Love Wins - by Rob Bell
by Gary Amirault
Even as firestorms are blazing in the Middle East, there is an inferno blazing in the Evangelical world. Author Christopher Latondresse, writing for the Huffington Post titles the great controversy this way: Farewell, Rob Bell (or John Piper’s Inferno).
Will Rob Bell, author of Love Wins, Become the Michael Servetus (Burned at the Stake) of our Generation?
Love Wins: Heaven, Hell and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived is the title of Rob Bell’s latest book. Rob is perhaps best known for his well received Nooma video series which has been widely viewed by millions of young Evangelicals, particularly in the United States.
Rob Bell is also considered a leader in a growing movement called Emerging Church, or Emergent Church. Among the leaders of this movement besides Rob Bell have been John Burke, author of Heretics Guide to Eternity, Mark Driscoll, Tony Jones, Dan Kimball, Joel McClure, Brian McLaren, Doug Pagitt, Mark Scandrette, Dave Sutton, Karen Ward, Dallas Williard, Dieter Xander, Leonard Sweet, Spencer Burke, Erwin Mcmanus, Tommy Kyllonen, Donald Miller, Richard Foster among others. (It seems Mark Driscoll has distanced himself from this movement he helped start in recent years. Perhaps others have as well.)
As in all movements in the Church, there will be splits and divisions and there will be those considered heretics. One man’s heretic is another man’s saint. In the Emerging Church movement (which seems to be heavily infused with a heavy dose of Calvinism), are some leaders who have come to see that their “eternal security” for the “elect” just doesn’t seem to rise up to the level of what Paul called the glorious gospel. Paul’s “glorious gospel” is what I now call “The Victorious Gospel of Jesus Christ,” that is, the salvation of all mankind, through the finished work of the Cross of Christ. Early Christian leaders who knew Greek called it apokatastasis (or apocatastasis), that is, the restoration of all things. (Acts 3:21)
Brian McLaren, author of “A New Kind of Christianity,” was the first of the bad boys of the Emergent Church movement for coming out of the closet for his belief in Christian Universalism, that is, Jesus Christ, is Savior of all, loser of none. I’ve been told that Doug Pagitt also has come into the fold of the “Larger Hope,” or “The Greater Faith,” as universalism has been called in times past. Few American Christians are aware of the fact that several hundred thousand Christians in America during the 1800’s stood firmly against the “Limitarians,” or “Partialists,” as those who taught eternal damnation were sometimes called. These bold Christians embraced a universalism that was Christ and Bible-centered. And now, Rob Bell, it appears, is going to add his voice to the ragamuffin band of “heretics” who have been persecuted for this message for many centuries.
Among those “orthodox” Evangelicals who are now calling for Bell’s head are John Piper, John MacArthur and Mark Driscoll. Well-known past heretics of the universalist persuasion include Karl Barth, William Barclay, Charles M. Schulz (Peanuts), Florence Nightingale, Hannah Whitall Smith, B.F. Westcott, George MacDonald, William Law, Abraham Lincoln, Origen, Saint Gregory and millions of others (including myself). Carlton Pearson, a well-known Charismatic preacher, added his name to the Great Cloud of Witnesses to the Victorious Gospel of Jesus Christ a few years back. It cost him greatly. Big name preachers who used to share the platform with him turned their backs. Pearson lost his church of several thousand members, lost his position on the board of Oral Roberts University, lost music record contracts, etc. all because he saw universal salvation and was bold enough to declare it publically. Will Rob Bell experience the same fate?
Will the heretic hunters want Rob Bell’s head? Or will Wisdom have its way? Billy Graham in his early days was a big “turn or burn” preacher. Today, he’s almost a universalist. The Roman Catholic Church hunted heretics to torture and kill for many centuries. But the previous Pope (Pope John Paul II) taught universal salvation before he died. (The new Pope Benedict XVI, unfortunately is re-interpreting Pope John Paul’s writings to conform back to orthodoxy, that is, Hell for most of mankind. Recently, Pope XVI has absolved Jews collectively from crucifying Christ. How nice of him. Jesus absolved the entire world, including the Jews responsible for His death almost 2,000 years ago. It is nice to see a church of over a billion adherents finally catch up.)
