#71 “Everyone Is Going to Die” - Ray Comfort (Living Waters)
As a young man in New Zealand, Ray Comfort had everything he could want: a thriving business, a beautiful wife, and a successful career in front of him. But when he recognized the brevity of life and the finality of death, he began to despair.
The following is a summary of the podcast interview above with Ray Comfort. Many more details are included in the original podcast episode and we encourage you to listen.
Written by Jace Bower
A Young Kiwi
Ray Comfort was born in New Zealand and grew up right next to the beach. His passion was surfing and he spent every moment he could spare chasing the next wave. He would spend hours at the beach with his dog Jordie until one day, a tragic accident occurred.
Ray and Jordie were about to head off for the beach when Jordie darted out into the road. Ray called his dog to come back but it was too late. Jordie was hit by a car. Ray rushed over and held his dog as the driver of the car pulled over and ran to help. They rushed Jordie to the veterinarian but he didn’t make it.
Spiritually Restless
At a young age, Ray’s idyllic childhood was touched by his first experience with death. Ray’s family was nominally religious and Ray would even consider himself a Christian. But he didn’t understand what the Gospel was or what it meant that Jesus died on the cross. Ray believed in God but didn’t think much of him beyond that.
When he was faced with the death of his dog, Ray began to be spiritually restless. He realized that life had an endpoint and that every person he knew and dearly loved was going to die one day.
As a young man, Ray got a job at a local bank and met Sue. It took a while for Sue to come around to liking Ray but the two eventually became inseparable. When Sue suggested they get married, Ray agreed.
Vanity of Vanities, All is Vanity
At that time, Ray was also blossoming into a successful businessman in his own right. He had opened a surf shop and was selling leather jackets. And yet, despite the commercial success and his amazing marriage to Sue, he felt a nagging sense of what the Preacher in Ecclesiastes calls “vanity”.
Ray looked around at his life and realized that everything he had would one day be destroyed. Even Sue would die and nothing could soften the sting of that reality.
Death would destroy everything he loved and held dear.
Ray’s Problem
As Ray’s spiritual restlessness churned inside him, God was working.
Just months after marrying Sue, Ray took a surfing trip with some buddies. One of his surfing friends was a recent convert to Christianity and brought a Bible along with him. Ray read from the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus taught how God’s law reached all the way down to a person’s heart.
Ray had never committed adultery with anyone in his life but Jesus wasn’t satisfied with this. Ray read how Jesus viewed any lustful thought as committing adultery in the heart.
Suddenly, Ray’s eyes were opened to his need for a Savior. He understood why Jesus had to die for him. He had broken God’s law and the wages he had earned for his sin was death. However, the free gift of God was eternal life in Jesus Christ.
A New Passion
From that day on, Ray was a new creation in Christ. He wanted to read more of the Bible and he began to talk with Sue about God, something he had never done previously.
Ray had not understood the seriousness of God’s judgment that faced him. It was only when he realized that he stood guilty before the just Judge of the universe that he looked to Christ for salvation. Ray wanted to share this good news with anyone and everyone. But he knew that they would need to see the seriousness of their sin just like he had.
He began to preach in the open air in his city. He plastered Bible verses on the door and windows of his surf shop and he prayed a prayer of surrender to God, promising to follow Him no matter what it cost. Soon after, Ray’s business was kicked out of the building he had been renting and he was forced to relocate a commercially-zoned building.
But these setbacks didn’t stop Ray. He turned to the issue of drug prevention and ministry. Some of his friends had fallen prey to drugs and had died as a result. Ray wanted to help others who were in the same danger. He started a drug prevention house and put the power of the Gospel on display to those around him who were skeptical or openly hostile to his evangelism.
Speaking on Evangelism
Meanwhile, Ray was invited to churches across New Zealand and Australia to teach on his evangelism tactics. Particularly, he emphasized the need to help people see their sin and the judgment they deserved before offering the hope of the Gospel.
It is not the healthy who need a doctor but the sick. And the great danger of sin is that it is a sickness that is often easily hidden. Many people think they are healthy when in reality, they are quite sick. Ray taught Christians that the first important step in sharing their faith was to help people see how sick they really were. Otherwise, they wouldn’t value the cure the Gospel offered.
Through a connection with an American pastor, Ray was invited to bring his message to the United States. He and Sue moved to the U.S. and Ray became an itinerant speaker, training churches in evangelism. By this time, Ray’s ministry was expanding to other forms of media. He produced a film called Hell’s Best Kept Secret and created a website for his ministry, which was called the Way of the Master.
A Wider Audience
A young American actor named Kirk Cameron found Ray’s resources and helped him to expand his audience. With Kirk’s name recognition and connections in the world of television, the Way of the Master was able to expand its reach to hundreds of thousands of people.
In the midst of it all, Ray continued to take his urgent message of hope to the public square. He spoke openly on college campuses and public spaces, drawing small crowds.
There were plenty of people who were hostile to his message, even going as far as physically assaulting him, but many others were confronted with their sin and need for salvation and God used Ray’s preaching to draw them to faith.
The Urgency of the Mission
Ray’s passion for evangelism is rare in the church today. Sharing our faith can be intimidating and downright frightening. Ray still has the same fears himself. But he takes courage in the knowledge that God can and does use him to bring people to repentance.
Ray emphasizes the urgency of the mission: death is at the door for many people and they need to hear the message of hope found only in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. No other name will save them.
Ray’s ministry of evangelism has led to countless lives being changed. Ray himself had ignored God for years but when confronted with the reality of his own sin and its consequences, he couldn’t ignore God any longer. His own conversion has played a role in shaping the way Ray brings the Gospel to those whom God has put in his path. He knows that God is sovereign and that He uses His people to spread the good news to all the earth.
—
Jace Bower is a writer with a passion for justice and biblical principles. He writes at jacebower.com.
🔗 Links
Living Waters YouTube channel (witnessing encounters, street preaching, teaching, etc.)
Hell’s Best Kept Secret message
Free movies produced by Living Waters
📷 Photos & Videos
🎧 3 RECOMMENDED EPISODES:
#7 A Catholic Converted - Juan Sanchez: A faithful Catholic altar boy who felt that Jesus was aloof and distant. After developing a personal relationship with Christ, he became president of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention.
#52 Transformed. One Man's Journey to Declare No More. - Jaime Kent: One night, when Jaime was just 10-years-old, police came to his home and arrested his stepfather. Then, moments later, Jaime and his siblings were taken away by Child Protective Services. As Jaime’s world fell apart and his earthly family imploded, little did he know that a Heavenly Father was watching from above.
#66 Freedom from Porn - Eric Hovind: Eric grew up in a Christian household and served faithfully in his family's Christian ministry, volunteered at church, and always knew all the right answers. Yet, at the same time, he was harboring a secret double-life of sexual addiction. But one night, he came face-to-face with a shocking realization... he was the product of Christian culture and teaching... but he was a total stranger to Christ.
