by David J. Stewart | November 2016
“There is power in this Gospel message. Most people just don't know how to present it... The clarity of the Gospel is what makes it easy for them to believe” —Pastor Yankee Arnold, a quote from the excellent MP3 sermon titled, “WHY GRACE CAN SAVE THE WORST MAN!”
The preceding quote from Dr. Yankee Arnold is excellent. The greatest need
in our churches today is to get back to the trustworthy King James Bible and
the clarity of the Gospel. I sometimes wonder if anyone in today's
neo-evangelical churches really knows what “the Gospel” means anymore. I am appalled by what most neo-evangelicals teach concerning how to get to
Heaven these days. It
is nauseating! From time-to-time I view various Bible college and church
websites, to see how they are deteriorating spiritually. Moody Bible
Institute (MBI) is horrible! When you click on “How
To Know Christ” in their beliefs section, it sends you to Moody Global
Ministries, from which the following heresy is quoting:
HOW TO KNOW CHRIST
The Bible, as God’s Word, proclaims how a person can come into a living and growing relationship with Jesus Christ.
- Acknowledge you are a sinner.
While some may think they are “good people," everyone has committed sin.
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23)
- Recognize you deserve death.
Because God is holy, He must judge sin. The penalty for sin is eternal separation from God.
“For the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23)
- Understand Christ died for your sins.
The Good News of the Bible is that God graciously supplied a substitute for the penalty you deserve.
“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)
- Put your trust in Christ as your Savior.
God invites you to come into a relationship with Him through faith in Christ’s death on your behalf.
“For by grace you have been saved, through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not a result of works, that no one should boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)
If you put your faith alone in Christ alone, you will come into a loving and eternal relationship with Christ.
“These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, in order that you may know that you have eternal life.” (1 John 5:13)
What is wrong with that? First, there is no mention of Christ's burial or His bodily resurrection. There is no mention of the “Gospel,” not surprisingly. According to 1st Corinthians 15:1-6, the Gospel includes Christ's DEATH, BURIAL and RESURRECTION:
“Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.”
One of my favorite books is “I NEVER KNEW YOU: THE COMING GREAT WHITE THRONE JUDGMENT AND HOW YOU CAN AVOID IT!” (.pdf file)” by Michael P. Bowen, which effectively clarifies the Gospel. Here is a great quote from Brother Bowen:
The gospel message is the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. When we believe that Jesus died for us and came back to life three days later, He knows it — He knows all of your thoughts — and He knows the very instant that you believe His gospel message. The instant you believe His message, Jesus saves you. Time and time again we see in the bible that when people heard this message, they “believed.” When they believed, they were saved that very same instant. They did not pray prayers of salvation asking Jesus into their hearts. They did not commit their lives to the Lordship of Christ. They did not determine to follow Him all the days of their lives in obedience to His Lordship or to the practice of discipleship. They simply believed on Christ alone as their savior.
SOURCE: I NEVER KNEW YOU, by Michael P. Bowen; page 58
Amen, that is absolutely Biblically correct! Ninety-five percent of pastors today are teaching something besides the Gospel. We hear all kinds of theological garbage being taught from church pulpits today, such as, “Invite Christ into your life” and “Invite Christ to come in and take control” and “Ask Jesus into your heart” and “Turn from your sins” and “follow Jesus” and “Make Jesus Lord” to be saved. Unfortunately, none of these constitute the Gospel. The Devil is clever. Satan knows that the easiest way to corrupt the Gospel is to con people into living the Christian life without ever being born again.
It must be noted that Judas, one of Christ's very own disciples, had a devil and shared a relationship with Jesus. Salvation is not beginning a relationship with Jesus, as MBI teaches. Salvation is a new birth, which comes only by faith in the Gospel. Many unsaved people believe that Christ died, but few believe that He has bodily risen. Any plan of salvation that leaves off the resurrection of Jesus Christ is incomplete. Due to the trend over the decades by careless churches to change God's plan of salvation, the clarity of the Gospel has been obscured to the point that you cannot get saved by reading the average Gospel tract. This is largely due to the hundreds of satanic corrupt Bible revisions in the churches today, which originated from Alexandria, Egypt, and were translated by Brooke Westcott and Fenton Hort in 1881. The modern Bible revisions have their roots in the occult.
Here is another great quote from page 77:
“You can live for Christ, you can love Christ, you can serve Him with all your might, time, talent, and wealth. You can pray to Him, read your Bible, get water-baptized, join a church, witness to people, and do every wonderful work contained within the realm of Christianity, but if you fail to trust Jesus Christ alone for your salvation, He will 'dump' you.”
