It’s been warm outside the past few weeks. Temperatures have risen as a heat wave has traversed the country. One thing I’ve learned about heat waves is that they are only here for a while. There’s really nothing to worry about. The season will change eventually and the temperature will drop again. Yet, I recently was listening to an interview with a Harvard-trained medical doctor who was using the current country’s heat wave as a confirmation of his belief about climate change. There were red flags brought up about dehydration, how our organs will begin shutting down, and he even raised concerns as to whether children should be allowed to play outside again. Put simply, he used scare tactics to push a politically motivated agenda. We have seen these same manipulative techniques used by the media throughout the COVID pandemic and for other purposes as well. Scare tactics involve using an established fact to invoke fear in a person in the hope of motivating them to some response.

On my first day of college (many years ago), I met one of the guys on my floor who had a zealous desire to see people get saved. We will call him “Bob”. One of the first questions Bob asked me was regarding my eternal destiny. I knew the Lord and appreciated his question because I shared in his desire to share the gospel with others. Later that evening, I met my roommate for the first time. He seemed to be quite distraught. As we talked he mentioned that he had been approached by Bob with a similar question about being a Christian. However, he did not know Christ and told Bob that he wasn’t a believer. To this Bob replied, “Well, you know you are going to go to hell!” The rest of the night I talked to my roommate about what it meant to be saved. It was an unfruitful conversation, though. The scare tactic used by Bob the evangelist had tainted him to the proposition of accepting Christ. At the end of the semester, my roommate transferred out of the school and I’m not sure he ever gave his life to Jesus Christ.

Sometimes scare tactics backfire, especially when it comes to sharing the gospel. Yes, the facts are that those who aren’t saved are destined to spend an eternity in hell. In fact, the Bible has twice as much to say about hell as it does about heaven. But, the gospel message is more than just fire insurance. If you ask a person if they would rather spend an eternity in heaven or hell, you would find that almost every reasonable and honest person would want to avoid eternal damnation. But the gospel message is more than just about where you will spend eternity. It is about a relationship with the creator of the universe. It is about a new, transformative life that is only found by being born again. It is about being redeemed and released from your bondage to sin and the inevitable consequences that sin will bring into your life. Scare tactics used while presenting the gospel usually lead to false, shallow, and self-centered views about God and our relationship to Him.

If the gospel means “good news” and the fields are “white already to harvest” (John 4:35), we shouldn’t have to resort to manipulation to get people to respond. When Paul presented the gospel, he often gave his testimony (see Acts 22-26). Jesus spoke in parables and told us to sow the seed of the gospel (see Matthew 13). I have never seen a farmer out in the field using manipulative scare tactics to produce a crop. We are called to sow faithfully, to water the seed, and to “be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear” (1 Peter 3:15). That fear is to reside in your own heart as the presenter (not for the receiver), as one who has been given a high calling from a holy and sovereign God. Be convinced of the life-changing power of gospel within you and then go boldly, confidently, and reasonably share your faith with others. Then, let God give the increase as the Holy Spirit works in that person’s heart. Our culture gets fed enough half-baked, partially true, agenda-fueled scare tactics from every other area of life. Leave those worldly scare tactics behind when it comes to sharing your faith.