THE VALUE OF EVANGELISM THROUGH LITERATURE

I am always asked about work methodology. Why work with literature? Why work with a megaphone? People are so concerned with how to evangelize and do little in evangelism. They pray, fast, attend seminars, studies on evangelism and a series of preparations to reach evangelism and often get tied up with so many things that time passes and we come to the conclusion that preaching the gospel is a task for supermen.

I am not here to defend anarchy or ignorance, but in the Word of God we have a simple order for a simple people: “Go and preach the gospel” (Mark 16:15). If we complicate it ourselves we will add more barriers to what in the natural world there is already a lot of barrier. My advice to anyone who wants to be used by the Lord is, do what is in your hands. Rest assured that the Word of God will always prevail.

Deborah with the evangelistic booklets at our Support Base in the city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia

EXPANDING THE VISION

I have always had a great desire to do something great for the Lord. Our God is a great God, of great things and for Him we can do a little more, always a little more. Our actions can shine, go from the ordinary to the extraordinary. I read a book talking about it, listened to preaching and admired pastors and preachers in general who had such a mentality. Certainly working with literature, distributing in the streets, at bus stops, in schools was for the weak, the ignorant, for the lay brothers of the congregation. I didn’t want to be part of this mediocre little group. But one day God revealed to me the reality of the Kingdom within the Sacred Words on all of this. I read the parable of the talents in Matthew 25: 11-30 and noticed that the talent is God who gives: “Like a man who, going out of the land, called his servants, and gave them his goods. And he gave to one… ”(Matthew 25: 14-15) Another interesting point is that the Lord gives different amounts according to the capacity of each one:“ And to one he gave five talents, and the other two, and the other one, to each according to his ability ”(Matthew 25:15). Up to that point, I was steadfast in my purpose of gaining talent and not being the mediocre of the Kingdom of God, but the Holy Spirit showed me that His vision is different from mine. In accountability, what the LORD said to the one who received FIVE talents was the same as to the one who received two. To the one who received five, he says: “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little, I will place you over a lot; enter your master’s enjoyment. ”(Matthew 25:21) And to the one who received two talents, he says:“ Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little, I will place you over a lot; enter your master’s enjoyment. (Matthew 25:23).

The dialogue only changed when the one who received ONE and buried it because he was afraid of the Lord came on the scene. The Word says: “Evil and negligent servant; did you know that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I did not spread? Then you should have given my money to the bankers and, when I came, I would get mine with the interest. So take the talent away from him, and give it to the one with the ten talents. For whoever has it will be given, and will have it in abundance; but he who does not have even what he has will be taken away. Cast therefore the useless servant in the outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 25: 26-30)

The Words are harsh, but they are inserted in the biblical text. Everything belongs to God and HE gives to whoever he wants and the amount he wants. What God does not want in the Kingdom is useless. I was really impacted and sought the repentant Lord. I started to consider opportunities, what God had put in my hands and not the supposed greatness of the things I had created for myself. The maximum service for any servant is to receive the word of the Lord: “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little, I will place you over a lot; enter your master’s enjoyment ”. (Matthew 25:23) I sought the repentant Lord, for in my hands God had placed such wealth, literature, with which I could reach many souls. God made me meditate on this work, appreciate what many people despise and believe in the magnitude of the service, because surely Satan knows all this and seeks to wane

Evangelistic leaflets for Bolivia

THE WARRIORS OF GOD

We arrived in Paraguay in 1995 and not long after we met a man, an elder, who had a great love for evangelism. He was hunched over, had a black hat and always carried a black bag on his back. Due to his advanced age, this man hardly spoke properly and certainly the mind no longer worked as it should. My father received literary materials from São Paulo and donated to that brother. Whenever he was finished he would come back and when he saw the leaflets he would look at that material with “avidity”. Sometimes he disappeared and his relatives said he was sick, but soon when he got better he came to our house to look for more materials. It distributed at bus stops, in the region of the international line, a border region between the cities of Ponta Porã, MS and the city of Pedro Juan Caballero, Paraguay. That old man always repeated that God had sent him to preach the gospel. Time passed and that brother did not return to look for leaflets. I believe you are already with the Lord Jesus. He was not ashamed of the gospel and understood that it is the Gospel that does the work in the heart of the sinner. I don’t even mention his name because I don’t really remember and I don’t even have a picture of him, but I know he’s a warrior of the Lord Jesus. I wish many young people had the same vision that that old man had.

