Jentezen Franklin - Totter To The Slaughter
I wanna welcome you to a very special edition of Kingdom Connection. I'm coming to you from the beautiful city of Jerusalem. Behind me is the Temple Mount. Behind me is the area where Jesus Christ hung on that cross and paid the ultimate price for our sins and for us to have eternal life. And I wanna talk to you today - maybe I'm gonna bring a message that's not popular and one that seems kinda heavy. As a matter of fact, it might be the heaviest message that I've ever preached in a setting like this. But I had the Lord deal with me about preaching this message.
And it's from Proverbs 24, and I wanna read it to you. It's a message to Christians. It's a message to believers. It says this Proverbs 24:11, "Deliver those who are drawn toward death", in other words, those who are going into eternity. Those who are going to the grave, "deliver them", and hold back, "those who totter to the slaughter". One translation said, "who stumble to the slaughter". If you say, "We didn't know this, and we didn't know we were supposed to do anything", then he says, "Does not God who judges weigh the heart, and will He not render to each man according to his deeds"? There's a crime being committed. It's the world's greatest crime. It's not a crime being committed by criminals or gangsters. It's a crime that I believe can only be committed by Christians, believers. It's the crime of what the Bible calls "forbearing".
He said, "If you forbear, if you see people tottering to the slaughter, stumbling to the slaughter, going into eternity lost without God, and you don't carry a burden, and you don't ever witness, and you don't ever share who Jesus Christ is with these people", he said, "You're forbearing". The crime of forbearing means not reaching. Doing nothing about the lost all around us. The perishing all around us. Did you know that 125.000 people die a day, who do not profess to know Jesus Christ? Today, 125.000 souls perished and went into eternity, and they did not know Jesus Christ as their savior. A soul that is suffering. A soul that is screaming, and weeping, and begging.
The greatest crime is when Christians let it happen and don't share who Jesus is. I'm saying to you today that Jesus has no way to save the world except by us. Jesus said, "You are the light of the world". Jesus said, "Go into all the world and preach this gospel". What gospel? "That I bled, that I died, that I came, and I lived, and I rose from the dead. And I have paid the penalty for your sin". He said, "You're the light. Go into all the world and preach the gospel". But the challenge is, when He gave that commandment, there are nine times more people living who have not heard the gospel today, than ever before. And the number one responsibility of the church is to evangelize the lost.
Jesus Christ said, "I have a prayer request". You wanna know what Jesus' prayer request is? He said, "Pray to the Lord of the harvest that He would send forth laborers to reap the harvest", because people are perishing, and people are lost. He said, "deliver those who are drawn away to death". Listen to the words, this is what got me, "Who totter". Stumble. "They totter to the slaughter". What a verbiage. What a phrase. What a mental picture of people by the multitudes, daily; 125.000 a day, according to the latest statistics, who do not know Jesus, totter to the slaughter. Die, and go into eternity, and they do not know the Lord. And He said, "Hey, you who know who I am, hold them back. Tell them".
That's the startling reality. Who are those who totter to the slaughter? They're the young. They're the teenagers. They're a new generation that have not heard the name of Jesus. The story of Jesus. Who are those who totter to the slaughter? The elderly. Those in the rest homes. Those in the prisons. Those who are sitting in high offices, and those who are powerful, and rich, and wealthy, and have everything, and yet they have nothing. What does it profit a man if he gains the world and loses his soul? 138.000 more people are in the world today that were not in the world yesterday. Two million more people by next Sunday. 52 million people every year come into the world who have not heard the gospel of Jesus Christ, and they totter to the slaughter.
If we linked all of the people together who do not know Jesus Christ and asked them to join hands, they would completely encircle the globe. The line is growing 20 miles a day of people who are tottering to the slaughter. If all of the births could be stopped, and all of the deaths could be stopped, and we could freeze time, at the rate that we're winning the world, it would take us a hundred years, according to one person who studied this.
A hundred years just to win the lost now. Why? Because we're not winning people like we should. We're not sharing. We're not evangelizing. We're allowing people - we're forbearing, as the text said. We're not reaching the souls. It's good, and it's wonderful, we think, that churches - and I think the reason we don't share our own testimony and evangelize anymore is because we think it's the preacher's job. But it's everybody's job. It's your job. Every Christian is a minister. Every Christian is to share their story. The startling reality is they're tottering to the slaughter.
He said in verse 11, "If you forbear, if you see them tottering to the slaughter, stumbling to the slaughter, and you don't hold them back from their doom, you're guilty of the world's greatest crime". There was a man in Texas, who, many years ago, who was condemned because of a horrible crime. He was condemned to die on death row by the execution - of being electrocuted in the electric chair. And back then, if there was a chance for the person to receive a pardon from the Governor - if the Supreme Court said, "No, stop, we wanna study this case", they would call by telephone. And the warden of the prison was in a side room. And they strapped the man into the electric chair, this is a true story, and the phone call came from the Governor, "Stop the execution. Stop it now. They believed that this should be overturned".
But the story is told that warden of that prison didn't have any urgency. He just kinda fiddled around. He just kinda didn't take the message that was so vital to this man, this prisoner's life. He just took his time. He just kinda casually walked. And by the time he got there, it was too late. Even though he had a message that could've saved the man's life, it was too late, and the man died. The warden had the message that could've saved the prisoner's life, but he kept silent.
