Friends don't let friends go to Hell

We see a billboard like this on our way to church. It definitely grabs your attention, right? In fact, I almost wrecked trying to read it the first time I saw it-shocking! The source is the AdCouncil (also known for 'Friends don't let friends drive drunk', and 'A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste'.)

The point of this billboard is to speak up if you are in the car with someone driving recklessly ... or else you could end up in a serious accident leaving you paralyzed or dead.

I love the bluntness, the efficiency of words! It is cold-drink-in-a-dessert type of refreshing in our culture of political correctness and tolerance of all things save Christianity!

Speaking of which, I would like to propose that Christians consider the message of the Gospel in these terms. Serious car wrecks are tragic, but isn't eternal judgment and torment infinitely more important?

I am preaching at myself, here trust me. I am far too selfish--too worried about embarrassment or whether so-and-so will like me. Too busy. It is time to get beyond fear of rejection and warn people about the wrath to come. What did Jesus say when He first began his public ministry?

From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 4:17 ESV)

Not exactly a PC message, but like the billboard message it is concise and effective.

What about the Apostle Paul? Did he worry about hurting feelings? He was often beaten, some times to the point of near death, all to bring the Gospel to people who didn't want to hear it.

We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you. (2 Corinthians 4:8-12 ESV)

I love Tim Challies' article about the false perception of God's 'unconditional love' for all mankind. We do an injustice to our non-Christian friends when we allow them to stay comfortable with a life not lived in obedience to God.

Mankind's greatest need is not tolerance but Truth. Let's go tell them--in love--that God is not happy with sin and a judgment is coming.

So speak up and share Christ with someone who is driving recklessly down the highway of life.

Can you be a Christian and be free from persecution?

A friend sent this video with the disclaimer: "This will jack you up." Indeed it did.



Three Scriptures come to mind.

• Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you (Matthew 5:11)
  
• Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted (2 Timothy 3:12)
• Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 10:31-33, cf Matthew 10:16-33)
  

Ask yourself what I'm asking myself right now. Am I willing to be persecuted for being a follower of Christ? If I'm not being persecuted now, why not? Sure, we live in America, but there are subtle forms of persecution that make us silent (i.e. the religion of 'tolerance'). Certainly we should not seek persecution, but what is hindering me from living a godly life in Christ Jesus which will ultimately lead to persecution? Should I not be more fearful of my Father in heaven than to be looked at sideways by someone who is offended by the Cross of Christ?

A Response to the ABC Story on the Children of the Westboro Church

It was not my plan to watch this ABC piece on the children of the Westboro Church in Topeka (you know, the nice folks who picket with signs that say, 'YOU'RE GOING TO HELL!' and other uplifting messages). But when I saw the video of their children spewing this hatred, I just could not turn away.

Still in shock this morning, I read the entire abc story. I was sickened by the perversion of truth that is so prevelant in their message. I prayed for those kids who are being indoctrinated in this church, and for the families who have to deal with this hatred at the funerals of their loved ones, including young men and women who have served in our military. I prayed that God would vindicate Himself against these blasphemous lies. Worst of all, I discovered that much of their 'doctrine' is based on a twisted version of the theology that I love and embrace (the doctrines of grace, aka Calvinism). It was time to find a level-headed response. I found it on Josh Buice's website, Delivered By Grace.

Buice is the pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church located in McMinnville, Tennessee, and author of this helpful blog. He has written several articles about the Westboro church which were compiled into a document called Westboro Baptist Church Revealed: Evangelized, Interviewed, Reviewed.

The 30 page document is worth the read, if you can stomach the inflammatory hatred (coming from the Wesboro members). The first story describes Buice's encounter with the hate group as they protested outside the SBC Conference. I was touched by his willingness to walk across the street to witness to these folks, and his heart for their children. An official interview with the church itself is next, followed by Buice's clear response. The paper concludes with the story of death of the great missionary Jim Elliot, who gave his life spreading the glory and love of God to the Auca Indians of South America.

This article exposes the hatred and ignorance of the Westboro church, and best of all, Buice explains the true gospel that the Scriptures teach.

