Friday, October 28, 2022
The Actual Gospel
Friday, October 14, 2022
The End of the Gospel
In years past I wrote several “gospel” blogposts. The first was inspired by a Sunday School teacher who referred to the “actual gospel.” This term jumped out at me as a title, and I wrote about it. More writings followed.
I wrote about other
subjects—the condition of our society, the advancement of science as it
pertains to the human condition, the darkness around us. But my favorite
subject has always been the truth and light of the gospel.
But what
does it matter if I write? Other writers, many others, impart their influence and
encouragement with far more skill and talent than I could ever offer. All the great deliberations
have been expressed within the binding of a book or the glow of a screen. My
little voice means nothing. And yet, I am compelled by my Creator to live out
His design for me. To offer Christ crucified the best way I know how, with
words on a page.
An end, or a
pause, in my writing does not mean an end to the gospel. It carries on by the
will of God, continually changing the world around me, with or without me. I’d
rather it be with me.
But while I
struggle to pen these words, the world is not changing for the better.
We’re being pushed, seemingly crushed by those rulers, those authorities, those
powers of this dark world. (Ephesians 6:12) They want to end the gospel. To
silence us and, to some extent, we have become silent. But not completely.
There are
still churches that preach the gospel above all else. Still pastors and leaders
who will not cower but lift up the name of Jesus as the only hope of conquering
evil. Still teachers and writers and students of Scripture who won’t bow to societal
pressure or accept the lies of cultural shifts. And while the church in general
remains either cautiously vague or thoughtlessly uninformed, there are those
willing to voice a properly discerned warning to the lost and saved alike that the
end of the age is near. This is not the end of the gospel, but the gospel of
the end, which is the same as it was at the beginning, unchanging and eternal. Now
and always we are called to, with honesty and humility, speak the gospel.
For our
appeal does not spring from error or impurity or any attempt to
deceive, but just as we have been approved by
God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please man,
but to please God who tests our hearts. I Thessalonians 2:3-4
The end of
the gospel is a non-issue. It can’t be stopped. The gospel of the end is no
different than the beginning. It will not be silenced. It knows no end. But our
days are numbered.
“The
word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith
that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord
and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will
be saved. For with the heart one believes and is
justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. Romans 10: 8-10