"God Loves You...Jesus Loves You..." (Warning: Rant)

and church is driving me bonkers more and more. It's starting to make me sick to my stomach, in fact. I'm tired of hearing feel-good, la la la sermons. I'm tired of hearing how God will speak to people and they will get saved. I'm tired of people asking me if I prayed a prayer with someone I presented the Gospel to! (By the way, I'm going to have them say a prayer if they are not repentent...God won't hear it and it gives them a false "security" that they are saved). I'm tired of hearing "God loves you and has a perfect plan for your life." (In fact, Jesus never says this. He says we will be hated, persecuted, and put to death...sounds like a "wonderful plan" to me)!

Where is this in scripture?

PREACHERS OF THE WORLD: Give me good Biblical, sound doctrine teachings!!! TEACH ME THE WORD!!! GIVE ME MEAT AND LEAVE THE WATER FOR THE MOSQUITOES!!! STOP WITH THE FEEL GOOD PREACHING!!! IF I WANT THAT I'LL READ A ROMANCE NOVEL! AAAARRRGGGGHH!!

Anyway, today, I got a whole lot of Bill Bright's "Four Spiritual Law Books," and I love these people greatly, and I think their hearts are in the right place, but they are wrong. Nowhere in this book does it talk about repentence (wait, it makes one brief mention and it uses repentence in parenthese), explain what sin is or mentions hell. This drives me crazy!!! We are filling our churches with bodies, but are we really filling the kingdom of God with souls?!?!

Yes, yes, God loves us and wants to be in relationship with us, BUT without explaining why we are separated from God it makes no sense. To walk up to me and say, God loves you, you're separated from Him becaused you sinned...OFFENDS ME! I don't think I'm a sinner. In fact, I think I'm a good person and will go to heaven. You just OFFENDED ME and now I will NOT listen to you. Or maybe I'll listen to you, but I don't "GET IT."

Moreover, we were told that the prayer is the most important part. In this prayer it says, "I open the dorr of my life and receive You..." READ: I ACCEPT YOU. Again, where is this in the Bible?!? The booklet refers to Revelation 3:20, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come into him and will sup with him, and he with me." The problem with this, is that this verse is for BELIEVERS!!!!!! John wrote that the church of Laodicea was lukewarm and HE IS CALLING THEM BACK. It's important to note the verse before, Rev. 3:19, "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent." This clearly supports the fact that Rev 3:20 is for BELIEVERS.

I'm not saying that Bill Bright is completely wrong. I'm saying it's out of order, unclear and makes NO sense to an unbeliever. It causes confusion and offense because God's method of salvation is not explained in a direct way.

This is what Dr. Bill Bright actually has to say:

"In his approximately 42 months of public ministry, there are 33 recorded instances of Jesus speaking about hell. No doubt He warned of hell thousands of times. The Bible refers to hell a total of 167 times. I wonder with what frequency this eternal subject is found in today's pulpits. I confess I have failed in my ministry to declare the reality of hell as often as I have the love of God and the benefits of a personal relationship with Christ. But Jesus spent more of His time warning His listeners of the impending judgement of hell than of speaking of the joys of heaven....I have never felt the need to focus on telling people about hell. However, as a result of a steady decline in morals and spiritual vitality in today's culture and a growing indifference to the afterlife, I have come to realize the need for greater discussion of hell....I have thus come to see that silence, or even benign neglect on these subjects, is disobedience on my part. To be silent on the eternal destinations of souls is to be like a sentry failing to warn his fellow soldiers of impending attack." [Bill Bright, Heaven or Hell - Your Ultimate Choice (Orlando, Fla.: New Life Publications, 2002), 32, 48]

Far too often, we leave hell out. People don't know they are walking off cliffs to their deaths...and we, Christians, are the one's who are to warn them!


Look at what Jesus did:

John 4 reveals to us how Jesus presented salvation to an unbeliever (sinner). Chapter 4 shows Jesus as the "evangelizer." So, how did He do it? First in verse 7, He tells the woman to give him water (things of the natural world). Then, in verse 10, He beings to talk about spiritual things. He segways from the natural to the spiritual by saying, "If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water." Jesus continues speaking of the spiritual realm, and then uses God's Law so that SHE EXPOSES HER SIN (verses 16-18).

Finally, after understanding that she has broken God's Law and HUMBLED, Jesus reveals Himself to her as the Messiah (verse 26). Now, God's love can be preached to her...

Without the exposure of sin, we are still proud. And God says He resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. In witnessing to others, and in order for them to receive God's grace and love (which is what Dr. Bright talks about in his Four Spiritual Laws booklet), the unbeliever MUST BE HUMBLED. Otherwise, grace is not given and a person can walk around believing he or she is a Christian, when in fact, they still have no knowledge of their sin.

I came to "accept" Jesus 7 years ago, and I knew that He died to me because I sinned. However, I really had no concept of sin. I could have died believing that I was a Christian, when in fact, I probably wasn't. Jesus wasn't precious to me. The Cross was just something that Jesus did so that I could go to heaven. Jesus was my "poster boy" for God's love.

That's why I'm so passionate about this. I'm not trying to critisize my friends, I just care whether people are really saved or just filling up seats.


Watch this video. It changed my life.

Hell's Best Kept Secret

I hope this makes sense. My head is throbbing from all the idols and their war bombs passing by my apartment....ALL DAY LONG!!!!