Web chat with Luke

I wanted to try chatting online with people and starting gospel conversations. I picked a social networking site and decided to add some information about my likes and dislikes, etc… but I would put a gospel website address on there that, based on its name, isn’t a dead giveaway that it is a Christian Gospel site. This way when people look at my profile, I hope they will click the link out of curiosity and spend some time with the 10 commandments.

I went to a chat room that was American. So people can interact here with Americans and others who want to chat with Americans. As much as I wish I would have saved the “chat log” from the quickly moving conversation in that chat room, to share with you what I said in a “script” way, I didn’t. So here is to the best of my memory what happened:

I popped in and started a question and conversation to find out where everyone was from then I met a guy there named Luke. We talked about where we were from and I found out he was from the state my husband is from, which gave me a way into a conversation. We chatted a couple times, and someone else popped in and mentioned something about Ireland. I popped them a message – visible to all- that “my pastor is from Ireland, they are leaving back there soon, and we would miss them”. Somehow I segued into the spiritual with Luke at that time. I asked “if he had a Christian background”. He mentioned that “he used to go to church”. He asked “what church I went to”. I told him. He was curious ‘if that is a strict denomination.” I told him “no, that we have fun. We believe in the truth of scripture and we stand on it.” He asked if “I was religious in it”. I said that “I am not religious, but I grow in holiness – that is sanctification.” He said he “doesn’t go to church anymore” and I asked him if there “was someone there or something that happened – to make him leave.” He didn’t really say anything but mentioned that “he believed people are good and don’t have to go to church.” I asked him “what standard that was based on – his standard or God’s?” He didn’t understand what I meant, so I said that “none of us are good- we each broke God’s 10 commandments.” A heckler came in named crackle.monkey and started using God’s name as a curse word. I asked him “not to blaspheme God’s name.” Then I went back to Luke and he asked about the people in other places in the world, then jumped to ask about those in Iraq. What did I think about them. I asked him what did he mean about that? Then he said something about those who do good things. There are good people because people do good things like help the poor and people in places like Africa. I basically told him that “things people do don’t make them a good person, as a matter of fact – to be very honest – people, who are not Christians, only do things to get the glory or credit for doing them.” I went on to tell him that they like getting rewarded and being in the limelight. They don’t do what they do just to do a good thing. They want to get rewarded somehow or get a pat on the back. He said so what about those Christians who go and do aid work. I said that they are doing what they are doing for the Jesus out of gratitude. Gratitude for the work he did on the cross for them, not to gain anything from it. I did mention that there are some who claim to be Christians who do things for the wrong reasons and those things don’t mean anything to God.

Crackle.monkey kept trying to but in and say stuff to me – blaspheming, so I told him that I was not going to reply to him because I do not want him to get into more trouble with God than he already is in. And I ignored him the rest of the time. I didn’t pick the ignore button, because I want to stay open to anyone who wants to talk to me in the future, and I want to know when they are in the room. I guess the way it works is that if you ignore someone you are basically off their radar and not showing up in the chat viewer anymore. This can be a good thing, because of two reasons. 1. They are gone and you can interact with other people there, and 2. You are listed as an ignored person in their ignored list…which means they can un-ignore you in the future if they choose to AND they remember your conversation with them when they see your name in the ignored list. Crackle.monkey didn’t like that I wasn’t interacting with him anymore so he said that I need to go to the religious chat room. I told him that I do not need to. Luke then said that he doesn’t want any preachers in here preaching at him. I said I wasn’t preaching at him, but what we are talking about must be making him feel guilty, if he didn’t want to finish our conversation. He got upset about that…but not in a rude way. He asked me what my favorite movie was, and suggested it might be the Passion of the Christ. I told him I never saw it, and don’t plan to.

Around this time a moderator told me that he wanted me to move to another subject other than religious talk. I told him (for all to see) that my faith is a huge part of who I am, and if it comes out in a conversation that I am having between myself and another person then no one else needs to join in or read it. He said that he is getting complaints from others about my chats. I told him that this chat room is for the USA, and reminded him of my freedom of speech rights. The moderator told me that I was right. But asked me to move on to another subject. I told him that I already did. *At this time between chatting with Luke and the Moderator we had started moving into movies. I asked what was the last movie he saw. He didn’t answer, and apparently had a conversation with the moderator privately. The moderator (for all to see) reminded him that if he didn’t want to chat with me any longer he could just hit the ignore button and not chat with me anymore. I told Luke that we could talk about something else if he would like to. *I did this in hopes of later at the end of the conversation saying that “I would like you to consider what we talked about and that you need to get right with God, through repentance and faith in Christ.” Then thank him for chatting with me; before I log out or move to another chat room. However, I tried a couple of other non faith related conversations but he didn’t want to keep talking.

