The Way of the Master

Template:WOTM The Way of the Master is a Christian evangelism training ministry, created in 2002 and headed by 1980s actor Kirk Cameron and evangelist Ray Comfort, though there are several other key figures within the organization. Key aspects include a TV show, radio broadcast, numerous books, online school, small group training courses, and Web site of the same name. The television show in particular was the recipient of numerous awards from the NRB association, including the "People's Choice Award" and the "Best Program Award" during the years of 2004-2006.^[1][2] The Way of the Master is a limited liability company^[3] and a closely intertwined sister organization to Living Waters Publications. The ministry is headquartered in Bellflower, California, USA.

*Caricature of Ray, Kirk and Todd File:Ray Comfort Kirk Cameron Todd Friel caricture.jpg
By creation science cartoonist, Dan Nuckols. Dan Nuckols official website.

Biblical basis of The Way of the Master

The basic principle of evangelism taught is using the Ten Commandments, which they often refer to as the law or "moral law," to show someone their sin and by implication their need for God's forgiveness. The main Scriptures cited for the validity of this approach are:

• Mark 10:17–22: The story of Jesus encountering the rich young ruler. Here, Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron state that contrary to most modern methods of evangelism, Jesus did not answer the young man's question about how to achieve salvation by telling him to "say a simple prayer" or "ask Jesus into his heart," but instead used the commandments to illustrate his sinful nature.^{[citation needed]}
• Romans 3:19–20: Paul, in his Romans 3 thesis on sin, states that the law brings the whole world (not just Jews, but Gentiles as well) to a saving knowledge of God.^{[citation needed]}
• Romans 7:7–13: Reaching back to 3:19-20, Paul turns this principle back onto himself, making it personal and specifically referencing the Tenth Commandment (according to Protestant reckoning), "You shall not covet."^{[citation needed]}
• Galatians 3:24: This time, Paul uses the analogy of the law as a schoolmaster or tutor, to instruct people as to why Jesus' death was necessary from a Christian point of view. In Cameron's words, "We broke the law, and Jesus paid our fine. It's as simple as that." ^[4]
• Psalm 19:7: Cameron and Comfort state that the "law" referred to here as being "perfect, converting the soul" is in fact the Ten Commandments.^{[citation needed]}
• 1 John 3:4: Here, John writes that the very definition of sin is breaking God's law, which again Comfort and Cameron refer to as the Ten Commandments.^{[citation needed]}

Principle

The basic principle of evangelism taught is using the Ten Commandments to show someone their sin and, by implication, their need for God's forgiveness. The main Scriptures for proving the validity of this approach are Mark 10:17-22; Romans 3:19-20 and 7:7-13; and Galatians 3:24.^[5] The acronym WDJD in the ministry's logo stands for "What did Jesus do?" (versus WWJD, the question "What would Jesus do?" from some years ago) as well as the first letter of each of four points:

• "Would you consider yourself to be a good person?"
• "Do you think you have kept the 10 Commandments?" followed by asking specifically if the person has broken commandments, with questions like "Have you ever told a lie?" (9th commandment), "Have you ever stolen anything, no matter how long ago, no matter how small?" (8th commandment), "Have you ever lusted, which Jesus called adultery at heart?" (7th commandment)[1], "Have you ever taken the Lord's name in vain, which is called blasphemy?" (3rd commandment), "Have you ever hated, which Jesus called murder at heart?" (6th commandment)[2].
• Judgment: "If God judges you by the 10 Commandments on the Day of Judgment, will you be innocent or guilty?"
• Destiny: "Based on that, would you go to heaven or hell?" and if hell, then "Does that concern you?"

However, these questions are usually an outline, with more in-depth questions and commentary given by the evangelist during the conversation. After the 10 Commandments are used to "bring the knowledge of sin" (based on Romans 3:19-20), the gospel is usually presented to the interviewee to describe the Christian belief in Jesus Christ's death and resurrection for the forgiveness of sins, and inviting the person to respond by repentance and faith in Christ. If the interviewee is especially stubborn or antagonistic, the evangelist might return to the 10 Commandments or talk about other topics.

Several other organizations now support what has been coined as Biblical evangelism, including CHANGE Collegian Network which trains college students in evangelism using the Way of the Master program.

