I learned some new big words this past week...
“Obfuscation” is the obscuring of the intended meaning of communication by making the message difficult to understand, usually with confusing and ambiguous language. The obfuscation might be either unintentional or intentional, and is accomplished with circumlocution, the use of jargon, and the use of an argot of limited communicative value to outsiders.“Circumlocution” is the use of an unnecessarily large number of words to express an idea. It is sometimes necessary in communication, but it can also be undesirable.
When I first discovered these two words, I couldn't help but immediately apply them to God's simple plan of salvation, which plan has been butchered, embellished, obscured, muddied, perverted and watered-down from nearly every pulpit today. Galatians 1:7b, “but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.”
From nearly every Bible college, seminary and church pulpit today the gospel is being OBFUSCATED with ambiguous and difficult to understand jargon. Tragically, if you visit 95% of Baptist churches today, you will hear some garbage from the pulpit about repenting of your sins to get to Heaven, which jargon is utterly confusing for hearers. What does it even mean to “repent of your sins.” Sadly, most preachers don't even know, but they still repeat the heresy.
Those pastors today who foolishly preach that to get to Heaven you must first be willing to repent of your sinning, they are as wrong and incompetent as were the false prophets in Acts 15:1, “And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved.” Those wicked false prophets were adding to God's simple plan of salvation.
To them, faith in Christ wasn't enough, you also had to be circumcized to keep the Mosaic law (works). They failed to understand that the law was not given as a means of salvation; but rather, as a measuring stick by which when compared themselves they fell short of God's glory and saw their need for Christ (Romans 3:19-20; Galatians 3:24-26). They were guilty of obfuscating God's simple plan of salvation, as are all the incompetent pastors today who require people to “repent of your sins” to be saved. Not one verse in the inspired King James Bible teaches to repent of your sinning to get to Heaven. The Bible just says to “repent,” and that verb (Greek: metanoeo) just means: “to think differently.”
Since unbelief is the only sin that can keep you out of Heaven, unbelief is the only sin you need to repent (change your mind) from to be saved. The moment that you come to God by faith (taking the Lord at His written Word) to accept Christ's sacrificial death on the cross as full payment for your sins, believing that He was buried, but then miraculously physically ressurected from the dead three days later, you are saved. This is “the gospel” (1st Corinthians 15:1-4), by which all who believe it are saved (Romans 1:16).
And that big word “circumlocution” is certainly applicable to the plan of salvation that I find on many religious websites, which are a book's length long. God intended for the Gospel (the Good News) to be simple to hear, easy to understand, and free to receive. When you hear a preacher talking about what you must surrender, sacrifice and give up to receive God's free gift of eternal life, you know that he has been inspired by demons! If salvation is truly by grace, then you don't need to start or stop anything to be saved. Eternal life is a free gift from God (Romans 6:23). When presenting the gospel to a lost sinner, keep it short and simple.
