I went online here and here and listened to a sermon entitled “Intensive Care.” The main point of the message was that Christians are not responsible for their sin but are a work in progress, continuously becoming better through Jesus. The preacher stated that man is insane and doesn’t realize that what he does offends God. When people accept Christ into their lives they are “in treatment.” They are receiving God’s favor and blessings and are in a healing process. According to this message, the church should become a place of unconditional acceptance and love where Christians never judge. The preacher encouraged the audience to forgive past offenders and to walk in prosperity, healing, and life.
At first glance, this counterfeit seems legitimate but upon further inspection, the listener will notice that it is a rendition of the therapeutic gospel. The preacher promises improvement and blessing when a person comes to Christ. He ignores man’s responsibility for sin, whether the sin was committed before or after the person was saved. By using the word “insane” he takes away man’s guilt and replaces it with helpless ignorance. At its core, the message assumes that man is inherently good and it claims Jesus’ role as nothing more than a divine counselor.
Many people are drawn to this message because of the truths that surround the lie. It rightly points to Jesus as the source of change. No sin can be conquered with out the power of Jesus and no fruit can be produced without the work of the Holy Spirit. God desires to see us become more like him and he helps us along in the process. “Intensive Care” also points out the truth of God’s blessings. He wants to give good gifts to his children and his favor rests on those who seek his face. Finally, the message highlights the church by focusing on the forgiveness and love of believers. It is correct in saying that believers should be characterized by these traits and should extend them to unbelievers. These truths make “Intensive Care” appealing and its gospel seem accurate.
Despite the nuggets of truth found in the sermon, the gospel is a fraud. It is important to weed out the false statements and counter them with truth. First, the church is called to judge others using biblical standards. Scripture states that believers are to keep each other accountable. Instead of ignoring their faults, Christians should gently reprimand brothers and sisters caught in sin. When addressing unbelievers, Christians should use the Bible to point out that man falls short of God’s standards and that he is responsible for his sin. Another truth to emphasize in the face of “Intensive Care” is that man is motivated to change by seeking God’s face, not his hand. Thus, our change should not stem from the promise of personal benefit but from a revelation of the glory of the Lord. This ties into a third truth: blessings are not the result of change. Our change does not bring us good gifts. Instead, good gifts come from God when we seek his face. Both change and blessings are a result of the pursuit of God. They do not have a causal relationship. Knowing these truths will prepare the listener to be wary of false doctrine and to follow God with a biblical mindset.
Saturday, April 14, 2012
A Judgmentless Gospel-A. Student
I watched a sermon called “How to Get Saved and Why”. If I had heard this man speak last semester, I would have thought it was a great message. However, after reading What is the Gospel? and Counterfeit Gospels, it was almost painful to watch. He began by saying that God has offered for us to live forever, and he said that when you get saved, you get saved from death—he did not mention being saved from sin. He actually never even mentioned that we sin. It was kind of implied, but how could a person who has never heard of Jesus know? This immediately put up some red flags. Without mentioning sin, the listener has no reason to believe that he needs to be saved. But by convincing the listener to be saved from death, he would be missing the whole point of the gospel.
Throughout the video, verses were being loosely thrown around. He never mentioned why those verses were sacred, though. Most people realize that the Bible was written by men, so why should we believe what it says? This video violated almost all of the counterfeits mentioned in Counterfeit Gospels (and it would have given Greg Gilbert a heart attack), but I believe the worst one was the Judgmentless counterfeit. He never mentioned the fact that we are all sinners, which meant he never mentioned that God will judge us by our sin. Trevin Wax describes the Judgmentless counterfeit by saying, “Restoration is more about God’s goodness than his judgment of evil…” The verses that he used all focused on God’s grace and His ability to save. They were great verses, but the way that he used them distorted the gospel. He made Jesus out to be some kind of peaceful hippie.
It seemed like the speaker was doing a great job explaining how to be saved, but he barely touched on why. He mentioned that “the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” But he did not give any further explanation. I believe this man’s intentions were great, but overall, I would give his video a grade of a D.
Throughout the video, verses were being loosely thrown around. He never mentioned why those verses were sacred, though. Most people realize that the Bible was written by men, so why should we believe what it says? This video violated almost all of the counterfeits mentioned in Counterfeit Gospels (and it would have given Greg Gilbert a heart attack), but I believe the worst one was the Judgmentless counterfeit. He never mentioned the fact that we are all sinners, which meant he never mentioned that God will judge us by our sin. Trevin Wax describes the Judgmentless counterfeit by saying, “Restoration is more about God’s goodness than his judgment of evil…” The verses that he used all focused on God’s grace and His ability to save. They were great verses, but the way that he used them distorted the gospel. He made Jesus out to be some kind of peaceful hippie.
