 We are so thankful that you're tuned in right here on Cornerstone Television Network to watch Hope Today. My man, Amanda Brocker, I almost forgot who I am on this Monday morning. We are your Monday team with Tom Hollis and Angela. Thank you so much guys for showing up today. This would have been really exciting to do it all by myself. I would have been scared. I'm glad to be here. You know, I'm really excited for our guests today. You know, I remember hearing this saying, dare to be a Daniel. I remember a friend of mine had a little button that said dare to be a Daniel. It was years ago that I saw that, but that's a good saying. But I wanna ask you, what lessons can we learn from the life of Daniel that will help us today on Monday, get through Monday? Well, author and host of the Way of the Master TV show, Ray Comfort, he's gonna show us how to be a Daniel. You know, it's great to be a Daniel, but you know what guys, that means there's going to be lions too. Lions are part of being a Daniel. That's the truth. Lions are kind of evidence of a need for Daniel. You know, all the things that we face, they kinda help define us as who we are in God. If we didn't have enemies, we wouldn't grow in how to battle. And let's face it, we have enemies. Angela, we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers. It's the truth. And sometimes those lions that we wrestle against are within us. You know, they're not even external, but it's the despair that comes for us. It's the hopelessness, it's the thoughts, it's the struggle within that gets us confused in thinking that we're less than Daniels, that we're less than sons and daughters of God. But today I am confident that Ray is gonna give us a word to challenge us and push us forward into being Daniels. I just have to read one of his quotes. Y'all are gonna like this. What happens in Vegas stays in God's mind until judgment day. If that isn't a little bit motivating for your Monday, I don't know what is, but I do appreciate. I think it's funny in a sense that God gave Ray comfort, the last name comfort, because when I watch his program, I'm a little on edge like, oh my gosh, he did just say that, but it's good and it's captivating. There's comfort in what the gospel is, but it's the uncomfortable side of the truth that is necessary to get us to understand the need for the gospel. And that's such an important thing. Angela, we always have prayer partners standing by that people can call and I would, why don't you encourage the people to call in? Yeah, you know, if today you're struggling and who knows where you are. Maybe you feel that you are a Daniel and that you're in the midst of a den. Maybe you feel like you are Joseph and you've just arrived in the palace. Wherever you are, we wanna partner with you in prayer. There is a value in prayer and we see it. It is only through prayer that heaven comes to earth and that we experience it within us. So please don't hesitate. Reach out to our prayer partners today that we can see his goodness achieved within every aspect of your life. Absolutely. Well, you know, in today's culture, it's important for Christians to be courageous. We need to be courageous and stand firm for the truth and firm for the gospel. It can be challenging in so many ways to the seemingly constant trials and opposition we face from the enemy. Well, Apologist, Speaker and Author Ray Comfort is our guest and in his new book, So Many Lies and So Few Daniels, he draws inspiration from the story of Daniel and teaches us how we can live fearlessly for Christ in the midst of adversity and opposition. Ray, it's great to have you back with us on Hope Today. What are you guys doing at 6 a.m. in California? My face doesn't wake up till 10 a.m. Thank you, brother. Thank you for being with us bright and early. And so, tell me about how you can be a Daniel at 6 a.m. Why the title and what are the lions we're facing? Well, the title was inspired by atheists. About a year ago, I saw an atheist t-shirt that said, so many Christians, so few lions. And I thought, boy, that's about as culturally sensitive as so many Jews, so little ovens, Nazi ovens, or so many blacks, so many less lynching ropes. And I got mad. And that book was written out of a righteous indignation. I want Christians to rise up and be Daniels in today's culture. And there are many Daniels. There's atheism, for instance. Atheism is a modern phenomenon. It's only in recent years has risen its ugly head. It's mentioned in the Bible a couple of times, way back in the Psalms, it gives 11 words addressed at atheism because it wasn't really necessary because everybody knows God exists. The fool has said in his heart there's no God. And then in Psalm 53, it repeats it just in case we didn't get the message. An atheist is not an intelligent person. The Bible says an atheist is a fool. And this is the reason for it. An atheist believes the scientific impossibility that nothing created everything. Not that there was nothing in the beginning, but nothing was the creative force that gave us flowers and birds and trees and puppies and kittens and fruits and seasons and male and female and the marvels of the human eye. That's worse than insane. So when I meet an atheist, I never feel intimidated. I think to myself here is a very foolish person. He's denying the inner light that God's given to every