The gospel is an endless revelation of the goodness of Jesus Christ.
“You need the gospel.”
I suppose it is only right for me to talk about why I even have an entire website dedicated to the written teaching of the gospel. You see, I was once a sinner who never understood the spirit of the gospel. I had heard about Jesus Christ, I had read His written gospels, and had even heard other people share about Him to me, but I had never heard someone teach and preach to me the spirit of the gospel.
I had been raised in a light Christian background. Christianity was part of my upbringing, sort of sprinkled onto me here and there, but of course I never resonated with it because I was presented boring religion.
Because of the spiritual dryness, I went seeking other “spiritualities” in the occult. For those who don’t know what the occult is, the occult is the dark side of the spirit realm. It is seeking spiritual power and experiences (sadly, often unknowingly) that come from evil spirits. The occult in our day consists of new age meditation, yoga, tarot cards, mind-altering drugs, psychic mediums, chakra healings, reiki practices, gurus, and hypnotists—all of these things are idolatrous practices and are not from God. My lust for the supernatural led me on a spiritually toxic course that I was blind to until one day…
I was out in the mountains after experiencing a severe panic attack and psychological breakdown, and trying to escape by going into new age meditation—an interruption occurred, and like a still small voice, I was told to read the Bible. “Slightly” arrogant, I wanted to find out what the big deal was with this Bible.
A new journey
I started at Genesis. I reasoned, “Let me start from the beginning.”
“And God said, ‘Let there be light’” (Genesis 1:1).
And that was my experience, light entered my mind. Coming from crazy supernatural practices, the light that came from the Scriptures exposed a great amount of darkness in my life, which I was oblivious to. It would be the turning point when I would be done with everything occult and enter into everything religious.
Reading the Bible, especially the commandments of the Old Covenant, particularly for a dark, sinful, lost soul, terrified me. I felt utterly condemned and slain by the laws and commandments by which it felt as if I had broken every single one. On top of this, I was dealing with constant harassment from evil spirits and intrusive thoughts as I attempted to walk in the commandments and live out a righteous life.
I took the Bible, seriously to say the least. I wanted to practice every single thing I thought it and other Christians said. So, I went to church, I prayed constantly, I read the Bible constantly, and I did things constantly. The things I did included taking homeless people off the street, giving away all or virtually all my money to the homeless, poor, and the church. I did outreaches for others, witnessed to others, and uplifted other Christians. I went from one church to another, even into messianic Judaism, from total dryness to total legalism and eventually to total supernatural powers on the charismatic-pentecostal side.
But, in all these things, I felt oppressed. I did not have peace. I was under constant torment and attack. My conscience was constantly deterring me from the assurance that comes with salvation. I knew something was wrong with me. And soon enough, light would come to me, a second time.
Another Journey Would Begin
I had felt, because of my occult experiences, that I needed deliverance from the evil spirits that were harassing me. I had come into contact with a book, “Beware Christians: Dangers of Open Chakras and the Kundalini,” written by Pamela Sheppard, and light came into my life again. The truth that oozed from the pages resonated deeply with my situation. In a nutshell, the book exposes how much charismatic and Pentecostal movements are under the sway of an evil spirit that imitates the Holy Spirit and is the same evil spirit behind much of the kundalini witchcraft practices in the occult.
Completely flabbergasted by how blind I was, I wrote a humbling email to Pam, which I said, “I am willing to accept everything I have ever believed is wrong.” She and I talked, and she referred me to another book she wrote, “Church of the End-Time Zombies.”
As I read this book, I still to this day can only describe a phenomenon that seemed to happen to Paul, which the Bible reads,
“Immediately, there fell from his eyes something like scales” (Acts 9:18).
This is the only way I can describe it. Liberation, sight, recovery, anointing, and eye-slave being rubbed on my eyes. I became undeceived from so much religion; I, most of all, got the ultimate truth I needed to set my soul free from bondage.
The most important truth, when I reconnected with Pam, was that I confessed to her,
“I am not saved!”
Immediately, her response I will remember for the rest of my life. The words she told me after I made that shocking statement. A statement that would have blown up the entire church, which all were so impressed by my Christian commitment, never addressing my unsaved spirit. But her response was not shock, her response was calm, it’s as if she was expecting it. After I confessed, virtually, despite leaving the occult behind and taking on Christianity in my own strength, I was still a sinner. The memorable words she said that will always remain locked in my spirit in that vulnerable place, she said to me,
“You need the gospel.”
I needed the gospel.
I was not told, “you need to go to church more.” I was not told, “Evan, stop being afraid you will go to heaven.” I was not told to take communion, or pray, or read the Bible more. I was not told to seek Jesus more. I was not told He is returning soon, hurry. No, what I needed was the gospel, and Pam was right.
The Holy Spirit and the grace of God was humbling me to the cross. Pam sent me her YouTube videos of her preaching and teaching the gospel, the essence of salvation. The Holy Spirit moved upon me as I watched. I became convicted as a sinner—guilty of the blood of Jesus with my sins. And soon enough, the Holy Spirit would witness to my spirit the resurrection of Jesus Christ, that He is alive from the dead, physically never to die again! Faith dropped into me, and I declared aloud,
“The stone was rolled away! Jesus Christ of Nazareth is Lord!”
I looked at myself, my hands, my face, the joy! The newness! Everything was new! I was new! And, oh my God, the irresistible grace and supernatural peace. On April 12th, 2019, I was born again. I was finally saved.
“The gospel is the one thing in which the whole of our life, our salvation, and all our happiness depends.”
- Martin Luther
We need the gospel.
The need for the gospel to be preached and taught has been a cry in every generation since the gospel was first proclaimed by the apostles of the first century. In every generation, there is a torch, the fire of the Lord’s church that carries the beacon of the gospel outside of organized religion. In every generation, the gospel becomes like “a hidden pearl” (Matthew 13:45).
The world, religion, demonic forces, and institutional Christianity have overshadowed the pearl of the gospel, but,
“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it” (John 1:5).
This is why this website has come to exist, because there are a great many people who were like me, a deceived unsaved Christian sitting up in church, in addition to a world that is increasingly decaying into spiritual lawlessness. But,
“Where sin abounded, grace abounded much more” (Romans 5:20).
The Lord’s commission for us to preach the gospel to every creature will never end until He returns. This is what the world needs, the gospel!
“God is love…For God so loved the world, He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (1 John 4:8, John 3:16).
