Butcher of Souls — E.A. Johnston

There is something which I have done in the past that gnaws at me at night. It gnaws at me like a sharp knife of painful memories. Back when I was a butcher of souls, in my younger years, and in my zealousness to win souls for Christ, I'm afraid I was nothing more than a butcher of souls.

I did not know the gospel as I do now. I misled many poor sinners with the false gospel, and I gave them false assurance by telling them they were now saved, because I ruined them with the perverted gospel of my generation, which declares, God loves you, friend.

Did you know that Jesus loves you? Jesus loves you so much, friend, that he died on a cross for you. Won't you just believe in this Jesus? If you will only accept this Jesus as your Savior, friend, you will go to heaven, I can promise you that.

Will you do this? Will you believe in this Jesus? If you accept him as your Savior, will you go to heaven, and you can do this right now? I can even lead you in a prayer. Just say these words with me, and you'll know for sure that you are a Christian.

And I would lead that poor wretch in a prayer, and then pat him on the back and tell him he was now a Christian, but he wasn't. He was now somebody who made a false profession of faith, because the evangelist fed him a Jesus that was not the Jesus of the gospel, and he was now gospel hardened to any other person who came after me and handed him a track or witness to him, because he would then say, I already did that, I am a Christian.

Evangelistic Conversion and the Danger of False Professions

Oh, the great harm I did, friends, when I was a butcher of souls. I'll never forget the ice cream man I witnessed to one night while I was out knocking on doors. It was a hot summer night, and I saw an ice cream truck, so I flagged him down and got me an ice cream, and I told him about Jesus, and would he like this Jesus?

And he said, sure, just like he handed me an ice cream cone, I handed him this Jesus. And I led that ice cream man in a prayer and told him he was now a saved individual, and I went my way, feeling awful proud of myself, but all I was in those days was a butcher of souls.

Did you hear me, a butcher of souls? I would knock on a door and gain entry into someone's home and sit in their living room and tell them about how much Jesus loved them, and would they just accept this Jesus?

And I'm afraid a few did, and when they did, I butchered their souls. And any other zealous evangelist who's quick to make converts and who does not go about it with the full counsel of God is a butcher of souls as well, a butcher of souls.

How many times will I hear an evangelist brag and say, at my last crusade, I led one thousand people to the Lord, and he'll pat himself on the back so hard he'll break his wrist in the process. I used to be like that, I know the feeling, but I was wrong, dead wrong.

And I'll never forget the time I was sharing Jesus with some preschoolers at a local school. I brought with me some different colored pieces of cardboard, green and black and gold and red, showing earth and heaven and sin and what Jesus did through his blood, and I used those pieces of cardboard to tell those children about the love of Jesus.

And then I asked them all to raise their hands if they wanted to accept this Jesus into their hearts, and every single one of them raised their hand. And I told them that they were now Christians, and they were each on their way to heaven.

And they grew up believing that. And I'm afraid I did them great harm, for instead of being a help to them, I was just a butcher of their souls. Like I said, it still bothers me when I think about it.

Jeremiah's Warning Against Healing Sin Superficially

And there's a passage of scripture that speaks of such false prophets who damned their hearers rather than help them. It's found in the book of Jeremiah in chapter 6. You can turn in your Bibles there now.

We would be in Jeremiah chapter 6 and verses 13 through 14. Let me read it to us now. And please, friends, pay close attention to these words and ponder them in your heart so you too won't be guilty of being a butcher of souls like I was.

Here now is God's holy word. For from the least of them, even unto the greatest of them, every one is given to covetousness. And from the prophet, even unto the priest, every one dealeth falsely. They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace, when there is no peace.

And that is what happens, friends, when a preacher deals falsely with a person by giving them a false gospel. They heal their hurt slightly. They tell them they are saved and say, Peace, peace, when there is no peace, for there is no peace to the wicked.

The Law, Repentance, and the Need to Be Lost Before Being Saved

When I finally learned what the true gospel was, I saw what a false one I'd been using for years. It's my fear that the diluted gospel of our generation has given many a false hope of security and salvation.

Many have joined the church and remain unconverted and rest upon a false profession. I believe the gospel must be presented in its purity and proper order, and I believe that before a sinner can be safely brought to Christ, that person must get lost.

They must be awakened to their lost condition and perilous position outside of Christ. They must be warned of their great danger of doubting their sins and being cast into a place of eternal misery called hell.

