people came up. I said, how much?

I said, I'll give you a five dollar gift card. And people came up immediately and I got them on camera. It was just wonderful. People opened up and we were six feet apart and police didn't bother us. If the police did bother us, I was just going to cough on them when they arrived.

And they'd leave, I'm sure, really quickly. But it was great. So I thought, I'll go back on a Thursday. So last Thursday, I put all my gear, went to Huntington Beach, going there every Saturday, almost every Saturday for 12 years. When I arrived, it was just like, it was like a crime scene. Police tape was everywhere. There was the pier and all the parking lots.

Everything was just cordoned off. And I just turned around and came home. So it's very, very frustrating. But like I said, we've got the Internet and I spend most of my days creating videos and creating things topical to bounce off so people can be reached with the gospel. Because I know the apostle Paul, if he knew what we had, would go crazy with joy. I mean, he said, by all means, reach some as he sat in a dungeon chained to a wall, probably with a guard by him, writing a letter or having to dictate a letter to someone to communicate was going to be delivered by hand and read. Well, we instantly can reach literally millions, as I said, one hundred and twelve million. And so I'm just delighted with what we had and what we're having.

And necessity is the mother of invention. And so we've got to invent ways to get the gospel to the unsaved who are incredibly open because of this virus. You're listening to an interview with Ray Comfort today on the Christian worldview. He is the founder and he's an evangelist, as you can hear with Living Waters Ministry, just a inspiring person to listen to. That really encourages and motivates us to to to do the most important thing as a believer, to pursue the Great Commission, to evangelize, to disciple. We have much more coming up with him.

Also, we're going to be offering. He has a booklet called How to Be Free from the Fear of Death. The short 20 page booklet and we'll tell you how to get that booklet right after this first break of the day on the Christian Real View.

Stay tuned. I'm David Wheaton. It is a pain to know that there are people who do not know Jesus. It is a greater pain to know that oftentimes Jesus and Christianity is being distorted. Your destiny is called an hour.

It's time to start living large. I don't think God killed Jesus. That's a sick God and a sick story. This is the doctrine of Christianity.

This is the doctrine that separates Christianity from every other religion in the world. The American gospel films contrast the false teaching so prevalent today to true biblical Christianity. For a limited time, we are offering both films for a donation of $30 or more to the Christian Real View.

Regular retail is $17.99 each. To order, go to thechristianrealview.org or call 1-888-646-2233 or write to Box 401 Excelsior, Minnesota 55331. Be sure to take advantage of two free resources that will keep you informed and sharpen your world view. The first is the Christian World View Weekly Email which comes to your inbox each Friday. It contains a preview of the upcoming radio program along with need-to-read articles, featured resources, special events, and audio of the previous program. The second is the Christian World View Annual Print Letter which is delivered to your mailbox in November. It contains a year-end letter from host David Wheaton and a listing of our store items including DVDs, books, children's materials, and more. You can sign up for the weekly email and annual print letter by visiting thechristianworldview.org or calling 1-888-646-2233.

Your email and mailing address will never be shared and you can unsubscribe at any time. Call 1-888-646-2233 or visit thechristianworldview.org. Welcome back to the Christian World View radio program. David Wheaton, your host. Our topic today is what is the cure for a pandemic even greater than the coronavirus. Our guest is Ray Comfort from Living Waters Ministries.

I mentioned at the end of the last segment that we are featuring one of his products, resources today. It's a 20-page booklet called How to be Free from the Fear of Death. And the description is, we're all part of the ultimate statistic. As Ray mentioned in the first segment there, 10 out of 10 people die with no escape from this fate.

We understandably have a fear of dying, but this little booklet will show you not only how to alleviate your fears, but what you can do about death itself. We ordered 500 of these. They're only 50 cents apiece for a 20-page booklet.

We got a great price on them. If you're a regular listener, you can just order them by going to our website, thechristianworldview.org. We encourage you to order five or 10 of them and give them away. If you've never contacted us, just call or email us and we're going to give you one for free.

