Seven Deadly Trappings of Evangelism
- Posted by: Todd
- Posted on: Wed, August 03, 2005
- Viewed 192
- (41) comments so far
#1 The Sinner?s Prayer ? The gates of hell have a special entrance reserved for people who thought that they had a ?ticket to heaven? because someone told them all they needed to do was recite the ?sinner?s prayer.? Salvation, however, is not obtained by reciting a magical incantation as many, many, ?Christians? will discover after it's far, far, too late.
#2 The Altar Call ? In the 1820?s evangelist Charles Finney introduced the ?anxious seat,? a front pew left vacant where at the end of the meeting ?the anxious may come and be addressed particularly?and sometimes be conversed with individually.? At the end of his sermon, he would say, ?There is the anxious seat; come out, and avow determination to be on the Lord?s side.? The problem with this approach, as theologian J.I. Packer, explains is that,
The gospel of God requires an immediate response from all; but it does not require the same response from all. The immediate duty of the unprepared sinner is not to try and believe on Christ, which he is not able to do, but to read, enquire, pray, use the means of grace and learn what he needs to be saved from. It is not in his power to accept Christ at any moment, as Finney supposed; and it is God?s prerogative, not the evangelist?s, to fix the time when men shall first savingly believe. For the latter to try and do so, by appealing to sinners to begin believing here and now, is for man to take to himself the sovereign right of the Holy Ghost. It is an act of presumption, however creditable the evangelist?s motive?s may be. Hereby he goes beyond his commission as God?s messenger; and hereby he risks doing incalculable damage to the souls of men. If he tells men they are under obligation to receive Christ on the spot, and demands in God?s name that they decide at once, some who are spiritually unprepared will try to do so; they will will come forward and accept directions and ?go through the motions? and go away thinking they have received Christ, when all the time they have not done so because they were not yet able to do so. So a crop of false conversions will result from making such appeals, in the nature of the case. Bullying for ?decisions? thus in fact impedes and thwarts the work of the Holy Spirit in the heart. Man takes it on himself to try to bring that work to a precipitate conclusion, to pick the fruit before it is ripe; and the result is ?false conversions,? hypocrisy and hardening. ?For the appeal for immediate decision presupposes that men are free to ?decide for Christ? at any time; and this presupposition is the disastrous issue of a false, un-Scriptural view of sin.
#3 ?Do you know Jesus as?? -- In the fall of 1987 I began my freshman year of college. I was far from home, overwhelmed and lonely on a campus of 20,000 students. While sitting alone in the cafeteria one afternoon, an older student walked up, smiled and asked if he could join me. I was starved for conversation and thrilled to have the company. He sat his tray down in front of mine and took a seat as I prepared to engage him in a heady discussion of his choosing. Politics, philosophy, science. I was mentally preparing for anything he threw at me.
Glancing up from his plate of spaghetti, he asked, ?Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior??
For a few seconds I was stunned, completely at a loss for a response. ?Um, yeah, actually I have.? I finally managed in reply.
?Oh,? he said, visibly disappointed. ?Okay, that?s good.? He wore a look of minor defeat. He had chosen the wrong table; no soul would be won for Christ over this lunch. We chatted politely while I finished my burger. He ate quickly and excused himself. After that lunch, I never saw him again.
This is one question that needs never be asked for it shows (a) you do not know the person well enough, (b) the answer is ?yes? and the person is a lousy Christian, or (c) the answer is ?no? in which case you just activated their Fundie-alert system and caused them to switch their brains into ?ignore? mode. Instead of asking about a ?personal savior? you might want to simply try to get to know the person.
#4 Tribulationism -- Ask a non-believer to give a rudimentary explanation of ?the Rapture? and chances are they can provide a fairly accurate description of that concept. Ask the same person to give a basic explanation of the Gospel message, though, and they are likely to be stumped. The reason for this curious state of affairs is that evangelicals have promoted what I refer to as "Tribulationism" ? an overemphasis on eschatology that overshadows the Gospel. I?m sure that somewhere in the three dozen novels that comprise the Left Behind series the Gospel message is presented. But there is something horribly wrong when the greatest story ever told is buried beneath a third-rate tale of the apocalypse.
#5 Testimonies ? The story about how the ?hound of Heaven? chased you down and gnawed on your leg until you surrendered is undoubtedly a story that would make for a gripping movie of the week on Lifetime. Keep in mind, though, that you are only a bit player in that story and that the main part goes to the Divine Protagonist. In fact, He already has a pretty good story so why not just tell that one instead.
