Difficult issues of today’s society are often avoided from the church
pulpit. In general, most church sermons and pastors’ preaching have become tepid and unmoving for the congregations that are being served. What is said in the pulpit is moderated because pastors and ministers do not want to hurt feelings and tread on toes in fear of losing
congregation membership. Abortion, drugs, addictions, hate and racism are all part of society today. Lies, gossip, slander, pride and ego are all part of everyday life. These are the hard topics that pastors MUST talk about to their congregations in order to teach TRUTH. To not teach them TRUTH is condemning congregations to eternal death.
Evangelist Pastor John Collins of Love That Cross Ministries does not hold back on any “hot topic” that is an offense to God. Pastor John Collins will tell you he is not politically correct, Jesus Christ was not politically correct and not preaching and teaching the TRUTH from the pulpit is NOT pleasing God. Cushioning the truth behind what society deems acceptable is leading a congregation to complacency and acceptance of sin.
“Men have interjected their will upon the people and Christianity has suffered. Religion will get you
nowhere if you are complying with the traditions of men while ignoring the
commandments of God."-Pastor John Collins.
God
sent Jesus
to teach
and preach God’s Law. Jesus went about the countryside, living
and talking
among the sinners,
not the ones who were self-righteous
in what was taught
and conceived
as law by man. Men took God’s Law
from the time it was written
on the tablets
by Moses and twisted it to their uses and purposes.
These were the priests
and holy men
of the time, people who were looked to as examples of faith
and religious conviction to the Jews. Jesus
came and taught
what was right: kindness, love, looking
after those who had need, the poor-everything wrapped up into the commandment
of love your neighbor as yourself. In other words,
treat others the way you want to be treated if you were in their place. He did not sugar coat what God wanted the people to hear, what the people needed to hear from God.
Jesus
taught that what was of this world
is sin. Two thousand plus years later, Pastor John Collins began his ministry of revival in Wheatland, Wyoming with Love That Cross. The very same lessons
from Jesus
are the lessons that Pastor John
preaches in his revivals.
Abortion is murder. Drugs
and alcohol
and addictions are gluttony, among other issues associated with
them. Hate
and racism
has no place in God’s
creation-there is only ONE race-the HUMAN RACE.
Pastor John Collins teaches that these sins are no different than lying, cheating, or stealing.
A sin is a sin,
one is no worse than another in the eyes of God. Pastor John
teaches that as Christians,
we do need to be tolerant,
but we also need to be aware
of our faith
and where our hearts are
in relation to the sin
that is being witnessed. It is not up to us to bombard others
with our faith
and beliefs,
but we also have to be cautious
to not conform
to their beliefs. Pastor John says that
we must know as Christians
what our beliefs are so that we do not compromise what is in our minds and in our hearts.
Pastors,
ministers,
reverends, preachers
are held to a higher accountability according to the Bible. Pastor John
takes that accountability
seriously; God
comes first
in his life. Jesus
taught to be aware of “false prophets”, those that look like a Christian pastor, but inside are truly a predator, a wolf in sheep’s’ clothing. Jesus taught that there was
only one way to get to Heaven and that was through Him. Pastor John
preaches that pastors on the pulpit who do not know how to get to Heaven and
preach otherwise, or who are there for profitable gain and not to save souls should not
be on a pulpit.
The Bible very clearly shows that “there is
only one way to get to the Father, God Almighty, the Creator of the Universe.
That is through Jesus Christ, the Son of God, our Lord and Savior who died on
the Cross for us and became the pure sacrifice on our behalf so that He could
pay the price for our sin and conquer death and Satan once and for all; that by
our belief in Him and our seeking forgiveness through Him, we are permitted
access to the Father and the kingdom of heaven.” These words of Pastor John’s
call it like it is. The saying goes, the road to Hell is paved with good intentions.
Pastor John
challenges pastors to preach
without crib notes for a change. Instead of meticulously writing out a lengthy
sermon or a tick list, set to fill a specific allotted time during a church
service, preach from the heart. Let go of the restriction of the mind and
preach FILLED from the HEART by GOD’s WORD.
God wants us to know Him, to FEEL the Spirit within. Pastors who are truly serving God CAN preach,
just like the apostles of Jesus’
time, speaking from the HEART, where the
Spirit lives. It can be done without
preparation and the fanfare of technology.
One simply must TRUST God and Jesus to put the words in their heart and
then speak it on their behalf. Pastor John
challenges those same pastors to search their hearts and minds and take a
stand, once and for all, on the difficult issues.
What are the difficult issues? Sin.
The pulpit has become a soapbox to profess the
love of God and Jesus, and sugar coats the reality of the Resurrection. Sin is what keeps us from that beautiful
awful sacrifice of Jesus’ life for us to be able to have eternal life with God, not eternal life in Hell with Satan.
Sin has become a topic of
distaste. If pastors don’t preach from
the heart, don’t talk about the difficult issues of gossip, being a busybody,
lies, resentment, adultery of the heart, abortion, gluttony, greed, addictions
and how it all keeps us from sharing in the grace of God through His Son Jesus,
then there is no Hope. Pastor John knows
that there is Hope, and in order to bring revival, there has to be change and
the difficult issues have to be faced head on.
That time is NOW.
Pastor John’s revivals confront us to take our
faith seriously, to not take the Bible lightly, and
to not take our belief in Jesus for granted.
The society we live in is chaotic and confusing. So many people do not know God, do not know
Jesus, and do not know the Bible. Even
those who say they know the Bible and who “know” Jesus are not as educated in
the Bible as they think they are. The
lack of knowledge allows Satan to mislead many people who say they are
Christians away from God and away from Jesus. Pastor John teaches that God
wants us back, He wants us back Home with Him.
The only way to do this is to get back into the Bible by reading it and
by coming to know Jesus and what He teaches that is written in that Bible as a
blueprint for how to live. Pastor
John teaches that obedience to God and to Jesus is the only way we are
going to get back Home to God. We have
to stand firm in the truth, facing the hard issues with the armor of faith in
God, trusting that we are held FIRMLY in His hands.
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