Our toll-free number is 1-888-646-2233. Our email address is feedback at thechristianworldview.org. Okay, we have a lot more to go with our interview with Ray Comfort.

Let's get back to the second segment with him. We talked about this next question, Ray, at the beginning of our conversation today. But maybe you could delve in deeper to comparing the coronavirus pandemic to an even more terminal pandemic, which is the sin pandemic in every single one of us. Yeah, with the coronavirus, they have a test, which is apparently kind of hard to get. But if you've got the symptoms, you go and get a test. Well, when it comes to sin, there is a test that we can do.

The Bible says most men will proclaim their own goodness, Proverbs 20, verse 6. People are in terrible danger, but they don't realize it. Have you heard of the Dunning-Kruger effect?

No. It was a couple of psychologists back in 1999 that did a study and came up with the thought that people are more inclined to think they're better at things than what they are. We think we can jump higher, run faster, sing better than what we can.

And it's so true. When I was 13, I came home from school, put a tape recorder in front of me, and I sung into it and played it back. And, David, it was disgusting. I thought I sounded like Elvis, but it was so bad if I went down and sung at the beach, the tide wouldn't come in. It was really bad. I haven't sung publicly since that time, except my wife can hear me sing in church.

I kind of sing quietly because I really can't sing. My giftings are probably elsewhere. So when it comes to giftings, we think we're better than what we are, and exactly the same applies morally. We all think we're a good person, and that's because we make the tragic mistake of measuring ourselves by man's standard rather than by God's.

If you watch the police when they catch what they think is a drunk driver, they give him a test. They get him out of the car and have him walk a straight line to see if he's crooked, and God has given us the straight line of the moral law. The Ten Commandments show us whether or not we're crooked. If we measure ourselves by man's standards, we come up good, but look at that law.

It requires truth in the inward parts. The apostle Paul said the law is spiritual. That means God considers lust to be adultery.

You lust after someone, whether they're married or single. You commit adultery in your heart as far as God is concerned. If you hate your brother, the Bible says you're a murderer. Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord. In fact, sin is so serious in God's eyes, all liars are their part in the lake of fire. No thief, no blasphemer, no fornicator, no homosexual, no adulterer will inherit the kingdom of God. The Bible makes that very clear.

Suddenly, when we measure ourselves by that standard, we see we're staggering morally. We can't stand up on Judgment Day when God is going to bring every work to judgment, including every secret thing, whether it's good or evil. You know, one lie is that there is such a thing as a secret. There's no such thing as a secret. Jesus said there is nothing secret.

That's what he said. Solomon had the same thing. God will bring every secret work to judgment. The eye of the Lord is in every place beholding the evil and the good. No woman has been secretly raped.

There's been no secret adultery, no secret pornography, no secret lying or stealing, no secret murder. Everything is seen by God, and there's going to be a day of judgment when God reveals that he's a God of righteousness, justice, and truth, who by no means clear the guilty. But the Scriptures say he's rich in mercy to all that call upon him, and he's provided a way for us to be forgiven through the Savior. When Jesus suffered and died on the cross, he took the punishment for the law that you and I violated.

That's why he said, it is finished. You're saying the debt has been paid. If you're in court and someone pays you fine, a judge can let you go even though you're guilty. He can say there's a stack of speeding fines here.

This is deadly serious. Someone's paid the fine. You're free to go, and he can do that which is legal and right and just. And God can legally forgive our sins, dismiss our case, take the death sentence off us because Jesus paid the fine and fallen in his life's blood, and he can do that which is right and just by extending mercy and justice, being satisfied through the cross and the resurrection. So all you and I need to do is so simple a child can understand it, is repent of our sins, can't call yourself a Christian and still lie and steal and fornicate.

That's plan the hypocrite. Just deceiving yourself, you must be sincere to be genuine, genuine repentance, and then trust in Jesus like you trust a parachute. Many people are trusting themselves.

