A disturbing incident

It sounds to me like these preachers were doing it for their own glory and not out of love or compassion for the lost.

Myself, I have been asked directly by an unsaved person 'Am I going to Hell then?'. As I am not their judge I won't say yes or no, but I will tell them that the bible clearly says that if we don't repent of our sin and put our trust in Jesus, then we will be punished for rejecting Him and that means an eternity in hell. Not my words, but God's.

We must put forward the Full Gospel, (not just 'Jesus loves you and wants to be your friend') and allow that seed to take root. We are not to judge when we are unable to point out obvious sin in the lives of others.

To be told you are going to Hell just because you are sitting on a bench, is as unchristian as the pharasees Jesus warned us against.

How many people did Jesus tell 'you are going to Hell?'

I am all for hell fire preaching, these people have to know about the wrath to come, but they need to know that Jesus is giving them the oppertunity to flee to Him, and get saved.

Don't be too frustrated, pray for this lady and her friends that Jesus will guide them in all truth. And don't forget we should all be praying; "Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:
And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." Psalm 139:23+24

Ste

Duncan Campbell said,

[i][b]Preaching truth without the anointing of the Holy Ghost is helping the devil to damn souls. There's nothing on earth today so deadening as preaching without heaven's anointing. Refrain from preaching unless you know that the dew of heaven is on your soul."[/b][/i]

The problem, as I see it, is that people haven't spent enough time humbling themselves before God. Art Katz says, "Anointing comes, simply, from a series of mini obediences." Also, people are simply trying to build a reputation for themselves with people. They are still looking for their affirmation from people instead of God.

I was someone who walked around Christian circles looking for those who had "clout" to endorse me. I know. You aren't humble and broken until you have no one but God and you're not mad about it. Love, Dian.

Hi K_Day,

I'm from a Pentecostal background and a church that said that this person and that person was going to hell. That is quite stupid if you want my opinion. This women that you spoke of sounds like she is motivated by hate rather than love. there must be a balance of judgement and grace. All these people did was inoculate the students at the college from hearing the full Gospel. Did these preachers even show the hearers their sins and needed repentance. or did they just shoot into the dark an arrow of repentance without explanation? They sound like humanistic theology comes out in their preaching. We cant make a true convert by just scaring them away from hell.

Name calling is really going to get the message of Christ out there. Ha!!!

called us all cowards.

And yet another problem...

One of the girls who just got done preaching

This girl should not have been preaching. And should not at all have exerted authority over the male Christians. A complete violation of 1 Timothy 2:12. "But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man..."

I'd say that they were the ones that are off, not you.

In Christ, bro Doug

Sorry to hear about this very unfortunate and uncalled for incident. I started to street preach occasionally about a year ago. If one doesn't balance the mercy and severity of God (grace and judgment) then it's really easy to get off on tangents. It's so easy to get bent on condemnation--too easy! I hope I've never preached, "You're going to Hell!" This raises an important question: Is it's my job to warn the lost or to save souls? That is SAVE souls not win souls. Once I saw my place and purpose was simply to convey the message of the cross (verbally and physically), I concentrated way more on the message and not the outcome. One may say, how many souls have you led to Christ. My reply, I lead someone to Christ each time the Truth comes out of my mouth, each time I act in love for God's glory, each time I pray with someone.

There are several scriptures that implore us to lead people to Christ in love, gentleness and kindness. Main preaching scripture is 2 Tim. 2:23-26--"But avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife. And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will." Another good one is Titus 3:1-8. Other scriptures implore us not to be brawlers or railers or argumentative. I know of only one scripture that may indicate severity--Jude 1:22-23.

If we are Christ's then we will walk as He walked. He did not come to condemn, but to save. We shouldn't break the bruised reeds. We should make the message as profitable to all as God leads us.

Trying to be objective, I can understand this womans frustration. Sometimes its difficult to see Christians sitting and not doing. But it is a major assumption for me to say you don't do anything relevant for Christ and His kingdom. Also, it is difficult to be persecuted, especially by professing Christians (not saying you did). This woman should be rejoicing to suffer for Christ that's what the scriptures say. Hopefully, if you meet with this type of person again you can share the attitude that a follower of Christ should have.

Doug, I still haven't come to grips with should a woman preach (on the street). I know Paul states twice that He doesn't allow them to teach men due to what took place in the garden--deception. However, 1 Cor 11 states that women should pray and prophesy. I see preaching, at least on the street, as very prophetic in nature. Right now, our women don't preach. Neither do the children. However, both do sing hymns and pass out tracks. Also, the women to minister to other women.

