It was already stuck at 99 by ten in the morning!!!
I needed gas, so I pulled into a gas station that had the lowest prices I've seen in a while: $2.39 per gallon, what a steal!
After I slid my card through the ATM built into the pump I noticed that someone had wedged this tract into the crevice next to the pump handle:
It's been a while since I've seen an actual 70's style gospel tract. I didn't know people still handed those out. I kind of chuckled and grabbed it to take a look. This is what was inside. (Click on the picture to take a closer look)
Several things stood out to me as I flipped through this flyer.The pages were filled with sensational, scary images, which seemed to be trying to get an emotional response by motivating with fear.
There were several statements that would be EXTREMELY OFFENSIVE to Jewish, and Catholic believers.
And the tract also seemed WAY out of date. It made several mentions of a "Russian Army", correct me of I'm wrong but didn't the dissolution of the U.S.S.R. do away with the unified "Russian Army"?
To me, it seemed that most people stumbling upon this material would find it laughable. I can hear them now, "Those stupid Christians"!
Even if the tract were completely factual and true, what about the methodology? Does this kind of "hit and run evangelism" work? Can you make a real and lasting impact on a complete stranger's life simply by leaving a piece of paper? What about relationship? What about community? What about when they have questions?
How about a quick little poll?
If you are "saved", how did you become so? Was it a tract? Was it through a preacher? Was it through conversations with a stranger? Conversations with a close friend? Sunday school? Personal prayer and meditation? Whatever...
If you are not "saved", what is your impression of the tract I've posted here?
10 comments:
Going to church with the fam, I was introduced to Jesus at an early age and have had a relationship with him since. If I try to imagine myself as not knowing Jesus, the whole tract thing would SO not work for me. That is not how you introduce people. Why would you try to introduce Jesus that way?
I spent5 years in Fresno as a kid. these things came out about then.
my first and the one I will never forget is HOLY JOE. as a 6th gradr, it really made an impact on my life. I was not saved for a couple of decades, but it was a seed planter in a life that was filld with church and a godly mother.
my point...
these things are cheesy and out of date. the fact they are still out there and still being used can be seen as a cheap and easy way to plant some seeds...but seeds none the less.
at least some one is actually doing something. I am 43. no one has ever shared the Gospel with me. but I have had seven people give me a tract.
truth is, we suck as ambassadors for the King. we seldom get out side our community to touch those who need to hear.
so. these things are good and bad.
seeds grow.
it was a slow evolving process for me - i don't know how it happened to be honest... i was the biggest skeptic, challenging every crusader that came to my college dorm room - i made some of them cry... after college, there was a guy, who didn't give the canned answers, that sounded ignornant, he let me expiernce it on my own, and question every thing.... in fact when he told me about christ for the first time i said 'i don't buy that stuff' and he said "ok, and walked away" it was the first time, someone didn't try to shove it down my throat... and go figure, it made me want to look, and understand...
i've been witnessed to a bunch of times - and each time i ask the person, is this really how someone comes to faith? oh i could go on about this ... perhaps i'll write about it instead.
thanks jimmy :)
I went to all the church activities as a kid. Twice I was seriously under the influence of what was presented. First time was "The Cross and the Switchblade", second time a very dynamic preacher. The third and real time was a prayer meeting at boarding school, lead by one of the Grade 12's, plain and simple, from John 3:16.
Chick is a whacko. Check out his site
http://www.chick.com/default.asp
In response to your poll, I was "saved" as a young boy with christian parents. Tracts have always bothered me as they are extremely impersonal and seem contrary to my view of christianity as a relational community of believers.
Point taken Jeff. The thing that really upset me was the stuff that would be offensive to Jewish, and especially Catholic believers.
to see the "Holy Joe" tract go here:
http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0002/0002_01.asp
to see an excerpt of thre movie that Chick Publications is putting together go here:
http://www.chick.com/catalog/videos/LOTW.asp#clips
(check out controversial)
I (I cringe to say "saved", people have made it so negative now by most of the "christians" of America)...came to Christ after I left my parents church and began to read literature inspired by Christian Writers.
That panflit is disgusting. I've been to the Vatican, and even if not every cardinal or pope in history were the greatest of men, to look at the art and sculptures is to see the Holy Spirit in action. I am offended to see how they describe the Vatican and I'm not even catholic.
This post contains my story: http://untitledaslife.blogspot.com/2004/11/passion-pizza-for-pagans.html
Jimmy,
I accepted Jesus as my Savior through Campus Crusade for Christ. They have a high school ministry that is now called Student Venture. They met me through the brother of a friend. They shared with me from the Bible, and about their own personal experiences. It all made sense to me, and I prayed to receive Christ in the corner booth of my local McDonalds.
The tract thing doesn't work for everybody, I agree. This one you found sure seems to be a bad example. I think simple tracts can get people thinking about God, and about what they believe about their own lives in a spiritual sense. I have not spent any time spreading the Gospel this way, but with a good tract I wouldnt think others crazy for doing so.
My parents were very involved in church and took me along whenever they went. They believed in keeping the whole family together, so they kept me in the service with them, no sunday school for me! So I was about 4 1/2 years old when I asked my Dad if I could pray to "ask Jesus into my heart". He told me that I was too young to understand and said "No". I went back to my bedroom, knelt at the foot of my bed, and prayed, to the best of my recollection, the "sinners prayer" that I had heard in service so many times. I went back to the living room and told my Dad what I had done. It's kind of ironic that my first step in the process of salvation was an act of rebellion against my father. I'd analyze that some more, but I'm too tired right now. Anyway, over the next several years church became a routine for me.
About 15 years later I had a deep conversation with myself. I was telling myself that I needed to determine whether or not I believed this Jesus stuff. I knew that my parents believed it, but I needed to own it, to make it my own, or not. I prayed, and talked to people that believed, and some that didn't, but in the end I came to the decision that I truly believed, not in religion, but definitely in Jesus. I was no longer riding on my parent's faith. I now had my own faith.
I'm still working it out, daily, with fear and trembling...
I would say this tract got people speaking about Jesus and salvation. So it's done an effective job at that. The person who left it doesn't live at the gas station so they couldn't very well start a relationship with each and every person who pumps gas there (they may very well have spoken to someone there about Jesus while they pumped gas, leaving the tract before they left. We simply don't know, so let's not knock them). Since they were just passing through they took the opportunity to leave the message behind for anyone interested in reading it.
I start relationships with people and share the Gospel with them. I also leave tracts at gas stations and other places. Do what you can to further the Kingdom of God (By any means), throw the seeds and where they land and who reads the message is up to God.
To answer your question, my first encounter with the Gospel was via a Chick tract when I was 11 years old in 1974. I credit it with leading me to the relationship I now have with Christ.
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