Kirk Cameron, Dr. Michael Youssef Share God’s Good News
By Movieguide® Contributor
In a recent episode of TBN’s “Takeaways,” renowned pastor Dr. Michael Youssef joined Kirk Cameron to share his perspective on what the gospel is and where it starts.
“What is God’s good news to the world? Cameron asked.
“…We’re literally only saved to get to heaven on the coattails of Jesus. Because on our own, we can’t do it. He’s the only one who kept the law perfect. He’s the only one who paid the wages of our sin. He is the only one who can truly redeem us not just in this life but for all of eternity, and so that is really the gospel in a capsule,” Dr. Youssef said.
“I often tell international audiences…‘Christianity did not just happen in a vacuum,’” Youssef told Cameron. “Jesus didn’t just appear like the founder of other religions, which so many churches are now buying into.”
The pastor shared that while many think the gospel starts in the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, it actually begins in Genesis.
“In Genesis 3:15, God said to Adam and Eve as soon as they sinned and they did not repent of their sin, he told them and made them a promise that he is going to send his Messiah, and he will crush the serpent’s head,” Youssef explained.
He continued, “Even though it’s not going to nip at his heel, and that is the promise of Jesus coming in Genesis 3:15, and then you go throughout the whole Old Testament, the gospel is constantly there.”
TBN UK’s IN GREATER DETAIL also featured Dr. Youssef, who shared how God provided a way for him to escape from Egypt:
A Six-Day War broke [out]…I needed to escape, and really, God provided a way for me to… You’re not allowed to have a passport, let alone leave the country. To have a passport, to have permission from the government, to have all these things to get out of the country—it’s supernatural. Every one of those steps God took
Even when I was leaving the country… I had…two days to leave or else the visa would be revoked—the exit visa. So I went to the airlines and [said] I want to fly to Beirut, and they said, Well, there it’s a national holiday, and…the only plane was booked, and we have 50 people on the waiting list. I said I’ll try anyway. So at three o’clock in the morning, five of my siblings came with me. We went to the airport.
The flight was leaving at five, and all these people [were] waitlisted… and there was only one seat, one cancellation. And when I heard my name called by the station manager…of the airline, it was the most amazing feeling. And I hugged my siblings, knowing probably I’ll never see them again. But nonetheless, it was clear that God literally put me on the top of that list of 50 people, and I was able to escape to Beirut.
Premiere Christian News noted that the pastor had only $100 in hand when he left Egypt. He claims his courage to flee came from the Lord. After escaping, he started a radio outreach, which became a large global ministry. He wrote over 40 books and now travels the world, sharing the gospel.
Movieguide® previously reported on Dr. Youssef’s warnings about woke terminology:
As the cancel-culture cements itself in today’s politics, education systems, and media, Dr. Youssef warned against letting “woke” terminology into the Church and focus on the Gospel.
‘It’s not of the color of skin, of the ethnic background, or social status…it is on Jesus,” Youssef told CBN News. “When you take your eyes off Jesus and you focus on the circumstances that surrounds us… this whole idea that we’re woke. We realize this world is made of two kinds of people – the oppressed and the oppressors – we begin to see people with those kind of prisms. That ‘is a total false Gospel and we ought not to fall for that trap.’
