This article, by David Cloud, explains why some of us consider the
negative as well as the positive.
Text of forwarded message follows:
>~~~
>WHY DO YOU FOCUS ON THE NEGATIVE?
>
>Through the years many men have asked me why Way of Life Literature
>focuses on the negative. Recently we received one of these
>challenges from a man who was trained in fundamental Baptist circles
>but who had a very negative experience in an Independent Baptist
>church and is presently attending another type of church. He had two
>questions: One, why do I focus on the negative instead of looking at
>the positive in various Christian groups? Second, why do I think
>that fundamental Baptists are without error?
>
>I gave the following reply to this piece of correspondence.
>
>I'm glad you took the time to share your concerns with me about this
>ministry. I was saved 32 years ago by the grace of the Lord Jesus
>Christ (John 3:16), and for all of these years my chief desire has
>been to obey the Bible and to please the Lord who saved me by His
>blood. I don't know that I have done a very good job of it, but this
>has definitely been my desire.
>
>I realize that many people are displeased with my preaching. I
>realize that my preaching is more negative than that of the typical
>ministry today. I also realize that I am not the perfect Christian,
>and I often agonize before the Lord, "Who am I to preach to others;
>I am such a miserable excuse of a Christian myself!"
>
>The fact is that I am not preaching myself; I am preaching the
>Bible. I am sure the prophets of old considered themselves unworthy
>to proclaim righteousness and truth to others. No man ever has been
>worthy to preach God's Word. But the fact is that God calls
>preachers, and He has given them a commission, and I must seek to
>obey God even if I do it imperfectly and even if I make mistakes.
>
>To be honest, I often wish that I could preach popular things and
>not have to focus so much on the exposure of error, but the fact is
>that these late hours are characterized by error, and God works
>mightily in some men to expose it. Jeremiah's heart burned within
>him and he found that he could not refrain from speaking God's
>reproofs. Do you not think there are prophets of God whose hearts
>are so enflamed today?
>
>God has commanded me to "prove all things" (1 Thess. 5:21), to "try
>the spirits" (1 John 4:1), to "beware of false prophets" (Matt.
>7:15), to "take heed that no man deceive you" (Matt. 24:4), "to
>"search the scriptures daily, whether those things were so" (Acts
>17:11), to "prove what is acceptable unto the Lord" (Eph. 5:10), to
>"approve things that are excellent" (Phil. 1:10), to "rightly divide
>the word of truth, but shun profane and vain babblings" (2 Tim.
>2:15-16), to "earnestly contend for the faith which was once
>delivered unto the saints" (Jude 3).
>
>The Bible commands me to "preach the word; be instant in season, out
>of season; REPROVE, REBUKE, EXHORT with all longsuffering and
>doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound
>doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves
>teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears
>from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables" (2 Tim. 4:2-3).
>
>The Bible very plainly prophesies that the end of this age will be
>characterized by error and apostasy, not truth and sound New Testament faith.
>
>The Bible says "he that is spiritual judges all things..." (1 Cor.
>2:15). It also says, "The simple believeth every word: but THE
>PRUDENT MAN LOOKETH WELL TO HIS GOING" (Prov. 14:15).
>
>Biblical New Testament Christianity is not positive only; it
>involves many "negatives." The Lord Jesus Christ did not overlook
>theological error. My Bible tells me He rebuked the Pharisees
>because they had corrupted the Word of God and had made their own
>religion. That is precisely what a great many Christian leaders have
>done today with the New Testament faith. They have perverted it, and
>God has always called prophets to rebuke this type of apostasy. Did
>Paul not rebuke Peter for his hypocrisy (Galatians 2:11-14)? Did he
>not rebuke the Galatian heretics who were perverting the gospel
>(Galatians 1:6-9; 3:1; 5:7-12)?
>
>Preachers today who pervert the gospel, or who yoke together with
>those who pervert the gospel, are they above reproach? Do what you
>will, but I refuse to keep my mouth shut about these things.
>
>The Bible contains many negatives. The true Bible preacher not only
>affirms truth and righteousness; he REBUKES error and
>unrighteousness. Be careful that you are following the truth and not
>some man-made, humanistic, nice-sounding perversion thereof.
>
>Overall in my ministry I do not focus only on the negative. We have
>spent 15 years in South Asia preaching the gospel and planting
>churches. For years I spent two, three, and more hours a week in a
>county jail preaching the POSTIVE, life-giving Gospel of Jesus Christ!
