The Need
by Andy Lapins

I would like to begin this article by quoting a portion of a book written by Dr. S.I. McMillen called None of These Diseases.

"Vienna was also famous as a medical center. Let us look in on one of the famous teaching hospitals of that day, Allegemeine Krakenhaus. In the maternity wards of this celebrated hospital, one out of every six women died, and this frightening mortality rate was similar in other hospitals around the world. The obstetricians ascribed the deaths to constipation, delayed lactation, fear and poisonous air.

When the women died, they were wheeled into the autopsy room. The first order of each morning was the entrance of the physicians and medical students into the morgue to perform autopsies on the unfortunate victims who had died during the preceding twenty-four hours. Afterward, without cleansing their hands, the doctors with their retinue of students marched into the maternity wards to make pelvic examinations on the living women. Of course no rubber gloves were worn.

In the early 1840’s…a young doctor named Ignaz Semmelweis was given charge over one of the obstetrical wards. He observed that it was particularly the women who were examined by the teachers and students who became sick and died. After watching this heartbreaking situation for three years, he established a rule that, in his ward, every physician and medical student who had participated in the autopsies of the dead must carefully wash his hands before examining the living maternity patients.

In April, 1847, before the new rule went into effect, fifty-seven women had died in Dr. Semmelwies’ ward. Then the rule of washing the hands was instituted. In June, only one out of every forty-two women died; in July, only one out of every eighty-four. The statistics strongly indicated that fatal infections had been carried from corpses to living patients.

One day, after performing autopsies and washing their hands, the physicians and students entered the maternity ward and examined a row of beds containing twelve women. Eleven of the twelve women quickly developed temperatures and died.

Another new thought was born in Semmelweis’ alert brain: some mysterious element was evidently carried from one living patient to others, and with fatal consequences. Logically, Semmelweis ordered that everybody should wash his hands carefully after examining each living patient. Immediately howls of protest were raised against the ‘nuisance’ of washing, washing, washing – but the mortality rate went further down.

Was Semmelweis acclaimed by his fellows? On the contrary, lazy students, prejudiced obstetricians, and jealous superiors scorned and belittled him so much that his annual contract was not renewed. His successor threw out the wash basins and up shot the mortality rate to the old terrifying figures. Were his colleagues convinced then? Not at all! We mortals might as well face it – the human mind is so warped by pride and prejudice that proof can rarely penetrate it."

Based on time, experience and observation, Dr. Semmelweis instituted a procedure, though it required an increase of time and effort, was proven to have life saving results. Even though the positive benefits of this procedure were clearly evident, because of habit, pride and stubbornness to change, the procedure was abandoned and the needless loss of life increased dramatically. For various reasons, the doctors of that day did not sense a legitimate need for washing their hands before examining each patient.

Many of the decisions that we make are based on perceiving a need. If we do not sense and understand that we have a real need for something, we more than likely will not spend any time and effort thinking about it or trying to obtain whatever that may be.

It is very easy to make an evangelistic application of this tragic, yet true story. Around the turn of the century, the church of Jesus Christ forsook the use of the Law of God, the Ten Commandments, in their appeal to sinners. The Law wasn’t used any longer to convince people of their sins and drive them to Christ (Romans 3:19-20; Galatians 3:24). Since salvation from the wrath of God was no longer desirable to be used as the primary motivation for sinners coming to Christ, the church had to come up with another reason for sinners to respond to the Gospel. The motivation the church chose was that of life enhancement. The Gospel degenerated into, "God will give you love, joy peace and lasting happiness." Instead of compelling sinners to the cross by using the Law, the church began to try and woo the unconverted to Christ by dangling the benefits of Christianity before them. The church wanted to make evangelism as easy and enjoyable as possible, but in doing so, like in the story of Dr. Semmelweis, it also increased the spiritual mortality rate.

It has been well documented that approximately 80-90 of every 100 people who make "decisions" for Christ fall away from the faith a short time later. Modern evangelism, with its methods, is creating 80-90 "still borns" i.e. false conversions for every 100 people who respond to a salvation invitation. Most pastors, evangelists and Christians do not sense a legitimate need to clearly expose the sins of people through the use of the Law. Because of ignorance, pride and stubbornness to change we are finding people dead at our altars just like they did in the maternity wards in Vienna in the 1840s.

In Dr. Semmelweis’ situation, the doctors tried to blame the deaths on something other than themselves and their methods. The same tragic scenario is being played out in our churches today. Churches spend thousands of dollars on evangelistic outreaches and events and report hundreds, even thousands of "decisions" after such events. Yet most often it usually doesn’t take long for them to witness this 80-90% fall away rate after their efforts. But instead of evaluating themselves, their methods and their message, most people blame this tragedy on things such as bad follow-up procedures or the perception that you have to see a lot of people "respond" just to get a few to "stick". Though sincere, these philosophies may calm most Christian’s consciences but they also perpetuate this tragedy.

Charles Finney was a great evangelist of the 19th century. It is estimated that he had an 85% retention rate for conversions. Listen to what Finney said concerning the use of the Law in evangelism, "Ever more the Law must prepare the way for the Gospel. To overlook this in instructing souls is almost certain to result in false hope, the introduction of a false standard of Christian experience, and to fill the church with false converts…Time will make this plain." Time has overwhelmingly made his statement plain.

Today, the washing of hands for physicians before examining each patient is understood and a standard procedure. Over time the wisdom of Dr. Semmelweis’ beliefs were proven and accepted by the medical community. Tragically we cannot say the same for the church of America in regards to the vital work of evangelism. There is a dire need to thunder from pulpits and personal Christian witness the demands of God’s Law and the sinner’s violation of it. Only then we will see the spiritual mortality rate begin to decline.