BEWARE OF ANOTHER GOSPEL
What Do You Believe?
Does it really matter what the Christian believes? Can there be harmony between the Reformed-Sovereign Grace Baptist, and the Methodist, the Catholic, the Church of Christ, The Seventh Day Adventist, and the Charismatic (to name but a few)? The move in ecumenicalism, humanistic philosophies, the love for music and fashions is evidence that the mind of the "new believer" is one in the same carnal mindset that existed before they were converted. Is there a necessity then for a clear, well defined, distinctive understanding of doctrine? These questions, among others, makeup the essential problem that confronts the Church today and has been a problem throughout the history of the Church.
We are living in an age where we are experiencing a rise in the number of false religions throughout the world and an unquestioning acceptance on the part of the believer as to their validity. In short, the believer knows so little about sound doctrine that he is unconcerned about this campaign of Satan’s to deceive men and blind them to the true Gospel message. We ever stand ready to condemn no one, to judge no one, and to accept heresy for something less than what it is. Let us never forget, "A religion is either a true one that has a true gospel at its core and leads it followers into the kingdom of heaven or it is a false religion based on a false gospel message and will lead men and women into the unquenchable fires of an eternal hell!" A.W. Pink writes about the gospel of Satan;
The gospel of Satan is not a system or revolutionary principles, nor yet a program of anarchy. It does not promote strife and war, but aims at peace and unity. It seeks not to set the mother against her daughter nor the father against his son, but fosters the fraternal spirit whereby the human race is regarded as one great "brotherhood." It does not seek to drag down the natural man, but to improve and uplift him. It advocates education and cultivation and appeals to "the best that is within us." It aims to make this world such a comfortable and congenial habitat that Christ’s absence from it will not be felt and God will not be needed. It endeavors to occupy man so much with this world that he has no time or inclination to think of the world to come. It propagates the principles of self-sacrifice, charity and benevolence, and is popular with the masses, because it ignores the solemn facts that by nature man is a fallen creature, alienated from the life of God, and dead in trespasses and sins, and that his only hope lies in being born again.
In light of Pink’s statement and in a effort to justify, ungodly practices, larger churches and bigger programs, and more conversions, the Church has adopted or substituted a false gospel or another gospel which is not the Gospel. These many and varied gospels have led to thousands of conversions of which only a hand full result in biblical fruit. To accomplish their goals, today’s pulpit is plagued with everything from an "easy believism" to out right heresy. Therefore, it becomes incumbent for the believer to develop a spirit of discernment regarding the true Gospel. In fact, Paul wrote some of his epistles "out of much affliction and anguish of heart…(and) with many tears (2 Cor. 2:4) because these substituted gospels had begun to poison the church.
What Is The Gospel?
At this point we should state plainly what is meant by the Gospel. According to 1 Corinthians 15:1-4, the Gospel is as follows:
The above has been called the "gospel in a nutshell." It is the clearest statement on the Gospel in the New Testament. It is not what we do for God, but rather what He, through Christ, has done for us. Our responsibility lies only in receiving it with a repentant heart and even in that, we are made willing in the day of our salvation. We receive Christ by faith: "For by grace have ye been save through faith; and that not of yourselves: it the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast (Eph 2:8&9)." In short we are saved by a simple act of faith in the substitutionary sacrifice of Christ whereby we act on belief that results in repentance and a change of the mind about one’s self, one’s ability, and one’s understanding about the sovereign God of the universe. There is no baptism, no sacraments, no good works, no seven steps, no Joseph Smith, no other than the free gift of faith, offered by God through Christ to His predetermined elect.
There are many and varied false gospels that are present throughout the "religious" world today. Of these we will speak of the following with a brief overview of each.
The Gospel of the Will or Mind
The Gospel of the World
The Gospel of False Religions
The wisdom of the Gospel is not compatible and cannot be compared with the wisdom of the world. The wisdom of this world focuses on the self; self-esteem, self-love, self-realization, and the ability to change one’s self. This wisdom started at the fall of man in Adam when he bought Satan’s lie (using then his unfallen ability of free choice) with his lustful determination to gain more wisdom. From that time to the present, mankind has chosen a path of self–wisdom: a wisdom independent of God. In this gospel scenario man through his wisdom determines that he possesses the ability to chose or reject God based solely on the freedom of the will. In man’s fallen state of total depravity he has yet to realize that the ability of choosing God is first impossible, and second is based on a logic or wisdom inherent to the fallen creature and supported by worldly wisdom. But what does God say about the wisdom of this world?
Here Paul identifies three levels of worldly wisdom: First, the wise man learnt from the experiences of life; Second, the scholar learnt from study and higher education; Third, the Philosopher searched for answers. Contrasted to the wisdom of the world is the wisdom of God.
The true Gospel encapsulates God’s wisdom. This is because it targets the root of mankind—independence from God. The very wisdom of the world is darkened by man’s depravity to the extent that it cannot comprehend the light of the world. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, dominated by sin, make men enemies of God in their own thinking and reasoning.
The word "vain" in Romans 1:21, means to be "futile" or "to go rotten," "to go sour" (like curdled milk). This is a picture of what God sees when he views worldly wisdom. Yet the Church has a long running affair with the wisdom of this world. The church is enamored with philosophy, psychology, and self-help techniques. We are constantly in search of the latest formula and methodology that may help solve the complex problems of the church; a church with problems cannot grow! Yet the end result of this desperate search is Christians who are "Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth" (2 Tim. 3:7). Paul warned Timothy and we would be wise to find application for today’s church.
