"We only desire to form and to keep up outside every denominational circle a body as large as we can of free shooters for the express purpose of assaulting with spiritual weapons those who, like ourselves, are without the church, but who, unlike us, are still in rebellion against God,"
G.S.Railton, Heathen England
Imagine if that quote were true for today? Imagine a force of believers who didn't belong to a 'church' but were completely sold out to preaching the gospel to the lost. Imagine an Army where getting people saved was its most important goal, its mission, its purpose. Thats the sort of Army that I want to be a part of! It excites me and I could easily lay down all my days to that cause.
There is a conflict between growing churches and winning the world for Jesus. The conflict is ideological, its philosophical. The conflict has to do with priorities. It has to do with purpose. It has to do with vision.
Im not in it to grow churches, to put bums on seats, for stats, or to keep my superiors happy. Although no doubt those things will happen. But I am in it to win the world for Jesus. I literally want to see every single person on the face of this planet saved and sanctified. And to do that we can no longer stay in the church walls and pray that people will be saved, we will need to be as Railton says, "free shooters for the express purpose of assaulting with spiritual weapons those who, like ourselves, are without the church, but who, unlike us, are still in rebellion against God."
Friday, October 24, 2008
Free Shooters
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7 comments:
And pigs fly.
There is no way that you'll get the 6 billion or more people on planet earth to listen to the Christian message. Let alone believe it.
So what do you think will happen to all those unbelievers? That's right, they'll burn for eternity in Hell.
What sort of world did God design where so many people end up in Hell.
That's not good news.
That's just disgustingly sick.
Thanks for the comment dave! I see where you are coming from but I do have to disagree with you though.
What is sick is not that there is a good God who is holy, rather what is sick is that people are living and dieing in their sin.
Thats where God comes in, to take away that sin. Both now and for eternity.
I would love everyone on the face of the planet to get saved, but I know it wont happen... Theres too much pride and selfishness. Thats why the devil fell from heaven too...
The devil fell becasue he wanted to be God, now he'll spend eternity in hell... Hell was made for him not for humans, but if humans want to be their own god they choose to follow the devil straight to hell.
I think its sick that we would try to be God when the creator of us all is waiting and wanting us to come to Him for His love and freedom.
But you can lead a horse to water but you cant make it drink. So, free shooters out there, lets preach Gods holiness, love and salvation to as many people as we possibly can!
Jesus loves you dave!
I think it is too easy for you and your likeminded "turn or burn", "Jesus or hell" types to say that it's because people want to be their own god, and that's it's just their pride and selfishness that prevents them from being 'saved'. It means you don't have to personalise it and look at individual people and (in your mind) see them cast into an eternal hell of torment and suffering.
What of those that have not had your good fortune of being born in a society where Christianity is widely known? Those poor old Muslims, off to hell they go.
I have a few questions that I posed recently on another Salvo blog but the owner of the blog was really unable and/or unwilling to answer - let's see how you go. Firstly a basic hypothetical - A 16 year old gets invited to a Salvo youth group by his friends and hears the message of Christ and is invited to repent and believe. However he is not sure about it all, and at this point in time he effectively rejects this invitation. On his way home he gets hit by a car and dies. He is old enough to have passed an age of accountability (whatever that actually is), he has heard the message, he has rejected it and he is now dead? Is he in heaven, hell, or somewhere else? If in heaven, by what means was he considered worthy? If hell, does this kid who is just trying to work out his place in the world honestly deserve a punishment that will never end? If somewhere else, where?
The trouble with the doctrine of hell as eternal punishment for those that do not 'repent and believe' is it opens up all manner of questions and problems when trying to reconcile with a God of love. For one, how are you possibly going to be happy in heaven if you have friends and family being eternally tortured in hell?
Your thoughts James?
Hey thanks for your questions. I will try to answer them the best I can but if it doesnt hit the mark keep at me!
The idea of a loving God seems like a good place to start but really God is bigger than just loving. What I mean is that there are other characteristics that we should look at first...
God is the creator, infinitely good. He is Holy. This is where we start. Gods holiness is the starting point which everything comes out of. He is just becasue He is holy, loving becasue He is holy.
When we sin, that is fall short of the glory of God, miss the mark, we are no longer holy, clean or pure.
When I turn on the light in my bedroom i never need to worry about whether the darkness will beat the light. The light always beats the darkness. Light is more powerful than darkness. There is no darkness in light.
Lets look at holiness as light. If God is light there can be no darkness in Him at all. So when we sin we become blemished, dark, dirty etc. It is our sin which separates us from God becasue God is holy and we are not.
Thats the basis. Now, we also know God is a God of grace. We know that He loves the world. We also know that the world is not fair, but God is. I cant say who will or who wont go to heaven, but I can see from the Bible that if you do not repent and believe you cant be saved. At the same time, I am not God and He is alot more just than me.
So in answer to your hypothesis his sin separated him from God before he repented and believed which would show he would go to hell. On the other hand perhaps he didnt have the same opportunities as others to hear and think, reflect about the gospel, it was unfair and perhaps God will do something that we wont know about until we go to heaven...
As far as we go in believeing these doctrines it keeps us safe and accountable meaning that we work tirelessly to lead people into that loving relationship with God because the only way to be sure of your salvation is to repent and believe in Jesus Christ.
I'll answer about other countries at a later date, this post is getting too long! Let me know what you think...
So to personalise it even more, perhaps you could think about a teenager that you have had contact with, that you know has heard the Christian message and been given the chance to 'repent and believe' but to the best of your knowledge has not done so. If they get hit by a car and die today, can you really believe that they will be in suffering and torment forever?
As to you comment about "we work tirelessly", that sounds like a works based faith.
Jack,
Yes I do believe that their sin separates them from a holy God. I dont like it, but God doesnt like sin. We dont deserve to be saved, we're sinners. But it is by Gods grace we are saved and to the best of our knowledge of what Jesus said we need to repent and believe to be saved. To deny that is to deny what Jesus said which I am not going to do.
And Im not saying we work tirelessly to be saved, I say we work tirelessly becasue we are compelled by love and want everyone to know the love and grace God has to offer... We are saved by grace through faith.
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