Gospel Pollution
Tomorrow's World Magazine
July-August 1970
Volume: Vol II, No. 7-8
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Gospel Pollution

Mankind's pollution doesn't stop with his environment — he has polluted his mind, morals and spirit also. Even the Gospel has not escaped man's polluting touch. The Good News of God's Plan for man was no sooner proclaimed by Jesus Christ of Nazareth than men determinedly set themselves to pervert, twist, malign, deny and distort His message. Let's remove the pollution and restore the true Gospel in all its original beauty. Let's get back to the FAITH once delivered to the saints.


   A CRASH anti-pollution program is needed now — for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Gospel has been trapped in the thick, oozy-goo of a spiritual oil spill. Gasping! Wheezing! Desperately wiping its red-rimmed and burning eyes from spiritually blinding "black fog," it staggers along, poisoned and polluted beyond recognition.
   But there is hope — if we wash and filter it through the cleansing purifying, healing truth of the Bible. This is the only way to restore its purity, maintain its sweetness, and unleash its life-giving power.

Good Government

   The Gospel is the GOOD NEWS — the GLAD TIDINGS — of man's association with God in a KINGDOM — the good Government of God.
   The word "gospel," in your Bible, is translated from the Greek word, euaggelion. It means the "good news" or "glad tidings" that a good and fruitful government — the Kingdom of God �will one day be established.

Polluted Gospel

   The Gospel has been swept into the oppressive confines of the world's cathedrals. These funereal, cavernous structures — their walls and floors punctured with crypts holding the moldering bones of the long dead — have tainted the living Gospel of Jesus Christ.
   Any gospel which escapes these musty traps all too easily finds itself captured and made part of an outrageous carnival show. Sweaty preachers bark raucously, many of them jabbering incoherently in their affected "tongues," as they try to outcry one another in tent revivals and healing sideshows. They make a farce of the real Gospel.
   Between these two extremes lies the broad expanse of everyday, run-of-the-mill, common Christianity. Churchianity has embraced what it thought to be the Gospel tightly to itself — and has been disappointed! Their "gospel" did not cause anything better to happen. Everything stayed the same or even worsened. The world didn't become any better in spite of their huge missionary efforts. All things continued as they were from the beginning. It looked like God needed a hand; so they decided to give Him one. They invented the "social gospel" to make up for the perfidy of God. How presumptuous!
   History proves man is a wretch. There was little hope that any good could be done about his situation until Christ laid down the principles of Christianity. All the converts thought, "Here is the solution." But no matter how industriously they applied their "Christian" principles, failure continued to plague mankind. Most "Christians" thought the promised, perfect Kingdom was going to be set up in the church itself or would be "found in their own hearts."
   When neither of these ideas proved to be correct, they began to look to a social interpretation of the Christian faith. Their own interpretation of the TRUE Gospel caused them to look within society itself for improvement of its evils.
   Recognizing that competition was vicious, and being concerned for fair play and justice for the little man, aggressive churchmen began to press for their own solution. Idealistically and optimistically, THEY expected to be able to set up their "Kingdom of God" on this earth out of their own efforts. They were inclined to "understand" Jesus' Kingdom teachings in the light of their own revolutionary thinking. It was their confident hope that their application of "Christian principles" to the ordering of society would undo the serious social evils rampant in the world. They would see to it, since God wasn't on the job, that the Kingdom of God would be set up.
   They failed utterly to keep the Bible in true perspective. They failed to realize that neither Christ nor Paul started a trade union, lobbied for legislative changes, ran for offices, circulated petitions, rebelled against legal machinery. No, the true teachers of Christianity NEVER DID try to change the social order. Their religion had no man-devised political overtones (Gal. 1:11; II Cor. 10:3-5). They were only concerned with the socio-political changes which would take place AFTER Christ returned to set up HIS Kingdom. Christ knew His Kingdom would NOT be established until a couple of thousand years after His death. It still is not yet quite time for it to start.
   POLLUTED Gospel concepts continue to contaminate the issue.
   As pollutants besmirch, foul, change ecological balances and set in motion degenerative forces that unstoppably march toward the macabre stillness of death, just so do the pollutants of the Gospel sap, strangle and finally completely stifle it.
   If the Gospel lies befouled under a layer of spiritual scum, is made indistinct by spiritual smog, and becomes repugnant because of spiritual poisons, it should not be thought unusual. We have had warning after warning that the attempt would be made. The true Gospel is lost sight of and repudiated because Satan easily blinds the minds of disbelievers so they don't really see the glory in the Gospel which' was brought by Jesus Christ (II Cor. 4:3-4).

