The Anathema Curse Upon Those Who Preach a False Gospel
There is a very serious Anathema curse found in the Bible that is upon those who preach a false Gospel:
As we said before so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received let him be accursed [Anathema]. Gal 1:9
This says any man, not any believer. So the false preacher referred to here could be a believer or an unbeliever.
Other than dying in ones sins (having departed from this life having failed to ever place faith in Jesus), preaching a false Gospel is the worst active sin that a person can commit. Even very serious high-order sins such as adultery and murder do not carry an Anathema curse in the Bible. So why am I saying this? To somehow lessen the importance of avoiding other sins? Of course not! I am pointing this out to show just how utterly evil and incredibly bad of a sin it is to preach a false Gospel! There really is no issue more serious for the believer. Yet so few Christians take this subject seriously. Few care in the least or bother to take even the basic necessary precautions to make absolutely sure that they are not inadvertently holding to or teaching a false gospel. This can only be accomplished by making sure one's salvation doctrines are correct and free of any works-additions or other additions or subtractions from the true Gospel message of faith alone in Christ alone. Of course I am only referring to those who actually care to share their faith. There are many Christians who never even attempt to share the Gospel with anyone. And for those whose "sharing of their faith" would mean the preaching of a false gospel, it is actually quite a good thing that they remains silent! Thank God they don't share their "faith" !
The good news here is one is not a heretic until they teach heresy. So for all you who have believed a false works-gospel and have kept your mouth shut up until this point, well that's actually a good thing. Thank God you did not “share your faith” or lack thereof with anyone and create anti-fruit (false converts). Sure, it is very problematic to believe a heresy, but even so, that does not make one a heretic and so even that does not carry an Anathema curse. The real problems begin when someone teaches their heresy and begins to affect others. That is what officially makes one a heretic. (And it would be far better for such a person to sit on their couch watching TV and doing absolutely nothing with their life than running around making false converts.)
All kinds of genuine Christians have inadvertently preached a false Gospel and none of them have lost their salvation in doing so. Even though preaching a false Gospel is Anathema and cursed with a curse, it is not the unforgivable sin of dying in one's sins having failed to ever place trust in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins. Preaching a false gospel is not going to send a true Christian to hell, but it may cost him or her some additional rewards at the judgement seat of Christ. Christians who repent of preaching a false Gospel are fully restored into right fellowship with the Lord, freed from further ravages of the Anathema curse rendering their spiritual life work worthless. And once they are no longer inadvertently working for the devil, from that point on they can live effective lives producing fruit for God's Kingdom instead.
The simple Gospel message of faith alone in Christ alone is why I believe that upon a heretical Christian's recognition and acknowledgment of their error of teaching a false gospel, upon their repentance this curse will be reversed, especially when they publicly correct their teachings and publish material to the contrary. There may not be many if any major eternal repercussions such as any major loss of additional rewards for the truly repentant heretic. Since Christ died for all of our sins past, present and future we know that even the heretical teachings of a Christian will be forgiven and may even be overlooked as well at the Judgment Seat of Christ where the deeds of the believer are examined and rewarded (or not rewarded) accordingly. Of course I cannot say for sure. There is no way to know for sure in this life, but I believe there is hope for a non-damaged eternity in heaven for Christians who make this mistake. There are just too many Christians engaging in this error to think otherwise.
What do I mean by a damaged eternity? Well we know that all Christians will go to heaven, but there are varying additional rewards that the Scriptures describe that are based on how well a Christian has lived their life according to God's will, as clearly outlined in the Bible. Any loss of additional rewards that a Christian would have had, had they not engaged in preaching a false Gospel, could have eternal repercussions where that person's eternity is in a sense “damaged” because that reward that they would have had will never be realized and enjoyed.
This does not necessarily mean that there won't be lasting repercussions for unrepentant Christian false teachers. We know that there are many victims who have believed a false Gospel and are therefore lost forever because they never eventually came to faith in Christ afterward.
Regardless, a person who preaches a false Gospel curses themselves (and any hearers who believe them) in many diverse and profound ways. There are some serious far-reaching effects of preaching a false Gospel, not the least of which is the prevention of someone's salvation. But also believing a false Gospel can have a kind of “trickle down effect” that can corrupt other doctrines due to gross misinterpretations and misapplications of other Scriptures. In fact, a false Gospel can often be found as the root cause of many false teachings on a variety of diverse subjects and lesser doctrinal issues.
