A Look From The Past To The Future

Last night, my sons Tim and Matthew and I watched a movie called "Tim Changer" that had a profound effect on all of us. It was about a Bible professor and theologian in the 1890's who goes forward into the future to the early 21th century.

As soon as he arrives, this doctor of theology is absolutely shocked and horrified at how depraved the world has become and what the churches are like. He is overcome with grief. His heart is broken and his stomach is sick. Near the end of the story, he is asked to speak at a local church and, with tears in his eyes, he desperately pleads with the people in the congregation to genuinely commit their lives to God. However, his heart-felt message has no effect on either the pastor or the congregates. The professor's call is dismissed and his moral views are considered legalistic.

The church is large in number. Its programs are various and numerous. Yet, only a handful of people show up at the church's weekly prayer meeting, and, even worse, there is no evangelism — just a desire to increase numbers. The church people don't care about the unsaved spending eternity in hell because most of church-goers are also living for themselves and not for Christ. If Christ were in their hearts, they would feel His love and pain for those who do not know Him and they would share His earnest desire to see every one of them come into His Kingdom.

The best part of the movie is when this professor meets the owner of a dry-cleaner. The professor tells the owner about the love of God and His salvation message. At first the dry-cleaner pays little attention to what the professor is saying and finds him annoying. However, the professor refuses to give up. He continues to see the unsaved man and gives him a Bible. Finally, at the end, the professor wins him over. As a result, one more precious soul will spend eternity with Jesus.

The Bible theologian wasn't able to reach the church goers. Their eyes were blind, their ears were deaf, their minds were deceived, and their hearts were empty. But the Bible theologian was able to reach one man: a man who recognized his need for a saviour and understand the true message of being a child of Christ and living for Him.

At the end of the movie, you are left with the urgency to tell as many as you can about Jesus because His return is close — closer than any of us realize! Churches shouldn't be spending thousands to millions of dollars on new church buildings or remodeling their old ones when their own buildings are half empty. Instead, churches need to concentrate on using the money that God gives them for evangelistic outreaches to fill up all the existing churches in the area with souls who would otherwise go to hell. Time is short. Money and energy are being wasted on material things to construct new church buildings or make existing churches look better on the outside while, on the inside, they are in desperate need of repair.

We all need to have the heart of Paul and do everything we can to save the lost. It is our heart that wins the unsaved, not our church buildings, fancy sound equipment, or neat, little sermons that are preached without the passion and love of Christ.

"When I am with those who are weak,

I share their weakness,

for I want to bring the weak to Christ.

Yes, I try to find common ground with everyone,

doing everything I can to save some."

1 Corinthians 9:22 (NLT)