Thus says the Lord: "Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls.
But they said, 'We will not walk in it.'" --Jeremiah 6:16

 

24 July, 2007   comments: (0) Today's Pragmatism   "Good Food, Good News" - Good Bait and Switch? I just saw another one last week, it was a promo for one of those Christian evangelism festivals. You know the ones I'm talking about, the idea is to entice neighborhood unbelievers to come and enjoy "good food, good fun, and good news". By good news I mean, the church or organization that sponsors the festival will finish-off the event with an evangelism message. It sounds like a pretty good idea! I mean, we definitely want to evangelize a lot of people, and these parties do produce a huge number of decisions for Christ. They just seem like a great way for churches and organizations to bring in the multitudes, and while they are a captive audience, you may as well preach and reach. Right? What could possibly be wrong with that?! Well it sounds good and it's a really popular idea, one which today's evangelicals spend a lot of money hosting and promoting. Some churches even have these slotted into their missions budget. But could it be that when the Church does these events, they are engaging in a colossal bait and switch operation? I wrote about one such event almost two years ago; the Washington Post referred to it as Stealth Evangelism. The legitimacy of these evangelistic events is explored in this short video clip. I'll include some text below for those who have slower internet connections. The video clip asks a good question: Is it more likely, or less likely, that your evangelism message at that kind of event, will teach strongly and searchingly on a Gospel passage like this: "But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left. Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. But if that wicked servant says to himself, 'My master is delayed', and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." --Matthew 24:36-51 Let's face it. If you did promote your church or your evangelistic event on the basis of appealing to the carnal interests that people naturally have for "good food, good fun, and good news", it would have to be considered a bait and switch tactic to then proceed to tell those same people who come for those things, what they should hear. You'd be telling them that if they don't make the single most difficult change of their lives, radically turning from one worldview and lifestyle to an extreme second one, that they will be "cut in pieces and assigned a place with the hypocrites" in a place where there will be "weeping and gnashing of teeth" for all of eternity. Which is precisely why you don't hear those parts of the bible at such events and churches today. Instead, the "good news" that ends up getting conveyed is a message of positive-only half-truths. And remember that a half-truth, presented as though it were a whole-truth, is an untruth. That's something that the entire Seeker Sensitive movement should take to heart. If you haven't done so already I encourage you to watch some more of the Word Pictures video clips (on page 1 and page 2). The speaker in these clips is the owner and founder of CrossTV, and the pastor of a good church in Boyton Beach Florida; you'll find their podcast listed in the new "audio sermons" section in the right column of Old Truth's main page. Watching these videos was like a breath of fresh air to my family and I, immediately after we came out of the Seeker/Purpose Driven church that we were a part of. These videos also had a role in motivating me to build this website. Posted by: Jim B.   Link: http://www.oldtruth.com/blog.cfm/id.2.pid.737   Be the first to post a comment about this article        Home  |   About  |  Videos   |  Calvinism