Ingrid at Slice of Laodicea had a post up about Beth Moore commenting that she did not think that the wrath of God should be mentioned in witnessing. Here's a portion of her comment.
"Towards the end of her commentary she (Beth Moore) states that she does not think that using warnings about the wrath of God is the best way to witness. She feels that the love of God and what God “brings to our lives” in our failures, etc. is a better way to share Christ."
What? Isn't the gospel about the fact that God poured out his wrath on His own son so that our sins would be covered? How do our "failures" explain away the consequences of sin? We fail because we are sinners! We can't witness without explaining how we deserve God's wrath should we choose not to repent of our sins and believe and trust in our Lord Jesus Christ. God does love us all. But his wrath will be poured out on those who do not walk the narrow way.
So here's where all the naysayers can have hope...those that proclaim that all the evangelicals talk about is gloom and doom. The good news is this....even though we deserve God's wrath that fine has been paid! And it is a free gift. There is nothing we can do to try and make it work. It works because of God's merciful grace.
This is why the God loves you message isn't sufficient information for our sinful natures. It doesn't tell people that they are sinners much less what sins to repent of!
The book of Romans is one of the best places to get an understanding of the wrath the Lord has in store.
The Bible is full of verses regarding how the Lord is going to pour out his wrath on the unrighteous. There are even descriptions of how the Lord pours out his wrath on believers to chasten and discipline us. Just read the Psalms...it is full of heart wrenching prayers to God by David to lighten the wrath and discipline on him due to his sinful activities.
I love to use the courtroom analogy when witnessing. It paints the perfect picture of a loving and just judge of righteousness. Say that you committed a crime and you are standing before the judge about to receive sentencing. Before the sentence is proclaimed, you are pleading with the judge and saying how sorry you are for the crimes that you committed and that you truly are a good person. Would the judge be "just" if he let you off the hook because you are sorry? No, he wouldn't. Somebody has to pay for the crimes that were committed. This is the just and fair punishment that is deserved.
So there you are about to receive your sentencing. In walks a stranger that you don't know. He says that he will give up his life and everything he owns to pay your fine for you. What would you think of that person? You would owe him your life and want to get to really know who this person is! And, that is what Jesus did! He gave up everything to take our ugly sins so that we could be forgiven and free from the chains of sin forever!
And to accept that gift we have to die to self...we have to be born again into the kingdom of the Lord.
Let's remember to keep the whole gospel when witnessing and not give half of the story. This is how false converts are bred. We know that the true gospel offends. But it's better to be offended than to lose your soul forever.
Let us keep praying for our lost friends.
Read full post here.
4 comments:
Thanks for always sharing the whole gospel. We are a few in number, but Jesus said it would be so. I love Beth Moore and she has been greatly used of God to teach me and deliver me from many strongholds, but I'm disappointed that she said this. I think sometimes that those of us who have struggled with knowing we are loved can have a tendency to want to focus on that because we never struggle with the feeling of condemnation and we know that we need a savior. I'm sure that is probably her perspective. However, there are those out there who DO NOT know that they are condemened to God's judgment without Christ and it is our responsibilty to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth...so I agree with you sister. Just keep preaching God's word and leave the results to Him.
God bless.
Hmmm...I actually dislike Ingrid very much. I've had some back and forth chats with her via email a few months ago, and honestly, she's just really not a godly woman. She's very much a backbiter and just has too much angst about everything she says and she's extremely divisive which is very unscriptural.
When I spoke to her about nagging Ray a few months back; to speak her peace and let it go, she refused. She felt that "nagging" in this case was a good thing. Ingrid too often takes Scripture only to use it for her own purpose to tear a part the ministry of other believers when they aren't living by her standards and how she interprets the Bible.
She also does not believe in biblical submission. She believes that if the husband does not love a wife as Christ loves the church than a wife should not submit. Again, this is very unscriptural.
I don't read any of her material b/c of this reason. And also b/c my godly and wise husband told me to never have any more dealings with her. She's a dissenter and divides the Body, and according to Scripture we are to warn a person like this once (like I did) then have nothing to do with them.
Just thought every woman aspiring to love the Lord according to Scripture ought to know.
Bless you sister,
Sunny
Sunny, thanks for you comment and sharing your personal conviction regarding her. While I do agree that I don't always agree with all of her materials I do know that everything does need to be weighed against the Word and that should always be the final call. In this particular article I think she was right on. We are in times that we are to be careful about who and what we take teaching from and Beth Moore has been on my radar for a while now. Also, I don't know if you spoke with Ingrid in person but sometimes written words can come across as more hurtful and biting than they are really meant to be. As we know in witnessing there is nothing that can replace the heartfelt sincerity of the spoken word. I think Ingrid truly wants to warn against the dangers of deception and because of her desire for that she may come across a little strong for some.
In addition, there are lots of dissenters of Beth Moore's teachings including Pastor Bob DeWaay of Twin City Fellowship in Minnesota. He has several articles and teachings regarding some of the misguided teaching she seems to be putting out there. Again, my purpose is to warn against that and to urge awareness and not to let our ears be tickled by winds of doctrine -- and not just because Ingrid said so.
Again, my purpose is to encourage us all to pray for discernment so that we will not be swayed in the areas of false teaching which is incredibly rampant right now!
And one more thing regarding the comment about her stance on submission. Not quite clear on what exactly was meant by it (by her)? A wife is to be submissive but her first order is to that of her Creator. We do not get our primary sprititual strength from our husbands. Perhaps, the husband who does not love the wife as Christ loves the church is not a believer or is lacking in spiritual integrity (as the case in 1 Peter 3) and if so he may be trying to lead the wife into sin. Submission does not follow a husband into sin as that would be unscriptual indeed. To me, this is what it sounds like she may have been meaning.
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