A Counterfeit Gospel

Nothing disturbs me more than to meet someone who says he’s become a Christian and is trying to live a better life or trying to give up old habits and turn away from a life of sin. Invariably when his experience is related in this way I know that it is only a matter of time till he returns to his former life of sin.
It is heart breaking because when I discern his spiritual condition and try to speak to him about the true Gospel his eyes glaze over and his heart is closed because persons who he trusts and views as having spiritual authority have given him a false gospel.
The key to discerning his true spiritual condition is in listening to his words and observing his expressions and body language. He uses terms such as “trying to do this or that like give up sin or please God”. Artificial expressions of joy are very transparent and it is clear that he is in a tremendous struggle to overcome what he thinks to be displeasing to God or to those in the church he may be attending. He does not know or understand that what pleases God the most is our admission that we are totally corrupt and are powerless to change. It has never been explained to him that the very reason Christ came and died on the cross was because of the impossibility of man ever pleasing God through trying to keep a set of rules that no one in history had been totally successful in doing.
It was never explained to him that we must come to Christ as a helpless child totally surrendering to His love and care knowing that if we will but surrender He will do the impossible for us “for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure” Philippians 2:13
Can a brand new baby feed himself, change his diaper, comfort himself when his tummy hurts or put himself to bed or dress himself? Of course not, this is the job of loving parents and God is truly a loving parent and the newborn Christian is just as helpless but the one who has been given the false gospel does not know this and therefore instead of placing himself in the loving arms of our Loving Heavenly Father, he goes about trying to do all these things himself and it is only a matter of time till he discovers the power of sin is greater than his power to overcome and he gives up in discouragement.
The gospel as most perceive it is simply this statement that I found on a google search “The core message of the Gospel is simply that Jesus Christ died for our sins and rose again.”
While this is a true statement it is not complete. The true complete Gospel must include and embrace everything Jesus had to say concerning salvation and the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God as they are all inextricably linked as surely as God the Father, Christ the Son and God the Holy Spirit are linked.

This subject is going to be rather lengthy and involved therefore I will break it up into 2 or more. Be sure to check back for part 2.
May God give you discernment as you read. Comments are welcome either in the comment section of this blog or by email to justjohn@eoni.com