Matthew 3:1-12 (v. 2) Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand..., (v. 7) O generation of vipers, who hast warned you to flee from the wrath to come ?
John 3:25-36 (v. 36) He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.
John 5:32-38 Jesus speaking of John (v. 35) He was a burning and a shining light : and ye were willing for a season to rejoice in his light.
A few of my thoughts today is on this great man of God. Some verses l have in bold black type, but the rest are vitally important to read and study as well on the life of John.
So much more to speak of concerning John the Baptist, besides the few scriptures above, i.e. his birth, his testimony, his doubts, his preaching, him the man, he the preacher, friend to Jesus, Jesus speaking of him, and so much more. John was no Jesus Christ, but he was all mentioned above and more. He was a man's man and not a sissy as practically all ministers are nowadays. He preached repentance, hellfire and brimstone. If anyone said behind the pulpit today what John the Baptist did back then, guaranteed all churches would lose half the people and everyone would be fuming mad at him who preached like a fire out of control. But, he was in control all the time. He had no problem calling out those by name and exposing them who they were.
Many ministers today are very weak and cowards. They have no backbone to preach what needs to be preached. John preached repentance and sin. If the so-called righteous preachers preach today what he preached and taught on, guaranteed more people would be getting saved instead of so many going to hell due to the lack of today's preaching. At this age, the so-called man of God is brainwashed in his thinking that only GOD IS LOVE sermons need to be preached on. Yes, even when God's love is given utmost importance, His wrath and anger need to be taught and preached, too, just as much.
We need more ministers like John the Baptist. You better pray to God that He will bring some more of the likes of him into this world. Ministers who preach the gospel, preach on SIN and call it by name and against it, and be filled with the glory of the Lord. Ministers who will make people shudder if they do not admit, confess their sins and repent of their wickedness. This world is getting worse each day. We need more Spirit-filled men like John, as well as more God-sent men like Charles Finney, Gypsy Smith, Christmas Evans, D.L. Moody, Billy Sunday, Sam Jones, John Wesley, George Whitefield, etc. These men were mighty men of God. But where are the present-day men whom the world so desperately need today?
More so, we need God-powered men instead of people taking backseats to sin. We need men who can stand up for Jesus and profess His name. We need them to preach on repentance, hell, God's anger and wrath, what the Lord hates and not to brainwash people always with God Is Love messages only every Sunday morning.
God is love is vitally important, but so is His anger, fury and mighty wrath and hell. Where are the men who call themselves preachers? Where are these guys who are supposed to be preachers? Instead, they are stinking-rotting corpses, dead, dry and deadbeat compromisers who are scared to death. They do not want to make the people angry and feel rotten about their vile sins. These sissies and fools make a mockery of the love of God and His wrath by never teaching and preaching on them. Woe to the man of God who has no convictions. Woe to him who has no standards to preach on the truth, who is never in remorse over his stupid, past-waist feelings thinking others will get a little mad at him. Woe to him whose pride is big as the grand canyon that he has to give in to others. In fact, he gets to enjoy telling them what he thinks they want to hear to make them feel good and not angry with him. In turn, he makes himself feel good and say, "yes, l did my job and they feel better as do l. l will do what l want, speak on what l want, and l don't want to lose anyone. l want a full church, l want a good pension so that when l retire l can sit back, relax, soak and bask in the glory of myself ". What a distorted idea! Instead of going on for the Lord until he is physically unable to preach anymore, he does the opposite.
Woe to the minister who is vain and full of himself . l know many are compromisers and have no backbone to believe God has ONE Bible, the KJB. Yet, most are as vile as hell, is deep, and don't believe a just and holy God would condemn them because they speak out of other man-made versions that put Jesus on humanly standard. But, those perversions are the devil's books whereas whether people want to admit it or not, GOD does have a ONE Bible in this world. He has only one inspired, infallable and true book. The other versions are not God-breathed as the KJB no matter what the ignorant Bible correctors say and regardless how theologically smart and super intelligent they may be. Only when the Lord comes back in all His glory will He do what He needs to do with the corrupt One World Government they are forming now. God will have the last laugh and the final say.
