False Gospels
32 min read
There are several false gospels, or good news messages, that are running rampant in our society and deceiving people. In Paul's letter to the Galatian church, he warns them that other gospels will circulate and they will be contrary to the true biblical gospel of Jesus. False gospels are so dangerous to people that Paul went so far as to call those who spread them cursed by God.
Paul didn't care who brought the false gospel. Even if it were himself, or an angel from heaven, it was to be rejected. Any person who spreads a false gospel is to be considered worthy only of a curse from God (let him be accursed).
Popular false gospels circulating today are the good people gospel that says we're all inherently good people who don't need a Savior. There's the prosperity gospel that's all about using Jesus to achieve material wealth and optimal health.
Then, there's the self-help gospel that focuses on you and your self-esteem rather than on Jesus. Lastly, there's the false love gospel that tricks people into believing that God loves and accepts them just the way they are - with nothing that they need to change.
It's important that we understand the true gospel well so that we don't fall for any of the false gospels. After examining a few deceptive teachings, this article will explain the true biblical gospel of Jesus in detail.
A self-help gospel
Modern day preaching has replaced the true biblical gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, with a motivational "self-help" gospel. The big problem with the self-help gospel is that it's all about the self rather than about Jesus. Bible-based teachings are replaced with motivational speeches. As a result, the truth of the Bible is lost.
The self-help gospel's messages are similar to prosperity gospel messages. Though they contain Bible references and the name of Jesus, the entire focus of the messages is wrong. The focus is not on Jesus or on God's will, it's on you and what you want.
Who wouldn't want to hear a message about themselves every week? A message about how special you are, how you can become a better person, defeat your giants, part your Red Sea, and more. The self-help gospel encourages people to be self-centered and promotes the ability of "self". The self-help gospel may use the name of Jesus, but make no mistake, it puts you on the throne - not Jesus.
Just like the prosperity gospel, the self-help gospel twists the Scriptures to elevate us and our desires above God. Jesus is seen as a self-improvement coach with good advice rather than the Lord and Savior that the Bible presents him as. The self-help gospel is nothing but a form of religious therapy that creates "me-centered" churches rather than Christ-centered churches.
Jesus taught us to pray with a view of God on the throne and with a focus on doing God's will, not our own.
A wonderful deception
Modern day preachers often use Jeremiah 29:11 to tell people that "God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life." Who wouldn't like hearing something like that? In doing so, they present Jesus, not as a necessity, but as an accessory that you can add onto an already fulfilled life. They reduce Jesus to a genie in a bottle who can make wonderful things happen for you.
While it is true that God loves us and wants our good, our focus is not supposed to be on building a wonderful life for ourselves here on earth. The focus should be on discovering how wonderful Jesus is.
Ask the disciples how wonderful their lives got after following Jesus. It actually wasn't all that wonderful. After following Jesus, the disciples started being hated, persecuted, and killed.
The motivation behind the "God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life" message is all wrong. We don't turn to Jesus to make our life wonderful. We turn to Jesus because he is wonderful. If the motivation for following Jesus is a wonderful life, we'll never be true followers of Jesus. We'll abandon him when it gets hard.
A false love
John 3:16 is a famous verse that we all know. This verse doesn't really say much to someone who is not yet a follower of Jesus. It doesn't explain to the unbeliever why the world will perish without Jesus. Simply preaching John 3:16 is like giving someone the cure without telling them about their deadly disease. How will they even know that they need it? How will they be able to appreciate it?
Excessive preaching on John 3:16 has given society the impression that God is benevolent and lenient enough to let things slide. This is far from the truth of the Bible. God is love, but God is also just. God does not do away with justice in the name of love.
Modern preachers are quick to shout, "God loves you unconditionally" and "God loves you just as you are." However, that's not the biblical gospel.
Unconditional love is confused with unconditional acceptance of one's lifestyle. God loved the world enough to come and save it - not to leave it the way it is. We should keep in mind that "it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God"(Hebrews 10:31). We should not forget that "our God is a consuming fire" (Hebrews 12:28-29).
