“Repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all the nations…” Luke 24:47 -- This is the GREAT COMMISSION.
"If a backslider was naked in a whorehouse and the rapture came, would he be taken up?" ~Jed Smock
My banner on campus is 1 Corinthians 6:9 and every Christian and non-Christian student finds this offensive. My question to the Christian is this:
Isn't it the job of the Holy Spirit to bring conviction the heart of the sinner through the Word of God? And wasn't 1 Corinthians 6:9 written by the Holy Spirit? John 16:8 describes the ministry of the Holy Spirit "And when He, comes will convict the world concerning sin, and righteousness, and judgment..."
Why would you as a Christian want to quench the Spirit of God? Because it is patently evident that this scripture convicts the college Christian because most of them are slaves to sin and the conviction of the Holy Spirit irritates them. They try to tell me that this is no way to get through to the sinner but this too is a bunch of Bull Shot. The Holy Spirit is not here to comfort the sinner but to convict the sinner - and we do the same when we proclaim what the Spirit has written through the apostles. I have come to the conclusion that Christians on campus are either the biggest morons or living in grave sin because again today; I explained the ministry of the Holy Spirit is to convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgment and first Corinthians 6:9 does that - and they still give me flack?
What Jesus and the Apostles preached - click read Jesus on love
Jesus' first sermon in Matthew 4:17 and Mark 1:15 was "Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand". And Peter's first sermon recorded in Acts 2:38-40 "Repent and let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit... and be saved from this perverse generation". The bible tells us in proverbs that open rebuke is better than secret love and if there was ever a man who knew how to motivate people to changing their ways; it was the creator of man namely Jesus. Often we have to confront the unbeliever with their sinful state before they can become conscious of their spiritual condition and eternal destiny before they can change or else we are merely throwing our pearls before swine. This is why we preach the way we do - not to make friends or build churches but to model our evangelism on that of Jesus and the Apostles.This website has been set up to answer many of the sophisticated questions that we get on campus from students that require a long and protracted answer. (By the way my wife and I work full time and take vacation time to come out on campus and preach - we are self funded.) We don't wish to "snub" anyone by not answering their questions so we post the most common Q & A's on this site. We answer questions on: Is the bible true, proof of God, free will, Calvinism, eternal security, the atonement, holiness, true grace, biblical evangelism, the Trinity, repentance, The Great Commission Luke 24:46, God's love is conditional, proof that God hates the sinner and the sin, philosophical issues defending Christianity, and theological issues to hopefully convince the student that Christianity offers the only reasonable explanation for the origin of the universe and way out of this world into heaven.
We also find it of great importance to discuss economic, political, and contemporary social issues. You students are the future leaders of this nation. You students will reap the consequence in your lives from the current political and economic issues of today. This is your world and if you are not careful to be good stewards of the freedom that has been handed down from our forefathers - you and your posterity will suffer a horrible subjugation of a socialist & communist government that is already stripping you of your rights and prosperity this very minute. Don't believe me? Take a look at the national debt clock. This is your money that the liberal policies of Washington DC have set into motion over the years and if something isn't done soon; your college degree and two dollars won't even get you a cup of coffee - not to mention that the US will cease to exist as a sovereign nation. Yes the socialist programs of welfare have bankrupted this once great land.
Essentially our banner says what Paul said through the Holy Spirit in 1 Corinthians 6:9. Yet many students (especially Christians) ask us "why we don't preach the love of Jesus instead of condemnation; everybody loved Jesus." I hear this from almost all of the Christian hecklers. They tell me that all Paul did was preach "Christ crucified". Did Paul stand up like a broken record and have nothing to say but Christ was crucified? Others will tell us that 1 Cor 6:9 was interpreted wrong.
If you are a student, especially a Christian student - what is love? I'll tell you what God says love is: 1 John 2:5 "But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him".