The Emerging Church is full of young people. The post 9/11/2001 youth have been greatly manipulated through fear by the media and government. These young terrorized minds are looking for a source of stability and security. The doomsday prophets have been announcing the end of the world continuously for decades through material like Hal Lindsay’s “The Late Great Planet Earth,” and Tim LaHaye’s “Left Behind”. A legion of armies of TV evangelists and preachers have dangled the world over an impending inferno since the invention of the atomic bomb and the appearance of a millions of Jews attempting to carve out a state in the Middle East. (As of this writing Israel has neither a constitution nor defined borders.)
Often we, older adults have a difficult time comprehending what goes on in younger minds who are facing a world of greater instability than perhaps any previous generation. The Emergent Church through its alliance to Reformed/Calvinist theology has promised eternal security to those who can convince themselves they are among the “elect.” I believe this “security” is something young people of this generation are desperately looking for. Because they find no security in the world they are presently facing – this aspect of Calvinism gives people temporary relief – a relief that ultimately wears thin. An excellent article exposing the weakness of the eternal security Reformed/Calvinism offers is “Does the ‘Once Saved, Always Saved’ Doctrine Bring Security to Struggling Christians?” by Charles Slagle.
Most of the Protestant Church is Arminian in theology. Arminians are very insecure in their security in Christ. Hell is full of a lot of folks who think they are saved, but will miss the boat. This theology presents eternal life as a choice which one may forfeit for a variety reasons. There are many things in Arminian theology that can prevent one from making it into heaven. The Reformed/Calvinism of the Emerging Church makes it easy: if you’re among the elect, you’re in, guaranteed, if you’re not elect, you’re out, plain and simple. The problem with Calvinism is unless one is blinded by one’s pride, one can never be quite certain whether they are among the elect chosen by God for salvation from the foundation of the world or whether they are among the damned. God doesn’t just come down and put mark on one’s head branding them “eternally secure and elect” or “kosher.” No, fear, doubt, unbelief, pride, sin, ignorance, laziness – all these and more make it difficult to determine whether one is truly elect or whether one has earned enough brownie points with God to warrant entrance. Calvinism and Arminianism, if truly taken seriously by its adherents, can really mess with one’s mind. Peace of mind comes hard in these two theological systems.
About 20 years ago, there was a church movement calling for city wide prayer. The leaders of this movement called for pastors and church members of all denominations to come together for corporate prayer. Among its leaders were Mike Bickle, of IHOP fame, Francis Frangipane, Rick Joyner, Paul Cain, Jack Deere and others. The pastor of the church I attended was considering joining that movement. We prayed together regarding whether his church should join the movement. During prayer I received a vision. I saw myself riding a surfboard. A wave was coming that I could ride. This wave represented the church movement the pastor was praying about. The Holy Spirit in the vision told me to let that wave go by. The vision ended with my looking over my shoulder waiting for “my” wave. I knew it was going to be a huge wave that would bring me all the way to shore. That was 20 years ago.
About that same time period I came into a deep understanding that Jesus Christ was indeed the Savior of the whole world. All who died in Adam would come into Christ because of the work of the Cross. I had seen and experienced the power of this Victorious Gospel when Christ revealed Himself to me 26 years ago, but many pastors convinced me through grossly mistranslated Bible versions that God couldn’t possibly save the whole world and that He never planned to save most of it in the first place. They convinced me that most of mankind would be punished endlessly in Hell. Many Calvinist actually told me (and the writings of famous Calvinist leaders affirmed this) that God planned to torture most of mankind which would increase the joy of those predestined to be with God in heaven. “If my own mother were being carried to the gates of Hell, I would stand and applaud.” These words came from a professor of a mainline seminary explaining that Hell will be understandable and the saved will rejoice in the misery of the unsaved, once the saved see the glory of Christ and the justice of God. (Source: Four Views on Hell, Zondervan publishing, 1996, p. 48) These kinds of comments are common among church leaders and pastors of the Calvinist or even the Arminian persuasion. (see: http://www.tentmaker.org/articles/spirit-of-church.html)
Since that time I have spend countless hours combing the scriptures, purchasing dozens of Bible translations, hundreds of Biblical reference and church history books studying this glorious teaching I now call “The Victorious Gospel of Jesus Christ.” Paul called it “my gospel,” and “the glorious gospel.” After these two decades of intense studying seeking absolute proof regarding who’s in and who’s out as to heaven and hell, I am convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt the Scriptures in their original languages did NOT contain the concept a Hell of eternal punishment and damnation. The Scriptures clearly teach the salvation of all mankind through Jesus Christ.
