The Doom and Gloom Gospel: The Other False Gospel We Must Avoid

I must start by making one point very clear: I am thoroughly and adamantly against the teachings of the “Prosperity Gospel” ( aka The Health and Wealth Gospel). This is a message that tells us God is akin to a big vending machine and that if only we would change our thought patterns and have more faith He will begin raining down bigger houses and fancier cars etc.  It is the idea that we are the centre and God exists to serve us. This “gospel” is not to be found in the New Testament and is theologically void – it is a false gospel.

Having said that, there is another type of false gospel I am against and, more importantly, that the Bible refutes. That is “The Doom and Gloom Gospel”. This message and pattern of thinking is characterized by fear, guilt, legalism, self-loathing and a general feeling of walking around in chains. It is something I’ve struggled with most of my life.

The thinking of the Doom and Gloom Gospel is fatalistic and I fear that many who have experienced it, in a knee jerk reaction, go running to the opposite extreme of the Prosperity Gospel.

Here are some Bible verses that define and teach against this unhealthy doom and gloom gospel:

1 John 4:18  There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.

2 Timothy  1:7  For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

Galatians 5:1  Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage

Romans 8:1  There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

Romans 8:3-32  What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?

And when I spoke of self-loathing above what I mean is that, although we may hate our flesh ( Romans 7) , we are not to hate our very being. Although we are commanded to die to self, we are not to hate ourselves – for that would be in direct contradiction to God, who loved us so dearly that He sent His only begotten Son to die for us.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the message, the “good news”, that we must seek. It is the only gospel that will deal with the harsh realities of life and still fill us with hope and joy and peace for present and eternity. This Gospel is set against the backdrop of our sinful, broken natures and world. It is the story of Jesus the Messiah, Son of God incarnate, who died as a substitutionary death for each of us, was buried and rose again on the third day as was attested by many witnesses and evidences ( 1 Corinthians 15: 3-8) As the oft referenced John 3:16 so simply and eloquently puts it:

John 3:16  For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Let us flee from the fallacies of both the Prosperity and the Doom and Gloom gospels and cling to the one true Gospel of Jesus Christ as clearly laid out in Scripture. Only here can we reconcile the martyrs of Mosul, the poor and persecuted around the globe and our own deep heart aches with the essential human needs for a lasting love and hope and joy.