Tracts & inserts in pdf's for printing and handing out

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“Stranger than Fiction!”

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IS THE BIBLE SCIENTIFIC?

PTOLEMY, IN 150 AD, DOGMATICALLY ASSERTED THAT THERE WERE ONLY

1,056 STARS IN THE HEAVENS!

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Two to an A4.

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HEAVYWEIGHT
BOXING CHAMPION

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SIN INVOICE Two to an A4.
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SIN INVOICE One to an A4.
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Three Dollar Dog Two to an A4.
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I'LL DO IT LATER Two to an A4.
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CHINESE
I'LL DO IT LATER Two to an A4.
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I have been asked to represent a missionary and I am happy to do so. I will read his resume, as follows:

Brethren, I beseech you, kindly, for Christ’s sake, to send me to all of the world, to all countries. I speak fluently in all languages and dialects. I know thoroughly all cultures and traditions. I am understood by the uneducated and the intellectual, by the religious and the non-religious, by the moral and the immoral.

I work with missionaries. If any of them are ever wrong or in error, I remain right and truthful. I never change. I have been perfect from the beginning and I will be perfect for all eternity.

If the converts change their doctrine and/or join unscriptural churches, my doctrine and my salvation in their hearts remain perfect.

I will continually preach in their hearts, urging them to repent, come back to me and join Scriptural New Testament churches, to be happy and fruitful.

I will never need to be disciplined because I am right and I will never change, regardless of where you send me! Popularity, peer pressure, the world, fame, riches, luxury, safety, lust, or any other kind of sin has no effect on me. I cannot be tempted. I cannot sin or compromise. You can trust me, explicitly.

I am sent into saloons, movie houses, houses of prostitution, massage parlors, Gambling casinos, Mafia meetings, illegal dope gang meetings.

I will remain for hours, for days, weeks, months, for years, or decades, waiting patiently to be heard in restrooms, closets, desk drawers, books in a library, (even in the wicked books), hotel and motel rooms, in Gideon Bibles, in telephone directories, under mattresses, under a carpet that will be changed someday, Under chair cushions, restaurants, in song books of heretical churches, even in a burial vault that will be opened one day.

I love to be thrown to road gangs, up and down the highways, in front of mail boxes. (In Australia you're allowed to place them in letterboxes. One person in Brisbane has personally placed them in over 1,550,229 letterboxes and standing on Street corners and handing them out to people, and is continuing to do so by the grace of God, without asking anyone for money or donations of any kind, and with no Paid advertising of any kind. One of the Tracts that I give out nowadays. Glory to God.)

I capture everyone’s attention on buses, planes, air terminals, train terminals, shopping malls, Disney World, and Disney Land. I have a captive audience on ships, barges, in jails, penitentiaries, hospitals, welfare lines, post office lines, and social security lines.

I am your missionary’s helper when he will not be heard and cannot stay. I will remain behind, preaching his message over and over. Your missionaries can systematically place me (or sow me) in the homes and businesses and then come back again later, preaching the same message of salvation, but with a different theme, until hearts are attracted and opened for them to work, to reap.

In America, if you will unselfishly place me (sow me) in areas where you would never expect any gain of members or tithe, God will not be your debtor, but will reward you with converts, members, and financial help in your church from people you did not reach.

I love to take your young people on sowing parties, preaching, witnessing, while having a big, fun, good time. You don’t have to be religious to work with me.

Just be natural, polite, personable, and friendly. People like me best like that.

I will never get angry or frustrated or impatient or impolite. Spit on me, tear me, kick me, stomp me, curse me, but I will always be my old loving self. Leave me in the rain, snow, and ice. In the spring, someone will pick me up, dry me off, believe me, and go to heaven. Throw me in the back of a pickup truck, and the wind will blow me out just exactly where the Father desires.

All over the world where pastors are limited to preaching to small congregations, I help them enlarge their listening audiences from one to five or ten thousand every week.

I will never quit! I will never come home for sickness, death, family problems, or be forced out by the governments. I will never take a furlough.

I will not make any bills for food, education, clothes, transportation back and forth across the oceans.

I will work the homes of the heathen all night long while the missionary gets his needed necessary rest.