I now have in my library copies of many English translations which do not contain the idea of Hell in them. Not a single pastor during my earlier years told me such translations existed. The original Hebrew and Greek languages of the Bible plainly teach universal salvation. I can now historically and scripturally prove it! We have made much of this research now available through several internet sites.
It was primarily through the work of Jerome, who translated the Greek and Hebrew into Latin, which would ultimately be called the Latin Vulgate, that would set the course for the Church to abandon apokatastasis, that is, the restoration of all things. His mistranslations of critical words dealing with time and eternity were instrumental in moving the church from the teaching of universal salvation to the teaching that only a handful of pre-elected souls would be saved while the rest of mankind was pre-elected to eternal damnation, to a lake burning with fire and sulfur. It was left to Augustine to take Jerome’s translation errors and turn them into Church dogma. To make matters worse when Emperor Constantine made Christianity the religion of the Roman Empire. He turned it into a political/military machinery that would bury Jesus’ commandment to “love your enemies” for many centuries to come. The Church to this day is still peddling the Judaism of the Pharisees of Jesus day, “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, and a life for a life.” We are still coming out of the shadows of the Mosaic law to this day. The “veil of Moses” hides the eyes of the average church-goer to the glorious gospel Paul preached. Paul did not teach Hell! Apostle Paul was a universalist.
Rob Bell’s book, “Love Wins,” may be a part of the catalyst that God might use to bring about this huge wave of people from all around the world who will put an end to this Dark Age teaching of an almost empty heaven with a Hell busting at the seams. The predestined elect teaching merely produces pride, not the fruit of the kingdom of God which is love, peace and joy. A God who “will have ALL mankind to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth,” is a God worthy to be praised and worship by the entire human family. (1 Tim. 2:1-6)
Jesus said, “It is finished!” two thousand years ago. It is time His finished work for all mankind be declared by those who claim to worship Him. Anything less is not worthy of Him.
There is an account in William J. Wolf’s biography of Abraham Lincoln The Almost Chosen People where Abe overheard two people arguing over who would be saved. “It’s either all or none,” Lincoln said. According to Wolf’s biography, Lincoln believed in the salvation of all mankind through Jesus Christ.
Dear precious young person, yield your life to the Savior Who is more than willing to “draw all mankind unto Himself.” (John 12:32) He is truly the only hope of the world. While the belief in Christian Universalism was the majority view among early Christians, the Dark Ages all but snuffed out this glorious truth. But since the Protestant Reformation, as Bible translations improve and our knowledge of the early believers in Christ increases, this glorious truth of the restoration of all things as spoken from the mouth of God’s prophets is being received by greater numbers. My library is full of books written by men and women since the Reformation convinced the Bible teaches universal salvation. I have many Bible translations that do not contain the word Hell from cover to cover.
The Hellfire and damnation contingency of the Evangelical world would like to bid Rob Bell a farewell even as Farel an inquisitor of John Calvin’s Geneva Switzerland bid Michael Servetus a farewell as he mercilessly burned to death on slow-burning green faggots (bundles of wood). But I pray, Rob Bell, that in the days ahead you fare well and escape the hands of the Farels and Calvins of the Church.
19th century German philosopher Alexander Humbold wrote “First they ignore it, then they laugh at it, then they say they knew it all along.” Christian, don’t be among these people. Don’t go into eternity as a coward! Be bold, open your mouths and hearts for the Victorious Gospel of Jesus Christ, Savior of all!)
