Jump to content
  • Welcome Guest

    For an ad free experience on Online Baptist, Please login or register for free

Helping the LOST to the True Gospel


Recommended Posts

  • Members

And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to [the acknowledging of the truth]; And that they may [recover themselves] out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will. (2 Timothy 2:24-26)

If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, [receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed]: For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds. (2 John 10-11)

Should we invite (into our homes) those who teach doctrines and beliefs contrary to what the infallible Word of God says? And if no . . . where do we draw the line? One of the ways we can express our love to those who are led astray with false teaching is through the TRUTH. It would be *unloving* to let the said person "BE" if they are on the broad path to destruction (Jas. 4:17; cf. 1 Jn. 2:1-29; Jude 1:23). The Spirit-filled men of the Bible made it their life mission to admonish those who were in opposition to God's Truth (cf. Mk. 9:42; Lk. 13:3; Acts 17:30; Rom. 3:19; 6:23; 1 Tim. 2:1-15; Gal. 5:4; 6:7-9; Jas. 1:17; 1 Jn. 5:17; Isa. 59:2; Deut. 30:15-16; Ezek. 18:4, et al.)

When it comes to most denominations and cults, I'm not sure there is much of a functional difference because none of them is truly SEEKING Christ, where the individual person therein is a believer or not (Deut. 32:18; Lev. 26:27-28; Ezek. 6:9; Isa. 28:22; Hos. 4:6; Jer. 1:16; 2:21; 3:20; Amos 2:4,5; Ps. 50:22; Jn. 3:36; Rom. 2:8, etc.). 2 John 1:10-11 is telling us not to PRETEND that individuals who pretend to be servants of Christ really are -- just because they say so -- and therefore not to support them in their efforts because their efforts are not of God. Telling someone "God speed" is a blessing of sorts, e.g., so we do not want to wish Mormon missionaries "success!" because what they are doing is wrong (cf. 1 Thess. 2:1-6; Matt. 15:9; 1 Cor. 15:14; Ecc. 5:3; Tit. 1:10). Does that mean we cannot try to persuade them to come to Christ? Not at all. That is not what the passage is saying. I will say that when it comes to *dyed-in-the-wool* members of these three groups, I am always very surprised when someone claims to have led them to the truth. In my experience, certain individuals in such groups are not convinced and are candidates for grace, but have to be led by the Lord into the right place or to the right person so as to come to the Lord. I would imagine that making a habit of inviting those who are out campaigning for their religions into one's home and attempting to demonstrate to them what the truth really is would be a very low percentage operation (these are the front-line soldiers we are talking about here, and if they had doubts they probably wouldn't be placed or be willing to be placed on the front line).  

However, we all have our own individual ministries given to us by the Lord, and it is also true that He may choose to use us for such a purpose in a particular case (Eph. 4:11-13; Lk. 3:23;  Acts 20:24; Rom. 12:7; 2 Cor. 3:6; Eph. 4:12; Col. 1:28; 1 Tim. 1:12; 2:7; 2 Tim. 2:12; 4:1-5; 1 Pet. 4:10). So on the one hand we have to be open to the possibility; but on the other hand we have to see things for what they are: the people ringing your doorbell most likely have very hardened hearts or they wouldn't be there in the first place. We all  have limited time and energy and resources, and there are things that we know for certain the Lord wants us to do pray, read our Bible, do Bible study with a good ministry, engage in the ministry He leads us to). So if we are not led by the Spirit to engage in depth and at length with a particular person in this category, we do need to keep those limitations in mind. All other things being equal, it's better than wasting our time on some pointless leisure time activity, but not necessarily better than doing that list of things we know the Lord wants done (Jer. 29:11; Matt. 7:21; Lk. 12:48; cf. 2 Cor. 5:10; Eph. 4:16; 2 Tim. 4:2; 1 Pet. 4:10; 1 Jn. 2:17).

God Bless!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.



×
×
  • Create New...