man. The invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made. But I think the number one enemy that most of us have is our own fears. And what we've got to do is overcome our own fears if we want to reach the last, if we really care about the unsave and where they spend eternity. The Bible likens us to firefighters. And a firefighter shows up at a fire and he looks up on the fifth story and sees a woman and two children screaming for help as flames begin to catch their clothes. He's not gonna leave. He's not gonna say I'd rather be with my wife watching an old black and white movie at home. He stays because he's a firefighter. He climbs a 60 foot ladder. He's terrified, but he ignores his fears because he's not thinking of himself. He's thinking of the fate of that woman and her children. And that's what you and I must do. The Bible says, and others making a difference, having compassion, that's the key, pulling them from the fire, hating even the garment spotted by the flesh. So this book will help to encourage you and teach you how to address a sinner's conscience rather than his intellect. The intellect is a place of argument. The conscience is the place of the knowledge of right and wrong, and that's the big key and that's the key to dealing with your fears. You know, I just saw, it was just on the news a couple of days ago. I don't know if you saw it, a building was on fire and a young man, there was a family in the second floor and a young man actually climbed up the stones of the building and held on with one hand while the wife, the mother passed the children out and he grabbed them with one hand and handed them down. And that fellow is such a hero. He doesn't, obviously he says, well, I'm not a hero. I just did what needed to be done. But we need that kind of attitude in ourselves. So often we walk right past the burning building, don't we? Yeah, see if you can guess who I'm talking about here. Very rich, very famous, very powerful. His name was known throughout the whole world. His face was known throughout the whole world. Hundreds of thousands lined the streets just to catch a glimpse of him. 60 years after his death, he's still known by his initials. Do you know who I'm talking about? No. JFK. That's right. John Fitzgerald Kennedy. But the second that bullet hit his head and catapulted him to eternity, his riches, his fame, his power, his popularity meant nothing. The only thing that mattered was were his sins forgiven. And that's what you and I should look at when we look at any human being. When I go to the supermarket, I go to a football game. That's all I see when I meet a stranger. Is this person's sin forgiven? Are they going to heaven or are they going to hell? And that's a motivation. Compassion for the lost. The word compassion means suffer with. That is you enter into the empathy of unsafe people and think, and what's gonna happen to this person if they die in their sins? They're justly ending up in hell. And that should horrify us. Wow. Just hearing you talk, like you to me seem to be like a modern day Charles Spurgeon. I feel that conviction. It's good and it's healthy for the body of Christ. But I'm thinking about in Hebrews 8 where it talks about in the New Covenant, how God writes his law on our hearts. And talk to us about what does that mean to you and how does that assist you in your approach when you're reaching out to people? Well, that's a great question. God has written his law upon our heart, the conscience bears witness. So when I deliberately swing from the intellect that is arguing about the existence of God or atheism, evolution or whatever, hypocrites in the church, I just say, are you a good person? What do you think? I'm heading for the conscience, the knowledge of the right and wrong. And I know the work of the law written upon the heart of every human being is gonna agree with the commandments. You shall not lie. You shall not steal. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not murder. All things are written on the conscience. So the conscience bears witness with the commandments. So two minutes ago when some guy was sent out and believed in God, the church was full of hypocrites. Now he's saying, yeah, you're right about stealing. I have stolen of light. I'm in big trouble on judgment day because the conscience is an ally right in the heart of the enemy and the ally links with us. And that's what we must do. And that's what Jesus did with the rich young ruler. He said, why do you call me good? He reproved his understanding of the man's understanding of the word good. And he said, you know the commandments. Why did you do that? To bring the knowledge of sin, to show us we're sinners. You do not have a cure for a man who thinks he's well. He won't take it. He'll say, I don't want this silly cure. What you have to do is hold up X-rays and show him the disease and convince him. Make him a little fearful, bring sweat to his brow. And he suddenly says, boy, this is deadly serious. What should I do? And then you say, he has the cure. Here is the gospel. This is how you can have your sins forgiven. This is how you can find everlasting life through faith alone in Christ. Ray, I want to bring up something that you brought up in the book that during 2020, the year of 2020, obviously the COVID time, there was an incredible increase in the percentage