Grace and peace, Saints.

I hope you all had a blessed Christmas day.  For the second year, the Spirit led me to distribute gospel tracts in my neighborhood on Christmas Eve, so I picked up where I left off last year, leaving tracts in the mailboxes of apartments and private residences.  I routinely pass out gospel tracts on trains and subways, in doctors and dentist offices, or wherever the Spirit leads me, but this was only the second time I have gone house-to-house distributing gospel tracts here in Munich.

Saints, Jesus gave us a mandate to preach the gospel unto every creature (Mark 16:15), and we are duty-bound to obey.  Now, there are several ways to preach the gospel: and there would have to be, as not all of us are endued with the power, courage, or ability to preach a sermon.  Gospel tracts are a great way to preach the gospel to the lost without ever having to open your mouth. 

I like to leave tracts on subway cars and stations, which, in the morning, are usually very crowded with working class people, professionals, and students on their way to work or school.  Munchners, much like New Yorkers, are extremely suspicious of people who walk up to them out of the blue and try to strike up a conversation with them about any subject, let alone the disposition of their eternal soul.  So, it can be a challenge to find a natural way to get the gospel message to them.  That’s where gospel tracts come in.  For many, the only time they have to read is on their commute to work and back home: gospel tracts are a nice alternative to the morning paper.  I usually make my way from the front of the subway to the back or vice-versa handing out tracts at random while preaching a short gospel message.  If someone rejects a tract, I will either attempt to hand it to the person seated beside or across from them, or politely ask if I may place it on the seat beside them. 

Because of the historic enmity of Roman Catholicism and Islam to Christianity, a person demonstrating any interest in the gospel message may run the risk of being considered a heretic or an infidel by his family, friends, and relatives.  Leaving a tract on a seat beside someone is therefore not always the best option, as it makes it necessary for the person to make an effort to pick the tract up.  By handing the tract to a person, I give him the opportunity to appear to only want to be nice to me, and he can then take the opportunity to read the tract before discarding it.  For the same reason, I also like to distribute tracts on an empty or half empty subway car, so that an individual has to pick the tract up in order to sit down.  The person may then feign curiosity and read the tract before discarding it.  The important thing is that he has an opportunity to hear the gospel message.  And that’s what it’s all about. 

Gospel tracts are also a good way to get the gospel to people with whom you would normally not come into contact on a daily basis.  Munich is much like New York, London, or Japan, where the price of a house is so exorbitant, that most people can only afford to live in an apartment.  You will therefore often find people of various professions and economic brackets living in the same apartment building.  These are busy professionals, who can be difficult to pin down long enough to present them with the gospel message.  Many go from their house to their car and vice-versa, and don’t generally associate with their neighbors or with people outside of their circle of acquaintance.  Leaving gospel tracts in the mailboxes of these people is a harmless, non-intrusive means to present the gospel message to them.

The best thing about a gospel tract is that it’s a great way to get the gospel of Jesus Christ to someone who is not yet ready to hear it.  On many occasions, a person has accepted a gospel tract from me who had just laughed me to scorn for preaching the gospel to him.  Others have agreed to listen to what I have to say and elected to continue to believe what they want to believe.  Yet they accept a tract because, as one man put it, “You never know.”  These people, though they were not yet ready to accept the gospel, had sense enough to know that it is foolish to completely dismiss an opinion without having all the facts.  If they will not hear or accept our witness now, they may later when and if God puts them in a position where the gospel may be their only means of comfort or security.

Reactions to tracts vary drastically.  Some gladly receive them, while others reject them outright.  I once offered a gospel tract to a coworker, who quickly rejected it.  I told him that he didn’t know what he was missing and he said that he knew exactly what he was missing.  This person, as do many, knew something of the gospel and decided that he wanted no part of it.  It was his decision, of course, but he did decide; and that is exactly what we want people to do.  Some will accept a tract, read it through, and discard it afterwards, while others will first accept it, but immediately throw it away once they perceive that it contains the gospel message. One Muslim gentleman actually asked me for a tract, but, after reading a couple of pages, he tore it in half and then tore the halves into halves.  I noted, however, that rather than throw the pieces onto the floor, he carefully placed them into his backpack.

Of all the reactions I have experienced, the most memorable actually occurred this Christmas Eve.  Unable to enter a particular apartment building and noting that the mailboxes were inside the building rather than outside, I left a number of tracts lodged between the narrow space between the entrance door and the door jam.  As I was walking to the next apartment building, I heard a voice behind me and turned to see a woman walking behind me holding the tracts I had just left.  Speaking in German, the woman said that “they” didn’t want the tracts and offered them back to me.  I refused them, however, telling her that she could do with them as she pleased.  Happily, the second apartment building was open, and I went in and placed tracts in the mailboxes there.  I was surprised as I noticed the woman standing outside the building, pacing back and forth, while glaring at me through the glass door.  When I exited the building, she was still standing there, arms folded and with her back to me in disgust. 

