November 15, 2025
Dear Friends,
This week, two men prayed with me according to the pattern of Luke 18:13 & Romans 10:9, and one other man sort of prayed, though I am unsure where he landed.
I also received an email from a person with whom I shared about 1 year ago:
Dear Dr. Tour, It’s _______ _________, the computer guy from Florida. I just want to let you know that my son _______ and I are getting baptized this Sunday. He turned 13 in August, and it was his choice to be baptized this year. I don’t know how you find the energy to be so productive. I have struggled my whole life just to get out of bed. But I am grateful that you have the energy to debate hostile YouTubers and then take time to preach the gospel to strangers. I love you, brother. Thank you for helping me find my way home. When we are baptized tomorrow, it will be a statement of spiritual warfare against the forces of darkness. You helped get me started on this path, and because of your love for Jesus two more souls will proclaim their love and obedience alongside you tomorrow. I am so grateful you took the time to meet with me, and also put me in touch with Burt, who is now a dear friend. I have been blessed beyond anything I deserve. Thank you, and God bless you. ___________ (computer guy from Florida)
Since I do not recall names well, I ask people to remind me of their occupation or some other specific characteristic when writing to me so I can jog my memory. Hence, the occupational reminder, “computer guy”. I also recall his son, who was sitting near him during the Zoom call. So good to see them progressing.
1 Thessalonians 2:19–20 For who is our hope or joy or crown of exultation? Is it not even you, in the presence of our Lord Jesus at His coming? For you are our glory and joy.
The first is a Jewish (but very secular) young man, 18 years old. He reminded me of myself in that respect because I was 18 when I received the Lord. He wrote,
Hello James. My name is _________, I’m an 18 year old who grew up right outside the bible belt in an atheist house, I’ve been interested in theology, history, and mythology for about as long as I can remember. I recently saw a clip of one of your videos where you told the viewer to Email you if they don’t believe in the resurrection, I know this is a bit more expansive than that but I was hoping you could help enlighten me regardless. Throughout my life, about half the people I’ve met have been Christian, I don’t know which denominations specifically but I’ve read a decent amount of the Bible out of curiosity due to my proximity to believers. Not enough to quote specific passages or anything but I know the broad strokes of most of the stories. However, I have never felt compelled to believe even after doing a fair amount of research. Nothing I’ve read or listened to has been able to make faith in any religion seem particularly fulfilling, and, to be honest, I’m a little jealous of the people around me who have found meaning in their belief. That is to say, this message is essentially just a long winded way for me to ask you why *you* believe, is it mostly because it seems like the most logical answer for how the universe is? Or is it entirely spiritual? I would love to have a longer conversation with you about faith if you would be interested. I understand that you get plenty of messages and probably won’t have time to respond to me with much depth, but if you would be open to a longer dialogue I would greatly appreciate it! Thanks,__________
We met. He explained that he was homeschooled all his life and that he is now doing freelance web development. He listened well with some questions that were devil’s-advocate-like. Nonetheless, I persisted, confident in the gospel’s power. I finally told him that his questions were not at all hard to address, and they were actually simplistic relative to the questions that I bear in my own heart. When it came time to pray, he was all in. I tasked him with daily reading, starting in John, and committed him to Chuck Lloyd to identify and mentor him for his 13-week study.
The second is a man living in northern Europe. In his 30s and professing physics and math in the university. He wrote:
Hello Dr. Tour. I am a person who have read the bible, and am still not convinced of Jesus’ ressurection. I want to get together and discuss it. Even though the Bible contains many values I hold dear, it does not convince me as a historical document, do you believe it to be so? Yours, ___________
We met. He was very sincere, and he listened attentively. He said he has been reading the Bible, one chapter at a time, with a friend. Then they would discuss that chapter. So the pump was well-primed. He readily received the gospel and prayed. I committed him to further daily reading, and Chuck will assign him a mentor for discipleship.
The last is a man in his 70s who went to see me speak on Origin of Life when I was at Cambridge two weeks ago. Very polite. He wrote:
Dear Professor Tour, Thank you for delivering a powerful presentation last week Friday at Christ College, Cambridge. Even though I’m just a lay person who has always had an interest in science and Intelligent Design, I found your expose of the origin of life proponents very clear and devastatingly effective. If, at the end of your presentation, you heard a voice broke the captivated silence of the audience asking you to repeat a challenge you made inviting anyone who doesn’t believe in the physical resurrection of Jesus Christ to get in touch with you, that was me. I wasn’t sure that I heard you correctly, especially since the implication that you do believe in Christ’s physical resurrection, seems to me to be incongruent with your position that life cannot be derived from non-life. Please forgive me if I misheard you. However, if I did hear you correctly, then also as a devoted believer in Christ myself, I would indeed like to accept your challenge. Please feel free to call me directly on +______________ as well. I hope to hear back from you. Warm Regards, ________________
After some email exchanges, he emailed me a very long outline about how Jesus could not have physically risen since his body was too far-gone due to the scourging and crucifixion. We met. I shared. He prayed with me, but modified the prayer at several places, so I was not sure where he was landing. Then he proceeded to recount his story of having believed when he was a teenager, but then he became more enlightened. I finally had to depart before he could finish with his entire story because I needed to begin with another appointment that had already been scheduled. Nice man, however.
They shall come. They shall come. “And they shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God.” Luke 13:29
I need to travel immediately after my morning teaching tomorrow, so I am sending this email earlier than usual.
God bless,
Jim Tour
