The Way Of The Master

This book is a response to why some 90% of those who claim to accept Christ end up leaving the church. The auther, Ray Comfort, makes a good case for what he sees as the reason: in the last century or so, the presentation of the gospel has been watered down by evangelicals so that there is very little talk of the fear of the Lord, hell, sin, repentance or the lordship of Christ. The gospel is generally presented as a life-improvement scheme, whereby it seems that Christ's main purpose in living as a man, being brutally beaten and then crucified, bearing our sins upon the cross and enduring the wrath of the Father, then rising from the dead was basically so that we can be happier people. (In a youth Sunday school class that I taught yesterday, I asked why Christ came and died. The answer that was given: so that we could have a better life.)As receiving Christ so often does not result in "a happier life," it is no wonder that people don't stick around. The reality is not what they were offered and it isn't what they want.Comfort argues that people need to be made aware of the justice of God and the fact that they are going to be judged by a holy and just God according to whether they have obeyed God's law or not, as "sin is the transgression of the law" (1 John 3.4). Citing the methods of many past evangelists and preachers such as Luther and Spurgeon, he argues that it is fundamental to lay the groundwork of the Law as summed up in the Ten Commandments before presenting the gospel because, as the Bible says, the functions of the Law are to 1) to shut the mouths of sinners in justifying themselves, 2) show people what sin is and 3) show people their need for Christ (Rom. 3.19-20, 7.7; Galatians 3.24). Once people have seen their need for Christ, they will be ready to truly accept God's grace, repent of their sins and receive Christ as their Savior and Lord, even if that means going through difficulties as a result.However, Comfort argues, the failure of the church to help people see what terrible sinners they are and what a horrible thing it is to be judged by a just and holy God leads to false conversions. He discusses the parables and passages that show there are many false Christians in the church. So, why is there such an alarming number of people who backslide and leave the church? Because they haven't really undergone a true conversion to begin with. And unfortunately, as a result, their hearts are often hardened to the gospel in the future.I found the book to be very soundly reasoned and very biblically based. The version I got had comments by Kirk Cameron inserted within the text. At times the comments were a bit annoying as they could interfere with the flow of the text, but sometimes they were useful. Overall, this is a message that is much needed by the church today and I would encourage everyone, especially pastors, to read it and carefully consider its implications for their particular church.

This book is no joke. In "The Way of the Master", Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron tell you the secret of Biblical evangelism, the type of evangelism that the modern church is so hesitant to practice because...well, it shows the importance of the lost being aware of and admitting how utterly helpless, sinful, wicked, and dependent we are. It doesn't skip, as the cheapened, feel good, health and wealth gospels being preached worldwide today do, the absolutely necessary aspect of the gospel, that we are sinners and are in desperate need of redemption before a perfect, holy, gracious and loving God. The focus of this book is showing the lost to what extent they fall short of the glory of God by way of something as simple as, yet as profound as the Ten Commandments. Often, it is only when the lost become aware of their completely depraved, sinful human nature, that they show an interest in and feel the need for considering Jesus as their savior. This book shows why the watered down gospel that is being preached in today's churches doesn't produce any fruit, because it promises things that Jesus never promised us in the first place. Jesus did not promise us financial abundance. He did not say that God has a wonderful plan for our lives. You know what he promised us? Suffering. We are promised suffering, and persecution for following Jesus. Jesus did not die on the cross for us to have a nice day. Jesus did not give us the Great Commission to make people happier. Jesus died on the cross so we could be saved from the lake of fire in which we deserve to be thrown for the infinite number of ways and forms we have committed sin against our perfect and holy God.This book really, really convicted me. There is absolutely no excuse why I am not sharing the gospel with my parents, my brother, my friends, my neighbors, and complete strangers!! How much do I love my family, my friends? How much do I love people? Ultimately, how much do I love God? How am I doing with the Great Commission? What do I treasure over doing my part in God's plan to save millions and millions of hell bound souls? The lack of me sharing my faith and bringing others to faith in Christ shows that I treasure comfort, I treasure my comfort zone, I treasure being thought well of, I treasure having a good reputation, I treasure being thought of as normal in this world, I treasure my pride, I treasure my life, my desires, myself, over playing a part in the saving of souls from the eternal fire of hell. This is a reality, a reality we must face. How much of our unbelief is going to keep us from doing what we know matters?This is not our life. It has been purchased with a price. A great price.

