The Message Of The Cross.

Heyy there once again lovely readers, so we continue with what I call the part 2 of the Christ series. Let's enjoy .

I received a message from a friend, just recently asking me whether using visions of people about hell in evangelism is relevant or not. This stirred up something in me,to put some words together to address this.

Is using visions of other people in evangelism really relevant? What is evangelism?
Evangelism is an art of persuading people to accept your views and opinions. Who do we evangelize to? UNBELIEVERS !! So talking about the relevance of using “horror” visions of hell to evangelize to unbelievers, we need to know the types of unbelievers.
We have three types. The
1. Willful.
2. Intellectual.
3. Emotional.

Using horror visions of hell on the WILLFUL or the EMOTIONAL might work, but for the INTELLECTUAL, am sorry. I speak with confidence because I have had the privilege to debate  atheists for the past eight months, with most of them falling under the intellectual. Can you imagine going to Richard Dawkins and telling him that you had a vision last night about hell and bla bla bla ? He would definitely advice you to see a doctor!! Those kind of people are too proud to come to believe by threats of hell so the best way is to reason with them. Let them know the purpose of life, the necessity for a savior, the purpose of Christ’s coming and the message of the cross. They will not be cowed by threats of hell, they will only come to reason.

Secondly, if I say Christ came so that you can be able to be in heaven oneday through grace, you can also boldly say Christ came so that I’d not end up in hell oneday. Let’s look at this analogy. If a cup is half filled with water, you can say that it is half full and another can say it is half empty. Those who look at the positive side of life – optimists, will say “It is half full” and vice versa. Why shouldn’t we focus on the bright side of things ? Why shouldn’t we be optimistic in our world view?

I would rather tell a group of unbelievers that “GOD LOVES YOU AND HE SENT HIS SON TO DIE FOR YOU SO THAT YOU CAN BE SAVED THROUGH GRACE”,
than “COME TO GOD, OR YOU’LL BE BURNT IN HELL” They will definitely be defensive and also attack.
Children who behave well because they are afraid to lose their parents’ love/trust are better than those who behave well because they are afraid to be punished. It is far better for a student to learn because of his/her love for knowledge rather than fear of failure. Students who learn because of their love for knowledge tend to become great inventors and discoverers whiles those who learn because of fear of failure only just pass their exams without impacting their field. We can do more for the Lord if we focus on His love rather than the fear of hell. God has not given us a spirit of fear, we must have sound minds void of the fear of hell.

Jesus spent more time talking about heaven than hell. The bible contains enough info about heaven and hell and that’s enough to me. Can you guarantee that those visions are from God? Or as a result of hallucinations? I am not saying it’s not important but the bible contains enough info about hell so it’s not really relevant.
I cannot end without giving biblical reference. I call something “the request of the rich man”. Do we still remember the story of Lazarus and the rich man? (LUKE 16 : 19 – 31).
Verse 27.
The rich man then said: ‘Please father Abraham, at least send him to my father’s home
28
For I have five brothers and I want him to warn them so they don’t end up in this place of torment.
29.
But Abraham said, ‘Moses and the prophets have warned them. Your brothers can read what they wrote (bible).
30.
The rich man then replied, ‘No, father Abraham! But if someone is sent to them from the dead, then they will return from their sins and turn to God.’
31. But Abraham said:’if they won’t listen to Moses and the prophets, they WON’T LISTEN EVEN IF SOMEONE RISES FROM THE DEAD”.
Moses made it clear that the word of God is enough and those visions of people who have returned from the dead is less relevant.
NB. THIS IS NOT TO DETER ANYONE FROM USING VISIONS OF HELL IN EVANGELISM, I JUST ADDRESSED IT’S RELEVANCE IN EVANGELISM, BE LED BY THE SPIRIT.
God bless you.