Author: Comfort, Ray
Genre: Non-Fiction
Tags: Evangelism / Outreach, Gospel
Series:
Rick Shrader‘s Review:
I was glad to read this book by Comfort. It is a subject all of us must contemplate today: Is everyone saved who thinks they are saved? Comfort gives his own history as an evangelist as an example of how he has seen many people “make a profession” of Christ and then walk away from that profession. He begins the book by quoting a number of polls and articles that show that most people who profess Christianity do not live it. He also gives statistics from large city-wide evangelistic campaigns which showed that almost none of those who had made a profession of faith at the campaign even attended a church, much less were baptized and joined.
Comfort’s solution is that we cannot see a person saved until he sees himself lost. We have not preached sin and repentance and so the “gospel” that is preached is merely a “happiness gospel.” He quotes Spurgeon (and others often) saying, “There is no healing a man till the Law has wounded him, no making him alive till the Law has slain him.” The modern gospel Comfort describes is one that promises to make converts happy and fulfilled in this life. When that fails to happen, they walk away seeing the gospel as a failed promise. Comfort likes to talk about “preaching the Law” but he means using the law for its intended purpose—to expose our sin, not as a means of works-based salvation. In any event, the book serves a much needed purpose today in our crazy drive to “see results” and “build churches” by counting as many professions of faith as possible.