In all four gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John) there is only one verse about God loving the world - and that's John 3:16. Yet, we emphasize it like it's written on every page of all four gospels. It's not. Instead, what we do find repeatedly in the four gospels is the word "repent".
Speaking to the people of Athens, Paul didn't preach unconditional acceptance, nor did he keep repeating John 3:16. Paul preached repentance.
God does not want us to stay just the way we are. God commands us to repent. To repent means to stop, turn around, and walk in the right direction - that is, to return to God. Learn more about repentance.
Why should we repent? Acts 17:30-31 tells us why. We should repent because a day has been fixed where we will be judged by a judge who is none other than the man who was raised from the dead, Jesus. We are all familiar with Jesus the savior, but what we may be less familiar with is the fact that Jesus is also the judge.
Saved from what?
A lot of people nowadays will say that they are Christians because they remember a time in their life when they prayed "the" prayer, often called the sinner's prayer. Even if their character and lifestyle does not show any evidence of their salvation, they claim to be "saved" because a pastor or priest once told them so.
Preachers are quick to label new church attendees as "saved" so that they can brag about how many souls they've won for the Lord. It's self-centered and dishonest.
What were the people saved from? Do they know? How can anyone understand their need for salvation if they don't know what they need saving from? Some might say that they were saved from their sins, but even this is not a complete answer.
This is why accurately teaching the Bible is so important. There is so much preaching going on nowadays, but so little honest teaching. Modern day preachers need to spend more time studying their Bibles and less time preaching to their fans.
The word "gospel" comes from a Greek noun that means "good news". The good news is that humanity is not doomed. There is a savior, and his name is Jesus.
The gospel message contains the power of God that saves those who believe it. Preach it right, and God's power will save those who believe it. Preach it wrong, and God's power will not be able to work in the hearts of the unsaved.
In the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed. The righteousness of God means the way for us to be made right with God. The way that we are made right with God is by faith.
In the next verse, Romans 1:18, we encounter the subject of the wrath of God.
The good news cannot be introduced without first speaking about the wrath of God against unrighteousness and moral evil. The reason is because what we are saved from is exactly this, the wrath of God.
The wrath of God does not discriminate. It includes the wealthy, the powerful, the free, and those not so free. All those who remain in their unrighteous condition by refusing to turn from their sins and to the Saviour, will come under God's wrath against evil.
Some might think they can escape God's wrath by no longer being on earth when it comes. However, there will be no such escape. All men and women who ever lived will have to face God's judgment if they reject the saving sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
Are we good people?
Two big errors that many people believe is that we're all good people and that we're all born as children of God. The truth is that we are not good people and that we are not automatically children of God by birth.
While we may think that we are good people according to human standards, we are not good people according to God's standards. To break even one commandment from God's law is equal to breaking the entire law of God.
We are not sons and daughters of God by birth. We are born as sons and daughters of disobedience. God adopts us as his children when we respond humbly and honestly to the message of the gospel.
A day of wrath is coming where God's judgment upon all of mankind will be revealed. Having a hard and unrepentant heart is the easiest way to store up wrath for yourself. We were not destined for the day of God's wrath. We were destined to be saved from it.
God never wanted us to be destined for wrath. This is why he made a way for us to be saved from it. The only one who can save us from the wrath of God is Jesus Christ.
The only safe haven from the wrath to come is in Jesus Christ. He is the only deliverer. There will be no other.
What we deserve
Many think that God cannot experience wrath, because God is love. However, this is incorrect. It is because God is love that he must hate. If you love what is good, you must hate everything that threatens that goodness.
If you love children, you must hate child abuse of any sort. You cannot say that you love children and then support child abuse. That would be hypocrisy and God is not a hypocrite.
Since God loves what is right, good, and true, he must hate anything that threatens that goodness.
Born in sin
We were all born in a state of sin that has plagued the human race since the beginning of humanity. Being born in sin has made us all sinners.
Since we were all born in this sinful condition, we have all sinned throughout our lifetime.
Preachers and sin
One of the reasons we have such a watered-down gospel being preached today is because preachers do not take sin seriously.