Did everybody love Jesus? Jesus said in John 7:7 "The world can't hate you but it HATES Me, because I testify of it, that it's deeds are evil". The populous hated Jesus; the ones that followed Him were just a few and those that wanted to be fed. In John 7:7 Jesus was speaking to His disciples before they began their ministries and were filled with the Holy Spirit on Pentecost; but once they were given their ministries the world hated them too. Again in John 17:20 Jesus said "A servant isn't above his master, if they hate his Master they will hate him". And in Luke 21:7 Jesus said "you will be hated by all on My account". And hate them they did. Jesus was murdered along with 11 of His 12 apostles. We see in the book of Acts that the apostles as did Jesus testified of the evil deeds of the world and they were not well received! So as it turns out the real "haters" are not us but those of you who don't want to be told that you are not living up to God's standards!
To briefly answer these two aforesaid complaints 1. Paul did a lot more than merely preach Christ crucified; this may have been the central theme of his gospel message as it is with ours - but Paul talked about a lot of other things such as his warning Felix of righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come; frightening Felix in Acts 24:25. 2. These students who complain about the interpretation of 1 Cor 6:9; what justification do they have for their exegesis of the New Testament viz. 1 Cor 6:9?
Do you think God knows what is best to preach to unbelievers? Psalm 19:7 "The Law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul". Unbelievers need to hear the message of repentance and the righteous standards of God's moral law. We see this in the ministry of Jesus and the apostles; the book of Acts is the record of the apostolic evangelism and the word love does not show up once; however, it is implicit in their preaching repentance and exhorting unbelievers to keep God's word.
Most Christians seem to "camp" on a few "love" scriptures. And when I say "few" I mean only 12. Jesus preached nearly 160 times on damnation, hell, repentance, and judgment; and 12 times on love. The bible instructs us 111 times to fear the LORD; and this is not mere reverence. Jesus qualifies this by telling us "Fear Him who can destroy both body and soul in hell". Most of the time Jesus preached on how we are to love God. Jesus said “The world cannot hate you; but it hates Me because I testify of it, that its deeds are evil.” Again the Christians on campus don't want us to testify of the evil deeds of the world.
Does this tip you off as to why Jesus and His Apostles were murdered; maybe they weren't preaching a message of acceptance and tolerance; but rather one of repentance from sin and the fear of the LORD which the unbelievers and religious people didn't want to hear.
The love Jesus spoke of was conditional. In John 14 & 15 Jesus said "if you love Me you will keep My commandments, and then (bi-conditional) the Father will love you". This is conditional love. The love spoke of in John 3:16 is a general benevolence for all of mankind and wouldn't save a flea. Sure God loved the world but what good does this "unconditional love do for those in hell? God unconditionally loved the world which by logical extension would include Hitler, Stalin, and every evil person in history who is now in hell. It actually does more harm than good to preach this nonsense because it gives the sinner a false sense of security; a felling that God is love and wouldn't dare send anyone to hell.
The book of Acts which is the field manual for the evangelist doesn't once mention the word love; yet the apostles expressed the love of God by calling men to repentance. Like Jesus, we bring the love of discipline; I don't think many people including some Christians know what love is.
Love is not a feeling nor is it accepting someone in their sin; love is desiring the highest and best for an individual. It is exhorting and encouraging them to keep His word; yet to do this you must preach repentance. Often this love requires that we warn our neighbors of their impending doom unless they repent from their sins and put their faith in Christ. We have a benevolence for the students; enough to come to campus and be mocked and ridiculed for telling them a message that has never been popular viz. that men and women must repent of their sins and place faith in Christ and live holy.
Love is not a feeling nor is it accepting someone in their sin; love is desiring the highest and best for an individual. It is exhorting and encouraging them to keep His word; yet to do this you must preach repentance. Often this love requires that we warn our neighbors of their impending doom unless they repent from their sins and put their faith in Christ. We have a benevolence for the students; enough to come to campus and be mocked and ridiculed for telling them a message that has never been popular viz. that men and women must repent of their sins and place faith in Christ and live holy.
