Mass Evangelistic Crusades Spread Mass Deception and Confusion

Inherent in the mass evangelistic crusade is the mentality that Christians can be mass produced through a single meeting or short series of meetings. Evangelism events which operate with this mentality (even if they don’t end up drawing massive crowds) are among the greatest opposition to genuine Biblical evangelism.

All evangelism which implies that the new birth in Christ is a quick transaction involves irresponsibility to the max. Only those who don’t have due regard for God’s authority to be vindicated, no care for righteousness to prevail in man, and no care that people would actually reconcile with God on His terms would think that a massive group of people could just be brought to life in Christ in a drive by, assembly line manner by filling a venue for a production involving a sermon or a few sermons by a persuasive orator (who often even resorts to shaming those in attendance for not cooperating with the production by coming to the altar when called to). And that is the spirit of mass evangelistic crusades- as well as much else that happens under the label of Christian evangelism. Such robs God of the worship He is due and treats people like cattle to be led off to slaughter in the name of statistics, reputation, and likely money (since so many foolishly give based on reported statistics).

Many mass crusade evangelists lie by trying to attach Christ to promises of healing and prosperity. Combined with the mass excitement which they generate through psychologically manipulative methods, is it any wonder that these people often get many hundreds of thousands or a million or more alleged decisions for Christ at their meetings? People who are desperate for hope or want a sense of community will also repeat a prayer when induced to do so by a charismatic sounding salesman and false evangelist. That is even more the case when you have the celebrity appeal of someone like Billy Graham to persuade people to comply with an altar call and sinner’s prayer routine. Mass crusade evangelism has been very successful (for its corrupt ends) in 3rd world nations where the drawing power of some rich American or European evangelist holds extra weight. And by the way: Billy Graham literally has a star on the Hollywood walk of fame- because he was a friend of the world and the world loves its own.

Those who try to preach Christ make things worse in several ways when they compromise truth and cut corners to try to reach people. It would really be better then if they didn’t try to evangelize at all. And though it is a sin to want to be loved by masses of people, those who insist on pursuing public notice and attention would be better off trying to achieve those things in the secular realm. At least then they wouldn’t be a major hindrance to the cause of Christ and they would not make things much harder for those who actually seek to evangelize faithfully. This rebuke from Jesus to the Scribes and Pharisees apples so well to the mass crusade evangelist.

Matthew 23:15: “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte (i.e. to make a convert), and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.”

The great multitude who came to Christ in Acts chapter 2 and 3 had (at least many of them) seen Jesus in the flesh and were there when He was crucified. They had seen His miracles, heard Him preach, and (above all) they had already had a basic Biblical understanding of the implications of the authority of the Messiah and what it means to believe in Him. And consider this: There could very well have been hundreds of thousands of Jewish men in Jerusalem at that time- since all Jewish men were required to come to Jerusalem for the feasts of Passover, Pentecost (which was the feast happening during Acts chapter 2), and Tabernacles. The percentage who became believers in Christ in the Book of Acts would actually be considered very disappointing to many who believe in mass evangelistic crusades (considering their compromised message, their manipulative methods, and their overall degraded understanding of what it is to repent and believe in Jesus on Biblical terms).

Anyone who would point to Jonah with the Ninevites in Jonah chapter 3 to defend mass evangelistic crusades is only bringing up an opportunity to point out how opposite the cheering, raucous environments at the mass evangelistic crusades are in comparison to the genuine repentance displayed by the Ninevites as a result of Jonah going through Nineveh preaching. Jonah didn’t rent a building, he had no advertising, he had no entertainment, he didn’t have decision cards, he didn’t resort to hype nor other psychologically manipulative methods, and he didn’t offer to wrap things up nice and neat through an altar call and sinner’s prayer routine (like the Apostles in the Book of Acts also did not; and totally unlike the mass crusade evangelists who usually or always don’t know how to conduct a meeting without employing this routine). Jonah only had a message of judgment which he delivered on foot. Jesus used the example of the Ninevites when He spoke of true repentance which actually prepares people well for Judgment Day. The normal environment of the mass evangelistic crusade militates against people actually fearing God and repenting like the Ninevites. Can you imagine Jonah using music, dimming the lights, using hype, smooth talking, other emotional manipulation, altar calls, and/or enticing people into saying the sinner’s prayer as he went through Nineveh? Then don’t do such things or be involved in such things or endorse such things either.