EVANGELISM: MODERN SALESMANSHIP

Good quote in today from A W Tozer's book, "That Incredible Christian".
In our eagerness to make converts I am afraid we have lately been guilty of using the technique of modern salesmanship, which is of course to present only the desirable qualities in a product and ignore the rest. We go to men and offer them a cozy home on the sunny side of the brae. If they will but accept Christ He will give them peace of mind, solve their problems, prosper their business, protect their families and keep them happy all day long. They believe us and come, and the first cold wind sends them shivering to some counselor to find out what has gone wrong; and that is the last we hear of many of them . . .

By offering our hearers a sweetness-and-light gospel and promising every taker a place on the sunny side of the brae, we not only cruelly deceive them, we guarantee also a high casualty rate among the converts won on such terms. On certain foreign fields the expression "rice Christians" has been coined to describe those who adopt Christianity for profit. The experienced missionary knows that the convert that must pay a heavy price for his faith in Christ is the one that will persevere to the end. He begins with the wind in his face, and should the storm grow in strength he will not turn back for he has been conditioned to endure it.

By playing down the cost of discipleship we are producing rice Christians by the tens of thousands right here on the North American continent.

I guess it's not too much different on this side of the Atlantic either.

THOUGHT IT WAS TIME FOR A CHANGE OF LOOK

What do you think? Any other suggestions for templates?

JAY HOME, CEASEFIRE HOLDING

No connection between those two, but both matters for praise as far as Lebanon is concerned. Re Jay, his father wrote me yesterday: "Jay had a long day yesterday, but made it to Damascus with no problems. A man from our church, who needed to come to Beirut, was waiting and Jay immediately joined him in a taxi to Beirut. He arrived here safely yesterday evening at 6:40PM."

Re the ceasefire, keep praying as the Israelis move out of the south, the Lebanese army moves in, and Hezbollah doesn't go anywhere. Not a great recipe for stability, but I guess better than any of the achievable alternatives.

SOME HOPE FOR LEBANON

Our staff in Beirut are safe and well, and ask us to join them in praying that the ceasefire brought about by the UN resolution will hold. Jay Sagherian, son of John, our National Director there and his wife Nancy, has finished his year with YFC Northern Ireland's Y-One programme and will be trying tomorrow (Tuesday 15th) to get from London to Damascus by air, then home by road. This will be a far-from-straightforward journey because almost every bridge on his route home has been taken out by Israeli air strikes, so they also ask for prayer for that.