It is an astonishing fact that when you ask many Christians, even those who are pastors or youth pastors, if they know what the Gospel is, they are unable to give an adequate answer. They have spent such little time preaching the Gospel that they are unable to enunciate exactly what it is when asked. The answer to the question is actually very simple and should have been taught to every Christian on day one. Paul defined it very plainly:

“Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scripture…” (I Corinthians 15:1-3).

The problem gets even worse when you ask these Christians how they share the gospel if they do not even know what it is. I once asked a missionary if he witnesses to unbelievers by telling them that Christ died for their sins. He became a little uncomfortable and stated that he does not tell them this until they are a part of the church community.

If the Gospel is good news, that should be the first thing out of our mouths when explaining our faith to unbelievers.

This is an appalling approach to witnessing, and it may explain why there are so few devoted Christians in the church today. It seems that increasing the church community has taken precedence over the sharing of the Gospel to the detriment of the church. It has gotten to the point where growing the ‘church community’ is emphasized more than the salvation of souls.

When we say that Christ died for our sins, we are saying that Jesus, who was God in human flesh and perfect in righteousness, died as a propitiation for the sins of his people. We are also saying that we are born spiritually dead in our sins, and without this sacrifice, we remain under the wrath of God and destined for hell. God crushed His only Son so that we could put our faith in Christ, to satisfy God’s wrath, and by so doing, we could be declared justified by our faith in Christ’s death on the cross.

This is the message that Christ ordered his ambassadors, namely Christians, to deliver to his enemies, namely the unbelievers. Unfortunately, many so-called Christians have taken it upon themselves to change this message to make it more suitable to the culture. The problem is that Jesus is our King, and he has made it clear that if you are truly his ambassador, then you must deliver the message with which you were entrusted. Christ’s parable of the Talents addresses this very issue, and those who possess only one talent do not fair very well. Unfortunately, most ‘Christians’ have decided they do not like the message that Christ ordered them to deliver and, in their faithlessness, took it upon themselves to amend it.

There now seems to be a concerted effort among the more popular preachers and teachers to completely deconstruct the Gospel and replace it with something else.  The ‘something else’ appears to be the ‘gospel’ of social justice, which is no gospel at all.

This seems to be the case when we examine the Emergent Church Movement, which began around 1970. According to the Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA), the following describes the Emergent Church Movement [with my commentary included in bold]:

The Emergent Church is a trans-denominational, praxis-oriented [a Marxist revised Hegelian Dialectic], noncentralized movement that seeks to reconfigure, to varying degrees, the theology [to reconfigure the Gospel and empty it of its meaning], worship [from reverent to profane], biblical hermeneutics [to deemphasize the Bible], and social engagement of the Church, in light of the cultural and intellectual shift [degeneration] from modernity [the belief in absolute truth] to postmodernity [the rejection of absolute truth]. Though the movement originally comprised those who had become dissatisfied with conservative evangelicalism [Christianity as described by Jesus], it soon grew to include members of mainline Protestant churches [which were the first to accept this heresy and achieve ‘dead’ status].

One can properly distinguish the terms “Emerging” and “Emergent” by remembering that there is a wide variety of theological traditions and liturgical expressions within the broad phenomenon of the Emerging churches, whereas the term “Emergent” is a more precise term [as these churches ’emerge’ as corpses], often associated with particular publications produced by the Zondervan publishing house and with three thinkers: Brian McLaren, Doug Pagitt, and Tony Jones [who were the first to successfully adopt the Marxist attempt to deconstruct the Gospel, and replace it with social justice].

The Emergent Church movement attempted to render the Gospel meaningless through the following strategies:

1. Insisting that the church must change with the culture if it is to remain relevant. In Christianity, the culture conforms to God, not vice versa.
2. Emphasizing experience over reason, subjectivity over objectivity, spirituality over religion, images over words, outward over inward, and feelings over truth (gotquestions.org). This emphasis empties the Gospel of any real meaning.
3. Demanding unity with those who are ashamed of the Gospel to not offend them, so the church community does not fracture. However, these people are under no obligation to concern themselves with not offending Christians who stand firm on the Gospel.