This precious knowledge, through the use of the internet, modern printing, electronic media, etc. will continue to expand in the hearts of people even as the waters cover the sea. His Word will not return void. It shall return accomplishing everything it was sent to accomplish, even the salvation of all who died in Adam, even the salvation of the whole world. As Apostle Paul said, “These things COMMAND AND TEACH!” (1Tim 2:1-7; 4:9-11) Go, be about your Father’s business! Believe the Promise and be not unbelieving. And don’t be afraid to speak the truth in love. The world needs this message. It is time! Gary Amirault, Tentmaker Ministries.
Tags: Brian McLaren, Christianity, doctrine, Doug Paggitt, Emergent, Emerging Church, evangelical, Gary Amirault, HarperOne, Hell, heretic, heretical, John MacArthur, John Piper, Love Wins, Mark Driscoll, Mars Hill, Nooma, Rob Bell, Tentmaker Ministries, universalism, universalist
Amen. Let’s hope this can be a turning point for the institutional church to wake up and recognize the pride they’ve been living in for so long.
And I’m buying that Lincoln book. I read on Tentmaker that he was Universalist, but could never find a source for the quote on there.
Well, this site is finally up — almost. Yeah, God@
clearly you have never read the book of Romans,or Revelation 20:15, read the REST of John Chapter 3. “God’s wrath remains on him.”
Hmm, you quote direct words from Jesus and then you compare words from Abraham Lincoln as if they are worthy/comparable on the same level as the authority of the words coming from the mouth of Jesus.
I have a very hard time finding the comparison or importance of Lincolns’ words over the words of Jesus’
@ben, Thre is no way I would put Lincoln’s words equal to the Living Word, Jesus Christ, and I doubt most people who read my article would come to that conclusion.
@nauta heretic, Clearly have have spent more time in Romans than you have. I read the rest of Romans AND the rest of the Bible. “Mercy shall triumph over judgment.” James 2:13
Rom 11:30 For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:
Rom 11:31 Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.
Rom 11:32 For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.
Rom 11:33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!
May the Lord of all mercies heal your short-sightedness that you may see the Victorious Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Uh, excuse me,
Jesus clearly taught on hell. This clown is telling you that what Jesus said was mistranslated!! Anyone who teaches directly against clear spoken words of Jesus(god in the flesh) is a liar!! Jesus preached clearly through Noah. That is the perfect picture for us, either we listen to the truth, become convicted, repent and make Jesus Lord/Savior or we have the same fate of the sinners of Noah’s day. God loves everyone! True!, but he is perfect and hates sin, he is just and if you reject Jesus as your savior you reject him. Without hell, why would you need a savior? To twist Gods word clearly means no fruit and no salvation. Please pray for this lost soul!!!!
If Jesus preached through Noah to those who were disobedient, He would obviously be the worst preacher ever because the only people saved were Noah’s family and they were far from perfect. Sorry but no cigar. Jesus preached while in Hades to disobedient souls and set them free!!!! Why do you want such a harsh failure god? Could it be you have an image of yourself in your heart that you are worshipping? We become what we worship. Your god is worse than a bad man. Can’t you see that? Yet the Bible says “God is love.” You need to sell your idol. It is not serving you, your family nor your community.
Have you even opened a bible ever? What do you do with all of 2Peter chapter 2, a few areas in context
18 For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped[d] from those who live in error. 19 While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage. 20 For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. 21 For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. 22 But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: “A dog returns to his own vomit,”[e] and, “a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire.”
A little more: 2Peter chapter 2
Doom of False Teachers
4 For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment; 5 and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly; 6 and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly; 7 and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked 8 (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds)— 9 then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment, 10 and especially those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority. They are presumptuous, self-willed. They are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries, 11 whereas angels, who are greater in power and might, do not bring a reviling accusation against them before the Lord.
Um Chist’s own words:
How do you argue this?
Christ Fulfills the Law
17 “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. 18 For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. 19 Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.
