It seems they believed the message that all you have to do to be saved is pray the prayer …
I have been perplexed for many years that when I was at University there were about 6-8% of students who were active Christians. Now it has collapsed to about 1%. What happened? Surely a movement does not collapse so quickly!
I was talking with a friend who chats on line at Christian chat sites. His comment was that 90% of those he chats with would call themselves Christians while saying something like, ‘I prayed this prayer, so I know I am going to heaven, but I don’t need to go to church or live by any of the Christian teaching that I don’t like.’ Many of them have parents who are active Christians but few would be recognisable as Christians from the way they live. So, they are there but one would not know by looking at their lives.
When the fruit is suspect it is good to look at the health of the tree it came from. Looking at the message that was prevalent 10-30 years ago, there was such a drive to rescue people from hell that the gospel was presented as a ‘Get out of hell free card’. It seems we are reaping the consequences of salvation without discipleship.
May God have mercy on us! What will He do to save His Church from the mess we have presented Him with?
What of the gospel that is being lived and preached today?