Who is the Seeker the Gospel was made Sensitive for

Greetings, in the name of our precious Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Thank you for taking the time to read this article. If you are like me I will never get around to reading an article if it is too long, so I will be making my points quick and I will be rather blunt so I can cover a lot of ground. I pray that you consider this article with an open mind. Let me get started.

The term seeker sensitive and its philosophies, has found full acceptance in many of today’s churches. There are things that sometimes come into the body of Christ that should not be there and many times it is because the pastor of the church has good intentions but lacks spiritual eyes or maturity to recognize something when it is less than what God has established. This however is not the case with the seeker sensitive gospel; it is being fully embraced with the pastors and church leaders’ full awareness of what they are doing. We are commanded by scripture not to grieve the Holy Spirit, but this is exactly what this new kind of gospel does. It denies the power thereof of the Holy Ghost and has substituted it with mans cleverness and wisdom. I do not question the sincerity of those who have gotten on board with this new technique of supposedly reaching the lost. I would have to believe though that many that participate in this method of ministry are immature in the Lord or lacking discernment. I would even believe that many of these men are not in their bibles on a daily basis so that the word of God may establish in their hearts and mind what a New Testament church should be like. There are also those pastors that are in it for success, popularity and filthy lucre. Many young pastors are taught these modern techniques by men that are of respectable reputation. So many a young Christian that might sense that something just doesn’t sit right in his spirit about these things, walks away believing that it is just a personality conflict or that he has some preconceived ideas on how the church should be, when all along he is sensing the grieving of the Holy Spirit for receiving this false gospel into his heart.

What I really want to deal with in this article is some thoughts and answers on who this seeker is that the gospel is being established for. For times sake let’s narrow the definition down to the seeker as being a person that is truly seeking God. We know that people seek all kinds of things. People seek relationships which can be found in the church. People seek support which can be found in the church. People seek acceptance which can be found in the church. That however does not mean that they desire to humble themselves and repent of their sinful ways and surrender their heart to the Lord. As long as the church never pushes that issue, the person that is seeking these other things can find themselves feeling pretty comfortable in the church.

I want to get back to focusing on the true seeker that is really seeking God. There are a few questions we need to address. Does the real seeker need to be schmoozed into believing the gospel, or are they ripe for the picking. Will the real seeker be chased off when the real gospel of repentance and righteous living is presented, or does the church have to take off the cutting edge to keep them attending? These questions and others I believe will be answered as I share some thoughts as well as present scripture to back them, on what condition the true seeker of God is in and how to win them to Christ.

First, we must understand that absolutely no one can come to Jesus unless the Holy Spirit draws them. “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw Him: and I will raise him up at the last day.” (Jn. 6:44) “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all man unto me.” (Jn 12:32). So God is preparing the hearts of millions of people around the world to come to His Son Jesus. This alone is God’s work. The Holy Spirit is dealing and convincing the world of sin. “And when He is come, He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.” (Jn. 16:8). Again by scripture we can see that God is making men aware of their desperate sinful state. “He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” Every person that is not born again is condemned. We are doing a great disservice to any sinner by trying to help them feel comfortable in their condemned state. The true seeker is looking to relieve himself from his burden of sin. He quite often might not even be aware that this is his problem but nonetheless God is dealing with him and preparing Him to have an encounter with truth. We the Christians should fully understand that even though the seeker may not know of his condition that God has prepared him to hear the gospel, repent and then submit to Christ. God could have not made it any easier. He did all the prep work now all we have to do is minister the gospel. I am not just talking about pulpit preaching but the kind of preaching that every Christian should do in their daily life by the way they live their life and by the words they speak and of course walking in the Spirit.

So, for the most part the seeker of God is in the right frame of mind or at least inquisitive enough to want to here the gospel to see if there would be a hope for himself. He might also have seen something in the life of a real Spirit filled believer that may bring him to ask that believer “a reason of the hope that is in you” (1 Pe. 3:15 ).