I grew up with the phrase: “If you don’t sing, you don’t preach, you don’t prophesy, you don’t know how to do anything, at least distribute leaflets”. In other words: Brochure is for those who do not know how to do anything. I grew up and then learned that literature is a gift from God and a powerful weapon in evangelism. We have the Holy Bible because someone wrote it. If someone wrote it, it is for me to read it. I can preach with a megaphone reaching hundreds of people on a corner, but with 100 leaflets I can reach hundreds, because the leaflet goes where I don’t go, stays while I go out. A booklet containing the Word of God is a bomb in the devil’s kingdom. Satan knows this and he tries in every way to ridicule work with literature. The Word of God says: “Blessed is he who reads, and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep the things that are written on it; because the time is at hand ”(Revelation 1: 3)

Days ago I received a message at 8:00 in the morning from a young man who attends our Support Base in Santa Cruz, and said: “Pastor, 500 people received the message of the Gospel this morning”. Then he explained it to me. The mother has a sales point and asked him to take care of it while she would do other things. He immediately took some 500 leaflets and put them in the bag to take to the fair. While in his mother’s post the young man began to distribute to the passing people. Finishing sent me the message. I was very happy with the vision of that new convert: “500 people received the message of the gospel”.

I want to end by talking about the advantages of evangelizing using literature. The points are well known and we have already mentioned some.

1 – THE STAY OF THE PRINTED WORD

Have you ever stopped to think about the consequences if the stories of the apostles, or even the stories, words and deeds of Christ were only in the minds of the people and it was necessary to pass on all this information over the centuries? During the course of history Satan tried in various ways to restrict and the writing and destruction of the sacred scriptures, because the devil knows that literature stays, it remains.

When God directed us to do evangelistic work in Bolivia, the first step was to work with literature. We can flood a city with the Word of God without hearing our voice. People receive the materials and put them in their pockets, inside their wallets, inside their notebooks, in the car’s glove compartment, in short, the Word remains.

2 – LITERACY AROUND THE WORLD

Manuscript of the brochure “You need to know” in Quechua. In September we printed 50,000 in Quechua and another 50,000 in Spanish
There is a growing concern about literacy. An illiterate people is a disgrace to a nation. Governments around the world work hard and often with outside help so that their people can read and write. This is a great advantage for us who want to do the gospel, because wherever we go, someone usually knows how to read.

We distributed the booklet The Way to God by the World Missionary Press at a fair in the city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra. When we gave it to a lady who sold it she thanked us cheerfully. Then she told us that she had another booklet just like that and that she asked her grandson to do the reading, since she herself did not know how to read. He lived in the Andes mountains and was in Santa Cruz de la Sierra to sell his products. That testimony rejoiced our hearts and we see again the effectiveness of evangelism with literature.

The Christian Union through Pastor Ebenezer de Jesus Correa printed 300,000 of this material in Bolivia.
In Paraguay we take a lot of material to schools. My brother-in-law Ebenezer was ahead of the job and even though he had many barriers and lack of support, he persisted in doing the Work. It was strategic to work with literature, as the government of Paraguay had built many schools throughout the countryside. We obtained materials in guaraní and this point also favored us a lot, because the directors opened the doors and the people were receptive because our material was in guarani.

When we came to Bolivia, we no longer work in schools, but focus on fairs. We also obtained materials in Quechua and Aymara, in addition to Spanish. There is an incentive from the government for the people to learn Quechua and Aymara and delivering the Word of God in the native language opens the hearts of the people.

It is estimated that every week more than 3 million people learn to read worldwide. This large number of people who are literate weekly makes the possibilities of our gospel preaching work through positive literature. And even if you don’t speak the language, you can get the gospel to the people through literature.