Good John the Baptist was a fire-breathing man of God. There will probably never be anyone else like him in these last days. But, the Lord can bring anyone He wants to bring Him honour and glory. No doubt John was loved by many in the Bible and was hated also because he was beheaded, (that story you can read in your own time). Despite any threat even death, he was no compromiser, sissy, fool nor smiling smug idiot behind the pulpit as so many are today. These include, very sad to say, many Independant Baptists, too, who call themselves men with firm beliefs, full of fury KJB believers, and men true to the Word of God. Many are very weak and no wonder souls are not being saved. Those compromisers are no preachers like John or Paul and certainly not like our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ (Matt.23). If we had men of God who loved people with passion like John and had a true love for them, many would have been saved today. But, due to lack of tears of humility and too much pride, many have stepped back while most have lowered themselves where they are now. They are just comfortable to speak, teach and maybe preach a little. Yet, the Bible clearly teaches about the foolishness of false preaching (1 Cor.1:21) - NOT speaking, NOT teaching, NOT prating about like a moron who smiles, has no absolutes and no fear of God.
John the Baptist was not perfect and had doubts also. He had a great testimony, good Godly character, and he is still talked about today due to who and what he was. It is too much time to explain all what l mentioned, but I plan to preach on him someday. The facts still are: that he was a man of God when he was alive, he was no fool, sissy, no smiler, but had a humbleness, fury and boldness in him that preachers today lack so much - terribly much.
Let me share to you what I feel John the Baptist had:
a) If he was to live today, he would preach with such fervor, passion and boldness. He would be filled with the fury of the Lord, people would either crucify him, behead him again, or kill him in one way or another.
b) He was not afraid what others thought of him. He just preached with the fury of the Lord in him and with hellfire that even today some hate him.
c) He would preach today what those ministers are scared to preach on. He would teach today what others would compromise on and about.
d) He would have a boldness and fire stirred in him that others today lack and are pathetically weak in.
e) He would preach on hell and repentance with so much tears of hurt and sorrow. Others today would be the exact opposite as they would speak miserable watered down versions of hell that no one would feel anything in their soul or any conviction, nor repentance. Therefore, listeners just smile and enjoy after their ministers got through with the sermon.
f) John would preach on every ungodly evil in this world and every filthy sin that even preachers today would shudder to speak on or preach against.
g) John the Baptist would preach on everything and he wouldn't back down from the heathen who was mad at him nor the woman who confronted him face to face to try to intimidate him.
The best illustration l can think of how l see preachers today? It is the wicked witch of the west on the wizard of Oz. Like her, they are melting, melting, melting, lower themselves and their convictions, and then disappear. Why? Because they have no spine for preaching Bible truth. They have no backbone for preaching Christ, His gospel and Him crucified. They are just plain cowards and compromisers as they do not want to lose their retirement fund if they did preach like John.
Preachers today WON'T preach on sodomy, pornography, abortion, murder, adultery, church separation, the commandments, sin of ANY kind nor hell, as all these are so far watered down behind the pulpit in America and even in Canada (well, other countries, too). The preacher is lethargic, pukable, and is vomitable due to his lack of what he may have been taught.
Today too many bible colleges and bible universities even small bible training institutes are laughable as they teach from other versions. These professors, who are supposed to be teachers of truth, are so stuck in the mire that they will never get out and have there feet placed on solid ground. They will keep sinking lower and lower because of the damnable heresies they teach and not proclaiming the WORD of the LORD, the KJB. Amen and amen.
God will return one day soon to rid the world of the false teachers and the cults if they don't repent, confess their sins and get right with Him. We really need repentance preached on, the Holy Spirit conviction, as well as hell with no compromise desperately today.
Where there is smoke there is fire. Where a man of God has a flame in him, he will catch on fire for the Lord and people from all over will come to watch him burn for Him. What a joy to see once again a Jeremiah, an Isaiah, an Ezekiel, a Joel, an Amos, a Paul, a John the Baptist, and yes, a Jonah too, but most of all, like Jesus Christ in this present age, amen and amen.
We need men like John the Baptist and the great men of God in years past. We need none of those who think too highly of themselves to even give others the time of day or glory in their own deeds. The day is fast approaching when the Lord will come back in all His glory. l for one shall see Him face to face. I do imagine, too, seeing John the Baptist even though l know not what he looks like. What about you?
(c) Michael Carey; January 8, 2010
