Originally published in Christian Today
Todd White has publicly repented for his failure to preach the whole Gospel, and called on the American Church not to avoid the issues of sin and repentance.
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The Lifestyle Christianity leader delivered a heartfelt message at the weekend, explaining that he felt God revealed to him the importance of preaching on sin, and man’s need for a saviour.
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White, a former drug addict who has turned his life around to become a passionate evangelist, has said: “If people don’t know they’re sinners, they won’t see their need for a Savior. This is hard for people. This is hard for me, because I feel like I haven’t preached the whole Gospel. And I repent. I repent. You have no idea. I will not be responsible. I believe that when I preach that the blood of people is on my hands.”
The Watauga, Texas-based pastor continued: “I’m convicted. I am not perfect but I am strongly convicted. I feel like I just met Jesus again.
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“There’s just this rekindled thing inside of me. This has been the hardest season of my life. I’m like, ‘Lord, what are you doing?’ He said ‘I’m pruning every branch that you have.’ I’m like, ‘It’s not OK. It hurts.’ And He said, ‘If you were dead, it wouldn’t hurt. There are parts of you that need to die, so I’m going to kill them.'”
White in the past has been criticised in some quarters for preaching a prosperity gospel. However, he appeared to say in his Sunday message that he believes God is “correcting” him for his failure to preach the whole Gospel.
He said that the works of famous theologians and preachers Charles Spurgeon and Ray Comfort have been “rocking” him. He said, “When you come into the Gospel because you come in for a better life, you’ve come in for the wrong Gospel.”When you come to Jesus because He’s going to give you this and give you this, you really didn’t surrender.”
He added, “We have to somehow get to people and not just promise them a better flight. Am I the only one that’s convicted to the core? This isn’t legalism, it’s the truth. There is a day of wrath coming. It’s no joke.
“We have to know that we’ve sinned against God. I saw this when I got saved. And for some reason, it’s taken me 16 years to explain it. And I feel like I’ve just seen something completely brand new. What I won’t ever do is take the miraculous out of the Gospel. It’s a miracle that I can come to Jesus through all my junk and all my sin and Him say, ‘Not guilty.’ That’s a miracle.”
White went on to speak about the Church in America, saying that it had largely “overlooked” the reality of sin, and mankind’s need for a saviour.
He said: “The Gospel brings conviction. Righteousness is the answer. I want to be convicted of sin, leave my sin, leave that, and enter into being convicted of righteousness. That’s the goal of the Gospel.
“What is the sign of repentance? That you hate sin. Your goal as a Christian is to be conformed into His image, is to be transformed into His image, into His likeness, and to actually walk like Christ walked.
“Jesus didn’t despise sinners, but He hated sin and He addressed it all the time. He said words like ‘sinners’ to people that were in sin. Yet He loved them and everybody followed Him. What has flip-flopped in the Church today?”
The preacher reminded listeners that one day, everyone will “face the Lord”.
He said, “I’ve been going through it, buddy. I’ve been in a new place to bring the reality of the law into a witness, to show a person their need for grace
“How can you want to be found if you don’t know you’re lost? How can you want to see if you don’t know you’re blind? How can you want to live if you don’t know that you’re dead?”
Highlighting that the free will given to us by God should not be abused, he said: “We do not have a license to live however we want. That’s not true. That’s not the Gospel. We live like Christ, we be imitators of God.
“If we don’t see that we sinned against a holy God, there really can’t be repentance, and that’s it. Totally different. Who is this Todd guy? This Todd guy got hammered by the Lord. He’s still doing. It’s a hammering and pruning and it’s a good thing. He loves me. We’re about to step into something beautiful and wonderful.
“We have to get it right, our foundation has to be completely solid, and there can’t be any holes. This is the Gospel.”
Love this, also experiencing this throughout the lockdown period, God is pruning away what keeps me away from desperately seeking only Him. It’s so hard but I know He wants me spotless.