On a more serious note.

As you might imagine, these last few days have been a little more difficult for the American image here in Chile.

For some reason, most Chileans I know think that I would not vote for George W. Bush. The image that Bush has is horrible, but that is because the news here follows the Europeans and has been negative towards Bush always, with nothing positive to say. Also, the movie that the Moore character made has been making the rounds, and people accept everything it says without trying to figure out if it is true or not. Another thing is that people are scared because of the war in Iraq. At times like these, the Pentecostals pull out the old theory about this being the last days and we are entering into the seven years of grand tribulation. The same thing happened to me in 1991. A Pentecostal lady at my workplace in Abilene swore up and down that the world would be coming to an end in seven years. I should have called her up in 1998 and asked her what she was still doing here. The same thing is happening now.

I do not bring this up to talk about politics, but to talk about how people think. One of the areas where I spend a lot of time working is in how Chileans think. I try to understand how they think, because what I do is I change the way they think. This is not really a psychological concept as much as it is an anthropological one. The difference is that psychology might work with the individual person, and the anthropological approach works with the currents of thought and forces that shape the way people view themselves and their world. Religion is one of these forces and might actually be the most important one. As an evangelist, I shape the way people think. I try to help them understand their world in the light of Christian concepts.

How do I do this?

First of all, I want to be absolutely persuasive. So I will start with something that is truthful and makes sense. For example, I might say, "The function of religion is that it describes reality." Usually it takes people a second to figure out what I am talking about.

Once they realize what I have said, I take it one step further. Why would you believe in something if it does not describe reality? After all, is that not what having faith means- you understand something as real and truthful. It is reality.

Remember what John 20:30-31 says. "Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name."

The reality that the Bible asks you to believe in is that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.