Tuesday, March 22, 2011

The Gospel of Inclusion and Confusion


President Richard Mouw of Fuller Theological Seminary is helping us to better understand the full implications of the emerging gospel of Rob Bell. President Mouw defends Bell's gospel with these words: "Did Mother Teresa go to hell? My guess is that she was a little confused about justification by faith alone. If you think that means she went to hell, I have only one response: shame on you." Mouw also writes this regarding the doctrine of justification: "Of course a person can be saved without having the right theology about justification by faith."

An obvious question for Richard Mouw and Rob Bell is this: Did Mother Teresa go to heaven according to your gospel even if she was trusting in her acts of mercy to earn her way into heaven? The President of the world's largest Protestant seminary is wading into this central issue of justification which goes back 500 years to the Reformation itself. It actually goes back 2000 years to the days when the "Judaizers" were preaching their own gospel of confusion as spelled out in the book of Galatians. Rob Bell's gospel of inclusion and Richard Mouw's gospel of confusion are one in the same. Is their message "a different gospel," (Galatians 1:6) or is it "the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints." (Jude 1:3) Is it the same gospel that the reformers taught? Much hangs upon their further explanation of their gospel.

These are the words of the Holy Spirit on the issue as given to us by the Apostle Paul: "I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel- which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!" (Galatians 1:6-9)

In other words, the Judaizer gospel of confusion produced no living relationship with Christ but only spiritual confusion in the hearts of those who followed it. It was a different gospel. It kept those out of heaven who adopted it and never repented of their doctrinal error. If you think that sounds harsh, listen to more truth from the Holy Spirit on the matter:

To read more, click here.

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