Sunday, August 10, 2008

An Example Of Lordship Salvation On The Street

Yesterday I had the opportunity to link up with a good friend to assist in his "open air preaching" at the Halifax waterfront. The Buskers are in town and the waterfront is PACKED. As my friend preached his message I took note of the heavy influence that Paul Washer has had on his preaching. I do not want to take away from what my dear friend was doing but he could remember Paul Washer's imagery nearly perfectly but the Scriptures were eluding him. Man had eclipsed the Word.

I love this man. He is a dear Saint who loves the Lord and truly seeks to see people saved. But the story gets worse.

As he finished up I had opportunity to run after a few people to ensure they got tracts. The people with my friend didn't run after anyone. A few people did approach my friend to talk about his message further but the conversations did not last long. Not that they have to, but it seemed strange that the conversations were done before I could give out the few tracts I had in my hands.

I came back to hear how things were going and the group was standing around in a circle talking about... you guessed it.. Paul Washer's sermons. They were excited about his imagery. I began to realize why these had been so fresh in my friend's mind while he was preaching. I stood there silent, listening and praying. All the while hundreds of people were walking by us. The Spirit kept prompting to hand this one or that one a tract. Each time the tract was taken, but I just felt more and more strange. As I listened I realized what was bothering me. These people who had come down to a special city event where there would be thousands of people were standing around holding tracts and talking about a man instead of passing out the tracts or at least talking about Christ.

My friend, who knows me well enough, picked up on my silence and asked me how long I would be staying. It was all I could do to choke back the words I wanted to say. I told him, it looks like you have all the help you need (there were 5 or 7 people with him) and I'd be going in a moment. I'm sure he knew there was more to it. But he was the leader there and that was not the time or place for the discussion that was needed. So I left, saddened.

I want to write for a moment about one thing they were very impressed with because I find it ironic. The conversation included Todd Friel's mocking and rebuttal of some other man's teaching - I honestly can't remember the name of the person.. something to do with a bull horn though. False teachers... false prophets... false converts... these are always high on the list of exciting topics for those who preach Lordship Salvation. The mark of a false teacher or a false prophet - they don't agree with you, and they have illustrations that don't come from the Bible. Wait for it...

So during their praise of all things related to Paul Washer I heard something I never noticed in like conversations ever before. The things they were praising Paul Washer for were the illustrations he makes that are not from the Bible. Here is one that they were particularly excited about. I was not taking notes so it is not an exact quote.
Paul Washer asks do you know how vile man is? Do you have any idea how evil the best person you've ever met is? When God sends that person to Hell all of Heaven will praise Him for it. The last thing that sinner will hear is the shouts and applause of all Heaven in praise that God is ridding the World of that vile being.
Where is this in the Bible?

In fact since those in Heaven will be perfectly sinless ( the Bible says that Christians will be resurrected in the very image of Christ ) there is no chance at all that we will be cheering about something that gives God no joy. Ezekiel 33:11
Say to them: ‘As I live,’ says the Lord GOD, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’
There were a number of other illustrations they were excited about that I could also ask "where is that in the Bible" and show the Word in contradiction to Paul Washer's sermon but this is enough. While hundreds of people walked by on their way to the horrible eternity that is Hell these people were happy to stand and praise a man for something he made up that doesn't even agree with the Word of God.

10 comments:

Lou Martuneac said...

Kev:

Thanks for this, but what a distressing report.

In the church there is growing love affair with style over substance.


LM

Kevl said...

Yes they are aren't they? It was heart breaking to have to move away from witnessing with one of my beloved brethren on such a lovely afternoon.

Kev

Kevl said...

Dear Brethren reading this post, if you followed a link from Lou's blog to this post please discuss the implications of Ezk 33:11 at his blog as it likely pertains to what's written in the post you came here from.

Thanks!
Kev

Jan said...

Oh! My goodness Kev! You must have been beside yourself!

I am watching something similar, though to a much lesser degree, with my pastor. Of late his preaching has had more MacArthur flavor to it. He has not said anything seriously erroneous, but I can tell where he is getting his material. Unfortunately, he does not seem to hear us when we try to tell him about how dangerous MacArthur is. He will admit MacArthur has things he disagrees with, but to engage him in conversation about it, he will defend MacArthur. He has said in other conversations that he immediately dismisses teachers that teach regeneration preceding salvation. Why this is not true with MacArthur I have no idea. He is not hostile but is clear on his position. I am scared for him and for our church. (As a matter of fact, this is why I have begun to do serious research on this whole Lordship issue. I want to be able to speak articulately about this stuff.) I have known this pastor since before he was a pastor. We went to the same church where he was discipled by a good man. My husband and I went to his wedding 10 years ago (actually, I think it was longer than that.) It is a terrible thing to see people you care about and respect become first tolerant of, then persuaded to doctrines they used to oppose and worse to see them feeding it to others. And then when they will not hear you…..

As for Paul Washer, I have heard him myself (via YouTube videos, not in person) and find him quite disturbing. He is totally TULIP. He is very consistent in applying that doctrine to his evangelism. He has also said some things that seem bizarre to me- things that amount to separating God’s wrath from the expression of that wrath. Why he would do this is a mystery to me. (Actually, if you don’t mind I think I will email you and Lou on this and see what you guys think of this particular teaching. I won’t post it here because it is off topic.)

That the Lord takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked was the first thing I thought of too upon reading that summary of Washer’s illustration, before I scrolled down to see what verse you were quoting. I thought it was in the Psalms, though, so I didn’t know that was the passage you were going to refer to from Ezekiel.

I hope at some point you will be able to talk to your friend about this. What a miserable experience.

JanH

Jan said...

Oh well, I guess I won't email you since I can't find an email. :)

JanH

Kevl said...

Hi Jan,

http://www.thecrosscurrent.com/about/team.html has an email link to me.

I would post it here but I get more than enough spam already. :) hehehe

Kev

Jan said...

Oh. OK. Thanks!

JanH

Mimi said...

I have enjoyed reading your blog Kev, its a good find.
About Paul Washer I too used to be strong follower of him, but again he says some strange things....

What an experiance you had, it just goes to show that Lordshippers come close to idolizing their teachers, instead of checking everything with scripture, they esteem quotes from mere men. Sad.

Luke said...

That is very upsetting - but, I know exactly how it is done. I used to do it. Except Paul Washer was unheard of back then and Ray Comfort was the man of the hour. False Converts, Fake Converts and "praying a prayer" was big talk back then. Shameful shameful past - and to know that I was teaching this while living contrary to it upsets me even more :(

Kevl said...

Hey Luke,

You said Shameful shameful past - and to know that I was teaching this while living contrary to it upsets me even more

Hold that thought cuz I'm going to be hitting on that next week.

Also, be sure that EVERYTHING is cleansed by the Blood of Christ for the Believer.

If you are in Christ there is no more shame - at all.

Kev