Bezeugen BLOG

Last month we provided information on first Thursday prayer that Bezeugen Ministries has hosted since May 2010.  We use the A.C.T.S. (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication) model for prayer to pray for our nation, leaders, and revival. In May this corresponds with the National Day of Prayer. Why not find a local group in your area, join them for National Day of Prayer and then ask them to join you monthly to continue to prayer for our nation, leaders and revival.  You can find an event near you or post an event online.

Have you played with ChatGPT? It’s a new AI Bot that is all the rage online. You can seemingly ask it anything, and it does it’s best to answer. Some things it seems to know. For example, we asked it what the Bezeugen Tract Club is, and it comes back with a reasonable answer:

The Bezeugen Tract Club is a Christian organization that provides gospel tracts to its members for the purpose of spreading the gospel message and sharing the love of Jesus Christ with others. Some benefits of being a member of the Bezeugen Tract Club may include:

Access to high-quality gospel tracts: As a member, you will have access to a wide variety of gospel tracts, each of which is designed to effectively share the gospel message with those who receive it.

Easy distribution: The compact size and low cost of gospel tracts make them easy to distribute and share with others, whether you are handing them out in your community, at church, or in other settings.

Personal growth and spiritual development: By participating in the Bezeugen Tract Club, you will have the opportunity to grow in your faith and develop your personal evangelistic skills.

Encouragement and support: As a member, you will be part of a community of like-minded individuals who are committed to spreading the gospel message. This can provide a source of encouragement and support as you seek to share the gospel with others.

Making a difference: By handing out gospel tracts, you can have a real and tangible impact on the lives of those around you. Through your efforts, you can help bring others closer to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

In conclusion, being a member of the Bezeugen Tract Club provides numerous benefits for those seeking to share the gospel message with others. Whether you are a seasoned evangelist or just starting out, the Bezeugen Tract Club can be a valuable resource for reaching others with the message of the gospel.

ChatGPT also correctly answered that the Mormon Jesus is not the same as the Jesus of the Bible. However, when asking ChatGPT a sequence of questions and asking it to expand on it’s answers it can get repetitive, redundant and include circular logic. That reminds me about a lot of Gospel conversation where people will proceed down various rabbit trails asking questions to distract from the main purpose of discussing the Gospel.

This is where Gospel tracts can really come in handy. They provide a clear concise message that presents the sin problem and the one and only clear solution. As you discuss the tract with people you can say “you know that’s an interesting question and I’d be happy to follow up and get back to you” and then point back to the tract and say “so have you kept the ten commandments” or “would you go to Heaven or Hell” based on which part of the tract you are discussing.

The bookmark has ten questions and ten Bible verses. When taken in order it will walk you through a conversation. At each point you can then direct the person to the next question. If they want to go off in another direction, say something like “I’d be happy to discuss that, but I think your questions might be answered if we go through the rest of these questions and Bible verses first”.

A sermon I was listening to recently the Pastor described witnessing to someone. They had a lot of questions for him. He offered his phone number and said, why don’t you call me and we can discuss all of your questions. She was so convicted by her sin from the message he had shared with her that she repented and trusted Christ. He reminded her of her questions and asked her to call. She said, “you know, I don’t have those questions now”. Amazingly trusting Christ, resolved her questions.

This month we are providing two seasonal tracts for your to distribute.

May the Fourth is often referred to as “Star Wars Day”. May the Forth vs May the Force. Get it? Ha Ha.  The original Star Wars Episode IV, A New Hope, was released May 25, 1977. However, on May 4th, many people dress in Star Wars costumes, watch the movies again, etc. This tract is a connection between Star Wars and the Gospel. May the Lord be with you!  It’s a promise of Jesus for all who believe!

Mothers Day is Sunday, May 14th. The Greatest Gift tract that is enclosed was actually inspired by conversations with mother’s. Phil had shared with me how he would see a mom with her child and comment what a great gift your child is. He would transition the conversation to mention hat while the child is a great gift to ask “what is the greatest gift?” This lead to the Gospel and to a great conversation about the Gospel. These tracts are also available in Spanish and can be requested online by donation.

