How To Know The Authentic Gospel

How To Know The Authentic Gospel

Our topic today becomes imperative because of the reality of our time. So much that you can be stoned if you bring up the raw gospel in some places now, because of the counterfeit they have been used to over the years. So the danger of looking away from a discussion like this is so great. We need to first define/clarify what we mean by the authentic gospel. In actual fact, the gospel is the gospel, there wouldn’t be any need to add any prefix, but because of the diverse false gospels being peddled around, that is what has necessitated the use of prefixes. Galatians 1: 6, 7.

Authentic Gospel is about the FULL gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is the message of God’s redeeming love to mankind (John 3:16) whereby He has made provision, through His Son Jesus Christ, for sinful man to be reconciled with Himself (1 Corinthians 15:3-4, Acts 17:30-31), and the believer’s divine privileges restored (John 1:2, 2 Pet 1:4, Luke 1:74-74). It also emphasizes that the believer must walk in this newness of life (James 1:27) and persevere to the very end of his life (Matthew 24:13). Jesus is the Foundation, Cornerstone, and the Centre of this gospel. Christ’s Life and Teaching are the source of breath and not humanity. The only being to be glorified is God and not man.

Some attributes of the gospel include:

• Gospel is NEVER about who preaches it, rather it is about what is preached which is JESUS and him crucified.
• Gospel has its emphasis centered on Jesus and the establishment of His Lordship and kingdom on the earth.
• Knowing Christ and becoming like Christ becomes the all-encompassing occupation of those who have accepted the Authentic Gospel into their lives.
• The Authentic Gospel has its focus on one thing- “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth”.
• Deliverance from curses: The believer is not and can never be under any curse as long as He is in Christ. Colossians 2:14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross.

Some of the attributes of a perverse gospel are:

• The gospel that promotes man more than God; that eulogies men based on their position above the scriptures.
• The gospel that emphasizes physical advancement over the spiritual life
• The gospel that is silent on apostolic emphasis on holiness and the doctrines of Christ
• The gospel that excuses men’s flaws and unconquered weakness; spares unconquered Adamic traits in the lives of Pulpit Occupiers
• The gospel that disbelieves the word of God, even though Christ is very clear about it
• The gospel that makes man believe Christ died to give him money rather than salvation; that prides in earthly riches than Holiness and Purity
• The gospel that promotes human philosophy and testimonies than the word of God
• The Gospel that enslaves men and conquers their souls, so they can never challenge the truth
• The Gospel that must never be challenged rather challenging it is seen as dishonor to the fathers (leaders)
• The Gospel that allows men to come as they are and remain as they are, as long as they are bringing enough financial returns
• The gospel that takes physical blessing and wealth as what substantiate people’s salvation
• The false gospel is measured by the number of members and financial returns rather than souls saved and discipled.

In this perverse gospel, we are told that everything is easy and convenient because Christ has borne all our burdens. They leave out the part where we are called to cross-bearing for Christ- Matthew 11:28, 29 Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. This is a common error and the false teachers exploit it massively.

We have sincerely inherited a wrong gospel with the traditions handed over to us by our predecessors. The false gospel will self-promote a man (mostly some elusive figure, GO, etc.) and turn the congregation to ATMs, feed them fears, and then turn to profit from these fears. They talk but do not walk their talk. It is the prime characteristic of these false ‘gospellers’ to captivate the minds of their followers and make them subjective to their version of the truth. Whereas the Gospel of Christ is liberating, theirs enslaves. Romans 16:18 Such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive.

When you compare the gospel of today with the Bible, there is a wide gap. Another challenge is that our generation has trusted some men above the Bible we have believed some men cannot make mistakes. For instance, a church leader asks you to point to an image and pray towards it and anything you ask would be given; what do you call that? If it is an idol worshipper who makes such a directive, we oppose but if it’s a pastor, we keep quiet. Permit me to share what I witnessed in a church service I attended, the State Pastor came visiting and when he was to be brought to Pulpit to preach, to my utmost surprise, the announcer started eulogizing him with big titles and grammar in alphabetical order. To cut a long story short, my Pastor outshone Jesus on that day. And worse, he did not immediately immolate himself before the people. “Christ must increase and I must decrease”. If we sit and say nothing about the false gospel, we are allowing its growth. Today, we do so many things that have no place in the Bible and it is because when it started, nobody challenged it. That is why we don’t get results when we pray. Our country is full of churches and everyone is a man/woman of God and yet sin, perversion, fraud, and all kinds of evil are getting worse even inside the church. Because Christ is not lifted, the Spirit is not drawing men to God anymore. Many are modern-day Pharisees, Matthew 23:15  They climb the mountains, cross the seas to get converts and then turn the convert to a worse version of themselves. The hallmark of the false gospel is that it tries to replace the object of the believer’s love with something else other than Christ. We need to take action! We must be like Nehemiah, the wall is broken and reptiles have taken over Jerusalem, we need to act! The Lord will help us.

