Why Packaging the Gospel in Cultural Trends is Usually a Bad Idea

I’ve been concerned for a while about the rising popularity of courses like 3-2-1 by Glen Scrivener. The course book seems to be everywhere and many churches are seeing it as a viable alternative to more traditional introductions to the Christian faith like Christianity Explored. There are positive reviews on Amazon and Christians are recommending this course and with it the theology that it represents.

I recently attended an evangelistic seminar on connecting with people using cultural trends. This was based on a survey of non-believers where they had been asked to identity what was missing in their lives. The top answers were not God or truth but purpose, freedom, security, love etc. The thinking is that because the Gospel does offer these things, we should major on them in an effort to attract people to Christ.

Why is this a problem, you might ask. Surely it’s a good thing that Christians are seeking to be culturally relevant as they evangelise. Isn’t it good if people are drawn to Christianity?

Yes it is but only if we are presenting the true Gospel message and therefore drawing them to Jesus and real salvation.

Here are some of the issues I have observed with these approaches:

1. It’s soft on sin

This is definitely the biggest problem with the 3-2-1 course as observed by the only critical Amazon reviewer who with a headline, “Had to look hard to find out that there is sin and that it’s the main problem” notes, “Direction of book tends to weave around, seeming to try to fight shy of explaining that man is in rebellion against God. If you look hard, you can eventually find something of a problem that man has, on page 70…this book seems to me to seek to soft-pedal the real problem and to make the message ‘soft’ and agreeable.”

 In case it seems I’m speaking in ignorance, a few years ago, I did volunteer to help lead a 3-2-1 course. After the first three weeks, I approached the elder running the course and asked if we were ever going to get to the core elements of the Gospel as in sin, judgement or repentance. He responded that he thought it was “eluded to” later in the course. To that point, the way it was presented was more that Jesus came into the world to identify with us in our weakness and help us with our mistakes. I informed him that I couldn’t be part of it and stopped attending.

Similarly, in the seminar, I asked the question about sin and was advised that we shouldn’t seek to skirt around or sugar-coat sin. However, I would go a step further and say that we should seek to convey the seriousness of sin from the outset.

It’s back to the obvious point which is constantly being made by the likes of Ray Comfort and Roger Carswell: we must start by getting people to understand that they have a problem and not just that this is a problem in the world but that they are contributors and personally responsible. People will not be ready or willing to hear a solution if they don’t believe they personally have a problem. You can read books like Hell’s Best Kept Secret or come to the FEW conference in January to learn more.

2. It confuses people

When I took part in the 3-2-1 course, I was surprised that some of the faithful Christians at the church weren’t involved so I asked them about it.  They said that the previous course had been a disaster as the participants ended up arguing about the course content as they couldn’t understand it and didn’t recognise themselves within it. They spent so long trying to unpick this that there wasn’t really a clear Gospel presentation. They had resolved not to be involved in future courses.

What a tragedy for the church involved, for the Christians that have been put off evangelism and for the participants who didn’t have their questions answered.

I was having a conversation with a couple in Bournemouth once and had been there for some time when a young man from a different group also doing evangelism joined the discussion and asked if he could say something. I gave him permission and he launched into this long winded analogy which I thought I’d heard somewhere before. He was relaying the various aspects of this tactic, obviously learned in training, with great enthusiasm as if it would answer all their questions, if they would wait until the end. Eventually, they basically said that they’d had enough, that they’d enjoyed talking to me but didn’t have a clue what the young guy was talking about and walked off. The guy looked devastated and sat down on the wall with a great sigh. I tried to reassure him that the couple would probably have walked off anyway as they had been talking for a while when he arrived. He just couldn’t understand why his analogy hadn’t worked as he had put so much confidence in it. It had just led to confusion.

Not only can some of these approaches confuse non-believers, but they can also confuse Christians. There are some interesting books on evangelism but reading some of them just makes me feel tired. Tactics by Gregory Koukl is one such example. It just felt like there was a script or method for every situation. I can imagine myself getting tongue tied or forgetting my lines if there’s too much of that in our conversations with people. Learning some answers to common objections and something about different beliefs is useful but we must be ourselves. Answering “I don’t know” can be a good thing as it makes us more relatable and stops us coming across as know-it-alls. We are trying to win the person not the debate. If we end up confusing ourselves, we will definitely confuse other people.

3. It’s complicated

This point overlaps with the previous one but is worth considering. In a world where society is growing increasingly biblically ignorant should we be making our Gospel presentations less accessible in an attempt to make them culturally relevant?

We already know that we shouldn’t use Christian jargon or that when we do we need to explain it in everyday language but surely that extends to the content itself. If a little child can understand and respond to the Gospel message, why are we making adults jump through hoops to get to the core principles?

Surely clearer and more concise is better. In the past we used things like sin-judgement-Jesus, the Romans road and A: Accept you are a sinner, B: Believe Jesus died for you, C: Commit your life to Him.

