An open Letter to the Christians of the UK.

Romans 1:18-19 says, “The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness, because that which may be known of God is manifest in them.” Romans 2:1 says, “Therefore, thou art inexcusable, O man,”

O how grieves God that we have been complacent and Blind, and how God has spoken of his judgement and his righteous anger to all of us. How we have been so lapse and blind to his calling for churches in the United Kingdom to repent of their ways, and their ill logic.

We have provoked God to anger, and we do not see what is going on. Do we not see how much we are becoming tolerant in our views of cultural relevance and not on the God’s views. The world conspires and yet we make friends with the world. God wants us to repent from our wicked ideas and corrupt theology, our teachings and our compromise. Judgement awaits us, and our conscience is seared with a hot iron, we have grown callous and we do not hear God’s voice of warning.

How we spiritually prostitute ourselves harboring the New Age Movement, Islam, Roman Catholicism and other religions in the name of “peace”. We call this “Love”, yet this is no different from what the Maharishi taught, in his book “A Transcendental Meditation (TM) portal for Creating Heaven on Earth” he states “Fill the Earth with love and create Heaven on Earth.” Christians lean towards promoting this model of “Love evangelism” and away from the traditional street preaching model and how the Apostles spoke of Jesus and how the Love of God was expressed in the Bible. John Lennon was very much in to the idea of living up to a culture of Love, creating the concept of a heaven on earth yet also a deliberate attack on the Bible.

We are being taught that we need to be “Culturally Relevant”, when we evangelise by any means, this does not take into account the fact that the multitudes come from many different world views, philosophies, from different religions or nonreligious beliefs and many different cultures. We forget the more important view, the fact that evangelism is not about looking to please other men but seeking to convince the world of sin and the need for salvation. This, by its very nature, places us in direct opposition to the World and in conflict with the basic nature of men’s hearts.

The danger is that in seeking to be relevant to this generation we are rejecting the Biblical warning, 2 Timothy 3:1 – 7. This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despises of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Just as many churches sought to “Christianise” pagans in their attempt to make Christianity “culturally relevant” and ended up paganising “Christianity” as a result, we too are in danger of making the same mistake.

We taint the very words of Jesus to suit our own views rather than what God thinks. The heart of man is the same today as it was in the times of the Bible and we should not preach the gospel any differently simply in order that the world will accept it. We must be faithful to God’s word rather than adopt that which will popularise Jesus,doesn’t the Bible also teach, Ye adulterers and adulteress, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. (James 4:4 )

When dealing with the multitudes we should not fear what the reaction of people may be. When confronted with sin people will not always react favourably, nor will they happily receive the message of repentance. In our zeal for “persuading men” it should not be the Gospel that conforms to culture, but the inherent culture in men that should conform to the Gospel of Christ When it comes to the Gospel, there is no middle ground we can walk on, nor should we walk on.

Churches have lost their militancy. In the past street evangelists would speak out against the evils that men practice, today we are being partakers with them.

As time has gone on more and more have lost faith in the gospel message as “The power of God unto salvation” (Romans 1:16), either because they afraid of what other people might think rather than having a fear of what God thinks, or they have a mistaken view of what Jesus said, “Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.” Luke 14:23

What does that word “compel” mean ?? According to Websters dictionary it says:

“Make someone do something.”

“Besides being made from an indestructible material, it also carries with it the power to compel people to tell the truth. “

This means we are to tell the truth about what Gods judgement really means, in fact, in the Bible, Jesus talks more of hell than He does about love. Apostle Paul was compelled to dispute in the market places often causing “no small stir amongst the crowds.

Jesus preached about God’s Kingdom and the judgement to come, He even took a whip in order to drive people out of the temple. (How culturally relevant or loving was that seen to be?)

