Hi, Friends!

One of my favorite evangelists is named Mark Cahill. Mark is a man on fire for the Lord and consequently he’s also on fire for the lost! Our dear friend, Ray Comfort describes Mark as the only man on earth who makes him feel lukewarm. Hahaha. Mark sure is intense. This beloved brother has his eyes and heart set on eternity. I’ve spoken to him before - he is an inspiration. One of my favorite books about evangelism is one he wrote called, One Thing You Can’t Do In Heaven. (Spoiler alert: the one thing he’s writing about is that we’ll never have the opportunity in Heaven to preach Christ to a lost person, because there won’t be any there. He’s trying to impress upon us the urgency to preach Christ here and now while we still can!)

In it, he describes four questions you can use in a gospel conversation to really help an unbeliever stop and think differently than they have previously about eternal things. When we call these questions deadly, we certainly don’t want to kill the person or kill good rapport you hopefully have already earned with your listener. We want to kill arguments, not relationships! Remember to always and only preach the gospel with gentleness and respect. (1Pe 3:15)

Here are the 4 Deadly Questions:

What do you mean by that? Examples: “Oh, you’re a Christian. Tell me, what do you mean by that?” Maybe they just mean they’re not Jewish or Muslim. Or maybe they mean they’re actually born again. “Tell me, what do you mean you’re into New Age?”

How do you know that to be true? It is not at all uncommon when you ask someone this that they may come to realize that they actually don’t know it’s true, and in fact, by asking this question you help them process through the fact that they actually don’t know it’s true at all. Example: “How do you know that the original writings of the Bible have been changed over the centuries?” Or if someone says they think they’ll go to heaven when they die, you can ask them how they know that to be true. Then prayerfully you can help them actually know how to get to Heaven!

Where do you get your information? Similar to the previous question, this one actually asks for the source of their knowledge. People often realize when asked this question that they really don’t know where they got this information. This can also cause them to doubt the truth of their statement, at which time you can serve them by giving them factual information and the sources you used to make your claims.

What if you’re wrong? This can be very helpful to ask of a person who believes that there is no afterlife, or that God is so loving that He’ll just overlook their sin even if they refuse to repent and trust in Christ. Again, gentleness, kindness, and respect are key. And the person may very well ask you the same question. What if you’re wrong? Make sure you’re ready to answer that as well!

If you’d like to watch Mark’s talk with the same title as the book you can watch it here.

Jeff and I are hoping to launch a monthly evangelism book club near the end of the summer and Mark’s book will be our first selection! We have a number of copies available. More information will be coming soon! Here’s Mark’s website if you’d like to subscribe to his newsletter. Will you please pray for him and his ministry while you’re at it?

Finally, if you live in the Baltimore area, please SAVE THE DATE to come to evangelism training at Freedom Church Baltimore on Saturdays, October 1st and 8th with Pastor and Mrs. Chris Peeler! Trust me, if you want to ignite your heart and increase your knowledge of evangelism you won’t want to miss this!!!

Grace and Peace,

mary