The Westboro Baptist Church has a skewed view of the Gospel which leads to a very skewed view of missions. Their view of missions is to spread a vile form of hatred mixed with the Old Testament law regarding passages of judgment without moving toward the answer to that judgment which is propitiation through Jesus Christ our Lord. It seems like a strange mixture of hyper-hatred + hyper-Calvinism put into a blender and mixed together. It simply does not make sense. How can people find so much joy and fulfillment in telling people they are damned?

To believe in the sovereignty of God is one thing, but to hide the good news from people who are damned is another! I pray for Westboro Baptist Church. My desire is to see them saved and spared from their incorrect understanding of our God. Yes, God is a God of wrath, but He is also a God of love and mercy. We must be faithful to spread the truth about Him in both respects - God judges Sin, but He saves on the basis of Jesus Christ and His blood sacrifice.

Jack Bauer School of Evangelism

You can find this and many other hilarious pictures over on Sacred Sandwich!

You spit in the very face of God!

I came across a neat website with good reading for Christians. In it there is a section on evangelism, including this excerpt from a Spurgeon sermon. Oh that we would have this passion for the lost and the love-that's right LOVE-to tell them the truth! If you are reading this as an unbeliever, please cry out to Christ, your only hope of being made right with God!

You spit into the very face of God!

(adapted from Spurgeon's sermon, #964
"The Essence of the Gospel" John 3:18)

Do you not see, O unbeliever, how the matter stands?
The infinite Lord of mercy, that you might not perish,
has devised a wondrous way of salvation, which has
astonished cherubim and seraphim, and made heaven
ring with song; and this you utterly reject!

When you imagine that your church goings and
good works will save you, you set a low estimate
upon what Jesus did. These very actions of yours,
which you think to be good, are setting up an
Antichrist in opposition to Him, upon which He
looks with abhorrence.

God says He will save by Christ, and in no other way!

And so long as you seek salvation another way,
you do as it were, spit into the very face of God
by the insolence of your self righteousness!

That God should send a Savior, His one and
only Son, the Lord of heaven and earth; and
that He should come with testimony of love,
the love of God to sinners, and seal that
testimony with His blood; and that men
should refuse to believe in Him, is the most
monstrous iniquity that could be imagined!

O sinner! Will you spurn almighty love?

Can you turn away from boundless mercy?

You must be infinitely wicked, you must be
enormously, monstrously, diabolically at
enmity with God, or else surely a blessing
so precious you would not slight, a plan of
mercy so adapted to your condition you
could not have the impertinence to reject.

"Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life,
but whoever rejects the Son will not see life,
for God's wrath remains on him." John 3:36

Solemn words! Hear them and tremble!

This is no idle threat!

The Lord has power to fulfill His sentence.

What power have you to resist it?

Who is there that can help you to withstand Him?

You are utterly in His hands, you cannot break
prison and escape. If you climbed up to heaven
He is there; if you dived to hell He is there;
the whole universe is but one great prison
for an enemy of God!

You cannot escape Him, neither can you resist Him.
If your bones were granite and your heart were steel,
His fires would melt down your spirit. Against Him
you can no more stand than the chaff against the
fire, or the dust against the whirlwind.

O that you would feel this and desist from your insane rebellion!

O unbeliever! God is angry with you now. This
statement is no invention of mine, it is written by
the pen of inspiration that "God is angry with the
wicked every day: if he turn not, He will whet His
sword: He has bent His bow, and made it ready."

God is more angry with some of you
than He is with some already in hell!

An angry God holds you over the gulf of hell; justice
demands that you fall into it, and it is nothing but
His mercy that keeps you out of it. He has but to
will it, and before the clock shall tick again, you
who are condemned already would be forever where
the worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched!

God's wrath, though it has not come on you yet, is like
a stream that is dammed up. Every moment it gathers
force, every hour it is swelling the dyke. Each day,
and each moment of each day in which you remain an
unbeliever, you are treasuring up wrath against the
day of wrath when the measure of your iniquity is full.

How earnestly would I persuade you to escape from condemnation!

It is not within the power of thought to conceive what
God's wrath is! No language, even though it should
make both the ears to tingle, can ever fully express it.

