The Marriage Counselor

The Marriage Counselor

There are Biblical reasons why we are finding  less successful  marriages to the Bride of Christ compared to even 100 years ago.  If the divorce rate for your converts to the Bride of Christ is over 80% something is wrong!  We blame the converts, we blame the lack of turn out for Saturday visitation, we blame the state of the world today.  But judgment must begin at the house of God says the Bible and if we want to make any dent in this country as it self destructs in front of our very eyes, we need to repair the foundation. 

We first need to junk this unwritten code of refusing to "mark", warn, separate from, cut off, whatever from the founders of this mess.  As I stated in earlier posts 1) Pray and Ask the Lord to Save you 2) Agreeing to the Romans Road and then praying a prayer 3) Asking Jesus in your heart 4) Receiving Jesus as your personal savior 5) Getting baptized 6) Having an emotional experience and going to an old fashioned altar and 7) Giving your heart to Jesus are NOT THE SAME as BIBLICAL FAITH AND REPENTANCE. 

 The Gift of God is eternal life and it is a conditional gift received by anyone who meets God's requirement of saving faith and Biblical Repentance.  If you did those two requirements, any of the previous 7 items are the icing on the cake!  And it is modern evangelism that is counting the icing and taking credit for the icing!  The icing does not save but it is counted like it does!!!!

  No it is not turning from all sin, but it is not just the "going from unbelief to belief" that men like Curtis Hudson and Jack Hyles teach.

We need to once and for all see the difference in our evangelism.  We need to warn the people about the Hyles Anderson/Jack Hyles "easy prayerism" "want to go to heaven, then pray this prayer" manipulative soul winning.  We need to expect dramatic changes from people who say they are born again because this is about God and being careful in presenting the gospel.  We look at crowds and determine that means we must be doing something right.  That is how the New Evangelicals think.  Years ago Billy Sunday preached a revival and a year later bars were closed and people were never the same.  Where is that today?  Has the gospel lost it's power or did we change the gospel?

Folks, we changed the gospel.

Here is what I mean.  Today we are correct for the most part in 1) explaining the cure Jesus 2) explaining there is one cure 3) the consequences for rejecting or neglecting the cure (Hell) and 4) the benefits of the cure (Heaven) .

We fail to convince of the disease and that is why we have to come up with all sorts of manipulation and emphasize the ease of administration and the convenience of a "one time pray the prayer and go to heaven forever" to get them to take the cure.  We have to sugar coat the medicine and then we have to downplay the side effects (persecution, temptation, and tribulation) and we have to bribe them with the benefits of the cure.  

Yet if they are not convinced of the disease, Jesus is just an experimental flu shot that people will receive just in case we are right.  If they are convinced of the disease, Jesus is chemotherapy for the soul and nothing will stop them from coming to the cure.

Modern results are pathetic and we should apologize to the Lord Jesus Christ for using his name and associating our methods with anything he stands for.  Today America is full of those who profess they know God but in their works deny him.  Everyone says they are saved.  Everyone is on their way to heaven.  60% or so of Americans profess to be born again Christians.  91% admit to lying on a regular basis, 50% admit to adultery, 55 million abortions since 1973, 43% divorce rate and raising, open sodomy, billions spent on pornography, casinos, and booze, YET EVERYONE thinks God is ok with their lifestyle.  A Gay Pride parade has dozens of churches marching in it, and they are about the only churches willing to at least stand for something.  We run and hide with our Bibles between our legs if our pride or our wallets or our TV time is threatened.

What is the solution?

We need to get back to old fashioned evangelism.  We need to stop pushing the cure on a country unconvinced of the disease.  If they think gay marriage is a wonderful thing and our country is better than ever they are not candidates for the gospel.  They are brainwashed by the media and evolution and you need to uproot the foundation.  How does merely adding Jesus to a Catholic who wants to go to heaven and is used to praying mantras and used to doing some ritual going to make a difference?  Worse, he is adding an idol in his mind, the Catholic Christ of his youth. If convinced of the disease you can address the cult he is in and get him to turn from his church AS HE TURNS to CHRIST.  Adding Christ, which PRAY AND ASK THE LORD TO SAVE YOU ALLOWS ONE TO DO, is merely Christian Hinduism.  That is not salvation.

In old fashioned evangelism, you preached the LAW, you preached the holiness of God and the righteousness of God.  You didn't just talk about how bad hell is or how great heaven is.  You appealed to the conscience, not the emotions.  Today's special programs, and the bow your heads while the music plays, and the funeral invitations appeal to the emotions.  If you use the law to bring a knowledge of sin, you begin to convince of the disease. 

I believe today you need to disciple a lost person on the right Christ, the foundation of Genesis, what real genuine Biblical repentance is, and what salvation will do before or after getting them convicted with the Law.  They don't know the real Christ, they don't know fornication is a serious sin, they don't know drinking is wrong, and modern soul winners often do not even address these issues or hint their lives will be different when God moves in.  There is no point of surrender in today's soulwinning, and no expectation that someone will bow the knee of their heart to the Lordship of Christ. 

 No you will never be sin free but the point is if convinced of the disease the cure will be appreciated and the cure will not be taken lightly.

I heard of a boy who went camping in Australia with his dad.  The father told him to fish in the creek because the shore near their campground was shark infested.  After a couple days of fishing the boy grew bored and thought if he was in a boat he could fish safely.  He rented a boat and while in the water a great white shark came from underneath and knocked him out of his boat.  The boy screamed for help and the dad came running, and dove into the shark infested waters.  He grabbed his son, and with all his might brought him to shore.  The father pushed his son onto the shore and pulled himself onto the beach next to his son.  The father was bleeding profusely as the shark had bitten his leg off above the knee.  He lay bleeding to death and the son looked at the dad and said, "Father, I greatly appreciate your sacrifice.   Sorry you had to go through that.  Bummer.  But I really enjoyed being out on that water.  I'm going to go back there on the boat again."

No son would do that.  He would despise going back to that water and it would cause him to have a love for his father!  For a professing Christian to say they are saved and go back to the world is just as absurd.  Yet we accept that all the time in our evangelism!!!!  The question is WHY?

We need to convince of the disease!!!