Have we ever really thought about the meaning of the word “gospel” as God uses it in his book? In searching out the word “gospel” I made a list of 40 things that God’s word says we are to do concerning it. Included in that list, we are to believe it, obey it, preach it, and publish it. As with any word/term/subject in the book of the LORD (Isaiah 34:16), there is no such thing as an exhaustive study. A study of each of the 40 (no doubt there are even more) things that we are to do concerning the gospel could become an individual book of its own. As each thing we are to do is studied, we must be sure that the purpose in our hearts is to, in fact, do what the book of the LORD says to do. Our study of God’s word is not for the satisfaction of the intellect, but rather for the application to our daily living and serving of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our faith is not one of opinion, but of obedience.
The Gospel – Good News? It depends. The word (term) “good news” is found only once in God’s word: Proverbs 25:25 – As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country. The gospel is indeed good news to a thirsty soul – a soul thirsty for the life-giving water of the word of God. A similar term “good tidings” can also be found, but pay attention to who the recipient is: for example, Isaiah 61:1 – the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek. But consider well that the gospel concerns more than good tidings: it also concerns the day of vengeance of our God (Isaiah 61:2). The day of vengeance can be good news (glad tidings) to those that are being avenged; but it is very bad news (evil tidings) to those upon whom the vengeance is being poured out: Jeremiah 10:25 – Pour out thy fury upon the heathen.
The Gospel – God’s Spelling? Yes, indeed! That is in fact the very foundation of the word. We are to believe/obey/preach/publish the words of God as they are spelled by the him. He is the author, regardless of how he authored it (by the pen of holy men). But note well: he used only the men that he authorized. And for the English-speaking world, the only men he authorized were those publishing God’s seventh and final purification concurrent with the settlement and stablishment of the English language. Psalm 12:6 – The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. God’s spelling of his words in English include the little things like a “u” in certain words (saviour, labour, honour, and behaviour, to name just a few); and bigger things like “too superstitious” (not “very religious”), “fornication” (not “sexual immorality”), “Lucifer” (not “Day Star”) – again, just to name a few. And, God’s spelling includes very big things, like spelling out all the words of Acts 8:37, 1 John 5:7-8, Mark 16:9-20, John 7:53 thru 8:11, and many other words and phrases (as opposed to omitting them altogether, or questioning them with additional spelled-out words criticizing the spelling out of God’s words). There is one and only one book that has God’s spelling – the gospel – un-perverted (Jeremiah 23:36 – ye have perverted the words of the living God) and un-corrupted (2 Corinthians 2:17 – we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God). That one book, the book of the LORD (Isaiah 34:16), has God’s spelling of every word (Proverbs 30:5 – Every word of God is pure). Can you guess what book that is? Better yet, are you meek enough to pick it up and read it so that you can recognize from its very words, as God has spelled them, that it is indeed the gospel? Do you have a thirsty soul for the water of God’s actual words? Or are have you been turned unto another gospel – another god’s spelling? Don’t think this as a self-righteous accusation. I myself was a man that was deceived and who myself had been turned unto another gospel (another god’s spelling). I myself used to search amongst the KJB … and the NKJV, NASB, ESV, AMP, NIV, as well as other places, and even sought to “spell out” my own per(sonal) version: I.e., I had started being my own god (in that regard) – becoming yet another god producing yet another gospel amongst the dozens of the more popular ones, or the hundreds of published ones, or the millions of private ones produced in the minds of them that pick this verse from this version and that verse from that version and this synonym from this lexicon and that synonym from that lexicon or this definition from this dictionary or that definition from that dictionary, and so on and so forth. It was a difficult road undoing my thinking and turning/returning back to the one and only book that is authored by God himself, in which I can trust/believe every single word, as God has spelled it. In so doing that, I have also begun to actually do what the gospel says. I have a long way to go, but I am going… according to God’s spelling – the gospel. I hope and pray that you also will have a willing heart and a ready mind to search the scriptures to see that these things are so (Acts 17:11):to turn/return back to the book of the LORD – the King James Bible – God’s only Authorized Version for the English-speaking world in these last days.