The Preaching of the Apostles, and That of Our Time

The Preaching of the Apostles, and That of Our Time

The apostles’ heart relationship to Christ was crystal clear and pure, which is why their preaching was also pure and weighty, radically separating flesh from Spirit. They let the light of the truth shine brightly, even though it cost them all kinds of sufferings and tribulations, even death. They were wholehearted men of God who took an unwavering stand against sin. They showed clearly which side they were on in deed and in word.

They fought for God’s kingdom with the ardor of love and had declared a holy war against everything else. They were sent out by Jesus Christ to mobilize a holy army of disciples. Not just anyone was accepted into these ranks. They had Jesus’ clear words as a guideline: “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple . . . . So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.” Luke 14:26, 33.

The rich young ruler would probably have been accepted as a leader in most religious assemblies, but he walked away from Jesus, sorrowful. Matt. 19:16-30. God’s kingdom is built in a holy spirit of sacrifice, and no saint, neither in the old nor the new covenant, has avoided the way to the altar in order to partake of the blessing. In the old covenant they brought the tithe as an offering, but in the new covenant they sacrifice everything.

The apostles’ preaching was like their Master’s—a constant call to holiness and purity:

Paul: “Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” 1 Cor. 13:4-7.” “And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” Gal. 5:24.

James: “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” “If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless.” Jas. 1:22, 26.

Peter: “As obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, ‘Be holy, for I am holy.’” 1 Pet. 1:14-16.

John: “He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.” “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” 1 John 2:6, 15. “He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.” 1 John 3:8.

The preaching of the apostles is full of exhortations to godliness. They had a fervent love for Christ, and did not tolerate the least impurity that might disturb this intimate fellowship.

When we compare the preaching of the apostles to the preaching of our days, we find that the prevailing conditions are sad. You can hardly enter a religious assembly without witnessing the most deviate follies, where they compete in putting people to sleep. I shall repeat some of what I have heard from well-known preachers representing the largest Christian denominations in our country. In one of Norway’s largest cities I heard three so-called “big preachers” speak about Christ’s return to an overflowing crowd, each in his own large assembly.

The first one said: “All believers will be along when Jesus comes, but maybe you sit here thinking like this: ‘But that particular person over there who (for example) has not brought his life into order, will he be along when Christ returns?’ I shall reply—and I stand on Biblical ground—Yes, he will be along when Jesus comes, but such people will have to put things in order with Christ in the air, before Christ’s judgment seat, before they are allowed in.” The folly of it speaks for itself.

The second one said: “All believers will be along when Jesus comes, including you who are among the toes on Christ’s body, closest to the earth.” In other words, the most earthly among them would be along. But the fact of the matter is that the body of Christ is as highly exalted above everything that is earthly as heaven is above the earth. For we are raised up with Christ and placed together with Him in heavenly places. Eph. 2:6. Then the preacher went on to read Genesis 6:8: “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.” Noah had also corrupted his way, he said, and it was only by grace that he was able to enter the ark. This preacher comforted the people to the best of his ability saying that it does not depend on life and works, but that it is only by grace that we will be along when Christ returns. There was no exhortation to godliness. He did not read the next verse where it says: “This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God.” And Genesis 7:1: “Then the Lord said to Noah, ‘Come into the ark, you and your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation.’” He also explained that the foolish virgins were all the unconverted ones, and that the wise virgins were the converted ones. However, when people neither read in the Bible nor think for themselves, they shout “Hallelujah” and “Amen” to all kinds of nonsense. He repeated the same lecture in the same hall a year later, also to a full house. “And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’” So they had oil and light, but not enough. They were confessing Christians who went out to meet the Bridegroom, but the light went out in the night of tribulation. Therefore Jesus always says in connection with His return: “Watch!” Everyone who preaches God’s Word ought to shout “Watch!” in holy seriousness on every occasion, rather than comfort people in their sins. All the epistles contain powerful exhortations to pursue, run, battle, watch, pray, work, etc.

The third “big preacher” probably did not want to be outdone in comforting the people, and he used an illustration in connection with Christ’s return: “If a house is on fire, and one of the children is disabled, which of the children do you think the parents would save first from the burning house? The disabled one, of course!” So the bad Christians are caught up first.

Hundreds of grownups sit and nod to such nonsense, thinking that it is a good word. The worst of it is that these “great people” travel all over the country with their nonsense and corrupt the Christians. Such preachers are spiritual saboteurs and real traitors to their country. They collaborate with the devil, the bitter enemy of God’s kingdom. They promote indifference toward the holy laws of God’s kingdom, and thereby denigrate the spiritual work, to the advantage of the enemy. But there will be a judgment: books will be opened, and everyone will be rewarded according to his works.

In one place we had a meeting together with a theologian. He got up and said that through a colleague he had received a blessed light over 1 Corinthians 13 concerning love. The great “light” was that you could replace the word love with God. “Listen to how well it goes,” he said: “God is patient, God is kind, God does not envy, etc. But listen to how it sounds when we put I in front,” and then he read: “I am patient, I am kind, I do not envy, I do not parade myself, I am not puffed up, I do not behave rudely, I do not seek my own, I am not provoked. No, no,” he said, “We understand that this will never fit.”

Yes, it was certainly a nice Satanic light with which he and his colleague traveled around the countryside. We got up right away and said that if the gospel was so weak that it could not lead us to partake of these virtues, then we could throw the Bible in the fire and declare Satan to be the greatest power. But God be praised that Christ can pour out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit.

An older emissary whom we heard in Telemark read about the bride in Revelation 19:7-8, where it says that her dress is the righteous acts of the saints. “These are all our sinful and ungodly deeds that are cleansed white in the blood of the Lamb,” he said. So the bride’s dress was to consist of unrighteousness, backbiting, lies, etc., which have been cleansed white. You can serve up such nonsense to the assemblies of the dead who have paid these “approved” preachers to speak and think for them. Most of them are like the partly deaf man who sat in the back of the hall, and whom the preacher asked to come to the front, that he might hear better. But he replied that it was the good, old gospel that was being preached, so it didn’t matter much whether he heard what was being preached or not.

Quite recently I heard a famous preacher with a doctorate speak on the text: “See, I have inscribed you in the palms of My hands . . . .” He spoke about how others can portray us, and we can portray ourselves, as either better or worse than what we are in reality, and that the devil, who is the accuser, portrays us in the worst possible light before the Father. But none of this matters, for Christ has made a perfect picture of us before the Father, and this is what God looks at.

He said that this image cannot be changed by our lives, and that the Father only looks at the perfect image, which alone is accepted. Yes, this is also a nice comfort for all the carnal Christians. According to this, you are just as pleasing in God’s eyes whether you are a lukewarm or wholehearted Christian, because it does not depend on your life. But the picture Christ will draw of a lukewarm Christian before the Father is far from perfect and beautiful. Such a person is—on the contrary—so disgusting in Christ’s eyes that He will spew him out of His mouth.

The Scriptures say that we must take heed unto ourselves and the doctrine and continue therein, and that we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. If a person surrenders to a totally wrong spirit, to a spirit that avoids the cross over his self-life, then he will get many kinds of revelations because he is going astray. Concerning the spiritual life he becomes stupid, in spite of being fairly intelligent otherwise. Let us be thankful that such preachers are our bitter opponents. Imagine if they were our friends?