In 2011, I went to the Taste of Chicago with my wife and younger brother. The food was OK, but I was disappointed at how many restaurants there were with similar menus. Also, I always look forward to finding something exotic to try out, for example, a Cajun alligator tail filet that I’d tried several years before. So I was disappointed not to see anything like that.
Jesus and/or the Bible
Another thing that I was disappointed about not seeing was a (good, solid) connection with people from at least 4 churches/ministries as they were attempting to share about Jesus and/or the Bible:
- The first guy we saw was handing out tracts and talking about Jesus in the crowd to a bunch of people who weren’t even listening…no connections made.
- A second guy was preaching about an un-biblical role of women (and claiming it biblical). He created a lot of conflict, yet no positive connections were made.
- A third guy was handing out tracts and fliers at one of the exits. Now, I was wearing a shirt that said on the front, “God is Good, All the Time” and on the back “All the Time, God is Good”. Plus I’m wearing a relatively large, wooden cross around my neck. So if this guy was to even look at me, he would have seen that I already know Jesus and don’t need one of his tracts. But he didn’t, and tried to pass me one…again, a ministry where no connections were made.
- Then there was the fourth guy who was walking around inside with one of those double-signs that goes on his front and back and seems to hang on his shoulders from suspender straps. The signs read, “Jesus is coming soon”. Now, besides the fact that his signs were really bad timing (only a month after the false/flop-prophesy of May 21, 2011), I can’t see how this method served as a means of evangelism. I mean, think of it. If somebody accepts Jesus out of fear, then they’ve accepted Him for the wrong reasons. If their faith is based on doing right, following the Law, and obeying with the hopes of being rewarded with Heaven when Jesus returns, yet there is no relationship with God, then they too have missed the point, and taken up Christianity as a religion. The Apostle Paul calls this “misdirected zeal”.
Kingdom of God
Now granted, Jesus did go around telling everybody to repent for the Kingdom of God was at hand. And don’t get me wrong, there is a time for fire and brimstone-preaching, but:
- Just walking around with the signs on your body without talking with people about what Jesus’ coming means is just plain irresponsible;
- Jesus didn’t spread His message in fear, but in celebration. Remember, the Jews are God’s people, and they had been waiting for the coming of the Messiah and God’s Kingdom for over 1,000 years. Now Jesus is here and it’s time to celebrate His presence and reign. The need to repent was needed to prepare God’s people for this next step, which was Christ.
Not for the Unbelievers
That’s another thing. My wife and I had just finished studying Revelation, and though there’s much to ponder, one point that was made in both the beginning and the end is that Revelation was written for the Church, not for the unbelievers. Basically, Jesus was saying to the Church, ‘you guys are really mucking up, and need to get on track, because I’m returning soon and need y’all to be ready…’ It’s not a book of reigning fear into the hearts of unbelievers into accepting Jesus before the end. Heck, in Revelation 22:10-11, the angel tells John to let those who are doing wrong and morally bad continue in their ways, for Jesus is returning soon and the Church has some cleaning up to do…focus on rebuilding your home before starting a new construction someplace else (not cancelling out the need to evangelize and witness, but basically saying that if your own house is dirty, how do you expect to clean somebody else’s house, or why would somebody want to visit?)
4th Guy Walking Around Holding the Sings Is
So what I would like to say to this 4th guy walking around holding the signs is, “If you’re reminding Christians of the need to re-examine ourselves for Jesus’ return, then preach on, brother. But if you’re using it as a means of recruiting people for the faith, then you should really find another means of evangelism, because like the other 3, you’re not making a connection.”
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