Oral History Program Lily Mendez Interviewed by Marion Mendez 11 August 1971 i Oral History Program Weber State University Stewart Library Ogden, Utah Lily Mendez Interviewed by Marion Mendez 11 August 1971 Copyright © 2014 by Weber State University, Stewart Library ii Mission Statement The Oral History Program of the Stewart Library was created to preserve the institutional history of Weber State University and the Davis, Ogden and Weber County communities. By conducting carefully researched, recorded, and transcribed interviews, the Oral History Program creates archival oral histories intended for the widest possible use. Interviews are conducted with the goal of eliciting from each participant a full and accurate account of events. The interviews are transcribed, edited for accuracy and clarity, and reviewed by the interviewees (as available), who are encouraged to augment or correct their spoken words. The reviewed and corrected transcripts are indexed, printed, and bound with photographs and illustrative materials as available. Archival copies are placed in University Archives. The Stewart Library also houses the original recording so researchers can gain a sense of the interviewee's voice and intonations. Project Description The Weber State College/University Student Projects have been created by students working with several different professors on the Weber State campus. The topics are varied and based on the student's interest or task for a specific assignment. These oral history assignments were created to help Weber State students learn the value and importance of recording public history and to benefit the expansion of the Weber State oral history collections. ____________________________________ Oral history is a method of collecting historical information through recorded interviews between a narrator with firsthand knowledge of historically significant events and a well-informed Kelley Evans, with the goal of preserving substantive additions to the historical record. Because it is primary material, oral history is not intended to present the final, verified, or complete narrative of events. It is a spoken account. It reflects personal opinion offered by the interviewee in response to questioning, and as such it is partisan, deeply involved, and irreplaceable. ____________________________________ Rights Management All literary rights in the manuscript, including the right to publish, are reserved to the Stewart Library of Weber State University. No part of the manuscript may be published without the written permission of the University Librarian. Requests for permission to publish should be addressed to the Administration Office, Stewart Library, Weber State University, Ogden, Utah, 84408. The request should include identification of the specific item and identification of the user. It is recommended that this oral history be cited as follows: Mendez, Lily, an oral history by Marion Mendez, 11 August 1971, WSU Stewart Library Oral History Program, University Archives, Stewart Library, Weber State University, Ogden, UT. iii Abstract: This is an interview of Lily Mendez by Marion Mendez. On August 11, 1971 at 11:26 in the morning. For the Utah Oral History Program. At the Weber County Library in the conference room. The topic is the Pentecost religion and her experiences in the Crusade. MM: Could you please tell me some of your background and if you know anything about your ancestors background also? LM: I don’t really know anything about my parents’ background but I could tell you something about myself. I’m 17 years old I was born on November 18, 1953. I went to Pingree Elementary school but it has been knocked down recently. I went there from Kindergarten to 6th grade. I went to Washington Jr. High, but I didn’t complete my 9th grade there because we moved. I transferred to South Jr. High and I completed my 9th grade there, and right now I’m going to Bonneville High School. I’m going to be a senior this fall. MM: Could you tell us any experience you’ve had in your childhood that you remember? LM: I remember one time when I was about five or so I used to like to get in my mother’s purse and I would always take money from her. She wouldn’t notice, but finally one day she realized that she had too much money missing. At first I started off with little coins nickels and pennies and stuff like that. But then I wasn’t satisfied with that I guess. So I started taking dollar bills like five and ten dollar bills. Finally she knew it had to be somebody in the house. She caught me one day doing that and she told my dad. My dad got mad at me he told me he wasn’t going to give me any more money, I felt really awful because they caught me in my lie. After he told me that I got a nickel and a quarter from my dad’s wallet and I told my mom that my dad had given it to me. My mom got really mad and she went to go ask my dad, they I found out I was lying so they never gave me 1 money until I was about 12 or so. They wouldn’t give me none then they’d just give me candy instead of giving me the money to buy it. MM: Did they do anything to you? Spank you or something? LM: No, they just wouldn’t give me any money. And that was awful. I learned my lesson then. MM: Could you tell us what you’ve done since your junior high and high school years? LM: When I was in my sophomore year there’s this one guy that went to Salt Lake, we went to go see him, his name is Alex Bazan from Albuquerque New Mexico. He was telling us some stories about Missionaries and one of the stories he told us was about this guy who gave his life to Christ working on a Missionary field. He said not everybody has to go on a Mission, but you could help in some way. I wanted to do something for the Lord. I kept on praying that if God wanted me to go on a crusade that they were going to have in the summer of August 1970; he would prepare a way for me. At the time I wasn’t working; I didn’t have a job. I didn’t have any money saved I was really praying that something would turn up so I could go down there. So in the summer when I got out of school I started looking for a job and I got a job at the Federal Building. I got it around the last part of June and they paid me a 1.45. The crusade that we were going to have in Albuquerque wasn’t going to start till around August 19 or so. I had some money saved to go down there. My transportation was through this other girl. My girlfriend Crusita Trujillo was going to go down there so her parents offered to take me. And we left quite early in the morning around six o’clock on Monday. We traveled most of the time. We stopped in Astec, New Mexico we spent the night there then the next morning we left to Albuquerque. It took about two or three hours to get there. MM: Alex Bazan what was he? What was his job? LM: He was the instructor for the crusade. He’s the one that directed the programs. He is the 2 one that gave us the lessons on how we were supposed to witness when we were going from door to door in New Mexico. He got the names from the different kids that wanted to go on the crusade and there addresses. It was around first part of August he started sending material. He first sent me an information sheet asking me several questions, like how old I was, and if I had a part in a church program. For example, if I was president of the young people or if I had Sunday school class. After I got my information sheet back to him, he wrote me a letter and told me that I was accepted, and I could go to the Crusade. Then he sent me some material to study, before I went to the Crusade So I would know about what was expected of us. MM: What year did this crusade take place? LM: 1970 in August. MM: When you got saved and filled with the Holy Ghost how did you feel? LM: When I got saved it was in March 1970. I felt really light, like I was floating on air, and I felt really happy. I wanted to share it with others. This gave me more desire to go on this crusade. I wanted others to know just how I felt and I wanted to share it with them so that maybe they could be saved too and feel what I felt. I didn’t get filled with the Holy Ghost until November of 1970. I really felt happy when I got filled with the Holy Ghost. MM: Could you tell us some of your experiences that you had on the crusade? LM: I think on our first day when we were going to go from door to door was on a Monday. We were all scared because the boy I went with that day was Danny Chavez and he had never been on a crusade before neither had I. We were both kind of scared not knowing just what was going to happen. He said “you talk first cause, cause I’m scared.” I said “Well I don’t know what to do.” I said “do just what they told us to do.” He was going to be the silent partner. All the time they told us before we come to a door decide who is going 3 to be the silent partner and who is going to do the talking. And what the silent partner was supposed to do was just pray and a pray quietly to himself, and take the person’s name that we went to visit and their address. Also they were supposed to write if they made a decision to accept Christ as their savior or if they didn’t quite make a decision, but they seemed like they were interested and they wanted to know more about Christ. They weren’t supposed to talk at all because if there were two persons talking, the other person that’s listening would get confused. Because two persons talking can’t be heard by one person at the same time, that’s why there was a silent partner and a main speaker. The only time the silent partner was supposed to speak was when told to do so, for example if the main speaker asked him something or if he needed some help in answering a question. That’s the only time he was supposed to talk. The main speaker he’d introduce himself and introduce his other partner that he was with. Main speaker would ask the person at the door what he thought our greatest problem is today in the world. We’d give them time for the person to answer if they said for example they thought money was the greatest problem to them because maybe they didn’t have enough. We’d agree with them and we’d say, “Yes, I think money is very important because there are a lot of people that are poor, and need some help with money, but we feel that man’s greatest need today is a spiritual need and a lot of people don’t know Christ as their savior.” We’d say, “Could we tell you something about what we have about our experience with Christ?” We’d nod our head and we’d smile we’d try to get them to let us in because that was our main goal. Most of the time they let us in and so we start witnessing to them and showing the verses in the Bible and explaining it to them. One of the verses was Romans 6:23 and it was “For the wages of sin is depth but the gift of God 4 is eternal life through Jesus Christ.” What that meant we’d say like for the wages, wages would mean something that you earned and like if you’re working for your boss and you work only a certain amount of hours he’s just going to pay you for that amount and if you do a good job maybe he will give you just a little bit more. According to the scripture here what God’s trying to tell us is if we live a good and honest life if we serve him and obey all his commandments he’s going to reward us for this, but if we’re always lying and fighting and doing other things we’re going to get punished for this. Punishment would be death in Hell. Then we’d go on explaining some more of our scriptures that we had. Another one it’s in Romans 3:23 “and it has for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” We would say for all have sinned, this means that you have sinned and I have sinned and your parents have sinned. And since we all have sinned and the more we sin the further we will fall form God, because God is holy and we have sin on us and God can’t stand sin and this is why he sent his only son to die on the cross that there might be a way for us, to enter the kingdom of God together. Then we’d go further on and we’d explain some more scriptures that we were given and then at the end when we’d get finished we’d say well would you like to give your heart to Christ and we’d shake our heads so that maybe they’d make a decision and say yes, but we’d say “you got to be sincere, you got to really mean it because, if you don’t really mean it and you’re just saying ‘yes’ to get us out of the house then don’t say anything because we don’t want you to be lying to God.” They’d looked down and they’d think a while and finally they’ve made their decision if they were going to ask God to forgive them for their sins. When they did make a decision to ask Jesus to forgive them of their sins they’d pray and if they didn’t know how to pray we’d lead them in prayer and the prayer had to consist of asking Jesus to forgive them for their sins and being sincere about their repentance that they 5 really wanted to repent and they were going to turn away from their sins. Ask God to help them and to guide them and also praise God because they knew that He had sent his only son Jesus to die on the cross. They were happy because they knew that Jesus loved them and they were going to try their best to be good and to serve him the best they could. We went to this one guy’s house, he was a Catholic. We tried to explain to him about the plan of salvation but he wasn’t really that interested he just wanted to argue with us and we’d get pretty disgusted with him. We try to explain to him just what we wanted to tell him. But he started bringing up his saints and all of this. We listened to him and we tried to be patient with him. One of the things he’d talk about was smoking. He didn’t think it was wrong the reason was he said, the doctors today don’t think it’s wrong either. I mean doctors today they don’t just think it’s wrong but there’s proof that it is. He’d keep on saying about smoking, or drinking, or other things, but he wouldn’t listen to what we had to say. He took us to his room to show us some picture of his family and everything and we were told not to do this but he insisted and insisted and so the boy I was with, we just looked at each other and said okay. We went over there and he showed us some saints and pictures of a family. We stayed there for about one hour, trying to explain what we had to say, but he wouldn’t listen. So finally we just left his house that’s all that happened there. One time I remember going to this one house and there was this huge dog and it was barking. We couldn’t get across there at first so finally we decided we were going to go there anyway even if that dog attacks. We went across there, but we had a hard time because it seemed like that dog was going to bite us and chew us all up. MM: When you talk to the people and at the end when you would ask them if they would accept Christ, did any of the say no? 6 LM: They usually didn’t. They usually seemed like they were interested, but some of them wouldn’t quite make a decision if they wanted to, or if they should. When they said “well I don’t know if I should”, or if they said “no” or something like this we would say, “Well if Christ should come today or if something should happen that you might die or something like this do you think you would be ready to meet Christ, or do you think you would go to hell?” When we’d say this it seem like they would get kind of scared. Sometimes they would and they’d say, “Well I don’t care if I go to hell.” and we’d say, “You mean you don’t care if you’d suffer there for eternity and you’ll have to be suffering and your children will be suffering with you?” and they’d say “no”, we’d get rather disgusted with them. Because how could anybody want to suffer and make their children suffer along with them. Sometimes the people were stubborn like this, but we would leave them. But when they would make a decision seem like they were