The gospel revealed to Paul

Joh 8:32  You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

The pristine gospel as revealed to the Apostle Paul is logically and psychologically sound. You may ask what precisely do you mean by that statement? What I mean is that the gospel, as revealed to and explained by Paul, understood by the first century saints, has a logical and psychological basis that is by nature transformative. In other words, it logically transforms based upon satisfying a psychological need in humanity. What is that psychological need? It is to be set free from guilt. S. Bruce Narramore has written a book entitled "No Condemnation." Unfortunately it is no longer in print though a few copies are available. In this book he sites guilt as a prime cause of psychological pathology. I personally believe he is right, and I have to admit that I have had my bouts with guilt over my many years.

I also can say that over time, my understanding of the pristine gospel as it was understood and explained in the first century by the Apostle Paul et.al. has set me free from guilt for the most part, and if there was a group of individuals who believed the pristine gospel, regularly proclaimed it to each other, would not allow compromise to make it ineffectual, I think that guilt could be completely eliminated as a psychological force. While I say that my understanding of the gospel has greatly diminished guilt in me, I still have bouts with it occasionally until the Holy Spirit reminds me of the truth of the pristine gospel which has at its foundation imputed righteousness and justification by the faith OF Christ Jesus. The point of this is that if the church in general had the pristine gospel as its teaching, guilt and condemnation would cease to exist and peace, joy and love could dominate the lives of the saints.

I mention peace, joy, and love in that order because I believe that it describes the flow of how the gospel becomes supernaturally transformative. They are in fact the fruit of the Spirit but in a slightly different order than what Paul writes in Galatians chapter five. I chose this order because I think it is the natural flow of how the gospel operates. I base it on Roman's chapter five. Rom 5:1  "Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." The source of the transformation is from the peace one receives from the pristine gospel message. So it flows naturally in this way... peace -> joy-> love. The gospel gives the individual peace with the Father because of justification and imputed righteousness. This peace produces inexplicable joy because the person is set free from all guilt. This naturally produces a deep and abiding love for the Father. It is a REAL love. It is not a love that comes from a commandment but rather, a love that comes from the unmerited favor of the Father. Furthermore, it is the only way one can truly love the Father.

The Apostle John stated it this way: 1Jn 4:10  "In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins." Peace with the Father through the cross of Christ is the driving force for our love for God, and it is the expression of God's love for us. So when Paul wrote love, joy and peace he was referring to God's love which produces joy and peace and in turn produces real love for God. This completely eliminates the schizophrenic doctrine of current evangelical Christianity.

Currently, preachers spend far more time promoting guilt in individuals than they promote peace with the Father. They try to use guilt as a motivating tool to cause people to strive for more righteousness and holiness. The problem is that it is self righteousness and that only adds to the cycle of guilt. Promoting guilt is spiritually abusive and is counter productive in creating a desired result. The real operation of the pristine gospel is so simple. It promotes peace with the Father and love for the Father and will result in individuals who are driven by love to please the Father. This will only come from a place where GRACE is the sole driver, with LAW being the teacher that demonstrates the need for grace.

Looking again at spiritual abuse

Act 3:6-8  But Peter said, “I have no silver or gold, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, stand up and walk!”  (7)  Then Peter took hold of him by the right hand and raised him up, and at once the man’s feet and ankles were made strong.  (8)  He jumped up, stood and began walking around, and he entered the temple courts with them, walking and leaping and praising God.

A subtle but devastating form of spiritual abuse is rampant today. Especially in the name it and claim it camp of evangelical Christianity. Here is the gist of the concept. If you believe you will receive, and if you do not receive it is either because you have not believed enough, not been patient enough, or not listened to all that God has told you to do, and therefore, it is not God's fault that you don't have this or that, it is not the fault of the preacher preaching the prosperity, but it is your fault for not having faith enough, patience enough, or being obedient enough.

Take special notice of the above scripture passage that I have presented. It was not the man's faith that healed him. It was Peter's faith. Yes you read correctly. It was the faith of the preacher. I am weary of all of the preachers who perpetuate this kind of depressing abuse. Most of the time they never even mention the gospel or Jesus the gospel made flesh. They ignore that the purpose of the signs and wonders were to establish the truth of the gospel message and nothing else. Look at this passage from Acts:  Act 14:3  "So they stayed there for a considerable time, speaking out courageously for the Lord, who testified to the message of his grace, granting miraculous signs and wonders to be performed through their hands." There you see plainly that the purpose of the miraculous signs and wonders were to establish the truth of the pristine gospel message. More than that, the miracles came through the hands of the apostles and not through the faith of those receiving the miracles.

Yes, you can find places where Jesus rewarded faith with miracles, but it was ALWAYS for a gospel purpose. This is true through out all of the New Testament. So let's bring it back to spiritual abuse. There are complex factors at play in our sojourn here on planet earth. There are faith giants that have not been cured of cancer. There are faith giants that have not been wealthy but rather have had a meager and dare I say difficult existence.

Yes, the New Covenant promises health and wealth. Yes, the curses of Deuteronomy 28 have been alleviated by the cross. But that does not mitigate the fact that people of strong faith suffer. Too many people in the prosperity movement have enriched themselves at the expense of the very people hoping for a break-through that could least afford the sacrifice.