The True Gospel
The True Gospel is circumscribed by the Bible Alone and in its Entirety, the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments, in its original languages. This website quotes from the King James Version, which is translated from the oldest and most reliable manuscripts available, and the translators have sought to stick as closely as possible to the original text, which is in stark contrast to the modern translations that use inferior manuscripts and seek to reinterpret the original text and put it in more understandable language. That said, we are the first ones to acknowledge that the KJV is far from perfect, it does contain errors, and the KJV translators were heavily influenced by the doctrines of the church, which when viewed from the superior vantage point of our day when we are very near the end of time and God is opening our understanding to many truths that were previously kept sealed (Daniel 12:4,9), were very often faulty. Therefore, the serious Bible student should always carefully check the original languages of Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek using the modern tools that are readily available, such as interlinears and concordances, which are keyed to the KJV.
By definition, any gospel that cites an authority that is outside the 66 books of the Bible, or narrower than the Bible, is false. That includes gospels that look upon other books as divinely inspired or that feature the teachings of those who claim to have received direct revelation from God, whether in a dream or a vision or tongue, as in the tongues described in 1 Corinthians 14.
Revelation 22:18-19
18 For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: 19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.
The true gospel has to do with the primary problem facing mankind, namely the wages of sin, which is death, and the penalty demanded by the law of God, which is the second death, eternal damnation. God sent his only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, into the world to save sinners. Christ, who is eternal God in every sense of the word, and who was without sin, was laden with the sins of all the elect who were given to him by the Father before the foundation of the world, which had nothing to do with their works. Christ paid the eternal penalty demanded by the law of God on behalf of the elect, and only the elect, who are just a remnant, a tiny part of the whole. Christ said, I and the Father are one.
Acts 4:12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
1 Corinthians 15
3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
Christ did not make atonement for sin to give us whole bodies, as many teach. That will only take place at the resurrection of the last day when we shall instantly be changed from corruption to incorruption, and from mortal to immortal. Our present bodies are fashioned from the dust of the ground and shall return to the dust. When mankind fell into sin, God cursed the ground from which man was formed. Surely, it can be said, if Christ died to give us physical health or physical healing, then the gospel is an abject failure, because each and every day, approximately 150,000 people on average die all over the world. They die for a variety of reasons, most of which relate to physical disease of one form or another. If they became a true child of God, are they prevented from physically dying? No. If someone who is sick becomes well again, is the faith of that person what healed him? God can heal, but God can heal in the life of one who is not saved just as quickly as one who is saved. The emphasis of the gospel is on the spiritual, not the physical. The believers who have experienced the first resurrection, namely the resurrection of their sin-sick souls, shall receive a brand new incorruptible spiritual body at the last day.
When Christ and the apostles performed miracles and healed the sick and gave sight to the blind, those were physical portraits pointing to some spiritual aspect. Once Christ went back to heaven and the apostles died, any miracles of that kind ceased. When Christ healed the sick, he did so to demonstrate that he has power on earth to forgive sins.
Matthew 9 (see also Mark 2:10; Luke 5:24)
6 But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house.
The true gospel is transparent to nationality or economic status or political standing. It has nothing to do with economic prosperity or with socio-political issues. When the churches become involved in political activism or social or economic issues, they forget that the task of the believers is to be an ambassador of the kingdom of God. When Jesus was placed on trial for his life at the behest of the chief priests, Jesus said to Pontius Pilate (John 18:36)
36 Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.
Concerning political rulers, the Bible commands in Romans 13
1 Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. 2 Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same: 4 For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. 5 Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake.
The true gospel has been emasculated in our day as the churches have become more involved with the social and physical and political issues of the day, which in themselves have nothing to do with the true gospel. Sure, Jesus fed the 5,000 who had come to hear him, but that was not his primary mission, and later we read in John 6:15
15 When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone.
A prime example of the nature of the true gospel is the parable in Luke 16 of the rich man and a beggar named Lazarus, who laid at the rich man’s gate, full of sores, and desired to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. On the face of it, from a physical point of view, this poor beggar Lazarus had absolutely nothing going for him. But when God rolls back the curtain and enables us to see what happens when both of these men die, we learn that Lazarus in actual fact had everything going for him, as we find him resting in Abraham’s bosom whilst the rich man lies in the grave in torment, sorrowing for the fact that he can do nothing to change his circumstance.