Should You Try To CONVERT Others?
Have YOU tried to get others converted — "saved," as many express it? Have YOU started to "preach"?
If you have, you have probably stirred controversy, antagonism — lost a friend — or even a wife or husband.
But if you haven't — DON'T!
I know that many of our readers — yes, thousands of you, out of our more than five million readers of these magazines — have been led to accept God's TRUTH. You have learned to LOVE your Creator's TRUTH that He reveals — and which WE MAKE PLAIN. The TRUTH becomes the most precious thing in your life. You become excited about it. You are filled with enthusiastic ZEAL over it.
Before, like all unconverted people, you were carnal-minded — SELF-centered , selfish. But now, your mind is God-centered. NOW, instead of exclusive SELF-concern, you have an enthusiastic, OUTGOING concern for others. Especially those in your own family — your relatives, your closest friends. You want to SHARE this wonderful TRUTH. You want them to inherit eternal life in the Kingdom of God. You want to save them from perishing.
Your MOTIVES are well-intended. Your ZEAL is splendid — but you may be like a woman I knew who had more zeal than wisdom. This woman tried by her TALK to "save" her husband and her teenage son.. But instead of arguing them into it, she turned them to hostility, resentment, embitterment against God! This woman tried to save her neighbors — almost her whole town. She only turned them all against her.
But, some will ask, didn't Jesus tell us we are the light of the world — and that we must let our light SHINE?
Oh, yes! But did you notice HOW He said we must let our light shine? LISTEN: "You are the light of the world .... Let your light so shine before men, that they may SEE your GOOD WORKS" (Matthew 5:14, 16). NOTICE THAT CAREFULLY! He did NOT say "that they may HEAR your good ARGUMENTS." He said that they may SEE your GOOD WORKS!
But now WAIT A MINUTE!
We try to let our light shine by our GOOD ACTIONS, here at God's headquarters at Ambassador College. We do the same at both campuses — here and in Texas. And we are gaining the respect of our communities.
I learned this lesson about letting people see your good deeds rather than your good ARGUMENTS many years ago. This was explained in the 18th installment of the Autobiography, published in the June, 1959 issue of The PLAIN TRUTH. More than 200 times in the past year, people who have begun to "preach" and run into trouble have written us, and we have had to send a reproduction of this part of that 18th installment to these people. When I heard that, I decided to reprint my own experience of many years ago (over forty).
Following, then, is the reprint from The PLAIN TRUTH of June, 1959:
Don't YOU Make THIS Mistake
This year 1927 was a very eventful year in my life.
As soon as I swallowed my bitterest pill of rebellion, surrendered to obey the mighty God through faith in Jesus Christ, this new Christian WAY became the most happy, joyful experience of my life. Studying the Bible became a passion. I plunged into it with a fierce zeal.
The all day sessions at the Portland, Ore., Public Library did not stop with my capitulation to the truth following the six months' anger-inspired study to end my wife's "fanaticism."
No longer was it an intensive study driven by anger and determination to have my own way. Now it was an enthusiastic study of eager anticipation, literally thrilling to every new discovery of spiritual "light" and biblical truth.
Now a passion swept over me to "get our families saved."
With the best intentions in the world, I set out on a vigorous campaign. To me, it was the loving and intense desire to share the wonders and glories of salvation and Bible knowledge with those we felt we loved most. But to most of them, it was an unwanted effort to "cram my crazy religion down their throats."
I did succeed, apparently, in talking one sister-in-law into a certain start. I had to learn later it was a false start. She was baptized either when I was or very shortly afterward. But, as too often happens when a high-pressure salesman talks one into something he or she doesn't really want, she turned against it all shortly afterward.
I had to learn, however, that even though I had believed I was a pretty good salesman in my earlier business experience, I was unable utterly to "cram my religion down my relatives' throats." My efforts only aroused hostility. They said I was "crazy."
This is a universal mistake committed by the newly converted. Especially is this true where a husband or wife yields to God's truth without the other.
It nearly broke up our marriage — even though Mrs. Arm strong did NOT attempt to inject her new religious belief into me. In our case the marriage was saved only because 1 accepted the challenge to study into it myself, confident I could prove she was wrong. But most mates will not study into it. Most unconverted mates, especially if the converted one tries to talk the other into his or her religion, will break up the home.
In the more than thirty-two years since my conversion , I have known of dozens and scores of marriages that have ended in divorce because the newly converted mate tried to talk the unconverted one into accepting it. In a very few, if any, instances has the unconverted mate been talked into accepting it.
Of all things evil and harmful a newly converted Christian can do, the very WORST is to try to talk your husband or wife into your religion . WHATEVER else you do, let me plead with every such reader, NEVER commit this tragic sin. If you love your husband or wife, don't do it! If you love your Savior who died for you and now lives for you, DON'T DO IT!
