How many of you have been irritated by the voice of an evangelist?
Plenty of people have been turned off by the stereotypical voice of a preacher speaking from the pulpit with a certain kind of voice that seemed reserved for a TV evangelists. Not that all preachers garner some link to a cold call solicitor, but peak level irritation gets triggered quickly without regard to the message, especially disregarded by those who are not tuned to the necessity of the gospel. The offense is exacerbated by the media’s hype of fallen pastors and evangelists who blew it in their personal conduct, abandoning themselves, with high probability, to the temptation of one of the oldest sins of sexual misconduct.
One must be careful to not to dump the baby with the bath water; rather, one needs to separate the valid message of the gospel from the hypocritical behavior that can dominate a headline. A sea of faithful ministers of God who are not publicized and just do not make mainstream headlines.
Voices
Voice, nevertheless, is a very important tool used by anyone trying to make a point. It’s one way that we decide whether or not the message is worth listening to. At least at first.
Whether one is into public broadcasting or not, people who are good at what they do, care about how they come across and deliver their messages.
The kind of music we listen to is often driven by what a singer’s voice sounds like and how it is accompanied by other rhythm. Sometimes we are inspired by the lyrics if they seem inspired by a relevant life experience while enhanced by the singer’s voice.
I used to listen to the late Jim Rohn. Jim was a well known and beloved trainer with his roots in early years of network marketing. He had a distinctive voice that helped promote the personal development messages he was delivering. People enjoyed listening to him teach and mentor with his unique rise and fall of his voice and quirky anecdotes.
Dr. Michael Savage, who I’ve actually had the privilege of meeting, is primarily known for his national radio show “The Savage Nation”, not only has a distinctive New York accent but also a doctor of nutrition, a best selling author, and filled with a variety of anecdotes from a diverse life history. His voice engenders a street smart favorite uncle, wise, kind, and with an occasional outrage to injustice that resonates with his audience.
There are voices in every industry that when taken in isolation from their message can be more annoying than inviting, and, honestly, there are still some voices in the world of Christian evangelism that I get triggered by. They can seem over-the-top condescending in their delivery, yet apparently that appeals to some people. Nowadays, If I happen to hear their message, I will listen for the Biblical truth rather than simply rejecting them because of a vaudevillian voice.
Despite the quality of a voice, there are some out there preaching their own religion, not focused on Jesus Christ as the Son of God and the Gospel, some of them subtle in their misleading whether intentional or not, offering enough truth to seem credible, but withholding the full truth. On the other side are well known as wolves among the sheep who appeal to the base nature of people.
However, as I tried listening to various Bible expositors, there are some teachers whose voice combined with their solid Bible teaching advances their efforts to connect. Personally, I have enjoy learning from John MacArthur, Voddie Bacchum, the late R.C. Sproul, and others. One of the original radio preachers I still enjoy listening to is the late J. Vernon McGee, whose prerecorded 5 year program goes called Thru-The-Bible or TTB. TTB remains a beloved radio ministry. Each of these men have distinctive voices and personalities which do not trigger my alarm.
I have a voice also, it comes to you as the written word. Although I do not have a podcast or a popular video presence, the people who read my articles will decide to continue or ignore if I happen to resonate with who they are.
Truth in Voices
There are numerous social media figures that are promoting the gospel message and seeking to educate people about the truth of the gospel and I am glad. Not everyone resonates with everyone, and we like to listen to those we resonate with (hence one reason why there are different denominations).
My message, even as a written blog will resonate with someone and then they will become more knowledgeable about Christ and the Gospel. The main thing is that ultimately you discover the truth and hopefully accept it with repentance, conviction, contrition, and faith. My motivation stems from Jesus’ exhortation to enter salvation by the “narrow way” or the “narrow gate” because wide is the path to destruction. If wide is the path to destruction, that could be interpreted as either people are easily duped, or the influences that drive people to the wide path are quite ubiquitous.
Ultimately, we all gravitate to whom we resonate with as truth tellers. While the tone of people’s voices may attract us or repel us initially, the content of what they proclaim goes beyond mere feelings connecting with our ability for logic, reason, and, most importantly, our soul. In the end, it is not the voice of people that draws people to God, it is God Himself who works through people of all kinds to reach others. All glory goes to God.