It seemed like the speaker was doing a great job explaining how to be saved, but he barely touched on why. He mentioned that “the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” But he did not give any further explanation. I believe this man’s intentions were great, but overall, I would give his video a grade of a D.
A Therapeutic Gospel-A. Student
I listened to a sermon titled, “Why Should You Get Saved?” The sermon can be found at . Overall, the sermon was pretty good. However, the first two points of the message were about the earthly benefits of being saved. He began by saying that getting saved is the only way to blot out your sins. This was a good start. He then proceeded to say, “All your trouble is caused by your sin.” This reminded me of the counterfeit, Therapeutic Gospel, which Trevin Wax describes by saying, “The church helps us along in our quest for personal happiness and vocational fulfillment.” The reverend said that all of one’s problems will go away if he gives his life to Christ. He was trying to convince people to get saved in order to find happiness.
For his second point, he said, “You should get saved, because then Jesus will carry your heavy load.” Again, he said that Jesus will take all of one’s problems and burdens away when they get saved. His text was Matthew 11:28-30 which says, “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; for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” He used this to say that Jesus will make their job (vocation) easier as well. His third point was good. He talked about getting saved in order to break the hold that hell has on one’s heart. After giving an invitation, he said to the camera, “We’ll be back in a moment to pray for the sick.” What happened next caught me a little off guard. He began forming “healing lines” where he would touch the sick or injured and pray for them. Then they went through some theatrics where the person got up and was “healed”. Coming from a Fundamental Baptist church, that was not what I was expecting.
For his second point, he said, “You should get saved, because then Jesus will carry your heavy load.” Again, he said that Jesus will take all of one’s problems and burdens away when they get saved. His text was Matthew 11:28-30 which says, “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; for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” He used this to say that Jesus will make their job (vocation) easier as well. His third point was good. He talked about getting saved in order to break the hold that hell has on one’s heart. After giving an invitation, he said to the camera, “We’ll be back in a moment to pray for the sick.” What happened next caught me a little off guard. He began forming “healing lines” where he would touch the sick or injured and pray for them. Then they went through some theatrics where the person got up and was “healed”. Coming from a Fundamental Baptist church, that was not what I was expecting.
Friday, April 13, 2012
A Tithing (or, Prosperity) Gospel-M. Thompson
In this video, the speaker is condemning people that do not tithe. In doing this he puts the importance of tithing upon a pedestal above things that are far more important, namely: a relationship with Jesus Christ. The main issue of this message is that the speaker entirely undermines God’s grace and no longer gives Him credit for saving men and bringing them to Him but instead gives “the power of tithing” the credit of saving the souls of lost people.
It almost seems too generous to give this presentation the title of “counterfeit Gospel” because it really completely isn’t the gospel at all. It makes a god out of money and tithing, creating in a sense a new religion in worshiping money and how much we can possibly possess. This form of a gospel presentation is generally referred to as the prosperity gospel because it promises prosperity to people that come to Christ. The name has something of a double meaning because it also leads, somehow coincidentally, to the prosperity of the pastor leading the congregation. This presentation attacks all three legs of the stool in that it puts a condition to everything. God will be magnified through the story… only if there is prosperity. Jesus came to save... from hard times and being non-prosperous. The community comes together to share the glory of God and Jesus Christ… and how rich it got them. This sort of message and Gospel presentation is utterly false and gets in the way of potential Christ followers from hearing the real truth.
It almost seems too generous to give this presentation the title of “counterfeit Gospel” because it really completely isn’t the gospel at all. It makes a god out of money and tithing, creating in a sense a new religion in worshiping money and how much we can possibly possess. This form of a gospel presentation is generally referred to as the prosperity gospel because it promises prosperity to people that come to Christ. The name has something of a double meaning because it also leads, somehow coincidentally, to the prosperity of the pastor leading the congregation. This presentation attacks all three legs of the stool in that it puts a condition to everything. God will be magnified through the story… only if there is prosperity. Jesus came to save... from hard times and being non-prosperous. The community comes together to share the glory of God and Jesus Christ… and how rich it got them. This sort of message and Gospel presentation is utterly false and gets in the way of potential Christ followers from hearing the real truth.
