The Feel-Good Gospel

When you think of comfort food which is food typically with a high sugar and carbohydrate
content, your mouth may water anticipating the pleasure of eating it, but you do not consider the effect it can have on your body. You are already projecting your happiness from the temporary satisfaction it will bring you…and so you just eat it.

The soul, like the body, also needs refreshment and nourishment but these things only come from grace and truth which embody the tools of the new covenant. Grace and truth is what God commands us to only dine on for the soul’s sustenance because the equivalent of sugar and carbohydrates in the Spirit is the false knowledge that Satan has created from darkness to keep us addicted to the philosophies of this world for our reasoning on the meaning of life and purpose of our existence. To dine on (reason with) false knowledge corrupts the soul because false knowledge does not possess all the ingredients we need to know God and take on the likeness of Christ but it possesses Satan’s darkness.

If feels good to have an enlightened self-interest as we ponder the things of the signature (our uniqueness) to explore who we are, and it feels good to daydream about a better life and a better future. It also feels good to experience the drive of ambition to achieve our aspirations. It feels good and this why we think that these things are from God, because they bring us pleasure.

Would I be pulling the rug from under your feet to tell you all of the above are evil? All of these things are not of faith but are of the flesh and therefore do not save the soul when resourced for completion but rather corrupt it like comfort food corrupts the body because the contents are the powers of darkness (the fruits of iniquity Galatians 5:19-21).

Romans 14:23 reads, "And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin."

Here Apostle Paul was addressing the saints under his stewardship, teaching them how the things of need/ provisions of the flesh (the physical, emotional, social, economical) do not defile us but the knowledge of Satan which defiles the conscience causing it to struggle between faith and doubt.

If you were to eat pork with a defiled conscience, thinking that God condemns pork but feeling like enjoying succulent pork ribs, then you would not be eating of faith meaning your reasoning is with the wrong knowledge and this is what condemns the soul. Because whatever is less than Christ (shame) is sin (contrary to the new covenant) when we use it in attempt to gain peace, security, completion, and understanding.

What False Ministers Use to Comfort Believers

Is the Holy Spirit your comforter or is it seducing spirits? John 14:26 reads, “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”

Here Jesus was not saying that we do not need His stewardship because the Holy Spirit will teach us, and we need no man to teach us. Jesus’ stewardship is the holy men and women in the 5 callings who preach and teach His truth. God has always used people to steward His knowledge and the Comforter comforts us with the knowledge of Christ which we receive from true stewardship. He does not work apart from apostolic stewardship.

The definition of comfort we are working with here is “a state of mental or emotional contentment and satisfaction”. Because we are not referring to physical comfort.

 
When a minister starts telling you a story about himself and his experience, and then ties in the moral of the story with the scriptures, for example how he had faith like Abraham or overcame a challenge like David overcame Goliath or found strength in God like Samson, he is preaching a feel-good gospel which seducing spirits use to sympathize with your feelings and thus produce a pseudo comfort because we feel we can also overcome our valley experiences (unfavorable circumstances) to get back up to a mountain experience (favorable circumstances).

This pseudo comfort does not rest on our hope in Christ but on our hope in resolving the problems of the themes and issues of life. This is why unconverted believers continually struggle with doubt and double-mindedness (James 1:8) when their problems are not solved by God. The knowledge they were receiving felt good with their imagination (daydreaming) so they thought it must be from God, but their faith was built upon the sand (traditions of man also called false doctrines) and not the rock (foundation of truth) and so it fell into crisis (Matthew 7: 24-27).

As mentioned earlier, the Holy Spirit comforts us with the holy knowledge, the knowledge of Jesus Christ, which is delivered to the Church through apostolic stewardship. This is the true comfort because the soul (emotions) and the spirit (intellect) find consolation in the gifts that come from laboring with this knowledge and the conscience is settled in grace and truth as opposed to a form of correctness.

What is Credible Teaching?

Let’s be clear, the way the truth is taught by false ministers is fragmented. It is not the wholesome doctrine of Christ but half-truths which are ambiguous not clearly defining what grace is, what faith is, and what righteousness is, and other things we read in the Bible. The gospel of truth is definitive as these things are clearly defined by the Steward from God’s experience of them, but the Feel-Good gospel is emotionally charged as strong emotions, such as excitement, passion, anger, or enthusiasm, are present and influencing a minister’s communication to compensate for the lack of the witness of the Holy Spirit because the knowledge they are teaching is false (half-truths fall under false knowledge).

Teaching half-truths is deception as it does not yield the spiritual transformation promised. In his doctoral thesis Apostle Eric writes about how veracity is measured in light of its power meaning that if the knowledge we are reasoning with for faith does not yield spiritual transformation, then it is not truthful and therefore not credible. Half-truths do not define Christ clearly therefore the Holy Spirit does not enter this knowledge to establish Christ in our hearts.

When apostolic stewardship preaches and teaches the truth, the Holy Spirit confirms it with His presence and power impacting the soul with grace. The elders do not need to draw from their emotions to make the truth convincing because the Holy Spirit takes care of that. These teachings are therefore credible because the Holy Spirit uses them to effect spiritual transformation in the soul as believers allow them to influence their mind and emotions.

How Can Believers Identify the Truth?

A frequently asked question that unconverted believers pose, and even those of the world, every time when presented with a different frame of knowledge that they do not embrace is “How do you know that this is true?”

 
Most people question science, but a lot of people never question it (even false science) because they trust scientific research by scientists who are known to be credible because of their qualifications. We trust that our doctors will prescribe the right medication, that the food from the supermarket won’t kill us, and that the world is spherical. These things have been tried, tested, and proven and are evidence-based.

One reason that truth is evidence-based is because grace consistently and systematically opens it up to the understanding to inspire faith. Grace always accompanies truth to help us see Christ clearly. This happens 100% of the time. It’s just that most choose to reject the revelation of Jesus Christ.

When Jesus Christ is revealed as the Son of God and His purpose to redeem us is understood, know that you are in the presence of grace. Even as Peter experienced the grace of God when he said to Jesus, “You are the Christ!” (Matthew 16:16). Jesus then explained to Peter that he knew this by the revelation of the Spirit. The truth always bears this witness which carries with it tangible consequences.

It’s not truth when it references you to yourself. Grace is not present in knowledge that addresses your hopes and dreams, your pain and suffering, your natural gifts, talents, and skills, and the themes and issues of life. Seducing spirits affirm these things. Truth shows us God’s way of salvation and is the path we must follow to express faith in Christ. Truth is delivered by apostles who also maintain its integrity so that it is not lost to the Church.