The Emergent Church has had great success in watering down the Gospel so that it has become practically meaningless. There are numerous examples of how this is done, but only two will be offered to make the point more salient. The first is Rick Warren, author of “The Purpose Driven Life.”

In his best-selling book, Warren claims that the purpose of Christianity is to serve God and take care of one another as part of God’s family. This is the first red flag. The purpose of Christianity is to save souls from the fires of hell by proclaiming the Gospel, not to take care of God’s family. Although this sounds really sweet, taking care of each other is something we do instinctively when we receive the gift of faith. Paul was very clear as to what was of “first importance.”

This is how the deconstruction of the Gospel begins, at least where Warren is concerned.

Warren writes, “Preparing you for these two questions is the goal of this book. The first question will determine where you spend eternity. The second question will determine what you do in eternity. By the end of this book, you will be ready to answer both questions.”

The first question Warren asks is, “What did you do with my Son, Jesus Christ?” This sounds pious enough until you realize how ambiguous the question is. At least Warren acknowledges Jesus as the Son of God. But what did we do with him? We did not do anything with him other than obey his command to proclaim repentance for the forgiveness of sins in his name. We further obeyed him by baptizing all nations, teaching them to obey all that Christ commanded. Jesus is not a tool that we wield for our own benefit or to find our purpose. He is a King who gave us a message to proclaim.

The next question is equally ambiguous. “What did you do with what I gave you?” Jesus gave us the Gospel so we could proclaim it, which Warren, unfortunately, failed to do.

Rick Warren failed to proclaim God’s law and his Gospel as he was commanded to do. In other words, he failed in what he stated was his primary purpose, which was to serve God. Instead, he preached a different Gospel called “The Purpose-Driven Life.” It seems that his mission was to deconstruct the Gospel and replace it with meaningless, man-made gibberish. In this way, he helped fulfill the mission of the Emergent Church movement, which was to empty the Gospel of its meaning.

By neglecting to proclaim the Gospel, Warren also failed in his second purpose, which he claimed was to care for the family of God. We serve the family of God by proclaiming the Gospel and thereby comforting it and making it grow. So much for all the useless ‘love’ talk that comes out of these types of pastors.

What is even more concerning is that those few Christians who stood up to oppose this ‘different gospel’ were shouted down by the hirelings who inhabit most of the pulpits in this country. They ‘loved’ Warren’s self-centered twaddle more than they loved the Gospel of Christ.

The second example of a Gospel deconstructionist in action is provided by Tim Keller. In the following video, Tim Keller is asked by a group of young people to explain the Christian view of homosexuality.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUNyUwK17Nc&t=1s

This question is a dream come true for any Christian who is anxious to share the Gospel. When young people come to us and ask us about our faith, this is a golden opportunity to share the love, mercy, and grace of Christ.

Unfortunately, Keller proceeded to deconstruct the Gospel through the process of over-intellectualization. You can almost see those listening become glassy-eyed, or falling asleep, as he launches into a diatribe devoid of substance. Keller briefly looks thoughtful and then claims that “there are three things that Christians say” regarding homosexuality. Even though no Christian says these things, these are the three things that we allegedly say:

1. “We” invoke the good Samaritan parable (which has nothing to do with homosexuality). “We” then retreat into the ‘love’ gospel (which is a different Gospel than the one Paul preached), where we are supposed to make the world a great place for everyone regardless of belief.
2. “We” inform the enemies of Christ that the gospel pulls out the self-righteousness of the Christians who are the cause of great suffering to gay people (Jesus neglected to tell us this is what the Gospel does). Since the Gospel is all about love thy neighbor rather than repentance for the forgiveness of sins, “we” no longer should self-righteously call people to repent of their lawlessness. According to Keller, the Gospel is meant to condemn the Christian who delivers the message, not call the unbeliever the repent.
3. When the Bible tells us how we should live, it is telling us how we should live according to God’s ‘design.’ Keller reluctantly admits that sex is for a man and a woman inside the marriage relationship. He gets around to telling these young people that homosexuality is a violation of God’s ‘design’ (when it is, in fact, a violation of God’s law’). Unfortunately, the only reason God tells us that we are violating his design is not because it is a sin but because we are ‘missing out’ on something better.

