WINNING SOULS FOR JESUS? [Two Billion Strong and Counting...?] Are there really two billion faith-filled Christians in the world today? Have the Scriptures been proven wrong? Is prophecy way out of wack? Did Jesus' gospel produce more fruit than He had anticipated in this present wicked age? Did Jesus miss-calculate how many believers would be here to greet Him upon His return? Do two billion professing Christians make Jesus a false prophet? Here is the prophecy from Jesus' own mouth: "...SHALL HE FIND FAITH ON THE EARTH?" Here is a prophecy of Jesus concerning how much faith He expected to find on earth when He comes to establish His Kingdom in the earth:
The answer of course is: "Little: He shall not find but very little faith." But don't take my word for it. Notice what Dr. Strong says regarding this word ara translated "shall" in the King James:
This Greek word "PRESUMES a NEGATIVE answer." Jesus asked a rhetorical question the answer to which was obvious, and therefore needed no answer-OF COURSE He will find virtually no faith on the earth when He comes! That is because "many are called but few are chosen." And only among the "few chosen" do we find the "chosen and faithful" (Rev. 17:14) . Many of these two billion Christians are the result of huge winning souls for Jesus campaigns, rallies, revivals and conferences. They are counted as believers based on repeating some form of the sinner's prayer. When tens of thousands are encouraged to repeat a sinner's prayer at one of these evangelistic meetings, they are then pronounced "saved." But are they really? Only God is the final Judge, however, I have already shown you what the Scriptures say. CAN YOU 'WIN' SOULS FOR CHRIST? All my life I heard of "winning souls for Jesus." It is taught throughout the whole world of Christendom. Christians are taught they must "witness for Jesus" and in so doing will "win" some souls for Jesus. Many Christians feel a definite need to try and reach people for Jesus before they die. The Christian teaching is that if anyone is not reached and persuaded to accept Jesus as his personal Saviour before he dies, then he will at death immediately go into the pagan Greek hell of hades and be tortured in fire for all eternity. Even after learning many of the Truths of God on bible-truths.com, people continue to ask me how they can fulfill their obligation to witness for Christ and become effective teachers of God's Truths to their family, neighbors, or fellow parishioners. Shocking as it might sound to most, the Scriptures know nothing of "winning souls for Jesus." It is a man-made doctrine of the carnal mind. But isn't there a Scripture somewhere that speaks of "winning souls?" No, not really. Once only do we find any words regarding "winning souls" in the King James Bible:
This verse, however, has absolutely nothing to do with saving the souls of those who believe in Jesus as their Saviour. The Hebrew word kal from which the word winneth was translated, is used hundreds of times in the King James, but only once is it translated into any form of the word "win." It means to, take, bring, fetch, acquire, rescue, etc., but "win" is a poor choice of words. Besides, spiritual salvation through Jesus Christ is not the topic of Proverbs 11:30. Two New Testament Scriptures: In Phil. 3:8 we read, "...that I may win [Gk: 'gain'] Christ..." and in I Pet. 3:1, "...they also may... be won [Gk: 'gained'] by the conversation [conduct] of the wives..." The other dozen times this Greek word kerdaino is used, it is always 'gain' or 'gained.' Example: "...Lord you delivered unto me two talents: behold, I have gained [Gk: kerdaino] two other talents beside them" (Matt. 25:22). Why didn't the King James translate this: "...behold I have WON two other talents...?" Surely even these translators could see the implications of increasing our God-given talents by gambling with them for higher 'WINNINGS.' Christians need to get all this gambling terminology out of their heads when it comes to the doctrines of God. Salvation has nothing to do with winning some; loosing some; betting on statistical odds; taking chances, and all such Las Vegas crap table nonsense. Salvation is not a matter of a first chance or a second chance or any chance. Salvation is "sure."
