Preacher uses dog to reach millions

LOS ANGELES — When bestselling author Ray Comfort picked up his dog and put him onto his bike, he didn't realize that he was creating an Internet sensation. Comfort's Living Waters YouTube channel has since exploded to more than 75 million views.

He took his Bichon Frise along on a bike ride, and when the animal became tired of running, Comfort scooped him up and carried him. Sam so liked the bike that Comfort built him a platform to ride on, and just for fun put sunglasses on him.

The author found their daily rides together were causing quite a sensation.

"Suddenly, we got more attention than the presidential motorcade," Comfort said. "People ran out of their homes with cameras. They honked their car horns, gave thumbs-up, burst into laughter, and women called out 'How cute!' To which I replied, 'So is the dog!'"

Each day, Comfort uses Sam as a disarming way to meet and interview strangers for his videos.

"One major reason our channel is so popular," Comfort explained, "is that most of the interviews we post ask people what they think happens after we die. Everybody thinks about that. We discuss things most people don't normally talk about — how fearful it is to die and if they think there's an answer to the issue of death. My dog is an effective icebreaker into such personal issues."

The award-winning filmmaker added, "We post a new advertisement-free video every day, and also produce free movies on subjects such as suicide, evolution, John Lennon, atheism ("The Atheist Delusion" and "Crazy Bible" — both of which show atheists changing their minds about the existence of God). Our newest release is a fascinating one-hour movie called 'The Fool' (which had 100,000 views in just three days) that features an amazing clip of popular atheist Penn Jillette being given undeniable evidence for God's existence. After learning that we planned to include the footage, the magician's manager threatened to sue us."

Comfort said he found the threat strange because the famous magician is all over the Internet talking about God and the Bible. The clip was used, despite the threat, by blurring out Jillette's face: https://youtu.be/hlCc_TA7gw8.

"Our latest film, '7 Reasons,' is very powerful. It shows adamantly pro-choice college students changing their minds about abortion, saying that they will now vote pro-life. This film is a pro-choice politician's nightmare."

Any of the films can be freely watched on FullyFreeFilms.com.

Comfort is the author of more than 90 books. His latest, "Faith Is For Weak People," addresses the 20 most common objections to Christianity.