Christ's Warning

   Christ's ministry began with His "... preaching the GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD" (Mark 1:14). The first four books of the New Testament speak literally dozens and dozens of times about that KINGDOM OF GOD.
   Christ's message — His GOSPEL — was about the establishment of God's Kingdom and He realized that very few would really "get the message." He knew people would distort and wrest it. He knew MANY people, while accepting His divinity, understanding His death, admitting to His resurrection, would miss the mark entirely insofar as understanding just what He was preaching: how to gain entry into the Kingdom. He lamented this lack of perception in "religious" folk when He said, "Not everyone that says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 7:21). He said this near the beginning of His ministry.
   Just before His death He was still making it plain that religious-sounding people would admit to His being the Christ, but use this very religiosity to DECEIVE MANY — to preach another gospel (Matt. 24:5).

Apostolic Warning

   Paul, too, knew there would be those who would PERVERT the Gospel of Christ and he thundered against them — saying they were "ACCURSED" (Gal. 1:7-9).
   Paul believed what Christ had said. He expected the perversion, corruption, POLLUTION of the Gospel (II Cor. 11:3-4). It came early, marred deeply. Paul, James, Peter, John, Jude all wrote powerfully because of the pollution which continuously contaminated the truth of the Gospel. Jude 3-4 pleads that it is necessary to vigorously fight against the corrupting influence of a false gospel and ministry. Jude knew that ungodly, licentious, lascivious men had already defiled the truth. We, too, have only to make the most casual examination to note the debasement and desecration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ — the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. It's been going on for a long, long time. The muck is deeper than ever today.

We're Used to Pollution

   The city dweller today has almost forgotten what it's like to live in a clean world. He's used to the peculiar odor of his drinking water and expects it to taste like dilute laundry bleach. He expects not to be able to see more than a few blocks because the smog is "always" there. He has learned not to rub his burning eyes. He knows that only makes them more irritated. He breathes shallowly and hopes he won't become an emphysema statistic.
   So it is with the polluted Gospel. It's been corrupt for so long that it just seems it should be the way it is. NOT SO!

The Cause

   Pollution is almost entirely due to greed — seeking self-satisfaction the quick and easy way. Profits must be had no matter what the cost to environment.
   Our system is a suicidal one. Collectively we accept, almost with eagerness, an early, torturous death if only the system will continue to circulate dollars, provide things, leisure, comforts, "progress" for the time being. "They" — the experts — whoever "they" are — promise that it will all turn out just fine. "They" will one day come up with all of the answers. "Our Utopia is assured" — just trust them. Not knowing what else to do, we trust these self-styled experts. We place our lives in their hands — and our waterways become ever more contaminated by the disgorged, loathsome sewage of man and his industry. The earth continues to have millions of tons of poisons of an affluent society dumped on it. The air thickens with the effluvial pall of deadly gases manufactured and eructated by our mechano-chemical way of life. Nonetheless, the experts are in control.
   Man usually trusts the experts. He sees a doctor when he's sick, a lawyer when there's a legal problem, an insurance broker when he needs an estate, a teacher when he's ignorant, a preacher when he's in spiritual trouble. Between the man and his expert advisor he usually muddles through even when the advice is wrong and costly. In most such problems bad advice will only result in material loss to some degree. But bad advice from a preacher can be of eternal concern; so each of us ought to become thoroughly conversant with the facts involved. That demands looking into the Bible for yourself! No one can be trusted with YOUR SALVATION — YOUR IMMORTALITY — YOUR UNDERSTANDING THE GOSPEL.
   The Gospel of Jesus Christ has real, solid, purposeful, practical attraction. It speaks forcibly about a way, a system, which — if a man will but subscribe to and live by — will bring him into a more perfect way, system, manner of living, kind of discipline, type of government in which all of his good and proper desires will find complete expression.

The Effect

   The "gospel" of churchianity is hollow, watery, meaningless.
   Their "gospel" says certain goody-good individuals will one day find themselves wafted off to "heaven." Each will be issued a white toga, a sparkling halo and a fluffy cloud. Each of these A-1 harpists will sit benignly strumming while enjoying his "beatific vision." Look the Bible through and you won't find any such thing.