More recently, we were reminded at an Open-Air Mission training weekend in relation to talks being placed on a board that “less is more”. The Gospel message is clear, straight-forward and simple: Through the cross of Jesus Christ,

God

Offers

Sinful

People

Eternal

Life

4. It’s the wrong way round

We may agree that we should ensure the Bible dictates how we engage with culture rather than allowing culture to shape our interactions with non-believers but the enemy is always seeking to undermine this principle. The problem is when we allow culture not only to dictate how we relate to and interact with non-believers, which can be a good thing, but when culture determines what we say. We mustn’t allow the Gospel message to be changed to fit or adapt to our culture.

An example would be the various ways well-meaning Christians have attempted to fit scientific theories into the Bible; theistic evolution, the gap theory, Genesis as poetic language etc etc. Someone recently said to me, “the problem is that when you’re talking to an intelligent scientist or an atheist, you can’t just say that God created everything in 6 days because it’s not credible.” This person had therefore come up with a theory that there were two creations and after the devil interfered with the first, God froze everything (the ice age) before creating things a second time?!

The problem with all of these ideas, other than that they don’t deal faithfully with Scripture, is death before the fall. The Bible is clear that sin leads to death and it can’t be any other way without undermining the Gospel message of salvation. God operates in the supernatural. Much of what He does is miraculous and He isn’t constrained by natural laws or our perceptions of scientific advances.

We must have confidence in the reliability of God’s Word.

5. It can be deceptive

I’m thinking here of the seminar I went to where we were encouraged to show people that the Gospel meets the needs that they perceive they have in their lives. It’s worth considering whether people who said they were missing purpose, security, freedom and love were even thinking of a spiritual purpose, spiritual/eternal security, freedom from sin and God’s love. It sounds silly when stated like this because of course they weren’t.

Likewise, Jesus didn’t die to give us purpose, security, freedom or love. He died to deal with our sin to open the way for us to be forgiven and reconciled to God. The things people are seeking may be a by-product of His sacrifice but they are not the main purpose. Shouldn’t we instead focus on getting people to see that they have a sin problem so they will then be ready for the solution?

In the seminar, someone asked whether this wasn’t just another version of the prosperity gospel. I was thinking that it sounded a bit like “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life” or “Easy Believism/Decisionism” where hands are raised in a meeting but not a lot is said about repentance and the need for a changed life.

I don’t think it’s quite as dangerous as the prosperity gospel with promises of health, wealth and happiness. But it can lead to the same place and it’s much more subtle. It’s similar to John Piper’s Christian hedonism, that we must seek satisfaction for ourselves and it’s okay because it’s in God. I just don’t think God wants us to be seeking satisfaction for ourselves, He wants us to serve Him, to take up our cross daily and live lives of self sacrifice to help others see their need of Him. If a by-product of this life of self sacrifice is satisfaction then that’s great but it shouldn’t be our main goal.

What happens to the person who is promised purpose but still can’t get a job, or the person promised freedom who continues to struggle with addiction, or the one who is riddled with anxiety and continues feeling insecure, or someone promised love who is rejected by their church. 

If people are drawn to Christianity for the wrong reasons they won’t stick around when the things they are promised don’t work out as they had hoped. They are then inoculated against it because they think they’ve tried it and it doesn’t work. This is a serious issue.

A preacher that I sometimes work with was having a chat with someone who wanted to join us in the open air. He asked what they thought was a person’s greatest need. She said, “peace” and then added “love”. He said, “What about forgiveness?” Our greatest need is forgiveness of sin and peace with God. We need to keep this at the heart of our evangelism.

6. It majors on things that God does not

When thinking of evangelism, I can’t think of a stranger place to begin than with the Trinity. It’s a difficult theological truth to understand and many Christians only get a real grasp of it as they are discipled and read the Bible. When speaking with a Muslim is might be helpful to try to explain, but even then it’s difficult as all of our analogies fall short.

However, the 3-2-1 course has around 60 pages on the Trinity at the start of the course book and the 3 is obviously the Trinity. The idea is that The Father, Son and Holy Spirit have been showing love towards each other in the Trinity in eternity past and that God therefore had somewhere for His love to be directed. Some writers continue this by suggesting that this is necessary as otherwise God would have no experience of love and wouldn’t be able to love us. Clearly this is wrong as God is love and doesn’t need us to limit Him in this way.

Whilst the Trinity is a theological truth found throughout the Bible, the love shown within the Trinity isn’t a major theme and isn’t used by Christians in the Bible when evangelising. Probably, because it wouldn’t make a lot of sense to a non-believer.

I believe this over-emphasis on the love within the Trinity is another attempt to bring God down to our level and to appeal to non-believers with an over-emphasis on God’s love to the exclusion of His justice and holiness.

Mature Christians will often say that some aspects of the Trinity are a mystery and explain that the Trinity is one God in three Persons and leave it at that.

7. It focuses on man’s ideas

The Bible is all about God. From Creation, to the Fall of man, to God’s redemption plan through the Cross, the Resurrection and the Return of Christ. 

We have many examples in the Bible of how to evangelise in different settings. The early Christians may have used things that were around them to connect with different groups e.g. Paul using the statue to an unknown God or Jesus referring to living water with the Samaritan woman. However, the message is consistent. The core of the Gospel- salvation through faith in Jesus- remains the same across all audiences.

The reason sometimes given for seeking a new approach to connect to our culture is that people are not interested in hearing the truth anymore. Indeed, they may say “what’s true for you, isn’t true for me” and believe that truth is relative or that there is no truth.

