Nary a Soul

 

I’ve been a Christian since I heard the gospel as a child. I was walking down a tanker track with my Dad and my brother Douglas listening to them talk about the gospel and other doctrines in the bible. It wasn’t the first time but I asked my father if he believed in Jesus? He said that he did and I answered “I do too.”

Events took a real turn as I grew up. Within three years of that moment Dad was taken with a heart attack, two of my brothers became Christians, my sister went to boarding school and Mum remarried. After that, we moved into town for year, I didn’t get on well with the step father and I was sent off to boarding school for two years at age nine. One of the best things that happened to me by the way.

The Principal was an Anglican Canon and one of the strongest Christian men I have ever met. We had chapel six days a week, had chores to perform and got a lot of character developed. I was there for two years and though I didn’t realize it then. I received a lot of training in a basic bible based faith where the gospel was central. A living faith where sharing Christ was part and parcel of daily life.

Had I stayed at boarding school for four years I would probably have insisted on going to secondary school as a boarder as well. Who knows but God, I could have ended up running the country but that was not His plan. I was at boarding for two years and then Mum’s second marriage ended so I returned to the family.

The family rather rapidly became Christian and some of my brothers and my sister attended Capernwray Bible College and started their walk with Christ in fairly formal way. Another brother became a Christian in the early seventies while the last one held out until around 1978. There were seven Gibbs children and we all achieved salvation in Christ Jesus

Sadly, the Charismatic Movement divided the family to some extent but as the years rolled by things settled down and, some tolerance of others views developed. There were other challenges. The King James Bible fanaticism swept through at one point. Some of us were devout End Times Apocalypse proponents focused on the New World Order and conspiracy theory. Not that any of that is particularly wrong. It just tends to distract from the real focus that a Christian should hold.

The Great Commission of Matthew 28 verse 19-20 says “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I commanded you. Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

It is only my opinion but I feel it to be true to say, that you can’t win souls to Christ by preaching a gospel other than that “Jesus Christ bore our sins on the Cross, died and was raised on the third day.”

For instance, sharing that the destruction of the Twin Towers in New York was a conspiracy and perpetrated by the New World Order. While it may be true, will not necessarily draw a soul nearer to Jesus Christ. Railing against the great moral issues of our time, again, may be important but won’t win a single soul to Christ.

So what am I proposing here? That we say nothing of the great sin of our nation. By no means! We should point out the sins of the nation and oppose them at the highest level. But please realize that fighting with secular New Zealand on Social Media will win nary a soul to the Lord. If you aim to promote revival then you will achieve that from your knees before the Almighty in fervent prayer.

Pray then, that God will raise great men and women from the younger generation to lead our people into repentance and back to the Father in Christ Jesus. That he will pour out our Lord the Holy Spirit upon our nation that they might repent and He will heal the land. Do this yourself and lead as many other Christians as you can to live their faith in Christ Jesus. To lead other saints to fall to their knees and in prayer cause this country to turn back to the Lord our God in Christ Jesus.