The Crushing Obligation to Keep Doing More and More

 

by Kevin DeYoung

Doing More for God

I understand there are lazy people out there who need to get radical for Jesus. I understand that many people are stingy with their resources and fritter their time away on inane television shows. I understand there are lots of Christians in our churches sitting around doing nothing who need to be challenged not to waste their life. I am deeply thankful for preachers and writers who challenge us to risk everything and make our lives count. I know a lot of sleepy Christians in need of a wake-up call.

But I also know people like me, people who easily feel a sense of responsibility, people who easily feel bad for not doing more. I was the kid in grade school who was ready to answer every question the teacher asked. I signed up for things just because they were offered. I took on extra credit just to be safe. I never skipped a class in college and would have felt bad for missing any chapel service. I took the practice ACT the year before I really took the practice ACT, which was a year before I took the real ACT. For all sorts of reasons—pride, diligence, personality—opportunities have often felt like obligations to me.

And surely I’m not the only one. Surely there are many Christians who are terribly busy because they sincerely want to be obedient to God. We hear sermons that convict us for not praying more. We read books that convince us to do more for global hunger. We talk to friends who inspire us to give more and read more and witness more. The needs seem so urgent. The workers seem so few. If we don’t do something, who will? We want to be involved. We want to make a difference. We want to do what’s expected of us. But there just doesn’t seem to be the time.

Calming the Crazy Man Inside

I think most Christians hear these urgent calls to do more (or feel them internally already) and learn to live with a low-level guilt that comes from not doing enough. We know we can always pray more and give more and evangelize more, so we get used to living in a state of mild disappointment with ourselves. That’s not how the apostle Paul lived (1 Cor. 4:4), and it’s not how God wants us to live, either (Rom. 12:1–2).1 Either we are guilty of sin—like greed, selfishness, idolatry—and we need to repent, be forgiven, and change. Or something else is going on. It’s taken me several years, a lot of reflection, and a bunch of unnecessary busyness to understand that when it comes to good causes and good deeds, “do more or disobey” is not the best thing we can say.

Here are some of thoughts that have helped me get out from under the terror of total obligation.

I am not the Christ. The senior sermon for my graduating class at seminary was given by Gordon Hugenberger of Park Street Church in Boston. The sermon was based on John the Baptist’s words, “I freely confess I am not the Christ.” Hugenberger’s point to a group of soon-to-be pastors was simple: “You may be part of the bridal party, but you are not the groom. You are not the Messiah, so don’t try to be. Along with the Apostles’ Creed and the Belgic Confession and the Westminster Confession, make sure you confess John the Baptist’s creed: I am not the Christ.” I still have a copy of the sermon and listen to it whenever I can find a tape deck. Our Messianic sense of obligation would be greatly relieved if we confessed more regularly what we are not.

There is good news. I was also helped with my busyness issues in seminary by reading a little book by Tim Dearborn called Beyond Duty: A Passion for Christ, a Heart for Mission.2 Dearborn, the director of faith and development for World Vision, argues that for too long the church has motivated people to mission by news of natural catastrophes, complex humanitarian disasters, unreached people groups, and oppressed and exploited minorities. We’ve been given statistics and stories about the all-too-sad conditions of the world. The good news of Christ’s death and resurrection, Dearborn maintains, has been turned into bad news about all the problems in the world and how much more we have to do to make things right. The take-home then becomes: serve more, give more, care more, do more. Dearborn reminds us that the gospel is good news of great joy, and that God is the only hope for the world.

Care is not the same as do. At the Lausanne missions gathering in 2010, John Piper made the statement that “we should care about all suffering, especially eternal suffering.” He chose the word “care” quite carefully. He didn’t want to say we should do something about all suffering, because we can’t do something about everything. But we can care. This means when we hear about grinding poverty or legal abortion or biblical illiteracy, we are not indifferent. We think and feel that these things ought not to be so. We won’t all care about every issue in the same way, but there are some issues we should all care about, some issues that should at least prick our hearts and prompt us to pray. Not giving a rip about sex slaves is not an option for the Christian. Not doing something directly to combat this particular evil *is an option.
We all have a cross to carry. But it’s a cross that kills our sins, smashes our idols, and teaches us the folly of self-reliance.


We have different gifts and different callings. Every Christian must be prepared to give an answer for the reason for the hope that we have (1 Pet. 3:15), but not everyone will do beach evangelism. Every Christian should be involved in the Great Commission, but not everyone will move overseas. Every Christian should oppose abortion, but not everyone will adopt or volunteer at a crisis pregnancy center. We need Christians who spend their lives improving inner-city schools and Christians whose dream is to get great theological books translated into Polish. And we need Christians who don’t make others feel guilty (and don’t feel guilty themselves) when one of us follows a different passion than another. I read and write a lot. That’s what I do well. But that doesn’t mean anyone should feel guilty for not reading and writing as much as I do. You have your own gifts and calling. We have to be okay with other Christians doing certain good things better and more often than we do.

Remember the church. The only work that absolutely must be done in the world is Christ’s work. And Christ’s work is accomplished through Christ’s body. The church—gathered in worship on Sunday and scattered through its members throughout the week—is able to do exponentially more than any of us alone. I can respond to Christ’s call in one or two ways, but I am a part of an organism and organization that can respond and serve in a million ways.

I can always pray right now. Prayer can feel like the biggest burden of all. We can always pray more, and we can’t possibly pray for every need in the world. Even if we are extremely organized and disciplined, we won’t be able to consistently pray for more than a handful of people and problems. But that doesn’t mean our prayers are limited to the items we can write on a 3 × 5 card. If your aunt’s cousin has upcoming heart surgery, pray immediately after you hear about it. When a missionary shares her requests, pray right on the spot for them. Don’t let the moment pass you by. Pray a short prayer. Trust God for the results and, in many cases, move on.

Jesus didn’t do it all. Jesus didn’t meet every need. He left people waiting in line to be healed. He left one town to preach to another. He hid away to pray. He got tired. He never interacted with the vast majority of people on the planet. He spent thirty years in training and only three years in ministry. He did not try to do it all. And yet, he did everything God asked him to do.

Take Time to Be Holy

I pray that nothing in this encourages you to embrace cheap grace or easy believism. We all have a cross to carry. But it’s a cross that kills our sins, smashes our idols, and teaches us the folly of self-reliance. It’s a cross that says I’ll do anything to follow Jesus, not a cross that says I have to do everything for Jesus.

