8/29/00

Triage: The Devil's Battlefield




Chad Jonathan, a servant and Apostle of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus throughout America, Europe, and Asia, together with the overseers and deacons:

Grace and peace to you, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Brothers and sisters, I would not have you ignorant of the job we have been called to do by him who died for our sins and rose again to give us eternal life. Many of you believe that we have been called to be soldiers, and it is true that as the Body of Christ, the enemy will come against us in spiritual warfare, but first and foremost, we have been called to be Ambassadors of the Gospel.
Our purpose is not to combat the forces of evil and to fight against demons and devils, casting evil spirits into the pit before their time. Our ultimate goal is not to bind Satan in chains and cast him into the flames of everlasting torment. The Lord will handle Satan and his demons. It is His fight, and vengeance will be His. Defeating the army of darkness is not our responsibility.
Instead, we are to be fearlessly proclaiming the Gospel of Christ to all nations, imploring them on Christ's behalf to be reconciled to God, as though God himself were making His appeal to them through us.
Since He lives within us, we are mobile embassies of the Lord. Wherever we go, God goes. Wherever we stand, the ground becomes holy. Whatever room we enter becomes the sovereign territory of God's Heaven.
If someone speaks to us and lies, they have not just lied to us, they have lied to the Holy Spirit. If someone does evil to us, they have not only done evil to us, but they have sinned against the Lord.
When we speak, we need to be saying words that give glory to the God of Heaven. We don't need to worry about what to say, for He will give us the words to use. They are not our words, after all, but His.
These are characteristics of an Ambassador, not a simple soldier. A soldier does what he is told. He has no say in the direction events will take. His primary purpose is to kill, destroy, and conquer.
An Ambassador makes decisions with the full authority of the nation he represents. The Body of Christ is made up of Sons and Daughters of God. We are Princes, we are royalty. Our primary purpose is to distribute the invitation to the banquet of our Father to all nations. This world will recognize us by our love. Our ministry is one of encouragement, godly fellowship, instruction, and intercession.
These are two very different roles. We have been called to be Ambassadors, not soldiers. There are those of you who are excited by talk of storming ramparts, tearing down walls, attacking bulwarks, and defeating the spiritual forces of darkness. To those of you, I would say that we don't have to go looking for a fight. There will be plenty of battles along the way, as the darkness protests our walking in the light of Truth.
But we are Ambassadors who are called on to fight at times; not soldiers who are sometimes required to deliver the gospel message.
As a fellow worker of God, I urge those of you who have thought of yourselves as soldiers, to leave behind the spirit of war and take on the joy of sharing the Gospel of Christ as an Ambassador, which is the position to which we have been called.
Thinking that we have been called to be soldiers can have a harmful influence on the way we deal with others, causing Satan to benefit from our errors. One example of this is the system of spiritual triage being performed in the churches.
Triage, according to the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language is "a process for sorting injured people into groups based on their need for or likely benefit from immediate medical treatment. Triage is used on the battlefield, at disaster sites, and in hospital emergency rooms when limited medical resources must be allocated."
Notice that triage is used on battlefields. When you think that you have been called to be a soldier, you begin to use the methods of soldiers. You begin to think that the ends justify the means. You approach sinners with the belief that you must destroy them with scripture. You begin to use methods like triage to determine who is worthy of spiritual treatment, and who is not.
These methods do not accomplish anything for the Kingdom of God. In fact, they are causing many to be lost.
Also notice, that triage is used when resources are limited. Is God's power limited? Is His arm too short, that He cannot save? Of course not. In the natural, if there were an unlimited supply of medical resources, there would be no reason to practice triage; there would be more than enough supplies for everyone. Those who needed little would receive attention, and those who required fifty times as much care would also receive what they needed. If, in the natural, there is no use for triage when resources are more than adequate, then why are we practicing it in the spiritual, when the spiritual resources of God are unlimited and everlasting?

