David,

Your description of many people in churches, is very frightening.

They diligently taught the Bible since their youth, yet many had never been saved.

That was true in the days of Jonathan Edwards.

Also, he mentioned that a number of preachers were in the same condition.

The problem doesn't appear to be the Bible teaching, but the lack of preaching.

Convicting preaching, dealing with the soul, the heart, and the gospel, is missing today.

It was missing in Jonathan Edwards' day.

When he began to preach, like his "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God", things changed.

People couldn't simply sit there.

They were forced by the conviction to either get saved or to know that they were not & yet resist.

That doesn't happen like that during teaching classes.

Preaching forces us to face some truth about ourselves, and forces us to decide one way or another.

Under sound preaching, we can't simply bench warm, we can only forsake, fight, or flee.

I would hope to God that I would not fight the Holy Ghost during that kind of preaching.

I would hope to God that I would not flee from the Holy Ghost during that kind of preaching.

However, I desperately need to be under that kind of Holy Ghost preaching.

From what you wrote, I would gather, so do many, many more, besides me.

Also, you mentioned, correctly, that Jesus is the truth, as he said in John 14:6.

However, he also said to the Father, that the actual words are truth, as well:

John 17:17 ¶ Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

Thank you,

Gino