The crucifixion of Christ is the pivot point of all history. Most evangelicals believe that what happened on the cross changed in time and space the way God responds to people from that point onwards.

Prior to the death and resurrection of Jesus, God related to people on a fundamentally different basis from after these events. It is generally accepted that in the thousands of years before the death of Jesus there were many people, both Jew and non-Jew, who did live in genuine relationship with God. The exact basis for this Divine relationship is still often quite fuzzy in the minds of many evangelicals, but most would say it had something to do with keeping the greatest of all the commandments, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your strength, and your neighbour as yourself". They would feel that if, in Old Testament times, a person lived according to this standard then they were likely to be in right relationship with God and could therefore be said to have eternal life.

But after the Cross everything changed. Evangelicals believe that at some point in the midst of the crucifixion everything changed vastly for the better. Through Christ’s death on the cross a ‘new agreement’ or ‘new covenant’ was made between God and man.

There are three main parts to this new agreement or covenant. The first two are indeed very good news; the third is very bad news!

The Good News

The first part of the good news is that Christ’s death on the cross caused the defeat of Satan and his hierarchy of demons. Therefore people can now live without the crippling fear of being cursed and tormented by evil spirits, or the spirits of their own or others’ ancestors, coming back to attack them if they violate these entities’ wishes. Such news is especially freeing and powerful for those peoples who live in fear under the yoke of animism and ancestor worship. To their great credit, evangelicals have brought huge freedom to these sorts of societies through the good work of Christian missionaries.

The second positive part of the evangelical version of the good news is this. Thanks to this new way of salvation through Jesus individuals can come into and live in ‘right relationship with God’ in a way that frees them from feeling they have to strive to ‘earn’ God’s approval and love by the endless repetition of ‘right rituals’, by external sacrifices to God or the gods, by desperately striving to keep scores of picky religious laws, and/or by endeavouring in any way possible to build up sufficient brownie points to ‘merit’ or ‘earn’ Divine approval. Evangelicals will point out that on the cross Jesus died and paid the price for the sins of the whole world so that endless sacrifices etc are no longer needed. They will also point out that coming to God through Jesus Christ brings one into a really powerful sense of God’s peace and presence. Now all of this is true and is of itself fine. It’s the ‘add ons’ which create the problems. So hold tight, here comes the really bad news

The Bad News

Evangelicals maintain that since the cross we have now entered what they call the ‘age of grace’ and that this is God’s ‘new way’ to come into relationship with him. The bad news is that this ‘new way to God through Jesus’ is now the only way acceptable to God. It is now the only way to have your sins forgiven. The ways that once brought God’s smile of welcome and approval are no longer valid. If, therefore, a person does not in their life time come to God via Jesus in the way prescribed by Christians, God will judge them and send them to hell.

Explaining away the vast injustices

Some concessions are made for small children, the handicapped and perhaps the seriously mentally ill, although on what basis these concessions could be made is never really explained. Some will concede that a very small number of exceptionally moral and compassionate ‘pagans’ living outside of Christianity’s reach just might scrape through, though this concession contradicts and clearly violates the otherwise iron-clad dogma which declares it totally impossible for anyone to be ‘saved’ by what is termed ‘good works’.

As for those multitudes of people down through history who died never having had even a chance to hear the message of Christ, some evangelicals will say that these people will be accepted if they live up to the light they have, "the law written in their hearts" (Romans 2.15). In other words, their salvation is still based on the Old Testament model.

However, this statement creates the following major problem. Quite obviously, the arrival of Christian missionaries in a country must bring at least the chance of hearing about Jesus. It therefore must bring to an end the period of ‘Old Testament style grace’. If this is the case, then the arrival of missionaries in an area instantly closes the door to salvation for those who, by virtue of their ‘good heart’, were previously in God’s favour! If this argument is correct, missionaries had better stay at home as they unwittingly become the means whereby good people are sent to hell because they suddenly become accountable in a way they previously were not.