I have had no formal training as an evangelist. If I were fortunate enough to address an audience of a hundred and 3 of them made decisions to accept Jesus as their savior, I would consider it a success. If it were 5, I would be ecstatic.
I guess most preachers would hope for something greater than that; maybe 10 or 12. I mean, when the plan of salvation is presented, it is usually rejected. I really don’t have the foggiest idea why. It is really a good thing to accept Jesus as your savior. Yet, many reject him. I suspect, mostly the things of this world are more important to them than their eternal souls.
Well, some have better success than others. Billy Graham certainly had his success. He had a mostly simple straightforward way to present the plan of salvation and certainly God did his part. Paul, the one who wrote much of the New Testament presented the gospel to his thousands, and in a way, he is still helping to persuade people to accept the Lord today through the printed word.
A person might ask, who could possibly be more successful than that? Yet there is one, percentage-wise, who has us all beat. Moreover, he had a very simple sermon. “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” Simple and straightforward as it was, it apparently had 100% effectiveness. Everyone who heard the words repented and worshiped God.
Wow! I wish I could have that kind of success. However, there were two more things that made the conversion different. First, Jonah did just about all he could to keep it all from happening. He hated the people of Nineveh and he did not want to see them saved. In other words, perhaps the most successful preacher in history wanted to be an outright failure. Secondly, when the people repented God relented and did not destroy the city. Now that angered Jonah and he pitched a fit. (my interpretation)
In essence, it appeared God used Jonah’s rebellion for success. After all, it was very likely that the people of that great city knew of Jonah and what all he went through to keep from going to the city. When they saw Jonah arrive, when they all saw the sad expression on Jonah’s face, the people likely decided that God did really did mean it and that if they didn’t repent something bad was going to happen.
Now, that was success. Oddly, it was his determination to fail that made it succeed. It does make me wonder. What would have happened if Jonah would have done as he was told immediately. Maybe his success would have been 80% or 70%. I don’t know. It’s a guess and likely not a good one. Maybe, had Jonah done as he was told, no one would have listened and the city would have been destroyed, which was the very thing Jonah wanted.
At any rate, the people of that great city backslid and went back to their previous ways. Then, God did as he said he would. The city was destroyed so badly that some doubted the story of Jonah. No one could find the city. Then, one day they did. They not only found proof of its existence but also of its destruction. I have no idea if Jonah lived to see it or not. At any rate, those people did have their second chance and they ignored it.
I just wonder, how much is God going take from the US before he destroys this great country? At this point, I’m not sure we are not that much better than Nineveh. How long will God allow us to ignore his messengers and destroy the US?
Just as He destroyed that great city, He can also destroy this great nation. He needs no one’s permission and He need not send any warnings. We have the examples of the Bible. If we ignore them, then we will likely ignore any other warnings.
Certainly, one of those things that He will not overlook is the killing of babies. Children are very special to Him. Calling it family planning does not make it look one iota better to Him