THE WISDOM OF GOD IN THE PROCLAMATION OF THE GOSPEL
Probably no other portion of scripture expresses the principles of gospel preaching better than the Epistles to the Corinthians. First Corinthians 1:21 established the rule and standard of God calling sinners out of darkness into the marvelous light of His Dear Son, “For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.” In II Corinthians 4:1-2, “Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not; But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully…” Those in modern times who have developed a “gospel” of trickery and gimmickry have done so out of carnal wisdom and not from the Bible. Nowhere in scripture will you find the prophets or apostles using the fakery of the modern preacher. The invitation system employed in the average church is derived out of a lust for numbers, not the Bible. The competition for having the world’s largest church and “America’s fastest growing Sunday School” has led to a multitude of crafty, deceitful tricks in order to add one more number to the roll. Like the Pharisees and scribes in the days of Christ my Lord, “…for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves” (Matthew 23:15). Paul reminded the Corinthians in the second chapter of the first letter, verse one through five, “And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. …I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.” Why so much inconsistency and vacillation among your church members? Why is it that you “win” a hundred souls this month and in six months you must “win” another hundred to fill the vacancy of the last hundred you “won?? The answer may be in the words of the text I just quoted. They were probably “won” with the “enticing (persuasive) words of man’s wisdom” and not in “the demonstration of the Spirit and of power.” My friend here is the sad commentary on the situation of this day. For the past fifty to seventy-five years the denomination seminaries (Baptist top of the list) have turned out human psychologist who have been trained to “win friends and influence people,” not gospel preachers who simply proclaim what “thus saith the Lord,” and pray in patience until the Holy Spirit comes in power. Many pastors and teachers are marching down “the broad” road to hell and carrying a multitude of poor deceived souls with them.
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