No doubt some Christians need to be shaken out of their lethargy and to get busy for the kingdom. But many Christians are too busy already. I can take “redeem the time” (see Eph. 5:16, KJV) as a summons to better time management when in reality it’s a call to be holy more than a call to possess the seven habits of highly effective people. I can turn every “is” into an “ought.” I can overlook the role that necessity and proximity play in establishing divine obligations.3 I can forget that my circle of influence will inevitably be smaller than my circle of concern.

Above all, I can lose sight of the good news that the universe is not upheld by the word of my power (see Heb. 1:3). That’s Christ’s work, and no one else can do it. Hallelujah—he doesn’t even expect me to try.


Notes:
See my chapter “The Pleasure of God and the Possibility of Godliness,” in The Hole in Our Holiness (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2012).
Tim Dearborn, Beyond Duty: A Passion for Christ, a Heart for Mission (Federal Way, WA: World Vision, 1997).
Cf. Kevin DeYoung and Greg Gilbert, What Is the Mission of the Church: Making Sense of Social Justice, Shalom, and the Great Commission(Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2011), 183–186, 225. See also my article “Stewardship, Obligation, and the Poor,” at http://www.9marks.org /journal/obligation-stewardship-and-poor.

This content was originally published on Crossway

On The Chosen: Jesus Is Not the Law of Moses. He is Far Better.

 by Grayson Gilbert  

Recently, The Chosen posted an image of the actor who plays Christ with a line from season 3 that is supposedly a “mic drop” moment for the show’s producers. It shows the character responding to one of the Pharisees by saying, “I am the Law of Moses.” While many flocked to the post in support of the “mic drop,” many others expressed how flatly unbiblical this is. They rightly said that Jesus is not the Law, but that the Law instead reveals the righteous standard of our thrice holy Lord. Likewise, they were right to say that Jesus came to fulfill the Law in His perfect, active obedience to it all His earthly life.

Contrary to the expression of infamous pastors like Steven Furtick, the active obedience of Christ means that He in no way “violated the Law” out of love. More importantly, the active obedience of Christ is a vicarious obedience. We think of the vicarious substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ, meaning that He died in our place as our Substitute, and paid the wrath that we deserved. In the vicarious obedience of Christ, Jesus lived in perfect obedience, likewise, on our behalf. He fulfilled what we could not do: Jesus obeyed the Law, and due to His active obedience, and His passive obedience on the cross, we actually gain the benefit of being counted righteous before God. This is the doctrine of imputed righteousness, which is an alien righteousness—a righteousness not of our own, but Christ’s. This is important, so hang with me.

As we come back to the “mic drop” moment of season 3 in The Chosen, this becomes all the more nefarious. In fact, nowhere in Scripture does Jesus say to anyone, “I am the Law of Moses.” In the book of Mormon, however, you will find such a statement in 3 Nephi 15:9, “Behold, I am the Law, and the light. Look unto me, and endure to the end, and ye shall live; for unto him that endureth to the end will I give eternal life.” That alone should give people enough pause on the show, owing to the fact that Mormonism is a false religion that teaches a contrary gospel to the gospel of our Lord. In short, Mormon doctrine holds that it is your active obedience that will please God in the end, and earn your salvation.

2 Nephi 25:23 states, “For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do” (emphasis mine). Often this verse from 2 Nephi is used in conjunction with Moroni 10:32 to give clearer meaning, which says, “Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God” (emphasis mine). It is quite important to notice the all-important temporal modifiers to these Mormon scriptures, because they explicitly teach that grace is a commodity earned only after one has exhausted their own spiritual muster.

The LDS Bible Dictionary puts it like this:

“This grace is an enabling power that allows men and women to lay hold on eternal life and exaltation after they have expended their own best efforts. Divine grace is needed by every soul in consequence of the fall of Adam and also because of man’s weaknesses and shortcomings. However, grace cannot suffice without total effort on the part of the recipient. Hence the explanation, ‘It is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do’ (2 Ne. 25:23)” (p. 697).

But what does the Bible say of all of this? It is bupkis. Rubbish. Ultimately, it is damnable doctrine. Romans 3:10-20 lays out the plight of mankind so incredibly clearly that it leaves anyone without a source of comfort in their own ability to earn grace. Likewise, Ephesians 2:1-10 displays not only the hopelessness of those born under the dominating power of sin—but it lifts up the reality that we are saved “by grace through faith…and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast” (Eph. 2:8-9). The good works which we walk in were prepared beforehand for us by the Father (Eph. 2:10), meaning that even our good works are a production of this grace in us. In other words: even our active obedience to Christ is a display of the riches of God’s grace. They are not what produces salvation, but a production of salvation.

The lynchpin of my argument today though is not the tie The Chosen has to Mormonism, which is without dispute at this point. That should be enough—but for many, it is not. What I want to do then is simply take this “mic drop” moment from The Chosen and show just how flatly unbiblical, and truly sad it actually is. The reason for this is quite simple: Not only does Scripture simply never say in any one of the great “I AM” passages that Jesus Christ is the Law of Moses, Jesus is far better than the Law. Here’s why.

The apostle Paul begins in Romans 7 by describing the plight of mankind before the Law of God because of the dominating power of sin. The problem is not the Law. The Law, as Paul says, is “holy, righteous, and good” (Rom. 7:12). The problem is us. The Law is spiritual, but we are not; we are sold as slaves to sin, bound under obedience to the Law, but unable to keep the Law in perfection as it demands—and the result is that the Law produces death in us. Ultimately, we are caught up between the power of sin and death—we are bound by the flesh, and it is so bad that Paul tells us four results of being bound by the flesh, according to Romans 8:5-8:

The mind set on the flesh is death.


The mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God.


The mind set on the flesh does not subject itself to the Law of God because it is not even able to do so.


Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

This is the fundamental problem of the Law. As holy, righteous, and good as it is, it cannot free man from this body of death we bear under the weight and power of sin. The Law was never designed to do this. Even if one takes into account the threefold use of the Law—all should recognize that the Law was never designed to be a means by which sinners are freed from the power of sin and death—but Jesus is powerful enough to deliver us from sin and death. This is why is it so heinous that The Chosen depicts Jesus Christ saying, “I am the Law of Moses.” It equates Christ with the Law, rather than with Him being the second person of the Trinity, who is far greater than the Law.

