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Ray Comfort (born December 5, 1949) is a New Zealand-born minister and evangelist. Comfort heads Living Waters Publications in Bellflower, California and has written a number of evangelical Christian works.

Born ethnically half-Jewish (via his mother), Comfort was raised with next to no religious experience; in his words: "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. I remember joking, 'If I couldn't sleep one night, I'd employ a preacher to come preach to me; and it would send me off.' I was serious; it seemed to me to be completely boring, except for one church, where they had communion; and they brought around real wine."

He became a Christian on April 25, 1972, at the age of twenty-two. For many years, he served as an itinerant minister and associate pastor in his former hometown of Christchurch, going 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. 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. In 1989, he accepted an offer from Hosanna Chapel in Bellflower, California, to begin full-time ministry in the United States.

In late 2001 and early 2002, Comfort paired up with celebrity Kirk Cameron to launch a ministry called The Way of the Master to teach Christians how to share their faith "simply, effectively, Biblically ... the way Jesus did". Comfort and Cameron were also involved in rewriting some key scenes in the movie Left Behind II: Tribulation Force, which starred Cameron.

He believes that evangelizing the lost 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 Christians than true. The key component is using the Moral Law of God (The Ten Commandments) to show people their sin before presenting the gospel of Christ to them. (See The Way of the Master for a more detailed look into this.)

He currently continues in itinerant ministry as a preacher and speaker at many churches and evangelism seminars, including "Worldview Weekend" events. He is also a frequent guest at "Evangelism Boot Camps," sponsored by The Great News Network, a spinoff ministry from Living Waters and run by Darrel Rundus, and is also a co-host on The Way of the Master Radio several times a week alongside daily host Todd Friel.

On March 17, 2006, Martin Bashir interviewed Comfort and Cameron about The Way of the Master on a segment of Nightline.

Comfort's ministry has been commended by Franklin Graham, Josh McDowell, Dr. D. James Kennedy, Bill Gothard, David Wilkerson, Joni Eareckson Tada, and many other evangelical leaders. He has written for Billy Graham's Decision magazine and Bill Bright's Worldwide Challenge. His literature is used by the Moody Bible Institute, Leighton Ford Ministries, Campus Crusade for Christ, Institute in Basic Life Principles, and the Institute for Scientific & Biblical Research. He has also written roughly fifty books and is a regular platform speaker at Southern Baptist State Conferences. His videos were seen by more than 30,000 pastors in 1992, and he has spoken in more than 700 churches from almost every denomination.

For roughly two-and-a-half years, Comfort and his son-in-law LWP general manager Emeal "EZ" Zwayne would most weekdays open-air preach at the Bellflower courthouse a few blocks from their ministry. However, on September 30, 2005, Comfort and Zwayne were approached by two county police officers, who informed them that "Judge William A. MacLaughlin issued a court order forbidding public speech on the public property of any courthouse in Los Angeles County" (the judge had issued the order on September 13, 2005) . They have sued the county for $25 and are being represented by the Alliance Defense Fund.

Comfort lives with his wife Sue in Southern California, and they have three adult children Jacob, Rachel, and Daniel.

Books

Ray has written roughly fifty books. Some of the more recent books he has written include:

• The Way of the Master Minute (by Comfort and Kirk Cameron) (2006)
• 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 (2005)
• 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 (2004)
• Hell's Best Kept Secret (updated 2004)
• The Way of the Master (2004), an revised and updated version of Revival's Golden Key, which itself was a revision of God Has a Wonderful Plan for Your Life
• The School of Biblical Evangelism Textbook (2004)
• 101 Things Husbands Do to Annoy Their Wives (2004)
• Out of the Comfort Zone: The Authorized Autobiography (2003)
• God Doesn't Believe in Atheists (2001)
• How to Win Souls and Influence People (1999)

See Also

• Delusion
• Proselytism
• Religious imperialism

External links

• LivingWaters.com, the ministry of Ray Comfort - an evangelism resources Website.
• The Way of the Master - the Web site for his ministry with Kirk Cameron.
• The Way of the Master Radio - the Web site for the radio show he co-hosts with Cameron and Todd Friel.
• About Ray Comfort Christian Answers Network Team Member
• EffectiveEvangelism.com
• EvangelismEncyclopedia.org, - a wiki devoted to Biblical Evangelism.
• www.Evangelism101.org, - a resource website for evangelism videos.

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