really sincere because they would start crying and when they’d do this we felt we had gotten victory then. MM: When you went to the door did any people not let you in the house? LM: Yes. There was one, I think it was a lady, they wouldn’t let us in the house and they just slam the door on us. We’d introduce ourselves and tell them that we were young people from the Assembly of God Church and we were there from Impact 70 and we told them maybe you heard of us because we’ve been on TV before. Some of them would say yes. We’d say “could we have a few minutes of your time to talk to you?” and they would say “no we’re too busy” and they would just slam the door on us so my partner and I we just looked at each other. Kind of stunned because it hurts when somebody just slams the door on you and here you have something good for them that maybe could make a change in their lives. MM: You mentioned about a man who kept arguing with you, what did you do? 7 LM: We showed him scriptures in the bible. He said something about this place that the Catholics know it as a limbo I think it was, that was for the little kids. We explain to him something about it. I think we showed him a scripture and it said you either go to heaven or hell there isn’t any middle part you can go to. You’re either good or either bad. He said something about the other place it’s not really heaven or hell. I can’t remember the name of it. MM: Was this man a Catholic? LM: Yes MM: How do you feel toward the Catholic religion? LM: I’m not really for it because I think most of the teachings are false. For example they believe in a place called limbo and they believe some in another place. I don’t know what it is, it’s not really hell but it’s something like it. They believe by praying to their statues, well, they say there not really praying to them, there just asking for example, they’re praying to Mary that maybe she can tell Jesus to help them out in their troubles or problem or something like that, but I don’t believe the way they worship. I think a lot of their teachings are false, that’s how I feel. MM: Why weren’t you supposed to go into that other room of the man’s home? What room was it? LM: We weren’t supposed to go into any part of the other persons home because one time in a different crusade this one guy told two girls to go into the bedroom the girls didn’t know if they should because they couldn’t trust the man because he was all by himself. They just looked at each other and they said “well ok we’ll go in.” The guy had a whole bunch of dirty pictures there and wanted them to, I guess make love to him. So the girls just went out of his house. They told us not to go to any part of the person’s house. They told 8 us not to go to any part of the person’s house because; you can’t trust the other person, what he is going to do, and you don’t know what’s on his mind, what his intensions are. I didn’t mention this before but in our appearance, the girls were told not to wear any dresses above the knee because the person would be looking more at our legs and not paying attention to what we were saying and to what we had to say. They wouldn’t let us wear any make-up or sleeveless dresses, it wouldn’t look too appropriate. The boys were to wear a white shirt and nice dressy slacks or else a colored shirt and a tie. But none of them were allowed a mustache or beards. MM: Do you know how they choose the place where the crusade will take place. LM: No I don’t. MM: This crusade took place in Albuquerque? LM: Yes. MM: What parts of Albuquerque did you cover? LM: We covered most of it by foot but we didn’t get to cover all of it, we were just in Albuquerque for a week at the most. We just got about maybe one half of Albuquerque and maybe not even that much. MM: When you weren’t on the crusade what did you do? What did you do on you spare time? LM: I think rested and get other things prepared for the next day. Usually our schedule was supposed to go from 6:30 in the morning; we were supposed to have awakened up. We prayed there cleaned up and then from our houses that we stayed at, we’d leave at 8:00 and we’d get to the churches that the people we stayed with went to. There at the churches we were taken to different areas to do our personal work, which was around 8:30. We’d pray at the church for about one hour or so. We would leave to our different areas around 10:00 we witness from 10:00 until 12:00 and at 12:00 we had our lunch 9 break which was just for one hour, we rested then when we ate. The people from the churches were the ones that prepared the food for us. At 1:00 we went out to our different areas once more. We worked until around 4:00. 4:00 we were brought back to our churches by different cars that people owned who lived in Albuquerque. There we had this paper it was an information paper, it had the names of the people we had witness to, their addresses, how many people had made a decision to ask God into their hearts, how many had not quite made a decision but seem like they were interested, and how many tracks we had given out that day to each person. We also had a service every single night of the week it started at 7:30 and go on until 10:30 or 11:00. One time I think we got out at 2:00, no, 1:00 in the morning. What we did is we presented petitions before the people. We’d ask them to pray for us for some need that we had. Maybe the people that day that we witness to wanted us to pray for them. We’d present them before the people and before the Lord We also sang and testified. We’d thank God for helping us through that day and if we had something special that really was wonderful and wanted to share with others then we would tell them just what happen that day. We were very Grateful to God and we prayed after the minister had preached. MM: How many churches did you have? And how did each kid know where to go? LM: We had three different churches participating one was El Betania, El Alposento Alto, and there was another one but I can’t remember the name of it. The people were very nice over there and they offered to take us in if we didn’t have a place to stay at. Whoever we stayed with we’d go to the church they were going to. I was staying with Brother and Sister Leyva. They went to El Batania church and that’s where I was stationed to witness. Some of the other kids stayed with people from a different church like El Pasento Alto. They went to that church and witness in that area. The same with the third church and 10 there were about 50 young people witnessing. There were two girls from Chicago, they were the ones that came from the furthest state. There were people all over, from Utah, New Mexico, Chicago, Texas, and I think form Colorado too. MM: How did everyone hear about the Crusade? Did they have people go and tell about it or what? LM: I think they had duplicated some papers and they had sent them as posters. They put them on stores and on telephone poles, and on different areas of the town. I don’t know how many days before the crusade they televised that they were having an impact 70 and who it was sponsored by. I guess probably on the radios also. MM: How long did you usually stay in each house? That you witness to people. LM: Around 20 minutes or so, sometimes less. MM: How many houses did you get to during the morning? LM: There were quite a few kids going to the church that I was going to. I think one day we covered a hundred houses in the morning. This was pretty good for that day. We didn’t always get to that many houses. We had a lot of decisions that day. We witness to a hundred homes a lot of people from them had asked Christ into their hearts. We left some tracts with them, which were papers saying for example, and “Now that I have made my decision,” or else “Now what do I do?” After we left these tracts we’d have one for every day and we’d take it down to their place and we’d read it to them and we’d explain to them just what it meant. After that the people that lived in Albuquerque they’d would make a record or visit with them and bring them to church if they didn’t have a way. MM: A lot of these people that you witness to during the day were they usually there at night? LM: There was this one person I remember that he came at night that day. We prayed with 11 him at the altar. But not all the time would they show up. MM: What happened to this man when you prayed with him at the altar? Because the people I was staying with in Albuquerque came to visit us around Christmas time and I asked them if he was still coming to church and that he still was and his family were still coming too. On the last few days for example, Saturday, we didn’t witness at all. What we had was a special service in the park. We went to the park and anybody around the park could come and they’d listen to us who were singing and testifying. The people in the crusade sang songs the name of one was “I’ll do what you want me to do dear Lord.” That was our favorite one, I think, because we sang that one the most. Then that night we had a special, at the Civic Auditorium there in Albuquerque it’s like the Salt Palace, it’s really huge and they have guest stars there. This guy named David Wilkerson spoke that night he’s the guy that wrote the Cross and the Switchblade. He was telling us a little bit about his experience and he also preached. When he finished he had an alter call and there was about 5 or 600 young people going up before the altar. They were asking for Gods help and there was this one boy, he said pray for me because I’m a drug addict and I don’t want to be having to go through all that torture anymore. He had spent so much money on drugs and he couldn’t afford it anymore and he wanted to change his life. He wasn’t happy with himself, the way he was. He wanted to change he didn’t want to go living on drugs all his life. There was also a girl that was hooked on drugs, I don’t know if she was a runaway but she thought she was pregnant and she was scared. She wanted us to pray with her too. We didn’t have to pay anything for going to listen to David Wilkerson like we would for other people. There were more than 3 or 4,000 people there at the Civic Auditorium that night. 12 MM: When you say that Christ comes into your life how do you feel that he changes your life especially for these drug addicts? LM: How he changes their lives? If they really want God into their hearts and they really made a decision to ask God to forgive them for their sins and they really mean it with all of their heart then they change in a way that they no longer have that desire to take these drugs, drink, or smoke. They want to change and some of them even go into the ministry preaching the gospel, and maybe become a missionary, and working for Christ trying to win others to the Lord. There was this one guy his name was Holm, he was a singer that night and he sang really good. His name was Dallas Holm and he sang that night, and he gave his testimony. He used to sing at night clubs and I think he used to take drugs too. David Wilkerson had witness to him and he had given his heart to Christ and now Dallas Holm was using his voice to sing to God and he has made many records. He’s singing for God and most of the songs that he sings he’s made them out himself; cause that how he feels, about the songs that he writes. He’s quite young about 22 or so. MM: What do you feel that Christ has done for you in your life? LM: He’s given me the desire to serve him and to witness to others, trying to win others to God, and trying to be an example to others and having love for my neighbors. When they’re in need I try to help them out if I can. Like one of my girlfriends we always go to each other when we have a problem, we always help each other out trying to encourage each other. The lord also comforts me when I feel low, when I’m discouraged, or when I feel like what’s the use of serving him anyway. He helps me out when I feel low like that and when I do I pray and I read my Bible more and I try to fast if I can. When I do this the Lord’s always with me and he helps me and he lifts me up and he gives me that desire 13 once more to serve him. To do all I can until he comes for his people. MM: When you talk to others about Christ do they laugh at you or make fun at you? LM: No, there’s this one girl I talk to all the time when I was in school at Bonneville. Her name is Christine Carrillo. She’s a Catholic, I’d always witness to her about Christ and seems like she was so interested and wanted to know so much more than I could tell her. She’d always be asking me questions if she had something on her mind. If I could answer it right away I would, but if I couldn’t I’d always ask somebody like our minister to help me out, in answering her question. There were also some other girls. I remember one night in church we stayed quite late till around 3 o’clock in the morning. We were praying and we could really feel the presence of God there with us. The next day I didn’t make it to my first period class and my girlfriends they were wondering what happened to me and so I told them because I knew that was my chance to witness to them to tell them how our religion is or how we feel. I told them that we were praying at church till three in the morning and they just looked at me they thought I was crazy or something. They said three in the morning! How can you pray that long? I said that’s not hard especially when you feel the presence of God there. Seems like your just praying about an hour maybe not even that long, but here we were from maybe around 8 o’clock or 9 o’clock at night and we pray until 3 in the morning it was kind of funny to us, it was really wonderful that night. MM: What happened that made you have such a long service? LM: There were some kids praying at the altar, they must have been having some trouble, or some trouble in their lives maybe they were depressed about something I don’t know any way, they were having a struggle and so uh, I think the minister’s wife was praying with 14 this one girl and we all went over there with that girl that was having a problem and we prayed with her and seems like the power of God really came down and the young people started talking a different tongue, a different language that we don’t understand. Sometimes we have a translation of what God is trying to tell us and He had something for us that night. He told us that if we wanted to receive something from Him that night we could, the only thing we would have to do was ask it in his name and we would receive it. What he meant was if we wanted to receive salvation, if we wanted to be filled with the Holy Ghost, or if we wanted to have a gift of something like translating a tongue. Or for example there’s some people that have the gift of laying their hands on somebody else and they can be healed if there sick. Whatever we wanted to receive we’d just have to ask and we would receive it and there were quite a few kids that got saved that night and received a blessing. This one girl was asking Christ to come into her heart and I was praying with her and she did receive Christ as her savior that night. We’d go from person to person that was having a problem praying and we’d pray with them until they’d receive something. Receive what they wanted and that’s how it went most of the night and that why we kept on praying until three in the morning. MM: You kept mentioning that you feel the Spirit of God how do you feel it? LM: I can’t really explain that good but you kind of feel like you’re on fire for God. Trying to serve him, trying to do your best to win others for God, and you feel happy. You want to do so much for God and when you feel that way you should just keep o praying and just let God take over because when he does its wonderful. MM: You mentioned about them talking in tongues what do you mean by this, what happens to them? LM: The