{"id":648,"date":"2014-03-03T14:57:15","date_gmt":"2014-03-03T03:57:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.reformationministries.com.au\/blog\/?p=648"},"modified":"2014-03-17T12:24:23","modified_gmt":"2014-03-17T01:24:23","slug":"the-evangelism-of-despair-proclamation-v-invitation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reformationministries.com.au\/blog\/2014\/03\/the-evangelism-of-despair-proclamation-v-invitation\/","title":{"rendered":"The Evangelism of Despair: Proclamation v Invitation"},"content":{"rendered":"

In our last instalment, we looked at the post-fall estate of man and concluded that the Biblical picture of man is that he is \u201cdead in trespass and sin<\/span>\u201d. As such, the idea of speaking about \u201cseekers\u201d, as one example, is incongruous with Biblical revelation. In this article, we will look at another incongruity.<\/p>\n

Throughout the 50\u2019s and 60\u2019s, people became used to hearing about the invitation<\/em> to come to Christ. This was popularised by men such as Billy Graham. This language is seen in the following sentence: \u201cAccording to his staff, more than 3.2 million people have responded to the invitation<\/a> at Billy Graham Crusades to accept Jesus Christ as their personal savior.\u201d Consequently, this term was popularised and made its way into the psyche and vocabulary of Christendom.<\/p>\n

Once more, the truly pertinent question is, \u201cDoes this term reflect the Scriptural position?\u201d<\/p>\n

Once more, we must answer, \u201cNo, it does not!\u201d<\/p>\n

If man is dead<\/strong>, then it stands to reason that he can neither seek <\/em>nor respond to an invitation<\/em><\/span>. Please, put this to the test. Go to your local cemetery and place an invitation on each tomb inviting the occupant to attend your next soir\u00e9e. Now the safest way to do this is to make sure that you add an RSVP to the invitation. That way, if I am wrong, said soir\u00e9e will not be ruined! However, you will not do this because, in principle, you know that I am right. The dead do not seek. The dead do not respond to invitations.<\/p>\n

This brings us to the salient point. Salvation is and always has been a sovereign, authoritative, act on the part of God<\/span>. Consequently, Scripture is oblivious to the terminology of invitation<\/em>, but replete with the language of proclamation<\/strong><\/span>.<\/p>\n

To start, consider the OT usage of \u201cThus says the Lord!\u201d God did not just, \u201cthrow it out there\u201d. He did not give the \u201cTen Discussion Starters!\u201d or the \u201cTen Suggestions\u201d, as some have termed it. Yahweh did not reveal His \u201copinion\u201d in the form of \u201cguidelines\u201d. No! Yahweh revealed His Word and His Word was Law! This is the \u201cJudges decision. It is final. No<\/em> correspondence shall be entered in to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jonah did not invite<\/em> Nineveh to repent. He proclaimed <\/strong>Yahweh\u2019s proclamation<\/strong> of Judgement (Jonah 3:2). Ezekiel did not invite the dry bones to knit themselves together. He prophesied the command of Yahweh, \u201cHear!<\/strong>\u201d (Ezekiel 37:4) Moses did not invite Pharaoh to release Israel.\u00a0 Moses commanded<\/em> Pharaoh to release Israel. Moses made proclamation to Pharaoh in the Name of Yahweh.<\/p>\n

When we enter the NT, the language and method does not change. The Biblical approach can be viewed in the events surrounding Lazarus. He was dead. Helpless. Lifeless. Jesus did not simply invite Lazarus, \u201cto pop on out\u201d of his tomb at his first convenience. Rather, in a succinct summons, Lazarus was ordered from the tomb (John 11:43).<\/p>\n

Thus, it is that in the NT we see preachers (having semblance to the prophets) appointed to proclaim the authoritative message of the fullness of the Kingdom (Matthew 10:7; 11:1). People were not being invited<\/em> with a \u2018take it or leave it message\u2019; rather they were being summoned or commanded with regard to an authoritative announcement. The heralds went forth in the name of the King!<\/p>\n

For us the lesson should be clear. Is it not time that we stopped playing futile games with people\u2019s souls? The only possibility of salvation, according to normal means, comes through the authoritative proclamation or declaration of God\u2019s commissioned mouthpieces. Rather than invite, our Preachers and Evangelists should proclaim and summon<\/span>.<\/p>\n

It is time the mouthpieces remembered their ambassadorial roles, girded up their loins, and spoke with the authority of the Great King. Theirs is the glorious privilege of calling dead men to life. If they lose confidence and belief in their calling and are persuaded to remain quiet, then the tombs shall remain full. Others may seek to replace them and engage in the practice of placing invites on tombs, but it will avail naught.<\/p>\n

Dead men must be summoned by the voice of Christ, not invited by the words of men!<\/span><\/p>\n

Part 5<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In our last instalment, we looked at the post-fall estate of man and concluded that the Biblical picture of man is that he is \u201cdead in trespass and sin\u201d. As such, the idea of speaking about \u201cseekers\u201d, as one example, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[47,73,6,3],"tags":[152,85,84,86],"class_list":["post-648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-church","category-evangelism","category-reform","category-theology","tag-evangelism","tag-invitation","tag-proclamation","tag-summon"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2V1tu-as","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reformationministries.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reformationministries.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reformationministries.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reformationministries.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reformationministries.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=648"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.reformationministries.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":668,"href":"https:\/\/www.reformationministries.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648\/revisions\/668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reformationministries.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reformationministries.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reformationministries.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}