Question? I heard this term called Lifestyle Evangelism, What is your view on it?
Answer:
Lifestyle Evangelism is just another one of very many counterfeit Technics that Christians and churches have adopted to use in SO – CALLED reaching the lost for Jesus.
The problem with this SO CALLED evangelistic method is that MANY that have USED this method even though by ALL appearances LOOK, TALK, & ACT like christians are often times not even saved themselves.
The whole claim and thought behind this COUNTERFEIT evangelism is to LOVE THEM (the lost) to Christ THROUGH our actions, appearances, and doings, of all the people that I have won to the Lord, NOT ONE thanked me for LOVING THEM to Jesus but thanked me for SHOWING them the truth of God’s Word and EXPOSING the lies of their church and or religious beliefs.
Proponents of Lifestyle Evangelism try to use 1 John 4:19-21 as their PROOF TEXT.
because their CLAIM is that just as Jesus has loved us we need to do the same to them.
Just to be honest NO WHERE in scripture are we told to LOVE the lost to Christ. We are told to GIVE THEM the truth of God’s Word and the Gospel even if it means that they might get mad at us.
(Galatians 4:16) Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?
(Mark 16:15) And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
(Matthew 28:19,20) Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: (20) Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
The Apostle Paul probably was the MOST UNPOPULAR person of his time, BECAUSE he was not afraid to tell those that needed to hear THE TRUTH. Paul had been beaten, tortured, stoned, left for dead, in imprisoned(most of the epistles he wrote was during his imprisonments) ect many times for his UNWILLINGNESS to compromise the Gospel and the Word of God and he had WITHOUT COMPROMISE EXPOSED the Lies, False Teachings and Beliefs of people and ESPECIALLY those that taught them.
(2 Corinthians 11:23-25) Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. (24) Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. (25) Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep.
(Romans 16:17) Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.
In Fact the Apostle Paul even NAMED NAMES of those that had done him wrong or HINDERED him to accomplish his purose of spreading the Gospel and The Word of God.
(1 Timothy 1:19,20) Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck: (20) Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme.
(2 Timothy 4:14) Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil: the Lord reward him according to his works.
The SAD FACT of this SO CALLED Lifestyle Evangelism is the fact that so MANY christians have fallen for this COUNTERFEIT of Satan, and I have PERSONALLY have been treated like I was the enemy for EXPOSING it as such, there is NO BIBLICAL DISCERNMENT anymore even amongst those that claim to be Bible Believing Churches.
In Conclusion:
The best advice I can give is:
STICK to the TRUTH of God’s Word, don’t ALLOW yourself to be satan’s puppet for ANY gimmick or method that ALTERS or DOES AWAY with what the Lord has ALREADY wrote within the pages of his Word.
(Romans 1:16) For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
(1 Corinthians 15:1-4) Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; (2) By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. (3) For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; (4) And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
The MOST IMPORTANT thing to know IS Jesus Christ as savior, just simply believe that Jesus Christ went to the cross and DIED and shed his blood, was BURIED and three days later RESURRECTED from the dead to pay for your sins.
-Christ DIED for you – Romans 5:8
-Christ PAID your sins in full – 2 Corinthians 5:21,1 Peter 2:24
–BELIEVE (Trust In Completely) in Christ ALONE as the complete payment of sin for salvation – John 3:16, Acts 16:31, Ephesians 2:8,9
“For the wages(payment) of sin is death (eternal torment in hell); but the GIFT(salvation) of God is eternal life THROUGH Jesus Christ our Lord”. Romans 6:23
IT IS THAT SIMPLE – THE GOSPEL TRUTH