Hells Best Kept Secret: With Study Guide, Expanded Edition

by Ray Comfort

How many souls have you won to Christ? How many are still walking with the Lord? All, some, a few?
The facts

Why are so many unbelievers turning away from the message of the gospel? Doesn’t the Bible tell us how to bring sinners to true repentance? If so, where have we missed it? The answer may surprise you.
One hundred years ago, Satan buried the crucial key needed to unlock the unbeliever’s heart. Now Ray Comfort boldly breaks away from modern tradition and calls for a return to biblical evangelism.
If you’re experiencing evangelical frustration over lost souls, unrepentant sinners, and backslidden “believers,” then look no further. This radical approach could be the missing dimension needed to win our generation to Christ.

Genres: Christian, Evangelism, Christian Living, Christianity, Nonfiction, Religion, Theology

288 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1989

About the author

Ray is the Founder and CEO of Living Waters and the best–selling author of more than 80 books, including, Hell's Best Kept Secret, Scientific Facts in the Bible, and The Evidence Bible. He co–hosts (with actor Kirk Cameron) the award–winning television program "The Way of the Master," seen in 200 countries. He is also the Executive Producer on the movies "Audacity," "180," "Evolution vs. God," and others, which have been seen by millions. He and his wife, Sue, live in Bellflower, California, where they have three grown children.

Reviews

[Joey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, so I’m going to try to keep this short, at least as short as possible.

I really like Ray Comfort! I’ve seen most of his documentaries, however this was my first book of his that I’ve read. He has such a passion for sharing the gospel to lost souls!

This book helped and supported me tremendously. I can’t wait to go out again and talk to some people about Christ. This book instilled a passion in me. Sadly, I can’t do anything rn cause of this dang quarantine, but as soon as it’s out, watch out world. 😂

The step by step approach to making someone receptive to the gospel and then step by step method on how to share the gospel were tremendously helpful. I also really love Ray Comfort’s style of soul winning. It just makes so much sense, even tho i guess I’d never done it that way before?

But anyway, I said I was gonna keep short so I should stop 😂

But happy reading guys!! And stay safe please!

[David Gregg · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book makes four points: 1) the point of the Law is to prove to us our defect, 2) that means that the Law holds a special place in helping us realize our need for Christ's redemption, 3) false conversions can frequently be attributed to one not fully understanding that he/she needs salvation or that he/she is unable to accomplish or contribute anything to that salvation, and 4) thus the principle of the Law (that one is defective and unable to do anything about it) is a necessary prerequisite to the Gospel (that God has provided in Christ salvation in its entirety which is conferred on the basis of trust in Him).

Great points. Timeless truth. But, unlike in past years, I can no longer get wholeheartedly behind Ray's evangelism methods. I don't think they're "bad" by any means. And, with some people, they are quite effective. I myself used a form of the "Way of the Master" method with hundreds of people over the course of two or three years. But I now have some reservations as to the claim or spirit of some of its proponents that this approach is universally applicable. I am also disappointed in the de-emphasis on the building of relationships, focusing instead entirely on vying for the "quick sale." I think, in the honest effort to produce balance, the result has been to tilt practical Christianity in the way of the agenda, performance orientation, and the counting of numbers.

If you want a book to introduce you to some almost lost thought on the use of the Law in the New Covenant, then this is a good book. And worth the purchase, too, but I don't know that I would suggest those of Ray's books which have more to do with evangelism. If you choose to read this, then I heartily suggest you spend a lot of time in Galatians, where you will find out some other things about the Law that might even out your new book a little.

Or, I might altogether suggest an alternative (simply and honestly, not in a sarcastic kind of way): read Paul's works in a translation you understand well.

[Denise · Rating 1 out of 5]

If a reader needs a dose of nutty, Mr. Comfort rarely disappoints. The author is mostly harmless. Then again, I haven't met anyone in person who takes him seriously.

[Rachel Grepke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Witnessing to others is an awesome experience. No matter how many times you do it, each and every time is exciting and nerve wrecking. In this book, Ray Comfort takes you through some basic steps to help you evangelize better, as well as to grasp the truth of the Law. I loved how it was laid out and written. I found his own personal evangelistic moments and interactions to be the most helpful. We need to be a people on fire for the Lord!

[Ted Lingenfelter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Honestly this book really challenged me. I feel like I’ve got a lot of room to grow in trusting God not myself to convict sinners that they are sinner. Would have liked some more structure but nonetheless content was great

[Matt Swanson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like a lot of the points he brought up. Some really great ideas that make you want to put the book down and go share the gospel mid-sentence.

