Re: [TruthTalk] Mormons and Street Preachers

[David Miller]

Bill wrote: > they are not going to receive it as "truth" until > they know that you love them: Truth is only credible, > when it is relational.   Bill, your post saddens me somewhat, because while you seem very sincere, you seem to be speaking mostly from theory and ideology.  You truly have no comprehension of how my preaching comes across to those who hear it.  If you saw the tears of repentance and saw the people asking for me to lay hands upon them and pray for them, people asking me to cast spirits out of them, young men asking sincerely for prayer to be set free of the lust that has driven him to the night club scene that night, young ladies in tears because she sees that sin is at the root of the problem with her boyfriend and I am showing her that God's way really works... you really just have no idea.    You make some good statements about relationship and its role in discipleship, but this does not discount the effectiveness of an itinerant preacher.  Surely you have heard testimonies from people being effected for the Kingdom of God by somebody they had absolutely no relationship with.  Some men who have effected me greatly in my past I only heard speak a few times.  Furthermore, just consider the ministry of Jesus.  Those who knew him the best were usually the last to believe in him.  His home town and even his brothers and sisters were reluctant to believe in him because as the saying goes, familiarity breeds contempt.  I'm not trying to disagree with anything you have said, but only register with you that there is a much bigger picture that needs to be considered.  If you were my neighbor, I would insist that we go minister together on a street corner so you could see for yourself the good fruit that comes from it.   Bill wrote: > ... if I will receive them like Christ received me -- while I > was yet a sinner -- then they will know that there is something > real, something true, something transcendently sublime about > this new form of life. They will want it because it is credible > -- because it speaks meaning into that which they so desperately > wanted all along: to be loved.   Comments like this sadden me most of all, because I was taught this all my life growing up in the church.  It simply is not true.  It saddens me to hear you say this because it means that perhaps you are not out there witnessing and making disciples of the sinner the way the Scriptures teach us.  Isaiah 58 speaks about loosing the bands of wickedness.  I've tried the love and hugs thing.  People continue in their sin.  Then I did it the Lord's way.  It stirs up a lot of controversy and yes some sinners get very mad, but those whom the Lord is after gets set free.   Ask yourself this honest question, Bill.  How many of all those that you try and accept and love into Christ really want it the way you are talking here?  How many of these are just joining the Christian club and enjoying the socializing, and how many are having life changing experiences in getting set free of the sin and iniquity that has destroyed their lives?  I certainly like the relationship and discipleship aspect the best, because I have a pastor's heart.  This is why I enjoy home church and am unimpressed with super churches.  Nevertheless, when we talk about reaching out into the community and taking ground for the kingdom, about addressing those outside the church, we cannot deny the effectiveness of the itinerant minister.  God does a whole lot through the Spirit and his Word even without the trust engendered through relationships.   Peace be with you. David Miller.