| Poster | Thread | PaulWest
Member
Joined: 2006/6/28
Posts: 3405
Dallas, Texas
| | You're Special - The Modern Gospel in a Nutshell | | Saints,
My wife was handed a tract today in an elevator. She took it home, read it, smiled, and then handed it to me. I read it and decided to post it here. Those that read it and scratch their head as to why I posted it are encouraged to listen to "Ten Shekels and a Shirt". We got into a little disagreement over this tract. She thought it was "sweet"; I thought it grossly misrepresents God and produces two-fold children of hell. When you read this, imagine you're an unbeliever, an atheist, a person living a good life, and making good money. Take particular notice at the one sentence that mentions "sin" and see if you can make heads or tails of it.
[b]You're Special[/b]
Believe it nor not - no one else is just like you. Your physical appearance, your voice and personality traits, your habits, intelligence, personal traits - all these make you one of a kind. You are not the product of some cosmic assembly line; you are unique.
But the most important part of your identity is that God created you in His own image. The Bible reveals God's total interest in you as an individual. God knew you even before you were born. He has plans just for you, plans conceived in love.
As we appreciate God's constant concern for us, we really begin to grasp the awfulness of sin. He loves you and me so much; yet how often we go our own way, turning our backs on Him. God's designs for our lives are blocked; His mercies do not come to the unwilling.
But even here we are precious to God, for He continues to love us even when we pay Him no mind. He still sees us as individuals with great value. God is not an unfeeling, cold-hearted monarch of the heavens. He feels our pains; He shares our sorrows. He cares, and He considers each one of us important enough to love.
In fact, He loves us so much that He gave His only Son to die for our sins. Because you and I are special to God, He wants to forgive us and give us a full, meaningful life. When we trust in Jesus Christ and let Him put our lives together, the Bible says that we become "God's masterpieces created in Christ Jesus." Can anyone be more special than that?
You are valuable to God! If you have never trusted Jesus Christ for your salvation, you can pray something like this today:
* generic sinner's prayer, ending with: "Right now I ask You to be my Saviour so that I can live as the special creation that You intended me to be".
Any thoughts? ;-)
Brother Paul
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Paul Frederick West
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|  2007/5/9 22:35 | Profile | Smokey
Member
Joined: 2005/2/21
Posts: 417
Edmonton Alberta Cda.
| | Re: You're Special - The Modern Gospel in a Nutshell | |
Sounds like something pastor Rick Warren wrote. :-?
Blessings Greg
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Greg
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| | 2007/5/9 22:39 | Profile | PaulWest
Member
Joined: 2006/6/28
Posts: 3405
Dallas, Texas
| | Re: | | Quote:
Sounds like something pastor Rick Warren wrote.
I think fundamental tracts like these are just as dangerous as evolutionary, JW and Mormon literature. Maybe even more so (though that is debatable). Once I began explaining the contention I found in it, my wife finally saw it. I told her, "Honey, you're saved, you [i]know[/i] the true gospel of holiness; tracts like these are targeting unbelievers." Then she saw the humanitarian gospel.
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Paul Frederick West
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| | 2007/5/9 22:51 | Profile | enid
Member
Joined: 2006/5/22
Posts: 2680
Nottingham, England
| | Re: You're Special - The Modern Gospel in a Nutshell | | Most churches nowaday preach a man-centered message, so their tracts will be the same.
We have to wonder how God views all of this, of us toying with His message, as though it is a toy.
Yet another reason why we have no revival.
God bless. |
| | 2007/5/10 5:47 | Profile | Here4Him
Member
Joined: 2006/9/23
Posts: 212
England
| | Re: | | Yes, this is a classic example of the 'man-centred' goespel.
I recently made the mistake of allowing a Christian drama group to come to my youth group and take the meeting. They did several dramas representing or rather misrepresenting the gospel and i was just sat there cringing in my seat, thinking 'what have i done?'.
