I’m calling on all Christian believers to don the armor of faith and contend with me for the souls of the lost and do good works for the kingdom of God while there’s still time. By my calculations we’re only four years and two months away from the rapture of the church and the beginning of the “time of sorrows”, the seven years of tribulation which will end with the Second Coming of Jesus Christ to judge the nations of the earth for their sins against God before establishing the millennial kingdom of God on the earth. Time is short so believers need to focus on these important things. Believers need to obey God and his commands that are in the Bible. God doesn’t create anyone who is destined for hell from the start. God wants all of his creatures in heaven so anyone can go to heaven if they really want to. Each person is responsible for finding the true God, educating themselves about God and then following the path that leads to heaven that’s prescribed by God. Some people just need a little more help getting there. It may sound easy but it’s not; as evidenced by the fact the vast majority of people on this earth are going to hell. One thing I’ve discovered about God is that he’s just and fair to every person he has ever created.
1 Peter 1:17 – And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear.
2 Timothy 2:15 – Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
Colossians 3:2 – Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.
Colossians 3:17 – And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.
To the untrained observer it may look like God has given an unfair advantage to some people and hindered others in their search for God but that’s not the case at all. I used to bemoan the fact that God had dealt me a bad hand in life. I was raised in poverty, in a godless, dysfunctional family and I always wished my circumstances growing up were different. I blamed God and I held it against him for a long time. After I was saved I finally let go of my resentment against God when I realized my past has made me who I am and I have God to thank for that. God knows what he’s doing in every person’s life and he’s leveled the playing field so we all have an equal chance to find our own salvation unto eternal life. In a 400 meter race on an oval track the runners are staggered at the start of the race so it doesn’t look fair but the distance traveled in each lane is the same at the finish line. The race we run for God is like that. We all have to start where we are in life, with the abilities God gives us and then we have to run the best race we can for God. The path God gives each of us is unique because no two lives or races are exactly alike. Don’t worry about what you don’t have, didn’t get or don’t know; just start running for the Lord!
1 Corinthians 9:24 – Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it.
Hebrews 10:36 – For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise.
Ephesians 2:10 – For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
2 Corinthians 9:8 – And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.
Nobody can be saved unless God first calls them and thing is this, God calls everyone. This is just another way of telling us that salvation unto eternal life is only gifted by God the Father. God always makes the first move to save us and he makes it repeatedly. Only the Holy Spirit of God can actually save someone unto eternal life by regenerating the spirit God gave them and washing away sin. Only the Holy Spirit writes the believer’s name in the book of life, ensuring the believer will live forever in heaven in the presence of God. It pleased God to save us by faith, by our believing in him and believing in the gospel of Christ. By believing that Jesus Christ is the son of God who came down from heaven, took on flesh, lived a sinless life, and was crucified on the cross for the forgiveness of the sins of all men, past, present and futire. By believing that on the third day Jesus rose from the dead and later ascended back to heaven where he sits at the right hand of God the Father as our mediator. It also pleased God to allow the children of God, believers, to participate in God’s salvation plan for man by commanding us to share our witness for Christ. God’s number one command for believers is to witness the gospel of Jesus Christ to all nations and all peoples. Witnessing for Christ is the ultimate good work for the kingdom of God, without which all other good works mean nothing to God. In addition to witnessing, we are to do other good works such as helping the poor, the needy, the orphan and the widow.
Romans 11:29 – For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
Romans 4:4 – Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt.
Titus 2:15 – Speak these things (the gospel), exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no one despise you.
1 Peter 3:15 – But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear.
When I became a believer and accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior I was full of joy. I thought I was home free and my work on earth was done. I had found the Lord and my home in heaven! As I studied my Bible I was shocked to learn that my salvation came with strings attached. I learned my salvation was not the end of my journey with God but just the beginning. After we’re saved we are all servants and disciples of the King (Jesus) and therefore we all have a duty, a command, to fulfill the “Great Commission” that Jesus gave his disciples before ascending back to heaven, which is to share the gospel message of Christ to all nations and all peoples. God didn’t say we should do this but that we must do this. Disobeying God on this matter is not an option for believers who want to please God, and we should all want to please our maker.
