PERSONAL WITNESSING--STAND UP FOR YOUR RIGHTS!
--By Maria
Maria #164 DO 2790 4/92
1. Whenever you're out witnessing, at some time or another you're going to run into problem people who are either full of the Devil and really evil, or people who are just wasting your time because of their ornery spirit! Even when some of our own Family members were first witnessed to, they presented quite a problem through their arguing, their scorn, their sarcasm, maybe even trying to get you off the subject by bringing up some weird mind trip or something. So I wouldn't class everyone who doesn't want to get right down to the point of talking about Jesus and Salvation as "full of the Devil" or "a goat." But if they are being a problem, the Devil is using them in one way or the other. Either they're full of the Devil and really anti-Christ, or they're being used by the Devil, even though they may be potential sheep.
2. When you run into this kind of thing, you need to take control of the situation and take command and not let yourself just be bullied by someone, or interrogated or harassed or led off the track on to some subject that you don't even want to get into discussing.--Some head trip or complicated situation. There are all kinds of ways that the Devil can distract you in your witnessing and get you off the track and off the main point of sharing the Lord and Salvation with others. "But I fear, lest by any means, as the Serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ" (2Cor.11:3).
3. You do, of course, have to try to answer their sincere questions and questions that do relate to the Christian life and to Salvation. You have to be led by the Spirit and not just say, "Listen, forget these questions!--Do you want Jesus or don't you?!" You don't want to do that unless they're really being antagonistic. Then, of course, like Dad's story about the bum he met on the street in Miami who just wanted to argue with him, you might have to say, "I don't have time to argue--if you don't want to receive Jesus right now, I've gotta go!" In that case, the bum answered back and said, "Then I'm going to go down and throw myself in the Miami River and commit suicide! Nobody loves me, nobody cares; you won't even talk to me!" And Dad said, "I'm talking to you now! Do you want Jesus or not?" "Not now, not now!" So Dad finally said, "All right, then go to Hell then! You might as well go down and throw yourself in the river!"
4. If you feel in the Spirit that things aren't going right, that they're leading you off into some discussion that is not related to Jesus and Salvation and that is not going to lead them to the Lord, then you need to take control of the situation and bring it back to where it belongs. Or if they are harassing you in any way or making fun of you or scorning you, you need to manifest your authority in the Spirit and take charge of the conversation! Or if they are interrogating you and asking you personal questions that you don't want to answer, take control!
5. Or if someone is teasing you, flirting with you, making sexy comments or saying off-color distasteful things to try to rattle, embarrass and upset you, answer back firmly and with conviction that you are not there to play around! Or if they are baiting you in a mocking or teasing spirit, claiming to be "too bad for God" or "already lost and going to Hell," or showing off how rebellious they are to amuse their friends who may be listening, take command of the situation and bring the conversation around to what you want to talk about.
6. Sometimes people can even lead you in a conversation about the Bible or religion that is a waste of time. For example, if someone just wants to argue about doctrines, Biblical interpretations, etc., in an obvious "my-mind-is-made-up-already" attitude, then you should get the upper hand in the conversation and simply tell them straight out that you don't want to waste time arguing over minor insignificant little shibboleths, but you'd rather just talk about Jesus. (This type of time-wasting religious arguer is often a very narrow-minded church systemite.)
7. There are also nonreligious people who can waste your time arguing about the Bible--like atheists or agnostics who want to talk about complicated philosophies or all the supposed "contradictions" in the Bible, etc. You should not get intimidated and let such people dominate the conversation, but instead show the authority of the Spirit and preach the truth.
8. Of course, if you're talking to someone who is getting very upset or threatening you, or if someone seems to be a little crazy or like they might get angry and even cause you bodily harm, then you don't need to carry on a long conversation at all! But you do need to pray desperately and take control in the Spirit at least enough to get out of the conversation and get away from any such angry, unpredictable, dangerous people.
