In 1897, a little girl named Virginia wrote to the The Sun, a New York City newspaper, to ask if Santa Claus is real. The editor’s response to her has since become famous. As a new parent, I (like many other parents) wonder what I would tell my own child who asks a question like that. What follows is the letter I would write in reply.
For the record, I grew up in a church affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA). For those of you who don’t know much about the ELCA , it prides itself on being “Catholic-Lite” (kind of like Budweiser vs. Bud-Lite). It offers all of the ritualism and traditions of the Roman Catholic Church but with more of a Unitarian flare. At its core, it is essentially a “good-works” club that invokes the name of Jesus without actually believing he has any personal involvement in our lives. As long as a person is willing to sit/stand on cue, read soul-less canned prayers from a book, listen to an uninspired “Social Gospel” sermonette, and talk about the weather over coffee and cookies, they will fit right in.
That said, in an effort to witness to the lost within the ELCA Lutheran Church, I occasionally read their material. Today I came across an article titled, “Can Evangelism be Redeemed” that clearly demonstrates how lost these people really are. In this article, Javen Swanson explains how he wants nothing to do with “saving souls.”
From the article:
“Despite Christ’s Great Commission to “go and make disciples of all nations,” evangelism is a task I have most often avoided.”
Here Javen openly admits that he disregards the commands of our Lord and Savior. He would be wise to read Luke 6:46, “And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?”
“I usually associate evangelism with an effort to convert nonbelievers to Christianity, something that makes me very uncomfortable. Too often the desire to bring about conversions grows out of a belief that nonbelievers need to be “saved” from eternal damnation by adopting the Christian faith.”
Javen next correctly associates evangelism with an effort to convert nonbelievers to Christianity. Sadly, he finds this “very uncomfortable.” I would assume that he also finds the words of Jesus Christ himself to be uncomfortable as Jesus tells us in Mark 16:16, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.”
“To the extent that evangelism is about “saving souls,” I want nothing to do with it. I approach matters of faith and belief with humility, unwilling to assert the superiority of my own religious beliefs over those of others.”
This is probably the saddest comment he makes in his article. He’s a professing Christian that wants nothing to do with witnessing to the lost (Luke 10:2). This is like a firefighter who sits in his fire truck while watching his neighbor’s house burn down with his neighbor inside it. When asked why he isn’t helping his burning neighbor, he blithely replies: “I’m humble, I want nothing to do with that hero stuff.” Javen fits the description of the blinded mind of 2 Corinthians 4:4, “In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.”
“The most I am willing to say is that it is the Christian story that has claimed me and helps me to make meaning of my own life. I recognize that other stories have claimed other people in a similar way, and I want to respect that.”
This is the statement of a nonbeliever, a false convert. The Bible is no mere “story.”. Either it is literal history and Jesus literally died on the Cross and literally died for your Sins, or it is all a fairytale. As Paul explains in 1 Corinthians 15:14-17, “And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.”
If the Bible is just a story then you are wasting your time reading it. You might as well be out there with the world living the rock and roll satanic mantra: “do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law.”
Sadly, the “E” in ELCA stands for “Evangelical.” If you know anybody caught up in an ELCA Lutheran Church, please pray for them and bring them our testimony in sincerity (2 Corinthians 1:12). Witness slowly as ELCA Lutherans flee from both Bible believers and the Bible itself like a vampire flees from garlic and sunlight. John 3:19, “And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” It is up to us as Bible believers to bring these lost souls the Gospel so that they may be saved as Jesus Christ is the only way to the Father: John 14:6, “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”
Why do 80-90% of those making a decision for Christ fall away from the faith? What is the principle that Spurgeon, Wesley, Whitefield, etc., used to reach the lost? Why have the Church neglected it?
You know you’re apostate when…
You quote Star Wars as your prayer for the new Commander and Chief of the United States.
“I say to you as my son who is here today, my 14-year-old son – he probably would not quote scripture. He probably would use Star Trek (sic) instead, and so I say, ‘May the force be with you.”
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/01/20/pastor-to-obama-may-the-force-be-with-you
Is he serious? Did a so-called Christian pastor just give a New-Age send off (The Force definitely isn’t the Holy Spirit of the Bible) to the President-elect in the face of looming national crisis? Is there no outcry? People, wake up. If our leaders lead this nation into error – we will be destroyed (Isaiah 9:16). In case you don’t know, this is exactly what is being planned for this nation as predicted in the Book of Revelation almost 2,000 years ago!
We’ve turned our churches into standing jokes. They have spiraled down so far that your average church-going American thinks that the building he attends is what should be called the “church.” Most people think our meeting houses are places you only go to host marriages, funerals, and Presidential pre-parties like the above mentioned travesty. How can we be the light to the world (Matthew 5:14) if we no longer have light? If you are among born again believers, you are the church (Colossians 1:24). You are to be the salt of the earth (Matthew 5:13). You are to pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17). You are to sow seed and reap a harvest (John 4:36-37). You are to put on the armor of God (Ephesians 6:11-20) and be soldiers for Christ (2 Timothy 2:3).
Lord Jesus Christ, forgive us of our national sin in turning from your pure words (Psalm 12:6-7). Forgive us for heaping upon ourselves teachers after our own lusts (2 Timothy 4:3). Forgive us for pursuing profane and vain babblings (2 Timothy 2:16). Forgive us for equating the Holy Ghost with a pantheistic idol such as “The Force” from a man-made fairy tale (Star Wars).