#6 Witnessing ? Evangelism isn?t a form of Multi-Level Marketing. If you want to sell something door-to-door make it Amway products not the ?Good News.? If you want to ?witness for Christ? do what Christ did and love other people. Especially the ?unlovable? ? the smelly, unbathed men down at the mission, the annoying kids at church, the bonehead who cuts you off in traffic. In the context of the Christian life, ?witness? should be a noun more often than a verb.
#7 Chick Tracts -- Chick Tracts are a tool of the devil. ?Nuff said.
The term ?evangelism? derives from the greek word evangel ? ?good news.? So it?s rather odd how so much evangelism appears to be about ?selling? Jesus and hoping that you can convince the unsaved heathen to ?buy? into salvation. This was the way I had been taught during Vacation Bible School classes at the First Baptist Church of Fire and Brimstone. Pass out Chick tracts, recite the canned ?how to get saved? speech, get them to say the sinner?s prayer. Above all, close the deal. They may die at any time and their souls would be lost to eternal damnation if I didn?t ?make the sell.? At eight years old I was a cross between Billy Graham and Willy Loman.
Whenever I began to seriously read the Gospels, though, I noticed something strange. People constantly flocked to Jesus despite the fact that he never passed out a single tract. He would walk up to people and say ?Follow me? and the next thing you know they're giving up their lives to follow him around the countryside.
The people responded to Jesus the way they did because he is God. He is what our hearts have always been seeking. When we come face to face with him we may accept or reject him. But we can?t not know him. Calvin claimed that there is an awareness or sense of God (sensus divinitatis) implanted in all people by nature. The context of this universally distributed belief being rather minimal: there is a God, He is the Creator, and that He ought to be worshipped. The Gospel, though, fills in the essential details.
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As many of you know, I really enjoy ‘thinking pieces’… you know… things that really make you think. Well, this one from the Evangelical Outpost did. See what you ‘think’: There are seven ‘fixtures of evangelism’ that I find particularly harmful. None of them are inherently pernicious (well, except for #7) but they have a tendency to be used in ways that are counterproductive to their intended purposes. The seven fixtures are…
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Don Solin on Mon, August 08, 2005
kd,
I don’t feel attacked, and I am not attacking anyone. Dialog is good for all. Maybe some can’t handle straight shooters… but I can assure you—I am not attacking BeHim. Now, if there are some that get a rise out of a little salt in the conversation—tough cookies. Unity comes through the ability to disagree and not say it the way others “want” it to be said…Unity is why diversity is valuable.
bernie dehler on Mon, August 08, 2005
Franklin says:
“Tracts are effective in opening the door to share the gospel, andif theyhave a real gospel mesage are good to give out.”
I think the article’s author had a problem, not with tracts, but with CHICK tracts, specifically. For good tracts, I’d say check out: http://www.atstracts.org
...Bernie
http://www.freegoodnews.com
kd on Mon, August 08, 2005
Don said:...Unity is why diversity is valuable. That’s beautiful! Thanks.
Don Solin on Mon, August 08, 2005
Kd,
You are welcome—I’m really “with and for” the right stuff! I care deeply and passionatly!
Don
bernie dehler on Mon, August 08, 2005
Don says:
“we just want to pay are 10% if that and feel good today… you paid guys do the work,,,”
That’s the fruit of the church’s false teaching on tithing, when they should be teaching stewardship (100% of time, treasure, talent belongs to God; not just 10% of treasure). Too many churches are self-destructing and self-limited because of their own false teaching, I think.
...Bernie
http://www.freegoodnews.com
BeHim on Mon, August 08, 2005
Don thank you for clarifying and I’m sorry to hear of the struggles with this congregation. Doctrine and Deed are equally important as we’ll be judged by both.
Perhaps they were being fed incorrectly (incorrect doctrine will not produce good fruit or even any fruit) or perhaps their are misguided expectations (sometimes what I want done in the ministry is not what they feel led to do in the ministry or worse, it’s not what God wanted done). I would hope that both doctrine and deed are equally important unto fruit but I wonder if they understand the doctrine of the priesthood of all Believers (as this reveals responsabilities of all Believers as unto the Lord).
I have, as a Believer, a responsability to my Lord to be able to give an account always for the Hope that is in me and to conduct myself in the manner worthy of Christ.