Holy Ghost just takes over and they talk in tongues it’s a different language, that 15 maybe you don’t even understand yourself what you’re saying. But sometimes God gives the gift to another person so that they can translate just what you’re saying. That’s what it is. Talking in a different tongue, different language. When you receive the Holy Ghost that’s when you talk in tongues. MM: Could you please tell us some of the work you do at the altar during the crusades? LM: During the service we were always supposed to pray that God would bless us during the altar part and he’d help us out. We’d always have a Bible with us it didn’t matter if it was the New Testament or the entire Bible. We had to have it with us all the time. We’d go with a person, for example if we invited somebody that night to go with us, or if there was somebody new at church that hadn’t been there before we’d go and pray with them and first we’d find out what their need was; if they wanted Christ into their heart, if they wanted to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit or just what they wanted from God and doing this we had to ask them what do you want God to do for you tonight. The reason we asked them this was because we didn’t want to start praying with the person and say oh God forgive them because they’re sinners and maybe they had Christ in there heart already. Maybe they needed a lifting or an encouragement from God maybe they needed some help in a problem and didn’t know what to do, anyway, that’s why we always asked them just what do you want from God. If they said I’m seeking for salvation then we’d read them a scripture like Revelations 3:20 and that scripture says “Behold I stand at the door and knock if any one hears my voice and open the door I will come into him and eat with him and he with me.” That verse means the only thing we have to do is ask him into our hearts, ask him to forgive us for our sins and really mean it with all of our heart that we want to serve him and we want to be different, we want to have a renewed life. That was just one of the scriptures that we said. If they were seeking for the Holy Ghost then 16 we’d give them another scripture that might help them. Help them to believe that God is there, He’ll give it to them. If the person wasn’t saved and he wanted to ask God into his heart the prayer would consist of a confession of the sin and true repentance and also we had to make sure that he had made a definite invitation for Christ to enter his heart right then and really mean it. And the third part was to pray, to tell him to praise God to thank God, because Christ had entered into his heart. The fourth part of it was to tell the person if he’s really sincere to promise God that he is going to love him, serve him and obey him the best he can. Also have him continue praying and praising God until the Holy Spirit gives a testimony so that you will know he made a complete decision to serve God. MM: Do you have any follow-ups on the people that accepted Christ? Do you follow up on their lives to make see if there having troubles? LM: Yes, if they really made a decision to obey and serve him and love him the best they could then we’d take their names down there address down and we’d give them a little track that say’s “Now what do we do from here?” We tried to go each day if we possibly could to the house to help them out to explain to them just what those track meant. When we weren’t there anymore the pastor or the people that lived in Albuquerque would keep following up on the person. They would help them out the best they could and they would bring them to church and if they didn’t have a Bible in there house they were given one free. MM: During the Crusade what kind of people did you have most, I mean of what faith? LM: Most of them were Catholics and Jehovah Witnesses but the most we came across were Catholics. Most of the Catholics that were strong usually had a cross or something above their door or close by so we knew they were Catholic. This one guy he said something 17 about Peter being the first Pope. We told him he wasn’t a Pope because the Popes today there quite rich and Peter wasn’t at all he didn’t have any money like the Popes do. Peter couldn’t have been a Pope because Peter was married and none of the Popes today are married. The reason we know he was married was because in Matthew 8:14 it tells us of Jesus healing Peters mother-in-law so if he healed Peter’s mother-in-law, he had to have a wife. Peter wasn’t a Pope because Peter hadn’t any silver or gold and he was really quite poor and the way they manage to live was through Gods people. Gods people that had love for them, they would invite them into their house and give them food to eat and a place to stay at. In Act 3:6 it says that “Peter said silver and gold have I none: but such as I have given me to thee: in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazarene rise up and walk.” All the Popes today have millions of dollars at their disposal and Peter could not have been a Pope because he didn’t have anything. He says he didn’t have a silver or gold, he was poor. Nowhere is there a scripture that say Peter was looked up by the other Apostles as the head of the church. Christ was considered the head of the church it says that in Ephesians 5:23. Also Peter didn’t allow others to worship him nor kneel down before him. The Popes today have millions of people kneeling down before them kissing their feet and hands literally offering worship to them. This is what we told them about Peter, because a lot of them seem to think that he was the first Pope but we’d tell them this and still they’d keep on arguing that maybe he was. People believe what they want to believe they don’t believe the truth a lot of the times. MM: Did you have any other things that some Catholic would argue about? LM: This one man argued about the purgatory. He thought there was one, but we told him we didn’t think there was. We even showed him some scriptures about it, but he’d say no no you guys don’t know what you’re talking about. We’d show him scriptures even in his 18 Catholic Bible but still he wouldn’t believe. People believe just what they want to believe, sometimes they won’t even believe the word of God, not even from their own Bible. MM: Did you get any papers out or notes to prepare yourself for this interview? LM: Yes. I have, okay, that they sent me it’s a tablet folder. It has everything in it, what we were expected to do, to say, and to wear on this crusade. We have the daily schedule for a day and a daily schedule for a week. We have some things about what we were supposed to do at the altar, when they called for altar time. What to do and what to say when we came across a Catholic, and they started asking us question about other things like purgatory and mass and praying to the virgin Mary or something like that. We also had notes on Jehovah Witness, because there was quite a few in Albuquerque. We had this one plan the plan that we were supposed to tell them of salvation. We had the scriptures that we were supposed to tell them of salvation. We had the scriptures that we were supposed to tell them like in Romans 3:23 and in Romans 6:23 and in revelations 3:23. We had different scriptures that we were supposed to talk to them about and how we were supposed to introduce ourselves and also a note telling us we were supposed to decide who was going to be the silent partner and who was going to be the speaker. MM: What were you suppose to tell them about the mass? LM: If they asked us a question like what is a Catholic Mass we’d say it is a ceremony of the body of Christ. It’s representing a sacrifice again. According to the Catholics the bread to them is actually the flesh of Christ and the wine to them is actually the blood of Christ. So once again you could say Christ is giving his literally flesh and blood or in other words Christ is being sacrificed again if they do it that way. We explained to them they were sinning its doing wrong. MM: Thank you very much for this interview. For taking the time out for it. You mention though 19 about having the books or tracts. Do you have any that I could have? For this class. LM: I have some tracts and I have a few papers from my pamphlet you can use but I can’t give you my whole book because I want it back. MM: Could we duplicate them and then I’ll give it back to you later. LM: Uh, yeah you can do that. MM: Ok thank you very much. 20 "MANUAL" JUVENTUD EN MARCHA CRUSHES CONTENTS 1. Welcome Letter 2. Weekly Schedule 3. Where to Go, or Call, Sheet 4. General Information Sheet 5. What to Bring Sheet 6. Rules and Regulations 7. Daily Schedule 8. Required Reading List 9. Victory Sheet 10. "If" Sheet 11. Discipleship—The Cost for Reaching "Every Creature" 12. Estudio: Como Ganar Almas (En Espanol) 13. 13. Soul Winning Study (English) 14. Altar Workers Instruction Sheet 15. Witnessing to Roman Catholics 16. Witnessing to TESTIGOS DE JEHOVAH (Spanish) 17. 21 tt ID POR TODO EL MUNDO " - Nos Mando Cristo ALEXANDER G. BAZAN, Missionary Director 4304 Douglas McArthur, N .E. Albuquerque, New Mexico 87110 Phone : (505) 344-8040 LATIN AMERICAN DISTRICT COUNCIL IN THE U.S. A. OF THE ASSEMBLIES OF GOD, INC. MISSIONARY DEPARTMENT HELID THERE…And Welcome to our Juventud en Marcha Crusade. With this letter I want to welcome you to our 11 Invasion for Souls" Crusade. We are glad you have responded to the "Call of Goon to help win souls for His Kingdom. The world will only be won when young people like yourself, obey the urge of the Holy Spirit and launch out to a field that is ripe for the harvest. We will be invading "enemy territory" so we must be careful in all things. Yet, we must have NO fear at all, for "greater is HE that is IN YOU than "he" that is in the world." The area we will be covering may be a difficult one, but yet, we will expect a mighty move from our God, for with God nothing is too hard or difficult. All things are possible with God, if we only believe. I ask that you prepare for this spiritual experience by praying. Prayer is the means to reach and receive power from God's store house. So please pray much for this Crusade. You must remember that the "world" will focus itseyes upon you, so during the Crusade we must be "wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. " We must keep our Christian Testimony shining and spotless. I also ask you to always keep in mind our ONE AND ONLY PURPOSE for the Crusade, which is SOULS. He are here to work for souls; to witness to souls; to attract souls to Jesus; and to help souls find Christ. Let NOTHING AT ALL disturb, distract, or take us away from our one purpose. Let all other things be secondary. May God bless you as you do your BEST for HIS KINGDOM. Alex Bazan, Crusade Director 22 GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT TIE OPERATION 1. For a clearer understanding of relationships the Crusade will have the following organizational structure: a. Staff Members: Those who are directing the Crusade. (As director, Coordinator, Chairmen of the different areas of work and etc.) b. Area Supervisors: Those in charge of a certain area. c. Counsellors: (Each team will have a Counsellor) d. Teams: The whole group will be divided into teams to make coverage of the area easier. Each team will have its captain, and other officers. 2. LODGING: a. Most of the team members will be lodged with local Christians. They will provide your room and board for the entire week. Remember to be kind and courteous to the family with whom you will be staying. Keep your room as clean as possible, and the girls should help the family with dishes and etc. Go to bed when the family does. Try and fit in with the family's schedule as much as possible. b. There may be some areas where there are not enough Christians to house all the teams, so we may have to use our Air-Mattresses and sleep on the floor. So be prepared to experience this if necessary. We will try and avoid this as much as possible, but we must be ready for this if necessary. 3. LUGGAGE: a. You are responsible for your own luggage, equipment and personal effects. Be sure and mark all luggage with your name and address. b. Musical instruments may be brought. We are encouraging all those who play an instrument to bring it. Yet, you are responsible for it. A. COSTS: a. The entire Summer of Service Crusade is $4-9.00. This includes only your food, lodging, and transportation from Crusade to Crusade. You pay your own transportation to where the Crusade begins, and also your return trip home from where the Crusade ends. b. Individual Crusades are £6.00. This is for those people participating on an "Individual-crusade basis." You pay your transportation to and from each crusade city. 5. HEALTH-ACCIDENT: Any accident or illness should be reported to the Director (or other Staff) immediately. Proper insurance will be carried covering all Crusade and Staff Members. You are even covered while traveling to and from the Crusade, from your home town. 6. ACE: The minimum age is 15 years. Anyone younger should be cleared with the Director before coming. 7. WHAT TO BRING... For this information please see the WHAT TO ERING SHEET. # 23 RULES AND REGULATIONS (NOTE: Every Crusade member will be required to abide by ALL the rules and regulations of this Operation.) 1. Church attendance is required of every one. There will be evening services during the entire Crusade. During the day we will be out witnessing from house to house. 2. TEAM RULES; Wo person is to leave the whole group (or team) without the expressed consent of the Staff member in charge(or Team Captain). We must know where you are at all times. 3. CONDUCT: a. As Christ's Representatives, your conduct must be above reproach always. b. Unmarried boys and girls will not "couple-off." There will be no body contact, not even hand-holding. Be friends with everyone, but do not get emotionally involved with no one. Remember our ONE purpose for the trip is SOULS, so do not let anything, or anybody distract you from your main objective. c. Show respect and obedience, for all the Staff members at all times. Not only is this a must for the Crusade, but any disregard for authority is very offensive to the Lord's Work. Staff: please note that respect and consideration is a two-way street. A. CLOTHING—APPEARANCE; : (Be sure and abide by this, as we do not want to mention this personally to anyone during the Crusade itself.) a. For Revs: Dress clean and neat. During the day, boys will wear dark pants and white (or light colored) shirts, with ties. During the evening services suits may be worn. NOTE: No long hair, or beards for boys 1 b. For Girls; (i This is very important !) Because of the very nature of this Crusade, and the goal we wish to a accomplish, and the testimony we wish to impress upon the people, we must ask you to observe some strict rules of dress which you may not be accustomed to. (And really no sacrifice is a sacrifice if it will help us accomplish our purpose.) So please observe the following rules of dress during the entire Crusade: (1) No make-up. (2) No sleeveless dresses or blouses. (3) No tight skirts. (4) NO DRESSES ABOVE THE KNEES. PRAYER Prayer is the vital link that spells success. Please pray earnestly for the "spiritual success" of this Crusade. There will be "Team prayer times" as well as "Group prayer times," which will be attended by everyone. Also do not forget your private prayer times in the homes you will be staying at. # 24 DAILY SCHEDULE NOTE: In order to accomplish our purpose in this week, it is necessary for you to adhere strictly to the following daily schedule. 