TEARLESS TEACHERS HAVE HARMED US

“Serving the LORD with all humility of mind, and with many tears, and temptations….”

(ACTS 20:19)

It is not a reassuring thought that the writings of the grief-stricken prophets are often pored over by persons whose interests are curious merely and who never shed one tear for the woes of the world.

 

They have a prying inquisitiveness about the schedule of future events, forgetting apparently that the whole purpose of Bible prophecy is to prepare us morally and spiritually for the time to come.

 

The doctrine of Christ’s return has fallen into neglect, on the North American continent at least, and as far as I can detect, today exercises little power in the lives of the rank and file of Bible-believing Christians. For this there may be a number of contributing factors; but the chief one is, I believe, the misfortune suffered by prophetic truth when men without tears undertook to instruct us in the writings of the tear-stained prophets. Big crowds and big offerings resulted until events proved the teachers wrong on too many points.

 

Another field where tearless men have done us untold harm is in prayer for the sick. Thankfully, there have always been reverent, serious men who felt it their sacred duty to pray for the sick that they might be healed in the will of God. But when tearless promoters took up the doctrine it was turned into a lucrative racket. Smooth, persuasive men used superior salesmanship methods to make impressive fortunes out of their campaigns—and this in the name of the Man of Sorrows who had not where to lay His head!

 

  1. W. Tozer