Our Ill-Equipped Missionaries
Missionaries are by definition those who are “sent out” essentially to proclaim the kingdom of God to those who have not heard the gospel. While he was on earth Jesus sent out his disciples on different occasions to proclaim the kingdom of God.Luke 9:1 When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, 2 and he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. 6 So they set out and went from village to village, preaching the gospel and healing people everywhere.
When Jesus sent out the Twelve to preach the kingdom of God, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases. He commanded them to heal the sick as they proclaimed the gospel. After this commissioning, they did as they were commanded: they went from village to village, preaching the gospel and healing people everywhere. They did not simply pray for the sick as the Church does today; they actually healed the sick.
Luke 10:1 After this the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. 2 He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. 9 Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God is near you.’ 17 The seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.”
After this Jesus sent out seventy more disciples and commanded them also to heal the sick and to proclaim the kingdom of God. He also gave them authority over demons. He taught them to ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest field. To this day the Church is praying that the Lord will send out workers to the harvest field.
The Church then obediently sends out missionaries to the harvest fields of the world. How should the Church send them out? It should be obvious that we should send them out in the same way that Jesus himself sent out the Twelve and then the Seventy. As he sent them out, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases.
Unfortunately the Church does not do this today. We do not equip our missionaries as Jesus did. Many of our missionaries do not even know that they have such authority or do not know how to use it effectively to confirm the absolute truth of the gospel to the lost.
Those who are sent to the 1040 Window to proclaim the gospel to Musl__ms, Buddhists, Hindus, idolaters, and adherents of sorcery must especially be equipped with such weapons. It is extremely difficult to bring these gospel-resistant peoples to Christ unless they first see miraculous signs.
Our missionaries are sent out with mostly everything they need except for the proper weaponry. They are already sanctified and committed to the Lord; they are willing to lay down their lives for Him. They are usually sufficiently funded. They are sent out by a mission organization and covered by the intercessory prayers of supporting churches. They are otherwise well trained. But instead of the equivalent of M-16 automatic weapons, they are sent out with bows and arrows. Not only are many frustrated with their inability to fulfill the Great Commission in their own areas, some along with their families are under frequent attack by the powers of darkness and do not know how to defend themselves.
Part of the reason why the Church has not fulfilled the Great Commission during these past two thousand years is because we do not proclaim the kingdom of God as Jesus commanded his disciples. We just preach the gospel with words or with good works, without healing the sick and confirming the message with miraculous signs. The words and good works are necessary, but not sufficient in themselves to get the job done. Disobedience, whether unwitting or not, ultimately leads to failure.
We are now in the last days and it is time to equip and send out every missionary with the powerful weapon that Jesus gave to his disciples when he sent them out. The Lord is now restoring the understanding of supernatural power and authority to the Church for the proclamation of the Kingdom of God. The “theology of helplessness” prevalent throughout the Church has imprisoned us in our present state of weakness for the past millennium. It must be reconsidered.
The End Time Model of Evangelism
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