Some years ago, a popular soft drink advertised that they were the opposite of the more popular cola by calling themselves the "Un Cola."  They even made their drink appear as it were in an upside-down glass.  That was smart advertising!

In a church for the past several decades, great stories have been told to the church goers that have included cute little children stories or funny anecdotes used for illustration purposes.  There may have even been some true experiences filtered in to substantiate the message or at least one of its main points.  One "little tyke" story involved a grandfather sitting on the back porch watching the sunset in all its radiant colors with his little granddaughter.  Grandpa tells the little tyke, "That's a beautiful sunset, isn't it Jade?  God made the sky and the sunset and all those pretty colors with the clouds.  Isn't that right, Jade?"  Jade replies, "Yes, Grandpa!  And He did it all with his left hand, too."  Surprised, Grandpa asks the little girl to explain what she said.  Without batting her little eyes, Jade simply said, "Don't you remember, Grandpa?  You just told me that after Jesus rose from the grave, he was seated on His Father's right hand."

We, the listener to the sermons every week, may chuckle at the hearing of that story, but if the pastor/priest tells too many stories like that, we get bored.  So, he moves on through his subject until he comes to the end of his talk.  Then he prays a prayer, someone sings a closing song or makes an announcement and the service is over.  But, let's digress a moment and discuss what "un-truth" the pastor might have said.  Why was it that no one caught it and has "called him on the carpet" for saying it? 

The general comment in question here has to do with the presentation of the Gospel, as understood by the majority of Christians today.  It involves the presence of sin, separation between the sinner and God and the coming Judgment where we all have to account for our sins.  There are some reading this article right now that could repeat the whole message almost verbatim, yet be "lost" by Christian standards to the hope of receiving eternal life due to their unwillingness to repent and trust Christ as their only way to heaven.

Often, we hear the pastor, or preacher, say "God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life!"  That is only half of the truth.  God does love us, as the Bible says in many places, but the "wonderful plan for your life" was never in the Bible as something God has for us, the sinner.  Would you, oh Christian, if you were go to the thousand people who died on September 11, 2001, on the day before and tell them (knowing full well what will be their death just less than 24 hours later at the dastardly hands of terrorists) that "God loves them and has a wonderful plan for their lives?"  I don't think you would, in all good conscience.  Neither would I.  You'd have to tell them the truth.  If you could have been there on September 10th and had, in fact, warned them that any who were there on September 11th were going to die in a fiery crash involving two hijaked commercial airliners, you would have fulfilled your commitment in telling them the truth.  Remember, though, that if you were to do that on September 10th, that nothing like that had ever been done before by any terrorist anywhere in human history and no one ever expected it to have happened as proved by a stunned nation watching the morning edition of the Today Show. 

If, on the other hand, you having full knowledge of the terroristic act, went ahead and told everyone that they were all going to live for another fifty years and see their grandchildren's children, you'd be telling them a lie and their "blood" would be on your hands for having not warned them.

Pastors, as do all the so-called Gospel preachers today, have the responsibility to tell the truth to people so that the people could make the choice whether they believe the message or not;  whether they want to be saved and go to heaven, or remain "lost" and suffer the consequences of that choice.  What do you tell someone who seems to have their life together and everything is going great for them financially, socially, emotionally, etc.?  Preachers tend to pick out those overwhelmed with problems in their addictions, marriage, occupation, health or whatever in order to introduce them to someone who can "fix all that," namely, Jesus.  The un-truth comes when all the person is told to do is simply accept what Jesus did for them, pray a simple little prayer and be told they're "saved." 

Handling the truth in the Gospel is similar to planting fruit trees among non-fruitbearing trees.  The proof is in the fruit.  If you tell people you are planting apple trees and you plant oak trees instead, the result will be fruit or no fruit.  The Bible tells us to watch those who bear no fruit as those eventually end up "in the fire."  We can watch the "fruit" of someone who was told that "God loved them and had a wonderful plan for their life" when they constantly are falling back into their sinful habits, such as lying, stealing, lusting, blaspheming God's name, and many other sins.  Ray Comfort of the evangelism ministry, Living Waters, and co-founder with actor, Kirk Cameron, of the ministry, The Way of the Master - seen on TBN - points out that these people are not what we commonly refer to as "back sliders" because they never "slid forward in the first place."  They had never repented and turned away from their sins because no one told them they had to do that.  Furthermore, they were told them they were "born again" simply by reciting a short prayer after the preacher, when they probably only tried out "this Jesus thing" to see if they could get a buzz out of it. 

Either tell the whole story from the pulpit or don't tell them anything.  The whole story of the Gospel is that there is no room for sin of any kind in the church.  Jesus began preaching by saying "Repent..."  John the Baptist, Jesus' predecessor and distant cousin, told people they needed to repent.  The writer of the majority of the Bible books contained in the section known as the New Testament, the Apostle Paul, tells us that we have to repent AND trust.  Listen again to this preacher, James Lyman, as he delivers part of the same kind of message as the author of this article is trying to say.  He is telling the whole truth; unfortunately, the recording only covers a short portion of it. 

"Unless you repent, you will perish" said Jesus to some of his followers on two different occasions.  "All liars shall have their part in the Lake of Fire," writes John the Revelator in his epic book, The Revelation at the end of the Christian Bible.  "No thief, adulterer, fornicator, homosexual or unclean person shall have any inheritance into the Kingdom of God," writes the Apostle Paul.  The destiny of every person today who admits that they've told one lie, stolen one thing regardless of its value, looked at another person with lust, and blasphemed God's name even once, according to the Bible, is Hell for eternity.  That is, of course, if they have never repented and turned away from their sin and put their trust in Jesus alone for their salvation. 

That is the truth.  And, to tell the truth, many preachers are afraid they'll scare away the people from their congregations if they preach that message.  Who will they scare away: the hypocrites?  They won't scare away the believers; those people will be encouraged with that message.  If they scare away anyone, it's the people that are only there to hear a comfortable message and not be bothered for living in their sin.  Let's just hope that those who hear the warning of the coming Judgment and do what they must to be "saved from the horrible consequences of Hell for eternity" are also those who have read this article in its entirety.  "Blessed are those who have endured to the end..."