Here is a story from the Los Angeles Times about how some Christian leaders are wanting to plant churches and evangelize the world in order to speed the return of Jesus: End Is Not Near Enough for Pastors. The goal is start 5 million churches around the world in the next 10 years. The group's leader, James Davis, stated:
"Jesus Christ commissioned his disciples to go to the ends of the Earth and tell everyone how they could achieve eternal life. As we advance around the world, we'll be shortening the time needed to fulfill that great commission. ... Then, the Bible says, the end will come."
Another pastor in the group, Kenneth C. Ulmer, added:
"Meeting our goal has messianic dimensions. It will certainly mean some kind of new world order. ... I believe when that time comes, the power of peace will be greater than the power of war, the power of love will be greater than the power of hate, and fullness will be greater than poverty and hunger."
While their plan to plant churches and evangelize is good, their motives seem questionable. Why not just do it to help people come to know the love of Jesus? They sound selfish in doing simply what they can so they can go to Heaven sooner. We should be planting churches and presenting the Gospel because we want other people to have the peace and love we have. In reality we should be hoping that the end does not come too soon so that we can reach more people. Such selfish comments like these from Davis and Ulmer do not serve the cause well. We need to express our motives better.
Thanks to the DefCon Blog for pointing out this story.
"Jesus Christ commissioned his disciples to go to the ends of the Earth and tell everyone how they could achieve eternal life. As we advance around the world, we'll be shortening the time needed to fulfill that great commission. ... Then, the Bible says, the end will come."
Another pastor in the group, Kenneth C. Ulmer, added:
"Meeting our goal has messianic dimensions. It will certainly mean some kind of new world order. ... I believe when that time comes, the power of peace will be greater than the power of war, the power of love will be greater than the power of hate, and fullness will be greater than poverty and hunger."
While their plan to plant churches and evangelize is good, their motives seem questionable. Why not just do it to help people come to know the love of Jesus? They sound selfish in doing simply what they can so they can go to Heaven sooner. We should be planting churches and presenting the Gospel because we want other people to have the peace and love we have. In reality we should be hoping that the end does not come too soon so that we can reach more people. Such selfish comments like these from Davis and Ulmer do not serve the cause well. We need to express our motives better.
Thanks to the DefCon Blog for pointing out this story.
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