Written by Dr. Everett Piper

Ray Comfort, in his book “Spurgeon Gold: Pure and Refined,” describes Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the 19th-century preacher who ministered in the streets of London during the cholera pandemic of 1854. Spurgeon’s words, says Mr. Comfort, were pure and refined. They were rhetorical and theological gold. Spurgeon, “had the ability to take the hammer of eloquence and nail a particular truth, to pull back the veil of the eternal and give us a fleeting glance.”

Mr. Comfort continues. “Gold holds its market value. Heaven’s everlasting streets are paved with it … Gold is not meant to sit on the shelf of a rich man. If it does, then it becomes worthless. Its real value will be seen in its being spent on the cause of the Kingdom.” In other words, the gold of truth earns its value only through the spoken word and the active life of men of virtue and valor. The gold of integrity must be “spent.” It cannot be hoarded. It only earns its value if it is invested.

As COVID-19 hysteria sweeps across our nation, the tens of millions of us who still claim to be followers of Christ might do well to consider, not only these words from Ray Comfort, but also the words and actions of Charles Spurgeon of some 150 years past.

They are so good.

They are so faithful.

They are so pertinent and so prophetic.

They are gold.

One can almost hear Spurgeon bellowing from the podiums of New York City and Washington, D.C., as he did from his pulpit in Essex England — “Christians take heart! Be not afraid! Your Savior and your God, is with you! Be steadfast and immovable! Be strong and courageous! Be not afraid! Always abound in the work of the Lord!”

If you listen carefully, this man, known as the Prince of Preachers, a man with a golden tongue and a refined soul, is shouting — “Never let a crisis go to waste. Run toward the storm, not away from it. Embrace this calamity. Have courage! This is your time. This is your destiny. This is your opportunity. Shine with the light of salvation and the love of your Redeemer. Be the Church, for Jesus, himself, has told you the gates of hell will not prevail against you! Put your trust in God, not in yourselves, and not in government. Believe in His sovereignty. Walk in His grace. March with confidence in your King!”

But enough of the dross of my speculation. Hear the exact words of Spurgeon:

“At first, I gave myself up with youthful ardor to the visitation of the sick, and was sent for from all corners of the district by persons of all ranks and religions; but, soon, I became weary in body and sick at heart. My friends seemed falling one by one, and I felt or fancied that I was sickening like those around me. A little more work and weeping would have laid me low among the rest; I felt that my burden was heavier than I could bear, and I was ready to sink under it.

“I was returning mournfully home from a funeral, when, as God would have it, my curiosity led me to read a paper which was wafered up in a shoemaker’s window on the Great Dover Road. It did not look like a trade announcement, nor was it, for it bore, in good bold handwriting, these words: ‘Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the Most High, thy habitation; there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.’

“The effect upon my heart was immediate. Faith appropriated the passage as her own. I felt secure, refreshed, girt with immortality. I went on with my visitation of the dying, in a calm and peaceful spirit; I felt no fear of evil, and I suffered no harm.

“The Providence which moved the tradesman to place those verses in his window, I gratefully acknowledge; and in the remembrance of its marvelous power, I adore the Lord my God.”

Let me repeat … “Faith appropriated. I felt secure, refreshed, girt with immortality. I went on in a calm and peaceful spirit; I felt no fear of evil, and I suffered no harm!”

This is gold. Pure gold. Refined gold.

Whether it be a bad market or a bad disease, lovers of Christ should be the first to show the world that our security is not in hand sanitizers but in our Savior.

“Don’t let this crisis go to waste!” shouts Spurgeon.

Show the world what love, joy and peace, truly look like.

Show your neighbor, your city and your nation that even though we walk through dark valleys, fear has lost its victory and death has lost its sting.

Dr. Everett Piper, former president of Oklahoma Wesleyan University, is a columnist for The Washington Times and author of “Not A Day Care: The Devastating Consequences of Abandoning Truth” (Regnery 2017). This article was originally published by the WashingtonTimes.com.

How did you come to faith in Jesus? For most of us, a parent, grandparent, Sunday school teacher, or other influential person in our life shared the Gospel with us, answered our questions, encouraged and prayed over us, leading us to the point where we were ready to embrace Jesus as our Lord and Savior. No doubt we’ve heard of someone who came to faith in Jesus by reading a tract, watching a Billy Graham crusade on television, maybe listening to Ray Comfort ask probing question, or hearing a teaching program on a Christian radio station, but usually decisions to follow Christ are the result of frequent, personal interaction with an established believer.