This is a challenge and I do think we need to avoid answering questions that people aren’t asking. People aren’t as interested in evidence based apologetics; proving the resurrection, creation or the origins of the Bible.  

But, I don’t think we can avoid dealing with the fact that our Message is true, that’s why we believe it! It also stops people thinking there are many ways to God or that all religions are equally valid.

People are more invested in discovering the truth than they realise. We rely on truth being absolute in almost every area of life and it’s easy to prove that truth cannot be relative e.g. if someone believes they can fly and launches themselves off a cliff….

God will still judge people and send them to Hell whether they claim to believe in Him or not. We also know from Romans 1 that people suppress the truth and are without excuse because God has made His existence plain through Creation.

There’s an interesting passage in John 18 where Jesus is talking to Pilate. Pilate asks Him whether He is the King of the Jews and Jesus replies, “Is that your own idea or did others talk to you about me?” Later Jesus says “…the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” The dismissive retort from Pilate, “What is truth?”

People may sneer or dismiss us as Pilate did but our Message of Truth can still convict and convert them in the power of the Holy Spirit. The disciples didn’t change their Message when people were dismissive of truth, they continued as they had before telling people to “repent and believe”.

8. It’s not necessary

The intentions behind all of the Christians using these cultural trends are good; they want to see people come to faith in Jesus. Sometimes, though, they seem to be forgetting that the power is in the Message and that the cross preached is "foolishness to those who are perishing but to those who are being saved it is the power of God" (1 Corinthians 1 vs 18) and that God chooses to use the "foolishness of what is preached to save those who believe" (1 Corinthians 1 vs 21).

We can have confidence in the simple Gospel Message knowing that God’s Word doesn’t return empty and that people will be saved through hearing it. We shouldn’t be ashamed of our Message on any level or try to obscure or hide uncomfortable truths. People are different, one person might be drawn to Christ because they are attracted to the Message of forgiveness whilst others might come because they are afraid of ending up in Hell. Both are valid responses to the Gospel Message and believing the promises and warnings in God’s Word.

What should we do instead?

Behind some of these ideas is a valid concern that we aren’t connecting with people and meeting them where they are at.  We can address some of these things by:

-using modern analogies and by keeping abreast of current affairs. One Open-Air Missioner said recently that wherever he is, flicking through a magazine, overhearing a conversation, on the bus, he’s always on the look out for new material for open-air talks. 

There is a talk which simply asks the question, “Where are they now?” and has the faces of famous dead people. It’s culturally relevant and always draws a crowd but the question cuts right to the heart of the Gospel Message as the preacher can apply it directly to those who stop and ask them, “What about you, where will you be in eternity?”

-learning from each other by attending training and discussing experiences. If we get difficult questions, others may have an answer.

-using modern language and avoiding Christian jargon. We can explain words that people may not be familiar with.

-talking about the big picture to help people see that they are part of it. Rather than it being something abstract or something only relevant to “religious” people.

-asking questions to learn where people are at

-talking to people rather than at them and by making eye contact

-sharing our own story if it’s relevant but not as a replacement for the Gospel Message

-having confidence in the Gospel Message and God’s power to use it to save people

Finally, we need to pray for a love for lost people as we reach out to them knowing that we have what they need in Jesus!

 

Overcoming Obstacles to Sharing Our Faith: FRIENDS, FAMILY and FELLOWSHIPS

In the first two posts we looked at FEAR and FINANCE. 

Today, we are looking at barriers that exist due to the people in our lives.  

It's great when our friends and family members are on the same page spiritually but even then there may be division. Most of us have friends that attend church denominations with views that are different to our own. Church fellowships and leaders can have very different opinions on methods of evangelism. There's plenty of potential for problems and that's just within Christian circles.

What happens if you're mainly mixing with non-believers. You might even be married to a non-Christian. You might have children who are starting to make demands on your time and who may end up resenting time given to something they don't think should be a priority. What do you do then?

Here are some ideas for dealing with these relationships with the people we care about:

1. Pray: We know that prayer works, especially if we ask according to God's will. We know that He wants us to share our faith so we can pray for circumstances to change and for people's hearts to be softened to allow us to do this. I know of missionaries who wanted their non-believing parents' seemingly impossible blessing. They prayed for years and were eventually allowed to go without fearing they were dishonouring their family members. Sometimes, the objections raised by family and friends are the consequences of our sin e.g. if as a Christian we married a non-believer. However, if we have repented of that choice, we can pray for God to make a way.

2. Communicate: Many of the problems that occur in relationships between friends and family members are because of a failure to talk to each other. Try explaining to your loved ones why you want to be involved in evangelism and what you are going to do. Creating a sense of urgency and excitement around the work can also make people curious, even jealous, because there is such a lack of purpose in the world that a sense of community with a common goal can be attractive. They might even catch the vision and want to join you. Don't bring it up all the time though or become obsessive and don't treat people as if they are stupid by manipulating situations or constantly bashing them with Bible verses about evangelism. 

