Bezeugen BLOG

I was told recently by one of my Islamic friends that “the fact is” that Jesus never died “because it is stated in the Quran.”

I provide this information to refute his claim.

There are four Gospel accounts. All four were there and saw Jesus die. See Matthew 27:45-56, Mark 15:33-41, Luke 23:44-49 and John 19:28-37. Now after this happened there were a bunch of people who were eye witnesses. Their lives were changed and they began going around the region telling people what had happened. Obviously the other people in the region had seen the same things. Otherwise, these eye witnesses would have been rebuked and we would have written record of it.

Imagine it this way. You have heard of the earthquakes in Haiti, right? Well, I have not been to Haiti to see the destruction myself. However, people that I know have been there. We have 100’s of reports of what happened. Some reports indicate the destruction is worse than others. But, they don’t dispute that there was an earthquake. Now, let’s say 500 years from now someone comes along and says, “there was not an earthquake in Haiti. that destruction was caused by a strong wind.” No one would believe it because they have record of the eye witness accounts.

Yet, in the case of Jesus, some would believe that a book written over 500 years later, by a man who did not witness the account is more accurate than these eye witness accounts.

John 20:30-31 tells us

 30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

I’d like to invite you to read more about the Deity of Jesus and then listen to the Timothy Keller sermon, “Who is this Jesus” that is found on my web site. Then read the Gospel, repent and trust Jesus to save you.

Last summer, my wife had gone to the Trader Days in McKinney with a couple of her friends. She told me that there was a booth there with some Muslims sharing about Islam with people. We decided it was a good idea to go back so that I could talk with these men. I spoke with them for 20 minutes or so, but it was nearing the end of the day when I got to talk to them. I gave one of them my card so that we could talk more later. However, I’ve never heard from them since.

At another booth, I meet Wally. He had a booth sharing the Gospel using the Eye Test and the Way of the Master. Wally is also involved with Extreme Missionary Adventure. We exchanged contact information and agreed to keep in touch so we could do ministry together. Over the past couple of months, Wally and I have talked several times. He is now teaching Way of the Master Basic Training at his church. Once the class is instructed, he wants to be able to take the members out door to door so they can use what they have learned.

Wally and I agreed to meet on Saturday morning. Little did we know it would be one of the coldest days in Dallas this winter. Wally came to my house and we had some good fellowship and a cup of coffee before we headed out. As we walked down the alley from my house to the street, we had to be careful as the water in the alley had formed a thin sheet of ice. I shared with Wally my experiences going door to door. I told him how you could get any response from people not being home, to those that would allow you to share the Gospel. We experienced all of that in a short time.

In the first ten houses, nearly no one was home. This really surprised us since we figured the cold weather would have kept people home. We eventually were able to have three one on one conversations with people. At one house we had a good conversation with the woman that lives there. She readily admitted to breaking the commandments by dishonoring her mom and dad, stealing and lying. However, she said that when she is judged, “it would be based on the whole body of work of her life.” We explained to her that in a court room a judge does not do that. She agreed. However, she did not connect the dots to God. At that, she said it was too cold to continue the conversation so I gave her a “Why Christianity?” tract.

The last conversation was with a Catholic man. I asked him “as a Catholic, what do you think happens when you die?” He then explained to me how he hoped his good works would be enough get him to heaven. I explained to him difference between what he believes and the Biblical Gospel that says you must repent of your sins and trust solely in Jesus for salvation. He also took a tract.

We visited 26 houses, had 3 one on one conversations, got 3 prayer requests and gathered 19 food items. This brings the total number of houses visited to 663 with 176 one on one conversations. I have now collected 110 prayer requests and 588 food items.

Thanks for your continued prayer and support.

Are you ready to start going door to door in your neighborhood? Could you commit to sharing the Gospel with everyone on your street? Everyone on your block? Everyone in your zip code? Everyone in your city? Pray about it. If God leads you to get started then please contact me so we can discuss it and add you to the door to door map.

On Saturday, January 30th, The Harlem Globetrotters will have two performances in Dallas at the American Airlines Center. My sons and I went to this event last year and handed out a lot of tracts. It is a very family friendly environment with lots of kids. This year there are two shows. One at 11AM and the other at 2:30 PM. The plan is to do an outreach between the two performances. This way we will catch those that are leaving the first show and those that are coming to the second show. The video below shows my sons handing out tracts at last years Harlem Globetrotters event.