A Judgmentless Gospel-M. Thompson
The first presentation I watched was entitled “The Saviour of the World” which is a gospel presentation that sets out to denounce the “true” gospel by promoting the “really” good news, that is to say, their view of what the true gospel really is. The view held by the speakers in this video can be summed up by one word: universalism. Wax, in his book, discusses the judgmentless gospel as one of the most popular counterfeit gospels out there.
The speakers of this video describe the gospel, or the good news, to be that God will save everyone through his only begotten son, Jesus Christ. They condemn Christians that hold to a belief in hell by stating that they are not saved. They take verses in the Bible out of context to attempt to show that there is no way that a loving God could condemn anyone to Hell and they therefore say that there is no eternal state of judgment, merely a temporary “correction,” that God merely will use the Lake of Fire judgment as a refining, chastising, and merciful judgment that will result in the righteousness of all men and even fallen angels. This presentation found in “The Saviour of the World” lines up with the description given by Wax of “judgmentless” and impairs the gospel in a number of ways.
The Gospel as Wax describes it is a three-legged stool. The three legs are the story, or the background of how God will be magnified, the announcement, or the story of Jesus Christ, and the community, or the overarching affect of the church sharing the gospel. The story aspect is altered because restoration is now only about God’s love and not his justice or judgment. The announcement portion is compromised because Christ’s death is no longer a sacrifice given to free men from God’s wrath; it’s merely to help defeat man’s enemies such as sin and death. Finally the community of the Gospel is affected by the blurred line between the church and the rest of the world. The presentation given in this video is entirely counterfeit in that it appeals to so many as “truth” but really is unbiblical and harmful to the truth of the real Gospel.
The speakers of this video describe the gospel, or the good news, to be that God will save everyone through his only begotten son, Jesus Christ. They condemn Christians that hold to a belief in hell by stating that they are not saved. They take verses in the Bible out of context to attempt to show that there is no way that a loving God could condemn anyone to Hell and they therefore say that there is no eternal state of judgment, merely a temporary “correction,” that God merely will use the Lake of Fire judgment as a refining, chastising, and merciful judgment that will result in the righteousness of all men and even fallen angels. This presentation found in “The Saviour of the World” lines up with the description given by Wax of “judgmentless” and impairs the gospel in a number of ways.
The Gospel as Wax describes it is a three-legged stool. The three legs are the story, or the background of how God will be magnified, the announcement, or the story of Jesus Christ, and the community, or the overarching affect of the church sharing the gospel. The story aspect is altered because restoration is now only about God’s love and not his justice or judgment. The announcement portion is compromised because Christ’s death is no longer a sacrifice given to free men from God’s wrath; it’s merely to help defeat man’s enemies such as sin and death. Finally the community of the Gospel is affected by the blurred line between the church and the rest of the world. The presentation given in this video is entirely counterfeit in that it appeals to so many as “truth” but really is unbiblical and harmful to the truth of the real Gospel.
A Judgmentless Gospel-J. Tellers
In this video, the pastor is being interviewed on Good Morning America about his new book, Love Wins. In this interview the pastor is given an excellent opportunity to share the gospel to a national audience. Here are some of the things that he said.
The first question he is asked is about what is his response to being charged with heresy over his new book. His answer is that Christian history is very diverse and that Christ is big enough to cover the controversy. He seems to suggest that Christians have had many evolving views of the gospel over time.
The next question asks specially if people of other faiths are condemned to hell. The pastor does not give a straight answer to this question. He begins to answer the question by stating that he believes the primary aspect of God is love. He continues on and does not give an answer and unfortunately the reporter does not push him for one.
Later in the interview he twists what Jesus has said about “your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” He claims that Jesus wants us to create heaven on earth. When asked about those who are extreme sinners, he says we are all sinners and since we all sin we all are going to experience salvation. He says that sinners create a hell for themselves a hell on earth, and is not specific, but seems to suggest they do not suffer eternal punishment after death.
There are three problems with the gospel that this pastor is presenting. First he refuses to say that people of other faiths are wrong and we end up in hell. Secondly, his twists Jesus’ words and suggests that we create our own heaven and hell on earth. Finally, he says that because everyone has sinned, it is not fair for only some to receive grace.
The overarching problem is that he is advocating a judgmentless or Universalist gospel where God is all loving and would never want to punish someone. The pastor is narrowing in on God’s mercy and ignoring His judgment. He uses phrases and ideas that Christians accept as true, and tries to give them his own spin and meaning. He uses the Lord’s prayer to advocate creating heaven on earth. He uses the concept that all have sinned and that we should not throw the first stone to say that we all will receive grace since we all sin. It is clear from his interview that he does have a very selective and warped approach to Scripture, which can be worse than outright denying it as there is some truth mixed into what he is saying.
