Why ‘Obnoxious Evangelists’ Are NOT Really
Obnoxious
Barbara Henderson
Evangelicals are loosely defined as
Christians who work to show lost people the way to eternal life through Jesus
Christ. Many people ignore them, and
many more prefer they never be bothered again by an evangelist telling them
about Jesus. They see evangelicals as
‘holier than thou’ people who want to add a feather to their ‘converted’
cap. Seriously, this is not the
case. I am going to give you some very
compassionate reasons that evangelicals want to convert you.
First, they don’t want you personally to
miss heaven. The deep and abiding
concern of the true evangelist is to show you the way to eternal life in a
place that is utterly and continually perfect.
That is heaven. And – those who
miss heaven definitely go to a place called hell. It is place without one single gift from God
Almighty. That means in hell there are:
·
No
relationships – no family – no friends – no loved ones. No one will have the capacity to form a
relationship of any sort. You will be alone – more alone than you ever imagined
possible.
·
No
hope – in this life we have hope of better days ahead, whether we are hoping
for better relationships, better jobs, better health, better finances – there
is always hope that tomorrow will be better.
In hell, there is no hope because things will never be better than the
horror the inhabitants of hell live with every day.
·
No
beauty – everything will be ugly. Are
you someone who enjoys the beauty of nature or art? Well – guess what. Those things are gifts from God, and they
will not be in hell.
·
No
light. According to the Bible before God
made the sun and the moon He had already divided the light from the dark. The light was the light of God. Hell will be a dark place completely devoid
of the light of God. Absolutely nothing
of God will be in hell.
Second, they will miss you if you don’t
go to heaven. Let me repeat – if you
don’t go to heaven there will be some people there who miss you and are broken
hearted that you made a choice that separates you from God eternally. That means you are separated from people who
loved you on this earth. You will be
separated from people who barely knew you, but tried to show you the way to
heaven. It is going to be sad, but only
sad for a time; because, eventually God Himself will wipe away all tears from
all the faces of His children, and then we won’t remember you anymore. That mom who prayed for you to be saved? God will bless her by causing her to forget
you entirely. That dad, or sister, or
brother, or your own child who prayed for you and tried to point you to Christ
– they will forget you too. Friends –
true friends – who told you how to reach heaven will forget you.
So, the next time an evangelist or a
Christian friend tries to ‘convert you’, think about it from their
perspective. They aren’t trying to add a
notch on their ‘souls converted’ pistol handle.
They are trying to show you how to avoid the place of horror called hell,
and gain the eternal place of joy and gladness that is heaven. The Bible tells us that eyes haven’t seen,
nor ears heard, or entered into the heart of man what God has for them that
love them. Seriously, the wonder of
heaven is currently beyond our capacity to understand.
Recently, my brother sent me a quote
from the tombstone of my GG Grandfather.
The man was a preacher, a lawman, and a physician. I am not sure about his ‘lawman’
actions. It is recorded that he once
gave two young men a ticket for walking by the church on Sunday with their
shirt tails hanging out. Apparently, he
took his preaching very seriously – because this is what he had written on his
tombstone.
‘Dear wife, children, friends, one and all,
my work down here on earth is done.
My Savior called me to Him.
Come each dear one, and with us live.’
Until you personally become a Christian
you cannot possibly understand the motivation Evangelicals have to show people
the way to Christ. You personally have only
two choices. You will spend eternity in
heaven or hell. Those are your
options. Please take heed to make an
informed choice! Don’t reject Christ because you don’t like the messenger. That is like rejecting a rescue cargo ship
while you were sinking on the Titanic because you wanted to be rescued by a
luxury liner!
If I were standing with you now and
talking to you about how to get to heaven I would want you to understand that.
I want you to go to heaven because I
want you to know the joy of being adopted by God Himself, and I want you to
miss the horror of hell.
I want you to go to heaven because if
you miss heaven – I will miss you personally.
Then I would tell you how to be
saved. That is when you recognize you
are a sinner – which is someone who is not perfect. You may have a lot of good excuses for your
sins, but you are still not utterly continually perfect like God is. That is why the Bible tells us that you are
saved by grace and not of works. There
is no work a mortal can do that would allow you to meet God’s standard for utter
and continual perfection. Salvation has
to be by the grace of God, seeing as we cannot attain the necessary perfection
in any other way. The Bible tells us
that to get hold on that grace you simply go to God the Father through Christ
the Son. Christ’s sinless perfection is
given to us and we are allowed to go into heaven, where we are adopted by Go
the Father, made joint heirs with Jesus Christ, and live there for ever.
Are you angry or think it unfair that
God made only one way into heaven?
Why? Seriously – why does that bother
you? It is one way that has room for
everyone. It cost the life of God’s own
Son to make one way into heaven.
Everyone gets a first class invitation.
How could you possible expect God to make another way?
Let’s look a few reasons for one way.
First, there is no other way that honestly
offers you way to enter heaven. These
other ways are deceiving you. They are
offering you hell.
Second, there is no other way that can
possibly provide the completely perfect sacrifice necessary to make you perfect
– which is what is required to enter into the perfection of heaven.
Third, if imperfect people were allowed into
heaven, then heaven wouldn’t be perfect anymore would it?
Fourth, please keep in mind that Christians
are not perfect at this point in time. So, don’t expect them to be perfect.
Perfections is waiting for us in heaven through Jesus Christ. If you want to know about perfect, then read
the Bible. There was one perfect man – and that was Jesus
Christ, who was fully God and fully man.
There is an old Christian hymn ‘God is
Calling the Prodigal’. The chorus says, ‘Oh,
weary prodigal come’. Are you weary
today? God is truly calling now for you –
Oh weary prodigal come.
Another hymn is ‘Careless Soul – O head
thy warning’. I am posting links and
lyrics to both songs.
God is Calling the Prodigal
Calling the prodigal Hymn
God is calling the prodigal, come
without delay,
Hear, O hear Him calling, calling now
for thee.
Tho’ you’ve wandered so far from His
presence, come today,
Hear His loving voice calling still.
Refrain
Calling now for thee, O weary prodigal,
come;
Calling now for thee, O weary prodigal,
come.
Patient, loving and tenderly still the
Father pleads,
Hear, O hear Him calling, calling now
for thee;
Oh! return while the Spirit in mercy
intercedes,
Hear His loving voice calling still.
Refrain
Come, there’s bread in the house of the
Father, and to spare,
Hear, O hear Him calling, calling now
for thee;
Lo! the table is spread and the feast is
waiting there,
Hear His loving voice calling still.
Refrain
Careless Soul (Oh how sad to face the
judgment unprepared to meet thy God)
Careless soul, why will you linger?
Wandering from the fold of God?
Hear you not the invitation?
O prepare to meet thy God.
Refrain
Careless soul, O heed the warning,
For your life will soon be gone;
O how sad to face the judgment
Unprepared to meet thy God.
Why so thoughtless are you standing
While the fleeting years go by,
And your life is spent in folly?
O prepare to meet thy God.
Refrain
Hear you not the earnest pleadings
Of your friends that wish you well?
And perhaps before tomorrow
You’ll be called to meet your God.
Refrain
If you spurn the invitation
Till the Spirit shall depart,
Then you’ll see your sad condition,
Unprepared to meet thy God.
Refrain
