| Dangrous Theology; People no longer Preaching the Whole Truth | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Jun 11 2014, 01:22 PM (320 Views) | |
| Brother_Jim | Jun 11 2014, 01:22 PM Post #1 |
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You know as I was working on my computer, and using my other machine to watch users In the room we had a user in the room telling folks we as followers of Jesus Christ should treat people with love and tell them about Christ and love them. Which in part I agree with, but the user went on to say we tell them the word and not to mention hell to them because we do not want to scare them about this part. What a load of hogwash, this is very dangerous Theology to teach and use, to tell a person o God loves you, Jesus died on the cross for your sins and when you're ready later on in life accept him. Folks this is misleading the people were witnessing to and to say you can live like you want and accept Jesus later on when you're ready is giving them a false sense of security because you failed to preach the whole truth of God's words. The Truth will set them free if done in a loving way, notice I said IF. But if we as Christians will not speak up and preach the whole truth of God's words and tell sinners about hell we also are failing to do our job as a follower of Christ and we in fact are saying were ashamed to preach the whole truth because were afraid to hurt them or scare them about hell. To make a stupid comment like well if you wait till the last minute and ask for forgiveness and will be saved, well this is where the dangers comes. To tell this to a person is flirting on dangerous ground because God knows the person heart and if that person have never repented nor choose not to repent and they wait till the very last minute to mouth them words is taking a big chance and they may not even be saved or it could be very much so because they shown no repentance or Godly sorrow, then they will be eternally lost due to us not preaching the whole truth to them when we have a chance to explain everything to them at the time we had a talk with them. Folks quit playing these mind games and to not preach the whole truth, you and I have a mission and we are to preach the whole truth to them and yes even tell them you're a sinner and if you died in your sin you will go to hell, come on get a grip and tell them all not part of the truth. Here is a reason why so many are lost and it all due to the fact many are no longer preaching or teaching about hell. Many are afraid to preach this truth and the whole truth due to offending someone or hurting their feelings, come on people tell them the truth because the lost needs to know all the truth. Teaching and preaching half truths is dangerous and we better put a stop to this now. Preach and Teach all in love, YES but preach it all do not leave nothing out. Below is what's happening and what so many are no longer preaching and teaching the whole truth in God's words. Dangers Confronting The Church: Ineffective Preaching The apostle Paul had complete confidence in Timothy, his son in the gospel. He made that very plain when he wrote to the Philippians about Timothy. "I have no man likeminded, who will naturally care for your welfare. For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's. For you know the proof of him, that, as a son with the father, he has served with me in the gospel" (Phil. 2:20-22). But in spite of his trust in Timothy, Paul warned his young brother in Christ: "The time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts will they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables" (2 Tim. 4:3-4). Are we living in a time when men will no longer endure sound doctrine-a time when there are preachers who will tickle the ears of those who do not want the truth of the gospel preached? Tragically and inexplicably, there is great confusion over who ought to preach, what ought to be preached, how preaching ought to be done and even if it ought to be done at all. Wallace E. Fisher's book, Who Dares to Preach: The Challenge of Bible Preaching (Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1979), makes us aware of many confusing aspects of modern preaching. The truth is: Many modern churches have almost abandoned any attempt to have Bible preaching. Many church members could care less about the preacher's sermons and attend services primarily for the entertainment that precedes and follows the sermon. This is a sad commentary on modern religion but one no knowledgeable student of modern worship practices would dare dispute. Television and radio preaching has not been beneficial, generally speaking. How can people not be confused when they hear preachers misquote and misapply the word of God? Jack Van Impe, Hal Lindsey and similar dispensationalists keep hinting at a date for the Lord's return. Men do not have any idea when the Lord will return. One does not have to be a Bible scholar to know we cannot set a date for Christ's second coming. Jesus, Paul and Peter taught that Christ's coming would be like a thief in the night. In his famous Olivet Discourse, Jesus said very emphatically: "But of that day and hour no man knows, no, not the angels in heaven, but my Father only" (Mt. 24:36). The expression, "my Father only," excludes all the false prophets who presume to know the time of the second coming. If we want to be faithful in the proclamation of the gospel, we must preach the Lord's glorious return, but we have no right to set a date. In fact, preachers and theologians sin grievously when they set dates. Robert Schuller claims to preach to 20,000,000 each week on his television program, "The Hour of Power." Oddly enough, he says he is an evangelical, but does not believe many of the great truths of the Bible. He ridiculed the Southern