Straightforwardness or Subterfuge?

Fundamental Evangelistic Association
selected articles from:
^{^{^©}}FOUNDATION
A MAGAZINE OF BIBLICAL FUNDAMENTALISM
Dennis W. Costella, Editor; Karel Beyer, Production Manager; Matt Costella, Copy Editor
M.H. Reynolds, Jr. (1919-1997), Founding Editor

Straightforwardness or Subterfuge?
Matt D. Costella
©FOUNDATION Magazine Editorial, March-April 2000

THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST

is a powerful message that has changed the hearts and lives of men, women and children for thousands of years. The Good News of Christ's substitutionary death and resurrection has brought joy and great rejoicing to the hearts of millions who have realized their sinful, hopeless condition and trusted fully in Christ's finished work on Calvary's cross in order to receive forgiveness of sins and be reconciled to the Father. So why not simply proclaim this Good News and allow the Holy Spirit to work in the hearts and lives of those who are willing to consider it's life-changing power? After all, that is what Jesus commanded us to do, and that is what His disciples and apostles did throughout the first century. Why do so many Christians today suddenly feel as though the Gospel message itself is ineffective unless it can be sugar-coated or disguised in order to be more palatable to the unsaved?

Two recent events led me to contemplate the dangers of deceptive evangelism techniques and to reevaluate my own understanding of the power of the Gospel and of Christ's commission to His disciples and apostles. The first event occurred on the "Larry King Live" television program which aired January 12, 2000. Larry King's guests for the evening included, among others, R. Albert Mohler, Jr., president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder and dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center. King's topic, "Should Christians Stop Trying to Convert Jews?" led to a heated debate between Mohler, Hier and others who discussed evangelism methods currently embraced by the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). Hier said he realized that proselytizing is legal but complained that the methodology of the Southern Baptists was deceptive. Hier claimed that the SBC leaflets aimed at targeting Jews are deceptive because they use Jewish symbols and terms and appear to be Jewish in nature. He also noted that many SBC evangelism programs aimed at Jews feature Jewish religious music with speakers who wear Jewish clothing. Hier argued, "If you have something to sell, be straight about it." He argued that rather than using subterfuge to gain converts, Christians should just admit they are Christians who are sharing their message.

The second event that captured my attention occurred at the Baptist World Alliance's 18th Baptist World Congress in Melbourne, Australia. During the General Council meeting on January 8, one Bangladesh representative asked the BWA general council for special missionary assistance in his own country. He said that Christianity is growing and many new churches are being built, but he said the Southern Baptist missionaries in Bangladesh are withdrawing from working with the Baptist Christians and churches in Bangladesh in order to conform to the standards of the unsaved Muslims. "The missionaries have a new vision," he said. "The missionaries believe that to reach Muslims they have to grow beards, look like Muslims and act like Muslims. They do not want to identify with the churches" (Baptist Press, 1-10-00). He hoped that the BWA would send missionaries who would work with the Bangladesh believers, teaching them how to manage Christian institutions.

Whether or not the Southern Baptist Convention is actually guilty of subterfuge or deceptive evangelism techniques in either of the two aforementioned cases is not for me to say, for I do not possess all the necessary information in order to declare such a verdict. But the fact remains: such tactics in various forms are becoming increasingly popular among evangelical and even Fundamentalist Christians. Believers today with seemingly good intentions are doing much harm to the cause of Christ by attempting to win converts through deception. The reason for such behavior seems to stem from an inaccurate understanding of the Great Commission, a failure to accept the inherent power of the Gospel message and negligence in realizing the harm caused by such deceptiveness.

As believers, we are not called to save others, nor are we called by God to change the Gospel message or clothe the message in the garments of the world in order to attract the attention of the unsaved. We are not called to do whatever we can to get others to listen. If others refuse to listen or feel that the message is untrue or irrelevant, so be it. Our command by God and our personal responsibility to Him and others is simply this: to proclaim the Gospel message, both by way of witness and by verbal proclamation. This is what Jesus Christ told His disciples when He commanded them to "teach all nations" and to "be witnesses" throughout all the earth. The disciples and apostles obeyed His command by simply proclaiming the message. They refrained from using gimmicks or subterfuge in their attempts to attract a wider audience, even though doing so might have caused their message to be more popular in the eyes of men. Rather than embracing a pragmatic philosophy of ministry, they simply sought to obey the Lord's command and allow His Holy Spirit to work in the lives of men, women and children. We must do the same.

The inherent power of the Gospel and the ministry of the Holy Spirit leads us to the second area in which many well-meaning believers today come up short. They fail to understand that they have neither power to save nor the power to persuade others to believe in Jesus Christ. In 1 Corinthians 1:17, Paul tells the believers at Corinth that "Christ sent me ... to preach the Gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect." Paul continues to tell the believers that his preaching was accomplished "not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God" (2:4-5). Likewise, he told the believers at Rome, "I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ: for IT is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth ... for therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith" (Rom. 1:16, 17 - emphasis added). Paul knew that the power of the Gospel would change the lives of those unregenerate men, women and children who allowed the Holy Spirit to work in their hearts. Where new life in Christ exists, corresponding spiritual fruit of that new life also exists. We have no power to make anyone believe anything. We must simply obey Christ's command to proclaim the Good News to all who will hear.

Finally, many well-meaning believers are negligent in realizing and understanding the harm they actually inflict upon the cause of Christ by using subterfuge and deceptive evangelism methods or even "mass evangelism" techniques in an attempt to see people come to a saving knowledge of Christ. Many who think they have become Christians because they "prayed a prayer" or "gave their lives to Jesus Christ" have actually never truly understood what it means to become a child of God in the first place. And many who supposedly come to Christ because a Christian friend or evangelist dressed and acted like the unsaved world in order to attract their attention and gain their respect are professing to come to Christ not because they actually repent and believe but because they feel they can still live unregenerate lifestyles and claim the name "Christian." In either case, the cause of Christ is harmed, and a potential believer is deceived.
Our duty is to proclaim the Good News to all and "be straight about it." Do not be deceitful. We have nothing of which to be ashamed.
- Matt D. Costella

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