[Randy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author builds his case that the reason why so many new converts (he actually says 80-90% of converts from crusades) fall away from their new faith is that they were not told the whole counsel of God as to why they should become Christians. They were told that they should try Christianity because it will make their lives better; it will help them achieve peace and have a happier marriage and all the rest. But they weren't told what the Bible teaches: that the only way to escape the wrath to come is to embrace Christ who will take their punishment for them. So when things don't go the way they had hoped, they are disillusioned and embittered toward Christianity for not delivering what was promised. Telling people that they stand condemned before the Law of God is not pleasant, but that is the only way people will see their need for a Saviour.

This book is better that I thought it would be. It is thought provoking and convicting (for me anyways) as it goes beyond teaching the function of the Biblical Law, to speaking to Christians who are not demonstrating a heart for the lost by engaging in personal evangelism. We have a thousand excuses, don't we, for not getting into the game as it were. The reasons can be pretty strong and deep rooted, and should drive people such as myself to my knees in prayer for deliverance from my fear and inactivity.

[Kama · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn't actually read this book but I listened to the sermon which covers the same topic. This sermon goes hand in hand with the sermon/book "True and False Conversion" by Ray Comfort. I listened to both sermons side by side and they were amazing! Life-changing in fact. They were both in essence about how modern evangelisim is creating a lot of false conversions because we are too anxious to have people convert that we don't tell them all that is to come. It's about how it is a disservice to preach the cure for sin more than we preach the disease of sin and how it is more effective to preach the details of the disease before the cure is even addressed. It talks about how we need to follow in the footsteps of Jesus and watch how he preached the law in order to stop this epidemic of false conversions and a false sense of security we are handing out to so called "Christians." I had been discouraged for a while now about modern evangelism and have felt ineffective myself. This book/sermon helped encourage me and bring a lot of misconceptions to light. I absolutely loved it! I would highly reccomend it to anyone who calls themselves a Christian.

[Leila · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Hell's Best Kept Secret" is a book about evangelizing. In it Ray Comfort shows how to actually lead people to Christ, and not just get them to make "decisions" for Christ.
One of his biggest points is that you can't show a non-Christian their need of a Savior without using the Law, and showing them how they have personally broke it.
Obviously, there are a couple areas where I disagree with Ray Comfort, but overall this is an EXCELLENT book!!

[Mark Cairns · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books I've read in a long time. This book has made me look at how i evangelise in a completely different way. After reading this book I would recommend watching a few of Ray's witnessing videos and seeing how he implements what is in this book into his own witnessing.

[Edwin]

Warning!

If you have a pulse and Bible read with caution! This book has the potential to ignite the reader and bring many onlookers to watch what a person on fire for Christ should look like!

[Sam Boychuk · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you have any desire what-so-ever to reach out to friends and strangers with the Gospel this book is a must. Well your Bible is a must but this will help :)

[Ioana Goron · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very provocative and motivating book. And it definitely changed my perspective on how I should tell others about God and the Gospel. I strongly recommend this book to every christian.

[Adrian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every Christian should read this book on evangelism! Includes the only way to convert in a humble, effective way and sift out the truly repentant.

[Benjamin Reardon · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Multitudes of sinners are in the valley of decision. If they only knew the issues, they would seek salvation. Unbelief clouds their minds as they sit in darkened ignorance in the valley of the shadow of death. With the spiritual authority given to the Church, we must break the demonic powers that blind the minds of the unbe-lieving. Let us pray fervently for opportunities and boldness to bring them the light of the Gospel.”

I’m honestly short on words as I write this review. When I pulled this book a few days ago, I almost shelved it to read at a later date. I am relieved that I didn’t do so. “Hell’s Best Kept Secret” is a threefold masterclass - it is extraordinarily informative on witnessing to the lost, a bold encouragement regarding the promises of God and Scripture, and a wake-up call to believers who find themselves gripped with fear on witnessing the Gospel of Jesus Christ to unbelievers (like yours truly…yeesh). I have felt gripped with fear on the Great Commission for so long; several years ago, I read Comfort’s “The Way of the Master” and was spurred by the urgency to witness to others (which is THE textbook for Biblical evangelism), but my actions told a different story. Having felt the Holy Spirit at work within me regarding witnessing once again, I picked up “Hell’s Best Kept Secret” (which was originally published in 1989 - BEFORE “God Has A Wonderful Plan for Your Life” and “The Way of the Master”).

