WHAT IS THE GOSPEL
?
All who name the name of Christ would readily say that they are firm believers in the Gospel of Christ. Belief in the Gospel is something which is taken for granted by every professing christian. Most would be shocked if they were confronted with the claim that what they believe is not actually THE Gospel of the One and Only Christ. Yet, it is a sad and tragic fact that most who name the name of Christ have not been taught and do not know His glorious Gospel but actually deny it whilst believing in a counterfeit gospel, which offers nothing but a false hope and a deluded notion of Who Christ is and what salvation is all about. The title of this booklet is the question which was posed to a number of pastors who come under the banner ‘Reformed’. The reason for this question being asked was to discover and then examine what exactly men of high renown who lead people every Sunday to worship and who are trusted by hundreds, perhaps thousands of people, actually say the Gospel is. What do they say must be believed in order for one to be saved, and what do they say it is that if one does not believe it, one evidences a lost state regardless or how religiously zealous and morally upright one may be? Are they true Gospel preachers leading their flocks on the narrow way, or are they in fact blind leaders who are themselves deluded by, and promote, a false gospel which does not save but rather draws its listeners and believers onto the broad way that leads to destruction? Their answers to the question ‘What is the Gospel?’ will prove revealing. Their answers will demonstrate what is in the heart of men who have set themselves up as preachers of the Word of God and yet do not know the God, nor the Gospel of that God, they profess to love and promote.
The design of this booklet is to send out a message. A message which we pray will be heard loud and clear by everyone who reads it. That message is, that men of renown, men who are in trusted positions and greatly admired by the ‘church’ at large, and in some cases the community in general, are not to be trusted simply because they occupy positions of authority, or because they have attended Bible College and have many degrees in theological matters, or who are very learned men who have read all the religious ‘greats’ from the past and can quote passages, even whole chapters, of Scripture. A man is not to be judged to be of God simply because of his appearance or reputation or by how large the number of people who follow him and read his books or listen to his tapes or by how many present themselves regularly at his meetings. It matters not who the man is or what the man looks like or how many laud and applaud him. What matters is WHAT DOES THE MAN PREACH? What does he say the Gospel, which must be believed in if any are to be saved, is? Who does he claim Christ is and what does he say Christ has done for sinners? These are among the most important questions man has ever faced, particularly in our day. In a religious climate replete with false preachers and false gospels, it is incumbent upon every person who names the name of Christ to know Who Christ is and what Christ has done, the truth of which can only be found in the only Gospel which comes from God and the only one which saves.
This author posed the question, ‘What is the Gospel?’, to 17 pastors in America. This was done via the Internet through the convenience of Email. Only 8 of these men bothered to reply. The other 9, for whatever reason, saw fit not to respond to my question, which in full reads like this:
Dear Sir,
I would like to know what the Gospel is.
Could you define the Gospel for me in light of what Christ said in Mark 16:16 that if one believes the Gospel one is saved but if one does not believe it one will perish. What is it that must be believed in order for a person to be saved and assured of Heaven. And what is it that if a person does not believe it, regardless of how moral their life may be, they show that they are lost.
I look forward to your response.
Moreno Dal Bello.
The names of those who responded to my question have been withheld. The
purpose of this booklet is not to start a war with these men but to deal with
what they teach and do not teach. However, the names of these men will be
supplied upon request.
The responses received from those who had these questions set before them will be included, in full, and will be followed by my replies. I will then make further comment in order to clarify what I have said and to show forth the errors etc., of what these men teach, and which is largely accepted in christendom today.
The first gentleman’s response to the above question is that made by person A, from the state of Tennessee, U.S.A. who is the only one among those I wrote to who is not actually a pastor, but is the editor of The Trinity Review, which is a publication of The Trinity Foundation. Here is his reply:
Paul summarizes the Gospel in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 JR.
That’s it! That is his entire reply to the question, ‘What is the
Gospel?’ I would have thought such a question would require a more detailed
response than that which person A supplied. My response to person A’s brief
‘answer’ is as follows and in full:
Dear Sir,
Yes, I know that Paul summarizes the Gospel in the passage of Scripture you mentioned but what is the Gospel is my question. Even the Roman Catholic Church points to the passage in 1 Corinthians when the question of what is the Gospel is raised but their version is not God’s Testimony.
So, again, I ask the question, not from a debate-driven or argumentative spirit but from a heart that seeks to know what various ones say the Gospel is to see if the Gospel I hold to is wrong or right. Christ said that the Gospel is a life and death issue in Mark 16:16. I only seek to know what that Gospel is.
Moreno.
Sadly, I did not receive a reply from person A. For reasons known only
to person A, he saw fit not to continue our correspondence. Coincidentally,
several weeks after my first email to person A I received an email from him
asking if I would be interested in receiving tapes from his ministry, as a
mutual friend had mentioned to him that I am interested in sound Gospel
teaching. Person A’s email follows and it will in turn be followed by my
response:
Mr. Moreno,
Scott Price suggested that you might be interested in having copies of our tapes for your lending program. If you are not familiar with our tapes, I can send you a sample. Please let me know. Person A, The trinity Foundation
And now my reply:
Dear person A,
I do thank you for emailing me about your collection of tapes. I am always interested in obtaining more tapes to add to my collection of sound Gospel preachers and to make available to others through my ministry here.
I actually emailed you just over a month ago posing the question 'what is the Gospel?' You responded to my question by saying that Paul summarizes the Gospel in 1 Cor. 15:1-4. I replied that I was aware of this but also that Roman Catholics would also point me to that passage and that they would have no problem with it. To this I received no further correspondence from you.
I believe I know and hold dear the Gospel of Christ wherein Christ's Righteousness is revealed and without which no man can be saved. I believe firmly that those who do not believe the Gospel which includes arminians who change the work of Christ from effectual atonement to one of simply making salvation possible, are all lost and that those who claim such ones who deny the substitutionary death of Christ for His people, are saved nonetheless are also lost for they place no value on the death of Christ.
Your comments to this would be appreciated.
Moreno.
Upon discovering that I was the emailer with the Gospel question, person A
turned tail again and has not been heard from since. What a sad testimony this is
of a supposed ‘minister of God’. Returning now to person A reply to my first
email. To refer a person to the passage in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 as a response to
the question, ‘What is the Gospel?’ is to give an answer which is very broad to
say the least and one which does not provide the enquirer with an actual
definition of the Gospel so as to distinguish it from all
counterfeits. As I mentioned in my response to person A, the Roman Catholic
Church gladly and readily sends any who enquire from her the answer to what the
Gospel is, to the passage which person A pointed out. Many other false christian
groups do the same, such as the Charismatic movement, the Faith movement, the
Seventh-Day Adventist Church and for that matter just about every group which
claims to be Christian. They all say they believe in ‘the death, burial and
resurrection’ of Jesus Christ. But knowing Christ is not merely being
aware of and accepting some historical facts about what happened to Him, but
knowing and believing in that which Christ has done for His people.
So, what is so wrong about leading a person to the passage in question as an answer to what the Gospel is without explanation? The problem lies in the fact that though the passage mentions the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, without proper teaching the reader is left to interpret it according to what he has been taught about the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. There is no explanation or description in this passage of what is meant by His death, burial and resurrection, however it does add four very significant words: "according to the Scriptures!" Twice in this passage from 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 is this phrase added which points to what Christ’s death was all about and what He actually accomplished by His death. Paul the apostle preached of Christ and what He would do according to the Scriptures, that is, according to what was typified in the Old Testament sacrifices etc., concerning Israel and according to what was prophesied the Messiah would do and who He would do it for. That is what person a failed to point out and it is what countless ‘christian’ organizations fail to teach their many followers. If a Roman Catholic were to have received such an answer from person A, they would have replied with a ‘thank you very much for confirming what I believe’ and walked off with an even stronger sense of being a saved true believer in the Gospel of Christ, yet they would have remained blind to what the Scriptures teach about Christ and His death.
All who claim to be Christians today, and throughout the past centuries, say they believe that Christ died, was buried and was raised again, but what do they mean when they say such things? What have they been taught Christ would do by His death? What was it all about? Is it essential to know such things or is it enough to know and believe that these things happened to Him? Is it enough to know that Christ died for sinners without actually knowing what He did on the cross for sinners? If so, how can anyone rightly and biblically say that they trust in Christ for their salvation when they really do not know what Christ did on the cross? To trust in Him is to trust in His Work. Christ the Person and what Christ has done cannot be separated. Even the unbelieving world knows what happened to Christ but does this qualify them for heaven? Of course not! To know Christ is eternal life (Jn. 17:2,3) and to trust Him is to know what He has done on behalf of the sinner. The fact of the matter is that most believe in a messiah who died for every individual ever born, that he has made salvation possible for all and all that remains for that ‘salvation’ to be made effectual is for man to make his decision for Christ. ‘Christ has done His part; He has done as much as He can to save men and now it is up to man to do his part.’ This is the lie which most who name the name of Christ have embraced as God’s Truth today, and for the past several hundred years. As will be made clear in more detail later, Christ died according to the Scriptures, which teach that His death was a Substitutionary Death for the people whom God chose from before the foundation of the world and gave to Jesus (Jn.6:37-40; Eph.1:4; 5:25,26). Christ did not merely make salvation possible, He actually accomplished the redemption of all for whom He died (Heb.9:12). This is the heart of the Gospel Message and those who overtly deny it, reject it, replace it, are naive concerning it, are ignorant of it, have never been taught it, or who say that one can be saved believing in anything which takes away or adds to this most vital of doctrines, is at that point in time lost.
The next gentleman’s response to the question, ‘What is the Gospel?’, is pastor B, pastor of the South Holland Presbyterian Reformed Church in Illinois, U.S.A. Again, the exact same questions were put to pastor B as were asked of person A. ‘Pastor’ B’s reply is as follows:
A man must believe the Bible to be saved.
