Gospel Vaccination
Robert Wurtz II
They are of the world. Therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them. We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. (1 John 4:5–6 NKJV)
Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
(1 John 2:15 NKJV)
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. (Romans 12:2 NKJV)
Have you ever wondered why so many people seem to rebel against everything that requires them to renounce the world and this present darkness? Have you ever asked yourself why people who profess to be Christians are as good at defending worldliness and sin as your average sinner is? Wonder no more. John gives us the plain answer. They are of the world. Therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them. We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. (1 John 4:5–6 NKJV) People who are of the world (the “they” in our passage) hear and agree with others who are in the world. What “they” say and do makes sense to them and the world; but it is foolishness to those who are truly born of God. Why? Because we are in opposing kingdoms. No matter what a person professes to be, if they reject the counsel of God and speak the world’s language — they are of the world. They are moving in the spirit of error.
Believed and Received or simply Deceived?
There is a gospel of error (born of the spirit of error) that allows a person to go on living in sin and rebellion while calling themselves a Christian. Tragically, multitudes have never been told some very basic facts about becoming a Christian:
1. We must renounce and utterly forsake all association with evil and darkness. Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead. (Acts 17:30–31 NKJV) This means everything that represents sin, Satan, the occult, witchcraft, darkness, and anything else associated with what God has already cast out of heaven. In fact, He has prepared a place to burn these offending ones for all eternity. Why would a Christian want to identify with a king and his kingdom that God has assigned to eternal damnation?
2. We must repent of all known sin. Anything that you and I are conscious of, as being “sin,” we must turn from it. This means turn from it and don’t turn back to it.
3. There is an exclusivity to Christianity. Just as God called Abraham out of Ur; Lot and his family out of Sodom; and the Israelites out of Egypt; God calls individuals to come out from among this present evil world and be separated unto God. We remain in the world, but we are not identified with it.
Moreover, true Christians belong to a kingdom where the people agree with God and obey God. They do not argue about obeying God. What God loves they love, and what God hates they hate. They are not siding with Satan against God and calling themselves a Christian. Sadly, many have never heard these things. They are trying to serve two masters (God and Satan). What they needed from the beginning was the real Gospel and not a gospel vaccination.
Immune to the Real Gospel
A vaccine is a substance designed to be injected into the body to stimulate an immune system response. It is generally a pseudo (synthetic) or impotent version of a disease. The idea is to trick the body into building up a defense against the real thing — so that when you come into contact with the real thing the body will be immune to it. In other words, you have been immunized.
In modern times we are suffering from a wholesale epidemic of “gospel vaccinations.” For nearly a hundred years, the masses have been administered an impotent, inert, pseudo “gospel” that has left them with a false assurance that they are a Christian, without providing them with the reality of it. The result is a syncretic (not synthetic, but syn-cretic) brand of Christianity that is at war with the real thing. Syncretism is a theological term for the un-critical, un- discerning, un-questioning acceptance of beliefs and practices that are contrary to the Word of God. Syncretism is the mingling of worldly and even pagan beliefs and practices with Biblical Christianity within the church. It is a poison that robs the church of its life and testimony.* The Latin word syncretismus comes from the Greek συγκρητισμός (synkretismos), meaning “Cretan federation.” Plutarch (1st cen. AD) speaks of the Cretans, who compromised and reconciled their differences and came together in alliance when faced with external dangers. And that was their so-called Syncretism. The old timers simply called it moral and spiritual compromise. John was more to the point, Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. (1 John 2:15 NKJV)
These are hard truths that we must come to terms with. We live in a crisis hour where society is free-falling morally and spiritually. The consequence of not preaching the Gospel as it was once delivered unto the saints, is that we now have millions of people in the West (and everywhere in the world it has been exported to) who have never truly repented of their sins; forsaken all ties with sin and this present evil world; received Christ as savior and Lord; been baptized in water, and received the Holy Spirit. They were deceived when they should have received. They prayed a prayer and was told they are “saved” and as a result are now immune to the true Gospel — if and when they finally hear it. This is tragic beyond words.
Winning the People
As Christians our objective is not to “win people.” Our objective is to disciple people to Jesus Christ. They must come under his discipline. Again, this process begins when a person renounces all ties to Satan’s kingdom and turns to God’s kingdom. No half-way conversions. This means we cannot use worldliness to get a person to repent of the world. People are supposed to renounce their love for the world. Just as one can’t use drugs to lure a drug addict into a drug rehab center; one cant use worldliness to lure people into the kingdom of God.
It is a very simple thing to ask, but, how can we use Satan’s ways to get people to God when God kicked Satan out of heaven? It defies common sense. We cannot use this world to win the lost — when the “god” of this world is the one who caused us to be lost in the first place. No crazier thought has ever crossed the human mind than to think that the world has something to contribute to a sinner’s reconciliation to God or can somehow assist us in ushering in His presence.
Can the thing that destoyed it all now fix it? If there were ever an illustration of the dog returning to his own vomit — this generation is living it. The very thing that made the dog sick in the first place he returns to — sniffs it — and eats it again. Amazing! This is what it is to utlilize what destroyed our relationship with God to try and fix it again.
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may discern what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. (Romans 12:2 NKJV)
Satan is the “god” of this present evil world, and he has blinded the people of this world with darkness. (2 Cor. 4:4) If we are “conforming” to this world in our worship — we are “conforming” to what issues forth from Satan himself. Keep in mind that this is the same Satan that was cast out of Heaven; out of the presence of God along with one-third of the angels. (Revelation 12:4-12) In fact, he cause Adam (mankind) to be banished from the presence of God in the Garden of Eden. That’s what he does. It’s what it longs to do. How deceived could this generation be to think that they could take pointers from this evil world, led by Satan himself, to “set up” Christian worship and come into the presence of God — while the one who made this pattern was cast out of the presence of God? Think about that and learn wisdom.
We can’t use measures developed by the one who was cast out of God’s presence to usher in God’s presence. Nor can we implement worldly measures to help a sinner get reconciled to God. Have we somehow forgotten that Satan is the one who caused our separation from God in the first place? Do we not know that he works day and night to keep people from reconciling to God? How could anything that this evil world has to offer do anything to fix the problem that it’s “god” and “king” (Satan) caused? He is the agent of separation from God not reconciliation. He caused the fall of man and is not about to help fix it.
Why would a church conform it’s so-called “worship experience” to this present evil, Satan-led world — in order to come into the presence of God — when Satan and his angels were rejected and cast out of God’s presence? That is pure madness. Sure the Devil would like to design our worship experience… so the churches can get what he and his angels got; cast out of God’s presence and utterly rejected! At the very least he wants to put his “stamp” on the meeting — if nothing else to snub God and the rest of the angels.
I say away with the gospel vaccine. Lets preach a Gospel that is good, acceptable, and perfect. Lets keep Satan’s influence out of our worship services! Lets discern the difference between a impotent worldly “gospel” that leaves people immune to the true Gospel and one that will bring a person into the Kingdom of God as a new creature in Christ.
_______________________
*http://www.ttw2.org/articles_pdf/bw0012.pdf
Leave a Reply