3. Tell stories from the work (enthusiastically): When you have been out, relay stories of conversations or questions that people asked and how you answered them. Include those that you didn't know how to answer and ask your friends and family for their thoughts and ideas. If you are genuinely sharing about the work with them, you may get some great opportunities to share the Gospel in a natural way. It's normal to discuss workplace events and the unique nature of evangelism does make people curious, even those with no real spiritual interest. You may find yourself answering unspoken questions that your friends and family have had for years.

4. Show photos/videos: Linked to the last point, younger people especially are more visual these days and may watch something rather than reading or engaging in conversation. If you have photos or videos that you are in, they may well be interested and you can explain what is going on as you share it with them. Again, this is a normal part of life and we don't need to feel that we can't share our experiences just because it's "religious". It also helps reassure them that we aren't part of a cult or doing excessively weird things. It's amazing how people's imaginations can run riot when they hear the word "evangelism".

5. Preserve family/friends time: Don't allow your evangelistic zeal to take over time that you should be spending with your family and friends. This is a conscience issue ultimately, but you don't want them to end up resenting God for taking you away from them. This has been an issue with some of the great missionaries who seemed to forget they were married or left their partners as secretaries at home whilst they were away for lengthy periods. This is most relevant to non-believing loved ones as they are an important mission field and mustn't be side-lined in favour of the work. But, it can also apply to believing friends and family, if you are a workaholic and they never see you or if you don't enjoy any of  the activities they want to do because you are only interested in evangelism.

6. Encourage them: Your friends and family may have very different ideas about how to share their faith. You may prefer a more direct approach, they may want to build friendships. Both are valuable so encourage whatever they are doing if the goal is evangelistic even if you don't agree with their methods. There's room for discussions here, but don't condemn things that are being done in God's name unless they are unbiblical and don't act as if your way is the only way to do things. You might find that if you support them in what they are doing, they will reciprocate.

7. Request a platform: If it's your church fellowship that is resistant to what you are doing, ask any organisations you are involved with if they would be willing to come and speak at your church. Then approach your church leaders about receiving them. Sometimes, hearing about the work from an authority/someone with more experience, opens doors. Organisations like OAM, GNfE, UBM and BCM make speaking at churches part of their regular work and would be more than happy to come and share about the work at your church. Even just having someone else explaining the same things you have said in a different way can make all the difference.

8. Make new friends: You can't just ditch your family and friends if they are hostile towards your efforts, but you can develop new friendships with people who encourage you in the work. Those who are married should be careful that they aren't treading danger lines but singles can and should find like minded people to spend time with. If all of our friends are believers we can end up living in a spiritual bubble detached from reality. Conversely, if we only mix with non believers, we might be in danger of being unequally yoked. Balance is important.

9. Set the example: Don't expect you will be able to convince everyone to join you on the streets or whererever you choose to go. It might be small steps as we all progress spiritually at different speeds. Try not to be disappointed and discouraged when people don't show up or don't have the same enthusiasm or when they make excuses. Find at least one other person who shares your vision, work together and encourage each other. On the streets we are often approached by Christians who didn't realise street evangelism was even legal. Sadly, most who say they will join don't end up doing so as they get distracted by life and the devil. Don't let this put you off. Keep going!

10. Just do it: Don't wait for the perfect circumstances, resources or numbers. There comes a time where we have to obey God rather than men, or in this case our family and friends. Every Christian should be involved in some form of evangelism even if they don't have a lot of time and even if it feels like the whole world is against them.  If you do it anyway, others will join. If you don't go at all, there's nothing to join!

I hope some of these things will help you as you navigate the various obstacles that arise when we start seeking to share our faith. Remember that if we honour God, He will honour us. 

Next time we will look at the obstacles of FAME and FASHION...

Image by Gerd Altmann at Pixabay

Overcoming Obstacles to Sharing Our Faith: FEAR

I've been trying to think of ways to motivate people to get involved in evangelism having just come back from an awesome Christian Answer team in London at the weekend. 

I realised that the first step for some people might be removing hurdles or perhaps having a change of perspective about any obstacles in the way. So, I'm going to do a short series of posts dealing with these issues that we all face to one degree or another.

Today's subject and probably the biggest mountain for many of us to scale is fear. 

It might be fear of failure, fear of saying the wrong thing, fear of being seen, fear of what others might think, fear of people getting angry or shunning us, or even fear of the unknown. Let's face it, we all struggle with fear and for some it can be paralysing. 

Can it be overcome? With God's help all things are possible. Here are some pointers:

• Pray! It will come as no surprise that prayer is top of the list for overcoming any and all obstacles to sharing our faith. If we don't pray then we can't expect to see results or have any expectation of moving forward. God knows our fears and He wants to help us move past them so that we can get on with the task. He promises to use us if we ask Him.

• Training. It helps to be prepared and can give us confidence which can negate any fears we might have. There is plenty of online training and organisations like the Open-Air Mission can provide training for you and your church. Living Waters offers a week long training course in evangelism and apologetics. However, training is not always required as it can result in Christians falling into the trap of thinking that they can't evangelise because they haven't been trained or even that they need to learn everything before they can share their faith. Choose your training wisely and intentionally and if possible get involved with those who offer practical training during the course.

• Know what you believe and why you believe it. This one can be especially relevant for those who've grown up in the church and have never really looked at the details of their own story. Read the Bible passages that speak about evangelism (Acts and the Gospels for starters). This will help you catch the vision and should negate fears about saying the wrong thing. You can't really say the wrong thing unless you say something totally heretical as people are already lost!