They're like a man who's jumping out of a plane and when he's jumping he's going to save himself by flapping his arms. I'd say don't do that. Trust the parachute. So if you're trusting yourself, transfer your trust from yourself to the Savior. And the second you do that, you've got a promise from God who cannot lie.

It's impossible for God to lie. That he'll instantly remit your sins and grant your everlasting life as a free gift. That's the gospel and that's what we need to share and that's the test to show us that we're sinners. Well thank you so much for explaining the gospel, the most important best news for mankind with our universal sin pandemic that we all have.

You mentioned about don't trust in flapping your arms when you're falling out of the airplane and so forth. You're basically saying don't trust in your own good works, supposed good works. I was reading in Galatians recently, Ray, Galatians 5, it says, Paul writes, You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law.

You have fallen from grace and he says in verse 11, But I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, and in other words circumcision, you have to be circumcised to be saved, why am I still persecuted? Then the stumbling block of the cross has been abolished. In other words, there's a stumbling block of coming to the cross and being truly saved is that we want to do something.

We want to have our works contribute to justification, to our salvation. How should the futility of trusting at all, even a little bit in our good works, we can believe in Jesus, but I also have been baptized, I've taken communion, I've been a good person, I've gone to church. How do you tear down that huge issue that we all have within us to try to put faith in our own good works rather than Christ's work for us on our behalf?

Yeah, what you've got to do is find out what a person's trusting in first, and this is how I do it. I say to someone, so you believe in God, yes, do you think you're a good person? I'm doing what Jesus did in Mark 10, verse 17, that is correcting someone's understanding of the word good. Now, a Christian, someone who is genuinely saved, would never ever say he's a good person or she's a good person.

And there's a reason for that. Number one is that they know they're not because they see sin in its true light. The Bible says the law, the 10 Commandments, shows sin as being exceedingly sinful.

Paul said, I had not known sin but by the law. And also, we'd never say I'm a good person because Jesus said there's none good but God. So if you think you're good, who's lying, you or Jesus? Obviously, there's none good but God.

God is only morally perfect. And so the way to find out what a person is trusting is just say, do you think you're a good person? And then take them through the 10 Commandments. Just say, how many lies do you think you've told in your life? And they'll say something like this, yeah, I've told quite a few lies but they're just little lies.

They're just like white lies. So it's obvious they don't see sin as being exceedingly sinful. They still think lightly of sin. And while they think lightly of sin, they're going to think lightly of the Savior and they won't find a place for repentance.

They want to get the acts of the law and chop down that tree of self-righteousness. Ever stolen something? Yeah, just when I was a little kid, when I was a tiny little kid, I stole little things from a store.

Still thinking that it's, you know, not serious. Ever used God's name in vain? Oh, yeah, it's just a bit of a habit. And say, yeah, it rolls off your tongue like it doesn't mean anything.

Just, yeah, that's it. Say, would you use your mother's name as a cuss word? They say, oh, I'd never do that. Say, no, of course you wouldn't because you would dishonor her.

Just honor her, horrible thing to do. They say, no, I respect my mother. And I say, but you don't respect God.

You've used His name in the place of a full-letter filth word, His holy name to express disgust. Now the mouth begins to open a little bit. Their eyes widen as they're beginning to see sin as being exceedingly sinful.

Jesus said, if you look with lust, you committed adultery in your heart. Have you ever done that? And they say, oh, yeah, I do that all the time.

Say, well, look, you've just told me you're a lying, thieving, blasphemous, adulterate heart. They go, whoa, I've never seen it like that before. And all that's happening is they're seeing how serious sin is. And that's the way to get rid of good works. Because what it does is it puts them in the dark as a criminal before the judge of the universe. Any criminal who's standing accused of crimes who tries to give the judge something before he passes a sentence is going to have a sentence increased for trying to bribe a judge. So anything in that scenario where law breakers broke God's moral law, violated God's moral law, suddenly see God as a judge, all their sins are exposed, all their crimes are exposed. So for them to say now, well, I give money to the Red Cross becomes unjustifiable.