The dictionary also defines triage as "a system used to allocate a scarce commodity, such as food, only to those capable of deriving the greatest benefit from it".
Again, it is a system used to distribute scarce commodities. However, the water of the Lord will cause you to never thirst again. He who eats of the Bread of Life will never hunger again. The Lord will give unto us such a good measure of blessing, that even after being pressed down and shaken together, it will still overflow into our laps. He will throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that we will not even have room for it all. The commodities of God are without end, just as He is without end.
So why then, brothers and sisters, are we making judgements on who is worthy of spiritual food, and who is not? There is no end to the food that the Lord gives. It is not in short supply. Give it freely to all who are in need, and do not turn away anyone who asks.
How have we done this, you ask? How have we implemented the procedure of spiritual triage?

By not giving to those who are the least deserving, you are guilty of having not given to God.

If triage is a system used to distribute limited resources only to those who are capable of deriving the greatest benefit from it, then spiritual triage is a system of giving the unlimited resources of God only to those we believe are capable of benefiting the most from them.
Who made us the judge of the hearts of men? There is only one Lawgiver and Judge - the one who is able to save and destroy. Who are we to judge our neighbors? Who are we to determine who is worthy of the attention of an Ambassador of Christ and who is not?
Saints are being taught in some of our churches, not to spend too much time working with any one person. If the sinner is not responding to the gospel in a reasonable amount of time, we are to leave them behind on the battlefield and move on because there are many more who need the attention of the Soldier/Medics of Christ.
Our resources are limited. There are ten lost souls who need to hear the Gospel of Christ. Two of them are going to need special attention. They will need extra prayer, additional encouragement, more shepherding, increased ministering, expanded intercession, enhanced caring, extended fellowship, supplementary teaching, further correction, added strengthening, augmented leading, amplified meeting of needs, refined nursing, and improved defending. Even then, with all the extra care that was taken with them, they may still die.
The other eight people only require a fraction of the care needed to save them, and it seems much more likely that they will respond to the treatment. Therefore, the eight receive the preaching of the gospel, while the two hear little or none of it, thereby sealing their fate for good.
What? Was the gospel given to you alone? Or are you the only ones it has reached? By employing the use of spiritual triage, you are saying that your supply of seed is limited. You are saying that it needs to be planted only in good ground, so that it not be wasted. However, the sower in the Lord's parable planted seed along the path, in the rocky places, and among the thorns as well as the good ground.
Remember the parable Jesus told about the man who planted a fig tree in his vineyard. For three years he waited for it to produce fruit, but it never did. The man told his servant to cut it down, that the barren tree was only taking up space in the soil.
This is the attitude of triage. A church overseer can tell someone, "Look, you've been working with John Doe for three years, and have nothing to show for it. Leave him be, he's just wasting your time. He has heard the Word of the Lord. It is time to move on."
But notice what the servant says in the Lord's parable. He says to his master, "Don't cut it down yet. Give me one more year. I will spend extra time on it. I will give it extra care. I will dig around it and fertilize it and work with it. If it then bears fruit, then a great good will be accomplished! If it doesn't bear fruit, then you can chop it down."
This is the attitude of a shepherd.

Remember when the Lord had decided to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah? They were like trees that were not producing good fruit, and God had decided to chop them down. But Abraham interceded with the heart of a shepherd. He asked the Lord not to destroy the righteous along with the wicked. "What if there are fifty righteous people living there?" he asked. "Will you spare the city for the sake of only fifty? What if there are only forty-five? What if there are only forty? What about thirty? What about twenty? What if there are only ten?" And the Lord agreed to spare the city if only ten righteous could be found.
Triage says "They are too far gone. Let them be. Move on"
A Shepherd says "Wait, let me work with them for a while longer. Don't forsake them yet. I know it's been three years and they have produced no fruit, but what if they become fruitful in the fourth year? What if it takes five years? What about six? What about seven? What about ten?"
The attitude of Jesus was that if only one lamb was lost, out of a flock of one hundred, he would leave the ninety-nine and search after the one who was lost.
Triage would say to keep watch over the ninety-nine and move on.

Aren't we Christians, endeavoring to pattern our lives as closely as possible after the manner of Christ?
Or are we Triagians, holding to a system of judgement that makes decisions based on things we can only see on the outside, and not the things of the heart, which only God can see?