Baptist Convention for its stand on a wife's submission to her husband. In fact, he had the audacity to say: "If Paul had been a married man, he would not have made such a blunder." Does Schuller believe Paul was writing by supernatural guidance? If he does not, how can he pretend to be an evangelical? If he does believe Paul wrote by divine inspiration, how can he reject Paul's command for a wife to be in subjection to her husband, as Paul wrote in Ephesians 5 and in other passages? Does he believe he is free to pick and choose what he likes and to discard the rest? He may not admit to believing that, but that is precisely what he does believe. Sadly, Dr. Schuller is not alone in this approach to scripture. Perhaps Dr. Schuller's greatest weakness is refusing to mention sin in his sermons. He believes that preaching on sin is too negative and what could be more dreadful and discouraging than being negative? According to Robert Schuller, Jesus did not preach on sin. Have you ever wondered if some preachers are talking about the same Jesus we know from the reading of the Bible? Do you remember what Jesus said to the woman who had been caught in the very act of adultery? "Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more" (John 8:11)? Did Jesus believe the woman had sinned by committing adultery? If he did not, why did he say, "Go and sin no more?" The tense of the verb reads, "Henceforth no longer go on sinning." The Pharisees criticized Christ's disciples because they had violated the traditions of the Jewish elders by not washing their hands. Jesus asked them if they understood that what enters the mouth goes into the belly and is eliminated. He then said, "But those things which proceed from the mouth come forth from the heart: and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, theft, false witness, blasphemies: these are the things that defile the man: but to eat with unwashen hands does not defile the man" (Mt. 15: 2, 17-20). Can any honest student of the word read this passage and not understand that evil thoughts, murders, adulteries and such like are sinful? Are one's personal popularity and position so valuable that he will compromise the truth of the gospel to maintain them? If they are that important to him, he is in the wrong profession. Ineffective preaching includes failure to discuss the critical issues that both the church and the nation face. I am not denying the absolute essentiality of teaching the first principles of the gospel. In our audiences, there are almost always some people who do not know what to do to be saved. Either they have grown up in an environment where the gospel in its fullness has not been taught or they have simply ignored the teaching of scripture. Personally I would be ashamed not to say in every sermon what men and women must do to become New Testament Christians. With some preachers, reviewing the plan of salvation may become routine, but it must not be dismissed or overlooked if men and women are to obey our Lord in baptism. Are we being faithful to our calling as preachers if we fail to preach on first principles? If we are to preach the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:26-27), we must prepare ourselves to discuss whatever the church and the world need. That observation leads me to ask: "When was the last time you heard a sermon on withdrawing fellowship from ungodly church members?" I am fully aware of the unpopularity of the topic, but do we determine what we shall preach by taking a vote on what people like and what they dislike? No preacher can fulfill his sacred obligation to his Lord and to the church and fail to speak on disfellowshipping erring brothers and sisters. The church at Corinth (1 Cor. 5) and the church at Thessalonica (2 Thess. 3) were given direct commands about withdrawing from unfaithful members. The moral issues that confront our nation are of vital importance to its very survival. Preachers of the gospel must spend enough time examining these issues so that they can discuss them intelligently. I have in mind such topics as abortion, infanticide, euthanasia, physician-assisted suicide, beverage alcohol, gambling, genetic engineering, homosexuality, capital punishment and divorce. Some preachers may have to give up some of their days of playing golf or fishing to become well versed in these very serious issues. It will take hundreds and hundreds of hours of reading and thinking to be able to address these moral and spiritual problems. But do we have any choice if we are to be faithful to God? Doug Murren's book, The Baby Boomerang (Ventura, CA: Regal, 1990) offers some recommendations for preachers. He urges preachers to visit the how-to sections of their local bookstores. And what would a preacher learn about preaching from these how-to sections of bookstores? Preachers ought to visit bookstores on a regular basis, but the how-to sections are generally nothing more than pablum. A preacher would spend his time more wisely by buying and reading serious literature. Murren recommends that preachers acquire inventories of needs from secular people in the community. Can you imagine Christ's conducting a survey in the secular community so he would know what to preach? How would Paul have fared if he had conducted such a survey in ancient Corinth? I am not denying our need to know our communities, but I have serious doubts about doing a survey among secular people. If our eyes are open, we can readily understand what our communities need. For example, if the public schools are promoting secular humanism, including the theory of organic evolution, we ought to know that and have the courage to preach against such evil. If alcohol and other drugs are causing great damage to individuals and to homes in our communities, we cannot overlook these problems. A survey of