The parables of Jesus teach us that the Gospel of the Kingdom is seed that is sown that hopefully will grow into a great "tree," a Christ-filled personality producing righteous behavior.

The emphasis on evangelism in our day tends to be a blind proselytizing with little or no understanding of the distinction between the world and the royal priesthood, no sense of the Lord's timing or of His calling out an elect, no willingness to sow the seed of the Kingdom and then wait for God to give the increase. Instead there is a blind stress on getting people to make a profession of belief. Those who do make the profession are counted to see how many "decided for Christ."

Today we use the expression "winning souls for Christ." This expression is not found in the New Testament. It may be true that by this saying we mean persuading people to receive the Lord Jesus. However, when we use an expression not found in the Scriptures it probably is because there is a shade of meaning that is not scriptural.

The expression "winning souls for Christ" is used as though the Lord is looking down to see how many people we can persuade to receive His salvation. The work of the Kingdom does not proceed in this blind manner. Rather, the Holy Spirit speaks to those whom the Father is giving to the Lord Jesus. The Lord then receives them and gives them eternal life.

We are not teaching that Christian people have no place in the work of the ministry. Rather we are stating that the true work of the ministry proceeds as the Lord Jesus directs His workers, not as they figure out what the need is and attempt to meet the need by their own wisdom, strength, and money.

The Lord commanded us to pray that the Lord of the harvest would send forth laborers into the harvest. The directive of the Lord has been changed into, "You go forth as a laborer." There is a significant difference between praying the Lord would send forth laborers, on the one hand, and deciding to go because the fields are "white unto harvest," on the other hand.

The Apostle Paul toward the end of his life was attempting to "win Christ" (Philippians 3:8). "I count all things but loss . . . that I may win Christ."

Some well-meaning teachers have quoted Paul as saying "I count all things but loss that I may win some to Christ."

This may appear to be a harmless alteration of the Word of God, but the spirit behind it is that of Babylon, of attempting to build the Kingdom of God by human means.

Our argument here is not academic trivia, something impractical, harmful, or of no consequence. It is true rather that the current attempts to "save" everybody in the world produce Babylon, not the Kingdom of God.

To be continued.