A Lost Religious Man — E.A. Johnston

The Preacher's Burden to Afflict the Comfortable

Preachers are given mainly to two messages, to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable. One is a popular ministry where the people love the preacher for his steady diet of the encouraging word.

The other ministry is an unpopular one that few want to tread because nobody wants to be shot at or hammered on or threatened with the demands and claims of the gospel. When I changed my message years ago, I lost my popularity and lost all my support.

I've been on the receiving end of many outraged Baptist pastors who have reprimanded me and told me I had no business being a preacher. I guess that's what makes me different from them. I don't have a business in ministry like some of these pastor CEOs do, but I am a God-called preacher with a burning in my bones because I care for the souls of men.

Confronting False Conversions in a Spiritually Declining Church

I'd rather upset you or offend you if it meant it turned your life around for God rather than just lull you to sleep with happy little sermons that don't disturb anybody. And with that in mind, friend, it's time for straight talk and straight answers as I'm taking the gloves off because I need to hit the devil pretty hard here in regard to false conversions which are so prevalent in our day because of the dry day and atmosphere in which we live, where we live in a time of a great spiritual declension in the church where God has withdrawn himself from our midst through his remedial judgment.

The Man-Centered Gospel and False Religious Profession

Many are brought into church membership by way of a empty religious profession. As the modern church has moved away from a God-centered gospel to a man-centered gospel, and in the process, it widened the way of salvation in ways Jesus never did.

And because many pastors refuse to preach hard against sin and warn folks about hell, many unconverted church members sit upon a sandy foundation that will one day be washed away because their hope of heaven is nothing more than a hole in the wall.

Easy-Believism and the Rejection of Sovereign Grace

We live in a day of decisionism through easy believism from a watered-down gospel that doesn't have enough power to save a flea, much less a person hardened in their sins. The error we face in our churches today is deadening.

We totally reject the sovereign work of Almighty God in a work of grace upon the heart. We've taken salvation out of his hands and placed it in the hands of men. We save ourselves today. We tell folks, God did his part, now you do your part.

Open your heart to accept Jesus as your personal savior. But a dead man can't open his heart any more than a corpse can open his coffin. Are men saved as a result of a decision they make or as the result of the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit?

The Church as a Business Rather Than a Spiritual Ministry

The church is on a self-destructive path focused on brick and mortar and church roles where today is a doctrinally accurate, Holy Spirit-inspired ministry that cares about the souls of men. Church has become a business that just traffics in the souls of men.

Jesus' Teaching on Repentance, Judgment, and Discipleship

Jesus said, you must repent or just go on to hell. And I believe him. Jesus said, except the man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. And I believe him. Jesus often warned his hearers about a future judgment in a burning hell where there be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

And I believe him. Jesus cried out against the religious hypocrisy of his day and pronounced woes upon the lost but religious scribes and Pharisees. And I agree with him. Jesus talked about a cross in the life of a believer who follows him in a life of self-denial and discipleship.

And I believe him. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life. No man cometh unto the Father, but by me. And I believe him. Let me ask you a question friend and ask this out of great concern for you.

Examining Whether One Is Truly Converted

Are you a lost religious man? I don't wanna make you think bad about yourself but I want you to be honest with yourself. I want you to think about that and ask God to reveal to you one way or the other, the sincerity or the hypocrisy of your heart.

The Danger of False Assurance and Eternal Judgment

Hell is a horrible place friend. You don't wanna go there just because some pastor or some evangelist told you you were now a Christian when you really weren't truly born again after all. Ask God to show you how you stand with him.

You were either saved or lost. Which are you?