The true gospel of Jesus Christ is being distorted and manipulated to fit in with the culture and to promote cultural agendas, especially in the West. This video reviews what the Bible teaches about God and salvation. It also refutes some aspects of false teaching being promoted in the media and some churches in the United States. For informed and accurate dialogue to happen, believers and unbelievers alike need to understand what the Bible teaches about the true gospel.

In Defense of the True Gospel

By Jeanne Gowen Dennis, MTS

Transcript

This is Jeanne Dennis, host of Heritage of Truth TV. I come to you today in defense of the true gospel. Increasingly, popular leaders, pastors, and politicians gain media attention and loyal followers as they promote a false gospel while calling it Christianity. Heritage of Truth stands unapologetically for the true GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST. When a false gospel and a caricature of God are presented as biblical, we cannot remain silent. Here we identify the true God and the true Christian gospel based on what the Bible teaches.

The One True God and Creator

The one and only almighty God created everything from the beginning. This God, who is one eternal, omnipotent, and omniscient being, consists in three “persons,” the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Deut. 6:4; Isa. 44:6; 45:5–6; 1 Cor. 8:4; Gal. 3:20; 1 Tim. 2:5; Jas. 2:19). We call this three-person Being the Trinity. Although the word “trinity” does not appear in Scripture, it is the word traditionally used for the concept that one Creator God exists forever in three persons. The entire Trinity created the universe and continues to be involved in His creation (Gen. 1:1-2, 26; John 1:1–3;1 Cor. 8:6; Eph. 3:9; Col. 1:16; Heb. 1:2; Rev. 4:11).

God’s final work of creation was mankind, created both male and female, and created in His own image (Gen. 1:26–27). God placed the first man in a garden to work it. He gave him only one prohibition, not to eat from one tree in the middle of this garden full of fruitful trees (Gen. 2:15–17). Even though both Adam and Eve walked with God daily and knew what He had commanded, they rebelled against God and disobeyed Him.

The Entrance of Sin into a Perfect Creation

The fruit Adam and Eve ate gave them the knowledge of good and evil, broke their fellowship with God, and brought death, suffering, and corruption into the creation God had called “very good” (Gen. 1:28). All Adam and Eve’s descendants have inherited their first parents’ propensity towards sin, also called a “sin nature.” Therefore, all people are born out of fellowship with God and with the desire and inclination to sin on a regular basis. All people commit sins and are enslaved by sin (Ps. 51:5; Eccl. 7:20; Isa. 64:6; Jer. 17:9; John 8:34; Rom. 3:23; 5:12–13; 6:23; Gal. 5:17, 19–21; Eph. 2:1; Jas. 4:17; 1 John 1:8).

People know when they do wrong, because God gave mankind a sense of right and wrong, which we call the conscience. We innately understand when we have sinned. Even children who have reached an age of understanding will feel guilt when they do wrong. Yet all people of all ages quickly learn how to justify and excuse their sin. Eventually, many callous their souls to the point where they stifle guilt and call good evil, and evil good. Isaiah said, “Woe” to these people (Isa. 5:20–21).

God’s Directions for a Good Life

In the Old Testament, God gave the Ten Commandments to Israel to teach people how to live godly lives (Ex. 20:1–17; Deut. 5:6–21). The Commandments begin with God identifying Himself. “I am the Lord your God. You shall have no other gods before Me.” People must allow nothing and no one to take God’s honor, glory, or worship. No one is to make an image to bow down to. God’s name is sacred and must never be misused. The Sabbath is a time for rest and attention to God, honoring Him by following His example when He rested on the seventh day of creation week.

The second section of commandments teach how to rightly interact with others. Honor your father and mother. Do not: murder, commit adultery, steal, give false testimony against others, or covet anything or anyone belonging to another. Jesus summed up these ten commandments in what He identified as the two greatest commandments.

The first and greatest is to love the Lord God with one’s whole being, with the heart, soul, mind, and strength. The second is to love other people as you love yourself (Deut. 6:5Matt. 22:34–40; Mk. 12: 28–34; Luke 10: 25–28).

