Interview-Ray Comfort of Living Waters Ministries, Part 2

Continued from: Interview-Ray Comfort of Living Waters Ministries, Part 1.

Chandee Martin: I’ve heard you talk about modern evangelism in a way that it leaves out some important things as it focuses more on grace. Do you think that there is also something missing from a lot of churches’ messages?

Ray Comfort: Absolutely! People are afraid to talk about hell because when you drop the law, hell makes no sense, and it paints God as a tyrant. If God has the same standards as us, then how could he possibly condemn us? But what the law does is show us God’s holy standard and other perfection in thought, word and deed. That helps us understand why there is a judgment day and why hell is just in God’s eyes. It should put the fear of God in us when we understand that and motivate us to reach out to the lost. The analogy I use so often is this. If you’re a doctor and you have a patient before you who looks very well and feels well, but you know he has a terrible disease because you’re seeing the x-rays. But a lot of people die just hearing about the cure. If he’s got a disease, he’s going die, and you give him the cure straight away, that’s not going to work. While he thinks he is well, the cure is going to be offensive to him. He’ll see the X-rays. You’ll show him the poison seeping through his system. You’ll make him sweat to the point where he says, “Wow, this is serious, doc. What should I do now?” Now, he’s ready for the cure. What we’ve done over the last nearly 100 years was not an evangelism. We have preached the cure without mentioning the disease. We don’t want to talk about sin. So, we talk about God’s love and his mercy and His sweetness and kindness. We paint God as just being quite heady with humanity, and it’s a form of idolatry. What we must do is do what Jesus did and look at the x-rays, open up the commandments as Jesus did through His Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7; Luke 6:17-49). The greatest sermon ever preached by the greatest Preacher whoever lived, opens up the Ten Commandments through the Sermon on the Mount. Learn to do what Jesus did and open up the law.

Chandee Martin: Yes, and that’s a good lead into my next question. What resources do you have for Christians that want to reach out to non-believers?

Ray Comfort: We (Living Waters Ministries) have lots of Gospel tracks that are so good, non-Christians come back for more. We’ve got the giant money, which is a $100 bill. It’s huge! (I laugh.) You can just say to the person, “Hey, can you break a big bill?” That makes them laugh! We’ve got tracts like a million-dollar bill which is very popular. We’ve got a new track that’s come out. It’s based on Jeopardy. Almost everybody’s familiar with Jeopardy, and you can say to someone, “You good at Jeopardy? I’m gonna ask you some questions. Can you handle that and play Jeopardy? Yeah. Subject: the Bible. What’s the first book in the Bible? Who was the first man God created? Who betrayed Jesus?” People love that! They’ll give the answers sometimes right, sometimes wrong. And the tenth question on the track is “What does the Bible say you have to do to get to heaven?” The person will say, “Oh, be a good person.” It’s a seamless transition. But we’ve also got the Evidence Bible, which is everything you’d ever want to know about evangelism. Also, the Basic Training Course, which is very popular for churches to learn these biblical principles, all on livingwaters.com.

Chandee Martin: Excellent! OK. I have to ask you, do you ever get burned out?

Ray Comfort: Yes and no. I get tired. I get tired in it, but not of it. If during the day… I feel so overwhelmingly tired, I just jump up, get on my bike and away we go! Energy comes as you go. I call it “dragging feet, clicking heels” ministry. Whenever you’ve got to do evangelism, you go dragging your feet, you always come back clicking your heels. The last thing I hope I do is preaching the Gospel or talking with someone.

Chandee Martin: Yes, Amen. I love the fact that during one of your messages you said, “God’s joy brings physical energy.”

Ray Comfort: Yeah, that’s how to get on fire for God.

Chandee Martin: It’s so true! Was there ever a time that you had to deal with somebody that had a demon and you had to deal with that and talk to them still about the Gospel?

Ray Comfort: Yes. We’ve got videos just recently on our YouTube channels: “Just Witnessing” and “Living Waters.” People are obviously demon possessed and even demons are speaking. You just learn to talk to the person and realize the way to get rid of demons is just “Submit to God, resist the devil and he’ll flee from you” (James 4:7). That the key for someone being totally demonically free is to submit to God as the Legion or Demoniac fell at the feet of Jesus (Mark 5:1-20; Luke 8:26-39). Demons couldn’t stop him from worshiping Jesus. Demons can’t stop someone from coming to Christ, and that’s always my confidence.

Chandee Martin: Do you ever work with parents who feel they are unworthy or not knowledgeable enough to teach their kids about God?

Ray Comfort: Well, most people, most parents feel a little bit inadequate. But it’s just something I did for years. We just had family devotions every night we possibly could. We would gather together, and I’d read some Bible verses. We prayed together. We’d act out Bible stories. We would do memory verses. We’ve got a book called “How to Bring Your Children to Christ and Keep Them There”, which has very effective principles, biblical principles on how to train up a child in the way he should go (Proverbs 22:6). One of the key ones is to teach them the Ten Commandments.

Chandee Martin: What would you like to be known as your legacy?

Ray Comfort: I don’t have one. I just want to be true and faithful to God, that’s all that matters. I told my wife that if someone built a statue of me, knock it down! All I’d like to hear is, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” Not even successful, just faithful. That is what God requires.

Chandee Martin: OK, last question. I’ve watched plenty of your videos where you’re basically asking people, “Are you a good person?” But what do you say to somebody who thinks they’re a Christian and says, “Oh, you don’t have to worry about me. I’m good with God.” But I know that the person is not obeying the Ten Commandments. They don’t go to church. They don’t really put God first. What’s your advice?

Ray Comfort: That’s a really good question because I get that all the time. A person I talked to the other day, he starts off by saying, “Yes, I’m born again.” And I said, “Do you think you’re a good person?” And he says, “Yeah,” so it shows me where he’s at. He hasn’t been in the Bible for two years. I say, “When are you going to get right with God and trust in Jesus rather than your own goodness.” He said to me, “I do that every day.” Now that is a huge hurdle for most people. Go through the Ten Commandments and we see how terribly serious sinners are in the eyes of God. That gives you the ability to be sorry for your sins because you realize you’re not a good person. The Bible says, “Godly sorrow works repentance unto life” (2 Corinthians 7:10-12). I think you need to repent today once and for all and be genuinely sorry for your sins. Am I right?” He said, “You’re right.” You have to go back and open up the commandments. Ask, “Did you know that Jesus said lust is adultery in God’s eyes? Ever done that?” Don’t be afraid to stir up his conscience and say, “Be honest with me because we’re talking about your forever, your eternity.” It really helps them to speak on what really matters.

Chandee Martin: Yes. I noticed that your foundation really is the importance of God’s law and that we can’t keep that, and it’s pointing to the fact that we really do need Jesus. We need a savior.

Ray Comfort: It’s like a mirror. We just see ourselves in truth. The Bible says in James 1:25, to look into “the perfect law of liberty,” and it shows us we need to wash. When we look into the mirror each day, it shows what damage has been done during the night and how we need to be cleaned up before we go public. What the law does to show us the damages in our souls, the habits of our hearts. We need to be washed. So, the law brings us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. He says this in Galatians 2:16.

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Conclusion

What an important message! Do not leave God’s law out of sermons, evangelism and especially, your daily life. Yes, Jesus Christ fulfilled God’s law by dying on the cross for our inability to follow those laws and obey every part. God’s law is now written on our hearts, but we must acknowledge that we will always need our Savior. Telling everyone God puts before you about our need for Christ is every Christian’s calling and God will provide the courage to speak the words of the Holy Spirit when you do His will. Thank you, Ray Comfort, for these vital reminders.