Truth is ancient; it's grey hairs may make it venerable;
it comes from Him who is the ancient of days. --Thomas Watson

 

27 January, 2006   comments: (0) Today's Evangelism   Do They 'Really' Need The Gospel? - Part 2 A friend of mine is in leadership at a mega-church in Texas. Twenty years ago, we were likeminded and attending the same church, but have since gone in different doctrinal directions. He surprised me a year ago, during a conversation that we had about whether people in the remote areas of the world can be saved if the Gospel is not available. His answer to this was: "God might save them in the same way that He saved Abraham". But doesn't that fly in the face of scripture, which says that we must preach the Gospel so others might believe? The question that comes to my mind when I think about my friend's view is: "why do we need missionaries then?". My friend's opinion is not far off from Billy Graham's "wideness to God's mercy" beliefs, which I linked to in part 1 of this series. But Romans 10 tells us that the Gospel must be preached in order for any to believe upon Christ and be saved: "But how are they to call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent?" In his New Testament Commentary on the book of Romans, John MacArthur gives this testimony of a man who was saved by God's grace while living in a remote area of Africa. This account demonstrates the crucial component that's missing in my friend's viewpoint, as well as that of Billy Graham; it's the preaching of the Gospel: A man of my acquaintance is an excellent illustration of God's honoring a genuine quest to find Him. This man grew up in one of the most primitive tribes in Africa. Because he was ill-behaved and incorrigible as a child, he was frequently made to stay outside when the family had guests. Although he was severely punished by the tribe as well as by his mother, he persisted in acts of pointless mischief and even cruelty. He reports that he felt guilty and heartsick even while doing the mischief but could not seem to help himself. He knew something was very wrong with his life and would often go into the forest and pound his head against a tree, crying, "What's wrong with me? Why do I do such things?" More than once he considered suicide. One day one of his friends returned from a visit to the coast. Among the many fascinating stories he told was that of some people who met together every Sunday to sing and talk. When the boy asked his friend why those people met together, he was told they were singing about and praying to the God who had created the whole world. They called their God Father and believed He heard and answered their prayers. With that small bit of knowledge about the Lord, the boy over whom the tribe had despaired decided to pray to this God himself. "I had never heard anyone pray," he recounts, "but I decided I would just talk to this God like He was my father. I can't explain what happened but it was an exciting experience. I wanted to know more about this God but there was no one in our village who knew anything about Him. So for two years I kept praying by myself on Sundays, hoping that some day someone would come along who could tell me about Him." While working on a government road project, he visited his cousin in the village where he had been born and discovered to his great surprise and delight that a group of people met there on Sundays to sing and pray to the God he had heard about. "How excited I was", he says. "I could hardly wait for Sunday. That morning I sat in the back. I listened to a man tell about God for the first time in my life. I found He was far more wonderful than I had ever imagined. The preacher said that God loved the world so much that He sent His only Son named Jesus to take away my sins. I wondered if He knew how terrible I was. I wondered if He knew the awful things I had done back in my village. But the preacher said no matter what I had done, God would forgive me and make my heart clean. I knew it was all true." Because that young man had been genuinely seeking God, when he finally heard the gospel the Holy Spirit confirmed its truth to his yearning heart. He knew that God had heard his prayers and had sent him to a place where he could hear the message of salvation. "I gave my heart to God that morning," he testifies, "and it was nice to know He had a Son, too. He was really a Father, just like I had been praying to." Related Information and Resources: Read John MacArthur's refutation of "Natural Theology" Listen to a 10 minute Real Audio on Billy Graham's "wideness" views Study Romans 10 and make your own determination Posted by: Jim B.   Link: http://www.oldtruth.com/blog.cfm/id.2.pid.192   Be the first to post a comment about this article        Home  |   About  |  Videos   |  Calvinism