When we are out preaching we must have the whole personality of God and act in a godly manner. The Apostle Paul often disputed and contended, in our modern age it is unpopular to dispute and considered very unloving, Paul’s actions in Acts 17:17-18 would be criticised today. How often they preached Gods judgements more than just love, as we also read in Acts 6:9; 9:22,29; 11:2; 15:2,7; 17:2; 18:19,28; 19:8,9; 28:23, Nehemiah 13:11; 17,25; Proverbs 28:4; Ephesians 5:11;

1st Thessalonians 2:2; Jude 3,9; see also examples in Matthew 22; John chapters 7&8,

What does “preaching” actually mean? This is not simply witnessing one to one, or handing out tracts. If a person has the holy spirit and is a true believer in Jesus Christ he will openly do this anyway. The Apostles declared the gospel to the crowds all at the same time. The apostles try to make the gospel acceptable they just preached the message out loud, as the Bible says “What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light, and what ye here in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops.” (Matthew 10:27) Preach means to shout out so every one can hear. This is not to say that one to one witnessing is wrong, I am simply stating that preaching as 2 Timothy 4:2 is for all believers to obey and a commandment “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.”

The etymology of this word “Preach” is to “to proclaim publicly, announce“. The issue is not to simply keep it to one to one. Modern methods are simply an attempt to get people into a church building and persuade them to “become “Christians”, if a person is an unbeliever and has fellowship with believers than his worship is in vain, and even the believers disobey what God says,

2 Corinthinthians 6:14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?

How can we go into fellowship with the unsaved? This is to break the very commandment of God. How can we have fellowship with an unrepentant practicing homosexual, a fornicator, an idolater etc? They must first become convicted by sin and that by repentance, and belief, then they can come into fellowship with us, not before. Why bring in leaven that contaminates the body when we should be doing what is right by the site of God?

Many Christians overlook God’s discipline and reject what much of the Word of God states in order to be what is “relevant” for today. If we are born again by God’s power through the gospel this should be enough to convict people of sin and cause them to repent. We must defend the Word of God even though it may offend people, or not be seen as relevent for today. It is, however, very relevent to God and that is what should matter. We are not to seek man’s approval but God’s, the Apostles instruct us not to teach any differently than what they have taught us;

(Gal. 1:8,9.) If we or an angel from heaven preach another gospel contrary to that which we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching a gospel to you than that which you have received, let him be accursed.

If men and women are trying to repaint Christianity it is simply to conform it to their own image and not God’s. This is wrong and contrary to way the Apostles taught it. Public open air preaching is not only commanded but it is necessary for our obedience in proclaiming the gospel. It does not matter if we do not have strong voices, one in ten will listen. Many will continue to make excuses not to do it, many say that they are frightened, when God said not to be overcome by fear, “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” (Matthew 10:28). If we have the Holy Spirit in us we should not have fear but in boldness we should overcome our fears by the power of Christ.

Many today are looking for some promise of mass revival, that “the church has the authority to rise up” I often asked the question how many were saved on the ark?. How many listened to the prophets? why should these people today be any different? Do Christians not believe that these are the last days? The Bible says; And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. (Luke 17:26 ).

It is not because we preach something that is not “culturally relevant” it is because “the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:18)

We are rejected, not because we are unloving, but because “To the one [we are] the savior of death unto death; and to the other the savior of life unto life.” (2 Corinthians 2:16) It is because of the Gospel this is why we see a rejection, “a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense, [even to them] which stumble at the word, being disobedient: where unto also they were appointed.” (1 Peter 2:8) Noah tried to warn the people, all they did was mock and scoff.

Luke 17:28 Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; Life continued as it always had, society has not changed, technologically it has, but if we take technology away people are exactly the same as they were back then. It is clear that our message should be no different from what the Apostles preached and the reformers before us. Many tend to forget that the Apostles, Reformers and many others were persecuted and lost their lives for Gospel, why should we not be any exception?

To be effective we must be persistent and consistent in preaching the message of the Gospel. This takes authority by God and boldness in our approach. At times it is necessary to shout when we preach as we read in Mat 10:27 What I tell you in darkness, [that] speak ye in light: and what ye here in the ear, [that] preach ye upon the housetops… So what if you get Christians coming against you? At the end of the day it is not them we are supposed to obey it is God. yield to the conscious that God gave us and not a conscience of the modern age, in accordance to the principles of God.

Many would say that whenever we do it make sure it is done in Love! But what does “doing it in love” actually mean according to scripture? To have an attitude of Love is about obeying and serving God in spite of opposition and persecution, and doing it not self-righteously, but righteously in anger and hostility toward sin. We need to make a clear distinction between sin and the sinner when dealing with sin in order for there to be any conviction. We must never dress it up to make it popular and acceptable to every one, the Bible says 1 Corinthians 1:23 But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness. How can we make it relevant to unbelievers when the preaching of the word is foolishness to the unbeliever?

