November 18
For several decades now there has been circulating among liberal churches and many evangelical conservative churches a gospel that is completely foreign to God’s word. I have alluded to it a couple of times recently, so I thought it would be a good idea if I took time to explain what I mean, or better yet what God’s word has to say on the topic. It’s nothing new for Satan and his forces to try spreading a false gospel. While listening to Donnie Swaggart yesterday, I heard him make so many stupid remarks about the gift of the Holy Spirit (tongues) that I nearly threw up. Most importantly, he kept claiming he was giving the biblical view on the topic without ever quoting one verse. The false gospel began immediately in the early church. All of the churches throughout the Roman empire were new and didn’t have the writings of Paul, Peter, the writers of the gospel accounts, James, Jude, and the writer of the book to the Hebrews that addressed the many heresies that were being taught by those who had infiltrated the church and were teaching things not authorized by the council in Jerusalem.
In II Corinthians 11:4 and Galatians 1:7 Paul specifically called those false teachings another gospel, but the fact is that most of his letters were specifically written to clear up the massive influx of false doctrines these false teachers were teaching. Unfortunately, the problem has only multiplied exponentially as the centuries of church growth have brought us to the incredibly subtle but destructive point where the overwhelming majority of denominations and their satellite churches have sprung up across the land preaching this false gospel. One of the major contributing organizations, to my utter dismay, was Campus Crusade for Christ. I was personally acquainted with Bill and Vonette Bright, its founders, and believe they were well meaning individuals who, because of their complete lack of theological insight began the “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life” movement. In their eagerness to see great multitudes pray a prayer of repentance, they wrote a tract that is filled with untruths, the most blatant of which was the idea that God wants you happy and satisfied.
That tract has been shared with millions and has led most of them to believe they actually got saved by praying that sinner’s prayer. Of course there isn’t any such prayer anywhere in scripture, but that apparently was of little interest to Bill and Vonette. If one were to espouse a one line admonition for salvation it would have to be the one John the Baptist and Jesus spoke, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” The subtlety of “The Four Spiritual Laws” is that it suggests, though it doesn’t come right out and say it, one can be saved by faith accepting Jesus as Savior and later decide if he wants to make Him the Lord of his life. Bill Bright used one verse completely out of context to support this theological nightmare. In I Corinthians 3:3 Paul is addressing the church admonishing them for acting like children and acting fleshly. Thus Mr. Bright developed an entire theological doctrine that one can be fleshly (carnal) and still be a Christian. He missed the rather significant point that if they didn’t repent of their utter foolishness immediately, that would be the sign they weren’t Christians to begin with. Of course one who has been born-again sometimes stumbles in sin, but the biblical fact is that the moment they become aware of their sin, they repent and return to following what they know to be godly behavior.
Christians have used the term “backslidden” for decades to justify the obvious fact they were never saved to begin with. The term isn’t even found anywhere in the New Testament, and when it was used in the Old Testament it was addressed to the nation of Israel for their national condition. It is never used in scripture to refer to the state of an individual. One who can live for weeks or months or years in sin without repentance demonstrates by his conduct he was never saved to begin with. I know personally of no one who got saved, backslid for months or years, repented and is now living in sanctification and honor. As a matter of biblical fact, Hebrews tells us it is impossible to renew the one to repentance who has once tasted of the grace and mercy of our Lord. Hebrews 6:4-6 tells us,
For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame.
I can already hear the murmurs of those of you reading this who are thinking I’m losing it. Allow me to set your mind at ease. If you grew up in the church and left it when you became an adult for several years, even though you may have actually made a confession of faith, said a sinners prayer, and got baptized, that does not mean you ever tasted of the grace and mercy of the Lord. You should also be aware however, if you are attending one of the millions of unordained assemblies that call themselves a church, are listening weekly to the sermons given by the unordained of God pastor, are loving it without producing any fruit, you likely still have not qualified as tasting the grace and mercy of God. That’s the whole point of today’s devotional.
If your church does not teach reformed theology, it’s likely it does not teach much that is solid biblical fact. Of course that doesn’t mean the pastor never says anything that is biblical. Satan loves little more than quoting scriptures to baby Christians and those who love to hear scripture quoted without any care for its context. This is not a treatise on election and predestination, but I have written one, so if you’d like a copy of it, let me know. I refer you to Ephesians 1:3-11, John 6:37, 44, 65, and Romans 3:9-18 which tell us that only those whom God has chosen before the foundation of the world can or will come to Him. Most false teaching about the gospel begins with a failure to understand that one, simple, yet exponentially critical doctrine. It is not critical that you accept Jesus. It is essential that He accepts you. You can’t be “in Christ” unless He is “in you.”
Having set the context, we can move to the basic tenets of the gospel without which there is no salvation: 1. without repentance there can be no salvation (Acts 2:38); 2. without confession of Jesus as Lord, there can be no salvation (Romans 10:9a); 3. unless on believes in the resurrection there can be no salvation (Rom. 10:9b); 4. Unless one confesses his sin there is no salvation (I Jn. 1:9); 5. unless one takes up his cross daily and follows Jesus there can be no salvation (Luke 9:23). For the next four days I will be expanding on each of these points because today’s devotional is already too long. Please don’t miss any of these devotionals, because I believe they will clear up centuries of confusion and bad teaching about the gospel. God bless you and keep you.
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