Truth in Nature
Voice is not the only way God gets your attention. Nature and animals can be a way God is reaching out to you. Nature and animals are, nevertheless, all part of God’s creation. When you admire the wonders of a beautiful sunrise or sunset, that is part of the majesty of God’s handiwork, His creative hand. You resonate with the creator’s sense of beauty. The global blessings are called “common grace” that which anyone shares whether they are a believer in Jesus Christ or not.
Animals are a common way we can love God’s creation. The companionship offered by animals is by design and part of God’s creativity. The animals were brought to Adam to see what he would name them (Genesis 2:19-20). The resistance many people’s experience is they do not make the full connection between God and Creation, although we enjoy a multitude of facets of creation yet often fail to give glory to the One from whom all blessings flow.
Truth in Justice
Inextricably linked to truth is justice. Common is/was the ritual to place one’s hand on the Bible in a courtroom “to swear to tell the truth and nothing but the truth” or to discharge ones duty with a solemn vow, knowing they will be judged by God for their conduct. Even a Christian marriage must be based on the pursuit of truth as the exhortation from the words of Jesus Himself declaring the holiness of the marriage covenant “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? 6 So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.” -Matthew 19:5-6
We cannot have justice without the truth. We cannot expect to achieve true justice without an objective truth. A supernatural God is the creator of both natural and moral law. Natural law can be influenced by God’s supernatural power, but the moral law is immutable because God’s moral character is righteous and holy. The basis for the moral law is in the Ten Commandments.
Truth in Marriage
Speaking of Marriage, certainly God can connect to us through the ups and downs of a marriage relationship and through the rearing of children. Do we accept with humility the confrontation of our self-pride and self-righteousness in the relational struggles in Marriage?
Perhaps a prime reason why there’s hatred of Christianity because of the moral laws of God and the extraordinary call for sexual fidelity and sexual enjoyment and intimacy only between a man and a woman in Marriage. Nowadays, the parental authority over their own children is under attack.
Marriage is intended to be a human model of Jesus Christ and the Church. An immoral culture validates and even worships sexual immorality and the resulting sacrifice of children at the altar of satanic influence. Both manifestations of self-righteous attitudes were common place among the pagan Ba’al worshiping kingdoms that were judged by God when He used the Israelites as an arm of judgment in the lands of Canaan.
Without the sanctity of Marriage and the nuclear family, the primary reinforcement of Christian values generation to generation is weakened. To exacerbate things, the ineffectiveness of the institutionalized church, at least in many Western nations including the United States, is due in large part to the relentless pressure by the world to validate its immoral behaviors. The spiritual warfare goes all the ways back to Genesis 3:14-15 where God said to Satan:
All the days of your life.
And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her Seed;
He shall bruise your head,
And you shall bruise His heel.
In other words, Satan’s goal is to foil God’s plan of redeeming humanity. That’s satan’s modus operandus and if that means attack and weaken the Church, including bashing the family, and at times raising up an anti-Christ to prevent to mission of the Lord Christ to succeed, there has and will be battle evidence.
The Laws of God and God’s design for Marriage still stands in truth and remain as a standard for judgment by God, despite the best efforts of man to make the immoral moral and moral immoral.
Truth in CHRIST
The truth of Christianity, however, is not defined by the representations of imperfect men in religious institutions or by society but by the only righteous man who walked on the earth. The One who gave up his life for humanity, who alone bore the wrath of God for our sins upon the cross. Christ died for our sins, sacrificing Himself for the salvation of all sinners. Then He defeated death by His Resurrection so that we may, through faith in Him, receive the saving Grace of God.
Have you been called to believe in Him?
26 “For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. 27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; 28 and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, 29 that no flesh should glory in His presence. 30 But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption— 31 that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.” – 1 Corinthians 26:31
For a review of the Ten Commandments: https://www.challenyee.com/the-ten-commandments/
CKY
P.S. Typos and all, I do not use AI.
23.23