A friend of mine believes there is no hell and that all people will be saved. “The church portrays God as an angry, fire breathing God to keep people in fear and obedient to the church. God is love, not some fire breathing dragon.”
I thought of him when I read this song of David.
“In my distress I called to the Lord; I called out to my God. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came to his ears. The earth trembled and quaked, the foundations of the heavens shook; they trembled because he was angry. Smoke rose from his nostrils; consuming fire came from his mouth, burning coals blazed out of it.
2 Samuel 22:7-9 NIV Continue reading →
All of us have known church/ministry leaders, either personally or on the national/international scene, who have inflicted great harm on God’s people – perhaps through their own moral failure, through spiritual manipulation, harsh legalism or a number of other ways. A video I was sent recently reminded me of how wide spread this is and as I thought about it a picture came to mind.
Among a group of young children a few of the bigger ones were wielding knives. The bigger ones were recklessly swinging their knives slashing and hurting those around them. These were God’s kids being hurt and doing the hurting. I thought, “Lord, you seem to be a pretty bad Father.”
I would be a horrid father if I allowed my kids to slash and hurt one another like God permits His kids to do. I have a responsibility to restrain my children, to keep them from hurting others. But God does not do that. He allows “the big ones” to abuse, manipulate and repeatedly inflict injury leaving a path of hurt people strewn in their wake. “Why do you do that Lord? Even our wicked society restrains those who would hurt others – and your law commands government to do so. But you don’t within your own family.” Continue reading →
Psalm 101:7, 8
No one who practices deceit will dwell in my house; no one who speaks falsely will stand in my presence.
Every morning I will put to silence all the wicked in the land; I will cut off every evildoer from the city of the Lord. ________________ I absolutely love this passage. Here’s why. A number of years ago my family was enduring a brutal time. The church I pastored had severe financial pressures (we had nothing to do with creating the debt we just “inherited” the consequences of someone else’s “faith”).
I had outspoken critics in the congregation who with syrupy sweetness regularly told me all I was doing wrong as a pastor. (The most vocal of them had been saved almost 3 years so surely had great insight into church leadership.) Some of the critics were self-proclaimed prophets who would spout as “the Word of the Lord” any bird-brained idea that flitted through the canyons of their cranium. Others thought nothing of slandering me and harassing my kids because they actually acted like children. Though their children were in rebellion and running from God, they knew exactly how “pastor’s kids” should be raised. Continue reading →
Reading about all the slaughter at Ai in Joshua 8 is hard for me to enjoy. I feel I should rejoice because “the good guys won” but I don’t get excited picturing carved up corpses of women and children with their blood draining into the streets. Theologically, I know the right answers for why this was necessary but in the sterile, nice world where I live such images are abhorrent.
It does, however, cause me to reevaluate my image of God. Jesus was a perfect reflection of God the Father (Hebrews 1:3). Jesus and the Father are in perfect sync. In other words, Jesus was in on this slaughter as much as the Father was. There is no contradiction between the two. Continue reading →
As one involved in missions I have often heard and quoted Matthew 24:14 as a challenge that we must get the mission of world evangelization done so the Lord can return.
“And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”
In my heart it seemed strange the Lord would leave the date of His return dependent upon our actions but that sure seemed to be what this passage was saying. This “truth” was rather discouraging when you think that we have been at this task for 2000+ years and, while some folks think we are close to the goal, in reality it seems the goal post keeps moving. Will we ever get this job done? Will Jesus ever be able to return? Continue reading →
Revelation 13:7
(The beast) was given power to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them. …
_______________________
The fact that you are reading this indicates we survived the Mayan “end of the world” December 21. That’s nice but it doesn’t mean an apocalyptic end is not coming. This passage warns us one is coming. But doesn’t this passage seem strange to you?
Biblically we know any power originates in God so whatever power the beast has ultimately comes from God. The beast is given power, from God, to conquer God’s people. Lord, I see a few reasons You would do this but it still confuses me that these folks, who have your Word and all its wonderful promises of overcoming Satan, are going to be conquered. That seems strange to me.
