The Gospel of God and the religions

The Gospel of God was not conceived by men. Paul testifies that he received it from the Lord Jesus by revelation. The apostle Peter declares that the gospel and faith are rooted in objective facts of salvation. Satan tries to poison this gospel by mixing myths with it. All kinds of beliefs that may feel good but are merely man-made fabrications and mislead ignorant believers. The New Testament talks about it.

Religions and the Gospel

A while back, I read something somewhere - I don't remember where - that roughly boiled down to the following:

• religions its man-made rules regarding man's dealings with the invisible world;
• the gospel is God's revelation regarding the relationship between God and man.

It was an explanation that stuck with me somewhere, though, because shortly thereafter I read the following text from Paul that reminded me again:

'The gospel proclaimed by me is not according to man. For neither have I received or learned it from any man, but by revelation from Jesus Christ.
- Galatians 1:11,12 -

The gospel is not after human beings; it is not according to or consistent with human reasoning. The gospel does not come from human sources. On the contrary, the gospel comes entirely from outside man, from God Himself. This is evident when Paul makes it clear in the sequel that he received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.

The Gospel of God: taking God at His Word

Actually, the whole Bible contains the Gospel of God, in which He makes clear Who He is and who man is. In it He shows how He deals with man and that from His being He loves man. This goes so far that He Himself "solved" our problem of sin by sending His beloved Son and letting Him die the atoning death on the cross of Calvary.

For anyone who personally accepts that sacrifice of Christ and believes in Him, there is the promise of eternal life. A sure hope of being with the Lord Jesus for all eternity after this earthly life. A believer may be assured of God's mercy which then also leads him through life toward that.

The gospel of god you must believe and continue to believe

That is the glad tidings of salvation - preservation or salvation - that God offers every human being. To accept it, you must believe, and that is crucial in "biblical faith": to recognize the truth of what God says about you and Himself, and to keep taking God at His Word to the end. Continuing to trust in the Word of God, in what He says, until the time comes when "faith turns into beholding.

The myths: human conceptions of the gods

Several times the New Testament uses the word "myths" which is translated in the HSV as "fabrication" and other translations speak of "fables. Now myths are also human fabrications or fables if you will, but still the word myth says something specific that is missing in the other words.

Now it will not happen so easily that someone puts aside the Gospel of God and starts "believing" in all kinds of mythical stories instead. In fact, you then convert to another religion. Or you believe everything from various religions as many people do today. A mixture of religious views, because "there is some truth in everything, isn't there?

But for Christians, it is much more subtle in practice. They don't have to give up their faith in the Gospel, as long as they add a few bits of myth to the Gospel. That's fine with the devil, because then his servants will do the rest of the work. This is why the apostles warn us so strongly against myths, by which they mean that we must keep far from human conceptions of man's relationship to God. We must not mix elements of mythical conceptions with the Gospel, with the Word of God.

If we consider the use of the word myth ^{Strong g3454 μῦθος mythos} in the New Testament, it yields the following picture.

• Sound doctrine, not myths. Paul calls Timothy to have sound doctrine taught, and the purpose of that is for believers to love God and the Lord Jesus Christ. This is love that comes from a pure heart, a good conscience and unfeigned faith (1 Timothy 1:5). Love from a heart that is not defiled by idolatry, love that you have in normal consciousness and not from a state of higher consciousness, and a love that is not based on an "experience-belief. That is what sound doctrine is about. But myths (1 Timothy 1:4) are precisely the stories and beliefs that try to make us experience more of God or of the Spirit.
• Godliness, not myths. A believer will have to be concerned with what God has done in Jesus Christ, the mystery of godliness (1 Timothy 3:16). We must practice in that, and we can only do so if we reject unholy and nonsensical myths (1 Timothy 4:7).
• God's Word is truth, myths are lies. Christians in our day turn en masse to myths (2 Timothy 4:2-4) to stories of how to experience more of God or of the Spirit. But they are lies and they lead people astray from the truth of God's Word. That is why we are called to keep preaching the Word, whether it is convenient or not.

• Only God's Word, not good-sounding myths. Being healthy in the faith also means not engaging in "Jewish myths and commandments of men" (Titus 1:14). There are views that sound very Biblical but are not. Practice shows that the pursuit of "holiness" deprives people of faith and can bring them under the influence of demons. See also, for example this article. By the way, the follow-up verses in Titus 1 also point to this.
• Objective truth, not subjective experiences. The apostle Peter writes in his second letter about the Christian calling, which lies in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord (2 Peter 1:2). He elaborates on that in the first chapter and then writes in the 16th verse that this Christian calling is not built on artfully devised myths, but on what he himself has heard and seen in reality of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ (2 Peter 1:16). This is the major difference: Christian faith and "sound doctrine" is based on God's objective facts of salvation; myths, on the other hand, are based on subjective feelings through which man is deceived.

