Preaching a False Gospel

This week I got thinking about all the false gospels running rampant in the Church today.

"What?" you ask, "How could false gospels be 'running rampant' in the Church? Wouldn't a false gospel be obvious? It would deny Jesus Christ, say He didn't come in the flesh, or somehow blaspheme God. Right?"

Nope! If it was that obvious then Paul wouldn't have had to warn the Church:

Galatians 1:6-9--I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned! (NIV)

Now what we need is to define a false Gospel. In short, it is done in the first sentence of the above passage: "deserting the One who called you by the grace of Christ." A false gospel causes you to lose sight of the Father in heaven who calls us in the first place. This can be blatantly obvious: like getting us to look at indulging the flesh rather than serving God. Or it can be really subtle: like getting us to look solely at what we get out of the bargain of salvation.

The word "gospel" simply means "good news." Suppose your boss tells you that you are being promoted. That's good news. But if you give your entire life over to that, then you have embraced a false gospel because it would involve spending all your time, money, emotions, resources, and so forth on an empty pursuit. Rather, you should spend your life on the true Gospel, making your Father in heaven the true priority of your life. Seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness, and everything else will be taken care of--finances, food, clothing, etc (see Matthew 6:19-34). Only the true Gospel deserves our lives--any other good news is a distraction.

Now I know this is going to upset a lot of people, but I have to be faithful to what I believe the Lord put on my heart. Another version of a false Gospel is one that is only revealed in part, but marketed as though it was the entire thing. I'll write more in the coming week about how big-name ministries (including Todd Bentley) have subscribed to this sort of false gospel. For now, let's try to understand why I would call it false even though Jesus is presented as the Lord and Savior:

Have you ever bought a printer or other computer device, thinking that everything you needed was in the box; and then when you got home, you found out the cable wasn't included? Frustrating! The box looked like it had everything, but frankly it wasn't enough. A false gospel can be a presentation of the true Gospel that appears to be complete, but is actually leaving out the most important component(s). I'll be writing more about this and the official stance I've seen many ministries take as they present a false gospel (I know I said I'd be backing off of Todd Bentley, but he is actually involved in this as well). Check back some time next week for the detailed report of these false gospels and why they're so dangerous.

A false gosepl can also be seen when the entire "Good News" is preached, but only a small portion ever gets practiced without a second thought. In other words, you hear about all the wonders of God and His grace that gives us relationship with Him, so you jump in with both feet. But then you quickly find out that all you get to do is go to church week after week, sing songs, and listen to someone download a message to you. Where's the rest of that Gospel that you were told about in the beginning? In this case, the true Gospel was presented, but the false gospel was practiced (much like the Galatians who Paul was addressing).

When I was a fourth grader, my class went to a museum on a field trip. Afterward, I went to the gift shop and saw a small model of a pterodactyl suspended by fishing wire from a table-mounted dead branch made to look like a tree. It was the coolest thing a fourth grader ever set eyes on! So I asked how much it cost, and the clerk said, "$3." I was geeked--Mom had given me $5 to spend, and I found something awesome for less than that!

"I'll take it!" I squeeled back. At that, the clerk lifted the pterodactyl off the branch and boxed it up, took my three dollars, and handed me my box. "What about the branch?" I asked sheepishly.

"Oh," replied the clerk, "that part is $15."

I felt completely scammed. I had been shown the whole deal, but only been allowed to have a little tiny piece. How often do we do this in our churches? We talk about miracles, but no one ever experiences them. We talk about evangelism, but no one ever does it. We talk about freedom from addictions, but everyone walks around in secret bondage to sin. It's a false gospel, pure and simple.

This is too big of a topic for one post, so I'll be addressing this more specifically over the coming days. In my next post, I plan on writing about some specific presentations of the Gospel that market themselves as complete, but are sadly lacking in the most important areas. You might be surprised how popular they are and what big organizations subscribe to them!

Just some thoughts to get the ball rolling as we pursue the true Gospel of Jesus Christ!

God bless!
--Art--