Evangelism

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Listen To Your Heart?

hrtI’ve often heard people say that they’re not worried about their sins; they just do what their hearts tell them to do. I’ve even heard burly bikers say sappy stuff about their pure hearts. Where do people get that, and why do so many believe that? Could it be that it has been pounded into our heads hundreds of times?

Here are a few select lines from various songs. On this list is music from nearly every genre, for every age group.

  • Phil Collins – Trust your heart. Let fate decide, to guide these lives we see.
  • Stevie Wonder – Why second guess what feels so right? Just trust your heart and you’ll see the light. True to your heart, you must be true to your heart.
  • Lynard Skynard – Follow your heart and nothing else.
  • Melissa Etheridge- I have come this far with a truth of the heart.
  • New Radicals – This whole d___ world can fall apart. You’ll be okay; follow your heart.
  • Smokin’ Armadillos – Let your heart lead your mind.
  • Ultravox – Follow, follow your heart.
  • Triumph – You’ve got to follow your heart.
  • Judy Collins – Trust your heart.
  • The Stylistics – Listen to your heart, hear what it’s saying.
  • Motorhead – Listen to your heart.
  • Little Feat – Listen to your heart.
  • Jennifer Love Hewitt – Listen to your heart.
  • Roxette – Listen to your heart.
  • Reba McEntire – The heart won’t lie.
  • Thumbelina cartoon – When you follow your heart, when you follow your heart.
  • Sonic Underground cartoon – When there’s people in your life trying to tell you what is right, what do you do? Listen to your heart, girl. Do you take a brand new road or the one you’ve always known? Am I getting through? Listen to your heart, girl. ‘Cause the heart’s not gonna lie to you. Listen to your heart, girl. And I know you’ll always be hearing the truth if you listen to your heart.

Music has a profound effect on people. Tunes get stuck in our heads. People memorize lyrics. Many listen to the radio all day long at work. Certainly the doctrines found in music will end up being adopted by a certain percentage of people.

The Bible has a few different things to say about our hearts and how we should make decisions.

Jeremiah 17:9: The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?

Proverbs 21:2: Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the heart.

Proverbs 14:12: There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.

Proverbs 3:5: Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.
Proverbs 28:26: Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered.

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Refuting the cry of “Make Jesus Lord Today!”

Have you ever heard one of these “preachers” as they stand there and try to sound all hip and cool and relevant by saying that you should “Make Jesus Lord today!!!” That is about one of the most unbiblical statements a person can make. We don’t “make” Jesus Lord–

HE ALREADY IS!!!!!!!!

Acts 2:36-“Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” Over 100 times in the New Testament, Jesus is called “LORD.” Philippians 2:11—…and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ IS LORD… Friend, you CANNOT be saved WITHOUT confessing Jesus Christ as Lord. Romans 10:9—IF you confess Jesus Christ as LORD, and believe in your heart God raised Him from the dea, you will be saved. Does Paul say “If you confess Jesus Christ as savior” you will be saved? NO. He says, “If you confess Him as LORD” you will be saved. See that? We don’t make Jesus Lord–we confess that he IS Lord!!!!!!!!!

Here is Dr. John MacArthur exposing the error that is taught throughout modern American evangelicalism today.

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Evangelism That Works?

I’ve seen Google ads for Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University that promote the program with this line: Evangelism that works.
ramseyad2
I recently took the class, and I can definitely recommend it for its solid financial training. However, I’d say to advertise it as evangelism that works is to demonstrate a lack of understanding of evangelism.

In the course, Ramsey certainly talks about the Bible and gives applications for Scripture verses, but that isn’t evangelism. Evangelism isn’t getting people to come to your church, or pointing out to them that biblical principles about finances are relevant to their lives.

Evangelism is proclaiming the gospel, and that means explaining to people that:

  • God is holy, we are sinners, and God can’t allow sinners into heaven.
  • God made a way to not compromise His justice yet forgive people’s sins through Jesus Christ.

I think Ramsey is trying to appeal to the fear of evangelism that most of us have in abundance. If you can’t work up the nerve to actually witness to someone, maybe you can invite them to an event at your church. Once you get them there, you don’t have to actually share the gospel; you just have to play videos.

