The Popular False Gospel
On May 24, I talked about a few forms of "false gospels" and said that I would soon write about "some specific presentations of the Gospel that market themselves as complete, but are sadly lacking in the most important areas." Well, today's the day to get this train moving!
Todd Bentley recently sent out two lengthy e-mail teachings about repentance--possibly because he has been getting so much flak about not really preaching repentance in Lakeland at the healing meetings. (I should note that I'm not going back on my promise to minimize picking apart Lakeland--that's not my intent here. Rather, I'm using a clear example of someone with whom we're already familiar.)
In his second e-mail, titled Repentance, Mercy and Healing - Part 2 of 2, Todd wrote a portion that seems to sum up everything he wrote throughout all of both teachings:
Does repentance bring us into line with God's blessing? Of course it does. Does God want us to repent? Yup. Does He want to bless us? You bet! So what's the big deal?
Even wth all these truths, I would argue that such a presentation is a form of "false gospel." In my previous article, I talked about a "gospel" that markets itself as complete but is sadly lacking some of the most crucial components. Such a "gospel"--although 100% true--is only 50% of the Truth.
If someone crafts their words in order to withhold the truth from you, you would say that they lied to you even if everything they said was technically true. Even though they technically told the truth, you would call it deceitful. In the same way, a "false gospel" doesn't have to be an outright lie--it just has to fall short of being the true Gospel.
How many times have you ever purchased something at a garage sale or flea market only to discover that it's not at all what you were expecting? Or how about buying a used car and then discovering that you would have to do all sorts of work on it? Or what about buying something new at the store and later finding out that all the most crucial components are sold separately? Do these things bother you? Do you feel scammed? They were presented as though they were complete, and you thought you had paid all you would need to pay--but now reality has set in, and you realize that you were taken for a ride.
This happens so much with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. A completely true yet partial "gospel" is presented that only reveals half of the equation. All the most important elements are left out. It's more appealing to present this partial gospel than to tell people about the other side of the coin.
Okay, it's time to get specific and stop making you guess what I'm talking about.
The true Gospel includes everything Todd Bentley wrote about in the quote above. In fact, the two e-mails he sent out about repentance were true. But here's the problem: it's a completely man-centric presentation. Everything is about what man gets out of the bargain of salvation and how it puts you in line with God's mercy, kindness, and goodness. It completely neglects the other side of the equation, which I will present now:
If you have been presented a partial gospel that only focuses on what God has to offer you, then you have been scammed. You've purchased a used car that looks new but only has half the parts. All the parts on that car belong to that car. All the parts of that presentation of the gospel are true...but without the rest, it's a sham.
It's completely okay to study and preach the benefits of Christ's sacrifice and the joys of relationship with God. It's fine to have a ministry of miracles, prophecies, healings, and the like, giving the credit to Jesus Christ. These things are good and true! But if they are packaged and presented as though they are the entire deal, then people will be sadly disappointed when they jump on the bandwagon and then discover the cost of being a disciple and following after Christ.
Such people will run and hide at the first hint of persecution. They'll give up when the storms of life start blowing and it seems like God isn't being faithful to His end of the deal. These "false converts" will rarely be effective in the Church or in the world when it comes to making disciples. But let me show you a more excellent way. Please indulge me, if you will, as I boast in the Lord:
When I share the Gospel, I rarely ask people to make a decision right then and there (except if the Holy Spirit is specifically leading this way). Typically, I describe both sides of the coin. I talk about the cost of being a disciple--what it means to "take up your cross daily and follow after Christ." I talk about repenting from sin and living a radically different life. I talk about the glory of God--His holiness, purity, justice, and awesomeness. I talk about needing to conform more and more to the nature of Christ. And I also explain the blessings of God, the joys of salvation, and the endless depths of a loving relationship with Him. I also tell the truth about persecution, ridicule, slander, and shunning. I talk about the possibility of losing some friends, but I also talk about gaining true friends in the Body of Christ. I put all the cards on the table. Then I tell the person to go home, think about everything that was presented, and decide whether or not it's worth the price.
I can list a good number of people who never contacted me again--some of whom are still actively and consciously avoiding me because they feel convicted for rejecting such obvious truth for the sake of living their own way.
But I can also list MANY strong Christians in my church and beyond who weighed the cost and considered God worthy of their lives. These men and women have matured rapidly in the power of the Holy Spirit. Thesy love the Lord and are constantly going deeper with Him. Their lives are constantly being transformed into a clearer and clearer representation of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit is clearly at work in and through them!
