Persuasion By Holy Spirit

This article was published in my church newsletter a couple weeks back. Please feel free to leave any comments about it.


I was at the reception for my violin recital working my way over to the refreshment table to grab a bite of flan when I ran into the pastor of the church where recital was being held. He was standing by himself as I greeted him and then it occurred to me: ‘this is a good time to ask him.’
Several weeks ago the pastor made mention that his church was “a liberal Church.” I wanted to know what he meant by a liberal church, and to understand what he believed and taught.
Throughout the course of the conversation, he told me that he was gay, that he believed the Bible is open to interpretation and that Jesus was only a symbol that the gates of hell are closed forever (similar to the rainbow in Genesis). He explained to me how he believes Christianity may not be the only way to heaven and eternal life “I believe that Christianity is true but I cannot tell another religion that it is wrong.”
This was a belief that needed to be explored. “How do you know that is true?” I asked.
He replied “I have faith and I trust that it is true.”
I mustered all the love and tact I could and asked “But what happens if you are wrong? What if you find out that the way was much narrower than you think it is or it is something totally different such as Buddhism?”
He looked me strait in my eye and said “then I will stand on judgment day and answer for what I have done.”
I realized then how futile my years of study of apologetics turned out to be. They were useless in the course of winning someone to Christ in an argument, because they wouldn’t be attracted to Christianity after some Christian blasted their beliefs out of the water. This pastor, I could tell, was very sensitive and wouldn’t be open to my views. The only way they were going to be persuaded was through the work of the Holy Spirit. As Ravi Zacharias said, “Apologetics is only the spice that flavors the actions and testimony of the Christian.”
The most powerful weapon in the arsenal of Christian apologetics is the Holy Spirit and a Christian with a story to tell.