The Gospel of Self

By Pastor Anton Bosch

"This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves,..."
(1 Timothy 3:1-2a) [emphasis added]

We seldom take notice, when things change very slowly. I am sure you know the story (probably an urban legend) that if you threw a frog in a pot of boiling water, it would immediately jump out of the water, but if it is put into the pot when the water is cold and the water is gradually heated, it will stay there until it is dead.

The Gospel in the western world has gradually been changed over the past 50 (or more) years so that what is believed to be the gospel today is no longer the true Gospel but a false gospel which differs substantially and dramatically from the true Gospel. But because the changes have been brought in gradually, no one seems to have noticed.

Paul mostly just refers to the Gospel as “the gospel” meaning that there is no other gospel, and assuming that his readers understand what the term means. But about 30 times he calls the gospel “the gospel of Christ” (Romans 1:16; 1Corinthians 9:12 etc.) or “the gospel of God” (Romans 1:1; 1Thessalonians 2:2 etc.). In fact, Mark opens his gospel with “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (Mark 1:1).

By calling it the “gospel of Christ” the writers of the New Testament are saying that the Gospel is about Jesus Christ, it is founded in, and by, Him. It is completed in, and by, Him. And He is the object and center of the Gospel. Nowhere is this clearer than in Paul's explicit definition of the gospel:

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How to Change America

How to Change the World
An Editorial by Pastor Anton Bosch

Everybody wants change. People want the way the city and the country is governed to change, and people want changes in their churches. President Obama won the presidency on the slogan “change you can believe in,” and currently every political candidate of every party in America is promising change. Many Christians and churches are actively campaigning for change in the country. There is no question that things need to change, but the question is how is that change going to be achieved and by whom?

Everybody expects change to come from the top. The President and the Pastor must change the country and the church. And if they can’t do it, then we need to get the right man in the job that will make the changes we need. But the truth is that leaders cannot bring about change when the people refuse to change.

Moses was the greatest spiritual and the greatest political leader of all time but in spite of all his gifts, skills and anointing could not get the people to change from a nation of fearful slaves to a victorious people of God. This left God with only one option and that was to destroy that whole generation. It is no different today. Even if Moses came back as the leader of this nation or of your church, he would not be able to make the people change if they did not change themselves.

The Leader is not the people. The Pastor is not the church and the President is not the nation. The ability and desire to change lies with each individual and change in the church and the country will not come until we, the people, begin to change.

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