I recommend Ramsey’s books and products for their financial advice, but I can’t recommend them for evangelism purposes. If you invested the two hours a week in going out witnessing, you could almost certainly witness to many more people than you would if you held a Financial Peace University at which you actually proclaimed the gospel.

People don’t get saved by hanging around with really likable Christians or learning that the Bible is cool. They can only be saved by hearing the gospel (Romans 10:14), and there simply is no gospel message within the materials of the Financial Peace University. As desperately as we try to avoid it, the cold, hard fact is that Christians must actually open their mouths and explain the gospel.

—–Update—–8/18/09—–

I’ve been thinking about the line “Evangelism that works” and it’s been bothering me. Even if there was evangelism in Ramsey’s materials, we don’t select our evangelism based on what works. We do what the Bible says, regardless of the results. Furthermore, we don’t do it expecting results, but because God has commanded it.

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Quotes (570)

j_elliot

“You would have loved the communion service we had during that weekend…After a few opening remarks we began to pray and sing familiar hymns as different ones led. [Ed] McCully broke the bread and gave thanks for the cup. It took a long time for the single cup and plate to get around to 180 people, so we sang as it was passed, ‘Spirit of God Descend Upon My Heart,’ ‘When I Survey the Wondrous Cross,’ Amazing Grace,’ ‘O Love That Will Not Let Me Go,’ ‘Crown Him With Many Crowns,’ etc. Hardly a soul that wasn’t moved to worship. Oh, why cannot the Spirit lead us more often thus? How long shall we trust in man’s programming to accomplish the work of His Spirit in men’s souls?”

–Jim Elliott, 1949

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It’s a Free Country

I can’t believe some of the things Americans are saying to me. They sound like they’re from downtown Stalingrad, doing their best to toe the party line.

  • “You can’t say things that might offend people.”
  • “You can’t tell people they’re going to hell.”
  • “You can’t call people sinners.”
  • “The right to free speech doesn’t mean the right to hate speech.”
  • “You’ve been standing here talking to people for 25 minutes. That means you’re loitering, and you have to leave.”

As a Christian, I feel a duty to lovingly and rationally attempt to convince everyone that they are sinners deserving only of hell. This makes the gospel all the more beautiful to tell. However, as Americans, whose rights come from God, we have the right to say what we think—especially if someone else takes offense, or thinks it’s hateful. In fact, even “loud” and “boisterous…religious harangue” is constitutionally protected speech (see Edwards v. South Carolina, 372 U.S. 229, 233 [1963]).

cnstnOur freedoms come from God. Thousands of American soldiers have died defending our rights. These rights are precious. I love it when Americans of whatever belief peacefully exercise and defend their rights. I would never insist that someone exercising their free speech rights be hauled off to jail.

The people who want others not to have the right to free speech are really being very selfish. They insist on certain rights for themselves, but when someone else does something they don’t like, they want that individual’s rights stripped away immediately. If enough people are only concerned about themselves, soon enough none of us will have any freedoms.

I find it hard to understand why some Americans who are so eager to give up their rights or take away others’ rights. The people of Iran, for example, don’t have free speech or freedom of the press. Their recent protest of the outcome of their election caused the Iranian government to kick out the press, and who knows how many protesters were injured by the state police. It’s sad to me to see Iranians yearning for freedom while Americans squander their freedom. I pray that the Iranians will someday have the freedom of the press and the free speech that we have.

Last weekend we celebrated Independence Day and the physical and political liberties we enjoy. I hope that every Christian will boldly exercise his or her God-given right to free speech, and take the time to proclaim the message of spiritual freedom—the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Jesus said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18-19).

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Aaron Shafovaloff on Mormonism vs. the Supremacy of Christ

jenga

(I think the above picture–the game of Jenga™–is an appropriate metaphor for Mormonism. Pull one piece out and the whole shebang falls into a million little pieces)

Aaron Shafovaloff, who runs the blog over at Mormonism Research Ministries, shares a testimony on the Supremacy of Christ at the Manti Evangelism training seminar. He shares why he likes to share his testimony with Mormon missionaries, and how to use that to witness to them (from Mormon Coffee).

