(Marsha West – Christian Research Network)
But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect… (1 Peter 3:15).
If you know anything about Christianity, then you know that the early Church was given a mandate by the Lord Jesus Christ to evangelize the lost. “Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, ‘This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem’” (Luke 24:45-47).
Christians are to evangelize the unsaved. Unsaved is a euphemism to describe people who are not going to the kingdom of light (Heaven) when they die; they’re going to the realm of darkness (hell) “where the worm never turns.” Those who reject the gospel message are not born again. Moreover, they’re not “saved.”
In Passivity Wes Bredenhof states that “Regeneration (being born again) is a one-time event where the Holy Spirit miraculously takes a heart of stone and turns it into a heart of flesh.” Here’s how Scripture sums up being born again: The old man dies and the new man springs to life! (John 3:3, 1 Peter 1:23).
Regeneration is not to be confused with sanctification, as sanctification is a lifelong process. To ‘sanctify’ a person is to make him holy. (John 17:16-19).
There are two categories of unsaved people: Those who have heard the Gospel of the Son of God (good news) and do not believe, and those who have never heard the gospel.
The gospel message is short and sweet: “It is the Holy Spirit who works in and through a person’s will to regenerate that person (John 1:12-13) and give him a new nature “created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Eph 4:24). Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone (Eph 2:8-9), in Christ alone (Acts 4:12). Human works cannot save you, so it is fruitless to try to earn a place in heaven. (Gal 2:16; Eph 2:8-9; Tit 3:5). The Bible teaches that salvation is 100% God’s doing “nothing in my hands I bring, simply to the cross I cling.”
Grace is God giving us what we don’t deserve and cannot earn. God must first regenerate a person before he/she can believe.
You’re Saved. Now What Do You Do?
Scripture makes it clear that all believers are to share the gospel with unbelievers. It’s not an option. Sharing the gospel is a command.
Why is sharing the gospel such a big deal? Because people who haven’t come to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ will go to hell when they die. That’s what Jesus taught, and I know this because what he taught is clearly stated in the Bible.
To be precise, Scripture says that Jesus Christ was nailed to a cross by an angry crowd of “haters” and that He shed His own blood to save those who repent of their sins and believe in Him from an eternity in hell.
Before I move on, it’s important to know that there’s a growing number of so-called Christian ministries that trot around the globe presenting a false gospel to people seeking truth. These charlatans teach the crowds who come to see them that the reason the Son of God condescended to come to Earth where He was beaten beyond recognition, mocked and humiliated by haters then nailed to a cross where He died an agonizing death, was so that all those who believe in Him will have a better life on earth.
Untold millions of people who hear false teaching believe that when they accept Jesus into their lives they’ll become wealthy, experience excellent health, and go through life feeling happy and good about themselves. The fake news gospel is being taught by health and wealth prosperity preachers. But the truth is, what these scoundrels preach is the gospel of greed….that has never saved one soul from going to hell. The Lord Jesus does not promise His followers a rose garden. He made that clear when he said in John 16:33, “In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
Returning to the subject at hand.
Imagine…
Your friend Trina has gone on a 10-day sailing adventure. To your horror you learn that five days into the trip the vessel takes on water during a freak storm and capsizes. All aboard are lost.
Or are they…
Trina emerges from the sea and collapses on the beach face down. She hears the roar of an angry sea and waves crashing close by. She crawls out of harm’s way on to dry land and with much effort she gets to her feet. “Where am I…?” she whispers as she surveys the foggy coastline. Her heart sinks as she realizes she must be on an island.
How did I get here, she wonders.
Trina hears voices off in the distance and soon realizes she’s not alone. Life!
Her moment of hope fades to fear. What if the natives aren’t friendly. Cannibal pops into her mind but she brushes the horrid thought aside and proceeds with caution up a rocky path.
The air is stale. The higher she climbs the hotter it becomes. She’d peal off layers of clothing but realizes she’s not wearing anything.
This place is no island paradise. No white sandy beach or swaying coco palms. There are no friendly natives running to greet her, like in the movies. The reality is that she’s surrounded by what looks like volcanic lava that has transformed into solid rock.
