Directory of Contemporary Worship Musicians - Way of Life Literature

there. ... I had been reading about Jesus and feeling him in myheart, but at that moment I actually experienced his touch. Iknew it was Jesus” (Troubadour for the Lord, p. 46).He says, “From then on, I began calling myself a Christianagain, though I didn’t understand Christian theology.”At this point he claims to have turned in a fundamentalistdirection, becoming a “Bible thumper.” He doesn’t say whatkind of “fundamentalism” it was, though. He says that he kepthis shoulder-length hair and was not committed to any onecongregation, so it is hard to say what he was involved with. Itsounds like it was his own sort of “fundamentalism” that hedevised from various sources. He describes the experienceonly in negative terms, saying that he became skeptical of anyother religion, was ready with a Scripture for any question orproblem, and considered the Catholic Church “the greatwhore of Babylon.”He looks back on all of that as a negative thing, but inreality it is the way of truth, which is very strict and narrow.e Psalmist said, “erefore I esteem all thy preceptsconcerning all things to be right; and I hate every falseway” (Psa. 119:128).He says that when he visited friends he would “come on likea Bible thumper, condemning their life-styles and spitting outScripture verses to make my point. I scared them to death! Iknow they were thinking, ‘Hey, John boy, you’ve changed.You’re not the loving, patient friend you were before.’ Andthey were absolutely right” (Troubadour for the Lord, p. 63).is is a strange way to describe what was happening,unless there is something he is not telling us. Perhaps hewasn’t kind and humble with his friends. If so, the problemwas with him and not with “fundamentalism” and not with a“Bible-thumping” approach. It is definitely not wrong toquote Scripture and to warn people that they need to be savedbefore it is too late. e Lord Jesus Christ preached frequentlyon hell in the most forceful of terms (e.g., Mark 9:43-48).352