“Blessed are the . . . wicked, the immoral, the sinful . . .”  That was part of the “new beatitudes” read aloud from the pulpit at a church service recently.  “Heaven celebrates such things and calls you blessed!” we were told.

In a book well-liked among evangelical circles today, the author freely translates the Bible himself to emphasize the point he is making.  Of an actual translation he quotes in one instance, explaining that it is the “traditional and literally correct translation.”  But he thinks that is misunderstood.  “So, as a corrective,” he states, “I have paraphrased the verse.”

Others are adding words to Bible verses—just writing them in there and then treating them as God-breathed truth.  A famous theologian thinks verses can make more sense to us that way.  But no such words were part of the original text!

I just want truth.  I just want to hear what God says.  I don’t want to hear what man thinks He was trying to say.  I just want to hear what He did say.  Did God fail to communicate what He really meant to say?  Is His inerrant Word insufficient that man should add to it, incorrectly written that man must change it, below us and what we have attained that we can use it as a platform to teach our own “good news”? 

Where is the uncompromised, unchanged, true, real, genuine, full, complete Gospel of Jesus in our churches, books, teachings, programs, methods and evangelism today?  Where?  Where?

We don’t offer the Gospel then move on.  We don’t just recite a 30 second prayer.  We don’t just raise our hand or stand or sit under counseling for 5 minutes before signing on.  It’s not just for mentioning at the end of a message or to be explained in the last page of a book or reserved for outreach events or to be contained in a small tract you hand to someone you don’t know.

The Gospel—the Gospel of Jesus Christ, made clear to us in simple terms in Scripture, once understood and grasped by mere fishermen, tax collectors, and the former Pharisee Saul—is, should be, our life from now on.  It is transforming, it is unyielding, it is unchanging, it is all that it once was and all that God promised it would be, and it is life. 

Are you still embracing it?  It’s like the air we breathe.  We are born once into this life.  But we don’t just breathe once.  This Gospel, this Life abundant that He offers us, is not something we ever move on from unless we are not truly alive.  It must be crucially a part of us as life must be.

And the Life He offers us is not just something we wait to redeem, once we die, as if we hold an insurance policy, or “GET OUT OF HELL FREE” card. 

Consider Lazarus.  Or read Acts.  Does life change the dead?  Does God change the fallen?  Where is the Gospel?  Where is the Gospel?  We must never leave it behind, think it’s not part of this sermon or teaching, think it doesn’t apply to this endeavor.  Or how will we but miss it?

People are crying out for truth.  And God’s Heart cries out to them.  Have you missed it?  Listen!

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