It has always been my contention that the common gospel / man centered ways of evangelism you hear today has been corrupted and skewed by false traditions of men. I am constantly told I need to talk of love to the lost far more then I ever tell them to repent or to fear God. But what do the scriptures tell us? Lets take at a look at fear vs love in scriptures; esp as it relates to the lost.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever.
Psalm 111:10
Some key points to cover:
*the word fear is used 501 times total in the bible. (love is used 442 times in the bible)
*I did a word study and 194 times the Old Testament tells us to directly..... FEAR God!
Now, most all people today because of the corrupt churchianity heresy have a bent towards using God's love towards the lost. They will say oh yes brother Jim but now in the New Testament it is all about love right?
Actually, no it is not!
In the New testament we are told to..... FEAR GOD 51 times, the word repent is used 60 times but we hear about God's love for sinners 2 times..... maybe 3! Read on:
Lets look deeper:
51 times in the NT we are told to FEAR GOD to how many times Jesus or His trained men used the word love to evangelize the lost in the NT Word.
3 times .... that is it, 3 times do we see love by God towards sinners being used in all NT scripture.
John 3:16
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
(1 of those times was Paul speaking to believers so it is really only 2 time it is used John 3:16)
Romans 5:8
But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Also Titus 3:4
Those are the 3 verses were God directly mentions loving sinners in the NT word are always pointing to Christ. It is the only way to get Gods love, Christ via the biblical gospel.
Consider these facts will you?
*194 times in the OT we are told to..... FEAR GOD.
*51 times in the NT we are told to....... FEAR GOD
*60 times REPENT is used in the NT word
*Only 3 times does Jesus or His disciples use God's love towards sinners. (again: Romans 5:8 was not even said to the lost but to the saints in Roman but; I will give it to this count)
If you just read the NT word you will find that the biblical call to REPENT (used 60 times in the NT word) with Jesus coming (John 3:16) is what we are to preach towards the lost to bring them to new life. We do not "over play" the love to get better results as that is man pleasing. No, we call them to REPENT, due to FEAR and that one time act of LOVE!
Again: We see ONLY 3 verses (John 3:16/Romans 5:8/Titus 3:4) showing God's love for the world as sinners. (to gain that love you must be in Christ / you get NO love of God without being IN Christ)
Let that all soak in folks! It is counter to all what churchianity teaches today and it is why we stand against mainstream churches all over the globe.
The truth is that we see men that are made new into a child of God; then we do see great use of the word LOVE coming into play on a bigger scale. And that love is by far talked about love between saints, saints loving God and Jesus love from the Father.
In contrast: Psalm 5:5 says God hates the wicked sinners and John 9 says God does NOT hear sinners prayers.
I easily proved in the Word that that churchianity (that is man pleasing/fleshly) has twisted God's message/evangelism to save the lost with a ear tickling version based much more on love and not on warnings to fear or to repent.
More facts:
*the word love is used 201 times in the NT word.
ONLY 3 times it is used in reference to God's love towards sinners. (John 3:16 / Titus 3:4... if you count Romans 5:8)
But repent is ALL over the NT word but love to the lost is used only 3 times? I simply ask this:
How can it be then that all you hear modern pastors, current songs, conferences, on line ministries, gospel tracts, calendars, bumper stickers, t-shirts and even street preachers today are using LOVE to win the lost when repenting is used 30 to 60 times more by Jesus and the Apostles?
The answer is simple really! Men/hirelings have created a false gospel/false jesus. They know that you can fill up buildings/make more money with a heartfelt love based message that leaves out the fear and wrath of God. This false message also mostly avoids repentance (leaving all sin) yet; you still get the promise of heaven as you live IN your sin. How wicked! It is a Gal 1 accursed gospel that Paul warned about.
There is a really serious problem with this watered down gospel that I see:
"A lack of FEAR OF GOD without REPENTING has caused a LACK OF OBEDIENCE and a void of HOLINESS"
When people are wrongly taught that God loves them no matter what, they loose fear and they stop repenting / striving to OBEY Him in all things and holiness that you need to see God; is gone! (Heb 12:14)
But when people fear God first, they see the great need to KEEP His commands and a healthy balance of fear and love towards God is then in place; leading to holiness. That pleases God.
Psalm 147:11
The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy.
Note: imagine of all the people in your town lost fear of police, judges and the law. You would have a entire town full of criminals! This is what happens when churchianity removes the fear/repentance/holiness message as you then have buildings full of practicing sinners that per Heb 10:26 will never enter into heaven!
It is indeed a false gospel that makes sinful false converts so I must speak out against it. My website dontperish.com is designed to help people out of all such lies.
It all reminds me of this verse:
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. 2 Tim 4
I want to be clear on God's love:
I get weary of all the false people who tell me in the streets to not talk of fearing God or repentance but just love. We are all about the LOVE of God and I preach it every time I say Jesus name! How do you get that love is the real question? You FEAR God, REPENT/turn from sin to Christ (His shed blood) and be made NEW. Then as you walk in obedience to Him, the love of God over takes your life more and more as you love God and His people. Any other path to God's love is clearly of satan.
Here is 2 more audio's on this topic:
https://spiritandtruthdiscernment.blogspot.com/2019/11/love-over-repentance-in-evangelism-is.html
This one on LOVE in the NT Word says a lot!
https://spiritandtruthdiscernment.blogspot.com/2021/11/love-and-how-it-is-used-in-nt-word.html
Since I shared with you the 3 verses on God's love to sinners, how about some verses on fear of God?
Isaiah 33:6
And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times, and strength of salvation: the fear of the Lord is his treasure.
1 Samuel 12:24
Only fear the Lord, and serve him in truth with all your heart: for consider how great things he hath done for you.
Job 28:28
And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.
Jesus said in Matt 10:28
And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.