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The
Love
Gospel
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What is the Love Gospel? |
The Love Gospel is an erroneous view by professing
Christians of how God expects His people to present His plan of salvation to the
world. It is usually a two-pronged fork that presents these two major
unbiblical premises:
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God loves everybody
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We need to "love" people into the Kingdom Of Heaven:
Either preach to people by your actions alone or don't preach to anyone until
you become their friend or do something "nice" for them, etc. Or don't
tell people anything about the Bible or Christ until your good deeds prompt a
person to ask you why you are so nice.
Where does the idea of the Love
Gospel come from?
Well, the first idea (God loves everybody) comes from
Arminianism... the false free-will gospel that is so popular today and
that is being rapidly spread by everyone on down from leaders of huge ministries to
the pastors of little home-town churches. Please refer to our article "What
The Gospel Is and Is Not" for a clarification on this issue.
The second idea (Love people into heaven by our good deeds)
is based upon man's idea of what love is and not God's idea. God's primary
means for His people to show LOVE towards a lost and dying world, is to DECLARE
TO THEM that all people are ungodly sinners who repeatedly violate the laws of
an infinitely holy God. And then, God's people are to show their love for
the lost by WARNING THEM to flea the coming wrath of God before its too late.
And the DEPTH OF OUR LOVE for sinners will be truly manifested as we turn the
other cheek and go the extra mile for these people, even AS THEY PERSECUTE US
for having had the nerve to open our mouths and tell them the true Gospel of
salvation by grace alone through Christ alone.
Those who adhere to the Love Gospel, use a method called
"friendship evangelism" to spread their message. See our article "A
Look At Friendship Evangelism" for more information on that subject.
If we truly understand how God wants His children to act and
to interact with the unsaved, then we will see that the Love Gospel is
contrary to Scripture. We see that here in Matthew chapter 10:
"16 Behold, I send you forth as sheep
in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.
17 But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they
will scourge you in their synagogues; 18 And ye shall be brought before
governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles.
19 But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for
it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. 20 For it is not ye
that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you. 21 And the
brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the
children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death.
22 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to
the end shall be saved. 23 But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye
into another: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities
of Israel, till the Son of man be come. 24 The disciple is not above his master,
nor the servant above his lord. 25 It is enough for the disciple that he be as
his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the
house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household? 26 Fear
them not therefore: for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed;
and hid, that shall not be known. 27 What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye
in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops. 28 And
fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather
fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell."
Summary
The writer of this article has no problem agreeing with
people and with Scripture that believers in Christ are to perform acts of
kindness for the unsaved that INCLUDE ministering to them in material and
practical ways. BUT even Christ, the great Shepherd of the Church and the Great
Physician, NEVER HESITATED to point out people's sins and to COMMAND them to
"repent" and "go and sin no more". It was not Christ's acts of kindness that
prompted the Jewish religious authorities to have him crucified. IT WAS HIS
WORDS! He dared to testify to the truth:
"The world cannot hate you; but me it
hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil." [John 7:7]
May God grant you the desire to worship Him in spirit and in
truth and to examine - in the light of Scripture - what you were taught about
this subject.
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