The gospel of self interest is a vast subject, and it's difficult to know where to begin. Perhaps the best place is with a simplified definition of what the gospel of self interest is.
It is foremost Satan's gospel, the good news of self gratification, a gospel of false faith, darkness, and half truths. Second, it's found in all areas of secular society and the religious world as well. It is found over a wide spectrum covering everything from homosexuality to religiosity. Third, and most importantly, it is everything the gospel of Jesus Christ is not. Its fruit is everything which is not of the heart, mind, or gospel of Jesus Christ.
In our discussion of the nature of faith, I pointed out that Jesus and Satan are the two spiritual influences upon the physical universe. I stated that everyone is plugged into one of these sources (Phil. 2:13, Eph. 2:2).
Unfortunately, some do not believe there is Satanic power because they do not believe there is a "devil." Others object to the idea that everyone is under either Christ's or Satan's influence. So let's look at what the Bible has to say about this cosmic power struggle.
Matthew 28:19 states that Jesus has all power in heaven and earth. However, God, in order to fulfill His eternal purpose, has allowed Satan to operate on this planet as the "god of this world" (II Cor. 4:4). Now God would not have said the devil was the god of this world if he did not exist and have a certain "powers."
This is all illustrated by the temptation of Christ in the wilderness where Satan offered Jesus the wealth, glory, and kingdoms of the world. "And the devil, taking him [Jesus] up into a high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine" (Luke 4:5 7).
In examining this passage, the first thing we must do is answer the critical question; who delivered this power to Satan?
According to scripture God has always been and always will be sovereign over everything (Col. 1:16 17). Therefore, He is the only one who can "deliver" any dominion or power to anyone.
In the beginning, God gave man dominion over the creatures and the earth as a steward of God's creation (Gen. 1:28). God has never taken that dominion (stewardship) away. But because Adam and Eve sinned, they placed themselves under the dominion of SIN (self), which dominion is broken through faith in Jesus as Lord (Rom. 6:14).
The devil's domain is the area of sin, lies, fear, etc. God has allowed the devil to be god over the carnal world of lust and sin. Through the leash of their own sin, Adam and Eve indirectly came under the dominion of Satan because he is the tempter. But this is only because God has decreed it to be so. "Whom thou [God] hast set over us because of our sins....they have dominion" (Neh. 9:37).
Therefore it was ultimately God, not man, who delivered the kingdoms of this world unto Satan. Satan, his demons, and human workers of evil only have power as God allows. As Jesus said in John 19:20, "Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above." "And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand" (Job 1:12).
God has delivered a physical domain to Satan. From our study of faith we know the physical is passive by nature and operates by active spiritual power upon it. Therefore this physical domain, in order to be operated, necessitates Satan having limited spiritual power. This power lies primarily in darkness, lies, superstition, and fear which Satan uses against human weakness. He tries to make us "believe" he has power and authority equal to and independent of God's sovereignty.
Luke 4:5 7 illustrates the above very well. Satan is tempting Jesus who is total spiritual truth, power and God Himself. (Remember, God Himself had delivered whatever power Satan has to him). Thus, the devil was actually tempting the one to whom all power belonged in the first place.
Jesus didn't need to bow to Satan to "have" these things if He wanted them. Satan was lying and had no ultimate authority over the things he was offering to Jesus for Jesus already had all power and authority over everything!
Satan's real trick in the wilderness was not in offering the things of this world to Christ, but was in testing Christ's faith about His own deity. Jesus by revelation from the Father and the grace pulsating within Himself knew that He was God incarnate! He demonstrated this by His reply, "Get thee behind me [take a subservient position to me], Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God [Jesus], and him only shalt thou serve" (Luke 4:8). Jesus, as God incarnate, was telling Satan, "I'm not going to worship you; you are going to worship ME!" (See Hebrews 1:6 and Philippians 2:10 11).
I believe we have established that Satan has limited deceptive powers in this world. Now let's examine his spiritual influence by studying Revelation 20:1 3.
Prior to the millennial reign of Christ on this earth, Satan is bound so that he will no longer deceive (tempt) the nations (people) during the time Christ reigns. After the millennium, he is loosed and people are deceived again in verse 8. This binding and loosing of Satan is very important because it tells us that without Satan as a catalyst upon our human sin nature, we don't sin!
Now this is heavy! As sinners we alone are responsible for our sin (James 1:14). However, Satan is the tempter who activates the lusts of a man's heart. Satan's influence is behind all wickedness.