A partial presentation of the Gospel is certainly more effective at accumulating numbers of "commitment cards" and raised hands. It makes for great reports and publications. A partial gospel generates fast results that look good on paper. But it is very ineffective at keeping people in the Kingdom! And it does a less than acceptible job at making disciples like Jesus commanded us to do! Even though all of it is true, it is a false Gospel, pure and simple. We need to know the Word so we can present the FULL Gospel of Jesus Christ! We need to commit ourselves to full disclosure when sharing the Truth with the lost. And we need to rely on the Holy Spirit in prayer to do the work of convicting hearts and drawing people to the Father. We MUST be ambassadors of the complete Truth!
In some upcoming posts, I'll share more about the false gospels that are so prevalent in our churches today and what we can do differently.
God bless!
--Art--
Todd Bentley recently sent out two lengthy e-mail teachings about repentance--possibly because he has been getting so much flak about not really preaching repentance in Lakeland at the healing meetings. (I should note that I'm not going back on my promise to minimize picking apart Lakeland--that's not my intent here. Rather, I'm using a clear example of someone with whom we're already familiar.)
In his second e-mail, titled Repentance, Mercy and Healing - Part 2 of 2, Todd wrote a portion that seems to sum up everything he wrote throughout all of both teachings:
Now I want you to really think about this: is there anything Todd wrote there that was a lie? Was any part of that paragraph untrue?By backing away from God even just a little, it means we’ve still fallen away from where we once were. And God is calling us back—"Come, and let us return to the LORD . . .". God is saying (paraphrase): "I want you to return, I want you to repent because I want to bring blessing; I want to leave a blessing behind, My manifold goodness and kindness. I want you to return to Me so that I can bind you up and heal you. If you will return then I can begin to come with the rain of My Presence again. As I begin to turn your captivity around, I want to bring you blessing and fruitfulness. I want you to repent because if you repent, I can give you mercy. And when I can give you mercy, I can give you healing. That is My heart." Hallelujah!
Does repentance bring us into line with God's blessing? Of course it does. Does God want us to repent? Yup. Does He want to bless us? You bet! So what's the big deal?
Even wth all these truths, I would argue that such a presentation is a form of "false gospel." In my previous article, I talked about a "gospel" that markets itself as complete but is sadly lacking some of the most crucial components. Such a "gospel"--although 100% true--is only 50% of the Truth.
If someone crafts their words in order to withhold the truth from you, you would say that they lied to you even if everything they said was technically true. Even though they technically told the truth, you would call it deceitful. In the same way, a "false gospel" doesn't have to be an outright lie--it just has to fall short of being the true Gospel.
How many times have you ever purchased something at a garage sale or flea market only to discover that it's not at all what you were expecting? Or how about buying a used car and then discovering that you would have to do all sorts of work on it? Or what about buying something new at the store and later finding out that all the most crucial components are sold separately? Do these things bother you? Do you feel scammed? They were presented as though they were complete, and you thought you had paid all you would need to pay--but now reality has set in, and you realize that you were taken for a ride.
This happens so much with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. A completely true yet partial "gospel" is presented that only reveals half of the equation. All the most important elements are left out. It's more appealing to present this partial gospel than to tell people about the other side of the coin.
Okay, it's time to get specific and stop making you guess what I'm talking about.
The true Gospel includes everything Todd Bentley wrote about in the quote above. In fact, the two e-mails he sent out about repentance were true. But here's the problem: it's a completely man-centric presentation. Everything is about what man gets out of the bargain of salvation and how it puts you in line with God's mercy, kindness, and goodness. It completely neglects the other side of the equation, which I will present now:
- We need to repent simply because God is God, and what He says goes (leave hell and heaven out of this one--it's all about God and what He deserves purely by virtue of the fact that HE IS GOD).
- Repentance involves putting our old way of life to death and embracing a life of utter dedication to our Lord--not because of anything we get out of it, but rather because He IS Lord of all! This may include persecutions, hardships, and more; but we should remain faithful because JESUS IS OUR LORD!
- Even in the midst of God's love and grace, we must work out the process of salvation with a genuine fear of God--to such an extent that it sometimes even causes us to tremble at the thought of His awesomeness, righteousness, and power.
- Jesus Christ spent Himself on our behalf, taking the full brunt of God's punishment on Himself. In the oft-quoted words of the two young Moravian missionaries who sold themselves into slavery in order to spread the gospel to an unreached island of slaves, "Does not that Lamb who was slain deserve the reward of His suffering?"
