~~~~~~ THE NAMBY PAMBY ALMOST GOOD NEWS ~~~~~
A standard, not only to be aimed at, but to be attained unto-a standard of victory over sin, the world, the flesh, and the Devil, real, living, reigning, triumphing, 'Little children, let no man deceive you, he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as He is righteous. He that committed sin is of the Devil; for the Devil sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He may destroy the works of the Devil.' We CAN all attain it if we [only] will. It seems to me that we come infinitely short of any right and rational idea of the aggressive spirit of the New Testament saints. Satan has got Christians to accept what I may call a namby-pamby, kid glove kind of system of presenting the Gospel to people.
That is the sort of half-frightened, timid way of putting the truth before unconverted people, and of talking to them about the Salvation of their souls. It seems to me this is utterly antagonistic and repugnant to the spirit of the early saints: 'Go ye, and preach the Gospel to EVERY CREATURE,' Seek them out, run after them, wherever you can get at them. 'Every creature,' wherever you find a creature that has a soul--there go and preach My Gospel to him. If I understand it, that is the meaning and the spirit of the commission.
And then again, to Paul He says, 'Unto whom now I send thee, to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God.' They are asleep--go and wake them up. They do not see their danger. If they did, there would be no necessity for you to run after them. They are preoccupied. Open their eyes, and turn them round by your desperate earnestness. Do not rest content with just putting it before them, giving them gentle invitations, and then leaving them alone. He ran after them, poor things, and pulled them out of the fire. Take the bandage off their eyes which Satan has bound round them; knock and hammer and burn in, with the fire of the Holy Ghost, your words into their poor, hardened, darkened hearts, until they begin to realize that they are IN DANGER; that there is something amiss. Go after them!!!
Yhey 'went everywhere, preaching the Word.' The laity, the new converts, the young babes in Christ. He says, 'Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that My house may be filled.' 'I will have guests, and if you can't get them in by civil measures, use military measures. Go and COMPEL them to come in.' It seems to me that we [need] more of this determined aggressive spirit.
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