GODS' SPACE

Visit this site to hear about a very real cure for Cancer>http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=WORLD+WITHOUT+CANCER&search_type= Also check out this short video that talks about Cancer cure and will help you get books etc on the subject, God Bless, Sean.http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=kent+hovind+cure+for+cancer 

S_GOODWIN@sky.com

seangoodwin1966@hotmail.co.uk

 

THE EARTH IS YOUNG, IT’S A NO BRAINER

BY SEAN GOODWIN

Check out the picture of the fossil tree how old is the tree? if we were to go along with many schools of opinion we would say probably 100 million years or so, man! That’s an old tree, or would it make more sense to say the strata layers were laid down at the same time as the tree rather than over millions of years? Of course it would its common sense, in the same way there are no transitional fossils to evidence evolution, no in between species, a fish never changed into any thing else it stayed a fish and still is a fish. While working in a coal mine, I saw fossils like these all the time many times the petrified trees would be standing vertically as well as lying down and at various angles, some would go through a layer of rock and out through the other side then through a coal seam out through the coal and through the rock again so that is pure rock solid evidence of young Earth, so how did all this jumble of trees and animals and sea life get there in one big mess, hmmmmm! maybe the Biblical flood had something to do with it, study this out on www.drdino.com and you will see for your selves people how ridiculous a "THEORY" evolution is, a folly of maybes', perhaps, possibly, could have been, that’s what I believes!!!, it has never been proved its all a big con, an hypothesis by a man called Darwin, who's wife said to him it will only cause confusion she was right, listen to your wives men. It needs millions of years to work, but the Earth is not that old, in fact prepare yourself to be shocked. Check out this site:-

http://drdino.com/downloads.php

When I was 15 years of age, I was lucky enough to get a job in a coal mine in Coventry, it was pretty scary place for a 15 year old I can tell you, I remember wondering if God would still throw me into Hell if I had already been down there. On 26th April 1998 I came to realise he would, its not how we live that gives our place in Heaven Eph 2:8-9, It’s realising we have broken God’s LAW the Ten Commandments, 1 John 3:4 and the need for repentance Acts 2:38, but how do we repent and what do we need to repent from.

Are you good enough to get to Heaven? Check out this site:

http://www.wayofthemaster.com/wotm_flash.html

 

Ask yourself have you ever lied, stolen, looked with lust, dishonoured your parents, used God’s name in vain, always loved God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength Mark 12:30, if not then you have broken some of the Ten Commandments, if you break 1 you are guilty of all James 2:10, that still small voice talking to you right now is your conscience, given to you by God, He wants us to realise our predicament, Rom 3:23, for all have sinned, we have all broken his LAW The Ten commandments. God will not allow Law breakers into his kingdom; would you allow them into yours without a spotless record? 1 Corinthians 6:10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.

Of course not, so how do we get rid of our sins, well its very simple we repent of them (turn away from) and ask God to forgive us 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

What will happen if we don’t ask Jesus to forgive us well here are some Bible verses to tell us:-

Matthew 13:41&42 41 The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity;

42 And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

43 Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear?

Don’t wait repent and ask God to forgive you today now! It’s to late when your dead, Hebrews 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:

If you not sure how to pray follow David’s example when he asked for forgiveness for committing adultery in Psalms 51:-

1 ¶ <<To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.>> Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.

2 Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.

3 For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.

4 Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.

5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

6 Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.

7 ¶ Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

8 Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.

9 Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities.

10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.

11 Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.

12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.

13 Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.

14 ¶ Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness.

15 O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise.

16 For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering.

17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

18 Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion: build thou the walls of Jerusalem.

19 Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering: then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar.

 

 

Science Books and Television Don't Tell the Truth About Evolution -
The Case for Evolution Has NOT Been Proved!

by Robert E. Kofahl, Ph.D
21st Century Creation Evangelism
Glendale, California
(818) 244-5289; email Truth4Free@aol.com
©FOUNDATION Magazine, Jan-Feb 1999

http://www.wayofthemaster.com/

http://www.answersingenesis.org/AnswersMedia/searchProcess.aspx?mediaType=1

http://drdino.com/testimonies.php

A. The Argument Outlined

1. Supposedly people evolved as follows: single cell => invertebrate worm => vertebrate worm => fish => amphibian => reptile with scales => mammal with hair => ape => university professor.

2. Therefore, evolution's biggest problem is:

1. The origin of newly designed complex biological structures.
2. Amoebas to people required thousands of series of intermediate steps leading to each of thousands of new complex structures.

3. Therefore, proof of the evolution case demands:

1. Sequences of intermediate fossils to prove that gradual evolution did indeed "create" new complex biological structures.
2. An experimentally testable theory that explains how it happened.
3. Discovery of the biological mechanisms that did the job.
4. Demonstration of these mechanisms creating new designs today.

4. The above elements demanded for proof have yet to be achieved.

B. The Fossil Evidence

1. The fossil record is loaded with gaps between the groups of organisms that have different complex design structures.

1. The "Cambrian" rocks and a few formations just below them contain over 2000 different fossilized complex species, covering every major group of marine animals, including fish.
2. Thousands of feet of "Precambrian" rocks contain only fossilized single-celled bacteria and algae.
3. The assumed huge evolutionary "explosion" from Precambrian single cells to thousands of species of complex many celled Cambrian creatures is the first great gap in the fossil record.
4. Vast areas of Precambrian rocks sit on top of Cambrian rocks, with no proof that any geologic process reversed them. In Montana and British Columbia are found 13000 square miles of this.
5. The so-called Geologic Column may be questioned because of this and much other contradictory evidence.

2. Bats supposedly evolved from tree shrews 40 million years ago.

1. Living and fossil bats and shrews exist, but no intermediate fossils or living species exist showing shrews evolving into bats.
2. But the gradual change of tree-climbing shrews into flying bats is logically impossible. Assumed intermediates could not survive.
3. We are not at all "unscientific" if we believe the God designed and created tree shrews and flying bats to be shrews and bats.

3. Leading evolutionists have admitted that the fossil record is filled with gaps. Intermediates to show evolutionary process are missing.

1. Charles Darwin in Origin of Species G. M. Dent, London, 1972) p. 292: "...Geology assuredly does not reveal any such finely graduated organic chain; and this, perhaps, is the most obvious and serious objection which can be urged against it [his theory of evolution]."
2. T. Neville George (Science Progress , Vol. 48, Jan. 1960) p. 3: "The fossil record nevertheless continues to be composed mainly of gaps."
3. Stephen Jay Gould(Natural History June-July,1977)pp.22,24: "... The fossil record with its abrupt transitions offers no support for gradual change ... All paleontologists know that the fossil record contains precious little in the way of intermediate forms; transitions between major groups are characteristically abrupt. "
4. Steven M. Stanley (then at Johns Hopkins University), Macroevolution (W.H.Freeman,San Francisco,1979)p.96:"...The known fossil record fails to document a single example of phyletic evolution accomplishing a major morphological transition and hence offers no evidence that the gradualistic model can be valid. "

C. Design in Living Creatures

1. The mystery of a microbe with propellers driven by constant torque, variable speed, reversible electric motors. The motor shaft connects to the propeller through a universal joint. This is a complex combination of complex interdependent parts. No part could evolve and be useful without the other parts. A partially evolved drive train would be useless, rejected by natural selection before the system could evolve. Therefore, creation by God is the only explanation.

2. Woodpecker's long retractable tongue, anchored in the right nostril, extended and retracted by long, flexible hyoid bone. Anchored in right nostril, bone divides to run under skin over top of skull and forward under ears to tongue. This had to be created all at once by God.

D. Classical Genetics Argues Against Evolution

1. During thousands of years intelligent human beings have selectively bred many varieties of sheep, roses, apples, dogs, etc., but they are still sheep, roses, apples and dogs.

2. In nature, there are many different related varieties and species of, for example, ladybird beetles, but they are all ladybird beetles.

3. For eighty years scientists hav6 radiated fruit flies in the laboratory with X-rays to produce thousands of mutated varieties. But they are all sick fruit flies, unable to compete in nature with the wild varieties.

4. The modern varieties of cattle are not the products of evolution. Rather, they are the produces of selective breeding by intelligent humans. Mixing up the modem breeds recreates the ancient European wild aurochs that is now extinct. The same thing has been done with modem horses to resurrect the extinct wild horse called a tarpan.

5. The famous peppered moths of England are still the same species. All that changed is the relative numbers of the dark and light colored moths. More moths now have the gene for dark color. But as the tree bark is getting lighter, the light moths are coming back. This is by natural selection in action, not evolution of something new.

E. Mathematical Probability Shows That the Chance Beginning of Life Is Impossible in This Universe, Even in a Trillion Years.

1. The simplest conceivable living cell would require 124 different complex protein molecules. Yet Professor Hubert Yockey calculated that the random formation of a single rather simple protein molecule, cytochrome c, is only one chance out of the number 1 followed by 65 zeroes.(Journal of Theoretical Biology vol.67, 1977) pp.357-398.

2. This means that the probability for the chance formation of the 124 proteins needed for the simplest possible living cell would be one chance in the number I followed by 124x65=8060 zeroes.

3. Only left-handed amino acid molecules form proteins. No theory explains how left handed amino acids separated from right-handed.

4. And the probability that all of these molecules occurred at the same place and time in some ancient mud puddle is essentially zero.

5. And from whence came the complex cell membrane that is absolutely necessary to hold all these molecules together as a living cell?

6. Professor Harold Morowitz estimated the probability of all of this clever chemistry occurring by chance to produce one living cell. He assumed an ocean covering the earth and containing all of the necessary small building block molecules. From the chemical energy needed to assemble them into the larger molecules of life, he calculated the probability of forming by chance a single living cell in a billion years would be only one chance in the number I followedby340millionzeros!(Energy Flow In Biology Academic Press, N.Y., 1968) p. 99.

F. After Forty Years, Molecular Biology Still Cannot Explain the Origin of Life or of Complex New Biological Structures.

1. John Horgan, "In the Beginning," (Scientific American, vol. 264, No. 2, Feb. 1991) pp. 116-125. Subtitle: "Scientists are having a hard time agreeing on when, where, and-most important-how life first emerged on the earth." On page 125, Professor Stanley Miller of the University of California at San Diego, "Mr. Origin of Life,' expresses a hope that he or some other scientist will one day repeat life's origin in the laboratory: 'I think we just haven't learned the right tricks yet. When we find the answer, it will probably be so d ----- simple that we'll all say, 'Why didn't I think of that before?"'

2. Lewis Wolpert (A British scientist with international reputation), "Do We Understand Development?" (Science, Vol. 266,28 Oct. 1994) p.572: '...So what will the next 20 years bring? ... Even so, we do not yet have an example where we understand in detail the development of a single adult organ. ... We can also look forward to great progress in the area of evolution and development. ...We may then see the solution to grand problems like ... how basic body plans emerged ... and the origin of developmental novelty [i.e., the origin of complex designs]." [Note the admission that the solution still eludes them.]

3. Michael Behe, Darwin's Black Box: the Biochemical Challenge to Evolution (The Free Press, Simon & Schuster, New York, 1996). Behe reports that the Journal of Molecular Evolution during 25 years published about 1000 papers per decade on molecular evolution. Not one paper even attempts step-by-step to describe how evolution could "create" any complex biochemical system, of which there are thousands in living cells. A survey of the hundreds of articles on the same subject in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences yields the same barren result. Behe shows how such molecular structures and biochemical systems as the chemistry of vision, the Bombardier Beetle, cilia, the motorized bacterial flagellum, the human immune system and the biosynthesis of amino acid molecules all require "minimal function" and possess "irreducible complexity" that deny the possibility of stepwise development from a "proto-system." Each system requires all its parts to have any value (pp. 18-36, 45-46, 130-131, 59-97, 117-139, 143-161, 165-183).

G. Our closing comment:

Since biologists cannot explain how an egg becomes a chicken in 21 days, all claims that they have explained how an amoeba became a university professor in 3 billion years are fiction. We believers in creation don't have all the answers, but neither do evolutionists.

H. Good News & Bad:

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" (Genesis 1:1). "Jesus Christ, He is Lord of all" (Acts 10:36). He is Lord over science and all scientists. They will be judged for misusing science against God, but we all are sinners who need God's forgiveness. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved" (Acts 16:31). "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life" (John 3:36). We Christians walk by faith in Jesus Christ, the Light of the world, not by sight-"For we walk by faith, not by sight" (2 Corinthians 5:7). "Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life" John 8:12).

http://www.wayofthemaster.com/

It is true that man has used religion for political gain. Nazi Germany had "God with us" engraved in German on the belts of Nazi soldiers. America said, "Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition." The law may even allow you to start the Christian Nazi Party, if you so desire. You can become a "reverend" for a few dollars through the tabloid classifieds and then further your political agenda with the world’s blessing, no matter how much it smears the name of Christ.

Jesus tells us in John 16:2,3 that there will be some who, in their error, commit atrocities and murder in the name of God: "The time is coming that whosoever kills you will think that he does God service." However, He informs us that these are not true believers: "And these things will they do to you, because they have not known the Father, nor me." (See also 1 John 3:15.)

Jesus told His followers to love their enemies. So if a man puts a knife into someone’s back in the name of Christianity, something obviously isn’t right. If we human beings can detect it, how much more will God? He will deal with it on Judgment Day.

"I know that the Lord is always on the side of right. But it is my constant
anxiety and prayer that I—and this nation—should be on the Lord’s side."
-Abraham Lincoln

The Bible does say, "Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands, as to the Lord," but it also instructs, "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself for it" (Ephesians 5:22,25). A man who under-stands that Jesus Christ sacrificed His life’s blood for the Church will likewise love his wife sacrificially and passionately. He will honor her, respect her, protect, love, and cherish her as much as he does his own body, as he is instructed to do (Ephesians 5:28). He will never say or do anything to harm or demean her. It is in this atmosphere of love and security that a godly wife willingly submits herself to the protective arms of her husband. She does this not because he is better than she is, but simply because this is God’s order for His creation.

A godless world rejects the God-given formula to make marriage work. It thinks it knows best, and suffers the heartbreaking consequences of destroyed marriages and ruined lives. The Christian ideal of marriage is not one of an authoritarian and chauvinistic male holding his cringing wife in submission like an obedient dog. It’s the very opposite. While most of the great religions treat women as inferior to men, the Bible gives them a place of dignity, honor, and unspeakable worth, expressed so evidently in Proverbs 31.

What God’s Word Says About Abortion
By Lynn Copeland

God speaks very clearly in the Bible on the value of unborn children. God’s Word says that He personally made each one of us, and has a plan for each life:

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart" (Jeremiah 1:5).

"Even before I was born, God had chosen me to be His" (Galatians 1:15).

"For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb . . . Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be" (Psalm 139:13, 16). "Your hands shaped me and made me . . . Did You not clothe me with skin and flesh and knit me together with bones and sinews? You gave me life" (Job 10:8–12).

"This is what the Lord says—He who made you, who formed you in the womb" (Isaiah 44:2).

"Did not He who made me in the womb make them? Did not the same One form us both within our mothers?" (Job 31:15).

Because man is made in God’s own image (Genesis 1:27), each life is of great value to God: "Children are a gift from God" (Psalm 127:3). He even calls our children His own: "You took your sons and daughters whom you bore to Me and sacrificed them...You slaughtered My children" (Ezekiel 16:20,21). The Bible says of our Creator, "In His hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of every human being" (Job 12:10). God, the giver of life, commands us not to take the life of an innocent person: "Do not shed innocent blood" (Jeremiah 7:6); "Cursed is the man who accepts a bribe to kill an innocent person" (Deuteronomy 27:25). "You shall not murder" (Exodus 20:13). Taking the life of the unborn is clearly murder—"He didn’t kill me in the womb, with my mother as my grave" (Jeremiah 20:17)— and God vowed to punish those who "ripped open the women with child" (Amos 1:13).

