Ray Comfort

Infobox_Person
name = Ray Comfort
residence = Bellflower, California, USA
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caption = Ray Comfort
birth_date = Birth date and age|1949|12|5|mf=y
birth_place = New Zealand
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occupation = Evangelist, Author, Television host
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religion = Evangelical Christianity Fundamentalist
spouse = Sue Comfort
children = Jacob, Rachel, Daniel
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website = [http://www.livingwaters.com/ Living Waters]
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Ray Comfort (born December 5 1949) is a New Zealand-born Christian. [ [http://www.livingwaters.com/witnessingtool/browse.shtml] minister and evangelist] He started Living Waters Publications and The Way of the Master in Bellflower, California, and has written a number of books.

Personal life and conversion

Born Jewish, Comfort was raised with next to no religious experience, having stated, "I went through life without any Christian instruction at all. I think I went to church about three times in about twenty years. I hated it. I found it an insult to my intellect." [ [http://www.livingwaters.com/listen.shtml#other Taken from the MP3 recording of his Christian testimony, downloaded from, accessed 8 May 2006.] ]

For many years, he served as an itinerant minister and associate pastor in his former hometown of Christchurch, teaching around New Zealand and Australia. In the 1970s, he began open-air preaching, which he has since done several thousand times. Around 1981–1982, he started using the principles of what he calls "Biblical Evangelism" (see below) after reading Charles Spurgeon and the New Testament books of Romans and Galatians.

According to Comfort, he has designed dozens of gospel tracts since the 1970s, leading to the tract ministry of Living Waters currently selling millions of tracts each year.Harvard reference | Surname1 = Comfort | Given1 = Ray | Authorlink1 =
Year = May 2004 | Title = Out of the Comfort Zone: The Authorized Autobiography | Publisher = Bridge-Logos Publishers | ID=ISBN 0882709437 (Page Fact|date=June 2007)] In 1989 , he accepted an offer from Hosanna Chapel (of the Calvary Chapel fellowship) in Bellflower, California, to begin full-time ministry in the United States. Comfort has no theological degree and has had no formal training in theology.cite news | url=http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/story?id=1735434&page=3 | title=Kirk Cameron, From Sitcom Star to Evangelist (page 3) | publisher=Nightline |date= March 17, 2006 | first=Martin | last=Bashir | accessdate =2007-05-17]

Currently, Comfort lives with his wife Sue in Southern California, and they have three adult children. He has also written many books and is a regular platform speaker at Southern Baptist state conferences.

The Way of the Master ministry

Origins and theology

In late 2001 and early 2002, Comfort collaborated with actor Kirk Cameron to launch a ministry called "The Way of the Master" to teach Christians how to promote their faith "simply, effectively, Biblically ... the way Jesus did". Comfort and Cameron were also involved in rewriting some key scenes in the movie "", which co-starred Cameron.

He believes that evangelisation is the main reason that the Christian Church exists and that many of the evangelistic methods used by the church over the last century have produced more false conversions to Christianity than true ones. The key component Comfort uses is the "Moral Law of God" (The Ten Commandments) to speak about evidence of sin in the lives of his listeners before presenting the gospel of Christ to them. (See Biblical Evangelism for more details.) His realization of this method led to him in the mid-1980s to formulate two sermons entitled "Hell's Best Kept Secret" and "True and False Conversions." Comfort has no theological degree and has had no formal training.cite news | url=http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/story?id=1735434&page=3 | title=Kirk Cameron, From Sitcom Star to Evangelist (page 3) | publisher=Nightline |date= March 17, 2006 | first=Martin | last=Bashir | accessdate =2007-05-17]

Ray Comfort believes there are millions of Roman Catholics and Protestants who have never been born again. They are Christian, he states, by profession but may have never found a place of Biblical repentance. [Comfort Food: Ray Comfort's blog, April 15 2008 [http://raycomfortfood.blogspot.com/2008/04/double-standard.html] ]

He currently continues in itinerant ministry as a preacher and speaker at many churches and evangelism seminars, including "Worldview Weekend" events.Fact|date=August 2008 Ray also preaches most Saturday afternoons at Huntington Beach, California, with a mechanical gorilla named Link, which helps him to draw a crowd and argue against the theory of evolution.Fact|date=June 2007

As well as co-hosting "Way of the Master Radio", he has been, together with Cameron, the co-host of "The Way of the Master Television Show", since December 2003. The show has aired two thirteen-episode seasons, and is currently filming the third season, expected to air in the Fall of 2008.Fact|date=August 2008

Interviews and debates

On March 17 2006, Martin Bashir interviewed Comfort and Cameron about "The Way of the Master" on a segment of Nightline.Fact|date=August 2008

Comfort has debated atheists, including at the 27th National Convention of American Atheists in Orlando, Florida on April 13 2001 (Good Friday) when Comfort debated Ron Barrier, the National Spokesperson for American Atheists. [ [http://www.americanatheist.org/conv27/ 27th National Convention of American Atheists; Accessed June 14, 2006] ] Despite the hostile crowd, Comfort later stated that " [t] hey laughed at my humor, and although there was unified mockery at some of the things that I said, I was able to go through the Ten Commandments, the fact of Judgment Day, the reality of Hell, the Cross, and the necessity of repentance, and no one stopped me." [ [http://assistnews.net/strategic/s0104040.htm Ireland, Michael; "Atheists National Spokesman Debates Christian Author on Good Friday at National Convention"; April 16, 2001; Accessed June 14, 2006.] ]