I am not one of those who would so delude your poor
souls, O unbelievers, as to make you think it a light
thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

O turn! turn! turn! Why will you die?

Oh, why do you stand out against Jesus, and pull
down upon your heads the wrath of an angry God?

"I will think about it," says one. Think about it!
You will think yourself into hell before long.

Christian Rap Artists interviewed on Albert Mohler Radio Show

Someone pointed me to these interviews and and I just recently found time to listen. Russell Moore (Together for Adoption) sometimes fills in for Al Mohler on his radio show, and has interviewed LeCrae Moore and Flame (Marcus Gray) on two separate occasions.

These men have been redeemed out of the 'hip hop' culture and are sharp, articulate, born again, and growing in grace. I think Marcus Gray is a student at Boyce College. They are creating music that is Christ-exalting and yet the highest quality! What other genre can you learn about terms like the 'hypo-static union', 'expiation', 'propitiation', and more, in such a fun way?

Anyway, chances are if you enjoy hip hop already, you'll enjoy these interviews. But even if you don't like hip hop, I say give them a listen and you may even praise God for gifting His sons in so many various ways! If nothing else it's kind of funny to hear Russell Moore talking about reaching the guy in the car next to you bumping the loud rap music. I didn't agree with all of the contextualization philosophies discussed by Moore, but it was a blessing to hear testimonies from these young men.

Click here for the Lecrae interview on July 16th.
Click here for the Flame interview back in July of 2008.

If you are interested in sampling some of these guys' music, they both have a MySpace where you can here some of their music. My personal favorite is 'Joyful Noise' because it has both of these guys praising Christ in some smoking tandem rhymes!

What is the Gospel?

Here is a summary of the Gospel (the good news) from a resource called Grace Evangelism:

I. God is holy

• He is Creator (Gen 1:1) and Owner (1 Corinthians 10:26) of everything
• He is perfectly holy (1 Peter 1:16; 1 Sam 2:2)
• He requires perfect obedience to His law (Matt. 5:48)

II. Man is guilty

• Everyone has broken God’s law (Rom. 3:10, 23; Mt. 5:21-22, 27-28; James 2:10)
• The penalty for sin is eternal death (Rom. 6:23; Ps 5:5)
• Good works or intentions will not save anyone (Titus 3:5; Isa. 64:6, Eph. 2:8-9)
  

III. Christ is the Savior

• He is God (John 1:1,14; John 10:30; Col 2:9) yet became a sinless man (Heb 4:15)
• He died on the cross to provide salvation (2 Cor 5:21; John 3:16; 1 Pet 2:24; Col 2:13)
• He rose from the grave and is alive today (1 Cor 15:4)
  

IV. Sinners must repent

• Turn from all that dishonors God (Isa 55:6-7, Luke 9:23)
• Turn to Christ, believe in Him as Lord and Savior (Rom 10:9-10)
• Will you repent and believe in Christ or will you remain under His wrath? (Acts 17:30-31, John 3:36)

Man-centered tract

I found a new tract to hand out to hardened criminals in prison. They melt and tear up reading about how special they are. I'm being fecicious of course, but when I found Crossway's tracts when browsing their books/Bibles, this one was striking in it's man-centered approach.

Here are some of the quotes (my comments in green).

• "Believe it or not—no one else is just like you." - I learned this watching Mr Rogers.
  
• "He loves you and me so much; yet how often we go our own way, turning our backs on Him. God’s designs for our lives are then blocked; (emphasis mine.)" - Wow, this statement is stunning! Man is sovereign and can thwart God's designs?!?
  
• "God is not an unfeeling, cold-hearted monarch of the heavens." - unfeeling, cold-hearted no, but He's definitely an absolute monarch. Just ask the de-throned Nebuchadnezzar (Dan 4:34-35)
  
• "the Bible says, 'not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation [full payment] for our sins' (1 John 4:10)." - The 'full payment' in brackets just doesn't seem right. Doesn't propitiation mean satisfying or averting the wrath of God? How can you leave that part out?
  
