I couldn’t manage to attend church one Sunday because I was on duty. When evening came, I asked one of the believers about how church was, and what the Word was about. She went on to inform me that the message was about sharing the Gospel with others; that we must make disciples. My next question was, “Do you think people really want to do that; do they honestly care about spreading the Gospel?” In all honesty, her answer was, “No, it is just talk, because even that person who was ministering also doesn’t do that.” This is my concern today, that the words “Let us tell others about Jesus, let’s spread the Gospel, let’s make disciples” have all become nothing but old slogans that mean nothing.
Resources at our disposal
It’s easy for us to complain about the evil that has come through technology. Yet, I cannot help but thank God for technology, because there are a whole lot of gadgets and toys that make our lives easy, most particularly if we want to really spread this good message. For example, consider how your smartphone can contain a large library of books, bibles and a lot of good material for your learning. I haven’t even mentioned web articles, audio sermons and all kinds of informative video content that is flooding the online sphere every day. This means we now can contact anyone, from anywhere and anytime with the message of the Good News. Yet, no one cares. But why? I struggle to understand the reason why God’s children are not interested, and certainly unconcerned with taking this urgent message to the world as the Lord commanded them. I have considered, observed and pondered about this, and these are the results I came up with…
Conversion
“Have you no wish for others to be saved, then you are not saved yourself, be sure of that” were the words of Charles Spurgeon. It is because this man understood that making disciples is just an overflow of being disciples ourselves. Them that are snatched from the burning house will not sit and be comfortable while they know that there are still some who are perishing, instead, they have no choice but to turn and snatch others from the same. Therefore, a great mass of individuals believe themselves to be saved by the grace of God, yet their zero hunger for the lost betrays the reality that God’s grace hasn’t found them, just yet. This is the main reason why many who claim to be believers do not care about evangelistic endeavors. Why would they if they still need to be evangelized themselves?
False prophets with their wrong doctrines
Bad doctrine harms people. Hence it’s no coincidence that ever since the rise of the false prophets and their “new revelations” false teachings, we have seen a huge decline in believers’ passion for the lost. For example, if a minister is only concerned about calling people to come to Jesus to get “financial breakthroughs”, where does the word “evangelism fit in all that? It just can’t because the foundational message is false to begin with.
Lack of sound Bible teaching
Good doctrine matters. Think of it this way: what can change the minds of God’s people and stir their hearts for the cause of Christ? The truth of the Bible of course; preached and taught as a whole! Yet the average minister today doesn’t believe that. Instead, we see ministers using the Word time as a platform to share personal experiences, private dreams, and worldly philosophies of how to make it in this life. As a result, there is a terrible famine of the true Word of God in this land of Africa. That has directly impacted people; their behavior in the society hasn’t improved, their private sins still haunt them, marriages continue to struggle and of course, the desire for evangelism has completely gone. And everything will continue with the downward spiral unless we all go back to those old fashion trues of Christianity that have power to change human hearts.
Fear of persecution
Whether we acknowledge it or not, believers’ persecution is already here with us. Unlike the extreme Islamic nations where Christians are skinned alive for their faith, ours is a little different. It’s that kind that seeks to twist the Gospel of our salvation to accommodate the world, while in turn hating and vilifying those who stand for truth. Therefore, a great many believers would rather keep quiet about Jesus in the public square because they are afraid that someone might disagree and reject them. Fear of persecution is another term for being ashamed of Jesus whilst claiming to belong to Him. Such terrible cowardice!
The love of money
“Some people, lusting after money have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows”, is a quote from 1 Timothy 6:7. It means that you can’t be passionate about Jesus, and the propagation of His Gospel if your heart is still set on being rich and famous. Those two things are just opposites. Apostle John also adds salt to this wound with the words, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world (1 Joh 2:15-17)”. This is the reason why many of us “believers” don’t seem to care about sharing the Gospel with the lost world. We know that deep down in our hearts that is not the priority of our lives, making money is.
According to Pew Research Center, Islam is the fastest-growing religion in the world, and they estimate that there is going to be an equal number of Christians and Muslims by the year 2050. In fact, there is nothing that bothers me more than the reality that Afghanistan and Iran are still considered to be 99% Muslim. On top of all that, there is still over a billion people who have not heard the Name of Jesus. Even more, I am confident that all of us have family and friends that are still not saved as we speak, and will be found by death at any moment; towards the land of the condemned where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. Having considered all of these sobering facts together, let us now turn out attention to our churches in Africa, and let us grieve at what we see because it is certainly unconcerned, unbothered and certainly unwilling to risk anything for the sake of reaching lost souls. On the opposite, we are all busy calling the Name of Jesus with the aim of getting worldly goods so we can pump our prideful egos. In the end, it’s all about boasting before the world about who is the richest and most anointed Pastor to drive the latest car and Gucci clothing. Something is terribly wrong my dear friends! The world needs this Gospel. It needs people who are prepared to stop pretending, and will really deny themselves, sacrifice their time and resources to go out and physically proclaim the Son of God to the world – without excuses! We need to stop all this hypocritical talk about sharing the Gospel and start the action of sharing that Gospel. Are we going to die in the trenches, fighting for Christ and the salvation of His people or are we going to die on our comfortable couches, filing nails and watching Tom & Jerry? But, in all honesty, you don’t care about that, do you?
Sinothi Ncube
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