6:30 a.m. Wake-up, private devotions, breakfast, clean-up, etc. 8:30 a.m. Teams meet for orientation and —— go out on assignments 4:00 p.m. 7:00 p.m. 10:00 p.m. 10:30 p.m. 12:00 noon Lunch and rest 1:00 p.m. On assignments Teams meet at Church; wait to be taken to your homes —During this time teams will make out their reports, and write down all necessary information. Evangelistic Service Prepare for Bed Lights Out Note: This schedule is not unchangeable. If there are any changes in this schedule you will be duly notified. 25 JUVENTUD EN MARCHA CRUSADES REQUIRED READING LIST (Note: This Required Reading list should be read before the Crusade begins. All the materials on the list should be in your Manual.) 1. Victory Sheet 2. "IF" by Amy Carmichael 3. Discipleship—The Cost for Reaching "Every Creature" by Loren Cunningham 4-. Soul Winning Study (Spanish and English) Read either the Spanish or the English one, or both. There is little difference. But, be sure and master the three main parts of the Soul "inning Conversation: that is, the Introduction, the Body, and the Conclusion. 5. Altar Workers Instruction Sheet 6. Witnessing to Roman Catholics (This will give a little idea as to "how" to answer "honest" questions from Roman Catholics). 7. Witnessing to TESTIGOS DE JEHOVA (This will give a little idea as to how to answer some of their false doctrines.) 8. The Chocolate Soldier by C.T. Studd 26 "Victory Sheet" VICTORY IN THE LORD "THANKS BE UNTO GOD, WHICH ALWAYS CAUSETH US TO TRIUMPH IN CHRIST." II Cor. 2:14 When you are content with any food, any raiment, any climate, any society, any solitude, any interruption by the will of God - THIS IS VICTORY. When you can patiently bear with any disorder, any irregularity, and unpunctuality, or any annoyance - THAT IS VICTORY. When your good is evil spoken of, when your wishes are crossed, your taste offended, your advice disregarded, y8ur opinions ridiculed, and you take all in patient, loving silence - THAT IS VICTORY. When you never care to refer to yourself in conversation or to record your own good works, or to seek after commendation, and when you can truly love to be unknown - THAT IS VICTORY. When you are forgotten or neglected or purposely set at naught, and you smile inwardly glorying in the insult or the oversight, because thereby you are counted worthy to suffer with Christ /- THAT IS VICTORY. When you can stand face to face with waste, folly, extravagance, spiritual insensibility, and endure it as Jesus endured it - THAT IS VICTORY. When the enemy presses sorely and the world clamors on all sides; friends forsake and foes malign, and you hide behind the blood, sweetly resting and rejoicing - THAT IS VICTORY. (I John 5:4; Rev. 12:11) When death and life are both alike to you through Christ; and to do His perfect will, you delight not more in one than the other - THAT IS VICTORY; for through Him you may be able to say, "Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by my living, or my death." Philippians 1:20; I Cor. 15:54When others are content with a meager measure of piety and power, with an ambition merely to be "saved as by fire," and you claim your full inheritance in Christ - an overcomer - in order to reign with Him, - THAT IS VICTORY. (Rev. 3:21) When, like Paul, you can throw all your suffering on Jesus, thus converting it into a means of knowing His overcoming grace; and can say from a surrendered heart, "I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in distresses, for Christ's sake" - THAT IS VICTORY. II Cor. 12:7-10 VICTORY centers wholly in the Lord Christ Himself. You may dwell too much on your weakness and too much on the strength of the foe. You must look away from Satan. You must be absolutely taken up with the Lord Jesus, with His keeping power, with His conquering power, with the certainty of His victory, and your share in it. I Cor. 15:57 The perfect VICTORY is to "put on the Lord Jesus Christ" and thus to triumph over self. Rom. 13 -V+ "IN ALL THESE THINGS WE ARE MOPE THAN CONQUERORS THROUGH HIM THAT LOVED US." (Romans 8:37) 27 "IF" (by Amy Carmichael) If I have not compassion on my fellow servant even as my Lord had pity on me, then I know nothing of Calvary Love. If I can write an unkind letter, speak an unkind word, think an unkind thought without grief and shame, then I know nothing of Calvary Love. If in dealing with one who does not respond, I weary of the strain, and slip from under the burden, then I know nothing of Calvary Love. If my attitude be one of fear, not faith, about one who has disappointed me; if I say, "Just what I expected," if a fall occurs, then I know nothing of Calvary Love. If I have not the patience of my Saviour with souls who grow slowly; if I know little of travail (a sharp and painful thing) till Christ be fully formed in them, then I know nothing of Calvary love. If I am afraid to speak the truth, lest I lose affection, or lest the one concerned should say, "You do not understand," or because I fear to lose my reputation for kindness; if I put my own good name before the other's highest good, I know not God's love If I put my own happiness before the well-being of the work entrusted to me; if, though I have this ministry and have received much mercy, I faint, then I know nothing of Calvary Love. If I do not give a friend "the benefit of the doubt," but put the worst construction instead of the best on what is said or done, then I know nothing of Calvary Love. If I take offence easily, if I am content to continue in a cool unfriendliness, though friendship be possible, then I know nothing of Calvary Love. If a sudden jar can cause me to speak an impatient, unloving word, then I know nothing of Calvary Love. (For a cup brimful of sweet water cannot spill even one drop of bitter water however suddenly jolted.) If I say, "Yes, I forgive, but I cannot forget," as though the God, who twice a day washes all the sands on all the shores of all the world, could not wash such memories from my mind, then I know nothing of Calvary Love. If I become entangled in any "inordinate affection;" if things of places or people hold me back from obedience to my Lord, then I know nothing of Calvary Love. If I refuse to allow one who is dear to me to suffer for the sake of Christ, if I do not see such suffering as the greatest honor that can be offered to any follower of the Crucified, then I know nothing of Calvary Love. If I refuse to be a corn of wheat that falls into the ground and dies (is separated from all in which it loved before), then I know nothing of Calvary Love. If the ultimate, the hardest, cannot be asked of me; if my fellows hesitate to ask it and turn to someone else, then I know nothing of Calvary Love. If something I am asked to do for another feels burdensome; if, yielding to an inward unwillingness, I avoid doing it, then I know nothing of Calvary Love. If souls can suffer alongside, and I hardly know it, because the spirit of discernment is not in me, then I know nothing of Calvary Love. # 28 DISCIPLESHIP---- THE COST FOR REACHING "EVERY CREATURE" By Loren Cunningham S. 0. S. - Sumner of Service Youth With A Mission 29 INTRODUCTION Many Christians want the world evangelized—many would even desire revival. The problem is we want the end without the means—the goal with the giving—the prize without the perseverance. The way to evangelize the world is through discipleship. WHAT IS A DISCIPLE? A true disciple is not a "know-it-all." He is not a "born leader" but rather a re-born follower. A disciple is a learner. He has a teachable spirit. He is willing to listen; willing to obey. With the Apostle Paul, he says: "That I might know Hira, Jesus Christ, and the Power of His resurrection." (Philippians 3:10) A disciple has not only accepted Jesus Christ as Savior, he has accepted HIM as Lord, as Master of his life. He has no plans but God's plans for his life. His own will has become truly God's will. His "magnificent obsession" is to do the will of God the Father. This is his heartfelt daily prayer: "Thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Perhaps you wonder: Is it possible that I can become such a person? I am self-willed, self-confident, self-centered. Can I become an effective disciple? Well, take a look at the Apostle Peter, He certainly had a personality problem. He was impetuous, hot-headed, and even cowardly. In fact, he cursed and lied about not knowing Christ. But the Lord said when He met Peter: "Thou are Simon... Thou shall be called Cephas, which is by interpretation a rock." "(John 1:42) Notice the contrast: "Thou are Simon." Present tense weakness. "Thou shalt be called Cephas." Future tense strength. The Lord doesn't take us for what we are but for what He can make us. He who changed Peter from shifting, whispering sand to an immoveable rock(winning 3,000 souls to Christ in one day) can and will make you a fruitful disciple if you will follow Him. "Follow Me," said Jesus, "and I will make you fishers of men." (Mat. 4-: 19) David Brainerd, a young man who had been dismissed from college because of his criticism of a prominent faculty member, committed this rejection and disappointment to Christ, followed Him, and became "The Apostle to the North American Indians." Although David Brainerd died before the age of 30, he won more souls and accomplished more for the kingdom of God than most men who live to be 60 or 90. The reason for his success? He followed Christ. He was an earnest disciple. C.T. Studd, the famous English cricket player, willingly and gladly renounced high society, a personal fortune, and the comforts of his home in England to go as a missionary to Africa. The impact of his life is still being felt through the missionary organization he founded. C.T. Studd followed Christ. 30 Introduction page two William Borden turned his back on riches and a life of luxury in Chicago and set his face for the mission field. Before he reached his goal, sickness claimed his life in Cairo, Egypt. Yet his story as told in the book "Borden Of Yale (Published by Moody Press, Chicago) has inspired countless young people to let God have control of their lives. So take heart. God can use you* God will use you. God wants to use you. Success as a disciple depends not on your greatness or goodness but rather on the greatness and goodness of the One you are following—the Lord Jesus Christ. Follow Him and you will become a fisher of men 1 1 Chapter I GOALS OF A DISCIPLE A disciple has the same goal as his master. Out Master, Jesus Christ, gave Himself for the salvation of others. This must be your purpose too, — a self- giving that will result in the soul-saving of unconverted people. The Lord has given us three easy-to-understand goals: 1. To reach every creature with the Gospel in our generation. "But," you may protest, "There are over three billion people living today. How can a handful of Christians reach so many?" You do the possible—God will do the impossible. The Bible gives the answer: "With God, ALL things are possible." If we are with God and God is with us, we can expect the impossible to happen. He has given us radio, television, the printed page, jet transportation, Gospel recordings, etc. If ever a generation could reach its generation, ours certainly can. As youth for Christ's former President, Dr. Ted Engstrom has put it: "The harvest has never been thicker but the tools have never been sharper." Yes, it will take evangelism and action, sacrificial effort, business-like planning, and "blood, sweat, and tears" to reach our generation with the Gospel. But it can. be done. The goal is within reach! But it will cost us everything we've got II 2. To be a Witness. A witness is a living testimony, "a sermon in shoe leather." In Acts 1:8, the Lord promises that after the inducement of Holy Ghost power is received, we shall be witnesses. Ye shall have supernatural strength to overcome our natural handicaps ---timidity, fear, loss of strength to overcome our1 natural loss of words, etc. We will then become "power conscious, not problem conscious." 3. To Bring Forth Fruit that Shall Remain. John 15:16 teaches that it is God's will and purpose that you and I should produce spiritual results and that these results should last. 31 Chapter III This is why Youth with A Mission and other soul-winning movements believe and practice the plan known as Follow-up. We believe in following up the decisions made for Christ, establishing such new converts in the Christian faith. Simple yet effective Bible correspondence courses and local churches are the tie-ins which can be used effectively in follow-up. The most effective and important part of soul winning is the foundation that is established in witnessing in the first place. Christ said "no man builds except he count the cost." When the "costs"(conditions) and benefits of salvation are really understood then the first responsibility in follow-up becomes the converts. (Mat. 13:23) "But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word and understandoth it." (Read I Thess. chapters 1-3). Paul spent only a short while(less than 2 months) in Thessalonica. Yet when he sent Timothy back to learn of their spiritual condition, Timothy brought good tidings of your faith and charity" and that the converts of Paul had preached the gospel throughout the entire area. But Paul places the responsibility on himself in Thess. 3:8 saying "we live if ye stand fast in the Lord." In other words the proof of your spiritual life is in your converts’ stability. Some YWAMers have been following up their converts through letters and in prayer for several years. Paul gives the reason why his converts were strong in chapter 2 and one great reason was his own love for them when he could say in verse 8 (R.S.V.) "we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves." Remember "the proof of your life is in your convert." Kindly pause right now and ask yourself these three questions: 1. Do I sincerely believe that the world can be reached with the Gospel in this generation? If I have any doubts about this matter, it will cripple my efforts in this missionary effort. 2. Have I been truly endued with Holy Spirit power to be an effective witness? Or am I still depending on my personality and book learning to produce results? 3. Do I believe in the imperative necessity of Follow-Up, grounding new converts in the basic doctrines of God's Ford? Do I earnestly desire spiritual fruit that shall remain? Settle these matters in your own soul and heart. Make sure that these goals are constantly within your thinking and planning until world evangelization becomes your "magnificent obsession" — your one desire for living. When these basics are settled, you are then ready to consider the motive of a true disciple. CHAPTER II MOTIVE OF A DISCIPLE The word "motive" may be defined as "desire" or "want-to". It is that inner drive which propels you towards action. 32 Chapter III This is the one thing that God judges — motivation. "God looketh on the heart" says the Bible. He sees why we say what we say and do what we do. And it is this motivation that He either commends or condemns. It is very easy, even in the work of the Lord to be wrongly motivated. We can serve Christ not out of love for Him but rather from a sense of duty. Or we can sing, serve and speak to receive the praise of men or a coveted position in church. Volunteering for missionary service may be caused by a desire to get away from the people and problems back home... or to meet "the one of our dreams."