Leading The Way

Guest (Male): Dr. Michael Youssef inviting you to experience a biblical world view next on Leading the Way.

Dr. Michael Youssef: Biblical world view says that Jesus and Jesus alone claims and claimed to be the truth, the only truth. Biblical world view says that Jesus and Jesus alone claimed to be the only way to God the Father, the only way that is accepted by God the Father.

Jesus and Jesus alone can forgive sins, heal diseases, restore relationships, and transform lives. Jesus and Jesus alone is the only way to heaven and that is the undeniable truth.

Guest (Male): Welcome to Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Youssef, bestselling author and international Bible teacher. Today a close-up look at the enemy, Satan, and how he is using false gospels to distribute deception. Through this tactic, he's ushering people right through the gates of hell.

You can reach out to Dr. Youssef and Leading the Way’s team to order a product, to share in generosity, give us a call: 866-626-4356. And online at LTW.org. Right now though, listen carefully as Dr. Michael Youssef passionately proclaims uncompromising truth.

Dr. Michael Youssef: I believe we are living in one of the most dangerous and yet exciting times of all times. How come these are dangerous times? Well, these are dangerous times because we are hearing so many deceiving gospels across the land. Dangerous times because there are so many, indeed countless numbers, who are being deceived by these deceptive counterfeit gospels in the pews of the churches.

They are exciting times and I'm going to tell you why. They are exciting because for the first time in many years, Christians are forced to know what they really believe. These are exciting times because for the first time in many years, Christians are forced to distinguish between churchianity and Christianity.

These are exciting times because it is for the first time in many years, there is a clear separation, there is a clear line of demarcation between the true believers in Jesus Christ and those who are into religiosity. By nature, I am like the FBI agent who was assigned to bust a counterfeit currency operation. And he spent weeks and weeks studying the real thing, so that when he saw the counterfeit, he recognized it. By that’s my natural instincts.

From time to time, it is of absolute necessity to be able to expose falsehood, to be able to call them for what they are, and to be able to bring them up to the light of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what I'm going to do today. And I'm going to identify five counterfeit gospels that are preached as if they are the true gospel of Jesus Christ.

The first one is what I call multiculturalism. Now, most of you know me, but those who are watching by television and listening by radio said, "Wait a minute, what is he talking about? Looking at you, you look like somebody from another culture. You'd be the last one to preach against multiculturalism. You're the last person who should attack multiculturalism."

If you have thought that, you're already being deceived by that false gospel. And that's why you need to listen very carefully. Others are probably going to say, "Well, wait a minute. Isn't Christianity supposed to be multicultural? Doesn't the Bible say that the believers in Jesus Christ are going to be coming from every nation, from every tribe, from every tongue?" Yes.

But there's a world of difference between the church of Jesus Christ gathered from all corners of the globe, from every culture, and multiculturalism as it is preached in the media and in the schools and the colleges of today. A world of difference. I want to explain that to you.

This counterfeit gospel says that there are values in every culture, that there are truths in every culture, and the truth and the values are of equality in nature. Therefore, every religion is as good as the other. You see what I mean by the deception?

It looks good on the outside. It looks real on the surface. But the danger of this deception is a denial of the very heart of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It’s a denial of the very heart of the Christian faith. It’s a denial of the very core of what it is to be a Christian.

It is a denial of biblical truth. What is biblical truth? Biblical truth is objective. Biblical truth transcends all cultures. Biblical truth has power to transform culture. Biblical truth compels all members of all cultures to come to terms with the demands of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Either accept it or reject it. You cannot do both.

You cannot say that all truths are equal and call yourself a Christian because by the very fact you made that statement, you have denied the very heart of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Biblical world view says that Jesus and Jesus alone claims and claimed to be the truth, the only truth.

Biblical world view says that Jesus and Jesus alone claimed to be the only giver of eternal life. Jesus and Jesus alone claimed to be the only way to God the Father, the only way that is accepted by God the Father. Jesus and Jesus alone can forgive sins, heal diseases, restore relationships, and transform lives. Jesus and Jesus alone is the only way to heaven and that is the undeniable truth.

This being the whole gospel, therefore, all the others are false. They cannot be two truths. The second counterfeit gospel is what they call tolerance. You've heard of that, haven't you? The so-called tolerance gospel that is preached from many a pulpit today in the media across the land.

As most of you know, I used to belong to what is known as one of the mainline denominations. A vast number of the leaders in the mainline denominations deny the core of biblical orthodoxy. They do not subscribe to biblical orthodoxy. If you're taking notes, take them fast. I'm going to give it to you very fast.