In addition we are providing two Bezeugen Tract Club favorites: Get out of Hell Free and Got Peace. If you need more tracts,  would like Million Dollar bills like our new Mr Nice Guy bill they are available by donation.

If you are not a member of the Bezeugen Tract Club you can enroll online and receive 30 FREE Gospel tracts per month.

According to Wikipedia, “Rodney “Gipsy” Smith MBE (31 March 1860 – 4 August 1947) was a British evangelist who conducted evangelistic campaigns in the United States and Great Britain for over 70 years. He was an early member of The Salvation Army and a contemporary of Fanny Crosby and acquaintance of G. Campbell Morgan and H. A. Ironside.” Isn’t amazing how any life can be summarized down to a couple sentences with birth, a dash, and a death.

It’s what is done with the “dash” that is important.  It turns out that Smith was an evangelist and led many to the Lord. Revival’s broke out where and when he preached. Skip Heitzig said,  “I love what Gipsy Smith said when somebody came up to him and said, how do you start a revival? He said easy. Go home, walk inside your house, kneel down on the floor, draw a chalk line around you. When revival has occurred within that chalk line, revival is on. Pray that God would revive you. Now, if you can look back to a time in your walk that was full of life and vibrance, and you don’t experience that today, and that wondrous excitement of intimacy with Jesus is a pastime event, you need revival.”

Each first Thursday of the month, since May 2010, Bezeugen Ministries has hosted “First Thursday Prayer” meetings at businesses and city halls in Texas. We use the A.C.T.S. (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication) model for prayer to pray for our nation, leaders, and revival. When I heard the sermon referenced above recently I was struck buy this idea that revival starts with each of us.

We started the First Thursday prayer on the First Thursday of the month because the United States National Day of Prayer is the First Thursday of May each year. After attending the event in  Carrollton, Texas in 2010, a couple of us asked ourselves why we only pray once a month. So we decided to start doing it every month.  And we’ve done it every month since then not only in Carrollton, but also in Dallas, and expanded to Athens, Rockwall and Denison. Maybe your city is next. Would you consider hosting a prayer meeting monthly to pray for revival in your town? For more information see www.praylearngo.org. If you’d like to be included in a monthly email with suggested verses for hosting your meeting please contact us at btc@bezeugen.org

This month we are providing two seasonal tracts for your to distribute.

Easter is Sunday, April 9th. The Hoppy Easter Tract started as a joke, but has proven popular and easy to hand out for years.  Ever been to the mall and seen the easter bunny?. Hoppy Easter!! While the world thinks Easter is about bunnies and chocolate eggs, they miss the biggest event in the history of all mankind. Jesus,  the incarnate God, predicted his own death and resurrection fulfilling hundreds of years of prophecy! Now that is worth celebrating! Worship Him! Sometimes letters are said to contain “Easter Eggs”. Well, here is one. Be one of the first ten people to email or tag us on social media a picture of a mall Easter Bunny holding a Hoppy Easter tract and we will send you 100 Gospel tracts to hand out. Bonus of an additional 100 tracts if you are in the picture with the Easter Bunny!

April (well, March 30th actually) marks the beginning of Major League Baseball season. Therefore we have included our Baseball Trivia tract. Baseball has been called the great American past time. Millions of people attend games and follow their teams. They also love to prove they know their trivia when it comes to the sport. The trivia tract tests their knowledge. A little secret for you as you hand out any of our trivia tracts. The answers are A, B, C, B, and death. That’s right. The back of all Bezeugen Ministries trivia tracts are the same. So whether it’s this baseball trivia, or our football, basketball, NASCAR, soccer, or rock n roll trivia the answers are the same. Why? Because that way you can quiz people and tell them if they got the right answer without even looking on the back to find the answer yourself.

Baseball season also presents a great opportunity to go to the ball park and hand out tracts. Check the Bezeugen BLOG for some ideas on how to do this. But generally you can just take a stack of tracts, stand on a public sidewalk where people come to the game, hand out the tracts by saying “did you get one of these”? One our YouTube channel you can find videos showing how we have done this at many events. You can request more tracts at Bezeugen.myshopify.com by donation and then get your friends and go hand them out at the ballpark!

