Here’s some statistics I heard from our pastor the other day:

* More than 43 million Christians have been killed for their faith since the crucifixion of Jesus.
* It’s been estimated that more Christians have been martyred in the 20th Century than in all the prior 1,900 years combined.
* There have been more than 26 million documented cases of martyrdom in this century alone.
* More than 200 million Christians in over 60 nations face persecution each day, 60% of these are children.
* 150,000 to 165,000 are martyred each year.

Christians today are the most persecuted group in the world. Persecution is on the rise because of the expansion of Islamic and Hindu extremism, and because of the anti-Christ spirit that is prevalent throughout the world.

Makes me appreciate more the “This shirt is Illegal” Christian T-Shirt we offer. As it says, there are many places in the world where just sharing Christ is a crime!

Of the world’s over six billion people: 151 million claim to be atheists, 2 billion are Christians, 1.2 billion are Muslims, 786 million are Hindus and 362 million are Buddhists.

Literally hundreds of thousands of people today are being killed, brutalized, sold as slaves, imprisoned, tortured, threatened, discriminated against and arrested solely because they are Christians.

We’re told by Jesus to go out into the whole world and tell others about the Good News?

But just how can we do that?

Here’s my top ten suggestions on how to share Christ with a nonbeliever.

1. Look for common interests. With most people, it does little good to hit people over the head with a Bible. Instead, talk about common interests, problems, experiences. In other words, build a relationship.

2. Listen more than you talk for the first few minutes. Ask questions. How did that make you feel? What did you think about then? Then what? Open -ended questions are always the best.

3. Empathize. Sympathize. Let your eyes and body language convey to the person that you are listening and understand. Don’t pass judgment. Don’t ever say “I know just how you feel.” you don’t.

4. Ask questions that let you go for Biblical direction. “Have you read what the Bible says about this?” Or “Can we see what the Bible says about this?” Always present the Bible as an authoritative resource. Try some humor.You know the acronym for BIBLE: Basic…Instructions…Before…Leaving…Earth.

5. Share your story. Tell about your life BC - Before Christ. And your life AC - After Christ. Learn to be able to give your personal testimony in three minutes or left.

6. Don’t be afraid to say you don;t know the answer to a particular question or problem. Offer to check it out and promise to get back with an answer or scriptural reference. And do so.

7. Remember your witness. Often, before a friend or coworker seeks spiritual counsel, they’ve been watching you for weeks. If you stress out or lose your temper, apologize. No one expects you to be perfect. It’s how you handle difficulties that often open the door for a conversation.

8. Seek out open doors for a continuing dialogue. Don’t try to deal with every issue in one meeting.Take time to discuss one or two in depth. Try to arrange follow up discussion times.

9. Invite them to church. There they can find true spiritual community. Offer to pick them up and drive them and treat them to lunch afterwards.

10. Practice lifestyle evangelism. Have a Bible always handy. Wear Christian T-shirts or jewelry where appropriate. Many a spiritual conversation has started because of a Christian T-shirt.

The Christian fish symbol, known as the Ichthus dates back to as early as the first and second century A.D. The symbol is not just a sticker that people put on their bumpers or a charm on a necklace, it has a much deeper meaning and is very significant to both early Christians and the Christians of today.

Ichthus, also spelled ichthys is the Greek word for fish. The spelling in Greek is IXOYE for Iota, Chi, Theta, Upsilon, and Sigma which mean Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior. Read the rest of this entry »

For anyone who holds that the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ was a man-made hoax conspired by a group of disciples should check out what happened to them.

It verifies the truth of the Bible.

For 11 of the 12 apostles, and many thousands of other early Christians, died for believing this story.

This is dramatic, since they all witnessed the events of Jesus and still went to their deaths defending their faith.

Why is this dramatic, when many throughout history have died martyred deaths for a religious belief?

Because people don’t die for a lie. Look at human nature throughout history. No conspiracy can be maintained when life or liberty is at stake. Dying for a belief is one thing, but numerous eyewitnesses dying for a known lie is quite another.