... Or for a change of scenery... or a pleasant boat ride. Such motivation soon fades into disappointment when you come face to face with the unglamorous side of missionary work or droop under the penetrating brilliance of the tropical sun. Therefore, make sure of your motive for missionary discipleship; that it be pure and unselfish. Otherwise you will be doomed to disappointment. Jesus said: "How can ye believe, which receive honor one of another, and seek not the honor that cometh from God only?" (John 5-hA) This is wrong motivation. But here's the bright side, the right side of true motivation. Mark 12:30 and 31 teaches that the number one requirement is to love the Lord, our God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. The next prerequisite is: "Love thy neighbor as thyself." Do you love the Lord with your whole being? Do you love your neighbor (even the man 10,000 miles away) as thyself, realizing that you are your brother's keeper? Check this matter of motivation before you go on. To love is to will the highest good for God and others as yourself. The highest good for all is "pure evangelism." CHAPTER III MARKS OF A DISCIPLE A disciple of Christ should have the hallmark of heaven on his heart and attitudes. He should be righteously different in word and deed. He should not be conformed to this world but rather transformed by the renewing of his mind. This transformation will be evidenced in the following ways: 1. He will seek to cultivate the fruits of the Spirit. What are these? Galatians 5:22 and 23 lists them: "Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance." How does your life measure up to this standard? Are you constantly filled with joy and peace? Or are you prone to be hateful, moody, and troubled? 're you longsuffering or is your attitude, "Nobody's going to push me around?" Someone has pointed out that we are not to be judges but we can be fruit inspectors. "By their fruits ye shall know them." 33 Chapter III The quality of your fruit of the Spirit will be tested on the mission field. Christians, yes, even missionaries are still very much human. Their ideas, their way of doing things my run against your grain. You will need every fruit of the Spirit in your Sumner of Service as you rub shoulders with other young people who have different backgrounds and taboos. Are you ready for your fruit to be inspected? 2. A disciple will be teachable at all times. Your group leader may make suggestions which don't seem as good to you as your ideas. But respect his office of leader. Remain silent. Weigh the matter carefully. See what you can learn from his point of view. Remain teachable. A disciple is always "a learner." 3. A Christian disciple believes and obeys God's ord. Jesus said, "If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed"(Jn.8:31) Is your Christian life founded and built on God's Word? Or are your ideas of spirituality, worldliness, and other .natters based more upon tradition than divine inspiration? If so, you will encounter inner conflict. Know your Bible. Put its teachings into practice in every detail and experience of life. 4. A disciples pays attention to details. Millions of letters end up in the dead-letter office every year because people are often careless in writing names and addresses. Carelessness is costly— materially and spiritually. Jesus was a detail man. When he fed the 5,000 out in the desert, he had His disciples seat the people in groups of 50. And when the desert-inn banquet was over, the Lord's disciples did some follow-up work. They collected 12 baskets of left-overs. To feed the multitudes this summer, you must pay attention to details. Make sure that your passport, international health care and other papers are properly processed. Be certain that your light light wardrobe is simple and practical for the country in which you will serve. Keep a close eye on the details of your own personal appearance and cleanliness. Details are important in a disciplined life. Undisciplined beatniks can't be bothered by such matters. But Christian discipleship and careful details go together like a horse and a carriage. 5. A disciple sacrifices willingly and cheerfully. Why? Because he has a vision of a future goal — e.g. souls in heaven. He is 34 Chapter III happy to give up the trinkets of tine to gain the diamonds of eternity. With Jim Elliot, the martyred missionary, he believes that "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." Jesus taught us to "take up our cross and follow Him." Sacrifice is the very heart of New Testament Christianity. You will have an on-the-spot opportunity to make sacrifices this sunnier as you serve Christ and others. And from first-hand experience I assure you that such self-sacrifice will bring you joy that self-indulgence never, never brings. Serving Christ is a positive life of spontaneous love. 6. A disciple has team spirit. He is not a lone wolf. He does not say, "I'd rather do it myself." Rather he says, "When we all pull together, how happy we'll be." He is not concerned whether he gets the credit or not as long as his team and his Lord win. 7. A disciple is a person of faith. Hebrews 11:16 states that "without faith, it is impossible to please God." This implies that shunning worldliness is not sufficient. Working for the Lord is not enough. We must exercise faith in God and His Word. We must keep our hearts on the verge of a miracle. The one thing that Christ was continually rebuking in the lives of His disciples was unbelief. Would He rebuke this same sin in your life, in mine? The forthcoming Summer of Service will be for you literally a boot camp in faith. You will be required to trust God for your finances, for safety, for souls, for wisdom, etc., etc. C.M. Ward has humorously said: "A life of faith will never let you down, but it may scare you half to death." Yes, the life of faith has its surprises, but it's still the only life worth living 8. A disciple prays. Christ says "ray sheep know my voice." You can only truly know God's voice and God's way if you pray. You can never be a disciple or be really used of God spiritually without a consistent prayer life and a constant spiritual communion with the Lord. If this lacking in your life establish this prayer life today— do it now without delay. This summer you will have a "Sabbath" day — a day of rest. The purpose of this day—for the Sabbath is made for man, not man for the Sabbath— is forced to recuperate spiritually. Spend this rest day before the Lord. As you do you will also be rested physically. Most important, you will be ready for the next week to continue to give out spiritually. 35 THE SOUL WINNING CONVERSATION (A brief study) A. Soul winning is the greatest work that any Christian Young person can do. This is the wisest work we can do, the most profitable work before God. B. Reasons for Soul-Winning: 1. Christ commanded that we win souls: Mk. 16:15; Mat. 28:19-20; Acts 1:8 Luke 24:46-49; John 20:21 2. It is the “Main work of the church." 3. It is the work that has greatest value. 4. It is the only way to "win our generation." C. Purpose of this study: The purpose of this study is to give us a very brief instruction in a method used to win souls. If the few scriptures given here are mastered and used properly, their use will prove effective to win souls to Christ. D. Points to Remember: 1. It is Biblical to go two by two. There are many reasons for this. But before you reach the door it must be decided who will speak and who will be the SILENT PARTNER. 2. Duties of the SILENT PARTNER: a. Write down the names and addresses of the person’s visited, and any other information which may be helpful in future visits. b. Pray silently c. Prevent and/or eliminate any distraction to the speaker. d. Contribute to the conversation when the speaker asks you to. e. Smile and nod to what the speaker is saying. 3. Approaching the House: a. Note things that can be used in conversation (flowers, new car, boat, etc.) b. Have a serious, dignified attitude; not a light or flippant, or playful attitude. Have the attitude of a "Son of a King", a Representative of the Highest Government in the World: God's Government. c. Smile d. Ring the door bell and take a step back. E. Every Soul-Winning Conversation has three major parts: The Introduction, the Body of the Conversation, and the Conclusion. We shall take these three parts and examine them briefly. I. THE INTRODUCTION (to the soul-winning conversation) A. The purpose of the Introduction: 1. To introduce yourself and your partner 2. To introduce your subject(mission) 3. To tell them how long your mission will take 4. To ask to be admitted into the house where they can hear the Gospel. B. Examples of an Introduction: 1. "Good Morning, I'm Alex Bazan, and my friend is John Brown. We are Christ's Ambassadors, young people from the Spanish Assembly of God. As young people we are concerned about the trends in our world. We believe the problems are spiritual. We feel we have found the answer in Jesus Christ. Do you have a few moments that we could talk with you about this matter.(Smile and nod your head, as it is very important that you have this nodding action) Soul-winning—2 b. "Good afternoon, my name is-Alex Bazan, and my partner is John Brown. We have a 36 wonderful message for you and we would like to have a few moments of your time. May we come in end talk with you? (Smile and nod head) c. "Good evening, I am Alex Bazan and my friend is John Brown. We would like to speak with you a few minutes on how you may become a friend of God. Would you let us come in? (Smile and nod) d. Good day, my name is Anita Bazan, and ray friend is Martha. We have a very important message for you and would like a few minutes of your time if you will allow it. Is that all right with you? (Smile-nod) e. Good afternoon, my name is Alex Bazan, and my friend is John Brown. We are Christ Ambassadors from the Spanish Assembly of God Church, and we are visiting on behalf of our church. We would like to visit with you for a few minutes. Would that be all right with you? (Nod and smile) II. BODY OF THE CONVERSATION A. If they invite you in, and this is what we really want, then as you are getting settled in a chair, say something nice about the house, or the child, or the furniture, or etc. B. The actual soul-winning conversation: 1. The four(4) phrases to capture their attention,, and to focus it upon the Bible are: a. What would you say is a person's greatest need today? (Wait a minute for some type of response) (Let them answer whatever b. they wish, but you just continue with the next phrase) b. "God says that a person's greatest need is to have Salvation? (And immediately without waiting for a response, go to the next phrase) c. "Have you seriously thought about your need of .Salvation? (Wait for some response. Then no matter what the way as a response, you just continue with the next phrase) d. Would it be all right if we read a few Scriptures to see what GOD says about Salvation? Would this be all right? (Smile and nod head) (Most likely they will say yes, so now you have their permission to read them the Bible) 2. Using Six(6) Scriptures to guide a person to Salvation, a. Romans 3:23—with this verse you explain that ALL have sinned b. Romans 6:23~a:—with this part you explain that the stages of Sin is death. —explain that Death here means separation from God in a Hell c. Romans 5=8:—with this verse you tell them of the LOVE of God for them —that God showed his love by giving us Christ —relate the death and sacrifice of Christ upon the Cross —point out that Christ died FOR us: he was OUR SUBSTITUTE. (And because Christ did this, now we can have eternal life, and go to the next verso) d. Romans 6:23-b —with this verse show them that there is ETERNAL LIFE— SALVATION —show that this is a Free Gift —but that in order to have this "Free Gift" one must meet God's two (2) conditions e. Acts:3:19 —The first condition God sets is REPENTANCE —explain what repentance is, and means —then tell them what the second condition is: 37 Soul-winning --- 3 f. John 1:12—one must RECEIVE Christ in order to be saved: explain what it is to have "Received something" -—also there is a big difference between "receiving something,” and I "Believing something." —stress that to "believe" is not enough; they must "receive" Receive means to have, to experience, to feel, to know you have (Then tell them you have only one more verse to read which tells us how easy it is to "receive" Jesus. g. Apoc. 3:20—with this you show them how they can be saved —explain that Christ is the DOOR —explain that Christ is CALLING THEM (that is knocking at their heart) —explain the phrase "if any man hears my voice" ------ Really they are hearing the "voice" of Christ, for He spoke those words in this verse* —explain the phrase "come into him" —that Christ inters our souls —explain the phrase "I am" at the door. That Christ is, at that very instant, knocking at their heart's doer. The words "I am" means present tense, not past, nor future, but NOW. —When you say this be sure and touch the person with your finger to emphasize the nearness of Christ. THE CONCLUSION OF THE CONVERSATION A. When you have brought the person to this point, do not stop here. Continue on with the CONCLUSION which is the most important part. B. The Conclusion: The decision: a. Ask him the most important question ho has ever been asked, which is: "WOULD YOU LIKE TO OPEN YOUR HEART RIGHT NOW AND LET CHRIST COME IN? b. If he says "No," then ask: "Is there any reason why you cannot let Christ in? c. If he says, "Not now...later." Then ask him, "When later?" "Tomorrow?" or "When?" d. If he says "YES," which is what we want, then pray with him right there, 2. The prayer: a. The prayer is very important because here is how Christ enters his heart. b. The prayer should include: —a confession and repentance for sin —a definite invitation for Christ to come into his heart —an acknowledgement or "confession" that Christ has come into his heart. —a promise to God to keep on obeying, loving, and serving Him the rest of their life. —then .just keep on praying and thanking God for his salvation 3. Assurance a. Immediately give him assurance versos as: I John 5:11-12 John 3:36 Apoc. 3:20 and etc. b. Ask him the question: "Where is Christ now?" let him say: "In my heart." Let him repeat this several times, that Christ is in his heart. c. Give him literature which will help him grow in God's way. He should pray every day, read the Bible every day; attend church, and tell others about his salvation. d. Make an appointment to see him within hours after this. 38 Soul-winning—U IV. FOLLDW-UP A. What we have done up to this point (that is, the Introduction, the Body, and the Conclusion of the conversation) is equal to 5% of the work needed yet to be done with this person. There is still 95^ of the work left to be done with this new Convert. The 5% is his "new birth," and the 95% is his "being reared as a Christian." Just as is in the natural life, when a child is born, that is about 5% of the work involved, but the 95% work remaining is to train the child, take care of him, and help him until he becomes an adult and is able to care for himself. B. What should be included in this follow-up? 1. After accepting Christ, this new convert should be visited within 24 hours. After this first visit, he should be visited for at least 6 more times: once each week. After these 6 visits, this new convert should be ready to be drawn into the church and become a member and etc. C. What should be done in these 6 follow-up visits? There are a series of 6 lessons which will help the person grow in the Lord. These six-lessons should be learned properly so you could teach them to the new convert. Also 6 tracts go along with these 6 lessons. Note: there are also correspondence courses which the person could take. Also if the person does not accept Christ he may still enroll in these courses taken by correspondence or by a person who will come to his home and teach him the course. CONCLUSION A. Let it be understood that we will not have converts in every home we enter. The Bible teaches that the "Gospel Seed" could be in either one of the throe (3) stages: the sowing, the cultivation, the harvesting. 