Your father, your mother, your brother, your sister, your friends, your colleagues - they don't have to die lost, without God. Our cities, these nations - they don't have to die lost, and totter to the slaughter, and go into eternity without God. If you say behold, we knew it not, you know it now. And I know this is a strong message, but sometimes we need to hear strong messages. Deuteronomy 32:22 said, "The wicked go to the lowest hell". Job 26 said, "Hell is a bottomless pit". Psalms 55 said, "The wicked die instantly and go to hell. The only hope is the gospel. The only hope is Jesus. The only hope is forgiveness of sin. And even the chief ones", the scripture said, "the famous, the kings, they go to a place that's called hell". Money can't help you. Fame can't help you. They're tottering to the slaughter, and somebody's gotta be bold enough to tell 'em about Jesus.
Ezekiel 3, I believe, is where I wanna end this little message. Because it's really an amazing verse in Ezekiel 3. He said, "Son of man, I have made you a watchman over the house of Israel. Therefore hear the words from My mouth and the warnings from Me". Listen now, carefully: He said, "When you say to the wicked, 'You shall surely die', and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from their wicked way to save his life, that same wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood will be required at your hand". In other words, "I've set you as a watchman. And if you know people who are lost and dying without God, and you don't pray for 'em, and you don't witness"...
We do have a responsibility; this is not all just a "bless me" book, but He said, "I want you to stop them from tottering to the slaughter". And He said, "If you tell them, if you preach to them the old rugged cross. If you tell them there's a savior named Jesus, and He loves them, and He said, 'Come unto me, all you who are weary and heavy laden.' If you will tell them the message of Jesus taking our sins, and bearing them in His body, dying on the cross, and raising up three days and if they'll believe in Me, I can save them". And He said, "You know what? If they deny that message, their blood is on their hands". But He said, "If you don't share that message with them, and I tell you to share it with them, their blood will be on your hands".
And I told the Lord many years ago when He called me to preach, "I don't want bloody hands. That whatever I do and wherever I go, I am here today to exalt Jesus Christ and to tell you that you need a savior. That if you don't know Him as your Lord and Savior, you are tottering to the slaughter. That Jesus has paid the price for you to be cleansed and to be forgiven". You can have peace in your soul. You can know that it is well with your soul. You can know that your name is written in the Book of Life, and that you have eternal life.
And I wanna invite you today on this telecast to hear my cry, number one, and if you don't know Jesus as your Savior, to accept Him. And number two, to accept the responsibility to stand as a watchman on the wall. And even while I'm preaching live here, I hear the Muslim prayer towers going off. They're not ashamed to, on loud speakers, to cry out and promote their God. And we have a Name that is above every Name; the name of Jesus. And He said... listen to that. They're not ashamed. Why are we ashamed? Why are we hiding from the mighty name of Jesus a lost and dying world? Today is the day of salvation. And if you need Jesus as your Lord and Savior today, there's a number on the screen that you can call. Dial that number, and we're gonna pray with you. As a matter of fact, while that's going on there, this is gonna happen in your life. The name of Jesus is a strong tower, and you can run in it and be saved. So right where you are, just say:
Lord Jesus, I receive You as my Savior. Cleanse me. Forgive me. The blood of Jesus cleanses me from all of my sins. I receive eternal life. I receive Yeshua, Jesus Christ the Messiah, as my Lord and Savior.
And now I wanna pray for your loved ones. Many of you are listening to me, and maybe your child is in another religion. Maybe they're following no religion. Maybe they've gone off to university somewhere and threw away the faith that they were raised in. But I'm telling you that there is power in the name of Jesus today to break every demonic power.
We're gonna pray. We're gonna pray today for your lost loved ones. And let's agree together in Jesus' name that they shall be saved. And I'm gonna ask God to give you boldness to begin to share the gospel like never before.
Father, today I pray for those who are lost. I pray for those who need Jesus. I pray for those, Lord - family members, sons and daughters, and husbands and wives, and moms and dads, and grandchildren that are - that as I preach this message, people have been moved to utter their name in prayer. May we see a mighty move of salvation. May we reap the harvest. And may we have a boldness to preach Jesus. Testify of Jesus. Wherever we are, and wherever we go. In Jesus' mighty name.
If you believe in the message that we're preaching today, and you believe it needs to go around the world, that it needs to invade these areas, this gospel that we're preaching - we translate these programs into Arabic. We translate these programs into many different languages, and they go all over the world. And by satellite, the miracle of satellite, the gospel is being preached. And that's what it's gonna come down to - is do you know Jesus as your Lord and Savior? "Every knee shall bow, every tongue shall confess that Jesus is Lord".
And if you prayed that prayer today - if you need prayer for your family, go to the phone, or go online, and let us know. Send us an email or call the number that's on the screen. We would love to hear from you.
We're very involved in ministries that are taking place right here, and we wanna make sure that it's a balanced involvement. That we're doing a lot of wonderful, wonderful ministry that I believe is fulfilling Genesis 12. That God will bless those who bless Israel.
We're helping victims of terrorism, and we're gonna share with you some of the amazing things that you and I together can do to bless the people. To comfort the people. Isaiah 40, I believe, is a mandate for this ministry now. "Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people". And I believe that God has raised this ministry up to be a comfort to the people of Israel, especially in the time of terror like they're facing down on the border.