I was reading through a sermon titled Hell-the Furnace of Fire by John MacArthur and near the end he mentioned a letter he received from a Christian broadcasting organization regarding topics that should not be mentioned on air. I was shocked by how a Christian organization could reduce the Gospel with the intention of being more “comforting” as if the complete and true Gospel of Jesus Christ was insufficient or lacking.
Recently, a “Christian” broadcasting organization sent me a letter with a list of things that they did not want discussed on their programs. The letter said that they wanted to be a good neighbor to their variety of listeners; therefore, when preparing material for their stations, the following topics were to be omitted: criticism of other religions, conversion, missionaries, believers, unbelievers, the Old Covenant, the New Covenant, the church, the cross, the crucifixion, Calvary, Christ, the blood of Christ, salvation only through Christ, redemption only through Christ, the Son of God, Jehovah, and the Christian life. Then the letter said, “Our listeners are hungering for words of comfort. We ask you to adhere to these restrictions so that God’s Word can continue to go forth. Please help us to maintain our position of bringing peace and comfort to those suffering people.”
That’s not comfort; that’s damnation! False comfort damns people. We must tell people the truth.
My first thought was, “This is terrible but not surprising for Christianity in the 21st century.” After looking at the publication date of the sermon, I was even more shocked to find out the sermon was presented in 1986. Wow! This type of heresy/misguided gospel diminution presented by “Christian” organizations is not in the least bit new after all.
