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In earlier years there were some preachers of the gospel of Jesus that may have been over zealous in their ministries. Some did not take time to receive full understanding before they preached. The apostle Paul even wrote of people who preached Christ to start contention, to add affliction to his life, in envy, and in insincerity (KJV, Philippians 1:15-16). It's no wonder that many gospel messages and sermons ended up emphasizing only one side of God; he was either all fury or all love, but seldom both. Many messages emphasized hell fire and damnation by an angry, mean God. Others stressed the love of God to the point of suggesting that he loves away the sins of men while they continue to rebel against his commandments. The one side may have sought to win souls to Christ solely through fear. The other side may have sought to win souls to Christ by a complete avoidance of the mention of hell fire. The fact is that neither side has enjoyed the success of winning people to Christ with their lop-sided gospel as did the Christians of old with the whole gospel. Why? It doesn't seem strange that the constant preaching on hell fire and damnation would be rejected by people. However, what would cause messages of God's love that strategically avoid the mention of hell fire to also fail at attracting the American masses? Just as many people bristle up against the message of God's punishment of sin, many don't take kindly to the idea of a God who allows sin to go unpunished either. Why? If a person will only take a moment to consider how government works, he will begin to see a truth he may not have realized before. He would simply imagine that he lived in a country where the king pardoned the crimes of everyone in the name of love. This sounds wonderful to the ears of a criminal. Nevertheless, it is very unsettling to the law-abiding citizens. Would they really want to serve a ruler who's so mushy with love that he can't even maintain order or offer protection? Although an earthly government or kingdom is a flawed and crude shadow of the kingdom of God, it's an important analogy. Jesus, in his parables, often compared spiritual things to earthly things in order to impart understanding. The love and mercy of God are real. Hell fire and damnation are also real. One has only to read the Bible to verify these things for himself. He will see why the scripture of Romans 11:22 says, "behold therefore the goodness and severity of God." The preaching of an unbalanced gospel only points to an undesirable God. © 2008
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