So have you honestly and objectively taken time to prove what Jesus Christ actually taught? And are you willing to act on that proof once it has come clearly and distinctly into your mind? Or are you like most people who are afraid to accept Truth because it may affect their relatives, their friendships, their jobs or their “social standing”?
I know of evangelists who probably are sincere in supposing they are serving God—and who would like to be free to proclaim many truths they now hold back. They reason something like this: “If I go farther, and preach those things, I’ll lose all my support. I’d be cut off from the ministry altogether. Then I could preach nothing. Better serve God by preaching as much of the Biblical truth as possible, than to be prevented from preaching anything.” They are relying on the financial support of men, or of organizations of men. Anyone in that predicament is the servant of men, and not of God, whether he realizes it or not.
A man accosted me as I was walking along the gravel country road, between the Firbutte School and the Jeans School in the fall of 1933. “You won’t get far,” he said. “You’re preaching the straight truth of the Bible. That offends people. The Bible is like a sharp two-edged sword. It cuts—it reproves, corrects, rebukes—people won’t support that kind of preaching! You won’t get far.” But I was not relying on the support of people. If people paid me, I would have to serve people. If I were to serve God, I would have to look solely to God for support! Of course God does work through human instruments. But I had to rely on God to lay it on the hearts of people to support the kind of preaching that obeys Isaiah 58:1 by crying aloud—lifting up my voice and showing the people their sins! To serve God, I would have to look solely to God for support!