Oh well, I figured that this guy was stung by the law, and others who read the chat while they were chatting did to. Hopefully someone will come along with the gospel of grace and they will reach the point of contrition knowing they are not good and have broken God’s law, and need Christ to be saved from their sins and hell.

After that conversation/chat I started tossing in questions to new people who signed on. I said hi or welcome to them and asked where they were from. I asked where they lived. Then I said some other subject like “I have been learning Spanish for 2 years now with a private tutor. Does anyone know Spanish?” and then this is when I connected with another person. As we chatted for a few seconds with one other person who joined our chat, the first person and I moved to a private chat room. I figured this would move things along like I am not there to evangelize, and the ones who were talking to me before would realize that “my faith really is part of who I am and what I talk about.” After all, I could poke back in another hour or so, another day, week or month. As there are many chat rooms on the internet and I can just make my rounds on them from time to time. With so many millions of people online etc... I would have tons of fresh people to talk to anytime want to.

When I was in the chat room I found out that the Spanish person I met was a professing Christian who speaks Spanish and lives in Columbia. We had a nice chat in private and planned to chat again in the future.

Glory to God for today's opportunties!

Helpful Resources 

Where can I find chat places online to try this? 

Resources for Believers

Overseas Webchat

Here is a chat I had tonight online through an evangelism ministry I am involved with on a weekly basis. The person was from a foreign country, that knows English. That was helpful because it is hard sometimes to explain certain things to people from other languages. I did my best to explain things in a way that was helpful and not too overwhelming with christan-ese language. Usually we get a lot of people emailing us or wanting to debate with us from muslim countries. It was nice to speak to someone who was not visiting the site to "waste our time" with endless arguments and have no interest in the purpose of the site. The site chat room is available for the purpose of learning how to become saved or to talk with someone to make sure you are saved. In the end, with this conversation tonight, it appears the person was wanting to make sure they were saved, and get some helps & reassurances on how to live as a Christian.

For a while I wasnt sure if this was going to go well, because I was not sure if this person was really interested in knowing about salvation and wasnt sure if they would stay on long enough to get "the real gospel". The person took a while to answer some questions, and avoided others. So, it was a blessing to know that some of what I was sharing, was actually reaching the person. It is also a main reason I "controlled" the conversation down one path, and why I did most of the talking. I am glad that I did, because it appears this person now has the information to help them, and to go study the Bible themselves. They clearly understand why he needs Jesus, and how to be saved. So if the person is not saved, at least they know the How and the Why, and that the best place to learn about God and how to live godly... is through Scripture.

Here is the Chat Log:

Nie-na-niu: Hi

Christian: Hi. Good evening, How can we help you today?

Nie-na-niu: Hi

Christian: Where are you from?

Nie-na-niu: I’m from Micronesia.

Christian: What time is it where you are?

Nie-na-niu: Its 2pm here

Christian: I’ts 9pm here. How did you learn of us?

Nie-na-niu: I’ve been searching the internet and came to your site.

Nie-na-niu: I went through a lesson for 30 days . I love and enjoy reading gall the scripture he gave on the step by step daily lessons.

Christian: So, Nie-na-niu – do you know why people need to be right with God?

Nie-na-niu: Because we will go to hell since we don’t keep the commandments.

Christian: Right. Can you name any of the 10 commandments?

Nie-na-niu: To love God and to Love others?

Christian: Well I mean from the Old Testament, the commandments God gave to Moses.

(time laps) You still there?

Nie-na-niu: Yes.

Christian: So some commandments are “Thou Shalt Not Lie, Thou Shalt Not Steal”. Can you think of any others?

Nie-na-niu: Not to Covet?

Christian: Yes, that is right.

So, Nie-na-niu, have you ever personally broken God’s Law?

Nie-na-niu: Yes, I have

Christian: So do you agree that means you are in big trouble with God, right?

Nie-na-niu: Yes

Christian: Do you know what God says about anyone who breaks the Law?

Nie-na-niu: I don’t think I remember.

Christian: God tells us that if we break the Law at one point, “we break the whole thing”.

So God sees us as criminals. Does that makes sense?

Nie-na-niu: Yes. Thank you for explaining that.

Christian: Sure. Also, since we have to face God on Judgment day, we need to be right with Him. Do you know how to do that?

Nie-na-niu: Is it to pray and to do better?