The unborn child was granted equal protection in the law; if he lost his life, the one who caused his death must lose his own life: "If men who are fighting hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined . . .But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life" (Exodus 21:22,23). Life is a gift created by God, and is not to be taken away by abortion. God is "prochoice," but He tells us clearly the only acceptable choice to make: "I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live" (Deuteronomy 30:19).

http://www.livingwaters.com/start.shtml

 

Do you consider yourself
to be a good person?
Almost everyone thinks they are a good person…
But the question you should be asking is,
“Am I good enough
to go to Heaven?”
HOW WOULD YOU KNOW?
The way to find out is to ask
yourself if you have obeyed the
Ten Commandments.
Most people say, “Well, I've broken one or two, but
nothing too serious, like murder, etc.”
So let's go through them and see how you do...
1. You shall have no other gods before me.
Have you always put God first in your life? Jesus said to love God with all your heart,
mind, soul, and strength-- so much, that your love for your parents, brothers and
sisters, friends, and even your own life is like hatred compared to your love and
devotion for God, (Luke 14:26). Have you ever failed to put Him first in your life?
Check your answer:
[ ] GUILTY – Yes, I have broken this commandment at least once.
[ ] INNOCENT – No, I have NEVER broken this commandment in my life.

2. You shall not make for yourself any idol.
Who is God to you? Is he only a god of love and mercy who would never judge
anyone and never cast anyone into Hell? If that's your god, then you're right. Your
god couldn't cast anyone into Hell because he doesn't exist. He's a figment of your
imagination. You've created a god in your own mind that you're more comfortable
with. You may call it your “personal belief,” but God calls it idolatry. The Bible
warns that idolaters will not inherit the kingdom of heaven, (Ephesians 5:5).
Check your answer:
[ ] GUILTY – Yes, I have broken this commandment at least once.
[ ] INNOCENT – No, I have NEVER broken this commandment in my life.
3. You shall not take the name of God in vain.
Have you ever used God's name as a curse word? If you have, you've taken the holy
name of God-- who gave you your life, your family, and everything precious to you--
and used it as a filthy, four-letter word. Hitler's name wasn't even despised enough to
be used as a curse word! If you have used God's holy name in that manner, you are a
blasphemer and the Bible says “God will not hold him guiltless who takes the name
of the Lord in vain,” (Exodus 20:7).
Check your answer:
[ ] GUILTY – Yes, I have broken this commandment at least once.
[ ] INNOCENT – No, I have NEVER broken this commandment in my life.
4. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.
God commands that we set aside one day in seven. Have you ever been guilty of
breaking this Commandment?
Check your answer:
[ ] GUILTY – Yes, I have broken this commandment at least once.
[ ] INNOCENT – No, I have NEVER broken this commandment in my life.
5. Honor your father and your mother.
Have you always honored your parents in a way that's pleasing in the sight of God?
Ask Him to remind you of the sins of your youth. You may have forgotten them, but
God hasn't.
Check your answer:
[ ] GUILTY – Yes, I have broken this commandment at least once.
[ ] INNOCENT – No, I have NEVER broken this commandment in my life.

6. You shall not murder.
Jesus warned “Whoever is angry with his brother without cause, is in danger of
judgment,” (Matthew 5:22) and the Bible says, “He who hates his brother is a
murderer,” (1 John 3:15). God sees hatred in the heart to be as wicked as murder. We
can violate His Law by attitude and intent.
Check your answer:
[ ] GUILTY – Yes, I have broken this commandment at least once.
[ ] INNOCENT – No, I have NEVER broken this commandment in my life.
7. You shall not commit adultery.
Jesus warned, “You have heard…’You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you
that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her
in his heart,” (Matthew 5:28). Have you ever looked at another person with lust? The
Bible says that adulterers and fornicators (those who have had sex before marriage)
will not enter the kingdom of heaven (1 Corinthians 6:9).
Check your answer:
[ ] GUILTY – Yes, I have broken this commandment at least once.
[ ] INNOCENT – No, I have NEVER broken this commandment in my life.
8. You shall not steal.
Have you ever stolen anything (even if it was something small)? The value of the
thing stolen doesn't matter; petty theft is still theft. Have you ever taken anything that
belonged to someone else (from the office, school, parents, etc.)? If you have, that
makes you a thief.
Check your answer:
[ ] GUILTY – Yes, I have broken this commandment at least once.
[ ] INNOCENT – No, I have NEVER broken this commandment in my life.
9. You shall not lie.
Have you ever told a lie? Then you are a liar. How many murders do you have to
commit to be a murderer? Just one. If you have told even one lie, that makes you a
liar. The Bible warns that all liars will have their part in the Lake of Fire (Revelation
21:8). You may not think deceitfulness is a serious sin, but God does.
Check your answer:
[ ] GUILTY – Yes, I have broken this commandment at least once.
[ ] INNOCENT – No, I have NEVER broken this commandment in my life.

10. You shall not covet.
This means we should never desire anything that belongs to another person. Not their
house, nor their car, nor their money, nor their wife, nor their lifestyle, nor anything
that belongs to our neighbor. Have you ever broken this commandment?
Check your answer:
[ ] GUILTY – Yes, I have broken this commandment at least once.
[ ] INNOCENT – No, I have NEVER broken this commandment in my life.
Who of us can say we are not guilty of
breaking these Commandments?
This is what the Bible means when it says, “All have
sinned and fall short of the Glory of God,” (Romans
3:23).
Can you see your predicament? You are guilty of
sinning against God Himself, and, because you have
a conscience, (con-with, science-knowledge) you have
sinned “with knowledge.”
Isn't it true that every time you lied, stole,
or lusted, etc., you knew it was wrong?
Does the fact that you have sinned against God scare
you? It should.
You have actually angered
Him by your sin.

The Bible says His wrath abides on you (John 3:36),
and that you are an “enemy of God in your mind
through wicked works,” (Colossians 1:21).
Perhaps you think God is good and because of his
goodness He will overlook your sins?
But if you knew of a human judge who turned a blind
eye to the crimes of a guilty rapist... would you
describe him as a “good” judge?
No. That would be a corrupt judge.
God could never be a corrupt judge.
He will punish all the rapists, murderers, and
thieves... But he won't stop there. He will also punish
all liars, the lustful, adulterers, idolaters, and
blasphemers, (Revelation 21:8).
The place of eternal
punishment is Hell.
God does not want you to perish. He is rich in mercy and compassion, and has
provided a way for you to be forgiven. He has invited you to come to Him for a full
pardon and receive the free gift of Eternal Life. You cannot earn it, and you do not
deserve it, but God is offering it to you as proof of His love for you.
Imagine you are standing in front of a judge, guilty of multiple serious crimes. All the
evidence has been presented and there is no doubt about your guilt. Your apologies
and good works cannot erase your crimes; therefore you must be punished. The fine
for your crime is $250,000 or imprisonment, but you don’t have two pennies to rub

together. The judge is about to pass sentence when someone you don't even know
steps in and pays your fine for you! The court accepts the money and declares that
you are free to go. The law has been satisfied, your debt has been paid in full, and the
stranger’s sacrifice was a demonstration of his love for you. That’s what God did for
you 2000 years ago.
The Bible says that the God of the Universe became a man (Jesus Christ), and
suffered and died on the cross for your sins and mine so that we could be set free. It's
as simple as this—we broke the Law, and Jesus paid our fine.
"God demonstrated His own love for us in that while
we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8)
"Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law,
being made a curse for us." (Galatians 3:13)
Do you see God’s great love for you? Do you see your need for His forgiveness?
Then do what He commands and “Repent…that your sins may be wiped out and
times of refreshing may come from the Lord.” (Acts 3:19) You must turn away
from sin and turn to God. Desire to have NOTHING to do with sin, and surrender
your life to the One who can save you. Jesus died to set you free, and then he rose
from death to be your Lord. Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No
one comes to the Father except through me.” If you will confess and forsake your sins
(repent) and trust in Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord, God will forgive you
and you’ll pass from death to life.
If you are not sure how to pray, read Psalm 51 (copied for you at the end of this
article) and make it your prayer.
What does it mean to "put your faith in Jesus Christ?" It means to personally trust in
Jesus the same way you’d trust in a parachute if you had to jump 25,000 feet out of an
airplane. You wouldn’t just "believe" in the parachute; you would put it on! In the
same way, the Bible says, "Put on the Lord Jesus Christ..." and you will be saved.
There are millions of people who "believe" Jesus exists . . . but they have not put on
the Savior—there’s a BIG difference. And the difference will be obvious when you
“jump” through the door of death.
Today, with all your heart—turn away from sin, and surrender your life to Jesus
Christ. Please don’t put it off till later. You may die today and then it will be too late.
You may not yet have all the answers to your questions, but better to put on the
parachute first and then ask questions, then to pass through the door unprepared,
grasping for the parachute when it’s too late. You can pray something like this —

"Dear God, today I turn from all my sins (name them), and I put
my trust in Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. Please forgive
me, and grant me your gift of everlasting life. Amen."
There is nothing magic about these words—it is the attitude of your heart that God
cares about.
God will transform you from the inside out. You will think and feel differently as you
learn to trust and obey Him. God will give you new strength to live right and love
Him above all else. Read your Bible daily and obey His Word. You can trust God—
He loves you and will always be faithful. To help you get started, you may also want
to read “10 Principles for New and Growing Christians.”
If you've decided to reject the gift of forgiveness and you die in your sins, there is no
hope for you. There is no purgatory. The wrath of God abides on you and you will
spend eternity in Hell. Please take the time to read what the Bible says Hell is like.
The Bible Describes Hell
There are three words translated “Hell” in Scripture:
Gehenna (Greek): The place of punishment (Matthew 5:22,29; 10:28; and James 3:6)
Hades (Greek): The abode of the dead (Matthew 11:23; 16:18; Luke 16:23; Acts 2:27)
Sheol (Hebrew): The grave (Psalm 9:17; 16:10)
There are those who accept that Hell is a place of punishment, but believe that the punishment is to be
annihilated—to cease conscious existence. They can’t conceive that the punishment of the wicked will be
conscious and eternal. If they are correct, then a man like Adolph Hitler, who was responsible for the
deaths of millions, is being “punished” merely with eternal sleep. His fate is simply to return to the non-
existent state he was in before he was born, where he doesn’t even know that he is being punished.
However, Scripture paints a different story. The rich man who found himself in Hell (Luke 16:19-31) was
conscious. He was able to feel pain, to thirst, and to experience remorse. He wasn’t asleep in the grave; he
was in a place of “torment.” If Hell is a place of knowing nothing or a reference to the grave into which we
go at death, Jesus’ statements about Hell make no sense. He said that if your hand, foot, or eye causes you
to sin, it would be better to remove it than to “go into Hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: where
their worm dies not, and the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:43-48).
The Bible refers to the fate of the unsaved with such fearful words as the following:
•“Shame and everlasting contempt” (Daniel 12:2)
•“Everlasting punishment” (Matthew 25:46)
•“Weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 24:51)
•“Fire unquenchable” (Luke 3:17)
•“Indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish” (Romans 2:8,9)
•“Everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord” (2 Thessalonians 1:9)
•“Eternal fire...the blackness of darkness for ever” (Jude 7,13)
Revelation 14:10,11 tells us the final, eternal destiny of the sinner: “He shall be tormented with fire and
brimstone...the smoke of their torment ascended up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day or night."

Psalm 51:1-17
1 Have mercy upon me, O God, According to Your lovingkindness; According to the multitude of Your
tender mercies, Blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, And cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I acknowledge my transgressions, And my sin is always before me.
4 Against You, You only, have I sinned, And done this evil in Your sight-- That You may be found just
when You speak, And blameless when You judge.
5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me.
6 Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom.
7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8 Make me hear joy and gladness, That the bones You have broken may rejoice.
9 Hide Your face from my sins, And blot out all my iniquities.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous Spirit.
13 Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, And sinners shall be converted to You.
14 Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, The God of my salvation, And my tongue shall sing
aloud of Your righteousness.
15 O Lord, open my lips, And my mouth shall show forth Your praise.
16 For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; You do not delight in burnt offering.
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart-- These, O God, You will not
despise.

 

http://www.livingwaters.com/start.shtml

FIRST YORKSHIREMAN:

Aye, very passable, that, very passable bit of risotto.

SECOND YORKSHIREMAN:

Nothing like a good glass of Château de Chasselas, eh, Josiah?

THIRD YORKSHIREMAN:

You're right there, Obadiah.

FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN:

Who'd have thought thirty year ago we'd all be sittin' here drinking Château de Chasselas, eh?

FIRST YORKSHIREMAN:

In them days we was glad to have the price of a cup o' tea.

SECOND YORKSHIREMAN:

A cup o' cold tea.

FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN:

Without milk or sugar.

THIRD YORKSHIREMAN:

Or tea.

FIRST YORKSHIREMAN:

In a cracked cup, an' all.

FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN:

Oh, we never had a cup. We used to have to drink out of a rolled up newspaper.

SECOND YORKSHIREMAN:

The best we could manage was to suck on a piece of damp cloth.

THIRD YORKSHIREMAN:

But you know, we were happy in those days, though we were poor.

FIRST YORKSHIREMAN:

Because we were poor. My old Dad used to say to me, "Money doesn't buy you happiness, son".

FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN:

Aye, 'e was right.

FIRST YORKSHIREMAN:

Aye, 'e was.

FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN:

I was happier then and I had nothin'. We used to live in this tiny old house with great big holes in the roof.

SECOND YORKSHIREMAN:

House! You were lucky to live in a house! We used to live in one room, all twenty-six of us, no furniture, 'alf the floor was missing, and we were all 'uddled together in one corner for fear of falling.

THIRD YORKSHIREMAN:

Eh, you were lucky to have a room! We used to have to live in t' corridor!

FIRST YORKSHIREMAN:

Oh, we used to dream of livin' in a corridor! Would ha' been a palace to us. We used to live in an old water tank on a rubbish tip. We got woke up every morning by having a load of rotting fish dumped all over us! House? Huh.

FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN:

Well, when I say 'house' it was only a hole in the ground covered by a sheet of tarpaulin, but it was a house to us.

SECOND YORKSHIREMAN:

We were evicted from our 'ole in the ground; we 'ad to go and live in a lake.

THIRD YORKSHIREMAN:

You were lucky to have a lake! There were a hundred and fifty of us living in t' shoebox in t' middle o' road.

FIRST YORKSHIREMAN:

Cardboard box?

THIRD YORKSHIREMAN:

Aye.

FIRST YORKSHIREMAN:

You were lucky. We lived for three months in a paper bag in a septic tank. We used to have to get up at six in the morning, clean the paper bag, eat a crust of stale bread, go to work down t' mill, fourteen hours a day, week-in week-out, for sixpence a week, and when we got home our Dad would thrash us to sleep wi' his belt.

SECOND YORKSHIREMAN:

Luxury. We used to have to get out of the lake at six o'clock in the morning, clean the lake, eat a handful of 'ot gravel, work twenty hour day at mill for tuppence a month, come home, and Dad would thrash us to sleep with a broken bottle, if we were lucky!

THIRD YORKSHIREMAN:

Well, of course, we had it tough. We used to 'ave to get up out of shoebox at twelve o'clock at night and lick road clean wit' tongue. We had two bits of cold gravel, worked twenty-four hours a day at mill for sixpence every four years, and when we got home our Dad would slice us in two wit' bread knife.

FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN:

Right. I had to get up in the morning at ten o'clock at night half an hour before I went to bed, drink a cup of sulphuric acid, work twenty-nine hours a day down mill, and pay mill owner for permission to come to work, and when we got home, our Dad and our mother would kill us and dance about on our graves singing Hallelujah.

FIRST YORKSHIREMAN:

And you try and tell the young people of today that ..... they won't believe you.

