Saturday 29 September 2012

Ulster Evangelists With Romanist Tendencies

It is quite daunting that those preachers who have scandalised other churches for their unfaithfulness to the Gospel have adopted as clear a Roman practice as is imaginable by suggesting to converts or awakened sinners that they come to the 'priest' for spiritual counsel in becoming Christians.

I always believed that the preacher/evangelist's job was to preach the Gospel so that those listening will know exactly what coming to Christ involved and means.  His job is to tell the way the Christ and salvation; to explain in clear and unambiguous language how to become a Christian.  The reformed evangelist will study to keep himself out of the picture as much as possible, and will not want to help the Holy Spirit do His sovereign work of regeneration.

Not so today in Ulster (a practice that has been imported wholesale from USA).  No, no.  The preacher/evangelist's job is to tell part of the story of the Gospel, and leave out the final bit so that the seeker is constrained to come into the back room (inquiry room) in order to helped to become a Christian.  This was a practice adopted by great men of God such as D. L.Moody and Charles Finney.  The Protestant 'priest' has to be involved in the final step of becoming a Christian.  Indeed, so deeply ingrained is this unbiblical thinking in the minds of Ulster evangelicals is this that if anyone wishes to become a Christian, a believer will not lead them to Christ, but first seeks out a preacher/evangelist who alone can do that critical work.  Thus the believer is deprived of the privilege and pleasure of leading others to Christ; and the preacher/evangelist can then boast of his spirituality and faithfulness to the Gospel and accept all the plaudits as an evangelist.

The point I am making is that the Protestant 'priest' must be involved to ensure that the seeking sinner is lead properly to the Saviour.  It is a form of 'last rights' that assures entrance into the Kingdom of God.  In order to be sure that you have made it into the Kingdom of God, the 'priest' has to be present and ministering, otherwise it might be a 'still birth.'

But look.  Why should we be so concerned to do the work of the Holy Spirit when He is quite able to do it Himself and to do it properly?  There is a conviction abroad within Ulster evangelicalism that often carnel appeals have to be made to bring the sinner to Christ.  Nothing could be further from the truth, of course.  When God the Holy Spirit shows a person their spiritual and eternal need, that person will trust Christ as his Saviour and Lord.  He will flee to Him, nothing standing in his way.  He will seek out the Saviour out of a deep desire to be saved for time and eternity.  Nothing will stop such an awakened sinner.

So carnal appeals are unnecessary and indeed may even inhibit the work of the Holy Spirit.  The one thing that we do not wish to see is the work of the Holy Spirit interfered with by overly enthusiastic preachers who are wanting to chalk up how many conversions occurred under their ministry, or how many sinners they led to Christ.  Preach the Gospel passionately, faithfully, personally, from the heart, and let God do His own work.  Appeal with sinners in the message to get right with God, by all means; but do not have this kind-of add-on at the end of the service where emotional music and singing are done in order to make it easy for sinners to come to the Saviour.

What lies behind this is the need for 'priests' (and as someone wisely said, "Presbyter is just Priest writ large."  We are not Roman Catholics nor are we Anglo-Catholics, therefore we do not believe in that kind of priesthood.  What we do believe in is the priesthood of all believers, so every believer is a priest unto God.  That means that any Christian ought to be able to point a sinner to Christ for salvation.  There is therefore no need for a 'priest' in this respect.

I know one thing: the evangelical priests in Ulster will go spare at this posting.  They will see themselves as being made redundant in the work of evangelism.  And they do not like that one little bit.  They have a psychological need to be in the centre of things, running the entire show.  If they are not involved at the heart of it, it cannot be right or good.  In their mind, 'priests'are indispensable to the work of evangelism; no priests, no salvation.

And what do you call that?  Unadulterated Romanism.

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