Evangelists Say

   World-renowned preachers are content to say, "The Gospel is the good news that, on the first Good Friday, Christ died for our sins and that He rose from the dead on that first Easter morning — and that God is willing to forgive ids our sins — and give us new life, peace and joy."
   All too many preachers — and their followers — say this is the Gospel.
   The "experts" are WRONG!
   I do NOT take anything from the sacrifice of Christ or His resurrection Those actions by our loving Savior an most important and vital to salvation, We would have no hope whatsoever without them. Christ's willingness to die poignantly portrays the consummate GRACE and superlative COMPASSION of our ever-merciful Redeemer. He bought us back from sin and its destructiveness. His resurrection opens the way into immortality.
   Nonetheless, these actions, of themselves, do not explain the ultimate purpose and plan for mankind. The Gospel is meant to, explain all of this. We can know the purpose for this uttermost expression of God's love.
   God's Word makes it plain.
   The shroud of mystery can be drawn back.
   Let's look into it. Let's KNOW!
   Let's filter out the pollution and find out just what the GOOD NEWS really is.

BAD NEWS

   The news has been almost totally bad ever since man has recorded anything about himself. He leaves a record of wantonness, rebellion, war, rape, robbery.
   He hotly pursues love, but love eludes him. He eagerly anticipates joy, but is enveloped by despair. He strives for peace, but another war breaks out.
   He has, from time to time, managed to delude himself that at long last he has Utopia in his grasp. Tomorrow always proves him wrong. His scheme backfires. He awakens with a hangover His love proves to be a debauch, his joy an orgy, his peace only slight and temporary relief from grinding away at the rut he is making in this derelict, vicious age (or "evil world," Gal. 1:4).
   It is absolutely true that we are only able to find our way out of the present system through Jesus Christ. The fad remains that we are in a SYSTEM from which we seek release. It follows that we leave this system, we will then move toward another system. What is this different system?

Christ Preached the Gospel

   Note that Christ did NOT preach about His own life. He didn't preach His life — HE LIVED IT!
   Preachers today all too often simply preach about the life and death — the person — of Christ and assume that is the Gospel.
   The first four books of the New Testament have unwittingly been entitled the "gospels." Those books were not called by that name until long, long after the resurrection of Christ. They were not even written until some thirty years or so after His ascension. These four books are about the life of Christ. They contain His message also. Both of those themes are very important. But we must make certain that we do not create a "gospel" out of the story of Christ's life if it clouds and covers the GOSPEL message HE PREACHED. He preached ABOUT THE KINGDOM. That is the Gospel — the GOOD NEWS!
   In fact and truth, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is about a Kingdom — the Kingdom of God — and so about GOVERNMENT. A kingdom cannot exist without government. Government is an integral part of all kingdoms. So, the Gospel is the GOOD NEWS that finally �ultimately — a really GOOD government is going to be established which will free the earth and its inhabitants from evil. Christ is going to rule over that government. Satan and his evil will be "bound" for a thousand years. All mankind will finally experience goodness and peace in ACTUAL FACT! (Rev. 20:4-8; Rom. 11:32; I Cor. 15:22-24.)
   Christ told people about the Kingdom before He died and was resurrected. He didn't continually talk about His life and death — He continually preached the Gospel of the Kingdom. There is a difference!
   Certainly His life, death and resurrection are vitally important to our attaining salvation, the Kingdom, son-ship; but the good news for man — what the future holds — proceeds forward from those incidents. It leaps forward almost immediately some 2000 YEARS, graphically describes yet another thousand years of Christ's millennial RULE, and boldly challenges and outdistances man's imaginative perception of that same government as it will exist in eternity!
   Christ did NOT preach about His own LIFE — as most ministers now do, calling this biographical resume "the gospel." He LIVED His own life as an example of proper discipline and self-government. He told men to live this same way so that they might thereby qualify for a position in the Kingdom.
   Their works could not buy salvation or entrance into the Kingdom. The GRACE of God provides for sin's pardon. But men must prove their willingness to come under the good, holy, just laws which God commands. These same laws will be in effect in the Kingdom of God. The Gospel the good news — is about how man can get into that Kingdom and be with God and see His as He is (I John 3:2). The Gospel is about how man can join the God Family.
   Churchianity does NOT understand this. Those who only prattle about the life, death and resurrection of Christ — essential, gracious and all-important as those facts are — find themselves sucked dry of the life-giving Gospel power. Left only sweet sanctimoniousness, bereft of spiritual practicality, withered and shrunken from the peace which the life of Christ foretells. Without the goal about which Christ spoke, man is left to eternally pluck his harp as he vapidly gazes into the unblinking eye of a god who has flung him into sterile endlessness.
   Every kingdom must have four parts: 1) a king; 2) territory; 3) inhabitants or subjects; and 4) laws. If any one of these essentials is missing, the kingdom simply cannot be.
   Christ explains that entrance into the Kingdom is of utmost importance. We are directly told it must be our primary goal (Matt. 6:33).

