An Open Letter to Pastors

Dear Pastor;

I believe that Jesus gave instruction, not only to Peter, but to all pastors worldwide for all generations in the following scripture:

John 21:15-17, King James Version

15 So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs.

16 He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep.

17 He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.

“Feed my lambs” obviously is referring to the new, immature Christians, who needs to be fed the milk of God’s word, and helping them to grow and mature in the faith.

“Feed my sheep” refers to the more mature Christian, who needs to be fed with the deeper meanings contained in God’s word, often referred to as meat, rather than milk.

The word “feed”, as used by Christ carries a greater meaning than presenting the Word of God to the congregation. It also means to “Tend to my sheep”. A pastor needs to ensure that the needs of the congregation are met. This includes but is not limited to supporting its’ members through the many trials of life, such as the death of a loved one, financial difficulties, family relationship issues, etc. I believe that there is another need that is included in Christ’s instruction.

Matthew 28

18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

This is commonly referred to as “The Great Commission”, as you know. This was not given to just the disciples, since they could not accomplish this in their lifetime, but applies to all Christians in all generations.

The brutal truth is that most Christians do not witness, with the possible exception of some passive witnessing. This was true in Christ’s time as well, as he stated that the harvest is plenteous, but the workers are few. Scripture records Christ telling some that came to Him to go and tell of their experience.

I truly believe that it is each Christians’ duty once they have accepted Christ to spend the rest of their lives striving to live a life that is pleasing to the Lord; living to the best of their ability in accordance with the Lord’s will, becoming more Christ-like and trusting the Lord in their daily lives. I also believe that the most important service that a Christian can do is to present Christ to the lost. It is also a command from Christ, as shown in the above scriptures.

Part of a pastor’s duties included in “Tending My Sheep” is to prepare those in the churches congregation of fulfill this command.

Now, a pastor’s duties include having to prepare the weekly sermons, visit the sick and others in the congregation that needs a pastors’ support, do his own bible study, attend to administrative duties, prepare for funerals, participate in the churches physical upkeep, etc, etc. A pastor, taking care of all of his responsibilities no doubt has little time to spend with his family, much less any truly free time. Although Jesus clearly charges pastors with the command to “feed my sheep”, a pastor simply does not have the time to develop a complete witnessing program that is needed in the church. While the pastor would be hard pressed to develop a comprehensive witnessing program, the pastor can take advantage of resources if they are available.

The witnessing program being offered is a complete, comprehensive program that addresses most of the reasons that Christians do not witness, as well as why many people feel that they cannot or will not accept Christ as their Saviour and Lord.

This witnessing program consists of two volumes. The first is titled “A Most Grievous Sin, 100% committed by Christians.” The second volume is simply titled “Witness for Christ Manual.” There are a total of 383 Pages contained in the two volumes, professionally proofread, edited and formatted.

The “Church Witnessing Set” comes in (two) three-ring binders, and the pages are standard 8 ½” X 11” size. This permits a church to remove a section, a subject, or part of a section or subject, copy the pages on a standard copy machine, and use it for a Sunday School class, a sermon or for a witnessing for Christ training session.

Please look at the table of contents for each volume that is provided on this website to understand how comprehensive this witnessing program is.

This program has been written to be non-denominational. It has been copyrighted. I realize that there may be some content that does not agree with a particular denominational belief. I believe that if it exists it will be minimal, and out of over 380 total pages, the overwhelming majority of the content will be acceptable. My advice is not to allow some minor amount of content prevent you and your church from making use of this resource, and simply ignore any content that you do not agree with.

This witnessing program took something over three years to develop (I am semi-retired so could not work on it full time(but more time available than the average pastor). There are a total of 383 combined pages contained in the two volumes.

The cost of this witnessing program is $79.95, which I believe any church can afford, and it gives the church the means to meet Christ’s command to the pastor to provide the congregations needs concerning witnessing and the individual Christian the training needed to be a witness for Christ. Remember, God does not change, God’s word does not change. This witnessing program is able to be used for years by your church.

Should you choose to use this program at your church to train those members of your congregation that wish to, they will need to obtain the “Personal Witnessing Set.”

Please visit the witnessforchrist.net store to order.

—Iven V. Holt

Human Author

This book is titled A Most Grievous Sin: 100% Committed by Christians. Only Christians can commit this sin. It is a sin of omission.