• "When we trust in Jesus Christ and let Him put our lives together, the Bible says that we become 'God’s masterpieces, created in Christ Jesus' (Ephesians 2:10, paraphrase). Can anyone be more special than that?" - This paraphrase of Eph 2:10 leaves off the 'unto good works' at the end. Are we afraid we'll scare off potential converts if we imply there is a cost to following Christ? (Luke 14:25-26)
  

This tract makes you feel so warm and fuzzy, unbelievers could almost forget they are under God's wrath (John 3:36), apart from God's grace! The seriousness of sin is never communicated, leaving the impression that Christ is just a nice add-on to improve this life. The sad thing is, this was touted as the top-seller on Crossway's website.

God's creation is beautiful and marvelously sophisticated, including mankind. We are 'fearfully and wonderfully made' (Psalm 139:14). But since the fall we have been under a curse. Ephesians 2:1-3 describe us accurately.

A well-known theologian pointed out how Christ used the law as a mirror. He would bring up the ten commandments to show people how they are not good people after all. Rather than flattering them and enticing them with God's abundant love (which is abundant indeed for His elect), sometimes they would go away sorrowful (Matthew 19:16-22), even when they were came to Him searching to take their spirituality to 'the next level'.

On this theme, Jim Elliff has written an article called,"You don't look so good" which has the opposite approach from the 'You're Special' tract. This article is an excerpt from Pursuing God, his great book explaining authentic faith in Christ. You can download the audiobook for free on WayToGod!

Let us love the lost enough to tell them that they don't look so good, at least not from God's perfect perspective. Unlike Mr Rogers, Christ doesn't like us just the way we are. He is infinitely more loving than that!

Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? ... And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. (1 Cor 6:9,11)

Paul Washer Open Air Preaching

This is worth watching multiple times!

Practical Evangelism by Lucas Hanna

Lucas sent me this summary of the message he gave at our Bible Study at work in February. He briefly outlined the Gospel itself doctrinally, but his message this time was intentionally practical in nature ...

We all need tools to accomplish the work we do. When it comes to sharing the gospel we need tools as well. Because without tools, tools that we know how to use and use well, we will find our selves ineffective. These are some of the tools that I teach people how to use at the Shawnee Reformed Presbyterian Church of Shawnee. If you have another tool to use that is great. If you don’t have any tools on your belt of truth, here are some suggestions.

Remember you have the opportunity to effect great advancement in the kingdom of Jesus Christ. The P.R.E.S.S. acronym begins with a commitment to pray, a commitment to choose a few people to pray for, and a commitment to make a little time in your week to spend time with them. A commitment to share the gospel with those you have been praying for, looking for opportunities to expose the non-believer to other Christians. Finally it is a commitment to sponsor the new believer into the kingdom. Your commitment to share the gospel results in a responsibility to teach that person. To see them rooted in truth, and reproducing the work in others that you accomplished in them.

* Pray
* Relate intentionally
* Expose
* Share
* Sponsor

Lucas also shares several resources (tools for your toolbelt) to learn, to help you to be more confident in sharing the Good News with your friends and family. He describes them below.

Share Jesus Without fear by Bill Fay

This is the tool that enables you to simply and clearly present the gospel of Jesus Christ quickly. It is not the whole gospel for the whole man. It is just the basics, just the elementary principles of God, sin, death, mercy, justice, Jesus, and faith. But when you need to share simply and quickly it is a great first step on the lifelong journey of following Jesus.

Life issues (4 Studies on the book of John) by Randy Pope

This is an evangelistic tool we train the people at our church with. It is an excellent resource for someone interested in exploring the claims of Jesus Christ. Very often when you have shared the gospel a person is interested, the Spirit of God is working in them, and they are under conviction but they want to know more. This is a great way to show them Jesus. Each book also gives a very short explanation for basic Christian beliefs.

i.e. ( Is the bible the word of God?, Do all non-Christians deserve eternal punishment?, Is Jesus the only way to God?, and What is required for eternal life?

How to Grow in Christ by Jack Kinneer

This is the absolutely necessary step of follow-up. The new believer must get into a good church where they can be cared for. You must also take the responsibility to make sure they are being trained to grow in Christ. This is an excellent “discipleship” tool. Good for both women and men, simple but very solid. The author was actually my Greek professor in Seminary.