Lead by Love...and The Beast

This past Saturday I was exiting Target, happily leaving with a birthday present, two multi-packs of perppermint Orbit gum (my fave) and a new hair dryer when this woman stopped me. She handed me a pamphlet which I later recognized as a Christian track. She didn't say anything to me, so I simply took it and threw it in my shopping bag.

When I got home, I took the pamphlet out of the bag and decided to take a closer look. The result was both disturbing ... and kind of hilarious, so I thought I'd share some of the pictures in this track with you.

"The Beast"

Here is the cover:

It's hard to see here, but all three of these people (including the baby) have "666" imprinted on their foreheads and the woman in this picture is crying. Wow.

Let's imagine for a second that I was a non-Christian, happy Target shopper twenty-something. Would I really want to read this disturbing looking booklet?!?

Here's a page from the inside:

Okay, aside from the cheesy artwork, does this picture above really represent "Life as it is today"? I'm thinking no. But wait...there's more:

Yes, the world may be messed up. But when was the last time you really saw someone shouting, "I have the power...Lucifer is Lord!" in the middle of a restaurant? Anyone?

And if a non-Christian was reading this, do most of them know anything about Noah besides the fact that he had a big wooden boat? Why would they even care whether or not "Today's conditions are the same as it was in the days of Noah"?

And yet one more picture:

Yes, these are real verses from the Bible. But the pictures are really scary. And then there's my favorite part--the mini commercial at the bottom for another lovely track by the same company who produced this masterpiece.

Lead by Love

Joking aside--this approach to witnessing bugged me and here's why:

• It was impersonal.
  
  The woman who handed me this track didn't know me or care to try and get to know me. She didn't even say, "Hi. What's your name?" before handing me a disturbing piece of literature that attempted to change my worldview and eternal destiny.
  
  
• It's irrelevant.
  
  Yes, this booklet includes things based on Scripture. But the presentation (a tacky black-and-white booklet) and representation of today's society don't ring true with 99.9% of people. And to a non-Christian, a lot of it looks kind of far-fetched and kooky (there are other drawings of wolves wearing clothes, angels and flying scorpions).
  
  
• It was designed to motivate out of fear.
  
  The key pitch of this booklet is, "The world is evil and scary. Accept Christ so you can go to heaven." That might be true--but is it an approach that connects with most people? It is an approach filled with hope and love?
  

It would be easy to judge the woman who handed me "The Beast" and her style of witnessing. But I'm sure there have been times when I've been impersonal or irrelevant to someone, too.

This experience made me again realize the importance of leading by love, as Jesus did. Caring about people, listening to them and getting to know them. Exemplifying hope, love and compassion. Because something tells me He wouldn't walk up to a stranger, hand them "The Beast" and walk away.