The takeaway from this pointless form of witnessing is that homosexuality is not God’s best for you (although it may be God’s second-best for you).

The Christian response to this question is that homosexuality is a terrible sin in the eyes of God. But we have good news for all homosexuals. Jesus died for this sin, and he calls all who are involved in same-sex relationships to repent and be forgiven in His Holy name. He also calls those who approve of it to repent as well.

Rick Warren and Tim Keller are supposed to be giants of the faith. When we examine their words, we find that they water down the Gospel until it is meaningless. Jesus spoke of them in the Parable of the Talents (with my commentary in bold):

“He also who had received the one talent [a measure of faith in the Gospel] came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed [you are unjust], so I was afraid [I had no faith in you], and I went and hid your talent in the ground [I refused to preach the Gospel]. Here, you have what is yours.’ But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers [You should have shared the Gospel with someone else who might have used it wisely], and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest [the faith still would have spread].

“So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. For to everyone who has [faith in the Gospel] will more be given, and he will have an abundance [He will inherit the Kingdom of Heaven]. But from the one who has not [no Faith in the Gospel], even what he has will be taken away. And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness [woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel]. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth'” (Matthew 25:24-30).

It is a wonder that anyone would trade the pure Gospel of Christ for the steaming pile of freshly laid dog droppings of finding one’s purpose or ‘social justice.’ Apparently, modern-day pastors have found that it is more profitable to slop the pigs in their congregation rather than feed the sheep.

Jesus said that when the Holy Spirit comes that he would convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment (John 16:8). He came at Pentecost and indwelt the church to carry out this task. He did not come to tell the world that God loves you, or to help you find your purpose, or to make sure you do not miss out on something. And he certainly did not come to promote the evil of social justice.

So, when you look around the world and wonder why there is so much violence, perversion and lawlessness, you need look no further than the church. The end-times churches of Sardis and Laodicea have failed this generation. The blame for all of the evil that is currently running amok in this society and around the world can be laid at the feet of these churches and the hirelings that lead them.

Our current government reflects the spiritual condition of the church. If anyone is paying attention to our present government, it is easy to see how Godless, faithless and corrupt it is. Since judgment begins in the house of God, the church will be the first to answer for this situation.

Many who preach from our pulpits today believe that Jesus is a hard man who makes unreasonable demands of his servants. Apparently, the Gospel is very hurtful and causes great emotional pain to the sinner, so the message needs to be amended by the ‘experts.’ Unfortunately for these pastors, Jesus will come on a day when such preachers do not expect him and at an hour that they do not know.

When Christ returns, they will be cut to pieces and placed with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

gospelist.net

April 11, 2022

 

This is not an easy subject to address because of its very nature. A subject like this can always be accused of being judgmental, and that is the last thing I want. Occasionally people write to me telling me I don’t know anything, and I have such a superficial knowledge of the Bible; it is obvious they disagree with something I wrote, and I suppose they can have that view. It causes me to delve even further into what the Bible says. Sometimes I think, “Maybe they are right. We do the best we can with God’s help.”

The problem when writing on that subject is that it is so conclusive for people to say, “Who does he think he is, as if he knows it all!” This is the danger in writing this series of articles and is why I am stressing this matter at the start. I know the views of different writers who contribute to RR, and I know I and they can see things differently.

The purpose of writing this series is NOT to try correcting anyone, for that is negative and just not on. What I am doing is selecting certain items that have a prevailing view I don’t support, but I get asked about them. I am defining my position without prejudice, so no one is to be offended. I am hoping instead that we all might examine the scripture more carefully.

Not one of us has the full container of truth.

My own views on a number of prophetic issues have changed over the years, some to the extent that I now hold to the opposite of what I did when I was 20 or 30. That was a long time ago. Research and scripture comparison have changed that. The following are matters I have worked through over the years, and some of these I have already written on. These are misconceptions (in my understanding):

[MISCONCEPTION 1].