9. Sometimes even very kind and polite people can dominate the conversation by wanting to talk about your home country and what it's like in America, or by wanting to practice speaking English, etc. Don't be so worried about offending this type of people or hurting their feelings that you allow them to direct the conversation wherever they want to take it. Just sweetly take the reins and explain that you only have a little time and you would prefer to talk to them about Jesus.
10. In our Family we've been taught to be quite bold, to go where some angels fear to tread!--To seek the lost sheep in the highways and the byways and compel them to come in! (Luk. 14:23). Our people aren't afraid to be gatecrashers at parties or to get up on stages wherever we can and grab the mike!--To take control of situations! We've done pretty well on taking control of large situations, such as going right into political rallies and handing out tracts, bypassing authorities in order to meet celebrities, etc. We're pretty bold when it comes to getting into places and situations and giving people our lit.
11. But on a personal basis, when it comes to one-on-one witnessing I think we need to have some of the same kind of guts and gumption, and not be quite so sweet and meek and mild and ready to let them push us around and walk all over us. We need to display the same boldness and confidence in our personal witnessing as we do in getting into places, taking over situations, crashing parties and giving out our lit! We need to display that same confidence and outgoingness, and not cower and be intimidated by people.
12. Maybe it's because we want to give people the benefit of the doubt, we want to give them every chance possible, but I think we need to stand up for our rights more in our witnessing, to take the authority in the Spirit that the Lord has given us and to act like the important people that we really are, the important messengers that the Lord has made us, to bring the most valuable truth in the world to people! We should not cower and allow ourselves to be bullied, harassed, intimidated, pushed into a corner or robbed of valuable time that the Lord could use better on someone else. (Remember, we're talking about difficult people here. Some people will ask you questions just because they're being friendly and are sincerely interested in you and your lifestyle. These questions you can answer briefly if you feel led, especially if you can use the answers as part of your witness and testimony. See "Wise Witnessing Replies," published 1992.)
13. We're just going to have to stand up and take our authority in the Spirit as children of God, and as princesses and princes of the King of kings, and not let people get away with wasting our time, annoying us, harassing us and making us feel bad. If you do this with some people, you may be surprised to see that they right away calm down and say, "Oh, I'm sorry. No, I would like to talk about Jesus." But if you let them continue unchecked, you'll get nowhere and you'll end up discouraged and frustrated.
14. If you're witnessing to someone who may be sheepy, the Devil is going to try his hardest to get them not to listen.--And one way he may try it is to get them to be foolish, or to go on and on about themselves and their own trips, or to talk too much about you, or to get them off on some other track.--Or even to yield to the temptation to make fun of you and be sarcastic. So unless you take your authority in the Spirit and correct that situation and kindly tell them to stop, you may be failing them terribly. They may be really sheepy and the Lord may want to get through to them, but unless you stop them from going in the wrong direction, you may just give up in despair and never get anywhere with them. You owe it to them, and you owe it to the Lord to stand up and stop them from doing the wrong thing. You may find out that they're really receptive and sheepy after all.
15. Some people are well-meaning, but just get tripped off into wanting to have a normal System conversation about you or themselves, about the time of day or your clothes or rock stars or movies. If you can't bring these things into your conversation in a useful way where you can use them for witnessing, it would be better to say, "Well, this is a very interesting conversation and I'd like to talk to you more, but my main reason for being here is that I need to tell you about something very important in my life and that can be important in yours, and I only have so much time. So if you don't mind, I'd like to continue talking about Jesus." You have to be led of the Spirit how you handle individual people.
16. Of course, we have to be patient with people, and we have to be prayerful and be led of the Spirit, but these are some general principles. If you feel that something is wrong and the people are leading you off the track, trying to discuss something else and they're definitely working against you in some way or another, you're going to have to correct them on it and tell them, "Well, we do want to see you find Jesus, and we want to give you this priceless gift, but if you're going to act like that, we're sorry, we'll have to go."
17. You need to explain this to them--don't just turn your back on them and walk off. You owe it to them to tell them why you're leaving, and then give them a chance to repent and tell you they're sorry. And then if they do, you've won a victory and you can give them the Lord without the Devil's distractions.
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family