False Gospels

In my brief trilogy looking at false teachers, false teaching, I wish to add an article on false gospels. The medium is false teachers. The method is false teaching. The message of the false teacher, who is teaching falsehood, is a false gospel.

There are billions of messages being communicated in the world each day. The proverbial needle in the haystack is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the one message that gives life to its hearing believers, when accompanied by the grace of God. It is nothing short of a miracle for one to hear a clear Gospel presentation, let alone believe it. Truly, this is the work of God. And all God’s probability statisticians said, “Amen!”

Never should the Christian take for granted what has happened to him or her by God’s grace. The needle was made to be seen. The probable impossibility actually happened for the born again. What man could never do on his own, God has done on his behalf. Jesus opens the eyes of the blind so they might see Him. In this, He has made them glad.

False gospels always fail to achieve this aforementioned miracle. False teachers reduce the supernatural work of God down to a choice of man or the decision of a spiritually dead sinner. It is a pathetic juxtaposition designed by the devil to steal glory from God.

There is no power of God in the false gospel because the Holy Spirit is not a liar. Where the Word of truth is spoken, the Spirit of truth is present. The Spirit, according to Jesus, is like the wind (Jn 3:1–8). He goes where God wills for Him to go. The Spirit is God, willing and doing His good pleasure (Phil 2:13).

False gospels are legion. They offer help in a million different directions. They are always man-centered, and their reason for being is to distract people away from the Gospel of God. Every wind of doctrine blows the hearer further from the truth. Of course, the deceived are oblivious to their plight.

The only solution to the problem of false gospels is the Bible, taught by the Spirit, to select students (Jn 14:17, 26; 15:16). The flesh is too weak to pick up a Bible and read. No one in the flesh is inclined to come and learn of Christ (1 Cor 2:14). One must be irresistibly drawn to the Scriptures. It is the grace of God that puts a Bible into one’s hands, and it is grace that illumines the meaning of the text (Lk 24:45).

False gospels are darkness. They are lies posing as truth. They are forwarded by angels of light, messengers of Satan. They are intended to deceive and deceive is what they do. Those who believe false gospels are deceived. Because the deceived are deceived, they do not recognize they are deceived. There is, however, an escape from the cycle of deception.

But God, being rich in mercy, has caused some to be born again (Jn 3:1–8; 1 Pet 1:3). Stated some other ways…when dead in sin, God made us alive (Eph 2:5 Col 2:13); when blind in darkness, God opened our eyes to see the Light (Jn 9); when deceived, God made us to know the truth (Jn 8:32), as it is in Jesus (Eph 4:21). Grace and truth have come to those God intended to save in His predetermined plan and foreknowledge (Acts 2:23). He appointed His chosen ones to be heirs of eternal life (Acts 13:48; Tit 3:7).

Obviously, God saves no one by means of a false gospel. Never did one false preacher preach a false gospel and have one person be saved. Granted, many conversions occur when a false gospel is proclaimed, but the converts are now adherents of one lie or another. Being deceived, they have chosen to believe every wind of doctrine in the repertoire of the doctrine of demons (Rom 2:5).

False gospels are some degree of deviation from the Gospel of grace. There are false religions and atheism, too, which are very far from Christ. Other false gospels are very close to the real Gospel. Like a fake Rolex watch, they look good to the eye of the beholder. They, however, are cheap imitations of the weighted glory of the real thing (if you have ever owned a Rolex, you know how incredibly heavy they are in comparison to their imposters).

Evil is in every deviation from the truth. The evil one and his agents champion every perversion of the Gospel. The deceiver’s motto might be, “Absolutely anything but the truth, so help me be God.”

Christian, your task and mine is more precision with the Gospel of salvation. We must be honest about not knowing what we do not know; and by His grace, we will know more of Him who is our salvation (1 Cor 1:30). In earnest, we must pray for more light, more truth, more of the abundant life, which is Christ Himself (Jn 10:10; 14:6).

Our witness to the truth is ever an affront to the ungodly and unrighteous (Jn 15:18–19; Acts 1:8; Rom 1:18). A hostile reaction should be expected from deceived believers in the myriad of false gospels. The sharpened, sword of the Spirit (Rom 6:17), the Word of God will have increasing effectiveness in exposing the lies of the false gospel.

As Moses was sent into Egypt to extract God’s chosen people (Exodus), so Christ Jesus came to seek and to save sinners (Lk 19:10), representing God’s chosen race (1 Pet 2:9), who are lost sheep from the house of Israel, in bondage to sin, Satan, and the world system. The voice of Christ is heard through the preacher of Christ, who faithfully and honestly preaches Gospel truth. Anything else is some variation of false gospel brought by a false teacher via his false teaching.

The Gospel is, today, being advanced by Spirit-filled men of God who have one message to proclaim, and that one message is Christ, the fulfillment of the Scripture. In Him, alone, we trust because He has made us believe the truth.

David Norczyk

Spokane Valley, Washington

April 6, 2021