Central to the teaching of the Bible is the truth that all men are lost sinners, totally depraved and dead in sin. Romans 3:11 The only possibility of salvation is that God work in us and regenerate us, making us born again. John 3:1-3 God commands all men everywhere to turn from sin in true repentance to God. Acts 17:30 God has sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to take the full burden of God’s punishment that His people deserved. Matthew 1:21 Salvation is not for all men. God does not love all men. God’s love is for His people or His sheep whom He has chosen from before the foundation of the world. Ephesians 1:4,5, John 10. Our salvation is totally apart from anything that we have done, and is totally by the grace of God alone. There are no conditions we must fulfill, as we are dead spiritually and unable to do anything good in God’s eyes. God unconditionally saves us by His free, undeserved favor alone. By faith we embrace this wonder- even our faith being a gift from God. Ephesians 2:10.
Hope this helps.
In Christ,
Rev. B
What pastor B says is absolutely true except for his comment that a
man must believe the Bible to be saved. Man must believe the Gospel to be saved
or he will perish. A statement such as ‘a man must believe the Bible to be
saved’ can mean anything from believing it to be the Word of God to knowing
and believing every word of every book of the Bible perfectly, a lofty standard
for anyone to reach and which is nowhere commanded in Scripture. Every true
believer believes that the Bible is the Word of God. Also, the doctrine of the
depravity or inability of man to come to God in and of himself is not the
central teaching of the Bible. Christ Jesus and Him crucified and risen is
the central teaching of the Bible. My response to pastor B’s email is as
follows:
Dear Sir,
I do thank you very much for taking the time to respond to my email. I appreciate this very much.
I agree with what you have said that man is depraved and cannot come to God in and of his own will. And, that God does not love everyman but His love is reserved for His people alone for whom Christ paid the price of their sins.
What I am seeking to know is what exactly is it that a saved man believes about Who the Son is and what He has done. Also, I would like to know what exactly is meant by the preaching of the cross, which, like the Gospel is called the power of God, and what is it that those who perish find foolish about the preaching of the cross. I know that lost people such as Roman Catholics find nothing foolish about Christ’s death for sinners atop the cross so what exactly is this ‘foolishness’ that the Scripture speaks of? I find this of extreme importance for this ‘foolishness’ must be the essential to rightly and biblically saying that one believes in and knows the Son.
I look forward to your comments very much and again thank you for your time.
Moreno.
Sadly, I did not hear from pastor B again. Suffice it to say that for
whatever reason pastor B saw fit not to answer my more specific questions
concerning Christ’s death, nor add to our correspondence by showing the
slightest courtesy in writing to say that he wished not to continue our
correspondence. All this seems rather strange to this author seeing that pastor
B believes many things which are true about God and His Christ. So why the
apparent reluctance to further elaborate on what he said in his email and to
answer my second set of questions, especially in light of the fact that I made
it clear to him that I agreed with what he said, and that my emails to him were
very gentle and not at all arrogant or argumentative? The answer is known only
to pastor B.
The Bible teaches that man is dead in sin and is without God and therefore without hope in this world (Rom. 3:10,11; Eph. 2:1-5,12). He cannot and wills not to come to God in the way God has specified in His Gospel Message (Jn.6:44,65). Christ was sent to the earth to be the Savior of His people, and to save those people from their sins (Matt.1:21; Isa. 53:8). Therefore all for whom He died have been made free of the punishment due unto their sins and from obeying the Law in an effort to become qualified for salvation, for Christ has obeyed the Law perfectly in order to establish a Righteousness by which all for whom He died would be saved (Rom. 5:19). It is important to note that many readily teach some wonderful truths about the Gospel of grace, yet they deny the true God and the very heart of the Gospel when they insist that many who do not believe that Christ died for His people exclusively, but for all individuals, are nevertheless saved. I do not accuse pastor B of this but he has left me with a great deal of concern due to his non-response to my last email. Calling a person saved who believes that Christ died for every individual is something that is very prevalent among many so-called Reformed ministers. Pastor B’s apparent reluctance to answer my second set of questions suggests an unbiblical shying away from such an important matter as the death of Christ and what He accomplished by His death and who were the beneficiaries. Why would any true believer be reluctant, or at best bypass the opportunity, of teaching someone about Christ and what He has done?
The third gentleman to whom I asked the question, ‘What is the Gospel?’, is pastor C, pastor of Christ the King Presbyterian Church in Massachusetts, U.S.A. His reply in full is as follows:
Dear Moreno,
From your web site I perceive that you are a brother in Christ; a fellow believer in the atoning death and resurrection of Jesus, the sinless Son of God.
I recently received the attached message from you at my MIT address. I was a bit curius how you got that address and also curious why you were asking for a definition of the Gospel. It seems you already know and believe.
In Christ,
pastor C
Pastor C chose not to define the Gospel for me, as he visited my friend’s
website on which my writings appear, and after reading some of what I have
written pastor C concluded that I am a brother in Christ. We must all be wary
of those who do not actually state what they believe but merely give a silent
nod of approval to what we believe. For some reason pastors are often very
reluctant to go into the detail of what they believe and what the Bible teaches
when confronted with enquiring minds. And, more often than not, they are
reluctant to tell a person that their doctrine is wrong and take the time to
correct them. My reply to pastor C’s email is as follows:
Dear pastor C.
Many thanks for taking the time to respond to my email. I appreciate this very much.
I am so glad to hear that in taking the initiative to see if you could locate anything of me on the net you discovered my friend’s web site where my writings are included and that you believe the Gospel I believe.
The reason I wrote to you and to several others is so I could hear from the horse’s mouth as it were what various ones say the Gospel is. I did this in part to challenge what I believed, to see if there was something I was blind to when it came to what the Gospel of God actually is. I have found so few who believe His Gospel but many who ‘hold’ to parts of it but deny others.
In my discussions with others I have found that there is not so much a disagreement with the doctrine of Christ but with who is saved and who is not. The Bible, as you know, clearly states that one who believes the Gospel is saved and the one that believes it not is lost. Not merely ignorant and saved but lost for the Lord has not revealed Himself to that one.
Also, I have heard many who say that they believe the so-called ‘five ponts’ yet insist that Arminians who deny the effectual atonement of Christ for His people exclusively and say that Christ died for everyone are nonetheless saved. I was shocked when I learnt that someone like Charles Spurgeon who labelled Wesley’s gospel as ‘another gospel’ fully expected to see Wesley in heaven! I have yet to be given any Scriptural evidence by any to show that those who call saved whom the Holy Spirit calls lost, are saved people.
Again, thank you for your time in replying to me. I look forward to hearing from you again. Do you have a web site I can go to? Looking forward to hearing from you again.
Moreno.
Sadly, I did not hear from pastor C again. Suffice it to say that for
whatever reason pastor C saw fit not to reply to my comments. Nor did he see fit
to add another word to our correspondence nor show me the slightest courtesy by
writing to say that he wished not to continue our correspondence. All this seems
rather strange to this author seeing that Mr. Smith readily labelled me ‘a
brother in Christ’ and ‘a fellow believer in the atoning death of Jesus’.
Like pastor B, pastor C apparently believes many things which are true about God
and His Christ. So why the apparent reluctance to continue our discussion?
One thing I feel safe in concluding is that pastor C, like many, baulked when
he read my comments regarding Charles Spurgeon. Though what I wrote in my reply
to his email suggested my acceptance of what he said, I wrote in a way which
allowed me to bring into our conversation what I believe he and I would readily
agree on. I ‘took for granted’ that he would agree with me whilst introducing
issues to which I was seeking his comment in order to verify him as a true
fellow believer. He chose not to comment and in fact chose not to write to me
again. Many ‘pastors’ of Reformed churches, as well as those who follow them,
say that Christ died for the elect but simultaneously maintain that Arminians,
who say such a teaching is heretical and who state that Christ died for every
individual and say they would never follow such an unjust and unloving God Who
would not make salvation possible for all, are just as saved as the reformed
person. Such people trample on the blood of Christ and rip the very heart of
what Christ has done out of the Gospel Message and replace it with the limp and
invalid doctrine that He died for all, making salvation only possible for all
and not certain for any. They make Christ the potential savior of all and the
certain Savior of none. To deny Christ’s certain work for the sinner is to
certainly deny Christ. Every lost sinner denies the vital importance, the
essentiality of the core ingredient to God’s Gospel of salvation: Who Christ
is, what Christ has done and for whom He has done it. To say a person is
saved knowing that that person does not rightly believe what Christ went
to the cross to do is to provide the person with a false notion that he is saved
and also promotes anti-Christ doctrine which is directly opposed to God’s
Testimony of what His Son came to this earth to do.
Another gentleman who was asked the question, ‘What is the Gospel?’, is person D of The Angelis Church in Georgia, U.S.A.. His reply to my question is as follows:
Thanks for the questions. I’m not sure how you got my address, but I’ll be glad to correspond. I wish I knew some of your background, and whether you were sincere in asking these questions, or whether they are trick questions as some people send me.
The Gospel is the ‘good news.’ The Gospel is Christ and Christ is the Gospel. The entire Bible was written about Christ -- The Old testament with types and shadows and ceremonies showed the person and work of Christ in providing for our salvation. It gave the perfect Law which only Christ could fulfill. The New Testament attested that Jesus Christ was the very person who was prophesied to come. Christ is the Living Word of God, the Priest, King, prophet, sacrifice, lamb, Altar, Creator, perfect man and Son of God. He is all in all. He is the good news -- that by faith in Him, in His shed blood spilt for us His children, we can be saved from sin, death, destruction and hell. God has a people who are scattered in all times and places, and they shall hear the good news and be saved. God the Father chose us in eternity; God the Son died for us in history, and God the Spirit effectually calls us out of the world unto salvation in time.
In order to be saved, one must be born again by the Spirit of God. The Spirit opens our hearts and convicts us of our sins against God, and grants us repentance and faith to believe in Christ. We show our faith by our lives, our works -- The Just shall live by faith. We live our lives from day to day doing all to the glory of God, whether we eat or drink.
I’m not sure what you were looking for, so please write back if you have more questions. If you were wondering whether baptism saves, the end of the verse says that he that believeth not shall be damned, it does not say he that believeth not and is not baptised shall be damned. While we practice water baptism as a symbol of the baptism of the Holy Spirit filling, washing and regenerating us at conversion -- we do not believe that the outward practice of getting wet saves anyone.
