Witnessing of Wrath To Come; Not Joy and Happiness

A few years ago, I attended a Christian conference in Katy, Texas, where I had the privilege of hearing Kirk Cameron speak. Kirk is an actor who gave his heart to the Lord several years ago. He teamed up with well known evangelist Ray Comfort (Living Waters Ministry) and together they have produced a series of DVD ministering videos called “The Way of the Master". Kirk is well known for his starring in the “Left Behind” movies.

In their ministry, Kirk and Ray approach people from all walks of life and show them the NEED to turn away from sin and accept Jesus as their Savior. As anyone has read any of my articles would know, I am a strong proponent of this type of evangelism. Too many people are walking around today deceived into believing they are saved when they are not.

While it is true that, once saved, you cannot lose your salvation, thanks to misguided evangelists seeking numbers, rather than strong believers in Christ, many think they are saved due to a (five) minute prayer. Meanwhile, most professed Christians are living in all ranges of iniquity, including fornication, adultery, pornography, alcohol and drug abuse, blasphemy, and even supporting the most heinous of sins-- abortion.

I have heard so many arguments from people claiming to be Christians regarding (my) view of the Gospel… “Is just the way you interpret it”, they’ll say. They truly believe that God’s word is acceptable in many different forms, depending on how each individual interprets it, as long as that individual thinks he or she is doing the right thing. It is truly sad. What they are saying, in essence, is that they can play stupid, and all will be fine in the end. God said His people will be destroyed due to ignorance. That means ignorance is no excuse. Worse yet, is the fact that the ones of whom were presented with the truth, and rejected it, will be the most harshly judged.

This brings me to the next most popular argument… “Judge not, lest ye be judged.”
Oh, I cannot tell you how many times I’ve been hit with that one. Totally misunderstood, even atheists use that one. Judging sin is not the context by which Jesus meant we were not to judge others. As much as misguided sentiments like “pray about it, and you’ll be fine”, oftentimes we tend to use scripture to enable our disconnect from doing the right thing, and still seem godly about it. It’s always human nature to rationalize our own lackings. When it comes to sin, we are commanded to judge it, especially, in as far as pointing it out, and hopefully the recipient will be nudged to be convicted of it, and repent. Silly atheists!!!

At the conference, Kirk gave the best analogy I had ever heard regarding the need to make it clear why a person needs the Lord.

Two men are seated on a plane. The first is given a parachute and told to put it on as it would improve his flight. He’s a little skeptical at first, since he cannot see how putting on a parachute could possibly improve his flight.

He decides to experiment and see if the claims are true. As he puts it on he notices the weight of it upon his shoulders, and he finds he has difficulty in sitting upright. However, he consoles himself with the fact he was told the parachute would improve his flight, so he decides to give it a little time.

As waits he notices that some of the other passengers are laughing at him for wearing a parachute on a plane. He begins to feel somewhat humiliated. As they continue to point and laugh at him, he can stand it no longer. He sinks in his seat, unstraps the parachute and throws it to the floor. Disillusionment and bitterness fills his heart, because as far as he was concerned he was told an outright lie.

The second man is given a parachute, but, listen to what he is told. He’s told to put it on because at any moment he could be jumping 25,000 feet out of the plane. He gratefully puts the parachute on. He doesn’t notice the weight upon his shoulders, nor that he cannot sit upright. His mind is consumed with the idea of what would happen to him if he had to jump without the parachute.

Let’s now analyze the motive and the result of each passenger’s experience. The first man’s motive for putting the parachute on was solely to improve his flight. The result of his experience is that he was humiliated, disillusioned, and somewhat embittered against those who gave him the parachute. As far as he is concerned it will be a long time before someone gets one of those things on his back again.

The second man put on the parachute solely to escape the jump to come. And because of his knowledge of what would happen to him if he jumped without it he has a deep rooted joy and peace in his heart knowing that he is saved from sure death. This knowledge gives him the ability to withstand the mockery of the other passengers. His attitude toward those who gave him the parachute is one of heart felt gratitude.

