The
Bible is clear in speaking of the miracu lous pow er of the Jesus’ name. (United Pentecostal also known as the Jesus’ Only or
The real gospel. It has the ability to change a person into a
new creation and set him free from sin’s addictions. In
fact, the Greek word for pow er associated with the power
Apo stolics)
Me ntally assenting to the historic death, burial and res-
urrection of Jesus w ill bring salvation. (Many liberal churches)
of the [real] gospe l is the same one from which we get ou r English
word for dynam ite. That Greek word is dunamis and it can be Those are just some of the demo nic ideas about salvation
found in the following S criptures: floating around in various group s which call themselves Christian.
W ith so many clashing ideas, many people remain frustrated in
I am not asha med of the gospel, because it is the power of their effort to know what to believe, which was p art of the devil’s
God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for plan to begin with.
the Jew, then for the Gentile. (Rom 1:16) Again, the truth is: A ll false gosp els lack the spiritual power
to transform a sin-addicted, hell-deserving person into a purified,
For the messa ge of th e cross is foolishness to those who are truth and people loving, new creation and child of God.
perishing, but to us who ar e being saved it is the power of Any counterfeit gospel is so dangerously wrong and
God. (1 Cor 1:18) harmful that Gal. 1:8,9 declares that all who preach such lies
will be damned just for preaching such—even a person once
In other wo rds, th e rea l true p lan o f salvation [go spel] is saved!
the sp iritual dynam ite of God w hich all people need to get for-
given and changed. The prob lem in our day is, the devil has many Eternal Security
counterfeit go spels, yet they share a com mon trait— they are all
powerless to change a person into a new creation. W ith all of that being said and all those examples of false
False gosp els are not only worthless, they are dangerous. In gospels, ano ther rampa nt one which is easily expo sed by its lack of
spite of their great danger, they are rampant, even in Bible believ- power to deliver from sin is once saved always saved (also known
ing churches—shocking but true! as eternal secu rity, the persevera nce of the saints or the preserva-
These false, powerless and dangerous gospels com e in vari- tion o f the saints). This is the most ra mpa nt do ctrinal danger in
ous forms an d flavors. He re are several examples: evangelical and Bible preaching circles.
If any will take issue with that statement about the pow erless
A perso n beco mes born again and a child of God when once saved always saved gospel, he sho uld ponder how those
baptized . (Catholicism, Lutheranism and o thers) teachers distort Ro m. 7:14-25. In that passage those wolves in
You must keep the Saturday Sabbath to have salvation. sheep’s clothing actually teach the normal Christian life is de-
(Seventh D ay Adve ntism and mo st other Sabb atarian group s) scribed there ! Imagine that. T he truth is, what is described there is
Yo u must be part of our group or organization to get sal- the sinful nature personified as constantly doin g evil and not do-
vation or retain salvation. (Jehovah’s Witnesses, International ing good. Verse 19 is clear:
Church of Christ, etc.)
You must believe you are getting forgiven in the waters of For what I do is not the goo d I want to do ; no, the evil I do
bap tism to be forgiven. (Church of Christ) not want to do— this I keep on doing. (Rom 7:19)
God und erstands our weaknesses (sins). He knows our
failures and accepts us as long as we are sincere. (Many churches That is the eternal security counterfeit Christian, as de-
of different denom inations) scribed by them—a w eak, powerless, continuously evil-doing,
Yo u must read the King Jam es Bible to learn the truth to religious person, yet one on the roa d to heave n in his wickedness
have salvation. (So me, but not all, King James O nly groups) — so they think!
Yo u must speak in tongues and be wa ter baptized in
Changed L ives There are people who have a form of god liness (that is,\
they are religious), yet they deny the pow er of godliness and are
Changed lives which shine forth the evidence of saving filled with sin. That is the perfect description of an “eternal
grace (Acts 11:23) consist of freed om from sin’s ad dictions, a security Christian,”—not a real Christian, but the product of
heart of love for God and people and a hatred for deception the once saved always saved security-in-sin gospel.
and sin, among other things. Remember, they admit this indirectly by teaching Rom. 7:19
Some exam ples of true conversions and evidence of saving is the norma l Christian life, denying themselves to be righteous,
grace in people include Zacchaeus, the Philippian jailer, the un- insisting they are sinners and not a good person, thinking everyone
named in 1 Cor. 6:9-1 1 and Paul: is lustful [adulterous] like they are, etc.
