Myths and Misleading Phrases of Modern Christianity #5 - "Ask Jesus into your heart to be saved."

On the surface, this misleading phrase seems to be a simplified way to explain how someone can receive forgiveness for their sins and eternal life.  But, when we compare it to Scripture, we find it to be a lie.  It is pure deception from satan, the father of lies himself.

Although some pastors, preachers, Christian bands and others are in the habit of using this misleading phrase, there is no biblical foundation for it.  If you, dear reader, can show me where the Bible says people must ask Jesus into their hearts to be saved, I will eat this blog – computer and all - while it’s plugged in!  Go ahead and search.  In reality, the Bible says we must repent and trust the Lord Jesus Christ. (Acts 20:21)

 “The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1:15)

The “ask Jesus into your heart” phrase is another wicked part of the unbiblical, man-centered, easy-believe-ism of the modern gospel message that is no gospel at all.  This dangerously deceptive phrase removes the saving power of the gospel in the same way as leaving a key ingredient out of a medicine removes its curative properties.

The result is that we have many people who profess to be Christians, but who have not repented from sin and do not truly follow Jesus as Lord.  They do not understand the enormity of their sinfulness before God.  They are unrepentant because the “ask Jesus into your heart” message does not refer to repentance.  If they are unrepentant, they continue to be “workers of lawlessness” who transgress God’s Law (1 John 3:4) and Jesus does not know them. (Matthew 7:23)  They are without Christ’s righteousness and are comfortably and obliviously on their way to eternal judgment in the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:11-15)  Unless they repent, they will perish.  We Jesus followers commit a high crime against those who do not yet know the Lord by holding back the hard truth of the biblical gospel message.

Think about this.  If a person must simply ask Jesus into their heart to be saved, it puts Jesus into the position of being, a get-out-of-hell-free idol that requires no repentance from sin.  The “Jesus” a person asks into their heart is just a mental image, not the biblical Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of lords and King of kings to whom we must turn and trust to save us from God’s wrath.  This idolatry itself is sinful and will certainly save no one from their sinfulness before the holy, righteous and just God of the Bible.

If you are someone who claims to be a Christian because you asked Jesus into your heart to save you, please do not be offended by this post.  Instead, obey 2 Corinthians 13:5 and search the Scriptures to make sure you are in the faith.  Here are a few Bible verses to consider:

    “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord’, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does

       the will of My Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 7:21)

     “Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see

       the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3)

     “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son shall not see life,

       but the wrath of God abides on him.”  (John 3:36)

      “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You

       have sent.” (John 17:3)

    

     “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not

       wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9)

Here is the evangelistic difficulty with this misleading phrase.  People who have “asked Jesus into their heart” tend to be inoculated against the biblical gospel.  They believe their salvation is a done deal and that they are on their way to heaven with little or no regard to how they live their lives.  When someone tries to share the biblical gospel message with them, their response is something like, “Oh, you don’t have to worry about me.  I asked Jesus into my heart years ago.”  They have a false assurance of salvation because they have “asked Jesus into their heart” and believe they are thereby saved from the just punishment of hell.  Scripture indicates that they likely are not saved from God’s wrath because they have not turned from and forsaken their sin.  Their trust is in a prayer they may have prayed instead of Jesus’ sacrifice of His perfect life in payment for their sins against God.  Their trust is in a mental image of Jesus in their heart instead of Jesus’ crucifixion, resurrection from the dead and His defeat of death.

Those of us who are true Jesus followers, must repent of trying to be nicer and less offensive than Jesus.  Jesus set the evangelistic example for us by very directly teaching that people must turn from and forsake their sin and believe the biblical gospel. (see Mark 1:15 above)   We are urged to speak the truth in love. (Ephesians 4:15)  If someone is unknowingly heading for a cliff and certain death, the most loving thing we can do is warn them and try to get them to turn around.  If someone is heading for eternity in hell, (and most people are because we know the way is broad that leads to destruction and many are those who enter by it. - Matthew 7:13), the most loving thing we can do is tell them to turn from and forsake their sins and trust the Lord Jesus Christ for eternal life.

