I am a conservative Christian. What this means is that I believe that the Bible is God’s Word, that Jesus Christ is God Incarnate and that our salvation is only through Jesus Christ, His death on a cross and His resurrection. There is no other means of salvation.
How do I know? The Bible is a collection of writings penned by ordinary men whom God has spoken through. These writing are God-breathed. They reveal the truth about God.
The Bible contains True myth (the Creation) along with historical eyewitness accounts, wisdom literature, prophecy and letters written by the early apostles.
Jesus, the central figure of the Bible, is a historical figure in space and time. This cannot be denied. And, after fifty eight-years of following Christ I know that Jesus Christ is alive and that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is true. I have no doubt whatsoever.
I use the word conservative because there are those who superimpose teaching which projects their own thoughts and feelings onto Scripture thus making their version of the gospel a synthesis of good and evil. Also, consider that some churches will teach that homosexuality is acceptable because of some romantic and cheapened version of grace.
There are also those who teach that the Bible teaches you how to become wealthy and prosperous. And there are those, social gospel proponents like Jim Wallis and his Sojourners group, who believe that the Bible tells us to rid the world of hunger and poverty, that the wealthy need to do their “fair” share. These same people will tell you that their ‘righteous’ ends justify the means.
There are many who teach a Gospel that is not from God. Their gospel is based on a very human desire to augment the truth with feelings of social compassion, wish-fulfillment and downright denial of its truth to further their political and social agendas. Many people will folow these teachings because the message is one they want to hear:
“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in 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 them be under God’s curse! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!”
The Apostle Paul in his letter to the church in Galatia.
What is the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ?
1. Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the prophecies of the Old Testament of the coming Redeemer.
2. Jesus Christ is the Messiah.
3. Jesus Christ lived a perfect sinless life for us. He became sin for us.
4. Jesus Christ died for my sins, once and for all.
5. Jesus Christ rose from the dead. He conquered death that I might have eternal life.
6. Jesus Christ ascended to heaven. There, He intercedes for me before the Father. If I sin I have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous.
7. Jesus Christ is coming back to take His people home to heaven.
What can you do?
Confess that you are a sinner in need of Christ’s salvation.
Pray:
“Lord Jesus Christ Son of God have mercy upon me a sinner.”
“Lord Jesus Christ save me.”
Tell God that you willingly repent of your sins.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and Be saved. Tell the Lord that you believe on Him.
Attend a Bible teaching church where the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper is offered each week. You will need both, not just preaching, or you will fall away.
Be baptized as testimony of your conversion to Christ.
If you do not hear these words at the church you are attending, if instead you hear about how to clean the environment, how to work to get the government to redistribute wealth, how to make money following Christ or how to become an advocate for the earth, the air, the water, the animals, sexual orientation and a host of other causes, then you are not hearing the gospel of Jesus Christ. If you do not hear teachings about sin, the coming judgment, about heaven and hell than you are not hearing the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
“Social gospel” is someone’s version of a “kinder, gentler” version of the gospel. Presenters of this gospel teach that the rich should be shaken down and despoiled for the sake of the poor. They will teach that government should do this through taxes and wealth redistribution. They elevate government to a place of god-like status. Further, this type of gospel avoids the tragic view of man and his need for redemption. It presents only what it deems the more ‘positive, social’ aspects of the gospel. Its saccharin message is much like Al Franken’s Stuart Smalley telling us to think “Happy Thoughts.” Stay away from the placebo-like effects of “social gospel” preaching. If the Lord tells you to give to the poor, then give to the poor out of your own pocket.
There are false ‘gospels’ everywhere which will appeal to your ego, to your grandiosity. The preaching of this ‘gospel’ will compel you to go out and change the world, to save our planet, to seek social fairness and social justice, to accept homosexuality and sexual perversity as just human foibles and to not call homosexuality what the Bible calls it – sin. Beware. The “weeds” are presenting their gospel to you. Who are the weeds? Listen to what Jesus said in the Gospel according to Matthew:
” Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared. “The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’ “‘An enemy did this,’ he replied. “The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’ “‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’”
“Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.” He answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom. The weeds are the people of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. “As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears, let them hear.”
The Gospel of Jesus Christ is simple and straightforward. If after hearing the Gospel you filled with a desire to change the world then you have not heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ. You have heard your own ego boasting with pride of its own greatness. The Good Seed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ starts growing in the person who knows he is a sinner and desperately needs Christ’s salvation. Christ does not need your salvation of the planet or of the poor. Beware of false gospels. There is “No other Gospel” than what is stated above.
Cindy Wity 