Then I think of Mary. Gabriel appears telling her she will become pregnant by the Holy Spirit – a story folks are not likely to believe. (Luke 1) You could have had Gabriel tell the whole town or tell her parents so at least they would believe her story. Instead, you do it privately and let her bare the ridicule that certainly accompanied such a fantastic story. I can see some reasons You would do that but it still seems strange to me. Continue reading →
Someone asked me why their church seems to continually go through conflict and tension among the members. After asking a few questions I explained that their problem is that they are in a “Laodicean church”.
Most folks think of Laodicea, in Revelation 3, as being the “lukewarm” church but the very name of the church reveals a more foundational problem. Laodicea comes from two Greek words. The first one means “the people” – where we get our word “laity”. The second word can mean justice or vengeance or, rulership. In other words, Laodicea is a church ruled by the people – a democracy. Continue reading →
I was asked this question via a FaceBook chat. I anticipated after my answer they would sign-off with a quick “thanks” or try to justify why my answer did not apply. I was pleasantly surprised when it turned out they were sincerely desiring to know what God had to say about the issue and were willing to follow His instructions. Here is what I told them.
The Bible is very clear on that issue. In fact, it is probably one of the most clearly answered questions in all of Scripture. Typically “fornication” is the term used to refer to sex before marriage whereas “adultery” refers to sex after marriage with anyone other than your spouse. The Greek word the King James Version translates “fornication” actually includes many forms of sexual immorality (incest, prostitution, harlotry, etc) and so is often simply translated “sexual immorality”, so as not to limit its meaning to fornication. The Bible is clear that sex before marriage, and all sexual immorality, is a sin and warns of harsh penalties for those involved in it.
The Bible teaches self-control and complete abstinence before marriage and a one-man, one-woman relationship after marriage both physically and in the area of the thought life.
QUESTION:
Someone told me they believe the Bible but also believe there is no eternal punishment and that the greek word associated with eternal punishment really meant for a limited time but the church translated it “eternal” to control people through fear. Is that true?
ANSWER: Some refer to this teaching as Biblical Universalism trying to distinguish themselves from traditional universalism that denies the Scriptures. While Biblical Universalism claims to believe the Bible it is important to understand which “Bible” they believe.
First, they deny all major translations of the Bible as being accurate. These “mistranslations” include the King James Version, New International Version, New American Standard Version, New Revised Standard Version, the Amplified Bible, New Century Version, New Living Translation, International Standard Version as well as almost all others. Instead, they refer you to a few obscure translations which, if you will check it out, you will find were almost exclusively done by other universalists who were not well educated in the original languages and had a point to prove by “correcting” the translations done by scholarly teams of translators from a broad spectrum of doctrinal and theological backgrounds with no “ax to grind”. A key to cult success and heretical teachers is to undermine the trustworthiness of Scriptures so you are left having to depend upon their word, or their translations, for the “truth”.
It does not take a lot of research to torpedo this heresy and you don’t have to be a Greek scholar to do the research yourself. The foundation of their belief revolves around the meaning of the Greek word “aionios” which they say means temporary. (And two hundred years before Jesus it was used to mean temporary but word meaning changes over time and in Jesus’ time the word clearly meant “eternal” as we will see in Scripture.)
Matthew 25:46 says, “Then they (the unrighteous) will go away to eternal (aionios) punishment, but the righteous to eternal (aionios) life.”
Basically, their claim is that the second time the word is used it means “eternal” but the first time it is used in this sentence it means “temporary”. To an unbiased observer it would be clear that since Jesus used the same term to describe the length of both the punishment and the reward then both are equal in duration. If the punishment ends after a period of time then clearly the reward also ends after a period of time. Obviously Biblical Universalism finds elaborate ways to deny this clear connection and say the same word can mean different things even though used in the same sentence. While a word can mean different things though used in the same sentence (A fly landed on my fly and would not fly away), there is no justification for applying differing definitions in the Matthew statement.
But a simple Bible study of the word “aionios” will further sink the univeralist ship and clarify the meaning of the word without referring to any translations – the major ones or their obscure ones.