Many preachers avoid talking about sin because their focus is on church growth rather than the gospel. They fear that talking about sin will cause people to leave their church. They prefer to talk about what the people want to hear rather than the things that God urges us to talk about.
Rather than being honest with the spiritual condition of their church attendees, many preachers would rather deceive them in order to keep them in the pews. This keeps the donations coming in.
Sin is the greatest pandemic that the world has ever known. It is a spiritual disease that has affected one-hundred percent of the earth's inhabitants. How can preachers not talk about it? We were all born radically corrupt and wicked, hating God. Is this not something that preachers should be concerned with?
We hate God
Some might say that they never hated God. However, that is not true. If it were true, then we would be calling the Bible a liar. Before being saved by God, the Bible calls us all enemies of God (James 4:4, Matthew 6:24).
Some might say that they loved God ever since they were children. However, what they loved was actually an image of God that they had made in their own minds. If someone had presented them the God of the Bible, they would have probably said that it was not their God. They may have even said that they could never love a God like that.
Before being saved by God, our minds are hostile to God. We do not submit to God's law. We do not live in obedience to God. We can't even imagine ourselves doing such a thing as obeying God. That would be the last thing we would even think of doing.
None of us ever went looking for God on our own. We went our own way instead. We did our own thing. We had no interest in God. We were too busy focusing on ourselves to even think about God.
Misunderstanding sin
Sin is not just some religious vocabulary meant to oppress people with feelings of guilt. Sin is the human condition. Sin is defined as a violation of the law of God. Sin is rebellion against God. The word "sin" is taken lightly today. Sin is joked about often, but preached about rarely.
Many think that as long as they don't kill anyone, they're good people and not actually sinners. It seems like murder is the only sin that most people think matters. However, all sin is deadly, not just the sin that kills the body.
The problem is not just that we all have a few sins. The problem is that ever since we were born in our sinful state, all we have ever done is sin.
The result of being born in sin is that the intentions of our hearts are evil from childhood. Consider children. We don't have to teach them to lie, cheat, and steal. They automatically know how to do this evil by themselves. What we do need to teach them is good manners and discipline. It is because children are born in a sinful condition that they need to be disciplined. Raise an undisciplined child and you'll have a wanted criminal on your hands in no time.
Is sin really that bad?
The punishment for sin gives us a glimpse of how horrible sin is in God's sight. A very serious crime merits a very serious punishment, which is eternal punishment.
Sin came into the world through Adam. As a result of Adam's sin, the power of sin propagated itself like a deadly virus throughout the human race. As sin entered the human race, its consequence, death, also entered with it - affecting everyone born after Adam and Eve.
The punishment for sin
The Bible tells us that the punishment for every soul that sins is death.
Death is the punishment for every soul that sins. There is a physical death, and then there is a second death.
The second death is referred to as hell. Hell is described as a lake that burns with fire.
Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:14-15)
Hell was not meant for us
Those whose names will not be found in the book of life will be thrown into hell. Even death itself will end up being thrown into hell. When we repent from our life of sin and believe in the Savior, Jesus Christ, our names are written in the book of life (Revelation 3:5).
Those who refuse to repent and believe in the Savior will not have their names written in the book of life by their own choice.
The eternal fire was not prepared for humans. It was prepared for Satan and his angels. Satan is also known as the devil, which means adversary. The devil was the first individual to rebel against God and to go against God's government. The devil then drew one third of the angels after himself in his rebellion (Revelation 12:4).
God does not desire that any human perishes. However, in order to not perish in the second death, humans must repent.
The second death
When a person dies having rejected God's redemption offered to them in Jesus Christ, they will be sent to hell after facing God in judgment. This is known as the second death.
While physical death is the separation of the body from the spirit, spiritual death is eternal separation of a person from God.There is no way to escape the second death.
Hell is eternal
Hell is eternal. Jude 1:7 calls it an "eternal fire". Hebrews 6:2 calls it an "eternal judgment". Second Thessalonians 1:8-9 calls it "the punishment of eternal destruction". Hell is an actual place. It is not a metaphor for a person's mind that burns with tormenting thoughts.