HEAVEN IS OUR ETERNAL HOME.

This needs to be refined. Is heaven our home? Yes, and No. Some saints have been in heaven now for almost 2,000 years, but no longer than that.

The Old Testament believers, when they died, went to Abraham’s bosom in Paradise, which was part of Sheol – place of the dead, sometimes translated ‘grave’ (and before Abraham, then just Paradise). The other part was where the wicked dead were in torment. The story of Lazarus and the rich man bears that out.

The reason the righteous were in Paradise was that they were unacceptable for heaven, which is holy. The Old Testament saints had their sins covered, but that awaited the sacrifice of Christ to eliminate and atone for sin completely, to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. One important verse bears out that thought – {{2Corinthians 5:21 “He made Him who knew no sin, to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” 1Pet. 2:24 “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness, for by His wounds you were healed.”}}

There is the substitutionary exchange. The righteous One took the sins of the unrighteous ones on the cross, becoming sin for them, that in turn, sinners can become the righteous ones through Him. We have His appropriated righteousness and all that is possible after Christ’s sacrifice, not before. Those in Paradise who had their sins covered but not eliminated were recipients of Christ’s righteousness after the cross. Paradise was the comfort for them while they waited for Calvary.

Once that was done, He led captivity captive and took them all to heaven (I think at the ascension). Paradise does not exist anymore. Hell has enlarged itself and now is one.

As I said, some have been in heaven for almost 2,000 years, and when the Rapture happens, ALL the believers since Adam to the exact moment of the Rapture will be in heaven. That makes up The Church, The Bride.

However, all those who are raptured while still living (the mortals of 1 Corinthians 15) who have put on immortality, they will be in heaven for only 7 years. During those 7 years, the events of the Tribulation will rage on earth. Right near the end of that time, the marriage of the Bride occurs (Revelation 19), and the honeymoon is the battle of Armageddon.

At that point, the Bride (no longer called the Church in the Bible) returns to earth with her Groom at the Second Coming and spends the next 1,000 years on earth reigning with Christ through the Millennium. What follows that?

{{Revelation 21:1 “I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea, ² and I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. ³ I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, ‘Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He shall dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be among them, ⁴ and He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there shall no longer be any death. There shall no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain. The first things have passed away.’ ⁵ He who sits on the throne said, ‘Behold, I am making all things new,’ and He said, ‘Write, for these words are faithful and true.'”}}

I believe the New Jerusalem is the home of the Bride, and that will be eternal. There we have it – heaven will not be our eternal home. I suppose the generalist could say, “Well, where God is, is heaven,” but it is not as general as that.

[MISCONCEPTION 2].

THE TIMING OF THE RAPTURE IS NEBULOUS. Some people say to me, “Well, why are you trying to push the Rapture as coming soon? It may be 100 years away?” I find it hard to explain to those people why I believe in an imminent Rapture, as they seem convinced it could be a long way off. Now why would people say such things?

Most readers of RR would also hold to an imminent Rapture, so what are the reasons we hold for this view, and reject the Rapture to be in the future sometime, maybe hundreds of years away? I was saved in a Brethren assembly at the age of 10/11 and spent a lot of time reading the early Brethren writers – views of J N Darby, C H Macintosh, W Kelly, Gaebelein, and a lot more. These men, God used to reinstate the teaching of eschatology that had been generally lost for 1,700 years. There are excellent articles on this site by Thomas Ice (https://www.raptureready.com/thomas-ice/), and one or two cover that point. I would recommend all that Thomas Ice has written. I would judge him as being the best teacher represented on RR.

What those early teachers in the early 19th century held to was an imminent Rapture, and that was nearly 200 years ago.

Well, the early Church did the same, and it is the correct thing to do. However, 1,960 years have passed since that apostolic era of an imminent Rapture, so what is the difference? Why are we now so assertive? Why do quite a number of RR writers agree with an imminent Rapture?

