The Day a One Sided Gospel Went Flying

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I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:

Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. Galatians 1: 6-7

As it so often happens this blog was inspired as I walked home through the city today. I was listening to the Kari Jobe song ‘Healer’

A few lines from the song…

“You hold my every moment

You calm my raging seas

You walk with me through fire

And you heal all my disease

I trust in you, I trust in you…”

As I offered up a few weakly prayers to God for my own healing, I noticed 3 men standing across from City Hall, surrounded by a large group of young boys on bikes. One of the men was holding a large sign that read in large print groups of people headed to hell. Another man was speaking through a bull horn and another held a Bible. It was surreal to see all the turmoil taking place as ‘Healer’ played in my ears.

Curious, I took out my earbuds out and crossed the street to join the onlookers to hear what was being preached.

From a distance, I could see the pavement absolutely covered in tracts and paper gospels of John everywhere, the trees behind the men were haphazardly littered with placards with scriptures on them and I soon found out why.

A little boy stood toe to toe with the man holding the sign of hellbound people.

“Where are your parents??!” The man asked accusingly to the boy.

There was no sign of Christian love on this man’s face.

I only saw hatred and disgust.

“Repent!!!” The call went out from the bullhorn to a crowd being stirred up into a frenzy of animosity.

One little boy in particular lunged at the man with the sign knocking it to the ground and the other boys began to scream and curse at the men.

The nanny in me, the born again believer in me-wanted to make a difference in that moment.

I reached out and gently tapped the little boy’s shoulder, “What’s your name?” I asked the boy

“My name is Samage…” the boy said gripping his bike and breaking away from me.

I watched as he went towards the man again, this time, he had picked up his bike to throw it at the man.

“Samage, don’t do that! You’re a good boy!” I called. Much to my surprise he paused and gave me a nod.

Our eyes met and in that moment my heart overflowed with compassion.

Would he do the right thing?

Samage continued to lead the assault after all with the crew of boys closing in on the men. A bike went flying, a grown man stepped to the man who had held the sign and pushed him so hard-he and another man had to retreat. Another fist full of tracts and gospels went flying through the air.

Only one of the men remained and he was holding a Bible. I felt compassion for him too, even though I really believe those men where preaching a gospel devoid of grace.

“This isn’t the way…” I said to him. I noticed he had a deep pink welp on his neck where one of the boys had thrown a scripture placard at his neck.

” I’m a born again believer and I just want to say, you guys can’t come down here and preach the gospel and leave out the love of God…” I said to the one man left standing.

Before we could have a conversation another wave of chaos errupted as the two other guys made their way back.

During all of this, two onlookers stood against the rails, arms crossed- watching the whole thing go down.

Finally, one of them spoke.

“You guys provoked those boys! If you told me, my parents were going hell- I would have beat the sh@!% out of too!” One of the men said, arms still crossed.

“Yeah, what the hell??” Asked the other onlooker guy.

This was one sad scene, I thought to myself, and bent to pick up some of the gospels of John.

Where the gospel goes out-balanced with both love and the truth of the need for one to repent from sins, there is healing! Sure there may be persecution but in this case-those men were beating people over the head with the gospel.

If leave out love and grace-you are preaching another gospel and that only brings destruction.

I know this from personal experience having been in a one person cult. I was left devoid of the grace and love of God and this person used guilt, fear and manipulation of the scriptures.

In fact, this person turned my cell phone into a weapon against my mind. I received texts and phone calls day and night saying God’s wrath was on me, I was causing this person to bleed, I was full of demons, I was put out of the church, God was through with me… My cell-phone was a gateway to a living nightmare and to this day- I struggle with fears associated to phone calls and texts.

This counterfeit gospel left me with no hope.

And although this was nearly 7 years ago, just recently I have been struggling with new after effects.

Leaving the chaos behind, I bent down and picked up a handful of gospels of John, intending to maybe hand them out on my walk home.

My Pastor has always said Christians ought to be winsome and I wholeheartedly agree! For that’s where the healing can begin.

If people feel loved, they are more likely to listen. But even more important, as true born again Christians, we ought not to try and make people feel loved- we ought to pray to God to give us true love and sincere love for people.

We are never to purposely provoke people with our faith and I believe that was what I witnessed today across from city hall.

God heals us so we can go out and be healing agents.

And I truly believe God is working to heal me from the left over trauma of being trapped in another gospel. Jesus will see me through…

When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you. Isaiah 43:2