Is It Really Possible For a True Christian to Preach a False Gospel?
One might ask how a true Christians could ever remotely preach a false Gospel; wouldn't that mean they are unsaved because they believe a false gospel? No, not if they started off trusting Christ in childlike faith at the beginning, only to be side swiped later on by a false teacher and thereby shipwrecked in the faith that they once had. Such a person is still a Christian, for salvation once gained cannot be lost and no one can snatch any Christian out of the hands of Jesus, not even that person. But that Christian is nevertheless in a very bad place in their earthly life, in dire need of repentance.
Ironically most of the self-righteous finger-pointing holier-than-thou preachers in pulpits all over the world and on the Internet are heretical hypocrites guilty of the dirtiest sin of all – preaching a false Gospel! Yet they come across to their congregations and audiences as squeaky clean, all while habitually committing the worse sin of all, a far worse sin than adultery or murder. Yet if they were discovered to be engaged in an adulterous affair, many churches would swiftly remove such a man, all while missing the much larger sin right in their midst.
I understand that a lot of these religious people don't want undesirable, sinful, dirty and unsavory people sitting in the chairs or pews of their “churches” and so they try to make salvation more difficult to obtain, more complicated and more exclusive in order to weed out those people. Hence these Gospel “fixers” suddenly become heretics out-of-nowhere or carry on the heresies of their seminaries, Bible schools or their predecessors, such as a former now-retired pastor.
But what is even more incredible is that these same false teachers don't realize that THEY are not only the exact same sinful undesirables that they want to weed out of their congregations (or better yet, not even let in the door in the first place), they are even worse! Because to corrupt the Gospel and spread false teachings about salvation is an ANATHEMA CURSED WITH A CURSE offense in the Bible. Personal sins, although important to correct and cease from doing, are simply not of that caliber. Even the most egregious active sins in the Bible, those worthy of putting the offending Christian out of the church pending their hoped-for-repentance, none of those carry any mention of an Anathema curse. This verse is so important, it is worth repeating twice in the same article, which is something I rarely do:
As we said before so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received let him be accursed [Anathema]. Gal 1:9
The Heretic Must Be Removed From The Pupit
This is not a petty offence. Nevertheless and again, the good news for any genuine Christian "heretic" is that an Anathema curse is on their life, but it does not cost them their eternity in heaven, but as I mentioned it may cost them some additional rewards. Regardless, excommunication from the local church for such a person is surely and obviously warranted pending their repentance (which is rarely forthcoming). Why should such a person be put out of the local assembly? Well, we know that the Bible commands (in a number of places) that unrepentant adulterers and those engaging in other grievous sins, be put out of the local church and avoided pending their repentance, how much more should an Anathema cursed heretic be avoided! (I have given these Scriptures in other articles so I will not repeat them here in the interest of time, but I may add them to this article later.)
Ironically the elder boards of some churches, while rightfully on the look out for unrepentant habitual fornicators and adulterers that could corrupt and ruin the flock, they totally miss the full blown Anathema-cursed false teacher that remains in their pulpits and they even pay the lousy fraud to be there! It's ludicrous, madness beyond madness. Of course there are also lots of churches today that don't care at all about sin in their midst. They are all about producing a stage show and collecting money to pay expenses, salaries and the unnecessary mortgages on their unnecessary buildings (and wow, how those people tend to love their buildings! But what's a king without a kingdom?).
But even in the midst all this insanity, the excommunication of a Christian heretic from the overall priesthood of believers is not warranted nor is it even possible. This is because, as I mentioned previously, salvation once gained cannot be lost, no not even for a Christian who eventually turns heretical. I know just the idea of a Christian heretic sounds like an oxymoron but it's not. It's not only quite possible for a Christian to be a heretic, it's quite common. These people are everywhere, all over the Internet and in churches all over the world, causing trouble everywhere.
Actually, it is quite easy even for a Christian to come under the power of a false teacher and be swayed into believing and propagating a false theology especially regarding salvation. It is also not uncommon for a false convert to preach heresy and later repent and believe the real Gospel and become saved.
False teachers disagree with me. Those who wish to manipulate and control people disagree with this truth. The fear of loss of salvation or the fear that one may not really be saved to begin with (due to some personal insufficiency) is a VERY powerful motivator and false teachers demonstrate their adeptness at wielding this incredibly evil sword.