In the video below, Mark Issa gives his testimony of how he became a disciple of Christ. His story is fascinating, and far from typical by the standards of western Christianity. Issa was born in Kuwait, but grew up in war-torn southern Lebanon in a secular Muslim home – his father didn’t take him to pray in the mosque or teach him Islam or the Quran. At age 16, after 9/11, Issa’s latent spirit of anger and resentment toward Israel, the United States, and other Israeli allies was kindled. He decided to learn more about Islam, becoming a radical Muslim, and then, jihadist, from information he gleaned from Islamic jihadist websites on the deep web.

Disillusioned that the Arab Spring freedom uprisings didn’t bring about the changes he anticipated, Issa decided to relearn Islam. This time, with a more objective perspective, Islam was revealed to him as “nothing but a large Ponzi scheme … falsely labeled as a religion of peace.” He embarked on an agnostic journey, examining various philosophies and religions solely by means of YouTube videos and online media. The teaching programs of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries, along with his reading of the Word of God, were instrumental in Issa’s decision to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior in 2016.

Liberated from the lies of Islam by the freedom found only in Jesus, Issa now serves the Lord in a media ministry that targets Muslims. Striving to “win back the Middle East to Jesus Christ,” Issa uses media to reach Muslims and Arabs with the truth about the Lord he loves.

Praise God for our brother in Christ and his testimony to the Lord’s grace and love!

What do you do when the world’s most famous atheist mocks you internationally on television and throughout social media? What consolation can you find when you become known worldwide as atheism’s celebrity idiot?

You look to the Scriptures and take consolation in how Joseph was humiliated before the time came when God opened a big door of opportunity for him, and how Moses was abased before God opened a big sea for him. You take comfort in knowing the principle of humiliation before promotion—that God often takes someone low before raising him up for His use.

And that’s what happened when Ray Comfort was christened “Banana Man” by Professor Richard Dawkins. Millions came under the sound of the everlasting gospel, all because of that humiliating name: Banana Man. So if you’re afraid of looking foolish, this true story not only will encourage you and bring your fears into perspective, it will increase your faith in God and help you to see His wonderful hand in your own life.

Click here for flyer.

What do you do when the world’s most famous atheist mocks you internationally on television and throughout social media? What consolation can you find when you become known worldwide as atheism’s celebrity idiot?

You look to the Scriptures and take consolation in how Joseph was humiliated before the time came when God opened a big door of opportunity for him, and how Moses was abased before God opened a big sea for him. You take comfort in knowing the principle of humiliation before promotion—that God often takes someone low before raising him up for His use.

And that’s what happened when Ray Comfort was christened “Banana Man” by Professor Richard Dawkins. Millions came under the sound of the everlasting gospel, all because of that humiliating name: Banana Man. So if you’re afraid of looking foolish, this true story not only will encourage you and bring your fears into perspective, it will increase your faith in God and help you to see His wonderful hand in your own life.

Click here for flyer.

What do you do when the world’s most famous atheist mocks you internationally on television and throughout social media? What consolation can you find when you become known worldwide as atheism’s celebrity idiot?

You look to the Scriptures and take consolation in how Joseph was humiliated before the time came when God opened a big door of opportunity for him, and how Moses was abased before God opened a big sea for him. You take comfort in knowing the principle of humiliation before promotion—that God often takes someone low before raising him up for His use.

And that’s what happened when Ray Comfort was christened “Banana Man” by Professor Richard Dawkins. Millions came under the sound of the everlasting gospel, all because of that humiliating name: Banana Man. So if you’re afraid of looking foolish, this true story not only will encourage you and bring your fears into perspective, it will increase your faith in God and help you to see His wonderful hand in your own life.

Click here for flyer.

What do you do when the world’s most famous atheist mocks you internationally on television and throughout social media? What consolation can you find when you’ve become known worldwide as atheism’s celebrity idiot?

You look to the Scriptures and take consolation in how Joseph was humiliated before the time came when God opened a big door of opportunity for him, and how Moses was abased before God opened a big sea for him. You take comfort in knowing the principle of humiliation before promotion—that God often takes someone low before raising him up for His use.

And that’s what happened when Ray Comfort was christened “Banana Man” by Professor Richard Dawkins. Millions heard the everlasting gospel, all because of that humiliating name: Banana Man. So if you’re afraid of looking foolish, this true story not only will encourage you and bring your fears into perspective, it will increase your faith in God and help you to see His wonderful hand in your own life.