Truly, I say you cannot be both. You must be one or the other. When you say to a person "You are not worthy of my attention", you are saying "You are not worthy of the Lord's attention", because you are Ambassadors of Christ, and your words reflect on Him.
If you tell someone they are not worthy of the Lord's attention, have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, "Love your neighbor as yourself," you are doing right. But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.
Therefore, speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment!
Mercy is saying "Wait, don't chop down the barren tree. Let me work with it."
Mercy is saying "Do not destroy the wicked for the sake of the righteous".
Mercy is leaving the ninety-nine and going in search of the one.

Beware! He who would refuse mercy and say "Leave them behind, they have heard; it is time to move on," is guilty of judgement without mercy, and no mercy will be shown to them, although they will beg for it with tears on that great day of the Lord.

The word "triage" is not in the Bible.
The concept of triage is not in the Bible.

It is simply Satan's way of causing more souls to be lost.

Satan doesn't want anyone to be saved.
Jesus doesn't want anyone to be lost.

Satan would like nothing better than to be God. Short of that, he wants every last one of us to be damned to Hell along with him. If he can't take all of us with him, then he will make every effort to take as many as he can. If he can't stop the gospel from being preached in this world, then he will try to make sure as few as possible hear it. Satan works to influence this on both sides of the spiritual conflict.
He can plant seeds of hatred towards God in the souls of the lost and cause their hearts to be hardened and their minds to be closed to the gospel.
He can also cause the Ambassadors to believe they are soldiers, and that triage is a necessary operation of the Christian Army.
This way, not only are unbelievers not interested in hearing the Truth of the Gospel, but we are not interested in giving it to them, anyway.

The system of triage causes spiritual resources to be given only to the ones who will respond to treatment quickly. The ones who are an inch from death we do not waste our time on. The ones who are an inch from life receive our care.
Satan doesn't mind so much if we just go after the easy ones, the ones who were the furthest from his grasp anyway, the ones who were already almost saved.
There are only a few of those. There are many more who are deeply enfolded in his dark clutches. Many more seem hopelessly bound in his iron chains of sin. He will at least keep these. As their children grow up in that atmosphere of evil, he is assured of more and more companions in Hell.
He whispers to us "Don't go after those who are far gone. You can only reach so many. You only have so much time. Take the easy ones, and let me have these."
Hear me, Ambassadors of Christ! The Lord is not willing than any should perish! Cast your seed onto the rocky ground. Cast it among the thorns. Perhaps some of it will try to grow, and if so, water it, tend it, fertilize it! Have the heart of a shepherd. Work to make the soil good, or take the effort to transplant the small growth to good ground where it can grow strong and begin to bear good fruit!
Don't sit on your bench in church and wait for them to come to you. The spiritual dead and dying cannot move to save themselves. Go to them! Go into all the earth and preach the Word of the Lord!
Jesus did not come for the healthy or the almost-healthy. He did not come for the righteous, or for those who were an inch from becoming righteous. He did not come for the saved.
He came for the lost. He came for the sick. He came for those who were an inch from death. He came for the dying, and for those completely lost in sin. He came for the demon-possessed, the prostitutes, the tax collectors, and the murderers.
He died not for the righteous, but for the sinner. He died for the liar. He died for the sexual immoral. He died for the idol-worshipper. He died for those trapped in the most evil of situations, that they might find eternal life.
If Jesus had practiced triage, he would have considered the demon-possessed too far gone in sin to waste time on. He would have not bothered with the effort of raising dead people back to life. Instead, he would have sought out the Corneliuses of the world, who were already righteous and only needed a minimum of instruction to become saved. He would have only spoke to the woman with the issue of blood, and Jairus, and the centurion whose servant lay paralyzed at home, for these people already had faith in him. These people would not require much attention and care. A word, a touch, a prayer, and these people would be taken care of.
Jesus did not practice triage. If we pattern our lives after him, then we can not practice it either.
It is a system that only benefits the devil.