”For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” (Romans 1:16)

May God bless you as you go and share the biblical gospel message that offends people enough to save them from their sins!

Ready For Summer!

Hello Jesus followers!  I returned from visiting my family in Christ in the Mexican state of Baja Norte a week ago and it has taken until now for the trip to distill into a blog post.  Sorry for the wait!

After a super early flight to San Diego and walking across the Tijuana border, I was waiting for my wonderful brother and sister in Christ in front of a McDonald’s.  We headed south to their home in the town of Colonia Vicente Guerrero (CVG) for a week of catching up, evangelism training and Mexican-style street evangelism.  If eternity were to be like this week, I would not be disappointed.

Before we go further, there is some important business that needs our attention.  If you believe Tijuana is horribly dangerous as it is portrayed in the U.S. media, please stop.  Yes, it is a huge city and a person can get in trouble there just as they can here in Wichita, Kansas or any other U.S. city.

Here is the truth.  I was only “accosted” by professional taxi drivers wanting me to ride in their cabs.  I said, “No, gracias.” and had no problem.  The McDonald’s was very clean and the employees were quick, helpful, kind and gave me the correct change.  Lots of people were around and they were quick to smile and say, “buenas tardes” (good afternoon), when I greeted them.  This was while I dragged luggage along behind me.  Trust me.  People could tell I was a gringo, alone and away from home.  Anyone with a functioning brain cell would deduce that I was carrying money.  If you ask for and use the wisdom the Lord promises to give you (James 1:5), there is no reason to fear heading south of the border.  In fact, if the Lord tells you to go anywhere, GO!  Don’t hesitate and don’t turn to the right or the left!

Once in CVG, after picking up some friends in the city of Ensenada and visiting Costco there, we all crashed for the night.  The following days were filled with visiting family, street evangelism as opportunities arose, fabulous family dinners, good conversations, fish tacos (mandatory when you visit Baja – if there is not a law, there should be), and explaining/demonstrating/discussing biblical evangelism ideas with individuals and groups.  It was an extremely encouraging visit and I can’t wait for the Lord to send me back there for a visit or until He returns.

Now, back to the title of this post.  Events are beginning to pop up on the street evangelism calendar.  We have every Saturday evening in the Old Town area of Wichita, of course.  Wichita’s annual River Festival will be June 1 - 9 during which folks celebrate the little creek that dribbles through town by having lots of concerts and other events that bring people out of their homes.  Wichita has way more than its share of car shows, so we will likely be sharing the gospel at some of those.  Street evangelism-wise, things will probably be busy from now through September.

If you are in or will be visiting the Wichita area and would like to join us and learn to share your faith the way Jesus did, we are patient, kind and eager to teach.  Just comment on this blog or search for me on Facebook and leave a comment for me there.  It would be an honor and pleasure to help you fulfill our Great Commission to “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.”  (Mark 16:15)

Thank you for reading and God bless you!

Toughening Up

One thing that develops as we share our faith is a thickening of the skin; a resistance to outside pressures.  When hitting the streets and talking with people, my goal is to simply follow the Holy Spirit’s lead in speaking the truth in love to help people understand their sinfulness and God’s plan to save them from sin and His wrath.  Occasionally, individuals ask us to go somewhere else, move across the street, etc.  I ignorantly obeyed a couple of times, but then began to resist unless they were police.  That brought confrontation and the thicker skin.

Last Saturday evening, we had a productive time in the bar/party area of Old Town in Wichita.  It’s prom season and many couples from local high schools were out having dinner.  They were fairly open and receptive.  The Lord allowed us to have a few conversations about the Law and Gospel and everyone was happy.