The focus of their message waws on our valuable we are. The trail of thought goes a bit like this:
-Your Great- And God loves you - And He sent His Son to die for you -And He has a great plan for your life- now who wants to become a Christian?
The modern man centred gospel focuses on the worth and value of man- the proper old gospel focuses on the worth and value of God.
I was thinking about this last night as i read something i had printed out from SI. In this article the writer called himself a 'worm', as old Christians often did. That set my thinking, 'i wonder how many 'Christians' today who are a result of this modern gospel would say of themselves 'I am a worm'?. Then i thought about the old hymn, 'Amazing Grace' and i wondered how many of today's Christians- the products of the 'Your special' gospel could really sing 'Amazing grace how sweet the sound, that saved A WRETCH like me'?
The old and proper gospel is so much more wonderful than this suger coated version. The truth is:
'you are worse than you thought yourself to be, much worse. You are an offense to God, you have lived your whole life despising His goodness, not valuing His Greatness, and not matching up to His holiness. Your sin is against God, so Great a God, so good a God, your sin is infinetly great because "The God who holds your breath in His hand and owns all your ways, you have not glorified" (Dan 5:23). You must one day stand before this God and give an account of your life. Standing before the perfect and holy God who dwells in unaproachable light He will search you life and soul and everything you have done will be brought to light. Compared to such a God you and I are filthy, wretches, lost sinners, and God would be right to throw us into hell forever. But as bad as we are, as unworthy as we are, God has made a way of salvation, a way for us to be clean, a way for us to be made right, and that was at the cost of the blood of His dear and holy Son Jesus, See the love and grace of God when while we were still sinners Christ died for us, the just for the unjust. God now offers a full and complete pardon to sinners on the grounds of the death of His Son who died for sinners. He promises that anyone who turns from their sins and comes to Him through His Son will be saved. So come to Christ, as bad as you are, call upon His Name, throw youself at His mercy, He is willing and mighty to save and He will not cast you out. He is wanting to save you not only from hell but from all your sins, to come and live inside you,to be your God, and to make you a new person. So repent and believe in Jesus Christ'
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George Platt
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| | 2007/5/10 6:06 | Profile | HopePurifies
Member
Joined: 2007/4/12
Posts: 181
Georgia, USA
| | Re: | | Quote:
'you are worse than you thought yourself to be, much worse. You are an offense to God, you have lived your whole life despising His goodness, not valuing His Greatness, and not matching up to His holiness. Your sin is against God, so Great a God, so good a God, your sin is infinetly great because "The God who holds your breath in His hand and owns all your ways, you have not glorified" (Dan 5:23). You must one day stand before this God and give an account of your life. Standing before the perfect and holy God who dwells in unaproachable light He will search you life and soul and everything you have done will be brought to light. Compared to such a God you and I are filthy, wretches, lost sinners, and God would be right to throw us into hell forever. But as bad as we are, as unworthy as we are, God has made a way of salvation, a way for us to be clean, a way for us to be made right, and that was at the cost of the blood of His dear and holy Son Jesus, See the love and grace of God when while we were still sinners Christ died for us, the just for the unjust. God now offers a full and complete pardon to sinners on the grounds of the death of His Son who died for sinners. He promises that anyone who turns from their sins and comes to Him through His Son will be saved. So come to Christ, as bad as you are, call upon His Name, throw youself at His mercy, He is willing and mighty to save and He will not cast you out. He is wanting to save you not only from hell but from all your sins, to come and live inside you,to be your God, and to make you a new person. So repent and believe in Jesus Christ'
Hey! I want that on a tract! :-D
I have never ever found one in public...
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Melanie
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| | 2007/5/12 13:02 | Profile | roaringlamb
Member
Joined: 2003/6/11
Posts: 1519
Santa Cruz California
| | Re: | | The modern gospel ignores the utter falleness of man, something the great evangelists of the past did not ignore.