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The Watchtower’s Struggle with Being Born Again

April 1, 2009 Watchtower

April 1, 2009 Watchtower

I’ve read some past Watchtower magazine articles in an attempt to verify the Jehovah’s Witness teaching about what it means to be born again. I’ve found their teaching on this is truly inadequate. In discussions with Jehovah’s Witnesses, I’ve tried to explain the biblical meaning of born again in many ways. During our conversations, none of my questions regarding the shortcomings of their teaching have been answered.

I was excited when I discovered the April 1 Watchtower cover story was about being born again. I hoped that maybe the writers would attempt to fill in some of the gaps in the teaching. Unfortunately, this article is nothing more than a rehash of articles I’ve already read.

These are some of the questions that remain unanswered concerning the teaching:

  1. The non-144,000 JWs are not born again. 1 John 5:1 says that everyone who believes Jesus is the Messiah is born again. How can JWs not be born again, yet profess to believe that Jesus is the Messiah?
  2. The non-144,000 JWs are not considered children of God. I agree that unless you are born again, you are not a child of God. I don’t think the average JW knows that the Watchtower teaches that he or she isn’t a child of God. If they’re not children of God, whose children are they? I believe they remain children of the devil.
  3. If being born again means having been raised from spiritual death to spiritual life (Ephesians 2:1), and most JWs aren’t spiritually alive, they must still be spiritually dead. Does that not concern them?
  4. Jesus said that one will not see the kingdom of God unless he or she is born again (John 3:3). Wouldn’t the paradise earth that most JWs aspire to be considered part of the kingdom of God? They won’t even see paradise earth without being born again.

Every time I’ve tried to discuss this with a Jehovah’s Witness, he or she attempts to change the subject to why he or she is satisfied with paradise earth, and why only the 144,000 are born again. Those are interesting topics to discuss, but I’ve tried to keep the conversation on the topic at hand: If you’re not born again, what are you?

In the Bible, some Jews claimed to be children of God, because they were children of Abraham (John 8:41). Jesus corrected their thinking, telling them that they were in fact children of the devil (John 8:44).

The reality is that for Jehovah’s Witnesses (and everyone else who is not born again), there are only two choices: Either you are reborn as a child of God, or you remain a child of the devil.

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Why we do what we do (2)

jenga

The following video features Sandra Tanner who, with her late husband Jerald, founded Utah Lighthouse Ministries (www.utlm.org) and has helped to bring many people out of the darkness of the LDS system.

For anybody who still wonders why we do what we do at DefCon, and are still not convinced that we do any good by exposing the wolves for what they are, I bear you this testimony (via Mormon Coffee) from our dear sister in Christ, at a conference for Christians who will be sharing the truth with Mormons at the 2009 Manti Festival in Utah:

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Africa desperately needs help with combating cults.

I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock . . . – Acts 20:29

Source: Africa Center for Apologetics Research

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See related posts:

Charismania unrestrained: Africa’s witch children

The Hell-bound false prophetess Helen Ukpabio of Liberty Gospel Church in Nigeria

Sam and Esther: The least of these

Who they were then, and who they are now

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Praying the Sinner’s Prayer on the Road to Hell??

As you watch this video, consider the verses and the testimonies of these men. Are you TRULY in the faith or have you believed a lie of the greatest proportions? Is your trust in something YOU did or something YOU prayed instead of in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary?

HT: Perilous Times

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“As an Atheist, I truly believe Africa needs God.”

africa Atheist Matthew Parris wrote an interesting piece entitled As an Atheist, I truly believe Africa needs God. Here’s one quote from his article:

Now a confirmed atheist, I’ve become convinced of the enormous contribution that Christian evangelism makes in Africa: sharply distinct from the work of secular NGOs, government projects and international aid efforts. These alone will not do. Education and training alone will not do. In Africa Christianity changes people’s hearts. It brings a spiritual transformation. The rebirth is real. The change is good.

HT Grace Blog

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Should All Christians Witness?

Preaching the gospel

Preaching the gospel

I have been challenged by a commenter on this post to explain why I say every Christian has been commanded to proclaim the gospel. I appreciate his challenge, because it has motivated me to further my understanding of what the Bible teaches about evangelism.

The Great Commission
I had been faced with the objection that the Great Commission was only to the 11 disciples in the past. If you think it through, and take what Jesus said in context, you’ll see that this commission was given to every Christian.

Jesus commanded the 11 disciples to go and make disciples. Then, He told the disciples to teach the new disciples to obey everything He commanded them to do.