ACTION: Join Illinois Family Institute for a screening of Ray Comfort’s latest production and a fascinating look at how God has used him to confound the dominant thinking of our day. (Please watch the trailer HERE.)

Click HERE for a flyer

IFI will be hosting free screenings on the following dates and locations. Click on the link for more information:

Friday, May 11th at 7:00 PM
Parkwood Baptist Church (map)
11355 S. Central Park Ave
Chicago, Illinois  60655

Monday, May 14th at  7:00 PM
Trail’s Edge Restaurant (map)
20 Kansas Street
Frankfort, Illinois  60423 
(10% off your meal with flyer)

 

Friday, May 18th at 7:00 PM
Church of Christian Liberty (map)
502 Euclid Avenue
Arlington Heights, Illinois  60004

Please invite neighbors, friends, and family members!

We are just two weeks away from our special forum with apologist Ray Comfort. He is an amazing pro-life warrior and the best-selling author of more than 70 books, including “You Can Lead an Atheist to Evidence But You Can’t Make Him Think,” “Hell’s Best Kept Secret,” and, “The Evidence Bible.” He also co-hosts the award-winning television program “The Way of the Master” (with actor Kirk Cameron), which is seen in over 140 countries, and has produced the films “180,” Genius, and Evolution vs. God. Ray and his wife Sue live in Southern California, where they have three grown children.

Ray is also bringing with him Emeal (“E.Z.”) Zwayne who will tell his story conversion to Christ after getting involved with the infamous street gang known as the Crips at the age of fifteen. E.Z. was born in Lebanon but now resides in Southern California with his wife Rachel and their five children.

DATE:       Saturday, September 30th
TIME:        7 to 9 PM
WHERE:  Medinah Baptist Church (map)

Tickets are just $10 each. Call the IFI office today to secure your seats today: (708) 781-9328 or purchase tickets below.

Click here for flyer.

P.S. We also highly recommend that you watch Ray Comfort in this powerful pro-life documentary titled “180 Movie.“

“Every man did that which was right in his own eyes.” ~Judges 21:25b

America circa 2017 sounds much like Israel of 1000 BC, proving, “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.”

Our current culture seems determined to rebel against God and His precepts, resembling Romans 1 more and more with each passing day.

For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.

. . .

Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy.

Yet we believers know the remedy!

The hard part is often not knowing, but rather sharing the good, Good News of the Savior.

The Apostle Paul tells us, ““How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

Well, based on Paul’s words, the IFI Faith Forum guest speaker, Ray Comfort, has some mighty good-looking feet…so to speak!

Ray Comfort is the Founder and CEO of Living Waters ministries and the best-selling author of more than 80 books, including, Hell’s Best Kept Secret, Scientific Facts in the Bible, and The Evidence Bible. He co-hosts (with actor Kirk Cameron) the award-winning television program “The Way of the Master,” seen in 200 countries.

And we highly recommend his movies in which he challenges people about abortion, the sin of homosexuality and the problem of evolution. You, your family and church can watch them for free on YouTube!  The one about abortion is titled “180” Movie and runs about a half-hour; the one about homosexuality is titled “Audacity” and is just short of an hour long; and the movie tackling evolution is titled “Evolution vs. God,” and runs about 40 minutes long.

Comfort has a boldness coupled with a great gift to connect with people that entices the hearer to ponder life and sin and salvation.

Ray can frequently be seen captivating visitors at the Huntington Beach Pier in California: crowds gather and are intrigued by Comfort’s fast-paced style, asking all the right questions about life and creation, about God and Jesus Christ.

Speaking with joy and boldness, stealthily shattering the lies of secular humanism, debunking the false narrative of revisionist history, Comfort challenges his audiences, whether on a street or a beach, with the truth God’s marvelous grace and way of redemption.

Join us for an unforgettable evening on September 30 from 7 – 9PM at Medinah Baptist Church in the northwest suburbs as Ray Comfort shares his passion for Biblical truth.

(Click here for an event flyer.)

Tickets are only $10 each, but space is limited so you’ll want to register early:

But be warned: Ray Comfort’s enthusiasm is HIGHLY contagious! You may never again hesitate to share the Good News!

IFI depends on the support of concerned-citizens like you. Donate now

-and, please-

Those who deny the existence of their Creator are delusional.

This is not an insult. It’s not a personal attack. It’s not a pejorative.

It’s a fact.

They’re also “fools.”

God’s Word declares, “The fool hath said in his heart ‘there is no God’” (Psalm 14).

