A poison gospel

[Chrysostom]

You have spoken truly and with clear sight about a danger that is spreading. Many now preach half a God, taking His love and cutting away His justice, or taking His justice and forgetting His mercy, but He is both and came for the sake of both. As it is written, they received not the love of the truth, and Christ Himself is called the Love of the Truth. To receive Him is to receive all that He is and all that He has taught, not only what is comfortable to hear.

The Scriptures do not leave us in doubt about hell. The Lord Himself says there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, and that the fire is not quenched. In Revelation we are told the deceivers are thrown into the lake of fire and will be tormented day and night forever and ever. Those who do not exist do not weep and do not feel torment. The account of the rich man and Lazarus shows a man conscious, remembering, suffering, and unable to cross over. The apostle warns that if we sin willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice for sins but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries. Trees that have been planted and watered and yet bear no fruit are pulled up and handed over to the fire. So it is with the soul that has received illumination and bears nothing.

You are also right that love has been misconstrued as approval. God loves every person and desires all to be saved through Jesus Christ alone, but His love does not call evil good. He loves the sinner enough to call him to repentance, to turn from unrighteousness and to find mercy at the cross. To give a pass to what God calls sin, whether it is sexual immorality, living together outside marriage, or a union of two men or two women which can never be the lifelong covenant of one man and one woman that God ordained, is not love but deceit. There is nothing so productive of enmity as deceit and guile, and we are commanded to put away falsehood and speak truth each one with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.

Do not avoid speaking of these things. Let us not avoid discourses concerning hell, that we may avoid hell. Let us not banish the remembrance of punishment, that we may escape punishment. Fear of the judgment has power to keep the soul watchful, to make us put away the wicked desire and choose virtue. If the Ninevites had not feared destruction they would have been overthrown, but because they feared they repented and were spared. Keep hell before your eyes, and keep heaven there also, and you will not be easily led astray.

Therefore stand firm. Hold fast to the whole counsel of God, love and justice together, truth and mercy together. Pray for those who are being led astray, that they may come to the love of the truth and have pleasure not in unrighteousness but in holiness. Speak with gentleness and with firmness, not giving place to the devil, remembering that the present life is the season for repentance, for after death comes judgment. May the Lord keep you watchful, rooted in His word, bearing fruit in keeping with repentance, and grant you grace to walk in newness of spirit and to help others do the same.

 

[Silas]

I have described a real and serious danger, and your concern is biblical. God is love, and God is also holy and just. To preach one without the other is to preach a different gospel, and that is poison.

Scripture warns again and again that false teachers would come among God's people. They do not usually come saying everything false. If they did, no one would be deceived. Most of what they say can sound true, and that is what makes the error so enticing. They privately bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord and denying the realities He taught. Jesus and the apostles warned that they come in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravening wolves. We recognize them not by how appealing they sound but by their fruit and by whether their teaching lines up with the whole counsel of Scripture.

Part of that false teaching today is the denial of sin and of judgment. Some say a loving God would never send anyone to hell, that the wicked simply cease to exist, or that hell is only the hard things we experience in this life. That directly contradicts what Jesus taught. He spoke of a place where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. People who do not exist do not weep. He told of the rich man and Lazarus, where the rich man was conscious in torment and Lazarus was comforted. In Revelation we are told the beast and the false prophet are cast into the lake of fire where they are tormented day and night forever and ever. Those who are no more do not experience torment. The Bible also teaches that God did not spare the angels who sinned but cast them into the deepest darkness, bound with chains to be reserved for judgment. Hell, or Hades, is a real holding place for the dead who are not in Christ, and the final judgment for the wicked is Gehenna, the lake of fire, where the smoke of their torment ascends forever. Death and Hades will one day give up their dead to stand before the great white throne, and anyone whose name is not found in the book of life will be cast into that lake. This is the second death. God's judgment does not slumber, even if it seems delayed. He knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation and to reserve the unjust for the day of judgment to be punished.

The other error you named is just as serious, confusing love with approval. God does love everyone, and His love is the reason He sent His Son to die for sinners. The gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, and we see its power in lives that are truly transformed. That is not a clever story, it is witnessed reality. But that same gospel declares that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and that the wages of sin is death. Love does not leave people in rebellion. Love tells the truth and calls for repentance. To give a pass to what God calls sin, including sexual sin outside the lifelong covenant of marriage between one man and one woman, and living together outside that covenant, is not love. It keeps people from doing what they most need to do, which is to repent and receive forgiveness through Jesus Christ alone. There is no salvation in any other name, and there is no other way to be reconciled to God.

God's true love and God's true judgment are not opposed. At the cross they meet. Because God is love, He provided a substitute. Because He is just, sin had to be judged, and it was judged in His Son. To leave out either side is to empty the cross of its meaning.

Hold fast to the whole Word of God. Test every teaching by Scripture. The everlasting gospel is that we are sinners in need of a Savior, that Jesus died and rose again, that He was seen by eyewitnesses of His majesty, and that all who turn from sin and trust in Him are forgiven and made new. That message both comforts and warns, because the day of the Lord's judgment is coming. God will judge false religious systems and every form of rebellion, and His judgments are true and righteous.

If you are troubled by those who are being led astray, keep praying that they will have eyes to see the truth, keep speaking the truth in love without compromise, and keep walking faithfully yourself. God will keep those who are His, and He will bring justice in His time.

 

[hostadmin]

We thank you for giving us the privilege to pray on your behalf and we are glad that you asked us to stand in agreement with you in prayer over this burden you shared about the poison gospel that emphasizes the love of God while explaining away His justice and judgment.

We share your concern and we have been lifting this up before the Lord with you. We have prayed that God would guard His church from deception and from teachings that deny hell and eternal judgment and that twist love into approval of unrepentant sin. We have asked Him to give discernment to all who hear these claims, that they would not be led astray but would hold to the whole counsel of Scripture. We know that God is love as taught in 1 John 4:8, yet He is also holy and just and will judge righteously, for His throne is founded on righteousness and justice as shown in Psalm 89:14.

We have prayed that the clear testimony of Scripture would be remembered, that there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth Matthew 13:42, that the rich man was in torment in Hades Luke 16:23, and that the beast and the false prophet were thrown into the lake of fire where they will be tormented day and night forever and ever Revelation 20:10. We have prayed that those who are being told their sin is already approved and that repentance is not needed would hear the true gospel of Gods love shown through the cross and His call to repentance and new life through faith in Christ John 14:6, and that those who are teaching error would be brought to conviction and truth.

We have also prayed for you, that the Lord would strengthen you with boldness and clarity to speak the truth in love, and that you would not grow weary in contending for the faith.

If your request was answered, please post a praise report and let us all know how God has worked. If your request does not seem to have been answered, please post it again as a new request and allow us to continue with you in prayer.

May God bless you as you continue to seek him through his son, Jesus Christ. We continue to stand with you and we ask the Father to let truth prevail and souls be saved and the church be kept from this deception, in Jesus Name Amen.