Christian: Well, actually we can’t do any “better”, because we already broke the Law. What God wants us to do is to Repent and Trust in Jesus. When we repent we turn away from doing what is wrong, and we stop doing it. So if we stop doing the wrong thing, then we start doing the right thing. The right thing is doing things God’s way. It is a one time decision. We decide not to sin anymore and the second thing we need to do is to Trust in Jesus. Only in Jesus.

Christian: So what are the two things we need to do to be right with God?

Nie-na-niu: I might write a wrong answer to that.

Christian: It’s ok. The more we understand… the better we can live for God properly.

Repent and Trust Christ Jesus.

Since we will receive a new nature (the minute we get right with God), we will be able to obey the commandments of God and Christ because of our new nature. Its nothing we have to do in order to be saved, its what we now will desire to do “because” we are saved. We have a spiritual life that “enables us” to do these things that please God. But it doesn’t contribute in any way to us being saved or entering heaven. Nie-na-niu: I did not really know that before.

It’s ok Nie-na-niu. The more we learn the more we know.

I would rather people ask me, or give wrong answers, so we can discuss it, so people understand why we need Jesus, and How we get right with God (sometimes called "Get Saved" or "Become Born Again"). If we are right with God that means we surrendered our life to Him, and we no longer live for our own desires, we live to love and obey God because of our gratitude towards Jesus for all he has done for us (by his death, shed blood for our sins, and victory through the Resurrection). He is now our master and we desire to follow Him.

Christian: Ok, so do you understand the things we have been discussing the last couple minutes on chat?

Nie-na-niu: Yes I do.

Christian: Great. Now that you understand this. Have you been born again?Nie-na-niu: Many times. I confessed then sinned again.

Ok. That is an answer tells me you need more clarification; understanding about what it means to be right with God.

When we Repent to God and Trust in Jesus, it is a “one time event”. Have you ever, in your life, come to the point where you knew you needed God to save you from Hell, and then talked to God yourself, to repent and trust in Christ? And actually asked Jesus to forgive you and make you a new person?

Nie-na-niu: You know, sometimes I doubt that Jesus will save me. I know Jesus always answers my prayer, but I always doubt him.

Christian: While we become right with God through that "one time event", it doesnt mean we will be perfect. If we are desiring to always do our best to obey him, that is a good thing. However, we will fail - we are still human with our sinful nature.

 Let’s take this one step further. Here’s a little test to help someone see if they are "saved". The thing is that if we have repented and trusted in Christ, we will struggle against doing what is wrong, because we love Jesus and are grateful for what he has done for us, and we dont want to offend Him by our sins...If this is true for you, then you are "struggling" with sin and that is a good sign.

Regarding “doubt” one thing that will help "put the fear of God into you" to no longer think that way, is 1) its ok to want to make sure you are saved, but 2) if we dont believe God, or doubt Him... then we are calling Him a Liar and Someone who breaks promises. So since we know God keeps his promises and is not a liar, we can confidently trust that He has saved us (if we repented and trusted in Christ), and will help us to live a godly life.

Does that make sense?

Nie-na-niu: it makes sense to me.

Christian: If we live knowing that God keeps his promise to us, and that we can count on him to do the right thing in our lives, we can live a joy filled life.

Even in the bad times, because God always uses even those situations to bring about good and his will is done. Even if we end up part of someone elses' sin consequences, or if something happens to us or someone we know.

So we can be confident that he will give us the strength and hope we need to endure those times, as well as be assured that he will not give us more then we can't bear.

(does that help encourage you?)

Nie-na-niu: Yes. Thanks very much for all these.

Christian: So, was there a time in your life that you made the decision to Repent and Trust in Christ, and actually did it?

Nie-na-niu: Yes.

Christian: This has been a good conversation. I am so glad we had a chance to talk tonight!

 So here is another question: have you been struggling with sin, and winning some times, or most of the time, over temptation and sins?

Nie-na-niu: Most of the time I lost. But sometimes I win instead of Satan.

Christian: Ok. great.

 Also, remember there are three things in this world that we have "against us"...

Nie-na-niu: What are they?

Christian: The World's lures (desires/pleasures), Satan, and Our own flesh.

Christian: What happens to most believers is that if they do not "crucify" [resist] their fleshly desires (every day) is: they fall prey to Satan's traps and the lure's of the pleasures in this world (sin). And they lose the “battle” against Sin. So, the thing is that if we deal with our flesh, the world and Satan's temptations will have NO power over us, and he will leave us alone. Basically once you deal with your own desires towards sin and temptation… the world and Satan will have no “hold” on you. No power over you and you are able to “overcome” sin and live the right way (in every situation).

