The eternal gospel
The angel of Revelation 14:6-7 has an eternal gospel—the eternal gospel—to announce. Here it is:
Then I saw another angel flying directly overhead, with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people. And he said with a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come, and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water.”
A lot of contemporary gospel preaching omits these twin themes of lordship (arising from creatorship) and judgement. Yet they are the only elements that the angel of Revelation 14:6 treats as indispensable to the eternal gospel. The God of Revelation, who sent Jesus as sacrifice and raised him to sit on the throne of God, is the one who is coming as ruler and judge of all.
Without these two essential elements, the ministry of gospel proclamation is reduced to plain sentimentality, or social work with a slightly spiritual dimension. Without the lordship and judgement that Jesus brings, there's no ultimate need to be right with God or to honour his authority. There's no fear of coming judgement—no particular urgency to get on with the job of talking to others about the Lord Jesus who will come to weigh up the words and deeds of the living and the dead.
As a result, this other sort of ‘gospel’ ministry (which has actually lost connection with the real gospel) will centre only on human need. We become addicted to responding to immediate demands and maintaining existing church structures. There's no real need or push to tell others of God. There's no drive or hurry to train anyone to do likewise.
And so, slowly but surely, various bits and pieces of Christendom that have lost connection with the true gospel become in their home towns a minor and curious sect—like the Zoroastrians who don't believe in telling others their beliefs, so, unsurprisingly, very few people want to know what they are about and even less commit themselves as followers.
What do Zoroastrians believe again?