I remember in Pentecostal / Charismatic circles, there was a very popular terminology used to get people to march lock, stock, and barrell to conform to “God” which later turned out to be personal opinion grossly mistaken for Godly theology. This was commonly referred to as:
You’re Gonna Miss Out…
This was most of the time used to describe either the last great end-times revival or in the local church, the blessings from the next revival meeting pre-scheduled if one failed to conformed to ‘the rules (both verbal and unspoken)’ . As I remembered this, I had to ask myself this question:
Where is this ‘You’re Gonna Miss Out…’ mentality in the Bible?
And I found my answer,
Nowhere
Another example of pragmatism in action
Ah, I remember that one. I used to be worried I’d miss out on the revival/ the move of the holy spirit/ blessings/ etc etc.
heh!
oh so familiar with this.
I remember sitting in the sanctuary, miserable, while the rest of the congregation marched in victory laps around the altar. I was one of the few lousy wretches who couldn’t “feel the spirit of God moving”. I did not think it was God then, and I still don’t now, years later. It was a bunch of people who got themselves all fired up with a lot of words and loud music, like a pep rally.
But even though I knew that on one level, on another I felt like a total failure because I was “missing out” on “the blessing”. It’s very hard to crawl out from under that kind of thinking…
And then there’s the ultimate “You’re Gonna Miss Out” scare job:
Don’t be LEFT BEHIND!