Ambassadors

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  REGARDING           Ambassadors



The following is a letter I wrote to another list I'm on.  I thought I'd
submit it
here and ask if y'all had any thoughts......


Praise the Lord all,

	The question has come up my mind as to what our role is in 
evangelism and the stickey issue of conflicting "ideas."  I thought 
about it, and thought about it, and I finally figured it out...I needed 
to pray about it.  When I prayed about it, a word finally came to to 
me: ambassador.  Let me start at the beginning.

	When faced with the doctrine of Jesus Christ, the carnal 
mind will ask this question:  why should I change when what I have 
(doctrine) is just as good what the Christian has?  In other words, if 
what I believe is equally as valid as the Christian doctrine and this 
evangelist doesn't challenge it, why should I change?  I'm not 
suggesting that souls be condemned, or disrespected, but as 
ambassadors for Christ, we can't misrepresent the Gospel.  We 
cannot tell a person who is outside the body of Christ something that
presents a false impression of what it is like in the body of Christ, or 
what it takes to be in the body of Christ.  If we water down the 
message, if we don't portray Christ's message truthfully, we are not 
being faithful to our calling.  At best, we're not being true, and at 
worst, we're being dishonest.  This is a question about how we 
represent Christ.  

	Eph 6:20 "For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that 
therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak."

	An ambassador's job is to communicate the intentions, and 
the positions of his home country's head of state to another head of 
state, or to another ambassador.  When he speaks, he speaks with the 
AUTHORITY invested in him BY that head of state.  He speaks with the voice of
his country and all that it stands for.  For this reason, he is 
APPOINTED by the head of that country, because the ambassador 
must REFLECT the will of that head.  He must reflect his head's 
WILL.  If he is not EXACTLY TRUE to the intentions and positions 
of his head of state, a foreign country can mis-read the truth and dire 
consequences can follow.

	Allow me an example: right before Operation Desert Sheild,
Ambassador April Glaspie had a meeting with Saddam Hussein.  
During that meeting, Saddam addressed the issue of his dispute with
Kuwait over the siphoning of oil from his fields, and Iraq's alleged 
claim to Kuwait being historically Iraqi territory.  He probed
Ambassador Glaspie for President Bush's response to his threats to the 
Kuwait's regime.  It is then alleged that Glaspie hedged, and didn't 
communicate the fact that America had a strategic interest in not 
letting one country gain too much dominance over the oil trade, etc, 
etc.  In addition, it is alleged that she communicated that this was "an 
internal Arab dispute," an argument between cousins, as it were.  

	This has a specific meaning in that part of the world.  What 
that meant to Saddam was that he could do as he wished and the U.S. 
would not get involved.  What followed was a disaster of epic 
proportions, regardless of one's political stance on the situation.  One 
half million U.S. troops were in a foreign land, tens of thousands of 
Iraqi died and there was the near advent of WW III.

	As an aside, I wasn't saved at the time, and I was shaken and 
a nervous wreck, because I "knew" this was Aramageddon, and I 
"knew" I was going to hell, no questions asked.  As I looked around at 
people on the street, I wondered how everyone could just walk around 
not being concerned that bible prophecy was being fufilled.  Look up 
the word "surreal".  I promise you I felt like I was in the "Twilight 
Zone."  It was that wierd.  Anyway....

	If we do not communicate our head's (Christ) message, we 
risk giving someone the impression that they can procede boldly right 
into the mouth of hell and do battle with an enemy they cannot defeat 
without the full armor of God.  Or worse, we may let them believe 
there is no battle to be had.  If we do not represent our Lord's full 
gospel to the sinner, we fail, and another soul can go to perdition.  We 
cannot be mild in our defense of Jesus being the embodiment of the 
One True God, we cannot apologize for the Bible being the inspired 
word of God, and we cannot de-emphasize the need for repentence of 
sin, baptism in His name and holy living.  We must love our carnal 
brothers (and sisters) enough to tell them the truth so that they may 
become our spiritual brethren.  

	We have been elected by God (1 Thess 1:4) to represent Him
and His word.  We've been commanded to teach all the world about
Him (Matt. 28:19), and to be His ambassadors (Eph 6:20).  We need
to do it faithfully!

	And when they do become brethren in Christ, you can be sure 
that there will be no hard feelings, no memories of how intolerant you
were, or how self-righteous you acted.  The Holy Ghost will convict 
them of the truth, instead of the lies of the devil telling them that 
you're condemning them.   There will only be a memory of how you 
loved them enough to tell them the truth of God, and a feeling of 
gratefulness that you persisted against the lies of this world.

	I pray that this note is taken in the spirit in which it is 
given.  It is being given in the love of Christ who looked at me, and 
when even in my sin and my rebellion He loved me enough to forgive me.  
It is also the same love that brought an ambassador to my home who 
loved me enough to tell me I was a sinner, and to use the word to show 
me I was a sinner, even though the world thought me upstanding and 
righteous.

Until He Comes,
Bro. Steven 
-- 


Romans 8:28 - "And we know that ALL things work together for GOOD, to
THEM THAT LOVE GOD, for THOSE WHO ARE CALLED according to HIS PURPOSE."
Do you love Him?  Are you working for His purpose?  If you are, it's
gonna be allllllright!!  If not, e-mail me and I can tell you how God
can put peace in your life, and set you free!!