The Law of the Lord . . . WORKS!

Today at the office, I had the opportunity to share the Gospel with one of my attorney's clients. The Way of the Master program has a great outline on how to share your faith in a few quick steps, so I ran them through in my brain and started in. The system used by Way of the Master is based on a variation of the popular acrostic, "WWJD". They have changed it just slightly; instead of "What Would Jesus Do?" the question is now "What Did Jesus Do?". I like it better that way myself. The first letter of "WDJD" stands for the casual question, "Would you consider yourself to be a good person?" Rarely will anyone be offended if you ask them this, as it affords them an opportunity to talk about themselves. Everyone enjoys doing that. The man I was speaking with, John (not his real name), told me that he was a pretty good fellow overall. "At least," he laughed, "I'm not a criminal or anything." So I moved on to the second letter in WDJD. "Do you think you have kept the Ten Commandments?" God's Word makes it very clear that the convicting power of the Law is necessary to show a person their need for salvation. I was punctuating my equilibrium with an occasional "Mind if I ask you another question?" and "I'm not trying to offend you or anything." I walked through three of the Commandments: No lying, no stealing, and no adultery. When I came to adultery (John had confessed flippantly to the first two) he assured me that he had never cheated on his wife or anything like that. I reminded him that Jesus said "If you look on a woman with lust, you have already committed adultery with her in your heart." He now grudgingly assented that he "sorta" had commited adultery, but "not really." I could sense that John had a pretty good idea that he was not perfect. So I moved on to the third letter in WDJD, "Judgement". I asked him, "If God JUDGED you by the Ten Commandments on the day of Judgement, do you think you would be innocent or guilty?" Generally, people will half-heartedly assent that they would probably be guilty, and then you can ask them whether they think they would go to heaven or hell. Once you have surmounted their philosophical obstacles and they have admitted that they are currently hellbound, then you can move on to the final letter: "Does this concern you?" Only then is it appropriate to share the good News of Jesus' death and ressurection with them. But John did not answer the question about whether he would be innocent or guilty. Rather, he told me that all his sins had already been forgiven. Okay, I thought. I guessed that perhaps John was already a Christian, but I wanted to make sure. I asked him how it was that all his sins against God had been so easily forgiven. He informed me that it was his priest who had forgiven all his sins. "I'm Catholic, ya know." This literally blew me away. Whenever I think about witnessing to someone who has been deluded by the Roman Catholic Apostacy, I immediately attack the Pope and perhaps the Mass, then I move on to prayers to saints and Mariolatry. But suddenly I realized why Catholics had been deceived! It is still the Law that convicts people of their sin, and it is their sin that drives them to the cross. And once people realize that no human being, including themselves and their priest, can forgive sins, they know that they must turn to Jesus for repentance. I realized all this in the blink of an eye, and as I assimilated it I asked him why on earth did his priest have the authority to absolve him of his sins? After all, I thought, the Psalmist said that "Against God only have I sinned" after he had taken another man's wife and ordered the murder of the man he had thus robbed, because it was God's Holy Law he had violated first. John thought for a moment, obviously puzzled. Apparently, it had never occurred to him to question why the priest could go between him and God when he could not. After a moment, he shrugged his shoulders and said, "I suppose he is closer to God than I am, so-" he trailed off as he tried to justify going to a priest for absolution when he had always heard how much God loved him. I told him that the Bible says that only God has the authority to forgive sins. The Roman Catholic Apostacy teaches that the Bible is the lowest authority and that the traditions and doctrines of "THE CHURCH" have more power than Scripture. So John quickly questioned whether the Bible could really be depended on when he had his very own priest telling him what the truth was. Unfortunately, John had to leave then. But he thanked me for speaking with him and said that we would continue the conversation at a later time. So pray for "John". Pray that the spiritual blinders that the Devil has placed on him will be removed, and that the Truth I was able to convery to him will implant deeply in his heart. And start evangelizing too! It is as easy as "WDJD!" I would encourage all of you to watch the videos that the Way of the Master has. You can watch them streaming at www.LivingWaters.com, but if you do not have a broadband internet connection, leave a comment indicating that and I will upload a few of the videos to the web so that you can download them for easier viewing. In Him, David S. MacMillan III