The first question he is asked is about what is his response to being charged with heresy over his new book. His answer is that Christian history is very diverse and that Christ is big enough to cover the controversy. He seems to suggest that Christians have had many evolving views of the gospel over time.
The next question asks specially if people of other faiths are condemned to hell. The pastor does not give a straight answer to this question. He begins to answer the question by stating that he believes the primary aspect of God is love. He continues on and does not give an answer and unfortunately the reporter does not push him for one.
Later in the interview he twists what Jesus has said about “your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” He claims that Jesus wants us to create heaven on earth. When asked about those who are extreme sinners, he says we are all sinners and since we all sin we all are going to experience salvation. He says that sinners create a hell for themselves a hell on earth, and is not specific, but seems to suggest they do not suffer eternal punishment after death.
There are three problems with the gospel that this pastor is presenting. First he refuses to say that people of other faiths are wrong and we end up in hell. Secondly, his twists Jesus’ words and suggests that we create our own heaven and hell on earth. Finally, he says that because everyone has sinned, it is not fair for only some to receive grace.
The overarching problem is that he is advocating a judgmentless or Universalist gospel where God is all loving and would never want to punish someone. The pastor is narrowing in on God’s mercy and ignoring His judgment. He uses phrases and ideas that Christians accept as true, and tries to give them his own spin and meaning. He uses the Lord’s prayer to advocate creating heaven on earth. He uses the concept that all have sinned and that we should not throw the first stone to say that we all will receive grace since we all sin. It is clear from his interview that he does have a very selective and warped approach to Scripture, which can be worse than outright denying it as there is some truth mixed into what he is saying.
A Judgmentless Gospel-J. Tellers
In this video a pastor is being interviewed on Larry King Live. The first question King puts to him is whether or not the pastor believes that salvation comes from trusting in Jesus Christ and not by the good things you do. His answer was you have to know Christ and if you know Christ you will do good works. When asked if people of other faiths would go to heaven, he said “I would be very careful with saying who or who would not go to heaven.”
He then talks about a time he was in India and how those people believed in their “god” and their sincere so he claimed to not really know if they would be going to heaven. When questioned by a viewer about John 14:6 the way, truth, and life he again sidesteps the question by saying he cannot know someone heart. He refused to say that atheists, Jews, or Buddhists would be wrong if they did not believe in Jesus.
The problem with his version of the gospel message is it is very obvious he will not openly say that Jesus is the only way to heaven, and that people who do not believe in Jesus will go to hell. What makes his message tricky is that he pulls several very important biblical truths into it.
His first evasion about whether it is Jesus Christ or being good that gets you into heaven is not necessarily a wrong. He says that true belief in Christ will bear fruit so you have to have both. I believe he paraphrased a section of scripture that comes from the book of James. The problem comes when in the follow question he is asks if someone believes in another god, again he is evades with the quote from Samuel that only God knows the heart.
This pastor’s gospel could again be described at judgmentless as he would not say that Christ was the only way to heaven. Especially with this example, I found it really disappointing that the pastor did not say that Jesus is the only way to Christ. He had a national audience and was basically gift wrapped the question. With this interview it almost sounded as though that pastor would rather be considered politically correct and not saying anything controversial than to speak the truth of the gospel.
He then talks about a time he was in India and how those people believed in their “god” and their sincere so he claimed to not really know if they would be going to heaven. When questioned by a viewer about John 14:6 the way, truth, and life he again sidesteps the question by saying he cannot know someone heart. He refused to say that atheists, Jews, or Buddhists would be wrong if they did not believe in Jesus.
The problem with his version of the gospel message is it is very obvious he will not openly say that Jesus is the only way to heaven, and that people who do not believe in Jesus will go to hell. What makes his message tricky is that he pulls several very important biblical truths into it.
His first evasion about whether it is Jesus Christ or being good that gets you into heaven is not necessarily a wrong. He says that true belief in Christ will bear fruit so you have to have both. I believe he paraphrased a section of scripture that comes from the book of James. The problem comes when in the follow question he is asks if someone believes in another god, again he is evades with the quote from Samuel that only God knows the heart.
This pastor’s gospel could again be described at judgmentless as he would not say that Christ was the only way to heaven. Especially with this example, I found it really disappointing that the pastor did not say that Jesus is the only way to Christ. He had a national audience and was basically gift wrapped the question. With this interview it almost sounded as though that pastor would rather be considered politically correct and not saying anything controversial than to speak the truth of the gospel.
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