Ray Comfort has really hit the nail on the head! In this book you will learn the very best way to share the gospel of Christ that can’t be disputed in a non threatening way. Absolutely everyone should read this book and learn God’s plan for us. Kirk Cameron adds tons of wisdom as well. Highly recommended.

Wer sich fragt wie man als Christ evangelisieren soll. Hier ist die Antwort.In diesem Buch wird die biblische Art der Verkündigung dargestellt, erklärt und mit Beispielen erläutert.Ich empfehle jedem Christen dieses Buch zu lesen.

This book explores an approach to sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ which does not beat around the bush but drills down quickly to the heart of the matter: a matter of the heart. Instead of guessing WWJD (What Would Jesus Do?), it looks at WDJD (What Did Jesus Do?).A good and powerful read that promotes some soul searching.

Am reading it and being blessed mightily. Ray, thanks for standing firm for the Master.

This book is just what the church needs right now. I don't think I've read a more relevant book for our times, in Britain and America. I think one of our biggest obstacles to reaching people with the gospel is that so many people just don't care about Christ.They are completely apathetic. They merely bare with us and feel sorry that we believe what they think is a load of rubbish. They feel no personal need for Christ themselves. They cannot see how relevant and necessary Christ is for them. I really think this book and Ray's teachings do an awful lot to counter this postmodern attitude. Ray has the answer and all he's doing is showing us the way of the master - Jesus. How did Jesus deal with sinners? How did He reach people with the gospel? To the Bible! Let's follow in Christ's steps!Anyone who knows about Ray Comfort will know what this book is all about. It's about how we absolutely must use the Law of God (the Ten Commandments) in Evangelism. It teaches we cannot bring the gospel to people without first bringing them the Law of God. It's the bad news of how we've personally and specifically broken God's commandments which makes the good news of the gospel make sense to people. We have to show people God's Moral Standard. We must spell sin out and we do that using the Law of God. We are called to clearly impress upon people that they are guilty before God and in desperate need of the forgiveness God offers them through Christ alone. The Law of God makes Christ's work understandable. This makes Christ relevant to a society which doesn't think He is. It's the Law of God that shows people their true need of Jesus - there is no other way.I've read 'Hell's Best Kept Secret', I've listened to Ray preaching and I've seen his show 'Way of the Master'. So I'm very familiar with his approach. So I never expected this book to be so good nor to gain so much from it. But it is simply mind-blowing. It obviously emphasises what he teaches in all other contexts, but with incredible clarity and an enormous weight of argument. I can honestly say, without any doubt, that I've never read such a powerful book on evangelism and the gospel as this. It's been absolutely soul-inspiring. It's relit a fire in my heart which I think had previously almost gone out. It's so good that I've been thinking about what it teaches almost every waking moment and I've even dreamt about evangelising because of it. I'm determined before God to put into practice the teachings of this book for the rest of my life. That's how highly I recommend this incredibly life-transforming book. Every Church leader and every Christian ought to read it, probably more than once. You need to really soak in the contents of this book until it has become a part of you.I'm just so glad 'The Way of the Master' was written and I might add this is such an apt title. I really think this is THE book on evangelism by which to judge all others. It helps Christians to be confident in sharing the gospel properly and with real conviction. It will be a classic for years to come, if properly appreciated. And it's so incredibly engaging, simple and exciting to read that I read over 200 pages in about a week. It's that good. Read this and you'll soon see that it's obviously no wonder why God has so mightily used Ray's teachings.If you struggle to tell others about Jesus, then just buy this. At £7.99, it's a give-away. Satan will tear his hair out if the teachings in this book grab a hold of your heart and mind as has happened to me. God bless you Ray!10/10

Great book. Should be read by ALL!