The same Greek word translated pow er in 2 T im. 3:5 is
But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! found in Rom. 1:1 6 and 1 Co r. 1:18 , dun am is. In other word s,
Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, they deny the real gospel can give them power to live above the
and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay sins listed in 2 Tim. 3:2-5. (Please do n’t think that is an exhaus-
back four times the amount.” Jesus said to him, “Today tive list. It isn’t.) See also R om. 8 :13b which d eclares, by the Spirit
salvation has come to this house” .... (Luke 19:8,9) of God, we can put to d eath the sinful nature (or flesh). W hile
false doctrine leads to sin addictions the truth leads to genuine
Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the godliness:
others in his house. At that hour of the night the jailer took
them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the
all his family were baptized. T he jailer brought them into his faith of God’s elect and the knowledge of the truth that
house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy leads to g odliness (Titus 1:1)
because he had com e to believe in Go d— he and his whole
family. (Acts 16:32-34) Another pivotal Scripture to this is Col. 2:23:
Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom,
kingdom of God? D o not be deceived . Neither fornicators, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and
nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodo- their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack a ny v alue in
mites, nor thieves, nor co vetous, nor drunkards, no r revilers, restraining sensual indulgence.
nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such
were some of you. But you were washed, but you were NOTICE: False teaching lacks the power in restraining
sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord sensual indulgence. That truth is a key in answering why so many
Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. (1 Cor. 6:9-11, NKJV) in religious circles are looking at pornography and committing
adultery, fornication and homo sexuality, yet thinking they are
Pau l’s example wa s most noteworthy: Christians. Folks, do not be dece ived: If there was no radical
chan ge an d deliverance from th ese sins, there w as no salvation.
Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor Furthermore, if you are in those sins again, after being
and a violent man, I was sho wn mercy because I acted in set free through the real gospel, you are no longer saved and
ignorance and unbelief. (1 Tim 1:13) are now worse off than you were b efore you w ere saved (2 P et.
2:20-22). You are back on the road to hell again and need to re-
In each of those cases there is observable evidence of the pent for salvation’s sake.
grace of God and a changed life. Paul, being the m ost obvious, The real gospel centers exclusively around Jesus and putting
went from Christian-hater and persecutor to Christian lover and him first in your life as Lord and King. That means turning from
helpe r. He w as the grea test example of C hristianity. He too had your many idols, including your favorite sin (greed, illicit sex, lust,
a radical change, which reflected the new creation. drunkenness, hate, etc.) You must get committed to the Lord Jesus
The gospel that they believed in had pow er over sin and to where you follow him first, not the crowd who a re going to
pow er to change them. The predom inant, popular, social and hell. You must trust 100% in Jesus for your salvation, who died for
politically-correct gospels of our day do not! They lack that power you. To believe on Jesus means to obey Jesus
because they are not genuine. They are not true. They are based on http://www .evang elicaloutreach.org/believing.htm
lies from dem ons which are trying to dam n souls to hell. When you sincerely, from the depths of you r heart, cry
out to God for mercy and forgiveness, and turn from your sins
On ly A F orm o f God liness to serve G od, G od’s pow er w ill radically change you and set
you free, regardless the sin addiction. Come as you are, but
One o f the signs of our times is: hum bly and with a repentan t heart. Anything less will lack this
power and you will remain unchanged and probab ly dece ived into
Peo ple will be lovers of them selves, lovers of money, thinking you were saved, when yo u were not. If you are not living
boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, un- holy NOW, you are not a Christian NOW. You mu st endure to
grateful, unho ly, witho ut love, unforg iving, sland erous, the end to be saved (Mt. 10:22; Heb . 3:14; etc.). God b less you.
without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treach-
erous, rash, co nceited , lovers of pleasure rather than
lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying
its power. Have nothing to do with them. (2 Tim 3:2-5) Evangelical Outreach
NOT E: From 2 Tim. 3:2-5 we observe:
EOMin.Org PO Box 265, Washington, PA 15301
