Those who struggle to understand the gospel are on even “better ground” than those who believe they are standing in the truth but couldn’t be more wrong. It becomes especially dangerous when misguided believers stubbornly persist in their course.
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The “difficult understanding”
While gaining an understanding of the gospel is possible with the help or power of God, it is anything but self-evident. As Paul explained in 1 Corinthians 2:14,
“But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”
The Gospel is generally dismissed as a fairytale book of ancient patriarchs and their personal impressions. “Their experiences with their(!) God,” even as the former chair of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) put it during an NDR podcast.
For this reason, truly religious people, guided by the Holy Spirit, are often met with pitying ridicule by the “academically inclined,” because the Spirit is so dependent on superstition. After all, everything must be explained rationally, according to the law of cause and effect.
The fact that this supposed law is of Hellenistic origin and can therefore be considered a philosophy, however, is simply ignored. In any case, those who reject the spiritual will also be unable to understand the spiritual, and certainly not those who treat it that way, 1 Corinthians 2:13:
“Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.”
Direct rejection or error
The “simple and clear case” is when God and His Gospel are rejected outright. However, it is problematic to profess the Gospel but draw completely false conclusions from it and adhere to correspondingly false doctrines. “A close call isn’t the bottom line,” in other words, “almost saved is still eternally lost.”
Anyone who clings to a false doctrine without the openness or willingness to correct a self-recognized error ultimately maneuvers themselves into a dead end with no possibility of reversal. For this knowledge of (actual) truth does not come from anywhere, but is the Spirit of God working on the conscience. If this Spirit is stubbornly rejected, however, one deals oneself the worst possible hand.
The “Favorite Mistakes”
The most popular misconceptions include the belief in:
– an eternally burning hell (Info)
– purgatory
– the soul’s journey to heaven or hell after death
– one’s own good human morality (Info)
– abolished commandments of God (Info)
– an immortal soul (Info)
The idea of a soul that leaves the deceased body and has a continuing, even immortal, life of its own is the root of many other heresies. Without this “immortal soul,” scenarios such as eternal hell, purgatory, and immediate ascension to heaven would be unthinkable. Such a “don’t care” attitude can be particularly encouraged by the false belief that there is another chance for improvement.
Supposed second chance
Such a second chance would arise from another very widespread heresy: the ominous pre-rapture of Christians before the “coming Antichrist” causes a seven-year period of tribulation. However, such predictions are nowhere to be found in the Bible (Info).
Plain speaking about stubbornness
The variations of errors fueled solely by individual verse excerpts are almost overwhelming. Anyone who clings to them, regardless of the false doctrine or combination thereof, has automatically only brushed past the truth of the gospel, but not found it within it. Ellen G. White had an apt comment on this in one of her numerous letters.
“Those who turn from the truth to fables can look for no second probation. There will be no temporal millennium. If, after the Holy Spirit has brought conviction to their hearts, they resist the truth, and use their influence to block the way so that others will not receive it, they will never be convinced. They did not seek for transformation of character in the probation given them, and Christ will not give them opportunity to pass over the ground again.
The decision is a final one. This is why I am so anxious that every one of the Wessels family shall seek the Lord while He is to be found and call upon Him while He is near. He says, “Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God; for he will abundantly pardon.” [Isaiah 55:7]”
(Letter 25, 1900)
This is not an unknown phenomenon, as Jesus Christ had similarly confronted the Pharisees and rebuked them for exactly the same reason of stubbornness, Matthew 23:13:
“But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.“
Approach the Gospel with complete impartiality
Therefore, revisit the Gospel, especially the “already known” passages, which repeatedly serve to confirm one’s own erroneous narratives, and study them with complete impartiality. Above all, however, understand them in the context of the preceding and subsequent events. Don’t force your own thoughts on them; leave them open for now, because the right answer will surely come with further study of the Bible. Open-hearted and “unconditioned,” like children, Matthew 18:3:
“And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.“
There will be no second chance. That would also be unfair to those who weren’t “lucky” enough to live in the right place at the right time. And such injustice would directly contradict the character of God (Info).
All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, which say, The evil shall not overtake nor prevent us.
Amos 9:10
Bible verses from King James Version (1611)
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