While reading Why Revival Tarries, I came upon a section where Ravenhill was talking about the lost people in all of the world. He gave a bunch of numbers for every place in the world, to see how many lost people there are. For some people that section probably was a motivation to pray for the lost people.
But for me, it was just numbers. For me, unless I experience something, or someone tells me personally about lost people, or people being led astray it doesn't effect me usually.
When missionaries came to the church, and I didn't know them, they would usually tell happy stories about random things that would happen while they were over in India or another place--they would never talk about the hard things. It doesn't impact me the same way if the people don't talk about the hard things--and more about the people, and their spiritual need.
Sure they live in poverty, but I don't really know how that is, I have been very blessed to live in America with money and a roof under my head. Never have been on a mission trip to Mexico or anywhere, so I don't know how that is like.
I can only imagine. And not to say that I don't care and pray for people around the world, I do still, but it's just harder for me to pray with a passion for them.
Unless I experience it, it isn't the same for me.
Last year, in Summer, I was at the carnival out reach thing that my church was doing and it was in LA. The ghetto part of LA. At the end of the carnival a man from the church we had paired up with went up and started sharing his testimony.
At first I thought he was alright, and that maybe God would use that testimony to bring lost souls to Him. But then the man started talking about getting a vision from God, and some other crazy things that no one was expecting. He never mentioned man's sinful state, or hell. All he said was that you had to accept Christ into your heart, you didn't have to repent or anything. At the end he did an altar call sort of thing. He kept asking who wanted to go to Heaven, and then people began raising their hands; he prayed over them and then claimed them all to be saved.
I was shocked.
Sure I had heard sermons about the prayer that damns many to hell. And sure I thought it was sad. But I never really understood how terrible that teaching was. That if you said a prayer it would get you to heaven, and you didn't have to repent or anything. You just had to say a prayer.
That didn't break me before as it broke me that day. I never understood the seriousness of it until that day.
Maybe that is just how I am. That I need to experience something for it to actually break me.
I think I have always had a problem with caring. Never did care about my soul or eternity before I was a Christian. Hard things had to happen in my life to break me down. I wasn't afraid of Hell, I didn't give a rip.
Maybe it is just how I am.
God Bless,
A.W.
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