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 A
"country meeting" had gone exceedingly well, and
elders from another community asked the preacher to work with
them the following year. He came at the appointed time, and
found his reputation had spread, and the building was packed.
The elders met him at the car, told him they had never had such
a gathering of Methodists, Baptists, and no-church folk, so he
must be very careful lest he offend someone with his forthright
teaching.
Being
young and brash, and having no more tact than to tell the truth,
he reminded them of the undiluted lessons that had been given at
the neighboring church in the previous year. He said that since
he had not been in that section of the state before, the
previous year's work must have drawn this year's crowd; and
certainly was the reason he had been asked to come. He
concluded, "If you expect to hold and convert these people
with something other than the kind of preaching that brought
them together, I'm afraid you have the wrong man. I'll get back
into my car and go home."
With
much confusion — "Oh no, you must have misunderstood
us" etc., the
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preacher was persuaded to stay, and the
meeting began. The preaching was strong, and seemed to get a
little stronger; but the people continued to come, and several
were converted.
I
do not now believe, nor did I then, that "skinning the
sects" is good preaching. Some folk will turn away from
straight, plain truth, no matter how fairly we seek to present
it. But we are dead wrong in thinking we can convert people to
Christ with anything other than the Bible message. It will
convict the world respecting sin, righteousness, and judgment;
and many won't like that. But we are looking for the
"few" who will like it, and will genuinely turn to
God.
"Toning
it down" will produce only "toned down" members
of a "toned down" church. You may keep the money, the
politicians, and silk-stocking row; but you will lose the
backbone and fiber that is necessary for a church to prevail and
please the Lord. And if "members" are not interested
in pleasing the Lord and saving souls, why bother with any
preaching at all?
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