My suggestion is to park in the West End. There is a parking lot on the west side of Houston St where you can park all day for $2. The address is around 400 N Houston and is marked as location A on the map. Once you park, walk up to Victory Plaza on the south side of the American Airlines Center. The walk is half a mile to the corner of Houston and Olive. Let’s meet there at noon. Assuming that each show is about two hours, then people should start coming out of the first show shortly after that.

View Larger Map
Basically, all of the sidewalks that surround the American Airlines Center are good spots to hand out tracts. Three of the best spots we have found are marked as B, C and D on the map. We open air preached with amplification at point C in December from the NE corner of that intersection. We have had many great one on one conversations with people near the box office located near point D. And we have had great tract distribution near point B and even on the SE corner of that same intersection in the past. You will want to avoid handing out tracts while inside of the Victory Plaza area, however, it should be okay to engage people in one on one conversations there.

We can engaged in the following types of witnessing:

• Open Air Preaching
• Project Ezra – Be praying about which chapter(s) from List 5 to read. This includes any chapters from Job, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon. Of course you are free to read any other chapters of the Bible that you like as well.
• One on One conversations
• Tract distribution – bring whatever family friendly and kid friendly tracts you have. Million Dollar Bills should be especially popular.

With the second show starting at 2:30, let’s wrap up and meet back at point B (Olive and Houston) at 3PM. We can have some prayer and fellowship there and then head home.

Please let me know if we should be looking for you to join us on Saturday.

As I have been going door to door, I’ve handed out a lot of tracts and booklets. I’ve been praying about what other resources to provide people. So I ordered copies of Why Christianity on DVD from Living Waters. When ordered in bulk (10 or more) you can get these for just $2 a each! I’ve been carrying these with me for the last couple of times out going door to door. Today I was able to give away the first two copies. 


The first DVD went to Andrew. He is an agnostic. His dad was a Buddhist and his mom is Roman Catholic. Andrew was not sure if there is enough evidence to believe in God. I talked to him about creation and the evidence that the Bible manuscripts are true. Then I took him to the Law and walked him through the good test. He admitted that he had lied, stolen, blasphemed God and lusted. He agreed that if God exists, then he would go to hell.He said that his motto is “live and let live.” And I shared with him that that verse agrees with what the Bible says in John 3:19, “And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, andpeople loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.” I offered him the DVD along with a challenge that he needs to decide what is true and not just what he believes. 


Two houses later, I meet Nathan. When I asked him if he believed in God, he said, “I am a Jehovah Witness.” Rather than immediately challenging him on who Jesus is, I asked if he would go to heaven and then took him through the Ten Commandments. I reminded him that the command is “to be perfect as your father in heaven is perfect.” He admitted to lying and hatred which is murder. When we started to talk about hell, he said, he was busy and needed to go. So I asked if he would watch a DVD and he said he would. So I gave him a copy of Why Christianity too.

I was able to visit 43 other houses. I had 9 other one on one conversations. I gathered four prayer requests. And I collected a whole cart full of food to donate to MetroCrest Social Services.


My Challenge to You
May I challenge you to take the step to go door to door in your neighborhood. Do a food drive. Ask for prayer requests. Then ask if they believe in God. See where the conversation goes and share the Gospel with them. Give them a tract. Or simply leave the tract on the door when they are not home. We never know which will fall on the good soil.

If you live around Dallas, why not come with me sometime soon. Get some hands on experience going door to door, then start doing the same in your neighborhood. If you are not close by, then feel free to contact me, leave a comment or check out the door to door recourses on the Bezeugen web site and this BLOG for guidance on getting started. Once you decide to cover your neighborhood, city or zip code, let me know and I’ll add you to the map. May God be glorified as we share the Gospel door to door!

In my previous post, I described how my garage is overstocked with Evangelism resources. In addtion to those resources, I also have a stock of books and DVDs that need to be put to use. They do no good sitting in boxes. They need to be in the hands of my Christian friends to equip them for reaching the lost! Bezeugen Ministries is a non-profit entity. For a donation to Bezeugen, we will ship you these Evangelism equiping resources. To take advantage of any of these offers, please contact Carl with your name and address and then make a donation to Bezeugen Ministries.