ALL:

They won't !

http://www.livingwaters.com/start.shtml

 

 

True and False Conversion by Ray Comfort Page 1 of 12
This message was first preached in 1983. True and False Conversion is non-copyrighted, duplication is encouraged.
www.LivingWaters.com – Living Waters Publications, P.O. Box 1172, Bellflower, CA 90706 – Order line: 1-800-437-1893
True and False Conversion
Tonight I want, by the grace of God, to share with you a teaching called “True and False Conversion.” A very
sobering teaching, and a teaching that I believe is most necessary within the contemporary church.
I have a teaching called “Hell’s Best Kept Secret” which deals with the use of the Law in evangelism. In fact, God’s
Law, the Ten Commandments, was the essence of the gospel proclamation of Wesley, Moody, Whitfield, Jonathan
Edwards, all these men that God so greatly used. They said that if you don’t use the Law, you’ll almost certainly
lead to false conversions.
I was reading in the American Horizons magazine, which is the official magazine of a very large, or a major,
denomination of the United States which has 11,500 churches throughout the US - in 1991, their first year of what
they called “the decade of harvest,” they got 294,000 decisions for Christ. They found that only 14,000 remained in
fellowship. That is, they couldn’t account for 279,000 of their decisions for Jesus. And this is normal modern
evangelical statistics when it comes to crusades and local churches.
Many converts don’t fall away. They get followed up and squeezed into a local church where they’re surrounded by
a good social life, and they stay within the church given assurance they’re saved when there is no grounds for their
salvation, because they do not have the things that accompany salvation.
Now this has happened, this great tragedy has happened, simply because we haven’t followed the Biblical example
and preach law to the proud and grace to the humble. Always, when you see Jesus approach a proud arrogant
self-righteous person with the gospel, He gave law before grace. Always. With the law He broke the hard heart,
with the gospel He healed the broken heart.
Why did He do that? Because He always did those things that were pleasing in the Father’s sight. God resists the
proud and gives grace to the humble.
We see this so often in Scripture, where Jesus resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. The rich young
ruler, the arrogant self-righteous lawyer that stood up and tempted Jesus. Both times, Jesus gave the Law. He
gave the Ten Commandments. When ones came with humility with a knowledge of sin by the Law, that is Godly
Jews, he gave grace.
Paul says in Romans 7:7, “I had not known sin but by the Law.” Charles Finney said, “Evermore the Law must
prepare the way for the gospel.” Now Finney had an 80% retention rate. He said, “Evermore the Law must
prepare the way for the gospel. To overlook this in instructing souls is almost certain to result in false hope, the
introduction of a false standard of Christian experience, and to fill the church with false converts.” And then he
said, “Time will make this plain.”
John Wesley said of those who failed to use God’s Law in evangelism, “All this proceeds from the deepest
ignorance of the nature of the properties and of the use of the Law, and proves that those who act thus either know
not Christ, or are the strangers to living faith, or at least they’re but babes in Christ, and as such unskilled in the
Word of righteousness.”
Martin Luther, in his commentary on Galatians, which is the book which speaks of freedom from God’s law, spoke
of a sect that rose up in his day with a Satanic doctrine. Listen to what that doctrine was. He said, “Satan, the god
of all dissention, stirs up daily new sects. And last of all, which I should never have foreseen or once suspected, he
has raised up a sect such as teach that the Ten Commandments ought to be taken out of the church, and that men
should not be terrified by the Law, but gently exhorted by preaching the grace of Christ.”
He said that’s a sect, a new sect that’s risen up, a satanic subtlety and one I thought would never ever come. He
was aghast at the thought that men would not use the Law but instead they would gently exhort one to come to
Christ, preaching grace alone, which is the perfect summation of the methods of modern evangelism.
Charles Spurgeon said, “They will never accept grace until they tremble before a just and holy Law.” George
Whitfield said, “That is the reason we have so many mushroom converts.” That is, ones that spring up overnight

True and False Conversion by Ray Comfort Page 2 of 12
This message was first preached in 1983. True and False Conversion is non-copyrighted, duplication is encouraged.
www.LivingWaters.com – Living Waters Publications, P.O. Box 1172, Bellflower, CA 90706 – Order line: 1-800-437-1893
and disappear because their stony ground is not plowed up. They’ve not got the conviction of the Law. They are
“stony ground hearers” or “false conversions.”
Now with those thoughts, by way of reduction, let’s look at Romans 7:4. “Wherefore my brethren you are become
dead to the Law by the body of Christ; that you should be married to another, even Him who is raised from the
dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.”
In the book Hell’s Best Kept Secret, we give an illustration of a speedster who drove through a town at a dangerous
speed of 120 mph. He was drunk, there was no law against speeding, so the town council gathered and passed a
law stating that 60 mph was the maximum speed, and any transgressors would be fined $100 for every mph over
the speed limit. The speedster comes back. He’s apprehended by the law. He stands in front of the judge, who
was his own father, the town’s only judge. He was proclaimed guilty. He had no money, no words of defense, he
couldn’t raise the money for the $6000 fine, so he was thrust into prison. As he waited in prison, his father arrived,
opened the door and told his son that he had sold all his goods to raise the $6000, he paid the fine himself, and that
he was free to go.
Now, after such a display of love, such sacrifice on behalf of the father, what would the son’s attitude be to the law?
Well, firstly, the law has been satisfied. As soon as the fine was paid, he was free to go. He could smile at the law.
The judge could say, “you’re free.” The law had no demand on him whatsoever because of the sacrifice and
payment of the father. The law was satisfied.
And what’s his reaction to the father? What is his attitude? Well, he’s filled with gratitude at such sacrifice and a
brokenness that his father would do such a thing for him despite his transgression. And now he lives in honor of
the father. He wants to live for the father’s will.
Listen to the attitude of a believer to the Law. Romans 7:4 again, “Wherefore my brethren you also are become
dead to the Law by the body of Christ.” There was the father’s sacrifice. That’s what appeased God’s Law. “Christ
redeemed us from the curse of the Law being made a curse for us.” “You are become dead to the Law by the body
of Christ.” The Law has no demand upon the believer. “There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus,
who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit.” “That you should be married to another, even Him who is raised
from the dead, that you should bring forth fruit unto God.”
So the true believer brings forth the fruit of a new lifestyle, a lifestyle that is pleasing in the sight of Almighty God. If
we are rooted and grounded in Christ, it should be evident. Jesus said, “I am the vine, you are the branches. He
that abides in Me and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit.” Colossians 1, speaking of the gospel, says “the
gospel brings forth fruit in the believer.”
Okay, what does the Bible mean when it speaks of fruit? Specifically? Well, #1, the fruit of repentance (Matthew
3:8). Zacchaeus had “more than tears.” He said, “Behold, Lord, if I’ve wronged anyone I’ll pay him back fourfold.
I’ll give half my goods to the poor.” He knew God’s Law. He was a Godly Jew. That’s what brought him to Christ.
It was the schoolmaster to bring him to Christ as a Godly Jew, knowing God’s Law. Or should I say, “a Jew that
was humbled by the Law.” He said, “Behold, Lord, if I’ve wronged anyone I’ll pay back fourfold,” which is what the
Law demanded.
I remember reading some years ago about a store that said in a newspaper they found a brown paper bag outside
their door on a Monday morning. They opened it up and there was a pair of pants and a note that said, “I stole
these from you on Friday, became a Christian on Sunday. Here’s the pants Monday. I’m sorry.” That’s fruit of
repentance.
Secondly, the fruit of good works. John Wesley said, it was Colossians 1:10, John Wesley said, “Do all the good
you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, to all the people you can, as
long as you ever can.”
Now if anyone was zealous for evangelism, it was John Wesley. He had a zeal that turned the United Kingdom
upside down. But he said, “Do all the good you can” because he saw in Scripture that good works are a legitimate
tool in evangelism.

True and False Conversion by Ray Comfort Page 3 of 12
This message was first preached in 1983. True and False Conversion is non-copyrighted, duplication is encouraged.
www.LivingWaters.com – Living Waters Publications, P.O. Box 1172, Bellflower, CA 90706 – Order line: 1-800-437-1893
Now the modern church, because of what’s happened to some fiery Christian organizations over the years that
have got into social work, they’ve noticed they’ve become lopsided, and they’ve steered away from good works.
And yet the Bible says in the book of Titus, “Let those who of you who have believed in God be careful to maintain
good works.” Jesus said, “Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your
Father which is in Heaven.”
When I was first a Christian, I was… I could be considered by the world as a fanatic. I mean, really fanatical. I
haven’t changed at all. And I used to make leather jackets and suede coats to order for people for years. I made
about 1500 over a ten-year period, and I followed in my father’s footsteps. You know who the first one was to make
a leather jacket? Genesis tells us. God made… clothed Adam and Eve in the skins of animals. Not caveman
stuff. Fully lined, with covered buttons. I mean class. When God does something, He does it properly.
And I actually had this in a brochure that I had, and it just said that. “God was first to kill an animal and clothe man
in the skins of animals.” And I said I was following in my Father’s footsteps, and led through the covering that God
offers through Christ.
But on the window of my store, I had about a 10 foot by 8 foot window to let in the natural light. I had a Hare
Krishna guy got soundly saved. The thing that brought him to Christ, I said “Was it the preaching, what was it?”
And he says, “It was the handshake.” Feel a Christian shook his hand, he just felt a genuineness, and gave some
consideration to the claims of the Gospel, gave his life to Christ, and within half an hour he’s eating a T-bone steak.
I mean, really set free.
And he said… I said, “Ron, what do you do for a living, what did you do?” He said, “I’m a sign writer.” I said,
“Really?” And I got him to, on a 10 foot by 8 foot piece of board, to sign write John 3:1-16. And I put it on my
window. Incredible amount of work for the poor guy. And he said night after night he was doing this sign. And one
night he was very discouraged because it was kind of half an hour per letter to get it right. And he stood back, he
felt quite discouraged, he stood back and he read the words, “No man can do these signs that you do unless God is
with him,” and he was greatly encouraged by the Lord.
Anyway, I put this sign up in the window, and I had on the door, “Behold I stand at the door and knock,” a lot of
Scriptures. And I shared the entrance with a barber. And this barber called me to him one day, and he says, “Ray,
I’ve got to tell you something.” He said, “Guys come into my store, they sit down in the seat, and they turn back
here, and they just say with utter disgust and contempt, ‘What a fanatic next door.’ And they just couldn’t say
anything more, and nausea consumed them.”
But he said, “A number of months ago when you put out a book called My Friends Are Dying and got into drug
prevention work, the same guys would come into the store, sit down for a haircut, and say ‘Doing a good job, that
young man next door.’”
And all that was happening was the fruit of 1 Peter 2:15. Listen to it. “For so is the will of God that by your welldoing
you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men.” “For so is the will of God that by your well-doing you
may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men.” If you’re a Christian who is rich in good works, people will say, “I
don’t believe what he believes, but boy I can see that he’s genuine.” You’ll put them to silence, you’ll stop their
mouth by your good works.
And I saw this a number of years ago. So as an assistant pastor of a local assembly, I said, “Let’s get into good
works.” So I went to a place that sold vegetables, I said “Look, I want to give away 100 bags of vegetables around
our local church.” I said, “Can you supply us?” They said, “Yeah. If you let us put our name on the bag, we’ll give
you a good deal. In fact, we’ll give you double.” So what they did, is they gave us a bag about three feet high
packed full of carrots, cabbages, all sorts, corn, all sorts of vegetables, and they put their name on it.
And then we got on a truck, we put a letter on each bag that said something like, “Dear friend.” It didn’t say,
“Greetings in the wonderful name of Jesus,” there was nothing Christian on it at all. “Dear friend or neighbor, we’re
concerned about you, we care about you, we’re a local church in your area. If we can help mow your lawn, trim
your hedge, if there’s anything we can do to help you, please call on us. We’re here for your benefit. Yours,
sincerely,” and just signed it. Put that at the top of the bags, then put them at the gates of 100 homes. Now I said

True and False Conversion by Ray Comfort Page 4 of 12
This message was first preached in 1983. True and False Conversion is non-copyrighted, duplication is encouraged.
www.LivingWaters.com – Living Waters Publications, P.O. Box 1172, Bellflower, CA 90706 – Order line: 1-800-437-1893
to the guys putting them there, “Don’t knock on the door, don’t get into a conversation, don’t let anyone think you’re
trying to get a foot in their door.”
The reaction was incredible. We had people stop us on the street and burst into tears. One woman burst into tears
of gratitude. Another woman said, “I have been in this area 60 years, and this is the first time the local church has
done anything for me.” Another one said, “I’m an atheist, but I just want to wish you all the best in the community.”
Another guy, his girlfriend made a commitment to the Lord, and told him. He put his fist into the wall with anger
because he was a professing atheist and he saw an evident token of the love of God in those vegetables, and he
could not handle it. He just went “umph” like that. I mean, it was just such a powerful thing. One woman, as I said,
she said, “I couldn’t believe these vegetables were mine.” Two bucks, is what that bag of vegetables cost. Two
dollars. “For so is the will of God that by your good works you put to silence the ignorance of foolish men.” “Let
your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in Heaven.” The
fruit of good works.
Number three, the fruit of thanksgiving (Hebrews 13:15). I mean, if you’re soundly saved, there should be a cry
within your heart, “thanks be to God for the unspeakable gift.” If there isn’t the fruit of thanksgiving, if there isn’t a
gratitude burning in your soul, you may not be saved.
Number four, the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22). It should be evident in, “love, joy, peace, patience, goodness,
gentleness, faith, meekness, and temperance.”
Number five, the fruit of righteousness (Philippians 1:11). There should be the fruit of that which is right, the fruit of
righteousness in your lifestyle. Remember Matthew 3:10 says, “every tree that brings not forth good fruit will be cut
down and cast into the fire.” Therefore as Christians, in our evangelistic endeavors, we should do everything we
can not just to get decisions, not just to get church members, youth group members, but to produce fruit-bearing
commitments to Christ, because “every tree that brings not forth good fruit will be cut down and cast into the fire.”
So what we’re going to do is look at Matthew 4:3 to get an insight into what hinders and what produces genuine
fruit. Mark 4, should I say, Mark 4:3.
Now when the Bible says, “behold,” what it’s doing is blowing a little trumpet and saying, “this is important.” When
Jesus said words like, “harken,” it was a little trumpet. In verse 3 of Mark 4, Jesus uses both words. This is a
double trumpet, so this is incredibly important.
He said, “Hearken; Behold, there went out a sower to sow: And it came to pass, as he sowed, some fell by the way
side, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it. And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth;
and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth: But when the sun was up, it was scorched; and
because it had no root, it wither away. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it
yielded no fruit. And other fell on good ground, and it did yield fruit that sprang up and increased; and brought forth,
some thirty fold, and some sixty, and some a hundred. And he said to them, He that has ears to hear, let him
hear.”
“And when he was alone, they that were about him with the twelve asked of him the parable. And he said unto
them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom: but unto them that are outside, all these things are
done in parables: That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand;
lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them.”
“And he said to them, don’t you know this parable? How then will you know all parables? The sower is the sower
of the word. And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan comes
immediately, and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts. And these are they in like manner which are
sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness; And have no
root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution arises for the word's
sake, immediately they are offended. And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word,
And the cares of this age, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word,
and it becomes unfruitful. And these are they which are sown on good ground; such as hear the word, and receive
it, and some bring forth fruit, some thirty fold, some sixty, and some a hundredfold.”

