COTTON CANDY GOSPEL IMPERILS THE SOUL

By Akin Ojumu

Everywhere you turn, pastors are preaching alluring sermons that promise the congregation everything their sinful flesh has always desired. All over Christendom, hapless Christians are drowning in enticing messages that guarantee all their carnal desires.

Assurances of prosperity and plenty reverberate from the pulpits. Congregations hang on to prophetic declarations of earthly increase, and they eagerly await the imminent transfer of wealth to the church. 

This cotton candy gospel is now firmly rooted in the Church. It is the type of message that excites the crowd of unredeemed souls and gives them a false assurance that they are in good standing with God.

Denominations go head-to-head as they fight to draw seekers of tantalizing illusions to their respective establishments. “Come and see what the LORD has done” is the common refrain. Exorbitant sums of money are pumped into deceptive and elaborate marketing strategies. Radio jingles promote testimonies of instantaneous miracles, advertisements of wealth in an instant blitz the television, and the social media is inundated with cock and bull stories of angelic visitations.

Let there be no doubt, this wishy-washy feel-good gospel is no Gospel at all. A gospel that avoids talking about sin, shuns repentance, circumvents holiness, side steps sufferings, steers clear of self-denial, demands no sacrifice, and shies away from the crucifixion of self along with all its desires has its origin in the pit of hell. They are demonic lies meant to deceive and mislead the uninformed.

We know, from the true Gospel, that God does not indulge the wants of the flesh and will not grant what the flesh wants naturally. The things the flesh wants are at variance with the things that God wants.

“For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.” (Galatians 5:17).

But because this false gospel promises the very things the sinful flesh naturally desires, millions of people find it appealing, affirming, and uplifting. Thus, preachers who have this type of gospel as their central theology draw the largest following. Religious establishments where this is the core doctrine are always packed to the rafters.

Shallow gospel is the foundation of most megachurches, and hollow messages are the building blocks from which they are forged. False gospel is the reason the unregenerate troop to the Holy Ghost conventions, crusade grounds, and miracle centers in their millions. Seeing that ineffectual messages tickle their ears, the unregenerate rush to get their guilty consciences silenced from crying out for repentance.

“But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.” (2 Peter 2:1-3).

“I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the Word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.” (2 Timothy 4:1-5).

Guzzlers of wishy-washy gospel toy with their eternal destiny. Those who imbibe messages of gaining the world put their own souls in peril. Gospel of health, wealth, and success leads people down the broad road that ends in destruction, away from the narrow road that leads to life.

You must come out from their midst and be separate, the destiny of your soul depends on it. Run for your life before it’s too late. Repent now, and you will be saved from the wrath that is to come.