2 Peter 3:9 – The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
Galatians 4:19 – My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you.
Romans 1:16 – For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek (Gentile).
To disobey God is to sin against God and we’ll all be held accountable at the bema judgment seat of Christ. The first question Jesus will ask you is, “Have you shared the message of the gospel?” You need to be able to say “yes.” Our salvation is assured by our faith but our rewards are another matter. Our rewards in heaven will be burned up if we don’t obey this first and most important command of God, which is to share our witness for Christ. Salvation happens in an instant and is permanent whereas doing good works for the kingdom of God is a lifelong labor of love and what we receive in the way of a reward depends on what we do. It’s why God leaves us here on this earth after our salvation. Someone once helped save us and we owe it to the lost to repay that love shown us by helping to save others. We witness out of love for other people and because it’s our duty to God as disciples of Christ.
2 Timothy 4:1-2 – I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.
1 Corinthians 3:7-9 – So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building.
Titus 3:8 – This is a faithful saying, and these things I want you to affirm constantly, that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men.
Romans 14:12 – So then each of us shall give account of himself to God.
I’ve studied God’s Word for a long time and I’m a student of end time prophecy. I see the end times rushing toward us and it’s coming quicker than I thought it would. I now think the rapture of the saints could come as soon as four years and two months from now (see my previous blogs on this). I’m issuing a call to arms to all believers to maximize their efforts to witness for Christ and do good works for the kingdom of God. It’s now time for believers to put in some overtime for the Lord’s work. I know this won’t be easy but we’ll all need to be creative and improvise to make this work. I’ve been holed up in my house for two years because of covid-19. My wife and I are in our 70’s and we can’t afford to get the virus at our age, even with the shots. There are numerous ways we can still serve God even with these restrictions. I suggest that everyone do what I’ve been doing for many years, which is to distribute Christian tracts whenever you do have to go out into the local community.
I carry them in the console of my car and when I go to Walmart, Target, HEB, CVS, Costco, doctor’s offices, etc. I’ll grab five and place them in the bathrooms behind the soap dispensers, on top of the hand dryers and any other level space where they can be seen by anyone coming into the bathroom. I add my blog site on the back of each Christian tract I hand out. It’s the only advertising I do. I know that Christian tracts works because I used to pick them myself to read. You’re shooting for quantity here because probably only one in twenty people will be interested enough to take a tract home and read it. Many tracts are probably thrown in the trash by the cleaning staff. The point is whoever reads a Christian tract placed by you is receiving the gospel seed from your hand and therefore you are fulfilling the Great Commission. You’re obeying the number one command of God and that’s a very good thing. If you pass out tracts for 20 years and only wind up helping to save one person it’ll be worth it. A human soul is priceless to God and helping someone find salvation and heaven for all eternity is a wonderful thing for which God will bless you.
2 Timothy 2:21 – Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter (dishonor), he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work.
Hebrews 6:10 – For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister.
1 Corinthians 15:58 – Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
James 1:22 – Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
Let me give you some background history on Christian tracts. They were started shortly after World War II by Jack T. Chick, a cartoonist and illustrator by trade who was a devout Christian. He was moved by the Holy spirit to create and distribute small cartoon booklets with a salvation message. That mission from God grew into a worldwide Christian ministry with close to a billion tracts sold. Jack Chick passed away in 2016 at age 92 but his legacy lives on with the Christian staff who run the company. Chick tracts only use Scriptures from the King James Bible originally published in 1611. All newer Bible versions have made changes to God’s word that are detrimental because the world’s media are under the influence of Satan and cannot be trusted to give you the pure word of God.
I personally will only use my new King James large print Bible to study God’s Word. Throw away all others Bibles. Jack Chick created over 200 Christian tracts in over 55 years of witnessing for Christ. Distributing Christian tracts is the easiest way to obey God’s command to witness for Christ. I call it “passive” witnessing for Christ but it works, especially in this time restricted personal interaction. People have been saved just by reading Christian tracts on their own because the sinner’s prayer is on the last page and following it will lead a person to salvation unto eternal life. Even after being saved by a Christian tract a new believer should reconfirm their commitment to God with a pastor as a witness before God.
