In the early morning of March 26, 2024, the Maryland Transportation Authority Police received an urgent call from the container ship MV Dali, saying they lost control of the vessel and a collision with the Francis Scott Key Bridge was possible. The Police had the roadways leading to the massive bridge spanning Baltimore’s outer harbor shut down in under two minutes just before it collapsed. The quick actions of the officers blocking the road saved people from driving to their deaths nearly two hundred feet below in the frigid water. Can you imagine if the police didn’t block the road? What if they just gave a friendly wave and smile or even a complimentary refreshment before letting them continue toward the gaping hole in the bridge span without warning them about the danger ahead? It would be unthinkable, right? This is precisely what innumerable Christians and church leaders are doing as they collectively fail to warn people about the wrath to come and encourage people on their way to hell.
Many Christians are preoccupied with making unsaved people feel good about themselves. This happens in churches, para-church ministries, outreaches, and one-on-one. There’s an overwhelming emphasis on feelings, experiences, and felt needs. This me-centered focus is unheard of in the Bible. This approach to engaging the unsaved is an eternal tragedy in the making. Instead of warning people about the wrath to come, we give them a false sense of security through involvement in religious activities and programs. Or worse, we inadvertently encourage people to think they are good enough to escape it. How does this encouraging people on their way to hell take place? Here are a few examples you’ve probably heard or seen from Christian leaders, mission statements, promotional materials, or other Christians:
- You were made for more.
- God’s not angry with you, or God is pleased with you.
- Find a way to belong, connect, be known, or find community.
- We love our church, and so will you.
- This is a safe space for you to explore faith.
- We must first know our neighbors so we can eventually share the gospel.
- We must earn the right to share the gospel.
- We must build bridges that can bear the weight of truth or cultivate relationships with people first.
- Give invitations to festivals, Christmas concerts, programs, and activities, but rarely to the gospel.
The reality is that most unchurched or unsaved people will rarely enter a church. We must bring the gospel out to them. Many Christian leaders and church growth gurus have snubbed the work of the Holy Spirit to draw people to saving faith for their own ability and cunning to draw people to a building or organization. When they do come, most are met with a watered-down message encouraging them to feel good about themselves but rarely to repent. Collectively, we create religious pep rallies with multi-million dollar jumbotrons, smoke, cued spotlights, worship performers, hirelings, and tons of emotion. This may result in confessions of faith, baptisms, and a look of authentic Christianity, but in the end, much of it may prove to be spiritual deception.
Tens of thousands, perhaps millions, have come into some kind of religious experience by accepting Christ and they have not been saved. A.W. Tozer
Why do most Churches, Christian leaders, and everyday believers rarely warn people about hell? Because it won’t fill seats, and collectively, we care more about people-pleasing than God-pleasing. Simply put, we want people to like and think well of us. It’s wrong to lure people in with swank coffee shops, bookstores, and programs to make them feel good instead of commissioning believers to go outside the building and compel lost people to saving faith. Meeting them for endless coffees or lunches so we can eventually earn the right to share the gospel is a spiritual bait-and-switch. This Western watered-down approach of promoting experiences, community, plugging in, or belonging won’t save anyone. It is encouraging people on their way to hell. What are the tragic results? A well-known preacher explains it like this in his sobering book;
When death comes for us, nothing will stop us from answering the summons. One minute after you die, you will either be elated or terrified. -Erwin Lutzer, One Minute After You Die
The thought of hell is offensive to our human sensibilities. When we think of hell, we have no personal experience to reference. Here are some of the terms Jesus used to describe hell:
- Outer darkness – Matthew 22:13
- Flames and lake of fire – Luke 16:24 and Revelation 20:14-15
- Separation from God – Revelation 22:15
- A place of suffering and torment. – Matthew 3:12, Matthew 25:46, and Mark 9:48
- Where there’s weeping and gnashing of teeth. – Matthew 13:41-43
Wanting people to like and think well of us has become an idol to many churches and Christians in America and the West. Think about how many Churches and organizations started well but are now nothing more than religious country clubs, albeit with a cross and spiritual platitudes on the walls. I remember not too long ago when believers were fired up to warn people lovingly and win them to Jesus, then bring them to church for equipping and discipleship. Now, if we grovel for them to come to an activity, giveaway, or program and they acquiesce, we feel like we have won them. My question is, what are we winning them to?
I know there’s a remnant of authentic Christians and sound biblical fellowships making up the true Church worldwide. Many pastors and leaders haven’t been swept up in the tide of spiritual deception masquerading as an authentic move of the Holy Spirit. As believers, we must decide whether to go out and compel people to come to repentance and saving faith in Jesus or if we are going to play church and encourage people on their way to hell. Dear friends, let’s use the little time left to warn people of the wrath to come instead of encouraging them on the way to hell. It’s a loving thing to warn people; you might be the last chance they get to hear the gospel. I want to share a few lines from a Keith Green song with you for exhortation.
All for Him,
Howard
Jesus commands us to go, but we go the other way. So He carries the burden alone,
while His children are busy at play, feelin’ so called to stay. Jesus commands us to go,
It should be the exception if we stay. It’s no wonder we’re movin’ so slow when His church refuses to obey, feelin’ so called to stay. Oh, how God calls as He stalls the great judgment of fire, so He can gain His greatest desire. ‘Cause He knows that the souls of the lost, they can only be reached through us, we’re His hands and His feet. -Keith Green, Jesus Commands Us To GoClick here for our deep-dive podcast episode, Encouraging people on Their way to Hell.
One Minute After You Die – Excellent book by Erwin Lutzer
One Thing You Can’t Do In Heaven – Great read by Mark Cahill