If Jesus had practiced triage, then he would not have spent further time on the demon-possessed boy whom the disciples had already worked with, and were unable to help. Jesus would have told them, "You've spent time with him. We have to move on." Instead, Jesus gave the boy special attention and delivered him from his condition.
If Jesus had practiced triage, the blind man in Bethsaida would not have recovered full use of his sight. Jesus worked with him once, but his vision only improved marginally. To him, it looked like trees were walking around. He could still not see clearly. The system of triage would have prompted Jesus to say, "I'm sorry. I've spent all the time I can afford to with you. I must move on. There are others who need my help". Instead, Jesus worked with him again, and it was this extra care that was given that brought back the man's sight.

The widow of Zarephath's son would not have been raised from the dead if Elijah had practiced triage. Elijah cried out to the Lord on behalf of the dead boy. The Lord did not raise him up. Elijah laid on the boy's body and prayed to the Lord again. Still the Lord did not raise him. Again Elijah laid himself on the boy's body and prayed. Again, there was no response from heaven. If Elijah had practiced triage, he would have said, "How long must I pray for this hopeless case? I have worked with him, spent time with him, interceded for him, and not only once, but three times I have cried unto the Lord on his behalf. There are others who need me. I must move on." But Elijah had the heart of a shepherd. He worked with the young man for as long as it would take. He laid himself on the boy's body a third time, and this time God answered.

Naaman was taught by the Lord that in the Kingdom of God, you do not give up. He dipped in the water once, twice, three times, and four times, and his leprosy was not healed. It took not five times, not six times, but seven times before his body was healed.

Moses did not give up on working to free the Israelites from Egypt when the miracle of his staff turning into a snake before Pharaoh failed to produce the desired response. He did not stop when the first plague failed as well. He continued interceding for the Israelites. He worked with them through plague number two, number three, number four, five ,and six. He did not give up when the seventh plague did not soften Pharaoh's heart. He did not say that he had spent all the time he could with them when after the eighth plague there were still no results. He did not tell Aaron that it was time to move on, when the ninth plague was given and yet for all of their efforts there were still no signs of fruit growing. It was the tenth plague that brought deliverance to a people bound in slavery.

The Bible tells us to ask and keep on asking, seek and keep on seeking, knock and keep on knocking, and to pray without ceasing. It doesn't say to ask once or twice, to seek for a little while, to knock loudly and with great effort ten or twelve times, or to pray for a reasonable amount of time and then move on.
The Lord promises that the asker will be answered. We need to keep asking until the answer is given. We need to keep seeking - not for what seems to be an acceptable amount of time, but until we find what we are seeking for, no matter how long the seeking takes. We are to knock until the door is opened, for the Lord promises that it will be opened. We are to pray continuously, without stopping.
Those who practice triage cannot obey this scripture.

If there is someone who needs spiritual attention, then we need to work with them - for as long as it takes. It doesn't matter if it takes a year, or two, or three, or five, seven, or twelve. We are to work with those in need, ask the Lord to change their hearts, and continue to ask. Seek for ways to minister to them, and keep on seeking. Knock on the door of their hearts and keep on knocking. Pray for them continuously. We are not given permission to stop. We are told to keep on keeping on.
How many years did it take for the Lord to reach some of us? Did we respond to Him and bear godly fruit in only one year? Did it take two, or three, or ten years for some of us? Did we respond to the gentle tugging of His Spirit the first time he called us? Or did it take a second effort, or a third, or a fourth?
I thank God that He did not give up on me, or any of the rest of us. I thank the Lord that He didn't say "I've called to you, I've tugged at you, I've worked with you. I have expended the allotted amount of time on you. Now it is time for Me to move on."
Do you not understand, brothers and sisters, that the Lord is so confident that we will respond to His Spirit, that He has written all of our names in His Book of Life. The sinner's name is there. The saint's name is there. He holds out his hand of grace and mercy to us until the last possible moment, when we pass from this world into Hades.
He has said that He will not blot out the names of those who were faithful to Him to the end. This shows us, that all of our names are there to begin with. It is only with sadness and a heavy heart that He blots out the names of those who have proven unfaithful, when their time on this earth has passed.
He does not have an empty book in which He writes the names of the righteous. His book is full of the names of every one of His creations, and it is full of ink blots, blemishes that remind us of His scars and the wounds He took for us so that our names might remain in that book, if only we choose to accept Him.
The Lord does not give up on those lost in sin. Why then, do His Ambassadors, who speak to the lost as though it were God Himself speaking through them, give up?
Why are the Ambassadors of Christ putting time limits on salvation? Why are they being miserly with their spiritual resources, and judgmental of those worthy of receiving them?
Jesus did not teach this. The Bible does not teach this.
First and foremost, we are called to be Ambassadors of Christ, not soldiers. Triage is the Devil's battlefield, masquerading as a system of Light.
Do not be fooled and fall into his trap. Rise above it, and be filled with the Truth of the Lord, accepting the position to which you have been called. Fearlessly proclaim the gospel to all men, and dare to snatch away even from the very jaws of the devil those who are about to be consumed!
This world is the Lord's and everything in it. That includes His lost lambs. They do not belong to the devil. He cares for them more than the sparrows and the lilies, and so He sends His shepherds, His Ambassadors to leave the ninety-nine righteous and bring back the lost.
We cannot do this with a system of triage. It lacks the heart of the Shepherd.

