Fundamentalist Exchange: The evangelical pipeline between New Zealand and the United States.

Part 4: Ray Comfort

Finally, we've reached the end of this series profiling major evangelical and fundamentalist Christians and their connection to New Zealand, whether they are home grown (like Nancy Campbell) or viewed New Zealand as an ideal place to extend their reach (like Gothard and Botkin). While I still stand by my claim that Nancy Campbell is one of, if not the most, influential New Zealand writer, Ray Comfort is without a doubt the most influential Kiwi connected Christian. Ever.

To use a cheesy Lord of the Rings analogy, Ray Comfort's ministry is the one ring that rules them all: He has been published, promoted, and given a pulpit by Above Rubies, IBLP, and Vision Forum - here, here, and here:

Comfort writes for Above Rubies September 1986

Eat your heart out Brian Tamaki.

While he is best known for his indoctrination of Kirk Cameron, bananas, and gotcha-type candid cameras of atheists, his views are far from harmless.

Comfort was born Ray Comfort Jr. in Christchurch, New Zealand on December 5th, 1949. It is alternatively claimed that he was born Jewish (his mother is Jewish) and that his parents wrote Methodist on his birth certificate, but regardless, it is consistently reported that he did not live in a religious household, and received no Christian instruction whatsoever until his adulthood. Comfort has never received any theological training, and is thought to have received no formal education beyond high school. He initially worked at a bank, but left at the age of 20 to start a dual surf-shop and leatherware store in New Brighton, where he made fringed cowboy-style jackets. He would claim in his autobiography that he was the only surf shop owner at the time, and was unaware that his friends were drug users.

At around the same time he married his now wife Sue (née Hibbert), with whom he would later have three children. In interviews, Ray will often recount how one night, while his wife slept, he was overcome with the thought that if she died then all his material goods and achievements would be worthless. For the six months that followed, Comfort struggled with that idea. It was in this state that he became a born again Christian in April 1972. He went out on a surfing weekend with the lads; one of his friends on the trip was a Christian and, through his influence, Ray came back a hymn-singing born again Christian himself. However, his other friends were not keen to follow him, and were soon found to have the great misfortune of dying young and tragically due to drug-related misadventures.

Sure, Jan. The only thing believable here are the short shorts.

Two weeks after his conversion, a friend of Comfort's bought him a Gestetner machine, and Comfort produced his first tract declaring that sin, not skin, was the root of racial problems. The initial run was just 100, but it caught the eye of an anonymous fan and 5,000 copies of this particular tract were ordered.

Comfort's conversion was timely, as it coincided with the Jesus Marches of September 1972. The Christchurch marches took place during the weekend of September 15th-17th, and were organised by Auckland Evangelist Muri Thompson. The marches were motivated by a global, conservative, right-wing response to a perceived decline in moral standards in all aspects of life. Ray Comfort was among the nearly ten thousand that were believed to have been assembled. According to the notes of a thesis written by Matthew Reid, Comfort would initially be part of a hippie outreach at the Sydenham Assemblies of God, before devoting his next 12 years to preaching in Cathedral Square alongside the Wizard and other colourful personalities.

During the 1974 Commonwealth Games, which were held in Christchurch, the Games' Christian Outreach Committee was formed to coordinate Christian witnessing. Comfort's contribution was loaning out a 34-seater bus, adorned with scripture verses, to use as transport by various church and parachurch organisations. One of the verses was John 14:6: “I am the way and the truth and the life”.

Most likely the Ray Comfort loaner bus

Comfort's work with addiction continued with the purchase of a house that would serve as a rehab centre, as well as a work premise as he was evicted from the premises that housed his surf shop/leather store. However, Comfort would admit decades later that he soon became disillusioned with the drug rehab and found that, quelle surprise, the ‘drug-free' Christians were still abusing drugs in the house, which he had provided as a space to help them get away from the “scene”. Comfort does not indicate whether the rehab centre utilised the services of psychologists, counselors, or anyone with experience working with people living with addiction. The suburban rehab centre would soon close, and Comfort would relocate his leather business to the city centre.

Around 1974/75, changes in Christchurch City Council bylaws instigated by The Wizard opened Cathedral Square for open air speakers. Taking this as a sign from God, Comfort began what would be a 12-year practice of daily preaching with a repertoire of D. L. Moody (for which Moody Bible Institute is named) and Charles Spurgeon. Comfort would even become frenemies with the Wizard, and has recently profiled The Wizard's firing on the Living Waters YouTube page.

In 1976, Ray established the Drug Education Centre. By 1977, Comfort no longer operated the surf shop, but was still making leather jackets.

And yeah, I'm also curious about the intersection between Comfort's proselytizing and possible clientele.

Ray Comfort circa May 31, 1977

1977 was the year that Comfort started to gain notoriety by publishing the original pamphlet “My friends are dying”, followed by a paperback, which made him world famous in New Zealand for his revelations about the drug scene in Christchurch. The book was a blockbuster for its time and place; maybe due in no small part to the good natured cursing that The Wizard gave the book on his radio show. According to Comfort, lack of fulfillment is the cause of addiction, and the cure is non-denominational Christianity. While the original, 8-page pamphlet was just about the facts of drug use, the extended paperback did explore the moral issues of drug taking. He attributed youth drug abuse to (amongst other things) the older generation's lack of morality, while complaining that youth don't have respect for their parents.

Comfort's views about the answers Christianity could give to addicts were supported by a drug dependency professional at Princess Margaret Hospital's psychiatric unit, and a senior psychologist for the Justice Department. Comfort hoped that through the success of the pamphlet and booklet, he could develop a Christian drug treatment centre in Christchurch.

