Praise God for the Old Testament Prophets, John the Baptist, the Lord Jesus Christ and the apostles. In spite of how each may have felt, they didn’t hesitate to tell it how it is! Nowhere in Scripture do we see them playing games with words; no watering down, no softly, softly approach, no attempts to appease, no apologies for speaking or doing the hard things. On the contrary, with love in their hearts for God, truth and the people, they faithfully proclaimed the messages assigned to them leaving their hearers with no excuses for holding false concepts as to the true nature and character of God.
Hearers however, did hold false concepts, from the time of the molded calf of Exodus 32:1-8 all the way through to the disobedient churches of Revelation Chapters 2 and 3, but nevertheless, they were without excuse. Who else are without excuse? People who don’t know the Scriptures but are quick to make judgments about God based on emotions and opinions. That’s why God’s wrath on all ungodliness and unrighteousness will surely one day come to pass Romans 1:18-32. But more on that later. The people I want to talk about first are Christians and given that we’re spread across numerous denominations, let’s put it to the test to see if we hold false concepts of God. Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Prove yourselves 2 Corinthians 13:5.
If you are a Roman Catholic the chances are extremely high that you will believe your concepts of God are not false, but true. You believe you belong to the one true Church. That’s what you’re taught, that’s what you believe. Having spoken with scores of Roman Catholics, I am yet to meet one who doesn’t believe that. Like Protestants, you will confess your belief in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth. You will confess your belief in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord. You will confess He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary. You will confess He was crucified, died and was buried. You will confess Christ rose from death three days later and ascended into heaven.
Of Christ, you will confess He is currently seated at the right hand of God the Father and that from there He will one day return to judge the living and the dead. But you will not confess that you are saved from eternal damnation by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone. You will not because you cannot. Roman Catholicism teaches, “Those who live in accordance with the beatitudes and who bear lovingly the sufferings of life will enter the kingdom of God.” – John Paul II. In other words God’s grace is not enough; good works and suffering you must endure if you want to get into heaven. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast Ephesians 2:8-9.
Of course that’s not all you are taught with regards getting to heaven, but that’s enough for this post. Your concept of God is false. If you believe John Paul II, you don’t believe Jesus who said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me John 14:6. And yes, I am fully aware that your church has placed a curse on all those who deny and speak against its teachings and doctrines, but the curse has no effect other than to return upon the one who uttered it. Like a flitting sparrow, like a flying swallow, so a curse without cause shall not alight Proverbs 26:2. The man or woman who stands for the true nature and character of God is blessed by God, never cursed, in spite of whoever says otherwise.
If you are a Mormon, you will believe your concepts of God are not false, but true. Regardless of which offshoot of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints you belong to, that’s what you will believe. However, your concepts of God are certainly false because they deny the true nature and character Jesus Christ. Too, you will confess your belief in God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, but you will not confess these as three Persons in the One God. In other words, you will deny God is a Trinity. The three Persons are different in position and authority, but they are not different in substance or purpose. For there are three who bear witness in heaven…… and these three are one 1 John 5:8.
And just like Roman Catholicism, Mormonism has much more to say about God, the Bible and how to get to heaven, but the denials mentioned are sufficient for this post. So again, your concepts of the true nature and character of God are false. The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day saints does not represent the biblical Lord Jesus Christ, it represents another Jesus whom we have not preached……. 2 Corinthians 11:4. Both the Lord Jesus and His apostles give numerous warnings in the Scriptures to be on the alert for false teachers, apostles and prophets coming in among us, but if you’re ignorant of the Jesus whom they have preached and willingly remain so, then Satan, the ruler of darkness will keep you in the dark.
If you are a Jehovah’s Witness, you too will confess you belong to “the one true” and everyone else’s concept of God is false but yours. You will confess Jesus Christ as a mighty god, but not Almighty God. You will reject Jesus is eternal and equal with God the Father, thereby denying His divine status. You will reject the Person of the Holy Spirit, limiting Him to an it or, a force, as in electricity. In addition, you will reject the Trinity doctrine on the basis that the word Trinity is not mentioned in the Bible. The fact that the word Bible isn’t mentioned in the Bible either doesn’t stop you from calling it the Bible in any case, even though you claim everyone else’s Bible translation has been corrupted but yours.
Your concept of God is not only false, it’s convoluted. When you stand at our doorsteps, you have no good news to bring regarding the message of eternal salvation because you have no assurance you have salvation yourself. And rightly so; neither should you have assurance. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father in heaven Matthew 10:33. What is it you are denying? The deity of Jesus Christ; God Almighty Incarnate – God in the flesh who came down to earth from heaven to die on a Roman cross (not a stake!) in your place for your sin. Remember Barabbas? Matthew 27:16-26. You are Barabbas! So am I! To have the Lord Jesus as Judge and Witness against you rather than Savior – shudder the thought!
And so now to us who are not members of those institutions, but believe our concepts of God are true, not false. If your church preaches the social gospel but ignores the soul-salvation gospel and you continually go along with it without challenging the leaders, your concepts of God are false. To speak of His love, mercy and forgiveness, but not of His holiness, righteousness, judgment and wrath, you misrepresent His true nature and character; you sell God short. The same applies to you who sees nothing wrong with the ordination of homosexuals and lesbians as elders, pastors, priests and bishops. And, if you now accuse me of being phobic towards such people, Jesus speaks to you. Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment John 7:24.
Christians speaking out against any violations towards the true nature and character of God are often branded by their fellow Christians as, “judgmental fundamentalists.” No doubt they’d brand the apostle Paul with the same if he was around today; not that he’d care anymore than we do. It was not his reputation he cared about but only that of God. That’s why he said, But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. Twice he said it. Let him be accursed Galatians 1:8-9. I agree with him wholeheartedly! A gospel tampered with is not a gospel at all! And those who do tamper with it, hell is where they’ll spend their eternity if they fail to repent.
Now to you who doesn’t know the Scriptures but are quick to make judgments about God based on emotions and opinions. What’s your end? It’s up to you. If you continue holding to your false concepts of God He won’t intervene. But at death you’ll quickly learn you are without excuse. The Lord Jesus reveals the true nature and character of God in the Bible alone; so the more we know of Him the less false our concepts will be. But much better than that, the more we know Him, the truer our concepts of God are! We who know Christ are the only people on earth who can say that. Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it Matthew 7:13-14.