They must be confronted with God's holy law and shown they are guilty rebels who deserve punishment for sin, and they must be shown their duty of repentance. The full counsel of God will proclaim all these things.

It will proclaim man's utter ruin and hopelessness and sin. It will proclaim redemption through Christ Jesus. It will warn men of their duty of repentance, and it will show them their utter necessity of regeneration, which is the work of grace upon the heart through the new birth.

Evangelism Awakening and the Full Counsel of God

Listen, friends, I believe that this generation of modern evangelism has committed two crimes. It's reduced God down to man's size and has taken salvation out of the hands of God and placed it in the hands of men, and it's made some overzealous men mere butchers of souls.

With this in mind, I have developed a gospel outreach format called Evangelism Awakening, and I have developed it into an app on iTunes. Evangelism Awakening is the gospel of George Whitfield, Jonathan Edwards, Charles Spurgeon, and Azahel Nettleton.

It's the full counsel of God which thunders the law about the ears of its hearers until they see Sinai altogether on a smoke. It shows a sinner how he has broken the strict and severe law of God and that he is a guilty rebel who has committed treason against a king.

This format confronts the sinner with sin, God's holy law, and his duty of repentance. This app, Evangelism Awakening, is designed to be user-friendly to facilitate a clear gospel presentation that shows sinful man his lost condition before God and his duty of immediate repentance toward an offended sovereign.

It comes with two audio sermons on evangelism, and a full presentation of the gospel is taught in an easy-to-learn format. There is a section of memory verses as well as a training format that's taught over seven weeks and can be easily adapted to any church outreach program.

Giving the Holy Spirit Room to Convict of Sin

The thrust of Evangelism Awakening is to faithfully present the word of God in the gospel to give the Holy Spirit room to operate on a poor sinner's heart. In Evangelism Awakening, I use the example of Charles Finney, and I believe this is why so many evangelists today make converts of their own rather than having true conversions occur.

The reason is, we do not give the Holy Spirit room to operate in conviction of sin. Allow me to explain. Charles Finney used the example of the old gristmill that operated by the force of water upon two millstones.

There was the topstone and the bottomstone, and these two millstones are laid one atop the other, and as they turn, they grind the wheat into flour. Finney said that the bottomstone was the law of God written on the heart of man, which is his conscience.

This is spoken of in Romans 2 .15, which states, which show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another.

So Finney said the bottomstone was the law of God written on the heart of man, which is his conscience. The topstone is the preached law of God thundered about the ears of the hearer, and when this occurs, then the Holy Spirit can operate by grinding upon the heart in conviction of sin.

You see, friends, the main problem with much evangelism today is that we do not make room for the Holy Spirit to operate, because we do not preach the gospel in its purity and proper order. So I have designed Evangelism Awakening to make an opening for the Spirit of God to work on a poor sinner's heart, and we must be careful, friends, never to tell someone they are now saved like I used to do.

That's not our job. That's the job of the Holy Spirit to tell someone they are now saved. When I learned what the real gospel was, I saw what a false one I've been using for years. I was making the same mistake many soul winners make, and that is we offer someone Jesus without first showing them their need of Him.

Applying the Remedy of Salvation in the Proper Order

Well, how can a person apply the remedy for sin without first realizing they are sick and in need of that remedy? We must be faithful witnesses and break up the fallow ground of the sinner's heart by the preaching of the law and allow the Holy Spirit to bring conviction of sin.

Once a person realizes he's a lost sinner on his way to hell, he'll be thirsty for the remedy of the pardon of sin through faith in Jesus Christ. And in Evangelism Awakening, I teach that we should not cast our pearls before a swine by offering of Jesus without first showing a man his need of a Savior.

The gospel, friends, is for the hungry, the weary, and the thirsty. A lost sinner must be shut up to God for salvation, for only God gives a person saving faith. A man cannot save himself. Let's do our part, friends, in learning how to present the gospel in its purity and proper order.

A Call to Faithful Evangelism and Dependence on the Spirit

We don't want to be butchers of souls, and let us be diligent and dutiful in sharing our faith with this lost generation of hell-bound sinners. But first, let us get informed by learning the true gospel, and then let us pray and wait upon the Holy Spirit to anoint us before we go out and witness for Christ Jesus.

Let's get to work. Souls are perishing all around us. Let us reach them with the gospel of the Son of God.