Tag Archives: Tracts

Zealous to Mislead. Why not Become Zealous to Save?

November 17, 2013 Satya Maharzan 6 Comments

Recently, I noticed that the presence of Jehovah’s Witnesses is getting thicker in my neighborhood. Just last week, a woman in her 70s rang the door bell in my house for what they are probably best known for. A group of women was knocking on door-to-door to distribute the literature. Upon opening the door for her while holding a baby in one arm, she handed me a tract and asks if I believed in resurrection.

Today I bumped into another woman in her late 60 in the office of Secretary of State. I had my child with me. She approached me with big smile. I thought she was smiling at my child, since little kids draw attention of most adults. As she was less than 10 inches closer to me, I knew now that she was not smiling at my cute child but faking that big smile to simply hand me the same tract that I received a week ago which read whether I believed in the resurrection. I was shocked and blown away by the fact that she was in her walker thus could not walk without the help of the walker. Yet, she was out there in the cold chilling day in the mall to hand out the tracts and spread her belief.

Are evangelicals really slacking when it comes to reach out in public? Yes. In this pluralistic society where truth is relative is not so unopposed to Christianity. The excuse of opposition, however, does not hold much water in its claim. Do not get me wrong, as I am not saying that we have to follow the exact example of those people that I have mentioned earlier. What I am saying is that we can reach out to people in our neighborhood and introduce ourselves. Handing the Gospel tract is not the only way to introduce Jesus to people. Your neighbor next door might not be far away in terms of geography but in a personal level, we can be way too distant from each other. We might not have been able to connect to each other or relate to because we see them someone different than “I”. Have we introduced ourselves to them? Do we have that sort of zeal to earn the name “Christian” just as early believers in Antioch had? If JWs can invest their so much time and effort to knock on door-to-door and mislead the souls away, can we, at least, commit to pray for our church and people who are working in the ground to bind the wounded souls and bring the healing through the Holy Spirit? Or how about inviting people who are broken to partake with you in your table? Or how about we extend our helping hands little bit to partner in the Gospel by taking the financial burden off of our missionary brothers and sisters? Why do we not become zealous to reach out our lost sisters and brothers with love of Jesus Christ?

What if we take the Great Commission (Matthew 28:16-20) and the Great Commandment (Matthew 22:36-40) seriously and live it out?

Mission, Opinion

Tract Evangelism Still Relevant in Nepal

April 9, 2013 Satya Maharzan 4 Comments

I believe that the tract evangelism is still relevant and effective in this age in Nepal. Given the consideration of geo-polical, and social aspect of the country, tract evangelism is still one of the effective methods to share the gospel to people of different faiths in the country. Working with an international mission organizations like Operation Mobilization and Gospel for Asia have offered me an enriched experience of sharing the gospel through the tracts. From my own firsthand experience in the evangelistic ministry, I have seen and heard numerous stories about people being saved through reading the tracts.

Now, let me explain why the gospel packets or tracts are still one of the effective tools to reach out and share the Good News of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Not all of them who hear or read the gospel message come to the saving knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, yet we have a good reason to believe that, if not many, few people will and have come to faith through reading the short but pithy tracts.

I had the privilege of visiting some remote parts of the country with mission teams. I noticed, particularly, people reading the pamphlets and manifestoes of political parties that were laying off the road for days or maybe months. In the next scenario, I saw an auto-rickshaw with megaphone also distributing some politically motivated leaflets, manifesto, and pamphlets in the village. Once I came back to Kathmandu, I saw the same incidents reoccurring. This was not something new happening in the town but I just happened to realize that it was happening that time. Those series of incidents had an enormous impact on my way of thinking about tract evangelism.

I know many people would not bother to hear the gospel from someone, especially in the urban area, they do not know of. However, they tend to read the literature they find on the road or handed out by even a perfect stranger. Not all of them who hear or read the gospel message come to the saving knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, yet we have a good reason to believe that, if not many, few people will and have come to faith through reading the short but pithy tracts. In some cases, people came to believe Jesus as the One who he claimed to be – the living Son of God– by reading only some verses from the tracts. Those verses address their spiritual hunger and need deep inside their hearts in the given moment of their lives. That transform their lives. We may be tempted to ask how on earthy they would grow in spiritual maturity. There are churches and believers who are willing to walk with them in their spiritual journey. Growing into spiritual maturity is a life-long process. Let alone this topic be left to discuss on different day.

Once a man shared his testimony with me how he came to Jesus. He went to the local food mart to buy some salted peanuts. The shopkeeper put the salted peanuts into a piece of paper and handed him. [In Nepal, some local stores still use papers to pack things by wrapping the corners of papers]. While eating peanuts, he saw something written about life here and afterlife. He started reading it. The message written in the paper touched and greatly moved his heart and he became Christian.

The punch line is: Many people have access to internet and gadgets in our country. Yet, there are still a good numbers of people in the different parts of the country who do not have either no access to electricity or cannot afford to access the internet. Gospel tracts can be a helpful tool to share Jesus to those people.