of people considering suicide. Saying that they had thought about it. What does that tell you? And what is that, even though it's terrible news, how does that embolden us to share? Yeah, Jesus said, if you hear my sayings and keep them, you're like a man who built his house on rock. When the storms came, you didn't fall. But if you build your life on anything but the teachings of Jesus, when the storms come, you're gonna crash. And that's what we saw happen. But this is a wonderful opportunity for Christians. Man is not a primate. He's not an animal, a dog, horse, cat, or cow. He's a human being made in the image of God and God has written eternity on his heart. There's a cry when every human being is, oh, I don't wanna die. That's a God-given will to live and we can tap in on that. And that was my cry before I came to Christ. I couldn't figure out why I was gonna die. Why this thing called death was gonna rip everything from my hands. So when I came to Christ, I embraced the gospel with every ounce of energy of God. So if the world only knew what we had in Christ, we're not religious. We don't sprinkle water on people. We don't wear nighties. We're Christians who have found everlasting life. And that's what we have. And that's what Jesus said to the woman at the well. If you knew. Think of a waitress. She walks up to three guys who are sitting at a table. They're obviously businessmen, wheeling and dealing millions of dollars. But is she intimidated? Not at all. She just walks up and says, can I take your order? Why is she so bold? Because she knows she has what they want. Food, that's why they're there. And you and I have what the world wants more than anything. There are people today torturing themselves and literally millions of them, torturing themselves and gyms. Putting themselves under terrible stress and pain and suffering because they want to extend their life or they're drinking green slime, stuff that doesn't even taste good and an effort to remain healthy. That's just extending death or life. Death is still coming. But we have everlasting life in Christ. And if only they knew what we had. And that knowledge that we have what they want should give us boldness. Amen to that. Tell us about some boldness that's going on right now. You have an outreach going on called Operation London. Could you share how that's going with us? Oh, will I? I'm so excited about this. About six months ago, I began thinking about King Charles when he's coronated on the 6th of May. How he'll place his hand on the Bible at Swear before God and before an audience of literally hundreds of millions who'll witness this life. He'll put his hand on the Bible and swear to uphold the biblical truths of salvation by grace through faith without works. He'll carry an orb, which is a globe with a cross on the top, symbolic of the world being under the communion of Jesus Christ. He'll carry a scepter as King David carried and Solomon carried. He'll be anointed with oil. In fact, any things will happen in that one to two hour service that are symbolic of the Bible. And I thought, boy, wouldn't it be great to have a gospel tract with Charles on the front and the gospel on the back that we could give out to the millions in London. So I made a video, sent it to my team. And just after I made the video, I got an email from a gentleman who said, what are you working on? So I sent him the video and he sent the ministry $200,000. Showed someone else the video. They sent $50,000. Showed someone else. They sent $100,000. So we're making available literally millions, 13 million print of these tracts that we had a print of 13 million, totally free. People can get them in the United States and United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Great Britain, free of charge and we pay the shipping. Doesn't cost a thing and we're not endorsing print King Charles. We're doing what Paul did in Acts, chapter 17 when he quoted, quoted, sinful Greek poets. He was using them as a bridge to reach the lost and we're using the coronation to reach the lost. So people can get these free tracts with free shipping to anywhere in the world, almost anywhere, by going to livingwaters.com forward slash London. Livingwaters.com forward slash London. I think something like 11 million have already gone. There are 1,800 people in United Kingdom who are actually going to London to give out these tracts. 500 have committed to the United States to fly over there and give out these tracts. So we are super excited. We're gonna live stream. So anyone who wants to follow this just go to livingwaters.com, sign up for our newsletter and we'll give details on how you can join the coronation outreach live anywhere in the world. That's great. And we'll have a link to the Livingwaters website on our website as well, ctvn.org. So you can go there as well and there'll be a link. So you always have in this book, you have end of every chapter, you have a story, a conversation you had with someone out on the street, out in a square, out in a park somewhere. Can you tell me about one of those that stands out? The one that you remember especially? Yeah, this is the cream from our YouTube channel, The Witnessing Sessions. The channel's got 235 million views. We're absolutely honored and thrilled that we have such access to so many of the unsafe anti-Christians to encourage