Another Gospel: Forgiveness vs. The Cure.

To Whom it may concern…

You know, people like to comfort themselves with this idea: “Well, I’m a good person, so surely God will accept me.” And I used to wrestle with that too. What about the so-called good ones? What about the ones who weren’t malicious, the ones who fought for justice, the ones we hold up as heroes? Take Martin Luther King Jr., for example. By human standards, he was a great man, a force for equality, a voice for the voiceless. But here’s the question that cut me to the bone: did he ever call upon the covenant Name, Yehoshua? Not the substitute name of “Jesus” that Christianity made popular, but the actual covenant Name. And the more I thought about it, the more I realized—he probably never even had the chance. His background, his culture, his church traditions were steeped in the counterfeit. So what happens then? Does someone like him just slip into Paradise because he was “good”?

And that’s when the Spirit spoke to me. He said, how many “good” people have died of AIDS? How many “good” people have died of stage 4 cancer? How many “good” people have dropped dead from heart disease? Millions. Hundreds of millions. And suddenly it hit me—being good has never cured a disease. Goodness never stopped cancer from spreading. Goodness never cleared clogged arteries. Goodness never kept HIV from ravaging a body. And just like that, I understood: sin is not erased because you’re decent, and salvation was never about being good. Sin is a blood disease, and without the cure, it kills. Every. Single. Time.

The Scriptures say there is none righteous, not even one (Romans 3:10 NASB). That verse isn’t a slap in the face of human decency—it’s a diagnosis. It’s like a doctor looking at a patient and saying, “Every test result shows infection.” It doesn’t matter if you’re polite or selfless or a community hero. It matters whether the disease has been cured. Because sin isn’t about behavior—it’s about blood. Through one man, sin entered the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all mankind (Romans 5:12 NASB). You and I were born into it. We never had access to Paradise because of what we did; we were conceived already carrying the infection. Behold, I was brought forth in guilt, and in sin my mother conceived me (Psalm 51:5 NASB). This is why being “good” is irrelevant. It doesn’t touch the condition. It doesn’t change the blood.

And here’s where we need to be clear: what most people call “forgiveness” isn’t the same as what Scripture means by remission. In English, forgiveness sounds like a relational pardon—“I overlook your mistake.” But the Greek word is aphesis, which means release, remission, discharge. That’s medical language, not sentimental language. No one “forgives” leukemia. No one “pardons” HIV. You either treat it, or it kills you. So when Yehoshua says, this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins (Matthew 26:28 NASB), He isn’t talking about God waving His hand at your behavior. He’s talking about remission—cancer-ward talk, pathology talk. His blood is the transfusion that clears the infection. That’s why Peter says, through His Name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins (Acts 10:43 NASB). Not through being nice. Not through religion. Through His Name.

This is why we never lost Paradise by what we did—we never had it by our own merit. We were born downstream of Adam’s rupture. Our entire nature was compromised before we took our first breath. Sin is a congenital state, not just a list of wrong actions. And congenital conditions cannot be forgiven—they can only be cured. This is why the gospel of “forgiveness” alone is powerless. It’s like handing an aspirin to a patient with a brain tumor. They might feel comfort for a moment, but nothing about their state has changed. But Yehoshua’s blood is remission. By one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified (Hebrews 10:14 NASB). His covenant blood eradicates what no amount of human goodness or religious effort can.

So now the contrast must be made plain. There are two gospels in circulation. The first is the forgiveness gospel, the counterfeit. It tells you that you sinned, God forgives, now try to be better. It’s horizontal. It’s behavior management. It’s placebo. The second is the cure gospel, the covenant. It tells you that you were born infected, Yehoshua shed His covenant blood, and in His Name you receive remission. It’s vertical. It’s a blood transfusion. It’s a cure. Paul said, I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is not just another account… even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed (Galatians 1:6–9 NASB). That’s how serious the split is. These are not two shades of the same truth—they are two different roads entirely.

And here’s the sting. The counterfeit gospel is tied to the counterfeit name. Acts 4:12 makes it plain: there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among mankind by which we must be saved (NASB). That name is Yehoshua, the Name that carries Yahweh’s salvation within it. The popular substitute name of “Jesus” is stripped of covenant weight, stripped of prophetic authority, stripped of the embedded promise. And what has grown up under that substitute name is a forgiveness-centric message—one that soothes behavior but does not cure blood. Paul warned about this exact thing: if one comes and preaches another Yehoshua whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit… or a different gospel… you tolerate it very well (2 Corinthians 11:4 NASB). And Yehoshua Himself warned: see to it that no one misleads you. For many will come “in My name,” saying, “I am the Christ,” and they will mislead many people. For false christs and false prophets will arise and will provide great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect (Matthew 24:4–5, 24 NASB). This is not abstract—it is unfolding exactly as He said.

So let’s measure the distance. How far apart are forgiveness and cure? They’re not two points on the same line—they’re two different axes. Forgiveness is horizontal relief—my ledger with you is cleared. Cure is vertical intervention—Yahweh’s life displaces Adam’s death in me. Forgiveness is a toll waived while the bridge remains collapsed. Cure is the rebuilding of the span and the carrying of the traveler to the other side. Forgiveness is an anesthetic. Cure is the surgery and the eradication of the tumor. Forgiveness is a suspended sentence. Cure is a new birth certificate in a different bloodline. That’s why Yehoshua said, if the Son sets you free, you really will be free (John 8:36 NASB). Freedom is not the absence of guilt feelings—it is the absence of the disease itself.

Now the conclusion becomes unavoidable. Goodness cannot save. Forgiveness alone cannot save. The counterfeit name “Jesus” cannot save. Only Yehoshua, through covenant blood, provides remission—the cure for the inherited blood pathogen of sin. And that’s why Hebrews 10:14 stands as a monument: by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified (NASB). That’s why Acts 10:43 insists, through His Name everyone who believes in Him receives remission. That’s why Paul pronounces a curse on any gospel that deviates from this, and that’s why Yehoshua Himself warned that false messiahs would arise with dazzling power but no cure.

So here is the call. Stop thinking being “good” is enough. Goodness never cured cancer, and it won’t cure Adam’s bloodline. Stop clinging to the placebo gospel that hands out forgiveness while leaving the tumor intact. The forgiveness gospel is counterfeit because it offers anesthesia without surgery, comfort without cure, another christ without the covenant Name. Turn to the covenant gospel, where Yahweh has provided the only transfusion that cleanses the bloodstream of Adam and births you into the life of Yehoshua. There is no other name under heaven by which we must be saved. One gospel is counterfeit, one is covenant. One soothes, one saves. One is placebo, one is cure. And you must choose which one you will believe.