secular people would likely contribute to these ungodly practices-not help to alleviate them. Finally, Murren offers this advice. "And don't forget to keep your messages light and informal, liberally sprinkling them with humor and personal anecdotes" (pp. 217-218). The Last Sermons preached "Enemies of the Cross," "Hearing and Doing" and "Corrective Church Discipline." What should I have done to keep these messages light and informal and liberally sprinkled with humor and personal anecdotes? I am not denying that humor and personal anecdotes have their place in some sermons, but both must be used sparingly. Matters of life and death are not very humorous. How can I preach light and humorous sermons on our Lord's incarnation, his mighty miracles, his death on the cross, his resurrection from the dead and his glorious second coming? These are not exactly funny topics. And personal anecdotes or stories usually contribute very little to a message. There are exceptions, but I fear they are very few. Dr. John MacArthur's book, Ashamed of the Gospel: When the Church Becomes Like the World (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 1993), includes a number of clippings from newspapers and magazines describing preaching in various user-friendly churches. One church advertised: "There is no fire and brimstone here. No Bible-thumping. Just practical, witty messages." Another church said, "You won't hear people threatened with hell or referred to as sinners. The goal is to make people welcome, not drive them away." Another church boasted: "As with all "preachers," this preacher's answer is God-but he slips him in at the end, even then he doesn't get too heavy. No ranting, no raving. No fire, no brimstone. He doesn't even use the H-word" (p. 47). An entire book could be written to counteract such unbiblical thinking, but I shall dwell on just one idea from these excerpts. How can men who claim to be preachers deliberately shun preaching on hell? I am aware that nationally known and even internationally known religious leaders have doubts about the existence of hell, but Jesus knew of its existence and warned men about going there. Will you please listen to what the Son of God-not some liberal theologian-had to say about hell? In his powerful Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, "You have heard that it was said by them of old time, You shall not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: but I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, You fool, shall be in danger of hell fire....And if your right eye offend you, pluck it out, and cast it from you: for it is profitable for you that one of your members should perish, and not that your whole body should be cast into hell. And if your right hand offend you, cut it off, and cast it from you: for it is profitable for you that one of your members should perish, and not your whole body should be cast into hell" (Mt. 5:21-22, 29-30). The Greek word gehenna (translated "hell") appears twelve times in the New Testament. Eleven of those uses are found in the very words of Jesus Christ. Do you not believe that Jesus knows more about hell than any modern theologian, regardless of his prominence within his denomination? The preacher who does not use the H-word is a hireling-not a faithful gospel preacher. He is tickling the ears of his hearers-not pricking their hearts. Dr. MacArthur furnishes this information from The Wall Street Journal. One church described its attempts to perk up attendance at Sunday evening services. The church "staged a wrestling match, featuring church employees. To train for the event, 10 game employees got lessons from Tugboat Taylor, a former professional wrestler, in pulling hair, kicking shins and tossing bodies around without doing real harm.... The wrestling matches took place in the Sunday evening service of one of America's five largest churches" (p. 69). All I ask you to do is to imagine our Lord's instigating such stunts. He probably could have drawn a large crowd by having the apostles to stage a wrestling match. But neither Jesus nor his apostles would stoop to such cheap tricks. And do you honestly think they would have employed the so-called "power team" to attract people to church services? Incidentally, none of this matters if we are attempting to please men-not God. Dr. MacArthur comments: "All ministry in the early church revolved around the gospel. No one would have suggested a debate about secular politics, a weight-loss program, a comedy act, a stage show, or a class on time management for businessmen as a means to boost church attendance" (p. 122). It is a great tragedy that many preachers among churches of Christ are as confused about preaching as some denominational preachers. Jim Woodroof's book, The Church in Transition (Searcy, AR: The Bible House, Inc., 1990), is a case in point. Jim asserts that young people among churches of Christ are "not interested in keeping alive the issues that have divided us" (p. 16). And what, dear friends, does that have to do with the worship of the Lord and the preaching of his word? Is the church of the New Testament governed and regulated by what young people-or older ones, for that matter-find interesting? What if young people are not interested in the truth of the gospel, are we to change the saving message to meet with their wishes and desires? Rehoboam learned how foolish that approach was (2 Chron. 