ChristiansFree.com
There is a very serious Anathema curse found in the Bible that is upon those who preach a false Gospel:
As we said before so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received let him be accursed [Anathema]. Gal 1:9
This says any man, not any believer. So the false preacher referred to here could be a believer or an unbeliever.
Other than dying in ones sins (having departed from this life having failed to ever place faith in Jesus), preaching a false Gospel is the worst active sin that a person can commit. Even very serious high-order sins such as adultery and murder do not carry an Anathema curse in the Bible. So why am I saying this? To somehow lessen the importance of avoiding other sins? Of course not! I am pointing this out to show just how utterly evil and incredibly bad of a sin it is to preach a false Gospel! There really is no issue more serious for the believer. Yet so few Christians take this subject seriously. Few care in the least or bother to take even the basic necessary precautions to make absolutely sure that they are not inadvertently holding to or teaching a false gospel. This can only be accomplished by making sure one's salvation doctrines are correct and free of any works-additions or other additions or subtractions from the true Gospel message of faith alone in Christ alone. Of course I am only referring to those who actually care to share their faith. There are many Christians who never even attempt to share the Gospel with anyone. And for those whose "sharing of their faith" would mean the preaching of a false gospel, it is actually quite a good thing that they remains silent! Thank God they don't share their "faith" !
The good news here is one is not a heretic until they teach heresy. So for all you who have believed a false works-gospel and have kept your mouth shut up until this point, well that's actually a good thing. Thank God you did not “share your faith” or lack thereof with anyone and create anti-fruit (false converts). Sure, it is very problematic to believe a heresy, but even so, that does not make one a heretic and so even that does not carry an Anathema curse. The real problems begin when someone teaches their heresy and begins to affect others. That is what officially makes one a heretic. (And it would be far better for such a person to sit on their couch watching TV and doing absolutely nothing with their life than running around making false converts.)
All kinds of genuine Christians have inadvertently preached a false Gospel and none of them have lost their salvation in doing so. Even though preaching a false Gospel is Anathema and cursed with a curse, it is not the unforgivable sin of dying in one's sins having failed to ever place trust in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins. Preaching a false gospel is not going to send a true Christian to hell, but it may cost him or her some additional rewards at the judgement seat of Christ. Christians who repent of preaching a false Gospel are fully restored into right fellowship with the Lord, freed from further ravages of the Anathema curse rendering their spiritual life work worthless. And once they are no longer inadvertently working for the devil, from that point on they can live effective lives producing fruit for God's Kingdom instead.
The simple Gospel message of faith alone in Christ alone is why I believe that upon a heretical Christian's recognition and acknowledgment of their error of teaching a false gospel, upon their repentance this curse will be reversed, especially when they publicly correct their teachings and publish material to the contrary. There may not be many if any major eternal repercussions such as any major loss of additional rewards for the truly repentant heretic. Since Christ died for all of our sins past, present and future we know that even the heretical teachings of a Christian will be forgiven and may even be overlooked as well at the Judgment Seat of Christ where the deeds of the believer are examined and rewarded (or not rewarded) accordingly. Of course I cannot say for sure. There is no way to know for sure in this life, but I believe there is hope for a non-damaged eternity in heaven for Christians who make this mistake. There are just too many Christians engaging in this error to think otherwise.
What do I mean by a damaged eternity? Well we know that all Christians will go to heaven, but there are varying additional rewards that the Scriptures describe that are based on how well a Christian has lived their life according to God's will, as clearly outlined in the Bible. Any loss of additional rewards that a Christian would have had, had they not engaged in preaching a false Gospel, could have eternal repercussions where that person's eternity is in a sense “damaged” because that reward that they would have had will never be realized and enjoyed.
This does not necessarily mean that there won't be lasting repercussions for unrepentant Christian false teachers. We know that there are many victims who have believed a false Gospel and are therefore lost forever because they never eventually came to faith in Christ afterward.
Regardless, a person who preaches a false Gospel curses themselves (and any hearers who believe them) in many diverse and profound ways. There are some serious far-reaching effects of preaching a false Gospel, not the least of which is the prevention of someone's salvation. But also believing a false Gospel can have a kind of “trickle down effect” that can corrupt other doctrines due to gross misinterpretations and misapplications of other Scriptures. In fact, a false Gospel can often be found as the root cause of many false teachings on a variety of diverse subjects and lesser doctrinal issues.