Here are some of the things Jesus commanded the disciples to do:

  1. Believe in Him (John 6:29).
  2. Take up your cross (Matt 10:38).
  3. Seek first the kingdom of God (Matt 6:33).
  4. Go and make disciples (Matt. 28:19).
  5. Teach the new disciples to do everything on this list (Matt 28:20).

Clearly, the new disciples should be taught to make disciples, unless someone can explain why the command to go and make disciples isn’t included in everything Jesus commanded them to do.

The Office of Evangelist
The commenter made another point that evangelists are the only ones who should preach the gospel among the unsaved. One problem is that there are only three verses in the New Testament that use the word evangelist: Ephesians 4:11, 2 Timothy 4:5, and Acts 21:8. There is very little explanation offered as to what an evangelist specifically does, and to be dogmatic about one’s favored explanation seems presumptuous.

One thing we do know is that the job of the evangelist is to prepare God’s people for works of service (Eph. 4:11–12). This would indicate to me that one of the principal jobs of an evangelist is to lead God’s people in their evangelism efforts and train them in evangelism.

One Body, Many Parts
It’s true that not every Christian holds the office of evangelist. Does that mean that only those who are evangelists should evangelize? Think about it this way: We’re all commanded to pray. No one can say that he or she shouldn’t pray because that individual doesn’t have the gift of prayer. Likewise, we’re all commanded to evangelize. There is no such thing as the gift of prayer, and there is no such thing as the gift of evangelism. We have the privilege of both prayer and evangelism.

Did All Christians in the Bible Witness?
There are a limited number of stories of lay Christians preaching in the New Testament. Most of the accounts of evangelism involve Paul, Peter, Philip, and other early church leaders. However, this doesn’t mean that they were the only ones who spread the gospel.

In Philippians 1:14, Paul says, “And that most of the brethren, trusting in the Lord because of my imprisonment, have far more courage to speak the word of God without fear.”

After Stephen was stoned, persecution was on the rise, and all except the apostles (Acts 8:1) were scattered from Jerusalem. “Therefore, those who had been scattered went about preaching the word” (Acts 8:4).

How Can You Keep the Gospel to Yourself?
Those of us who have had our sins forgiven by God’s grace and mercy and will spend eternity in heaven have understood the greatest news in the history of mankind, and we have been made eternal beneficiaries of it. If we have truly received such a glorious gift, how can we keep it to ourselves? The joy it inspires must be evident in our lives—and spread to others. In Luke 8:16, Jesus said, “Now no one after lighting a lamp covers it over with a container, or puts it under a bed; but he puts it on a lampstand, so that those who come in may see the light.”

We will spend eternity with the One we pray to, the One we worship, and the One whose Word we read. This short life is our only opportunity to tell the unsaved about the glorious gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

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Young Girl With More Guts Than Most Christian Men

There is little doubt that it takes guts to step out of our comfort zone to proclaim the gospel. Several men in my church have admitted to me that they’re just too scared to go out witnessing. It’s all right to be scared. It’s not all right to let your fear cause you to be disobedient.

If a little 13 year-old British girl can witness to college kids, surely the rest of us can. Here’s a documentary on a big British family. Deborah is able to get the gospel out on British national television several times.

It’s about 45 minutes to an hour long, but it’s worth watching. You can watch the remaining portions by clicking on “Continue Reading »”

Continue reading →

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John MacArthur on Mark Driscoll – Part 2

As a follow up to the original piece John MacArthur on Mark Driscoll there has been a flurry of recent activity on several fronts addressing what seems to be fast becoming a latter day Great Downgrade Controversy of sorts.

Recently Phil Johnson, director of Grace to You, editor of several of John MacArthur’s books, co-pastor of the Grace Life Pulpit at Grace Community Church, webmaster of The Spurgeon Archive, and blogmaster of Pyromaniacs preached a scathing Biblical indictment against the “pornification of the pulpit” entitled “Sound Doctrine, Sound Words” at the 2009 Shepherd’s Fellowship Conference.

Now Dr. John MacArthur has weighed in on this important and timely issue in a series of four articles entitled “THE RAPE OF SOLOMON’S SONG” which zeroes in on the gross, heinous, and wholly unbiblical perversion of scripture perpetrated by Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church.

Continue reading →