This book teaches you how to use the law "lawfully" to win souls to Christ. It shows how Jesus approached sinners with the law and how important it is that the condemnation of sin is felt by the lost. It shows down to earth examples how we all fall short of the Ten Commandements and are doomed to die if it were not for the blood of Jesus. It bashes the all "Grace Gospel", "let's not talk about judgement" approaches. It shows how and why Evangelists from a 100 years ago were more successful in bringing fruit unto repentance. It helps you understand why the "Hell fire" is not to be shied away from if you truly love and want to save souls.
As the man that writes the book is a street preacher he tells how to ignore hecklers, what to expect and look for in witnessing and preaching on the street. The book is full of scripture references and quotes from old time evangelists on nearly every page. I don't know how we send out missionaries and tract workers without making this a standard reading. I think somebody on the board needs to proofread it so it doesn't seem like a coup and then I think people should send it to all the missions. If you are in prison ministry I think it is definitely worth your time. I would quote you some references, but I already borrowed out my book as soon as I finished. There are souls to save and why waste time!
The problem is we have no one really to tell us what is a effective way to witness. We get confused by whether we should talk more about the blessings of being a Christian or whether to talk about fleeing the wrath to come.
The book compares this to telling a man in a airliner to put on a parachute to enjoy his ride better. If that is his motivation somewhere down the line he is going to get uncomfortable and tear it off in disgust. The other passengers were snickering at him, and he did not feel any more comfortable. In fact Jesus tells us to expect hardship, cross bearing and persecution for his name sake. So it is erroneous to promise people an easier more comfortable life. Jesus came to take the burden of sin away and if you do not feel that burden, that person cannot value the reason why Jesus had to come to save.
Now he compares this with a man that gets a parachute and is told that the plane is indeed going to go down and he needs to wear this parachute to ensure that his life is saved. That man will value his parachute. Even if he feels discomfort or is ridiculed he will grasp hold of the parachute. So is it for those that are saved what shall seperate us from the Love of God?
I recommend this book as an effort to shake the reader into effective action in committing yourself into the work of the Great Commission. It is not a work, but a fruit of those that really have something to share. If a man died to save your life from a horrible death, would you not remember and reverence him to those you know all the days of your life. How much important to if that somebody saved you from eternal death and is there to benefit others. Help us Lord to do our part.
As far as the author, Ray Comfort, I haven't read his other books. I for some reason start getting a slightly cautious when people start writing books and go big time with TV shows,etc and then it starts looking really commercial. When the names and pictures of the author start to get bigger than the titles. I am glad for their success if they can hold onto what they started with. Maybe it is that verse about standing in the street corner to be seen and praised of men, that makes me cautious. Perhaps they can reach more people that way?
JLT
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