Pastor David Platt of McLean Bible Church in Virginia preaches on the sermon series “Following Jesus, Faith That Changes Lives in a World of Urgent Need,” on Oct. 17, 2021. | Screengrab: YouTube/McLean Bible Church

For far too long everything except the Word of God has been spoken, preached from the pulpits of America. As a consequence, Satan dances with glee every Sunday and every other day of the week as the weak mislead the weak, and the Word of God is not spoken, heard, preached, or known in the land.

Few professing to be Christian in America have any idea of what that truly entails and means. If this were not so our nation would be vastly different, radically different from how it is. If in a land of about 340,000,000 folks 7 out of 10 were TRUE Christians as is reported and claimed that land would not resemble what America presently does, and has now for many, many years.

It is clear that few professing to be Christian have spent any time in a Bible. Nor have they faithfully asked for spiritual wisdom [see James 1 ESV ]. But then, few professing to be Christian appear to be truly transformed and renewed of mind and spirit, to be born anew and indwelt of the Holy Spirit [since a massive number of these don’t even believe in the Holy Spirit].

RELATED: Nearly 70% of born-again Christians say other religions can lead to Heaven: study

There is no such thing as “superficial Christianity” or “worldly Christianity”, or any other such moniker and misnomer offered up.

There are true Christians.

And then everyone else.

Those in the world. Of the world. Belonging to the darkness, the lies, the confusion, the rebellion that is THE WORLD. The temporal place so many make most important while shrugging off, denying, mocking, and scorning the eternal. The things of God, the things of the Lord Jesus Christ, the things of the Holy Spirit, the things of the Holy Bible, the spiritual matters which are of the utmost importance, and lasting a rather long, long, long time.

In survey upon survey, poll after poll, study upon study consistently between 60% to 70% in America make the claim they are “Christian” and yet it is known by very in-depth and accurate work conducted that in truth only  6%, & 6% of the people in America live by, possess a Biblical worldview. The remainder are of the world. A potpourri, a mingling, and blending of so many lies, doctrines, philosophies, and ideologies that what they believe is nowhere close to what the Word of God clearly says.

As the overwhelming majority know not what the Word of God says as the majority of pastors don’t preach on it or pervert and corrupt what is in the Bible, and the masses of those professing to be Christian never bother to take the time themselves to discover what is in the Bible.

No time for that. But I ask, do they ever miss an episode of “The Masked Singer,” or “The Voice,” or their favorite sports team playing a game on television? Or worse?

We are living in the words of Romans 1 ESV. We are in the last of the last days. We are in the age of the rise of many false teachers and their deadly unsound doctrines. The world, Satan and his lies, and his legions have invaded and infected the church. And the people embrace it and permit it. Confused. In darkness, while vainly imaging themselves in the light.

All that can alter this bleak eroding, rotting downward spiral is true repentance. By many. True revival. A true turning to the Word of God, preaching the whole Word of God — fearlessly, tirelessly, relentlessly.

Nothing else will do.

This placating, this appeasing, this people-pleasing, this anything goes and whatever is brought in, whatever you believe is all right is all wrong. And it’s well past the time those — all those professing to be Christ’s [take the time dear ones to learn what that means if you are not 100% clear on this subject and that is done by immersing yourself in the Bible, in prayer, and asking, literally asking for understanding, guidance, wisdom, and strength in our limited finite ways to come to know, and thus live accordingly] if they really think they are heaven bound learn to live accordingly.

And that’s found in the Holy Bible. God’s inerrant infallible unchangeable living and active Word.

And that’s found in sound doctrine. In sound Bible-centered, Bible-focused, Bible-only, All-of-the-Bible preaching and teaching.

Not in the ways or words of the world.

If you’re attending a church and not hearing the Word of God, clearly, plainly, truly preached? If your pastor is speaking worldly things, illustrations, storytelling, joking around, and telling you how it’s Christian love to accept homosexuality, transgenderism, abortion, that there is no hell, that everyone goes to heaven, and the myriad assorted other thousands of lies and false teachings?

First, go to him with another member of your church. And point out how he needs to repent and preach the Word of God. Only the word of God.

And if he doesn’t? And if he tells you how wrong you are and you don’t know because you haven’t been ordained, or attended a seminary, or other such things?

Then it’s time to find a true Bible-centered, Bible-preaching, Bible-teaching, Bible-focused church where the pastor knows the Bible and preaches from the whole Bible. All of it. According to what is contained within the Bible — not according to his personal interpretations or his admissions or omissions.

