God’s BMW

I think E.R. has struck on something in a very powerful way. Please watch the following video clip and answer the question: can you give this man the answer? If this woman’s answer doesn’t work for a man on his death bed, then is it the right answer for everyone else?

You might also want to see the following post titled Reaching A Post-Modern World Without Post-Modern Methods.

And pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel. (Eph 6:19, NASB)

In this article, Ray Comfort made some interesting observations:

…The world speaks more about Hell than the Church. They casually use phrases like all Hell broke loose, like a bat out of Hell, there will be Hell to pay, just for the Hell of it, and someone being as mad as a Hell. When something is hopeless, they say, he doesn’t have a hope in Hell. Then there’s the road to Hell, which is paved with good intentions, come Hell or high water, until Hell freezes over. They casually speak of how sure Hell is, with as sure as Hell, and of course, when they are angry, they tell each other to go to Hell.

In contrast, most of the contemporary Church (which is commanded to “warn” every man) is afraid to even mention the word, for fear of offending the world.” —Ray Comfort

I found this excellent quotation from Charles Spurgeon, and thought it would be very informative. I have been having a challenging debate with my pastor on this very issue.

And, do not believe, dear friends, that when you go into revival meetings, or special evangelistic services, you are to leave out the doctrines of the gospel; for you ought then to proclaim the doctrines of grace rather more than less. Teach gospel doctrines clearly, affectionately, simply, and plainly, and especially those truths which have a present and practical bearing upon man’s condition and God’s grace. Some enthusiasts would seem to have imbibed the notion that, as soon as a minister addresses the unconverted, he should deliberately contradict his usual doctrinal discourses, because it is supposed that there will be no conversions if he preaches the whole counsel of God. It just comes to this, brethren, it is supposed that we are to conceal truth, and utter a half-falsehood, in order to save souls. We are to speak the truth to God’s people because they will not hear anything else; but we are to wheedle sinners into faith by exaggerating one part of truth, and hiding the rest until a more convenient season. (more…)

I came across the following in the Nov/Dec 2000 newsletter from Mike Gendron and I thought that it was worth posting here:

Three Things To Avoid When Witnessing:

1. Avoid using your own words. They are powerless to save anyone. Point people to the Scriptures where the power of God’s word can be utilized (Heb. 4:12; Rom. 1:16).
2. Avoid persuading people to believe what you believe. Persuade them to believe what God has revealed in His word (Rom. 10:17). The reason many people are deceived is because they have believed what man has said instead of what God said.
3. Avoid asking someone to repeat a prayer for salvation. This practice is not biblical and often produces tragic results. It provides a false hope to those who have either not understood the Gospel or who have not been convicted by the Holy Spirit (Matt. 13:19; John 16:8). If they have a desire to be saved, encourage them to call upon the name of the Lord in their own words (Rom. 10:13). When you proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ, remember the message is not a compromise to continue in sin but an ultimatum to be reconciled to a holy God.

Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort appeared in an interview on Nightline tonight, March 17, 2006. If you would like to read the transcript or watch video clips of the interview, click here.

I think they both did a commendable job responding to some very difficult and challenging questions. ABC aired some of the WOTM interviews where people stormed off, and aired short clips which, out of context, would be the most provoking against Kirk and Ray. Well, it seems like the Nightline doesn’t like the message. Certainly not unexpected.

1Pe 2:6-8 NET. For it says in scripture, “Look, I lay in Zion a stone, a chosen and priceless cornerstone, and whoever believes in him will never be put to shame.” (7) So you who believe see his value, but for those who do not believe, the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone, (8) and a stumbling-stone and a rock to trip over. They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.

1Co 1:20-25 NET. Where is the wise man? Where is the expert in the Mosaic law? Where is the debater of this age? Has God not made the wisdom of the world foolish? (21) For since in the wisdom of God the world by its wisdom did not know God, God was pleased to save those who believe by the foolishness of preaching. (22) For Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks ask for wisdom, (23) but we preach about a crucified Christ, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles. (24) But to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. (25) For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

The following is part of an article from C. H. Spurgeon entitled “How to Become Fishers of Men” (emphasis mine). His words are powerful and admonish us to be all that God has called us to be in Him.

I understand this, first, in this sense: be separate unto Christ. These men were to leave their pursuits; they were to leave their companions; they were, in fact, to quit the world, that their one business might be, in their Master’s name, to be fishers of men. We are not all called to leave our daily business, or to quit our families. That might be rather running away from the fishery than working at it in God’s name.

