Evangelism has never been easy, but for many Christians, the thought of openly sharing their faith can be downright intimidating. While some may picture street preachers with megaphones or door-to-door visits, veteran evangelist Ray Comfort believes the heart of evangelism isn’t about theatrics, it’s about genuine compassion, urgency, and a willingness to speak the truth no matter the cultural climate.
In a recent interview with Billy Hallowell of CBN, Comfort, founder of Living Waters and author of 50 Years of Open Air Preaching, shared his perspective on the moral state of the world, the state of the church, and why he believes the widely used “sinner’s prayer” misses the biblical mark. “I’m hoping things will get better,” he said, “I’m hoping we’ll get politicians that stand for righteousness, I’m hoping that abortion would be illegal, a slaughter of babies in the womb, what a horror beyond words, and the sexual perversion.”
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Yet Comfort doesn’t believe society is trending in that direction. Citing Scripture, he warned, “In the last days evil men will become worse and worse, and so we need to prepare ourselves… for a dark time and say, God give me courage.”
Comfort says the moral decline is undeniable. “Fifty years ago we didn’t have what we’ve got now,” he reflected. “You didn’t lock your cars in America or lock your doors. Women weren’t murdered when they’d go for a walk around the block or a jog on a track. Things are getting worse and worse and darker and darker.” But rather than despair, he sees an opportunity for believers: “The darker it is, the more my light is going to shine. And if God be for us, nothing can be against us.”
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One of Comfort’s deepest concerns is that the church has grown hesitant to speak plainly about eternal realities. “Hell is very real, and it seems the church has forgotten that,” he said. “If you’re fearful to share the gospel with unsaved people, don’t pray for less fear, pray for more love, because that’s the problem.”
When it comes to leading people to Christ, Comfort is clear about what he won’t do. “I am not a big believer in the sinner’s prayer, in fact, it’s unbiblical, it’s not in Scripture,” he said. He noted that even in biblical examples of repentance, no one was led in a repeated prayer.
Instead, he likened true repentance to heartfelt sorrow. “If a man’s committed adultery against his wife and he’s willing to go back and apologize, I don’t need to go to the door and say, ‘Your husband’s here to apologize, here he goes, you ready?’ and then feed him the words. She’s going to slam the door… she wants sorrow to spill from the heart.”
For Comfort, the aim is to guide people toward that kind of genuine response to God. “If someone’s ready to repent, I say, ‘Are you sorry for your sins?’ and they say yes, I say, ‘Let me pray for you.’ And I pray that God would open their heart, that they understand the cross and find a place of genuine repentance and this day be born again.” He stresses that salvation is never in human hands. “I’ve never saved anybody, it’s God that saves. All I do is plant the seed, others water, but God causes the increase.”
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Even after 50 years of open-air preaching, Comfort’s message is the same: the gospel is the only cure for the moral and spiritual crisis facing the world. “The gospel will take a human heart that is so selfish it’ll kill a baby in the womb to where it will nurture a child, the same person,” he said. “The gospel makes us new creatures in Christ that long to do the will of God.”
James Lasher is staff writer for Charisma Media.