And it’s also time to gird your loins. Turn to and read, prayerfully, earnestly, intently, consistently, passionately, methodically, sincerely, continually the inerrant infallible unchangeable living and active Word of God. Daily. All of it. To mark it and hold it within our hearts. To then spread its light and life to others.

The world likes to say know thyself.

What is most important is knowing the Word of God. And in so doing every person will truly know themselves for and as the sinners we all are. In need of God. In need of the Lord Jesus Christ. In need of the Holy Spirit. In need of the Word of God — in need of the fellowship on a regular and consistent basis of like-minded true believers.

Ken Pullen

Friday, October 22nd, 2021

ACP — A Crooked Path

David Platt blasts “superficial Christianity”: A “very skewed version of the Bible is being sold”

Wednesday, October 20. 2021

By Nicole Alcindor

Reprinted from The Christian Post

Pastor David Platt of McLean Bible Church in Virginia told his congregation Sunday that it’s crucial more Christians move away from practicing “a false, superficial picture of Christianity” and begin to “embrace a biblical picture of Christianity.”

Believers can do this, he said, “by not shrinking back in fear when faced with challenges that might come when spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ to remote places in the world.”

During part five of his sermon series, titled “Following Jesus: Faith That Changes Lives in a World of Urgent Need,” Platt shared a list of challenges that missionaries often encounter.

The challenges, he said, consist of but are not limited to: “natural challenges, geographic challenges, political challenges, conflicts, wars, developmental challenges, economic instability, illiteracy, lack of access to clean water or medicine, social challenges, slavery, trafficking, violence, crime, ethnic tension, refuge relocation, linguistic challenges and persecution.”

“We’ve said before that unreached people are unreached for a reason. They are hard to reach. They are difficult to reach and, in some cases, dangerous to reach,” Platt explained in his sermon.

“Some of you might look at this list [of challenges faced by missionaries] and be like, ‘OK, you officially talked me out of it.’ … If that’s you, I would just ask the follow-up question, ‘What kind of Christianity have you bought into? Who told you that following Jesus would lead to greater comfort and ease in this world?’ Because that didn’t come from this Book,” said Platt while holding up his Bible. “That came from a very skewed version of this Book that’s being sold all across our culture.”

Platt said that many Christians need God to point them to the reality that “the ultimate need of every single person in the world is to be forgiven for their sins.” However, he said, in order to be reconciled to God, a person needs to first hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Platt emphasized the importance of Christians not being afraid of difficulties that they might face while spreading the Gospel to remote places because, he said, “there are 3 billion people in the world who have never heard the Word of God, and they won’t have their sins forgiven if they never hear the Gospel.”

“God made a way for humans to be forgiven for all their sin, to be reconciled to Him, to eternal life, through faith in Jesus, by what He did on the cross, His resurrection from the grave,” he maintained. “We have been commanded to show God’s love in a world of earthly suffering, and ultimately, we have been commanded to proclaim God’s Gospel to keep people from eternal suffering — to keep people from Hell.”

“Somebody has to go and tell them. If no one goes and tells them, they will spend eternity separated from Him. Do you see what’s at stake here? Do we see the need?” Platt asked rhetorically.

Platt said he is convinced that one of the primary reasons more Christians are not praying, giving to others and going to meet the spiritual needs of those who have never been exposed to the Holy Scriptures is because they are not “opening their eyes to the reality of the unreached.”

“So many Christians can spend years in church and never even hear about unreached people in the world, or maybe [they] just hear and think about them every once in a while, but then go on with business as usual,” Platt said while following up with a prayer for God to “open the eyes of the audience to see the urgent spiritual needs in the world.”

To start somewhere, Platt said Christians can begin by meeting the spiritual needs of the community where they live. He stressed, however, that the work of spreading the Gospel shouldn’t stop there.

“If we turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to people in urgent need around us, our faith is worthless. It’s in vain. It’s as good as dead,” he said. “This is what I mean by surely God is calling somebody to go to the unreached and maybe many [people] to go. It starts with a willingness to open our eyes and not turn away and just go back to business as usual.”

Over 7,000 languages are spoken across the world today, and approximately half of them still have little or no Scripture exposure, Platt added, and many of the remote places in the world will not welcome missionaries or anyone in to speak about Jesus Christ.

“At some point, these challenges will have to be overcome in order to reach the nations with the Gospel,” he concluded.