Toward midnight, when the party people had made things more…. umm… interesting, it seemed the Holy Spirit was leading us to read Scripture.  We stood on a footstool on a sidewalk and began reading through Hebrews 1 & 2 as people walked by with abundant room.  Most seemed to ignore us, but they could hear what we were reading.  After only a few moments, a nearly panicked man quickly walked up and frantically said, “What are you doing?!?  What are you doing?!?  You shouldn’t be doing this!!  Don’t you know you’re not supposed to push religion on people?!?”

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:12)

This man is not our enemy.  I hope to speak with him sometime.  We recognized this event to be what I call a demonic distraction the instant he came up to us.  The man was a pawn in a small spiritual battle.  Our true enemy, satan, didn’t want Scripture to be read in public.  satan will try to keep you from reading your Bible, too, so go read it and give him a miserable day.

My first response to the man was to ignore him and keep reading.  This may look rude in practice, but I never want to stop doing what our true enemy hates.  This is where the thick skin develops.  The man kept trying to distract us by ranting about the earth’s population, so I turned to him and told him firmly and clearly that I would keep reading.  The man immediately turned and walked away.

“Submit therefore to God.  Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”  James 4:7

Was this little spiritual skirmish fun?  Not at all!  It was a stressful few minutes.  Now I look back on it and think, wow, the Lord helped and protected us and maybe I handled the situation correctly.  Our skin is thicker and the Lord has already prepared us for the next battle.

“The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.”  Psalm 18:2

“Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.  Let all that you do be done in love.”  1 Corinthians 16:13-14

“Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of His might.  Put on the full armor of God that you may be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.”  Ephesians 6:10-11

Thank you for reading!  May God bless you and protect you in your battles.

Myths & Misleading Phrases of Modern Christianity #4 - People will come to a church service to hear the gospel

Many Bible-believing, Jesus-following fellowships fall for the myth that evangelism can be done within their church walls.  Their intentions are good.  They truly desire for people to come to know Jesus Christ and have eternal life through Him.  They host guest speakers, concerts and other events with the hope that people will come, return for a church service and let God make them new creations in Christ.  However, with few exceptions, those who are not yet Christians will neither attend the special event nor a church service.  I’ve witnessed this during years in California, Mexico and Kansas while observing many events at a wide variety of churches.  After many hours of planning, lots of work and lots of spending, the evangelistic results of nearly every event held on church grounds have been disappointing.

There is a good reason for the disappointing results.  Those who have not yet chosen to follow Jesus Christ may offer many excuses for not attending church, but they all boil down to this simple concept:  In the same way that criminals do not like police stations, people who have not yet chosen to accept their guilt of sinning against God and His gracious offer of forgiveness do not like church services.  The Bible teaching at a Bible-believing church activates the consciences of those who attend.  Since admitting guilt before God is uncomfortable, those who have not yet placed their trust in Jesus Christ tend to stay away from church services to spare their consciences and/or pride and/or love for their sin.

So what should we do as Jesus followers who want to reach those who are headed for eternity in Hell?  Should we soften the teaching in church services so that no one is confronted with the reality of God’s coming wrath on all those who disobey Him? (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9)  Watering down God’s message to make it more palatable to those who do not yet believe will lull those who are not yet Christians into a false sense of eternal security and stunt the growth of true Jesus followers who want to learn, grow and follow the Prince of peace.  Neither of these results are acceptable, so church services cannot be made “seeker sensitive” if we want people to know the Savior.

In Mark 16:15, the Lord Jesus Christ commands His followers to “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.”  We receive a similar command to “Go…” from Him in Matthew 28:19.  If you know and follow Jesus Christ, these commands apply to you.  Since Jesus said to “Go”, we should not stay within the church building.  Staying in the “holy huddle” of fellow Christians may feel safe, but it is dangerous because it is disobedient.  It is the opposite of what Jesus commands us to do.  Are we to fellowship with other Jesus followers?  Absolutely!  Hebrews 10:25 refers to “… not forsaking our own assembling together…”.  But, if we are continually surrounded by fellow born-again Jesus followers, we tend to get comfortable and cease reaching out to those who do not yet trust in the Savior.  The mission field begins one footstep off the church’s property.  So, go to church, fellowship, get yourself prepared for the mission field and step outside in faith.  Peter could not walk on water until he got out of the boat.

