But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him. (2 Corinthians 11:3-4, KJV)

Another Jesus, Another Gospel

As you may already know, the word “gospel” comes from the Old English and refers to “good news.” However, today when we speak of the Gospel of Jesus Christ it’s largely become muddied and confused within the contemporary evangelical community, which through its embrace of the egregiously ecumenical Emerging Church aka Emergent Church—morphing into Emergence Christianity (EC)—is being invaded highly subjective by Contemplative Spirituality/Mysticism (CSM).

It’s simply beyond question that this CSM ala Living Spiritual Teacher and Quaker mystic Richard Foster and his spiritual twin Dallas Willard finds its roots in apostate Roman Catholicism. As Apprising Ministries shows in Richard Foster Forming Protestant Southern Baptist Convention Spirituality no less an authority than EC guru Brian McLaren already clearly told us that Foster and Willard were “key mentors for the emerging church”; and CSM is their shtick.

How prevelant has this CSM become; well, it’s so penetrated mainstream evangelicalism now that Rob Bell, easily the Elvis of the EC, can preach the following foolishness—completely in line with e.g. New Age Priestess Marianne Williamson—and still be considered an evangelical: “The Great Enlightened Ones” Tell Us Man Has Divine Greatness. The point being, through this postliberal cult of the EC, there is now considerable debate as to what the Gospel itself actually is.

In this time of so many weak-willed ministers jumping headlong into the rapidly growing deceptions slithering around in the visible church, largely rooted in the semi-pelagian (at best) Church Growth Movement, whether it’s the pragmatism of PDL Pope Rick Warren or the pseudo-Christian spirituality of a most dubious duo of the Emergent Church, “theologian-in-residence at Solomon’s Porch in Minneapolis” Tony Jones and his quasi-universalist “pastor” Doug Pagitt.

And because evangelicalism appears to lack leaders with spiritual backbone such as these are literally undoing the Protestant Reformation and are more than ready to affirm the slavery and bondage of the Roman Catholic Church, with her self-righteous sacramental system of works-righteousness, as simply another Christian denomination. For example consider the AM article SBC Protestant Pastor Rick Warren Double-Minded On The Reformation And Roman Catholicism.

The sad fact is that more and more within mainstream—pretending to Protestant—evangelicalism will tell us that the Reformation is over. Now you may ask: “Well, has the Roman Catholic Church then altered their views on the Bible and salvation since the time of Luther and the Reformers?” As I point out from their own sources in Has The Roman Catholic Church Really Changed? the answer is absolutely not; people have simply decided to “feel” that the Reformation is over.

However, this kind of lukewarm compromise really shouldn’t come as any great surprise as the Apostle Paul warned us long ago about this kind of spiritual treachery when he wrote the text, which I used at the top of this piece, to the church at Corinth — if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully.

So we can see here that God the Holy Spirit warns us that there is such a thing as another gospel, and it isn’t the only warning of its kind in Scripture, so it becomes obvious that the Christian is to be on our guard about such trickery of the Devil. Unfortunately so much of the visible church has come under Satan’s spell of a twisted type of love, peace, and tolerance (didn’t we learn anything from the 60’s) that they have simply laid the weapons of our warfare down.

And that without so much as a struggle; sad—very sad indeed. But the Lord be praised, He already anticipated this silly time of sappy sentimentality by preserving the actual Gospel for His Church right within the pages of the Bible itself. Here below, from the Apostle Paul himself, is the Gospel of Jesus Christ in its beautiful simplicity. The Gospel, I might add, that was faithfully preached by the Apostles and which would cost all but John their very lives to fearlessly proclaim.

The indifference today to proper Biblical doctrine, specifically here in regard to the Gospel itself, sullies the memories of our dear brothers—many of whom would pay the ultimate price for Truth—so that you and I would know this Good News. O how tragic to watch more and more leaders within the evangelical community falling one by one for the ecumenical cotton candy fluff being preached by the likes of Warren, Bell, and Steven Furtick’s Great Man Of God smilin’ Joel Osteen.

The True Apostolic Gospel Of Jesus Christ

Under the direct inspiration of God the Holy Spirit the Apostle Paul informs us:

Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.

