One of the squirmiest (to coin a word) moments for many public evangelists is the moment the identity of Daniel's little horn is unveiled. We often apologize for what we're about to say with a statement like this: "Now remember, we're talking about a system and not the people."   The motivation for those kinds of statements it is right - but I've often wished for a better approach. I'm not convinced it's really that simple to separate people from their churches.   

For years, however, I used this "systems, not people" approach when preaching Daniel 7 - for lack of something better. It mostly worked, but I craved a smoother onramp for my audience. And interestingly, it was Daniel himself who finally gave me the answer.

If you haven't read it in a while, go back and read Daniel's prayer in the ninth chapter. "O Lord, great and awesome God," he prays, "who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who love Him, and with those who keep His commandments, we have sinned and committed iniquity, we have done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from Your precepts and Your judgments." (Daniel 9:4,5)

We? Was Daniel personally guilty of the sins that led to the Babylonian captivity? His young age at the time of the Jerusalem conquest and the sterling character portrayed in inspiration would suggest not - and yet Daniel claims the sins of Israel as his own. He has a corporate mentality. He stands with the sinful human race as someone in need of divine grace and forgiveness, even though he is not personally responsible for those particular sins.

I was not party to the atrocities committed by Christians in the Middle Ages, and yet I am a Christian, and a sinner. I may not have condemned heretics to the pyre, but there is no question I have committed sins against the God of heaven. Christians are my family; I am one of them.

It was the key was I looking for.  I still give the audience the identifying marks of the little horn as I always have. The audience is not stupid; they know exactly what the Bible is identifying.  But as I conclude my first presentation on the subject, I never single out a specific denomination. Asking the audience not to say anything for a moment (unfortunately, to keep some of our own members from blurting out something insensitive), I conclude with a statement that goes something like this:

"You know who this is, don't you? It's us. This is describing our Christian history during the Dark Ages. It's one of the reasons I'm convinced that the Bible is more than just religious propaganda, because propaganda would try to cover up human atrocities. But God is honest enough and loves us enough to show us what we're really like.   He warned us in advance where we'd go if we quit following Christ.   And the whole world knows we did this stuff - skeptics use it to scoff at the Bible and at Christianity - so it's about time we admitted it, apologized for it, and started living as if we really were following Jesus Christ."

And that's it. I can afford to get far more specific in later presentations, when we deal with the Mark of the Beast, and I call people to actually become part of the Seventh-day Adventist church.  At that point, huge bridges of trust will have been built. But when first approaching the subject, I stand with the audience in a moment of corporate self-examination.  I am one of them.  There was no Seventh-day Adventist church during the 1260-year prophetic period, after all. We were all there. We are all guilty, and we are all called to repent.

Daniel's sense of corporate identity is a powerful evangelistic tool: I have yet to hear a guest protest or express feelings of hurt. The facts of history are hard to deny, and if we all lay claim to our tarnished Christian history together, it's hard to for individual people to feel singled out.  We are calling them to join us in repenting of sin.

 

How to Participate in Best Practices for Evangelism

We need your help!!!

 

Each month, we'll include editorials and articles that share or illustrate key evangelistic principles.  We'll bring you news about evangelistic projects and initiatives from across the Division. We'll hear from pastors in the trenches who have discovered solutions to common problems, and we'll take time to share our best outreach ideas with each other.

 

The best ideas always come from the front lines; tell about the ideas/tools/tips that have helped improve your evangelistic outreach.  

 

Find out how to contribute to the discussion here.

 

Church Finds its Mission in Economic Downturn

 

 

Something spectacular happens when 44 sites in one city come together to proclaim the gospel message of Jesus Christ.  Restore DFW, an evangelistic event that involved Seventh-day Adventist churches from across the Greater Dallas area blanketed the ninth largest US city with messages of hope and restoration.  

 

You've really got to check out what God is doing in Texas!  Read about this incredible initiative at our ministerial website.