If you are not a member of the Bezeugen Tract Club you can enroll online and receive 30 FREE Gospel tracts per month.

Thursday March 2nd is the First Thursday of the month. We will meet for prayer for our nation, leaders and revival in Athens, Carrollton, Dallas, Denison, at noon and Rockwall on Sunday at 7PM At Rockwall Bible Church.

Suggested verses for A.C.T.S. (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication) prayer are below.

March 16th is John 3:16 day! Get it? The date is 3/16. We have enclosed tracts with John 3:16 printed on the front and the Gospel printed on the back. Some people like to see how many times they can share John 3:16 on this day. Do it in person with the tract, write it on a sidewalk with sidewalk chalk, post it on your social media. Can you do it five times? What about ten? Tag Bezeugen on social media and let us know how you did. Join the Everyday Club on Facebook and tell us how you did sharing the Gospel not only on the 16th, but each day!

It’s been three years since the United States “shutdown” due to the pandemic. During that time we released the “Fear Not” tract. I could not have imagined how long the pandemic would impact all of our lives. Yet, God’s word remains  the same. His message not to fear COVID, or anything else remains.

It’s been said that FEAR can be an acronym for False Expectations Appearing Real. I wondered if there are other acronyms for FEAR. This website lists 40 of them.  Some of them seem like they really do mention what we would think of fear. But others like “For every & All Religions” don’t really convey that same meaning.

Matthew 10:28 says to fear God alone. What can man, or a virus, do to me? For the believer what seems like the worst thing, death, unites us with Jesus! We have a message for the world. Fear Not! So hand out this tract and remind people of this good news!

Please encourage your friends and family to join you in the commitment to share the Gospel every day. They can enroll in the Bezeugen Tract Club and receive their own supply of 30 FREE Gospel tracts per month at http://enroll.tract.club/.

If you are not already a member of the Bezeugen Tract Club you can enroll online.

Thursday, February 2nd, is the First Thursday of February. Due to inclement weather in North Texas we have some slight changes in plans for our normal First Thursday prayer meetings. In Dallas, the prayer meeting will go on as planned. In Athens, Carrollton, and Denison the prayer meetings are being postponed one week. In Rockwall, they will meet the first Sunday of the month as normally scheduled. With that said, we have the following locations:

For more details on any particular location please reach out to the contact listed. Suggested A.C.T.S. (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication) verses for prayer are:

Online donation website available at http://donate.bezeugen.org/. This site allows donations via Credit Card. You can also make requests for additional tracts, items like tract wallets and pens, as well as other occasional items that we may have on hand. Currently we have some Way of the Master Craft the message cards and a few books.  When requesting tracts please indicate which tracts you’d like in the order comment when checking out.

On the website you can also order Million Dollar Bill tracts, including our newest million featuring  …. Mr Nice Guy!

Donations can also be made with cash or check using the enclosed envelope. When requesting tracts via the mail please indicate what tracts you are looking for. Typically we will have a few thousand extra of any tract that is in a tract club mailing. For business card tract requests up to 500 tracts please include a minimum $20 donation to cover postage. For larger quantities, or tracts that we do not have on hand, please purchase them from One Million Tracts by going to www.onemilliontracts.com then going to “Gospel Tracts”, selecting “Ministries” and then selecting “Bezeugen Gospel Tracts”.

Last month we presented a few challenges in the monthly letter. How did you do? We challenged you to read the Gospel of John a chapter a day. Did you do it? If not, or even if you did, how about doing it (again) in February? The reason I like the Gospel of John so much is that it was “written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. “ (John 20:31). While you, are already a believer, being very familiar with the Gospel of John allows you to talk with unbelievers and challenge them to read it. Faith comes from hearing! Romans 10:17. So if you can encourage non-believers to read the Gospel of John, they may come to believe as well.

