Truth Really Matters

http://viningsnaturalhealthcentre.co.uk/tag/therapy/index.php?profile=bordeaux “The Gospel is the greatest gift we can give to the world.  This is why the Lord cares how we deliver it.”

This thought moved Preston Perry to publish his recent (2024) book, How to Tell the Truth:  The story of how God saved me to win hearts – not just arguments.  His wife, Jackie Hill Perry, wrote the forward, encouraging Christian readers to overcome their fears about evangelism:  “Fear wears many faces.  Some of us are afraid to engage the world with the truth of God’s gospel because we’re afraid of confrontation.”  Others fear for their reputation or even livelihood.  Some use the excuse of never having learned to explain the Gospel.  She concludes, “Whatever the cause, fear has to die for dead people to learn how to live.”

I heartily recommend this short book.  Preston is a winsome author, easy to read.  He relates his salvation story, growing up on the South Side of Chicago, just a few miles from where I grew up, many years before.  (Although his neighborhood was far more dangerous than mine.)  I also recommend you download my free ebook on Evangelism from the free ebookstore on this site.

Perry’s approach to starting conversations with lost people is simple enough, often starting with a question like, “Hey.  Do you believe in God?”  He professes a deep burning within to share the Gospel with those who don’t know it.  Why?  “Imagine walking around every day of your life, and all you see are people dying of thirst, but you know where they can get free water.  In fact, the person who has free water has given you access to the water.”  The hard part, though, is that they don’t know they’re dying . . . or even that they’re thirsty.

That’s the frustrating thing about one-to-one (121) evangelism in America.  “I’m good!” is the universal mantra, with both meanings attached:  They’re both content with whatever they think is their spiritual condition, and also they are convinced they are ‘good’ – righteous – in God’s eyes.  The Gospel, of course, is intended to save sinners; nobody likes to think of himself as a sinner.  That’s one of the challenges.

Perry wants to convince Christians to discard combative methods.  I certainly share his distaste for contentious methods; they are counter-productive, unpleasant, stressful, and worst of all . . . they are unhelpful.  “Sharing our faith is not about winning arguments; it’s about winning hearts . . . (we must engage) the world around us with truth, dignity, and respect.”  He cites Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 10:16 that we should be “wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.”  Namely we should be cunning in strategy, employing wisdom with a quiet calmness.

Absolutely.  Yet I don’t think that combativeness is the big problem; the big problem is apathy.  Few Christians try to reach souls.  My experience is that it is about as difficult to convince Christians to get busy in 121 work as it is to convince adult lost people to repent and to put their faith in Christ.

Preston’s personal conversion story is worth the price of the book, but I won’t try to summarize it here.  You’ll enjoy it when you get the book.  After his conversion he quickly became known for his zeal in sharing his new faith.  For some years he led his church in street evangelism.  “We would walk up to people we didn’t know and start conversations about God.”  In ‘the hood’ there was quite a variety of JWs, Mormons, and Hebrew Israelites, who also were zealous about sharing their faith.

Hebrew Israelites are a fast-growing group in America, with a strong appeal among Black millennials and Gen Zers.  They believe they are direct descendants of the early Israelites, sold into African slavery, with multi-generational suffering because their ancestors broke God’s Ten Commandments.  Their focus is on the Old Testament.  Christianity is a false religion to them.  Perry reports a lot of anger in the Hebrew Israelite community, angry about slavery and perceived injustices.  Some believe that white people cannot be saved.  Perry recommends that we see these folks as individuals with stories.  You’ve got to get to know them.

To contend ‘rightly,’ especially with those in religious cults, Perry argues that you must avoid anger or defensiveness;  after all, “God loves these people and wants to reach them.”  And we are His instruments to reach them.

Early on, in a public confrontation with a (so-called) Jehovah’s Witness, he grew frustrated because he knew what John was saying about Jesus was wrong, but he had not learned yet to contend on the subject.

He dove into research:  “I was a furnace burning with zeal and passion.  I felt like there was so much I needed to learn.”  He observes that a Christian sharing his faith is an evangelist.  As soon as you get a question or an objection, “boom – you’re an apologist.”

Preston met with John regularly and learned to argue with him, sometimes quite successfully – in his own eyes, anyway.  Preston’s mentor and friend, Gary, had to remind him that the objective was not to beat him in a fight, but to win his heart for the Lord.  The admonition humbled Preston.

Perry notes that when most people think about apologetics, the key word is knowledge.  Yes, to be an effective witness we must know Scripture and use Scriptural arguments to defend the faith.  But perhaps the key word in apologetics, suggests Preston, is love.

Perry notes that Jesus did not merely preach facts and doctrine.  He asked questions, told stories, prayed with people, ate with them, and spent time with them.  In short, he loved them.  We should be careful to not be the reason someone rejects the Gospel . . . the Gospel will often be rejected, but it must be presented in the right package, which includes our own demeanor and personality.