You can't justify your crimes. So you shut them up under the law with no means of escape. So the only way they can be saved is to call upon the mercy of the judge, to throw themselves on the mercy of the court. And God is rich in mercy to all the call upon him. So that tree of self-righteousness is rooted in idolatry. They have a wrong understanding of God's character and nature. To them, God is just like a celestial Santa Claus, a divine butler. He's not to be feared.

He's a snuggly cuddly sort of teddy bear, a buddy. And what you've got to do is get rid of that and show that our God is a consuming fire. That his wrath abides on their enemies of God and their minds through wicked works. When they get a glimpse of the true nature of God, when idolatry is tossed out of the door and they see God as he is, suddenly the only thing that can save them is his grace and his mercy. And that's what we see expressed in the cross.

So, so good. Ray Comfort is our guest today here on the Christian worldview. Livingwaters.com is their website. TheChristianrealview.org is ours. You can get a copy of his booklet, which we're featuring today, How to be Free from the Fear of Death.

It's 20 pages. We also have other resources that we ordered as well from his ministry. We'll tell you about those coming up on the Christian Real View.

I'm David Wheaton. The critical race theory and intersectionality are simply analytical tools. They're meant to be used as tools, not as a worldview, not a transcended worldview above the authority of Scripture. And we stand by the strength of this resolution. Is the Southern Baptist Convention diverging from biblical orthodoxy over issues of women teaching men, homosexuality and critical race theory?

Is this a bellwether of what's coming to your church? By what standard is a 110-minute DVD documentary about the battle taking place in the SBC? You can receive the DVD for a donation of any amount to The Christian Worldview. To order, go to TheChristianWorldview.org or call 1-888-646-2233 or write to Box 401, Excelsior, Minnesota, 55331. David Wheaton here to tell you about My Boy Ben, a story of love, loss and grace. Ben was a yellow lab and inseparable companion at a stage in my life when I was single and competing on the professional tennis tour. I invite you to enter into the story and its tapestry of relationships with Ben, my aging parents, with a childhood friend I would finally marry, and ultimately with God who caused all things, even the hard things, to work together for good. Order the book for your friend who needs to hear about God's grace in the Gospel, or the one who has gone through a difficult trial or loss, or just a dog lover in your life. Signed and personalized copies are only available at myboyben.com or by calling 1-888-646-2233. That's 1-888-646-2233 or myboyben.com.

What is the cure for the pandemic that's even greater than the coronavirus? Ray Comfort is our guest today here on The Christian Real View doing an excellent job of explaining the Gospel and how much need and perceived need there is by the world right now as they contemplate death and this virus and getting sick and financial hardship and everything else that is going on. And I mentioned we have several of his resources that we have ordered.

The one we're featuring today is How to be Free from the Fear of Death. It's a 20-page booklet. We have them for only 50 cents apiece, so we encourage you to order many of them. We've ordered 500, so we have plenty for you to order. If you've never contacted us before, you can get a complimentary copy. We just want to send you one. Just call or email us. Our phone number is 1-888-646-2233 or email us feedback at thechristianrealview.org. For everyone else, you can just order as many as you'd like right at our website thechristianrealview.org. You'll also see other books.

We have great resources through Living Waters. We ordered Scientific Facts in the Bible, 100 Reasons to Believe the Bible is Supernatural in Origin. This is a great book. How to Win Souls and Influence People.

This would be very much in line with what we're talking about today. I mean, this is what he lives. He's going to talk about this coming up, how he's able to do such great witnessing. It consumes his mind, and it should consume all of our minds.

The most important issue for every non-believer is how to help them understand how they can avoid being judged for their sin. And finally, we also ordered a devotional, Jesus in Red. It's called 365 Meditations on the Words of Jesus.