Here is an account of early Christian persecution, as compiled from numerous sources outside the Bible, the most famous of which is Foxes’ Christian Martyrs of the World… Read the rest of this entry »

Let me tell you something here that will blow you away: Some years ago, a scientist named Peter Stoner took just eight of Old Testament prophesies about Jesus and used scientific principles of calculation to try and determine the odds of them being fulfilled.

The eight were pretty straightforward predictions:

That the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem; enter Jerusalem on a donkey; be betrayed by a friend; who would be paid 30 pieces of silver; make no defense before his accuser; have his hands and feet pierced and die by crucifixion surrounded by thieves. Those eight prophesies, and 292 others, are made in the Old Testament—written hundreds and hundreds of years BEFORE Jesus was born.

Now what do you think the odds of them being fulfilled were?

I quote from a report done by Peter Stoner in a book called Science Speaks, the conclusions and methods of which have been carefully examined and endorsed by a prestigious group of scientists, members of the American Scientific Affiliation.

I quote: “We find that the chance that any man might have lived down to the present time and fulfilled all eight prophesies is 1 in 10-to-the-seventeeth power.”

That would be one in the number 100, followed by 15 zeros.

In order for us to comprehend this staggering probability, Stoner illustrates it by supposing that quote “we take 10-to-the-seventeenth power in silver dollars and lay them on the face of Texas. They will cover all of the state two feet deep. Now, mark one of these silver dollars and stir the whole mass thoroughly, all over the state. Blindfold a man and tell him that he can travel as far as he wishes, but he must pick up one silver dollar and say that this is the right one. What chance would he have of getting the right one.”

“Just the same chance that the prophets would have had of writing these eight prophesies and having them all come true in any one man.”

What a great illustration to share with your skeptical friends.

And then get them to watch this music video “All Things New” by Brad Paisley and Sara Evans:

In New Testament times, the Roman Road system was strategic in God’s plan. It enabled the spread of the Gospel throughout the then-known world. In the same way, the Internet today is a worldwide network which can facilitate effective Gospel communication.

April 27 has been designated Internet Evangelism Day – a worldwide focus day which aimed at empowering churches and other groups to use the Web to spread the Good news of Jesus Christ.

The outreach is sponsored by The Internet Evangelism Coalition (IEC) – an umbrella group of evangelical Christian organizations who share a vision for online outreach – is backing the IE Day and facilitating its promotion. Among members of the coalition are the American Tract Society, the Billy Graham Center, Campus Crusade for Christ and Evangelism Explosion.

By using free downloads from the Internet Evangelism Day website – PowerPoint, video clips, music, drama scripts or handouts – churches can demonstrate to their members the huge potential of the Web for evangelism.

Their website also carries a wide range of pages explaining how best to build church websites, write blogs, create video clips, and interact in many other ways with the worldwide web community, to share the gospel. But this isn’t just for churches.

Ayone who is serious about evangelizing and sharing theit faith needs to understand the amazing opportunities the Internet creates for evangelism. Web evangelism is for anyone, not just the technically gifted. “There are many ways to share your faith online, without any technical background at all,” says IE Day Coordinator Tony Whittaker.

Web evangelism gives believers opportunities to reach people with the Gospel right where they are, just as Jesus and Paul did. The Web is an open window to the whole world.

The Web’s explosive growth has been remarkable. In ten short years, it jumped from being a minority hobby for computer enthusiasts to a communication medium used by over 1000 million people worldwide. If your visit to this website lasts ten minutes, in that time interval 460 people will have used the Web for their very first time.

The world impact of the Internet and the digital revolution will be as far-reaching as the invention of the printing press.

To use the Web effectively, we must understand its nature as a medium. Each time a new means of communication is developed, people initially think of it in terms of a previous known medium. Thus, TV began as radio with pictures, but was soon viewed as a different medium in its own right, as people learned its potential.

If you really want to start thinking about what this digital revolution means, check this out:

But wait, there’s more. Do we have you thinking? Here’s more food for thought.