I will stay in the vomit on a tavern floor till I am swept out into the street the next morning, rained on, picked up by a bum, believed, and carried to Glory!

I am the only missionary in the world that does not have any, not even the slightest, racial prejudice! I am love, perfect love.

I yearn to go to all continents, the North Pole, the South Pole, in every language. Work is finalizing to put me in languages where there is no written language.

I can preach in 66 books, in one Book, in a chapter, in a paragraph, in a sentence or in one word. The Father can take one word of me and reach everyone, lost or saved, turning me as He desires.

I am the Word of God! “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

“The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.” - Jeremiah 8:20.

A man went to visit a prisoner in jail and was puzzled by the prisoner's happy face until he told him the following story:

"Three years ago I was condemned to death for murder. You can imagine that my cell became a little hell. The thought of approaching death tortured me day and night. Only a few more weeks and I should be in eternity. I could neither eat nor sleep, so I decided to make a rope from my torn bedsheets with which to hang myself. Only the fear of eternity held me back as suicide would hasten my arrival there. One day I found a gospel tract which had been sent to me. I scanned through the contents which I considered to be nonsense and threw it into the corner. Later, however, I picked it up again and read it through. Thinking over it I paced up and down in my cell. A strange, and hitherto unknown feeling seemed to possess me--a longing to be delivered from the awful fear. In the leaflet stood the words, "The Son of God is come to seek and to save that which was lost (Luke 19:10). Lost! yes, surely, I was lost. But how could I be saved? How could I get rid of the heavy burden? I managed to get hold of a Bible and began to read it, still filled with this strange feeling swaying between hope and fear. Then I found the words, "The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth us from all sin (1 John 1:7). Was that really possible? I fell on my knees and pleaded with God for mercy and I found forgiveness and peace. Later my death penalty was changed to life imprisonment, but I knew that I had been given eternal life through Jesus Christ."

Gospel tracts have the amazing ability to deliver their message to many souls that the distributor of the tract will never even meet. Hudson Taylor, who was used of the Lord to reach countless souls in China, was one such soul. What a marvelous harvest was reaped from just one seed sown!

Seeking something to while away his time, Hudson Taylor turned over a basket of tracts in his father's library and selected one that looked interesting. While reading it he was struck with the phrase, "The finished work of Christ."

Immediately the words attracted his attention. "What was finished?" he asked himself. Reading further, the tract explained the finished work as "A full and perfect atonement and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world. "

Then Hudson thought, "If the whole work was finished on the cross of Calvary, and the whole debt of sin paid, what is there left for me to do?"

Hudson was thus convinced, as the light of God's truth flashed into his soul by the Holy Spirit, "There was nothing to be done but to fall down on my knees and accept the Saviour and His salvation and praise Him forever."

Hudson Taylor was seventeen years old at the time. He then went on to faithfully serve His Saviour for many years in China.

"This is what I think of your tracts!" growled a passenger standing by the rail of an ocean liner. A Christian had offered him gospel literature which he accepted with a malicious scowl. Then with a flourish he tore the tract into tiny pieces, cradled them for a moment in his hand, and finally tossed them over the rail.

The Christian went away with a heavy heart, while the unbeliever headed for the ship's bar. As he lifted the intemperate glass to his lips, however, he noticed a small piece of paper hanging from his shirt. He pulled it off, inspected it, and discovered it was one piece of the discarded tract. Only one word appeared--"God." The man turned the paper over and was startled to read, "eternity." Those words pierced his soul. For hours he seemed to see them in letters of light--"God, eternity." Liquor would not chase them from his memory. He tried gambling and dancing and conversation, but whatever he did, and wherever he went, the solemn words, "God" and "eternity" haunted him. In desperation for relief he looked for the tract distributor who joyously led him into a redemptive relationship with God by which the sinner was brought into eternal life.

He didn't appreciate the gospel tract which was handed to him, and in a rage, he tore it up and threw it to the ground. However, God had other purposes in view, for a portion of the tract was picked up by the wind and fell at the feet of an aged man who was the keeper of a saloon.