I consider it to be the greatest sin for two reasons: It is the opposite of Christ’s command commonly referred to as the Great Commission, and it is also the most grievous sin that a Christian can commit, based on the consequences.

In this book we will explore some of the many Bible verses concerning our outreach to the lost. Suffice it to say that once someone becomes a Christian, their most compelling task is to spread the Gospel of Christ to a lost world. God has clearly chosen to accomplish his work on Earth through the use of man, specifically Christians. Yet, most of us go through life without performing an effective witness program. Churches have been woefully negligent in preparing their members to witness. As Christians, even though we are certain of our salvation, we do not always go forth and boldly witness. Even when presented with a perfect opportunity, we shirk away from witnessing.

This book presents a plan to prepare for witnessing, lays out the many types of witnessing that we should be doing, and provides the groundwork for gaining confidence in our ability to witness.

The consequences of not witnessing are enormous and tragic. People are leaving the world daily to spend their existence in hell until the time of the Great White Throne of Judgment, after which they will be cast into the Lake of Fire. We as Christians will be witnesses at the Great White Throne of Judgment, and we will see every person that we had an opportunity to witness to be brought from hell, judged, and cast into the Lake of Fire.

Please read and study this book, along with your Bible. We have a God-commanded responsibility to reach as many lost souls as possible and to change the lives of countless individuals for eternity.

If your efforts to have someone accept Christ as their Saviour and Lord seems to bear no results, consider gifting them the book, Choose Christ and Everlasting Life, (available at witnessforchrist.net) to read at their convenience. 

A saved soul is well worth the cost.

—Iven V. Holt

Open the PDF

Open the excerpt PDF

Although Christ gave us the command to witness (called the “Great Commission”), many Christians shy away from witnessing altogether or only perform passive witnessing. This non-action is known as a “sin of omission,” and is the basis for the book, A Most Grievous Sin. While passive witnessing is important and should be done, active witnessing should also be performed.

A Most Grievous Sin addresses reasons that Christians do not witness and suggests ways to overcome the reluctance to witness. The book goes into great detail concerning what constitutes success and failure in witnessing, as well as what one should do to prepare to witness. I strongly urge you to read A Most Grievous Sin to gain a full understanding of witnessing. It will increase your confidence as you prepare to witness.

However, there is a large hurdle that most of us (including me) face when we contemplate witnessing to someone. Many Christians are like I am. They know Christian doctrine and know that the Bible addresses many issues that cause non-Christians to believe that they can’t be saved or that cause them to resist accepting Christ. You can prepare to witness by having Bible verses selected to review or introduce to the lost person. However, if the lost person comes up with a reason that they cannot or will not accept Christ that is not addressed by the Bible verses that you were prepared to use, you will need to use scripture to address those concerns. You may know that the Bible addresses those concerns, but being able to turn to those exact scriptures on the spur of the moment is not something that many of us can do. This possibility causes justified anxiety and can cause a Christian not to attempt to witness.

This collection of guides, sheets, and aids was written to help Christians be prepared to witness, fully able to respond to a large number of reasons that a lost person can give for not accepting Christ. It contains three sections—Witnessing Guides, Witnessing Sheets, and Witnessing Aids.

The witnessing guides provide a premise for a particular issue that may come up. Each one also provides additional information and tips to prepare the Christian for witnessing on the issue.

The witnessing sheets provide a combination of scriptures that address the particular subject, questions to ask the lost person, and answers that will help the lost person understand the meaning of the scriptures being covered. There are two ways to use these witnessing sheets. You can study each one until you know the scriptures involved, then practice how to present them so that the lost person can understand the concepts. The witnessing sheets are designed to be shared with the lost person, so you can also present them in person and leave the sheets when you are done, so the person can go back and soak up the information at their own pace. You may also use them in any manner that fits your particular style. It’s a great idea to share your personal testimony when reviewing the applicable witnessing sheet or sheets, especially if it fits in with the subject being discussed.

I cannot stress enough how much more confidence this supplemental material will give the Christian, by helping them be prepared to face just about any issue that may arise. This goes a long way toward eliminating or drastically reducing the anxiety that would be faced without this resource. You can use family members or other Christians for practice. This should allow you to confidently address the subject with any lost person. If you use this method, I strongly suggest that you make a list of the Bible verses, identified by topic. This will save you from trying to remember such a large number of verses and from having to know what verses are best for each topic.