The second challenge was to hand out the two bookmarks with the “Enroll.tract.club” website on the front and encourage your friends or family members to join the tract club and join you in the commitment to share the gospel everyday—As You Go! Get their commitment right away. Take their phone and go to “enroll dot tract dot club” that’s http://enroll.tract.club/, hand their phone back to them and ask them to type in their information.

As we continue along the same lines of challenges, I’ll encourage you to be in constant study of “the last question asked”. I think it was Mark Spence at Ambassadors Academy that had framed the challenge this way. Some people don’t share the Gospel because they are afraid someone will ask them a question that they don’t know the answer to. Well, there are lot’s of things we don’t know the answer to. What if we were just honest with the person and said, “you know, I’m not sure about that, let me look into it and get back to you”. You could then study the Bible, read a book, ask your pastor, etc. And then call, email or meet with the person.

Last year a book, “Cold Case Christianity” by J. Warner Wallace was recommended to me. See https://coldcasechristianity.com/. (Illustration provided from the audio reference of Cold Case Christianity). I had it in my queue on Audible, but hadn’t gotten to it. At some point I got into a discussion with an Atheist on Facebook. Recalling the book, I listened and it was captivating. Imagine you walk into a room and see a dead man lying face down on the ground. How did he die? There are four options: natural death, accidental death, suicide or homicide.  If you see blood from the abdomen or a knife in his back you get more clues and can infer what happened. Wallace is a cold case murder detective who takes you on a captivating ride of how evidence is examined and then applies it to Jesus, the Bible and the Gospel narrative.  Can we believe the eye witness accounts and the evidence? Cold Case Christianity is a great way to study more about defending the Gospel!

Happy New Year!

At the federal level a new congress will start in January. In Texas, the Legislature will be in session starting in January. Many important issues to be discussed and voted on at both levels. Local governments are dealing with many important issues as well. Some have put their trust in the government. But we put our trust in the Lord our God.

We have four locations. For details please contact the leader of the location. In Denison, due to road construction immediately outside of City Hall, we will meet at Sparrows Gallery (124 W Main St) which is on the North side of Main St from City Hall.

The following A.C.T.S. (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication) verses are provided to guide your prayer time. Or you may feel free to use whatever guide you choose. The important thing is that we are lifting up our city, state and nation in prayer for revival!

This is the 172nd mailing of the Bezeugen Tract Club!

Introducing Bezeugen SWAG! Bezeugen Ministries has partnered with TX Custom Creations to provide Bezeugen Ministries Swag. These items are intended to help you share the Gospel As You Go! The initial line of products includes coffee cups, hats, and shirts themed from the Are You a Good Person, Pray for America, and Jesus is King tracts. Plus, each item comes with 100 matching tracts to hand out!  Order here.

A new online donation website at http://donate.bezeugen.org/  is now available. Via this site you can make requests for additional tracts, items like tract wallets and pens, or make an online with your credit card. You can also order Million Dollar Bill tracts, including our newest million featuring  …. Mr Nice Guy!

Happy New Year!  On January 1, 2004, Pastor Steve Sanchez made a commitment to personally share the Gospel everyday. This started a series of BLOG posts which he titled the Everyday Club where he invited other Christians to make a commitment to personal evangelism. Each person can commit to however much (or little) evangelism that they want to do. This evangelism comes in the form of handing out tracts, one on one conversations, going door to door and even open air preaching. The idea is to follow the Lord’s direction and share the Gospel Everyday!

In September 2013, Pastor Sanchez felt the Lord calling him in a different direction. Scott Thompson and Carl Kalbfleisch began moderating the Everyday Club and eventually moved it to social media where there is now daily interaction and encouragement to share the Gospel. As we begin 2023, consider you daily commitment to sharing the Gospel. Go to www.bezeugen.org/everyday/  to learn more! You’ll also find information on how to join the social media group and connect with other tract club members.

The new year often finds people making new year resolutions. But typically those resolutions to lose weight, eat better, and get healthy end up with marketplace specials on buying used treadmills. Instead of resolutions, we encourage people to take the 21-Day Challenge. The tract has the Gospel on it and the challenge to read the Gospel of John a chapter a day for 21 days. You might like to take the challenge yourself. I typically read the Gospel of John a chapter a day each month beginning on the first! You can also access the 21 Day Challenge online at https://afterlifecatalog.com/21/ where there is information on how to subscribe and have the challenge sent directly to your email!

