# The Foolishness of Preaching ISSUES AFFECTING THE CHURCH Language: en Author: by Lee Rufener Athens, WI Original issue: The Heartbeat of the Remnant, Winter 2022, Number 4 Source pages: 14–16 Read article: Original PDF: Winter\-2022\-Remnant\-web\.pdf [The Heartbeat of the Remnant, Winter 2022]() *For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect\. For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God\. …it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe –1 Corinthians –1:17\-21\.* The modern Christian world has duly accepted many of the lowly vehicles that God used to usher in the Kingdom\. The virgin birth, the rough\-hewn manger, and the swaddling clothes have become sovereign monuments that we could scarcely do without\. Even the rude donkey is appreciated on Good Friday and the old, rugged cross has become a spiritual emblem nominally displayed on neck chains and ornate pulpit carvings\. While man remains infatuated with the traditional symbols of the gospel, there remains an absurd avenue of God’s choosing that is becoming increasingly despised\. For centuries, the Gospel was heralded by foolish and unlearned men \(according to their elite and intellectual counterparts\)\. The biblical truth spoken in simplicity was sufficient of itself for God’s Holy Spirit to use to convert the sinner\. While there is no lack for preaching in these days, it appears that much of it is of a different sort than the original form that Christ exemplified\. If anyone was capable of articulating a flourish of orations in an accurate philosophical language it would have been the Apostle Paul\. Yet, he refused to preach the gospel in this manner, *…lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect –1 Corinthians 1:17\.* He preached carefully, lest the success should be ascribed to the force of art, and not of truth itself\. Paul had been ingrained in Jewish learning at the feet of Gamaliel and was affluent in understanding both Hebrew and Greek, but in preaching the cross of Christ, he laid his learning aside\. He spoke the words of the Gospel in a language void of human power lest the honor belonging to Christ be eclipsed by his own personal power\. *For his letters, say they, are weighty and powerful; but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible –2 Corinthians 10:10\.* It is here where the modern church has spurned the meager vehicles chosen by Christ and the Apostles while diverting to a route more acceptable to in our day\. Modern day efficiency demands a more direct route to the end, and if the Bible doesn’t forbid it, we feel that it is our prerogative to employ it\. While evangelical films, music concerts, and a host of other questionable venues of ministry could be mentioned, I wish to speak primarily to the modern invitation system known as the “altar call”\. While it is commonly associated with the “old fashioned meetings” of the past two centuries, it is indeed modern due to the fact that for nearly nineteen centuries no one had ever heard of the practice\. Evangelists such as George Whitefield, Jonathan Edwards, and even John Wesley had never heard of such a custom\. Even Charles Spurgeon \(heralded as the “Prince of Preachers”\) strongly criticized it and refused to adopt it\.\* Thus, we observe, the practice was not born in the apostolic church\. It is not found in the ministry of Jesus, His apostles, or even the church of the post\-apostolic period\. We do see Jesus and the apostles inviting men and women to come to Christ and to be saved, but never by means of this particular method\. So why has this practice become such an essential tool in most evangelical and in many Anabaptist churches today? The answer—pragmatic results\. Immediately following the sermon, the congregation will sing a hymn during which the preacher calls men and women to walk to the front of the auditorium \(to the “altar”\) to make a public decision for Christ\. Salvation is offered to all who will but come to the front and receive it\. Those who come often receive the personal attention of a counselor to pray with them and lead them through confession\. This practice was designed to encourage decisions and obtain results\. So, it did\. And with slight variations the new method spread with increasing popularity through Charles Finney, and later, Dwight L\. Moody, and finally, into virtually all of nineteenth and twentieth century evangelicalism\. Peter Cartwright, Sam Jones, R\. A\. Torrey, Billy Sunday, Bob Jones, Gipsy Smith, John R\. Rice, Billy Graham, and George Brunk all employed the method with impressive success\. Thus, the invitation system became the accepted normal practice and those who question it are often deemed spiritually eccentric\. Why should we take issue with the practice if the scripture doesn’t forbid it? The answer lies in the question of the propriety of the invitation system\. Let us first note that the Scriptures abound with invitations to salvation\. Such offers as, *Come unto me, …and I will give you rest –Matthew 11:28,* and, *…If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink –John 7:37,* are marvelous offers of life to those who will trust Christ\. The apostles also did not hesitate to show forth Christ as Savior to all who would listen to their message\. They preached indiscriminately, *Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out… –Acts 3:19,* and *…we pray you in Christ›s stead, be ye reconciled to God –2 Corinthians 5:20\.