The discussion continues:
Jason invited me to visit his facility and hear an evangelist, so I asked him:
"I don't understand your meaning. He's an evangelist, correct? I'm a mature believer who knows and loves the Gospel, and who evangelizes others. The Gospel does not, and has not, changed. Does this man have a new message? The Cannon is closed, so I am not aware of anything new the Lord has allegedly added to the Gospel or His written word. I realize there are those who believe and teach God is allegedly doing new things, although scripture doesn't back that up. Please elaborate. I am not aware of anything new given. We have prophecy to which we may look as to what's coming. I'd appreciate it if you would elaborate further."
His answer was somewhat remarkable, to say the least:
"He is an evangelist Ephesians 4:11-16
11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
We believe this is still true today. Have you not seen that? Or do you just disagree with the Bible on that?"
Wow. THAT was a tone I was not expecting. Here was my response to him this morning:
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"Oh, no, no, no. The Bible is completely true, and evangelists are indeed an integral part of the function of ministry to the lost. I'm glad their function has not passed away, as did the prophets now that the Cannon is closed.
Jason, I was simply asking questions. I wasn't trying to be adversarial. It just seemed odd to me that a man who serves the Lord under the title of 'evangelist' is speaking to what should be the saved in your church organization. The elders and teachers should be the ones who perfect the saints, and serving as the overseers in an endeavor to perform the function of discipling believers into spiritual maturity. Evangelists reach out to the lost and bring them to the understanding for their need to be cleansed of their sins. Are there a number of unsaved in your congregation? Are you expecting unsaved people to come and hear that man (which is great if that's the case)? Letting him use your facility to reach out to the utterly lost and the curious, that's a wonderful thing.
So, my question remains...why have you opened up your pulpit to an evangelist? If you opened up your pulpit to someone like Dr. John Barnett, who is a teacher/elder, then I would understand that. Bringing in an evangelist intimates to me that this is an attempt at possibly sparking a localized revival, bringing new believers into the fold, if unbelievers show up. Is that the case, here? That's all I'm asking.
Inviting other mature believers to hear the man seems to be a plea to have other mature believers present to assist the evangelist at the altar call. Otherwise, I remain mystified at your invite. The conclusions one could draw from that are many, so rather than to assume anything, I'm simply asking. Is that so strange? Lecturing me about Ephesians 4, of which I am well aware, appears to be a dodging of my questions.
So, I'm simply asking what his purpose is in speaking at your facility? Would he become as defensive were the questions directed at him? Is he of the same mind as yourself? Are you two blood-related? I'm just trying to get answers that fill in the blanks. Most ministers don't invite evolutionary-minded professors of biology to speak at their churches because of the difference in not only world views, but also in their function. Biology doesn't build up the saints in the place of God's written word to us, and the guidance from His indwelling Holy Spirit gives to us.
So, please, may I hear from you the answers to my questions? If you don't have the time, then I understand. You have a huge flock to which you must attend.
I would still like to meet with you.
Thank you for your time."
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One other thing occurred to after I sent that message, and it's something Bob said to me about Jason having such a young organization. This may be a "church-building" effort, getting the congregation to go out there and bring in more members. I'm all for the congregants becoming more active in reaching the lost in their respective communities, but to use that as a church-growth endeavor as the prime focus...yeah, I have a problem with that. The reason for my saying that is on the basis of an understanding that efforts originating from God will prosper, whereby efforts originating with man is reliant upon the strength of the arm of man.
Paul was an evangelist, and a teacher, and a helper and... He was many things, so when all I'm told about this guy is that he's an evangelist, yes, I could lapse into bubbleheaded ignorance and simply turn a blind eye to the actual purpose for that guy's visit and speaking, but I'm simply too inquisitive.
MM