Paul was familiar with the responsibility of the watchman"Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men. For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God". Paul knew as a Christian, he was required by God to declare the full counsel of God which includes His wrath to those who don't repent; and the riches of His mercy, love, and grace to those who repent of their sins.
We don’t come to campus to condemn but to warn the students of the terror of the Lord. The bible says in John 3:18 that the students were condemned before we showed up on campus “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”
By the way, God makes a clear distinction throughout the bible between lip service and true belief. True belief works its way out in obedience. Jesus said in John 14:21 “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father" (conditional love).
But people don't understand that this is the love of God: that we warn you of the terror of the Lord and the judgement to come. Jesus knew that most of mankind was on the road to perdition and the most loving act is to warn men of the destruction to come unless they repent. Jesus said “Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide, and the way is broad that leads to destruction” Matthew 7:13 Jesus also said “not everyone who says ‘Lord Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven”, He also said “Many are called but few are chosen” Jesus’ very first sermon was “Repent and believe the gospel” Matthew 4:17. This isn't the "love" that most Christians have in mind, but these words are from the lips of Christ.
Most of the church today would probably condemn Jesus if they heard Him preach and call Him a legalist or hate monger. Yet Jesus during His 3 year ministry thought that preaching repentance and warning men of eternal damnation was the most loving message He could preach. Additionally He said that He spoke on that which the Father told Him to speak. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom which entails love. As Machiavelli wrote: "The people must first fear the prince before they can love him..." (paraphrased).
This is why Jesus spoke as He did; men are to approach God with fear and trembling and this is often mentioned in the New Testament as well as the Old Testament. Jesus didn't say God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life; He said "Fear the One who can destroy both body and soul in hell". The Law of the Lord is perfect unto converting the soul; not preaching unconditional love. Maybe this is why the churches are dominated by the unconverted today.
This wouldn't surprise me, most of modern Evangelicalism has long departed from preaching the full counsel of God; and this is borne out in a divorce rate that mirrors the world, the abortion rate among Evangelicals is staggering; 50% of pastors surveyed have pornography problems. I know a staff member at one of the Mega Churches in the Phoenix area; he says that 90% of the young pre-married couples that he counsels are sleeping together. Yet the ministers will not let go of the ear tickling unconditional love sermons that fill the churches and pay the rent. Unfortunately, most pastors are "small businessmen" and are interested in church growth and approval from their members; add a large mortgage payment to the equation and the pastors in these large churches are at the mercy of the tithers. The paradigm shift of the church in the 70's went from holiness, obedience, and sanctification to motivational speaking, prosperity messages and seeker friendly messages that have in effect emasculated the gospel.
The entire theme of the bible is God’s warning of eternal damnation and that men should repent and change their ultimate destinies – this is the love of God. What our critics call love is really tolerance and acceptance of sinful behavior; but as you read the bible, God is not tolerant of sin or disobedience. What greater love is there than to warn someone of their impending doom if they don’t repent from their sins?
If you were a dermatologist and you saw some skin cancer on your patient’s nose and you didn’t tell her about it because you didn’t want to ruin her modeling career or offend her; would you be acting in love? Especially if a year later, instead of having to remove the tip of her nose, she now has to have her entire nose removed? I would say that most Christians today are more concerned about people liking them and building churches than they are about warning their fellow man of the terror of the Lord. They would rather see you spend eternity in hell than get some egg on their faces by preaching an unpopular (but true) message. Jesus said "woe to you when all men speak well of you". If we were loved and adored by the students; I would have to stop and make sure that I was preaching what Christ commands us to preach.
Paul wrote "knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men" 2 Cor 5:11. Solomon wrote “open rebuke is better than secret love” Prov 27:5, and in Ecclesiastes 12:11 it says “The words of the wise are like goads…” Goads were sharp stakes that were fastened to the front of an ox cart; when the ox would kick too far back, he would be poked by the goad. This goading was a painful process but it taught the ox to walk the straight and narrow. God's word is to goad the unbeliever and comfort the Christian. When the sinner acknowledges his or her sinfulness and repents (commits to ceasing from sin presently and in the future); then we will preach God's mercy and grace.