Looking up the word aionios we see it – or its derivatives – are used 72 times in the New Testament. Of the 72 passages where the word is used, 59 times it is used to describe things even Biblical Universalism would agree are eternal: eternal Life – 43x, Spirit of God eternal – 1, Everlasting God – 2, Eternal glory – 3, eternal consolation – 1, God’s power is aionion – 1, Eternal salvation – 1, eternal redemption – 1, Jesus is alive aionion – 1, Everlasting kingdom – 1, eternal gospel – 1, eternal inheritance – 1, eternal covenant – 1, eternal habitation prepared – 1. All agree these things last eternally, not just for a period of time.
If in all those instances the word clearly means “eternal, without end” how can we suddenly translate it as temporary when it refers to punishment (1x), damnation(1x), destruction(1x), judgment(1x) and hell’s fire (3x)? Based on the fact that aionion clearly refers to things we would all agree go on without end in the overwhelming uses of the word, there is no justification to suddenly change its meaning when we apply it to things we are not so fond of – fire, judgment, punishment, destruction, damnation.
While Universalism pleases our natural senses (it would be comforting to think the horrors of hell are only temporary – or non existent at all) there is no Biblical evidence to support this. Punishment, damnation, destruction, judgment and the fires of hell are serious matters, they are eternal matters as the Bible clearly teaches and as the church has taught since its beginning. Universalism is the same lie the serpent told in the garden, “Go ahead, disobey God. You won’t die.” The serpent still hisses that lie today through Universalism.
Finally, everything within me wants to say, “I wish their interpretation was true” but to do so would be to question the perfection of God’s judgments. Do I dare think I can improve upon God’s method, or call Him too harsh or too strict because in my natural mind I can’t grasp or justify eternal punishment. All I can do is rest in God’s sovereignty, wisdom, mercy and grace and be confident that at the day of judgment I will agree with the multitude in heaven that declare, “true and just are his judgments”, a declaration made twice in the book of Revelation (16:7, 19:2) and affirmed in history and throughout the ages.
___________________ Romans 11:33-34 Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways! For who can know the Lord’s thoughts? Who knows enough to give him advice?
Matthew 24:14
And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
___________________
As one involved in missions I have often heard, even referenced myself, this verse as a challenge to get the job of world evangelization done so the Lord could return. In my heart it seemed strange that God would make the date of the coming of Jesus dependent upon our actions but that sure seemed to be what this passage was saying. After all, as I have heard reliable Bible teachers say, it is only humans who can declare the gospel since angels have never experienced it. Obviously the return of Christ was dependent upon us getting the job done, getting the gospel out to every nations, tribe, language and people. That’s an unbelievably huge (and frightening) responsibility for us weak, undependable human beings.
While teaching a series on the book of Revelation, I found a startling passage, telling of an event to come, that shed new light on this subject:
Revelation 14:6 Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth—to every nation, tribe, language and people.
So an angel will finish this task. The salvation of all mankind and the return of Jesus is not dependent upon me! (Duh.) What a relief!
Obviously this does not negate the importance of us taking the gospel “to every nation, tribe, language and people” because there are those alive in our generation who will not live long enough to receive the message from this angel. They are still dependent upon human instruments, obeying God – some of us by sending others and some of us by going ourselves – to bring them this vital message. But I am relieved to know that “the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority”(Acts 1:7) remain under His control and are not dependent upon me.
_________________ Matthew 28:18-20 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
A friend of mine believes there is no hell and that all people will be saved. “The church portrays God as an angry, fire breathing God to keep people in fear and obedient to the church. God is love, not some fire breathing dragon.”
I was asked this question via a FaceBook chat. I anticipated after my answer they would sign-off with a quick “thanks” or try to justify why my answer did not apply. I was pleasantly surprised when it turned out they were sincerely desiring to know what God had to say about the issue and were willing to follow His instructions. Here is what I told them.
While Biblical Universalism claims to believe the Bible it is important to understand which “Bible” they believe.