Now the seeker is ready to hear the good news of Jesus Christ. What has God ordained for such a time as this? “…the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.” (1 Cor. 1:21). It is foolish to waste another moment and allow the seeker to wander some more. God has done His work. God has prepared Him. God has led Him to a Christian or a church, or led a Christian to the seeker, but nonetheless God in His infinite wisdom and the believer acting in obedience has resulted in a divine appointment. Now I believe that most reading this would agree with me so far. So now I want to deal with the hindrance the seeker sensitive gospel (SSG) has upon the real seeker. The SSG is designed to be as non threatening as possible. It paints a picture of the church being a warm and friendly place that any one can come too and not have to worry about some preacher pointing the finger at them. The SSG has downplayed mans sinful state by labeling them as seekers, pre-Christians, unchurched and other such names. This is intentionally designed to keep the sinner from being offended. Let me say, I am so glad that someone offended me by telling me I needed to repent and turn to the Lord. The SSG has also brought in many of the worlds attractions to lure people into the church. I believe this is a form of deception which falls under the category of bearing false witness. I remember one time my wife and I were invited to a meeting by a woman who made it sound like their might be a part time job opportunity for my wife. After we got to the place where we were to meet with them we found that there were several other couples also there. It was nothing other than a tactic to get my wife and me to sit and listen to a man trying to get us to be a part of a business like Amway. We left early and were somewhat irritated by this false premise. Yet the church does things like this and they believe that God lead them to do it. That is not the leading of the Holy Spirit. This is deception. Do ministers have such a low opinion of being a Christian that they have to try to present something more exciting? Whenever a church uses gimmicks to attract the seeker, or whoever they are, it is in a sense saying, we know it is boring being a Christian but we have something else that is exciting for you. Those of you that love the Lord know that there is nothing more exciting then serving Jesus. If someone is to become a Christian they might as well understand right from the beginning that they are going to have to be content in Christ.

Another thing this SSG does is attract seekers in with the idols of the world. Secular music, drama, clips from movies, multitudes of programs and other such things. I know of a couple churches in my area that have shown scenes from the “Passion of the Christ” during the sermon. Do those that advocate the SSG have no understanding of the statement they are making? They are saying to the lost and the saved that Christ alone is not sufficient for salvation, but with the help of Hollywood they might possibly come to know Jesus. Imagine calling on Mel Gibson, who is a hard line Catholic to help a church win people to Christ. What ever happened to the power of the Holy Ghost? What ever happened to the power of the gospel to save? 2000 years ago the great Apostle Paul said, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.” (Ro. 1:16) Christians have become ashamed of the gospel today. They no longer think that it has that power to save anymore. Paul also said, “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.” (1 Cor. 1:18) Today preaching has become foolishness to the church. Every time a church puts on a production for the sake of winning souls they are declaring that they have gotten more clever than the gospel. They can do a better job then the ministry of the word.