So lots of resources there. New ones we have at thechristianrealview.org. We have one short segment with Ray left today. Then I'm going to play you a little interview I had on a secular radio station this week where the conversation went in a very unexpected direction. And finally, in the last segment of the day, we're going to be talking to Lydia Kaiser from Children's Child Evangelism Fellowship just about what some things that we can be doing with our kids to make the time productive while they're home from school. Okay, last segment with Ray.

Here we go. From interacting with people, and you hear people's responses to the Gospel, especially the younger generation thinks it's disproportionate punishment, what you're talking about with regards to God's holiness and justice and his wrath and his judgment over sin. How do you dismantle this concept today that, well, really, I mean, my little sin is going to cause a God, if there is one, to send me to hell for eternity?

That seems a little extreme. Yeah, firstly, I don't believe atheists when they say, I believe in God, or they say there's no evidence of God's existence. I know they do know. They're like Adam who's running from God and trying to hide because of their sins. They're like the prodigal son who went to a far country to get away from the Father because of their sin. And so I know intuitively no God exists.

He's given light to every man, and they're without excuse because of the evidence of creation according to Romans chapter 1. So I appeal to their conscience, number one, using the law, and number two, I appeal to their reason by asking this question. Let's say his name's Bob. Bob, do you know what death is according to the Bible?

Bob says no. I say it's wages. Wages is what God has given you for your sin. The wages of sin is death, Romans 6 23. God considers sin to be so serious, he's paying you in death. It's like a judge in a court of law who's got a heinous criminal before him who thinks lightly of killing three young girls who he raped. Slit their throats.

He doesn't care. He says they were just scum of the earth, they were prostitutes. So the judge says, we're paying you for your crimes. You're going to the electric chair. This is your wages.

This is what you've earned. And God says sin is so serious, he's giving us the death sentence. I say, Bob, the reason you will die is because you've sinned against God. Do you think you are that sinful, that evil, that justified that God should give you capital punishment? And Bob says, no.

So, okay, let's see how good you are. And we just go through the commandments. And he proves to be a lying, thieving blasphemous, fornicating adulterate heart who's feeding on pornography daily and using his creator's name as a curse word. And suddenly sin becomes exceedingly sinful. The conscience, the judge on the courtroom of the mind suddenly begins to do its duty and accuse him from the inside. The Holy Spirit convicts him of sin. His mouth is stopped by the law, and then he's ready for the gospel.

The good news. And I've seen people kind of, there's a look of relief after they've been shut up under the law, and they suddenly see me not as some proselytizing religious nut, but they see me as someone who really cares, and they can suddenly see why I care. It's because they're in terrible mortal danger.

And that's my motive. I'm not saying join a church, don't want their money. I'm saying, hey, Bob, you're in terrible danger. You've got to get right with God before death seizes upon you and this coronavirus is making that more real for them. Ray, just last question is, you know, when people watch your videos or watch you preach on the street and interact with people, I think it's easy to say, wow, he just has great answers and great analogies and illustrations to use with people, and he seems to be really sharp, and the interaction, I could never do something like that.

How do you encourage someone listening today who wants to and knows they should be reaching out to friends and neighbors and people they know just to have a little more confidence in being able to communicate the gospel or just have conversations, spiritual conversations with people that lead in that direction? Yeah, it's kind of like a tennis player. We can look at a Wimbledon champion and say, man, that guy's good. I could never do that. But if you go up and talk to him and say, how come you're so good, he will say to you, I practiced. I practiced and practiced and practiced. I perfected it.

I built muscle. I denied myself. And that's the principle of evangelism. If you ever hear eloquence on my part, I'm just a fumbling lunatic. Seriously, I'm a nobody from nowhere who's got nothing but a love for God and a love for people. So I've practiced what I've preached.

I've thought about atheism. In the shower, I preach to the wall. In the mirror, I preach to myself. I preach to the dog. I think about this.