10:6-15). Neither young people nor older people have the authority to change the work and worship of the church. The church belongs to the Lord and must follow the Lord's commands, regardless of the attitudes of modern people-whether young or old. Through the years, some churches of Christ have been plagued by members who wanted to introduce mechanical instruments of music into the worship of the church. Are our young people no longer interested in doing Bible things in Bible ways and calling Bible things by Bible names? If they have no interest in following the Lord's way, are we to change the work and worship of the church to please such people? In the late 1930s and early 1940s, some churches of Christ were troubled by men who preached premillenialism. In fact, some of those preachers divided churches over that topic. Are young people no longer concerned about this very divisive and utterly unscriptural concept? I believe Jim is wrong in his observation about young people, but if he is right, that is truly a sad commentary on our young people. Does Jim' s comment give us some insight into why some churches of Christ are leaning in a leftward direction? When Paul delivered his farewell address to the Ephesian elders, did he give any indication that his preaching had in some way been influenced by what the young people at Ephesus found interesting or non-interesting? He said to those elders: "I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, and have taught you publicly, and from house to house, testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.... Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men. For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God" (Acts 20:20, 26-27). "But we live in such a different age. Should we not alter the message to fit our age?" Where in the Bible does anyone find authority for changing what God has revealed about the worship and work of the church? We are to preach and practice only that which is authorized by the scriptures. We cannot add to nor take from nor substitute for what God has revealed. Korah, Dathan and Abiram ought to teach us that lesson. So ought Nadab and Abihu. When will men ever learn to do God's work in God's way? Come on folks let preach the truth and get back to the true Holy words of God and speak the whole truth and be not ashamed to say the truth, because if we fail not to mention everything or the whole truth to a lost soul, then they may be dammed to hell due to us being afraid to preach the real truth to them at the time when we had the chance. GBU BrotherJim Edited by Brother_Jim, Jun 14 2014, 09:26 AM.
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| CoramDeo | Jun 12 2014, 10:30 AM Post #2 |
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There is no understanding of the good news without knowing of the bad news. The entire book of Hebrews is a book of warning. We need to warn people of the dangers they are in and of the destiny of their eternal souls. How can we explain people's need for a Savior if we do not point out the consequences of their sin? |
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| CoramDeo | Jun 12 2014, 11:03 AM Post #3 |
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One more thought - unbelievers need to understand that they are under the wrath of God. There was a recent decision by a denomination that voted to remove some words from the hymn "In Christ Alone" by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend. It was the second verse that they found offensive:
They decided to remove the phrase "the wrath of God." How amazing and beyond understanding is that? When we remove the wrath of God for our sin, we remove the absolute need for a Savior to deliver us from that wrath. The Bible teaches us that, through humility and contriteness, we are to tremble at God's word. Yet, we treat Him like any other familiar friend and believe that we can win the lost just by preaching love. Yes, God is love, but God also demands justice, and our sins have separated us far from His face. We have committed cosmic treason against the Creator of the Universe. We must understand and communicate the import of this fact. |
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| Brother_Jim | Jun 14 2014, 09:22 AM Post #4 |
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Amen and well put. |
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| Brother_Jim | Jun 14 2014, 09:24 AM Post #5 |
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Correct this is why I was compelled to write this, I have seen to many people get mad or upset when they are told the whole truth, come on folks get with it. |
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| Deleted User | Jun 14 2014, 10:22 AM Post #6 |
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I agree with you on that and that has me concerned at to where do we find proper worship if the churches are not following all the teachings of the bible whether they are good or bad. Sugar coating the bible is a dangerous thing and a lot of churches are doing for the sake of members. Which is wrong in my eyes. I am currently seeking another church because of the Evangelical female preacher that my pastor has highered. That bothers me that he is not following the Bible on those teachings. So I agree with you. Thank you for the insight and I believe that we as Christians should be telling the whole truth not just part of it, how can a person understand the whole truth if they are not told.
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| bethlyn | Feb 4 2017, 04:15 AM Post #7 |
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I so agree with you |
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| Vigilant | Feb 26 2017, 07:03 AM Post #8 |
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good read, very interesting and insightful...kind of blows my mind how much you Gentlemen have laboured in God's Word and searched for the truth, God Bless You both |
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| bethlyn | Jul 3 2017, 02:28 PM Post #9 |
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good read |
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