In Galatians 1:6-9 the Apostle Paul warned salvation seekers about a perverted gospel that had become popular throughout the Lord’s church system.  The early church ignored Paul’s message.  Her modern day counterparts not only ignore the apostle’s dire warning, but in fact reject it, along with most of the Truths written by him and his fellow apostles.  As was the case in Eden, Satan has convinced religious man to embrace his superior (man-centered) version of the Lord’s gospel.

The doctrines of Satan’s gospel have become the foundation “stones” upon which the Institutional (Catholic/Protestant) Church stands.  In this series we will briefly examine 12 of those foundational doctrines.  This Deadly Dozen is among the church’s false “truths” which are known Scripturally as “doctrines of devils” (1 Tim. 4:1).  Those devils–fallen angels–are Satan’s angelic messengers whose job it is to influence church leaders to embrace, believe and preach the devil’s version of God’s Truth while convincing their parishioners to follow in their spiritual footsteps.

Because of the success of Satan, his angels (devils/demons) and their human counterparts (“false prophets”), the counterfeit gospel put forth by the Catholic/Protestant Church system now encompasses the entire earth.  Multitudes of God seekers, having been kept ignorant of those Holy Scriptures that refute their theology, believe that what they hear from their leaders is in fact God’s Truth.  Over the centuries billions of salvation seekers have ignored Christ’s warning in Matthew 24:4,5 and have been deceived into embracing the church’s deadly theology.  As Jesus warned in Revelation 12:9, Satan has deceived the whole world into embracing his counterfeit version of Christianity.

The Counterfeit Church is his most effective weapon of mass destruction.  By it he has lured multitudes of trusting light seekers into the darkness of his religious abyss where the light of God’s glorious gospel is not allowed to shine.  On those rare occasions when His Light (Word) finds its way into the abyss, that light and its bearer are summarily rejected.  In Luke 10:16 Jesus addresses the church’s rejection of His Light and warns the reader of the deadly consequences.

In this series we will conduct a brief study of a dozen of the church’s foundation stones (doctrines).  We will use God’s Holy Word to expose them for what they are–Satan’s substitute “truths.”  These doctrines will be examined in the following order: (1) the false gospel (2) the death of the Law (3) original sin (4) salvation in this life (5) the rapture (6) the Sabbath (7) christmas (8) easter (9) the trinity (10) life after death (11) denominations (12) Christ’s death and resurrection.  Let us begin.

(1) THE FALSE GOSPEL: Following the founding of the New Testament Church in 31 A.D. Satan immediately declared war on her.  One of his first attacks involved the GOSPEL OF CHRIST which He had instructed His apostles to teach until His return.  Due to the success of Satan’s infiltration of the church there arose a sharp contention involving the subject of Christ’s gospel (“good news”).  In other words, what was the subject of His good news?  Some contended that Christ’s gospel was about Himself as God’s Son–who He was and what He did.  Others believed His message was about the coming Kingdom of God that He would establish on earth upon His return.  Over time the Jesus-centered believers won out.  Today, only a few thousand true saints believe and teach the gospel of the Kingdom of God which Jesus taught His disciples and apostles.

The Apostle Mark wasted no time introducing the true message Jesus Christ brought to the world from His Father.  In 1:1 he introduces his book by going straight to the point: “The beginning of the gospel (good news) of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”  Here he states that what he is about to write is the gospel of Jesus Christ, not the gospel about Jesus Christ.  The gospel of Jesus is His gospel–His good news.  In verse 14 Mark tells us what Christ’s gospel was about: “Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, PREACHING THE GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD.”  In verse 15 He told those who heard Him to “believe THE GOSPEL” that He preached–the gospel of the Kingdom of God.  In 13:10 He said that the kingdom gospel would be preached throughout the entire world.  In Matthew 24:14 Jesus becomes even more specific than John: “And THIS GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM shall be preached in all the world for a witness to all nations, and then the end (His return) will come.”  For the first time in 2000 years the true gospel–the gospel of the Kingdom of God–is being preached globally by way of the internet, t.v. radio and in print.  This message is not to be confused with the myriad of man-concocted “gospels” being preached by Satan’s false prophets through the same media outlets.  One will notice that their message is about the person of Jesus Christ, not His message which, as He said in John 12:48, will be the instrument He will use to judge every person ever born.  His message is: “Do as I said and as I did.”  The church’s message is: “Believe in who He was and what He did.”  His message, we are led to believe, is of no real importance.

In the first chapter of Acts we find the definitive statement relative to the content of Christ’s gospel.  This passage reveals the true focus and thrust of His ministry.  In verse 3 we are told that, following His death and ascension, He returned to where His disciples had gathered–the Mt. of Olives.  It is recorded that, for 40 days He taught them “THE THINGS CONCERNING THE KINGDOM OF GOD.”  For 40 days He taught them about the coming earthly Kingdom of God, not about Himself.  Throughout Christ’s earthly ministry His emphasis was two-fold.  He not only taught His followers about the kingdom (His “headline”), but  also about how to enter it (His “fine print”).  As He said many times, entrance into the kingdom will be awarded only for OBEYING GOD’S LAW.  This was His message.

Satan has convinced the church masses that both parts of Christ’s ministry are to be rejected.   First,  he led them to believe that they would not enter an earthly kingdom upon their demise, but rather into heaven.  Second, he stressed that the Law was not to be obeyed in that it had been “nailed to the cross.”  By convincing the people to ignore Christ’s message and to concentrate on Him personally, it was easy for Satan to sell them his “all grace–no Law” theology.  By having church people focus on the person of Jesus, Who He was and what He did, Satan easily convinced them to reject what He said about both His Father’s kingdom (His “headline”) and how to enter it (His “fine print”).  The devil’s “only believe” ruse worked perfectly in Eden and has worked perfectly ever since.  Satan convinced Adam and Eve to ignore what God said (sin results in death) and to focus on Who He was (their Creator and provider).  Today their religious descendants are told to focus on what Christ did and to ignore His message, even though He said that they would be judged by the Words He had spoken, not by their faith in Him personally.  Read John 12:44-50.

Satan’s overwhelming success in blinding the church to God’s Kingdom Message is evidenced by the fact that professing Christendom does not believe that Jesus will establish an earthly kingdom upon His return.  Rather, He will supposedly snatch them up to heaven in a “rapture” and join them there.  Operating under the belief that “If it sounds good it must be true,” the masses “knows” that heaven is their next stop.  However, nowhere does God state that any human being except Jesus Christ has ever entered or will ever enter heaven.  Every churchite  also “knows” that the only requirement for making the rapture is to believe in Jesus.  This explains why Jesus said that few would enter His strait gate and walk His narrow way leading to eternal life.  Many, He warned, would choose to enter Satan’s wide gate and walk his broad way leading to death (Mat. 7:13,14).  The irony is that those in both groups “know” they are right.  NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF SATAN.  Many have, many do and many will.  Read The Kingdom of God.  Key word–Kingdom.  L.J.