The apostle Paul opens his epistle to the Galatian Christians with stern criticism. Written in the early AD 50s, this book describes a situation occurring in the church not even twenty years after Christ's death! In less than two decades, Jesus' message had been perverted to something that, to Paul, no longer announced "good tidings."
The specifics of this Galatian perversion are not important in this context, but the principle that we can derive from it is: Any alteration, any shift of focus, from Jesus' original announcement changes the message from one of good to bad news. A change in the gospel changes its goal, which means believers will arrive some place other than the Kingdom of God! How vital it is that we follow the true gospel of God!
The church of God has the same source of Christ's gospel as the rest of the "Christian" world, the Holy Bible. Why, then, is the gospel we preach so different from the Protestant and Catholic gospels? There could be many answers to this question, but every one boils down to one point, mentioned by Jesus in Mark 1:15: We "believe in the gospel" He preached. We believe time is short. We believe that Christ will establish the Kingdom of God soon. We believe that we should repent and do so as a way of life. We believe Christ's message by living it in faith.
Other churches may say they also believe and live in faith. Do they? Jesus says in Matthew 7:16, "You will know them by their fruits." This is the easiest way to spot those who follow a false gospel:
» Do they try to live by every word of God?
» Do they tremble before God's Word?
» Do they keep God's commandments (all of them)?
» Do they repent of and strive to overcome their failings?
» Do they show a steady growth in character?
» Do they focus on the Kingdom of God?
» Do they prioritize their lives with God first?
» Do they focus their teaching on the message He proclaimed?
» Do they exhibit genuine love for the brethren?
Depending on our understanding and viewpoint, it is likely that no one person or group will pass or fail all of these questions. "For we all stumble in many things" (James 3:2). However, if we are to judge righteously in the matter of whom we choose to fellowship with, we ourselves need to have a thorough grasp of the true gospel.