Was it curiosity or the intervention of God which led that aged sinner to stoop down and pick up the piece of torn paper? I believe it was the latter, for that paper contained the very message needed by his hardened heart.

He reached the saloon, and in the failing light of that winter day, he read the words: "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool" (Isaiah 1:18).

"Your Sins." How those words burned into his soul! It was useless to make excuses for himself, for he felt and knew he was a sinner. His past rose up before him like a dark mountain, prepared to separate him from God and happiness forever.

"As Scarlet." Yes, indeed, his sins were deep dyed, and he felt his own inability to wash away his guilty stains.

"Red Like Crimson." His case seemed hopeless. But, he thought, could it really be true that the great God who had borne with him for so long was patiently waiting for a sinner like him to come and talk with Him? Yes, praise His Name, God was inviting him. Putting down the piece of paper carefully on the table, he went upstairs and poured out his tale of sin and repentance to the ear of the One who never refuses to listen to a contrite cry from a sinner. Prayer soon turned into praise, for the message received through the torn paper picked up by the wind had done its work, and the aged sinner found rest in the waiting Saviour.

Several hours went by and a man who had been playing a barrel organ in the town went to the saloon for refreshment and warmth. The scrap of paper was still on the table, and the man, thinking it of no use, picked it up and was about to use it to light his pipe by the fire. "Stop," said the old saloon keeper, eagerly taking the paper from his hand. He could not have handled the paper more carefully if it had been a hundred dollar bill. Smoothing it out, he read to the astonished ears of his visitor the wonderful message that God had used in his salvation, but alas, it fell upon dull ears, and the man quickly left to resume his journey.

It was a cold, frosty night when he left the saloon. What happened next no one knew, but in the early hours of the morning, some men going to work saw the poor organ grinder, doubled up at the side of the road, dead! He was gone, gone to meet God! He had heard the message. Did he heed it? His last opportunity was past!

Reader, your opportunity is right now. "Now is the accepted time, behold now is the day of salvation" (2 Corinthians 6:2). God's word to you is, "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool" (Isaiah 1:18). Confess your sins to God and trust the Lord Jesus Christ as your Saviour. His shed blood on Calvary's cross will wash you white as snow. "The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin" (1 John 1:7).

Don't turn away from God's gracious invitation to "come" to Him with all your sins. He will do for you what He has done for millions--save eternally and give you peace and satisfaction. "Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28).

Compton, CA (AP)-- The first time a gunman tried to fire at theologian Ralph Owens, the bullet didn't discharge. Then, on the second attempt, a bullet ripped into gospel tracts in Owens' pocked and dropped harmlessly to the ground.

A police officer nearby arrived as the gunmen aimed again at Owens, a missionary of the California Laymen's Crusade. Two youths, 18 and 20, were booked on suspicion of robbery and attempted murder. Police said $1.30 had been taken from Owens.

Don't be discouraged to see Gospel Tracts discarded after you pass them out. God has used countless "recycled" tracts to bring salvation to souls. Following is one such story received from a third-world country about the Gospel periodical, Moments For You.

I gave my life to Jesus Christ through the work of your magazine. I was living in sin and a miserable life, though I am a churchgoer. I attended service every Sunday, yet I didn't know Christ. I didn't know what it meant to be saved, though I was a communicant.

One day a page of Moments For You was used to wrap a fish for me. After I was finished eating the fish, I used it to wipe my hands. Later I opened it and read where I could see clearly the words, "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:8,9).

After reading it again and again, I fell on my knees and confessed my sins to God and found forgiveness.

"In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand: for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good" (Ecclesiastes 11:6).

The circulation of tracts as a means of preaching the Gospel is actually older than the art of printing. Wycliffe, the reformer, was a great writer and distributor of tracts, employing his pupils and friends to multiply copies by hand. Martin Luther was a worker through tracts as well, but with the help, however, of the printing press, which came to his aid. Two hundred years later, Count Zinzendorf, another devoted reformer, made extensive use of the printing press in the spreading of Gospel tracts.