The Law could not set you and I free from sin and death—but Jesus did. The Law was powerless to free one from the condemnation they deserve—but Jesus is not. This is why so many find comfort in Paul’s argument in Romans 8:1-4:

“Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”

What rendered death in us before and bound us all under the power of sin—is no longer binding us. We’ve been freed, not only from the power of sin and death, but from the judgment to come, and this is particularly why the gospel is such good news. The hopelessness of being bound by the flesh in death, hostility toward God, our inability to subject ourselves to God’s Law, and our utter inability to please God, has been replaced by a renewed hope under the law of the Spirit. The Spirit dwells within us (Rom. 8:9), gives us life (Rom. 8:10-11), enables us to put to death the deeds of the flesh (Rom. 8:12-13), allows us to be called “Sons of God” (Rom. 8:14-15), and testifies that we are His children (Rom. 8:16) and heirs to the promises of God (Rom. 8:17). The Law does none of these things.

Perhaps greatest of all though is that the Law was powerless to cleanse us from the stain of sin, but Christ’s sacrifice was not. Hebrews 10 speaks of this wonderful reality, showing that the Law was merely a shadow of the glorious things to come through Christ. It could never, by the same sacrifices offered year after year, make perfect those who draw near to God in worship (Heb. 10:2). But Jesus can. Instead of a continual reminder of the power of sin and death, we have a perfect sacrifice found in Jesus Christ, who satisfied the wrath of God and rendered us pure and blameless before the Father. In other words, we are truly counted righteous.

And this is where the vicarious obedience of Christ comes full circle—because it is only through the active obedience of Jesus Christ that we have come to be counted righteous (Rom. 5:19). It is only because the Son lived in perfect obedience to the Law that He could offer up His life in our place, and truly satisfy the wrath of God. To tie that all together: Christ proved that He was not only greater than the Law by this, but showed He was greater than the power of sin and death. Sin might take advantage of the commandment and produce death in us (Rom. 7:8), but it could not in Christ.

Did the producers of The Chosen intend to knock against all of this? Perhaps not. It is difficult to say, simply owing to how steeped in Mormon doctrine the show is—but I am inclined to not give them the benefit of the doubt as so many wish to do. This is their “gotcha” moment. This is their proverbial “mic drop.” But this isn’t quite the mic drop they believe it to be. Rather than showing people a genuinely biblical portrayal of Christ and His power over sin and death, they display an impotent Jesus, who is powerless to actually save people from their sins. Instead, they show a Jesus who is mastered by the dominating power of sin. That’s what truly gets communicated in one little line, because that’s what the Scriptures say about the Law. When you equate Jesus with the Law of Moses, that’s what you get.

Unfortunately, many don’t see this, but have fawned over the mic drop and been reduced to tears. They have, in other words, been profoundly impacted by the show—but in all the wrong ways and for all the wrong reasons. The sad reality is that until professing Christians start to pick up their Bibles and critically examine shows like these, those of us who do so will continue to be labeled curmudgeons, and “fun-ripper-outers.” In part, I’ll take that because I am sardonically asking along with Maximus Decimus Meridus to the blood-thirsty crowd who watched him dispatch of another in the gladiatorial arena, “Are you not entertained?” Things should not be this way, but they are.

What the show relies on is an ignorance of what the Scriptures actually teach, which is to say precisely why it is so popular. It offers much of the same style of Christianity pervading the Evangelical world currently, where the inch-deep, mile-wide preaching of the Word, the “At the Movies” canned sermon series, and the vapid emotionalism brought on by manipulative “worship” music laden with sentimental musical prompts, are commonplace. Indeed, it brings people to see Jesus—just not the biblical Jesus; but it is highly entertaining, is it not? The problem is that we keep asking the wrong question. The question isn’t if it is entertaining, but why so many are entertained at the expense of biblical truth.

Steak And Arsenic: A Review of Neil Anderson’s "Victory Over the Darkness"

 

by Steven J. Cole


Reading Neil Anderson’s Victory Over the Darkness [Regal Books, 1990, 245 pp.] is like eating steak laced with arsenic. The steak tastes great and makes up the major portion, but the arsenic, imbedded throughout, will kill you.

First, the steak: Anderson strongly sets forth the believer’s position in Christ and the beneficial effects of believing this truth. He underscores the many Scriptures affirming that believers are saints, new creatures, forgiven, righteous, etc. Certainly these are crucial truths for every Christian to believe and act upon.

Anderson rightly affirms that right thinking produces right emotions: “... feelings are a product of the thought life.... Anger, anxiety and depression are usually the result of a faulty belief system. The greatest determinants of mental and emotional health are a true knowledge of God, and acceptance of His ways and the assurance of His forgiveness” (p. 236). Amen!

Sadly, though, the book is laced with arsenic. An undiscerning reader will swallow the poison with the steak. The outcome will be worse than not eating the steak at all!

The main error is that Anderson repeatedly asserts that believers are not to view themselves as sinners, not even as sinners saved by grace, but as saints who occasionally sin. If unsuspecting Christians buy into this aberrant view, they will end up minimizing what Scripture presents as the major enemy against which we must daily fight: the ongoing power of the flesh. Here’s how he puts it:

Many Christians refer to themselves as sinners saved by grace. But are you really a sinner? Is that your scriptural identity? Not at all. God doesn’t call you a sinner; He calls you a saint--a holy one. If you think of yourself as a sinner, guess what you will do: you’ll live like a sinner; you’ll sin. Why not identify yourself for who you really are: a saint who occasionally sins (pp. 44-45).

Satan will try to convince you that you are an unworthy, unacceptable, sin-sick person who will never amount to anything in God’s eyes (p. 56).

(Note the truth and error mingled in that single sentence: We are unworthy, unacceptable, and sin-sick. But by God’s grace we will amount to something in His eyes.)

If you believe that you are part light and part darkness, part saint and part sinner, you will live in a very mediocre manner with little to distinguish you from the non-Christian (p. 71). (See also pp. 69, 83; and his book, The Bondage Breaker [Harvest House], pp. 44, 81, 156).