On May 5, 2007 Comfort and Cameron participated in a televised debate with atheists Brian Sapient and his colleague and girlfriend, Kelly, of the Rational Response Squad, at Calvary Baptist Church in Manhattan At issue was the existence of God, which Comfort stated he could prove scientifically, without relying on faith or the Bible. "Nightline" correspondent Martin Bashir served as moderator at the event. [ [http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/story?id=3148940&page=1 Bashir, Martin; "Prepare for a Conflict: The Nightline 'Face-Off' No-Holds Barred Battle Over the Existence of God"; May 7, 2007] ] . No official winner was declared by the event producers due to business practices held by ABC, and the debate was edited in such a way as to present a mixed audience reaction, with support shown for both sides. [ [http://www.rationalresponders.com/forum/the_rational_response_squad_radio_show/the_rational_response_squad/6792 Nightline Editing Bias - The Supporting Data] Rational Responders] Highlights included Cameron and Comfort repeatedly referencing the Ten Commandments and denouncing the theory of evolution; conversely, the RRS provided several counterarguments, in favor of atheism and biological science. [ [http://www.rationalresponders.com/forum/rational_response_squad_alerts/rational_response_squad_alerts/6653 The official RRS defeats Way of the Master thread] Rational Responders] [ [http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/story?id=3148940&page=1 Does God Exist? The Nightline Face-Off] ABC News May 7, 2007 ] While many atheists contended that Comfort violated the rules by talking about the Ten Commandments, Cameron later stated on "Way of the Master Radio" that the rules of the debate did not say that the Bible could never be referenced, but rather that Comfort simply had to come up with one argument that didn't reference the Bible or faith. [Way of the Master Radio, May 9 2007 Hour 2, [http://www.wayofthemasterradio.com/podcast/2007/05/10/may-09-2007-hour-2/ Was somebody lying or just plain forgetful?] ]

Comfort was scheduled to debate Biologist PZ Myers on intelligent design on 5 August 2008 on WDAY (AM). [cite news | url=http://www.chedstone.com/2008/08/01/pz-meyers-to-debate-ray-comfort-next-tuesday/ | title=PZ Meyers to debate Ray Comfort next Tuesday | publisher=chedstone.com |date= August 1, 2008 | first= | last= | accessdate =2008-08-17] But this changed to a question and answer for Comfort on August 5th and Myers to respond on August 6th. [cite news | url=http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2008/08/change_of_plans_1.php | title=Change of plans | publisher=Pharyngula (blog) |date= August 4, 2008 | first= | last= | accessdate =2008-08-17]

Publications

* "101 of the Dumbest Things People Have Done" (2008)
* "Evolution: A Fairy Tale for Grownups" (2008)
* "How to Know God Exists: Scientific Proof of God" (2008)
* "Hollywood Be Thy Name". Bridge-Logos Publishers (July 1, 2007) ISBN 0882703943
* "Intelligent Design vs. Evolution - Letters to an Atheist" (2006), a collection of correspondence between Comfort and James D. Franz, an American atheist.
* "Springboards for Budding Preachers" (2006), a transcript of Comfort open-air preaching with his son-in-law Emeal "EZ" Zwayne.
* "The Way of the Master". Genesis Publishing Group (2006) (previously 2004 by Tyndale House)
**The 2004 version itself was a revised and updated version of "Revival's Golden Key", which itself was a revision of "God Has a Wonderful Plan for Your Life".
* "The Way of the Master Minute". (co author Kirk Cameron) Bridge-Logos Publishers (April 8, 2006) ISBN 0882702203
* "How to Live Forever ... Without Being Religious" (2006), a version of the Gospel of John with Comfort's commentary.
* "Whitefield Gold: Pure. Refined." (compiled by Comfort) (2006)
* "Spurgeon Gold: Pure. Refined." (compiled by Comfort) (2005)
* "Overcoming Panic Attacks". Bridge-Logos (July 11, 2005) ISBN 0882700146
* "What Did Jesus Do? A Call to Return to the Biblical Gospel" (2005)
* "How to Bring Your Children to Christ ... and Keep Them There" (2005)
* "What Hollywood Believes: An Intimate Look at the Faith of the Famous". Genesis Pub. (August 25, 2004) ISBN 0974930016
* "Hell's Best Kept Secret". Whitaker House (December 1989, updated 2004) ISBN 0883682060
* "Scientific Facts in the Bible: 100 Reasons to Believe the Bible is Supernatural in Origin". Bridge-Logos Publishers (October 15, 2001) ISBN 0882708791
* "The School of Biblical Evangelism Textbook" (2004)
* "101 Things Husbands Do to Annoy Their Wives" (2004)
* "Out of the Comfort Zone: The Authorized Autobiography". Bridge-Logos Publishers (May 2004) ISBN 0882709437
* "God Doesn't Believe in Atheists" (1993, 2001) ISBN 0882709224
* "How to Win Souls and Influence People". Bridge-Logos Publishers (October 1999) ISBN 0882707884

References

External links

* [http://www.livingwaters.com/ LivingWaters.com, the ministry of Ray Comfort] - his official Web site.
* [http://www.wayoftheMaster.com/ The Way of the Master] - the Web site for his ministry with Kirk Cameron.
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