• Start small. This one is really about managing your own and others expectations. Most of us are not going to be Billy Graham or Amy Carmichael. Much of the evangelism in the Bible is one individual to another. Nowadays, we have tracts (Christian leaflets) and the internet so it's even possible to be anonymous or to have very little contact with the person we are witnessing to. Start by leaving tracts where-ever you go. Then, try to give them directly to people with a short comment. Then, when you are ready, ask the person if they have thought about the question. Take your time with each stage and your fears should lessen.

• Read stories. Read and watch stories of conversions in books and online. You'll be amazed by how many people mention a street preacher, a Christian friend, a book, a tract etc. If you can see that it really works, it can help to overcome your fears as the benefit outweighs the cost. Real Lives is a good series on Saturday nights which may encourage you.

• Go with others. Lone evangelism can be scary and it shouldn't be the norm. We need our Christian friends to encourage, motivate, inspire, rebuke etc. Most of our efforts should start with our local church. Find out what is being done by your church and join in or suggest a joint activity. Alternatively, if your church isn't doing anything, find an individual or several within the church who are keen and approach the leadership together. If the leaders aren't receptive to any forms of evangelism, it might be time to think about joining a different church as evangelism should be one of the main activities and purposes of the church.

• Join local evangelism teams. This shouldn't replace evangelism from your church, but can supplement it and provide people to work with. It's always easier to overcome our fears when we are part of a team. There are several city missions that still do direct evangelism (Birmingham and London) and others that bring you into contact with non believers through projects. The Open-Air Mission may have an evangelist in your area that you could join. Good News for Everyone (formerly Gideons) go into schools, prisons, hotels etc and try to leave Bibles as well as more formal Scripture distributions. You can get involved and learn from others. Start by observing and then take more responsibility as you feel able. 

• Join mission teams/camps. There are several organisations that run mission teams around the country including United Beach Missions and the Open-Air Mission. There are specific missions for student outreach, street evangelism and children's work. Other organisations like Yorkshire Camps and Foundation Matters offer residential camps and allow volunteers to join and serve for a week or longer term. Then, there are the annual youth camps. There are always plenty of opportunities and full training is usually given. Serving together allows you to learn on the job and watch others share their faith/give their testimony until you are ready to participate.

• Talk to someone. It's a well known saying that "a problem shared is a problem halved". If you cannot overcome your fears, share them with a church friend or church leader. Be specific and maybe they will be able to help you get new perspective or suggest some other ideas. Likewise, if you have had a negative experience with evangelism, don't let it put you off, speak to someone straight away so that it doesn't become an insurmountable problem as it festers. 

• Don't overthink it. With some things, the longer we leave it before we actually do it, the harder it is as the possibilities and the "what if's" can become overwhelming. I used to remember the Dr Pepper advert with the slogan "what's the worst that could happen?" before I went out to share my faith. It can help to write down any fears as they may seem less likely and less threatening on paper. Sometimes, we just have to face our fear and get on with it. 

I hope this list will help some of you to take steps to overcome your fears and to get involved in the work of the Great Commission. As you can see, many of the ideas involve working with others, it's amazing how much easier it is to get out there when we go in a group. I always come back encouraged and have never regretted going out when I've taken the plunge.

As an old-timer said recently, "a little bit of courage and a little bit of obedience are all that is needed." We are in a spiritual battle. Don't let the enemy win!

Next time I will deal with overcoming the obstacle of funding/finance.

(Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay)

The Cruelty and Horror of Assisted Suicide

I saw this image on the J C Ryle Facebook page a few days ago. I felt shocked, then sad as I realised the reality for many millions of people. I couldn’t forget what I had seen. 

Death has always been one of those difficult subjects. We try to avoid thinking about it but it’s all around us; war, terrorism, crime, famine, earthquakes, abortion, murder, freak weather events, genocide, cancer, accidents, allergic reactions, suicide and now assisted suicide in some countries and the list goes on and on… If we dwelt on the reality of our own frailty and helplessness we’d never get anything done.

The Christian Institute provided a sobering list of what the Bible has to say about death at the Birmingham City Mission Convention this weekend:

-the punishment for sin (Genesis 3 vs 17)

-universal precursor to judgement (Hebrews 9 vs 27)

-a curse (Deuteronomy 30 vs 19)

-the wages of sin (Romans 6 vs 23)

-the last enemy (1 Corinthians 15 vs 26)

-feared by unbelievers (Hebrews 2 vs 15)

-the source of immense human grief (John 11 vs 33-35)

-the end of the opportunity for salvation (Luke 16 vs 26)

The last one on this list is the most frightening of all. What it means is that the minute a soul breathes their last breath here on Earth, they are consigned to their eternal destination without recourse or escape. 

I was on an Open-Air Mission team in Yorkshire last week and one of the guys had a talk entitled “Where are they now?” Then, he had large pictures of famous (or infamous) people including Queen Elizabeth, Margaret Thatcher, Hitler, Jimmy Savile and Amy Winehouse. 