There are numerous problems with these overstatements (which amount to a serious denial of biblical truth). First, they depend upon picking and choosing certain Scriptures, but ignoring others. For example, on pages 45-47 Anderson has a long list of verses giving the positives of who I am in Christ. Great! But why did he leave out other verses, often in the same context, that aren’t so pretty (Matt. 6:30; 7:5, 11; 5:4; Luke 17:10)? Anderson conveniently skips such “negative” verses.

Concerning Paul’s late-in-life claim to be the chief of sinners (1 Tim. 1:15), Anderson explains it as referring to his nature before conversion. But a study of the text in its context shows that Paul was talking about his ever-deepening awareness of his own sinfulness as he grew in grace. As Donald Guthrie comments, “Paul never got away from the fact that Christian salvation was intended for sinners, and the more he increased his grasp of the magnitude of God’s grace, the more he deepened the consciousness of his own naturally sinful state, ...” (The Pastoral Epistles, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries [Eerdmans], p. 65).

A second problem with not viewing ourselves as sinners is that it destroys the basis for growing in humility before God. The most godly men in the Bible all were deeply aware of their own utter depravity in the presence of God (see Gen. 18:27; Job 42:6; Isa. 6:5; Dan. 9:4-19; Luke 5:8).

It is significant that in none of these cases did the Lord say, “That’s not true! You need to see yourself as a saint, not a sinner!” Once the man realized the truth of his sinfulness, the Lord graciously gave words of encouragement to restore (Job 42:7-8; Isa. 6:7; Dan. 9:23; Luke 5:10). But it can be argued that God’s specific intent in every case was to bring these sinner-saints to this lower (and more accurate) estimate of themselves in God’s holy presence.

Third, Anderson’s view undercuts the need for self-distrust. The more I realize my own sinfulness, the less I’m inclined to trust myself and the more I’m inclined to cling desperately to the Lord, lest I fall into sin (1 Cor. 10:12). When I am weak, then I am strong (2 Cor. 12:9-10).

Fourth, Anderson minimizes the need for ongoing self- examination (2 Cor. 13:5). But this is the requirement for every Christian, especially before partaking of the Lord’s Supper (1 Cor. 11:28).

Fifth, Anderson’s view will lead to an anemic view of God’s grace, which is the chief motivation for holy living. If I do not grow to see my own sinfulness in a deeper way, I will not grow in appreciation for the “mighty gulf that God did span at Calvary.” Those who love God much know that they’ve been forgiven much (Luke 7:47). Jesus’ point was not that some are forgiven more than others, but rather that those who realize how much they’re forgiven are those who love God much. If I’m not growing to see more of the depths of my sinfulness, I will not love God more.

Sixth, Anderson minimizes the major hindrance to holy living. If I am “a saint who occasionally sins,” then “No big problem!” That is precisely what Satan would have me believe! God wants me to see the gravity of my sin problem so that I will take responsibility to put to death the deeds of the flesh. The more I grow, the more I discover that my problem is much bigger than I ever realized! (This error is magnified if you add Anderson’s book, The Bondage Breaker, which places much of the blame for Christians’ problems on evil spirits, not on the flesh.)

Seventh, if I am not to see myself as a sinner, then how can I deny myself (Mark 8:34)? Clearly, self-denial is to be a daily, ongoing exercise (Luke 9:23). Do I deny a slight tendency I have toward an occasional sin or do I deny my continual propensity toward selfishness, pride, and the deeds of the flesh?

Eighth, Anderson’s error runs counter to the experience and teaching of the most godly men in church history. Augustine, Calvin, Luther, John Owen (the great Puritan theologian), Jonathan Edwards, Charles Simeon, J. C. Ryle, Charles Spurgeon, Martyn Lloyd-Jones and many others all taught the ongoing depravity of the human heart, even after conversion. How then can Anderson claim that if you see yourself as a sinner “you will live in a very mediocre manner with little to distinguish you from the non-Christian” (p. 71)! Those men were hardly mediocre Christians!

Ninth, Anderson’s false teaching denies the facts of every revival in church history. As Lloyd-Jones points out (Revival [Crossway], p. 231),

And there has never yet been a revival of religion, but that the moment that God’s people have this experience, though they may have been Christians for years and years, they feel utterly unworthy, they see themselves as sinners as they have never done before. Some of them have even doubted whether they have ever been Christians. They are wrong, of course, but the sight of the holiness of God, the realisation of it, has made them see nothing but their own sinfulness and their own unworthiness. It is invariable.

Indeed, Dr. Lloyd-Jones makes this point repeatedly (see pp. 41, 70-71, 80-83, 101, 156-157), thus showing how far Anderson is off.

Tenth, not seeing myself as a sinner would lead to my shrugging off the many repeated Scriptural warnings against the power and dangers of sin. Why worry about it if I’m just a saint who occasionally sins? Why should pastors preach against sin if Anderson is right? Just preach positional truth. Why preach the need for an ongoing life of repentance? Occasional repentance for occasional sins will do!

Thus Anderson’s unbiblical assertion that believers are not to view themselves as sinners is the major dose of arsenic in the steak. But other minor traces can be found in his penchant for overstatement. Some examples:

Feelings “are neither good nor bad; they’re amoral, just part of your humanity” (p. 182). If so, why does the Bible label certain feelings as sin (lust, selfish anger, bitterness, jealousy, etc.)? Anderson encourages a counselee to vent sinful anger and uses one of David’s imprecatory (and Christological) psalms as justification for “being honest with our feelings” (pp. 186-187)!

Concerning sharing with a grieving friend, he overstates what would be sound counsel if it were in balance, namely that we’re to respond to emotions with emotions, not with words (p. 189). He cites Jesus’ weeping with Mary and Martha as biblical warrant. But he conveniently omits Jesus’ pointed words (not just emotions) to Martha from the very context he cites as “proof” (see John 11:23-26).

Anderson argues (p. 215) that it is always wrong to defend oneself, since if we’re wrong, we should accept the criticism; if we’re right, God will defend us. Please snip 2 Corinthians, Galatians, 1 Thessalonians 2, and many other portions from your Bible (excuse my sarcasm). Paul defends himself rather vigorously in those places, sometimes with sarcasm, even!

