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Reply to "Some Good Points About Both Churches"

Hi all,

Smokey's post reminds me of a Christian tract I wrote some years back.  In this tract I told of reading a  book written by Peter Jenkins, who wrote about his walk across America -- and of his becoming a Christian believer during this walk.  He tells of stumbling upon a Revival Meeting in Mobile, Alabama, where James Robison was speaking.

This is from that tract:

Peter Jenkins, with his wife Barbara, walked across America in the late 1970s and from that adventure they have written several books.  The book "The Road Unseen" tells of this journey; of Peter's born-again experience at a revival meeting in Mobile, Alabama; of meeting and marrying his wife, Barbara, a graduate student at The New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary; and of the many times throughout their walk, when the situation looked hopeless, but God was always there to provide their needs, whether it be food, shelter, protection, or just encouragement.


In the tract, I have this excerpt from Jenkins' book.  He is telling of James Robison speaking at the Revival Meeting:


"I want you people to know that repentance is required to know God," he continued,  "Repentance is a forgotten message in America today, but I'm not going to forget it because it's a Bible message!  You have to repent to be right with God.  You can be Baptist and go to hell!  A survey was taken at the Huntsville Penitentiary in Texas and 72 percent of the inmates were Baptist."

Laughter broke the tension.  He practically yelled, "I don't care if you are a Methodist, I don't care if you're a Catholic, I don't care if you're a Presbyterian or a Pentecostal, I don't care if you're a pastor or a seminary professor, I don't care what you are, friend.  Salvation is not guaranteed just because you belong to a church."

Most of what he said about knowing God, repenting and salvation, I didn't clearly understand.  But I knew I was at a place where something real and truth-tuned was happening.  Mixed up, feeling self-conscious, I stayed on the floor between the ten thousand people and the preacher.  My camera was now dangling, totally forgotten.

"I want you to know that most decisions for church membership are no different than joining a civic club or the country club; and that kind of membership is keeping people from knowing God.  Just being a member of a church will not save you or change your life." 

 

"You can quit drinking, quit drugs, quit running around on your wife, quit stealing, quit everything and join a church, and still not repent.  You can become a good person and still not get to God.  If you enjoy life without God, you have never repented and you have never been born of God!"

James Robison pointed toward the audience, but it seemed that he was pointing right at me, "When I ask you tonight if you are a Christian, many of you will say you joined a church."  He paused and looked, surely at me, again, "Joining a church won't make you a Christian any more than joining the Lion's Club will make you a lion!"  

 

His voice got louder, "Religion is not the answerSalvation is!  Salvation is committing your life to Jesus Christ and believing in Him.  You must confess Him, you must believe He is God's only Son Who was sent to die for your sin."

James wiped his forehead and paced across the platform, "I remember an evangelist who walked up to a man in the congregation one night.  The evangelist put his hand on the man's shoulder and asked him if he wanted to become a Christian.  The man practically growled at the evangelist, 'I'm a deacon in this church!'  And the evangelist calmly said, 'Don't let that stand in your way.'"

As most of the people laughed he continued, "It's possible to be a deacon, an elder, a steward, a Sunday school teacher, and go to church all your life and not know the Lord."

 

And, my Friends, I am not questioning Paul McCusker's Christianity -- only pointing out truths.  He may have been a Baptist for many years; he may have worked for an Evangelical organization.  All that may be true -- but, when he goes into a tradition bound, ritual oriented religion; I do have to wonder what he was doing all that time.   Just my thoughts.

Also, I do have to remind you that, while this man, Paul McCusker, a layman, claims to have left the Baptist church and gone into Roman Catholicism -- the book "Far From Rome, Near To God" gives the personal testimonies of FIFTY Roman Catholic PRIESTS -- who found they could no longer teach the erroneous doctrines of Roman Catholicism -- and left that religion to worship and teach in non-Roman Catholic Christian church fellowships.

God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,

Bill

Bible - 66 BOOKS

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