Something Is Terribly Wrong

Turn on your television set, tune into the Christian channels and listen to the vast majority of the people preaching, and the message is "God wants you happy and blessed." On the surface, that sounds good. I mean, who doesn't want to be happy and blessed? Who doesn't want perfect health, a trouble free life, money in the bank, to live in nice houses and drive nice cars? Sounds wonderful! And certainly, people are flocking to those ministries and churches where they hear that once you've prayed "the sinners prayer" then God's grace covers you no matter what you do or live. Well known preachers are changing their message to line up with this newly discovered aspect of grace... but I am sounding the trumpet and screaming at the top of my voice, "SOMETHING IS TERRIBLY WRONG HERE!" 

Oh, they'll tell you that the shear numbers of people who are embracing this modern gospel is all the proof you need of it's being the right message. But numbers prove nothing to me. Jesus' own words tell us in Matthew 7:13, " Go in through the narrow gate. The gate to destruction is wide, and the road that leads there is easy to follow. A lot of people go through that gate." Make no mistake about it, there is something terribly wrong with the new fangled gospel that is being embraced by the masses today. To fully embrace this gospel, you must throw out a lot of the New Testament. For example, what do you do with the teaching of Jesus when he says that we will be hated for his name's sake? What do we do with the passage in 1 Peter 4: 12-19 which tells us clearly that if we are going to follow Christ, then we should fully expect to suffer? What do we do with Romans 8:17 which says, "and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with HIm so that we may also be glorified with Him." What are we to do with passages that make statements like, "Just as it is written, 'For your sake we are being put to death all day long, we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." (Romans 8:36)  Are these passages to be ignored? Or are they only for the poor people whose lot it fell to be born outside of the United States? The fact is, we have a Westernized version of the gospel that simply does not line up with the Word of God. Make no mistake... it sells! It's popular and it draws crowds and lots of money... but this gospel will not work in Iran, Iraq, Ethiopia, Calcutta or hundreds of other places around the world. So we just don't talk about that. We don't talk about the words of Christ where he says, "If you cling to your life, you will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." (Matthew 10:39 LB) We no longer talk about denying ourselves and picking up our cross. The modern gospel mentions nothing about denying oneself... it is about total self indulgence and instant gratification. We've heard it taught and preached for years about the great falling away in the last days. I am sounding the alarm tonight because we are living in that time! People are sitting in the churches but are being deceived by the millions. The gospel you are hearing and embracing is NOT the Gospel of Jesus Christ! He who has ear to hear... let him hear!