We’re told that it’s always wrong to judge character; we’re only supposed to judge actions (p. 221-222). But don’t repeated deeds reflect inner character? In the same context that we’re told not to judge we are told to discern and avoid false prophets who inwardly are ravenous wolves (Matt. 7:15). Paul often judged the motives and character of his critics, based on his observation of their deeds (2 Cor. 11:13-15; Gal. 1:8-10; Titus 1:10-16).

Anderson draws a false dichotomy between being and doing (pp. 237-239). The subtle implication of his teaching here is that we can’t (and perhaps even shouldn’t) obey God (“doing”) until we’re squared away with who we are in Christ (“being”). He states (p. 237),

One of the great failures of Christian ministry is to expect people to behave as Christians ... before they have matured as Christians .... In so doing we are asking people to behave in a manner that is inconsistent with their perception of their identity and their level of maturity, and that’s an impossible task.

No! Obedience is always right, whether I understand “who I am in Christ” or not. We grow to understand our identity in Him as we trust and obey (see 2 Pet. 1:5-11).

Overall, the book, in common with many modern “Christian” books, has an underlying selfistic bent: “You will be motivated in life by what you believe will bring you success, significance, fulfillment, satisfaction, happiness, fun, security and peace” (Table of Contents description of Chapter 7, which elaborates on this bent). That’s a far cry from the self-denying faith of the martyrs! I have trouble imagining Latimer and Ridley thinking about success, significance, fulfillment, satisfaction, happiness, and fun as the flames were lit around them!

In short, Anderson’s book contains a lot of good ol’ American selfism wrapped in a lot of truth to fool the unsuspecting—steak laced with arsenic! Dear brethren, do not be deceived!

Why Should a New Convert Not Open-Air Preach?

 (I contend that this also applies to new Christians teaching, discipling and leading groups)

by Brandon Rhea

10/21/2016


New converts to Christianity usually have an unmatched zeal for the gospel. The freshness of their salvation through the precious blood of their Savior propels them to action. Their enthusiasm can lead them to engage people in evangelism. Some veteran street preachers even take the passionate babe in Christ with them for an outreach. Very quickly, this opens the door to their opportunity to step up on the box. While I admire such fervor to preach the gospel in the open air, I must caution against this approach for six reasons.

1. New Converts Need Time to Grow in Character

A new believer needs time to grow in the fruits of the Spirit. In Ephesians 4:17-32, Paul addresses the Ephesians on how we should live differently from the unconverted. We must put off the old self and put on the new self. This includes putting off unrighteous anger and corrupting talk. Open-air preaching is a temptation for new converts to respond in unrighteous ways to the mocking, scoffing, and apathy of the non-Christians. A new believer does not know how to respond to cursing with blessing. They have not learned to rejoice when persecuted. If the man struggled with bitterness, wrath, malice, and violence before Christ, then he will need time for the Holy Spirit to sanctify him through the Word. The consequences of him exploding in an ungodly way would be the discrediting of the gospel message.

2. New Converts Need Discipleship

In Acts 18:24-28, God gifted Apollos to speak in the synagogues about Christ. In verse 24, we learn that he is an eloquent speaker and competent in the Scriptures. In verse 25, Luke tells us that Apollos received discipleship. Someone instructed him in the way of the Lord. This verb, instruct, means “to teach in a systematic or detailed manner.” Apollos went through a systematic discipleship program on the meaning of the Scriptures. Yet, he still needed correction. In verse 26, Priscilla and Aquila heard him preach, but he needed more instruction. They took him aside and taught him the way of the Lord more accurately. Then, God used him marvelously in Achaia to refute the Jews.

If Apollos received detailed and systematic instruction and still needed correction, how much more does a new convert? Most baby Christians have not read the Bible completely. They usually know the basics of the Gospel, but they are not competent in the Scriptures. People saved from nominal Christian backgrounds or other religions usually know very little about the Bible. They need time to learn the Scriptures through their church’s preaching and personal study in order to be prepared to preach the gospel accurately.

3. New Converts Are Students and Not Teachers

If a man is not competent to preach on Sunday in the pulpit, then he is not competent to preach on Saturday on the street corner. In 2 Timothy 4:2, Paul exhorts Timothy to “preach the word.” The word, preach, in this context means “to publicly announce religious truths and principles while urging acceptance and compliance.” There are only two differences between preaching on Sunday in the pulpit versus Saturday on the street corner. First, in one circumstance the preacher has a roof over his head. Second, it is a different context. On Sunday, it is a worship service to the people of God. On Saturday, it is on the street corner to mostly unbelievers. However, the act of preaching is the same. Both are public declarations of Biblical truth with the desire to see people accept it.

When a man stands up on the street corner to preach, he is declaring to the pedestrians that he is a teacher of the Bible. He understands the message and is going to proclaim it for their consideration. A new convert is not at the level of a teacher. He is still a student who is learning the basics of the faith. Imagine if a young man took a French class. After six weeks, he has learned the basics like pronouncing the abc’s, numbers, and rudimentary vocabulary. What if this young man decided to go to the street corner in order to teach people French? The assumption by the crowd would be that he is fluent and can teach. Unfortunately, they would be quickly disappointed since he is a new student to the study of the language.

A person may object and say, “Does this mean that he cannot share the gospel with anyone?” No! You are assuming that preaching is the same thing as having a conversation with a person one on one. It is not. In a conversation, a new convert does not set himself up as a competent instructor of the Bible. Instead, he is sharing what he is learning from the competent teacher at his church. Let us go back to the French student. Would it be wrong for him to share with his parents the new words he is learning in French? No, it would not, because he is not portraying himself as a French teacher. Instead, he is sharing privately the lessons that he has learned in class.

4. Teachers Will Receive a Greater Judgment

James 3:1 says, “Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.” In this context, the word, teacher, means “one who provides instruction.” This does not have to be a public proclamation but can be private. Preaching is always a public teaching activity. Therefore, we can apply this principle to preachers. There is greater judgment for them. We should not encourage a new convert to take greater responsibility before they are able to handle the stricter judgment. They are unprepared spiritually and doctrinally to be held to this greater standard.