As Trina navigates the rugged terrain the voices are within shouting distance. She spots a few of the island’s inhabitants meandering around making weird noises. In a panic she waves and calls out “Hello!” No one notices her. So she moves closer and raises her voice. “I don’t know how I got here!” She stops and waits…..but none of them answer. “I need help!” she hollers loud enough to wake up the dead. One of the islanders turns toward her and begins jumping from one jagged rock to the next. The voice hollers “No help is coming!” Another voice from behind booms, “Better get used to this god forsaken place. It’s your home now!” From a few yards away a shadowy figure appears. Its body shape is human but there’s no discernable facial features. The creature spats, “Don’t bother trying to escape! No one leaves Deathless…..ever!”
Trina says to herself, Deathless? I don’t like the sound of that.
Satisfied that the newcomer is sufficiently warned, the shadowy figure scampers away. “God help us all!” it cries out in despair.
Let’s back track to a few days before the boat set sail. What if you had gone to Trina and told her that you were worried that the vessel she’s about to sail away on might be unseaworthy, that another co-worker who had gone sailing on a similar boat owned by that same company cavalierly mentioned that even though he observed water damage and dry rot to the hull he thought it was no big deal and considered the boat safe. When you told Trina what you had learned she brushed off your concern, even though there could very well be danger ahead for all aboard.
That’s when it hit you. Although there were many opportunities to share the gospel with Trina, you hadn’t considered it all that important. There were a couple of times you tried to. Once when you drove to work together and got into a conversation about religion and you were in the midst of sharing how you came to faith in Christ and she cut you short and said dismissively, “I’m spiritual, not Christian. Christianity doesn’t work for me. And to be honest with you, and please don’t take this personally, but most Christians I know are intolerant, unloving, bigots, so why would I want to identify with that?” The conversation came to an abrupt end when she began checking messages on her Apple watch.
Another opening to share your faith came when Trina asked if you had read any good books lately. You replied that you had just finished a book on Heaven and asked if she’d like to read it. She hesitated before answering then assured you that books about Heaven were of no interest. “I believe good people go to Heaven,” she replied cooly. When you opened your mouth to speak, she snapped, “Let’s just leave it at that.”
Fair enough.
To show Trina how virtuous, tolerant and accepting Christians are of someone else’s “truth” you changed the subject.
Back To Reality
If you’re a Christian, should you keep quiet about your faith when someone you care about could be in grave danger? Some reading this may be thinking, “Believers who try to evangelize unbelievers are religious fanatics.” Or “It’s wrong for me to push my religion on others.” Or “I’m uncomfortable sharing my faith, and besides, I don’t have the gift of evangelism.” The answer to the question considering the excuses just listed is an individual choice. But before you make the decision to say or do nothing, remember that Christianity is not the only religion attempting to convert people.
Many devotees of the Environmentalist religion believe that the Earth is our mother. Serious environmentalists are trying to save the planet from what they believe is inevitable destruction caused by careless humans. The only way to save planet Earth is to enlighten the unenlightened to their truth. So they preach the Pantheist Religion, which is the belief that the universe is God and the Earth sacred. Since the cosmos is God, everyone and everything in the universe is God. Radical environmentalists do not come with the truth, though. They come with half-truths and outrageous lies.
The Secular Humanist Religion holds to moral relativism. Secularists reject religious dogma and supernaturalism and go to great lengths to push their godless religion on society. Secularists who have enormous influence in all facets of government, the legacy media, entertainment, sports, public schools/higher education, the arts and sciences and so on have preached their gospel for decades. These secular humanists believe the only way to save society from conservatives and religious moralists, or for that matter anyone who goes against their leftist agenda is to shut down all dialogue. Secular humanists do not come in peace. They come to wage war on those they deem unenlightened.
While secular humanists continue to spread the Gospel of Moral Relativism, radical environmentalists travel worldwide spreading manure of their own; the Gospel of Mother Earth.
