Millions of Christians Are Being Deceived by a False Gospel. Are You One of Them?
Many believers think that doing all the right things makes them acceptable to Jesus; however, nothing could be further from the truth.
When someone is born again, they become a new creation in Him and are one in the Spirit with Him.
But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him (1 Corinthians 6:17).
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new (2 Corinthians 5:17).
Therefore if any person is [ingrafted] in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come! (2 Corinthians 5:17 AMPC)
To the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect (Hebrews 12:23).
Old things have passed away; behold, all things are made new! You are a new creation in Christ Jesus—a new kind of being that never existed before. Knowing this provides the right posture for navigating the present age,
the time you are living in. Dear reader, you were born to fulfill God’s high calling on your life and to take your place in the present kingdom age, in preparation for the age to come.
Jesus Is the Prototype
For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren (Romans 8:29).
Empowerment through what Jesus paid for makes believers a powerful force in the natural world. Jesus was our prototype, the Firstborn among many brethren. What He was, we are to walk in His ways. As He is, so are we in this world (see 1 John 4:17).
We are His body, His people; we are not only united with Him in the Spirit but are also a direct extension of Him right now, as He is seated at the right hand of the Father. Together, we form the Ekklesia, a governing body in this physical world. While we are here, we enforce the will of God (as it is in heaven) on earth. We preach the gospel, and through it, we influence culture with this kingdom message.
God’s cry to the entire world is Repent and be saved! God’s cry to the Church is to renew your mind to what you have!
People who know who they are in Jesus and what they are called to do will influence society; this is when reformation occurs. A society shaped by the gospel is how victory is achieved.
Believers must understand this to be truly effective and to walk confidently in the midst of the present evil age. A revelation of what Jesus provided, followed by living in it, will empower one to engage with a fallen world. The world is dead; believers are alive. A believer with this understanding will be well-equipped in this age, leading up to the very end. This is why Paul was so relentless and confident: his revelatory encounter with the Son of the Living God. Believers should be the same.
The Devil Can’t Beat the Church, So He Attempts to Join It!
If the spirit of the age cannot get you to compromise through sin or rebellion, and if a believer cannot be defeated that way, what often comes next is to run a believer into the cage of religion. Performance for identity is a deception that works very well in the Church. The devil can’t beat the Church, so he attempts to join it. What is the purpose? To interfere with the Church’s authority and the Great Commission.
The devil will never be a legitimate part of the Church of Jesus, never. He cannot take the Church head-on in a fight and win, so he is left with deception and various forms of suggestion.
The Devil Sows Messages and Religious Ideologies Contrary to the Truth of The Gospel
I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, 7 which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed (Galatians 1:6-9).
One of the biggest deceptions is performance-based religion, which distracts from maintaining your faith in Jesus Christ, our Lord. In Paul’s letter to the Galatians, we see him confront the religious legalism that had infiltrated the church of Galatia. Paul addresses this issue with force. Why is this so destructive? Because it takes your eyes off what Jesus did for you and shifts the focus to you and what you are doing for Him.
Faith in Jesus is the entirety of the gospel; whenever that shifts to something else, it is a doctrine of demons. That was what Paul was aggressively confronting.
In Galatians 1:6-9, Paul used strong language when he said they were turning from the grace of Christ to a different gospel. He went on to say that some want to pervert or twist the gospel of Christ. In verse 8, he made it glaringly clear by saying, “If we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed.” Just in case the reader missed what Paul meant, he repeated himself in the following verse! Galatians 1:9 continues, “If anyone preaches any other gospel…let him be accursed.”
That word “accursed” in Greek is anathema, and it carries the meaning of estrangement from Christ and His salvation.
All who go back to keeping the law are under obligation to observe the whole law or be cursed (see Galatians 3:1-5, 10-12; Galatians 4:21-5:4).
Some Jewish mystics of the period claimed revelations from angels (especially in apocalyptic literature). Oaths and curses were familiar in ancient religion, magic, and everyday life. Paul may allude here to the curses of the covenant leveled against those who failed to keep Moses’ law (Deuteronomy 27–28); more significant is the use of this same word for “curse” in the Septuagint of Deuteronomy 13:1-18: false prophets and those who listened to them were to be destroyed.2
Paul was an apostle tasked to proclaim the gospel message. There was a group known as the Judaizers, on the other hand, who were cowardly compromisers who mixed Law and grace, hoping to please both Jews and Gentiles, but never asking whether or not they were pleasing God.3
This same issue is at hand today, and we must be vigilant to keep the pure gospel message true to the Scripture for the glory of Jesus Christ. In doing so, we will not allow the devil, through his schemes, to, in a sense, join the Church through a bad understanding, thereby rendering the message powerless.
You Are Anointed to Be the Best There Is!
It is this truth that will give us boldness in the days of adversity we face. As the world shakes and nations experience greater turmoil, we are called to be the best there is, but this cannot be done by our own strength. It must be done through the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Knowing what salvation brings is a game-changer. Don’t try harder by striving, living a life of begging, pleading, crying out with long prayers and vain repetitions, and believing you’ll be heard for your many words and emotional outbursts. Instead, develop confidence in what Jesus has already provided. Awakening to this truth makes you very dangerous to the kingdom of darkness.
Without knowing this, your life could be defined by performance-based religion. Jesus is Lord, and He deserves our loyalty and free moral agency under His command. This is how winning is done; this is the way of the believer.