I mean, all around us, people are dying. And so the focal point of our minds should be, what can I do to reach the lost? How can I learn? And that's what these videos do. By hearing me do it again and again, you see the Wimbledon player, the shots he makes.

Oh, I think I could do that. I've just got to practice it. So get our YouTube channel. There's over 2,000 videos.

They're completely free. And just see people respond again and again. See how an atheist will backslide. When I say to him, do you really believe the scientific impossibility that nothing created everything? And you see an atheist say, well, no, I don't believe nothing created everything. You hear me say, well, you're not an atheist. And he says, yeah, you're right.

So you can learn how to say things like that. You can dismantle self-righteousness using the tools that God has given us, the weapons of our warfare are not carnal. They're mighty through God with the pulling down of strongholds.

We're in a war. God gives us these mighty weapons, and we've got to use them if we're concerned about reaching the lost. Well, Ray, we just so appreciate your example in doing this, your obedience to the Lord and getting out there and proclaiming the gospel at every opportunity. So we just wish all of God's best and grace to you. We're always thankful to have you come on the program. We just appreciate who you are and your ministry. And thank you again, Ray. Thank you for having me on.

I appreciate it. Okay, Ray Comfort, everyone. If you missed any of the interview, you can always go to our website after it airs, thechristianrealview.org, to hear the replay of the interview with Ray Comfort. I really recommend you do that. It's very helpful to hear his answers to the various questions today.

It stimulates how you think and motivates you to share the gospel with the lost and gives you great ideas to do so. And when you're at the website, be sure to get our featured resource, How to Be Free from the Fear of Death. Again, a complimentary copy for you if you've never contacted The Christian Real View. All you have to do is call or email us. You can't order that online. Otherwise, you have to buy it. But if you want a free one, just call us at 1-888-646-2233 or email us feedback at thechristianrealview.org. For everyone else, you can just go to the website. It's right there on the homepage, only 50 cents apiece for a 20-page booklet. And order multiples of them. We've ordered 500, so we have plenty. Also, while you're there, look at the other books where we have by Ray, Scientific Facts in the Bible, How to Win Souls and Influence People, the devotional Jesus in Red. They're all there on the site. You also have an opportunity, if you'd like to support the ministry of The Christian Real View by making a donation, you can do that as well as you check out with some of these resources. We would very much appreciate that.

Okay, we have more coming up here. I wanted to say, in light of Ray's last answer about Wimbledon, he brought that up. I was actually interviewed this week in a local secular radio station with a sports host. And ostensibly, he contacted me to talk about the fact that Wimbledon has been canceled this year, so he invited me to come on the program.

This was actually on, I think it was actually, it was on Friday night, just last night. And he meant it, so I thought that was the conversation. We started the interview, and he talked about the coronavirus some and how this changed the sports landscape and sports events have been canceled and kids' high school events have been canceled and what other things we can do and get outside and this sort of thing.

But then all of a sudden, he asked me this. You are a man of devout faith as well, and I think all of us that have a faith search within this to find out what it is we're supposed to learn from this. How has that played in your life over the last couple weeks as we all kind of seek, you know, what is it we can get out of this? What is it we need to know? What do you want us to know about it, God, is a question a lot of people ask right now.

Okay. This was on a secular radio station on an interview ostensibly about Wimbledon. All of a sudden, this question gets answered. It just goes to the point that people, this coronavirus has made people, God is using this as one of the reasons why to make people think about something beyond the moment they are living in. So after this break, I will play the rest of the answer to that question that he asked me. And just proving the point of what Ray talked about first today that he said spiritually, at health, it's been a disaster, economic, terrible, political division, but from a spiritual standpoint, this coronavirus has been amazing.

So we'll come back. We'll hear the rest of that interview there. We'll also get to Lydia Kaiser from Child Evangelism Fellowship. She's going to talk about some ways, some productive things you can do with your kids while they're home from school. We have a lot more coming up today in the Christian Royal View, so stay tuned.