All Are Sinners

Yet everyone has broken these laws multiple times (Rom. 3:23). Sin is rebellion against God and it deserves punishment. The first results of sin are spiritual death, separation from God, and physical death. Often sin also brings natural consequences. In other words, people “reap what they sow” (Gal. 6:7). For example, driving above the speed limit could result in a traffic ticket or an accident.

Sin also carries eternal consequences if it is not dealt with. Sinners who have not been forgiven and cleansed cannot enter God’s presence. They cannot enter heaven because God is perfect holiness, and holiness repels sin and evil. Only a perfect person can enter heaven. No person was, is, or could be perfect. How then is there hope for anyone? God has a plan to rectify that problem.

Forgiveness Through Sacrifice

In Old Testament times, God graciously gave Moses rules for sacrifices that would provide the Israelites with a temporary covering for their sins. They were God’s people and they needed to be holy. They lived near the Tabernacle where God’s presence dwelled among them. Each sacrificial offering had to be perfect, without defect and according to the laws God gave Moses.

These sacrifices, however, did not provide a permanent solution for sin. Many other religions teach people to do good works to gain heaven, nirvana, paradise, or the like. But no one can do enough good works to make up for the sins they commit against the holy God.

Only God can forgive sin. Humanity would be without hope, except that God provided the way of salvation, the final perfect sacrifice for the forgiveness of sin. Through Old Testament happenings and the actions and words of the people who lived at that time, God created an expectation for what we see in Jesus Christ. Through the prophets, God promised to send a Savior. That promise was fulfilled through the Incarnation.

Why the Incarnation?

The Incarnation was when God the Son took on human form as He was conceived through the Holy Spirit in a virgin’s womb (Matt. 1:18:23; Luke 1:26–38). This God-man was named Jesus, Yeshua in Hebrew, which means salvation, “because he will save his people from their sins (Matt. 1:21).

Christ is not Jesus’s last name, but the title given to Him. It derives from the Greek word for Messiah.

Why was the Incarnation necessary for salvation? Only God is perfect. Only God could be a perfect sacrifice for sin. To represent and die for humanity, the sacrifice also had to be a perfect human, one who never sinned. Also one who was not born into the world with the sin nature inherited from Adam.

From eternity, God the Son is, was and always will be fully God. Through the incarnation He also became fully man. God is Jesus’s Father, so Jesus did not inherit the sin nature passed on from Adam through human fathers.

Jesus also lived a life without sin, even though He was tempted in all the ways other humans are tempted (Heb. 4:15). As the perfect sacrifice, Jesus gave Himself to pay for the sin of the world on the cross, all according to the eternal plan of God (John 1:12; 10:17–18; 12:46–48; 15:13; Acts 10:43; Rom. 6:23;).

God’s Gift of Grace

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him” (John 3:16–17).

Jesus’ death paid the penalty for each person’s sin against God. This salvation from sin is available to all who repent of their sin and believe in and follow Jesus.

“Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil” (John 3:18–19).

Some argue that because God cannot die, Jesus is not God. However, Jesus was not only fully God but also fully man, which made death possible for His humanity. Death could not hold Him, because He is also God (Acts 2:24; Matt. 1:23; John 1:1–4; 8:58; 10:30; Rom. 9:5; Col. 2:9; Phil. 2:6; Titus 2:13; 2 Pet. 1:1; 1 John 5:20; Heb. 1:1–13). On the third day after His crucifixion, Jesus rose from the dead, defeating death and securing a future resurrection for others (Rom. 6:5; 2 Cor. 15:22; 1 Pet. 1:3–5).

After Jesus returned to the Father in heaven, He sent the Holy Spirit as a helper, counselor, and guide.

“If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth you profess your faith and are saved” (Rom. 10:9–10).

The Holy Spirit is also the guarantee for believers of an eternal future in the presence of God. “When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised, Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession to the praise of his glory” (Eph. 1:13b–14).

Itchy Ears Hear What They Want to Hear

Paul predicted that people in the last days (including our time) will be “lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power” (2 Tim. 3:2–5).