That Jesus is God of very God. That Jesus pre-existed with the Father in heaven before his earthly life, before his birth. That Jesus was born of a pure virgin. That Jesus lived a sinless life. That Jesus died for the sin of all those who will believe in him and surrender to him and accept his atonement.

That he physically and literally on the third day got up out of the grave and walked the streets of Jerusalem and walked the streets of Israel. That he and he alone is coming back and he will judge every human being that has ever lived on the face of this earth, and he will judge them based on their acceptance or rejection of his lordship. That's biblical orthodoxy.

Here is the bottom line of the gospel of tolerance that is preached and bandied about today in the media, in politics, in the church. Bible-believing Christians must tolerate blatant disobedience to God's standards, to God's word, without protest. That's really the bottom line of that gospel.

To tolerate heretical views about Christ and about the Bible and about our faith without opening our mouth. That's the core of the gospel of tolerance. And all the while, the enemies of the gospel demand complete freedom to propagate their heretical world views.

The astounding thing to me is that they call this fair-mindedness. And that is why tolerance is a false gospel. It is a false gospel. Here is the truth about tolerance. Tolerance is a positive word. On its face value, tolerance is a beautiful word. On its face value, it's a great word.

But they turned it on its head and they used it to silence historical Christians. This should not surprise us on the one hand, nor silence us on the other. It shouldn't surprise us because like all falsehoods, they take a beautiful word, they take a positive word, and they twist its meaning and club us with it.

We must never be intimidated into silence or deception, but rather expose falsehood for what it is. And like it or not, my beloved brothers and sisters, we are commanded to love them. We have no other option.

The third false gospel that is preached today is that whole notion of political correctness. If you have not heard about political correctness, well you must have been living in some other planet. Again, if you take the word on its face value, political correctness is good. If by political correctness they mean that we should treat people who are different from us with respect, we're all for that.

If by political correctness they mean that we do not use hateful words or attempt to stereotype groups of people, we are absolutely at the forefront of that. But that's not what they mean. That's what they tell you they mean, but that's not what they mean.

Because if you try to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with a follower of the politically correct religion, or if you try to, as I did few years ago, close a public prayer in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, you will see the wrath of the politically correct crowd.

You will soon discover that the very proponent of political correctness would hurl accusations upon you and sometimes even use language that's not in the dictionary. They will be quick to tell you that what you believe, it doesn't matter. What others believe does. Offend your own convictions, but do not offend mine or anybody else's for that matter.

Even if you represent the vast majority of the population, that doesn't make any difference to them. Today, corporations across America are spending millions upon millions of dollars on political correctness training for their staff. Forced into it, manipulated into it, blackmailed into it, they had to do it.

And all is to stop Christians from sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ, and don't tell me that the devil is not alive and well. To be sure, our world view as Christians compels us to be at the forefront of sensitivity. Absolutely. After all, Jesus told us that we are to love those who hate us.

Never once in the Bible are we told to withhold God's truth lest it may offend somebody. On the contrary, the scripture tells us again and again that people will be offended when you live the gospel, when you preach the gospel, when you share the gospel. People will be offended.

Jesus who preached the gospel of love hung on a cross for preaching the gospel of love. He told us that the gospel will divide people. The gospel will divide families. The gospel will divide nations. And therefore, we must never give into this, and we must insist that political correctness that deprives us of our freedom to express our biblical world view is a Gestapo tactic to silence the truth. And we are willing to die for it.

The fourth thing quickly is revisionism. This is the fourth false gospel that is rampant, particularly in our education system. In the last 30 years or so, there seemed to be, at least to my way of thinking in America, a strong movement to rewrite its history.

Some school textbooks devote more space to Mohammed and Islam than to the Christian commitment of the founding fathers. That's insanity. And one of the reasons the revisionists give for this revision of history is they say, "Well, America is a land of many immigrants now, and they come from different cultures and we need to be sensitive to their backgrounds."

America has always been a nation that welcomed immigrants with open arms. America is a nation of immigrants. And with all due respect from an immigrant, let me say, thanks but no thanks. You cannot use an excuse of being sensitive to immigrants in order to muddy the truth.

You cannot use the excuse of being sensitive to immigrants to change the facts of history, whatever they may be. That's falsehood, that's lying. And any honest immigrant would tell you that we did not come to America to alter its identity. That we did not come to America to cover up its godly heritage. We did not come to America to rewrite its history books. We did not come to America to vandalize its solid biblical foundation.

In fact, most immigrants came to this country because they love and revere the Christian values of this great nation. That's why we're here. Many immigrants came to this country because they long to embrace America's Christian world view.