So where do we go?  Jesus’ command is “to all the world” and “to all creation.”  This is exactly where the Apostle Paul and his fellow travelers went because they feared God and obeyed Him.  They feared God more than man.  God will tell us and/or lead us if He has a specific place for us to serve.  Maybe He will open opportunities to reach neighbors, co-workers, fellow students, store clerks, “friends” on the web, strangers in a city park or people in another state or another country.  He has provided Bibles, Books of John, gospel tracts and the Good Person Test (take it here) as tools.  It’s up to us to prayerfully and obediently go somewhere and use these tools to reach the lost.

Once we go into all the world, we must open our mouths.  When we research the word “preach” in Mark 16:15 (also Matthew 10:7, Luke 9:2, Acts 10:42, 2 Timothy 4:2 among many other verses), we find it is the Greek word “kerusso” which means to publicly herald the message of a king.  In the case of Christians, we have the fearful and humbling honor to publicly proclaim the message of the King of kings so that those who never darken a church’s door will hear it.  Remember, “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.” (Romans 10:17)  Given a wise choice of location, a couple of Jesus followers who are distributing tracts, having one-to-one conversations and open air preaching the Law and Gospel can reach, in a few hours, more people than a whole city full of churches will reach on church property in a year.

The easiest ways to get the Law and Gospel out from behind the church walls are to post Bible verses on social media, leave good gospel tracts where they will be found or give them to people.  The most biblical, scary, exhilarating, humbling and foolish feeling way to publicize the Law and the Gospel is by heralding in the open air to those why may happen to hear.  Putting fish symbols on our cars and wearing snazzy Christian t-shirts are nice, but they do not get the job done like sharing a serious, loving conversation with someone about eternity and where they will spend it.

Now that it is clear what we should do to reach the lost, here comes the difficult part.  Are you scared?  Me, too.  Every time.  We must overcome the fear of man that keeps us within the church building.  Perfect love casts out all fear.  If we really love those who do not yet know Jesus Christ, the fear of man fades away.  Prayer, love for the lost, a little study and practice help us defeat the fear of man.  If we fear God more than man, we will obey Him and go into all the world and preach the gospel as He has commanded.

God has given us powerful weapons.  If you were a soldier behind enemy lines and you had no weapon with which to fight your way back to your unit, you would have good reason to be fearful.  But, God has given us (1) prayer, (2) His Law which is written on every person’s heart (Romans 2:14-15), (3) the Holy Spirit as our Helper, and (4) an ally within every person which is their conscience.  When we use God’s Law, (the Ten Commandments), to activate a person’s conscience, they will see their sinful state before God.  When they agree that they are sinful and headed for eternity in Hell, it is time to explain the gospel as God’s plan for their deliverance from His justified wrath.

“The fear of man brings a snare, but he who trusts in the Lord will be exalted.” (Proverbs 29:25)  The devil loves to have Christians cowering in fear.  We must let our love for Jesus and our love for people overcome our fears.  “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. (Romans 1:16)  We must go outside the church walls and proclaim that Jesus Christ alone is the way, the truth and the life.  No one will go to the Father but through Him! (John 14:6)

          And the master said to the slave, “Go out into the highways and along the

          hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.”  Luke 14:23

I hope this encourages you to go and share the most important message in the universe!  May God bless you and guide you as you go!

$419 For a Cookie???

That’s what the cookie served on the plane cost and it wasn’t even warm. But, along with it, Frontier Airlines was nice enough to throw in flights to and from Sacramento so I could visit my brothers and sisters in Christ in California’s beautiful central valley. It was a bargain!

