The Un-gospel
http://www.lastingfoundations.com/jeremyblog/index.htm#090617
The greatest threat to new believers is not persecution. Even the baby Christian who has genuinely experienced the rebirth and new life of Christ can stand when things get rough. The greatest threat is not other religions. That same baby Christian would not trade his new life for an old death.
No, the greatest threat facing new or immature believers is the “other gospel.”
This threat is insidious. It masquerades as the “new life.” It uses all of the right jargon. Words like “Christ,” “love,” “life,” “restoration,” etc., get thrown around like candy from a parade float. And they’re often thrown by what seem like the nicest, most genuine, kind-hearted people in the world.
In America, a movement called Emergence Christianity holds the position of the most popular other gospel. Each year, millions of people (often teenagers or college students) join the ever-swelling ranks of these that still use Christ’s name, but hold no regard for His Word. They have determined that while we might be able to trust it, we cannot be trusted to understand it. Therefore, no one can claim to know what he really wants from us. All we can do is join in the Great Conversation. Gay or lesbian? Please, join in, they say. There’s room for all on the broad path. Their gospel is one of social reconciliation, an establishment of God’s kingdom on the earth now through peace, understanding and tolerance.
Africa has not yet seen the influx of “emergence” that America has. I have no doubt that it’s coming, for such lies know no borders, but for now, it remains confined to America and Europe. Africa faces a different scourge, and the enemy has tailored it precisely for these circumstances.
Here, the prosperity gospel is the order of the day. Proponents of this gospel prey on the difficult circumstances faced by these people, many of who live in the slums with open sewage flowing down Main Street. They twist stories in the Bible to say that just as God healed this person or allowed that person to prosper, he will do the same for them. If only they’ll first “plant a seed” (i.e., give me your money now so God will be forced to bless you later).
I witnessed this first hand a few weeks back. The pastor of one of the larger churches in Nairobi used the story in II Kings 6-7, where Syria had come against Israel. In the first verse of chapter 7, God promises that “tomorrow about this time” all shall again be well.
The promise was made for that people at that time in that situation. It was not made for all people for all time. Yet this pastor stood in front of over a thousand people and told them to pray and believe to “claim that this time tomorrow I will have my miracle, in Jesus name.”
This same pastor actually said that he doesn’t like to preach the cross. He instead wants to preach “beyond the cross.” I don’t understand this. What is there beyond the cross? What have we but our hope in what Christ purchased for us?
This prosperity gospel resides not “beyond the cross,” but completely and totally separated from the cross. The two are not even related. It is a different gospel, and such is the most prominently preached form of “Christianity” in Kenya. It has seeped into the churches, and it parades on TV. From the “TBN Africa” pulpit, Benny Hinn and Rod Parsley line their own pockets by preying on the fears and hopes of an ignorant audience.
Christ, and him crucified, is the only Gospel preached in the New Testament. Paul had harsh words for anyone preaching anything else:
“I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.” Gal. 1.6-8
The grace of Christ, which has purchased our freedom from sin, is the only Gospel. If anyone preaches anything else, he is to be accursed. It may sound harsh, but this is not my judgment. It is the judgment of the Word of God.
We must stand firm on Christ, our only foundation, and strongly proclaim the truth so young Christians will not be led astray by such lies.