All these years our God has been watching over these silent messengers, and, no one but the Lord Himself can tell into how many hands they have fallen, and how many hearts have been moved to receive the truth as to God's salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Richard Gibbs wrote a tract entitled, "The Bruised Reed." A tin peddler gave it to a man named Richard Baxter: through reading it he was brought to Christ. He then wrote, "A Call to the Unconverted." Among the thousands saved through it was Phillip Doddridge, who wrote "The Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul." It fell into the hands of William Wilberforce, the emancipator of the slaves in the British Colonies, and led him to Christ. Wilberforce wrote, "A Practical View of Christianity," which fired the heart of Leigh Richmond. He wrote "The Dairyman's Daughter," of which as many as four million copies were circulated, as it testified for Christ in over fifty different languages.

"Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days" (Ecclesiastes 11:1).

Early in 1819, while waiting to see a patient, a young physician in New York took up and read a tract on missions, which lay in the room where he sat.

On reaching home he spoke to his wife of the question that had arisen in his mind. As a result, they set out as foreign missionaries for Ceylon, and later, India. For thirty years the wife, and for thirty-six years the husband labored among the people there, and then went to receive their reward.

Apart from what they did directly as missionaries, they left behind them seven sons and two daughters. Each of these sons married, and with their wives and both sisters, gave themelves to the same mission work. Before long, several grandchildren of the first missionary become missionaries in India. And thus it was soon that thirty of that family had given 529 years to the Lord in India, and Glory will only reveal the fruit of that one tract.

A Christian man was passing out Gospel tracts. Among those who received one was a gentleman who remarked as he received it that he feared such efforts did little permanent good. "I am not opposed to such work," he said. "In my younger days I did a good deal of it myself, but I cannot say that I ever saw any fruit from it."

The tract distributor was somewhat discouraged by that remark, especially coming from one who evidently was a Christian of many years' standing. But he instantly remembered that his own conversion was brought about by means of a tract which he received when he was a lad, as he walked along the street one wintry night.

As he passed the door of a mission hall a young man, standing evidently for the purpose of getting passers-by to go in, handed him a tract and asked him to go inside and hear the Gospel. He did go in, and heard words there that awakened him to think of eternity and his state before God, and he went home in deep soul trouble. In his anxiety he turned to the tract he had received, read it, and was saved.

The tract distributor told this story to the gentleman, who listened with evident interest, and when it was finished, he said, "May I ask where this most interesting event took place?" The man named the city, the street, the hall, and the very night on which he got the tract and was invited inside. The gentleman's eyes filled with tears; he grasped the distributor's hand, and said with great emotion: "It was my work for many a night, when I was a young man, newly converted, to stand at that door giving tracts and inviting passers-by. But I lost heart soon after that and gave it up, thinking that such work was almost useless. Now after twenty years, God has let me know it was not in vain, and if He spares me to return to the city, I shall by His grace return to the service He gave me long ago, confessing my faithlessness in leaving it."

But the twenty intervening years were lost. How many more golden sheaves might have appeared to that Christian worker's account in the day of Christ had he continued in the service that the Lord gave him to do!

"And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not" (Galatians 6:9).

The following are 50 responses to a poll asking tract distributors how they have used tracts in the past. If you have any other ways that you have used tracts, feel free to send them to us. Maybe we'll add them to the list.

You might not agree with all of the items below (we certainly wouldn't use some of them), but hopefully they will give you some ideas of how you can use the "silent messengers" where you live.

No matter where or how you choose to distribute tracts, we have these suggestions:

1. Obey all local ordinances. (Some areas or stores, including the US Post Office, have prohibited the distribution of literature). This also includes littering, etc.
2. Leave at least two copies of a tract so someone will feel better about not taking the last one. Plus you'll double the number of souls witnessed to!
3. Most importantly, ask God to use you, seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit for each tract placed, and then pray for the Lord of harvest to bless it.

