They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us. –1 John 2:19
In our eagerness to make converts I am afraid we have lately been guilty of using the technique of modern salesmanship, which is of course to present only the desirable qualities in a product and ignore the rest. We go to men and offer them a cozy home on the sunny side of the brae. If they will but accept Christ He will give them peace of mind, solve their problems, prosper their business, protect their families and keep them happy all day long. They believe us and come, and the first cold wind sends them shivering to some counselor to find out what has gone wrong; and that is the last we hear of many of them….
By offering our hearers a sweetness-and-light gospel and promising every taker a place on the sunny side of the brae, we not only cruelly deceive them, we guarantee also a high casualty rate among the converts won on such terms. On certain foreign fields the expression “rice Christians” has been coined to describe those who adopt Christianity for profit. The experienced missionary knows that the convert that must pay a heavy price for his faith in Christ is the one that will persevere to the end. He begins with the wind in his face, and should the storm grow in strength he will not turn back for he has been conditioned to endure it.
By playing down the cost of discipleship we are producing rice Christians by the tens of thousands right here on the North American continent. That Incredible Christian, 116-117.
“Lord, I suspect this is getting much worse even since Tozer’s day. In our emphasis on growth and success we may indeed be guilty of producing rice Christians. Deliver us from that error. Amen.”
- Tozer Daily Devotional
Very true. The modern evangelist is already not excited about evangelism because it is not comfortable. If it can be as easy as possible (dumbing down the gospel to only the happy stuff) then that makes it even more “convenient” to evangelize.
I think it is uncomfortable to evangelize. The gospel is very offensive. However, it is also the message of salvation, and when it is not shared, it is like hoarding the cure for a disease that everyone has. What good is the cure if it is not being used to treat the disease?
Evangelism is uncomfortable and I do give credit to people who try, but if they are dumbing it down to make it happy and not convicting to people who are going to Hell because of their sin, then they should just stay home.
Nice post.