One Thing You Can’t Do in Heaven – OUT OF STOCK

This is Mark Cahill’s first book. It is an excellent read providing many insights into ways to reach people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. By reading this book you will gain wonderful insight into creative ways to share the Gospel. I find myself reading to and listening to the audio over and over again. I would say, this is truly one of the “must have” resources for the Evangelist. For a suggested donation of at $5 to cover our cost of shipping, we will ship this book to you in the US. Please note, that since we paid for these books, we are giving them to you and only asking your donation to cover our cost of shipping!

The Complete Christian and Face Your Fears DVDs with study guides

The Great News Network produced these two DVDs. They sell each DVD for $9.99. On our web site, we offer the DVDs for a suggested donation on $10. However, we need to get these DVDs into your hands. So we are now offering BOTH DVDs together with study guides for a suggested donation of just $5 to cover the cost of our shipping priority mail (within the US).

The Complete Christian provides an insightful look into the lives of Christians and shows that the one thing that Christ commands (sharing our faith) is often missing in the lives of those who call themselves believers. We invite you to check out this preview then order the DVD. We hope and pray that you will take the challenge to become a complete Christian!

Face Your Fears is the second DVD. This put’s it all together showing a witnessing encounter where the Christian overcomes the fears and shares the Gospel with a co-worker. Do you want to overcome your fears and learn how to share the Gospel Biblically and effectively? Then order a copy of this DVD today!

My garage is overstocked with Evangelism resources. They do no good sitting in boxes. They need to be in the hands of my evangelist friends who will put them in the hands of the lost! Bezeugen Ministries is a non-profit entity. For a donation to Bezeugen, we will ship you these Evangelism resources. To take advantage of any of these offers, please contact Carl with your name and address and then make a donation to Bezeugen Ministries.


Witnessing to Jews

A previous BLOG entry describes how we are witnessing to Israeli Jews at the malls. We ordered a large supply of Why Me books in Hebrew. These books cost us roughly $3.50 each in shipping from Israel. I am packaging these three at a time and including the Green Card tract. We will ship three of these books to you (priority mall within the US) for a suggested donation of $15 to cover our costs.

Special note: If you are not a believer in Jesus Christ and you read Hebrew, I would be pleased to ship you a free copy of this book. (while supplies last).

The Origin of Species

In November 2009, Living Waters organized the Origin into Schools project to distribute over 170,000 copies of The Origin of Species books with a special introduction by Ray Comfort. Around the same time, I ordered an additional case of books to hand out. I did a small origin project at the park and handed out about half a case of books in half an hour. However, I still have about a dozen books left. The book retails at Living Waters for $4.99. I’ll ship a copy to you priority mail (US addresses only) for a suggested donation of $5.

Special note: If you are an atheist, I would be pleased to ship you a free copy of this book to a US address. (While supplies last)

On Saturday night, fellow Ambassadors’ Academy #10 alumni, Adam, Brady and I, as well Shane and John went to Oklahoma City to witness prior to the Oklahoma City Thunder NBA basketball game. The only hesitation we had about going was the forecasted temperature of around 19 degress (F)! But we remember that the Bible says to preach the gospel “in season” and “out of season”. The forecast was correct. Brady and I discussed the possibility of going to a mall and doing one on one conversations with people, however, in the end, as Brady put it, “we can’t give up the opportunity to preach!” Maybe it is just something about planning witnessing events in Oklahoma. Last September, Shane and I preached the gospel in the pouring rain!

We met an hour and fifteen minutes before tip off. The Ford Center is located along Reno Avenue just south of the convention center. The city blocks off Reno Avenue so that people can cross from the parking lot under the convention center. We set up our preaching box about fifty feet from the front door that faces the convention center. This proved to be a good location as we were able to catch people coming from the east, from the convention center, coming from the south and even some from the west (although I think there is another entry on the west end).

We took turns preaching the Law and the Gospel. See picture above of Brady on the box! At one point Adam and John took one of the preaching boxes down to the corner and were also doing open air there. In all we preached for over two hours. It was surprising that even after the time when the game would have started, people were still coming. But, after two hours the crowd was thinning out and we were all sufficiently frozen. So we called it a night and headed to Bricktown to share some pizza and fellowship. We estimated over dinner that we had handed out over 1000 Gospel tracts!

After dinner as we headed for the car, Brady had a nice one on one with a couple of teenagers!

A great night of sharing the Gospel. I’m already looking forward to my next trip to Oklahoma so we can go out and do it again.

