During the 1800s, a Scottish con-man by the name of Gregor MacGregor began traveling all over England and France, selling plots of land to a tropical paradise on the other side of the world in Central America. He called this land POYAIS. A good rule of thumb is to never trust a man who’s name repeats. Pretty soon boatloads of gullible, yet wealthy people began making their way to Poyais after purchasing plots, eager to start afresh in this magical paradise. When they arrived, what they found was a tangled wilderness and impenetrable jungles. No cites, no ports, no roads, and no paradise; just poisonous snakes and malaria-infested waters. These wide-eyed investors had not only been swindled… they had been stranded. As it turns out, fake news is nothing new.

THE WORD

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. -Galatians 1:6-7

Galatians is an interesting book because almost the entire thing is a rebuke. Written by Paul to the church in Galatia, it's six chapters of a verbal whooping! The reason for the harsh words? The Galatians had fallen prey to an alternative gospel. They had begun to embrace the words of culture, therefore straying from the words of Christ.

FAKE NEWS 

It’s no secret that in our day there are a lot of false narratives and ideas being shared about God, or virtually anything for that matter. While the gospel is still saving the souls every day, there are many false gospels that have sprung up and spread all over the globe. It is vital to make sure that the gospel we are carrying is in fact the one that leads to life and makes us new. We need the gospel that IS GOOD and not just one that makes us FEEL GOOD.

It was Charles Spurgeon who once said, “We are not responsible to God for the souls that are saved, but we are responsible for the gospel that is preached, and for the WAY in which we preach it.” So this week I want to share with you four of the most prevalent alternative gospels that are being preached throughout the church and the world today. We must be able to identify these false versions of the gospel so we can ignore them. Most of these do hold some valuable truths, so I want to be courteous in sharing what they get right before focusing on what they get wrong. I also encourage everyone to be courteous of those who may subscribe to these kinds of ideas. Not everyone is so readily aware of what it is they believe, think, or share, which is why I want you to be more informed than most.

4 COMMON ALTERNATIVES TO THE GOSPEL

1. THE PROSPERITY GOSPEL

Overview:

The prosperity gospel says that God loves you, you’re His child and therefore financial blessing and physical well-being are always His will. The blood of Jesus was not just for sin but just as much for sickness and poverty, and through His death and resurrection He won victory over these things and His victory is your inheritance.

The baby boomer generation grew up watching guys on tv preaching red-faced and asking people to "sow a seed into their ministry!" My generation grew up watching many of those same guys on tv too... only we watched them get pushed up against the side of their luxury car and handcuffed while news helicopters hovered over their mansions.

Obviously I'm being a little facetious. There is nothing wrong with having wealth or being successful by the world’s standards as long as it doesn’t prohibit you from being successful by kingdom standards. But in many circles, the good news of Jesus has become intertwined with the American dream of success. These are not the same thing.

What it does well:

• The prosperity gospel puts a HUGE emphasis on God as FATHER, PROVIDER, and HEALER. He is a father who gives good gifts to His children (Matthew 7), He’s a provider who is able to supply all of your needs according to His riches (Philippians 4), and He is a healer, willing and able to heal every disease and sickness (Psalm 103, Matthew 10).

• The prosperity gospel also puts a huge emphasis on not only the possibility of miracles but the reality of miracles. God still heals!

What it gets wrong:

• Tying the gospel to how successful Jesus can make you or how healthy you will be is a skewed version of a sacred truth. It sets people up for disillusionment. Jesus and all of His disciples had not much more than a penny to their name. Most of them lived difficult lives full of suffering before dying horrible, gruesome deaths, and yet they were all successful in God’s eyes.

• It’s not true that God’s favor always comes with worldly success in the form of financial or physical benefit. This is not a gospel, it is a sale’s pitch. It attempts to tie salvation to monetary gain and seeks to equate your starving soul with your empty bank account.

Paul warned us in 2 Corinthians 2:17 that many people will attempt to "peddle the word of God for profit." For as long as there has been a gospel that saves there has been an attempt to use it for financial gain. A greedy gospel is no gospel at all.

2. THE REFORMED GOSPEL

Overview:

I am in no way against reformed churches or reformed theology. They are brothers and sisters in Christ and I have a great deal of respect for many pastors who are more reformed in doctrine.

The reformed gospel says that God is perfect, just, and holy and is a God of both love and wrath. You and I are morally guilty before Him, His demands must be kept, and we can’t do it. Therefore Jesus did it for us. He died for the ELECT, meaning those that He predestined to be saved, and that all things are done by His sovereignty. Therefore nothing is done by our freewill and we, in effect, do not really have freewill. 

What it does well:

• It puts a HUGE emphasis on the cross which is worth applauding. The cross is everything to our faith.

• Reformed circles are not afraid to talk about God’s wrath, which cannot be ignored when reading the scriptures. God’s wrath is an expression of His love.

• It holds God’s sovereignty (His will) in the highest regard.

What it gets wrong:

• Because it almost totally rejects freewill it is at odds with anything that looks like a "work." This ultimately often breeds a lack of personal responsibility for one’s faith. By-in-large, they don’t believe in altar calls or calls for salvation. There is also very little emphasis placed on personal evangelism, because if God has already chosen who will and won’t be saved, then there’s no need to share my faith with others. If they’re supposed to be saved, they will be. That's the idea any way.

• There tends to be an overemphasis on having perfect theology. Theology is the study of the nature of God and it's very important. We should do our best to study and work out our beliefs and doctrines in a healthy way. But God is not a lab rat. He cannot be fully studied nor can He be fully understood. 

