Evangelizing Souls
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What is a “The Rag-Mag”? Well, in some parts of the country this slang word defines what is better known as Tabloids, those unbelievable magazines you see on the magazine rack where you stand waiting to check out. You know, the one’s with the story lines that are so shocking you want to pick it up and look at it, but you don’t want anyone to see you.
One day I found myself standing in the checkout line at the grocery store when our Lord said, “Take one and make an offer.” Sheepishly, I stuck it in my shopping basket where no one would see that I was actually purchasing it. When I got home I started looking through it, trying to figure out what He meant by “make an offer.” When I got to the center of the magazine I found ads from psychics offering all kinds of promises. There were about 20 ads in all; they were anywhere from a ¼ to ¾ of a page in size. Right then and there I knew what He wanted me to do. He was instructing me to go head-to-head against these psychics by offering His Word and giving the alternative for people to come to Him instead.
Immediately, I picked up the telephone and called the phone number for the rag-mag ad department to find out what it cost to place an ad. Back in that day, 1992 the Internet did not exist so the process was slow. In a few days, I received a packet with layout requirements, design instructions and pricing. When I saw the price I about passed out. The ad’s that I had seen the psychics putting up started at $3,000.00 to $4,000.00 per WEEK. Even though the circulation boasted 15 million readers per week, the cost just did not balance out for me.
After coming out from under the sticker shock, I readjusted my thinking to the impossibility of me putting in a color ad with images; I opted to go with three lines in the classified section. The cost was still too high, running $486.00 for three lines of text for one week, one issue. Looking to the brighter side, I knew the opportunity to reach 15 million people for Jesus could be a soul-winning experience.
Now all I had to do was raise the funds to put in the ad and then find out from our Lord what to say in those three lines. I knew that a lot of folks would not be interested in supporting what I was called to do, but I did know of one couple who would like the idea. This couple has been the most influential in training me how to know God’s will and how to follow His leading. From the time I was a little boy they took me in and what time they had with me they were very loving and craftily en-grafted the word of God into my heart and soul. Because of how much they loved God and how they were always willing to take their time and finances to further the kingdom of God, I knew they would be my best shot at getting the job done for Jesus.
The first thing I would need to do is make the 260-mile trip in order to sit down with them and explain what I wanted to do. When I arrived at my aunt and uncle’s home they greeted me with the same love and compassion as always. We sat down I began to tell my uncle and aunt what I needed to do. After my explanations, Uncle asked how much it was going to cost. With some hesitation I told him $486.00 and he replied, “Alright we’ll pay for it!”
Excited about the possibilities of reaching so many people with the Gospel message and the power of His Spirit, I drove back home seeking direction of how to go about this endeavor. After receiving His Word about the wording of the ad for this project I had it typed up and sent off to the rag-mag. Next, I was to record on tape a special sermon just for the people who would be writing in for a free prophecy. I knew the Lord wanted them to listen to the 15-minute sermon before they would be able to hear their personal prophecy. Once everything was in place the hardest part was waiting for the ad to come out in the weekly tabloid. Week after week I became a regular customer for the rag-mag, making my purchase and skimming the pages in hopes of finding the ad.
Finally, the ad was out and I just knew I would go to the post office and there would be tons of mail. As I walked to the post office I was thinking to myself that we probably would not have any mail as of yet being that if they received their rag-mag today. It would take a while before their letters would get to my post office box. It was my daily routine to walk to the post office each day to pick up the prophecy requests that were coming in from the ad I was running in Charisma magazine, so even if I had not received any mail from the rag-mag ad it wasn’t a wasted trip.
To my surprise, I opened up the mail box and there was NO mail, only a card that indicated I had something that was too large for my small post office box. I made my way up to the counter and handed the notice to the clerk and she came back with a large bundle of mail. As soon as I was back at my little office I started opening the mail and found that many of the people who had been seeking the psychics were Christians. In many of the letters they told me that they did not know that God had prophets for today and that they could seek a prophet for a word rather than having to go to the psychics. In fact, a few of the letters came from some of the people who worked at the rag-mag just thanking me for giving their readers a better alternate for finding spiritual direction.
“And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues” (I Corinthians 12:28).
After a couple of weeks had gone by and the mail had stopped coming in from the ad, I made an account of the number of letters requesting a word from God. The total was 110 requests; therefore, I prophesied and mailed out 110 audio cassette tapes with the 15-minute sermon and their personal prophecy at the end.
Here is the best part of this entire story. Out of the 110 people who had received their personal prophecy 3 of them wrote back to me to inform me that they had turned their life over to Jesus Christ because they knew what was said had to be from God. Surprisingly, two of the people worked for the Psychic Network and told of how the power of the word had stripped them of their psychic ability to give readings and asked if they could become Christians and learn to hear the voice of God. The third person was an atheist who gave her life to Jesus; this person writes me each year on their born-again birthday. One of the two ladies are now a prophetess for Jesus Christ and has done wonderful work in the name of the Lord through her ministry. We still Facebook and email each other from time to time. The other person that was converted from the Psychic Network to Christianity helped transcribe many of my teaching tapes into manuals that we used in our first School of the Prophets back in 1994. I have since lost track of her, but the last I heard she was doing a Christian radio program. Once again, the return for doing it God’s way is the only way to a successful ending; for it always pays to Pray, Hear and Obey.
“Now it happened, as we went to prayer, that a certain slave girl possessed with a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much profit by fortune-telling. This girl followed Paul and us, and cried out, saying, “These men are the servants of the Most-High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation.” And this she did for many days. But Paul, greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And he came out that very hour” (Acts 16:16-18).
Written by Kent Simpson, Apostolic Prophet