Remember these scriptures: "No one can come to Me," said Jesus, "unless the Father who sent Me draws him" (John 6:44, 45). Again, Jesus said: "Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For 1 have come to 'set a man against his father, daughter against her mother...' and 'a man's foes will be those of his own household.'... He who loves father or mother [or wife or husband] more than Me is not worthy of Me.... And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me" (Matthew 10:34-38).
God made every human being a free moral agent. Thank God He did! No one has power to force on you any unwanted religion.
Every individual makes his own decision. A religious difference between husband and wife is a serious handicap. The Bible forbids a converted person from marrying an unconverted.
But if such difference already exists, do not make matters worse by talking religion to your mate. Do all your talking to God in prayer. Let your mate see your happy, pleasant, cheerful, joyful, loving WAY of life — not hear your arguments or nagging! Allow your mate complete religious latitude and freedom — whether to be converted, religious, irreligious or atheistic!
I am glad 1 learned that lesson early. I have had to maintain certain business connections with many people, since being plunged into God's work. I must maintain contacts with television people, publishers, professional people. I get along splendidly with them. A big reason is that I never talk religion to them.
I never try to talk anyone into accepting Bible truth or being converted. I go to the world over the air and in print, and everyone is free to listen or read — or to dial out or not read. No one gets our literature unless he or she personally requests it. We try never to force God's precious truth on anyone. That's God's WAY!
Do you know how the apostle Paul won individuals to Christ? Not the way people attempt to do it today. He said "I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some" (I Cor. 9:22). When he talked to an unconverted Jew, do you suppose he spoke as Christians who think they are "witnessing for Christ"? Do you suppose Paul said to the unconverted Jew: "Have you received Christ as your personal Savior? Oh, won't you just kneel with me right here, dear brother, and give your heart to the Lord right now?"
Or, do you suppose he said: "Look here, my Jewish sinner-friend, you're on the way to hell. Your religion is all wrong. Every day you reject Christ as your Savior you are crucifying Him afresh. You are worse than a thief or a murderer. I'm going to keep after you, and pester you with all of my arguments, and drum them into your stubborn ears, and beat them into that stiff, rebellious mind of yours until I force you to become a Christian."
No, that is not the way Paul spoke to unconverted Jews. Paul said, "To the Jews I became as a Jew" (verse 20). Paul spoke to others from their point of view! He talked to a Jew just like another Jew — from the Jewish viewpoint — showing sympathy and understanding of the Jews' way of looking at Christianity. They were — and mostly are today — hostile to the idea of Jesus being the promised Messiah. Paul did not rouse hostility — he put it down. He got on the inside, so to speak, just as one of them, so that they were sympathetic toward him, not hostile. He became as a Jew, "that I might win Jews." Even so, he gained only a small minority, yet it was a large number.
Perhaps you have had your eyes opened to the fact that sin is the transgression of God's law. Most professing Christians have been taught, and consequently sincerely believe, that "the law is done away." Paul was inspired to write that the carnal mind is hostile to God and to God's law — "It is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be" (Rom. 8:7). If you say to your unconverted mate who is hostile to God's law: "You're just a rebellious sinner, and your church is just one of these false worldly churches. You've got to repent and obey God's commandments if you are going to be saved" — you have not only aroused hostility, you have yourself been hostile, and you probably have broken up your marriage.
How did Paul talk to such people? Listen: "And to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews... to the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some" (I Cor. 9:20-22).
One of the first principles of successful advertising I learned early in my career is that to get results you must first learn the attitude of your reading audience toward whatever product or service you are advertising. You must not antagonize those whom you expect to persuade. You must approach them from their point of view — not from yours, especially if your viewpoint is contrary to theirs. To win them to your point of view, you must approach them from their viewpoint. Otherwise you only arouse hostility.
I know that these words are addressed to a very large number who have made this terrible mistake. That is why I have devoted so much space to this point.
If you believe God's truth, and your husband or wife does not, NEVER TALK RELIGION to him or her. If your mate normally thinks and speaks only of material and worldly things, then you must speak of material things to your spouse. If the World Tomorrow broadcast has, probably because of your own aggressiveness in trying to get your mate to listen, become a sore spot, go off to some private room to hear the program. Keep the volume turned down. Make every effort NOT to antagonize your husband or wife.
And again, when you talk about it, talk to God in prayer. Let your mate see your good works, in a manner that he or she will naturally approve. Avoid every hostility. Be pleasant. Keep cheerful! Be happy! Radiate JOY! Give LOVE and warm affection! Do everything to cause your husband or wife to like you! THAT IS THE CHRISTIAN WAY!