5. A New Convert May Not Have the Ability to Preach

In 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1, an elder must have the ability to teach to be qualified for the office. While a person does not have to be an elder to preach, these passages do show that it is a gift from God. There are some men who may have the desire to preach, but they do not have the ability. Either they have poor communication skills in contrast to Apollos or they cannot rightly handle the word of truth. (2 Tim. 2:15)

If a new convert feels the desire to preach, then he should do two things. First, sit under the preaching ministry of his church. By hearing the preaching of God’s Word every week, you will grow in your knowledge of the Lord. Besides this, it demonstrates to him what good preaching looks like. By seeing a gifted man of God preach the Bible with care, it will disciple him to do the same thing. Second, ask for an opportunity to preach at your church or teach in Sunday School. It is wise for you to cut your teeth as a preacher in the local church with a friendly audience. By learning in the church, then it will sharpen your skills in order to preach in the open-air.

5. New Converts Are Prone to Pride

In 1 Timothy 3:6, Paul wrote, “He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil.” This warns churches to avoid choosing a new convert to become an elder. They are particularly prone to becoming prideful. The devil will use the new office as an opportunity to have them fall into his arms. This principle can be applied to preaching as well. The public recognition of preaching can act as a stumbling block to a new convert. They start to think that they are a mature follower of Jesus since they are preaching the Gospel on the street corner and most believers are not. This pride turns into an unteachable spirit and can turn to isolation. Unfortunately, I have seen men err into false doctrine and they refused to be corrected. The open-air ministry puffed up their pride. Even though they thought they were teachers, they became fools.

What Should a New Convert Do?

I encourage men who open-air preach to take new converts with you. However, see it as a discipleship opportunity. The new convert is coming with you in order to learn. By inviting him to go, it forces the new believer to face the fear of man. Also, the conversations in the car are advantageous moments to discuss spiritual matters. When you go to your spot to preach the gospel, it grants more instruction to the babe in Christ to meditate on these truths. When there is interaction with non-believers, he will witness you demonstrating gentleness while delivering truth. Besides this, he will be exposed to new arguments against Christianity and the appropriate response from the Scriptures. Please see outreaches as discipleship opportunities, but do not push the man onto the box while he is still on a diet of milk.

The Beginning of the End

 

Our Role and God’s Role in Evangelism

posted on FEBRUARY 4, 2021  (from Theologyforyou.com)

What do you think your job is in evangelism? Are you supposed to present all the logical arguments for the existence of God? Are you supposed to convince someone that they should become a believer? Is it your responsibility to bring someone to faith in Christ?

In this article, we’re going to look at our role in evangelism versus God’s role in evangelism and how, many times, we get the two confused.

This article is part of a series on evangelism using Will Metzger’s book Tell the Truth as our guide. If you don’t have this book we’d highly encourage you to pick up a copy of your own.

We Don't Have to be Confused


A lot of times we get confused in our witness and, in our desire to share our faith with others, we feel like we have the responsibility to bring them to Christ. Believer, be comforted, that’s not your responsibility, it’s God’s.

Our responsibility is to proclaim the gospel with our lips and our lives knowing that it is God who is going to work in people’s hearts to bring them to faith.

We are to see ourselves simply as planters and waterers who trust God to give the growth.

Again, this goes back to our article on the importance of the content of the gospel where we talked about “the herald.” If you haven’t seen that yet, I’d encourage you to check it out by clicking here or the description below. The idea of the herald is that we are to carry and deliver the message that has been given to us.


I’d like to share a quote with you from the little book from 9Marks called What if I’m Discouraged in My Evangelism? It says this, “Our job is to proclaim salvation not produce it. We’re called to deliver a message to people; God’s the one who delivers people from sin.”



“Our job is to proclaim salvation not produce it. We’re called to deliver a message to people; God’s the one who delivers people from sin.”ISAAC ADAMS


Consider also this analogy from Tell the Truth:


Imagine how odd it would be if a mailman was discouraged because he thought “Every time I deliver a letter and someone opens it, they don’t like what they read!” it’s not the mailman’s job to make people like the mail but to deliver it. Likewise, it’s our job to deliver the gospel to people, and God’s job to cause them to believe the gospel. We share the faith, and God grants the faith. As Jesus said, “No one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father” (John 6:65).

So in our evangelism, we should focus on being faithful to share the gospel message that has been delivered to us and not focusing on whether or not the person we’re sharing the gospel with comes to faith. Obviously, we want those with whom we share the gospel to come to a knowledge of the truth and to enter into a right relationship with God, but we should not judge whether or not we have been successful in our evangelism by the number of converts that we have.

Without the Right Focus, we will be confused


If your focus in evangelism is to see how many people you can get to “pray a prayer”, or raise their hand or come forward in a service you’re focussing on the wrong things. I want to challenge you by asking a very simple question: can we find any of these things in the Bible? The answer is: we can’t. They’re not in the Bible. And we’re going to cover this in more detail in our next article when we talk about genuine conversion.

In the Bible, what do we see instead? Jesus and the apostles taught the scriptures and called people to repent and believe in the gospel. They communicated the message given to them and called people to respond to that message, not by praying a prayer, or by going forward in a church service or raising their hand but calling them to repent and believe.

Jesus in Mark 1:15 “repent and believe in the gospel.” Peter in Acts 3:19, “Repent, therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out,” Acts 17:30 “The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.” The apostles followed the model of Jesus and communicated the message that was given to them as servants of that message.

Paul often considered himself a servant and a witness to God. So should we. We are to witness to others by proclaiming the truths of the Scriptures. We should proclaim God as the maker and creator of all things, including them, and He is a lawmaker and a love-giver and we have failed to follow his commands.

Now separated from God and unable to make ourselves right with Him, we need Him to bring us to himself, and He has provided a way through Christ. By faith, we are to turn from our wicked ways and believe in Christ’s payment for our sins that we may be right with God and live a life pleasing to him. Out of love, we should even plead with people to receive Christ yet, we must not evaluate the success of our evangelism in terms of whether or not someone comes to faith.

As we’ve established in this series on evangelism the primary way we should evaluate our evangelism is, as John Piper says, to “look at the book.” We look at the Bible and see the examples of evangelism in scripture. After doing that we can study the history of the Christian church and see where God has blessed the proclamation of the gospel and drawn people to himself. From one such study, Martyn Lloyd Jones shares five foundational principles to evangelism that honestly completely changed the way that I view evangelism.The supreme object of the work of evangelism is to glorify God, not to save souls.
The only power that can do this work is the Holy Spirit, not our own strength.
The one and only medium which the Spirit works through is the Scriptures. Therefore, we reason out of the Scriptures as Paul did.
These proceeding principles give us the true motivation for evangelism–a zeal for God, and a love for others.
There’s a constant danger of heresy through a false zeal in the employment of unscriptural methods.