As I reflected on this, I was reminded of how Jesus told the scribes and Pharisees that they held the key of knowledge and would not go in themselves, but prevented those who wanted to go in from doing so.  There is indeed nothing new under the sun. 

Most who discard a tract will simply place it back on the seat or toss it on the floor or ground.  But, occasionally, someone will throw a tract into the garbage.  Only once have I retrieved a tract from the trash, and that was because the guy threw it there right in front of me.  Normally, my rule is to not retrieve a discarded tract, nor to receive a tract back from someone who first accepts it.  The Bible says that God’s Word will not return to Him void.  So, I believe that even if someone throws a tract away, if it is His will, God will make sure the tract gets into the hands of the person for whom it was intended.  I have a personal testimony of this.

The very first gospel tract I ever saw was the Chick tract, “This Was Your Life,” which I found one day when I was around sixteen or seventeen years old.  I had just gotten off the 90 Hampton bus at the intersection of Wabada and Goodfellow in St. Louis, about a block from my house, when I spotted the tract on the pavement, soaking wet from a hard rain.  I could see instantly that it was a comic tract, and being both curious and an avid comic lover, I picked up the tract and took it home.  After placing it on a newspaper and drying it in the oven, I read the tract from cover to cover, though I did not heed the gospel message it contained.  I would read the electronic version of that same tract again, some twenty-five years later, when, after having led a wicked life for many years and tired of sinning, I was ready to accept Jesus’ sacrifice on Calvary.  Desperate, I sought out the tract on the internet and happily found it.

So I know first hand the power and effectiveness of gospel tracts, which is why I have made tract distribution a major part of my ministry.  I have even written a couple of tracts myself.  I know that if a discarded, rain-soaked gospel tract can change the life of a poor, seventeen-year-old boy decades later, then a gospel tract, whether found neat and crisp on a seat of a subway car, or pulled, crumpled and soiled, from the garbage, can change the life of someone today.  So, I don’t get discouraged when someone discards a tract.  The will of God will always be accomplished. 

Hatred for Christianity and peer pressure from the pagan majority to hate Christianity is so great these days that it takes a very courageous person to show any interest in the gospel message.  But people are hungry for the truth.  Many have tried to find joy and contentment in their religions, in their heroes, in their jobs, in their hobbies, in their spouses, in their friends, in their lifestyles, and in their creature comforts.  All have been left disappointed, empty, and feeling very, very betrayed.   There are many hurting people out there who are ready and willing to hear the gospel message.  They want to know if what they have heard about Jesus Christ is true.  They want to know if He really can bring them joy and peace in this world and eternal happiness in the next.  It is up to us to give them the gospel of Jesus Christ.  It is up to us to give them the information they need to make the most important decision they will ever make. 

And that’s the key.  Without information, it is impossible to make an informed decision.  And without complete information, it is impossible to make a completely informed decision.  A person who has not heard the gospel of Jesus Christ does not have complete information.  So any decision a person makes without considering Jesus is not a completely informed decision. 

Decisions made without complete information have had catastrophic results.  The so-called War on Terror, for example, which has resulted in the deaths of thousands of men and women and the maiming and disfiguration of hundreds more, all began with a decision based on incomplete information.  Similarly, more than 60 percent of the world population daily makes decisions that may have catastrophic results for their eternal souls based on incomplete information.  These people need to know that Jesus Christ died for the sins of the world, and that if they die without accepting His sacrifice, they will go to the Lake of Fire burning with fire and brimstone, where they will endure eternal suffering.  If, after hearing the gospel, they still reject Jesus’ free gift of salvation, then they do so with full knowledge of the consequences.  When they come before the Lord Jesus, they will be, as the Bible says, “without excuse.”  This is not our concern, however, as our job is simply to give them the information they need to make an informed decision.

I hope this puts it in perspective for you.  I hope you now understand how important our witness is.  I hope you now understand that the world is making catastrophic decisions because of incomplete information, and that these decisions have eternal consequences.  I hope this kindles or renews a fire in you to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Gospel tracts are available from a number of ministries, such as Chick Publications and One Million Tracts.  If you decide to go with Chick, you may want to read this article first.

May God bless you.

“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:6).

Be encouraged and look up, for your redemption draweth nigh.

The Still Man