You might imagine that this generated a lot of comments from passer’s by. A few bright sparks pointed out the obvious that they are all dead. Some people were angry about Savile being in the same list as the Queen or even that their pictures were next to each other. Others shouted things about individuals and where they felt they should be. Most believed good people like the late Queen and Margaret Thatcher would be in Heaven and bad people like Hitler and Savile would be in Hell. Amy Winehouse was more of a puzzle but most seemed to want to give her the benefit of the doubt.

The truth (and point of the talk) is that none of us know for sure where these people are now because we aren’t God and we don’t know their hearts, but we do know that their souls have lived on and that they are either in Heaven or Hell forever. They are not just dead in the ground as some would have us believe. 

The Bible also makes it clear that their perceived goodness/badness has nothing to do with where they ended up and although we may think we are better than some of those people, we are not as good as we think we are. The reality is that none of us live up to God’s perfect standard so instead of using society’s yardstick which sets the bar ridiculously low, we should be looking to God who sets the rules.

The debate about whether we should legalise assisted suicide in the UK is a product of secular (and atheistic) values permeating society. Would anyone really dare to suggest it was kinder to “help someone on their way” if they knew their loved one would face an angry, just God at the end of the process? Most sane people would surely agree that no matter how much pain someone was in, an eternity in Hell has to be far far worse. 

The Bible tells us that we are given one life and that the dates of our birth and death are determined by God. Every breath we take is a gift from God who sustains the Universe second by second and minute by minute. When we die we will face God and give an account of our lives; the God who created us, Who knows all things and Who is angry with our rebellion against Him. 

This would be a terrifying prospect for every person if it wasn’t for one historical event that changed everything…

God loved the world so much that He provided a mediator in His Son Jesus. He  sent Him to live a perfect life and then to die on a cross for the sins of the world. God the Father punished God the Son on the cross. This perfect sacrifice opened the way for anyone who believes that Jesus died for them to repent and be forgiven of their sins. We know the sacrifice of Jesus worked because He defeated the curse of death given to humanity at the beginning by coming back to life. Anyone who repents and believes in Jesus will be at peace with God and enter Heaven one day. 

This is amazing news for a broken, dying world.

However, most people who are advocating things like assisted suicide and encouraging others to consider ending their lives prematurely, don’t even acknowledge God let alone the Good News of the Gospel.

They are not, therefore, forgiven of their sin and will face God’s fury and be consigned to Hell for all eternity. Hell is a place of fire, punishment and torment where people will want to die but won’t be able to. Their pain will endure relentlessly. It's why the Bible warns us to "flee from the wrath to come...."

The horrible cruelty is that people who support this legislation are leading others astray by believing they are compassionate and caring and wanting to end people’s suffering.

Instead, they need to realise that God is the author of life and meddling in this way will have tragic and never ending consequences for those who die prematurely and are unprepared to meet their Maker.

Christians, please think about this and stop being neutral and/or silent during these discussions. There is no place for supporting assisted suicide in the church and we must stand against these evil laws that may soon be on our statute books unless we resist them with everything we have at our disposal. 

God is on our side and prayer is powerful when we take our part in the spiritual battle seriously.

Let's support the Christian Institute and other organisations as they seek to defeat this horrible bill once and for all. Let's also make evangelism a most urgent priority as we seek to share the Good News of Jesus with every soul before it's too late for them...

What is Your Greatest Need in a Chaotic World?

Recently, I was present when an evangelist asked a young believer who wanted to join our team, what she believed was the greatest need of the people passing by. She hesitated, thought about it and then said, "love?" The evangelist gently suggested there might be something more important and she quickly answered, "peace?" 

It seems like a big question, more so because if you ask 100 people you're likely to get many, if not 100, different answers. 

Similar questions that could be asked include: is our greatest need determined by our opinion or is it decided by external factors? Are we able to ascertain what our greatest need is? How do we know whether something will meet our greatest need unless we actually have it? Is anything capable of meeting our greatest need? Does our greatest need change over time or is it consistent?

I'm sure many of you are watching current headlines with a growing sense of alarm, our world is increasingly divided in every area of life. It seems inevitable that we are heading for a catastrophe of one sort or another. It's not surprising, therefore, and seems perfectly reasonable, to suggest that love and peace are the solutions and would meet our greatest need but is that really the case?

Is it possible for each one of us to love and be at peace with every other person perfectly all of the time? It's really a rhetorical question as we all know the answer!

Perhaps it would be okay if the leaders of our various countries loved each other and put their neighbours above their own interests or if every country sought peace even if it cost them to do so. History has demonstrated that this isn't possible either. The natural tendency of world leaders is to act in the interests of their own country (and ultimately for themselves) and not for the good of humanity as a whole. Whatever else you may think about him, at least Trump is honest about his intentions.

Maybe our greatest needs are love and peace but we are doomed to a life of hopelessness and helplessness as they will never be met. Should we spend all of our time striving for these things that are seemingly impossible to achieve? Should we, like Greta Thunberg, pour our energies into activism and seek to force people to comply with our sense of what's needed to make things right? Or should we throw our hands up in despair and give in to depression about the state of our world?

Is there another way?

When we think about the question of our greatest need it seems big because we immediately start thinking of all the problems in the world: war, famine, poverty, disease, homelessness, joblessness, family breakdown, crime etc. 

