In January of 2000 I read in one of the major news magazines a list of the people who exerted the most influence on world history during the period 1000 to 1999. It came as something of a surprise to me that Johannes Gutenberg (1397 - 1468) was at the top of the list. How did Gutenberg beat out all the kings, presidents, philosophers and pioneers of science? He invented the first printing press with moveable type. This put literature and most importantly -- Bibles -- in the hands of the common people across the entire continent of Europe and later, the world.
Gutenberg launched the information highway, the medieval Internet and turned the world upside down. No longer reliant on a hand copied Latin Bible chained to a pulpit, the great masses of the people would soon get their own personal copies of the Bible in their own languages!
This brings us to the Internet of our own day. We are at the very start of the Internet revolution. I heard Ethan Gutman, an author, being interviewed on the radio in September 2004. He said that even remote villages in China have Internet cafes. More people in Africa have Internet access than have indoor plumbing. What this means is that we have the world at our doorstep. In this early stage it is the leaders in government and business that have Internet access. Many, if not most of them understand English.
Those educated in the West are infused with Darwinism. We must show them the scientific facts that support creation. Each of us can be an Internet missionary!
We've known for centuries that the printed page is the most efficient way of getting the Gospel message out. The Internet has made it possible for each of us to have a personal pulpit from which we can reach the farthest corners of the globe by cost free electronic pages!
In Defending the Faith, Special Issue #2 I outlined a simple program for using Defending the Faith (DTF) articles to reach your relatives and friends with the Gospel over the Internet. This time around I want to show some additional creative ways of reaching large numbers of people with good insightful Gospel literature. I don't mean to just push my DTF articles. One of my main sources for material on creation versus evolution is the website www.answersingenesis.org. You can visit this site and type, for instance, fossil apelike skulls or flood geology or any other topic in their search box and you are immediately taken to a list of articles that you can print out or email to others. You can take them and post them on African and Asian message boards!
You can cut out sections of the answersingenesis articles or DTF articles and paste them on blog pages, news groups, message boards, chat rooms and debate sections of atheist websites. You can print them out to use them as tracts or church bulletin inserts.
It is especially important to involve Christian young people in this vital ministry to reach other young people. Young people go off to college and are inundated by atheistic teachings doled out by urbane college professors with gray ponytails. We need to put good college level material that confronts the errors of atheism in front of nonchristian college students. Many Christian young people are very effective debaters over the Internet. I thank God for them. Together let's turn the world upside down!
What follows is an excerpt from Defending the Faith Special Issue #2 that outlines an effective Internet evangelism outreach. It's a simple three step process.
- Step one is to simply gather the email addresses of all your relatives, friends, co-workers and fellow students, both saved and unsaved, and form them into an email mailing list.
- Step two is to correspond with the list in a friendly way with news about your family, job, hobbies, etc. This is something many of us like to do anyway.
- Step three is after some time has elapsed and a rapport has been established choose a DTF article [or answersingenesis article] that you discern as being particularly incisive and appropriate for your list and cut and paste it onto an email and send it to them.
Your whole list will receive an effective presentation of the Gospel every time you do this!
This is not spam. You are writing a friendly email to your own relatives and friends. They will open it and read it because they know you. In your email you can introduce the DTF article by writing "This is something interesting I've read" or similar. You can cut or edit the DTF article itself or add your own insights and testimony to it. If you have relatives who are into, for instance, UFOs, you can ask me to send you some back issue DTF articles that deal with UFOs. With over 200 DTF articles available you can be sure that a wide range of issues is covered. Many of you save the DTF articles on your own computer and therefore you can just look for back issue DTF articles in your own file, or click this link to browse past issues online."
Please let me know of other creative ways you are evangelizing over the Internet.
The Bible is scientifically accurate! Find the evidence at www.icr.org.
Steps to salvation:
Jesus said "Ye must be born again." (John 3:7)
- Believe that God created you and loves you and sent the Messiah (Messiah is Hebrew for Christ) to redeem you.
- Believe that Jesus the Messiah came in fulfillment of over 300 Bible prophecies to die for you to take upon Himself the penalty for your sins. (Isaiah 53:5-6, John 6:29, Romans 4:5, First Peter 3:18)
- Turn from sin and call on the name of Jesus to receive forgiveness. (Romans 10:13)
- Receive Jesus as Savior and experience the new birth. (John 1:12, Acts 2:38)
- Follow Him as Lord. (John 14:21)
"Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Romans 10:13)
To receive the salvation that Jesus purchased for us at the terrible cost of His suffering and death on our behalf I invite you to pray this simple prayer:
"Dear heavenly Father, I thank you for sending Jesus, the promised Messiah, to die for my sins. I admit that I am a sinner and I ask for your forgiveness on the basis of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I ask you to fill me with your Holy Spirit to empower me to serve you under the Lordship of Jesus Christ, Amen."
If you prayed that prayer in the humble sincerity of your heart then you have received everlasting life, which includes power to live right in this life and entrance into heaven in the afterlife!
Bill Nugent, Overcomer Ministries of West Harrison, New York, USA
(C) 2010 William P. Nugent, permission granted to email or republish if credit given
Read Bill Nugent's award winning Christian book, Lawful or Legalistic: How New Testament Believers Must Understand Old Testament Laws. For more information and to order click here.
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DEFENDING THE FAITH
APOLOGETIC ARTICLES
Bill Nugent currently writes a series of articles called "Defending the Faith" which, as the title suggests, defend the Christian faith from the many attacks leveled against it in our postmodern world.
The articles deal with such topics as evolution, UFOs, cults, modern/postmodern philosophy, liberal theology and popular culture. At the end of each article is an invitation to receive Christ as Savior and Lord. These articles are sent out over the Internet to several opt-in email lists. People who receive these articles are encouraged to resend them to their own lists and in this way reach their own unsaved relatives and friends with the Gospel.
All Defending the Faith articles are © 2009 William P. Nugent, permission is granted to email or republish if credit given.
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