- We deserve absolutely nothing, and God deserves absolutely everything. We should serve Him whether we go to hell at the end of our lives or not simply because HE IS WORTHY!
If you have been presented a partial gospel that only focuses on what God has to offer you, then you have been scammed. You've purchased a used car that looks new but only has half the parts. All the parts on that car belong to that car. All the parts of that presentation of the gospel are true...but without the rest, it's a sham.
It's completely okay to study and preach the benefits of Christ's sacrifice and the joys of relationship with God. It's fine to have a ministry of miracles, prophecies, healings, and the like, giving the credit to Jesus Christ. These things are good and true! But if they are packaged and presented as though they are the entire deal, then people will be sadly disappointed when they jump on the bandwagon and then discover the cost of being a disciple and following after Christ.
Such people will run and hide at the first hint of persecution. They'll give up when the storms of life start blowing and it seems like God isn't being faithful to His end of the deal. These "false converts" will rarely be effective in the Church or in the world when it comes to making disciples. But let me show you a more excellent way. Please indulge me, if you will, as I boast in the Lord:
When I share the Gospel, I rarely ask people to make a decision right then and there (except if the Holy Spirit is specifically leading this way). Typically, I describe both sides of the coin. I talk about the cost of being a disciple--what it means to "take up your cross daily and follow after Christ." I talk about repenting from sin and living a radically different life. I talk about the glory of God--His holiness, purity, justice, and awesomeness. I talk about needing to conform more and more to the nature of Christ. And I also explain the blessings of God, the joys of salvation, and the endless depths of a loving relationship with Him. I also tell the truth about persecution, ridicule, slander, and shunning. I talk about the possibility of losing some friends, but I also talk about gaining true friends in the Body of Christ. I put all the cards on the table. Then I tell the person to go home, think about everything that was presented, and decide whether or not it's worth the price.
I can list a good number of people who never contacted me again--some of whom are still actively and consciously avoiding me because they feel convicted for rejecting such obvious truth for the sake of living their own way.
But I can also list MANY strong Christians in my church and beyond who weighed the cost and considered God worthy of their lives. These men and women have matured rapidly in the power of the Holy Spirit. Thesy love the Lord and are constantly going deeper with Him. Their lives are constantly being transformed into a clearer and clearer representation of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit is clearly at work in and through them!
A partial presentation of the Gospel is certainly more effective at accumulating numbers of "commitment cards" and raised hands. It makes for great reports and publications. A partial gospel generates fast results that look good on paper. But it is very ineffective at keeping people in the Kingdom! And it does a less than acceptible job at making disciples like Jesus commanded us to do! Even though all of it is true, it is a false Gospel, pure and simple. We need to know the Word so we can present the FULL Gospel of Jesus Christ! We need to commit ourselves to full disclosure when sharing the Truth with the lost. And we need to rely on the Holy Spirit in prayer to do the work of convicting hearts and drawing people to the Father. We MUST be ambassadors of the complete Truth!
In some upcoming posts, I'll share more about the false gospels that are so prevalent in our churches today and what we can do differently.
God bless!
--Art--
Labels: Christianity, evangelism, false gospel, false teaching, gospel, heaven, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, purity, repentance, revival, sin, Todd Bentley, true gospel, truth
posted by Art Thomas | Tuesday, May 27, 2008
1 Comments:
Hi Art,
Some of the things that you bring through are definetly the issues of the day.
One of my last blog posts on Bentley looked at discernment and essential elements of the gospel
http://revivalfire-johnsblog.blogspot.com/2008/05/more-on-florida-revival-and-todd.html
So many Christians are unable to tell what is and what is not the true gospel.
One thing though, the error in Galatians was the mixing of law and grace. Rather than believing in 'grace alone through faith alone' they fell trap to faith in grace and law = salvation. It was a Jesus AND... as opposed to Jesus alone.
John Piper has a book called God is the Gospel, he explores the issue very well.
I'd also recomend Whatever happened to the Gospel of Grace: Rediscovering the doctrines that shook the world. By James Montgomery Boice. The latter in particular deals with today's situation.
Over the last few years I have become increasingly convinced that today's problems with the gospel is an out working of Arminian philosophy. There needs to be a return to the reformers understanding of Sovereignty, Scripture and soteriology (the doctrines of salvation).
Post a Comment
<< Home