It is really important to grasp the severity of God’s anger towards His people when they follow other gods. It is equally important when talking about other gods to understand that following other gospels is the same as following other gods and will and has drawn God’s anger towards the church. All you have to do is search for “other gods” in the Old Testament and you will see for yourself God’s response to this disobedience. God’s people were told Deuteronomy 5:6 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 7 “You shall have no other gods before me.” Deuteronomy 8:19 “If you ever forget the Lord your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed. 20 Like the nations the Lord destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the Lord your God.” Deuteronomy 28:14 “Do not turn aside from any of the commands I give you today, to the right or to the left, following other gods and serving them.” Then we see a long list of what happens if you do not obey. (Also read Leviticus 26) Deuteronomy 31:18 “And I will certainly hide my face in that day because of all their wickedness in turning to other gods.” Joshua 23:16 “If you violate the covenant of the Lord your God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them, the Lord’s anger will burn against you, and you will quickly perish from the good land he has given you.” God told Solomon 1 Kings 9:4 “As for you, if you walk before me faithfully with integrity of heart and uprightness, as David your father did, and do all I command and observe my decrees and laws, 5 I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father when I said, ‘You shall never fail to have a successor on the throne of Israel.’ 6 “But if you or your descendants turn away from me and do not observe the commands and decrees I have given you and go off to serve other gods and worship them, 7 then I will cut off Israel from the land I have given them and will reject this temple I have consecrated for my Name. Israel will then become a byword and an object of ridicule among all peoples. 8 This temple will become a heap of rubble. All who pass by will be appalled and will scoff and say, ‘Why has the Lord done such a thing to this land and to this temple?’ 9 People will answer, ‘Because they have forsaken the Lord their God, who brought their ancestors out of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, worshiping and serving them—that is why the Lord brought all this disaster on them.’”
This is about following the commands of God. If we do not follow, it means we are following other gods, it is that simple. Adam and Eve did not obey, and death came as a result. Israel did not obey and followed other gods and destruction and desolation came on them. In the end they were vomited from the land just as God said they would be. One of the biggest deceptions in the church today is that the Old Testament does not apply to the church, so many just basically ignore what is being said, if they even read it, and disregard all the warnings. satan understands that if the church does not comprehend what will happen if we disobey, he will win your soul and you will be defeated not just on this earth but for all eternity. Do you really think that the God who does not change, suddenly doesn’t mind if you do not obey? Scripture says otherwise. God’s people refused to obey and did not listen and now the same has happened to the church. Nehemiah 9:29 “You warned them in order to turn them back to your law, but they became arrogant and disobeyed your commands. They sinned against your ordinances, of which you said, ‘The person who obeys them will live by them.’ Stubbornly they turned their backs on you, became stiff-necked and refused to listen. 30 For many years you were patient with them. By your Spirit you warned them through your prophets. Yet they paid no attention, so you gave them into the hands of the neighboring peoples.” The church has done the same even though Jesus warned us when He said do not be deceived.
By following false teachers and preachers, the church has turned away from the truth. We were told Malachi 2:7 “the lips of a priest ought to preserve knowledge, because he is the messenger of the Lord Almighty and people seek instruction from his mouth. 8 But you have turned from the way and by your teaching have caused many to stumble; you have violated the covenant with Levi,” says the Lord Almighty. 9 “So I have caused you to be despised and humiliated before all the people, because you have not followed my ways but have shown partiality in matters of the law.” We were also told 2 Chronicles 34:21 “Great is the Lord’s anger that is poured out on us because those who have gone before us have not kept the word of the Lord; they have not acted in accordance with all that is written in this book.” The church also has not kept the word of the Lord and has gone their own way. Paul said Galatians 1:11 “I want you to know that the gospel I preached is not of human origin. 12 I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.” The gospel and the power that goes with it is not manmade. The manmade gospel lacks the power and authority Jesus had and gave His disciples. Not only has the church followed the teaching of man, but the church has also followed doctrines of demons and many have been deceived by satan’s power. That power looks different than the power from on High. 1 Timothy 4:1 “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. 2 Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron.” False leaders, teachers, preachers, evangelists, prophets, and apostles teaching other gospels is the same as leading you to bow before other gods. Romans 2:5 “But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. 6 God “will repay each person according to what they have done.” 7 To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. 8 But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger.” Paul made it very clear what would happen if other gospels were preached. Galatians 1:8 “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse!”
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the church is filled with false teachers and preachers. We were told 2 Peter 2:1 “there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. 2 Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. 3 In their greed these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping. 13 They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done. 17 These people are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them.” Even though Paul was astonished, this turning away from the true gospel happened even in his day and has been happening ever since. Galatians 1:6 “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel.” He also said 2 Corinthians 11:1 “I hope you will put up with me in a little foolishness. Yes, please put up with me! 2 I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him. 3 But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 4 For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.”
There is only one gospel, and we must follow wholeheartedly. John 14:6 “Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Matthew 24:14 “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” Don’t even think for a moment that following other gospels will get you into heaven. 1 Corinthians 15:2 “By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.” Colossians 1:23 “if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.” Test the spirits and make sure.