The difference is clear between the gospel of old to our contemporary gospel.

Another danger of today’s gospel is that it has become a competition among denominations. There’s no unity among the body of Christ, it is every man for himself, increasing their revenue either in number or in financial status. The gospel today is not about telling sinners to come to Christ but come to my Church in most cases. We no longer wait to hear what God is saying about a matter. Instead, we are waiting for what G.O. has to say. I think we are like the Israelites during the reign of Saul where only he and Jonathan had swords in the whole land, everyone had to look up to them for solutions.

What are those factors that make these “other gospels” thrive more than the Authentic Gospel?

I remember a certain “man of God” asked his members to buy red shirts he had prayed on, and that they don’t need to pray again. It’s the shirt that will from that point on be doing the praying on their behalf. We must clearly understand that the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is REPENT FOR THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS AT HAND Matthew 4:17. Anything short of this is called ANOTHER GOSPEL. Galatians 1:6-9.

Jesus is no longer in vogue but our fathers and Papas are the ones owning people’s hearts. Most people preach and follow the men of God and center their sermons on them. What we call the gospel today is what is received from men. Why? It is not centered on Jesus. Gal.1:11 -12. The Gospel of Jesus is given and preached by revelation. When we don’t have this revelation, deviation is inevitable.

They also flourish because of the timidity of those who know the Truth.

Also, during these times, they are flourishing due to the prophecy about the end times: Mark 13:22 And many false prophets shall rise and shall seduce many. We have made novices to be our ministers because of worldly accomplishments or a gift they possess. This man with little or no encounter and revelation of the Person of Christ will promote a gospel according to their imaginations and make their converts double-fold children of perdition. The word “seduce” used by our LORD is pregnant with meaning. The LORD said, “If it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect”. Most men of God in this Another Gospel started well but deviated for one reason or the other due to the love of the flesh, of the eyes, and the pride of life. Be afraid of men of God that can preach everywhere and are accepted in all assemblies. Those men are convenient with their teachings. The pastor of the church near my house today asked the members to go bring dollars. This is a church with a wooden building, with poverty-looking members. Guess what? They are all happy thinking that God is about to change their level with this new “revelation” from their unsuspecting conman of a pastor. Almost all our churches are suffering today at the hands of these deviated ministers. Have you ever wondered why preachers like Bro. Gbile Akanni are rarely invited to preach at “new generation” apostolic gatherings? They know that he will only preach Christ and Him crucified and many of their members won’t like it.

We must learn to detach ourselves from any man, no matter how great they are, if they deviate from the true gospel. It is then we can focus on Christ and Him crucified. I think it took us time before we knew that those we trusted had deviated. Follow men that follow Christ, but if they stop following Christ, you should stop following them. Also, most leaders didn’t take note when they deviated. They weren’t watchful of the good pearls of the gospel they carried. Having lost out, they continued in the error of their ways and also led others into them. Today, you need a good lens to be able to see that many of whom we celebrate today have deviated from the first commandment of discipleship- ”DENY YOURSELF”.

These other gospels thrive because it’s the only package that appeals to the fallen nature which people don’t want to drop despite identifying with Christianity. It aligns and put man at the center rather than Christ.

Our challenge as a New Breed is that if truly we are ready to effect a change then we should be ready to suffer great persecutions even right within the Church circle. 2Tim. 3:12 they that will live Godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution. We cannot continue to give excuses like “we don’t want to rock the boat; they will say my own is too much” etc, we must stand for God. The devil already has willing tools among the old breeds to initiate persecution and sponsor it by “de-platforming” the preachers of truth. Error needs authority to grow and any opposition to the error will be met with stiff resistance within the establishment. Erroneous teachings and false teachers seem to gain so much ground that challenging a bit of their doctrine will face a strong battle.

Lastly, let us know that both “conservative” and “liberal” gospellers are not exempted as one does over-fitting Gospel (Conservative) while the other does under-fitting gospel (Liberal), these both are dangerous. We should preach Christ and He crucified and NEVER the view of men or the philosophy of men.