False Gospels

Lord, it’s been a little while. You have blessed me immensely to allow me to focus pouring into my family, my friends, and my community Your word and helping me to become the man, husband, father, and friend that your servant desires to be. I was looking through some reels for some time now, most of which point out the mockery of Christianity and the false teachers associated with it and I think to myself, wow, how close I was to becoming like them. How often do we fall into a category of “false gospels”? Well, You know better than anyone! Forgiveness Only gospel, Old and New gospel, Prosperity gospel, Consumer gospel, “Right” gospel, Legalistic gospel, Self gospel, “Love” gospel. Your word through Paul is clear, “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ. For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man’s gospel. For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. (Gal 1:6-12). Turning to a different gospel, not that there is another. How full of ourselves can we be? In an age where it’s “mine, now, offended, taboo is taboo, sin is sick, and fortune is godly”, we have put the throne soundly above our placement. People are giving in to the most heinous acts, giving into the most consuming yet vapid, apathetic desires we’ve grown comfortable with. Depending on self and what the dollar can bring rather than looking to what is good, what is beautiful, what is holy. We are in an age of false teachers who present themselves as juveniles in Your house. They present themselves in the latest fashions and abodes that few in the world's elite could afford. They present themselves as lovers of self, lovers of money, lovers of evil, as oxymorons defined in their own terms to how the true gospel is “interpreted”. They believe Christ is optional, that Truth is optional, that there is nothing wrong with self-indulgence and that You, O Lord, can be managed. They preach with a false doctrine, one of sin isn’t really sinful, sin isn’t damning, sin is not a punishable act. Distorted, twisted, warped, contorted, and vile. Reality is now whatever whose truth tells them it is and as I shared recently, the exclusive has been made inclusive, truth has been traded for a lie, good has been traded for evil, and the teachers perpetuating this verbal vomit scream in the same chant as they march others down the wide road alongside them the anthem of hell, “I Did It My Way.” 

I watch these demon led teachers as they pour out their villainous blasphemies and listen to their followers sate their appetite and slake their thirst with theological dung and the blood of those who died in that rhetoric. I had never seen, until you redeemed the condition of my heart, the evil in the eyes of these people. Not that I ever trusted or followed any of their teachings or directives, but their eyes have a different covering on the windows. I swear I just heard You say “tell me about it!” I know You see everything and You know their hearts, minds, and them as a person outside of what they show, but the fruit from Your word tells me theirs is bitter and poisoned. What You hear me talking to You about as I write is my befuddlement. How can someone who claims to follow You, read Your word, study Your word, and draw the conclusion that most of it doesn’t apply, or even worse, to twist what they believe, applying it to fit their directive without context or accurate interpretation, and get it so wrong for so many people. The millstones have been traded for flotation devices by the people who want them to keep tickling their ears. I can’t even think of anything more to say, it’s just so overwhelming and leaves me feeling ambivalent. Of course, I’m not hopeless. My hope is in Jesus who saved me from perdition and separation from You, my Lord and Master. The irony of all of this, every breath we take, we speak Your name. Anyone who draws their first breath to their final one proclaims Your name all the days of their lives. The ones who believe, the ones who don’t, the ones who preach falsely, the ones who commit atrocities, blaspheme, give in to their lustful and deceitful desires, the name YHWH is said in every breath. Truly all have proclaimed Your name, and one day all will bow and confess Your name as Lord. Truly I thank You for saving me from the separation my sin would have subjected me to. I’m no longer a shackled prisoner on death row, but a sinner repented of the evil inside paid for by the blood of The Innocent Lamb of God. My Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, may I be blessed to serve You the rest of my days and may You look on Your servant with favor as I proclaim the One True Gospel.