When the Creator calls God-deniers “fools,” He’s not saying they’re stupid clowns. Merriam Webster defines “fool” as “a person lacking in judgment or prudence.”

Psalm 19:1 observes: “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.”

Romans 1:20 likewise notes, “For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.”

Yet excuses they make.

In view of the everlasting consequence of carrying God-denial to the grave, such excuses exemplify a distinct “lack in judgment or prudence.”

It’s foolishness.

My friend Ray Comfort is founder and CEO of Living Waters. He’s a best-selling author, movie producer and co-host (with actor Kirk Cameron) of the award-winning television program “The Way of the Master,” seen in 200 countries.

Recently, Ray contacted me and sent me a review copy of a new documentary he’s releasing this summer called, “The Atheist Delusion: Why Millions Deny the Obvious.” He asked me to watch it and give him some feedback. My only regret is that I waited so long to do so. To say the film is powerful is a gross understatement.

“Ray, please forgive me for not getting back to you sooner,” I responded. “I’ve just had a chance to finally watch this. I’m a 260-pound former professional boxer and ex-cop who’s sitting here balling like a baby. This is, bar none, the most compelling and comprehensive piece of its kind. I guess I can’t even say ‘of its kind’ because it’s totally unique. I’ve never seen anything so comprehensive. It’s visually stunning, winsome, compassionate, intellectually unassailable and moving to the extreme. Somehow you managed, in about an hour, to make the case, beyond any reasonable doubt, for the Creator God, and bring it home to the Truth of Christ. This is your masterpiece. Let me know how I can help you get it out far and wide.”

I mean it when I say “The Atheist Delusion” is the most persuasive and captivating answer to atheist questions I’ve ever seen on film. Without giving too much away, let me just say that non-believers and believers alike will be moved emotionally, spiritually and intellectually. I have no doubt that many who claim atheism at the beginning of the film, will be left well on their way to admitting His existence and infinite glory toward film’s end.

Back in April I wrote a column first published at WND and later at CNSNews. The piece, titled, “The Big Bang Blows Atheism Sky High: Even Science May Eventually Catch Up to God’s Word,” was then aggregated and featured on the main page of Yahoo News where it went viral. In the column I detailed some of the foolishness inherent within the belief that everything came from nothing – that there is no God – a subject I delve into deeper in my new book, “Hating Jesus: The American Left’s War on Christianity.”

“The manifest intentionality and fine-tuning of all creation reveals design of breathtaking complexity,” I wrote. “The Creator is of incalculable intelligence and infinite splendor. As I see it, atheism provides a case study in willful suspension of disbelief – all to escape, as the God-denier imagines it, accountability for massaging the libertine impulse.”

And so, as does world famous atheist Richard Dawkins, they concoct an idol of their own making – a false god, easy to avoid; a “god” who is “arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.”

Indeed, it’s been said that the atheist position is simple and twofold: 1) There is no God; 2) I hate Him.

After watching “The Atheist Delusion,” viewers will be left no more wiggle room as to the undeniable question of God’s existence.

All that remains will be to either love Him – or continue hating Him.

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Ray Comfort’s short movie 180 continues to influence people to turn away from abortion.

180 is the story of eight people who were all for abortion, but in a matter of minutes or seconds change their views to become pro-life. The movie has impacted the lives of many people throughout the world, and is now in 20 languages. Ray Comfort of Living Waters Ministries tells OneNewsNow about a woman who viewed the film and was inspired from that to go to a Tempe, Arizona, abortion mill and try to convince women not to abort.

“She was wearing a 180 t-shirt and she talked to a young lady who was going to have an abortion,” Comfort says. “That woman changed her mind after talking with her and went ahead and had twins, and it’s so exciting to see this lady sitting their holding those twins as she wears a 180 t-shirt.”

Comfort says because of the movie and God’s grace there is a mountain of stories of babies saved and people converting to the cause of life rather than death.

“Last time I checked, the page had nearly 4.3 million views,” he notes.

He is reminded of the tremendous impact of the Billy Graham crusades, with all the logistics of getting perhaps 100,000 people into a stadium, the hard work and expense in accomplishing it.

“And here with a click of the button we can reach 4.3 million people,” he adds. “Also, we sold over a million DVDs of 180 that are being distributed into universities and learning institutions across the country.”

Pro-life counselors with portable units are showing the film to abortion clients and changing minds about abortion.

Watch the video now!  Click HERE.

 This article was originally published at the OneNewsNow.com blog.