True and False Conversion

Another key aspect to this principle is the idea of true and false conversion, an extension of the eternal security and Lordship salvation theologies which Cameron and Comfort subscribe to. Proponents teach that those who fall away never were born again to begin with. These are the named "false converts." Radio show host Todd Friel believes that he was a false convert for six years. ^[6] This is also based out of the Parable of the Sower in Mark 4:3–20, Matthew 13:3–23, and Luke 8:4–15. According to Comfort in his audio message "True and False Conversion," six signs of a false conversion are:

• An immediate result, with impressive changes occurring quickly, but followed by a quick fading away. (Mark 4:5)
• Lack the "life-giving and life-sustaining power of God's Word," regarding the Bible as "dry and uninteresting." (Luke 8:6)
• False converts have no "roots," foundations into faith and Christian learning, so they "dry up" like a plant with no roots. (Matthew 13:6)
• Come into salvation with joy and gladness at first, but later lose that joy and backslide. (Mark 4:15, Matthew 13:30)
• Actually believe for a season, but then end up renouncing that belief. (Luke 8:13) ^[7]

It is important to note that the above list does not automatically imply that Christians with these signs are automatically not true converts; as Friel puts it, "This test is not about perfection, it's about direction. You will never be perfect, but you definitely should be moving in that direction." ^[8]

As a complement to this, Comfort has also established a list of characteristics of a "true convert:"

• A repentant atttitude. (Matthew 3:8)
• Thankfulness to God for salvation. (Colossians 1:10, Titus 3:8)
• A selfless life of producing good works. (Hebrews 13:15)
• The "fruit of the Spirit" (see Galatians 5:22–23
• A pattern of righteous living. (Philippians 1:11)
• "hears the Word and understands" (Matthew 13:23) ^[7]

Fall-away Rates

One of the key evidences used to support the belief of Comfort and Cameron that the modern Christian message is failing is the research they have done on "fall-away rates," the percentage of those Christian converts who later turn their back on Christianity. Most of the statistics they use indicate that over 90% of converts under "modern evangelism" (a message with a focus on God's love, but with little to no mention of hell or Judgment Day) fall away. Their most often-used statistic, from the book The Way of the Master, states that:

"In the March/April 1993 American Horizon, the national director of home missions of a major U.S. denomination [possibly the Assemblies of God] disclosed the fact that in 1991, 11,500 churches had obtained 294,784 decisions for Christ. Unfortunately, [at the time of the magazine printing] they could find only 14,337 in fellowship. That means that despite the usual intense follow-up, they couldn’t account for approximately 280,000 of their decisions."^[9]

Biblical evangelism differs from other methods of presenting the Christian Gospel that are commonly practiced among churches today - evangelical and even fundamentalist practices not excepted. Other common evangelistic tools in use among these groups include The Four Spiritual Laws, Romans road, and other less defined and arguably less-biblical methods such encouraging the repetition of a Sinner's prayer. Many of these are accompanied by altar calls at the end of an evangelistic sermon or address. However, Biblical evangelism as identified by Comfort recalls the Puritan and Reformation approach such as used by Charles Spurgeon and other early voices of Evangelicalism that advocated confronting hearers with the "perilous state" of their souls due to sin because of the fallen nature of humanity - and wilfully breaking God's laws according to the biblical record in the Ten Commandments.

Television

File:Wotm seal.jpg

The television show, first aired in December 2003, is a half-hour show hosted by Cameron and Comfort, teaching principles of biblical evangelism, and then showing examples through "man-on-the-street" interviews. As of May 2006, two 13-episode seasons have been produced, aired, and sold on DVD.^[10] The third season is currently in production.^[11]

Radio

Beginning in January 2006, Cameron and Comfort began co-hosting with Christian talk show host Todd Friel to produce a daily live radio show. Comfort and Cameron host from the ministry headquarters in California, while Friel hosts alongside producer Tony Verkinnis in Minneapolis/St. Paul area.

Training courses

The Way of the Master has begun to gradually produce three series of training courses for small groups, Sunday school classes, and churches to teach Christians in their concept of "Biblical Evangelism". The video portions include clips from selected episodes of The Way of the Master television show. As of December 2006, the "Basic Training Course" and the "Intermediate Training Course" have been released.

Living Waters Publications

Their online store contains approximately 75-80 gospel tracts, designed as varying forms of illusions or gags to draw attention, such as their "Million Dollar Bill," "Giant $100 Bill," and "Ten Commandments Coins." They encourage open-air preaching; until September 2005, when the Los Angeles County court system barred all public demonstration at their courthouses, staff members at their ministry went to the Bellflower courthouse most weekdays to open air preach to those waiting in line to go into the building. Comfort and others, including his son-in-law, go to the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica Friday nights to street preach.

Comfort and the ministry teach that modern Christian evangelism has gone astray from the preaching of sin and God's law, the Ten Commandments, as done frequently in the Bible and by Christian preachers such as Charles Spurgeon, John Wesley, and George Whitefield up until the dawn of the 20th century.

In 2001, actor Kirk Cameron heard Comfort's message "Hell's Best Kept Secret," a teaching on this principle, and contacted their ministry. Eventually, Comfort and Cameron collaborated to create a new ministry program, The Way of the Master. Its materials includes a TV show (available on DVD), books, tracts, Web site and a radio show, which debuted on January 2, 2006. Other endeavors of their ministry include a "School of Biblical Evangelism".