1. Leave in phone booths.
2. Put in greeting cards.
3. Leave at roadside rests.
4. Put on car windows in parking lots.
5. Leave on sitting areas of shopping malls.
6. Pass out door to door.
7. Pass out to fellow campers.
8. Tack up on bulletin boards.
9. Put in pockets of used clothing given away.
10. Leave in dressing rooms of clothing stores.
11. Pass out at parades, festivals, and special events.
12. Leave in city parks on benches, etc.
13. Put in helium-filled balloons.
14. Leave at funeral homes.
15. Leave in newspaper machines.
16. Hand out at stadium entrances, etc.
17. Put in sealed bottles in the ocean.
18. Mail out to names in a telephone book.
19. Leave in laundromats.
20. Give to attendants at parking garages, etc.
21. Leave in motel rooms (in the drawers, telephone book, etc.)
22. Leave in glove compartment of car you test drive.
23. Place in six-packs of beer, or in toilet tissue rolls in grocery stores.
24. Include in bills paid by mail.
25. Slip in pump handles at self-serve gas stations.
26. Hand to store employees, check-out clerks.
27. Leave in returned library books.
28. Put in magazines in waiting rooms.
29. Put up tract racks in stores, beauty parlors.
30. Put in correspondence to prisoners, etc.
31. Leave in bank where deposit slips are.
32. Leave in zip code book in post office.
33. Leave in restrooms at restaurants, etc.
34. Leave with (generous) tip in restaurants.
35. Give to hospital and nursing home patients.
36. Leave on tables at flea markets.
37. Hand out at zoos, picnic areas, beaches.
38. Leave on seats on bus, cab, airplane, etc.
39. Leave in locker at "Y" or health club.
40. Pass out on busy street corners.
41. Put in mouth of vending machines.
42. Pass out at schools after dismissal.
43. Leave in cafeteria at work, school.
44. Leave for newspaper boy, milkman, etc.
45. Put in each box or bag of merchandise sold.
46. Put in airport lounges, bus terminals, etc.
47. Send to relatives of deceased in obituaries.
48. Send to parents in birth announcements.
49. Give to students at Vacation Bible School and Sunday School.
50. Rent booths at fairs for tract displays.

It's a wonderful thing that the story of the grace of God can be compressed into a few hundred words and printed on a piece of paper. It's even more wonderful when you consider that masses of people will not listen to a Christian broadcast on radio or TV. Neither will they enter a church or discuss spiritual things with a Christian.

You've probably heard the common reply, "I don't believe in discussing politics or religion."

Did you know that millions of people have this attitude? Multitudes cannot be reached by any other method than gospel tracts. Why? They have closed their hearts and minds to all public gospel approaches. Only the private door is open.

A person sitting in an airport will read the tract they find on their seat, yet they would stubbornly refuse to discuss the same truths with a witnessing Christian. Or a person may find a tract in a hotel lobby or a restaurant booth. In that secret moment the Holy Spirit can deal with them about Christ.

A whole segment of humanity cannot be reached in any other way. This means that the tract ministry is as vital as any form of evangelism. These people can be reached in a private moment with a tract that tells the message of Jesus Christ.

Many people have been deceived into thinking that tract ministry is not that important. Without realizing it, many Christians are despising one of the choicest ministries for our day of hit-and-run living. Once a believer begins to use gospel tracts, he finds how tracts reach people that he will never even meet face to face. Leave one in a public place, and the Holy Spirit will have someone ready who needs this approach--a person you'll never see until we reach Heaven. There is no substitute for the "hidden treasure" concept of Matthew 13:44. Some people just have to find Christ by themselves.

Arm yourself with these silent evangelists, and you'll contact souls beyond the reach of any public evangelist. For some it's the only way.

The natural spiritual desire of every born-again heart, thankfully rejoicing in the Lord His Saviour, desires to be used to win others to the Lord, just as Andrew brought his own brother Simon Peter to Jesus (John 1:40-41,42). Andrew told the one closest to him about the Saviour he had found.

Enthusiasm motivated by genuine love for Christ and for souls sparks an interest in others, and is a necessary ingredient for soul-winning. Let us not forget that the Lord wants to use me to bring those whom I touch in life to know Jesus as Saviour. Every soul that we come in contact with is a soul for whom Christ died. Oh! that they knew this wonderful Saviour! "He that winneth souls is wise" (Proverbs 11:30).

