Salvation Is Only By Abiding In the Everlasting Gospel

By Donald Werner

The word ‘gospel’ literally means good news. And, yes, we are saved by the ‘Gospel’ message. But, is that the ‘Gospel about Jesus’ based on Paul's letters, or is that the ‘Gospel given by Jesus’? The Gospel given by Jesus is the 'Everlasting Gospel' which we read in the Book of the Revelation 14:7. There are two distinct and contrary ‘gospel’ messages in the New Testament. These gospel messages are so contrary that they are mutually exclusive, we have to pick one or the other.
Why are there sharp contrasts between the two Gospel messages? Why are they mutually exclusive? Which one is the true gospel that will save us? That’s what we will examine in this book.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Feb 12, 2022
• ISBN: 9781678030223

Book preview

THE PREFACE

The word ‘gospel’ literally means good news.  And, yes, we are saved by the ‘Gospel of Jesus’. But, is that the ‘Gospel about Jesus’ or is that the ‘Gospel given by Jesus’?  There are two distinct ‘gospel’ messages in the New Testament and they are contrary to each other.  Only one of these two gospels will save us.

What is the difference between them?  The ‘Gospel about Jesus’ is all about the significance of what Jesus accomplished by his life, death and resurrection, and it simply calls on us to believe it and accept it.  It rejects the idea that faith needs to produce ‘good works’.  Those in the church are told that they are saved by the ‘Gospel about Jesus’, and being told that they just need to: ‘trust in Jesus’, ‘plead the blood’, ‘cling to the cross’, ‘say the sinner’s prayer’, ‘be baptized’, or believe the ‘good news about Jesus’.  This ‘gospel about Jesus’ has its roots in the Epistles of Paul.  This I will refer to as the ‘Pauline Gospel message’.

However, the other gospel, the ‘Gospel given by Jesus’ is in complete contrast to the ‘Gospel about Jesus’.  The ‘Gospel given by Jesus’ is from Jesus’ own words in the four gospel accounts of his life, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. And just to clarify it, so nobody can be confused, it is succinctly stated in one  verse in the Book of the Revelation, in Jesus’ own words.  Jesus refers to that gospel as the ‘Everlasting Gospel’ which we find in the Book of the Revelation 14:7. The ‘Everlasting Gospel’ doesn’t even mention Jesus, but rather it points us to YHVH God, and tells us to fear Him, glorify Him, and worship Him.

Why are there sharp contrasts between the two Gospel messages? Why are they mutually exclusive?  Which one is the true gospel that will save us?  That’s what we will examine in this book.

THE INTRODUCTION

The typical Christian Church’s gospel message is based on Paul’s Epistles and it reads similar to this, "Salvation is offered to mankind by grace through faith in the finished works of Christ on the cross (Ephesians 2:8-9) The gospel is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes, for the Jews first and also for the Gentiles (Romans 1:16)." Virtually every Christian Church ascribes to a Gospel message similar to this.

However, the Everlasting Gospel message according to YHVH (Yahoveh) and Jesus is in sharp contrast to the Pauline Gospel message, and it reads; Revelation 14:7 (NKJV), Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water. Why is that good news? This is good news to those whom it was addressed, the Gentile nations.  This Everlasting Gospel message is telling them that salvation is for everyone who will ‘fear God, give Him glory and worship Him alone’. It also identifies who God is; "Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water." That phrase is from the 4th Commandment, and it identifies YHVH as the God that is to be worshiped.  And, that was all very good news for the Gentiles who were without hope apart from any Gospel message and not even knowing who the true God is. They now understand that salvation is not just for YHVH God’s ‘chosen people’, it’s not just a Jewish thing, it’s for anyone who will: fear YHVH God, glorify YHVH God, and worship YHVH God alone.

This Everlasting Gospel message, originates from YHVH God, and it was given to John by Jesus. It is in sharp contrast to the Christian Church’s gospel message based on Paul’s Epistles – and they are so different that they are mutually exclusive, you have to pick one or the other.  Why the vast differences?  Before we can understand that, we have to understand Paul.  Why did he write the way he did?  Why did Jesus say that the Pharisees, and Paul was a Pharisee, were ‘lawless hypocrites’? That we’ll examine in Chapter 1 of this book and then it will make sense why there is such a contrast between what Paul wrote and YHVH’s Everlasting Gospel which we will examine in Chapter 2.

I have referred to the Everlasting Gospel as Jesus’ Gospel message and I have also referred to it as YHVH’s Gospel message.  Which is it?  Both, because according to the Scriptures (such as: Deuteronomy 18:18-19, Acts 3:22, Acts 7:37, John 12:29, 14:10) Jesus spoke YHVH’s words with YHVH’s authority.  So it is actually YHVH’s Everlasting Gospel which spoken by Jesus.

Donald Werner, [e-mail]

Chapter 1 – WHAT WE NEED TO KNOW ABOUT PAUL

When we study the New Testament Scriptures it becomes apparent that there are major differences between Jesus’ words and Paul’s words, i.e., Jesus’ gospel and Paul’s gospel.  The church has worked hard at trying to reconcile their words, but they can’t be reconciled.  The best the Church can do to deal with the differences between them by saying that one message supersedes the other.  And since Paul’s Epistles deal with a time after the cross, Paul’s Epistle messages are deemed as ‘New Covenant’ teachings, while Jesus’ pre-cross messages are generally deemed to be ‘Old Covenant’ teachings.  So when there is a conflict between these two messages, Jesus’ words is set aside, in favor of Paul’s words.  That’s not saying that Jesus’ words are completely rejected by the church, his teachings, his stories and his parables are taught and preached in and by the Christian Church, so long as they taught in a way that is compatible with Paul’s ‘New Covenant’ words.

Jesus told us to keep YHVH’s (YaHoVeH) Old Testament ‘law and the Prophets’, every jot and tittle until heaven and earth passes away.  And Jesus also ties keeping the law of God with salvation.  And Paul gives us 36 reasons why we don’t need to keep YHVH’s Old Testament law.  Simply put, those two messages are not compatible, they are polar opposites and we mentally can’t accept them both, so we all must set one aside.  It’s just as Jesus said, we can’t serve two masters – because sooner or later we will have to choose between them.  Unfortunately it’s Jesus’ message that gets set aside.

One would think that New Testament ‘the Gospel message’ would be drawn for Jesus’ words found in the four Gospel accounts of his life.  But, for a number of ‘bad’ reasons the Christian Church accepts Paul’s message over Jesus’ message. 

Every denomination then tries to boil down the Pauline Epistles in the New Testament into a short gospel message concerning salvation.  While ‘the gospel messages’ vary from denomination to denomination, they are all based on Paul’s words of salvation by grace through faith apart from the law and Paul’s understanding of Jesus’ finished work on the cross. 

According to the typical Christian Pauline gospel message, all that’s required for salvation, even for a wicked person, is to believe in Jesus and trust in Jesus’ work on the cross.  And that‘s a ‘gospel message’ which is void of any moral responsibilities, moral behavior, submission to God’s will, obedience to God’s law, repentance, or motivation to change.  Christians do value those attributes, but generally say that they are a result of salvation, not the means.

And it’s not the we earn our way to heaven by keeping God’s laws and commandments, but we have to balance that thought with the idea the those don’t keep God’s commandments and laws, are in rebellion against God’s divine authority.   When people reject God’s authority it’s because they are submitting to some other authority over God’s authority and that is idolatry.  By rejecting God’s laws, and the authority behind the laws, they are demonstrating a lack of love for God, a lack of fear of God, a lack of faith in His word, and greatly dishonoring God by their spurning of His divine authority.

It