I hope I haven’t been too confusing, as it is late. Let me know if so.
Thanks,Person D has shared several Gospel truths in his email but he has not actually told me what the Gospel is. He has used many terms and phrases which are very familiar to professing christians but has not defined those terms, which is an essential to the biblical preaching and teaching of the Gospel. He has also stated that ‘we show our faith by our lives, our works’ but fails to add that the principle way in which a believer demonstrates his faith is by his belief of the Gospel. It matters not how much works a man has, if he does not abide in the doctrine of Christ he simply does not have God. Only if the man abides in the doctrine of Christ does he show proper and biblical evidence that he has both the Father and the Son and is therefore saved (2 Jn.9). His comment ‘I’m not sure what you were looking for’ leaves this author quite perplexed for I believe my questions made it abundantly clear that what I was looking for is the Bible’s definition of what the Gospel which must be believed in is. My response to person D’s email is as follows:
Dear person D,
Thank you so much for taking the time to reply to my email. I appreciate this very much.
I am a born again Gospel believing Christian. The reason I have asked you and several others the questions I posed is I wanted to challenge the Gospel I believe to see if there was anything I was not aware of concerning what the Gospel is and what it isn’t.
I agree with what you have said in your email to me. I would add that the principle element in showing one’s faith, that it is the faith that comes from God, is one’s belief in the Gospel of God and that none who do not have this Gospel are saved. This would include the fact that none who call saved those who do not believe the Gospel but lead morally upright lives and name the name of Christ but do not have the doctrine of Christ, are saved either. I have yet to be given Scriptural evidence by any who call saved that which the Holy Spirit calls lost.
I have heard from many who say that though arminians for instance deny the atonement of Christ was for His elect, they are nonetheless saved. That is one of the reasons I am asking people to please tell me what the Gospel is. It cannot be a combination of the truth that Christ died for the elect and the lie that He died for all. He either did one or the other. One of these teachings is the Gospel and the other is a lie wherein is no salvation.
The Gospel and the preaching of the cross are alone referred to as the power of God so I fail to see how anyone can be in a saved justified state when believing a lie about what Christ did on the cross. I also fail to see how any can be saved whilst knowingly calling someone who denies the preaching of the cross, calls foolishness, as a saved person.
Your comments are eagerly looked forward to.
Moreno.
Once again, and just as sadly, I did not hear from person D again.
There seems to be a pattern developing. As soon as these men are faced with more
specific questions regarding the Gospel, they all flee! Why are all these men,
refusing to continue their correspondence with me after I make some points and
ask more detailed questions? Suffice it to say that for whatever reason person D
saw fit not to comment on my reply. Nor did he see fit to add another word to
our correspondence or even show the slightest courtesy by writing to say that he
wished not to continue our correspondence. There are many statements made by
person D which use the correct terminology but there is a failure on his part to
define those terms. I know what they mean, but is it what person D means when
he uses them? Therein lies one of the reasons for the massive amount of
confusion which exists among the religious population. People simply do not
define the terms they use hence many believe wrongly that this group is saved or
that group is saved simply ‘because they use the same words we do.’ This
is one of the greatest flaws in many a man’s teachings: failure to define
terms in accord with Scripture. Proper teaching cannot do without it, in
fact, to teach without definition is like trying to run a train without
tracks. All of christendom is familiar with phrases such as ‘born again’,
‘believe in the Gospel’, ‘believe in Christ’, ‘Christ is my all in all’, ‘Christ
has done it all’ etc., but very few know, or have been taught, the
biblical meaning of the words and phrases which cascade from their mouths.
Man has attributed his own interpretation to the many terms and phrases of
Scripture and countless others have warmly embraced these interpretations, not
as the doctrines of men, but as the very doctrine of God! Christ said that by
his tradition man nullifies the Word of God (Matt.15:6; Mk.7:9,13). One must
believe what God says His Word teaches. To attempt to enter heaven with
man’s teaching of what the Word of God says is like trying to board an airplane
with a home-made ticket. It may look like the real thing but if it wasn’t
produced by the airline its not going to get you on board. Likewise, no one has
ever entered heaven with a man-made version of the Truth. The Truth is what
God says it is, not what man believes it to be, however sincerely. It is not
man’s sincerity in what he believes in but the Truth of Christ which makes a man
free. It is God’s Testimony of what His Word says that one must believe in.
Therefore it is absolutely essential that we believe God’s Way, for any other
way is man’s way. Every other way to salvation than the one which God has
declared, is a false way that leads all its adherents to a fiery hell. In
His preaching Christ always added to what qualified a man to be saved, the
inescapable fact that if a man did not believe His Gospel, or, in His
name, that man would perish (Mk.1:15; 16:15,16; Jn. 1:12; 3:18). The preaching
of the cross is the power of God unto salvation to them that are saved, but to
those who perish who do not believe in the preaching of the cross, it is
foolishness. They say it is not part of God’s Word on salvation (1Cor.1:17,18).
I must point out that, in addition to stating that the Gospel and the preaching
of the cross are the power of God, the Scriptures also state that Christ is the
power of God (1Cor.1:24). Person D chose to remain silent regarding all my
statements that any and all who believe that Christ died for every individual,
thus changing the very heart of the Gospel message, are lost. Such issues are
referred to by many ministers as ‘too divisive’ and ‘not edifying to
the body’. My friend, the issue of the Gospel, what it is and what it is
not, is the very heart of the Salvation Message. Without a clear definition
of what God’s Gospel is, which distinguishes it and the Christ it speaks of from
all counterfeits, there can be no true believing in THE Gospel. Ignorance of
the Truth provides no passage to heaven but is rather a sure way of remaining on
the broad way to Hell.
Pastor E of Grace Baptist Church in Georgia, U.S.A. was also asked the question, ‘What is the Gospel?’, and his reply is as follows:
John 3:36 ‘He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.’
John 17:3 ‘And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent.’
These verses make it clearer. Salvation is in a Person, not in a system of religion. And that person is Jesus Christ, the very Son of God.
Hope this helps.
Your soul’s servant,
pastor E
The Scriptures pastor E quoted are, of course, perfect. They are very clear
to one who rightly and savingly believes the Gospel by the grace of God but how
clear are they to one who has never been taught what these verses are saying?
What is it to believe in the Son? And what is it to rightly know Him? Is
pastor E aware that a Roman Catholic or even a Mormon would happily quote such
Scriptures? Mr. also mentions that ‘salvation is in a Person not in a
religious system’. This, too, is correct for a mere head knowledge of
doctrine has not and never will save anybody. But it must be asked how can
one know of the Person, Christ Jesus the Lord, if one is not taught and
subsequently believes in the doctrine of Christ? After all, Scripture
says that "Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of
Christ, hath not God..." (2 Jn. 9). It is surely not enough to say ‘I
believe in Christ’ in order to be saved. Nor is it enough to merely
encourage a person to simply ‘believe in Christ’ for there are many false
christs in this world who provide false hopes. ‘Believe in which christ,’
it may well be asked. ‘The christ of the Mormons or of the Roman Catholics or
another?’ One must know the True Christ to rightly be saved and the only
way one can know Christ savingly is to hear, understand and believe the Gospel
which reveals Who Christ is and what Christ has done. A true God-given
understanding of, and life-changing belief from the heart in, His true Gospel is
the sure sign that one is saved. Belief in a Person? YES! But there can be no
saving belief unless one has heard the Gospel doctrine and understood and
believed it with the mind and fully embraced it with the heart. The reality
of the matter is that many call the god they worship ‘jesus’ when they are
really worshipping an idol of their own or another’s imagination. "True
Worship is attributing unto God all the qualities of character that belong to
Him AS HE REVEALS HIMSELF, not as we think or imagine Him to be" (W.P.).
My reply to ’s email is as follows:
Dear pastor E,
Thank you so much for taking the time to respond to my email. I appreciate this very much.
In light of your answer I would ask ‘what is it to believe in the Son?’, and, ‘what is it to know the Son?’ I know that even the Roman Catholic Church would have no trouble using the Scriptures you referred to.
What must a person believe about the Son of God to show that he is saved. And what is it that a person must know to rightly and biblically state that he knows the Son?
I hope you will be patient with me as I seek the specifics to these questions.
Moreno.
It was encouraging to receive a second email from
pastor E, as the others I
had written to thus far failed to continue our discussion after one email.
Pastor E’s
response to my comments is as follows:
Are you seeking personal salvation?
pastor E
That is all that was contained in pastor E’s second email to me. Don’t you get the
feeling that I am bothering these men? They seem to have much more important
matters to deal with than explain the Gospel to me. Nothing I had stated was
commented on by pastor E. Only this question was asked of me to which I promptly
responded with the following:
Dear pastor E,
No, I am not seeking personal salvation for I believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ and have been saved by the grace of God. I am just asking questions to you and others to see if you do have answers to my questions. This is not being done for the sake of debate but to see if there is anything you have to say which I have not heard of before or considered.
May I reiterate the questions in my last letter to you. I look forward to your answers.
Moreno.
Pastor E’s response to the above email is as follows:
John 1:12-13 But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God even to them that believe on His name: 13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
Acts 8:36-37 And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized? 37 And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
Rom 10:9-11 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
1 John 2:28-29 And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming. 29 If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him.
1 John 3:9-10 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. 10 In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.
1 John 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.
1 John 5:4-5 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. 5 Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?
pastor E
That is pastor E’s full response to my email to him. No direct comment. No
teaching. No explanation of what the Word of God is saying. Just Scripture which
I fully agree with because by God’s grace I can understand what it is saying.
But again, no teaching by as to what it is to receive Him, believe on
His name, believe with all one’s heart, to confess with the mouth, to be
born of God, and no direct response in his own words to my comments. Let us
continue this correspondence now with my reply to pastor E’s quoting of Scripture:
Dear pastor E,
Thank you for taking the time to send me these Scriptures but I must reiterate my previous questions to you: what is it to believe the Son and what is it to know the Son. What must I believe about Him to show I believe rightly and in accord with the Gospel of God. And, what is it that if I do not believe it I show that I stand in disagreement with the Gospel account of Who He is and what He has done and am therefore lost?