them. So they're the cream of The Witnessing Sessions and one of them that comes to mind is a young man named Mario. I was on my bike with my dog. My dog wears sunglasses. I wear sunglasses because that gets people's attention. Women often call out how cute as they go fast and always call out, so is the dog. And this guy was just standing by a tree and so I thought, only come on, I want you. So would you like to come on camera? About one in 40 people want to come on camera. He says, absolutely. So came up is very confident, very arrogant. But as I went through the commandments, I noticed a tear one of his eyes rolled down his cheek and I thought to myself, horrors, God's doing a work. I don't want to mess this up. And this young man who was so arrogant a few moments earlier became incredibly contrite, began weeping and was actually beside himself in repentance and contrition. I said, do you know why you're crying? He says, yes, because I've sinned against God. And I shared the gospel, prayed with him. It was just a wonderful experience. I think it's had over three and a half million views. So it's a very exciting and encouraging witnessing session. That's great. And you mentioned that YouTube is a very effective way of reaching people in this generation. Can you talk to us a little bit about that? Yeah. Like you go back 50 or 60 years, Billy Graham Crusade, it would take a couple of years to pull churches together. Hundreds of churches like herding cats will cost millions of dollars, a lot of time and effort. Most of the people in the stadium are churchgoers and it was a very difficult thing to arrange and very expensive. But now because of social media and because of YouTube, we create a video. I actually create videos. I edit them often in bed during the night. I go out each day, a couple of times to local college, interview people, come back, upload them onto my laptop and just do them through iMovie, edit the through iMovie. Put a bit of music with them and they get millions of views and just through the push of a button. So anybody can do this. It's just a matter of just going out with a microphone and your phone, interviewing people and upload it to YouTube. Give it a good, interesting title. If it's got conflict and curiosity, it'll pull people in and you can effectively reach the loss. So social media is a godsend. You want to be a missionary 150 years ago, 200 years ago, you said your wife and kids, let's go to New Guinea, get on a boat, half your family will die of scurvy, get there and the natives will probably eat you. Well, half of you, half of you, half of your family. It was a horrific thing, a time consuming and such a denial, but here we have something the, possibly Paul would be green with envy for and that's this incredible thing called YouTube and we need to take advantage of it. Ray, I love that. I love using the tools of our technology for the gospel. Just real quick, I noticed at the end of your book, you have an appendix, which you have 250 of these motivational thoughts that motivate yourself. I never even thought you would need to keep reminding yourself of things because you're so used to doing this. What's the benefit on these little things? I think it's worth the price of the book right here, just to read these motivational things that you say to yourself. Yeah, I can't even remember any of them, but I know I have to motivate myself because I get fearful and I have to ignore my fears. So you might see me and say, boy, he's very bold, but why are you doing a senior, an athlete finish through the marathon, he might go up and say, you're very, very skillful and then any athlete would say, I'm not skillful. This is hard work to get here. Sweat, pain and suffering. I've been running 30 miles every week for years. I've denied myself chocolate and milk and cheese and eggs and butter and all the things that you eat to get to this physical condition. And that's exactly the same with evangelism. That means anyone can attain to it. You think I'm a good marathon runner, you can be too. All it takes is training and for you to want to have to do it. You need to motivate yourself to do it. And so I'm not gonna listen to my fears. I'm gonna share the gospel of everlasting life with people who are sitting in the shadow of death. Well, the book is called So Many Lines, So Few, Daniel's Living Without Compromise in a World in Need of Truth. Thank you so much for being with us today. You're welcome, thank you. Well, when we come back, taking a quick break, we'll have a scripture and a time of ministry just for you. We'll be right back. When Laura called our 24 seven prayer line, she had so much fear that she didn't want to leave her house. She had lost her husband of 54 years, just six months earlier. Laura was flipping through TV stations when she came across Cornerstone Television. She felt compelled to call. One of our prayer partners talked, listened, and prayed with her for 45 minutes. At the end, Laura said how much the ministry had helped relieve her fear. Praise God for how he's using CTVN. When you give, you become part of what he's doing. This month, when you give, we'll send wild expectance as our way of saying thank you. This book will inspire you to live your life as God intended. To give and request your copy, visit us online at ctvn.org slash donate or call us at 888-665-4483. Hope