True and False Conversion by Ray Comfort Page 5 of 12
This message was first preached in 1983. True and False Conversion is non-copyrighted, duplication is encouraged.
www.LivingWaters.com – Living Waters Publications, P.O. Box 1172, Bellflower, CA 90706 – Order line: 1-800-437-1893
Verse 13, I think is one of the key verses in the entire Bible. Jesus said to them, “Don’t you know this parable?
How then will you know all parables?” In other words, the parable of the sower is the key to unlock the mystery of
all the other parables. When you and I get a grip on the understanding that the parable of the sower is about true
and false conversion, stony ground hearer, thorny ground hearer, good soil hearer, two false, one genuine, then we
begin to understand the other parables, that there are true and false conversions. The good fish, and the bad fish,
the true and the false. The foolish virgins, the false, the wise virgins, the true. The man who built his house on
rock, the genuine convert. The man who built his house on sand, the false convert.
See I used to think the foolish man who built his house on sand was the unbeliever. No, you read what Jesus said.
He said, “he that hears my sayings and does not obey them is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.” The
ungodly don’t hear the saying of Jesus. Most of them know “judge not lest you be judged,” and the golden rule, “do
to others as you’d have them do to you.” And both, they’re twisted, they don’t understand them.
No, the church is filled with people who hear the sayings of Jesus and don’t obey them. They don’t evangelize,
even though Jesus said, “you are my witnesses,” “let your light shine before men,” “go unto all the world and preach
the gospel to every creature.” They don’t. They are like the man who built his house on sand.
Now using the harmony of the gospel, and the parable of the sower is also Luke 13, sorry, Luke 8 and Matthew 13,
using the harmony of the gospel we’re going to look at the six characteristics of a false convert, the stony ground
hearer.
Firstly, with a false convert, according to Mark 4:5, there are immediate results. They don’t weigh the issues. The
gospel they hear is not a gospel that’s preceded by the Law. They’re not made to tremble before the throne of a
holy God. They’re told they need to get assurance they’re going to Heaven. They think they’re already going to
Heaven. Most people think that. Why? They go about to establish their own righteousness, being ignorant of the
righteousness which is of God.
62% of Americans believe in a literal Hell, but they don’t believe they’re going there. They think they’re too good.
Now that’s human nature. “Every man will proclaim his own goodness.” “There is a way that seems right to man,
but the end thereof is the way of death.” The modern gospel says, “You need to have assurance that you’re going
to Heaven. You shouldn’t go to Hell. You need to come and give your life to Christ. You must have faith in Jesus,”
and they preach Christ crucified.
So the sinner thinks he deserves Heaven anyway, comes and gives his heart to Jesus, and gets assurance he’s
going to Heaven. He’s got no understanding of sin because Paul said, “I had not known sin but by the Law.” 1
John 3:4 says, “sin is transgression of the Law.” He’s given assurance that he’s saved, he’s followed up, he’s set in
a church, he finds new friends, a new lifestyle, gets ahold of his alcohol problem, deals with it, and things go sweet.
And there’s still no repentance, and when there’s no understanding of sin, there is no Godly sorrow, which works
repentance. And Jesus said, “Unless you repent, you will perish.” And the church is filled with people who have
assurance of salvation when it’s not Holy Ghost assurance. These ones don’t weigh the issues. It’s easy to get a
decision from them because the bait of eternal life is hung in front of them.
Secondly, there is a lack of moisture (Luke 8:6). There is no thirst for God, for the living God.
Thirdly, there’s no root in themselves (Matthew 13:6). There is no depth of Godly character.
Number four, they receive the Word with gladness. Again, there’s no Godly sorrow because the Law hasn’t been
brought to them that they might see themselves in truth. God’s Law is like a mirror. When there’s no mirror, you
can go around the whole day, if someone doesn’t tell you, and have a dirty face. You’ve got no idea.
Each day, every one of us looks in the mirror to see the state. You get up in the morning, look in the mirror to see
what damage has been done during the night. I mean, there’s no greater evidence that we’re in a fallen creation as
looking in the mirror first thing in the morning. I mean, we rest ourselves after a hard day. So in the morning, you
should be rested. No, the eyes are puffy, you say, “Ugh… oh…”

True and False Conversion by Ray Comfort Page 6 of 12
This message was first preached in 1983. True and False Conversion is non-copyrighted, duplication is encouraged.
www.LivingWaters.com – Living Waters Publications, P.O. Box 1172, Bellflower, CA 90706 – Order line: 1-800-437-1893
They don’t look into the perfect Law of liberty and see themselves in truth. God’s Law is like a mirror. Therefore,
they don’t go to the water of the blood of Christ to wash, because they don’t see themselves as in desperate need
of God’s forgiveness. Paul said, “by the commandment, sin became exceedingly sinful.” (Romans 7:13). So they
receive the Word with gladness (Mark 4:16).
Number five, they receive the Word with joy. Their laughter isn’t turned to mourning, and their joy isn’t turned to
heaviness (Matthew 13:20).
And Number six, for a while they do believe. (Luke 8:13). There is a genuine false conversion experience. For a
while they do believe.
Now let’s look on the overhead projector at this picture which is a picture of two plants. The plant, or plant, on the
left is strong and healthy looking. The plant on the right is kind of small. And if you had to make room in your
garden because you lack room, most of us would probably make the judgment, “Well the little fellow has to go
because the big plant’s doing well.”
But then let’s look at picture number two. We see the sun has come out and it’s causing our big, strong, healthy
plant to wither and yet the little plant seems to be “doing quite well, thanks.” And let’s look at picture number three,
what we couldn’t see, and we see the reason the big plant was withering and the little plant was prospering,
because under the soil beneath the big plant was bedrock. The soil could not find… the root could not find depth
of root because there was a lack of soil, it was rock. The little plant was small because beneath the soil it was
sending its roots in deep searching for moisture.
Now can you see that is was the sunlight that revealed what you and I couldn’t see, the soil condition of the plants?
Can you see that? It was the sunlight that was instrumental in revealing what you and I couldn’t see, the soil
condition of the root system of the plants.
Now in the spiritual, the plant is the regenerate life of the professing believer. The soil is his heart condition. In the
spiritual, the sunlight is tribulation, temptation, and persecution. Matthew 13:21, tribulation. Luke 8:13, temptation,
and persecution, Mark 4:17. Just as in the natural, it was the sunlight that revealed the plants’ soil condition, what
was going on where we can’t see, in the spiritual the thing that reveals what you and I can’t see in the life of the
professing believer, is tribulation, temptation, and persecution.
Now, if you are seeking to have a house plant prosper and grow, the worst thing you can do is hide it from the
sunlight. Okay, you’ve spent 15 dollars on a really nice house plant, you say “boy this cost me a bit of money. I’m
going to look after this. It goes straight into the cupboard.” Nice, warm, dark cupboard. No, that’s the worst thing
you can do. You don’t want to shelter a plant from the sunlight. If it’s in good soil, if it’s got plenty of room, and it’s
got access to moisture, you know the sunlight is going to prosper it. It is not going to kill it.
Now in the same way, the worst thing that you and I can do with a new believer is shelter him from the sunlight of
tribulation, temptation, and persecution. That is the worst thing you can do. When we say, “Well, so-and-so has
just given his heart to Jesus in prison, he comes out on Tuesday, let’s be there to pick him up, to keep him from
temptation, to keep him away from his old friends. And when he has trials, let’s make sure we look after him.” No,
that’s the worst thing you can do. If he’s genuine, he is going to grow, if he’s false he’s going to wither and die.
A number of years ago when Russia was in persecution against Christians, I heard there was a prayer meeting
among a number of professing Christians. And suddenly, the doors burst open, there were two fully armed Russian
guards, and they said in Russian, “Get out of this place if you’re not willing to die for your faith.” And half of the
professing Christians just got up and left. They just ran. And then when the doors closed, the guards put down
their guns, took off their hats, sat down and said, “Praise the Lord, we’re just sorting out the sheep from the goats
before we’d risk fellowship.”
Now God doesn’t normally use the Russian guard method. He uses open up the ground and swallow them up
method. You see, if there was severe persecution that came to the church, what it would do is that it would rid the
church of murmurers and complainers. But more, those that cause division, and those that (?????) the Spirit. But
more, and I think more importantly, if severe persecution came to the church, it would show the stony ground
hearer the error of his ways.

True and False Conversion by Ray Comfort Page 7 of 12
This message was first preached in 1983. True and False Conversion is non-copyrighted, duplication is encouraged.
www.LivingWaters.com – Living Waters Publications, P.O. Box 1172, Bellflower, CA 90706 – Order line: 1-800-437-1893
Can you imagine the tragedy of leading someone to Christ, so you think. You don’t give him Law before grace.
You don’t give him the knowledge of sin. You don’t show him that he’s violated the Law of a holy God, that he has
sinned, and sin is transgression of the Law. You just say, “Hey, you’ve got a God-shaped vacuum in your life.
Jesus can give you real peace and love and fulfillment, you just give your heart to Him, and He’ll help you with your
problems, He’ll be with you in trials, and you’ll have assurance of Heaven.” And you lead him in a sincere prayer.
But there’s something lacking in this “believer.” He’s got no zeal for the lost. He’s a stranger to holiness. He’s got
no hunger for the Word. He’s got no depth of prayer life. So you see it as your job, because you led him to Christ,
to get him into fellowship. To make sure he’s reading his Bible, to pray with him, etc. That, you see, if your job.
You follow him up.
And you actually prop him up right until Judgment Day, when the sunlight of the eye of an omniscient God proves
him to be the hypocrite that he is. Whose fault was it, if you propped him up until Judgment Day? Wouldn’t it be
better to let him fall? To not shield him from the sunlight, but let him come under the sunlight and reveal his soil
condition. If he’s genuine, he’s going to grow, if he’s false, he’s going to wither and die.
For years I put my energies into professing Christians, people who’d given their heart to Jesus. Those who proved
to be stony ground hearers, I’d say, “Are you reading the Word” and they’d say, “I haven’t really got time. I’ve got
TV Guide, and I’ve got all these other things I have to do.” “So are you going to be at church,” “Man, I’ve got a golf
tournament Sunday, I can’t be here. I’ve got swimming next Sunday.” Man, no, nowadays, I just leave them. If
they don’t listen after the first and second admonition, I just say, “Okay, leave it,” and then put my energies into the
unsaved.
The Bible says, “Desire the sincere milk of the Word, if you’ve tasted that the Lord is gracious.” A healthy lamb will
have a healthy appetite. You don’t have to force-feed a healthy lamb. Someone who’s soundly saved will desire
the sincere milk of the Word. They’ll discipline themselves. The first thing I knew I had to do when I became a
Christian was get myself a Bible and read it and see what God wanted me to do.
And I loved the brethren. And I knew that I’d passed from death to life because I loved the brethren. When I saw in
Scripture, “forsake not the assembling of yourselves together, as the manner of some,” I thought, “okay, I go to
church.” Surfing can take a second seat.
If a new convert even looks back, Jesus says he’s not fit for the Kingdom. Luke 9:62, “No man, having put his hand
to the plow, and looking back is fit for the kingdom.” That word “fit” in the Greek is “eusetto.” It means “ready for
use.”
You see, if you take good seed, quality seed, and cast it on stony ground, is it going to bring forth fruit? Umm umm.
It can’t. Now if you know what you’re doing as a farmer, or if you’ve got substance between your ears, you’ll say,
“Hey, I’ve got to turn the soil, cast out the stones, and then when I toss some good seed in good soil it’ll bring forth
good fruit.” Simple farming.
God says the soil of the heart of man is like stone. It says in Ezekiel 8, “I’ll take your heart of stone and give you a
heart of flesh.” You can take the pure gospel seed and cast it on the unregenerate heart and it will not bring forth
fruit. It can’t. What we must do is turn the soil of man’s heart using the spade of God’s Law. Expose the stones of
sin that are removed by way of repentance. Then he can receive the engrafted Word, which is able to save his
soul.
You see, many great evangelists, men and whom I greatly admire and respect, don’t really get alarmed about an
80% fall-away rate among their converts.
But I don’t think the parable of the sower is given as a consolation to disappointing evangelical results. There are
keys given to us to give us understanding. And if you study the good soil hearer, you’ll see that he hears and
understands, and that he brings forth fruit because he receives the seed into his good and honest heart. So he has
a good and honest heart, he has understanding.

True and False Conversion by Ray Comfort Page 8 of 12
This message was first preached in 1983. True and False Conversion is non-copyrighted, duplication is encouraged.
www.LivingWaters.com – Living Waters Publications, P.O. Box 1172, Bellflower, CA 90706 – Order line: 1-800-437-1893
Oh, so that’s what’s going on. Out in secular society there are those who have good and honest hearts and
understanding, and they are the ones that will receive the gospel seed. That is not Biblical. Romans 3 says, “there
is none that understand.” How many understand? None. It says “there is none good, not one,” the heart of man is
“desperately wicked, deceitful above all things.”
So the virtues of understanding and goodness must have come from without the heart, not from within, because it
is not in the heart of man to have understanding and goodness. What is it that produces understanding? It’s the
schoolmaster. The Law is our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. That’s the function of a schoolmaster, to bring
knowledge. “By the Law is the knowledge of sin.” God said, “My people are destroyed through lack of knowledge
of my Law.” (Hosea 4:6)
What the Law does, is it brings the light of understanding. The Commandment is a lamp, the Law is light. And
when a man comes under the sound of God’s Law, he sees that he’s sinned against God, that God requires truth in
the inward parts and considers lust to be the same as adultery, hatred to be the same as murder, that if you just
take one thing that belongs to somebody else, irrespective of its value, you’re a thief, and you’ll not inherit God’s
Kingdom. If you tell one fib or white lie you’re bearing false witness, and all liars will have their part in the Lake of
Fire. Transgressors of God’s Law, workers of iniquity.
Jesus said, “Many on that day will say ‘Lord, Lord.’” He’ll say, “Depart from me you worker of lawlessness, I never
knew you.” When he understands he’s sinned against God, when the soil of his heart has been turned by the Law,
the stones of sin exposed, he then removes the stones of sin through repentance, and is able to receive the seed
that can save his soul, which is the good soil hearer.
So the essence of what I’m saying is that God has placed within the hands of the church weapons that are not
carnal, but mighty through God of the pulling down of strongholds and under God with the help of the Holy Spirit,
you and I can determine the soil the seed is going to fall upon, by using God’s Law as a spade to turn the soil of an
unregenerate heart.
Remember what George Whitfield said. “That is the reason we have so many mushroom converts.” Because their
stony ground is now plowed up. They have not got a conviction of the Law, they are stony ground hearers.
A friend of mine, he once came to me, he said, “Ray, there’s something wrong with my Christian life.” He says, “I’m
kind of lacking in the zeal you guys have got.” And I say, “Hey, Richard, have you got love, joy, peace, patience,
goodness, gentleness, faith, meekness, and temperance?” He said, “Well, no, I haven’t got eight of those fruits.”
There’s only one that he had. And I said, “Well, Richard, by your own confession, I don’t see any grounds for you
to call yourself a Christian.”
Now he did actually have another fruit of the Spirit at that particular time. He exercised the fruit of self-control,
because afterwards he said he wanted to re-arrange my face. But he didn’t. He went home, he examined himself
to see if he was in the faith, concluded he wasn’t, repented before Almighty God, and within three months he was
such a fruit-bearer our church put him in charge of our coffee bar outreach ministry.
That’s why the Bible says examine yourself and see if you’re in the faith. Colossians 4:5 says, “Walk in wisdom
towards them that are without, redeeming the time.” Now I used to think “them that are without, that’s the ungodly.
That’s the secular society.” No, a stony ground hearer, a false convert can be within your church, within your youth
group, and without the body of Christ.
The Bible says, “Walk in wisdom towards them that are without, redeeming the time.” If anyone will steal your time,
it’s a false convert. He wants counsel, he wants counsel, he wants counsel. He’s always coming because he’s got
problems, problems, problems. I’ve spent many hours counseling people who didn’t need counseled, they needed
repentance.
Remember the big plant? What does it need? “Fertilizer! Needs more fertilizer. Put fertilizer up to the top of the
plant. That’ll help it.” Umm umm. You can have a false convert and say “we’re going to follow him up. We’re
going to follow him and follow him. We need more follow-up.” No, that’s not the problem. He doesn’t need
fertilizer. The problem is the soil, his heart condition. He needs repentance.