2 Corinthians 9:6 – But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.
Hebrews 4:12 – For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joint and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Galatians 6:9-10 – And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.
Romans 15:4 – For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.
There are copycat Christian tracts out there but I stick with the original. I have gone to the www.chick.com website and personally read every tract they have. You can pull them up, read them and order the ones you want. I used to buy and distribute a dozen or more different Christian tracts when I was new at this. I don’t do that anymore. I now buy only one of their very first tracts and by far the best seller named, “This is your life.” I order them by the thousand lot and I pay 17 1/2 cents apiece for them (they may have gone up by now like everything else). In Louisiana before I retired I had plastic display cases full of tracts that I managed to place in local businesses and I kept them restocked. I’m retired now in south Texas and I haven’t done that here. South Texas is largely Hispanic and largely Catholic and the Catholic church is dead set against Christian tracts.
The Catholic clergy want to maintain their power, position and influence by having their flock depend solely on their priest and the Catholic church for salvation and not personal salvation by faith like the Bible says. I’m a Southern Baptist and I once thought Catholics were the same as me but slightly different, similar to a different denomination. I found out Catholics and Protestants are very different from each other. While we’re both Christians we believe different things. I once tried to pass out Christian tracts at a Catholic run hospital and I thought they were going to have me arrested. After I did some research I realized the Catholic church wants all salvation funneled through the church which is why they don’t mention the Great Commission in their services. I’ve never met a Catholic who witnesses for Christ. Catholics leave salvation up to their priests and through the doctrines and sacraments of the Catholic church.
Titus 2:7 – In all things showing yourself to be a pattern of good works; in doctrine showing integrity, reverence, incorruptibility.
1 Corinthians 1:9 – God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Romans 10:17 – So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
1 Corinthians 6:20 – For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.
The Catholic church wants to lead their flock by the nose and they have reduced Jesus Christ to a cookie used at mass. They honor Jesus with their lips but in practice they dishonor him. The Catholic church won’t allow Christian tracts anywhere near them because tracts witness the gospel message of Christ which conflicts with the doctrines of Catholic church. The sinner’s prayer is stressed in the Bible as the way to salvation but you won’t find it being stressed in the Catholic church. I have a whole series of blogs describing how the Catholic church was corrupted by Satan by the time of Pope Gregory, over 1500 years ago, and as a result 100% of doctrines in the Catholic church today are completely opposite of what God commands in the Bible.
A changed doctrine here and could be coincidental but to have 100% of Catholic doctrines go against God’s word is proof of Satan at work. The Catholic church has declared Mary, a human being and mother of Jesus, as divine and instructed their flock pray to her instead of Jesus because Jesus is supposedly too busy to receive prayers. The rationale is Mary will receive our prayers, sort them out, and take them to Jesus on a need to know basis. Kind of like a heavenly receptionist. What a load of bull that is! I’m amazed people fall for it. Scripture says to pray to God only! How can an omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent God be too busy to receive prayers from the faithful?
Matthew 6:7 – (Jesus speaking) – And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think they will be heard for their many words. Therefore do not be like them.
Matthew 15:9 – (Jesus speaking) – And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.
1 Timothy 2:5 – For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus.
Ephesians 6:18 – Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit (only to God).
Mary is only briefly mentioned in the Bible and then only as a useful vessel for God’s purpose. Nowhere in the Bible does it say we’re to pray to Mary. That’s an invention of the Catholic church. Mary is a blessed resident of heaven and no doubt she’s mortified at the prospect of being prayed to. In Luke 1:47 Mary calls Jesus her Lord and Savior. If Mary needed saving like the rest of us she certainly isn’t devine. It’s blasphemy to even think such a thing. As a mere human being, and not divine, Mary can’t hear your prayers and God won’t help you if you’re not praying to him directly. Your prayers to Mary can’t be heard or answered which was Satan’s plan all along. Only God can forgive your sins and not some priest in a box who is himself a sinner. Do you really think a child-molesting priest can forgive your sins? A priest can’t forgive himself so he surely can’t forgive you. If you aren’t going to God directly for forgiveness of your sins then your sins are surely still with you.