What this means to the church and Christians is… the whole world… the whole World Wide Web… can now be reached… really reached… with just a few mouseclicks.

The Baptist Press has a very interesting story that shows just how far our culture is tilting against Christianity.

It seems a lot of hotels are banning Bibles.

Here’s the story:
Each Bible placed in a hotel room has the potential to reach up to 2,300 people in its estimated six-year life span, and about 25 percent of travelers read the Bibles in their hotel rooms, according to The Gideons International, a group that has been placing Bibles in hotel rooms since 1908.

The Gideons say they receive testimonies almost daily of lives changed because of the Bibles they’ve placed, including one man who planned to commit suicide on Christmas Eve. The man said he threw the Bible onto the hotel room floor and it fell open to John 14, where Jesus says He gives peace. Now the man is a pastor and his family has been restored.

But a growing number of hotels are opting not to allow the placement of Gideon Bibles, according to an article in Newsweek magazine.

“In the rooms of Manhattan’s trendy Soho Grand Hotel guests can enjoy an eclectic selection of underground music, iPod docking stations, flat-screen TVs and even the living company of a complimentary goldfish. But, alas, the word of God is nowhere to be found,” the article begins.

Such hotels say society is evolving and a younger, hipper generation has no interest in the Bible. They also say they would have to cater to a variety of belief systems and could not single out Christianity.

R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, noted the tragedy that awaits if people aren’t given the chance to encounter God’s Word when they find themselves troubled in a hotel room.

“Are they now to look for salvation and solace from an iPod docking station or a goldfish?” Mohler wrote on his blog at albertmohler.com.

“… This development is another reminder that we are living in a time of tremendous cultural and moral change. The absence of Gideons Bibles from an increasing number of hotel rooms tells us something about the secularization, sexualization, and extreme sensitivities of our age,” Mohler said.

“It also tells us that there will be no Bibles available in those hotel rooms when travelers need them, and that is a tragedy by any measure,” he added. “Think of this the next time you are in a hotel room. Check the bedside table for a Gideons Bible. When you find one, thank the hotel management. And, when you have the opportunity, thank the Gideons.”

A majority of unchurched Americans are turned off by the institutional church and don’t have a biblical understanding about God and Jesus, yet they believe Jesus makes a positive difference in a person’s life and would enjoy an honest discussion with a friend about spiritual matters.

Those are just a few of the findings from a new study of unchurched Americans conducted by LifeWay Research in partnership with the North American Mission Board’s Center for Missional Research. LifeWay Research, the research arm of LifeWay Christian Resources, and the North American Mission Board are both entities of the Southern Baptist Convention.

The results of the study, which polled 1,402 adults who had not attended a religious service at a church, synagogue or mosque in the previous six months, are available at LifeWayResearch.com.

The findings have important implications for Christian churches and individuals who want to effectively reach unchurched people with the Good News of salvation in Jesus Christ, said LifeWay Research director Ed Stetzer. And they underscore why wearing Christian clothing works foreveryday lifestyle evangelism.

“A full 72 percent of the people interviewed said they think the church ‘is full of hypocrites,’” Stetzer said. “At the same time, however, 71 percent of the respondents said they believe Jesus ‘makes a positive difference in a person’s life’ and 78 percent said they would ‘be willing to listen’ to someone who wanted to share what they believed about Christianity.”

Wearing Christian clothing gives real people in real situations an opportunity to share Christ in non-threatening or institutional settings.

With “Prince Caspian,” the latest movie in the C.S. Lewis “Narnia” series about to be released, this powerful and distinctive Christian T-Shirt lets everyone know what the movie is REALLY about!!! Jesus!

Let your love and commitment to Christ - The Lion of Judah - show through this powerful t-shirt. Revelation 5:5 - “Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed.”

We wear Christian T-Shirts because we are new Creations. We know our job as believers is to tell the world of the hope we truly have in Jesus. This Christian T-Shirt has a terrific No-Fade Design sure to keep you looking fabulous. The 100% pre-Shrunk Cotton keeps you incredibly comfortable while evangelizing to all who see it.