One thing you learn in your obedience to God you will find much opposition, and even sadder from our close brethren in Christ, as Gal. 2:11; 2 Tim. 3:12; 4:16 says.

by staying faithful and being in the firing-line for Christ it is one of the most honorable ways to serve Christ. We should not seek for popularity in this life but as Mathew 6:19 – 20 says, Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal. This is not to boast of the things we do, nor to be filled with pride, but to boast in Jesus Christ. Our aim should be to deliver the message, it should not our aim to seek for some revival. It is when we deliver the Gospel message that seed is planted, and then it is between them and God. It is wrong to store up points and to have some sort of contest to see how many people we can save, God saves who he chooses to we have little or nothing to do with this.

God is there Judge and it is not for me to say who is going to heaven and who is going to hell. In our message we should show anger against sin and compassion and patience with the sinners. Dealing with a whole crowd of people different in a multicultural society is different from dealing with an individual. We also must have discernment when dealing with people who stop us to have a dialogue with us. It is helpful if we know something about what people believe, ie, Mormons, Catholics, Jehovah`s Witnesses, Muslims etc.

You may often hear that it is wrong to preach on Hell, and that we should concentrate on God’s love, and less on his judgements. This would mean that we should deceive sinners into trusting a deception. “That honeyed charm that he used so effectively to lull his victims“. This form of loving is merely lulling and leading sinners to hell instead of saving them. We should rock the boat to urge them to repent. As we read in Jude, 1:23 And others save with fear, pulling [them] out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh. People need to fear God, godly fear out of respect for God, this is wisdom! Pro 1:7 The fear of the LORD [is] the beginning of knowledge: [but] fools despise wisdom and instruction, Pro 1:29 For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD:

Pro 8:13 also states The fear of the LORD [is] to hate evil: pride, and arrogance, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate. God shows much hostility toward sin, and as such we need that militancy to show people who God takes sin seriously, people don’t much understand what sin is today.

Act 24:16 And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offense toward God, and [toward] men. Where love comes into this, it is seen in the fact of Jesus’ dying for us. We should not represent God’s Love as His overlooking our wickedness thus giving the impression that sin is not so bad. You will never find Jesus, or His Apostles, standing in front of a crowd of people and preaching, “God loves you”, there is no mention in the Book of Acts where anyone preaches in such a way. In fact Jesus said in Revelation 3:19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. Mostly what the Apostles preached was about the Fear of the Lord, for which they often got arrested and imprisoned. Why should we be any different or an exception? Mathew 5:10 Blessed [are] they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven..

John 15:20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.

Here is a list of what the Bible says about the actions of God, and this is what was preached publicly and openly

“…because thou wouldst not obey the voice of the Lord thy God…the Lord will rejoice over you to destroy you.” (Deuteronomy 28:62-63)

“The foolish shall not stand in thy sight: thou hatest all workers of iniquity. Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing; the Lord will abhor the bloody and deceitful man.” (Psalm 5:5-6)

“God is angry with the wicked every day.” (Psalm 7:11)

“God is jealous, and the Lord revengeth; the Lord revengeth, and is furious; the Lord will take vengeance on his adversaries, and reserveth wrath for his enemies.” (Nahum 1:2)

“O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” (Matthew 3:7)

“Woe unto thee, Chorazin, Bethsaida, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. but…it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee.” (Matthew 11:21-24)

“O full of all subtlety and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?” (Acts 13:10)

“…the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven, with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ…..” (2 Thessalonians 1:7-8)

The message is plain and simple, if the churches do not repent from their modernising ways, then we shall reap the Judgement of God. For the past 20 years in the United Kingdom, since the new forms of evangelism, the churches are being emptied and the UK, as a nation, is more tolerant towards society and far less towards God.

They forget what God says, 1Cr 3:19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness. The trouble is that churches often take what is popular and go in with the crowd. God also says and warns us, James 4:4 Ye adulterers and adulteress, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.

But if the churches still refuse to repent then God says, 2 Peter 2:20 For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.

We will reap judgement and our Children shall suffer and it will be our own doing.

30th March ’07

Miguel Hayworth

Director/UK Apologetics Library