Now listen to what the modern Gospel says: “Put on the Lord Jesus Christ. He’ll give you love, joy, peace, fulfillment, and lasting happiness.” In other words, Jesus will improve your flight. The sinner responds, and in an experimental fashion he puts on the Savior to see if the claims are true. And what does he get? The promised temptation, tribulation, and persecution. So what does he do? He takes off the Lord Jesus Christ; he’s offended for the Word’s sake; he’s disillusioned and embittered--- and quite rightly so.

He was promised peace, love, joy and fulfillment, and all he got was trials and humiliation. His bitterness is directed at those who gave him the so-called “Good news.” His latter end becomes worse than the first, and he’s another inoculated and bitter “backslider.”

Instead of preaching that Jesus improves the flight, we should be warning sinners that they have to jump out of a plane. That it’s appointed for man to die once, and then face judgment (Hebrews 9:27). When a sinner understands the horrific consequences of breaking the Law of God, he will flee to the Savior, solely to escape the wrath that is to come. If we are true and faithful witnesses, that’s what we should be preaching-- that there is wrath to come-- that God “commands all men everywhere to repent: because He has appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness” (Acts 17:30,31).

The issue isn’t one of happiness, but, of righteousness. It doesn’t matter how happy a sinner is, or how much he is enjoying the pleasures of sin. Peace and joy are legitimate fruits of salvation, but, it’s not legitimate to use these fruits as a drawing card for salvation. If we continue to do so, the sinner will respond with an impure motive, lacking repentance.

Can you remember why the second passenger had joy and peace in his heart? It was because he knew the parachute was going to save him from sure death. In the same way, as believers we have joy and peace in believing because we know that the righteousness of Christ is going to deliver us from the wrath that is to come.

With that thought in mind, let’s take a close look at an incident aboard the plane. We have a brand new flight attendant. It’s her first day aboard the plane. She’s carrying a tray of boiling hot coffee. She wants to leave an impression upon the passengers, and she certainly does. As she walks down the aisle she trips over someone’s foot and slops the coffee all over the lap of the second passenger. What’s his reaction as the boiling coffee hits his tender flesh? Does he go , “Man that hurt!!!” ? Yes, he does. But, then does he rip the parachute from his shoulders, throw it to the floor, and yell, “Stupid parachute!!!” ? No, why should he? He didn’t put the parachute on for a better flight. He put it on for the jump to come. If anything, he clings even tighter to the parachute and even looks forward to the jump.

If we have put on the Lord Jesus Christ for the right motive-- to flee from the wrath to come-- when tribulation strikes, when the flight gets bumpy, we won’t get angry at God, and we won’t lose our joy and peace. Why should we? We didn’t come to Christ for a better lifestyle.

If anything, tribulation drives the true believer closer to the Savior. Sadly, we have multitudes of professing Christians who lose their joy and peace when the flight gets bumpy. Why? They are the product of a man-centered gospel. They came lacking repentance, without which they cannot be saved.

"Eternal Life Does Not Depend On Works"

8/4/2009, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania~ George Sodini, a 48 year old white male, walks into an LA Fitness Center and opens fire. Witnesses stated the man did not say a word before he began shooting what would end up being 52 shots, in all. The deadly rampage ended when the assailant took his own life. The result was 4 dead, 9 injured.

It has been reported one of the injured was an ex-girlfriend, although, on a blog Sodini kept in the form of an online diary, he states he had not had a girlfriend since the 1980's. Sodini also kept a fairly detailed description of his intentions online. He stated he attempted to pull off this assault twice before, in January and May, but, "Chickened out."

A large portion of the American population believes our penal system is too harsh on criminals, and oppose the death penalty. For a few decades now, there has been a push from the "Time out" believers to have empathy for perpetrators. Many books have been sold and people convinced that any type of corporal punishment is wrong. They advise we should take into account what kind of past or childhood the aggressor had. None of this is biblical. I am compelled to think of what kind of future their victims have, if any.