>
>Even in my writings I do not focus only on the negative. I have
>written a Bible encyclopedia, and it certainly does not focus on the
>negative. It covers every aspect of Bible doctrine and practice. I
>have written many other books which are not negative. We have
>published roughly 30 books in the Nepali language, and only one or
>two of those could be construed as being "negative" in the sense of
>focusing on the exposure of error. I have written 14 volumes of a
>Bible school curriculum, and only one of those could be construed as
>"negative" in this sense. Many other examples could be given.
>
>On the other hand, the ministries of O Timothy magazine and the
>Fundamental Baptist Information Service, are "negative" by their
>very nature and design. O Timothy arose out of a burden God put on
>my heart 23 years ago while we were working as church planting
>missionaries in South Asia. Apostasy has destroyed the work of
>Christ in that part of the world even more than here. I had visited
>the seminary that missionary William Carey had established at
>Serampore in India, and in an interview with the head of the New
>Testament department I learned that professors there believed Hindus
>can be saved by being sincere in their Hinduism. Indian churches are
>permeated with theological modernism and Pentecostal confusion and
>New Evangelical compromise. It broke my heart to see these things.
>While we were staying at a hospital in India in 1983, I was walking
>to and fro behind a building, pouring out my heart to the Lord about
>the conditions in the churches. I was weeping and crying out to the
>Lord to enable me to do something. A magazine like O Timothy had
>been upon my heart prior to that, and on that particular day the
>Lord encouraged me to start the publication, exposing apostasy and
>calling men back to the Old Bible Paths, trusting Him to provide the
>needs. I didn't have any money for such a project but I proceeded by
>faith and the Lord has provided our needs and prospered this
>endeavor for all of these years.
>
>I believe God still raises up men with prophetic type ministries to
>"dig in the walls" and observe the apostasy like Ezekiel was
>commanded to do long ago in Israel (Ezek. 8:7-10). Ezekiel was
>instructed to preach about what he had witnessed (Ezek. 11:4, 25).
>That is what I believe the Lord has called me to do, and woe is me
>if I do not do it!
>
>You must understand that O Timothy is primarily designed for
>preachers. Its main purpose is to give preachers information they
>need to protect their own people in these wicked hours and to
>encourage preachers to stand true to the Word of God.
>
>If you want something with a positive thrust, you can find it almost
>anywhere. Most Christian publications today are almost
>overwhelmingly positive. I don't think it is unbalanced to have a
>few publications that focus on exposing those things that are
>destroying God's churches. I have a lot of positive things to say,
>but that is not what O Timothy and the Fundamental Baptist
>Information Service are all about, and regardless of what people
>think I refuse to turn aside from the focus God laid upon my heart
>24 years ago. I praise His name for the hundreds upon hundreds of
>men who have written me to say that I have been a blessing in their
>lives and ministries. My continual prayer is that God may help me
>have the courage to go on to the end and fulfill this difficult and
>much maligned calling.
>
>I would also point out that there is a sense in which O Timothy is
>extremely positive. It is all in how one looks at it. Is it not
>positive to warn people about false gospels that can lead them to
>Hell? Is it not positive to keep people from straying out of the
>will of God? Is it not positive to rescue the sheep from the
>clutches of the wolves? The fact that the shepherd has to deal
>harshly with the wolf does not mean he is not a positive, kind-hearted fellow.
>
>Turning to your questions about fundamental Baptists, I am critical
>of fundamental Baptists in many areas. I have lost many friends in
>fundamental Baptist circles and have been made unwelcome in many
>schools and churches precisely because I lift my voice against error
>among fundamental Baptists. I have spoken often against what I call
>Quick Prayerism, promotionalism (here I refer to turning the house
>of God into a circus, such as giving away bicycles to attract young
>people to church, conducting children's circuses, featuring the
>flaming evangelist who lights himself on fire, cutting off the
>pastor's tie, swallowing fish, etc.), lack of repentance in gospel
>preaching, worldliness, carnality, lack of church discipline,
>pompous pastors, sensual music, refusal to preach plainly against
>sin, Falwell-style ecumenicalism, and many other things.
>
>Just because a church is fundamental Baptist is by no means a sign
>that it is a true New Testament church. There are many so-called
>fundamental Baptist churches that I could not support.
>
>I would also remind you of this: Independent Baptist is not a
>denomination. It is a descriptive name only. It means simply that a
>church is Baptist in doctrine and independent in polity. Beyond
>that, there is GREAT variety among independent Baptist churches. I
>have been an independent Baptist for 33 years, but far more
>important than independent Baptist is the BIBLE! I support an
>independent Baptist church only insofar as it follows the Word of
>God. When an independent Baptist church departs from the Word of
>God, when it becomes man-centered rather than Christ-centered, when
>it leaves its first love, it is ICHABOD.
>
>
>
>
>
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John
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