Regarding those who have never heard...

Mark 5:18-19 And when he was come into the ship, he that had been possessed with the devil prayed him that he might be with him. Howbeit Jesus suffered him not, but saith unto him, Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee.

 

The clear command in Scriptures is to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
I will not judge you, but make a general statement that it is my belief that hundreds if not thousands of Christians are, for one reason or another, making excuses to avoid that command (not call, but command). Where does it say that one needs a special call? We are commanded to go. I would rather think, given the nature of the commands of Scripture, that one needs a special call to remain home, otherwise he must obey the command to go.

I would ask (without being judgmental here) how God instructs a person to stay, when the command everywhere (every gospel and in Acts) is to go. Perhaps you are older now. But what about thirty years ago if you were saved then? Think what a difference it would have made to those who have never heard the gospel.

Many? Many of the ones he calls don't make it to the field. Many ignore the call completely. Last year I spoke to a student body in one of the many Bible Colleges in the U.S. The Lord laid the burden of missions on one particular young man, a senior last year. Right now, during this month of August, he decided to go to an Islamic nation, visit Islamic Universities, try to befriend the students and present the gospel of Christ to them. There are few that would do that, very few. There should be more that are willing to go to such lands where others have not heard, despite the danger to their own lives.
This is what A.B. Simpson was getting at.
Do we really have the right to hear the gospel twice, when so many have not even heard it once.

The thrust of the Great Commission is not without clarity.
Go into the all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
Never does it say to stay home.
Never does it say you have to have a special call. Where does the Bible teach that, or is that just the tradition of men. The Bible teaches:

Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the word. (Acts 8:4)
--I suppose if we had more persecution in our nation we would have more missionaries. Maybe that is what is needed.

Where do you get that from Scripture?

And that is good.

 

Actually it was the disciples who were commanded to go into all the nations. That is the context. Jesus was speaking to them.

But that doesn't mean that Christians everywhere should avoid missions. I believe Christ will call people into missions as He so wills. Not everyone is called. But anyone who is called, should go.

Now let the :tonofbricks: fall on me.

 

Amy, we are all disciples.
In fact those who believe in Lordship salvation believe if you are not a disciple when you are saved, then you are not saved.

 

I agree. A disciple is a student. We should all be students of Christ, sitting at His feet soaking up His knowledge.

But we are not part of the 12 that were chosen for a specific purpose.

I don't know much about Lordship salvation. How can I be a disciple if I'm unsaved?

 

They were to go out and make disciple's of all nations to continue to do what God called them to do right?

Read this and tell me what you think?

Isn't this what the church is to continue to do, choose it's missionaries and where they should go?

We can't help ourselves the Holy Spirit who resides in us should be light to those around us, but missionaries is more of a different matter all together right?

 

The word disciple is not only learner, but a follower of Jesus. Remember that he sent out 70 disciples as well. It was not just confined to the 12. On the day of Pentecost there were 120 disciples gathered in the upper room.

And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples, and said, (the number of names together were about an hundred and twenty,) (Acts 1:15)

 

Very interesting link about the legend, thanks.

You have proposed a view that seems to comport with my view of God's merciful character. A couple of observations:
Would you agree that presenting the gospel to an unsaved person (the kind that would have never have sought after God otherwise) gives them an opportunity that they would not have had if you hadn't presented it to them? To elaborate, this lost person may never have sought God through 'natural revelation', but being that you showed them their destiny and informed them of a God that loves them, then they responded to God in faith to salvation. Is this not the burden that we have? The fact that 'natural revelation' seekers are so rare, that we must present the message to those who aren't 'natural revelation' seekers so that they might have another chance of having saving faith?

 

But God has chosen to reveal Himself through the preaching of His Word.

Please don't overlook Romans 1:15 ....

Rom 1:15-16
15 So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also.
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

Paul was the preacher ... how will they have faith without a preacher????

Rom 10:14
... and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?

Rom 10:14
... and how shall they hear without a preacher?


1 Cor 1:21
... it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.

The gospel has to be preached, proclaimed, published in order for faith to be generated in the hearts of people.

 

The reports of Muslims coming to faith in Christ as a result of having dreams and visions of Christ are quite intriguing, ... though it kinda messes up my theology a bit ....

 

It should not mess you up as they still get saved through the word. The dream or vision simply pushes them to listen.

 

That is TRUE!!!

 

These are anecdotal.
The gospel is the power of God unto salvation.

 

Just maybe the Muslim nations are NOW having their time of visitation, "Acts" experiences to testify to jesus and the Gispel. as peter said about prophet Joel in last days?

 

And maybe not. Please don't take Scripture out of context.

And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke: The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come: (Acts 2:19-20)

This is part of the same passage.
I don't see the sun turning to darkness nor the moon into blood. Do you?

 

It didn't happen during Peter time either though!

It was partially fulfilled during times of Apostles, think "might" be getting fulfilled partially now, and will be full realised right during the "end times" right before return of Christ!

OR

Could very well be that God is doing His "sign and wonders" to confirm the person of Christ among Muslim nations in prepartion for jesus returning!

 

The problem with this is that if you don't have the imperative "Make Disciples" applying to us today, you can't have the "I am with you always to the end of the age" applying to us today either.

So, you have to be consistent in your application here. If you take comfort in the "I am with you..." passage, you have to be obedient to the imperative as well.

Blessings,

The Archangel

 

The sun doesn't have to turn to darkness or the moon into blood for supernatural demonstrations of the Spirit of God to occur. Nor does each one of us have to be present to see it when it does happen. The passage just states that it will happen before the great and notable day of the Lord. We are still waiting for that great and notable day of the Lord.

Signs and wonders occured all through the book of Acts without the sun turning to darkness. Paul said that his speech and preaching was in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. He also said that he "fully preached the gospel" "through mighty signs and wonders" (Rom 15:19).
I think we need more of that kind of preaching today.


Oh, and the reports of Muslims coming to faith in Christ after seeing visions and dreams, ... you said "These are anecdotal." That doesn't mean that they don't happen or that they are not true. This isn't something that has happened only once or twice. There have been multiple reports of it happening. What we hear about is only the tip of the iceberg. Enough for anyone to realize that God is doing something special among Muslims to bring them to faith in Christ.

Do I understand this???? No. I certainly do not. But I cannot pretend that it isn't happening. God's appointed way of saving the lost is through the preaching of the gospel. But there is an incident in the Scriptures where a man saw a vision and received instruction to call for a man "who shall tell thee words whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved" (Acts 10:3; 11:13-14). If God did it then, He can do it again today without my permission.

 

I asked one proponant of Reformed Theology, "You mean that for hundreds and hundreds of years there were no 'elect' among the millions and millions of people in China???"

And he said, That's right."

I retorted, "HOGWASH!"

One of the Kahns asked the father of Marco Polo to have the West send a 100 missionaries to China to tell them about their God and religion. The Roman Church sent only two and they stayed just a few months before returning to Italy.

So tragic, ... such a wonderful opportunity to take the gospel to China that was missed.