But we are called most distinctly to come out from among the ungodly, and to be separate, and not to touch the unclean thing. We cannot be fishers of men if we remain among men in the same element with them. (more…)

The content of the gospel is not something we have been given creative license with. We are not to water it down (ie. only mention the good parts and leave out the life that Jesus is calling us to), but neither are we to hide it under an emotional experience (setup the “atmosphere” to seduce decisions), use non-biblical motivations, trickery or peer pressure. In light of this, the following is a relevant excerpt from Dave Hunt’s booklet entitled “The Non-Negotiable Gospel”:

Why could not even a Mother Teresa get to heaven by good works? Because we’re all sinners; and because once we have broken one of God’s commandments, we “(are) guilty of all” (James 2:10); and “by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight” (Romans 3:20). Keeping the law perfectly from now on could never make up for having already broken it. For God to grant salvation by any other means than faith in Christ alone would be an insult to the One whom the Father insisted had to endure his wrath as the sacrifice for sin. Furthermore, God would be breaking His own code of justice and going back on His Word. No, even God Himself could not save earth’s most notable “saint”. Christ’s blood avails only for repentant sinners.

Oswald Chambers warned lest, in our zeal to get to people to accept the gospel, we manufacture a gospel acceptable to people and produce “converts” who are not saved. Today’s most popular perversion is the “positive” gospel which is designed to offend no one with truth.

One of the most popular televangelists in the USA, for example, has said that it is demeaning to call anyone a sinner and that Christ died to restore human dignity and self-esteem. He claims to win many to Christ with that seductive message – but such a gospel does not save sinners.

Evangelistic appeals are often made to “come to Christ” for the wrong reasons: in order to be healthy, happy, successful, to restore a marriage, or to handle stress. Others preach a gospel that is so diluted or perverted that it deceives many into thinking they are saved. No fraud could be worse, for the consequences are eternal!

The following is an excerpt taken from “The Way of the Master,” by Ray Comfort, page 78. It concerns a widely accepted evangelistic tract developed by the late Dr. Bill Bright and published by Campus Crusade for Christ around the world.

Examine everything carefully;
hold fast to that which is good;
abstain from every form of evil.
1 Thess 5:21-22

Over the years that I have shared my concerns about contemporary evangelism, I have been careful never to name names. However, many have guessed that on occasion I have been referring to the incredibly popular tract The Four Spiritual Laws, penned by the late Dr. Bill Bright of Campus Crusade for Christ. More than a billion copies have been distributed in all the major languages of the world, and his approach has become the model for the modern gospel presentation.

In July 2002, Kirk and I were invited to Orlando, Florida, to join Dr. Bright at his home for breakfast. After breakfast, we sat down in his living room and heard this warm, humble, sincere man of God (then eighty-one) confess that he had been in error. Let me use his own words from his book Heaven or Hell - Your Ultimate Choice (published the same year) to tell you what he said to us: (more…)

There’s nothing wrong with preaching the grace of God! In fact, it is what we are commanded to do. But do we really understand God’s grace without a true and complete understanding of our condition before God?  God’s way of showing us our condition is through looking into the mirror of God’s Law (ie. the 10 Commandments) which magnifies God’s grace by showing us what deep wretchedness He has really saved us from.  If, however, we presume upon God’s grace (giving us what we don’t deserve) and mercy (not giving us what we do deserve) and think that His love is “unconditional” without carefully understanding His requirements, we risk being deluded and hearing the terrible phrase “I never knew you… Away from Me, you evildoers.” The soil of the human heart needs to be prepared by expounding the Law and the curse; the soul must be told about the condition of absolute surrender, and we must experience godly sorrow leading to repentance and salvation before we can know His grace and mercy.

The gospel message is not ours to modify and soften; it is God’s message and we must be faithful witnesses. A half truth is not the truth — it is perjury in man’s court and it is no different in God’s. Worse than complete untruths, those who hear a half truth conveyed as though it was the whole truth become convinced that God loves them and will accept them no matter what they do. It’s as if they were heading towards the cliff of God’s justice, about to fall off to their peril, and instead of warning them to change their ways, we plug earphones into their ears and lull them into complacency and eternal damnation with the pacifier of beautiful praise music!

YES — God’s grace and mercy are not something that can be purchased by ANY work or deed of man, but if there is no repentance and a giving up this life for the blessing of eternal life, then there can be no heaven and what’s left is eternal torment in Hell (we get what we deserve).  Grace is not made effective to the willfully disobedient.  Communicating anything otherwise is misleading and dishonors God.

Watch your life and doctrine closely.
Persevere in them, because if you do,
you will save both yourself and your hearers.
1 Timothy 4:16, NIV

The truth is that those who claim to love God and be a friend of God but do not obey His commandments are liars and the truth is not in them (see 1 John 2:4).  If we say that we abide in God and He in us, then we ought to walk in the same manner as Jesus did (see 1 John 2:6).  This is not something that one can replicate by striving in the flesh; it must be through a synergistic work of God with the fully submitted will of man.

The following is very thought provoking excerpt from a book entitled “What Would Jesus Do?” by Ray Comfort.  It is an email message to Ray from a minister in the First Church of God in Waco, TX.  Please listen carefully to his message. (more…)

In September 22, 1958, Dr. Billy Graham preached the following message in Charlotte, North Carolina. Using the 10 Commandments, he reveals the secret behind our failure as a church, as elders and deacons, and as Sunday School teachers, collectively and individually (click here to see a longer quote, or here to see the full text). (more…)