These are the questions I seek answers to and I look forward to your response.
Moreno.
Gratefully, this time I did receive a reply from
pastor E in his own words. It is here
quoted in full:
Dear One;
If it’s new, it isn’t true! And if it’s true, it cannot be new!
What more could I say than, just read these verses. Read them in meditation and ask the Author of them to reveal Himself to you. Why would we hear man’s opinion of the Scriptures when we have the Holy Spirit to interpret what which He wrote?
Your soul’s servant,
pastor E
There is so much that can be said about this reply from
pastor E. Let me begin with
his opening statement: ‘If it’s new, it isn’t true! And if it’s true, it
cannot be new!’ This quaint little phrase is designed, one would imagine, to
teach us that if a teaching is new (whatever that may entail) then it cannot be
true, ie. Scriptural. But I have not presented any new teaching in my emails
to pastor E. All I have done is to ask questions seeking the specific details of what it
is to rightly and biblically and savingly believe the Gospel, and what it is to
not savingly believe the Gospel. My questions are based on the solemn
warning given in Scripture, that if one does not repent and believe the Gospel
such a person will perish in eternal fire (Mk.1:15; 2Thess.1:7-9). I believe
that when a person hears for the first time the Gospel of God, it is indeed
something new to the hearer whilst not being something new to what God’s Word
has taught for thousands of years. This author believed in lies for the first
30-odd years of my life whilst believing I was a Christian and when I first
heard the Gospel fully preached, which revealed the Righteous merits of Christ
upon which all of salvation is conditioned, it was indeed new to me. Does
this automatically qualify it as false teaching? Hardly. I would still be in
a lost state had I adopted pastor E’s philosophy! What about the Mormon who has been
fed with nothing but Mormon doctrine who has never heard God’s True Gospel, who
one day hears it on a tape or from a true believer? No doubt the doctrine he
hears is new to him. What a horror it would be to hear of such a one’s rejection
of this ‘new’ doctrine based on ’s ideology: ‘If you haven’t heard it before
then it must be wrong!’ What a ludicrous saying. It was no different in
Jesus’ day. In answer to those who were amazed at Jesus and His teachings, the
Pharisees exclaimed "Are ye also deceived? Have any of the rulers or of
the Pharisees believed on Him?" (Jn. 7:47,48). In other words they were
saying, ‘How can this Jesus be truly from God if none of the Pharisees have
believed on Him?’ In today’s world it would be said this way: ‘How can
that Gospel be the one from God if no pastor I know believes it or has even
heard of it?’ What pastor E is really saying is, ‘How can you be right, Moreno,
when none of the greats in the past believed what you believe?’ It is an
insupportable argument that really has nothing to do with what the Truth is. The
Truth does not stand or fall by how many believe it. IT STANDS WHETHER ANY
BELIEVE IT OR NOT! I would replace pastor E’s philosophy with the following biblical
statement: If it is not Gospel, if it adds to or takes away from God’s
Gospel, it is not of God and therefore cannot save!
To tell one to read the above verses in meditation and ask the Author of them to reveal Himself sounds very biblical. But how can one believe the Gospel, the Word of God, lest it be preached and heard? (Rom.10:13-15). This is what the Scriptures teach. God’s Gospel must be preached and heard before it can be understood and believed. I do believe that God can and does reveal Himself to some of His children who only have a Bible and no one to teach them for the Bible certainly contains within its pages the preaching of the Gospel by Paul the apostle and others. But even the Ethiopian eunuch as he read the Scriptures readily admitted, after being asked by Philip if he understood what he was reading ‘how can I, (understand) except some man should guide me?’ (Acts 8:31). I fear that pastor E’s email comes from a man who simply has no answers to my questions about what it is to believe and know the Son. All he has shown me are Scriptures which tell what must be done, but one remains clueless as to the specifics and particulars of what must be believed in order for a man to know he is saved. When he asks ‘why would we hear man’s opinion of the Scriptures’, an apparent attempt to excuse himself from offering me any teaching on what the Scriptures quoted are saying, are we to understand that does nothing from his pulpit but quote Scripture? If not, why then was he so reluctant to preach to me and teach me what it is to believe and know the Son? My reply to his evasive email is as follows:
Dear pastor E,
I have not a man’s opinion but God’s Record of what His Gospel is. Please do not wipe me off with some convenient summaries which to your mind excuse you from answering my questions directly and specifically. The verses you shared with me are fine but what I am asking is what do they mean. One must believe in Christ but what is it to believe in Him. If a Roman Catholic came up to you and said he believes in Christ would you say he was saved? I hope not. That man's moral life might be an excellent one but it is what he believes about Christ which defines who the christ he believes in is: whether it is God's Christ or one of his own imagination.
My friend, the Lord has revealed Himself to me. He has done it through His glorious Gospel which I believe and preach and can distinguish from all counterfeits, something, I am beginning to see, you are either unable or very reluctant to do.
If you have no answers then there is no need for you to write again. I leave the door open for you to walk through and leave anytime. But if you have answers for me I look forward to reading them. I am not trying to be a smart alec or anything of the kind. All I am asking of you is to tell me what the Gospel is and specifically what it is to believe on Christ and what it is to know Him. How can one distinguish Him and His Gospel from the counterfeits.
Thank you for your time.
Moreno.
Sadly, perhaps tragically, no further correspondence was received from
pastor E. Yes, a trusted pastor of a Baptist church whose church services are attended
religiously by many, failed to give an answer to what the Gospel is and what it
is to believe and know the Son of God. This should be a lesson for everyone who
is attending a church headed by a man they deeply respect and trust is giving
them the True way to salvation. I wonder how your pastor would respond were
you to ask him the questions I raised with these gentlemen? I challenge the
reader to do so! Show your pastor this booklet or any of the others I have
written and ask for his comment. I would be very interested to hear of your
pastor’s reply or even to hear directly from him. A man’s message reveals who
he is and who he is serving FOR what he teaches about Christ will identify which
christ he promotes: whether it is God's Christ or one of his own imagination.
Is he a man of God preaching God’s one and only Gospel or is he one who preaches
a false gospel promoting a counterfeit christ who cannot save, thus revealing
himself as a minister of Satan? Does your pastor teach that it matters not
who you believe Jesus died for but all is well as long as you believe He died
for you? Those who preach the true Gospel serve and glorify the true God and
those who teach otherwise are serving the Devil and his purpose, which is to
deceive and confuse the masses by false gospels leading them on the broad
religious road that leads to destruction (2 Cor.11:14,15). Why precisely failed
to answer my questions shall perhaps remain a mystery. But the very fact that he
refused on several occasions to specifically deal with the questions I raised
shows a reluctance to face the life and death issue of the Gospel which so many
care nothing about. What is it to really believe the Gospel? What is it that
Christ actually did on the cross and in His life on earth, what has Christ
achieved and who are the beneficiaries? Sadly pastor E, a man who goes by
the title of ‘pastor’, will not give you the answer because for some reason he
either does not want you to know or he simply does not know himself!
The next gentleman’s responses to my question, ‘What is the Gospel?’, comes from pastor F of the Reformed Bible Church in Vermont, U.S.A. His first reply is as follows:
Dear Moreno,
I received your letter and wish to respond to your question about the gospel. Obviously you must be reading the Bible and what you search is found on it's pages.
Romans 3 is a good place to start, note particularly Verse 23. Then Romans 6, particularly verse 23. Romans 10 beginning in Verse 9 and following and then Corinthians 15:1-11.
You will find that salvation begins with repentance of sin. From Romans 3 you find that all men are born dead in sin (see also Ephesians 2). It is sin which separates us from God. Romans 6 shows you that there is nothing you can personally do in order to pay for your sins, it is impossible. Church membership does not count, being baptized as an infant, keeping the law, whatever you may try to do your sins are never paid for. But the good news is God has provided the means for sinners to be saved through the sacrificial death of His Son, God incarnate, Jesus Christ and His resurrection from the dead. If you repent of your sins and by faith alone embrace Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior the good news is you will be saved. May I suggest you also read Romans 5, Ephesians 1 and 2, Hebrews 9 as well as the entire Gospel of John?
I sincerely hope that this helps you in your seeking for answers. I urge you to seek the Lord with all your heart and soul. You should find a good church to attend where you can ask questions and be personally guided in your search for salvation (Romans 10 affirms this to be a good thing to do).
God Bless you in your search.
All By Grace
pastor F
pastor, Reformed Bible Church
In pastor F’s first email to me I was encouraged to
finally see some seemingly genuine interest in my question and an attitude of
care shown towards its author. Whilst these are valuable traits, they really are
of no worth to the recipient if they are not accompanied by God’s true Gospel
teaching. However nice and gentle and loving a person may act towards us, it
is no guarantee that what the person believes and teaches is the Truth and the
True and only way to salvation. We must not be swayed by a man’s appearance
and genteel manner but we must pay strict attention to his message. If that
message is not God’s Message then we are to avoid such a person, insofar as
spiritual fellowship goes, and we are to give them the Gospel of God with all
gentleness and patience (Rom.16:17; 2 Tim.2:24,25). Along with the others I have
written to, pastor F has stated several truths in his email to me and the
verses he quoted are, of course, most helpful to a person’s being rightly taught
the Gospel. However, what has taught is not the Gospel. In saying that God has
provided the means for sinners to be saved, are we to understand that this
includes every individual sinner or those whom God has chosen unto salvation? We
cannot tell from his response because he has not made it clear one way or the
other. This is vitally important, for if one says that God has provided the
means for all sinners to be saved then one must hold to the belief that Christ’s
sacrifice was made for all. Seeing then that Christ has not, indeed could not,
have failed in His sacrificial death for the redemption of all for whom it was
made, we must conclude that all will be saved. Since this is patently not the
case, such teaching as God having provided the means to salvation for every
individual, is false and highly deceptive. also mentions that ‘salvation
begins with repentance of sin’, but what sin must a man repent of in order
to be saved? Does he speak only of repentance from an immoral lifestyle? What of
those who have lived upright and moral lives and who have virtually no obvious
sins, to their mind, to repent of. Is repentance an act done in order for a man
to get saved? Or does repentance follow a man’s being regenerated by a loving
God by means of His Holy Gospel and Holy Spirit? The word ‘repent’ means
to change one’s mind. The repentance which Scripture speaks of is not merely
repentance from one’s immorality but also from the sin of idolatry, from ever
having believed and trusted in any person or religion other than Christ Jesus
the Lord and His Righteousness imputed, for one’s salvation. This, too, is
something has failed to make clear in his letter. ‘Belief’ of the Gospel
which is not accompanied by a repentance of all past trusting in one’s ‘good
works’ and idolatrous beliefs, is not the belief or faith which comes from God
(see Phil. 3). My reply to pastor F’s comments are as follows:
Dear Sir,
I do thank you very much for replying to my question on what the Gospel is. I apologise if I led you to believe that I am not a believer but one who is searching. I am a believer in the Gospel of Jesus Christ the One Who came to save His people from their sins.