Preston admits that when he first presented the truth to his JW friend, John, he offered it in a garbage bag.  John rejected Preston more than he rejected truth.  “The truth of the Gospel is offensive enough.  We don’t have to add to the offense with our bad conduct.”

“Don’t let your pride murder your message.”

Preston went back to John and confessed that he didn’t want to argue anymore.  He wanted to get to know John . . . personally.  And so they talked.  John had been hurt by a church, hurt by Christians.  He found refuge with the JWs, but his JW worldview was not derived from a search for truth, but a personal revulsion to ‘professing’ Christians and their alleged faith.

Perry recommends asking questions to engage with people, not just to buy time for building your next argument, but to genuinely get to know where people are coming from, “what’s in their hearts, what they worry about, what they fear, what they doubt, and what they desire.”  If we are invested in someone’s life, they will sense it and, hopefully, be more open.  In cold-turkey street or door-to-door evangelism, this is a mighty challenge.  But if we do care, we can make a difference even in a few minutes, trusting the Holy Spirit to carry the ball forward that only He can carry.

In my (free ebookstore) book, One Heartbeat from Hell, Plus Eleven other Compelling Reasons to Become a Christian, I offer a dozen different major-league reasons to become a Christian.  Ultimately, the common thread is that we all must recognize and repent from our sins and trust Christ for salvation, but underlying motivations often vary.  For me it was an overwhelming desire to find meaning in life, desperate that we must be more than mere animals, more than clumps of molecules bumping along.  That desperation drove me to be open to the Gospel message.  I had to find the Gospel to be TRUE, of course, but I had to have a purpose to bother to go look to see if TRUTH even existed.

Preston was once engaged with a young homosexual, overcome by postmodernism, who believed that we are our own god.  Preston asked, “Okay, Trevon, help me understand something.  You’re a gay rights activist, right?  Well, if we are all our own god and we live according to our own standards, how are you able to argue against the person who believes homosexuality is wrong.  I mean, what happens when your worldview bumps into mine and we disagree?  If we’re both our own god, how do we decide who’s right and who’s wrong?”

Then he waited, instead of preaching or quoting Scripture or embellishing more and more arguments.  He asked, and waited, recognizing that Preston cannot possibly convert Trevon.  Trevon has to open up Trevon and the Holy Spirit has to do transactional business in Trevon’s heart.  Wisdom is knowing when to get out of the way.  Perry:  “Some stuff, though, people need to figure out for themselves, because that’s what makes it stick.”

What about conversations that don’t go anywhere?  I’m glad Perry addresses that oh-so-common scenario.  Most books on evangelism don’t.  If the guy’s eyes wander, or he starts scrolling through his phone, or fidgets, etc., you’re done.  Perry suggests you thank them for their time and say you enjoyed speaking with them and hope they will think about it.  He sometimes gives them his cell number.  He should give them a tract with contact information!  That’s what I do.  In fact, I start conversations by offering one or more of my own tracts (ThinkTracts.com) so they’ve already got a followup opportunity, even if the conversation goes nowhere.

Trevon admitted he did not have an answer for the question.  So Preston gave him a quick explanation of the Gospel, thanked him for his time, and let him go.  Just right.

Perry has a good bit to say about reaching out to family members, which is often far more challenging than talking to strangers.  His grandmother’s godly witness to him for years before Preston became a believer was a key factor in his conversion.  In my free ebook on Evangelism I include advice on how to share with your relatives.  If you have unbelieving family members – most Christians do – give it a read.

Perry camps on the doctrine that God, Himself, plays the principal role in reaching people.  Citing Hebrews 12:2, he observes that God calls people to Himself (see also John 12:32-33), and God is the finisher that follows through after us.  We, the evangelists, are just one step in the process . . . but the entire process belongs to God.  Listen to some conversion stories.  The process often takes years and includes many way stations along the journey.  Don’t try to be the trigger-puller.  You might create a still-born ‘professing Christian’ who is henceforth inoculated against the Gospel.

Finally, Perry implores Christians to not be cowards, whom he equates with the ‘fearful’ of Revelation 21:8, lumped in with the unbelieving, the abominable, murderers, whoremongers, sorcerers, idolaters, and liars . . . none of whom will inherit the kingdom of God.  Having so little concern about the souls of others so as to avoid sharing the Gospel, as a regular part of the Christian life, may well indicate a ‘Christian life’ that is self-deceived . . . a false convert, destined for the Lake of Fire.

“Boldness isn’t about doing what you are afraid to do.  It’s about doing what God is telling you to do.  Boldness is more about obedience than being fearless before people.”

 If you must be scared when you witness, do it scared.  If it’s hard to give tracts to strangers, do it hard.  If that’s all the Cross we are called upon to share with our Lord and Savior, can’t we do at least that?

• drdave@truthreallymatters.com