Then, overwhelmed, we move to the problems in our own circles but find a similar list of insurmountable difficulties. 

Defeated, we focus on ourselves. After all, we can't do anything for anyone else until we've got our own house in order, right? But once again we find that we don't know the answers. We may fix one thing but our repair may fall apart and if it holds then along comes another problem and we are back to square one.

There has to be another way...

What if there is only one problem? What if the problem is the same for every individual? What if the problem is responsible for all of the chaos in our world? What if the solution to this problem meets each person's greatest need? What if the solution to this problem has already been provided?

Would you want to know what it is?

My evangelist friend replied to the girl, "It's good to have peace, but what about forgiveness?"

The problem is sin (breaking God's law). We are all guilty because we have all sinned. Sin is against God who sets the rules and it separates us from Him because He is perfect. We are heading for Judgement and in the end Hell. Our greatest need is forgiveness of our sin. The solution was and is provided by Jesus paying the price for our sin at the cross. Jesus died in the place of sinners so that we could be forgiven and restored to a right relationship with God. We need to accept the gift of God, repent (turn away from our sin) and turn towards Jesus believing that He died for us personally. God promises to forgive anyone who turns to Him through Jesus. He guarantees an eternal place in Heaven for us.

If this sounds too simple to deal with the chaos in the world. If it sounds too simple to deal with world leaders wielding power, to deal with corruption at the highest levels, to deal with famine, war and poverty....consider a change of perspective.

God is the Creator of the Universe. He is outside time and space. He isn't just a bigger version of us. He controls and sustains everything in the world and nothing happens without His permission. World events and seeming chaos don't take Him by surprise and aren't an unexpected difficulty. He is working to fulfill His plans and purposes and is working for the good of those who love Him.

Every knee will one day bow before Him and give an account of their lives, from the smallest to the greatest and every one in between.  

Being forgiven of sin leads to peace with God which is our greatest need in a chaotic world. 

In the midst of life's uncertainties, will you turn to Him today?

Can Anyone Be Saved?

Seeing this title, you might think that I’m going to attempt to deal with the complexities of election/ predestination. Sorry to disappoint, but that’s well above my pay grade!

If people are elected to salvation, we don’t know who has been chosen and who hasn’t, so the fact doesn’t change our responsibility to share the Gospel with anybody and everybody.

We’ve probably all had that conversation with someone who is wondering if they, or someone they love, hasn’t been saved because they aren’t elect. Is that really helpful? All that happens if we think like this is that we give up, succumb to the belief that they cannot be saved, and stop witnessing to and praying for the person.

For the purpose of this post, I’m thinking more about how we view people when we are involved in evangelism, and whether we really believe they can, and will be saved.

Here are a few examples:

 -The aggressive atheist. You know the type. We may know that the person is suppressing the truth and that deep down they know that God exists, but do we really believe that they can be converted?

One of my friends was like this, arguing aggressively with me to the extent that sometimes I got so annoyed that I left the conversation rather than responding in kind. Although, I sensed that this person’s struggle was genuine, I’m not sure that I had the faith to believe they would actually be saved. However, in 2018, Billy Graham died. My friend told me he had seen the death on the news and asked me if I knew of him, realising the connection to the Christian faith. My friend then said he had watched a YouTube video of Billy Graham’s. I asked what the title was, and he replied, “Who is Jesus?” Next thing I know, my friend is attending my church, every service in fact. Then, he became a Christian, and a while later got baptised. At his baptism, he chose the hymn, “O How the Grace of God Amazes Me.”

Originally, I had met this person in a large group. Out of the group, I would have said that he was the least likely to a) be interested in Christianity b) actually be converted. For me, it was a lesson not to judge the outward appearance, and not to try and second guess God. God used the sermon of a dead preacher to draw my friend to Himself.

-The family member or close friend. We’ve likely been praying for this person (s), perhaps for years, but do we really believe they will be converted? In our hearts, have we given up on them, or on God?

Two of my relatives were recently converted in mid-later life. One of them had started working with a young man who is a Christian. The young man had witnessed to him which led to a Bible study, then conversion, baptism and joining the church. Apart from years of prayer, which is clearly crucial, my family didn’t have a lot to do with the practicalities, as God used someone else. Our initial incredulity, and fear of believing that it would actually happen, turned to joy, as we realised it was genuine.

A newly converted church friend, just this week, received a call from a relative she had been praying for, telling her that they wanted to get right with God. I advised her to ask them if something had happened to cause this. Their answer was that nothing had happened, they had just realised they were living a sinful life and wanted to get right with God. 

Sometimes, when God is at work like this, we are almost paralysed by shock. It takes us a while to accept that God has actually answered our prayers and then to move forward in helping the person take the step of faith. This can demonstrate that we aren’t really trusting God that the people we are praying for will be saved. It is good that God is gracious, and accepts our meagre efforts, and weak expectations, but it must be disappointing to Him, especially when it’s not the first time He has saved someone we are praying for. Answers to prayer should encourage us to greater faith.

-The person who is ready. Some of my favourite stories in the Bible are those where people have been prepared in advance by God and are literally waiting for someone to point them to Jesus. The Philippian jailer who asked, “What must I do to be saved?” The Ethiopian eunuch who asked who the Scriptures were referring to, and then asked for baptism. The crowd who was told they had crucified their Messiah, were cut to the heart, and asked with some urgency, “What shall we do?”