Well, the difference is the signs of the times. For us alive now, we see so much that has now been set in place – Israel has its own land; Europe is readying itself to be the revived Roman Empire; the last day signs of 2Timothy 3 are upon us; the world is getting ready for all sorts of wars which will be set in motion by the rider on the red horse; phone technology is such that the whole world will be able to see the events of Revelation 11 in real-time; God has allowed the world to see what a virus is like (corona/pestilences of Revelation 6), and I am sure there are a lot more such as mandating. As well, there is a “feeling” or conviction among the students of the word that the Rapture is close. If we had to choose just one of the above for proof, it would have to be Israel!

For those reasons, I must reject what people tell me, that the Rapture could be hundreds of years away. Brothers and sisters, it is close!

[MISCONCEPTION 3].

A POPE WILL BE THE ANTICHRIST OR THE FALSE PROPHET. This is an interesting one and has been around for some time. Some of that opinion has come from anti-Catholic feelings.

Well, is there a possibility that that can happen? In my opinion, and I don’t want to offend Catholics, the pope is antichrist, but he is not THE Antichrist.

The coming world leader (Antichrist if you wish) will be a political figure from some European organization (national political leader, or from the UN or the EU or WEF, etc) (some charismatic figure like Emmanuel Macron). It is possible he could be a military figure, for the world will declare in the Tribulation, {{“Who is like the beast, and who is able to wage war with him?”}} and that will happen after the wars initiated by the second rider on the red horse.

It could also be related to the first revealing of this evil man – Rev. 6:2 “and I looked, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering, and to conquer.”

In fact, the clearest indication for this Antichrist comes from this verse – {{Revelation 13:1 “He stood on the sand of the seashore, and I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns were ten diadems, and on his heads were blasphemous names.”}}

“The sea” in prophetic scripture is always indicative of the Gentile nations, whereas “the land” is always Israel. Just one example of the sea is – {{Daniel 7:2 “Daniel said, ‘I was looking in my vision by night and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea ³ and four great beasts were coming up from the sea, different from one another.”}} This world leader arises from the Gentile nations (almost certainly Europe), and the description could indicate he will be an existing political leader. The Pope does not qualify for the world leader. However, will he qualify for the False Prophet?

The Pope is a false prophet because he claims to be the Vicar of Christ carrying the name “Pontifex Maximus,” but THE False Prophet arises from the land – {{Revelation 13:11 “I saw another beast coming up out of the earth and he had two horns like a lamb and he spoke as a dragon . . .”}} Because this beast springs from the land/earth, it is my opinion that the False Prophet will be an apostate Jew because Israel is always associated with the land. Israel is an earthly people, not a heavenly people – Israel’s blessings pertain to the land, whereas the Church’s blessings are heavenly.

There is talk about a “church” in the Tribulation, but the False Prophet will have the religious worship of the beast well and truly in hand. It will be a satanic church and drug-induced (Revelation 9 v 21). Note – {{Revelation 13:4 “They worshipped the dragon because he gave his authority to the beast, and they worshipped the beast saying, ‘Who is like the beast, and who is able to wage war with him?'”}}

As for drugs, it will be widespread – {{Revelation 9:20 “The rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands . . . ²¹ and they did not repent of their murders, nor of their sorceries, (φαρμάκων (pharmakōn) nor of their immorality, nor of their thefts.”}} (Sorceries should be translated “drugs.” I and others have written on this that the Greek is actually drugs, often used in Roman times for inducing ecstatic states in pagan worship. In the Tribulation, it will be satanic worship.)

This great apostate “church” will be called by God, “BABYLON THE GREAT,” and its headquarters will be in Rome. We get that in the account of the destruction of this corrupt Babylonian system – {{Revelation 17:9 “Here is the mind which has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits.”}} Rome is the city of the 7 hills – Palatinus, Capitoline, Quirinal, Viminal, Esquiline, Caelian, and Aventine.

The Roman Catholic Church, along with all dead Protestantism and probably all other “spiritualities,” will become part of the Tribulation “church” under the False Prophet.

To end, NO, the Pope is neither the Antichrist nor the False Prophet.

That covers 3 of these Misconceptions. There is another article in Part 2 where I address more of these issues.

ronaldf@aapt.net.au