The second method is to simply carry this document with you and if a subject comes up that is addressed in this supplemental material, simply turn to it, and use it directly during your witnessing session. It is my intention that you make copies of each of the witnessing sheets.

Open the PDF

Open the excerpt PDF - Witnessing Sheet

A Most Grievous Sin

This book has been written from a Christian perspective. God conceived of man before this universe was created. God’s plan for man is for man to become His children, both sons and daughters.

God never planned to create man as a robot, programmed to love and accept Him. God gave man free will, and man’s free will is paramount to God’s plan for man. For God to have children, He had to create them. Man had to have free will to come to God by choice. With free will came the ability of man to violate God’s will by choice. God is supreme and sovereign. God determined that any person that becomes His son or daughter must be perfect, as He is perfect. Since man is not a robot, programmed to always obey God’s will, we are not perfect. One sin, one violation of God’s will condemns us to death. We do not have the ability to save ourselves from sin.

Had God done nothing, all of mankind would be doomed to be punished in hell for our sins and end up being cast into the Lake of Fire. Thankfully, that was not God’s plan. He knew man needed a redeemer. All of creation was searched and not one being was found to be worthy, with the exception of God Himself! The redeemer is required to be perfect and only God filled that requirement. God the Son was determined to be man’s redeemer before the creation of the universe. God so loved man, and God’s purpose for man was so important to God, that God Himself was willing to come to Earth in the flesh, live with man and die on the cross in order to save man, and fulfill the purpose for which man was created.

Think about this for a while. God Himself was willing to become sin and suffer the penalty for all of mankind’s sin by death on the cross. This was both a physical death, since Christ was in the flesh, and also a spiritual death. When Christ became sin on the cross, it required a separation of God the Father from God the Son. As awful as the physical beating was that Christ endured before the crucifixion, and the suffering on the cross before his death, I am convinced that the spiritual death of Christ was much more agonizing. God has always existed, and to our knowledge, God the Father and God the Son had never been separated. Christ described He and the Father as One! We, as man, cannot fully appreciate the suffering this caused both God the Father and God the Son.

When someone laments that God’s judgment is too harsh, that of condemning the sinner to both physical death and spiritual death, it rings pretty hollow when we realize that God was willing to pay the penalty for man’s sin by His own physical and spiritual death. We have a perfect redeemer, and our salvation is given to us as a free gift.

In fact, eternal life with God in a glorious existence is so precious that it could never be earned. It is so precious that nothing in existence could be an appropriate payment, so it could never be bought. It had to be provided as a gift from God. God in effect purchased us with the price of Christ’s death and provides eternal salvation to us as a free gift. That is why when we accept Christ, we need to rely wholly on Christ as our redeemer, and absolutely nothing else. Our works play no part whatsoever in our salvation.

Now, when we accept Christ and become a Christian, we commit to live our lives to the best of our ability in accordance with God’s will. We will still not be perfect and so we will sin. However, God forgave all of our sins, both past and future when we accepted Christ, and this secures our salvation.

In addition to living as best we can in accordance with God’s will, we have another obligation. This is the Great Commission! God commands us to proclaim Christ to the world. We are commanded to become workers for Christ in the pursuit of winning souls to Christ.

Now, when we become Christians, the Holy Spirit comes to live within us. The Holy Spirit has two main objectives, to lead and guide us to become more Christ-like and to save the lost. God has resolved to work in the world through His church, which is us! This is really serious! If we, who still have free will, elect for whatever reason not to witness to the lost and fulfill the Great Commission, people that may otherwise be saved will be lost. If we do not witness to the lost, it is a sin of omission! Now, this is a sin that is 100% committed by Christians.

We are forgiven of all sin when we accept Christ, so we will not lose our salvation by not witnessing, but we will certainly suffer. At the Great White Throne of Judgment, we as Christians will be present. We will see our relatives, our friends, our coworkers, our neighbors, and others whose name is not found in the Lamb’s Book of Life being cast into the Lake of Fire. I am convinced that we will remember opportunities that we did not take advantage of to witness to them, and we will weep uncontrollably as they meet their judgment.

I am convinced that those people that were strangers to us—that we met as we went about our lives and had an opportunity to witness to—will come vividly to mind and we will also weep for them. Our meeting of these people was not a random act. It was planned for by God! You will remember the scripture that states that the harvest is white (plentiful), but the workers are few. The harvest will be smaller due to our not witnessing to the lost as we are commanded.

