Another Gospel

Our churches are full of adults who were taught, "Obey your parents... that all will go well with you."

One woman told me, "When things were going wrong at our church and we were suffering, I thought it was my fault." She, like others, has been taught that those in authority are right. Those under authority must capitulate or accommodate leadership--and all will be well. This was not a prideful way of puffing herself up, it is a learned response to suffering. "I did something wrong. If only I figure it out, good things will result." In other words, it's a prosperity gospel that has infected our churches. "If I do right, good things happen; if I do wrong, bad things happen."

Another individual said, "It's not fair that God allowed these things to happen. I did the right thing and I'm the one being punished, not the person whose mistreating me and misleading others."

In all of this, God is twisted to be untrustworthy, un-good, capricious, showing favoritism. He is seen as un-God and man-like. This happens when Scripture is misused to accomplish the agenda or goal of some/one at the expense of others.

God is not like that. The entirety of the counsel of God's Word does not promote that. But in the time since the American moral response to war, that has been the message. "Do right to avoid bad things." To avoid war, we must seek God and do what is right. To avoid evil in government (i.e. Nazism, Vietnam, corruption, Communism), we must do right. To avoid the evils of society (i.e. the hippie movement, make love not war) we must separate ourselves.

The problem is that those solutions are man-based. We want to do right and seek God, but His favor is not the result of our efforts. Bad things continue to happen. Seeking God did not protect Abel from Cain's wrath. Seeking God did not remove Abram from the desert--it drove him there. Seeking God did not provide an escape from the cross--it took Christ there.

In the words of my friend, Pastor Warren Lamb, "God's protection is not always a protection from; it is often a protection through. While God may not protect us from difficulty (indeed, as Job's story teaches, He often ordains difficulty for our good) or even horrible circumstances, He will always protect us through each and every moment of life." (Unbound, Truth in Love Biblical Counseling, p. 97-98)

What has been adopted by many, including those in traditional biblical counseling, is the "think right + act right = a right outcome." But the outcome can be twisted, depending on the individual using it. In truth, the outcome may be suffering.  Unfortunately, this equation is used by individuals in authority, with resources and influence, to manipulate and coerce their own desired outcome. This is grooming. Teaching congregants, women, and children to submit for the purpose of controlling them and using them is wrong. The Bible word is "oppression" and God hates those who use His Word and character to subjugate others. 

Other Bible words for individuals who use "another gospel"--this prosperity gospel of "do this and you will get that" are: wolves in sheep's clothing, false teachers, dangerous reefs, shepherds who only look after themselves, waterless clouds, trees without fruit, wild waves of the sea, wandering stars, discontented grumblers who flatter others for their own advantage. (Jude)

Beware, my friends. When you see or hear someone teaching Dudley Do-Right philosophy, look more closely. What do they stand to gain? What are they trying to accomplish? Who or what is the wizard behind the veil? Don't believe the images on the screen until you know who's pulling the levers.

The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy, and say to them, ‘This is what the Lord God says to the shepherds: Woe to the shepherds of Israel, who have been feeding themselves! Shouldn’t the shepherds feed their flock? You eat the fat, wear the wool, and butcher the fattened animals, but you do not tend the flock. You have not strengthened the weak, healed the sick, bandaged the injured, brought back the strays, or sought the lost. Instead, you have ruled them with violence and cruelty. They were scattered for lack of a shepherd; they became food for all the wild animals when they were scattered. My flock went astray on all the mountains and every high hill. My flock was scattered over the whole face of the earth, and there was no one searching or seeking for them.

“‘Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord. As I live—this is the declaration of the Lord God—because my flock, lacking a shepherd, has become prey and food for every wild animal, and because my shepherds do not search for my flock, and because the shepherds feed themselves rather than my flock, therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord!

“‘This is what the Lord God says: Look, I am against the shepherds. I will demand my flock from them and prevent them from shepherding the flock. The shepherds will no longer feed themselves, for I will rescue my flock from their mouths so that they will not be food for them.

“‘For this is what the Lord God says: See, I myself will search for my flock and look for them. As a shepherd looks for his sheep on the day he is among his scattered flock, so I will look for my flock. I will rescue them from all the places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and total darkness. I will bring them out from the peoples, gather them from the countries, and bring them to their own soil. I will shepherd them on the mountains of Israel, in the ravines, and in all the inhabited places of the land. I will tend them in good pasture, and their grazing place will be on Israel’s lofty mountains. There they will lie down in a good grazing place; they will feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I will tend my flock and let them lie down. This is the declaration of the Lord God. I will seek the lost, bring back the strays, bandage the injured, and strengthen the weak, but I will destroy the fat and the strong. I will shepherd them with justice. (Ezekiel 34:1-16)