While we are thinking about challenges, how about challenging two friends to join you in handing out 30 Gospel tracts per month. That’s only one tract per day. This months included bookmark has the gospel on the back and the enrollment link for the tract club on the front. How about taking these to church with you on Sunday, giving them to friends, and encouraging them to enroll. Better yet, get their commitment right then, take their phone and go to “enroll dot tract dot club” that’s http://enroll.tract.club/, hand their phone back to them and ask them to type in their information.

“Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.”  Acts 4:14

This should be our model. As we spend time in God’s word each day, we are spending time with Jesus. We get to know Him. And then as we go out to live our lives we can tell others about Him. As we get into conversations with others by knowing God’s Word we can discern the truth from the errors of the worlds understanding of the Word of God. Set a goal to read through the whole Bible this year. The YouVersion app has a number of plans to do it. Find a friend or your spouse and do it together if that helps keep you on track. By reading the Bible daily you’ll grow closer to God and in the knowledge of his Word to share with others!

Thursday, December 1st is the First Thursday of the month. We will meet for prayer for our Nation, Leaders and Revival. We have the following locations.

The following A.C.T.S. (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication) verses are suggested to guide your prayer time:

According to a Gallup poll in 2019, more than 93% of American’s celebrate Christmas. An article¹ about this survey goes on to say

Near universal observance of Christmas is seen across all gender, age, education and income subgroups of Americans with more than 9 in 10 in each saying they celebrate, and the holiday is also a unifying event for Republicans and Democrats.

The only Americans less likely to observe Christmas are those who say that religion is not very important to them, and among them the figure is 85%. Participation stretches to 96% among those who are “very” and “fairly” religious.

While the overall percentage of Americans celebrating Christmas remains high, fewer today (71%) than a decade ago (82%) say it is a strongly or somewhat religious holiday for them.

Another poll indicates that less than 70% of American’s identify as Christian.  Isn’t it interesting that a larger percentage of American’s celebrate a Christian holiday than those who identify as Christian.  Seems like the reverse would be more believable. Much of this can be explained because Christmas has become a secular holiday. But some of this is probably because some who identify as Christian on a poll are actually not Christians.  In Matthew 7:21-23 Jesus tells some people who identified him as Lord to depart from him, because he never knew them.  In today’s terms they identify, in a poll perhaps, as Christian, but aren’t.

I would guess that the number of American’s who are Christian is actually much less than those 69% who identify as Christian on the poll.  I’ve come to this opinion over the years by having thousands of conversations with people. When asked if they are going to heaven most people will say yes, and go on to claim it is because they are a good person or somehow have earned it. Very few talk about the Biblical principles of faith alone in Christ alone. They are not aware of the need to be born again (John 3:3). When explaining what the Bible says about repentance, faith, and the identity of Jesus, many of these same people are left bewildered and confused. That is where the hope of the Gospel comes in.

Since most American’s celebrate Christmas, yet many of them are not saved themselves, Christmas  presents a wonderful opportunity to share the Good news of the Gospel.  It’s very easy to simply say “Merry Christmas” and hand someone a tract.

Or if you are a bit more bold, strike up a conversation with someone. Ask them if they celebrate Christmas. If they do, ask them why? Does it have some religious significance to them? Or is it merely a time with family and friends to get together and exchange gifts. Then ask them if you can share why you celebrate Christmas. That becomes an open door to explain the good news of the Gospel . You could start with Genesis  3:15, go to Isaiah 9:6 and then jump to the Gospels to show that the promised savior has come to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10).

Perhaps there is a parade or some other Christmas events taking place near you.  Perhaps you are traveling, or just need more tracts this time of year. If you need more Christmas tracts, they are available by donation by filling out the form below.

If you are not already a member of the Bezeugen Tract Club, you can enroll online. If you are a member and you’d like to continue to receive 30 FREE tracts per month, update your membership to bib-monthly or quarterly or change your mailing address you can renew here.