There is one sure fire way to get a crowd of people to attend church. Lie to them. That’s right. DON’T tell them the truth about God… who He is… or what is in the Scripture. Tell them sweet stories designed to make them feel good and cater to the flesh. If you tell them the truth, not near as many people will be sitting in the pews. But if you’ll hide the truth and lie to them, they’ll flock to the “church.” I promise you, it will work every time!
Consider two passages of Scripture…
John 8:45 Because I tell the truth, you do not believe me.
John 6:65 And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.” 66 After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. 67 So Jesus said to the Twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” 68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, 69 and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”
Here is the message that people reject…
Philippians 1:29, “It is God’s will not only that you believe, but that you suffer for His sake…”
John 15:18, “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”
Matt 19:21 “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” 22 When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
Luke 9:23, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me. 24 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.
Matthew 10:28, “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear Him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”
Here are the “messages” that people want to hear, but are not Gospel truth…
You can have your best life now…
God wants you to be healthy and rich…
If you claim it by faith, God will do it…
Large crowds are not necessarily a sign of God’s blessing or of a faithful community. In fact, large crowds (If Jesus’ ministry is a measure of success) may signal a man centered religion. Every time large crowds started following Jesus, He made it tougher to be one of His followers. He told the Rich Young Ruler the ONE thing that was hard for him.
Jesus’ message was: “Deny yourself.” “If they hate me, they will hate you.” “To live you must die.” “Don’t worry about clothes and food…” “Hell is real.” And honestly… none of those things are coming from the popular preachers of today.
Oh no, you did not. Did you just call out the health and wealth boys? You are bold, my friend, very bold. There’s a preacher in my town that says “Get Jesus and GET it all.” There is another one nearby who preaches, “Get Jesus and GIVE it all up.” Which one do I believe?
Good question Observer! My suggestion would be to follow the example of the Berean brothers who, according to Acts 17:11-12, “Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the Word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.” Then I would also strongly suggest what is found in 1 John 4:1, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.”
Just because a man stands in the pulpit and reads from the Bible does NOT mean he is rightly handling the Word of Truth! I don’t care if its me… you… or Billy Graham, what is said MUST be tested by those who hear to determine if 1) What they say is Biblilcal, 2) Is accurate in how they use the Bible.