In their sheer arrogance the Catholic church has decided that the Pope has the ultimate authority over God himself to interpret Scripture. The Pope and the Catholic church claim they have the power to send someone to hell on behalf of God or to purgatory for rehab. There’s no such thing as purgatory and only God can condemn our souls to hell. The Catholic church has created sacraments and instituted paganistic rituals over the centuries that only benefit and enrich the church at the expense of believers. Scripture says not to worship God with vain repetitions like the pagan do yet that is exactly what a Catholic church service looks like. Hearing the monotonous incantations of the rosary drives me nuts! The Catholic church has stolen the honor and glory of God and the Catholic clergy will have to answer for that on the last day. They think they’ll be first but they’ll be last.
1 John 3:17 – But whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?
2 Corinthians 9:7 – So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.
Hebrews 13:16 – But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.
2 Corinthians 8:12 – For if there is first a willing mind, it is acceptable according to what one has, and not according to what he does not have.
There are many creative ways to witness the gospel of Christ so choose the way you’re most comfortable with; the way that suits your personality. Still be prepared to witness one on one but realistically those chance are few and far between and getting fewer. The Holy Spirit prepared me and pushed me to write a Christian blog through my love of reading the Bible and studying God’s Word. I had an itch I couldn’t scratch until I started blogging. Christian authors will tell you that’s why they write books. God is creative so you should be too. Chick.com has a ministry program where believers can send tracts by the thousand lot to third world countries where local believers who can’t afford them will distribute them for you. That’s long distance witnessing for anyone buying and sending the tracts to be passed out.
I was looking into doing that in India but I wanted to choose the location and church myself rather than have the company pick a location to send them. I think I just talked myself into pulling the trigger on doing this in the near future. The point is, passing out Christian tracts is spreading the gospel seed and is therefore a passive method of witnessing for Christ. When a soul is harvested for the kingdom of God the reaper gets credit from God but so do all the people who sowed the gospel seed along the way in order to get that person to the point of salvation. The sower receives wages equal to the reaper. It’s rare for someone to come to salvation the first time they hear the gospel message. Most people have to hear the gospel message 15-20 times before they accept God’s saving grace. God is generous to a fault and he will reward everyone in the gospel chain who had a hand in saving a lost soul.
1 Timothy 4:13 – Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.
2 Corinthians 5:10 – For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
Romans 10:13 – For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Galatians 6:7 – Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.
While witnessing for Christ may be the most important good work we are commanded by God to do, it’s not something we may be able to do every day. However, other good works we can do every day if we look for those opportunities. Kindness doesn’t cost us a thing. I give money to charities of my choice. Do the same thing. The amount isn’t as important as giving regularly to bless those in need. Do you remember the Bible story of the old widow who gave two mites as an offering to the temple treasury? Jesus said her gift was greater than all the rest because while others gave of their increase she gave all she had to live on. You can do good works with little and you can do good works that don’t cost money. God will bless you based on what you have and not what you don’t have. God is fair to all.
I look for opportunities to help out my retirement community; to help those that may need assistance like picking up medication, taking them to the doctor’s office or something simple like bringing in their trash can from the street. I was a hospital volunteer at one time but the pandemic stopped that. Look for creative ways to volunteer that won’t expose you to the virus. The point is anyone can serve God and glorify his name where we are, by our Christian actions on behalf of the kingdom of God. When the light of God can be seen by what believers do then nonbelievers are attracted to the truth of God. Be the light of God; be the messenger for God! When we obey the commands of God we build up treasure in heaven that we’ll receive at the bema judgment seat of Jesus Christ. I think we only have four short years to save all the lost souls we can and build up our good works in heaven. This is my declaration to you and my call to arms to all believers to start where you are today and persevere in doing good until Jesus comes in the air for us to take us home.