What Souls are Perishing?

The following article is taken from a free publication called "Content for the Faith," by Providence Strict Baptist Assembly in Canada. It is somewhat controverisal but we believe it is a message that needs to be sounded in Christiandom today. With all the carnal flesh pleasing methods of evangelism used today, this message is ever so important. Anyone wishing to get on their mailing list can do so by contacting Gery or Mike Schmidt at 104-1138 Yates Street Victoria British Columbia Canada V8V 3M8. MK

One day as I was meditating upon God's greatness and mercy, I started pondering on the subjects of evangelism and missionary endeavour. I got to thinking about what the main objective of the majority of professing Christians who claim to be evangelical was in these things. I myself, as well as the editor of this periodical, are Old School, Primitive Baptists. We do not believe in any auxiliary institutions outside of the local assembly (i.e. missionary societies, tract societies, Bible college/seminary wherein ministers are "trained," etc.). This does not mean, however, that we are against preaching to the lost, provided that one preaches the true gospel as set forth in the sacred Scriptures, and not some man-made doctrine, such as man's free will; or the doctrine of Andrew Fuller, wherein anyone and everyone can be saved by the exercise of a faith he taught is inherent in all the unregenerate. And provided we keep in mind the aim of such a thing, namely, to call forth the the regenerated elect unto repentance.

We are not against having people (i.e. gospel ministers) sent out as missionaries, provided they belong to a true church (i.e. people who adhere to the doctrine of Christ and his apostles), and that these individuals are sent out by the members of the church to which they belong. How else are God's elect supposed to be called unto repentance and faith (cf. Rom. 10.14ff.)? We believe, however, that Christ's ministers are commissioned to preach the glad tidings or good news of Christ. They are not commissioned to offer salvation or any other thing, as some think is in their posession to offer. This brings me back to the title of this article, "What Souls Are Perishing? Someone may look at me and see how I live, and see that I am not out there working day and night trying to get people saved. The question then comes, "how can you just sit there when millions of souls are perishing every day?" Before I would go on to anything else I would ask old candid inquirer; "What souls do you have in mind when you ask such a question, the elect or the non-elect?" If the person asking the question has the non-elect in mind, I do not see how going out and preaching day and night can benefit those souls. For God in all his sovereignty has neither elected nor intended to save such, but has reprobated them to hell from before the foundations of the world; before they ever lived, or had done anything good or bad. Now if that person has the elect in mind that person has a very low opinion of God's sovereignty, sufficiency, immutability, etc. He does not put much trust in Christ's finished work on the cross. For "whom he predestined, these he also called; whom he called, these he also justified; whom he justified, these he also glorified' (Rom. 8.:30) So, as it can be seen from the unbreakable chain in this passage, God's elect will be saved, but the reprobate will not be saved.

The person may then say, "Well you do not know who the elect are." This is true, I do not . But this I do know, they will all eventually be saved, guaranteed. If it pleases God that his elect should come to a knowledge of Christ by me, what a blessing! But if not, I shall be content to go on in my course in this life just trying to be a faithful servant of Christ, and to be in prayer at all times, and to continue in the reading of his word. For God's will cannot be thwarted. Everything God has decreed must come to pass. So if one says to me that the non-elect are perishing, I will agree. However, if one tells me that elect souls are perishing, I would ask how this could be since God will not let them perish. For our sins can neither undo what God has done in predestinating his elect to eternal salvation, nor cancel out what Christ has done on the cross, namely, shed his blood for the remission of his elects' sins.

So as a Christian, I can rest assured that none of the souls that Christ has purchased with his blood will ever be lost to eternal retribution. For all of the elects' sins have been literally imputed to Christ, and Christ's righteousness has been literally imputed to his chosen ones. Thus it is completely futile to think we must by our own efforts run about like "a chicken with its head cut off" in order to get people saved and into the kingdom. For God knows exactly who he intends to save, and who he does not intend to save. And he will make every provision necessary to ensure that his elect are brought to the true faith, whether through reading-the Scriptures, or hearing the word preached. Not that these are means to anyone being saved, for salvation is purely of grace, but these are the means by which God communicates his will to his people.

So those professing Christians out there who are always worried and fretting over the fact that people like myself are not always out there handing out tracts, or doing some sort of evangelistic work, need to realize that God is faithful and can never be frustrated, whether by the devil, man, indwelling sin, or anything else. It has been my intention in this article to show forth some of the absurdities connected with the thinking that man has to do something to help God, which is to bring God down to the level of a man, which is Arminianism. So I would like to end this article by exhorting all true believers in Christ to diligently contend for the faith once delivered to the saints, and to keep in mind that anti-mission, Baptists are not anti-mission, but are anti-modern mission Baptists.