1. The Sowing Some hearts need for the seed to be sown. They are not ready to be saved and a "harvest" cannot be forced. You just plant the seed, and be sure to plant as much as you can. But being that one does not know in what stage the person is in, we must ALWAYS give him the "opportunity to be saved." 2. The Cultivating Some hearts already have the seed sown, but need some cultivating or some watering. They will not be ready to be saved, but maybe in the future visits they will be ready to be saved. 3. The harvest But you will also meet some hearts that are ready to be "harvested." They will be ready to say "Yes" when you ask them the most important question in the world: if they want Jesus to enter their hearts. These are the persons we want to harvest. We want to harvest them right there and then. No need to wait until church to "be saved. Alex Bazan 39 "ALTAR WORKERS" Instruction Sheet t YOUR PREPARATION FOR ALTAR WORK 1. Pray in your heart during the service for the Altar part of the service, 2. Always have a Bible or New Testament with you at the Altar. 3. Be very careful with your breath and body odor. Smell as sweet as possible. Use breath mints, or fresheners if necessary to control mouth odor. Carry an extra "hankie" or Kleenex to give the person if needed. Some people may stop seeking the Lord if they have no hankie, for fear of crying and not having a hankie. YOUR WORK AT THE ALTAR 1. First, find out what the person needs, that is, Salvation, Baptism in Holy Spirit, or if he is a Backslider, or etc. Do this by asking the person what "he wants God to do for him tonight." 2. Then give the person a verse of Scripture on which to base his faith when he prays. a. For those seeking Salvation you may read: Rev. 3:20, Jn. 1:12; I Jn. 1:9, etc. b. For those seeking the Holy Spirit, read: Lk. 11:13; Lk.24.:49; Acts 8:17, etc. c. For Backsliders, read: Hcts 3:19; Rev. 2:5; Lk.15:18-19, etc. d. For those needing Healing, read: Psalms 103:3; Mk.16:18; Lk.9:l-2; Matt.4:23 3. Then pray with the person until you feel that he has received what he needs from God. If the sinner does not know how to pray, you must lead him in prayer. The SINNER'S PRAYER should include the following: a. A Confession of Sin, and a true repentance. b. A definite invitation to Christ to enter his heart, then and there. c. Praise and thanksgiving to God, because Christ has entered the person's heart. This is his first "confession" of faith. d. A Promise to God, that the person will always, LOVE, SERVE, and OBEY God. e. Continue praying and praising God until the Holy Spirit gives testimony to your spirit that God is really doing a work in the person's heart. 4. Pray with them until they have the "Victory." Be persistent. Your goal is to see them have the Victory. At the same time you also will have the "victory." 5. If you see that the person is not really seeking, don't waste your time, but go to another one that is seeking and needs help. (But don't go jumping from one person to another. Stick to one as much as possible, until the person has the "Victory.") 6. Keep your eyes open as you pray at the altar. Watch the face and expression of the person you are praying for and you will be able to tell if the person if making contact with God or not. If not, urge the person to pray more. 7. Be careful if you lay hands upon the person at the altar. The best place to lay your hand is on the upper back of the person, near the base of the neck. Laying hands upon a person's head may make them feel their hair is being messed and may affect their seeking God. YOUR WORK AFTER PRAYING AT THE ALTAR 1. When you get up from prayer, give the person verses of "assurance" and "instruction a. Assurance Verses are: Jn.3:36; Rev.3:20; I Jn.5:11-12; I Jn.l:9, etc. b. Instruct him to Read the Bible and Pray daily, and to attend church regularly. 2. Write the name and address of the person who has accepted Christ on the DECISION CARD. Give him the "New Converts Booklet." 3. Last: turn in the "Decision Card" to the Altar Coordinator. Do not take the card home with you. # 40 WITNESSING TO ROMAN CATHOLICS (Notes by Alex Bazan) Points to Remember: A. We are presenting the "Good News" of Salvation. Vie are not there to argue, nor debate, neither do we wish to offend any person, nor ridicule or talk bad about their religion. So try to avoid anything which would do this. We will be presenting THE TRUTH out of God's Word. And no one can argue or debate the pure Word of God. B. Do not got sidetracked by questions of doctrine or religion. Keep on the topic of Salvation. But if they ask you an "honest" question, then give them an "honest answer, and then, immediately go back to the topic of Salvation. C. The following may help you when you are confronted with an honest question. So give them an honest answer, and then come back to the Main topic of Salvation. 1. THE VIRGIN MARY a. Do we love her? Yes we love her, for she was the chosen vessel to bring our Saviour. But we do not worship her, for the first commandment teaches that only GOD should be worshiped. (Ex. 20:1-5) b. Do we obey her commandment? Yes we do. We obey her ONE and ONLY commandment. She commanded us to "do everything her Son (Jesus) said to do." (John 2:5) In other words, she wants us to obey her Son, to respect and love her Son, and to do everything her Son commands us to do. (l) And what has her Son, Jesus Commanded us to do? Christ commands us to (a) repent from all Sin, Luke 13:3} (b) to Believe(have faith) in the Gospel, Mark 16:15$ and (c) to Study(Search) the Scriptures John 5:39$ (d) to be Born Again, John 3:3, and (e) that He(Christ) is the only Way to Heaven, John 14:6) 2. THE SAINTS a. Do we believe in the Saints? Yes we surely do. They were holy persons, full of the love and Spirit of God. b. Do we pray to the Saints? (1) No, because they are not God. Only God can hear prayers from all over the earth at the same time. If a person living in China, if one living in Mexico, if one living in Egypt, and one living in India, all pray to the same saint at the same time, the Saint cannot hear them all at the same time, otherwise the saint will be as powerful and as great as God himself* And the saints never claimed to be God, nor have the power of God, as God himself has. (2) No, because the Saints have no power to help. Christ said in Mat. 28:18, "ALL POWER is given ME in heaven and in earth. The saints live in heaven, and Christ has ALL THE POWER in heaven, so we see that the saints have NO power to help us here on earth. (3) No, because Christ specifically said that we should pray in HIS NAME, that is Christ's Name. (John 14:13-14) "And whatsoever ye shall ask IN MY NAME, that will I do...." "If ye shall ask anything in MY NAME, I will do it." c. In fact, ALL the members of the True (Spiritual) Church of God are called SAINTS. Those who are saved, are considered "Saints" by God. (I Cor. 1:2 says: "Unto the Church of God which is at Corinth. 41 Witnessing to R.C.—2 to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus called to be "SAINTS...." II Cor. 1;1 says,"...with till the SAINTS which are in Achaia." Efesians 1:1 says "Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of Cod, to the SAINTS which are at Ephesus..." 3. CHANGING RELIGIONS a. Is it a Sin to Change one's religion? No, especially when you are changing to the right or true doctrine. In fact, Mary the mother of Jesus HAD TO CHANGE HER RELIGION. The religion her parents gave her was the Jewish Religion. Later she changed to her Son's Religion, She adopted her Son's doctrines, and beliefs, and even had to PRAY TO her own Son, like all the other disciples had to. (Acts 1:14-) She even had to look to God for her own SALVATION and her own DELIVERANCE as all others have had to do. Luke 1:46,47 THE TRUE TEMPLE OF GOD a. Is a man-made building the true Temple of God? No, the Bible teaches us that God is so great that he does not live in man-made temples. (Acts 7:4-8-49) No temple could contain the might of God, b. Which is the True Temple of God? Your body is the true temple of God. God dwells inside your body. (I Cor. 3:16-17) 5. PURGATORY a. Is there a purgatory? No, the Bible does not trach any such place. The only place to purge (clean) your sins is here on earth. And the only person who can do this purging is Jesus Christ. (Heb. 1:3: "Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by HIMSELF PURGED our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high." b. Does Mat. 5:26 refer to purgatory (as this is the only worse the Catholics have to supposedly prove the doctrine of purgatory)? No, Christ hare is talking about getting on right terms with your enemy before he has you put in jail. And once in jail, Christ says, you cannot come out until you have paid all your fine. This has no reference at all to a life after death. c. Is there p. second chance to be saved, once a person dies? No, the Bible states that "NOW is" the day of Salvation(II Cor. 6:2) In fact God says, that after you die comes the judgment(Heb. 9:27) Christ taught that once you die you either go to a place of torment or a place of happiness. And you cannot change from one place to another once you are there, (Story of the Rich Man and Lazarus, Lk. 16:19-31) In fact Christ says that between these two places(Happiness and Torment) there is a "great Gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us...."(Lk. 16:26) 6. THE MASS a. What is the Catholic Mass? It is the ceremony in which the body of Christ is representatively sacrificed again. The bread, according to Catholics) actually becomes the flesh of Christ, and the wine (they say) actually becomes the blood of Christ. So once again Christ is giving his literal flesh and blood. Or in other words, Christ is being sacrificed again. b. Is the Catholic Mass Biblical? No, because the Bible teaches that Christ was sacrificed once and for all. 42 Witnessing to R.C.—3 He is not being sacrificed again at every Communion Service (Heb. 10:10-12) Romans 6:6 says that they who "crucify the Lord afresh put him to open s shame." c. What is the meaning of the brand and wine? The bread is a representation of the body of Christ, and the wine represents the blood of Christ. We do it as a memorial to the death of Christ. (I Cor. 11:23-26) 7. PETER, THE FIRST POPE? a. Did Christ tell Peter in Mat. 16:17-20 that the Church would be built upon Him? No, Christ taught that the foundation of the Church is Himself (Christ, and that Peter would be a small stone. The Greek word for Peter is Petros, meaning a small stone. When Christ said: "And I say also unto thee, That thou are Peter...." The Greek word for Peter here is Petros, meaning a small stone. Then as Christ continues, he says, 'J...and upon this ROCK will I build my church." The Greek word for ROCK here is Petra, meaning a huge, or very large piece of rock. And, who is this huge "rock" that Christ says, "I will build my church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it? This huge rock can be no other than Christ Himself, because it definitely is not referring to Peter (the small rock). So just by noting the difference in the Greek words we can see that Christ was not referring to Peter as the foundation of the Church, but rather to HIMSELF, the huge rock which is the foundation of the Church. b. Was Peter the first ¿POPE? (1) Peter could not have been a Pope because he was married, and Popes never marry. Matthew 3:14 tells of Jesus healing Peter's mother-in- law. So he had to have a wife. (2) No, because Peter had no silver or gold; he was poor. In Acts 3:6 Peter says "silver and gold have I none, but such as I have give I thee, in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk." All the Popes have millions of dollars at their disposal, so Peter could not have been a pope. (3) No, because nowhere in Scripture is Peter looked up to by the other apostles as the "Head of the Church." Christ was always considered the HEAD OF THE CHURCH. (Efesians 5:23) ( 4 ) No, because Peter never allowed others to worship him, nor to kneel down before him. (Acts 10:25-26). Today Popes have millions of people who kneel before them, kissing their hands and feet, and literally offering worship to them. 8. THE TRUE BIBLE: ¿PROTESTANT OR CATHOLIC? a. The Protestant Bible is the truly inspired Word of God, because out Old Testament is identical to the Old Testament of the Jews, who were the ones to receive the WORD directly from God. The only difference between Catholic and Protestant Bibles is in the Old Testament. The New Testament in both Bibles is identical. And being that the Jews were the ones to receive the Old Testament from God, the Protestant Old Testament is the same as the Jewish one, whereas the Catholic Old Testament differs from the Jewish one in that the Catholics have approximately 7 more books included. These are called the Apocrypha. b. But does this difference make this worth debating for? Not at all. Being that the New Testament in both Catholic and Protestant 43 Witnessing to R.C.—4 Bibles are the same, we find that the "Plan of Salvation" is clearly taught in the New Testament. Those books which the Catholics have included does not change the doctrine of the New Testament one bit. So we still prove all the Simple Gospel from the New Testament. So for the sake of avoiding an argument, don't touch the Old Testament; just prove the Way of Salvation from the New Testament, and for this either a Catholic or Protestant Bible could be used. D. NOTES: 1. A True Catholic is one who is born again; one who is saved; one who loved God with all his heart and his neighbor (including Protestants) as himself. If he doesn't love the Protestants, he is not a disciple of Christ, for Christ said, "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." (John 13:35) 2. A True Catholic will read the Bible. Pope John said that every catholic should read the Bible every day. 3. A True Catholic is one who doesn't continue to live in sin. For the Bible teaches us that "Whosoever is born of God doeth not commit sin...."( I John 3:9) 44 WEEKLY SCHEDULE IMPACT — 70 — Juventud en Marcha (Albuquerque, New Mexico) FRIDAY August 7, 1970 (Viernes) ---- Registration all Day at "Center of Operations" ---- Arrive at the latest by 6:00 p.m. ---- 7:30 p.m. Gran Culto de Oracion (Preparation Prayer Meeting) (Para todos los que tomaran parte en la Cruzada de Irapacto) SATURDAY —August 8, 1970 (Sabado) ---- 9:30 a.m. Training-Entrenamiento (First Session) ---- 2:00 p.m. Training-Entrenamiento (Second Session) ---- 7:30 p.m. Entrenamiento para CONSEJEROS ESPIRITUALES (THIRD SESSION) Training for Spiritual Counsellors --- Servicio de Comision (Todos Bienvenidos I !) (Nota: Todas las Juntas de Entrenamiento se tendran en el "Centro de Operaciones" de la Cruzada que sera el Templo: APOSENTO ALTO 1001 Barelas Rd. S.W. Albuquerque, New Mexico Pastor: Ruben Guajardo Tel. 242-3501 DOMINGO August 9« 1970 (Sunday) ---- 10:00 a.m. Sunday School in your local church. ---- 2:30 p.m. Entrenamiento y Junta de Organizacion (Fourth Session) ---- 7:00 p.m. Culto en su iglesia local. MONDAY thru Saturday August 10-15, 1970 (lunes a sabado) ---- Witnessing during the day. (Casa por casa en el dla) ---- 10:00 a.m. Culto de Oracion cada manana en cada templo. ---- 7:30 p.m. Culto Evangelistico en cada templo. SUNDAY August 16, 1970 (Domingo) ---- This will be our last Evening Service of the Albuquerque Cusade. ---- The Impact Crusade ends this evening. NOTICE I I I NOTICE 1 I I NOTICE 1 I I ~7 / / WHERE TO GO... WHERE TO CALL... / WHEN YOU ARRIVE / / m/ / Albuquerque / / / / / / / / / 1. Call 242-3501 which is our Center of Operations (Aposento Alto Church). / 2. If no answer call our Emergency Number: 344-8040 (Rev. Alex Bazan) / 3. If driving, go directly to our Center of Operations: Aposento Alto Church / 1001 Barelas Rd. S.W. / 4. You may receive mail at: (Put Your Nane here) Albuquerque, New Mexico c/o Alex Bazan, Coordinator / 4304 Douglas McArthur N.E. / Albuquerque. New Mexico 87110 / 45 GANANDO ALMAS PARA CRISTO (Un Estudio Breve y Sencillo) A. El Ganar Almas es el trabajo MÁS GRANDE que un Cristiano puede hacer. Este es el trabajo "más sabio" que podemos hacer, y el trabajo de "más valorl.” B. Algunas rasones por qué debemos hacer este trabajo de Ganar Almas: 1. Cristo lo mandó. Marcos 16:15; Mat. 28:19-20; Hechos 1:8; Lk.24:46-4-9 2. Es el "Trabajo Principal" de la Iglesia. 