happens here. Today's scripture comes to us from Hebrews 11, 32 through 34, and we're using the new living translation. How much more do I need to say? It would take too long to recount the stories of the faith of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jepethat, David, Samuel, and all the prophets. By faith, these people overthrew kingdoms, ruled with justice, and received what God had promised them. They shut the mouths of lions, quenched the flames of fire, and escaped death by the edge of the sword. Their weakness was turned to strength. They became strong in battle and put whole armies to flight. Today, you need to be reminded that God will shut the mouth of lions for you. He, his arm is not too short. His hand is not just upon one and not the other. We have all of these testimonies within the word to share with us and remind us if he did it for them, he will do it for you. Whatever you're trusting the Lord for, hold on because he's got goodness on the other side of this fight for you. That's absolutely right. I think, guys, about the whole thing with Daniel. Daniel, we sing his praises today, but he went through the tough times. Not too many of us would stand strong with the thought of being thrown to the lions, but he did, guys, and Amanda, he did, and it started out even in a bold way that was a quiet boldness, but very bold was when he prayed, when the king said not to pray to anyone except me, he prayed when he prayed with his windows open like he always did. And so that type of boldness is needed today. It's needed boldness in standing for truth, boldness in reaching out to the people that maybe they wanna hear from you, maybe they don't, but they need to hear about the love of God and just that kind of boldness in sharing the love with someone and experience rejection. Ray said that only about one in 40 people were willing to come on camera, so we see that. So there's a lot of rejection there, too, but the gospel's that important. That's right. I just think about, again, Ray Comfort, that last name Comfort, and I think sometimes we desire to be comfortable in our flesh, like whatever comforts me and we will move toward that, but what God is really asking us to do is to see with our spiritual eyes, to look at people with those eternal eyeglasses on, not the temporary carnal glasses, and become uncomfortable in the sense that I'm gonna go out of my comfort zone in order to make a contact with them in hopes I love the diligence of really the heart of God that he pushes himself past his flesh. That's all I can hear, and he so reminds me of Charles Spurgeon. I just have to read this quote that I just read and just hearing him, it reminded me of, and it says this, "'A time will come when instead of shepherds feeding the sheep, the church will have clowns entertaining the goats.'" And to me, that's convicting because we're all leaders within our church bodies, and I never, like God, know that cannot happen on my watch, your watch, your watch. This not on your watch, we cannot be just a lukewarm church. God is asking us to be all in. And so today I do believe that God is asking you to hear the word of the Lord from Ray Comfort and to choose this day to make God the Lord of your life and to follow him and to share him with those that God places in your path. It is so important. You know, I think of your outreach that you and Gary, you're gonna be doing it later today of reaching out to the people of McKeesport and touching lives there and sharing the word with them, sharing a meal with them. I mean, those are the things that we need to do to make a difference in people's lives. It's true. You know, uncomfortability, being discomforted or whatever is really critical to our walk with Christ. You know, the Bible is full of testimonies of people who, yeah, the flames were quenched, but the flames were there first. So today, be uncomfortable. Share the gospel just as Ray implored us to do. Share the good news with your friends, with your loved ones, with those who don't know Jesus. And for yourself, if you are feeling the discomfort of pain and that which comes with life, know that you're in good company and he'll see you through it. That's right, it is so important. Tom, final thoughts. Well, just that, you know, the gospel, we all say we live for Jesus. Will we live for the gospel? Will we live for the word that has been entrusted to us? Will we take away from our comfort, take, go towards hardship that the gospel might be preached? So many of those missionaries did that, like Ray was saying years ago, still do, but there's other ways to do it now. Let's be part of that group that does it. Amen. Let's live in such a way that others may live. Just take that in, have hope today and knowing that you and I can live in such a way that would give life to those around us. I pray that the Lord ministered to you today. We sure have enjoyed being with you. May God bless you. On tomorrow's Hope Today, learn how to discover your divine purpose. Ministry power team and authors, Lejean and Valora Cole, help you to better understand God's purpose for your life, which will help you accomplish all that God has called you to do. Don't miss tomorrow's Hope Today. Cornerstone Television wishes to thank all our faithful viewers whose consistent prayers and financial support have made this program possible.