Back to Jerusalem

Regarding some questions in Missionæren about the reason for the apathy within the Evangelical Alliance Mission, Br. Gerar says that what can be said about the Evangelical Alliance Mission in terms of discouragement and decline may also be said about other Christian groups. Let each one of us examine ourself in the light of the Holy Spirit to see if there is oil in the vessel, and then return to Jerusalem, Br. Gerar writes.

Br. Gerar’s advice is certainly well meant, and it would be an easy matter if the sheep had learned to recognize the Shepherd’s voice, because then they could soon be drawn back to the good springs of old and to Jerusalem. But now they are scattered around on the mountains, and it will take a powerful shepherd’s staff to gather them again. During revival there is spiritual life and activity everywhere, but that is not due to the work of men; it is solely a work of God. Once people have been awakened, the intention is that they should stay awake; that’s why we have been given the Helper, who shall be with us forever. But instead of staying awake, people go back to sleep and dream about revival. Consequently, people do not have a very good relationship with God except during times of revival.

If a person has truly tasted what the world has to offer and hates evil in the deepest sense of the word, and has been truly healed by Jesus, the great physician of our soul, and has been born from above with incorruptible seed, and has come to the New Jerusalem, then I don’t think that such a person, over and over—between each revival—can go up to Jerusalem so readily after having turned back again to Egypt.

I think a major error lies in the fact that people are so inclined to look for Jesus among their fellow sojourners; i.e., they begin, little by little, to admire certain individuals whom they consider to be vastly superior to anyone else. The result is divisions, where people make flesh their arm, and their hearts turn away from the Lord. If the person being admired receives this honor, which is so tantalizing to the flesh, the result is that both he and his admirers will depart from the true light—Christ. You can meet such Esau-troops all over the place; they stick stubbornly and faithfully by their leaders.

The next huge blunder is when they limit all their activity to the meeting hall. People get stuck in a meeting hall year after year and expect sinners to come flowing in, so that they can really work with them. Perhaps outside of the meeting hall they never say a word about salvation to anyone. In the end, a small congregation is left in the meeting hall. They preach to one another and honor one another as faithful veterans who have endured and occupied their place in the meeting hall for 10 to 20 years. Truly a glorious honor. Sinners are perishing by the thousands outside the meeting hall, while our good veterans remain faithful inside. And then finally they ask one other—first among themselves and then publicly: “Where does all this dryness come from, and how shall we get rid of it?”

I really believe that this dryness will disappear once the veterans surrender their positions in the meeting hall and, as Jesus says, venture out into the highways and byways to seek for those who are lost.

Ultimately, the biggest mistake of all is when a person loves and seeks after pleasant feelings and shuns the cross. The word of the cross is the power of God for us who believe. Shunning the cross is to shun the power, which in turn becomes the same as running away from Jerusalem, which was mentioned in the article. A pleasant Christian life that is only full of sunshine is highly sought after—it’s just a pity it doesn’t last very long. God’s will, on the other hand, is not so popular. However, when all is said and done, His will is our sanctification.

Horten, November 20, 1910