Now one of the main reasons this SSG has even been propagated is because there is a major famine of the word of God in mainstream Christianity. The church has also lost its anointing to reach the lost with the power of the Holy Ghost. Instead of getting back to the upper room of Pentecost and getting full of the Holy Ghost, man puts together his clever little schemes to try to entice and seduce people into the church. Many come to the church because of this but I have to ask, are they being converted to Christ? We are so easily fooled by people going to an altar and saying some short prayer. Now we believe they are a Christian. Well anyone would be a fool not to be a Christian after the church attracts them with their idols, never confronts them with their sinful state, preaches a cute little sermon and then tell them they can belong to this wonderful church family. The church family most certainly is wonderful. It is something we should desire to belong to; but to really belong to the church family you have to be born again. And unless a man is stopped dead in his tracks and comes under the conviction of the Holy Ghost, that man will never become born again. He can sign a membership card, he can get involved in ministry, he can even go on to be a pastor or an evangelist, but that does not make him a Christian. This is a terrible result of the SSG. It is easy believism. It is a Christianity that has removed the cross and denying self. It actually encourages you to find yourself and build your self esteem. Self has always been a problem with God. We need “others-esteem.” I was discipling a couple for some time, when one day the woman told me that she needs to learn to love herself. She had learned this through some self help program she was once a part of. It was obvious to me however that her problem was that she loved herself to much. She needed to start loving her neighbors as herself. The world likes the message that the psychologist has to offer, they like the remedies of the self help books and programs. These all eliminate the personal responsibility of sin and blame it on something other than self. This is why these types of things are making their way into the church and are a part of the SSG. These philosophies don’t mess with the spirit of man, it just helps the natural man to find comfort in his sin. Rick Warren and his “Purpose Driven” mentality is just presenting a deceptive form of psychology. The message that is promoted in these kinds of books is to find the best you, and then use it for God. It encourages developing our own abilities and talents. This is a highly toxic message because it leads to self centeredness and self absorption where every thing becomes about me and doing my thing. God has had many people lay down their abilities and talents for a higher calling. That calling is to find the will of God for your life. That is our purpose. I can tell you your purpose in seven words, “to do the will of the Father.” That is a lot quicker than 40 days of purpose, yet for the believer, it continues on for more than 40 days because he must continue to seek God the rest of his life to know His will.

Back to the true seeker. I do believe that the true God seeker can get saved in this kind of environment that I have been speaking against. But I also want to say that those that seek other things except God will not get saved by this. They may come forward and pray and may join the church as I alluded to earlier but they are not saved. Now the one that truly gets saved and joins the seeker sensitive church (SSC) is starting out at a great disadvantage. Probably the first thing that will present itself in his mind is the acceptance of things that seem to have that worldly edge. To draw someone into the church by using their idols and then after they become a Christian you tell them they need to put away those idols is confusion of the worst kind. Instead of getting these new believers diving into the word of God they introduce them to the latest best seller. We had a lady come to our church once. She came early for our bible study. After it was over she came to talk to me. She said she enjoyed the study but was surprised we didn’t use someone’s book. I did say to her that it was a BIBLE STUDY. Forgive me for my sarcastic humor but I ask people, do you know what we use for our bible studies? And they almost always ask what? I tell them the bible. Another disadvantage is that the sharp edge is taken off the word of God so the visitors will not squirm too much and since you have to continue on with this because of more visitors coming in the new believer never gets a full dose of the word of God. If the word of God is supposed to discern the thoughts and intent of the heart then it needs to be plunged deep into his soul. “For the word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” (He. 4:12)

The SSC, if left to continue on, will at best produce lethargic, complacent and immature Christians. These Christians for the most part will never understand what it is to be filled with the Holy Ghost. They will be taught their whole Christian life to look to the wisdom and cleverness of man to maintain their walk. In the meantime the church is filling up with tares. When a church is overrun with tares it ceases to be a church. They might have a grand building, a lot of ministers on staff, but the church is a people not a building. If one is not born again he is not a member of Christ’s church. All that, that individual will do is resist and rebel against anything the Holy Ghost wants to accomplish. This is going to sound very hard but I must ask it. You know who else wants to fill the church with tares and half hearted Christians? THE DEVIL. Imagine being in agreement with Satan, being his accomplice. He is not afraid that they will get saved there, for any dependence on the power of preaching has been abandoned for worldly gimmicks. Listen to what Paul wrote, “For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.” (1 Cor. 1:17) And again he wrote, “And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And 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. Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought:” (1 Cor. 2:1-6)