Over the past weekend, the Lord gave me a narrow window of time to jet to Lodi, California. That’s where I lived for eleven years, came to know the Lord and was discipled through several godly men before serving on the mission field in Baja.

The purpose of the trip was to fellowship with and speak to the wonderful saints of Unto the King Fellowship about the biblical evangelism we do on the streets of Wichita. They have a strong desire to obey Jesus by preaching the gospel to every creature and they want to do it effectively and biblically; the way Jesus did.

UTKF is a small, very warm, intimate and loving, Bible-based fellowship of Jesus followers whom I have known for quite a few years. The Lord has used them greatly to support me prayerfully and financially while I served in Mexico and in the current street evangelism ministry.

During UTKF’s Sunday morning service, I walked them through the Good Person Test and explained what we say to people and what we do during our evangelism adventures. I also shared some of the pitfalls and arguments we have encountered and what we have done to overcome them. They eagerly received tracts and resources to ground themselves in and apply the biblical evangelism concept of giving the Law (the Ten Commandments) to proud people and giving grace (the Gospel message) to the humble. You can find this concept used by Jesus Himself in the account of the “rich, young ruler” in Luke 18:18-23.

The weekend was also packed with a trip through the redwoods to the coast north of San Francisco for lunch with two sisters in Christ and a couple of quick evangelism adventures Cali-style. By the way, while fishing for men in Lodi, I found the folks there to be very friendly and extremely open to the gospel – more so than in Wichita. They were eager to have a good conversation, ask questions and listen. Their respectfulness was off the charts! Lodi is much smaller than Wichita. Is this friendliness and openness a function of a smaller city or is there more to the story?

All glory to the Lord for an outstanding trip and whatever fruit He brings from it! Thank you for reading and may God bless your fishing expeditions!

Myths and Misleading Phrases of Modern Christianity #3 – “God Loves You and Has a Wonderful Plan for Your Life”

The “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life” phrase may be the most misleading and destructive of all phrases used in modern Christianity.  It is deceiving and makes people comfortable on their way to Hell. (2 Timothy 4:3-4)  Without a doubt, if you are a born-again follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, God loves you beyond the human mind’s ability to comprehend.  But, the other half of this misleading phrase depends on what the word “wonderful” means to you.

Before we go further, a very important note:  This phrase should NEVER be used in evangelism!  It is completely man-centered and misleads non-believers.  There is absolutely no biblical precedent for telling any non-believer “God loves you” or “Jesus loves you”.  None!  Jesus Christ, who is God, (John 10:30, Colossians 1:15-18), loves everyone, including all serial killers, rapists, despots, child molesters and worse, so much that He paid for their sins by suffering and giving His perfect life on a cross to allow them the opportunity to live in perfection forever. (2 Corinthians 5:18-19, 1 Timothy 2:5-6)  At the same time, God’s wrath abides on everyone who has not repented and obeyed the gospel. (John 3:36)  Using the “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life” message will not show a person his guilt of transgressing God’s Law and his need to repent and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.  At best, it will bring a deceived, unrepentant  non-Christian into fellowship with true Christians.  It will lead people to believe they are saved from God’s wrath and Hell when they are not.

Have you read the book of Acts or Foxe’s Book of Martyrs?  Ask yourself this:  When Stephen preached to the council in Jerusalem and was stoned to death, was that God’s wonderful plan for him? (Acts 7:2-60)  What about the Apostle Paul being beaten, stoned nearly to death, shipwrecked three times and surviving in the ocean for a night and a day? (2 Corinthians 11:25)  How wonderful was it when the leaders of the reformation in Europe were burned to death at stakes for trusting in Jesus Christ alone for salvation rather than following the traditions of men?  Missionaries have taken the gospel to unreached places and have died of terrible diseases or have been killed by natives.  Wonderful?  Really?  What about Christians who miscarry babies, are falsely accused and punished for crimes, are paralyzed, or suffer other terrible circumstances?  The orphan whose parents are persecuted and killed probably does not see God’s plan for her life as wonderful.

