THE DANGER OF THE GOSPEL OF ACCOMMODATION - PART THREE

(This is the third and final portion of David Wilkerson’s prophetic message given in March of 1998. I believe this is an important word from the Lord that is more applicable to the Church today than when it was originally given.)

THE DANGER OF THE GOSPEL OF ACCOMMODATION

by David Wilkerson

I see three dangers in the gospel of accommodation:

1.     It is the accommodation of man’s love for pleasure.

“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be . . . lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God” (2 Timothy 3:1–4).

The Greek for pleasure is “lustful, exciting, gratifying.” If you move toward this gospel of accommodation, you are going to have to accommodate people’s lust because they are not going to give up their love for excitement. They’ve made gods of sports, pleasure, and lust. Unless that is confronted by the gospel of Jesus Christ, unless there is a truth that comes forth, you have to accommodate this lust that is in the American lifestyle.

I was shocked by an article in the New York Times. Philip Wogaman, President Bill Clinton’s pastor, said, “Sexual misconduct does not automatically render a leader immoral. Morality should also be judged by indicators like courage, concern for the poor, fostering world peace, running the economy responsibly, and furthering racial equality. Heterosexuality and homosexuality are merely cultural expressions.” In other words, Mr. Clinton has been told that he has enough good indicators to overrule another that would be immoral in his life. (New York Times, March 1, 1998, Section 1, Page 16.)

God said that men who preach doctrines like these resist the truth; they are men of corrupt minds, counterfeiting the faith (see 2 Timothy 3:8).

One day every minister of the gospel will stand before the Lord and He will say, “Son of man, I made thee a watchman. You were to hear the words of My mouth and give the people warnings from Me. You were to tell the wicked, ‘Thou shalt surely die.’ And you gave them no warning nor spoke to warn the wicked to turn from their wicked ways to save their lives. These same wicked men died in their sins, but their blood I will require at your hands” (see Ezekiel 3:16-18).

2.   This gospel of accommodation accommodates all man’s aversion to self-denial.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is one of self-denial. Jesus said, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me” (Matthew 16:24). Self-denial is not something you give. It’s someone you give up—the giving up of yourself, giving up everything you are. It’s a living sacrifice to the Lord Jesus Christ to present your body a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. God has every right to say to His church, “If you expect to give Me your body, your resurrected body, all through eternity, I have every right—it’s only reasonable of Me and your reasonable service—to ask for your body while you’re here on earth. I want every part of you.”

The gospel we preach must bring people under the total possession of the Lord Jesus Christ. Otherwise, it’s a gospel of accommodation.

The seeker-friendly gospel accommodates the body. The human body belongs to Him. What we see in America is neognosticism, where you take your physical body on one side and do as you please as long as your spirit is right with God. This neognosticism is destroying the faith of many throughout the nation.

3.  There is an accommodation of man’s offense to the gospel.

The Scriptures state, “Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation” (Isaiah 28:16). Paul spoke of the offense of the cross (Galatians 5:11)  We are not called to the cross but to go through the cross—to experience the same thing Jesus did, not only coming to the cross but dying and going into the grave with Jesus Christ and then being raised from the dead to a newness of life.

It is cruel to lead sinners to the cross, tell them they are forgiven by faith, and then allow them to go back to their habits and lusts of the flesh, unchanged and still in the devil’s shackles. If the preaching of grace does not have as its goal the producing of a walk of righteousness, then it is another gospel, another Jesus.

I listened in horror to a man who attended one of the largest seeker-friendly churches, being interviewed on television. He said, “I come to this church because I’m comfortable. I’m never made to feel uneasy. I bring my Jewish friends and my business friends, and I know nothing will ever be said that will offend them. The best part of it is, the whole thing only lasts an hour.”

In our church we have 103 nationalities from all walks of life—from the poorest to the richest. I look over the congregation and see men who have just walked in from the porno shops and they are like wild animals. I see a former businessman who was the CEO of a multimillion–dollar company, but he started snorting coke, lost everything, and is now a bum on the street. I see a 14-year-old girl suffering with AIDS she contracted from performing lewd acts with dirty old men. She comes to church and keeps saying, “Pastor Dave, I’ve got to get out. I’ve got to get help.”

I’m not about to put up a silly skit and preach a 15-minute message on how to cope to a multitude of people who are dying and going to hell. I tremble at the thought.

People do not like to hear this, but we are headed for perilous times—just a few years away from a collapse like the world has never known. When that time comes, I want to grasp onto Jesus, and I want everyone I have preached to to have faith in the keeping power of Jesus Christ. I want them to know Him in His fullness. I want to know that I have done it in love, in grace, that they would know the difference between the holy and the profane.

If I have ever given a prophetic message in my lifetime that God intended for a purpose, it is now. Many are being deceived. If they are not awakened, what I warn you about will happen.

 In New York City, He has proved that people come to hear a straight gospel, and thousands will come where the Word of God is being preached without compromise and yet with grace.

May we get our eyes off growth and onto a new revelation of who Jesus is.