One effective witnessing tool is the Gospel Tract. Tract distribution is seed sowing, the seed being the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

"Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever" (1 Peter 1:23). God can cause the seed to spring up into life--eternal life. This eternal life or new birth in a soul is brought about by the action of the Word of God and the Spirit of God. It takes but a second or two to drop a seed into a person's hand or into a place where it can be picked up later, but God can use that seed to bring eternal life by His Spirit. Life is made up of seconds and minutes to be used for Christ. Our lives touch others, sometimes through Christian love shown on a daily basis over a long time, and sometimes through a witness given in a fleeting moment.

The challenges to tract distribution seem greater today than in times past. Some local regulations prohibit the distribution of literature in certain public areas, but the greatest change can be seen in peoples' attitudes about the Gospel. Today's world is a world of "anything goes," and moral absolutes have been abandoned in favor of personal opinions. But God's voice in the Scriptures can still be heard today, and needs to be heard as much as ever, if not more. That voice speaks to man's rebellious heart, showing him to be a sinner in need of a Saviour. True, men's hearts are hardened against the testimony of the Word of God, but that is where Gospel Tracts can play a powerful role. A single tract can be used by the Lord as a voice of testimony to His Word, convicting of sin, and drawing a soul to the Saviour. I thank God that I can have a part in this work by scattering the living seed. It is a joyful service for the Lord.

Success in any kind of witnessing is simply sharing Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit and leaving the results to God. Always remember that there is absolutely no substitute for prayer.

Do not become discouraged if the Lord allows you to see few results on this side of Glory. Remember that the Lord says, "So shall My Word be that goeth forth out of My mouth: it shall not return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it" (Isaiah 55:11). "And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not" (Galatians 6:9).

Distribute tracts plentifully and persistently. "He who soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully" (2 Corinthians 9:6).

When I paid for my meal at the local fast-food restaurant, I thanked the teenaged employee, handed him a gospel tract and turned away with my purchase. Suddenly I was aware of a struggle behind me, and I whirled around to witness an incredible sight.

Two young employees jostled one another behind the counter. One tightly clutched the tract I had given him, while the other wrestled to see it for himself. Within moments, other workers moved in, all vying for a look at the tract. Amazed, I sprinted to my car, dumped my hamburger onto the seat and brought back similar pamphlets for the rest of the employees.

Unusual? Yes! They "fought over" gospel literature. However, it is not uncommon for tracts to be eagerly received. Surprising as it may seem, I have found a new openness for these small "messengers" everywhere I go.

In Matthew 28:19, Jesus commands us to preach the Good News of his death and resurrection to the whole world. It is only by hearing and believing this gospel that people can have the assurance of forgiveness and eternal life. Yet we do not have to be gifted evangelists, nor are we to be fearful, in spreading the Good News. I have learned that Christians who are less experienced in evangelism can begin to tell others about Christ. Tract distribution is a method of personal evangelism that can be noncon-frontational and yet rewarding.

It is essential that you develop a habit of distribution, or eventually you will find reasons not to do it. A proverb says, "Habits are at first cobwebs, at last cables." I automatically send a tract with each of my bank deposits. Once, after mailing a tract with my deposit, I received this reply on my return receipt: "Thanks for your little message." While we may never meet many of the people to whom we mail tracts, we do have an opportunity to touch their lives if we develop the habit of tract distribution.

You can begin by including tracts with your checks when you pay bills or conduct personal business by mail. You can leave tracts anywhere that they can be found and read--on bus seats, in magazine racks, in waiting rooms, on tables in restaurants, and in motel rooms when you travel.

In addition to leaving tracts for people to find, you may eventually want to try the more direct approach of actually handing someone a tract. This is not so difficult as it seems. I find that the best method is to give tracts to people with whom I come into contact each day. This has become natural for me, and it is easy, because the recipients already have a rapport with me. Most people smile or thank me when I hand them a tract.

When you make a purchase in a store or pay for a service, offer a tract. In general, people will not be rude when you have just done business with them. For example, when I left my dentist's office one day, I gave a tract to the receptionist. Not only did she receive it gladly, but that evening she phoned our home to say that her marriage had been breaking up and the tract had just the right message for her!

--Print or purchase interesting, good-quality tracts. Use literature that you will be comfortable with and that you can be excited about sharing.

--Don't give out ragged-looking tracts. Be careful to keep the tracts looking fresh.

