"Cloning..............................."

“Is the Gospel shareable?” Such was the question asked by Glen Scrivener, an English evangelist attempting to teach others that rather than responding to argument with a set of Scriptural truths, as believers we accomplish such mission by offering “something personal and attractive”. I agree, but yet feel we miss it when we fail to realize that the message isn’t so much chapter and verse as it is Christ “in” me. Indeed, it seems to me that the Church, as a whole, is wrapped up more in its individual theological definitions explaining the Book than it is in the reality of a resurrected Jesus now abiding within every born-again convert. We do not teach it (possibly because, as a body, we have either lost or misconstrued such understanding along the way) and the end result is not just that we, ourselves, are weakened in our witness, but also that the world around us sees only another religious group. The cartoon shared here was posted on that same site already noted, the artist giving perfect image to how the whole issue usually exists, his only fault, in my opinion, being the two identity characters need to be reversed. It probably also ought to be said that I find not much difference between convincing the guy on the street or the fellow in the pew, believing that His penetration power has to deal with our humanity on both sides of the transfer. Vanity and pride are the walls that have to come down on the “pulpit” side of such pursuit, although good intentions tend to take us down the path ahead of the Holy Ghost and there is a lesson to learn as to His Spirit being what accomplishes success in so far as bringing down the barriers the other person has created. It takes His wisdom, His grace, His love, His presence in the midst, He, Himself, establishing the initial contact and nurturing the residual seed after any birthing. Chapter and verse is His scalpel, not our sword. Just some thoughts that came to me after a phone-call from a friend last night……