Page 54 - The Gospel Truth About Death and Dying_Neat
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condemnation), so that we will become zealous for them.” Again,
I take this from various translations for clearer understanding.
This is what so many churches do. Their preaching makes people
feel bad, condemned and guilty. This is surely not for our good. It
makes us feel like we’re worse than others, and don’t deserve
God’s love and grace.
Then we become zealous for them. Why do we become zealous?
It’s because we want help with the problems and guilt we are
experiencing – which is actually being caused by their preaching!
It’s a religious trap! We become like
religious addicts in need of a fix!
A humorous joke about lawyers says much the same thing. Two
guys were talking, and one said: “Lawyers are important people!
They help us get out of problems! The same problems we would
not have in the first place if it weren’t for lawyers!” This can be
applied to many churches.
Studies show that most preachers and pastors are not founded in
the gospel, but rather in some type of humanistic, man-contrived
thought and theology. Most often it is just something they learned
in theology school or seminary. It’s often not Bible truth.
"If our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing,
whose minds the god of this age (Satan) has blinded, who do not
believe, so the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is
the image of God, should shine into them" (II Cor 4:4).
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