True and False Conversion by Ray Comfort Page 9 of 12
This message was first preached in 1983. True and False Conversion is non-copyrighted, duplication is encouraged.
www.LivingWaters.com – Living Waters Publications, P.O. Box 1172, Bellflower, CA 90706 – Order line: 1-800-437-1893
Follow-up is not Biblical. It’s not. You check it out. You won’t find follow-up in Scripture. You can find feeding,
nurturing, discipling, but you’ll not find following new converts. David Wilkerson, when he heard the Hell’s Best
Kept Secret teaching, the first thing he said to me when he called me from his car phone when he heard the tape in
his car, he says, “I thought I was the only one who didn’t believe in follow-up.” It’s not Biblical.
Follow-up is merely a sad testimony of the confidence modern evangelism has both in its message and in the
keeping power of God. If He is the author of their faith, He’ll also be the finisher. “God is able to save to the
uttermost them that come to God by Him. He is able to keep them from falling and present them faultless before
the presence of His glory with exceeding joy.” If God has saved them, God will keep them. The Ethiopian eunuch
was left without follow-up. Why?
Because if he’s genuine, he’s going to last, if he’s false, he’ll wither and die. And the stony ground hearer doesn’t
need follow-up. By follow-up, I don’t mean just looking after someone in the area of making sure they go to Bible. I
mean it’s when you have the job of following someone who gave their heart to Jesus in a crusade or at church.
You go around to their place next week, and knock on the door, and say, “Excuse me, you should really get into
fellowship now. Could you open your door? I can see you hiding under your bed.”
I mean, it’s the most disheartening job in the world following up modern decisions for Jesus. They’re always out
when you call them on the phone. They don’t need fertilizer, they need good soil.
A number of years ago, I had a pastor, a senior pastor, I was on staff at a large church, who was the most Godly
shepherd you could imagine. Real Godly man. Now I want to tell you about… how much he weighed and how big
he was for a reason. He was about 5’11”, maybe 6 feet, his name was Peter Morrow, lovely man of God.
But he didn’t weigh too much. I think he weighed about maybe 120 lbs. He used to joke about his lack of weight.
He could eat and eat and eat and not put on weight. He must have a glorified body or something. But imagine, he
only had one stripe on his pajamas. He had to run around in the shower… he had to run around in the shower to
get wet.
A number of years ago, there was a knock on the door of his home. It was 3:00 AM. Early hours of the morning.
His son went to the door. He says, “Yeah?” And this guy says, “I want some counsel from your father.” Now this
teenage boy knew the heart of his father, he knew he was a shepherd and he wouldn’t mind rising at 3:00 AM to
give counsel to someone, one of his sheep. So he said to the guy, “Just go into the living room and wait for him.”
He woke his father up, the father got up, walked to the living room, and as he did so, from behind the door came
down a 14 inch machete blade across his face. Sliced his fingers, cut his throat. His sons came running into the
living room because they heard him screaming, faced with the blood of their father all around the walls. It was such
a horrific thing.
They grabbed the guy thought had murdered their father, and they just about killed him. He was screaming, “I can’t
breathe,” and they said, “Die, die then.” He got arrested. The father actually lived. Just had literally hundreds of
blood transfusions. He lived.
But the next day, another pastor called me. He said, “Did you hear about last night?” I said, “Yeah. I can’t believe
that.” I said, “That’s heavy.” He says, “Well, you won’t believe this.” He said, “The guy that did it was in my
church. He’s one of my flock.” I say, “You’re kidding.” He says, “Man it’s heavy,” he said, “that another Christian
could do that.”
I said, “Hang on a minute.” I said, “If someone tries to decapitate the pastor, you could probably conclude that he
lacks in the area of love, goodness, gentleness…”
I mean, we’ve got to start taking Scripture seriously. I do not welcome people into the faith until I see fruit. It
doesn’t matter too much nowadays, in one sense, but wait till severe persecution comes. Wait till people have
machetes, that Christians are actually preaching the whole counsel of God, and we’re hated for His name’s sake.
They’re suffering persecution because they’re living Godly in Christ Jesus.

True and False Conversion by Ray Comfort Page 10 of 12
This message was first preached in 1983. True and False Conversion is non-copyrighted, duplication is encouraged.
www.LivingWaters.com – Living Waters Publications, P.O. Box 1172, Bellflower, CA 90706 – Order line: 1-800-437-1893
You see, the Bible speaks of false brethren twice in Scripture. It speaks of false apostles, false prophets, false
teachers, and false conversions. And hardly ever do we hear teaching on them.
I wished a number of years ago I had a video camera when this incident took place. I was going to cross the street,
and suddenly I heard “bzzt bzzt,” and I looked down the road. There was this car in the middle of the road and it
sounded like there was no muffler on the thing, and the guy was driving like an idiot. So I jumped back off the road
onto the sidewalk. I thought I might get run down.
The car went past me, and suddenly the guy saw who it was. He recognized me. The guy who was driving the car
was the classic stony ground hearer, a false convert. I’d heard that this guy had already threatened pastors in
another assembly, so I had marked him. He saw me, slammed on the anchors of his car, backed up, jumped out,
and says, “Hi, Ray.”
Now I wish you could have seen him. He had three Jesus stickers on the front windshield of his car. He had a big
cross around his neck hanging in the forest of a hairy chest, shirt undone to his navel, and he was full of Christian
clichés, and he wanted to see me for counsel. I was busy that year.
You see, a false convert wants your time. He is a tool of the devil to wear out the saints. Remember, Satan wants
to wear down the saints? They are hearers of the Word, and not doers. And what they do is because they lack
inwardly depth of root, they have branches and leaves.
Now I believe in Jesus stickers. If someone wants to wear a cross, that’s fine. T-shirts are great. But you will find
that false converts, because they lack depth of root, depth within their heart, within the soil of the heart, they have
lots of branches and leaves to impress you. I mean, they’ll have a big Bible.
So you don’t feel intimidated, let me tell you what version this is so there’s no confusion. This is a “New Pharisee’s
Bible,” authorized King James version. Widest Sepulcher’s Publishing. “Each Bible has been carefully soaked in a
bath for one month and then dragged behind a car for two weeks for that special, spiritual look.”
A false convert will lack fruit, but he’ll have plenty of branches and leaves to impress those that are around them.
Listen to Matthew 7:15-20. “Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly they’re
ravening wolves. You’ll know them by their fruit. Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles?
Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.”
Listen to this. “A good tree cannot bear bad fruit.” In other words, if someone’s genuine, they’re genuine, if they’re
false, they’re false. “Nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and
thrown into the fire. Therefore, by their fruits you shall know them.”
Why should we know each other by our fruit? Well listen to Acts 20:29-30. “For this I know,” says Paul, “that after
my departure, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among your own selves,
men will rise up speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after them.”
From your own selves, men will rise up. And you look at all of the cults and sects, and false prophets. It comes
from within the body. Not people who have known the Lord, have known the way of righteousness, and gone bad,
but people who have had a false conversion and then failed to bring forth fruit worthy of repentance.
Wolves pick off weak sheep. That’s what they do. And if I was a pastor and had my own assembly, I’m an itinerant
pastor of Hosanna Chapel, I travel most weekends. But if I had my own church, I would watch those who make
decisions for Jesus. And I’d watch for fruit.
And if any young guys were a little bit too close to the young girls, hold arms around her, etc., I’d just grab him,
have a good talk with him. Mark those. Keep an eye on them. As I said, wolves go for the weak sheep. That’s the
way of a wolf.
As I said, a genuine convert will stand no matter how great the adversity. Proverbs 12:3 says, “The root of the
righteous yields fruit.” The stronger the sunlight, the deeper the roots will go.

True and False Conversion by Ray Comfort Page 11 of 12
This message was first preached in 1983. True and False Conversion is non-copyrighted, duplication is encouraged.
www.LivingWaters.com – Living Waters Publications, P.O. Box 1172, Bellflower, CA 90706 – Order line: 1-800-437-1893
Jesus sent his lambs among wolves. (Luke 10:3) That is so different from the way we treat our new converts. We
try and shield them. No, he sent as lambs among wolves. Why? Because the sunlight of tribulation, temptation,
and persecution will expose the false, and cause the genuine to grow.
And it did so with Judas Iscariot. He was exposed. Judas was not a Christian. He was never a Christian. How do
I know? Here’s a good clue. Jesus said, “One of you is a devil.” That’s a good clue. I remember hearing Winkie
Pratney, a friend of mine, share about when he saw pictures of Leonardo De Vinci’s The Last Supper, with Jesus
and the disciples. And he’d look at the picture and say, “Where’s Judas? Come on, where are you?” And he’d
look for the guy with the big hook nose, wringing his hands in a corner like this.
But that is totally un-Biblical. Judas would probably be a real smooth-looking guy. He was so trusted, he was the
treasurer of the disciples. He looked after them. He cared for the poor. He was concerned for the poor. When
some woman did a lavish act of breaking an alabaster box of ointment, expensive ointment, over the head of Jesus,
and washing His hair with her feet…
“Washing His hair with her feet…” You didn’t even notice. I could have got away with it. It’s probably on tape. At
least I’m listening. Nobody else is.
When that happens, Judas said, “Why wasn’t this sold for such-and-such amount, and the money given to the
poor.” He cared for the poor. No, the Bible says he looked after the money. He was a thief. But he was trusted by
the disciples. When Jesus said, “One of you will betray me,” the disciples didn’t sit there and say, “Yeah. I know
who he’s talking about. Old hook-nose over there. I knew it was hook-nose.”
No, they didn’t say that. They said, “Is it I, Lord? Is it me?” He said, “It is he who puts his hand in the dish.” Judas
did that. They didn’t say, “oh, yes.” No. When Judas went out to betray Jesus, Jesus said, “what you do, do
quickly.” They thought he’d gone to give money to the poor. Judas was such a good guy. He fooled everyone but
the Lord.
Turn to Colossians 4, sorry, Colossians 4:7. And let’s look at how Paul put his seal of approval on those who
professed to be in the grace of God. Colossians 4:7. And watch how Paul puts his seal of approval on certain
believers.
“All my state shall Tychicus declare unto you, who is a beloved brother, and a faithful minister and fellow servant in
the Lord: Whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose, that he might know your estate, and comfort your
hearts.” So Tychicus is a faithful minister and a fellow servant of the Lord.
Verse 9, “With Onesimus, a faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you.” You see, nowadays, it doesn’t matter
too much who comes into the faith and who we commend and who we don’t. But then, it did, when Christians were
being thrown to the lions, being killed for their faith.
“They shall make known unto you all things which are done here. Aristarchus my fellow prisoner salutes you, and
Marcus, sister's son to Barnabas, (touching whom you received commandments: if he comes to you, receive him;).
And Jesus, which is called Justus, who are of the circumcision. These only are my fellow workers unto the kingdom
of God, which have been a comfort unto me. Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, salute you, always
laboring fervently for you in prayers, that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. For I bear him
record, that he hath a great zeal for you, and them that are in Laodicea, and them in Hierapolis. Luke, the beloved
physician [who didn’t need an introduction], and Demas, greet you.”
There was no seal of approval upon Demas. And if you study 2 Timothy 4:10 you’ll see, “Demas has forsaken me,
having loved this present world.” And it’s as though Paul looked at Demas and thought, “Yeah, I really don’t know
about you. There’s something not quite right. I’m not going to say, ‘If Demas comes to you, receive him.’” “Demas
has forsaken me, having loved this present world.” A false convert. He didn’t just look back, he went back. He
was not fit for the Kingdom, and the word “fit” is eusetto, which means “ready for use.”
So we have, very briefly, looked at the characteristics of a false conversion. And now, very briefly, before we close
we will look at the characteristics of a genuine convert.

True and False Conversion by Ray Comfort Page 12 of 12
This message was first preached in 1983. True and False Conversion is non-copyrighted, duplication is encouraged.
www.LivingWaters.com – Living Waters Publications, P.O. Box 1172, Bellflower, CA 90706 – Order line: 1-800-437-1893
According to Matthew 13:23, he hears the word and understands it. This is why it’s so vital to use God’s Law in
witnessing and in preaching. Because without the Law, there won’t be understanding of the true state before God.
There’ll be merely horizontal repentance, not a Godly sorrow which works repentance. They won’t understand
they’ve sinned against God. They’ll think they’ve sinned against man with their lying and stealing, etc.
But when David sinned with Bathsheba, he said, “I’ve sinned against You, and You only have I sinned.” The
prodigal son said, “I’ve sinned against Heaven.” Paul preached “repentance towards God,” the offended party.
Godly sorrow works repentance. And without the Law you cannot have the understanding necessary to exercise
Godly sorrow which works repentance.
If you use God’s Law in witnessing, you’ll become familiar with sinners saying things like, “I can see what you’re
saying. I can understand that. I’ve never heard it put that way before.” That is the reaction almost every time I go
through the Ten Commandments one by one, and show the reason they need a Savior is to escape the wrath that’s
to come. God has appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness.
Listen to Matthew 13:15. “For this people's heart has become gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their
eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and listen, and
should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.”
You see, when there is an understanding of the heart, then comes conversion. Remember the Ethiopian eunuch
was asked by Philip the evangelist, “Do you understand what you are reading?” Remember the lawyer that stood
up and tempted Jesus and said, “How can I get everlasting life?” Jesus said, “What is your understanding of the
Law? What is your reading of it?” Because if there’s no understanding of the Law, there can be no salvation,
because sin is transgression of the Law.
Paul said, “I had not known sin but by the Law.” Charles Finney said, “I remark the Law is the rule and the only just
rule by which the guilt of sin can be measured.” D. L. Moody said, “This then is what God gives us the Law for, to
show us ourselves in our true colors.”
I have been in evangelistic meetings where the usual psychological manipulations are used, where the preacher
will teach on faith or some Biblical incident, and then right in the middle of his preaching he would say, “Just stop.
Let’s just bow in prayer. There are people here tonight who don’t know the Lord. You need to give your life to
Jesus.”
And he may preach Christ crucified, but I’ve been in meetings where Christ crucified hasn’t even been preached.
No preaching of the cross. There’s just faith and then “you need to yield your heart to Jesus because you’ve got a
God-shaped vacuum in your heart. Just slip up your hand while every head is bowed and every eye closed.
Nobody is watching you.” And when their hand is slipped up he says, “I see that hand. God bless you.” And then,
what he did, he says “I want everyone to stand and I have seen those of you that have raised your hand. I want
you to come to the front when the music plays, when the counselors come.”
So the counselors come out as a draw card. That’s why counselors come out, to make it easier when the music’s
playing. People get up the front. And as the pastor is up on the platform, I could see the facial expression of those
giving their heart to Jesus. There was no Godly sorrow, no contrition. And after the meeting, one of the counselors
said, “You should have been out in the back.” And they were counseling those that had just made decisions.
There wasn’t an ounce of Godly sorrow. People would just say, “Hey, Bertha, fancy you being here.” “Oh, Fred,
what are you doing here?”
And the expression on the faces of those who come to the front was, “How on earth did I get up here? Really?
Because I was sitting in my seat, I just went like that, and suddenly I’m up the front,” drawn out by psychological
manipulation. That man had a 96… 96% fall-away rate in his converts. That was the last when I heard his
statistics, and I don’t really think the other 4% would have hung in. Or they may have stayed in the Christian social
club, I don’t know.
The true convert says, “Woe is me. I am undone. God be merciful to me, a sinner.”

