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Fear and Headline
Religion
MP3
Detractors of God's church often accuse the church of
being fear mongers and being nothing more than a "headline religion."
You might hear them say, "They have a Bible in one hand and a newspaper
in the other." Are these valid accusations? We have two
separate but similar subjects here. I say this because the
persecutors charge that we use the headlines as our agent of fear.
Fear Religion
The specific accusation is that we use fear to evoke a response from the
listener or reader. Apparently the detractor is saying that by
using fear, we can get someone in the world to A) join the church, B)
contribute money and/or C) write for a booklet or tape. This kind
of tactic goes against everything we know about Godly Calling and the
spreading of the gospel.
Fear might get the falsely converted to respond, but only God can call a
person to the Church of God and the Salvation Process (John 6:44).
Knowing that He does this in a number of ways, including the spreading
of the gospel, it would be counter-productive to use fear as a tactic.
Indeed, it would be denying the power of the Holy Spirit to work with a
person in Godly Calling. It would be tantamount to a lie. See Item
20 on your menu where we discuss Godly Calling.
Fear is not a fruit of the Spirit. Why would we want to instill a
non-fruit? Holding the truth of God is to CAST OUT ALL FEAR.
The gospel message ultimately is GOOD NEWS. It is the purpose of
getting this good news out that we spread the gospel message in the
first place. True, there are some mighty events that will take
place as we approach the good news of the return of Jesus Christ to rule
all nations and bring peace and prosperity to billions, but we were not
the first ones to breach the subject of those mighty events.
Christ was!!
In Matthew 24, the disciples asked a specific question. Notice:
And Jesus said unto them, See
ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left
here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. And as he
sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately,
saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign
of thy coming, and of the end of the world? –Matthew 24:2-3
The first words out of the mouth of Jesus that evoked the question in
the first place was destruction. Then what does He say regarding
world events in answering this question?
For many shall come in my name,
saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of
wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these
things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall
rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be
famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these
are the beginning of sorrows. –Matthew 24:5-8
It was our Lord, Jesus Christ acting as newscaster. He
speaks of false Christs, wars, pestilence, famines and earthquakes;
things that would take place just before He arrives. But notice
what He says in the middle of all this, "SEE
THAT YOU BE NOT TROUBLED." That is to say, "be not
afraid." Revelation 2:10 says to fear none of the things that you
will suffer.
Jesus then goes on for several more verses speaking of persecutions,
tragedy and death. Then He says:
For then shall be great tribulation,
such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor
ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should
no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be
shortened. –Matthew 24:21-22
For those who market in Fear, this is about as scary as it can get,
wouldn't you say? "No flesh saved alive." But notice, He is
stating plain and simple fact and even offers Hope by saying that those
days would be SHORTENED. If you read on and watch closely, He
sprinkles Hope throughout the dialog. Then He says something about
the elect:
And then shall appear the sign of the
Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn,
and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with
power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great
sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the
four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. –Matthew 24:30-31
Being gathered up and changed into spirit beings is
hardly something to give the hearer fearful pause. Even with the
destruction that will surely occur, there is the Hope of Christ coming
to end all the fearful things.
Remember the words we preach, "Fear
not, little flock; for it is your
Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. –Luke 12:32"
Headline Religion
In the midst of all those scriptures I reference above from Matthew 24,
Jesus says something most profound:
And this gospel of the kingdom
shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and
then shall the end come. –Matthew 24:14
What gospel? Why the gospel that He outlines in Matthew 24 as He
answers the question about what His return will be like. So if we
are to be like Christ and follow the example of His gospel we are going
to have to talk about World events. Who on the planet acts as a
Journal of World Events? The news media of course. You know,
the people who publish newspapers with headlines. Is there
another source of news that is not called the news media? Of
course not.
One cannot separate the use of the news media from the broadcast and
publishing of the good news of Jesus Christ. It was Christ,
Himself who set the mold of just how that gospel is preached.
See our doctrine on the Gospel:
http://www.intercontinentalcog.org/ICGCC/Lesson_Six.php
"The gospel is the message preached by
Christ and by His Church about God's coming Kingdom, the restoration of
His government on earth, and how mankind can enter that Kingdom and
government. It includes the message of what Jesus has done, is doing.
and shall do—and ultimately is the message of the entire Old and New
Testaments. The primary purpose and commission of the Church is to
proclaim this gospel in all the world as a witness to all nations, and
to baptize and teach those who respond."
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