Is It Really Possible For a True Christian to Preach a False Gospel?
One might ask how a true Christians could ever remotely preach a false Gospel; wouldn't that mean they are unsaved because they believe a false gospel? No, not if they started off trusting Christ in childlike faith at the beginning, only to be side swiped later on by a false teacher and thereby shipwrecked in the faith that they once had. Such a person is still a Christian, for salvation once gained cannot be lost and no one can snatch any Christian out of the hands of Jesus, not even that person. But that Christian is nevertheless in a very bad place in their earthly life, in dire need of repentance.
Ironically most of the self-righteous finger-pointing holier-than-thou preachers in pulpits all over the world and on the Internet are heretical hypocrites guilty of the dirtiest sin of all – preaching a false Gospel! Yet they come across to their congregations and audiences as squeaky clean, all while habitually committing the worse sin of all, a far worse sin than adultery or murder. Yet if they were discovered to be engaged in an adulterous affair, many churches would swiftly remove such a man, all while missing the much larger sin right in their midst.
I understand that a lot of these religious people don't want undesirable, sinful, dirty and unsavory people sitting in the chairs or pews of their “churches” and so they try to make salvation more difficult to obtain, more complicated and more exclusive in order to weed out those people. Hence these Gospel “fixers” suddenly become heretics out-of-nowhere or carry on the heresies of their seminaries, Bible schools or their predecessors, such as a former now-retired pastor.
But what is even more incredible is that these same false teachers don't realize that THEY are not only the exact same sinful undesirables that they want to weed out of their congregations (or better yet, not even let in the door in the first place), they are even worse! Because to corrupt the Gospel and spread false teachings about salvation is an ANATHEMA CURSED WITH A CURSE offense in the Bible. Personal sins, although important to correct and cease from doing, are simply not of that caliber. Even the most egregious active sins in the Bible, those worthy of putting the offending Christian out of the church pending their hoped-for-repentance, none of those carry any mention of an Anathema curse. This verse is so important, it is worth repeating twice in the same article, which is something I rarely do:
As we said before so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received let him be accursed [Anathema]. Gal 1:9
The Heretic Must Be Removed From The Pupit
This is not a petty offence. Nevertheless and again, the good news for any genuine Christian "heretic" is that an Anathema curse is on their life, but it does not cost them their eternity in heaven, but as I mentioned it may cost them some additional rewards. Regardless, excommunication from the local church for such a person is surely and obviously warranted pending their repentance (which is rarely forthcoming). Why should such a person be put out of the local assembly? Well, we know that the Bible commands (in a number of places) that unrepentant adulterers and those engaging in other grievous sins, be put out of the local church and avoided pending their repentance, how much more should an Anathema cursed heretic be avoided! (I have given these Scriptures in other articles so I will not repeat them here in the interest of time, but I may add them to this article later.)
Ironically the elder boards of some churches, while rightfully on the look out for unrepentant habitual fornicators and adulterers that could corrupt and ruin the flock, they totally miss the full blown Anathema-cursed false teacher that remains in their pulpits and they even pay the lousy fraud to be there! It's ludicrous, madness beyond madness. Of course there are also lots of churches today that don't care at all about sin in their midst. They are all about producing a stage show and collecting money to pay expenses, salaries and the unnecessary mortgages on their unnecessary buildings (and wow, how those people tend to love their buildings! But what's a king without a kingdom?).
But even in the midst all this insanity, the excommunication of a Christian heretic from the overall priesthood of believers is not warranted nor is it even possible. This is because, as I mentioned previously, salvation once gained cannot be lost, no not even for a Christian who eventually turns heretical. I know just the idea of a Christian heretic sounds like an oxymoron but it's not. It's not only quite possible for a Christian to be a heretic, it's quite common. These people are everywhere, all over the Internet and in churches all over the world, causing trouble everywhere.
Actually, it is quite easy even for a Christian to come under the power of a false teacher and be swayed into believing and propagating a false theology especially regarding salvation. It is also not uncommon for a false convert to preach heresy and later repent and believe the real Gospel and become saved.
False teachers disagree with me. Those who wish to manipulate and control people disagree with this truth. The fear of loss of salvation or the fear that one may not really be saved to begin with (due to some personal insufficiency) is a VERY powerful motivator and false teachers demonstrate their adeptness at wielding this incredibly evil sword.
ChristiansFree.com