 

Hell’s Best Kept Secret by Ray Comfort Page 1 of 10
This message was first preached in August 1982. Hell’s Best Kept Secret is non-copyrighted, duplication is encouraged.
www.LivingWaters.com – Living Waters Publications, P.O. Box 1172, Bellflower, CA 90706 – Order line: 1-800-437-1893
Hell's Best Kept Secret
In the late seventies, God very graciously opened an itinerant ministry to me. As I began to travel, I found
that I had access to church growth records, and found to my horror that something like 80 to 90% of those making a
decision for Christ were falling away from the faith. That is, modern evangelism with its methods is creating
something like 80 to 90 of what we commonly call backsliders for every hundred decisions for Christ.
Let me make it more real for you. In 1991, in the first year of the decade of harvest, a major denomination
in the U.S. was able to obtain 294,000 decisions for Christ. That is, in one year, this major denomination of 11,500
churches was able to obtain 294,000 decisions for Christ. Unfortunately, they could only find 14,000 in fellowship,
which means they couldn’t account for 280,000 of their decisions, and this is normal, modern evangelical results,
and something I discovered way back in the late seventies; it greatly concerned me. I began to study the book of
Romans intently and, specifically, the gospel proclamation of men like Spurgeon, Wesley, Moody, Finney, Whitfield,
Luther, and others that God used down through the ages, and I found they used a principle which is almost entirely
neglected by modern evangelical methods. I began teaching that principle; I was eventually invited to base our
ministry in southern California, the city of Bellflower, specifically to bring this teaching to the church of the U.S.
Things were quiet for the first three years, until I received a call from Bill Gothard, who had seen the teaching on
video. He flew me to San Jose in northern California; I shared it with a thousand pastors. Then in 1992 he screened
that video to 30,000 pastors. The same year David Wilkerson called from New York. He called from his car. (He
had been listening to the teaching in his car and called me on his car phone.) Immediately, he flew me 3,000 miles
from L.A. to New York to share the one-hour teaching with his church; he considered it to be that important. And
recently I heard of a pastor who had listened to the audio tape 250 times. I’d be happy if you’d listen just once to
this teaching which is called “Hell’s Best Kept Secret.”
The Bible says in Psalm 19, verse 7, “The law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul.” What is it that the
Bible says is perfect and actually converts the soul? Why scripture makes it very clear: “The law of the Lord is
perfect converting the soul.” Now to illustrate the function of God’s law, let’s just look for a moment at civil law.
Imagine if I said to you, “I’ve got some good news for you: someone has just paid a $25,000 speeding fine on your
behalf.” You’d probably react by saying, “What are you talking about? That’s not good news: it doesn’t make sense.
I don’t have a $25,000 speeding fine.” My good news wouldn’t be good news to you: it would seem foolishness. But
more than that, it would be offensive to you, because I’m insinuating you’ve broken the law when you don’t think
you have. However, if I put it this way, it may make more sense: “On the way to this meeting, the law clocked you at
going 55 miles an hour through an area set aside for a blind children’s convention. There were ten clear warning
signs stating that fifteen miles an hour was the maximum speed, but you went straight through at 55 miles an hour.
What you did was extremely dangerous; there’s a $25,000 fine. The law was about to take its course, when
someone you don’t even know stepped in and paid the fine for you. You are very fortunate.”
Can you see that telling you precisely what you’ve done wrong first actually makes the good news make
sense. If I don’t clearly bring instruction and understanding that you’ve violated the law, then the good news will
seem foolishness; it will seem offensive. But once you understand that you’ve broken the law, then that good news
will become good news indeed.
Now in the same way, if I approach an impenitent sinner and say, “Jesus Christ died on the cross for your
sins,” it will be foolishness and offensive to him. Foolishness because it won’t make sense. The Bible says that:
“The preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness” (1Cor. 1:18). And offensive because I’m insinuating
he’s a sinner when he doesn’t think he is. As far as he’s concerned, there are a lot of people far worse than him.
But if I take the time to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, it may make more sense. If I take the time to open up the
divine law, the ten commandments, and show the sinner precisely what he’s done wrong, that he has offended God
by violating His law, then when he becomes, as James says, “convinced of the law as a transgressor” (Jam. 2:9),
the good news of the fine being paid for will not be foolishness, it will not be offensive, it will be “the power of God
unto salvation” (Rom. 1:16).
Now, with those few thoughts in mind by way of introduction, let’s now look at Romans 3, verse 19. We’ll
look at some of the functions of God’s law for humanity. Romans 3, verse 19: “Now we know that whatsoever
things the law says, it says to them who are under the law that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may
become guilty before God.” So one function of God’s law is to stop the mouth. To stop sinners justifying themselves
and saying, “There’s plenty of people worse than me. I’m not a bad person. Really.” No, the law stops the mouth of
justification and leaves the whole world, not just the Jews, but the whole world guilty before God.

Hell’s Best Kept Secret by Ray Comfort Page 2 of 10
This message was first preached in August 1982. Hell’s Best Kept Secret is non-copyrighted, duplication is encouraged.
www.LivingWaters.com – Living Waters Publications, P.O. Box 1172, Bellflower, CA 90706 – Order line: 1-800-437-1893
Romans 3, verse 20: “Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by
the law is the knowledge of sin.” So God’s law tells us what sin is. 1 John 3:4 says, “Sin is transgression of the law.”
Romans 7, verse 7: “What shall we say then?” says Paul. “Is the law sin? God forbid! No, I had not known sin but
by the law.” Paul says, “I didn’t know what sin was until the law told me.” In Galatians 3:24, “Wherefore, the law was
our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ that we might be justified by faith.” God’s law acts as a schoolmaster to bring
us to Jesus Christ that we might be justified through faith in His blood. The law doesn’t help us; it just leaves us
helpless. It doesn’t justify us; it just leaves us guilty before the judgment bar of a holy God.
And the tragedy of modern evangelism is because around the turn of the century when it forsook the law in
its capacity to convert the soul, to drive sinners to Christ, modern evangelism had to, therefore, find another reason
for sinners to respond to the gospel. And the issue that modern evangelism chose to attract sinners was the issue
of “life enhancement”. The gospel degenerated into “Jesus Christ will give you peace, joy, love, fulfillment, and
lasting happiness.” Now to illustrate the unscriptural nature of this very popular teaching, I’d like you to listen very
carefully to this following anecdote, because the essence of what I’m saying pivots on this particular illustration; so
please listen carefully.
Two men are seated in a plane. The first is given a parachute and told to put is on as it would improve his
flight. He’s a little skeptical at first because he can’t see how wearing a parachute in a plane could possibly improve
the flight. After a time he decides to experiment and see if the claim is true. As he puts it on he notices the weight of
it upon his shoulders and he finds that he has difficulty in sitting upright. However, he consoles himself with the fact
that he was told the parachute would improve the flight. So, he decides to give the thing a little time. As he waits he
notices that some of the other passengers are laughing at him, because he’s wearing a parachute in a plane. He
begins to feel somewhat humiliated. As they begin to point and laugh at him and he can stand it no longer, he slinks
in his seat, unstraps the parachute, and throws it to the floor. Disillusionment and bitterness fill his heart, because,
as far as he was concerned, he was told an outright lie.
The second man is given a parachute, but listen to what he’s told. He’s told to put it on because at any
moment he’d be jumping 25,000 feet out of the plane. He gratefully puts the parachute on; he doesn’t notice the
weight of it upon his shoulders, nor that he can’t sit upright. His mind is consumed with the thought of what would
happen to him if he jumped without that parachute.
Let’s analyze the motive and the result of each passenger’s experience. The first man’s motive for putting
the parachute on was solely to improve his flight. The result of his experience was that he was humiliated by the
passengers; he was disillusioned and somewhat embittered against those who gave him the parachute. As far as
he’s concerned it’ll be a long time before anyone gets one of those things on his back again. The second man put
the parachute on solely to escape the jump to come, and because of his knowledge of what would happen to him
without it, he has a deep-rooted joy and peace in his heart knowing that he’s saved from sure death. This
knowledge gives him the ability to withstand the mockery of the other passengers. His attitude towards those who
gave him the parachute is one of heart-felt gratitude.
Now listen to what the modern gospel says. It says, “Put on the Lord Jesus Christ. He’ll give you love, joy,
peace, fulfillment, and lasting happiness.” In other words, “Jesus will improve your flight.” So the sinner responds,
and in an experimental fashion, puts on the Savior to see if the claims are true. And what does he get? The
promised temptation, tribulation, and persecution. The other passengers mock him. So what does he do? He takes
off the Lord Jesus Christ, he’s offended for the word’s sake (Mark 4:17), he’s disillusioned and somewhat
embittered, and quite rightly so. He was promised peace, joy, love, fulfillment, and lasting happiness, and all he got
were trials and humiliation. His bitterness is directed toward those who gave him the so-called “good news”. His
latter end becomes worse than the first: another inoculated and bitter backslider.
Saints, instead of preaching that Jesus improves the flight, we should be warning the passengers they’re
going have to jump out of the plane. That it’s “appointed unto man once to die, but after this the judgment” (Heb.
9:27). And when a sinner understands the horrific consequences of breaking God’s law, then he will flee to the
Savior solely to escape the wrath that’s to come. And if we’re true and faithful witnesses, that’s what we’ll be
preaching. That there is wrath to come; that God “commands all men everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:30). Why?
“Because He has appointed a day, in which He will judge the world in righteousness” (vs. 31). You see, the issue
isn’t one of happiness, but one of righteousness. It doesn’t matter how happy a sinner is, how much he’s enjoying
“the pleasures of sin for a season” (Heb. 11:25). Without the righteousness of Christ, he’ll perish on the day of
wrath. “Riches profit not on the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death” (Prov. 11:4). Peace and joy are
legitimate fruits of salvation, but it’s not legitimate to use these fruits as a draw card for salvation. If we continue to
do so, sinners will respond with an impure motive lacking repentance.

Hell’s Best Kept Secret by Ray Comfort Page 3 of 10
This message was first preached in August 1982. Hell’s Best Kept Secret is non-copyrighted, duplication is encouraged.
www.LivingWaters.com – Living Waters Publications, P.O. Box 1172, Bellflower, CA 90706 – Order line: 1-800-437-1893
Now, can you remember why the second passenger had joy and peace in his heart? It was because he
knew that parachute was going to save him from sure death. And as a believer, I have, as Paul says, “joy and
peace in believing” (Rom. 15:13), because I know that the righteousness of Christ is going to deliver me from the
wrath that’s to come.
Now with that thought in mind, let’s take a close look at an incident on board the plane. We have a brand
new stewardess. She’s carrying a tray of boiling hot coffee. It’s her first day; she wants to leave an impression on
the passengers, and she certainly does. Because as she’s walking down the aisle, she trips over someone’s foot
and slops that boiling hot coffee all over the lap of our second passenger. Now what’s his reaction as that boiling
liquid hits his tender flesh? Does he go, “Ssssfffff! Man that hurt”? Mmm-hhh. He feels the pain. But then does he
rip the parachute from his shoulders, throw it to the floor and say, “The stupid parachute!”? No. Why should he? He
didn’t put the parachute on for a better flight. He put it on to save him from the jump to come. If anything, the hot
coffee incident causes him to cling tighter to the parachute and even look forward to the jump.
Now if you and I have put on the Lord Jesus Christ for the right motive, to flee from the wrath that’s to
come, when tribulation strikes, when the flight gets bumpy, we won’t get angry at God; we won’t lose our joy and
peace. Why should we? We didn’t come to Jesus for a happy lifestyle: we came to flee from the wrath that’s to
come. And if anything, tribulation drives the true believer closer to the Savior. And sadly we have literally multitudes
of professing Christians who lose their joy and peace when the flight gets bumpy. Why? They’re the product of a
man-centered gospel. They came lacking repentance, without which you can’t be saved.
I was in Australia recently ministering; Australia is a small island off the coast of New Zealand. And I
preached sin, law, righteousness, holiness, judgment, repentance, and hell, and I wasn’t exactly crushed by the
amount of people wanting to “give their hearts to Jesus.” In fact, the air went very tense. After the meeting, they
said, “There’s a young guy down in the back who wants to give his life to Christ.” I went down the back and found a
teenage lad who could not pray the sinner’s prayer because he was weeping so profusely. Now, for me it was so
refreshing, because for many years I suffered from the disease of “evangelical frustration”. I so wanted sinners to
respond to the gospel I unwittingly preached a man-centered message. The essence of which was this: “You’ll
never find true peace without Jesus Christ; you’ve a God-shaped vacuum in your heart that only God can fill.” I’d
preach Christ crucified; I’d preach repentance. A sinner would respond to the alter; I’d open an eye and say, “Oh
no. This guy wants to give his heart to Jesus and there’s an 80% chance he’s going to backslide. And I am tired of
creating backsliders. So I’d better make sure this guy really means it. He’d better be sincere!” So I’d approach the
poor guy in a Gestapo spirit. I’d walk up and say, “Vhat do you vant?” He’d say, “I’m here to become a Christian.”
I’d say, “Do you mean it?” He’d say, “Yeah.” I’d say, “Do you REALLY MEAN IT!?” He’d say, “Yeah, I reckon.”
“Okay, I’ll pray with you, but you’d better mean it from your heart.” He said, “Okay, okay.” “Now you repeat this
prayer sincerely after me and mean it from your heart sincerely and really mean it from your heart sincerely and
make sure you mean it. ‘Oh, God, I’m a sinner.’ ” He’d say, “Uh…oh, God, I’m a sinner.” And I’d think, “Man, why
isn’t there a visible sign of contrition. There’s no outward evidence the guy is inwardly sorry for his sins.” Now, if I
could have seen his motive, I would have seen he was 100% sincere. He really did mean his decision with all his
heart. He sincerely wanted to give this Jesus thing a go to see if he could get a buzz out of it. He had tried sex,
drugs, materialism, alcohol. “Why not give this Christian bit a go and see if it’s as good as all these Christians say it
is: peace, joy, love, fulfillment, lasting happiness.” He wasn’t fleeing from the wrath that was to come, because I
hadn’t told him there was wrath to come. There was this glaring omission from my message. He wasn’t broken in
contrition, because the poor guy didn’t know what sin was. Remember Romans 7, verse 7? Paul said, “I had not
known sin but by the law.” How can a man repent if he doesn’t know what sin is? Any so-called “repentance” would
be merely what I call “horizontal repentance”. He’s coming because he’s lied to men, he’s stolen from men. But
when David sinned with Bathsheba and broke all ten of the ten commandments (when he coveted his neighbor’s
wife, lived a lie, stole his neighbor’s wife, committed adultery, committed murder, dishonored his parents, and thus
dishonored God), he didn’t say “I’ve sinned against man.” He said, “Against you, and you only, have I sinned, and
done this evil in your sight” (Ps. 51:4). When Joseph was tempted sexually, he said, “How can I do this thing and
sin against God?” (Gen. 39:9). The prodigal son said, “I’ve sinned against heaven” (Luke 15:21). Paul preached
“repentance toward God” (Acts 20:21). And the Bible says, “Godly sorrow works repentance” (2Cor. 7:10). And
when a man doesn’t understand that his sin is primarily vertical, he’ll merely come and exercise superficial,
experimental, and horizontal repentance, and fall away when tribulation, temptation, and persecution come.
A.B. Earl said, “I have found by long experience that the severest threatenings of the law of God have a
prominent place in leading men to Christ. They must see themselves lost before they will cry for mercy; they’ll not
escape danger until they see it.” Now I’d like you to do something a little unusual. I’ll not embarrass you; I give you
my word. But I would like to ask, how many of you were thinking of something else when I was reading that quote