In this case, Sodini had gone on written rants for the better part of a year, with one fatal error in his thinking. In one of his final entries, he makes it clear he believes he is going to Heaven after he carries out his deadly plans. On August 3, he wrote:

"Maybe soon I will see God and Jesus, at least that's what I've been told. Eternal life does not depend on works, or we'd all be in hell."

The whole reason I do what I do, whether successful or not, is the ridiculous number of people misled by bad evangelism, or watered down Gospel. I believe Mr Sodini is responsible for his own actions, regardless what kind of childhood or bad preaching he received. By the same token, however, Every Pastor or evangelist out there soothing the conscience of their subjects are just as responsible.

I do not yet know which, if any, preacher or evangelist Mr Sodini ever listened to. He may have received a feeble attempt by an acquaintance to deliver the Gospel. He may have read a message from an evangelistic website, or attended just one sermon as he accompanied someone to a service once. It does not matter... EVERY PREACHER AND EVANGELIST delivering watered down or warm and fuzzy sermons is responsible to a GREAT degree, for what Sodini carried out. They spread the deception of the enemy, we don't have to be righteous.

Most people want to believe all human beings are basically good. Really?!! By whose standards? Who sets those standards? By our creator's standards, we are filthy, and that is all should matter. The Gospel Jesus gave his life to deliver was not intended to make us feel all warm and fuzzy. The Gospel was not intended to relieve us of our conscience getting in our way of success and prosperity. "The Seed" in the Bible is not a monetary denomination Jesus set up for false prophets to line their pockets.

Good works, ALONE, as it is explained all throughout the Gospel, will not get you to Heaven. The old "fire and brimstone" preachers were not afraid to tell there flock like it was. You sin, you go to hell, regardless what you believe. That was then. Now, we have evangelists by the thousands preaching we are forgiven for everything past, present, and FUTURE.

The evangelists will tell you it doesn't matter what kind of sin you commit, Jesus died on that cross so you can give it all to Him and not feel guilty. As of late, the common belief is that if you try to not sin and be righteous, that is sin, in and of itself, as you are attempting "Good works." I know there are many who will read this and accuse me of having it wrong. No, you are wrong. There are many people out there who actually follow this kind of doctrine. They call themselves Christians, and tragically they will go to hell. God hates sin! There is much more to being saved than saying a short prayer.

Don't fret, the evangelists which think they are holy men or women of God preaching these sermons will be with you in Hades to discuss with you where it all went wrong. The 'preachers' claiming God speaks to them and said if you give them $1000.00 you will see numerous blessings open up in your life, will soon be accountable.

Mat 7:21, "Not all who say to me 'Lord, Lord', shall enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but, those who do the will of my Father who is in Heaven."

The outcome of these warm and fuzzy, self motivational sermons is this: Statistics show divorce rate is no different among those whom profess Christianity than it is in the secular community. Abortion and adultery, also just as prevalent among 'Christians' as with non-believers. Through the psyche illuminated from these misguided 'Gospel messages' we have confusion and surmounting conflict in the church. The confusion is strictly the fault of the Pastor that walks the fence, and doesn't wish to offend anyone.

To recruit a 'new believer' many evangelists make the sinner believe it is so easy to accept a life of Christ, they wonder why they put it off for so long. The evangelist feels good as he can chalk up another (soul saved?). The new 'believer' feels good as they can now go on with their iniquity and not feel guilty in knowing they were 'putting it off'. Nothing has changed in the 'new believer's' life, except they now walk in the 'world' believing they are saved, and call themselves Christian.

Gal 2:20, "It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me, and this life I must live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me."

At this time, I don't know what Sodini's range of belief was, or whether he had ever actually accepted Christ as his Saviour. It doesn't matter one iota. We do know he believed that Jesus exists in Heaven, as he was expecting to see him. There is no difference whatsoever in Sodini's rationale, wherever it came from, and most 'believers' in the world.

I know of many people who live in adultery, hate, greed, sexual perversions, and even support killing babies, but, everyday say, "Praise the Lord," and "I am so Blessed, God is good." I have people (Christians?) constantly attack and insult me vulgarly, as I dare to disrupt their way of thinking. I assure you I do not do what I do out of bitterness, or hate, as I've been so often accused.