Ideas For Evangelism - Way of Life Literature

After the very brief presentation using a few isolatedverses, the soul-winner is instructed to say the following:“Now, John, if you will trust Jesus to take you toHeaven when you die, just bow your head and closeyour eyes with me right now. If you mean this with allyour heart, pray this prayer after me: ‘Dear Jesus,forgive me of my sins. I trust You today. Jesus, andonly You, to take me to Heaven when I die. ThankYou for saving me. Amen.’”It’s all about “going to Heaven when you die.”There is absolutely nothing like this in Scripture. Neverdid Jesus or the apostles and preachers in the earlychurches approach someone and ask if they wanted to goto Heaven when they died. Who doesn’t! But salvation isnot a mere ticket to Heaven. It is a saving, life-changingrelationship with the living God through Jesus Christ inthe here and now.The “do you want to go to Heaven when you die”approach was used by Jack Hyles on May 3, 1998, whenhe claimed that more people were saved then than on theday of Pentecost. Hyles preached a message titled “APlace Called Heaven.” His text was John 14:1-6, which,of course, is addressed to believers, not unbelievers.After preaching on Heaven, he told the crowd, “If youhave the least desire to go to Heaven, if there’s just alittle bit of a desire to go to Heaven, then this morning,you trust Jesus as your Saviour.”Heaven is a wonderful subject, but the gospel is notabout Heaven. The gospel is the death, burial, andresurrection of Jesus Christ for our sin.“Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospelwhich I preached unto you, which also ye havereceived, and wherein ye stand; by which also ye197