SOURCE: “I NEVER KNEW YOU,” by Michael P. Bowen; p. 77
The majority of religious people in the world's
churches today have believed a lie, a false gospel of making Jesus “Lord” to
be saved. Their basis for such belief is that a person cannot be saved and
continue in sin. So they corrupt the gospel by adding self-righteousness to
it, masquerading behind the word “Lord.” Ironically Jesus said that not
every one who saith, “Lord, Lord,” shall enter into the kingdom of God, but
he that doeth the Father's will. Just as unsaved Roman Catholics who
errantly think they are going to Heaven via their sacraments, so also will
all those false evangelicals who trust in making Jesus Lord go to Hell in
their unbelief.
The Cross Must Be Included
Also, the cross upon which Christ died is not mentioned. Jesus couldn't simply die, He had to be crucified on a cross for our sins. He couldn't be strangled or bludgeoned to death. Please read, “The Cross-Less Gospel” by Pastor Max D. Younce. False Gospel's have crept into our churches everywhere. 1st Corinthians 1:18, “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.” There is a trend nowadays for false prophets to teach people to live like Christ did, but without being born again. Beware of any plan of salvation that speaks of trusting Christ, but fails to mention the cross upon which Christ died. “The Gospel” is defined in 1st Corinthians 15:1-6 as Christ's DEATH, BURIAL and RESURRECTION.
However,
we are speaking of His DEATH on the cross, and His BURIAL in a tomb, and His
bodily RESURRECTION from the dead three days later. Keep in mind that
Muslims teach in the Koran that Jesus was kidnapped and someone else died in
His place on the cross. So Muslims teach that Jesus died, but not on a
cross. Also, Jehovah's Witnesses teach that Jesus raised up only in spirit
form, not physically, nor was He seen of men, they say. Clearly, these are
unbiblical teachings. If we are to preach the Gospel effectively, we must
get the facts correct. Christ DIED on a cross for our sins (our offences).
He was BURIED in a tomb. He RESURRECTED physically from the dead 72 hours
later for our justification. Romans 4:25, “Who was delivered for our
offences, and was raised again for our justification.” 1st Thessalonians
4:14, “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also
which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.”
Pastor Harry Ironside Had the Gospel 100% Correct!
What amazes me is that Dr. Harry A. Ironside (1876-1951) pastored the famous Moody Memorial Church between 1930 and 1948. Dr. Ironside is one of the most doctrinally correct men of God that I know. I am one of his biggest fans! I love Dr. Ironside's writings. In his book titled, “WHAT IS THE GOSPEL?,” he does an excellent job expounding the Scriptures. Also, please see his excellent book titled, “EXCEPT YE REPENT,” for a proper understanding of Biblical repentance.
Ironically, Moody ministries today has altogether abandoned Dr. Ironside's doctrinal soundness. Instead they publish Dr. John MacArthur's bloodless theology, who says that Jesus' blood is not on the Mercy Seat in Heaven. MacArthur is a 5-point Calvinist, teaching that a man must persevere to be saved. This heresy is commonly known as “Lordship Salvation,” and it is a deadly teaching that perverts the Gospel. Moody is an accomplice to MacArthur's apostasy by printing his books! If you are a Moody student, staff or member of the Moody church, please read Dr. Harry Ironside's books and return to your ministry's roots. We've examined 1st Corinthians 15:1-4 in the Holy Bible, which defines the Gospel as Christ's DEATH, BURIAL and RESURRECTION.
The apostle Paul said in Philippians 1:17, “But the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defence of the gospel.” Paul said in Galatians 1:6-9 that there is “a curse” from God upon any man or even angel who preaches ANOTHER GOSPEL.
Galatians 1:6-9, “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 which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.”
Any plan of salvation that fails to mention Christ's DEATH, BURIAL and RESURRECTION is “another Gospel.” How can Christ RESURRECT from the dead if He was not BURIED for three days? And how can Christ be BURIED of He did not DIE for our sins? And how can Christ's DEATH, BURIAL and RESURRECTION have any significance if Christ had not paid our debt of sin on the cross as a sacrificial Lamb, with His own precious broken body and shed blood? And if Christ didn't RESURRECT triumphant from the dead, then we wouldn't have a High Priest in the heavenlies, interceding on every believer's behalf (Romans 8:34; Hebrews 4:14-16).