Hell’s Best Kept Secret by Ray Comfort Page 4 of 10
This message was first preached in August 1982. Hell’s Best Kept Secret is non-copyrighted, duplication is encouraged.
www.LivingWaters.com – Living Waters Publications, P.O. Box 1172, Bellflower, CA 90706 – Order line: 1-800-437-1893
from A.B. Earl? Now, I want to admit something to you. I was thinking of something else when I was reading that
quote from A.B. Earl: I was thinking, “Nobody’s listening to me; they’re thinking of something else.” So, to make a
very important point, I’d like you to be really honest. If you were thinking of something else and you haven’t got a
clue what A.B. Earl said, could you raise your hand up nice and high…up nice and high. It’s usually half to twothirds
and we’ve got that here tonight. Let’s try again.…God bless you, Pastor, for your honesty.
A.B. Earl was a famous evangelist of the last century who had 150,000 converts to substantiate his claims.
Satan doesn’t want you to get a grip of this, so listen very closely.
A.B. Earl said, “I have found by long experience [that’s the true test] that the severest threatenings of the
law of God have a prominent place in leading men to Christ. They must see themselves lost before they will cry for
mercy; they’ll not escape danger until they see it.”
You see, you try and save a man from drowning when the man doesn’t believe he’s drowning, he’ll not be
too happy with you. You see him swimming out in the lake; you think, “I think he’s drowning. Yes, I believe he is.”
You dive in, pull him to the shore, without telling him anything. He’s not going to be very happy with you. He won’t
want to get saved until he sees that he’s in danger. They’ll not escape danger until they see it.
You see, if you came to me and said, “Hey, Ray,” and I said, “Yeah.” You said, “This is a cure to
Groaninzin’s disease; I sold my house to raise the money to get this cure. I’m giving it to you as a free gift.” I’d
probably react something like this: “What? Cure to what? Groaninzin’s disease? You sold your house to raise the
money to get this cure? You’re giving it to me as a free gift? Why, thanks a lot. Bye.…That guy’s a nut.” I mean,
that’s probably how I’d react if you sold your house to raise the money to get a cure for a disease I’d never heard of
and your giving it to me as free gift, I’d think you’re rather strange.
But instead, if you came to me and said, “Ray, you’ve got Groaninzin’s disease. I can see ten clear
symptoms on your flesh. You’re going to be dead in two weeks.” And I became convinced I had the disease (the
symptoms were so evident), and said, “Oh! What shall I do?” And then you said, “Don’t worry. This is a cure to
Groaninzin’s disease. I sold my house to raise the money to get this cure. I’m giving it to you as a free gift.” I’m not
going to despise your sacrifice; I’m going to appreciate it and I’m going to appropriate it. Why? Because I’ve seen
the disease that I might appreciate the cure.
And sadly, what’s happened in the U.S. and the Western world as follow is that we have preached the cure
without first convincing of the disease. We have preached a gospel of grace without first convincing men of the law,
that they’re transgressors; and, consequently, almost everyone I try and witness to in southern California or around
the Bible belt has been born-again six or seven times. You say, “You need to give your life to Jesus Christ.” “Uh, I
did that when I was seven, eleven, seventeen, twenty-three, twenty-five, twenty-eight, thirty-two…” You know the
guy’s not a Christian. He’s a fornicator. He’s a blasphemer, but he thinks he’s saved because he’s been “bornagain”.
What’s happening? He’s using the grace of our God for an occasion of the flesh. He doesn’t esteem the
sacrifice. For him it’s not a bad thing to trample the blood of Christ underfoot (Heb. 10:29). Why? Because he’s
never been convinced of the disease that he might appreciate the cure.
Biblical evangelism is always, without exception, law to the proud and grace to the humble. Never will you
see Jesus giving the gospel, the good news, the cross, the grace of our God, to a proud, arrogant, self-righteous
person. No, no. With the law he breaks the hard heart and with the gospel he heals the broken heart. Why?
Because He always did those things that please the Father. God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble
(Jam. 4:6; 1Pet. 5:5). “Everyone who is proud of heart,” scripture says, “is an abomination to the Lord” (Prov. 16:5).
Jesus told us whom the gospel is for. He said, “The spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed
me to preach the gospel to the poor, the broken-hearted, the captives and the blind” (Luke 4:18). Now, they are
spiritual statements. The poor in spirit (Mat. 5:3). The broken hearted are the contrite ones (Is. 57:15). The captives
are those of whom Satan has taken captive to do his will (2Tim. 2:26); and the blind are those of whom the god of
this world has blinded lest the light of the gospel should shine on them (2Cor. 4:4). Only the sick need a physician
(Mark 2:17), and only those who are convinced of the disease will appreciate and appropriate a cure.
So we’re going to now very briefly look at examples of law to the proud and grace to the humble. Luke
10:24…Luke 10:24. And when I give you a reference from the pulpit I’ll give it twice, because I know that men are
present, and men need to be told things twice.…Men need to be told things twice. This can be backed up biblically.
When God speaks to men in the Bible he uses their name twice. “Abraham, Abraham…Saul, Saul…Moses,
Moses…Samuel, Samuel…” Because men need to be told things twice. Women once. I don’t know how many
times I’ve sat in a pew, preacher said, “Ah, Luke 10:25.” I turn to my wife and say, “What’d he say?” She says,
“Luke 10:25.” I say, “Thank you, dear.” HELP-MATE. That’s why God created women, because men could not
handle it on their own. The whole thing is: men lose things, women find things. “Where’s the keys love?” “Hangin’
on your nose, Dear.” I mean, I don’t know how many times I’ve opened the cupboard, “[Burp] There’s no honey
here, Honey!” She says, “Here is here, Dear.” Where would man be without women? Mm? Still in the Garden of

Hell’s Best Kept Secret by Ray Comfort Page 5 of 10
This message was first preached in August 1982. Hell’s Best Kept Secret is non-copyrighted, duplication is encouraged.
www.LivingWaters.com – Living Waters Publications, P.O. Box 1172, Bellflower, CA 90706 – Order line: 1-800-437-1893
Eden. Eve found the tree. Adam didn’t really know what was going on. In fact, if you look at the creation of woman,
to create woman the Bible says God put man into a deep sleep. And Scripture doesn’t say he ever came out of it.
In Luke 10:25 we see a certain lawyer stood up and tempted Jesus. This is not an attorney, but a
professing expert on God’s law. He stood up and he said to Jesus, “How can I get everlasting life?” Now, what did
Jesus do? He gave him law. Why? Because he was proud, arrogant, self-righteous. Here we have a professing
expert on God’s law tempting the Son of God. And the spirit of his question was, “And what do you think we’ve got
to do to get everlasting life?” So Jesus gave him law. He said, “What is written in the law? What is your reading of
it?” He says, “Ah, you should love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength; love your
neighbor as yourself.” And Jesus said, “This do and you shall live.” And then the Scripture says, “But He, willing to
justify Himself, said to Jesus, ‘Who’s my neighbor?’ ” The Living Bible brings out more clearly the effect of the law
on the man. It said, “The man wanted to justify his lack of love for some kinds of people; so he asked, ‘Which
neighbors?’ ” See, he didn’t mind Jews, but he didn’t like Samaritans. So Jesus then told him the story of what we
call the “good Samaritan” who was not “good” at all. In loving his neighbor as much as he loved himself, he merely
obeyed the basic requirements of God’s law. And the effect of the essence of the law, the spirituality of the law (of
what the law demands in truth), was that that man’s mouth was stopped. See, he didn’t love his neighbor to that
degree. The law was given to stop every mouth and leave the whole world guilty before God.
Similarly, in Luke 18, verse 18, the rich, young ruler came to Jesus. He said, “How can I get everlasting
life?” I mean, how would most of us react if someone came up and said, “How can I get everlasting life?” We’d say,
“Oh…quickly say this prayer before you change your mind.” But what did Jesus do with His potential convert? He
pointed Him to the law. He gave him five horizontal commandments, commandments to do with his fellow men. And
when he said, “Ah, I’ve kept those from my youth,” Jesus said, “One thing you lack.” And he used the essence of
the first of the ten commandments: “I am the Lord your God…You shall have no other Gods before me” (Ex. 20:2–
3). He showed this man that His god was His money, and “you cannot serve God and mammon” (Mt. 6:24). Law to
the proud.
Then we see grace being given to the humble in the case of Nicodemus (John 3). Nicodemus was a leader
of the Jews. He was a teacher in Israel. Therefore, he was thoroughly versed in God’s law. He was humble of
heart, because he came to Jesus and acknowledged the Deity of the Son of God. A leader in Israel? “We know that
you’ve come from God for no man can do these miracles that you do unless God is with Him.” So Jesus gave the
sincere seeker of truth, who had a humble heart and a knowledge of sin by the law, the good news of the fine being
paid for and “For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son.” And it was not foolishness to
Nicodemus but the “power of God to salvation.”
Similarly, in the case of Nathaniel (John 1:43–51). Nathaniel was an Israelite brought up under the law in
deed, not just in word, in whom there was no guile; there was no deceit in his heart. Obviously the law was a
schoolmaster to bring this godly Jew to Christ.
Similarly with the Jews on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2). They were devout Jews, godly Jews, who,
therefore, ate, drank, and slept God’s law. Matthew Henry, the Bible commentator, said the reason they were
gathered together on the day of Pentecost was to celebrate the giving of God’s law on Mt. Sinai. So when Peter
stood up to preach to these godly Jews, he didn’t preach wrath. No, the law works wrath; they knew that. He didn’t
preach righteousness or judgment. No, no. He just told them the good news of the fine being paid for, and they
were pricked in their hearts and cried, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” (vs. 37). The law was a schoolmaster
to bring them to Christ that they might be justified through faith in His blood. And the hymn-writer said, “By God’s
word at last my sin I learned; then I trembled at the law I’d spurned, till my guilty soul imploring turned to Calvary.”
1 Timothy, chapter 1, verse 8, says, “But we know that the law is good if it used lawfully for the purpose for
which it was designed.” God’s law is good if it’s used lawfully for the purpose for which it was designed. Well, what
was the law “designed” for? The following verse tells us: “The law was not made for a righteous man but for
sinners.” It even lists the sinners: homosexuals, fornicators. If you want to bring a homosexual to Christ, don’t get
into an argument with him over his perversion; he’s ready for you with his boxing gloves on. No, no. Give him the
ten commandments. The law was made for homosexuals. Show him that he is damned despite his perversion.
If you want to bring a Jew to Christ, lay the weight of the law upon him; let it prepare his heart for grace as
happened on the day of Pentecost. If you want to bring a Moslem to Christ, give him the law of Moses; they accept
Moses as a prophet. Well, give them the law of Moses and strip them of their self-righteousness and bring them to
the foot of a blood-stained cross. I heard of a Moslem reading our book Hell’s Best Kept Secret, and God soundly
saved him purely through reading the book. Why? Because the law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul.
Think of the woman caught in the act of adultery (John 8:1–11). Violation of the seventh commandment.
The law called for her blood (Lev. 20:10). She found herself in between a rock and a hard place. She had no
avenue but to fling herself at the feet of the Son of God for mercy; and that is the function of God’s law.

Hell’s Best Kept Secret by Ray Comfort Page 6 of 10
This message was first preached in August 1982. Hell’s Best Kept Secret is non-copyrighted, duplication is encouraged.
www.LivingWaters.com – Living Waters Publications, P.O. Box 1172, Bellflower, CA 90706 – Order line: 1-800-437-1893
Paul spoke of being shut up under the law (Gal. 3:23). It condemns. You say, “You can’t condemn sinners.”
Saints, they’re already condemned. John 3, verse 18: “He that believes not is condemned already.” All the law does
is show him himself in his true state.
Ladies, you might recognize this. Your table needs dusting in your living room. So you dust it clean; all the
dust is gone. Then you draw back the curtains and let in the early morning sunlight. What do you see on the table?
Dust. What do you see in the air? Dust. Did the light create the dust? No, the light merely exposed the dust. And
when you and I take the time to draw back the curtains of the holy of holies and let the light of God’s law shine upon
the sinner’s heart, all that happens, is that he sees himself in truth. “The commandment is a lamp and the law is
light” (Prov. 6:23). That’s why Paul said, “By the law is the knowledge of sin” (Rom. 3:20). That’s why he said, “By
the commandment sin became exceedingly sinful” (Rom. 7:13). In other words, the law showed him sin in its true
light.
Now, normally at this stage of this teaching I go through the ten commandments one by one, but what I’ll
do is share with you how I witness personally because I think it would be more beneficial.
Now, I’m a strong believer in following in the footsteps of Jesus. Never, ever, would I approach someone
and say, “Jesus loves you.” Totally unbiblical; there’s no precedent for that in Scripture. Neither would I go up to
someone and say, “I’d like to talk to you about Jesus Christ.” Why? Because if I wanted to awaken you from a deep
sleep, I wouldn’t use a flashlight in your eyes. That will offend you. I’d turn on the light dimmer very gently. First, the
natural, then the spiritual. Why? Because “the natural man receives not the things of the spirit of God; neither can
he know them. They are foolishness to him because they are spiritually understood” (1Cor. 2:14).
The precedent in Scripture is given in John 4 for personal witness. You can see Jesus’ example with the
woman at the well. He started in the natural realm, swung to the spiritual, brought conviction using the seventh
commandment, and then revealed Himself as the Messiah. So, when I meet someone, I’ll talk about the weather, I’ll
talk about sport: let them feel a little bit of sanity. Get to know them; maybe joke here and there and then
deliberately swing from the natural to the spiritual. Now, the way I do this is that I use gospel tracts. We have
something like 24, 25 different tracts; we’re a ministry to the body of Christ. We’ve printed millions and millions of
tracts and our tracts are unusual. If you get a hold of them, what you’ll have to do is have a stack on you because
people chase you and ask for more. Let me give you an example. This is our optical illusion tract. Which looks
bigger, if you can see? Does the pink look bigger? Can you see that? For those listening by tape…They’re the
same size; it’s an optical illusion. I say, “It’s actually a gospel tract; instructions are on the back…how to get saved,
actually.” I say, “You can keep that.” He says, “Hey…thanks a lot! This is neat…Whoa!”
“Got another gift for you.” And out of my pocket I get a pressed penny with the ten commandments on it.
We have a machine that does this. We buy the pennies new from the bank; nice golden-looking pennies and we
feed them into this machine and it presses them, or it will do your thumbnail if you want to hold still. But it presses
them with the ten commandments. It’s legal to do this: this is considered art. It’s not defacing a penny. So I say,
“Here’s a gift.” He says, “Oh…what is it?” I say, “It’s a penny with the ten commandments on it; I did it with my
teeth.…I do the i’s with my eye teeth but the e’s are really difficult.”
Now, what I’m doing is putting out a feeler to see if he’s open to spiritual things. If he negatively says, “Ten
commandments? Thanks a lot,” he’s not open. But the usual reaction is, “Ten commandments…Hey, thanks! I
appreciate this.” I say, “Ah, do you think you’ve kept the ten commandments?” He says, “Ah, yeah…pretty much.” I
say, “Let’s go through them. Ever told a lie?” He says, “Ah, yeah…yeah, one or two.” I say, “What does that make
you?” He says, “A sinner.” I say, “No, no. Specifically, what does it make you?” He says, “Well, man, I’m not a liar.”
I say, “How many lies, then, do you have to tell to be a liar? Ten and a bell rings and ‘ppppbbbbtttt’ across your
forehead? Isn’t it true if you tell one lie, it makes you a liar?” He says, “Yeah…I guess you’re right.” I say, “Have you
ever stolen something?” He says, “No.” I say, “Come on; you’ve just admitted to me you’re a liar.” I say, “Ever
stolen something, even if its small?” and he says, “Yeah.” I say, “What does that make you?” He says, “A thief.” I
say, “Jesus said, ‘If you look at a woman and lust after her, you commit adultery with her in your heart’ (Mat. 5:28).
Ever done that?” He says, “Yeah, plenty of times.” “Then from your own admission, you’re a lying, thieving,
adulterer at heart, and you have to face God on judgment day; and we’ve only looked at three of the ten
commandments. There’s another seven with their cannons pointed at you. Have you used God’s name in vain?”
“Yeah…I’ve been trying to stop.” “You know what you’re doing? Instead of using a four-letter filth word beginning
with ‘s’ to express disgust, you’re using God’s name in its place. That’s called blasphemy; and the Bible says,
‘Every idle word a man speaks he’ll give account thereof on the day of judgment’ (Mat. 12:36). ‘The Lord will not
hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain’ (Ex. 20:7). The Bible says if you hate someone, you are a murderer
(1 John 3:15).”
Now the wonderful thing about God’s law is that God has taken the time to write it upon our heart. Romans
2, verse 15: “…which show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness…” Now,

