Can One Be “In The Church” But Not Saved?

A friend of mine recently gave me a copy of Ray Comfort’s book entitled God Has A Wonderful Plan For Your Life: The Myth of the Modern Message.  In it, Comfort shares fervently the belief that many have come to be in the Church, but are not truly born-again or as he says, “saved”.  He also quotes a number of renowned evangelicals of recent past as well as current times who agree with them.  Although not in that category (renown, that is), I do find myself leaning towards agreement.

I am writing this partly in response to my friend’s request that I tell him what I thought of Comfort’s book.  The evidence that the author provides is clearly undeniable and supported by many other sources – vast numbers of people have been led to believe that they are Christians when they are not.  (Some of you reading this may be among them.)  And we ourselves are to blame.
Comfort goes on to show how the message that “Jesus solves problems” or “Jesus provides happiness” is not exactly telling the truth.  Yet that is exactly what the modern church is doing today in its form of evangelism.  And while we’re at it, we are making the Gospel only attractive to those that feel they lack happiness or are in trouble – ignoring the millions who claim they are happy and doing very well, thank you very much.  The Gospel, he correctly points out, “is a promise of righteousness, not a promise of happiness.”

If people come to Christ for “happiness” – do they then leave Him (or worse still, believe God does not exist) when they have trials and tribulations feeling anything but happiness?  To address these issues, Ray Comfort calls on the “Law” first to help a person understand his/her failed condition before God and his/her need for salvation for the judgment that will come.  He quotes John MacArthur who says, “It is impossible for a person to fully realize his need for God’s grace until he sees how terribly he has failed the standards of God’s Law.”  Comfort, after he gives two wonderful “in flight” illustrations which I will leave my readers to enjoy on their own (pages 69-71 of the book), writes, “Instead of preaching that Jesus will ‘improve the flight,’ we should be warning sinners that one day they will have to jump out of the plane. ‘It is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment’ (Hebrews 9:27).”

So, while I can support all this and while I do not in any way, shape, or form support anything close to the ideas of the “prosperity Gospel” or “easy believism” and “Jesus will make everything just fine here and now” philosophies, I feel Ray has offered very little room for what I find to be so true for me as a Christian in this life, here and now.  Let me explain.

Billy Graham once implied something along this line: “If someone could prove to me beyond a shadow of a doubt that there is no God, that Christ never died and rose again, that there is no heaven or afterlife – I would still go on living as if these all existed.”  The point Graham was making is that indeed, being truly born-again does make a difference to how I live and how I can cope here and now.  And to me, the value of that is priceless.

So while I like where Ray Comfort comes from and I believe we need to help a person truly get to the point of feeling remorse and repenting before God, before he/she can be saved from eternal judgment, I believe we also can and should point out that our life here and now can be lived with the knowledge that Christ wants to live in us and we in Him.  He wants to walk beside us through the storms that will come and indeed for many of us are here right now.

May God bless you as you consider “how then shall we witness?”

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Saturday Morning Musings -- Jan. 22, 2011 (Rush; Youth; Wealth; Prosperity Gospel & more)

Nice Surprise for Epistoli: Well, what a nice surprise to wake up today and find out that I was asking (a day or so ago) the same questions of both Hawaiian Governor Abercrombie as well as B.O. with respect to the latest news that the long-form of B.O.'s birth certificate either cannot be found or won't be brought forward, that WND and now Rush Limbaugh were asking.  "Why not?" indeed.  Click here for the link to their article.  Well worth the read.

Aging vs. Youth: Jack A. Goldstone, Professor of Public Policy, George Mason University, Arlington, Va., had this to say on the issue (in a letter to ForeignPolicy magazine): "The real problem the world faces today isn't aging -- it's that almost 90 percent of the world's youth is growing up in countries that can't offer education, access to capital, physical security, or good governance."  Think of the implications of that statement.  But also think about the fact that we can do something about it.  We can change that percentage downward if we really want to.  That's why I'm heading back to Kenya -- primarily to help the young people that I've been called to help in the Nakuru, Kitale, Matunda areas.  You can help me take them some of the things they need.  Just click here to see what we're up to and get in touch with us.  You may want to come with me.  I can use the help.

Making Us Safer: ForeignPolicy magazine asked this question of top terrorism experts in the field: "What one thing could the United States do to make itself safer immediately?"  The most common answer (14%) was: "No one thing will make us safer." I think they have that right.  More and more people (not just terrorism experts) are coming to the same conclusion these days.  No one "thing" can do it.  But I and many others believe ONE "divine entity" in the Person of God CAN.  Something that more people should muse about.

Some Monetary Comparisons:  According to Carl Pope, the chairman of the Sierra Club, writing in ForeignPolicy, the world's four richest citizens -- Carlos Slim, Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, and Mukesh Ambani -- together control more wealth than the world's poorest 57 countries.  It isn't clear from the sentence structure if that means the 57 countries together or individually, but either way, it gives you a good idea of both the wealth of these four and the relative (against other nations) poverty of these 57 countries.  It's also the kind of data to get socialists excited about the need to redistribute and share the wealth.  At the same time, perhaps we need to realize that it is a fact; that money does make the world go around from a secular, human perspective; that indeed these four men likely employee thousands and thousands of people through the assets they control; and that at least two of them are giving millions and millions away to help those in real need.  Yet, it is important to realize the magnitude of the resources available and the size of the comparable needs in the world.

On the Prosperity Gospel:  Let me say right off the bat, I am not a believer in the "prosperity gospel" as we know it, and have it promoted on the television and elsewhere.  No, I do not believe that coming to Jesus to get ahead in life financially is what the Gospel is all about.  Here's the closest I can come to this -- 3 John 2.  It says, "Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers."  Prosperity Gospel proponents will be the first to say "in all things" includes "financial".  It may very well, but the key here is that the area of 'finances' is not the only, or even an important, element of what Pastor John is writing about in this epistle to Gaius.  In fact, reading scripture in context, we need to look in front of the verse under discussion, and in this case in particular what comes after it.  I believe the things Paul is talking about are "witnessing to your truth" and "walking in truth" (vs. 3); "acting faithfully in whatever you do for others", "especially strangers" (vs. 4); "loving the church" (vs. 5); and "not imitating what is evil" (vs. 11).   Yes, God wants us to prosper in all good things.  In that regard, it may be finances -- but success in finances only truly becomes 'good' when money and wealth is ultimately amassed and used for the Glory of God and in His work.

Perhaps you have your own "musings" on some of these things and I'd love to hear from you in the comments section below.

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