You may ask, what makes you think these tactics the church uses to draw people in are worldly? I know many Christians would never consider, entertainment, drama, even some music as worldly. This is exactly one of the points that I am trying to make. Much of the church has lost its capacity to see and understand that much of these attractions are worldly. When a person is attracted by worldliness and supposedly converted they are already being trained to accept these things and are even taught these are needed today if you want to win souls. I know the philosophy behind attracting people to the church with these worldly things. I heard many a preacher say it. They use these to bring them in and then when they are there they deliver a sermon. Please understand that this does not for the most part work. I know there are some that really do get converted in these settings, but as I was saying earlier they were already being drawn to Christ and would have just as easily gotten saved by someone witnessing to them at the grocery store. What happens to these new converts is that they are lead onto the path of being less than they could be in Christ. Let me explain why this is not Holy Ghost breathed ministry. To come into a church that offers all the glamour and glitter of the world, polished professional preachers, some silly skit, scantily dressed women, men talking about their golf game or hunting trips, and then to deliver a sermon to them, has a sub-conscious message that says, “nice sermon but I can see that nobody here really takes it serious. I like this place, I can have Jesus and still live the same life I have always lived.” I suppose the whole world would get saved if we just told them to accept Jesus and then continue on as they were. This is no different than when I was a Catholic, I went to church regularly but it was just a thing I was supposed to do on Sunday. All these modern techniques that are used are just a way to make the church more attractive, and help the sinner feel more at home. It might help to make people want to come to church, but it doesn’t necessarily draw them to be a true Christian and often hinders the Holy Spirit. The church is the place to make disciples for Christ who then go out and impact a world. Every Christian I have won to the Lord was impacted by the way I lived and the things I said before they ever came to church. When they came they were ready to be saved if they weren’t already. They came because I offered them Christ not some worldly vice. Have we so easily forgotten “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, 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.” (Ja. 4:4) or how about, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.” (1 Jn. 2:15-16) Imagine trying to disciple the enemies of God. No wonder ministers burn out.

I have put this article together in love. Love for Christ first, for I am certain the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the head of the body of Christ, is grieved tremendously by what has become of His church. Men who once held in high regard the word of God are and have started the drift away from the word. Subtle it may be, but any direction away from Christ whether in giant steps or baby steps is heading toward apostacy. The only way a person can stop going down this path they have started to trod is to repent and get back to the pure word of God. Preacher, you must understand that the bible alone is efficient, sufficient and more than sufficient to fulfill your calling in Christ. Secondly I love the body of Christ and want nothing but to see them grow as the word says, “For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.” (Eph. 4:12-16)

I know I have said a lot already and could continue on but I want to finish this article with one thought. Jesus told the disciples to go and tarry in Jerusalem until they received power from on high. They could have disobeyed Jesus and said souls are too important, I can’t wait, I am going out to tell people about Jesus. I am sure they could have gone out and stumbled around winning some souls. But Jesus was making it very clear that to truly win souls and make disciples we need the power of the Holy Ghost in our life and our church. The disciples were obedient and the results were 3000 souls after a 2 minute sermon. Much of the church today has lost the power of the Holy Ghost, so instead of getting back in the upper room of Pentecost the church has departed even further by adopting worldly ministry. When ever the world is involved you can be certain that the Holy Ghost isn’t. Remember this, that those that have supposedly made a commitment to Christ under the SSG are the next generation of church leaders. Help us Oh Lord!

If you are a pastor or minister and have read this with an open heart and find yourself guilty of this it is not to late to repent. If you truly repent of this it means you will burn these altars of worldliness before the eyes of the saints. You will tell them you have misrepresented God. You will ask for their forgiveness and tell them that you are getting back to the simplicity of the bible. This however will probably mean your whole ministry will fall before you. Let it fall! It will not make it through the fire of judgment anyway. It has to be God’s ministry if it is going to pass through the fire. Are you willing to be mocked or laughed at? Are you willing to be hated by some? Just remember the Son of God was. You need to get alone with God and let Him speak to you and fill you afresh with the Holy Ghost and set you in true ministry that is ordained of God. If you belong to a church like this I understand your devotion to your church family. I went through this myself when I left my first church to pursue the calling of God in my life. But remember this important truth, let not your devotion to the church family or your pastor or your denomination be greater than your devotion to Christ. You will make the greatest impact in this world by growing deep in Christ. Sometimes you might have to give up your ministry, but I know there is a greater one that lies ahead for the fervent, obedient saint of God. Thank you for reading this article. I pray it has stirred your soul.

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