12/05/2021 – Alistair Begg lecture on “A Peculiar Man” – John the Baptist and Charles Spurgeon. Another Spurgeon quote: “I am perhaps vulgar, but it is not intentional,save that I must and will make people listen. My firm conviction is that we have had enough of polite preachers.”
I am curious on what seminary this lecture series on Spurgeon was held. I need to pray over this post given the title. I suspect that not many brothers listen to the more intriguing title posts. It caught my attention, but only because I know of Charles Spurgeon and his amazing story. It was the message, not the messenger. I wonder if Alistair is the first to draw such an apt comparison between these two warriors for Christ.
Yes, bearing in mind it is not about the preacher, but can we talk?: If modern day preachers were college basketball coaches, and I happened to be the most sought after high school senior basketball player in the world, I would go to college at wherever Alistair was coaching without a second thought.
Here is Alistair’s lecture, I am classifying it on the post as “a sermon”. Check out the short summary paragraph:
https://www.truthforlife.org/resources/sermon/spurgeon-peculiar-man/
And I suspect not many people today, even in Christian fellowship groups, are familiar with Charles Spurgeon. Here is a biograghy:
https://www.learnreligions.com/charles-spurgeon-4769080
From my lecture notes: Both John the Baptist and Charles Haddon Spurgeon had: 1) preaching with authority; 2) Humility; 3) Integrity; 4) Bravery; 5) Clarity (a healthy simplicity)
And, check this out: At the end of the 19th century, and after Spurgeon’s death, General William Booth’s (*A-footnote below) reply to the question of what would the church’s biggest dangers be in the upcoming 20th century:
- Religion without the Holy Ghost
- Christianity without Christ
- Forgiveness without repentence
- Salvation without regeneration
- Politics without God (apt for today, no?)
- Heaven without Hell (*B – footnote below)
(*A) General William Booth (1829 – 1912) was the founder of the Salvation Army. His is one of the seven life stories captured in Eric Metaxas’ book: “7 More Men and the Secret of Their Greatness”.
(*B) – Sorry, I can’t pull up my references for this but I recall a statistical study that from a majority of people who believe there is an afterlife, albeit slimmer during our lifetime, 98% of people say they are going to heaven. So , at least in our beliefs, we have pretty much eliminated hell. (good luck with that) Of course, Barna did a comprehensive study years back that concluded less than 10% of America hold a Christian worldview. That entailed holding to seven clearly biblical beliefs, such as : “Jesus lived a sinless life”. So, we have a major schizophrenic like disconnect here.