What I am specifically wanting to know is what you believe the preaching of the cross is, and what it is that a man believes which shows he is lost, and what it is that he believes which gives evidence that he is saved, in light of Christ's words in Mark 16:16.
I assure you that my words come from a gentle spirit and not from an argumentative and debate-driven one.
If it would be easier for you to convey your beliefs I could send you a copy of my first booklet 'God's only Gospel' and you can then comment on what I have written.
Moreno.
Pastor F's reply is as follows and in full:
Dear Moreno,
Thanks for your most recent letter, I praise God that you have been saved by His Sovereign Grace.
In answer to your questions.
What is it that must be believed in order to be saved?
First of all the unregenerate must believe that God exists, and that He is holy, perfect, just, righteous, etc. (Genesis 1, et.al)
Second he must believe that man is born in sin, alienated from God, under the just wrath of God, dead in trespasses and sin (Romans 3, 8, Eph. 1 and 2, et.al)
Third he must believe that the only hope of salvation which he has is through God's provision of His sinless, perfect Son, the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 5, et.al.)
Forth he must believe that Jesus is the Son of God, co-eternal and co-equal with God the Father, the perfect Lamb of God who was born of a Virgin, lived a sinless life and died as the substitutionary sacrifice for the sins of His people and rose again from the dead (See the gospels, etc.)
Fifth he must repent of his sins (turn from them 1 Thess.1) and by faith alone embrace Jesus Christ as His Lord and Savior.
What is not believed by those are condemned:
They do not believe that salvation is by faith alone in the atoning death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
They do not believe the gospel, do not believe that God is who the Word of God says He is And the list could go on.
What they do believe is that salvation is by their own "free-will" - an "act of their own works" - they "merit salvation because of their being good, belonging to a church or something similar to that"
I hope this answers your questions. Volumes could be written. Now, I would ask you a few questions. Why did you write to me? Where have you heard about my being equipped or able to explain the gospel? Are you involved with a certain group or organization? I ask these questions because from time to time I receive letters from other people who are not concerned about the truth but are seeking to promote their ideas and even go so far as to label others unregenerate because they do not agree with them. I would appreciate your answering these questions;
All By Grace
pastor F
Pastor F’s response here isn’t a bad one at all but again,
like the replies received from others, he fails to state things in a more
specific way. He mentions only a few things which those who stand condemned do
not believe but none of these involve the Cross of Christ and its proper
biblical teaching. Several terms such as ‘salvation is by faith alone’
are not explained. There are many people who are in hell today who firmly
believed that they were true believers in the doctrine that salvation is by
faith alone. But what exactly does this term ‘faith alone’ mean? For
many, it means that they believe Christ has saved them but they must now live an
upright life, which they say is only possible by the grace of God, in order to
maintain that salvation. They say that though one has faith alone in
Christ for their salvation, they can at any time lose that salvation by not
adhering to an upright life and committing certain sins. Faith which
biblically believes in Christ alone for salvation is the faith which
believes that ALL of salvation from beginning to final glory is conditioned
on Christ and that nothing the sinner can do or fails to do will keep the
sinner in a saved state or impede the sinner’s salvation. The Bible teaches
that it is by the power of God that His people are kept unto salvation and not
by what the sinner does or abstains from doing (1 Pet.1:3-5). All for
whom Christ has died shall see heaven, for they have had their sins imputed to
Him and have had His Righteousness imputed to them (Jn.10:27,28; Rom.4:8;
2 Cor.5:21). There is no such thing as ‘losing one’s salvation’, a
doctrine which many who claim to believe in faith alone, cling to. My
response via email to pastor F is as follows:
Dear Sir,
I would like to thank you again for taking the time to write to me. I appreciate this very much.
The reason I have written to you and others as well is because I want to hear directly from various ones what they say the Gospel is. I believe I do hold to and have embraced THE Gospel and am now saved. I spent approximately 14 years in baptist, presbyterian and other 'sound' churches and never once did I ever hear the true Gospel preached. Only in 1990 did I first hear of the so-called 'five points'. I believed most of them, or so I thought, but hesitated on the point that Christ died exclusively for His elect and not everyone. As time went on and I continued my studies of the 5 points I came to the only conclusion possible from Scripture and that was that Christ did die for the elect and any teaching that contradicted this was part of a false gospel wherein is no salvation.
Then I began to hear that many so-called Calvinists whilst claiming to believe that Christ died for the elect insisted that those who did not believe this such as Arminians were just as saved as they were. What I see in Scriptures such as Galatians 1 is that Paul the apostle warned the Galatians that if any came and preached any other gospel than the one he preached it was not a sign that they were saved albeit ignorant of some doctrines, even the essentials, but that they were indeed lost people. It also dawned on me that any who knowingly spoke peace to and considered saved those who considered anyone who did not believe in Christ's death for the elect as saved people, lost as well for they were denying the absolute necessity of believing in the only death and atonement that God bears record to.
No one has yet to show me from Scripture that a man is saved if he is ignorant of any part of the Gospel, the preaching of the Cross, and how it can be that a man who calls saved what the Holy Spirit calls lost, is saved.
Your comments to all this are looked forward to very much. I simply seek to know God's Truth. I am not involved in any church here in Australia for I know of none who preach and defend the only Gospel that saves.
Moreno.
Pastor F’s response to the above email is as follows and in
full:
Dear Moreno,
Thanks for you letter, and answering my questions. May I make several comments?
First - the gospel, what is essential for an individual to be saved is repentance of sin and faith alone in Jesus Christ as the crucified and risen Savior. This is seen clearly in the presentation of the gospel in the Book of Acts and throughout the epistles. On the day of Pentecost Peter preached the gospel of repentance and faith for the forgiveness of sins. Philip preached Christ from Isaiah 53 and the Ethiopian eunuch "believed that Jesus Christ is the Son of God". Now, my question to you is, did those who repented, believed and were baptized as a testimony of the sincerity of their faith believe the 5-points prior to their conversion? Are understanding and acceptance of the 5-points absolutely necessary prior to salvation for a person to be truly saved? If a person has truly repented of their sins and by faith alone embrace Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and yet has never been taught or exposed to the 5-points unsaved? Now, I'm not talking about those who have heard the 5-points and then reject them, that is a whole different story.
Another question, if an Arminian pastor preaches that men are sinners and that Christ came into the world to save sinners and calls men to repent of their sins and by faith believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, died on the cross for sinners and rose again - is he preaching a false gospel because he did not say Jesus died only for the elect? Is God incapable of using the gospel preached by an Arminian to save His elect?
One last thing, do you think it is proper to judge the eternal souls of other men and declare them unregenerate?
I would be interested to hear what you would say to someone who asked, as the Philippian jailor did the Apostle Paul, "What must I do to be saved?"
What answer would you give?
Dear sir I am truly sorry that you are not neglecting the gathering of the saints as directed in Hebrews 10:23-25. It may be true that you cannot find others who believe exactly as you do but I'm sure there are some Reformed Baptist churches in Australia. And please, be discerning in what you read and participate in on the internet. I'm pretty sure I know where your convictions have come from and you may be getting swept up "doctrinal regeneration" of which Scripture has nothing to say.
If you want to be a well-fed Christian please consider visiting the Sound of Grace website, I think you will be blessed.
All By Grace
pastor F
Pastor F’s comments on what is essential to a person being
saved would be readily embraced by any Roman Catholic. They, too, use the term
‘faith alone’ and claim to believe in ‘the crucified and risen Savior’
but their interpretation of ‘faith alone’ and who that Savior is does not
concur with the teaching of the Word of God. So, to say that salvation is
dependant on repentance and faith alone in Jesus Christ, really does not go far
enough in defining what it is that a saving knowledge of Christ actually is.
This is not an exercise in nit-picking but is in order to draw the reader’s
attention to the dangers of such broad non-specific teaching on Christ and His
Work. Such teaching leaves room for a person to hold to a false christ who
cannot profit them. The saved believe in repentance of sins which includes
that of idolatry and dead works, those deeds done before being born again, and
their faith is in Jesus Christ alone as the Savior Who came to, and did, save
His people from their sins. They believe that nothing the sinner can
do either before salvation or after one is saved can in any way to any degree
contribute to their attaining or maintaining salvation for they hold to the
Truth that Christ has done it all. That gets the Gospel Message across
rather than Mr. Diggins’ interpretation. My reply to pastor F’s email is as
follows:
Dear Sir,
Thank you again for your reply. My answers will follow your comments.
I agree that the Gospel is what must be believed in but my question is what is the Gospel. Everyone, from Roman Catholics to Seventh-Day Adventists say the Gospel must be believed in but they all have different gospels. They all say something different about Who Christ is and what Christ has done.
Firstly, I do not promote the five points as the Gospel in its entirety. I do not promote calvinism nor do I consider myself a calvinist. I am one who simply believes what the Scriptures say and if that happens to be what Calvin or anyone else taught and believed then so be it. Again, I reiterate the words of Christ when He said that only those who believe the Gospel, that is who abide in the doctrine of Christ, are saved and have God and those who do not believe in the specific Testimony of God as to Who His Son is and what His Son has done are all lost. It stands to biblical reason therefore that any who calls saved that which the Holy Spirit calls lost are lost themselves for they cannot be basing the lost person's 'salvation' on the Gospel but by some other standard which is not God's Standard. All who are saved and justified by the blood and Righteousness of Christ believe and abide in His Gospel for they are born of it.
