S Longkok Kichu
Mokokchung
According to the Bible, the preacher must preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul said in 1 Cor 1:23 we preach Christ crucified. What type of preaching does the Bible command for the preachers to preach? The Bible command is to preach word, “reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine” 11 Timo. 4:2. The Bible preacher must preach the whole counsel of God which reproof, rebuking, exhortation and warnings. The Bible preaching is to preach against sin. Preacher cannot preach all the word without reproving and rebuking. Preachers ought to preach boldly against sin. Because the Bible is against sin, God is against sin, the church is against sin and the moral conscience of even unsaved man is against sin. Because preaching against sin brings revival and salvation of sinners.
Today many preachers preach, ‘believe’ but do not preach, ‘repent’. Those preachers preach only one side of the truth, a one sided gospel, a mutilated and a emasculated message. They should preach condemnation as well as forgiveness. Preachers must preach the everlasting life as well as the abiding wrath of God on unbelievers. I have never heard a sermon in any church doctrinal such as Heaven, Hell, the final judgment of the unbelievers, wine and drunkenness, Sodom and Gomorrah, women’s dress, theatres, Sabbath-breaking, sowing and reaping, and dancing etc. most common people are ignorant of the Bible doctrines and unless they are taught how can they understand.
Here are some old Testament bible preachers who preached boldly and sharply against sin. Isaiah preached on drunkenness, on women’s immodest dress, he preached on hell and rebuked people against sin. Ezekiel, Hosiah, Amos and Malachi preached the same way. John the Baptist, the forerunner of the Lord Jesus sharply rebuked the Pharisees and scribes, the self-righteous men of his day calling them, “O generation of Vipers”. This same John went to the arrogant king Herod, the adulterer and said, ‘It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife (sister-in-law)’. What a bold preaching of a true Bible preacher which is a model for our today’s preacher. For this boldness he lost his head. Jesus was so well pleased by the preaching of John and said, John the greatest man ever born of a woman.
Apostle Peter was all the more bold who rebuked the Pharisees and scribes for killing Jesus. Paul preached against adultery, lying, drunkenness, stealing and jesting. He said to Plymas, the sorcerer, “O full of all subtle and mischief, you son of the devil”. Jesus Christ was as sharp with the unrepentant sinners; he pronounced seven woes upon the scribes and the Pharisees calling them “blind leaders of the blind”, and “you evil and adulterous generation”. Let us see some modern preachers and great soul winners who preached hard and boldly against sin. Huss, Savonarola, Wycliffe thundered against sin. The mighty preaching of Martin Luther against sin of every kind in the decadent Roman church was sharp and pointed. Jonathan Edward thundered against sin in his famous sermon, “Sinners in the hands of an angry God”. It is said that 500 souls were saved in one day.
Charles G Finney preached on Sodom and Gomorrah, he preached on hell and judgment, he preached on the death of the wicked and the wrath of God. It is said the conviction was so terrible that men fell unconscious in their seats and became helpless as they sobbed and prayed. The great American preacher DL Moody preached against drunkenness, Sabbath-breaking and theatres. Billy Sunday preached against liquor traffic and saloons. He was a hard-hitting spirit-filled preacher. His words were sharp and pointed. He dared the devil. Dr. RA Torrey preached against dancing, theatres, lodges and literal hell. That kind of preaching brings revival and soul winning which we need now.
Have you ever seen such kind of preaching in any place and in any so called Christian church? I think most people will agree with me, they have not had. Today we desperately need such Bible preaching and preachers in a time when we see our own home with rampant corruption in high places by the rulers and leaders amassing money and wealth by dishonest means and they are buying all the costly and expensive cars and building their palaces for generations without realizing that one day the Almighty God will remove them from there because that is not earned from their hard labour but at the cost of poor and needy public. They never consider the plight of the poor.
What a corrupt land and a corrupt people we Naga Christians are before the other faiths to whom we preach truth, compassion, justice and love one another. Jesus never taught us the opposite. Taking the name, Nagaland For Christ is also a mockery when there is killing, murder, thieving, robbery and fraudulent withdrawal of money with false means. Did Christ steal? Did He kill? Did He hate? Did He cheat? Did He teach to drink wine by the rulers and leaders and be drunk and rule over the people? Nagaland and its people are terminally ill.
Today what we need in our church is a new confrontation with the whole counsel of God proclaimed in the power of the Holy Spirit with authority and love. Today we see our church services and worship much a formalism and full of social activities and most congregation are either unsaved, nominal or lukewarm. We see today that even many preachers are materialistic and after comfort of the world.
In the early seventies, I recall a time when Rev. Lanu Longchar came to my village church and preached against sin and repentance from sin. He preached on hell and eternal punishment of the unsaved sinners in hell and his message was so powerful that many were convicted of their sins and accepted Christ. What we need today is spirit-filled preachers like John the Baptist who can go boldly to the Herods.
The sins of Herods should like the Bible preachers. In speaking the cause of England’s moral slump, Sir Winston Churchill said, ‘the moral of Great Britain is due to the fact that heaven and hell are no longer preached in England’. He was the wartime Prime Minister of England and he was so concerned and conscious of the moral and spiritual condition of his people. What a lesson for Naga Christian rulers and also for preachers of the so-called Christian Nagaland. Must Jesus bear the cross alone and all the world go free?