Now, why do we not witness? We are fearful. We are uncomfortable in discussing Christ with the lost. We are fearful of looking foolish when challenged concerning our beliefs and that we may not have the answers. This is the purpose of this book. It discusses the many ways of witnessing, both passive and active. All of us can practice passive witnessing. We can also practice active witnessing. Active witnessing does require study and preparation. This book goes into detail as to the reasons people resist accepting Christ, so that hopefully you will know how to appropriately respond. It gives scriptures to back up your beliefs and rebuttals to a sinner reluctant to accept Christ. You can prepare a set of Bible verses unique to each reason people give for not accepting Christ. With proper preparation, you can be more confident when you witness to someone.

The last reason that we do not witness is the fear of failure. By reading this book, this fear is dealt with. You simply cannot fail! The Holy Spirit living within you takes responsibility for the outcome.

We simply need to make ourselves available as a vessel for the Holy Spirit. We need to be an instrument for the Holy Spirit. We need to be His legs and get Him in front of the lost person. We need to be the human voice to carry the Word of God to the lost person. It is the Holy Spirit who will take the Word of God into the person’s heart and convict that person of their need for Christ.

Any time we witness, we achieve a victory! That person may not accept Christ during our time with them. However, we may have planted the seed of salvation! We may have watered the seed of salvation planted by someone else. Whether we witness the salvation of the person or not, we have obeyed Christ’s command to witness. That is our victory! When a person comes to Christ, we need to give full credit to the Holy Spirit, who took the Word into the heart of the sinner and convicted them of their sin and their need for Christ. The Holy Spirit, working within the Christian that sowed the seed, that watered the seed and harvested the fruit, was involved from start to finish, and deserves to be praised for God now having a son or daughter that would have otherwise been lost.

We really have three strong reasons to witness. We need to obey the commandment of God to witness. We need to reduce our suffering that we will go through at the Great White Throne of Judgment. We need to increase our joy of seeing people that we witnessed to spending an eternity with God as their sons and daughters. What a reward that will be!

It is my fervent prayer that this book will help you to develop an effective witnessing program, and that you will experience the deep satisfaction of knowing that you are being obedient to God’s commandment in this area of your Christian experience!

There is one more point that I would like to make to you, if you have not accepted Christ as your Saviour and Lord. Consider these verses of scripture:

Luke 21:33

Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.

Revelation 21:1

And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.

1 Corinthians 2:9

But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.

What God has prepared for man when we join Him for eternity is better than anything that can be seen on Earth, and better than anything that we have been told about or read about. God is telling us that, even as vivid as man’s imagination is, we can never come close to knowing the blessings that God has in store for us. Clearly, there is nothing on this Earth that can be enjoyed for what is no more than the blink of an eye compared to eternity, that can measure up with what God has planned for us. It also will last for an eternity!

One day, God will destroy this current reality and exit with His sons and daughters, and He and his sons and daughters shall begin a glorious existence in a new reality. The purpose of the current reality was for God to create His family. He and His family will be together for all of eternity. Won’t you please join us?

Amen

The spiritual author of this book is the Holy Spirit.

The human author of this book is Iven V. Holt.

As much as is humanly possible, the human author has attempted to make this book the work of the Holy Spirit, the spiritual author. The human author has done this by using God’s Holy Word as the source of truth extensively throughout the book. For the duration of the time that it has taken to write the book, the human author has constantly and continuously prayed for the Holy Spirit’s guidance with the goal that the book will say what the Holy Spirit wishes it to say.

If the human author has been successful, then I am simply a vessel for the Holy Spirit to act within. The human author therefore feels blessed that he has been used as an instrument by the Holy Spirit.

Any errors or wrong conclusions that may exist in the book is the result of the human author failing to be the perfect instrument for the Holy Spirit, and not the spiritual author, since the Holy Spirit is perfect and makes no mistakes. Where the human author discusses a subject that is not clearly called out in scripture, the subject is clearly identified as the human author’s conclusion, and it’s recognized that God may well indeed have accomplished his purpose by other means.

The spiritual author, who is the Holy Spirit, resides in the heart of every Christian, and is in the world to win over the world to Jesus Christ.

The human author is a born-again Christian. I am imperfect and still sin, and am therefore a saved sinner. I am made perfect in the eyes of God by being covered by the shed blood of Jesus Christ, who is the perfect sacrifice. I live in Decatur, Alabama, and attend church regularly. Enough said.