The Good News is always and only good news! Bad news is never good news, and good news never contains bad news. Most of my life I have heard a message that is said to be the Gospel. However, this gospel is littered with a mixture of good, bad, and some ugly. These messages portray a God of anger and wrath, yet claim He is filled with love and compassion. During my twenty’s and thirty’s, I wanted nothing to do with this version of God, and very little to do with those who were trying to “save me”. How could I love or even like a God who is bent on saving just a few, and torturing the rest forever? It wasn’t until I met a few Christians who lived in victory and had peace and joy in their hearts that I began to open up to the idea of meeting their Father. Throughout this journey Katy and I have grown leaps and bounds in our understanding of who God really is. More importantly, we have grown in peace and joy which continues to open up many areas of our lives. This radical shift came slowly and over time. Even looking back, the last two years we have been writing this blog and have been teaching in our local fellowship we often shake our heads in disbelief about what we used to believe and how far we’ve come. We used to think we had to back up everything we felt, wrote, or spoke with scriptures galore. In the last few months we have been able to just write and speak from our hearts not feeling the urge or angst to back it all up with scripture. Jesus is the Word of God, our life and breath comes from Him and, even though we can find hope in the Scriptures (Bible), our real hope comes from the Good News that we are loved and liked by the Creator of the entire cosmos.

I find it fascinating that Jesus told the disciples to share the Gospel to the nations. The word he used for “gospel” was a new Hebrew word “basher”, which means “too good to be true.” At that time the audience had never heard this word, or the concept of this word, which they were to proclaim.

Along the way, like everyone, they had times where they slipped into old ways of attempting to do “works” in order to be pleasing to God and every time they had others call them out and bring them back to God’s amazing message of Love. As foreign as the idea is to the world, our hearts jump for joy when we are able to hear and absorb just how perfect and wonderful we are. The truth is the Gospel just ain’t the Gospel if it isn’t 100% good news.

From personal experience and life events, I have realized the false Gospel of an angry vengeful God who would only like me if He beat his Son to death and tortured others for not believing is devastating. I can also attest that when we hear the undiluted “Gospel of Love”, our lives begin to effortlessly produce fruit.

Simple scientific studies show that when we speak love and peace into plants their health is good and fruit grows abundantly. Yet, if we ignore them they decay and begin to rot and if we tell them how awful they are they dry up and die. Interesting, because the same thing happens when we proclaim how much God loves and likes you, that’s when life really begins to happen.

A few years back Katy and I were asked to pray with a young man who had been paralyzed and was unable to speak coherently as a result of a violent hate crime. Over the course of a few visits, and as we began to speak how wonderful and perfect he is and how much God loved and cherished him, he was able to begin to move muscles in his legs and arms and he also began to talk. Eventually he was even able to walk. From what we hear today, he is doing well. This is what happens when the true Gospel is spoken. Life happens and we begin to live.

The unconditional love of the Trinity has personally set us free. I believe it is what will set everyone who hears the amazing Gospel of Love free from any bondage they have in their life.

The Creator has loved all of mankind from the beginning of time. We came as the result of this supernatural love between the Father, Son, and Spirit…… Hallelujah! Not only do they love you, but they also really, really like you. Or as author and teacher Wm. Paul Young says “Papa is especially fond of you.” This is the Gospel…you are perfect the way you are and nothing will ever separate you from the love, favor and kindness of the three greatest lovers of all time. The love they have for you has nothing to do with what you do or don’t do. This love has saved the entire world from the result of wrong beliefs and wrong actions. The entire cosmos is the result of their affection and the entire cosmos is their friend, children, and lovers for ALL eternity.

The Gospel gives life! Any message that breeds guilt, shame, judgement, or condemnation is not the Gospel that the Apostle Paul preached. Paul never wrote about a future hell or torment and he never wrote about signs and wonders or the miracles he witnessed. What he shared was how everyone is perfect just the way they are. Jew or Gentile, male or female, bond or free, ALL are equal and ALL are His sons or daughters, his bride, his brother, sister, and His friend.

This is who we have always been! We are not sinners who, without a sacrifice, need to be punished for all eternity. We are people from different backgrounds, who have had different experiences in our lives that have shaped us into who we believe we are. We all need to know and believe we are loved and perfect just as we are.

“Jesus is what God believes about you! In him the righteousness of God is on display in such a way that everyone may be equally persuaded about what God believes about them, regardless of who they are; there is no distinction.” -Romans 3:22 MB

In Love,

Kurt and Katy

MB: Mirror Bible