Perry attended Cornerstone Church in San Antonio this Sunday, where John Hagee presented the gospel in black-and-white. "If you live your life and don't confess your sins to God Almighty through the authority of Christ and his blood," Hagee said, "I'm going to say this very plainly: you're going straight to hell with a nonstop ticket."
After the service, Governor Perry was asked by a reporter whether he agreed with Hagee's statement that non-Christians will be condemned to hell.
"In my faith, that's what it says, and I'm a believer of that." the governor replied.
He's getting some heat for that, as you can imagine (stories here and here).
Now, let me be clear as to why issue has caught my attention. This blog entry isn't an endorsement of either Hagee as a Christian spokesman or Perry as a governor. Hagee doesn't speak for me on a number of issues, and, regarding the governor's race, vote for the candidate of your choice.
But three cheers for a Christian brother willing to stand with Jesus! Isn't it ironic that a politician in a crucial race showed greater boldness answering that question than a Houston pastor who was asked the same question? After an appearance on the Larry King Live show June 20, 2005, Joel Osteen faced much criticism from some evangelicals over uncertainty in his answers about the Christian faith. When Larry King asked "What if you're Jewish or Muslim, you don't accept Christ at all?", Osteen replied "You know, I'm very careful about saying who would and wouldn't go to heaven. I don't know ..."
Osteen later apologized for his hemming and hawing; Perry won't have to apologize for his answer.
No matter who we are--pastors, governors, newspaper reporters, math teachers, store clerks, anyone--if we belong to Christ, we have to stand by his claims. And it was Christ who said, "I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6). Here's the way I discuss this issue in my book, The Anchor Course:
Keep in mind that Perry hasn't been going around preaching the message of Christ: he is campaigning to be our governor, not our pastor. But when he was asked what he thought about the exclusive claims of Christ, he stood by them. Kudos!Once while making a connection at an airline terminal, I took advantage of the airport’s long “moving sidewalks.” I stepped on, put down my heavy bag, and let the conveyor do the work of carrying me along. As I approached the end, however, I noticed that a passenger had stepped off the moving sidewalk and had simply stopped. His briefcase was at his feet and he was consulting a terminal map. I could have stubbornly refused to step aside, but the relentless motion of the conveyor would have sent me crashing into him. Instead, I chose to step aside, and the sidewalk deposited me into an open space.
Like an airport conveyor belt, time moves us relentlessly toward judgment, but the cross gives us a way to “step aside” so that we will not run into judgment. Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life” (John 5:24).This corrects one of the most widespread misconceptions of the Christian message. I’ve had people ask, “Why do you believe that God sends someone to hell just because they don’t accept the gospel of Christ?” God does not send someone to hell for rejecting the Christian message. No, the basis for God’s judgment lies in our sin. We are rescued from hell upon receiving the offer of Christ’s salvation, but rejecting that offer simply keeps you moving toward the same judgment you’ve always been moving toward.
No comments:
Post a Comment