* And they testified *…to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ –Acts 20:21\.* With all this, every Christian should not only agree but also rejoice\. Finally, *…**compel** them to come in, that my house may be filled –Luke 14:23*, is another Bible verse which could be used to lend support to the altar call method\. Still, this says nothing to bolster the correctness of the altar call\. As we examine the practice at its roots, we cannot help but observe a few deficiencies: ### …Extra\-Biblical This is no reflection upon the multitudes who have found salvation at such an event\. The angels in heaven rejoice at the repentance of every sinner no matter how he arrives there\. We simply wish to hold forth the simplicity of the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe\. The altar call is used as a specific addition to the sermon to bring to fruition what the foolishness of preaching itself could not do\. The altar call gained popularity in the 1830’s with the preaching of Charles G\. Finney who wrote, “*A revival is not a miracle, or dependent on a miracle, in any sense\. It is a purely philosophical result of the right use of the constituted means*\.” \*\* We cannot accuse all who practice the altar call of believing this, but it is rather revealing that the preacher who brought it to popularity seemed to liken it more to a mathematical equation than to divine involvement\. When the truth falls on the soil of a good and honest heart, the seed veritably takes root and produces fruit\. This seed of truth needs no artificial dress\. It shines out with the greatest majesty in its own light and prevails in the world by its divine authority\. It is a demonstration of the Spirit, without need of human invention or intervention\. The plain preaching of a crucified Christ is more powerful than all the oratory, philosophical, and heart gripping modes of the world\. ### …Emotional Thrust The altar call requires a seeker to leave his seat and walk to the forefront for pardon\. These invitations are often preceded by fearfully moving accounts, sad stories, or testimonies that stir the emotions to fear, guilt, or regret\. Flanked by a soft hymn sung by the congregation, the emotions are ripe to move forward\. Those who choose to repent from their seat without responding are often esteemed as “missing an opportunity”\. *And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness; And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word’s sake, immediately they are offended –Mark 4:16\-17\.* We refuse to deduce that all who were converted under this type of ministry are stony ground hearers\. Yet, the vast majority of those who receive it in such a charged emotional environment will often have a less than sincere conversion\. I once had an exuberant client in my shop who informed me that their church had sponsored a national evangelical ministry to preach at the public high school\. “There were over 400 decisions for Christ\!” While we all wish to rejoice with the angels, one cannot but question how many of them were still in church a year later\. While the lack of true commitment may not fall upon the use of the altar call alone, we may be sure that the seed so quick to spring up will surely manifest itself at the moorings of an emotional invitation\. Those that have no root would be better off never having responded prematurely\. Conversions wrought through emotional channels are often questionable and transient\. Holy Spirit promptings do not need human strength, wisdom, or efforts to convey them forth\. Revival methods such as shouting, overt weeping, emotion eliciting music, and the telling of sentimental stories is the man\-made art of preaching\. It is also found in many other public venues that are designed to elicit a specific predetermined response from the hearer\. Each of these dimensions is quite natural to human behavior and, at times, there may be a fine line between what is acceptable and unacceptable in preaching\. Great care should be taken that we do not create an emotional climax and eclipse the message in an inordinate manner lest the power be of men and not of Christ\. ### …Encroachment to Parental and Local Church Authority Children are often a target at such a time\. They may feel guilty for some childish misdeed, but a fiery message followed by emotional pleading can be very unsettling\. These are times when a parent should speak to the heart of their child and connect in a spiritual way\. Instead, often the child is moved to the front and given a church counselor for them to pour out their confession\. I know a woman whose father was an itinerant evangelical preacher\. She claims that she responded “hundreds of times” to the altar call\. A casual and honest appraisal would reveal that while the altar call may bring commencement to many sincere conversions, it also avails itself equally to a host of premature decisions and pressure\-driven commitments\. This often leaves many unstable souls wallowing in spiritual instability and struggling with a lack of assurance of salvation for years to come\. *For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel\. Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me –1 Corinthians 4:15\-16\.* God has ordained fathers and mothers to bring birth to their children, both physical and spiritual\. *Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ –1 Corinthians 11:1\.* The skilled itinerant evangelist has no intention of begetting spiritual children and making followers of himself\. This he leaves to others, for he has found his gift in compelling people to make decisions\. *And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; And to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake… –1 Thessalonians 5:13\.* But there is to be a God\-given loyalty to those spiritual fathers who labor over us and bring us to birth beyond the many instructors upon life’s pathway\. The contemporary emergence of thousands of “hit and run” ministries should cause us concern\. While public confession of sin is obviously an important doctrine of Christ to accompany salvation, these confessions belong in the hands of the spiritual authorities who can discern the situation and help further the soul through tomorrow’s temptations\. When those who know the convert are personally engaged, a more thorough and honest examination can be employed to bring about a sincere conversion\. This will lay the groundwork for the deep digging required to lay the foundation upon the Rock and establish the soul, both in the home and in the church\. ### …Engineered Faith When people are continually subject to revival scenes, there is often an unspoken expectation that the meetings are the place to do business with God\. This has a tendency to confuse “saving faith” with a “saving act”\. The emphasis on “coming forward to receive Christ” confuses the meaning of faith\. Christ is the strong consolation, to whom we *… have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: Which hope we have as an **anchor of the soul**, both sure and stedfast… –Hebrews 6:18\-19\.*\(emphasis mine\) The invitation of Christ to *…Come unto me… Matthew 11:28,* should never be confused with “coming to the altar” \(walking to the front\)\. The foolishness of preaching is the invitation, and “Christ” is the destination\. The power of the oration shall not lie in the dynamics of the preacher but within the truth of the message\. *We become like paper figures, having no power at all in ourselves\. All power must come from above; all methods used must also come from above\. –Watchman Nee \*\*\** *The wind bloweth where it listeth… John 3:8,* likewise the Holy Spirit, and the preacher must be content with that\. I trust that many who give altar calls have the best of intentions and do not wish to circumvent the Spirit\. But most works accomplished in the apex of emotion have a strong inclination to be fallacious\. *So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God –Romans 10:17\.* ### Endnotes: *\* “Charles Spurgeon, well known for his evangelistic abilities, firmly refused to adopt the practice of altar calls and he severely criticized it\. He viewed the altar call as a method to force decisions as results, but he recognized its potential abuse and dangers\.” Altar Calls – Bill Brenner* *‘I should like to go into the enquiry\-room\.’ I dare say you would, but we are not willing to pander to popular superstition\. We fear that in those rooms men are warmed into a fictitious confidence\. Very few of the supposed converts of enquiry\-rooms turn out well\. Go to your God at once, even where you now are\. Cast yourself on Christ, at once, ere you stir an inch\!’ \- Pleading and Encouragement – Charles Haddon Spurgeon – Aug 17, 1841* *\*\* What A Revival Of Religion Is – Charles Grandison Finney – The Belknap Press Of Harvard University A “Revival of Religion” presupposes a declension\. Almost all the religion in the world has been produced by revivals\. God has found it necessary to take advantage of the excitability there is in mankind, to produce powerful excitements among them, before he can lead them to obey\. Men are so sluggish, there are so many things to lead their minds off from religion, and to oppose the influence of the gospel that it is necessary to raise an excitement among them, till the tide rises so high as to sweep away the opposing obstacles\. They must be so excited that they will break over these counteracting influences, before they will obey God\.* *\*\*\* Spirit Force vs\. Psychic Force – Watchman Nee*