 So just focus on dealing with [crushing/crucifying] your desires that is are sinful, and are against God… and the more you practice that "spiritual weapon" - the stronger you will be at avoiding and defeating sin. You will defeat your old sinful desires, by living in the power of your new nature.

And, the important thing to know is that you don’t do this in your own power. God does it through you, because you have the Holy Spirit living in you. He helps you to live right, based on what you learn in scripture. When you learn from the Bible and apply it to your life, you are becoming more of who God wants you to be.

Nie-na-niu, has anyone ever told or taught you about these things in your local church, or from another Christian?

Nie-na-niu: I'm very appreciative of what you're telling me today.

Christian: I am glad you are finding it useful. One place you can learn a lot of information about these things is at a discipleship website. Discipleship simply means - one who learns from Jesus. Since what we are able to learn is only found in scripture... we are able to study it there. A disciple also follows the ways of their master, and Christ is your master, therefore you are a disciple of Christ.

Nie-na-niu: To answer your question, they have not. I'm Catholic. My priests always preaches to us, but I just listen then forget about the stuff they says.

Christian: Well if you have repented and trusted in Jesus, you are no longer catholic... you are a born again Christian. You do not trust in any "works" or religious deeds to help you get to Jesus or to Heaven. Instead, you now only rely on the work Jesus completed on the cross for your salvation. He did all the work and that is so God is the only one to get all the "credit" and glory for it.

 does that make sense?

Nie-na-niu: Yes, you're helping me understand these things.

Christian: Jesus said "You Must be born again to enter heaven” and if you did that, you will enter heaven….and you can know it... based on what we discussed here.Christian: Ok. Now dont just take my word for it though, read the Bible yourself.

write down this website ---- and can go there regularly for studies and helps as you study the Bible.

Nineaniu, How much of the Bible have you read at home in your own private time?

Nie-na-niu: I just started reading it starting this month.Christian: ok. what are you reading?Christian: from what book and what are you learning?

Nie-na-niu: The Book of Psalms, the Gospels of Luke, Mathew and John most of the time and Ephesian, Thesalonians and a few others.

Christian: wow that is a lot for reading that started this month.

Christian: what is something you learned that really "reached" you in a spiritual way?

Nie-na-niu: Every morning I always read some scriptures from the Gospel of St. Luke, some from the Psalms and Ephesians.Christian: Oh that is great. But dont just stop there. Make a specific plan to read through the Bible and study what it teaches. After you read it, read it again. You will eventually make it a yearly habit. I would recommend reading the gospel of John. Read it two times through, and then start from Acts and go through to Revelation.

Nie-na-niu: When I read the Book of Psalms I realize that I am obliged to Praise God in my daily life and I should be more concern about other people than being concern about myself.

Christian: That is a great observation from Psalms.

Christian: Another great idea about studying the Bible is to keep a journal while you are reading it, and write down any questions you have or something neat that you learned. People who read the Bible regularly, end up learning that "you never stop learning something new" from scriptures.

Nie-na-niu: From now on I will read and write questions, so that I will ask you through the internet. Most of the time I don't understand the real meaning of the scriptures. Especially the Gospels or Parables.

Christian: well, like i said, use the discipleship site ----- and write down your questions. If you dont understand something you read, you can find an answer at www.Inerrancy.org (the answers there are pretty good, for most of the questions).

Christian: Since our chat site is dedicated only to helping people get a right relationship with God, or ensuring they are right with God... that is as far as we can assist you. But check out those two websites… they will help you get off to a good start and help you mature in your relationship with Christ.

Nie-na-niu: Thank you very much.

Christian: You are very welcome. Be blessed.

Write those websites down, cause when our chat time ends, in a minute, it will be erased.

Thank you for visiting us today and I am glad to have helped you come know how to be saved, how to help you crucify your flesh to avoid sins and temptations, and to encourage you in how to live as a disciple of Christ.

Nie-na-niu: Thank you, and good night.

Christian: you too! ><>

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Since 2006 I've been sharing my adventures with our readers. I have taken down most of the bloggings and uploaded newer adventures! From time to time I will bring back some of my favorite past encounters to encourage and uplift you too. If you are a Saint (Saved, Born Again believer) please feel free to use the information on this site to help you witness to those you know and meet in your daily lives. Useful links and resources are available on the right of the screen on this blog site to assist you with the gospel and spiritual growth. Also feel free to link to any specific blog post if you are wanting to share specific information with someone you know who is unsaved and could benefit from information we posted in a specific post.If you’re a born again Christian please visit www.ExamineYourself.com for a couple of good helpful resources.

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