Most immigrants came to this country to escape the tyranny of the real intolerance, the tyranny of the imposing of their world view. Most immigrants came to this country because they appreciate the Christian value of human life. At least it used to be something that you do not experience in other countries. Think about it.

The fifth thing that I want to share with you that is a falsehood preached today is what I call the false dichotomy. This false dichotomy affects believers. And this particular controversy is among Christians and is dividing Christians right now. It is turning brother against brother and sister against sister.

I left this to the end deliberately, because it does affect every one of us who know the Lord Jesus Christ. This false dichotomy is running rampant among Christians today and it goes something like this. Christians have to choose between two equally important commitments.

They are, one, focus on evangelism and prayer and have nothing to do with politics, have nothing to do with the political and the social arena, have nothing to do with the cultural war that is taking place. On the other hand, some are saying what you need to do is to get involved and get engaged in the cultural wars through political means, for that is the only hope to change the nation.

Now you understand why I call it a false dichotomy. The problem is that each of these views is half-right. Furthermore, we must never have to choose between the two. I believe this is a false dichotomy and call it for what it is.

If you look at the scripture, you're going to find many examples of the prophets of God. Primarily, every one of the prophets had a message either to Israel or Judah, either to the northern kingdom or the southern kingdom. So mainly they had a message to the people of God.

If you read very carefully, you're going to find that most of the prophets, if not all of them, while they saw this as their primary mission, they looked over across the land to the Babylonians and the Assyrians and the Egyptians and the Persians. They looked across the land and they said, "You too, these you heathen nations cannot escape the judgment of God."

They looked to the other nations and they said, "You too are going to be judged for your sins." While they preached to God's people primarily, they were not silent toward those who do not know God, those who deny God, those who resist God. So it's not this or that, it's both. They gave a word of warning, they gave a word of judgment, they gave a word of condemnation.

Why? Because our God is not just the God of the Christians that he is, but he is the creator God and he owns the whole world. Our God is not just the God of the believers which he is, but he owns this world. This is his own world, and he cares for what happens to it.

Therefore, we are under obligation to remind the unbelieving world that God who owns this universe has his own set of standards that they must adhere to. That the God who owns this universe has his own set of morals that they must conform to. That the God who owns this universe has his own set of absolutes that they must follow for their own good.

Our God owns this universe and he set a day in which he will judge the universe, every single human being in the universe on the basis of his absolutes. And chief among his absolutes is his son Jesus Christ. He will judge them on the basis whether they have received him or rejected him.

Guest (Male): Life-impacting words to consider on this edition of Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Youssef. If you'd like to speak with someone about your faith journey, consider connecting with a Leading the Way pastor or counselor at LTW.org/Jesus.

Guest (Male): All of us have a witness, all of us have a story and what God is doing. I aim to bring my faith into every aspect of my life. I wanted to be what God wanted me to be, I wanted to do what God wanted me to do. You can trust the Lord. He loves you. His word is true.

Guest (Male): Leading the Way is strategically reaching people where they are. In the Western world, in the Middle East, and other places, Leading the Way can reach people truly anywhere in the world with the gospel message through these open doors that technology allows. So Leading the Way is allowing that opportunity for people in all walks of life.

And that's something that's important to me. It really is an encouragement, the truly international reach that the ministry has, from the open doors initiatives and campaigns, to the navigators, to Kingdom SATs, the Awake America rallies. Leading the Way is a witness. It's taking a gospel message that I'm blessed with most Sundays and sharing that to people that maybe haven't heard what the true gospel looks like.

Guest (Female): I sat for about six months in jail. One of the girls felt pity for me and she slid that tablet underneath the door. I found Michael Youssef and Leading the Way ministries, and everything was available in that app. It taught me things I had never even heard of before. I started to understand who God was. God has opened up so many doors in my life that I really never thought were ever going to happen for me.

Guest (Female): We decided to partner with Leading the Way because of all the magnificent tools they have reaching the earth, and then Dr. Youssef's teachings on tithing and that everything we have, everything we are, everything is from God and to give back.

Guest (Male): It means so much to us that we can be a part of helping Dr. Youssef bring souls to Christ. Leading the Way ministry has been a godsend for us and we are so thankful for it. It's making the world a better place.

Guest (Male): You can learn ways to stand alongside Dr. Youssef in taking the gospel around the world. Visit LTW.org or call a ministry representative right now: 866-626-4356. This program is brought to you by Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Youssef. Connect further with audio and video content at LTW.org or through your favorite social media platform.