The simple message of Christ
Street evangelism was always dear to us.
I remember how my friend and I would go out with this zeal for God, hoping to “win a soul” by ALL MEANS.
I mean, why should we bring the message of the gospel if someone would not believe or repent? For us, it was unheard of.
I remember asking one of my church leaders back then, “Why would someone preach to a sinner and he refuses to repent?”
The leader said the preacher needed the power of the Holy Ghost.
So off I went, asking the Lord for power to preach, and men would quake under conviction.
But we didn’t stop there.
To us, there was more we could do.
So we decided to help God and the message of the gospel.
Yes, if the mountain won’t come to Mohammed, Mohammed had better go to the mountain.
We decided that if the simple Preaching of the gospel seems not to change men, we will add our own eloquence and dexterity.
Our words must carry fire! We thought.
So we tweaked the salvation message and added several lines of threats that would “cut the heart of men.”
We spoke fervently about the lost kingdom of men, the good and patient God who turned angry at humanity for rejecting the son he sent to die for them, and how this fiery God would drown the unbelievers in fires of hell.
You need to see us give a full exegesis on hell.
We spared no detail.
The fire has sulphur and brimstone. You will burn and cry and not die. You will live eternally, burning forever!
This gospel message must work.
And it seemed to work.
In some of our escapades, people quaked in fear when they heard us preach this strange gospel.
Poor people.
In fear, some ran out to save themselves from this untoward destruction, but others remained hardened in their hearts.
These must have signed a pact with the devil himself, because ...
Years down the line, I would pick my Bible and read where Paul simply said:
“Christ sent me to preach the Good News — and not with clever speech, for fear that the cross of Christ would lose its power.”
The simple message of Christ all by itself has all the power in itself to convict men unto salvation — DON’T HELP IT.