Outrage in West Virginia

Monday, January 2nd, 2006 at 6:31 a.m., Sago, West Virginia.An underground explosion causes a power outage at Sago Mine as two crews entered the mine to resume production after the holiday. All 13 members of the first crew are trapped. Then came the news that 12 of the miners were found alive. It turned out to be false, and in the end only one miner was saved.

Miscommunication, that is what they are calling it. After 13 miners were trapped deep within a coal mine in West Virginia, the news came that 12 out of the 13 had escaped death and were saved alive. Oh the joy and thankfulness that spread throughout the community and especially the relatives. But several hours later it became apparent that the news that they were alive was tragically erroneous. All but one of the 13 miners were found dead. The outrage of the miscommunication almost eclipsed the feeling of loss that the close knit community had felt, and it would have been better if the information that they were alive had never been given to the families. For several hours they had rejoiced with false hope that would cruelly be taken from them by a tragedy compounded with the incompetence of a communications debacle. Grief mixed with anger.

Think about what is being communicated throughout American Christianity. There is an eternally irresponsible communication given to millions that they are saved and on their way to be with the Lord Jesus Christ forever. Miscommunication with Spiritual implications. Just like what happened in West Virginia, we must investigate the reasons for this false and cruel assurance. Personally I believe there are some identifiable reasons for this current phenomenon.

The lowering of the gospel threshold in order to accommodate today's "quick stop" mentality. Salvation is by faith alone, but God warns that "the devils also believe..."(Ja.2:19) and thereby He warns us against "easy believism". We must place our entire faith on the Lord Jesus Christ and in that become a follower. A person who has never been a follower of the Lord Jesus is not saved, and the person who used to be but presently is not must be solemnly warned that his eternal condition is questionable, not because of the lack of works in a person's life fails to save him, but because without being a follower of Jesus Christ as Lord his conversion should not be trusted. Spurgeon warned that it is dangerous for anyone to trust a past time and place conversion but rather we should live every day following Christ and crucifying our flesh.

The overemphasis on eternal security in today's teaching. Not that millions are losing their salvation, but that millions are being assured of their eternal salvation who are not saved. Remember, eternal security deals with the back door but today it is used to describe the front door - wrongly. How can we possibly tell anyone that they are surely saved and on their way to heaven, much less someone who has just repeated what you just told him to repeat? His assurance MUST COME FROM THE HOLY SPIRIT, NOT US!!! We dare not speak for God concerning someone's eternal destiny. Jesus Himself said that we are not to pull up the tares because we cannot always discern between the wheat and tares. Here is a suggestion to say to someone who has just professed faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, "You have just become a follower of Jesus Christ, the rest of your life will reveal whether you really meant it. I will pray for you and help you in any way I can." The New Testament has more Scriptures warning people to make sure they have come through the right door than it does to teach people that there is no back door to salvation!

Church membership. This a-scriptural practice has become a dangerous idol. Not only is it used as an expression of the non-Scriptural and culturally assimilated practice of democracy in God's church, but it gives some people false hope that they are saved. A person cannot be a "church member" unless he is saved and baptized, therefore adding to the "you are saved" communication to all members. How many evangelists have said, "You may even be a member of this church but are not saved", expressly implying that church membership has given you false assurance? They are openly saying that the church has said you are saved but maybe God is saying you are not. WOW!

And so millions of church members who never pray, never read God's word, never witness, some full of lust, many caught in earthly hedonism, walk and talk like their "unchurched" neighbors, live their lives with the false hope they are headed for heaven based on a prayer they once repeated. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe they are all followers of the Lord Jesus, maybe they all will wind up in heaven, maybe eternal security is not the by-product of eternal followship. You decide. Which is a more dangerous Scriptural path to walk, millions winding up in heaven who battled with false doubts - OR - millions who wind up in hell who enjoyed false hope? By the way, we are the first generation to walk in the latter(read church history!).

This isn't theological badminton. This isn't negativity. This isn't some Spiritual fairy tale. This is life and death and people's souls are in the balance and we must lovingly, urgently, and passionately warn people about their eternal destinies, as well as our own. We have made eternal punishment clean, neat, and appropriate in mixed company so that we all can nod in theological agreement while feeling less emotion than when our electric bill goes up! The revivalist Charles Finney once observed that "How can we preach hell(they used to do that-how archaic!) and at the end of the service we smile and shake hands as if it was a performance. People don't even believe we believe it!"

Oh the seriousness of it all exhorts us to greater heights of surrender and commitment. At the end of 2005 in Iraq there was a vicious battle that killed many in a certain platoon. One particular sergeant was severely wounded and the medic assigned to work on him did all in his power to save his life, but after six months the medic had lost track of him, actually believing he had died. The medic had now finished his tour and he was back in the states to experience what the military names "Operation Homecoming". The returning men meet up with all their fellow soldiers in a gymnasium and then they are escorted outside to reunite with their families. As this medic walked into the gym someone observed that this particular sergeant was shaking hands with the returning men on the other end of the gymnasium. The medic could not believe his eyes, he had been sure that his sergeant could not have lived, but he worked on him with all his might and even prayed for him in the vehicle that took him away from the battlefield. As these two grown men embraced and wept uncontrollably, and while the sergeant stood with one leg missing, I could not help but wonder how many will we see in the glorious homecoming of heaven who we witnessed to and prayed for but had forgotten about and even never thought we'd see them in God's presence?

And then I thought how many have been assured that they will be with God one day only to discover they have been lost forever. This is not some "Biblical Trivia" game, this is for the eternal souls of men and women. We owe it to the Author of truth and the Savior of the world to make His message clear, and we must never promise anyone eternity based upon a one time shallow prayer without the test of time. It is so dangerous to play assembly line salvation because it makes us feel so good to see people make professions of faith in Christ, no, we are after God's heart not building His church. God will build His own church by the power of His Spirit and through the truth of His Word. The standards of Biblical salvation and its accompanying life changing fruits have been so diluted that they for the most part do not exist. And how many preachers have falsely comforted a grieving family that their loved one is in heaven based simply on a one time profession of faith?

So while we question how the false communication happened in West Virginia, let's remember that we are engaged in a far more serious communication that has eternal consequences for millions. One day millions will stand before the Judge of all the Universe, and as they are "cast into the lake of fire"(Rev.20:15 - which is not hyperbole!), many will say "I was told I was saved. I wasn't warned". Brothers and sisters, let us fall upon the grace of Almighty God and admit before Him that "We don't really believe that!" and its Siamese twin "We don't really care!", and that will be this first yellow brick in the road that leads to the Emerald City of Revival!!

Send revival Lord, for your glory alone.