NEW BOOK SEEKS TO RECOVER BIBLICAL DEFINITION OF “GOSPEL”
Voice of the Martyrs Korea today announced the release of the new book, The Gospel, by CEO Pastor Eric Foley and Representative Dr. Hyun Sook Foley. The book is a compilation of the Foley couple’s lectures at the organization’s six-month Underground Seminary training program.
“Today when Christians use the word ‘gospel’, they use it to refer to the ‘problem-solution-benefits’ model that some Christian evangelists created in order to explain Christ’s death using the same techniques advertisers use to sell cars and cosmetics in 30 seconds,” says Pastor Foley. “Problem: Sin. Solution: Jesus died on the cross to pay for my sin. Benefit: Heaven. The goal is to be able to quickly persuade people to become a Christian.”
But according to Pastor Foley, that definition of gospel, despite its popularity, is not biblical.
“The word ‘gospel’ has a very specific meaning in the Bible,” says Pastor Foley. “It refers to the things of first importance about who Jesus is and what he does, as taught by Jesus himself. We are not permitted to add to it or subtract from it, and Christ even tells us how he wants us to proclaim it. The New Testament is the gospel proclaimed and then explained in detail.”
The Gospel book is now available for purchase through the Voice of the Martyrs Korea office or website.
Pastor Foley says that the biblical gospel message is not more complicated to teach or preach than the popular modern substitute that is called “the gospel”, but it is more complete and deep.
“The biblical gospel message is actually printed in its entirety on the cover of our book,” says Pastor Foley. “It’s a completely different message than the popular modern substitute version because it is centered on the identity of Christ and the fullness of his work, not on us and our needs and interests.” Pastor Foley emphasizes that the book consists of the historical Protestant understanding of the biblical gospel, not his own unique teaching. The 300-page book includes one chapter on each of the 6 “confessions” that compose the gospel shown on the book’s cover.
Pastor Foley says that only the biblical gospel is capable of saving the hearer. “The modern substitute gospel can only try to interest and persuade the hearer, because the message is only human thinking,” says Pastor Foley. “But as the Protestant reformers said, ‘Praedicatio Verbi Dei est Verbum Dei’. That is Latin for ‘The preaching of the Word of God is the Word of God.’ That means that when we proclaim the gospel the way Christ taught it, Christ actually becomes present to save the hearer. When the gospel is proclaimed, Christ actually does to the hearer at that moment the things that are being proclaimed.”
Pastor Foley says that he and Dr. Foley created their Underground Seminary training program on which The Gospel book is based because of the comments a Korean Christian deacon made to them several years ago.
CEO Pastor Eric Foley and Representative Dr. Hyun Sook Foley teach the newest Underground Seminary class at the Voice of the Martyrs Korea office in Daejeon.
“The deacon said to us, ‘Korean Christians already know the gospel. What we need to now know is how to protect our religious freedoms through politics’,” says Pastor Foley. “But it was clear that she didn’t know the biblical gospel. She knew only that her sins had been forgiven because of Christ’s death. But she did not know that that same Christ defeated all of God’s enemies on the cross, and that that same Christ presently holds all power and authority in heaven and on earth as he rules at God’s right hand. Christ has defeated his enemies but will not destroy them until his return, because he has commanded his followers to proclaim his offer of mercy to all of his defeated enemies, including us. That offer of mercy is in fact the biblical gospel. Because the deacon did not know the biblical gospel, she was following various preachers into the world of demonstrations and politics. She had constant anxiety about who would be elected. She believed that it was her responsibility to Christianize her country. This is the state of worldly bondage and spiritual powerlessness that characterizes much of the church today because it does not know the biblical gospel.”
The book The Gospel is available for purchase by calling the Voice of the Martyrs Korea office at 02-2065-0703 Tuesday through Saturday, or via the organization’s website, at www.vomkorea.com/store. The English language version will be available for purchase later this year.