What I believe is what Christ taught: those who believe the Gospel, the preaching of the cross, are saved and those who do not regardless of how moral they might be and how many sinful works they have turned their backs on, are lost. To 'believe' is to understand, trust in and accept so how can any person however religious they might be have God when they do not know and do not abide in His Doctrine? I am not defending the 5 points, but the Gospel itself. How can anyone be saved and truly believe in Christ and what He has done if they have never heard THAT Christ preached and therefore do not believe in Him. Many say they believe in Christ but it is what they believe and not simply their 'believing' that is important, for what they believe defines the one they believe in.
What an arminian preacher preaches is not the Gospel of Christ. It is not that God is incapable of using the gospel that an arminian preacher promotes but that God does not, has never and will never save a man by means of a false gospel. Are you saying that the arminian's gospel of Christ dying for every individual and the true Gospel that Christ died for the elect are one and the same? Is not the death and atonement of Christ the central element of true Gospel preaching and that to take away or add to what Christ has truly done for His people, as the arminian gospel does, is to teach and believe another gospel? The arminian preacher says that Christ's death was for everyman and that it is now up to the man to accept and receive what has been done in his behalf. This means that most for whom Christ died will go to hell regardless of His efforts. The Old Testament knows absolutely nothing of such an 'atonement'. The O.T. atonement which was a type of what Christ would do was made for a people, God's people just as Christ's atonement is made for a people that they would be saved. All for whom He died will be saved. That is the Gospel message. Anything else is a lie and not the gospel at all. The arminian gospel is a lie for it does not preach the true Christ and what He has done for His people. Christ was to be named 'Jesus' for He would come to save His people from their sins. The arminian jesus came to make salvation possible for all people. He is not the Savior but a wannabe saviour.
So many find it so wrong to say a person is lost when they name the name of Christ, call Him Lord etc. Paul the apostle in Galatians 1 told the Galatians that if any came to them with a different gospel they were lost. He did not say that they were in all likelihood saved yet ignorant of a few doctrines. He said they were lost. Any who believe or promote another gospel or who say that there is salvation in any other gospel other than Paul's are lost at that point in time. Paul was a minister of the Gospel who said of some he had not even met that they were lost based on the fact that they preached another gospel and not the one and only Gospel given to him of God.
I did not receive the Gospel I hold to from the internet or from any man. I received it from the Word of God. I have been involved with false gospels for many years, Romanism, Copeland, Charismatics, Baptists who never once told me of the Righteousness of Christ. I have examined this Gospel every way I can. I have talked with as many as I could and this Gospel I have has not even been dented once by what others say against it.
I did not write to you or the others I have asked what the Gospel is with a plan to debate and score points or any silly thing like that but to sincerely understand what people are saying who insist that a man can be saved before he hears, understands and believes the Gospel.
There may well be some who preach the Gospel here but I have yet to meet them. I hope to one day.
Scripture says that if the Gospel be hid it is hid to those who are lost. It is not hid to those who are saved and merely ignorant of the Gospel, but to those who are lost. If a man does not hold to God's Gospel he is lost regardless of how religious he is and how many sins he has turned from. I am sure you know or know of many Roman Catholic people who live upright moral lives. Their character and conduct would even show up many true Christians. But, if they do not abide in the Doctrine of Christ they simply have not God.
To the Philippian jailor's question 'what must I do to be saved?' I would answer 'Believe the Gospel and you will be saved'. You and I know that this would not be an act from the free will of man but would be a gift from God. The charge that I may be of those who subscribe to the 'doctrinal regeneration' teaching is a false one for I say there is nothing a man can do to come to God. Believing in God's Gospel is not a condition one must meet to get saved but is the principal evidence that one is saved.
Please know that my answers come from a gentle heart that seeks not confusion and debate for debate's sake. I only seek to glorify God and His glorious Gospel and to defend it as the only means to salvation and that every other gospel out there is a false refuge which will not protect anyone.
I am happy to continue our correspondence as long as you are.
Moreno.
Further to my comments to pastor F, I would like to add that to ask
whether those to whom Peter preached the Gospel on Pentecost, and the Ethiopian
eunuch to whom Phillip preached, all believed in ‘the five points’ is really a
nonsense question. The ‘five points’, for those who are not familiar with them,
are: (1) Man is dead in sin and cannot come to God in and of himself; (2) God
has chosen a people to become His children from before the foundation of the
world, not based on their deeds but upon His grace and purpose; (3) Christ died
for the elect of God exclusively accomplishing redemption for them all; (4) The
Holy Spirit will bring each and every one whom God has chosen and for whom
Christ died to a saving knowledge of the Gospel; (5) And none whom God has
chosen, for whom Christ died and who have been called by the Holy Spirit and had
the Gospel savingly revealed to them, will ever perish for they have been given
eternal life. No person who has ever been saved, a true believer in God’s
Gospel, has ever or will ever, after their salvation, reject any of these
teachings for they form part of the doctrine of Christ that every saved person
abides in. The Standard God has set for every man is repent and believe the
Gospel or you will perish. Therefore, it is of a certainty that all who are
saved, whether it be the Philippian jailor or the Ethiopian eunuch, believe the
Gospel of Jesus Christ’s Substitutionary and Atoning Death for His people and
that man in and of himself can do nothing to come to God, hence every saved
man’s trust in Christ alone as the Savior, and looking to nothing he has done
but has rather repented of, and forsaken all his own imperfect deeds of
‘obedience’ and religious efforts and fully embraced the Savior and all HE is
and all HE has done for the sinner to attain and maintain his
saved state for all eternity (see Phil 3:8-10). The ‘five points of
Calvin’ are all Scriptural and did not begin with John Calvin or any other man.
These points of doctrine are the basic principles of Gospel teaching and
rejection of any one of them is a rejection of the whole and is a sure sign of
lostness, for the rejection of any of these principles leaves one with a
gospel which conditions some part of salvation on man and leaves room for him to
boast, which is something the True Gospel, the Gospel of grace, does not do for
everyone of its doctrines attributes ALL the glory of salvation to God alone.
The Ethiopian Eunuch believed that Jesus was the Son of God and it is of a certainty that he believed that THE Jesus, and not a counterfeit, was the Son of God. He believed that the Christ whom Phillip taught him from the Scriptures was the Son of God and not a counterfeit. Pastor F asks: ‘is a person who has truly repented of their sins and by faith alone embraced Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and yet has never been taught or exposed to the five points, unsaved?’ My point is, how can they have truly repented and believed in the True Messiah if they have not been taught the five points? How can a person truly, biblically repent of sins (which includes belief in a counterfeit christ and a false gospel) truly embrace God’s Son, if they have not been taught and believed in the True Jesus from God’s Word. How could the apostle Paul have had true Godly repentance BEFORE he knew and believed in the True Gospel which revealed that salvation was only possible based on Christ’s Righteousness and not that of Paul’s? (Phil. 3:9). Many say they believe in the Son of God, but which son of God? There are many ‘sons of God’ taught about today. Which one specifically is being referred to? Are they referring to the JW’s son of God? Or that of the Faith movement? Again, the terms, titles and phrases are all correct but what and whom is meant by such biblical language is the question, which when answered will reveal and identify who the person is really referring to—whether it be the True Christ or a counterfeit. Pastor F refers to the Son of God who died for sinners, but what does he mean by ‘died for sinners’? What does he mean by dying for sinners? Answers to these searching questions will reveal which ‘son of god’ is being spoken of.
No man can ever biblically repent of his sins and truly embrace the Christ of God if he has never heard the Gospel!
It matters not whether a person believes that God is the Creator of all, that His Son is named Jesus and was born of a virgin, and scores of other Bible truths. IF ONE BELIEVES NOT THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST, THAT MAN IS LOST! Again, Romans says that "...HOW SHALL THEY BELIEVE IN HIM OF WHOM THEY HAVE NOT HEARD? And how shall they hear without a preacher?" (Rom.10:14). How shall they believe in the True Christ after hearing a false christ preached to them? And how can any man be saved who says that any who believe in a false gospel that promotes a false christ is saved? False gospels simply do not present the true Christ, but a counterfeit. This is why the Bible warns so often of believing and accepting a false gospel: THERE IS NO SALVATION IN IT! (Gal.1:9). Pastor F shows his ignorance of the heart of the Gospel Message: What Christ did on the cross and therefore Who Christ is, when he asks ‘is he (the arminian preacher) preaching a false gospel because he did not say Jesus died only for the elect?’ To say that Christ did not die for the elect exclusively but for all men, is to change the very heart of GOD’S Testimony concerning His Son. God says that HIS Son died for the Church and that He laid down His Life for HIS sheep (Eph. 5:25; Jn. 10:11,15). To say He died for all is to change what Christ did on the cross; it is to change the very essence of what the Gospel teaches about Christ Jesus the Lord and what it means to trust and believe in Him. It changes His Work from having accomplished redemption for His people, to making redemption only possible for all men, conditioned on whether they accept Him or not. This is NOT the preaching of the Gospel, but the preaching of another gospel which does not save. How can it, when it presents lies to the hearer about what Christ has done in His death and thereby denying His very name? Salvation is not conditioned on man’s acceptance of Christ, but on God’s accepting Him and His Sacrifice for all the people He sought to, and did, make atonement for. Man is not saved because he believes, but he believes because he has been saved by the grace of God. Since man is dead in sin and cannot come to the Father on his own, how can salvation be conditioned on man’s decision for Christ? (Jn. 6:44,65). The doctrine of universal redemption is what most who claim to be Christians have embraced and it is a false and satanic doctrine which brings with it a deluded and empty hope of salvation. If a man does not preach the Christ Who died for His people, whom God chose from before the foundation of the world, and that His blood shed for them failed not in the slightest degree to wash away their every sin, he blasphemes the God of the Bible and is preaching a false christ and a false gospel wherein is no salvation.Pastor F states that it is wrong to judge the eternal souls of men and declare them unregenerate. Yet he, like so many others, never hesitates to judge a man in a positive light! They are always ready to call someone a brother who names the name of Christ, but they are not so ready to examine what that person believes about Christ to see whether or not they have been correctly presented with the only Gospel that saves and whether or not they are in fact abiding in the doctrine of Christ and not in a counterfeit. "Judge righteous judgement" is Christ’s command to His people, and not according to outward appearance (Jn.7:24). The Lord Jesus does not promote the abandonment of right judging for the sake of not offending a person. The Christian must not set out to judge in a negative way in order to lord it over people and bring them ‘under their wing’ as it were, but he is to judge carefully, analytically and above all else biblically, according to God’s Standard of saved and lost, to see whether a person rightly believes the true Gospel. This is not to be done with an elitist or superior attitude to others but should come from a loving and caring heart, in order to see if the person is truly saved. The righteous judgement which Jesus speaks of should be done with the care and concern a parent has for it’s child when it lovingly corrects him. The child is thrilled that he believes 2 + 2= 5. Would it be considered a loving act on the part of the parent to leave the child in his error? Is it enough that the child believes that the true answer is whatever number he feels comfortable with? Would it be considered a loving act to allow the child to remain in error because one did not want to hurt his feelings or risk offending him by interrupting his happiness with loving correction? The parent who truly loves the child does not leave him in his error but lovingly and gently corrects him and tells him what the true answer is. Can such an act be condemned? Of course not! True love cannot remain silent but corrects and instructs in order to bless and edify. If the person does believe in the True Gospel then we can have joyous fellowship with one another. If not, then we are to teach them the Gospel with all meekness, gentleness and patience, yet not for a moment compromising God’s Holy Word. This is how we separate ourselves from those who believe and teach false gospels and who will not be moved from those lies. We do not judge them eternally lost but we judge them lost at the time of their adhering to a false gospel and we pray for their salvation, just like Paul prayed for the salvation of the nation of Israel who had much zeal for God but were hopelessly lost, for their zeal was not according to knowledge, the knowledge of Christ’s Righteousness (Rom.10:1-4). Pastor F’s response to my Email is as follows and in full:
Dear Moreno,
Received you letter, thanks for your replies especially this paragraph:
To the Philippian jailor's question 'what must I do to be saved?' I would answer 'Believe the Gospel and you will be saved'. You and I know that this would not be an act from the free will of man but would be a gift from God. The charge that I may be of those who subscribe to the 'doctrinal regeneration' teaching is a false one for I say there is nothing a man can do to come to God. Believing in God's Gospel is not a condition one must meet to get saved but is the principal evidence that one is saved.
