TURNING PEOPLE FROM THE MIND TO THE HUMAN SPIRIT
When we go out to preach the gospel, we should know that Satan is opposing us. He will try to frustrate our gospel dialogue by bringing in unanswerable questions. The mind of educated ones is often like a big, bottomless ocean. Again, we must try to pin them down to a particular point. Often we will have to leave the area or field of their question and lead them into another realm. The best way is to turn the person from his or her mind to the spirit. You may say, “Our discussion, thus far, has been completely in the realm of the mind. But we have to realize that we human beings are not of one part only. We have many parts. We have our physical part, our body, and we also have our psychological part, our soul, of which the mind is the largest part. You and I have exercised two parts of our being. We have used our mouths which belong to our physical part, and our minds which belong to our psychological part. Yet we human beings also have another part, our spirit. In your mind you may say that there is no God and that you strongly believe the theory of evolution, but at night while you are quiet and calm, there is another sensation within you. This sensation is not in the mind but in another part of your being. This part of your being is your spirit. If you remain in the consideration of your mind, you sense that there is no God. But if you turn to your spirit, you sense that there is a God.” By this kind of conversation, you rescue your listener from the endless psychological realm to the realm of the human spirit.
PRESENTING THE HUMAN SPIRIT BY USING DIFFERENT ILLUSTRATIONS
We have to learn to talk about the human spirit in many different ways using many different illustrations. Suppose you do something wrong. No one knows except you, yet there is a kind of condemnation within you. This is not psychological; rather, it is a matter of the function of the conscience within the human spirit. Publicly during the day, the atheists may say that there is no God, but alone at night, there is something within them—their spirit—which affirms that there is a God. A person may be very rich in material things and enjoy all kinds of entertainment, yet still be very unsatisfied. The body may be satisfied, the psychological part may be satisfied, but there is still a part which is not satisfied. This unsatisfied part is the human spirit.
The spirit is the organ for us to contact God. We have the five physical senses for realizing color, smells, sounds, tastes, and textures. The eyes are for seeing things such as color. If you lose your sight, you cannot use your ears to hear color. Similarly, if you lose your sense of smell, you cannot use your eyes to see a foul odor.
Our spirit is the organ for us to realize, sense, and contact God. In our mind we cannot see or realize God. Just as our ears cannot hear color, our mind cannot realize God. In order to realize color, we must use our eyes; likewise, in order to contact God, we must use our spirit. In such a discussion using the above points, it would be good to inject a Bible verse such as John 4:24.
PRESENTING THE CHURCH TO GOSPEL CONTACTS
The matter of the church may be raised after you have visited someone for a number of weeks. When this subject is first mentioned, there may not be enough time to adequately cover it, yet it is still good to give a few injections, or verses, concerning the church. You may say, “The church is constituted with Christ as life. According to Ephesians 1:22-23, the church comes out of Christ. Christ is the substance and reality of the church.” This is probably sufficient, especially if he is a Christian and you intend to visit him next week.
On your next visit, you should immediately go to the subject of the church, not wasting any time. After you briefly remind him of the subject of the church which he proposed for your fellowship, you should wait for him to say something. Otherwise, you will not know where he is. By giving him the opportunity to speak, you may realize that he is a person who has never been saved, that is, he is a nominal Christian. Then you may say, “Today, in Christianity there are two kinds of Christians, genuine and nominal. Many came into Christianity without being saved.” You should then talk with him about salvation, helping him to realize that he is not yet a real Christian. This may take all of your time, so you should make an appointment to come together again next week. Perhaps over a period of four or five weeks, you may be able to cover the matter of the church, depending upon your way of handling this kind of person.
(The Exercise and Practice of the God-Ordained Way, Chapter 16, by Witness Lee)