It may be seen from these portions that faith in the Gospel of God must be rooted in the Word of God. A person is justified by God on the basis of faith and then this justified person lives by faith. That faith is based only on the Word of God and must not be mixed with mythical beliefs, otherwise we would go astray. Paul says elsewhere that they are teachings of demons:

"But the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith and turn to deceptive spirits and teachings of demons."

1 Timothy 4:1

A small list of myths

Now if you ask what then, for example, are some of those myths that are added to the Gospel that lead a Christian down the wrong path, here is a small list. But it is certainly not complete, so remain vigilant.

• In many ways, you can experience more of God - or of the Spirit, or of Jesus. That is a myth, a lie. Paul debunks this kind of thinking when he says, "food does not bring us closer to God" (1 Corinthians 8:8). Read there also here about. Within this general principle are a host of rituals and methods, such as, for example, ...
  • seeking the silence in your inner self, clearing your head, or whatever people call it. All kinds of forms of meditation and mindfulness are ways to achieve that. See also still on these pages:
    • A 'deeper dealings' with God
    • Crafty temptations
• Walking a labyrinth. From this site we take a few things from which you can see what the spiritual and un-Biblical purpose is.
  • "A labyrinth is different from a maze. In a labyrinth, there is only one way to the center. This represents a journey to your own middle. And you go back out the same way. There are no dead ends.
    To experience a labyrinth requires a passive and receptive mindset. (...) With a labyrinth, you create a sacred space, which you can use for meditation, contemplation and prayer. Labyrinths are a metaphor for your life's journey. And you can experience it personally by simply walking one. When you do this with focus, you will arrive with a greater understanding of your own being. Labyrinth walking is a way to find the way inward, to your own center. (...) Remember, walking a labyrinth is a ritual event, symbolizing a journey inward. So it is advisable to also walk back out again, to your "normal" state of consciousness. Then also step out of the labyrinth again very consciously. You have now left the 'sacred space'." (end quote)

• Coloring for adults of Biblejournaling are also those ways of seeking inner silence.

• Furthermore, we could mention methods that sound biblical and promise a better, higher or deeper life of faith. These are ways to make you experience "the supernatural" that you then mistakenly think come from God.
  • Are you not experiencing the Holy Spirit in a special way? Then you probably still need to be baptized with the Spirit. Then we can pray for you and lay hands on you, and if you are open to it you will experience God's Spirit.
  • By the way, if you find that you still sin too much or suffer from sinful thoughts, maybe you are demonically charged and then we can cast out the demon. Then you will become a better Christian, they say. But you are not told that that very event is likely to bring you under the influence of a demon.
  • Does the Bible not tell you much anymore, and maybe Bible reading is getting boring? Still, you can hear God speak through the Bible, they say. For example, there are congregations and groups where people read the Lectio Divina - the holy reading - teaching and practicing. Search on the site of here.
  • And when your prayer becomes boring and tedious, then you are praying wrong and there are methods to still get close to God through prayer. It has different names such as Jesus prayer, for example, or centering prayer. James calls it "wrong prayer" (James 4:3). For example, read there here of here more about.
    • At Mosaic - a contemporary church in a growing number of locations in the Netherlands - this fall, you can attend a take a course To grow in what is called intimacy with God through listening prayer. Among the things addressed there are: * Lectio Divina, * Listening to God's voice and * Receiving and sharing what God is saying to you. This is pure and undisguised ancient Roman Catholic contemplation. But they do not say that this involves intimacy with demons.

To think of nothing above what is written

When it comes to man's relationship - believing or unbelieving - to God, only the Word of God, the written Word, is decisive. That Word of God gives us all the truth about all reality, both visible and invisible, that we need in this life.

Our relationship to God the Creator does represent one of the greatest and most important issues, and in this we must rely on that Word alone. Then it also makes sense that the apostles constantly warn to hold on to sound doctrine and not to believe myths. It is an ongoing problem - ever since the Fall - that we add human thinking to God's Word or twist things out of it.

In Corinth the Christians had taken all kinds of pagan views (myths) and pasted them to the gospel of God. With bad consequences for both sound doctrine and also the practice of the life of faith. Disunity is the result. After all, if someone adds something that another does not agree with, you have a good chance that a third party has another view. This causes partisanship, separation and, above all, that in such a situation each one feels higher than the other. It is the destructive work of God's adversary who in this way destroys the Christian witness from within. Ultimately, this is what happened in Corinth as well.
In the first chapters of the 1st letter to Corinth, Paul writes about the foolishness of the Gospel and the so-called wisdom of human thought. In doing so, he directly exposes the cause of the problems in the church.

All we have to do is to rely on Scripture alone. Especially in a time when all winds of doctrine can be found instantly and everywhere on the Internet. If certain things are not clear to us, there is nothing we can do but ask the Author of the Word if He will explain it to us by His Spirit. Then you can experience that He will do so in His time and way. But sometimes also not; then at least let us resolve to think of nothing beyond what is written.

. . . that you may learn in us not to think beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up on behalf of one against the other.
- 1 Corinthians 4:6 -

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