The Primary Purpose of Evangelism


We must not evaluate the success of our evangelism in terms of whether or not someone comes to faith.


The primary purpose of evangelism is to glorify God, not to save souls. We trust God’s work in people’s lives that He, through the Holy Spirit, is the one that is going to move people. The means by which God moves people is through the Scriptures. It’s not through apologetics or reasoning in a purely logical sense, but primarily we reason out of the Scriptures; we point people to what the Bible says. It is God and not us who is the evangelizer. We get to journey along with Him as he does the work of evangelism while we are just presenting the truths.


Our responsibility in evangelism is to proclaim the gospel with our lips and our lives knowing that it is God who is going to work in people’s hearts to bring them to faith.

In our next article, we’re going to look a little deeper into understanding God’s role in evangelism by looking at what genuine conversion is. What does it mean for someone to truly become a Christian?



The primary purpose of evangelism is to glorify God, not to save souls.

We Share Jesus As We Anticipate His Return

from Love Worth Finding Ministries

We hear the news. Stories of war, natural disasters, and disease fill our ears. We remember Jesus’ words in Matthew 24:6-7 as He spoke of what the world will look like just before He comes again: “And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars…nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places.” We hear of food shortages, see rising prices and read Revelation 6:6, which talks about two pounds of wheat costing a day’s wages.

And so, we ask: When will Jesus return and rapture His bride, the Church? We’ve been waiting for 2,000 years! The answer, as it was in the Apostle Peter’s day, is soon and very soon. Peter warned us that “scoffers” would ask, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation” (2 Peter 3:4). Echoing Jesus’ instruction in Matthew 24:6 to “see that you are not troubled,” Peter further encouraged us: “But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:8-9). That “longsuffering” should point Jesus’ followers toward evangelism as we await the Rapture.

We will not know the date and time when Jesus will come for us, but Pastor Adrian Rogers likened our wait to a walk at the edge of the ocean. If the ocean’s edge is the Rapture—the doorway to forever living bodily with Jesus—our feet are in the sand, just touching the water. It is not that we have been journeying to the ocean from 2,000 miles away; we are at the surf’s edge.

“Now some people have the idea that…we’re way over here, the Second Coming of Jesus is off over there somewhere, and we’re just maybe trying to get to it,” Pastor Rogers said. “No, no, no, no, no. Friend, we’re right on the edge; we’re just walking along the seashore. We are living on the edge of eternity.”

In other words, eternity isn’t in front of us; it’s right beside us. Everything that needs to be fulfilled prior to the Rapture of the Church has been fulfilled. From the First Century through the 21st Century and now into the 22nd, we have been living in the “end times.” We look around us and observe that the days are becoming, as Pastor Rogers said, “gloriously dark.” We have the eyes of faith to understand the times and sense the soon coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He may come at any moment.

What do we do in the end times?

How then, should we live? We live in hope because we know the promises God gave us in His Word are true. We live with our eyes focused on Jesus Christ, the author and finisher of our faith. We live longing for and prepared for the return of Christ. We are watching for Him. While our hearts stretch toward the unimaginable above, our arms are stretched out in love to reach others beside us… before it is too late.

This is an active form of waiting as we work to bring a harvest to Jesus; we do not waste our precious time and our precious lives on lesser pursuits. We concentrate on the heart of the Gospel: Jesus died for our sins, He was raised, He is coming again. We do not fear the darkness, knowing that Jesus will always lead us in the light of His Word. Finally, we are aware that the enemy too knows the time is short, so we stand firm, with our feet planted in the truth of God’s Word. We withstand the enemy’s most clever schemes to tie us to this world so that we will point others toward the far better inheritance we will receive… in the twinkling of an eye.

Revelation fulfills the Gospel; Jesus is coming again.

What is the Gospel? In 1 Corinthians 15, the Apostle Paul tells us the Gospel is, “That Christ died for our sins, He was buried, He was raised again the third day.” The unfolding of this Gospel began in Genesis and continued throughout the Old Testament with prophecy about the first coming of Jesus. The heart of the Gospel was lived out in Jesus’ lifetime with His sinless life, His vicarious death, and His triumphant resurrection. In our days, the “Last Days,” Jesus continues to live out His Gospel in believers who share His love and bring others into the family of God.

The Book of Revelation gives us a glorious window into how God’s promises will be fulfilled; it explodes with a cosmic celebration of the triumph of the Gospel; it brings full circle the story of redemption that began in the Garden of Eden.

While the Book of Revelation contains many themes, ideas, symbols, and prophecies that may be debated by theologians, the critical message of the book is something all Christians may easily understand. The Book of Revelation is about one central person, “The Revelation of Jesus Christ” (Revelation 1:1), for one clear purpose, “to show His servants—things which must shortly take place” (Revelation 1:1), with one comforting promise, “Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy and keep the things which are written in it; for the time is near” (Revelation 1:3).

To obtain this blessing as a certain prophecy for each believer, we must see Jesus high and lifted up; He is the hero of all redemptive history. We must be His bondslaves because those who are not committed to Him cannot understand what He “shows His servants” as He pulls back the curtain and grants us a heavenly perspective. And we must “keep the things which are written,” being faithful to share Jesus in the face of opposition to the Gospel and refusing to compromise with the culture.

For an introduction to The Book of Revelation from Pastor Rogers, read the article: An Introduction to the Book of Revelation.

We will be with Jesus and like Jesus.

We don’t know when the Rapture will take place, but we know it will be beautiful for those who belong to Jesus. A preschool girl was playing in a Sunday school class, busy with her doll and a tea party set, when she heard the voice of her father who had come to pick her up. She abandoned the toys and ran to the door. Caught up into her daddy’s arms, she wrapped herself around his neck and exclaimed excitedly, “I knew you’d come back”!

She was too young to tell time. Her father’s appearance at that precise moment was a complete surprise. But she trusted Him. She knew he would come for her. That is how we are to live—going about our business, enjoying all God has given us, sharing the Gospel, and trusting Jesus—as we prepare for the Rapture. The Lord’s appearance will be at a surprising time, but it will be both highly relational (we will be “caught up” to Him) and transformational (we will become “like Him” in our glorified bodies).

