We are living in an age in which discernment from the Word of God is more important than ever. At any given moment of the day or night, we now have access to multiple channels of preachers, evangelists, Bible teachers, and religious talk show hosts, all spewing their particular version of truth. It is amazing to me how similar they all sound to each other; at least on the surface.

I once was listening to a man preach a message on the radio as I was heading home from work. The part I caught was really good and captivating. As I was about to pull into my driveway, the preacher began an invitation. He told his listeners that they could go to Heaven by putting their faith in Jesus Christ…and in the Book of Mormon. Honestly, had I not heard that last phrase, I would have thought I was listening to an evangelical. When I learned the persuasion of the one speaking, I suddenly put everything he said through a closer examination. The problem was I hadn’t been listening critically, so my guard was down.

How many times do we hear Biblical instruction that is filtered through a lens of someone in which we have nothing Biblically in common? Today you can hear intriguing speakers who are Catholic, Presbyterian, Anglican, Baptist, and Mormon, just to name a few. They can craft a message that sounds so close to us, we don’t even notice the difference. That’s the problem. Many of the religions taking to the internet today espouse a works salvation.

A classic example is what we are hearing from many Catholic speakers. So determined they are to convince us we are all the same, they use many of the same words we do, and many of the same phrases. Some preach messages that sound convincingly like they could have come from one our pulpits. However, by looking a little deeper, it’s not long before the grace they so lovingly present, finds its access through something we have to do.

Grace is still unmerited; it still comes freely from our Lord, and there’s nothing we can do to deserve it. ‘For by grace are ye saved, through faith…’ the epistle of Ephesians states. That faith is in the Lord Jesus Christ; not the institution of any church. The truth is, no matter how ‘spiritual’ someone sounds, if their message is not exactly the same as presented in the New Testament, we should avoid it like the plague.

Paul faced attacks on the simple Gospel message even in his day. He warned the churches in Galatia of the danger in…

Galatians 1:8 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.

There were those in his day aggressively promoting the concept that salvation was by faith in the Lord Jesus AND in keeping the Law. Paul fought back teaching that salvation came by grace through faith alone; not faith plus anything.

Since our eternal security is based on accurately interpreting the Gospel, we had better be extremely careful what gospel we listen to.