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April 13, 2006 (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) - Following is a recent e-mail from a reader: "This is in response to all of your material on your website devoted to 'The Passion of the Christ.' John 8.7b 'He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.' "Your website proves to be a valuable tool for casting stones. How about you provide some solutions. What are you doing to evangelize? I wonder if your website brings unsaved people closer to the Lord or is used as a tool to push them away because they see Christianity as a very ununified belief system. "I own the movie and plan on showing to my youth group. In and of itself, it is only a movie. Our job is to preach the gospel. How about we spend a little bit more time evangelizing to the world and less time throwing daggers?" REPLY FROM BROTHER CLOUD Hello. You are always welcome to your opinion, but misguided opinions will not stand in eternity. You quoted something Jesus said but you did not quote all of the passage. Jesus also said to the woman, "Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more" (John 8:11). He requires obedience of those who name His name. The Lord called me to preach His Word 32 years ago when He saved me and preaching the word requires reproving, rebuking, and exhorting. "Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine" (2 Tim. 4:2). In Acts and the Epistles we see that preaching the word requires warning about false teachers. The apostles issued warnings like that continually. Almost every epistle contains some type of warning about error. In fact, Jesus Christ Himself warned us to beware of false teachers in the Sermon on the Mount (Mat. 7:15-23). As for what am I doing to evangelize, I have been a missionary church planter in one of the darkest parts of Asia for a decade and a half and have also spent many years preaching the gospel in central Florida, in the mountains of Tennessee, in a jail in Washington state, on a Navy air base, and many other places. No one here is throwing daggers at anyone. My objective in warning about false teaching is to help people avoid it and to obey and glorify the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Truth. I have no desire or intent to hurt anyone. There are many things on my web site for the unsaved and by God's grace we have seen some people come to Christ through the materials there, but that is not the main objective of this particular aspect of our ministry. The Way of Life web site is geared primarily to Bible teaching and warnings, and we have heard from thousands of people who have thanked us for the material and have testified that it has helped them walk closer to Christ and to avoid spiritual danger. A primary objective of the web site, in fact, is to provide information to help pastors and teachers in their ministries of feeding and guarding the Lord's flock, and we receive a steady stream of thanks from them. For this we earnestly praise the Lord. As for the unsaved being "pushed away" because they see that Christianity is not a unified system, that is a strange idea. The fact is that Christianity is most definitely not a unified system, and you and I both know it. I did not create the disunity, and pointing out false teaching does not to hinder the true unity of the Spirit, because that is always a unity of truth. False doctrine and apostasy and spiritual compromise has created the disunity. Any sinner that comes to Christ must learn how to discern true Bible doctrine from false. I had to learn that when I was saved in 1973, and God has promised to lead us in the truth if we are willing to obey and if we continue in His Word (Jn. 7:17; 8:31-32). The condition of Christianity today was prophesied in Scripture. The Lord Jesus Christ warned that many false teachers would come, and the apostles seconded that warning in many Spirit-given prophecies. In fact, the coming of apostasy within "Christianity" is one of the major themes of New Testament prophecy. I challenge you to consider the following passages carefully and prayerfully, and perhaps you will learn not to falsely judge a brother in Christ and a preacher of God's Word: "For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them" (Acts 20:29-30). "Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron" (1 Tim. 4:1-2) "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away" (2 Tim. 3:1-5). "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables" (2 Tim. 4:3-4). "But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of" (2 Pet. 2:1-2; see also the entire chapter). "Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us" (1 John 2:18-19). "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world" (1 John 4:1). "For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward" (2 John 7-8). "Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ" (Jude 3-4). In Christ, D. Cloud |
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