--Store tracts where you pay your bills and write your correspondence. Also, keep tracts near the front door of your home for an appropriate opportunity.

--If you own a business, hang a tract rack where customers will see it. If you work in an office, place an eye-catching tract on your desk. A friend of mine did that, and while he made a phone call, his secretary picked it up and read it.

--Don't become discouraged by rejection. Recognize that there will be times when you are turned down. At one of our garage sales I offered a tract to a man; he shrugged it off without saying a word. I try never to take rejection personally or to feel that it is an affront to God. People are not rejecting the giver; they are most likely rejecting the piece of paper and what they think it represents. They may have unpleasant feelings associated with "religion" as a result of negative experiences in the past.

If someone doesn't want to take the tract you offer, simply smile and say, "That's OK." Since that person is not going to read the tract, you have a chance to reach him through your friendly tone and body language. You may prove to be more convincing than the tract would have been, and this may prepare him for the next time he is offered the Good News.

--If you have a relative or a close friend who needs to learn about the Lord, there are several ways you can approach this person with literature. You may want to speak to him alone at the close of a visit. Make eye contact and say something like, "Uncle John, there is something that you need to know. I wish that I could say it as well as this pamphlet does, but since I can't, I hope that this will not seem too impersonal. The message in this pamphlet changed my life. I would like to know what you think of the message." Give him the tract and say good-bye. Next time you see him, ask what he thought about it. You can do the same thing by mail and enclose the tract in a letter or an appropriate greeting card.

Can someone receive too many tracts? Recently in a busy garden shop, I handed the young clerk a tract at the close of my purchase. She smiled and said, "Oh, yeah, last time you gave me a different one." She looked serious for a moment and then said of the new tract, "This one is just what I need right now." I also gave her a Gospel of John and our phone number if she wanted to talk.

What do you tell a person when you give him a tract? I usually say, "Here is something you may enjoy reading. It's interesting!" I might also add, "This message changed my life." Like the choice of tract, your choice of words should be what is comfortable to you. Relax, be yourself, look directly at the person and smile.

Just before Christmas a few years ago, I met a dejected-looking woman leaving the courthouse. My heart went out to her, and since I had a special tract for the Christmas season, I smiled and said, "Hi! This is about the Christmas story." She looked up, lost her care-burdened look and exclaimed with new-found cheer, "Thanks, I need that!"

Plentifully: "He which soweth bountifully shall also reap bountifully" (2 Corinthians 9:6). Tracts cost so little that you can afford to give them freely.

Persistently: "Let us not be weary in well doing; for in due season we shall reap if we faint not" (Galatians 6:9; Ecclesiastes 11:6).

Practically: Never be without a booklet of good quality. Opportunities are numerous. Put tracts in your mail; hand them to your contacts; leave them in suitable locations. You are permitted to distribute tracts in most public places, but do not litter or antagonize.

Prospectively: Tracts open the door to witness. Use them as a tool to witness, but never as an excuse for not witnessing.

Proudly: You are offering the greatest of gifts. You are an ambassador of the King of kings (Isaiah 52:7; 2 Corinthians 5:20).

Particularly: Have tracts suitable for each particular situation. Tracts are available for children, businessmen, the sick, etc.; for various seasons and occasions. Tracts should be selected that will appeal first of all to the reader rather than to the distributor (1 Corinthians 9:20-21,22).

Pleasingly: Be sure your tracts are attractive and invite interest; brief, clear, and easy to read; presenting the Gospel of salvation through Jesus Christ (Titus 3:9).

Personally: Everyone can distribute tracts. People who will not come to public meetings will read a tract in privacy. Stamp your address and phone number on each tract for follow-up.

One person can completely change the character of a country and the eternal destiny of its people by dropping a single seed in the fertile ground of a soul prepared by the Lord. Eternity alone will reveal the results of your efforts. "And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not" (Galatians 6:9).

When you give out a tract--don't forget that God is glorified by every tract you give out. It remains a fact, whether the offer is received or rejected, that God in His sovereign grace has extended full and eternal salvation by means of that tract to the receiver. He can never say he was not told of God's loving offer.