I agree with your statement. Believing the Gospel is not an acceptance of the facts of Christ's death and resurrection, those at cross all saw Him and die and believed it. Those guarding the tomb knew He had rose again and had to be bribed to lie about it. An individual believes because God, by His Sovereign Grace gives them the new birth, what we call regeneration that precedes repentance of sin and faith alone in Christ's substitutionary death and resurrection. A person may truly believe and be saved and yet not fully understand that he was elect, irresistibly drawn by God or that Jesus died only for His church. That is my point. Now, after salvation that same individual will bear fruits that prove the sincerity of his profession of faith. Among those fruits will be an understanding of election, limited atonement, etc. Such knowledge brings about praise in their hearts for God's sovereign grace.
An arminian can and often does preach the gospel of repentance and faith. Yes, if we know the preacher personally and that he does not believe in limited atonement, election, etc. we would say through his ignorance the truth is proclaimed and God may be pleased to use his message to awaken one of His elect to salvation. Is that preacher unregenerate, well, I refuse to place myself in the position of judging another man's heart. I would point out his error to him and urge him to examine himself in the light of the scripture and pray that God does a work in his heart.
My concern is that there are those who would label Spurgeon, Hodge, Machen and a host of other great theologians "unregenerate" because they hold out the possibility that an arminian can preach the gospel and others can be brought to Christ through their preaching. I refuse to be a part of such labelling.
Thanks again for writing. I sincerely hope you will find fellowship, perhaps you should consider planting a church where you are. Surely there must be others who share you conviction and let's face it, accountability is something which we all need. In the mean time be assured of my prayers.
All By Grace
pastor F
My reply to pastor F’s comments is as follows:
Dear pastor F,
Again, I appreciate your taking the time to write to me.
You mention that a person may be saved and yet not understand that Christ died only for His Church. I have nothing against a person's learning and growing in the knowledge of God but for a person not to understand that Christ died for His people alone is to miss the core teaching of the Gospel, the preaching of the cross. If he does not know what he believes then he cannot be said to believe the Gospel and therefore be saved. If he does not understand that Christ died for the elect then he cannot understand and therefore believe in His atoning work upon the cross, he cannot hold to the Gospel truth that Christ accomplished redemption on the cross and not merely made it possible. Who one believes Christ died for shows what one believes Christ did on the cross. And, let's face it, if one has got what Christ did on the cross wrong then one cannot be said to believe in God's only Gospel.
You say that after salvation a person shows fruits etc. This is the type of judgement that Christ forbids. And, this is one of the reasons so many are in such a confused mess today and in history that arminians are saved for they do not judge them according to what they believe but allow a man's gospel to be riddled with error and yet insist the man is saved. They find 'support' for this by judging a man's reputation and/or appearance: his character and conduct. How many Mormons and Roman Catholics would be saved if this were the standard of judgement. They have much error in their beliefs but generally their character and conduct is above board. If this standard were God's standard who is to say that they are not saved simply because they fail to fully understand the Truth? You also mention sincerity in one's profession of faith. I have no doubt that the great majority of people who profess Christianity are very sincere but sincerity is not the key to heaven. Christ said that the TRUTH shall make a man free. A man can be sincere but be sincerely wrong. None will be rewarded for sincere beliefs in a false gospel.
My friend, how can you say that truth can be preached through ignorance? I think the starting point for any discussion about arminians is that they believe and teach that Christ died for all thereby changing the truth concerning what Christ did on the cross into the lie that He made salvation possible for all. You know there is nothing in the Old Testament types that speak of or foreshadowed a conditional atonement but that when blood was spilt it was spilt for a determinate number of people, God's people, and all for whom it was spilt received its blessing. Arminianism is an open attack on the person and work of Jesus Christ the Savior of His people and none who preach the arminian lie are saved nor can anyone be saved by hearing a false gospel. And, it must be said that there is nothing in Scripture to support the lie that a man is saved who claims one who does not believe the Gospel, who does not abide in Christ's Doctrine, is a saved person.
Judging another man's heart is something encouraged in the Scriptures. Christ said that His people are to judge righteous judgement not according to appearance but according to God's Word. John said that the person who did not abide in Christ's doctrine has not God. Paul 'labelled' lost and accursed those who came preaching (and therefore believing) another gospel. Character and conduct was not the primary identifying principal as far as Paul was concerned to a person's saved or lost state but it was what they preached that was a dead give away. Salvation is not something which is mystical. I find it fascinating how so many say they will not judge a man yet they do it every day so long as their judgement is a positive one and not a negative one.
That Spurgeon openly called Wesley's gospel 'another gospel' is testament enough that by also saying that Wesley was saved that Spurgeon was, at best, a confused man, and at worst a lost man. Let us not judge by reputation or by how many books a man has written etc., but let us judge by the Word of God. Christ says no one is saved who does not believe the Gospel. Spurgeon said that many were saved who believed in another gospel. I put it to you that you would not hesitate for a moment in thinking I was mad if I were to have written to you such a view!
I leave you with a question none have answered and I believe none ever can: where is the Scriptural ground that supports such a notion that a man who does not believe the Gospel is saved? And, how can a man be saved who calls saved that which the Holy Spirit of God deems lost?
Thank you again for your time and I look forward to hearing from you again.
Moreno.
Sadly, I did not hear from pastor F again. No reply to this email of
mine. No answers to the statement I made or the points I covered or my
comments on his statements and no answer to my final question. For
whatever reason, or reasons, pastor F saw fit not to respond to my email, to
continue our correspondence, not even to show me the slightest degree of respect
and courtesy by saying he wished not to continue our correspondence and provide
the reason why. Just a very loud silence is all I was left with. It is
offensive and highly frustrating for this author to be ignored in such a manner.
To see such men in positions of leadership and who are trusted by many just walk
away and count themselves justified in what they believe and in not replying to
me is quite irritating. Ironically, many such leaders refer to this author and
other true Gospel believers as cultists. They believe we are in a cult
and have been led astray from the proper biblical ground, that we are extremists
and narrow-minded. But I must point out that it is they who are doing
all the running away and hiding and not I!! I have not shied away from the
Truth that must be believed or closed myself off to that which I may be ignorant
of. I have gone to these men, who say they are ministers of God, and have asked
them plainly and simply what the Gospel is etc. I fear not the truth and if what
I believe is not the truth, I am fully prepared to change what I believe and
embrace that which can be proven by Scripture to be the Truth. It is they
who have run and hid themselves, perhaps behind their plush leather office
chairs, and not I. And I guarantee the reader that if the roles were reversed,
if it was they who sought me out and were concerned with what I was preaching
and asked me to define the Gospel I believe in to them and I, after a few
letters, decided to stop writing and run away and hide,
they would shout it
from the roof tops and ruthlessly publish it in their bulletins and magazines
that I could not answer their questions, thus proving that I am a shady
character who should not be trusted and must be leading, or at least part of,
some new cult.
How concerned I am and fearful for the eternal souls of those who are under the teaching of men such as pastor F. True, they do know many truths, but they do not know THE Truth. Men such as pastor F hide behind well-practiced religious-speak and always present their lines with a smile and a ‘God bless you’. It might sound nice and they might appear gentle loving people, but ‘pastors’ such as pastor F are not to be trusted. The evidence is contained in the email correspondence which is before you. They do not want to be so ‘coarse’ and ‘unloving’ as to say anyone is lost except the very obvious ones who belong to wayout cults such as the Mormons and JW’s, but never will they judge one lost who belongs to a Reformed church and even some Arminian churches who names the name of Christ and calls Him ‘Lord’. Their motives vary but one must never lose sight of the fact that church ministers are men, sinful men like you and I, who usually have families and their only income is that which they are given by their denomination. Most are not trained for anything else and many would have difficulty in finding other employment. They are men like anyone of us and, just like the corporate executive, they must tow the company line, not straying from it and risk offending their people and increasing their numbers and, perish the thought, lose their jobs, respect and prestige among the religious community. My friend, trust in the Word of God and the Christ of God and don’t ever shy away from telling someone that they have been taught and have embraced a false gospel. Remember, true love does not remain silent but corrects and instructs in order to bless and edify.