The Apostle Paul explained to the Church at Thessalonica that this relational and transformational reality will be both for those believers who have died previously and for those who are living at the moment Jesus returns for His own.

Paul wrote the following to comfort us when we grieve the death of a Christian loved one: “But I do not want you to be ignorant brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. …We who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first” (1 Thessalonians 4:13-16).

Jesus is going to shout with a voice that literally wakes the dead who belong to Him. In an instant, “we who are alive and remain,” Paul said, indicating that he expected to be among the living at the time of the Rapture, “shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord” (I Thessalonians 4:17).

All of this will happen, Paul told the Church at Corinth, “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed” (1 Corinthians 15:52).

This is why believers rightly ask, “Where will you be when the trumpet sounds?”

For more about the Rapture and what it means to be “caught up,” read the article, What is the Rapture?

Christians should not fear the Great Tribulation.

The Rapture we await is not only a joyous reunion but also a rescue.

The Book of Revelation speaks of God’s wrath poured out on the entire world, and those who do not know Christ are right to be anxious. In fact, they should be downright terrified.

Following the Rapture, the Bible says the next seven years will be the worst time in our planet’s history. The Book of Daniel describes this period called the Great Tribulation: “And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, even to that time” (Daniel 12:1).

During this seven-year period, a false Christ, the Antichrist, a man who, as Pastor Rogers says, “will make Hitler look like a Boy Scout,” will gain worldwide power. The Bible prophecies a ferocious end to the Antichrist and to all those living on Earth who do not belong to Jesus. This end comes on “The Day of the Lord.”

Jeremiah 30:7 says of this horrific day, “Alas, for that day is great, so none is like it.” “None is like it.”

“There’ve been unmitigated horrors of war, of torture, of ethnic cleansing...of earthquakes,” Pastor Rogers said. “But there’s never, never, never been a day like this.”

The Apostle John, speaking prophetically in the past tense as if having seen it already occur, says of the Day of the Lord, “And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave, and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?’” (Revelation 6:15-17).

It will be the most cataclysmic and terrifying day in history; yet, Pastor Rogers said, those who are now believers should not fear this Day. Instead, we should be concerned, as Jesus is, about sharing the Gospel so that others are spared from that time.

“The church will be taken out at the rapture,” Pastor Rogers said, “God chastises His children, but He never pours His wrath on His children. But there's coming a time known as the Day of the Lord when God is going to pour out His wrath upon this world, and I'm going to tell you this, that even now, right now, the raging waters of God's wrath are furiously pounding against the dam of His mercy.”

For more about the believer’s rescue from the Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord, including Scriptural support, read the article, The Second Coming of Jesus.

The beast of Revelation is Satan’s offspring.

Believers living today will not face the Antichrist spoken of in Revelation. The Antichrist—also known as the beast, the son of perdition, the little horn, and the man of sin—will come to power following the Rapture and during the Great Tribulation. According to Revelation 12 and 13, the Beast is a malevolent dictator.
The beast rises to power during social agitation.

Revelation 13:1 references the beast “rising up out of the sea,” a symbol for society in great turmoil. Because the Church will have been taken out of the world through the Rapture by the time the Great Tribulation begins, society will be in chaos and wickedness will be greatly increased.
The beast has recognizable satanic attributes.

Revelation 13:1-2 symbolizes the beast with “seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name,” and says that “the dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority.” Revelation 12:3 symbolizes Satan in this way: “Behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads.” While Bible scholars may debate the exact meaning of each symbol, Pastor Rogers says it is clear the beast is Satan’s spawn. “If there was ever a man whose father was the devil, it is the beast. Jesus, who was God in flesh, could say: ‘He that hath seen Me hath seen My Father’ (John 14:9, KJV). The beast, who will be Satan in the flesh, will be able to say: ‘He that hath seen me hath seen my father.’ The beast will be the visible expression of the invisible devil.”
The beast will be seductive and charming.

When the Bible speaks of the beastly characteristics of the Antichrist, it’s talking about his nature, not his appearance. Revelation 13:4 says that the world during the time of the Great Tribulation will worship not only Satan but also the beast, saying, “Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?” The beast will not appear hideous, Pastor Rogers said. “No doubt he’ll be handsome, charming, clever, greatly intelligent. He’ll be a global charmer.”
The beast will be driven by sinister ambitions.

While Jesus came “to seek and to save that which is lost” (Luke 19:10), the beast will have a five-point game plan:To deify Satan: “And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast” (Revelation 13:4).
To defy the Savior: “And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies… against God, to blaspheme His name, His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven” (Revelation 13:5-6). Pastor Rogers said, “remember Antichrist means anti-Christ.”
To destroy the saints. “It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them” (Revelation 13:5-7a). The beast will want every true believer in Jesus Christ destroyed. Tribulation saints, who come to faith after the Rapture, will face torture and murder. “It will be the devil’s last fling against the people of God,” Pastor Rogers said, “and this ravenous beast will drink his fill of the blood of the martyrs.”
To dominate society. “And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation” (Revelation 13:7b). The beast will have global control.
To delude sinners. “All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8). Pastor Rogers said of the beast: “He wants to keep them damned and doomed.”
The beast will have a highly effective press agent.

A minister of propaganda will present the Antichrist to the world. Revelation 13:11-12 says, “Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon. And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast.” Pastor Rogers said, “Remember that there is an unholy trinity. The devil always mimics God. The Holy Trinity is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. What is the unholy Trinity? The dragon (Satan), the beast (the Antichrist), and the false prophet (the propagandist).”

For more about the beast and the false prophet, including the mark of the beast, read the article, Beware of the Mark of The Beast.

Look up, not around.

While we are blessed by reading the Book of Revelation and understanding Christ’s instruction to us, it may be distracting to continuously relate the symbolism in Scripture to current events and world personalities. And it is fruitless to try and set a date for the Rapture. Our job is to share the Gospel and make disciples.

“God doesn’t punch a time-clock when He goes to work. He doesn’t wear a wristwatch. God is not concerned with time,” Pastor Rogers said. “I'll tell you one thing: It's two thousand years nearer than it's ever been before. Jesus Christ is coming. I’ve stopped looking for the signs and started listening for the trumpet.”