Book Review: Counterfeit Gospels by Trevin Wax

What is the Gospel?
 

How can a 2000 year old story relate to a modern multicultural age that consists of Smart phones, Ipads, and High-speed internet?

In the church as a whole today, it is hard to hear the true gospel. Almost every message preached is focused on "felt" needs. We have sold our birthright for a bowl of porridge.

In his book, Trevin Wax shows a list of Gospel counterfeits:


The Therapeutic Gospel - God can make me happy. Instead of sin, my problem is lack of self-esteem. Another thing this gospel proclaims is, "Come to Jesus and he will fix your problems. In truth, God does make us joyful, but this isn't the true gospel. Joy is a byproduct of the true Gospel, but not the Gospel itself. God will not fix all of our problems just because we are saved.


The Judgmentless Gospel - Everyone is going to heaven. In this age no one wants to think about death and where we will spend eternity. This false gospel removes all thoughts of standing before God in judgment.

The Moralistic Gospel - God wants us to be good. This false gospel says that God just wants us to live right. He wants to make us better people. The real Gospel says we can't live right until God changes us and that being good isn't what gets us to heaven. We live right because we have been saved, not the other way around.

The Quietist Gospel - Salvation should only effect the individual. This false gospel says salvation is not to effect community. Christians should not be involved in the world of politics. They should focus on their individual selves.

The Activist Gospel - The gospel is only there to make the world a better place. This false gospel seeks change in our society. There is nothing wrong with that, but both conservatives and liberals use Jesus to promote their agendas.

The Churchless Gospel - You don't have to go to church to be a christian. This false gospel says as long as you read your bible and listen to a service on the radio, you are OK. In reality the bible tells us not to forsake assembling ourselves together.


When we share the Gospel, we should present the whole biblical story. Wax says we need to present four key questions:
1. How did it all begin? (Creation.)
2. What went wrong? (Fall.)
3. Can anything be done? (Rescue.)
4. What will the future hold? (Restoration.)

I enjoyed this book. It really gave me something to think about, especially when sharing the gospel to unbelievers.

I give it 4 stars.

*This book was provided free by Moody Publishers for the purpose of an honest review.