Orm wrote:

There are two groups of people in those outdoor meetings. Most are good [hurting] righteous young men and women who are looking for hope and meaning to their lives. They don't need to necessarily repent. What they need is someone to believe in. It will be to those that the word of the Lord will come if presented from the annointing. The preaching of hell's fire and brimstone won't be necessary. Discipleship will happen. Who will disciple them?

:-(

Sorry, Orm, that's not scriptural:
Romans 3:12 There is none that doeth good, no, not one.
and 2Peter 3:9 The Lord is... not willing that any should perish but that ALL should come to repentance.

I agree there are many hurting people out there, the problem is not to get them to realise they are hurting, but that we have the solution to their hurt because we used to hurt the same way and Christ has saved us and given us hope.

I don't agree that they need something to believe in. Jesus is not something to be believed in, like a lucky charm, but someone to be trusted and obeyed. We don't add Him to our lives, we give our lives to Him, to do with whatever He wants
Rom 8:36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

Our compassion must be spirit led, as with our preaching, otherwise we are a sounding gong or ringing bell - they are so annoying!

As for discipling, well, we can only disciple true converts, who have a desire to get to know God and who want to tell others about what He has done for them.

Orm have you listened to 'Ten Shekels and a Shirt'? If not I fully reccomend it, it's the top download on this site. It helps us to put our Christian life in perspective: 'Those who are truly saved are people like this, who say; Lord I'm going to love you and obey you even if I go to Hell when I die, simply because you are worthy of all love and honour and to be obeyed' (From memory, not a proper quote)

In Christ

Ste

Somehow, the message needs to go from here:

1Jo 1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

1Jo 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

To Here:

Mic 7:18 Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger forever, because he delighteth in mercy.

Mic 7:19 He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.

Mic 7:20 Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old.

Hi K-Day. I'm sorry that this happened to you. This is such a terrible thing and I pray God will give you grace and all healing that you may need.

Maybe one way of understanding this is that the adversary is countering the re-discovery of the right use of the Law in evangelisim by perverting its use. He may hope that if enough of us become discouraged by its misuse, even turning us against each other, that we will abandon it altogether? And maybe the same could be said for other things too, such as open-air preaching and preaching of repentance in general.

Be encouraged and I pray that God will shine some light upon your path to replace this momentary darkness.

Chris

HEY K_DAY,

I was on South Beach, Miami walking by a church group open air-preaching. I've never felt more hate. They were trying to copy Ray Comfort's tapes but it came out all wrong. They were red faced, vain popping out screaming back to the crowd. They all wore t-shirts that said, "Don't be fooled, real Christians don't sin.". Any time a guy would walk by with rap music, they would say, "Tupac is in hell" or "Biggie is in hell". It was awful. No power behind their words. We went up to them and we were the ones in the wrong.

Then I was on YouTube the other night and typed 'open air preaching'. This guy named Ruben Israel came up and it started off good but...i don't know...you listen to it. But what killed me was the christian t-shirt they were promoting. It said in big bold letters, "HOMO'S ARE HELLBOUND".
(i understand why if that gets deleted and only proves my point further) But why would a Christian wear that type of shirt.

And with your situation K_Day, i think of what Gandi said, "I would have become a Christian if it wasn't for Christians." Ouch!!!

One of the scariest verses in the bible is "Lord, Lord.." You know the rest.

The truth is, we know the majority is going to hell, but to try to run the 'ministerial fan' through those in our circle of influence, telling them who is saved and who is not, is not our job. Find it in Scripture and I will do it. Show me one place where Jesus specifically condemned a man to hell for not acting as other sheep were at the moment, and I will begin to do so.

Actually, to show this is wrong, here is a quote with a spirit that covers this kind of activity:

Luke 9:49-50 "And John answered and said, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name; and we forbad him, because he followeth not with us. And Jesus said unto him, Forbid him not: for he that is not against us is for us."

We are commanded to preach, and not hang around those who commit open sin who claim to be a brother; not much more. We are to mark those who are in open rebellion, and have them removed from the church if they don't change, but marking who is saved and who is on the road to hell in public is God's business.

I wouldn't sweat it. You can tell a tree by its fruit. Hopefully someone will glean something from the message they were preaching, as flawed as their intents might be. They might mean it for evil, somehow God can still always use it for good. We will all find out in eternity.