“Another Jesus…a different spirit…a different gospel.” – 2 Corinthians 11:4
It’s quite easy to teach/preach what people want to hear. Think about these statements: “You only need to be a good person to be saved”, “God is a loving God and he doesn’t allow good people to go to hell,” or how about: “Everyone will go to heaven.” If any of those statements sound great to you, then clear them out of your head right now, because ALL three of those statements are FALSE. Salvation comes by grace, through FAITH (Ephesians 2:8). Being good just doesn’t cut it because “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Therefore, pretty much everyone will go to hell and not heaven. I’m not making this stuff up, this is the absolute TRUTH, BUT the silver lining – that glimmer of hope – comes from THE most well known verse of the Holy Bible: John 3:16, “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.” That verse says it plainly, you MUST place your FAITH in God’s Son, Jesus Christ, to have eternal life in Heaven.  And when it says God gave his Son, that means he sacrificed his Son (his ONLY one) on the cross to pay the penalty we all deserve (hell), but God loves the world too much…to see everyone perish. That right there is the gospel, and if any part of that struck you it is time for you to place your faith in Jesus Christ. I’m pretty sure I know most of you who read these little blogs, and I urge you to talk to me if any of this struck a chord in your heart.
There may be many other teachings that you may have heard but isn’t the truth. So how do we know what is true and what is not true? It begins with us reading the Holy Bible, which I view as God’s direct Word to us. If you want to know God and what He has to offer you, the best place to start is reading His Word for yourself, not listen to preachers all day and tell your what his Word means. Which would you rather trust to be more accurate, an autobiography, or a biography written by someone else? The Holy Bible IS God’s autobiography, because it gives us a very clear picture of who God is and what He desires. This isn’t just a book of history, it is His story. It is inerrant, and the prophesies explained in the Bible actually did come true. There is one prophesy that has not been fulfilled and that is Jesus Christ’s return to this earth, and that is not a time that you want to be on the wrong side. I’m not trying to scare you, but the end times aren’t going to be pretty… We (Christians) don’t know when that time is and it could very well happen tomorrow… Make sure you ARE on the right side…
I deviated a lot from today’s devotional, but I really felt that I should proclaim the gospel in today’s post and most of my posts from now on for that matter because there’s always a sense of urgency since we do not know when the end times are coming. I guess today’s devotion made sure that I will continue to hold His Word close to my heart so that I may guard myself against false teachings as well as not be a false teacher myself. The Word has a way of producing a Christ-like character in me that others will be drawn to! So let’s take Apostle Paul’s advice when he warns us against anyone who preaches “another Jesus…a different spirit…or a different gospel.”