For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures. (1 Corinthians 15:1-4)

In the first two verses Paul tells the church in Corinth that he is about to remind them of the gospel I preached to you. Reading this in the Greek here we would understand Paul to be saying, “I would have you know.” As in “this is a very important matter this Gospel, which I preached to you.” In other words, it’s important to understand that this was not just a little friendly reminder; rather, it’s actually an exhortation that what he is to share with them again is the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

In stark opposition to the postmodern/postliberalism of the Emerging Church, as well as  mainstream evangelicalism’s growing cavalier attitude toward the most important message ever given to mankind, Paul was telling them that this Gospel was not to be taken lightly for it is the very heart of Christianity. The Apostle wanted to make sure they understood that by this Gospel alone you are saved; as it is entirely possible for someone to believe in vain. Paul clearly elaborated on this truth in Galatians 1:6-9.

In the next two verses of this passage in 1 Corinthians 15 he tells us that he’s about to pass on what I received. The words the Apostle uses here in the original Greek are technical terms, which are often found in rabbinical writings. There are many commentators who use this passage to link Paul with early Christian “tradition” concerning the fact of Christ’s resurrection. And this is accurate to a point; however, Paul is doing so much more than merely passing on an early creed of the ancient Church.

Galatians 1:11-12 — I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel I preached is not something that man made up. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ. A careful examination of these verses shows Paul is telling us that no man made up the gospel I preached; and while he was most certainly aware of these early creeds of the ancient Christian Church, the Apostle is also informing us that he received the gospel by revelation from Jesus Christ.

We remember from Acts 9 that Paul had seen the Risen Christ in person, thus qualifying him as an Apostle (see—1 Corinthians 9:1), and he also informs us in Galatians 1 that he spent much time in the desert of Arabia where he would likely have communed with Christ before he went to Jerusalem. In any event, it’s clear from Bible that what Paul is doing here is verifying the truth of this early Christian creed by confirming this is exactly what Jesus had revealed to him personally concerning the Gospel to be preached.

Back to 1 Corinthians 15, and verse 3, the Apostle begins to tell us what this Apostolic Gospel was/is — Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. This is why it’s so important to know Who Jesus Christ of Nazareth truly is; not just that He died for our sins, but also that Christ is God Himself in the person of the Man Jesus of Nazareth (see—Isaiah 9:6; John 1:1,14,18). Then in verse 4 Paul tells us Christ was buried and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.

And therein is the Gospel. If there was more to it, such as some supposed “Gospel Principles” to be worked out as in Mormonism, or some elaborate “Sacraments of the New Law” as in Roman Catholicism—or any “works” of any kind—then here is where Paul would surely have included them. But if you’re perceptive you will notice that he did not. This is because there are none attached to what God Himself “finished/paid in full” (Greek: tetelestai) on the Cross (see—John 19:30).

The fact is Paul specifically tells the church at Ephesus there are no works involved in a gracious salvation, which is based on unmerited favor i.e. grace — For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — not by works, so that no one can boast (Ephesians 2:8-9). And this is the extra Good News for the genuine Christian — it is by grace you have been saved; can you see, it’s past tense—i.e. an event that has already happened.

Now we’re ready to look at 2 Corinthians 5:17 with all of the above giving us a more full understanding of what Paul is actually telling us — Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! Can you see there; the common phrase we use — “born again” — is indeed, quite literally, a fact! Dearly beloved of the Lord, this is the security that you—personally—already have as a regenerated child of the living God—you are a new creation.

The truth is, we don’t need emerging false prophets in this Emergence Christianity with their panentheistic at-one-ment. And today is a great day to spend some time in thankful adoration of the God Who loves us so much that the Lord Himself was willing to pay the unspeakably horrific price of the Cross in order that He might simply graciously give to us such a great salvation — repentance for the forgiveness of sins in the glorious and majestic Name of Jesus Christ…

See also:

RECLAIMING THE BIBLE AS THE WORD OF GOD

CONTEMPLATIVE SPIRITUALITY GROWING WITHIN MAINSTREAM EVANGELICALISM

THERE IS NO SPIRITUAL SWITZERLAND

PICK YOUR SWORD OF THE SPIRIT BACK UP!

THE NIGHTMARE BEGINNING FOR MAINSTREAM EVANGELICALISM

EMERGENCE CHRISTIANITY—A POSTLIBERAL CULT SLITHERS INTO EVANGELICALISM

APPRISING MINISTRIES WITH A PEEK AT THE COMING SOTERIOLOGY OF EMERGENCE CHRISTIANITY