GOD PREDETERMINES WHO GETS SAVED AND WHEN "Now we are aware that God [Who? GOD. Men-ourselves? NO-GOD] is working all together for the good of those who are loving God who are called according to the purpose that, whom He foreknew, He designates beforehand, also, to be conformed to the image of His Son for Him to be Firstborn among many brethren. Now whom He designates beforehand, these He calls also, and whom He calls, these He justifies also; now whom He justifies, these He glorifies also" (Rom. 8:28-30, Concordant Literal New Testament). It is ALL OF GOD. It is not wrong to tell others of your knowledge of God and His Word. It is not, however, your responsibility to "get people saved." Only God can do that. It is GOD who does the calling:
It is GOD who does the dragging:
It is CHRIST Who chooses from those His Father dragged:
Eventually this will include all mankind:
And all will respond to God's judgments and chastisements:
And let's not forget:
Which is totally contrary to the horrible teachings of such men as John Hagee and Herbert W. Armstrong on this subject. Herbert Armstrong said: "Yes, every knee will bow, and if they don't GOD WILL BREAK THEIR KNEES." Oh the unscriptural foolishness of carnal-minded men. But do orthodox Christians believe that these Scriptures mean what they say? Of course not, and that is why they quote Phil. 2:12 "...work out your own salvation with fear and trembling," thinking that this takes Sovereignty away from God and places it back with man and his fabled "free will." Not so. They forget to read the next verse which tells us why we are to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling:
The belief among many is that if we (mere sinful mortals) don't reach someone with Christ before they die, then they will spend eternity in some god-forsaken terrorist hellhole of eternal torture in fire. I heard Benny Hinn say on international television that there are people who will spend eternity in hell because not enough money is being sent in to reach them with the gospel. Imagine that! God (we're talking 'GOD' here...) which owns the universe, doesn't have enough MONEY to save His Children. Just how utterly stupid do these peddlers of God's Word think we are that God can only save people if we give these peddlers our money? And so I guess we could surmise that in good financial times, lots of people get saved, but in bad financial times few people get saved. Meaning salvation would have to depend on the financial stability of the economy at any given time. Just imagine how few must have been saved during the Great Depression! When will we ever wake up and see through this morally pornographic religious charade of organized money grabbers and personal kingdom builders? Does anyone in their right mind really believe that if the Apostle Paul were alive today, he would be spreading the gospel from his own $25,000,000 private executive jet at such exotic Gentile ports of call as Paris, Honolulu, and the French Riviera? Not to mention the $2,000.00 a night hotel suites when these jet set evangelists reach their destination. Give me a break. I'm asked why I teach the Truths of God if "All is of God," and God does all the choosing and drawing? Because that is HOW God operates. God uses the foolishness of preaching as one of His means by which He communicates with His Elect:
And it is God who grants us faith as His gift (Eph. 2:8), to believe this "foolish preaching" of God's true servants of the Gospel. Certainly we should all follow Peter's admonition to:
But God has not called all to be teachers:
LIGHT AND SALT DON'T ARGUE OR MAKE NOISE
Salt does not make any noise, and light does not argue Scriptures. Neither salt nor light makes any sound whatsoever. Maybe there is a lesson in there. Too many people learn a few truths of God and think that they are ready to take on the world. They usually start by trying to embarrass their Pastor with their new-gained knowledge. Usually they fall flat on their face on the very first try. It's all about motivation. If your motivation is carnal, God will not back you. Yes, I know, all of you are saying: "But my motivation is to show them God's truths." Yes, sure, I understand, but THEY DON'T WANT TO HEAR GOD'S TRUTHS, and you already know this, so what is your point? Leave them alone and let them taste your salt and see your light and admire your good works, and perchance they will even praise God for your new-found humility, You will never argue anyone into accepting the truths of God's Word. As salesmen are often taught: "You might win the argument, but loose the sale," so don't argue. And this: "He who is persuaded against his will; is of the same opinion still." I receive a lot of emails from people who beg me to come to their rescue because they are about to have a second session with their pastor or friend, but have failed miserably on the first go-round. Now they want me to give them the ammunition they need to do a slam-dunk on their second attempt to embarrass their pastor or friend. Give it up-that attitude is wrong. Such a carnal exhibition of prideful flesh is akin to someone looking for a street fight merely because he has just acquired a black belt in karate. HOW TO DEMONSTRATE YOUR KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRUTH I personally know a man who has his little wife working two jobs to support their family so that he can study the Scriptures and enter into doctrinal debates with other Christians at the local Cafe as a perpetual hobby. Notice the admonition of the Apostle Peter:
Your good works and righteous character will pay dividends to others eventually-if not in this life, then in the Judgment. |