The King Has Been Appointed

   On the night that Jesus was born, an angel came saying, "I bring you good tidings [remember the meaning of the word "gospel") of great joy... for unto you is born... a Savior, which is Christ the Lord" (Luke 2:10, 11). Note too, that "Lord" means: one who owns or possesses, one who controls, sovereign, prince, chief. Most definitely Christ is KING.
   The angel was repeating what had been in the Scriptures for centuries. Isaiah 9:6 says that this child would have GOVERNMENT on His shoulders! He is responsible for governing! Verse 7 goes on to say that this established government would go on forever.

Subjects and Territory

   The "kings [mere men) of the earth" will be subject to Christ the SUPREME KING (Rev. 1:5). The government of God will be "over the NATIONS" of this earth (Rev. 2:26). Revelation 5:10 makes thin more emphatic when it says this government will "... REIGN ON THE EARTH."

Laws

   We have already seen in Isaiah 9:7 that "judgment" and "justice" are to exist eternally. These governmental elements demand LAW. Paul understood "the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good." He knew "... that the law is spiritual..." and so everlasting (Rom. 7:12, 14). Without law there would be anarchy, which is absence of law. But the Kingdom is an orderly operation governed by the Law of God. Paul also tells us that the good news, glad tidings, Gospel must be "OBEYED" (Rom. 10:15-16.) It is law that defines what is obedience in every instance. I Peter 4:17 reemphasizes that fact that the Gospel is a legal message demanding obedience.

Age-Old Rebellion

   The good news is that God will reassert His rule upon rebellious mankind (Isa. 52:7).
   Satan started the insanity of rebellion and anarchy (Ezek. 28:14-15). God has permitted him to hold sway over the earth until finally Christ returns as King to unseat the devil.
   Satan has foisted off his illegal, rebellious ways on all mankind. He began by inveigling Eve and Adam into forsaking the commands — the theocratic government under which they were to live — of the Eternal God. God issued COMMANDS — LAWS — and expected obedience (Gen. 2:16-17; 3:17). These first people rebelled, and all mankind has followed in their lawlessness.
   Israel, too, defected from God (I Sam. 8:5-7). They rejected God just as has the whole world. Satan has deceived them all (Rev. 12:9). ALL have broken the Law and fallen short of the glory which God wants for men (Rom. 3:23).

Restoration of God's Government

   The Old Testament prophets knew that the Eternal was going to return His good government to this earth (Zech. 14:9). The government of God — the Kingdom of God — will relieve the horrible distress which mankind suffers. Acts 3:19-21 pointedly tells us that the return of Christ will result in a refreshing time when all things will be restored. The prophets have told us about the loss of God's government on earth. They looked forward to the return of the Messiah — the Ruler. The Kingdom will be set up. It will rule over all kings and nations.
   Daniel 7:14 speaks of the Christ finally setting up His Kingdom: "And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a KINGDOM, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed." How WONDERFUL!

Unpolluted Gospel

   We've washed the polluted Gospel in God's Word.
   How simple to understand.
   How MARVELOUS the plan and purpose of God.
   How certain to SATISFY the needs of man.
   Perfectly administered government attained!
   The quest of the ages at last completed.
   The earth and all its inhabitants will finally be scoured clean and purged of all pollutants — because of the true Gospel! Absolute PEACE will result. LOVE, in all its exquisite magnificence available to everyone through GOOD GOVERNMENT!
   There will be no more WAR with all its attendant anguish and suffering (Isaiah 2:4; Micah 4:1-4).
   Here is the crystal-clear, clean, pure Gospel of the Kingdom which Christ Himself preached. Don't allow anyone ever again to fool you now that the Word of God has washed the Gospel spotless and sparkling just for you.

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Tomorrow's World MagazineJuly-August 1970Vol II, No. 7-8