Your Spirit Speaks

Earlier this month I felt led of the Lord to produce a video of my “Bad Evangelism” teaching posted last year in this blog. It resulted in an exchange of emails with a Facebook friend who tried promoting universalism on my wall. I attempted to correct my friend of this false doctrine. Despite my efforts to speak the truth in love, she overacted by making false accusations and calling me a Pharisee. 

Nevertheless, the exchange of emails brought up a situation I hadn’t considered before. This woman revealed she has an autistic daughter who cannot speak. Because of that, she asked if I thought her daughter would go to hell based on Romans 10:9 since she could not confess with her mouth that Jesus is Lord.

I replied by pointing out there are testimonies of people becoming born again while in a coma. In his mini-book “I Went to Hell”, Kenneth E. Hagin wrote about receiving salvation during a near-death experience...

As I was going up through the darkness, I began to pray. My spirit, the man who lives inside this physical body, is an eternal being; a spirit man. I began to pray, “O God! I come to You in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. I ask You to forgive me of my sins and to cleanse me from all sin.”

The first chapter of the Bible says God is a spirit who created the heavens and earth through speaking. He didn’t become a man until “...the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory” (John 1:14). 

Our spirit is created in the image and likeness of God and has a voice. Therefore, anyone can receive God’s promises of salvation and healing if they confess and believe. That includes the mute.

“It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.” - John 6:63 

Speak Slowly and Softly

Two days ago while some friends and I briefly evangelized in a trailer park, the maintenance man approached us. He told us we were on private property (though there was no sign at the entrance indicating that) and needed permission from the manager to talk to the residents there. This man was friendly and thought the manager might give her approval if we asked. 

My friend Sue and I eventually approached the manager in her office. When “Mary” learned what we were doing, her demeanor suddenly changed. With an angry tone in her voice, Mary informed us 75% of her tenants were Buddhists and wanted to “respect their religion.” My immediate response was that Buddhists need to hear about Jesus also. While that is certainly true, my comment didn’t help the situation. The manager then revealed other Christians have witnessed on the property and supposedly told the Buddhists they were heathens and condemned to hell. Sue suggested I slip out the door while she tried reasoning with this manager but wasn’t successful with that. So we went evangelizing in other parts of town.

Later that evening at a church service I attended, the pastor taught on how we can diffuse arguments with people and talked about an incident involving his own ministry. Years ago his church purchased a nightclub with the intent of turning it into an outreach center. Some of the local residents were upset thinking it would cause problems in their neighborhood. During a town hall meeting, the pastor began his speech by apologizing for not checking with the local residents first. Soon the pastor and his church had favor with the community. Proverbs 15:1 says, “A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.”

Of course, some people will get mad no matter what you do. However, the amount of persecution we receive for doing the Lord’s work can be minimized if we follow the leading of the Holy Spirit and avoid the temptation to quickly defend ourselves. There’s a reason why God gave us two ears and only one mouth.

“So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath” - James 1:19