Modern theology has man being "good" and "able" to come to Christ based on a physcological manipulation and agreeing with certain doctrines which appeal to men. The heart is not the goal of the modern gospel, and thus preachers do not strive with God first for Him to change hearts.
Let us be found faithful brethren.
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patrick heaviside
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| | 2007/5/12 13:11 | Profile | PaulWest
Member
Joined: 2006/6/28
Posts: 3405
Dallas, Texas
| | Re: | | You start handing tracts out like that, and you'll walk alone. You start preaching like that and you'll preach alone. I remember last year inviting some Chi Alpha college kids to go downtown with me on a Friday night to do some ministry and tell people about God. They were all gung-ho and ready to hand out their tracts...until I stood up on a stone monument and began preaching true, old-fashioned repentanace, using Hebrews 9:27 as my springboard. Man, you should have seen their faces! Totally mortified. It was as though they were hearing the true gospel for the first time. That was the first and last time we've gone out together.
You put a [i]true[/i] gospel message on a bumper sticker and your car can get vandalized, firebombed. You wear a [i]true[/i] gospel message on a shirt and you can get assaulted. No one objects to the harmless shirts that say: 1 cross + 3 nails = 4-given.
Brother Paul
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Paul Frederick West
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| | 2007/5/12 13:20 | Profile | hmmhmm
Member
Joined: 2006/1/31
Posts: 4994
Sweden
| | Re: | | Quote:
PaulWest wrote:
Man, you should have seen their faces! Totally mortified. It was as though they were hearing the true gospel for the first time. That was the first and last time we've gone out together.
forgive me brother but i couldn't help myself, i just started laughing so hard, just imagined the scene.
i recently was at an older brothers house, his son is a drug addict just came out from prison. He has been raised in a Christian home , hes heard the true gospel, we where talking and his sister said the classic God loves the sinner but hates the sin,
and i said no, God hates sinners. Every face in the room turned and looked at me, i said to him, God absolutely hates sinners, he hates you to, in fact i believe you as being raised in a Christian home and heard the gospel for 25 years, you are going to be much much worse of them many other 'greater' sinners because you knew the truth and rejected it.
He never comes around anymore.
edit: but i go to him still :-)
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CHRISTIAN
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| | 2007/5/12 13:35 | Profile | PaulWest
Member
Joined: 2006/6/28
Posts: 3405
Dallas, Texas
| | Re: | | Quote:
i was just sat there cringing in my seat, thinking 'what have i done?'.
Yes, brother. I know what you mean. I've been there, done that. I remember once we took the youth from our church to another church that was hosting a "Power Evangelism" team of body-builders that rip-up phone books and bend frying pans on their foreheads to prep kids for the "me" centered gospel. Then they had a pyrotechnique show with great explosions and smoke. I was young in the faith when I agreed to chaperone the youth for this event. Half-way through the show, it finally dawned on me:. It was all such a joke. I imagined Peter and Andrew coming from the upper room after Pentecost and smashing clay jugs on their head to attract the Jews to hear the gospel. I imagined Bartholomew tearing huge scrolls in half. It all seemed so asinine, so lame, so man-contrived.
When the altar call was given, the kids flocked to the front, chewing gum, grinning, looking around. After they prayed, they walked back, still grinning, chewing gum, punching each other in the arm, etc. Mind you, this was [i]after[/i] they had been told by these muscle-bound buffoons that they were now [i]saved[/i]!
Do you remember those weird pictures with multicolored patterns, that if you stared at them long enough - zone your eyes just right - a 3-D image was supposed to suddenly appear? Well, that's what it was like when I discovered the modern gospel - it suddenly jumped out at me in 3-D intensity! On all the Chrstian TV stations, radio stations, tracts, etc. It was ubiquitous like bacteria. How shocking it is to view a supposedly harmless tract under the God-given microscope of gospel discernment. Unhygienic doctrine sudddenly appeared on laboratory slides once thought to be spiritually aseptic.
Brother Paul
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Paul Frederick West
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| | 2007/5/12 13:41 | Profile |
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