To most people, a “wonderful plan” for life does not include poverty, disease or much difficulty of any kind.  Jesus said to His disciples, “In the world you have tribulation…”. (John 16:33)  This verse alone should settle the matter, but Scripture offers many more indicators of the troubles we can expect in the following passages:  Acts 5:41, Romans 8:16-17, Philippians 1:29-30, 2 Timothy 1:12, 2 Timothy 3:12, 1 Peter 3:14, 1 Peter 4:12-13, 1 Peter 4:19 and Revelation 6:9-11.  These are a few of the verses that apply to the suffering, persecution and non-wonderful lives of Jesus’ followers.  Our hope is that the Lord is with us in the midst of the troubles we face in this fallen world.  His promise is that He is with us, even to the end of the age. (Matthew 28:20)

If you use the misleading “wonderful plan” phrase, especially when speaking with those who do not (yet) follow Jesus, please stop.  Certainly not because I ask you, but because it obviously disagrees with Scripture.  It misleads those who do not yet follow the Savior and, in a way, inoculates them against the true, biblical gospel.  Once a person is deceived into believing God is thrilled with his life and wants to unveil His plan that will be wonderful for him, he does not want to hear the truth about his sin against God and the necessity of repentance and rebirth. (Luke 13:2-5, John 3:3)  The “wonderful plan” message creates unrepentant, false converts and makes the evangelism process much more difficult for those of us who evangelize the lost the way Jesus did by lovingly showing people their sin with the Law and then sharing God’s grace when they are ready to repent of their sin. (Isaiah 57:15, Matthew 23:12, Romans 7:7, 1 Peter 5:5)

Now, all of the above being said, God certainly has a plan for each person.  It is clear from Scripture that He is active in our lives and in world events; weaving together the tapestry of His perfect plan leading to the day when His perfect will is done on earth as it is in heaven.  I’ve heard it said that we see the unsightly underside of His weaving and He is glorified by the topside of His tapestry where He sees the reality of what He is doing.  “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I shall know fully just as I also have been fully known. (1 Corinthians 13:12)

Ok.  This post may have stepped on some toes.  It is never my intention to offend anyone by what is written in this blog.  If anyone is offended by Scripture, that is between them and the Lord.  The purpose of this post and every post here is always to equip, edify and encourage followers of Jesus to do what He has commanded:  “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.”  (Mark 16:15)

Thank you for reading.  May the Prince of Peace give you His perfect peace through your trials! (Isaiah 26:3)

A Quick Evangelism Report

Since the Lord has continued to provide good weather during this winter, my brother in Christ and I have continued to hit the streets.  If the hotdog venders can stand a little cold, we will certainly do it to share God's law and gospel!

New Year's Eve was a highlight.  We waited until about 10:30pm to hit the streets because that's what everyone does that night.  It's all about midnight, right?  We found a line of maybe 50 people waiting to enter a club and went down the line handing them Ten Commandment coins with the gospel on the back.  Then we took the opportunity to open air preach to the crowd.  The Lord let us do this twice as the line very slowly entered the club and new partiers took their places in line.

One guy kept shouting "Jesus was a Jew", but everyone else politely listened as we walked them through a few of the Ten Commandments and shared that, if they have broken even one of the Commandments, God will find them guilty and the punishment will be eternity in hell.  After the bad news, of course we shared the Good News of how we can be forgiven if we repent from sin and trust that Jesus Christ took our punishment to save us from God's wrath.  What was the response?  Did they curse at us and throw stuff?  Nope.  Several people in the line genuinely thanked us and wished us a Happy New Year.

It was the perfect way to end 2011 and begin 2012!