I'm David Wheaton. There's an abundance of resources available in Christian bookstores and online, but the sad reality is that many of them, even some of the most popular, do not lead to a sound and strong faith. A key aim of the Christian World View is to identify and offer resources that are biblically faithful and deepen your walk with God. In our online store, we have a wide range of resources for all ages, adult and children's books and DVDs, Bibles and devotionals, unique gifts, and more. So browse our store at thechristianworldview.org and find enriching resources for yourself, family, friends, small group, or church. You can also order by calling our office toll-free at 1-888-646-2233.

That's 1-888-646-2233. Or visit thechristianworldview.org. It is a pain to know that there are people who do not know Jesus. It is a greater pain to know that oftentimes Jesus and Christianity is being distorted. Your destiny is calling out.

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Regular retail is $17.99 each. To order, go to thechristianworldview.org or call 1-888-646-2233 or write to Box 401, Excelsior, Minnesota 55331. . All right, final segment of the day here on The Christian Worldview radio program. Thanks for joining us. I realize I added up how long my answer was to this question on a local radio station about what's God doing in this and how long the little short segment is with Lydia Kaiser from Child Evangelism Fellowship. It's too much to fit into one segment, so I'm just going to play a portion. He asked me two questions about this local radio host about what's going on in the world right now, what should we be thinking about.

I'm just going to play the last answer. We'll post the whole thing on thechristianworldview.org, but here's the point about people are thinking about spiritual things right now. And if there is something about a faith, it is this understanding, this belief that there's a purpose to it. And when you have that, as you said, you can be in the storm and still have some sense of peace because you don't need to know the answer today. You just believe.

And I thought, man, that seems like a lot healthier way to go through life. Absolutely. And that's really what faith means. It's the evidence of things, the assurance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. And so, again, we don't know necessarily why, but we can trust that there is a God and He has things moving for His purposes in the world. And it's a time of self-reflection, too, to make sure we're right with that God according to the way we're approaching Him on His terms. And He's clear about that in the gospel, that He sent His Son so that we could be forgiven, our sins forgiven, and be right with Him.

And I know maybe some people don't agree with that, and that's fine. God is a God of free will. He's given us choice. But that's His gospel message and something that we're certainly relying on at this particular time. Wow. So after that interview, I walked out into the room and walked up to my wife.

We both looked at each other and said, did that really just happen on secular radio? And, again, I think I could have done a better job explaining the gospel and comparing it to the way Ray is able to explain the gospel. He does a great job. I definitely think I could improve. But the point is, is that there are opportunities here for all of us, maybe not on radio, but just in conversations you're having that there's a heightened sensitivity to what's going on in the world right now.

So let's try to take those opportunities. Okay, we have one final segment today with Lydia Kaiser. She is in corporate communications for Child Evangelism Fellowship. And I want to talk to her yesterday. I want to play you that short interview with her right now.

Lydia, it's great to have you on the program. You work for Child Evangelism Fellowship. Just give us a brief overview of what Child Evangelism Fellowship is. Child Evangelism Fellowship is an international nonprofit Christian ministry that has been teaching the Bible to children since 1937. CEF has 400 offices in the U.S., and it's organized in most nations of the world with over 3,500 paid staff and hundreds of thousands of volunteers, most of them nationals in their own country. But in its last ministry year, CEF ministered to over 25.5 million children in its face-to-face teaching ministry.

Wow. My wife and I have been involved with CEF through their Good News Clubs, which we'll have time to talk about at some point on the program in the future, and we really are strong advocates for how powerful this ministry is, especially within public schools today. Let's get into, Lydia, how parents should explain to their children what is taking place right now, the difficulties going on in the world. I know you have a booklet entitled Do You Wonder Why?

