When we share the way of salvation with people who don’t know Jesus, they often respond with, ‘You’re trying to shove your beliefs down my throat.’ Why is this a common response from an unbeliever? It can only be that they know they are guilty before their Creator. Sharing the way of salvation with someone is actually the most loving thing a person can do. John 3:20 – tells us everyone practicing evil or sin hates the light, and doesn’t want to hear the gospel because they don’t want their deeds exposed. They know they are guilty because their conscience pricks their heart. When people are told about any other belief besides Christianity, they don’t express such angry, unreasonable responses. Biblical truth reminds us of our sin, just as the symbol of the cross can spark anger.
Breaking News. Spirit-Filled Stories. Subscribe to Charisma on YouTube now!
I remember a very wealthy elderly man in his 90’s who asked me to sell his home. He knew I was a Christian. While he interviewed me, he began to mock God, and say that Christianity is all foolishness. I confronted his false accusations about the Bible, but he refused to listen. I told him he would soon be facing death, and his Creator. I explained to him he must repent and acknowledge Jesus as the Son of God and receive Him as Lord and Savior, or he would be condemned to hell for all eternity.
He said that only the uneducated would be scared into believing in a God and hell. It didn’t seem to me that even his conscience was convicting him of his sin, and his personal need for a Savior. The Bible says that if we continue rejecting the way of salvation, that our conscience can become seared. The Greek word for seared is “kauteriazo” where we get our word cauterized.
First Timothy 4:2 describes someone as having their conscience seared with a hot iron. This most likely was the state of the elderly man’s conscience. What a shame for this man. He had been told the way of salvation yet he ignored the warnings of where he would go if he rejects Jesus as his Lord and Savior. He refused to repent of his sins, and rejected God’s free gift. Even with the evidence of God’s creation all around him, he denied it all. His own words would eventually send him to hell.
All over the world we see Christians sharing the truth with people out on the street, or in public meetings, through television and radio, or by traveling to foreign countries. Some believers even risk their lives in dangerous parts of the world to proclaim the gospel. This is all because Jesus instructed them to go.
Are you someone who scorns the name of Jesus and ridicules those who are trying to share the life-saving Gospel with you? These people are attempting to reach you because they don’t want you to end up in hell. That person you insult may be your last opportunity to turn from your sin, receive God’s forgiveness, and ask Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior.
Join Charisma Magazine Online to follow everything the Holy Spirit is doing around the world!
Bill Wiese is the author of New York Times best-selling book, 23 Minutes In Hell, the story of his life-changing visit to hell in 1998. Bill has since authored six additional book titles, and continues to share his experience around the world. He and his wife Annette founded Soul Choice Ministries in late 2006 and have dedicated their lives to reaching the unsaved. For more information about Bill Wiese and Soul Choice Ministries please visit us at: https://soulchoiceministries.org/
You can find more of Bill’s teachings at: https://www.youtube.com/user/BillWieseTV
