Two flight attendants are flying on a small plane. They look out the window and see what appears to be fuel leaking from one of the wings. Both of them begin handing out parachutes. One flight attendant, not wanting to alarm the passengers, says to each one, "Put this on because it will greatly improve your flight". Some are skeptical, but reluctantly agree to put one on while others flatly refuse. Soon, the willing passengers discover they are very uncomfortable, the others who refused are now mocking them, and the promise of an improved flight was false. They angrily take them off and cast them aside, determining not to fall for such obvious lies again.
The other flight attendant, however, says to the passengers as she hands out parachutes, "at any moment the plane may run out of fuel and only this parachute can save your life." Many refuse, reasoning that a flight attendant doesn't know squat about airplanes, but some wisely choose to believe her and gladly accept the offer. As they sit uncomfortably, the others begin mocking them as well, even those who had previously accepted a parachute but chose to discard it. However, despite the mocking they are thankful for the gracious gift given to them and patiently endure the discomfort and abuse. After a time, the plane indeed runs out of fuel and begins to dive toward the ground. As the wise passengers parachute down from the doomed plane to safety, those who refused to put on a parachute now scream in terror as they fearfully plunge toward certain death.
Around the turn of the 20th century, the presentation of the Gospel began to change. For centuries, the Gospel was presented with urgency and power in an attempt to compel sinners to repent from breaking the commandments of God and accept Jesus' as both their Savior from sin and their Lord to be obeyed, lest they be found guilty of sin and cast into the Lake of Fire. However, as the church began to place less and less emphasis on obedience to God's commandments, a new kind of Gospel presentation had to be found. And what became the primary reason for why a person should accept Christ? "Life Enhancement"...that having God in one's life will make everything alright. Through the years, this wishy-washy, milquetoast method of Gospel evangelism has done more harm than good. The result is half-hearted converts with faith not firmly rooted in the Word of God, "loaves and fishes" type Christians who are in church for what they can get out of it rather than for what they can do for Jesus, and even those whose religion revolves around "needs fulfillment" where they identify a need, fulfill that need, and then congratulate themselves for a job well done...and the message of the Gospel is completely lost. The Gospel in not about "Life enhancement" - the truth is that "all that choose to live Godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution". What the Gospel does provide is the power to "endure to the end" that we "shall be saved". Endure what? If the church would truly embrace the message of the Gospel and what it truly means to "believe on Him" - to "obey His every word" - they would soon discover the answer: that what we must endure is the wrath of our satanic enemy who hates with intense hatred those who make a break from obeying him and choose instead to love and obey God. The church needs to return to the old fashioned, Gospel presentation which says, "For God so loved the world that HE GAVE His only begotten Son that whosoever BELIEVETH ON HIM SHOULD NOT PERISH but have eternal life."
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