The Shepherd told us to forgive a person not seven times, but seventy times seven, which is four hundred and ninety times! Do you see here the heart of the Shepherd, who does not wish for even one of His lambs to perish?
When working with one of His lost lambs, then, how many times do we go to them, and how much effort are we to spend on them? The effort of seventy times seven.
Not once or twice, or twenty times. Seventy times seven.
Not one year, or seven, or twelve. Seventy times seven.

Until the answer is given. Until the salvation is found. Until the door of Heaven is opened.
Until, Until, UNTIL, UNTIL!

The Lord does not give up. Neither do His Ambassadors. We are Ambassadors of a Shepherd.

Satan would have us believe we are called to be soldiers. He would have us view the lost as casualties of war.
Jesus sees them as fields ripe for harvest.

Do you see the difference, my brothers and sisters? From the perspective Satan would have you view them, they are lost causes, wounded, dead, and dying. He would have us make the decision to allow them to die, so that our attention can be spent on others who are not as close to death.
From the perspective of Jesus Christ, they are fruit ripe for the picking. They are thirsty fields that just need watered. They are needy people who just need ministered to. They are empty souls longing for the Spirit of God to fill the aching void in their hearts. All that needs done is to harvest them.

Jesus said that the axe is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. Do you not understand, that He spoke of the fires of Hell? He was speaking of when a person's life on this earth is over. When they die, if they have not produced good fruit, they will be cast into Hell.
He was not speaking of abandoning a sinner to the fires of Hell because he has not produced good fruit in what we would consider to be a timely manner!
Yes, the axe may already be at the root of the tree, but the tree will be given every opportunity to produce good fruit before it is chopped down. Even while the axe is threatening the root of the tree, there is time for change to occur. There is time for us to work with the tree. Even when the Lord says it is ready for the woodpile, we may still intercede for the tree, and say, "Give us another year, Lord God. Let us water it, let us dig around it. Let us fertilize it. Let us work with it some more."
The Lord had decreed that He would destroy Israel for their disobedience, for their grumbling, for their complaining, and for their lack of faith. Moses interceded for them and lay prostrate before the Lord, praying not just for a day, or even a week, or a month, but for forty days and nights, and succeeded in changing the Lord's mind.
When the Lord sent out the Twelve, and told them, "If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town.", again, He was not speaking of triage.
He was speaking of people who rejected the gospel. Lost sheep who refused to be brought back to the safety of the fold. Truly, the Ambassadors who asked of these to reconcile themselves to the Lord received an answer. The answer was "No". They sought after them to repent, and found closed ears and hard hearts. They knocked on the door of their heart, and when it was opened, found rejection, threats, vile words, and persecution.
The Lord does not force anyone to be saved. If He did, then we would all go to heaven when we died, regardless of how we lived our lives, and despite our wishes. There would be no need for a Plan of Salvation.
But He desires us to want Him, to choose Him, to love Him. The Lord seeks after those who would commune with Him, those who will prepare and watch for His return.
We have a choice. We can live for the Lord, or we can live for ourselves, which is living for the devil. If a lamb has made the decision to live for Satan, then the Lord grants him that right. If the gospel is rejected, then we can shake the dust off of our feet and move on.
But there are those who meet with us in our gatherings, whom we have already judged and left for dead. If they are to attain salvation, they must accomplish it on their own, for the shepherds and overseers are only hired hands. They will not lay their lives down for the sheep. When the enemy comes in, the lambs will be slaughtered, for the hired hand will not lift a finger to help.
This must change! The Lord's heart is a shepherd's heart, and he loves the sheep as his own. He knows them all by name. He will lay down his life for them, and indeed, He already has.
"Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture!" declares the LORD. Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says to the shepherds who tend my people: "Because you have scattered my flock and driven them away and have not bestowed care on them, I will bestow punishment on you for the evil you have done," declares the LORD. "I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and will bring them back to their pasture, where they will be fruitful and increase in number. I will place shepherds over them who will tend them, and they will no longer be afraid or terrified, nor will any be missing," declares the LORD.
Those shepherds who are performing triage on the flock of the Lord are destroying the sheep, and scattering them. As they wander off, or drop to the ground in weakness, the shepherds are not going after them; they are not ministering to them.
This is evil in the sight of the Lord, and punishment will be poured out on the heads of those who practice such things.
The Lord himself will come and take those who have been neglected out of the hand of the evil shepherd, and give them good shepherds who will nurse them back to health.
There are some of the flock of the Lord that are missing, because the hired hand will not bring them back. When the Lord takes the flock away from the evil shepherd and places them in the care of His Ambassadors, missing sheep will never again be a problem.
Examine yourselves, Overseers of the church! Are you committing evil against the flock of God? They are not yours, they belong to the Lord. They have only been entrusted to you, to nourish, and guide, and care for.
There have been many who have at one time been in the fold and have wandered off. Search your heart! Have they wandered off due to your lack of attention? You are to restore such a one, even if they did not become lost through any fault of your own.
There are those who are in the fold right now, who need special treatment, extra attention, and additional time. Are you neglecting them? Are you practicing spiritual triage? Brothers, this should not be!
There are also lambs of God who have never been in the fold. Are you going out into the highways and byways, searching for them, and pleading with them to be reconciled to God?
Do not think, brothers and sisters, that this message is only for the overseers. It is not just for the church administrators. Each of you are Ambassadors of Christ. Each of you has been called to share the Gospel of Christ with the world, and to restore those who fall away.
Missionaries may go into the farthest reaches of the world, but you are all missionaries! We have been called to be Ambassadors, and there are many fields in your own cities that need to be harvested. Some are ripe already, but do not harvest only these alone. There are others that will require extra attention. They will need watered, and fertilized, and cared for. Do not judge them unworthy of the spiritual treatment of the Word of God and His Holy Spirit! Do not pass them by. Do not leave them for dead.
The Priest did this. The Levite did this. The Samaritan was God's example to us of how we should be, when he stopped to nurse the dying man.
Remember, the Lord reconciled us to him when we were still His enemies! If He loved us this much when we were not only lost, but enemies of Him, then his love for us is unfathomable, indeed. As Ambassadors, we are extensions of God. We are to have the same love for others that He has. This love is what will identify us as His Ambassadors.
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. It keeps on keeping on. It asks and keeps on asking; seeks and keeps on seeking; knocks and keeps on knocking; prays and keeps on praying; cares and keeps on caring; loves and keeps on loving. It does not practice triage.

I have one more thing to say to you before I go. Consider the promises of God: He who seeks will certainly find; he who knocks will truly have his door opened; and he who asks will most definitely receive.
If there is a lost lamb out there trying to find his way home, seeking after righteousness, the Lord is faithful and just, and will send someone to that seeking soul.
How foolish to believe that someone may be lost because we were too busy being about the work of the Lord that we were called to! If we are busy elsewhere, showing a lost lamb the way home, the Lord will surely send another Ambassador! To believe that a soul can be lost because we were not available to go to them, is to make ourselves more important than God who does the saving, and shortens His arm!
Who are we, to believe that we are so important that God cannot save souls without us?

Truly, I say unto you, if a person is seeking after righteousness, the Lord will send an Ambassador to them with the gospel of truth!

Cornelius was a righteous man. He sought after the Lord and gave in offerings. The Lord sent Simon Peter to him, who spoke the Word of the Gospel to the saving of him and his house!