Do not allow any religious leader to intimidate you by his stature or reputation or position of authority etc., but always remember that they are just sinful men who are all subject to error. Simply because a man has a title, before his name or letters after his name does not guarantee that what the man teaches is God’s Truth. Christ spoke in a most powerful and clear manner to the religious leaders of his day in whom all trusted and looked to for spiritual guidance. He told the most religious people of His day, the Pharisees, spiritual leaders of a nation, that they knew not the Father and were of their father the Devil: "If God were your Father, ye would love me...Ye are of your father the Devil...because I tell you the truth, ye believe Me not...He that is of God heareth God’s Words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God" (Jn.8:42,44,45,47). This, to a people who daily read and meditated upon the Old Testament Scriptures! Christ also told them: "ye believe not, because ye are not of My sheep..." (Jn.10:26). I do not advocate that any child of God should go around pronouncing the eternal lostness of any person whilst they are alive, for no one knows that except God. BUT, we do know that a person is at present lost if they abide not in the Gospel of God. The reason being, there is no salvation in any other gospel other than God’s Gospel for IT ALONE is the Power of God unto salvation. It may be said that false gospels are the power of Satan unto damnation.
We now come to the final two gentlemen with whom I corresponded. Their emails contain much longer replies than those thus far quoted. The first of these two gentlemen who responded to my question ‘What is the Gospel?’, is pastor G, a Baptist pastor in the state of Colorado, U.S.A. His first reply to my initial email follows in full:
Dear Moreno, do I know you? How did you get my email address?
Pastor G
It seems pastor G was at first more interested in finding out how I
obtained his email address than answering my questions. My reply is as follows:
Dear Sir,
No, you do not know me. I am from Australia and was sent your email address from a friend.
I look forward to your answer to my question ‘What is the Gospel’ and the others I asked. Thank you.
Moreno.
Pastor G’s reply follows in full:
Moreno,
What friend of mine gave out my email address?
If you are one of those who believe that all Arminians are unsaved, and also any Calvinist who says that an Arminian is saved is not saved either, and you’re looking for someone to argue with, I’m not interested.
pastor G
Rather an abrupt and presumptive reply I would have thought. Pastor G
has immediately gone on the defensive after
presuming I am one who is merely after an argument. Hardly the manner in which a
pastor should speak and hardly the example a pastor should set. My response
follows in full:
Dear pastor G,
I am not looking for an argument at all with you or anyone else.
Also, it is not important who gave me your email address. I did not say he was a friend of yours but a friend of mine who gave me your address and those of others.
All I am simply asking you is to tell me what the Gospel is. What is it that must be believed in order for a man to be saved, in light of Mark 16:16, and what is it that if a man does not believe it he gives evidence that he is lost. I am seeking this answer because I want to know for certain that the Gospel I believe in is THE Gospel and not a counterfeit. In light of Scripture any who do not believe the Gospel are lost and only those who do believe it are saved. This is made quite plain in God's Word.
So, I hope to hear from you again but if you really would prefer not to write to me then please feel free to ignore this email and you will not hear from me again.
Moreno.
I must point out that I erred when telling pastor G that what I said was that
a friend of mine gave me his email address, when in fact what I actually
said was that a friend had passed his address on. Pastor G finally did
decide to deal with my questions and his lengthy reply is included here in full:
Dear Mareno,
I am writing to you a personal, private letter to answer your question. Therefore I trust you'll respect my privacy and not make my letter public by posting it on the web, or forwarding it. And please don't put my name on any email lists. If Scott Price gave you my email address, please ask him not to do that any more. For some reason, I can't help thinking that your question was meant to bait people into a debate. But against my better judgment (I've given up on discussing this issue with certain folks over a year ago), maybe there are a few things for you here to think about.
Concerning your question about Mark 16, you're probably aware that in many of the most ancient manuscripts of Mark, that passage is not even in the manuscript, and that some good Christians think that it is a later addition. So you may not want to build any theology upon it.
But there are other passages in the New Testament which say basically the same thing as the Mark passage. Acts "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved," Romans 10:, "Whoever confesses with his mouth that Jesus is Lord and believes in his heart that God raised him from the dead shall be saved." And even I think early in Mark's Gospel, Jesus said, "Repent and believe the Gospel."
The problem we face is this: If you say one has to believe too many things with all their details, it gets so exclusive that the "Church" which Christ said would turn into a big tree, turns into a cult, where only the fifteen people who believe very much like you do, are saved.
We have groups like that in America who go by the name "Reformed" and pronounce most evangelical Christians and Reformed Christians as "outside the camp." My experience with them is that they are fleshly (continual strife and argumentativeness is a deed of the flesh-see Gal 5). They also are abusive and are filled with evil speaking. Somehow they've confused the work of spreading the Gospel, with their attempt to do the work that Christ said only angels will do at the end of the world, that is, the work of plucking up all the tares and everything that offends out of the kingdom. When one tries to reason with them, they get irrational, jump to conclusions, starting calling brothers in Christ all sorts of horrid names. Maybe you've run into them, but I hope not. They not only say that people who are Arminian in their theology are not saved, they say that if any Calvinist thinks that an Arminian is saved, he's also not saved as evidenced by the fact that the Calvinist spoke "peace" to the Arminian.
Most of us realize that there are doctrinal issues on which Christians disagree that do not determine their salvation status. Some believe each soul of a newborn is created directly by God. Others say the soul is passed down from parent to child. Some believe in baptism by sprinkling and others by immersion. So there does seem to be degrees of truth and error, some things which are really dangerous and totally contradictory to the Christian body of doctrine. Then there seems to be a continuum. For example I know one seminary prof who holds that Adam was created mortal. While I strongly disagree and have my Scriptural reasons for rejecting it, I don't think his belief is equivalent to denying the Trinity. But then there are young Christians who haven't the faintest idea how to explain or understand the Trinity, and if they do try to explain it make spout off some heretical idea. Shall I pronounce that one unsaved?
On the other hand, if you say one merely just has to "believe in Jesus" that's a problem too, because people define Christ in very unbiblical ways. Some deny his deity and others his humanity. Some believe in Jesus but deny the Trinity (United Pentecostals). The Scriptures teach that there is a false faith which has no works, that even the devil possesses (James). It also says that people pass off "another Jesus" and "another Gospel" as the authentic one (Paul's letters).
I tend to base my fellowship around the Biblical doctrines of the faith categorized and listed in the Nicene Creed. I think that's a good start. But having said that, even in that creed, there are ambiguities that are fuzzy. And I wouldn't say that is "the" standard, but for me its helpful. For example on the last days it says we should believe in four things--the Second Coming, the Resurrection, the Judgment, and the Eternal Hereafter. If you deny the resurrection, it's pretty dangerous error. But if you argue about the details of the "man of sin" in 2 Thess, big deal.
The problem I see with choosing the issue of the Gospel, is that people who ask the question that you do, have somehow elevated the doctrine of soteriology above all the others. There are nine major areas of Bible doctrine--Bibliology, doctrine of God, Christ, Holy Spirit, man, sin, salvation, church, angels, and last things (did I forget any?). As I see it, each area has essential truths that are very necessary for Christian health. On the other hand, we can have different views on the impassibility of God, whether man is dichotomy or trichotomy, whether church government should be episcopal or autonomous, and we can haggle over the interpretation of "Where the carcass is, there the eagles will gather" and "A woman should have authority on her head because of the angels." The problem is that so many Christians are not trained theologically or Biblically, that they don't even know what the issues are.
Since I can't see into people's hearts, I usually take people at their word when they say they are a Christian. Then if there are serious moral inconsistencies, I speak to them and open the Scriptures to them. If I know they are holding to a doctrinal error, I try to do as Paul commanded Timothy, teach with all longsuffering and gentleness.
God's normal means applying His salvation to a person is through the preaching of the Gospel. (Rom 10) But how much, what truths exactly one must believe, or the exact heirachy of truths, I don't know. Several passages condemn those who err concerning the Gospel. But several other passages in Scripture seem to indicate that one can believe very little and still be saved. I don't know how much teaching the thief on the cross next to Jesus had, but we know that he was admitted into Paradise. It seems in the Gospel, simple women and blind persons came to Him and were saved, and most of them not only did not have a Bible, but also couldn't even read.
There are other passages in the Scriptures in which people seem to be saved, even when they are in error on major doctrines. Peter erred on salvation yet I don't think he lost his salvation for the period that he was in error (Galatians 2). The Corinthians erred on the doctrine of the Holy Spirit (Chs 12-14) and on the doctrine of the resurrection (1 Cor 15), yet Paul calls them "the church" in the first chapter. In fact, most of Paul's letters were written to correct soteriological errors that were occurring among people he considered "the church" in his salutation. The recipients of the letter to the Hebrews were in great error on the doctrine of salvation, yet the author says that he is convinced of better things concerning them, namely, their salvation (Heb. 6). I think Paul's followed his own advice. When people were in error, he, with all perseverance, labored to teach them the truth. He didn't try to play Holy Spirit, the searcher of hearts. He just preached the whole counsel of God and left the results with God.
One important aspect of the Gospel that Paul seems to prioritize is the crucifixion of Christ. He said in Corinthians that I claimed to know only one thing, and that is Christ and Him crucified. In the Lord's Supper His death is proclaimed as well. Then in 1 Cor. 15, there is the statement about Christ died, rose, and is coming again. In 1 Tim there's a little hymn about Christ.
So, although this might not be the answer you're looking for, my advice is preach the whole counsel of God. If you're in the pastoral ministry or have opportunity, teach the Scriptures, because God's people really need to know his word, book by book. Also teach them theology by subject matter. If you can teach them church history that's good too, as there are lots and lots of issues that have been debated and hashed out by Christians before us that we can lea