On January 2, 2010 the Cotton Bowl game was played at the new Dallas Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. This was the first Cotton Bowl played away from the actual Cotton Bowl stadium at the Dallas Fair Grounds. There were at least ten of us (including three from Lost Cause Ministries) there to open air preach, share the gospel and distribute gospel tracts. In all, we handed out over 4,000 gospel tracts!

Manuel has posted his thoughts on the event on his BLOG. I expect that Jon will post an update on The Lost Cause Ministries BLOG as well.

On New Years Day, I started off the year by going door to door in my neighborhood. I was not sure how it would be received given that it was a holiday. However, I ended up having some great one on one conversations, gathered prayer requests and collected the largest amount of food in a single day yet!

The picture at the right shows the wagon full of food that I collected. That’s right – my cart has become too small to carry the generous donations of food, so I am now using my wagon (that I’ve had since I was a kid) to carry the food home.

The table below shows the progress over the past three door to door outings as well as the totals since I started going door to door.

It’s that time of year when people often make New Years Resolutions. So here is a question for you. Can you name TEN of the top New Year resolutions?

Answer (in no particular order): 1. Lose Weight, 2. Stop Smoking, 3. Go Greener, 4. Upgrade My Technology, 5. Change Career, 6. Get Organized, 7. Start a New Hobby, 8. Get Out of Debt, 9. Spend More Time with Family, 10. Help Others.

Each of these has to do with changing the way you think and act about something. God wants you to change the way you think and act about His Law, the Ten Commandments. The Bible says, “it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment” (based on the Ten Commandments). How many lies have you told? Have you ever stolen anything? Ever hated someone? Jesus calls hatred murder! Ever looked with lust? Jesus calls lust adultery. Innocent or guilty? Heaven or hell? God does not want you to go to hell. He sent His only son Jesus Christ to fulfill the Law. Being fully God and fully man, Jesus lived a perfect life. He died on a cross to pay for your sin. Then He rose from the dead, defeating sin, death and the devil. God commands all people everywhere to repent and trust in Jesus (Mark 1:15, Acts 17:30-31). Consider making repentance and trust in Jesus your number one resolution this year!

If you have resolved to repent of your sin and trust Jesus for salvation, then please post a comment or contact me so that we can be praying for you.

What if I already did that? (or if I just did)
Maybe you have already repented of your sins and put your trust in Jesus Christ. Or maybe you just did! In that case, let me offer another suggestion for your New Year resolution: resolve to share the Gospel more next year than you did last year! Look at Jesus’ words from Matthew 28:

¹⁶Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. ¹⁷And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. ¹⁸And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

This “Great Commandment” was not issued only to the few believers that were there at Christs assension. It literally is a command that means to keep doing it until told to stop. When will the command to stop come? When Christ returns. In the meantime, each day, we are one day closer to the day of His return and therefore the urgency to share the Gospel increases each day too.In verse 19, Jesus says to “Go.” This literally means, “as you go.” Earlier this year, I wrote a series of blog posts about this subject. If you need some understanding of the importance of evangelism and how to get started, then please review the As You Go series online.

As you resolve to share your faith more in 2010, let me offer you a few practical ways that Bezeugen can help you.

First, we offer the Bezeugen Tract Club. As a member, we will send you 30 Gospel tracts per month absolutely free along with some encouragement on how to hand them out. The idea is to distribute one each day. Will you resolve to do that? Enroll online today!

Second, Bezeugen offers monthly evangelism training. Our next seminar is on Thursday, January 21 at The Escape coffee shop in Carrollton, TX. To maximize your time at the seminar you may like to review the first six parts of the As You Go series and then check the Biblical Basis for Evangelism and the Evangelism Quotes pages. We’d love to buy you a cup of coffee at the seminar. If you can’t make it on the 21st, then please watch the seminar web site for announcements of future dates. Or, if you’d like to host an Evangelism Seminar at your home, church or small group then please contact me.

Third, we offer witnessing events about once a month. Whether it is going to a parade, concert or sporting event, we hit the streets, hand out tracts, have one on one conversations and preach the Gospel. Why not join us for one or more of these events.

Finally, consider subscribing to our weekly email list, The Bezeugen Blast. Here you will keep updated with witnessing tips, prayer requests and our testimonials as we hit the streets.

If you have resolved to share the Gospel more in 2010, please post a comment so that we can be praying for your commitment!