There’s nothing wrong with asking people what Church they go to and if they would like to visit my church on Aug 21 as we’ll be having a peaceful time of prayer and fellowship. Or, asking the waitress or waiter if they have something they would like me to pray for when I ask for the blessing on my food. There are many ways to open doors and reach out to people.
What I find most often however is that people do not “do” (deed) because they are not prepared to give an account for the Hope that is in them. They are not equipped to provide an answer - that many times they feel they don’t know enough to provide an answer.
This may not be the case with your group. I agree that if fruits are not evident in a Believers life, it’s suspicious.
I also believe that you, Don, are being faithful in what you’re called to do and in the end, that is what you’ll have to answer for.
Jesus told Peter to feed His Sheep and not to worry what would be of the other apostle when Peter asked (what about him Lord).
Sometimes, we should just annouce it to the gathering and leave that work of the heart to the Lord and respond to our calling as we would hope they would - faithfully.
Don, it sounds like you’re being faithful and I exhort you to continue. As for the others??? Pray for them, preach the Word and make mention of fruits and allow God to work on their lives (conduct). But you, continue being faithful. If they are not or will not, they’ll have to answer for their idle time.
The Lord bless you my friend and may we grow in the Grace and Knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Kd - I too don’t feel I was attacked and if I came across harsh to Don or anyone else, I’m sorry, it was not my intent only an observation. Please forgive my offense.
Stanley Smith on Tue, August 09, 2005
Looking at the scriptures The Preaching of the Gospel has an intended result. The Gospel of the Kingdom of God, the things concerning Jesus Christ-for he came to die for our sins/His Blood was shed, he died, was buried and rose from the dead; His resurrection; Again, The Preaching of the Gospel has an Intended Result. Preached in Faith it brought people to repentance, they then acted in obedience to be Baptized in Water for the remission of their sins and they received the infilling of the Holy Ghost. Jesus, Peter, Paul, Phillip were the Evangelist we should pattern ourselve after. Their preaching resulting in people being coverted. People were healed and demons were cast out! Anything less will lead people astray! After we confess with our mouths and believe in our hearts then we should obey the teachings of Jesus Christ. Luke 13:3 Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish, John 3rd Chapter-Except a man (person) is born of the water and of the Spirit, he can not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Mark 16th Chapter He that believes and is Baptized shall be saved. Romans 8th chapter—If you have not the Spirit of Christ you are none of His!
Many TV Preachers have people pray a sinners prayer. In this medium they must at least lead the people into repentance and instruct them to obey the scriptures to be baptized for the Remission of their sins and to Receive the Baptism of the Holy Ghost. This is not heavy handed evangelism, but deliberate and purposeful preaching.
If you really mean business with God, examine the scriptures and their record of Evangelism.
Stanley Smith
Stanley Smith on Tue, August 09, 2005
Addendum: Many churches start equipping and discipling before the conversion which is misleading. The Holy Ghost is the regenerating force that we receive. Remember harvest the souls first. On the day of Pentecost there were no New Testament Structures called churches. After Peter’s first sermon 3,000 believed and were Baptized. His 2nd sermon 5,000 believed. So after the gatheing of the souls came Church Order, The Assembly Elders became responsible for feeding and nurturing the now existant flock. Members in the body of Christ have different roles.
Evangelism is for gathering/harvesting. Pastoring is for feeding, nurturing, developing and sending forth to duplicate again! I understand what we are saying. the is a such a thing as a Word Church, Evangelistic Church, Praise & Worship Church. We have to have a balance of these Emphasis and we will get the Job Done!
Stanley Smith
Don A. Elbourne Jr. on Thu, August 18, 2005
Tom wrote, “It only takes a look at the demoninations (sic) that are primarily Calvinist in doctrine and what you will see is a denomination that is either dead and or dying.”
Actually Tom, one of the fastest (if not the fastest) denomination in America is the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA). They are thoroughly Calvinistic, evangelistic, very much alive and thriving.
http://www.pcanet.org/
BeHim on Sat, August 20, 2005
Well said Don Elbourne.
Like it or not, Total Depravity, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement, Irrisistible Grace and Perseverance of the Saints are ALL Sound Biblical Teachings, all founded on The Sovereignty of God and have been taught throughout ALL generations, from Genesis to Revelation and today. These dogmatic doctrines have stood the test of time and have faced every obstacle known to man.
Let God be True and every man a liar. Romans 3:4
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