Bill Johnson says “Jesus is perfect theology.” In other words, the best way to study God is to follow Jesus. Do what Jesus did. Believe what Jesus said. Obey what Jesus commanded.

3. THE SOCIAL GOSPEL

Overview:

The social gospel is normative in extremely "liberal” or “left-wing” churches, which are usually easier to pick out during the month of June. I'll let you connect those dots yourself.

It sees Jesus as a political revolutionary who preached to and aligned Himself with the poor and marginalized. He was killed because He was a threat to the status quo and the powers that be. He rose, is alive today, and is marching against those who abuse power so that the oppressed may be liberated. Therefore, the church’s role is to be an activist in moving the nations to a more socialist model. The gospel is a message of tolerance and affirmation, not one of judgement or moral expectation.

What it does well:

• It emphasizes the dignity and value of all people and the need for us to not just believe the gospel but to act on it. We can gather but if we are not doing anything with our faith that’s a problem.

• It also highlights the importance of the Church to not be silent on cultural issues. We cannot afford to be silent where the world is shouting.

What it gets wrong:

• It has been said that Jesus’ approach to politics was at best “intentional indifference.” He refused to engage or align Himself with any particular group in a time that was extremely politically, religiously, and economically divided. He chose for His disciples lower class fisherman, higher class tax collectors, and everything in between.

• Of all the teachers and authors in scripture Jesus was probably the MOST conservative in His teachings on sexuality and gender. Let's not forget, He was a celibate Jewish Rabbi who, by the way, very much believed in the state of Israel. 

• What makes the gospel good news is the bad news that we are condemned in our sin and Jesus came to set us free from that sin, not set us free TO continue to sin.

This is more of a cultural and political gospel, not an eternal one. This may change the way you vote but it has no power to change your sin or your heart. It’s social, not spiritual.

As we sit in another election year, it's important to remember that your faith should inform your vote but your vote should not inform your faith. You can’t identify with ANY political party more than you do the body of Christ. As Timothy Keller once beautifully stated, "Jesus came from neither the left or the right, but from above." Let us look to Him alone.

4. EVANGELICAL GOSPEL

Overview:

Also known as the watered-down gospel. Any time you add water to something it becomes weaker. Maybe you've tried to beat inflation like us by adding some water to your soap dispensers at home when they’re running low. There's a lot of humor to placing your hands under running water, squirting more water on them, and then rinsing the water off with more water! What I'm getting at is that a watered down gospel is a WEAK gospel and a WEAK gospel is NO GOSPEL at all.

The reason this is called the “Evangelical Gospel” is because it is most often found in evangelical churches much like the one I pastor. Of the four gospels I've mentioned here, this is the one I am at the greatest risk of falling into the most. Not intentionally, certainly not out of bad motives, but out of habit and a desire to see people saved.

The evangelical gospel communicates that we’re all sinners but God loves us, so Jesus died for our sins and if you believe in Him then you will go to Heaven when you die. All you need to do is simply ask Him into your heart, repeat a prayer, and you’re in. 

It’s worth noting that this form of the gospel rose to prominence in the mid 20th century just after the conclusion of WWII as a result of wanting to simplify the gospel in order to reach the masses. So, while there are large criticisms to discuss here, we can’t deny that the heart behind this was simply to take the command of sharing the gospel very seriously.

What it does well:

• It attempts to appeal to the masses and it has. This form of the gospel has reached virtually every continent, nation, and people-group.

• It highlights a strong call to personal conversion. You must know God for yourself.

What it gets wrong:

• This tends to be a dramatic understatement of the gospel. The gospel is SIMPLE, but it is not EASY.  Jesus said small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life.

• It tends to focus on bare minimum requirements: repeat this prayer, say these words, Church once a week, etc. and we think that automatically will result in your life being changed. But in many cases it’s really just your weekly routine that has changed, not your life. 
  

• There’s a lot of emphasis on Jesus laying down His life but very little emphasis on the laying down of ours. Simply put, there’s no call to discipleship.

Following Jesus is the most important decision you will ever make in your life. In fact, it’s the very purpose you were born for. The gospel is not about you getting into Heaven one day, it’s about HEAVEN getting into you NOW! Because when Heaven is in you, you advance the Kingdom wherever you go

I’m not against leading people in the sinner’s prayer. Though it is nowhere in the Bible, I pray it with people from time to time because I think it can be an effective way to help people begin a conversation with God. But more than people need to repeat a prayer, they need to ENCOUNTER God. That is what brings about genuine conversion, which must take place in authentic discipleship. Jesus didn't commission us to go and get people to accept Him, He commissioned us to go and make disciples.

CONCLUSION

I heard a story once about a guy who went deep sea fishing for the first time. When he caught something on his line he immediately began to yank it up to the surface, but the guides quickly stopped him. They explained to him that in deep sea fishing you can’t just pull the fish straight up. The fish are so deep that all the pressure of the water will kill them if you just bring them straight up. You have to pull them up slowly.

In order to really believe on Jesus for our salvation we must first recognize that we are deep in sin and therefore deeply in need of a Savior. Perhaps for some of you there has been a slow pull to the reality of God in your life. That involves counting the cost, feeling the weight of your decision, and choosing to be counted among the redeemed. For others it may be an immediate decision and a radical conversion that follows. This is the beauty of the true gospel. It meets us where we are and brings us to the revelation of God's saving grace through Jesus' blood.

I don't write this for you to overthink the gospel message, but rather for you to simply evaluate what you hear and believe. If you’re interested on having a better understanding of each of these, Pastor and author John Mark Comer does an amazing job of teaching through them. You can find one of those teachings here.