It's both a booklet and a video. Tell us more about that. Well, everyone has probably explained what is happening, but the why is the harder question, you know, that we all struggle with. Why is God allowing this to happen and so on? I would like to point everyone to that resource, the Do You Wonder Why booklet. After the 9-11 terrorist attack, CEF developed this booklet for use in counseling children, and we now have it in digital booklet form as well as a video narrated by children. Do You Wonder Why speaks directly to children about the emotions they experience due to natural disasters, disability, illness or death of loved ones, crime, and it talks about how when bad things happen, it's natural to feel scared, sad and even angry. But then it gets into the hard questions like, does God know and care about me?

Why do so many bad things happen in the world and how could God allow this to happen? Then it guides the child in how to get through really difficult circumstances, how to become part of God's family and how to receive God's comfort. I've even had adults lately tell me how it's brought them comfort too, so it's great for the whole family. Well, we have a link to it on our website right now, thechristianworldview.org.

It's called Do You Wonder Why. It's either in digital format or also video as well, how they recommended that you show this or read this to your children at this time. Just one more question for you. Parents right now have their children home. I think most everywhere, school has been canceled, after school activities, sports and otherwise have been canceled, so kids are home all day. What are some recommendations you have for what parents should be doing with their children right now? I know CEF, Child Evangelism Fellowship, is out to evangelize children, disciple them, establish them in churches. What do you recommend for parents right now? First, I would suggest that everybody look at this time as a gift to focus with their children on the most important things. For starters, if your kids haven't been having morning personal devotions, this is a great time to get them started. That same website, cefonline.com, and then you click on COVID-19 Resources, it has a selection of free, age-appropriate devotionals. They're called the Stuck at Home Devotional Series. How do you like that?

That's good. Second, I'd say don't stop the learning. For most people, the schoolwork being provided is pretty minimal, and that same website has colorful Bible lessons with worksheets and answer keys for parents.

It's called Home School Resources. And then third, I recommend choosing a chapter of Scripture and memorizing it together as a family. When my husband had cancer, our family memorized Psalm 103, and today, whenever any of us hears any verses from that Psalm, we remember God's faithfulness to us during that time. Even just hearing those verses now brings back that uniquely bonding experience for our family going through that difficult time, and it's actually a really sweet positive memory rather than a negative memory. I recommend choosing a passage such as Philippians 4, 4 to 8. That passage contains verses like Rejoice Always, Be Anxious for Nothing, How to Have the Peace of God Rule in Your Heart.

Your family can make this a positive time and a bonding time, or it can just be a scary negative time that brings back bad memories when the kids think back on it some day. Well, these are excellent suggestions, and we appreciate your coming on the program today. We look forward to hearing more about Child Evangelism Fellowship, and we just, in the meantime, Lydia, wish all of God's best and grace to you. Thanks for coming on the Christian Real View today. You're welcome.

Thanks so much for having me. Okay, that was Lydia Kaiser from Child Evangelism Fellowship. Again, you can get those COVID-19 resources.

Talk about being on the ball and being ready for this at cefonline.com. Also, we have all kinds of great books and DVDs for children at thechristianrealview.org. Really encourage you to do this. Go there.

Take a look at the children's resources. Order some during this time when they're at home. Take advantage of these days. These are a unique time. You know, we do live in a changing and challenging world, everyone.

We know that now more than ever, but there is one thing we can always count on and trust in. The Bible says, Jesus Christ and His word, they are the same yesterday, today, and forever. Until next weekend, everyone, live biblically and live accordingly. The Christian Worldview is a weekly one-hour radio program that is furnished by the Overcomer Foundation and is supported by listeners and sponsors. Request one of our current resources with your donation of any amount. Go to thechristianworldview.org or call us toll-free at 1-888-646-2233 or write to us at Box 401, Excelsior, Minnesota, 55331. That's Box 401, Excelsior, Minnesota, 55331. Thanks for listening to The Christian Worldview. Until next time, think biblically and live accordingly.
Whisper: medium.en / 2024-03-23 01:50:20 / 2024-03-23 02:12:39 / 22

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