A Gospel of the World
The Gospel of the world is based on the desire of worldly pleasure—"if it feels good do it" philosophy.
Paul anguished over the Corinthian Church (1 Cor. 2:4) because of what had infiltrated church life. There was division and quarrelling (Eph. 1:10-13; 3:3 ,21), an attitude of boasting and pride (Eph. 4), a greed focused on wealth (Eph. 4:8; 5:9-11), immorality, (Eph. 5) and the practice of believers taking another believer to court or lawsuits (Eph. 6:7). All of this was a direct consequence of the infiltration of worldliness into the Church. Another gospel, a gospel according to the prevailing standards of the world, had perverted the Gospel according to Christ. James addressed this same problem in his letter:
The gospel of this world centers around defined elements. First, the motives of the world tends to change a Christian’s focus from God to the world. This involves the seeking after wealth, success, pleasure and power. Second, the methods of the world or subtle in design. The church must guard against incorporating the standards of the world into its worship. We must be careful that such things as worldly entertainment and performance standards to do not become a part of our worship, evangelism and fellowship. All of this is focused on self, and not on God. Third, the boasting of the world may be seen in the peddling of the word of God for profit (2 Cor. 2:17). We are not looking for a "Hollywood Christianity" of worldly status, wealth, and success. Notice what happened to the Church at Laodicea as it fell into the trap:
There are many false religions in the world today and most Christians acknowledge these false religions. Although many might not comprehend what makes these religions false, they do tend to stay clear of the obvious teachings that run contrary to the Word of God. Yet many would be surprised that much of today’s mainstream denominations are false in their teachings. One of Satan’s most subtle strategies is to flavor the Gospel with teachings that tickle the ear. The plain truth of the matter is that we live by Matthew 7:1 and tend to let that be our escape clause for a proper evaluation and condemnation of those teachings that at their very root unbiblical.
False religious systems produce unscriptural fruit in their failure to properly define the terms of the Gospel. Our churches have become so saturated with untruths that when the man of God preaches the Word of God, many recoil in utter horror for they find themselves at the total mercy of God. They are told that they are not in control of anything and that God does as he wills both in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay His hand or say unto Him, What doest thou (Dan. 4:35)?
The heresy of free willism and the "I am in control of my own destiny theology," is found running rampant in this church age. And this is none else than false religion at its most refined stage. The man that preaches against such will find himself alienated, ridiculed, and much of the time looked upon with much disdain. Nevertheless, make no mistake, it is not the man that is being disdained, but the very Gospel itself. It is the duty of the man of God to preach the truth, set it as the standard, identify the basics of Christian doctrine, and to guard the church from falling prey to the snares and traps of the worldly Satanic lie! Whatever is contrary to the Word of God has no place in the church other than in contrasting the Gospel plainly with false gospels and false religions.
A prime example of this can be seen in the evangelistic crusades that habitually commit error. The ecumenical evangelist preaching to a mixed crowd of Protestants (including Baptist) and Roman Catholics will not make the Gospel plain because he does not want to offend those who hold a false gospel (this can also be seen in those para-church groups that teach a false gospel in the name of tearing down the walls that separate). What does the Baptist have in common with such denominations or para-church groups. I answer, Absolutely nothing! The Catholic Church teaches that salvation is by grace; sometimes the Catholic Church even claims that salvation is by grace alone, but this does not mean what the Bible means by grace alone. In truth, the Catholic Church claims that no man can be saved by the grace of Christ alone (contrary to Eph. 2:8&9) without works or sacraments. I ask again, what does the Baptist have in common with such a false religious system as this? The Council of Trent, which has been affirmed by many modern Catholic councils, including Vatican II in the mid-60s, stated, "If any one shall say that justifying faith is nothing else than confidence in the divine mercy pardoning sins for Christ’s sake, or that it is that confidence alone by which we are justified…let him be accursed (Canon 12). The Catholic Church further affirms that Baptism is necessary for salvation (New Catholic Catechism, 1257), and that for believers the sacraments of the New Covenant (Seven as identified by the RCC) are necessary for salvation. Once again, what does the Christian have in common with this gospel, and once again the answer is, nothing!
Conclusion:These false gospels constitute the apostate church. For the church to remain pure it must guard against the infiltration of false gospel(s). We are easily duped by the world and the worldly system. If there is not a solid foundation of the true Gospel within the church we become influenced by every false teaching that comes down the road. We can no longer accept a programmatic approach to ministry. We must establish strong doctrinal beliefs, a well defined system of beliefs, and a distinct separation from that which is contrary to the word of God. As a result of doctrinal teaching and preaching it enables and equips the saint with the ability to discern true or false gospels. Many fall into the trap of, "it sounds good, therefore it must be the gospel." Yet God’s ways are much higher than our ways; His way of doing things often contradicts what we would think sounds fair. But we don’t make the rules. We are to abide by the rules of the Gospel. However this is made next to impossible if there is not a clear understanding of the true Gospel. We must protect ourselves from the corruption of false teachers and their false doctrines. We are to demand of ourselves, as well as our leadership, to be properly equipped with the true Gospel. We must not accept compromise concerning the word of God. It alone stands as the only instrument given to the church whereby we are able to carry out successfully the Great Commission.
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Providence
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