From the author's perspective the answer to Are We Preaching "Another" Gospel? is a resounding, "Yes." "It isn't that we don't understand the basic tenants of Christianity," she writes, "but that we have added to them." We used to joyfully proclaim, "Christianity isn't a religion. It's a relationship with Jesus Christ," but if this is so, then why are so many Christians today "miserable"? Why do they have a sense that God is far off or lack confidence that He loves them? What happened to the joy they knew "the hour they first believed"? Why does their "relationship" with Jesus actually seem more like a "religion"-a very difficult, demanding, and unsatisfying religion? Why are so many believers, even though they love Jesus with all of their hearts, giving up on "church" or simply attending out of duty or tradition? The answers to these questions found in the content of this book are challenging-not that they are difficult to understand-but that our long-held traditions and false beliefs which keep getting passed on from generation to generation stand in our way of perceiving the truth. Jesus said that knowing the truth would set us free, but if our teaching nullifies that truth, bondage follows. So it is reasonable for us, the church, to consider whether or not what we teach is the "grace of Christ" that sets believers free or whether we are preaching "another" gospel which is tying God's people in hundreds of painful and complicated knots. So, let the journey begin toward rediscovering the "gospel of the grace of God" (Acts 20:24)! Be prepared to be stretched, challenged, and then set free into the glorious good news of your relationship with God.
From the author's perspective the answer to Are We Preaching "Another" Gospel? is a resounding, "Yes." "It isn't that we don't understand the basic tenants of Christianity," she writes, "but that we have added to them." We used to joyfully proclaim, "Christianity isn't a religion. It's a relationship with Jesus Christ," but if this is so, then why are so many Christians today "miserable"? Why do they have a sense that God is far off or lack confidence that He loves them? What happened to the joy they knew "the hour they first believed"? Why does their "relationship" with Jesus actually seem more like a "religion"-a very difficult, demanding, and unsatisfying religion? Why are so many believers, even though they love Jesus with all of their hearts, giving up on "church" or simply attending out of duty or tradition? The answers to these questions found in the content of this book are challenging-not that they are difficult to understand-but that our long-held traditions and false beliefs which keep getting passed on from generation to generation stand in our way of perceiving the truth. Jesus said that knowing the truth would set us free, but if our teaching nullifies that truth, bondage follows. So it is reasonable for us, the church, to consider whether or not what we teach is the "grace of Christ" that sets believers free or whether we are preaching "another" gospel which is tying God's people in hundreds of painful and complicated knots. So, let the journey begin toward rediscovering the "gospel of the grace of God" (Acts 20:24)! Be prepared to be stretched, challenged, and then set free into the glorious good news of your relationship with God.