Not every Christian is able to preach a sermon, or teach a Bible class, or sing a Gospel solo, or go to Africa as a missionary, but every Christian is able to sow the "precious seed" by means of the printed page. This can be done by lending evangelical Christian books to those who will promise to read them, or by placing Scripture portions or Gospel tracts in the hands of those who will accept them.

The object of such ministry is to get people to think, and thereby realize their need of salvation and the way of salvation, and then persuade them to receive Him Who alone can save and keep and satisfy. As people read they think, and as they think they believe, and as they believe they act. "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God."

Many have experienced the power of God unto salvation through the reading of a simple Gospel message, such as J. Hudson Taylor, the founder of the China Inland Mission, Thomas E. Stephens, the founder of the Great Commission Prayer League, and A. J. Gillies, the founder of the Lithuanian Gospel Mission.

The tract distributor not only receives a blessing in sowing the "precious seed," for God has promised that "he that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him," but he has the promise that God's Word will not return to Him void, and that his "labor is not in vain in the Lord." He may be tempted at times to become discouraged and stop, but as he remembers the admonition: "In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand; for thou knowest not which shall prosper, whether this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good," he faithfully continues in this ministry--"not weary in well doing." Dr. R. A. Torrey used to say that he did not consider himself prepared for personal soul-winning work, unless he had his Bible or Testament in one coat pocket and a goodly selection of Gospel tracts in another. There are many opportunities for reaching men and women, which can be seized by the use of Christian leaflets. We are constantly passing perishing souls, like ships in the night. Many are in distress. Let us proclaim the message: Jesus Saves!

The way to learn how to use Gospel tracts in Christian service is to use them. We learn by experience, which is the best teacher. If you are not in the habit of engaging in such ministry, begin today. If you have distributed tracts but have grown somewhat neglectful, renew your efforts now and keep at it faithfully.

(4) God uses the things that are sometimes despised, even small Gospel leaflets, to bring to naught the things that are highly esteemed by the world.

(5) Religious cults are busy distributing their pernicious literature, whereby minds are darkened, hearts are defiled, and faith is destroyed; therefore Christians should do all they can to combat the error of the day and make known the saving truth of God's Word.

A few suggestions may prove helpful to those who are willing to engage in this printed page ministry. In giving out tracts it is well to keep in mind the occupation of the one to whom you hand it, or any special occasion that commands public attention. For example, at the Christmas season it is well to ask the question, "Why Christmas?" as you offer the tract, for everyone is talking or thinking about Christmas, and thus you arouse a receptive interest. When the Easter season is upon us, ask the question, "Why Easter?" This will cause people to more readily accept the pamphlet offered and be interested enough to read it.

When you are in the bakery, ask if they have any of the "Bread of Life," and when they inquire as to what you mean, offer them a tract that tells of the "Gift of Life." When in a restaurant and you are speaking with someone, even though a stranger, you can remark that the food served there is very good, and then add, "But there is one trouble with it." This generally brings forth the inquiry as to what the trouble is, and you reply: "It won't last." Then present a suitable tract and call attention to the food that will last, and if any man eats thereof he will live forever.

In traveling, the tract distributor has a good opportunity to place a Gospel message in the hands of his fellow-passengers who are not engaged in conversation or in reading. In such cases it is better to wait, for at all times and under all circumstances the Christian worker should be courteous and considerate.

One day I was sitting next to a young man on the bus, and I handed him a tract that showed the need of salvation (not "religion"), and what the sinner needs to be saved from, for he cannot save himself but is lost and condemned already, and then shows the way of salvation provided by God through the death and resurrection and of Jesus Christ, the Man in glory, and brings the reader to the important question: "which way do you choose?"

"How do you know you are?" was his next question, and it was my privilege to tell him, and lead him to accept Jesus Christ as his Lord and Saviour.

This is the "wayside ministry" that every Christian can engage in, and not only be blessed therein, but be a blessing to perishing men and women. Will you begin to sow the "precious seed" by means of sound, attractive Gospel literature, and keep at it until Jesus comes, or you depart to be with Him? Great will be your reward for such faithful, prayerful service.

10. Tracts contain portions of Scripture, which God will use and bless (Isaiah 55:10,11).