Hell is a place of destruction. We are not just a body, but a body with a soul. That soul holds our conscious existence. Those who are sent to hell are alive and conscious in it for eternity. We are eternal beings that will either live for an eternity in heaven or in hell. Ecclesiastes 3:11 says that God has put "eternity into man's heart".
In Luke 23:43, Jesus told the thief dying on the cross beside him, "Today you will be with me in paradise." How could that be if the thief's body was about to die along with the body of Jesus? How could they both be in paradise if their bodies die? There is a disembodied life where the soul does not die when the body dies.
Jesus described hell as a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth. The imagery of grinding one's teeth together is due to the anguish and regret of hell.
Hell is described as a place of fiery torment, without any rest. Jesus said that no one would be able to leave hell, not even to go and warn their loved ones about it (Luke 16:19-31).
A period of grace
We have no idea what it is like to live eternally separated from God in hell. Even those who reject God and do not believe in him in this life do not experience this separation. God's common grace is bestowed upon all who live upon the earth.
In this verse, Jesus said that God the Father sends good things, even to the unjust people upon the earth. Jesus also described God the Father as being "kind to the ungrateful and the evil" in Luke 6:35.
Right now, we are all living in a period of grace. It is a period where God is withholding his judgment for sin in the hope that none would perish. One day, this period of grace will suddenly end and it will be time to pay the penalty for the wages of sin.
It is important to note that the loving Jesus spoke more about hell than he did about heaven. He described it more vividly than he did heaven. Jesus did so because he knew of hell's existence and wanted to warn us.
Hell is the future that awaits all people apart from Jesus. Hell is not a place where God sends really bad people. It's every human being's default destination after their physical death. Either we turn to the Savior and accept his gift of redemption or we are condemned to hell.
God is not only a good and loving father, but a good judge. His goodness guarantees us that there will come a day when all wrongs will be dealt with in justice before his judgment seat.
How God saved us from God
If we refuse to admit that we are sinners and that we have sinned, the Bible says that we are deceived and we are lying to ourselves.
God is the only righteous, pure, and sinless one in the universe. He is holy. In order to stand in God's presence, we would need to have lived a perfect life in perfect sinlessness and righteousness. However, none of us have such a record because we were all born in sin. When we die and are judged by God based on our own merit, we will all be found guilty.
The justice of God
We hear a lot about God's love in the world, but we rarely hear about God's justice. God is the perfect judge who judges all men and women according to the attitude of their hearts. God cannot be bribed to let sin go unpunished. Sin has to be dealt with. Since God is just, he cannot just forgive us. Our sins have to be paid for and justice has to be satisfied.
The only way for justice to be satisfied is through the death of the guilty one who broke God's law. We all deserve to die, and not just a physical death but an eternal death in hell. Since we have sinned against an infinite and eternal being, the punishment must be eternal.
In our sinful state, we are destitute and unable to save ourselves from the punishment we deserve. However, God refused to leave us in our helpless state.
What was in that cup?
The Bible tells us that Jesus prayed fervently the night before his crucifixion, so fervently that his sweat was mingled with blood. What was in that cup that caused Jesus to pray so fervently? Why did he want to avoid it, if possible?
Was it the nails that they would drive into his hands and feet to hold him upon the cross? Was it the thorns that they would put on his head? Was it the spear that would go through his side? Was it the weapons with which they would beat him?
Many martyrs before and after Jesus were killed by being crucified. It was surely not the physical sufferings of the cross that Jesus feared.
The cup that made Jesus pray so fervently was the cup of the wrath of God. Upon the cross, Jesus drank down the wrath and punishment of God that we deserved. When Jesus died, not one drop of the cup remained. Jesus drank it all on our behalf. This is why Jesus' last words on the cross were, "It is finished." (John 19:30).
All the nations of the world deserve to drink the cup of God's wrath on account of their sins against God. This would have been our fate.
However, God, being rich in mercy, devised a plan of redemption for us even before the creation of the world. The Son of God would become a man and walk upon the earth in sinless obedience to God's laws. He would be like us in all things. He would identify completely with us. He would be tempted just as we are, but without sin.