3 – PENETRATION OF THE PRINTED WORD

When we go out into the streets with megaphones, we are aware of looking for a strategic place to preach the Word so that we can have a greater reach. But even putting all the effort possible we have the great barrier of being just one and we can only be in one place at a time. But the printed Word does not. It reaches people that I will probably never have the opportunity to reach with my voice.

Fair saleswoman reading one of the booklets we distribute
When I arrived in Bolivia, I felt a great desire to reach the crowds with the Word of God. I walked through the fairs and impressed me with so many people and a voice always cried out to our hearts: “Who will do something for this people?” One day, I go out with my wife to a square. Mina stayed with Deborah at a bank while I went out to distribute some brochures. I did the distribution and then I came back. I was still sighing to reach the people, to preach the gospel to those people, there was a fire inside me for doing something. God’s Word should reach the people. But I took one of the brochures that I had distributed and started reading. The Word impacted me. His heart was broken. I said to myself: I wish I could speak to these people what is written in this booklet. When I raised my head I saw the people reading the same leaflet. They read and when they finished they kept it. The Lord said to me, “The Word is coming to the people!”

My work with the masses took on enormous proportions. In addition to doing the distribution myself, we also started working to get materials. We sought out brothers and missionaries from various parts of Bolivia and sent the materials. We sent materials to places in Bolivia that I never had the opportunity to put my feet on. The Word went to places where I didn’t have a chance to go.

Literature goes where you can’t go. Literature enters where the bars of maximum security prisons bar us from entering. Literature reaches the ICUs and hospital isolation rooms, where difficulties due to serious illnesses and contagious diseases prevent us from entering personally. Literature can be left in a mailbox entering a house where you will not have the opportunity to access. I say again: Literature goes where you cannot go !!

My wife Mina and my daughter Deborah distributing the written Word of God
4 – THE TIMELY PRESENCE OF THE PRINTED WORD

I took Deborah to school in the morning and got a call on my cell phone. She was a lady and was very interested in knowing where we met. She said she received one of our brochures and was impacted by the message. I gave my address and then asked when I had received it. She said she received the brochure about three months ago, but that she kept it. She had a lot of problems during that time and when she found it she read it again and was really impressed with the gospel message.

Most impressed I was at that moment. That woman was being touched by a leaflet that I had given more than three months ago and now, she was just contacting me. The Lord was speaking to my heart – Invest time, money, effort, take my Word to the people !!!!!

We have news of people who, at the moment they received literature, despised or ignored it, and kept the message in a shirt pocket, or in the middle of a book, or even in a desk drawer, but later, and in many cases until years later, in a moment of despair, they found it, read it and were touched by the Spirit of God.

I encourage you to get up to fulfill the “IDE” of Jesus Christ. I know that there are many ways to get the Gospel to the sinner, but if you have been reading this post and have been touched by the Holy Spirit of God, I invite you to get up and start working. God is calling you to an important job. God loves evangelism, God loves working with literature.

As we have already said, evangelism with literature is an object of contempt on the part of many, but God loves this work. The reasons why God loves some are set out above and I believe there are others that we cannot capture with our human mind. For we are not talking about a simple paper, but about the WORD OF GOD printed reaching the sinner.

You speak Portuguese? So, know that many who speak Arabic can know Jesus through their lives if you are willing to go out into the streets and distribute the written Word of God. Besides Portuguese do you speak English? Glory to God! But rest assured that you will be able to reach people who speak French, German, Italian, Czech or any other language that you do not yet know and will probably never learn. The Gospel message can reach all these people through you if you only have the willingness to get up and take the written Word of God to the people.

You can say you have no money. So save some Coca Cola and some snacks and buy the literature. Today you may have the resources to buy a few hundred pamphlets, but rest assured that God will prosper you and soon thousands, or millions of cheers, will have the opportunity to receive the gospel message through your service to the Kingdom of God. I believe, and you?

Peniel Nogueira Dourado