Hell’s Best Kept Secret by Ray Comfort Page 7 of 10
This message was first preached in August 1982. Hell’s Best Kept Secret is non-copyrighted, duplication is encouraged.
www.LivingWaters.com – Living Waters Publications, P.O. Box 1172, Bellflower, CA 90706 – Order line: 1-800-437-1893
conscience means “with knowledge.” Con is “with,” science is “knowledge.” Conscience. So when he lies, lusts,
fornicates, blasphemes, commits adultery, he does it with knowledge that it’s wrong. God has given light to every
man. The Holy Spirit convicts them of sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:8). Sin which is transgression of
the law (1 John 3:4); righteousness which is of the law (Rom. 10:5; Philip. 3:9); judgment which is by the law. His
conscience accuses him—the work of the law written on his heart (Rom. 2:15)—and the law condemns him.
So I say, “So if God judges you by this standard on the day of judgment, are you going to be innocent or
guilty?” He says, “Guilty.” I say, “Well, do you think you’ll go to heaven or hell?” And the usual answer is, “Heaven.”
A product of the modern gospel. I say, “Why do you feel like that? Is it because you think God is good and he’ll
overlook your sins?” He says, “Yeah, that’s it. He’ll overlook my sins.” “Yeah, well, try that in a court of law. You’ve
committed rape, murder, drug pushing—very serious crimes. The judge says, ‘You’re guilty. All the evidence is
here. Have you anything to say before I pass sentence?’ And you say, ‘Yes, Judge. I’d like to say I believe you’re a
good man and you’ll overlook my crimes.’ The judge would probably say, ‘You’re right about one thing. I am a good
man, and because of my goodness, I’m going to see that justice is done. Because of my goodness, I’m going to
see that you’re punished.’ ” And the very thing sinners are hoping will save them on the day of judgment, the
goodness of God, will be the very thing that will condemn them. Because if God is good, He must by nature punish
murderers, rapists, thieves, liars, fornicators, and blasphemers. God is going to punish sin wherever it’s found.
So with this knowledge, he’s now able to understand. He now has light that his sin is primarily vertical: that
he has “sinned against heaven” (Luke 15:21). That he has violated God’s law and that He has angered God and
the wrath of God abides upon Him (John 3:36). He can now see that He is “weighed in the balance” of eternal
justice and “found wanting” (Dan. 5:27). He now understands the need for a sacrifice. “Christ redeemed from the
curse of the law being made a curse for us” (Gal. 3:13). “God commended His love toward us in that while we were
yet sinners Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8). We broke the law; he paid the fine. It’s as simple as that. And if a man
will repent, if a woman will repent and put their faith in Jesus, God will remit their sins so that on the day of
judgment, when their court case comes up, God can say, “Your case is dismissed through lack of evidence.” “Christ
redeemed from the curse of the law being made a curse for us.” And, therefore, exercise repentance towards God,
faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 20:21), put his hand to the plough and not look back because he’s fit for
the kingdom (Luke 9:62). That word fit means “ready for use”. The soil of his heart has been turned that he might
receive the engrafted word which is able to save his soul (Jam. 1:21).
Now, I haven’t got time to share these quotes with you, but their in our literature. I’m sure you’ll recognize
these names. John Wycliffe, the Bible translator. He said, “The highest service to which a man may obtain on earth
is to preach the law of God.” Why? Because it will drive sinners to faith in the Savior, to everlasting life. Martin
Luther said, “The first duty of the gospel preacher is to declare God’s law and to show the nature of sin.” In fact, as
we read these quotes, these men have so much conviction you can feel their teeth grit. They say things like, “If you
do not use the law in gospel proclamation, you will fill the church with false converts.” Stony ground hearers who
will receive the word with joy and gladness.
Listen to what Martin Luther said. He said, “Satan, the god of all dissension stirs up daily new sects. And
last of all which of all others I should never have foreseen or once suspected, he has raised up a sect such as
teach that men should not be terrified by the law, but gently exhorted by the preaching of the grace of Christ.” So
what’s Luther saying? He saying, “Listen, guys. There’s a demonic, Satanic sect that’s just risen up. Man, I never,
ever would have believed this could happen. He’s raised up a sect such as teach that men should not be terrified
by the law, but gently exhorted by the preaching of the grace of Christ,” which perfectly sums up most of our
evangelism.
John Wesley said to a friend, in writing to a young evangelist, “Preach 90 percent law and 10 percent
grace.” And you say, “90 percent law and 10 percent grace? Pretty heavy. Couldn’t it be 50-50.” Think of it like this.
I’m a doctor; you’re a patient. You have a terminal disease. I have a cure, but it’s absolutely essential that you are
totally committed to this cure; if you’re not 100 percent committed, it will not work. How am I going to handle it?
Probably like this.
“Come in here. Sit down. I’ve some very serious news for you: you have a terminal disease.” I see you
begin to shake. I think to myself, “Good. He’s beginning to see the seriousness of this situation.” I bring out charts; I
bring out x-rays. I show you the poison seeping through your system. I speak to you for ten whole minutes about
this terrible disease. How long, then, do you think I’m going to have to talk about the cure? Not long at all. When
you’re sitting there trembling after ten minutes, I say, “By the way, here’s the cure.” You grab it and gulp it down.
Your knowledge of the disease and its horrific consequence has made you desire the cure.
You see, before I was a Christian, I had as much desire for righteousness as a four-year-old boy has for
the word “bath.” What’s the point? See, Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.”
How many non-Christians do you know who are hungering and thirsting after righteousness? The Bible says,

Hell’s Best Kept Secret by Ray Comfort Page 8 of 10
This message was first preached in August 1982. Hell’s Best Kept Secret is non-copyrighted, duplication is encouraged.
www.LivingWaters.com – Living Waters Publications, P.O. Box 1172, Bellflower, CA 90706 – Order line: 1-800-437-1893
“There is none who seek after God” (Rom. 3:11). It says they love the darkness, they hate the light; neither will they
come to the light least there deeds be exposed (John 3:19–20). The only thing they drink in is iniquity like water
(Job 15:16). But the night I was confronted with the spiritual nature of God’s law and understood that God requires
truth in the inward parts (Ps. 51:6), that He saw my thought-life and considered lust to be the same as adultery,
hatred the same as murder, I began to say, “I can see I’m condemned. What must I do to be made right?” I began
to thirst for righteousness. The law put salt on my tongue. It was a schoolmaster to bring me to Christ.
Charles Spurgeon said, “They will never accept grace until they tremble before a just and holy law.” D.L.
Moody, John Bunyan, John Newton, who wrote “Amazing Grace” (and if anyone had a grip on grace it was
Newton), he said that “the correct understanding of the harmony between law and grace is to preserve oneself from
being entangled by errors on the right hand and on the left.” And Charles Finney said, “Evermore the law must
prepare the way for the gospel.” He said, “To overlook this in instructing souls is almost certain to result in false
hope, the introduction of a false standard of Christian experience, and to fill the church with false converts.”
Saints, the first thing David Wilkerson said to me when he called me on his car phone was, “I thought I was
the only one who didn’t believe in follow-up.” Now, I believe in feeding a new convert; I believe in nurturing him. I
believe in discipling him—biblical and most necessary. But I don’t believe in following him. I can’t find it in Scripture.
The Ethiopian eunuch was left without follow-up. How could he survive? All he had was God and the Scriptures.
You see, follow-up…now let me explain follow-up for those of you who don’t know. Follow-up is when we get
decisions, either through crusades or local church, and we take laborers from the harvest field, who are few as it is,
and give them this disheartening task of running after these decisions to make sure they’re going on with God.
What it is is a sad admission of the amount of confidence we have in the power of our message and in the keeping
power of God. If God has saved them, God will keep them. If they’re born of God, they’ll never die. If He’s begun a
good work in them, He’ll complete it to that day (Philip. 1:6); if He’s the author of their faith, He’ll be the finisher of
their faith (Heb. 12:2). He’s able to save to the uttermost them that come to God by Him (Heb. 7:25). He’s able to
keep them from falling and present them faultless before the presence and glory with exceeding joy (Jude 24).
Jesus said, “No one will pluck you from my father’s hand” (John 10:29).
You see, saints, the problem is that Lazarus is four days dead (John 11). We can run in the tomb, we can
pull him out, we can prop him up, we can open his eyes, but “he stinketh” (vs. 39). He needs to hear the voice of
the Son of God. And the sinner is four days dead in his sins. We can run up and say, “Say this prayer.” Still, he
needs to hear the voice of the Son of God, or there is no life in him; and the thing that primes the sinner’s ear to
hear the voice of the Son of God is the law. It’s a schoolmaster to bring him to Christ that he might be justified
through faith (Gal. 3:24). Saints, the law works; it converts the soul (Ps. 19:7). It makes the person a new creature
in Christ. That old things pass away; behold, all things are become new (2Cor. 5:17). So find yourself a sinner, and
experiment on him. But as you do so, remember this one anecdote.
You’re sitting on a plane, sipping you’re coffee, biting a cookie, and watching a movie. It’s a good flight,
very pleasurable, when suddenly you hear, “This is your captain speaking. I have an announcement to make. As
the tail section has just fallen off of this plane, we’re about to crash. There’s a 25,000 foot drop. There’s a
parachute under your seat; we’d appreciate it if you’d put it on. Thank you for your attention, and thank you for
flying with this airline.” You say, “What!? 25,000 feet!? Man, am I glad to be wearing this parachute!” You look next
to you; the guy next to you is biting his cookie, sipping his coffee, and watching the movie. You say, “Excuse me,
did you hear the captain? Put the parachute on.” He turns to you and says, “Oh, I really don’t think the captain
means it. Besides, I’m quite happy as I am, thanks.” Don’t turn to him in sincere zeal and say, “Oh, please, put the
parachute on. It will be better than the movie.” Now, that doesn’t make sense. If you tell him that somehow the
parachute will improve his flight, he’s going to put it on for a wrong motive. If you want him to put it on and keep it
on, tell him about the jump. You say, “Excuse me, ignore the captain if you wish. Jump without a
parachute…SPLAT!” He says, “I’m sorry; I beg your pardon.” “I said, if you jump without a parachute, law of gravity.
‘Ppppbbbbtttt’ on the ground.” “Ah! Goodness me! I see what you’re saying! Thank you very much!” And as long as
that man has knowledge he has to pass through the door and face the consequences of breaking the law of gravity,
there’s no way you’re going to get that parachute off his back, because his very life depends on it.
Now, if you look around you, you’ll find there are plenty of passengers enjoying the flight. They’re enjoying
the pleasures of sin for a season. Go up and say, “Excuse me. Did you hear the command from our Captain about
salvation, ‘Put on the Lord Jesus Christ.’ ” He turns to you and says, “Oh, I really don’t think God means it. God is
love. Besides, I’m quite happy as I am, thanks.” Don’t turn to him in sincere zeal without knowledge and say,
“Please, put on the Lord Jesus Christ. He’ll give you love, joy, peace, fulfillment, and lasting happiness. You’ve got
a God-shaped vacuum in your heart only God can fill. If you have a marriage problem, drug problem, alcohol
problem, just give your heart to Jesus.” No. You’ll give him the wrong motive for his commitment. Instead say, “Oh,
God, give me courage!” and tell him about the jump. Just say, “Hey, it’s appointed to man once to die. If you die in

Hell’s Best Kept Secret by Ray Comfort Page 9 of 10
This message was first preached in August 1982. Hell’s Best Kept Secret is non-copyrighted, duplication is encouraged.
www.LivingWaters.com – Living Waters Publications, P.O. Box 1172, Bellflower, CA 90706 – Order line: 1-800-437-1893
your sins, God will be forced to give you justice, and His judgment is going to be so thorough. Every idle word a
man speaks he’ll give account thereof on the day of judgment; if you’ve lusted, you’ve committed adultery. If you’ve
hated someone, you’ve committed murder. And Jesus warned that justice will be so thorough, the fist of eternal
wrath will come upon you and [SMACK] grind you to powder. God bless.” Now saints, I’m not talking about hell-fire
preaching. Hell-fire preaching will produce fear-filled converts. Using God’s law will produce tear-filled converts.
This one comes because why? He wants to escape the fires of hell. But in his heart, he thinks God is harsh and
unjust, because the law hasn’t been used to show him the exceeding sinful nature of sin. He doesn’t see hell as
being his just desert, that he deserves hell. Therefore, he doesn’t understand mercy or grace; and, therefore, he
lacks gratitude to God for His mercy. And gratitude is the prime motivation for evangelism. There’ll be no zeal in the
heart of a false convert to evangelize. But this one comes knowing he has sinned against heaven. That God’s eye
is in every place beholding the evil and the good and God has seen darkness, as though it were pure light. He’s
seen his thought life. If God in His holiness on the day of wrath made manifest all the secret sins of his heart, all the
deeds done in darkness, if he made manifest all the evidence of his guilt, God could pick him up as an unclean
thing and cast him into hell and do that which is just. But instead of giving him justice, he’s given him mercy. He’s
commended his love toward him in that while he’s yet a sinner Christ died for him. He falls on his knees before that
blood-stained cross, and he says, “Oh, God, if You do that for me, I’ll do anything for You. I delight to do Your will,
oh, my God. Your law is written upon my heart.” And like the man who knew he had to pass through the door and
face the consequences of breaking the law of gravity and would never take his parachute off because his very life
depended on it, so he who comes to the Savior, knowing he has to face a holy God on the day of wrath, would
never forsake the righteousness of God in Christ because His very life depends on it.
Let me see if I can coagulate this teaching as we draw it to a close. I was in a store some time ago, and the
owner of the store was serving a customer and using God’s name in blasphemy. Now, if somebody used my wife’s
name in blasphemy, I would be extremely offended if they used her name as a curse word in that sense. But this
guy was using God’s name as a curse word, when God had given him life, his eyes, the ability to think, his children,
his food; every pleasure he’s ever had was given to him by the goodness of God, and he’s using God’s name as a
curse word. Indignantly, between him and his customer, I leaned and said, “Excuse me. Is this a religious
meeting?” The guy says, “What? H-E-L-L no!” “Yes it is, because now you’re talking about hell. Let me get you one
of my books.” So I went out to my car and got a book that I’ve written called God Doesn’t Believe in Atheists: Proof
the Atheist Doesn’t Exist. And it’s a book which uses logic, humor, reason, and rationalism to prove the existence of
God, which you can do in two minutes without the use of faith. It’s a very simple thing to conclusively, absolutely
prove God’s existence; and it proves also that the atheist doesn’t exist. In fact, let me show you our bumper sticker.
“National Atheist’s Day: April 1.” So I gave him this book, and two months later I went in and gave him another book
I’ve written called My Friends Are Dying! A book which is a true and gripping story about the ministering of the
gospel in the most murderous portion of Los Angeles; a book which also uses humor in its presentation. I gave him
those books and he called me and told me what had happened. He told me his wife kept giving him filthy looks,
because there he was reading a book called My Friends Are Dying! and laughing every two minutes. But he was
cleaning out his room and he picked up God Doesn’t Believe in Atheists. He said, “Ah,” and he opened it up and
read the first page and then he read the whole book, 260 pages. He said, “It was weird because I hate reading.”
Then he read My Friends Are Dying!, gave his life to Christ, bought himself a Bible, came around to say, “Hi,” and
told me after two days of being a Christian, in his Bible he was already up to what he called the book of “Lev-ih-tiekus.”
And I guess he was going to read “Palms” and then John. But up until his commitment, the man was a
practicing witch. “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.”
And it’s as though God looked down upon me, as for many years I open-air preached, and as I fought off
the enemy with the feather duster of modern evangelism, it’s as though God said, “What are you doing? My
weapons are not carnal but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds (2Cor. 10:4). Here are ten great
cannons.” And as I lined up the ten cannons of God’s law, no longer did sinners scoff and mock. No, their faces
went pale; they lifted their hands and said, “I surrender all! All to Jesus I freely give!” They came across to the
winning side never to become deserters. Such converts become soul winners, not pew warmers, laborers, not
layabouts, assets, not liabilities for the local church.
And now saints, with every head raised and every eye open, and no music playing, let me challenge you as
to the validity of your salvation. Modern evangelism says, “Never question your salvation.” The Bible says the exact
opposite. It says, “Examine yourself and see if you’re in the faith” (2Cor. 13:5). Better now than on the day of
judgment. The Bible says “make your calling and election sure” (2Pet. 1:10), and some of you know that something
is radically wrong in your Christian walk. You lose your peace and joy when the flight gets bumpy. There is a lack of
zeal to evangelize. You never fell on your face before Almighty God and said, “I’ve sinned against You, oh God!
Have mercy upon me!” You’ve never fled to Jesus Christ and His blood for cleansing, in desperation crying out,

Hell’s Best Kept Secret by Ray Comfort Page 10 of 10
This message was first preached in August 1982. Hell’s Best Kept Secret is non-copyrighted, duplication is encouraged.
www.LivingWaters.com – Living Waters Publications, P.O. Box 1172, Bellflower, CA 90706 – Order line: 1-800-437-1893
“God be merciful to me a sinner!” And there’s a lack of gratitude; there’s not a burning zeal for the lost. You can’t
say you’re on fire for God; in fact, you’re in danger of being one of the ones that are called “lukewarm” and will be
spewed out of the mouth of Christ on the day of judgment (Rev. 3:16) when multitudes will cry out to Jesus, “Lord,
Lord.” And he’ll say, “Depart form me you worker of iniquity—lawlessness: I never knew you” (Mat. 7:22–23). No
regard to the divine law. The Bible says, “Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity”—
lawlessness (2Tim. 2:19). So today you need to readjust the motive for your commitment. Friend, don’t let your
pride stop you. I would like to pray for you: I’ll remain up here, you remain in your seat. And if you’d like to be
included in this prayer, I’d like for you to slip up your hand, but remember this. If you say, “Well, I should put my
hand up but what will people think?” that’s pride. You prefer the praises of men to the praises of God (John 12:43).
Everyone who is proud of heart is an abomination to the Lord (Prov. 16:5). God resists the proud but gives grace to
the humble. So humble yourself before the mighty hand of God; He’ll exalt you in due time (1Pet. 5:5–6). Call it a
recommittal; call it a committal. But whatever you call it, make your calling and election sure.