3. Es el trabajo de "más valor." 4. Es la única manera de ganar a "nuestra generación." C. EL Propósito de este Estudio: ¿Cuál es? Es dar unas breves instrucciones en un método para ganar almas. Las cuantas escrituras dadas son suficientes para ganar un alma a Cristo, si se usan propiamente. D. Cosas para Recordar: 1. Es Biblico ir de dos en dos. Hay muchas razones por esto. Pero antes de llegar a la casa se debe decidir quién de los dos será el COMPAÑERO SILENCIOSO, y quién será el que hablará. 2. Deberes del COMPAÑERO SILENCIOSO: a. Escribir los nombres y domicilios de las personas siendo visitadas. b. Orar silenciosamente mientras su compañero habla. c. Estorbar, y, o, eliminar cualquier distracción que pueda interrumpir al que está hablando. d. Contribuir a la conversasión cuando el que habla le pide. e. Sonreíd, y mover la cabeza afirmando lo que su compañero está diciendo. 3. Acercándose a la Casa: a. Fíjese en cosas que se pueden usar en conversación (flores, carro nuevo) b. Llegue en una actitude seria, no con mucha risa, ni charlando, ni en actitude liviano o de juego. Estamos representando algo eterno y de mucha importancia. c. Llegue con una actitude de "hijo del Rey;" de un Embajador del gobierno más elevado del mundo (pues en realidad lo es). d. Despues de tocar la puerta dése un paso para atras. No esté tan cerca a la puerta cuando la abren. e. Siempre mantenga una sonriza agradable en su rostro. E. La Conversación de Ganar Almas, tiene 3 partes: La Introducción; El Cuerpo de la Conversación, y La Conclusión de la Conversación. Tomaremos estas 3 partes y las examinaremos cuidadosamente para asi entenderlos mejor, I.LA INTRODUCCION (de la Conversación de Ganar Almas) A. El propósito de la Conversación: 1. Introducirse a sí mismo y a su compañero a la gente de la casa. 2. Introducir su propósito(su mensaje). 3. Decirles el tiempo que se tomará su misión. 4-. Introducirse adentro de la casa para que asi escuchen mejor su mensaje. B. Ejemplos de una Introducción: 1. Muy Buenos Días í Me llamo Alejandro Bazan, y mi compañero se llama Juan Café. Pertenecemos a un grupo de Juventud en Marcha, y hemos venido de diferentes estados del país a está ciudad para darles un Mensaje de "Buena Voluntad." ¿Nos permitirá unos cuántos minutos de su tiempo para hablar con usted acerca de esto? (Mueve la cabeza y sonrióse) 46 2."Buenos días, soy el joven AÍrex Bazan y mi compañoero se llama Juan Café. Tenemos un mensaje hermoso que decirle y quisiéramos tener unos cuántos minutos de su tiempo. ¿Estará bien con usted? (mueve cabeza y sonríe) 2. "Buenas tardes, Soy la joven Anita Bazan y mi amiga se llama Martita. En esta tarde tenemos un mensaje muy importante para usted si nos permite unos cuántos minutos de su tiempo. ¿Estará bien? (mover la cabeza) 4.. "Buenas noches: Me llamo Alex Bazan y mi amigo se llama Juan Cafe. Quisiéramos hablar unos cuántos momentos con usted acerca de cómo llegar a ser amigo de Dios. ¿Nos permite entrar? (mover la cabeza y sonreíd) 5. Muy Buenos Días: Yo me llamo Alex Bazan y mi compañero se llama Juan Cafe. Somos Embajadores de Cristo, y nos preocupa mucho la condición del mundo. Vemos que hay muchos problemas en el mundo, pero hemos encontrado la respuesta a todo probelema en Cristo Jesús. Y hemos venido para hablar con usted acerca de esto. ¿Nos permite unos cuántos minutos de su tiempo? (mover la cabeza y sonreíd) C. lo que queremos es entrar en la casa y explicar el Plan de Salvación. 1. Si en caso no le dan el pase, pues entonces, hable todo lo que puede del plan de Salvación desde la puerta. Pero es mejor si se puede entrar adentro para hablarles el Evangelio. II. EL CUERPO DE LA CONVERSACION (o Presentando el Evangelio) A. Bueno, ya le han dado el pase a la casa. 1. Acomódese en un buen lugar, y tenga en cuenta dónde está el T.V., para que si en caso esta prendido no le estorbe. 2. Mientras se está acomodando diga algo favorable de la casa, o de algo. B. La Conversación Actual de Ganar Almas: 1. Para captar la atención de la persona y enfocarla sobre la Biblia, hay cuatro(4.) frases que se pueden usar para llegar al punto que queremos. a. ¿Qué diría usted que es la necesidad más grande del sér humano? (espere respuesta) b. Dios dice que Ja necesidad más grande del sér humano es tener una experiencia de Salvación, (no espere respuesta, y siga adelante) c. ¿Había usted pensado seriamente en alguna ocasión sobre su necesidad de Salvación? (espere alguna respuesta, y luego siga adelante) d. ¿Estaría bien si leyese algunas cuántas escrituras para ver lo que Dios dice acerca de la Salvación? ¿Podríamos hacer esto? (mover cabeza y sonreíc 2. Las seis(6) Escrituras para guiar un alma a la Salvación. a. Romanos 3: 23— Con este texto se explica que: ---- Que todos henos pecado, tanto uno como la persona de casa. b. Romanos 6:23-a "Porque la paga del pecado es muerte...(y deténgase aqui) ---- Con este texto se explica que el pecado conduce al infierno(muerte espiritual, y Dios nos pagará por nuestro pecado. ---- Se explica que la palabra "muerte" significa separación de Dios en un infierno eterno. c. Romanos 5:8 Con este texto se explica lo siguiente: 47 --Que Dios es Amor y les ama a ellos. -- Que Dios mostró su amor dándonos a Cristo ---Se relata la historia del Sacrificio de Cristo en la Crua. ---Se enfatiza la frase "Cristo murió POR nosotros" o ya sea que fue nuestro substituto. d. Romanos 6:23-b Con esto se explica: ---Que la salvación es un regalo-----gratis. ---Este regalo gratis es "Vida Eterna" (o ya sea Salvación) ---Que esta Salvación está EN Cristo (Pero, para recibir esta Salvación gratis, hay solamente 2 condiciones que Dios pone. Estas dos Condiciones se hallan en Hechos 3:19, y Juan 1:12 e. Hechos 3:19 (lee hasta la frase, "sean borrados vuestros pecados...) ---Con esto se explica que es necessario un verdadero ARREPENTIMIENTO ---expliquele lo que significa "arrepintirse." (que es un cambio de mente(intelecto), de corazón(emociones) y de acciones(la voluntad). Que es un cambio total; un cambio de dirección. (Y la segunda cosa necesaria para recibir la Salvación es:) f. Juan 1:12 Recibir a Cristo ---Explíquele que es necesario RECIBIR a Cristo, es decir, tenerle, sentirle, tenerle. --- El "recibir algo" significa experimentar algo, tener y sentir algo. --- Expliquele que "creer" en Dios no es suficiente, porque los demonios también "creen" en Dios y tiemblan(Sant. 2:19) ---Ademas de "creen" en Cristo hay que "recibir a" Cristo. ---Use ejemplos para enseñar la diferencia entre "creer" en algo, y el "recibir" ése aldo. Como, una persona puede "creer" en la comida, sin "recibir" la comida. Pero para recibir el beneficio de la comida, no es bastante "creer" en la comida, sino hay que "recibir" la comida, (Luego diga: "Y amigo, es muy fácil "recibir" a Cristo. El último texto que le voy a leer nos enseña lo fácil que es recibir a Cristo). g. Apoc. 3:20 Hay que explicar este texto parte por parte, y palabra por palabra: ---La PUERTA es la puerta de su corazon; no una puerta de madera. ---Cristo está LLAMANDO o ya sea TOCANDO ésa puerta y quiere entrar. ---"Si alguno oye me voz" significa que ellos están oyendo la voz de Cristo porque Cristo habló ésas palabras ---"Y abre la puerta" significa que ellos tienen que abrir la puerta de su corazon a Cristo, es decir, hacerle la invitación, darle el pase. ---''Entraré a Él" significa que Cristo entrará en nosotros, EN nuestra alma, EN nuestro corazon, si es que la abrimos la puerta. (Y cuando Cristo entra nos trae la Vida Eterna , o ya sea la SALVACION, ---Enfatize la frase "YO ESTOY" PORQUE es la frase más importante ahora. Esto significa que en ese mismo instante, Cristo "está"(ni estuvo, ni estará, sino "está") cerca del corazon y está tocando la puerta y quiere entrar en la persona, (con su dedo toque la persona cuando dice esto) -- Que la persona entienda que en ése momento Cristo quiere entrar en su corazon para salvarlo. Porque esto es la realidad. Dios lo ha enviado a usted a esta persona, y el Espiritu Santo está allí presente para ser el testigo de que esta persona ahora tiene la oportunidad de su vida para abrir su Corazon a Cristo y recibir la Salvación de su Alma. Y sin duda que en este momento usted sentirá la presencia del Espíritu Santo en ése cuarto. 48 3. Se termina esta parte(Cuerpo de la Conversación) con este entendimiento: Que en ésos momentos Cristo está allí por medio de su Espíritu y está llamando a la persona y quiere entrar en su alma para salvarla. a. Ahora con llegar a este punto no hemos acabado. Todavía queda la parte MAS importante: LA CONCLUSION. Usted puede gastar horas hablando del Evangelio, pero si nunca llega a LA CONCLUSION no habrá ganado un alma a Cristo. b. Asi que siga adelante con la parte MAS importante: La Conclusión. III. IA CONCLUSION DE LA CONVERSACION A. La Conclusión determina si la persona recibirá a Cristo o si seguirá en su propio camino. Muchas veces aqui es dónde fallamos: hablamos mucho cb Cristo pero nunca llegamos al punto que queremos, es decir, que la persona se salve. B. La Conclusión tiene tres(3) partes: La Decisión, La Oración, y Seguridad e in struc c i one s. 1. La Decisión! Ésta es la pregunta MAS importante que jamas se le ha preguntad a esta persona: Es: ¿QUISIERA USTED AHORA MISMO INVITAR A CRISTO A SU CORAZON?"""/// No use la frase si quiere "aceptar" a Cristo, sino diga: INVITAR a Cristo. a. La persona ahora tiene que hacer una decisión. Tiene que decir Sí o NO. Ahora tiene que reaccionar; tiene que hacer algo: aceptar o rechazar, b. Si la persona dice que no puede hacerlo, entonces pregúntele: ¿SABE USTED DE UNA RAZON POR QUE USTED NO PUEDE INVITAR A CRISTO? (Y realmente no hay razones: sí hay excusas, pero no razones. c. Si la persona dice, Ahora no, más despues, o en otra ocación." Entonces usted pregúnteles: ¿CUANDO? ¿MAÑANAS ¿El proximo domingo, o Cuándo? Si todavía insiste que "ahora no, en otra ocación", entonce usted pregúntele ¿Qué va usted a hacer con Cristo quien está aqui cerca de su corazon? ¿Lo dejará seguir tocando hasta la próxima semana? ¿0 qué va a hacer usted con Cristo? Él está allí tocando la puerta de su corazon? -- Que sepan que si rechazan a Cristo entonces están rechazando al Hijo de Dios y la única forma de ser salvo. d. Si la persona dice que quiere "recibir" a Cristo alli mismo, entonces hay que orar con el. Si no sabe cómo orar entonces usted tendrá que quiarle en la oración. 2. La Oración. (debe incluir por lo menos lo siguiente:) a. Una confession de pecado y un arrepentimiento verdadero. b. Una invitación definida alli mismo al Señor Jesús mismo para que entre en su corazon. c. Un reconocimiento de gracias, y "confesión de fe" porque Cristo ha entrado(o acaba de entrar) en su corazón. d. Una promesa a Dios de amarle, servirle, y obedecerle siempre. e. Seguir orando y dando gracias a Dios hasta que usted sienta que Dios realmente está haciendo la obra de salvación en la persona. El Espíritu Santo debe dar testimonio a su espíritu de que Dios le está salvando. (Rom. 8:16) 49 3.Seguridad e Instrucciones a. Inmediatamente dele textos de seguridad: I Juan 5;11-12; Juan 3:36 Apoc. 3,: 20 b. Pregúntele ¿Donde está Cristo ahora que usted le ha invitado? Y que conteste: "Aqui en mí corazon." Cuando la persona dice esto, ya está haciendo una "confesion de su Fe" en Cristo. c. También es necesario darle unas cuántas instrucciones para que siga creciendo en las cosas de Dios: ---debe orar cada dia. ---debe leer la Biblia cada día. ---debe asistir regularmente a una iglesia -—debe decirle a otros que Cristo ha venido a su Corzaon. d. Antes de salir de la casa, haba una cita para volver a visitarle dentro de las 24 horas para ver cómo sigue. IV. LA CONTINUACION DSL ESFUERZO INICIAL (Follow-up) Lo que hemos hecho hasta ahora en guiar un alma a los pies de Cristo, para que sea salvo, es solamente el 5% del trabajo que todavía se necesita hacer con ésa alma. Todavía queda el 95% del trabajo. -- el 5% es su "nacimiento espiritual" y el 95% es el trabajo de "criarlo espiritualmente hasta que lleque a ser un Cristiano fuerte, maduro, y fiel. ¿Qué debe incluir la Continuación del Esfuerzo Inicial? 1. Despues de recibir a Cristo y asi ser salvo, se le debe visitar dentro de 24 horas. Y despues de esta visita se le debe seguir visitando una vez por samana, por lo menos por 6 semanas. 2. ¿Qué se hace en estas 6 visitas semanales? En las visitas semanales es donde se le enseña, se le anima, se le "alimenta" y se le cuida como a un niño recien nacido. Hay una serie de seis(6) lecciones, juntamente con 6 tnatados, y 6 textos, que se le explica y se le entrega en estas visitas CONCLUSION A. Debemos entender que no habrá personas salvas en cada casa donde entremos. La semilla del Evangelio puede estar en una de los 3 estados: La siembra, la cultivación, o la siega. 1. La Siembra: Hay que sembrar la semilla del Evangelio en algunos corazones que nunca han tenido esta semilla. Y uno nunca puede "forzar" la cosecha. 2. La Cultivación: Habrá corazones donde tenemos que cultivar más el terreno, y quitar algunas yier as que estorban. Y luego regar la semilla. 3. La siega: Pero sin duda que habrá corazones "listos para la cosecha." Y cuando usted le hace la pregunta más importante: la de recibir a Cristo alli mismo, la persona responderá que Sí quiere. Estas son las almas que tenemos que cosechar para el Reino de Dios. Ya están listas y esperando que alguien venga y las coseche. (Jn. 4:35) B. La Biblia nos dice que "el que gana almas es sabio." Y si alguno le falta sabiduría, pídasela a Dios. (Sant. 1:5). Asi que no hay razón por qué uno no pueda ganar almas. Cada uno de nosotros puede ganar almas. C. Cada comunista se propone a ganar dos(2) almas cada mes al Comunismo, o ya sea 24 almas en un año. Si ellos hacen esto con algo tan diabólico como el comunismo, cuánto más nosotros que tenemos la Verdad nos debemos esforzar para ganar almas. 50 Mi oración es que cada uno de nosotros podamos ganar almas para Cristo* Alex Bazan 51 AYUDAS PARA HABLAR CON LOS "TESTIGOS DE JEHGVAH" PUNTOS PARA NOTAR: 1. No queremos discutir, ni argumentar con nadie. Solamente queremos presentar la verdad del Evangelio. Si ve que ya está argumentando con la persona,deténgase porque usted ya esta en "la carne" y no en el "espíritu." Si ve que ya no le está hablando con "amor" entonces deténgase porque ya está en la "carne." 2. Los testigos de Jehovah tienen lo que se llama un "Espíritu de Error." Asi que con solamente la sabiduria y conocimiento no se puede derrotarlos. Uno necesita depender enteramente en el Espíritu Santo, quién es el único que puede derrotar ése espíritu de "error." 3. Al hablar con ellos, no deje que lo enreden en discusión sobre puntos o doctrinas de "menor" importancia, porque gastará todo su tiempo. Y para discutir estos puntos y doctrinas de menor importancia uno necesita mucho estudio y estar muy bien preparado. Mejor es solamente mantenerse en el tema ¡pande de la Biblia que es LA SALVACION del Alma. No se salga de este tema. Pregúntele si tiene la Salvación de su AIma(que es la Vida Eterna.) Luego enseñele cómo él puede tener esta Vida Eterna. 4. Una buena forma de derrotarlos es usar sus mismos textos y leer un poco antes y despues, para asi saber el tema que realmente se está tratando, y no sacar -una frase fuera de su contexto. Porque si se saca una escritura fuera de su contexto se puede probar lo que uno quiere, y no lo que realmente Dios quiere decir. Pero si se deja dentro de su contexto y se lee todo el pasaje o el capítulo entonces uno sabrá exactamente lo que Dios quiere decir. 