Paul also spoke of a time “when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear” (2 Tim. 4:3). We are seeing thousands of people in America and the West turning to leaders who teach and preach what the multitudes want to hear. They promote a “Christianity” that fits popular culture and makes it easy to call oneself a Christian. This is the “wide gate” Jesus spoke of in Matthew 7:

“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it” (Matt. 7:13–14).

Spinning the Scriptures

Spinning the Scriptures is popular now. The gospel, the “good news” of Jesus Christ, is the greatest news ever heard, and yet it has been distorted, convoluted, or stifled by leaders, governments, proponents of other religions, and atheists. It even has been contorted by those who proudly wear the name “Christian” as they deceive others with their own version of a false gospel. Tragically, some of those promoting a false or incomplete gospel are personable, passionate, and popular leaders, including pastors and politicians. Some will quote chapter and verse from the Bible to support their ideas without considering the rest of what the Bible says about those topics.

Some calling themselves Christians will claim that everyone is God or that God is an entity that can be identified with the cosmos or love or power. This smacks of pantheism. Granted, the Bible says God is love, but it does not follow that love is God. Neither is God a presence in all things or all people. He is a personal Being who cares so much about humans that He planned the redemption of Christ to restore His fellowship with mankind. People must consult the “whole counsel of God,” not just depend on verses that, standing alone, seem to support their agenda (Acts 20:27, 2 Tim. 3:16–17).

Do All Roads Lead to Heaven?

Many people claim that other religions lead to heaven, only by a different path. However, Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). How can Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, or other faiths lead to the same place as Christianity when they do not accept Jesus as what He Himself claims to be? He said, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30). “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die” (John 11:25). “But the one who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God (Luke 12:9).

Also, in Hinduism and Buddhism, people pay for their sins or receive rewards through endless cycles of reincarnation. These beliefs are incompatible with Christianity. Christianity states that “Just as people are destined to die once and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who were waiting for him” (Heb. 9:27–28).

Salvation Is Not by Works or Charity

Many other religions perform works to gain salvation. Some Christians believe that the works mentioned in the judgment in Matthew 25, which show love and service to those in need, are the only means of salvation. However, this position ignores multiple Scriptures that discuss salvation. For example, Ephesians 2:8–10 unequivocally states that salvation is not gained by doing good works.

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do (Eph. 2:8–10).

Instead of being a means of salvation, the good works Christians do out of love and gratitude to God are those He prepared for them ahead of time. If believers obey God, they will complete the works He has planned for them to do. These works are not to their credit, but for His glory (Matt. 5:16; 1 Cor. 6:20; 10:31; Col. 3:17, 23–24; Jas. 1:18; 1 Pet. 4:11).

Be Informed. Stay Vigilant. Share the Gospel.

Salvation in Christianity is by grace through faith. Faith in the work that God the Son accomplished on behalf of sinners who could not help themselves. Many false teachers will take parts of the Bible and ignore other parts. They will handpick verses to support their agenda, to say what they want them to say.

Therefore, Christians must read, study, and understand the Bible and sit under faithful biblical preaching to discern false teaching. Once Christians  understand the true gospel, they have the responsibility to share this Good News with others.

In the Great Commission, Jesus, God the Son, commanded His disciples saying:

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Matt. 28:18–20).

The true gospel leads to eternal life with God in heaven. False teaching leads to eternal spiritual death and hell for those deceived by it.

What About You?

What about you? Do you know Christ personally as Lord and Savior? Have you confessed and turned away from your sins to follow and obey Christ for the rest of your life and for eternity?

If you do not know Christ, have you considered the true gospel? You, like everyone else, are a sinner. Sinners cannot go to heaven and are destined for an eternity separated from God.

But God provided a way out for you through the gift of salvation in Jesus Christ. Jesus paid your debt for sin against the holy God. He took your punishment in full.

Will you accept His gift and follow Him now? If so, confess your sins to Him and ask Him to save you. If you seriously choose to follow Jesus, He will save you from your sin and help you to live a life of love, joy, peace, and victory in Him. Your Christian life may not be easy. It might be incredibly hard. Following Jesus will the best decision you will ever make. It will give you a better life than you could ever imagine – for eternity!

“All those the father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day” (John 6:37–40).

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Scripture quotations taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

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