When involved in evangelism, we are sometimes so astonished when we get these questions that we are rendered speechless, or tongue tied. Yet, they occur far more often than we expect.

In the last few weeks, I had a group of lads who had been asked if they knew how to get to Heaven turn the question around and say pointedly, “No, but can you tell us how to get to Heaven?!” Also, a man recently released from prison, on hearing the Gospel, said urgently, “I don’t want to go to Hell, I really don’t want to go to Hell, can you help me?” Another young guy approached the book table, asked us to tell him what we believed, and then asked if he could film our response. There was a pause as all three of us stared at him before realising that we were there for that purpose!

Many times, I’ve been asked what a person should do if they want to become a Christian and even a few times, “What must I do to be saved?”

-The unlikely convert. No matter how much we try to avoid it, we all judge a book by its cover, similarly with people. We look at someone and think that person would never be interested in Christianity. This can be based on all manner of external factors, but we forget that God deals with the heart, and that He saved people like Saul of Tarsus, and King Nebuchadnezzar.

I’m reading a book at the moment entitled, Out of the Black Shadows. Gang member Stephen Lungu, attended a Christian tent meeting in Zimbabwe, carrying a bag of petrol bombs with the intention of committing mass murder by firebomb. However, God stepped in, “The preacher was now saying that anyone who wanted could have this Jesus. I could exchange my poverty and sin for Jesus’ love and riches. The transaction that Jesus was offering me suddenly became clear. Tears for all the pain, loneliness, self-hatred and fear I had known coursed down my cheeks. If this great burden could not be removed by this Jesus, I no longer wanted to live. So, clutching my bag of petrol bombs I stumbled towards the preacher…….” Can your Jesus save even someone like me?” 

There are plenty of other testimonies of people that we might think outwardly wouldn’t be interested. I often find during street evangelism that it’s these people with whom I have the best conversations, perhaps to remind me that it’s God’s work and He can save anyone.

-The child. Society tells us that we shouldn’t brainwash children and that they can’t understand the things of God. Yet, the Bible tells us we have to become like little children to be saved, in terms of them having a simple trust in Jesus.

Many Christians that I know date their conversion to their childhood, one person was even as young as 4 years old. On a mission team this year, we had a question board with the question, “Does God exist?” The parent confidently placed his mark next to “No” but was then silently rebuked by his 8-year-old daughter who just as confidently selected “Yes.” I asked her how she knew that God existed, and she said that she just knew, she then spoke in simple terms about Creation.

Sometimes, children have a better understanding than adults as they haven’t been exposed to the corruptions of thinking that occur as we get older and mingle with supposedly more intelligent people.

-The cult member. I recently attended a conference dealing with cults and other religions. It was pointed out that we shy away from dealing with these people as a matter of course. We might even think they are unreachable because we tend to end up in lengthy conversations that never really seem to make progress.

Yet, there are Christians even in my limited circles who were formerly Jehovah’s Witnesses, Muslims, Mormons, Catholics etc. Some of them are now Pastors and Evangelists.

-The prodigal. We know that God saves prodigals because of Luke 15 and the Parable of the Prodigal Son. I know that God saves prodigals because I was one!

Sometimes, we forget the love of God shown in the parable as He runs to meet the repentant son, or daughter, that has turned their back on Him, embraces them and restores them to their former place.

Are we still praying for prodigals that we know and love, or have we given up in despair secretly believing that they are beyond redemption?

So, can anyone be saved?

In the Bible, we are encouraged to believe and persist in prayer for people. A visiting speaker at my church recently told us this story about George Muller, a 19^th century Evangelist.

​” In November 1844, I began to pray for the conversion of five individuals. I prayed every day without a single intermission, whether sick or in health, on the land, on the sea, and whatever the pressure of my engagements might be. Eighteen months elapsed before the first of the five was converted. I thanked God and prayed on for the others. Five years elapsed, and then the second was converted. I thanked God for the second and prayed on for the other three. Day by day, I continued to pray for them, and six years passed before the third was converted. I thanked God for the three and went on praying for the other two. These two remained unconverted.

​
Thirty-six years later he wrote that the other two, sons of one of Mueller’s friends, were still not converted. He wrote, “But I hope in God, I pray on, and look for the answer. They are not converted yet, but they will be.” In 1897, fifty-two years after he began to pray daily, without interruption, for these two men, they were finally converted—but after he died! Mueller understood what Luke meant when he introduced a parable Jesus told about prayer, saying, “Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up” (Luke 18:1).” (www.georgemuller.org)

Surely, based on the evidence we have considered, including the Bible stories, the answer is that yes, God can save anyone. This is what we should be communicating to anyone that asks us if they can be saved.

We have some great verses like Romans 10 vs 13, “All who call on the name of the Lord will be saved,” and 2 Peter 3 vs 9, “The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise as some understand slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance.”

We can be confident that God can save anyone, and that He wants to save everyone. Sadly, not everyone will be saved because many will reject the free gift of God through Jesus.

However, until the day a person dies, we must keep praying for them and witnessing to them, believing that God will answer.