5. Pero, NO TENGA MIEDO de hablar con ellos. Acuérdese que usted tiene el Espíritu Santo y ellos no lo tienen. Y al hablar con ellos, Dios le dará la sabiduría necesaria y la ^alabra apropiada para derrotar ése Espíritu de Error. Asi que no tenga miedo; siga hablando con ellos. HABLE DE LO SIGUIENTE CON UN "TESTIGO DE JEHOVAH": A. LA VIDA^ETERNA: 1. Pregúntele: ¿Tiene Vd. la Vida Eterna? La respuesta será "no" porque ellos no recihen la salvación; no tienen la Vida Eterna. Entonces usted diga: "Déjeme decirle la manera en que usted puede tener esta Vida Eterna." Y siga adelante con el Plan de Salvación. 2. Si dicen que nadie puede ser salvo ahora, o que nadie sabe si es salvo ahora, usted contéstele que sí se puede saber si somos salvos, porque Cristo vino precisamente para "salvar lo que se había perdido." 3. Los siguientes textos enseñan que uno puede tener la Vida eterna, y también o puede "saber" que tiene esta Vida Eterna(o ya sea, la Salvación). a. I Jn. 5:11—Dios nos ha dado vida eterna, y esta vida estáen su Hijo b.I Jn. 5:12—Asi que el que tiene al HIJO tiene la Vida Eterna. c.I Jn. 5¡13—Y Juan escribió esto para que "sepásemos" (es decir, para que .uno sepa) que tiene la vida Eterna. 4. Y si todavía contradicen, entonces explíquele palabra por palabra el texto que^les de dado arriba, y enfatize el significado de la palabra: "TIENE." ¿Qué significa la palabra "tiene?" Esto significa que AHORA MISMO, uno poseé la Vida Eterna. Y la palabra "tiene" solamente tiene un significado; no dos. 5. Si dicen que todos somos pecadores y seguimos pecando, entonces léele en I Jn. 3: 9 que dice que al ser salvos ya íuio NO SIGUE PECANDO, 52 B. EL ESPIRITU SANTO 1. Pregúntele si ha recibido el Espíritu Santo y hablado en lenguas? La respuesta será un "no" y quizas digan que éso ya se acabó y que fué para "aquellos" días primitivos de la iglesia, Y para probar su punto quinas citarán I Cor. 13:8. Este texto es el único que tienen para "probar"(según ellos) que las "lenguas" ya se acabaron. 2. Usted conteste: "Sí, es cierto que se acabarían las lenguas, pero el texto dice que juntamente con las lenguas se acabarían las "profecias," y la '"ciencia." Luego pregúntele: "¿Se ha acabado la ciencia? Si no, entonces tampoco se han acabado las "lenguas." Lo que Pablo quería decir es que TODO esto se acabaría cuando uno entre a estar con Cristo. "Lo perfecto" que menciona Pablo es aquello que está en el cielo, y "lo que sabemos en parte" es lo que conocemos aqui en la tierra. Y Pablo mismo dijo que él(Pablo) vería esto "perfecto." Y esto se refería al día cuando vería a Cristo "cara a cara" y conocería las cosas como realmente son. Y es en este estado "perfecto" que ya no habría necesidad de "ciencia, profecia, o lenguas", pero solamente el "amor" seguiría adelante. El AMOR nunca se acabaría. 3» Otro punto para probar que el Espíritu Santo(con lenguas) es para HOY es el texto en Hechos 2:17. El Espíritu Santo fué profetizado por Joel(2:28) quien dijo qué este derramamiento del espíritu Santo sería para los "últimos días." Ahora pregúntele si estamos en los "últimos días" o no. Y siempre dirán que sí. Pregúntele si han terminado los "últimos días." La respuesta es "no." Entonces si todavía estamos en los "últimos días" entonces esta experiencia del Espíritu Santo es para HOY, porque fué prometido para estos "últimos días." 4. Y luego para darle más fuerza explique Hechos 2:38-39• Pedro dice que se "arrepientan" para ser salvos, y que se “báutizen," y luego recibirán el "Don" del Espíritu Santo. Y luego dice que este "don"(ya sea el Don del Espíritu Santo) es para vosotros(v. 39), y para vuestros HIJOS, y para TODOS los que están lejos, y para CUANTOS(aqui vamos incluido nosotros) el Señor nuestro Dios llamare. 5. Anime al Testigo de Jehova a buscar este Don del Espíritu Santo si todavía no lo ha recibido. C. OTRAS DOCTRINAS FALSAS DE LOS TESTIGOS: 1. Testigos Dicen: Que la iglesia de Cristo se compone de 144-,000 personas(Apoc. 7:4-8) y que ésta iglesia es la de los Testigos de Jehova(la única verdadera iglesia). BIBLIA DICE: Los 144-, 000 son Judios que serán salvos durante la Gran Tribulación. Y son de las 12 tribus de Israel, y menciona 12,000 de cada vina de las 12 tribus(Apoc. 7:4-8)e Si insiten que ellos son los 144,000, pregúnteles a cúal tribu pertenecen ellcs. 2. TESTIGOS DICEN: Que la Bibla no es la única autoridad del Cristiano. Que se necesita leer y estudiar los escritos del fundador Sr. Russell, que se llaman "Estudios en las Escrituras. Según ellos "Si uno se guía solamente por la Biblia, irá en completa obscuridad en dos años." Dicen que los "Estudios en las Escrituras" son la llave de la Biblia. BIBLIA DICE: Las Santas Escrituras son la única autoridad infalible del Cristiano. Se deben leer, estudiar, y vivir por ellas. Todo lo que no se halla en la Biblia se puede dudar y no creer. (Salmo 119:105; Jn. 8:14; Gal.l: 8-9; Jn. 20:30-31; Apoc.22:18-19; Hechos 17:11. 53 3. TESTIGOS DICEN: Que la segunda venida de Cristo, según el fundador, Sr. Russell, tomó lugar en 1878, y según su sucessor, el Sr. Rutherford, tomó lugar en 1914» Dicen que Cristo solamente volvió al mundo en Espíritu( o en presencia) y no en forma física o visible. BIBLIA DICE: a. Ni Cristo, ni su Espíritu volvieron en 1914 (o 1878). Cristo todavía no vuelve al mundo. Su espíritu está aqui, y ha estado aqui desde que se fué del mundo la primera vez...Mateo 28:20, y Marcos 16:20. Sh, ¿Cómo vendrá el Señor la Segunda vez? Vendrá visiblemente, y con cuerpo. Hechos 1:11; Zach. 14.: 4; Mateo 24:27-30 II Thessa. 1:7; I Thessa 4:16-17; I Jn. 3:2; Apoc. 1:7 4. TESTIGOS DICEN: Que no hay un lugar de castigo o tormenta eterna; que el c astigo eterno es ser aniquilado eternamente, y cuando uno ha sido muerto o aniquilado eternamente, lino no siente nada, ni está conciente de lo que le ha pasado, ni uno sufre tormenta, porque ya uno ha sido aniquilado eternamente» BIBLIA DICE: Que hay un "lago de fuego" donde van las almas de los pecadores. En este "lago de guefo" las almas están concientes de todo. Pueden hablar, pensar, y se acuerdan de sus hechos en la tierra, y están en tormenta día y noche, y sufirirán por toda la eternidad y no habrá fin de esto. (Apoc. 20:10-15); Apoc. 14:11; Matt. 25:46; Marcos 9:43; Apoc. 21:8 5. TESTIGOS DICEN (Acerca de la Salvación) Que Cristo no murió para salvar al mundo; no murió por nosotros; no fue nuestro substituto. Ellos niegan el sacrificio expiatorio. Dicen que Cristo perdonó solamente el pecado de uno, es decir, Man, y que a nosotros solamente nos "libra de la herencia del pecado de Adán." BIBLIA DICE: a. Cristo perdonó a todos los que le aceptan; Cristo murió por todo el mundo; Cristo fué el substituto de Todo aquel que cree en El. (Isa. 53:4-6; Jn. 1:29; I Jxu. 2:2¿ II Cor. 5:14-15; Heb. 1:3; 2:9; I Ped. 2:24; Apoc. 5:9; I Cor. 15:3-4 b. ¿Qué era necesario para hacer posible ls Salvación? Lucas 24:47 Que^Cristo padeciera en la Cruz y que resucitara. c. ¿Qué era necesario para que uno se pudiera salvar? Lucas 24:47 Que uno se arrepientese y ejerciera "Fe" en Cristo Jesús» 6. TESTIGOS DICEN: Que Jesús está actualmente gobernando el mundo; que comenzó en 1914, y que^el mundo se está mejorando bajo el gobierno de Cristo. Por supuesto que Cristo está gobernando en el mundo espiritualmente y nadie le ve. BIBLIA DICE: Si Cristo está gobernando, entonces Cristo es mal gobernador, porque desde 1914 ha habido más guerras que nunca. La tíiblia dice que cuando Cristo venga, traerá mil años de paz. (Apoc. 20:1-3. y 19:11-21). Ahora no hay paz en el mundo porque Cristo no esta gobernando. El que está gobernando el mundo es Satan (Ef. 6:12) . 7. TESTIGOS DICEN: " Que Cristo no fué Dios, solamente un "hombre perfecto." Asi que Jesús no era Divino, ni fué Dios encarnado, solamente un "hijo de Dios." BIBLIA DICE: Jesús fué, y es, Divino, y por lo tanto es Dios en la carne, y fué el "Hijo unigénito de £)ios." Juan 1:1; Heb. 1:8; Rom. 9:5; I Jn. 5:20; Jn. 1:3 # 54 PARA MEMORIZAR WA INTRODUCCION 1. Muy Buenos días ¿ Me llano .Alex Basan, y ni conpañero se llana Juan Café, Pertenecenos a un grupo de Juventud en Marcha, y henos venido de diferentes estados del país a ósta ciudad para ¿arles un Mensaje de "Buena Voluntad." ¿Nos permitirá unos cuántos minutos de su tiempo para hablar con usteo. acerca de esto? (Mueve la cabeza y sonriese) 2. Good Morning, I’m Anita Bazan and ny friend here is Sylvia. We are with a group of ycung people that have come from different parts of the country, and we have come to bring you a message of Good,Will, if you would just give us a few minutes of your time. ít', it alright? CUERPO DE CONVERSACION T. ¿Que diria usted" qiíe es la necesidad más grande del sér humano? (Espere una respuesta. Que contesten lo que quieren, usted siga con la siguiente frase.) 2. Dios dice que la necesidad más grande del sór humano es tener una experiencia de Salvación. (NO espere respuesta, Inmediatament , siga con la siguiente frase.,) 3. ¿Había usted pensado seriamente en alguna ocasión sobre su necesidad de Salvación? (Espero respuesta, y siga con la , siguiente frase.) ¿Estaría bien si leyese algunas cuántas escrituras para ver lo quo Dios-dice acerca de la Salvación? ¿Podríanos hacer esto? (Muevo la cabeza y sonriese). LA CONCLUSION (The nist inp-,rtant question to nake) 1. ¿Quisiera usted AHORA MISMO invitar a Cristo a su corazón? 2. Would you like to open your heart RIGIIT NOW and let Christ come in? TEXTOS DE SEGURIDAD I Juan 5:11-12 Juan 3:36 Apoc. 3:20 55 CONSEJEROS ESPIRITUALES Instrucciones sobre "La Continuación del Esfuerzo Inicial) (Part II) INTRODUCTION A. Por qué hay tantos reincidentes? La razón PRINCIPAL es la falta de "CONTINUACION." Cuando logramos que un alma se salve apenas henos hecho el 5% del trabajo. Todavia se necesita hacer el 95% del trabajo. El 5% del trabajo es su "nacimiento espiritual," y el 95% del trabajo es "criarlo ospiritualnente" hasta que llegue a ser un Cristiano adulto, maduro, fuerte, y fiel. Y ¿qué es más trabajo? Que una madre dé a luz una criatura, o que lo críe por unos 20 años. Ya se entiende que es más trabajo(95%) criar ésa criatura hasta que sólito pueda cuidarse a sí mismo y sollto puede hacer su vida. Y en el sentido espiritual es lo mismo. Nace una criatura, fue salva. Y luego empieza el trabajo de alimentar, de protejer, de enseñar, y de formar la vida de ese recien convertido. Los primeros 6 meses son los más importantes porque aqui se está formando el caracter espiritual de la persona) aqui es cuando se forma su vida espiritual. Y si comienza bien crecerá bien, pero si comienza mal puede seguir mal toda su vida Cristiana. B. ¿SERÁ BIBLICO HACER ESTE TRABAJO DE LA "CONTINUACION DEL ESFUERZO INICIAL?" 1. Sí es Bíblico. Y la Evangelizacion de un alma no es completa sin esto. Mateo 28:18-20 nos enseña esto. Cristo primero nos mando por todo el mundo para hacer convertidos. Y Despues nos dice: "enseñándoles que guarden todo lo que os he mandado." Esta es la continuación del esfuerzo inicial, y es cuando se le enseña al nuevo convértido todas las cosas <jue Cristo mando. a. Y Siendo que la Gran Comision incluye el plan de "continuación", si no hacemos este trabajo no estamos obedeciendo completamente la Gran Comision. 2. Pablo usó esto plan extensamente. Su éxito dependo mucho de la "continuación de su esfuerzo inicial." Hech. H:21-22; Hech. 15:32,41 3. Las Espistolas de Pablo, realmente fueron "cartas de continuación". Pablo osctibe a las iglesias que había establecido para "ver" cómo seguían, y para enseñarles las cosas que debían saber y corregir. C. ¿QUÉ DEBE INCLUIR UN PLAN DE "CONTINUACION DE UN ESFUERZO INICIAL?" 1. Despues de que una persona "acepte" a Cristo, se le debe hacer la primera visita dentro de 24 horas. Uno no sabe lo que el Diablo puede hacer en este tiempo y siendo que la persona es un "bebe espiritual" hay que ver por él muy pronto. a. Luego dentro de 7 días se le hace la Segunda Visita. Y despues de esto cada 7 días se le hace una visita. b. El plan que presentamos consiste en hacele por lo menos 6 visitas. En cada visita se le explica algo nuevo que él debe saber. c. Si en las 6 visitas que uno le hace la persona todavía no viene a la iglesia entonces se le debe seguir visitando cada semana hasta que ya venga. Y lo que puede hacer en estas visitas es leerle un capitulo de San Juan en cada visita, y tener un tiempo de oración con él, 2. Son en estas visitas de continuación dónde el nuevo convertido aprende, y se alimenta; donde lo protejenos del Diablo y le guiamos. D. DEBERES DE LOS CONSEJEROS ESPIRITUALES: 1. Visitar al convertido, (las 6 visitas y seguir hasta donde sea necesario). 2. Orar por el convertido todos los días. 3. Cuidarlo espiritualmente; alimentarlo, y hacerse responsable por él espiritualmenl 56 LAS SEIS (6) VISITAS DEL "PLAN DE CONTINUACION" PRIMERA VISITA (lo que se debe hacer en esta visita) 1. Darle y explicarle el tratado: "Ahora que soy Cristiano" 2. Decirle que lea el Evangelio de San Juan, y también el librito: ¿Y Ahora Que? 3. Presentar el texto que se debe aprender: Juan 1:12 (tiene 7 días para aprenderlo) U» Hablarle sobre el significado de la Salvación, y lo que ha recibido. SEGUNDA VISITA 1. Darle y explicarle el tratado: "Ahora que soy Cristiano debo Orar." 2. Hablarle sobre la ORACION, y sobre la TENTACIÜN. 3. Darle el texto para aprender: I Cor. 10:13 (explíquele el texto) TERCERA VISITA 1. Darle y explicarle el tratado: "Ahora que soy Cristiano debo Leer la Biblia." 2. Hablarlo sobre la importancia de leer la Biblia. También enseñele la estructura de la Biblia, os decir, las dos divisiones, los capítulos, los versículos, y la manera de buscar algo en la Biblia, porque muchos no saben hacer esto. 3. Darle el texto para aprender: I Ped. 2:2. CUARTA VISITA 1. Darle y explicarle el tratado: "Ahora que soy Cristiano debo ser Bautizado." 2. Hablarle sobre el bautismo en agua, y también sobre la necesidad de asistir a una iglesia. 3. Darle el t£xto para aprender: I Cor. 12:12 QUINTA VISITA 1. Darle y explicarle el tratado: "Ahora que soy Cristiano debo ser Testigo." 2. Hablarle sobro La importancia do sor un "Testigo de Cristo." 3. Pregúntelo'si está leyendo el Evangelio de Juan y el Libro ¿Y Ahora 3,ue? Darle el texto para aprender: Col. 3:23 SEXTA VISITA 1. Darle y explicarle el tratado: "Ahora que soy Cristiano debo ser lleno del Espiritu Santo. 2. Hablarle sobre el Bautismo del Espiritu Santo, y la importancia de tenor esta experiencia. 3. Darle el texto para aprender: Hechos 1:8 NOTA: Para este tiempo esta alna ya debe estar asistiendo a la iglesia, pero esto no significa que ya no hay que visitarlo. Algunos crecen más despacio que otros y algunos son más debiles que otros. El "Consejero Espiritual" todavía seguirá siendo el consejero, protector, y ayudador de esta alma. Ahora si es necesario seguir visitando esta alma, entonces lo que se debe hacer en las visitas sucesivas es leer un capítulo del Evangelio de San Juan en cada visita, y explicarle cada versiculo, según el Espíritu Santo le ilimuni. Y luego en la siguiente visita se lee el capítulo 2, y en La tercera visita el c capítulo 3 y etc. Noten que en cada visita se debe orar con el recien convertido. UNA OBSERVACION: El que hace el trabajo de un "Consejero espiritual" estará haciendo haciendo lo qie el Apóstol San Pablo hacia. Primero Pablo hacia nuevos convertidos y despues el volvia a ésos lugares "confirmando la fe" de los creyentes. Asi que este sistema es Bíblico porque lo usó el Apostol San Pablo. (riechos I4-:21-22, NOTEN: No decimos que todos estos que han "aceptado a Cristo" están bien convertidos, sino solo decimos que han tomado el Primer paso hacia la Salvación, y si siguen en ésa dirección con seguridad que serán Salvos. 57 58 "Betani S "" t8h Assembly 1600 5tll Sl N.W., Albuq 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111