A recent poll showed that nearly 80% of modern Christian converts backslide from the teachings and life of Jesus Christ. Eighty percent!!!! This is not some supermarket price cut, these are souls; souls that will one day face the judgment of God. Only now they will be judged with wrath and indignation, instead of being covered and washed clean by the Holy blood of God. This is a terrible tragedy. It is even beyond that, it is a testament that we Christians are guilty of neglect and misuse of the word of God.
We have preached for so long the message of “The Good Life” that we have failed the new born in Christ. We have given them meat that was not of God, but rather of man. We have pumped, and have been pumped, so full of the doctrines of man that we are allowing it to cloud our judgment and calling.
What have we then been preaching? If not the truth of God, then what? The lies of greedy and prideful man. When witnessing, we no longer tell someone of the impending doom that shall happen to all humanity and the only way of escape is Jesus Christ, Him crucified and raised from the dead. Instead, we have turned the gospel of Christ Jesus into a Sunday morning infomercial. It goes a little like this:
“Hey there!!! Have you been feeling down in the dumps? Just can’t seem to get ahead? Bills, bills, and more bills!!! Well you don’t have to suffer anymore! That's right! “The Armor of God” is the best thing you will ever wear. With this revolutionary product your days will be filled with happiness, and all your life will be spent rejoicing. But wait, that’s not all!!! No! If you accept Jesus right now you will also get free, “SALVATION.” That’s right, “SALVATION”! The handy, dandy helper in those hard to handle places.
We’re not finished yet! If you call Him right now, you’ll also be eligible for our 24 hour hot-line. That’s right, if you ever have a problem just give us a call and we’ll replace your “Armor Of God” for FREE.
Wait, there’s more; the hot-line will also let you talk with our financial department! If your in debt, or need some extra cash just call and give the operator the description of your need and Jesus will meet what ever you are lacking. This offer last forever and there is no hurry to accept. Just call anytime you feel like it.”
Even though many of these things are true and the mercy and justice of God is great, we are commanded not to pray that we might consume it upon our own lust (James 4:3). Too often however, when witnessing we’ll promise the lost anything to get a convert, just to put one more notch in our Bible. To be able to say at church, “This week I lead five people to Christ!” And brother and sister “lead” is about all we do. We point them in a direction and say have a nice day. Then when trials arise and their faith is tested (as was Abraham’s faith), they falter and doubt what they were told. After all, we said that their lives would be better, and ever since they put on Christ (and that is what most do . . . just “PUT-ON”) they have faced nothing but opposition and failure. So they backslide; leaving Christ to once again “enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season” (Heb. 11:25). They, therefore, become more a child of Hell then before (Matt. 23:15) and upon our heads rest the sign of an unfit servant, someone who will do anything for another name in a Church’s book.
People should not come to God out of convenience, but out of fear and wanting to escape the wrath to come. “By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil” (Pro. 16:6). Paul said, “Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men” (II Cor. 5:11). We should be telling them that if they reject Christ they will die and go to a devil’s hell, not that Christ is a good business decision. Paul warned in Galatians 6:7, 8 that we, “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.”
This is not a game we are playing my friends and neighbors, this is war. One that we cannot lose. The fate of the world rest upon our shoulders, God declared that “Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men” (Matt. 5:13). |
