Some people you just cannot witness to, as soon as the name of the Lord comes from your mouth, their eyes begin to roll, and if you are fortunate, that is as much of a defense that they will put up. I have had tracts torn up, refused, been called a Jesus freak, a Bible thumper, a Christer, and I am sure that if you are an obedient servant of the Lord that you also have heard similar words. Most of the time people are polite, but remain unreceptive to the gospel, but others have absolutely no problem voicing their opinions to your face.
Here is where determination and spiritual discernment must come into play, we do not carry the visible mark of the Lord upon our foreheads yet, (Rev 7:3) nor do we yet have our stone, (Rev. 2:17) and so it is at this time impossible to tell who is saved and who is not, at least most generally by first impressions. This I know for a fact, for if you first met me it would be difficult to tell by my appearance if you were about to meet someone who resembles an old biker guy, a long haired tattooed junkie, or someone who looks a little like what we envision the prophets of the Old Testament as. In other words, looks, as well as first impressions are completely useless, and are a man-made concoction meant to bring animosity in one form or another into the context before the conversation even begins.
It is impossible to tell the lost from the saved without words or visible works, and so we speak to all that we meet, as the Spirit of God leads. I firmly believe that not one person is put in front of a born-again believer that the Lord does not have something to say to them, they are placed in our presence for a reason, and that reason is always Christ. We must always be prepared for contention from them, for some truly do despise Christ, and they are more than willing to let you know their ideas about Him. At this point in the conversations, your prayers must kick into high gear, if you please, because some of these individuals are not only well versed in the topic of the Scriptures and their hatred of it, but they have no fear of using their fists. We have brothers and sisters who can attest to this, not only firsthand, but they can point to the graves of those who did not love their lives to the end.
There is a vile hatred in some of these individuals for Jesus, and since they cannot locate Him, they are more than willing to let His servants know how they feel. Here, you must leave the conversation to the Lord, you must envision, as it were, Revelation 2:10 where those who will be cast in prison ten days are told not to speak, that the Holy Spirit will be speaking through them if He so sees fit to. As I said, most individuals are going to be kind, if not attentive, most you will be able to tell when the conversation about the salvation of their souls is over, but others will not let it go at that, they want you to know why they think you are stupid, why you’re a weak person who just needs a crutch, who can’t make it through this life on their own, and they will be quite vehement in their language.
You may actually hear a few curse words you haven’t heard for quite some time, but do not let their words persuade you to stop, leave that up to the Holy Spirit, He will direct you to either continue, or to stop casting your pearls before swine, (Matt. 7:6) to shake the dust of your feet off, (Matt. 10:14) and move on. They were placed in your presence for a reason, if you were allowed to walk away without any bruises, without being cast into jail or worse, feel blessed, if not, feel blessed.
We have responsibilities, we are being held accountable, fear has no place in the life of a believer, especially not from any man. (Matt. 10:28) There are countless stories of hardened men, vile, unrepentant sinners coming to Christ because one day they met someone who would not back down. If we ever meet, I will tell you of one I know quite intimately, sometimes he still rears his ugly head at me when I look in the mirror.
