Friday 21 September 2012

An Evangelical Evangelist who would of thunk it?

In certain quarters of the church the word Evangelical is seen as a slur, and the job of an Evangelist is not important or gets (in the words of Stephen Fry in Blackadder) poo pooed. Due to the world we live in, Evangelism and Evangelists are seen as dirty, corrupt, people. People who prey on the weak and vunerable to get a buck here or there. They are seedy nasty people, long on rhetoric short on Love. In the last few weeks i have watched with interest as Billy Graham has been pilloried, that mission is good as long as we do not call people to account for sins, and that the mission we are on is actually more about social care than spiritual care. Now i am not advocating not being concerned for our neighbours, those in society who are weak, vunerable or less fortunate than myself. But when Christians start to make statements about "wether God is real, Jesus was a myth" we have problems. Our first duty as Christians is to LOVE GOD WITH EVERYTHING WE ARE. Our second remit and the command that Jesus left us "is to make disciples of all nations". Now to do this we have no option but to use what the Bible tells us, and our history as church. We cannot expect people to get saved by reading the Beano, the Bible contains our blueprint as Christians as to how we are to act towards God, and the world. If we deride the Bible we may as well use the koran, or like previously mentioned the Beano, it is Gods instruction to us. Many Christians over our history have used that book to great effect, yes at times it has been used badly, but in other times it has been used to bring life to the thirsty soul, life which starts here and gains eternity with God.

I'm proud to be an Evangelist and proud to be Evangelical with all of it's faults. I'm proud that many have gone before me to lay a path for people to walk down that brings life. We are not called to be popular to society, we are called to walk a narrow path, to follow the one who changed the world by his very sacrifice and resurrection from the bloody cross. we HAVE A DUTY TO SAY TO PEOPLE "GO AND SIN NO MORE" not because we are better, but because what we have in Jesus, is life giving, everlasting, totally awesome and is not about popularity, but about rescue. Maybe it's time to get in the life boats and start rescuing a lost and hurting world

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