I can’t express the magnitude of personal conviction, urgency, and encouragement the Lord has created within me through this book. Every day, 140,000 people die and go to Hell without hearing about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I urge my Christian friends to pick up this book and “The Way of the Master” in order to unlock the key of knowledge necessary to speaking the truth to the souls of men in a rapidly fading and dying world that desperately needs the Gospel. I sincerely hope and pray that the Holy Spirit will keep me honest in my zeal for the Lord as I work to obey what He is calling me to pursue.

[Inuk Larsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's engaging and revealing enough about our present challenges regarding people who endorse Christianity but do not commit to it. In line with Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Ray Comfort and what I criticize (where each of them are unrelated to one another other than the common religion), Christians have become weak in commitment onto faith and are inhibited and obstructed by fear of man from man, meaning many Christians are afraid of offending another man's feelings and thus, cowardly appeal to their emotions rather than the will and their possible transgressions of Law.
The book gives important point about making believers and Christians conscious of Law of God and how the Law is used to measure the depth of sin, rather than stating the obvious that sin exist due to transgression of the Law. In them being conscious of the Law, they become conscious of the depth of their own sins which likely results in sense of guilt and the desire to confess. This is conviction. Making them commit to repentance, to regret their sins and correcting their actions in according to their own sins, is to convert them. The book lays this out quite well.
Too many churches and communities only preach about love, peace and joy (and who can deny wanting these things?), removing the importance of judgment, Law, sins and plausible transgressions. They preach about these things in fear of offending anyone and preach them ad nauseum. It ought to be mostly about the Law and judgment and least about grace, love and mercy, as the book writes.
It gives quite the relating and realistic anecdotal and imaginative scenarios so to connect with the Biblical Laws, content and meaning, and their intended purposes.
All in all, it's a decent book about pressing issues in nowadays faithless and weakly faith world, pointing out that too many Christians have become quite docile, weak and afraid of commitment and staying passively away from triggering anyone, and how to deal with it.

[Guardian1708 · Rating 2 out of 5]

I did learn about using the Law as part of witnessing and I appreciate that.

I do have issues as well:
-His use of emotion based pursuance throughout the book degraded his argument.
-Misuse of Scripture (from my understanding) hurt his argument (pg. 77, 93, 155, 161, 168, 170 [Is 50:7 is the "flint" verse he is referencing] and pg. 178).
-He writes his argument as if every Christian must be the mouth of "the body". Not everyone is to be the mouth (1 Cor 12) (pg 138).
- I'm concerned that he is praising his greed when he curses the neighbors tree (pg. 155).
- I perceive that he is stating that unless you evangelize and have joy then you are not a Christian. This disregards "the body" and those who suffer from chronic depression (regularly struggling to have joy in their lives) (pg. 118, 166).
- He seems to have a double standard where you need to have traits like gentleness and patience (pg. 84, 94, 121, 126) but he encourages behave/dialogue that makes people angry (pg. 75, 79, 95, 121, 178).
- The last concern that I have is on pg. 181. Here he talks about a sinner being saved because he is lonely, wanting peace or love. He states that they are getting saved with the wrong motive which leads me to wonder if he is saying that they aren't saved. This also lends to pg. 145 where he uses to the parable of the sower (mt 13:1-23, mk 4:1-20, Lk 8:4-15) to prove false conversion. So was the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8:26-40) never a Christian then; hitting three of the six requirements on that page?

Overall I did learn something useful from this book. I have witnessed the damage his work has done though to a fresh Christian who doesn't have the ability to discern the authors writing yet.

[John Eldreth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Real Vs Fake Evangelism

In this book Ray Comfort challenges the pervading notion of modern feel-good Christian evangelism and argues for a resurgence of the true version found in the New Testament. He makes the case that true evangelism needs to make clear the basis of salvation (i.e. deliverance from going to hell after one dies). That basis is to reveal that we humans are totally depraved and corrupt and that despite our claims of being “good”, compared to a complete understanding of God’s Moral Law embodied in the 10 Commandments, our thoughts and deeds fall far short of that standard. Consequently, in the eyes of God, we are not good at all. Therefore we are condemned to hell. Ray then describes the notion of a substitute that received the punishment for us… the death of Jesus Christ on the cross. Ray goes on to say that we can appropriate that sacrifice by desiring and trying to turn from our violations of God’s Moral Law and trust in Jesus’ sacrifice as payment for our violations (not in our goodness). Consequently we will be free from the punishment we would otherwise have received. So, far from feel-good evangelism, Ray describes feel-bad evangelism as a basis for understanding why evangelism is necessary in the first place. As a side note, if we compare the words and deeds of Jesus Christ as depicted in the gospels to a complete understanding of God’s Moral Law, we will find an incredible witness of how Jesus life was so far removed from any other human life. And we will see how much he deserved exaltation and instead received our punishment voluntarily… which continues to show how far above our behavior His was. And it shows how merciful God is to accept His punishment in our place.

[Aubrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have a bit of a mixed review. First of all, having been first printed in 1989, I wonder if Ray’s beliefs on certain things are still the same or not. I grew up listening to Way of the Master and Wretched Radio, where Ray Comfort and Todd Friel would witness by using the Law. And I currently listen to Living Waters regularly. Most of the book talks about witnessing using the Law and didn’t vary from what I expected. It was more just the why and practical advice. For that part of the book, I give it 5 stars. And Ray is the king of metaphors, which I think can go a long way in a witnessing encounter.

However, I was shocked by some of the things Ray mentioned. In this book (I specify in case he’s changed), he briefly mentions speaking in tongues and private prayer languages. Nothing I’ve heard from him, nor the circles he runs in would have me think that he’s in the Pentecostal camp. He also mentions in the chapter called Success Comes in “Cans” some things that seem very word of faith-y to me. Some decreeing and declaring type wording. Finally, in the Questions and Answers section at the back, he talks about signs and wonders and performing miracles for the sake of evangelism. (For context, I just left a word of faith/NAR church, so these things were a little triggering for me)

I will say, that in years of listening to Ray, I’ve never heard him say anything that’s raised concern. This book is the first of his I’ve read, and again, it’s 34 years old, so it could be totally outdated in his theology. But I just wanted to give a heads up to any future readers who might be concerned about that.

[Pastor Greg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unbelievers reading this book will either repent and believe the Gospel or reject Jesus Christ and, if they die in that state of unbelief, will stand before Jesus Christ at the final Great White Throne Judgment.

Believers reading this book will either heed the wise, Biblical counsel regarding evangelism or will continue to flounder with "relationship building" and "lifestyle evangelism" or, worse, presenting a false gospel that does not confront sinners with their sin, does not call sinners to repentance or does not clearly present the fact that the Resurrection is our only hope of victory over death precisely because the risen Saviour has "died for our sins".

It's an easy read as far as the way the book is written and the enjoyable content. Even so, I've known people personally who found this book to be one of the most difficult they have ever read without finding their soul saved and their life changed. This book was given to me a few years after I had already repented toward God with faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ. And it definitely left a permanent improvement on my Gospel presentation to lost sinners, as well as my love for my Saviour who died for me and rose again for my justification.

[Johnny Bennett · Rating 2 out of 5]

The purple and pink cover let's you know, this book is a child of the 80's. The insights are still valid for today but Ray Comfort spends all a lot of time covering the same ground. Maybe repetition helps things sink in, but in this case it made for a largely dry book with some good and some not so good personal examples and anecdotes.

[Jhovanny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Este pequeño pero conciso libro nos ayuda a entender como la ley de Dios es importante para el evangelismo, el lenguaje que usa el autor es sencillo de entender pero no pierde profundidad al momento de abordar los puntos. Algo que me gustó mucho del libro son las historias o analogías que el autor hace para explicar mejor sus ideas.

[Fred Fanning · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book for listening to the preaching and teaching of Ray Comfort. The book consists of his actual preaching and teaching sessions. I listened to the Audible version of the book. The narration was done by Ray Comfort. The book's message is very uplifting.

[Justin Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

a good read for anyone who wants to see people genuinely born again

This book was a good read and full of biblical wisdom. If you have a heart for seeing the lost come to genuine repentance and faith in Christ, you will probably enjoy and benefit from reading this book.

[Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not a lot that was new to me, and in general I prefer Answers in Genesis's material, but it's still a good book on true evangelism.

[Surge · Rating 5 out of 5]

10 stars for this book. So powerful and full of truth. “This book should be in the hands of every believer.”
Leonard Ravenhill

[Cindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This man is a lot better at witnessing than others. I liked his insight.

[Jeff Ritchie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read to understanding a need for the Savior.

[Forrest Gump · Rating 5 out of 5]

Is it Michael Jackson ??

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s hard to read about such a serious subject when several editing errors occur. Words omitted or misspelled. Beyond that, the content is important but wordy & drawn out.