The Now Man

The itinerant preachers who followed the American Frontier were hard-working, hard-riding, straight-talking men. They preached the good news of the Gospel to people who were living in difficult, trying times. Religion was important to the people, but there was a tendency to live pretty much in past and future insofar as religion was concerned. They remembered what God had done in Biblical times and they looked forward to what God would do in some glorious future time. And into this situation came the “now man” preachers, quoting their favorite text, “Behold now is the acceptable time/behold now is the Day of Salvation.” They tried to convince the people that God is present now. A new life is possible for you now they told them. Come to a decision now about God. He confronts you now! Because this emphasis was so much a part of His ministry, the early itinerant preacher on the American Frontier was known as the “now” man. There is a kind of…