Like others of his ilk, Ray Comfort was not above shock tactics when protesting abortion. During a protest rally against the Royal Commission's findings on abortion and contraception on May 19th, 1977, Comfort was said to have stood on a stool and held up a photograph of mutilated babies in a sack, before nearly getting mobbed by the crowd. He informed the assembled people that the incidence of pregnancy from rape was a million to one, and 2000 people in New Zealand were waiting to adopt unwanted babies. He was later physically assaulted at the same protest when he attempted to move into a circle of protesters who had formed around a couple of speakers. No charges were laid, despite Comfort's earlier threats to the mob regarding police involvement.

Number of friends made by Comfort that day? 0.

But back to drugs.

Comfort became very popular and sought after as a speaker. As he would admit in this graphic novel, he was a bit of a bullshitter too. In his autobiography, he recounts this interaction with Jeff and Mary, which was also included in his graphic novel. To thank them for their information, Comfort offered them copies of the New Testament, and autographed Mary's copy on request.

I know all your friends are dying, but Ray, are they really your friends?

Two weeks after this meeting, both Jeff and Mary were found dead of a presumed overdose in their apartment. The police found Ray's signature in the front of a copy of the New Testament, and asked if he would come and identify the bodies.

Ray found himself as an authority on drugs. On the Living Waters website, Comfort recalls a panel he shared with a doctor and a drug squad in 1978. Comfort claims that unbeknownst to him, the drug squad had lit up a joint so parents could become familiar with the smell. While talking to a woman and her two sons, said joint was given to him and he unconsciously took a quick puff and passed it on.

Now.

Come on.

I have not come across any scandal or reporting regarding this incident on PapersPast as of yet, and it beggars belief that I am meant to believe that Comfort was so innocent and naive that he would not recognise the smell of weed, while also absent mindedly doing a puff/pass without a second thought. One could argue that it was the 70s, and people were still smoking everywhere, but I'm calling shenanigans here.

It is unclear whether the drug treatment centre that Comfort dreamed of ever came to fruition. But Comfort was apparently building connections with the Black Power gang. Their frequent visits to the Drug Prevention Centre upset the neighbouring business owners, and Comfort was forced to relocate to the dome at the Regent Theatre building. His landlord was a Mr. Godbehere, which was yet another sign from God for Comfort, but maybe not so lucky for the landlord himself…

On November 5th, 1979 the Regent Theatre would suffer significant fire damage that would spare the dome; Comfort and his associates were not in the building at the time, but it was enough of a psychological blow for Comfort that he began transitioning from his addiction support work into more traditional pastoring.

Regent Theatre fire, 1979

Comfort admitted that he struggled for three years with being an assistant to a Pastor who frequently clashed with Elders and had a flock of young people that didn't know better. To be frank, he just didn't like pastoring - particularly when it came to providing marriage counseling; he often found out that they were living in adultery.

So Ray eventually gave up this work as well, and opened a Christian Bookstore with Sue. The family would change churches, and Ray would begin working for free as an itinerant minister.

In the midst of this, in 1980, a 15mm film based on My Friends are Dying was made, and had something of a decent theme song by Steve Apirana and Matthew Heidi Warren. During filming, a gang fight broke out in Cathedral Square during an arts festival, and the footage was used by police to identify the perpetrators while the completed film was screened to prisoners. It's disappointing to see that Comfort was less concerned about his relationships he had built with the Black Power gang, and more excited about the film being a success.

Ray allegedly lost the masters to this film, but it is possible that copies are still floating around; otherwise, the image below from The Press (along with maybe the two stills Jarrod Gilbert includes in his Pecha Kucha presentation) may be one of the few stills that remain from this piece of lost media.

Mathew Newcombe stands on a ledge beside the dome of the Regent Theatre building above Cathedral Square for the filming of a suicide scene for an anti-drug documentary. The film is being made by the Drug Prevention Centre for showing at its anti-drug promotions. It is based on Ray Comfort's book, “My Friends Are Dying.”

Funnily enough, Comfort writes that the cameraman had neglected to film the arrival of the police after the fight and, as a way to return the favour of handing over the film that was captured, the police acquiesced to refilming their arrival.

Due to his work as an itinerant minister, Ray would continue to receive invitations to speak. But now it wasn't only to talk about his drug prevention work. He would spend much of the 1980s travelling across NZ, Australia, and the US to minister. He would self-publish chap books under the Living Waters Publications label, with titles like “Bugged by Jehovah's Witnesses?”, “The pit of hell!: Unbelievable satanic deception flooding the earth”, and this bit of pearl clutching.

I don't know what alternate reality version of the 1980s Comfort was living in at the time to state that “gay life” was generally tolerated, but rest assured this hedonism did rub off on him. Quoting 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 (A.S.V.), Comfort firmly states his position that homosexuality blatantly violates both the law of God and the law of conscience.

Let's not beat around the bush. Comfort definitely thinks it's wrong to be Gay.

Here is another chap book called Killer on the Loose: Demon Possession, where Comfort reminisces about when he performed an exorcism at the Drug Prevention Centre:

Despite having the air of a humble New Zealander, it was clear that he was more than just a simple anti-drug proponent, and engaged in situations where his lack of formal training and education could have entailed significant harm to the people he writes about.

If they even existed in the first place.

In 1988/89, Ray was let go from his unpaid role at the church he had attended and worked at for several years, due to a difference of opinion about the attitude the Church had towards its convictions. While the “firing” was a surprise, Ray did not have much time to wallow in self pity because he was offered a new job in the US within an hour of returning home.

While this would be the end of the New Zealand chapter of Comfort's ministry, things were only just beginning for the New Zealander himself. In Part 2 we'll see how Comfort fared in his early years in the US, his collaboration with a former child star, and what his trajectory is now post-covid.