In December 2005 Living Waters changed its copyright policy, which prevented free distribution. The new copyright policy reads in part, "All Living Waters Publications and The Way of the Master resources are copyright protected." (unless otherwise stated)[3]

They have established satellite offices in New Zealand, Canada, Australia, Europe (specifically, the British Isles), and South Africa, to provide citizens in those regions with materials in local currency without the high shipping costs from the United States, as well as local training events.

Million Dollar Bill Seizure

On June 2 2006, the United States Secret Service seized 8,300 copies of the "million dollar bill" tract printed byLiving Waters Publications from the Great News Network headquarters because a woman in North Carolina attempted to deposit the tracts as legal tender (despite the fake bills clearly stating "This is not legal tender.")^[12][13] The Secret Service also stated that they would seize all copies in stock at Living Waters' California headquarters.^{[citation needed]} Comfort has stated that he will refuse to turn over the tracts without a warrant, which was not given during the raid on GNN.^{[citation needed]}

In a news interview, Rundus stated that he will continue passing out the bills, stating that "until I hear different, I don't believe what the Secret Service did yesterday was lawful."^[14] However, a court found the Secret Service's actions to be legal, in response to GNN's legal challenge.^[12]

On June 5, 2006, the following statement was found at the million-dollar bill entry on LWP's online store:

The Secret Service is going to be very busy if they want to be consistent in their pursuit of justice. Typing "Million dollar bill" into Google gets 35,800,000 results--sites that say things like, "It looks real, feels real and even smells real." If we are issued with a "Cease and desist" order, we will immediately do so until this is sorted out. In the meantime, we have our printers ready to run off 100,000 million dollar bills that comply to their requirements (1 ½ times larger). So these will be bigger and better than the bills that were seized by the Secret Service, as we have since improved the artwork. We will keep you updated. Thank you for your prayers and encouraging emails. ^[15]

School of Biblical Evangelism

Another branch of their ministry is an unaccredited school of 101 lessons on their teachings, called The School of Biblical Evangelism (also abbreviated as SOBE or SBE). This school is available both online, and in textbook form, though only the online form of lessons leads to graduation. As of early February 2006, roughly 6,500 people have taken or are taking the school. The history of SBE is chronicled in the preface of their textbook:

In 2001, we decided to create an online Bible school called "The School of Biblical Evangelism," in which we would systematically equip Christians to share their faith. It would have a total of 120 lessons. We couldn't wait to get it underway, so we placed the first ten lessons online, thinking we could write the others before students caught up with us. We were wrong. Almost immediately students were banging on our door asking, "Where is the next lesson?"

The experience of trying to outrun hungry students was a taste of what was to come. Within a short time we were delighted to find that over 2,000 students from 18 countries had enrolled in the school.^[16]

Criticism

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Cameron and Comfort have been criticized^[who?] for attempting to use the argument from design as proof of God's existence:

"When you look at a painting, how do you know there was a painter? The painting exists. When you look at a building, how do you know there was a builder? The building is proof there is a builder. And creation proves there is a creator. And your conscience tells you when you do right from wrong.^[17]

As scriptural support, Comfort cites Hebrews 3:4, "Every house has a builder." and Romans 1:20 "For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse."

In one instance Comfort used a banana to demonstrate the idea of intelligent design citing its ridges perfectly fitting the human hand, and its curvature towards the mouth. In one interview, Comfort later admits that his comments concerning the banana were "tongue in cheek", and that they "shouldn't be taken too seriously," in addition to Friel stating that many critics took Comfort's comment on this episode "out of context".^{[citation needed]}

Comfort and Cameron have been criticized^[who?] for their denial of evolution by claiming that there are no "transitional fossils" and that because of this, modern evolutionary theory cannot be true, a position that is considered indefensible in the field of biology and geology, due to evidence of common descent.

Nightline interview

On March 17, 2006, Comfort and Cameron were featured on a segment of Nightline, being interviewed by Martin Bashir about their ministry. Bashir, voicing over clips of the television show, called them "deliberately confrontational" and "unafraid to offend other faiths in the process." In an interview, he asked the evangelists questions relating to their show on evolution, their credibility as unordained ministers, and their motive in speaking of things such as Judgment Day and hell, whereas others evangelists might refrain from mentioning such things. However, at the end of the segment Bashir called it a "fascinating second act" for Cameron.^[18]

Key figures

There are several "headliners" in the ministry who are often cited by those who follow the Way of the Master:

• Kirk Cameron, co-founder, TV and radio show co-host
• Ray Comfort, co-founder, TV and radio show co-host
• Todd Friel, daily host of the radio show
• Mark Spence, the dean of SOBE
• Emeal "EZ" Zwayne, Comfort's son-in-law and general manager of the ministry headquarters.

See also

• Living Waters Publications
• The Great News Network
• Evangelicalism

Notes and references

External links

• The Way of the Master
• Way of the Master Radio
• LivingWaters.com