The millennium is a time of perfection upon the earth, without sin, but not necessarily without sinners. There is peace because Jesus is reigning and Satan is bound not because there are no sinners around!
It has been said that God is casting a vote for us, Satan is casting a vote against us, and we have the deciding vote. This is true, but without Satan's "vote" or influence upon our hearts, we will either remain neutral or go God's way.
This is such a profound piece of scripture! The reason Satan is let loose BY GOD after the millennium is to make manifest "the neutralists" who are actually rebels. This is the same reason God is allowing the devil to be the god of this world and tempt sinners today! Neutrality is not satisfactory with God for we must be either for Him or against Him.
To restate our position, everyone in the world is operating under either the influence of Satan or God's Holy Spirit. Satan's gospel of self interest is a spiritual thing, a spiritual "force" acting upon and causing specific physical reactions in those persons who are open to its influence. All unregenerated humanity is born plugged into that influence, which is the nature of Sin.
Sin (the I desire) within each person born into the world must be repented of and turned from in order to enter into peace with God and enter His kingdom (Luke 13:3 5). Repentance occurs as a person responds to God's mercy (unmerited favour) and receives God's free gift of saving faith (Romans 2:4). Faith enables a sinner to submit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and results in him being plugged into God's grace (power), which is the active holy influence of God planted within a soul. Grace causes a person to live a life of victory over temptation and sin and makes him a born again saint (Eph. 2:8; Rom. 4:16, 5:2, 8:24 25; I Pet. 1:3 23).
Saving faith (spiritual reality) comes from and is based upon God. False faith (spiritual lies) comes from Satan but is based upon our own self centered desires. Christ's gospel is a God centered gospel. Satan's gospel is a ME centered gospel. The physical results of false faith and true faith are made manifest in and throughout people's lives by the things (fruit) they do or do not do (Eph. 2:10, Rom. 1: 19 25).
We must be certain that we ourselves are not deceived by Satan's lies. We all need to re examine the motives (doctrines or light) that we live by. If what we think or believe to be truth or faith is in reality error, then our beliefs by which we guide our lives will bring death rather than life!
Let's not find ourselves like the Hindu believing a cow might be his grandmother. His belief is in total commitment to his error, and his faith no matter how strong is false being founded upon Satan's darkness and deception.
Strong faith is wonderful when it is Biblical. But when it is not, people may end up like the Kamikaze pilots of World War II, or the Iranian youth squads of today. They believed the spiritual thing to do was end their lives in suicidal attacks on their enemies. Many have died for their faith voluntarily and had as much "faith" as any Christian martyr! What a shock for them to have found themselves in hell rather than heaven after their suicidal leap of faith!
It is easy for us to see the gospel of self interest at work in the world when it comes to murderers, adulterers, rapists, and thieves. We need not discuss this great mass of humanity other than to say they are victims of and operating under the gospel of self interest. What we need to discuss in detail is the gospel of self interest at work in "The Church."
One will ask: how can Satan operate within the true Church? This is an important question, for there are some who would not think this possible. Well, is it not only possible but very prevalent!
Satan works within the Church the same way the Communist party operates within the Church in countries under their control by infiltration. The simple term we use is "as a wolf in sheep's clothing." "And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works" (II Cor. 11:14 15).
In our study of Sin we learned that Sin is the "I desire" of the self will within humanity. We learned that a person can be very moral and still be full of Sin. Knowing this, we can begin to see how Satan and his ministers come as ministers of righteousness, not as Mormons or Moonies, but posing as true Christian ministers of righteousness.
Within mainline denominations we see homosexuals being ordained as ministers. We see seminary graduates by the droves who do not believe in the virgin birth or deity of Christ. Then we see those who "believe properly" about the virgin birth, deity of Christ, and "love" but deny the need for repentance, "guilt over sin," or hell itself.
All these are not just poor misguided men. THEY ARE DEMONIC LIARS POSSESSED AND USED BY SATAN TO LEAD THOUSANDS INTO HELL ITSELF! But these obvious pseudo Christian gurus of humanism are but the skim on the surface of Satan's plot to totally pollute and destroy the Gospel of Jesus Christ. There are doctrines and teachers who are even more deadly and just as deceived and Satanic as the above mentioned group. It is the primary purpose of this whole essay to expose them for what they really are: unregenerated, unrepentant, satanic "ministers of righteousness" who are only pursuing the gospel of self in pseudo Christian disguise.