Then, at the appointed time, He would be crucified at the hands of evil men. On that cross, He would bear the sin and guilt of all people, and suffer the wrath of God that they deserved. He would be the one to take the cup of wrath from the hand of God and drink it until the justice of God was satisfied.
Jesus, the Son of God, who was always one with God the Father, experienced the suffering of eternal separation from God as he drank that cup. Every bit of God's justice and wrath that should have been ours to bear was poured out on Jesus instead. God saved us from Himself, that is, from His justice and wrath that we incurred by our sins.
It was God's will and plan to crush his own Son to save us. Jesus willingly submitted to being crushed in our place. When Jesus died, he paid for every crime you and I ever committed or would commit against God.
In these famous words of Jesus is found the full meaning of the cross. The fact that Jesus' words are also quoted in Hebrew means that there is something very important about these words. Matthew did not want us to misunderstand these words. These very words were prophesied hundreds of years earlier in Psalm 22 of the Old Testament.
There was never a time in the Old Testament where a righteous man of God cried out to God and was not delivered. Why then was the sinless Son of God hanging upon a cross? Where was God? Why did God turn away from His only begotten Son?
Sin will cause God to hide his face from someone so that he does not hear them. However, Jesus was sinless. Why did God forsake him then?
God the Father forsook Jesus upon the cross because God the Father made him to be sin in our place. In this great transaction of God, Jesus became our sin and we who receive Jesus receive his righteousness. God the Father looked upon Jesus and saw all the sins that we've ever committed and will ever commit. God the Father now looks upon those who believe in Jesus and sees Jesus' perfect righteousness rather than their sin.
He became a curse for us
We were cursed for our sins against God's laws. The curse of sin and death infected our planet and our souls.
For the Jews, it was considered accursed for someone to be hung on a tree (Deuteronomy 21:22-23). It was scandalous for the Jews, because how could the Messiah, Savior, and King die in such an accursed way? What they missed was the great exchange that was done upon the cross. Jesus had to become the accursed sinner that we are in order to redeem us from what we deserve.
Jesus suffered for our sins so that he could bring us to God the Father and so that we could be adopted as his beloved children. When Jesus was resurrected from the dead, it was God's sign and seal that Jesus' death was accepted as the sacrifice to pay for our sins in full.
What must we do to be saved?
Humanity was so depraved that it took the death of God's own Son to save us. The only thing that could save a people so far gone as us was God's Son dying under the wrath of His own Father to pay our price.
If we are saved, we are saved only because Jesus Christ hung in our place upon that cross. We are not saved by how many times we attend church, how many Christian books we read, or how many Christian events we go to.
One way
There is only one way to the true God and that way is not a priest or a pastor, that way is Jesus Christ. He is the only mediator that can put us right with God. It doesn't matter who you are or what you've done, you can be saved. Jesus said, "All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out." (John 6:37)
Our hardness of heart
We are only able to respond to the gospel of Jesus when the power of God's spirit breaks through the hardness of our hearts. Jesus taught that the Holy Spirit convicts us concerning our sins. When the true gospel is preached, the Holy Spirit convicts us to show us our sinful state and our need for the Savior.
How should we respond?
How should we respond to the realization of our sins and God's wrath? In Acts chapter 2, Peter preached the gospel of Jesus on the day of Pentecost. Those who heard it were "cut to the heart". The power of God's spirit penetrated their hardness of heart and it caused them to ask, "What shall we do?". In verse 38, Peter responded by telling them to repent.
Just like Peter, John the Baptist also told people to repent.
Just like Peter and John the Baptist, Jesus also told people to repent.
John the Baptist and Jesus both began their ministries by calling people to repentance. Those who answered the call were the rejects and the outcasts. The religious people of the time rejected it, thinking they were too good to need repentance.
There is no magic formula for salvation. There are no magic words that can save us. Everyone who is truly saved is saved because they repented of their sins and believed in the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, who has come to earth as Savior and Lord.
What does it mean to repent?
Learn about repentance.