But when people aren’t living up to God’s standards - they don’t want to hear it, even though this goading is for their own good. Most Christians on campus give us the most trouble because we have listed the sins that they live in and they don't want anyone to tell them that it is not OK. They want to believe that since they are under grace, God will let them get away with their sins, just as long as they have bible study and attend church. I wish more Christians today had the love for God to put their pride and lives on the line and show the love of Christ, warn their neighbors of the eternal damnation that awaits them unless they repent from their sins. God commands that we be watchmen and warn the unbelieving world.
What about our banner? We are addressing the sins that are common to college students. Christians on campus say that Jesus and the Apostles would have never preached this way… Let’s look at what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 6:9: “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Don’t be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, shall inherit the kingdom of God.” But the Christian students will say that Paul was speaking to the church in this passage. True but this reasoning they employ would entail that none of the New Testament could be preached or shared with unbelievers since it was written to the church, and I find this hard to accept.
Additionally Paul tells us that his ministry was to call the unbeliever to repentance; couldn't we build a cogent argument that he preached against the sins of his day to the unbelievers?
Wouldn't Paul have had to address the sins common to his audience in order to instruct his listeners what they need to repent from? Here are Paul’s own words: “Consequently, King Agrippa, I did not prove disobedient to the heavenly vision but kept declaring both to those of Damascus first, and also at Jerusalem and then throughout all the region of Judea, and even to the Gentiles that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds appropriate to repentance .” Acts 26:19-20.
For the young Christians that don't like us calling masturbation a sin; I would refer you to the scriptures where Jesus says "Any man that lusts over a woman has committed adultery or fornication in his heart". This would entail masturbation as well - unless you can masturbate without thinking about a woman in which case I would give you a psychiatric referral. The term sodomy entails masturbation as well as homosexuality and oral sex-even among married Christians. The Christians on campus constantly argue with us about our banner and style of preaching; they claim that it is not biblical and is unchristian. We have been around long enough to know better than this. These young Christians don't like the banner because most of them are committing the sins that we list and they don't want to feel convicted of their sins. They have fallen for a false message of grace and somehow think that God doesn't mind their sinning; yet the bible tells us that the grace of God has appeared teaching all men to say no to sin. Grace is not God's relenting from His hatred of sin; grace is the power to live above sin. According to Paul in Romans 6, any Christian who sins daily is not standing in the grace of God.
Allow me to list what Jesus and His Apostles preached to give you a better understanding of God’s love for the world. Remember that from Noah to Paul, and all the prophets in between; these men were preachers of righteousness and had a heart for leading the lost back to repentance and faith in God.
- Jesus’ first sermon “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” Matthew 4:17
- Jesus gives the Great Commission “repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all the nations…” Luke 24:47
- Peter’s first sermon “Repent, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins…Be saved from this perverse generation” Acts2:38-40
- Peter’s preaching “Repent therefore and return, that your sins may be wiped away…” Acts 3:19
- Paul’s preaching “…God is now commanding all men everywhere that men should repent because He has fixed a day when He will judge the world…” Acts 17:30-31
- Paul’s boldness “how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly from house to house, solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.” Acts 20:20-21
- Paul’s ministry purpose “Consequently, King Agrippa, I did not prove disobedient to the heavenly vision but kept declaring both to those of Damascus first, and also at Jerusalem and then throughout all the region of Judea, and even to the Gentiles that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds appropriate to repentance .” Acts 26:19
- Peter on God’s love “…Not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9
- Jesus’ final words to the church “As many as I love I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent.” Revelation 3:19
I close with a word from the wisest man who ever lived: Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep His commandments; for this applies to every man. (Ecclesiastes 12:13) - Solomon
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