The Ethiopian eunuch worshipped God, and was looking into the things of the Lord, trying to make sense of the Word of God. The Lord sent Philip to him to explain the Word of God to him more clearly. As a result, the eunuch was baptized.

Those who seek will find! The Lord will send aid to those who need it. With triage, we abandon those we deem to be an inch from death, and give aid only to those who are an inch from life! But these who are an inch from life, who are already seeking after the things of the Lord, are sure to be ministered to by God's Ambassadors. The Lord Himself will see to it!
So these people are in no danger of being lost! The Lord will send someone to them with the saving power of His Word. We don't have to worry about these people dying off while we are working with someone in more critical shape. If we are busy, the Lord will send someone else. It is His promise!
Do you see the absurdity, brothers and sisters? To say, "I cannot work with the one who is an inch from death, because if I do, the one who is an inch from life may perish," is nonsense! The masquerade of Satan sounds good, it looks good. But if you will inspect it closely, and compare it to the Word of God, it completely falls apart!
Triage says to only help those who are almost saved. Jesus says that He will take care of those. Indeed, sometimes we may be the one sent. But these are not the ones we are to seek out and find.
These who are an inch from life will be found by the Lord, and He will make sure that they are attended to. Rather, we should be seeking out those who are an inch from death, the ones that need special care, the ones that the system of triage would say to leave behind.
If we work only with those who are closest to salvation, the ones who are already righteous before the Lord, then are we toiling for the Lord? Are we fellow laborers in Christ? We are the spiritual equivalent of a white collar worker who sits at his desk and types out a few letters, while the blue collar workers do the dirty, heavy, shepherding work.
This is discrimination, and those who take part in it are lawbreakers. This is the practice of going only to the rich, the ones who are not an inch from death, but an inch from life.
What about your calling? What about going into the streets and alleys, calling the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame to the banquet of God?

Brothers and sisters, we have been called to be Ambassadors of Christ, not soldiers. We are to fearlessly proclaim the Gospel of Christ unto all men, and keep proclaiming it. We are to have the heart of the Shepherd. As Ambassadors, the words we speak, the actions we perform, and the attitude we have is not to be our own, for we are to die out to our flesh, but they are to be of our Father in heaven.
The words that we speak are not ours, but our Father's who speaks through us. The things we accomplish are not done through our own power, but through the power of the Father who lives within us. Our will is not to be done, but only the will of our Father.
We are Ambassadors of a Shepherd, and when others look at us, they need to see the Father, who is in us. That means we take on His Spirit, His heart, His righteousness, and His love.
We are simply extensions of the Father. We are His Body. If we are not reflections of Him, then we fool ourselves into thinking that we have any part of Him at all.
I would encourage you to examine your lives. Are you the Ambassador that you have been called to be? Or have you been the hired hand?
Our Father loves all of those who are still lost in sin. How can they hear His gospel unless we go to them and proclaim it?
Our Father cares for His sheep, having already laid down His life for them. Are you treating your brother or sister right, understanding that they are the Lord's property? Are you ministering to them with all of your heart, mind, soul, and strength?
Are you judging others, to determine whether or not they are worthy of your attention, instead of ministering to them in mercy?

When the Lord returns, will He find faith on this earth? Will He find a Body, a Church of Ambassadors who were not afraid to acknowledge Him before the nations of this world? Will He find a holy nation of Believers with the heart of a shepherd, who will plead with Him to hold off His judgement so that more souls may be saved?
Truly, I say unto you, many will say to the Lord in that day, "Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?"
And the Lord will say unto them, "I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me. For whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me. I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers! Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels."

His heart is a Shepherd's heart. As His Ambassadors, our own carnal hearts are supposed to be dead, and the only heart we have is His.
I urge you, as saints of God, to examine your hearts. Are you shepherds, or are you hired hands?

When the Lord returns, may He be able to count you among the ones who kept their lamps full of oil and their garments clean. May the grace and the peace of God be with you, and may He richly bless you abundantly above and beyond that which you are able to hold.

In Christ,

Chad J. McCoy
Dark Savant Ministries

Back