Although there are many entities competing for souls, a final group that bears mentioning is what we now label progressive (woke) Christians. They have broken ranks with fundamentalists (historic orthodox Bible believers) and wormed their way into mainline churches. But instead of teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ found in the Bible, they teach a “different gospel.” (Galatians 1:6-9)
How To Win The Culture By Holding Back The Truth
The latest research shows that around half of professing Christians rarely share their faith with anyone, even though the Lord Jesus commanded His followers to witness to the lost and disciple new converts. Why are believers reticent to share good news that would save a soul from living throughout all eternity on the island of Deathless?
The answer is that our clergy/leaders have moved away from teaching the Bible. Many now teach contemporary issues sprinkled with Bible verses taken out of context. They have strayed from preaching Christ and the cross, over of all things, a deep concern that someone in our morally depraved society might be offended by hearing God’s truth. And to ensure that the unsaved aren’t uneasy, some religious leaders go to great lengths to twist Scripture into a theological pretzel to make the sermon palatable. Many postmodern churches have little or no interest in teaching Church doctrine even though some shepherds actually do have a firm grasp of the doctrines of the faith. Even so, their sheep are not encouraged to feast on fundamental truths!
As a result of clergy’s reluctance to teach what is laid out in Scripture, a growing number of professing believers lack a clear understanding of who God is and His ways. People who’ve been Christians their entire lives, those who insist they love Jesus and His Word, have trouble expressing what they believe and why they believe it. Moreover, many believers cannot clearly state the essentials of the faith, the doctrines followers of Jesus must 100% believe in. (Essential doctrines are hills Christians should be willing to die on.)
Rather than helping Christ’s sheep grow in knowledge, understanding, wisdom and discernment the focus has shifted to bringing goats into churches for the obvious purpose of increasing wealth and resources. The message the unchurched (goats) hear in many churches is no longer about sin, repentance and justification. Instead, they’re getting their ears tickled by hirelings who get paid for teaching a watered-down gospel.
The scriptures are tortured to the point that the Lord Jesus Himself wouldn’t recognize what so-called ministers of God are teaching their congregants. In today’s world, it is taboo to mention what the Bible instructs concerning the ultimate consequences of sin, without repentance, which is eternal separation from God. Dare to say that hell is reserved for unrepentant sinners, seekers might come down with a bad case of “fear of God”!
Evangelical luminaries claim their aim is to win the culture for Christ. To accomplish this lofty goal, Christians must present themselves as loving, gentle, kind and gracious in their cultural engagement. Be tolerant. Judge not lest you be judged. Never offend anyone. And for pete’s sake, avoid saying something that might cause a reprobate to fear God. The loving thing to do would be to allow her to cling to the world’s definition of “God is love” and the BIG LIE that “good people go to Heaven.”
Reread my “shipwrecked” tale above. If you recall, Trina was not interested in hearing the gospel. She told the Christian that she could never accept Jesus. She bragged that she was into spirituality, that she was a good person and assured her that good people go to Heaven. Wanting to appear tolerant and accepting, the Christian chose to remain silent even though she feared Trina could be facing a life-threatening situation. What was the Christian’s only concern? Being seen as intolerant!
Desiring to show Trina how tolerant and accepting she is of others people’s “truth,” the Christian chose to heed her warning to “leave it at that.” It never occurred to her to quote 1 John 5:11-12, a verse she learned as a child: And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.
Later the unsafe vessel sank….and all aboard drowned.
Feed My Sheep
A robust understanding of the Holy Spirit breathed out scriptures is sorely lacking in the visible Church. Spiritual discernment has all but vanished among many believers. As I pointed out, professing Christians are unaware that the Lord Jesus taught that unrepentant sinners who deny Him will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven. The end game for them is Deathless.
In Mark 16:15-16 King Jesus gave us our marching orders:
Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.
In closing, my question, dear reader, is this: will your fear of man keep you from obeying the Lord’s command to proclaim the gospel?
Related
The Greatest Heresy of the Christian Church John MacArthur
The unending judgment of Hell Mike Ratliff
Research
Progressive (Social Justice) ‘Christianity’
Copyright by Marsha West, 2025