"Hi! My name is Dale Kruse and I am out on the mall today taking a survey on this booklet titled, What Is Eternal Life?, and I was wondering if I could take ten minutes of Your time and get your reaction to it?"

Most of the time the people were on their lunch breaks sitting on a bench relaxing and so were curious and open to hear what I had to say and so would say yes to my request. If they said no I would then say to them,

"May I leave You a copy to look at?"

If they said yes I would give it to them and walk on. If they said no I would respond, "Thank you anyway," and would walk on. Even this reaction witnessed to them because it said I respected the free will Jesus gave them and their person. This would make them more willing to respond with a yes the next time someone approached them in a similar way.

I had been out on the mall for about a month when out of no where this man showed up standing on a bench screaming hell, fire and damnation to anyone within his yelling range. The end result was it completely frustrated my efforts of witnessing to anyone one-on-one since they thought, in light of what was being said by this man in the distance, I was about to do the same. When I would walk up to them they would get up and walk away understandably.

I did not immediately assume the worst of this man. I prayed and asked the Lord,

Jesus, you said about Yourself and John the Baptist recorded in Matthew 11:16-19,

"But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the market places, who call out to the other children, and say, `We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.’ For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, `He has a demon!’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, `Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax-gathers and sinners!’ And wisdom is vindicated by her deeds."

The answer came to me the next morning while having my quiet time. I was reading the book of Ephesians and came across Ephesians 4:15, "But speaking the truth in love..." I also read later in 2 Corinthians 5:14, "For the love of Christ controls us..." Through these passages the Lord made it clear to me that He wants us to share the Gospel in love, not in condemnation. I also read later in Romans 2:4,

"Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?"

Here again Paul reaffirms that God’s desired way to bring us to himself is through kindness and love, not hell, fire and condemnation. Hell, fire and damnation approaches are only to be used as a last resort, not as a normative approach to preaching the Gospel. It is to be the exception, not the rule. Over the thirty years I have shared my faith with others on the field, there have been times I felt prompted by the Holy Spirit to use this approach. One such time was while sharing with an eighty year old retired secular professor. I had been sharing Jesus with him in love for several minutes and responding apologetically (1 Peter 3:15) to several comments he had made to me to try and discredit the gospel. I found that no matter what I said to him or suggested to him to read I got an argument. It became clear to me that he was not looking for the truth but doing whatever he could to resist the Gospel. After thirty-minutes of conversation I felt prompted by the Holy Spirit and looked him straight in the eye and said, Sir, if you do not repent and turn to Jesus and receive him as your Savior and Lord, you will go to Hell! This was a very exceptional circumstance and the exception not the rule. Jesus’ answer to me was clear, Dale, unless I tell you otherwise, I want the Gospel preached in love. This man is not from me.

The Vice President’s Secretary was in the file room one day using the copier. She Knew I was a minister and said to me, Dale, what do you think about this man on the mall screaming hell, fire and damnation? I shared with her what the Lord had ministered to me about him and she said in response, Ya! He thinks if God did not have him, he could not save the world. She hit the nail right on the nose. Here was a person who did not know Jesus, but she was discerning enough to realize this man was not being led of the Spirit of God in his trying to share the Gospel with others.

One day the receptionist came to work with a Chinese Astrology Chart she had come across. She took it and went around telling everybody their Chinese astrology. Eventually she came in the back to me:

"Dale, when is your birthday?"

"Why do You want to know?"

"I have this Chinese Astrology chart."

"I do not mean to offend you, but I am just not into that."

"Oh! That is okay Dale."

As she was walking away I prayed, Jesus, do You want me to talk with her about what the Bible teaches on Astrology? The answer was immediate: No. Just pray for her.

WITNESS WITH POSITIVE RESULTS

The Vice President’s secretary knowing that I was a minister said to me one day while in the back, Dale, now be honest with me, does my language bother you? She thought at one time I was studying to be a priest because during my lunch break I was studying Biblical Hebrew, so I explained to her in response:

Let me explain it to you in this way: I was studying to be a priest several years ago, but I had a problem that was not too consistent with the vocation I was pursuing that I could not overcome in my own strength. The problem was a four letter word vocabulary. The old computer upstairs was well programmed and I could not unprogram it. One day while coming home from school I gave my life to Jesus. I prayed, "Jesus, I cannot change me. You change me. Here is my life, it is Yours to do with whatever you please." To me it was a prayer like a thousand other prayers I had previously prayed, but three days later I got up one morning and realized my four letter word vocabulary was gone and I knew I had nothing to do with it. Jesus just took it away. If I could not clean up my mouth except through the power of God, how could I condemn you for your mouth. Your problem is not your mouth, your problem is that you need Jesus."

She did not receive Jesus that day, but she did leave seriously thinking about what I had said while experiencing the fruit of the Spirit of Love, Joy and Peace. When what we minister is motivated by the Holy Spirit, it is always ministered in love and received in love whether the person accepts Jesus at that moment or not. This is because the fruit of the Holy Spirit is love, joy and peace.⁸⁷ We also leave a good taste in the person’s mouth which keeps them open to hear more when they are ready for it.

The receptionist, the astrologist, was a canvas artist. One morning during my quiet time the Lord spoke to me in my heart and told me to show her a drawing He had given me for the cover of this Advanced Textbook. The cover was a symbol of the relationship of the Trinity and the Trinity’s desired relationship with the Church. When I asked the Lord why, all He said was, "Just obey Me."

I brought the drawing with me to work and when the receptionist came to the file room to use the copier I said to her, Please come over here and let me show you a drawing I have for a book I have written. As she was looking at the drawing I explained to her what it was about and what it symbolized. She stared at it for a moment and then looked up and said to me, Dale, What does the Bible Say about Astrology? Jesus knew how to get into her heart. I did not. Had I just immediately approached her about what the Bible taught about astrology, her ego would have never let me know that she knew that what I was saying about astrology and the Bible was true. She would have thrown up a wall and probably preached astrology all the stronger to defend her position.

After her question I went on to share with her that the bible condemns idolatry. I explained to her that idolatry is anything we look to besides Jesus for the answers to our needs. I then shared what Jesus said in the Gospel of John chapter 10:

"Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber.... Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.... If anyone enters through Me, he shall be saved and shall go in and out, and find pasture." (John 10:1-9).

She prayed and received Jesus into her heart as Savior and Lord and just as she did with astrology she went around the office sharing with everyone that she had come to know that only Jesus was the answer to all of our needs. She also shared how I had helped her come to understand this absolute truth.

Not long after this I was in an office meeting where again I observed the office administrator who had the bad allergies. During the whole meeting she was sniffing and wiping her eyes. My heart really went out to her. I prayed, Jesus do you want me to pray for this lady to be healed. I got an immediate, Yes! I then prayed and asked the Lord to give me an opportunity to do so. The next day she came into the file room to use the copier. When she did I said to her, (I will call her Alice) Alice, do you believe in prayer? I did not know if she was a believer or not. She responded back, Why do you ask? I said in response, If you are open to it I would like to pray for you that God would heal you of your allergies. She looked around to see if anyone else was in the room. When she was convinced there was not, she said to me, I guess so. With that I laid my hand on her and prayed,

Jesus, I pray for your anointing, power and Holy Spirit upon Alice. Please heal her and take these allergies away. I pray and believe You for this now in Jesus name. Amen.

Her attitude was she had pacified me and left the room. Ten minutes later she came running back into the room with tears in her eyes only now not tears because of her allergies but because she was healed. She said over and over, It is gone! It is gone! My sinuses are clear! It is gone!