Another Gospel

To the church in Corinth, Paul says he fears Satan tempting them by making their minds corrupt, "away from the simplicity that is in Christ" (2 Corinthians 11:3). Then in the next verse he says

“For if anyone comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit from that which you have received, or another gospel which you have not received, then bear it well.“.

Those who preached that other gospel he calls in this same chapter "false apostles, deceitful workers, pretending to be apostles of Christ. But in reality Paul says, they are people working for Satan (2 Corinthians 11:13-15).

Another gospel

If we ask ourselves what this other gospel is and what it reads, we can turn to one of the great promoters of contemplation, Thomas Keating (1923-2018). He and Thomas Merton have had a major influence on spiritual and contemplative thinking not only in the Roman Catholic Church, but also in Protestant communities.

From a speech entitled "Contemplation as the center of active life" delivered by Keating in 2004, we can distill what the gospel is that is being preached. This gospel boils down to the following:

  • We are invited divine people to become;
  • The purpose of the Gospel, the purpose of life and, in fact, the purpose of everything, is focused on the unification with God;
  • That divine unification is a real experience, already here on this earth; it is the one and only Christian experience;
  • In having this experience we are followers of Jesuswho knew God as Father, as abba. God is in us.
  • Jesus teaches us to enter into who we really are, in order to to discover our true selves and the divine indwelling, which is the source of our existence in every moment;
  • You don't have to look for it anywhere but in yourself. Discovering your true self becomes Salvation named. It's a process, also called 'healing' in which the so-called 'false self', which is everything that prevents you from going this way, must be released. Including especially letting go of all that you learned as a child.
  • It is not necessary the Bible as (historically) reliable to continue to accept;
  • You can only discover and enter this Kingdom within you through the contemplative prayer; it's the only way! The noise in the environment and the noise (of your thoughts) within you, you must leave behind in order to become one with the Father in the silence that arises. You can only approach the divine indwelling according to a certain regularity.
  • This to be one with Godbeing who you are, be yourself, is the greatest gift we can give to God.
  • Moreover, as humans we are all together connected; we are one and we need only discover that together we are the mystical body of Christ; The world peace depends on how many people this process of change of achieving a higher level of consciousness, going through and therefore proclaiming this gospel of the utmost importance. We cannot be happy unless everyone is saved.
  • Incidentally, the necessary process of change is also offered by the spiritual traditions of other religions.

This so-called gospel is of course preached in various variants. But this summary sermon by Keating is fairly typical of what you hear widely preached today.

Do we see it? Every statement is a lie and the whole is a string of lies. We briefly summarize what the real biblical Gospel teaches us (and there is much more to say about that, but not here).

  • We are invited divine people to become; we are and remain human and never become divine.
  • The purpose of the Gospel, the purpose of life and, in fact, the purpose of everything, is focused on the unification with God; The purpose of the Gospel is for people to receive forgiveness of sins and eternal life through Christ's work on the cross. We never become one with God.
  • That divine unification is a real experience, already here on this earth; it is the one and only Christian experience; your experience is very special, but it comes from demons and not from God.
  • In having this experience we are followers of Jesuswho knew God as Father, as abba. God is in us. Everyone who is born of God knows God as his Father and God's Son, Jesus Christ as Lord. We are not like Jesus, Who was God and Man.
  • Jesus teaches us to enter into who we really are, in order to to discover our true selves and the divine indwelling, which is the source of our existence in every moment; we humans are sinners by nature and we learn to see ourselves in the Bible, but also the need for redemption through Christ's work of atonement.
  • You don't have to look for it anywhere but in yourself. Discovering your true self becomes Salvation named. It's a process, also called 'healing' in which the so-called 'false self', which is everything that prevents you from going this way, must be released. Including especially letting go of all that you learned as a child. Only Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Life. All blessing and salvation can only be found in Him and nothing in ourselves.
  • It is not necessary the Bible as (historically) reliable to continue to accept; the Bible is the reliable Word of God. It is completely reliable and sufficient. 
  • You can only discover and enter this Kingdom within you through the contemplative prayer; it's the only way! The noise in the environment and the noise (of your thoughts) within you, you must leave behind in order to become one with the Father in the silence that arises. You can only approach the divine indwelling according to a certain regularity. The Lord Jesus is the only way and there is no other Name by which we must be saved.
  • This to be one with Godbeing who you are, be yourself, is the greatest gift we can give to God. God is only glorified by people who honor and praise Him for the work the Lord Jesus Christ did on the cross of Calvary.
  • Moreover, as humans we are all together connected; we are one and we need only discover that together we are the mystical body of Christ; The world peace depends on how many people this process of change of achieving a higher level of consciousness, going through and therefore proclaiming this gospel of the utmost importance. We cannot be happy unless everyone is saved. World peace will come when Christ has come and after the judgment of satan and people will establish His kingdom on this earth.
  • Incidentally, the necessary process of change is also offered by the spiritual traditions of other religions. There is no other way to God and peace than to accept Christ's sacrifice. "There is no other Name given among men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12)