Paul mentions at least 6 times something like this.
21The salutation of me Paul with mine own hand. 22If any man loveth not the Lord, let him be anathema. Maranatha. 23The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you. 24My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Is an unrepentent Hitler, Nero or any other evil human are going to be in heaven?? You’re so ridiculous!! Rob Bell must repent or he will be anathema. Please pray for him.
@admin,
Learn your Greek, Latin and Aramaic!! Jesus preached to them while they were still alive on this earth. Jesus took the old testament saints out of Abrahams bosom(a part of hades but not hell) Jesus said on the cross it was finished, in-between his death and resurrection he was with the saints. His perfect sacrifice was only to release the faithful from Abrahams bosom to take them to heaven. Jesus is returning someday to judge the living and the dead, his kingdom will have no end. Are you ready? I don’t want me to be right and you to be wrong. I don’t want you to perish. Please repent
Universalism is a tool to make yourself feel okay about living a half baked humanist form of Christianity. It’s a really good ploy of the enemy.
@James Knight, Hell is a tool to make yourself feel superior to most humans AND even God. For no human being, unless out of his mind, would create a scenario in which he eternally tortures most of those he created. This is the stuff of Hollywood, not a wise, all-powerful, loving God whose nature is love. I am not a humanist, I am a child of God who knows the love of His father. One day you will be delivered from your insantity and experience His love as well. Til then, continue to play the hypocrite. Your time in darkness will come to its end.
@admin,
Ok let’s cut to the chase, please give us specific scripture (in cotext) that says the rebellious unrepentent sinners will be saved, without ever reaching out to God. Please don’t try to use this as an opportunity to use your lame lies. Just please answer the question with the limited bible knowledge that the new emergent church has. Everyone reading this please keep in mind that he will not reply with a bible text backing up his claims. He will only attack character or anyone elses belief as hateful.
@Joe
Let me help you out:
Philippians 2:9 ~ 11
“Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.”
Conclusion: Every knee and tongue in heaven, on earth, under the earth will bow and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
Question: Who is excluded?
@James Knight
I disagree.
When God first delighted to make me know the accomplishments of His Son 2,000 years ago and gave me faith and belief in Him (we don’t give it to ourselves), my mind went directly to the people of China. Were eternal torment true, I often thought of those millions there who’ve died in poverty and diseases, the descriptions of which would make the hardest heart cringe.
I now live in the Far East and work to live out the love and truth that God places in us through the Spirit of His Son. Buddhism, Daoism, and Chinese folk religions teach “hell”. Could 99.9% of their teachings be wrong and/or demon-inspired, yet that one little doctrine about a place where bad people are sent be true?
Daoists and adherents of Chinese folk religions fear (are scared of) and dread their “gods” and do things to appease their anger. Yet the true God, the God and Father of the Lord Jesus, is entreating us based on a sacrifice — the sacrifice of His Son. And He loves us enough to not leave us the way we are. We are being conformed to the image of His Son, as everyone will be. Any judgment we experience now or will experience in the future is corrective in nature, not torture.
The true ploy of the enemy is to paint a picture of [g]od who is so cruel and nasty (and unbiblical) that its portrait does more to harden the already hard heart than soften it; it does more to turn people away than anything else.
Joshua
@Joe
I find it difficult to believe anything you say regarding “hell” when you used the word more in your single post than Paul did in his entire inspired letters.
How could it be that this all important doctrine and the bulk of the motivation of Christendom is not mentioned once in Paul’s inspired writings? (Even when Peter mentions it, he mentions it being for “spirits” not people.)
Joshua
Joshua – with all due respect you are quoting scripture out of context. It doesn’t refer to ALL being saved – it refers to ALL will bow and acknowledge Jesus is Lord – those upon the earth, above the earth and under the earth. All will acknowledge him as Lord, not all will be saved. You’re really playing with hellfire by manipulating scripture.
You’re twisting of scripture is ashame. That does not mean everyone is going to heaven. Those very easy to understand verses only mean that everyone including Satan shall have to acknowledge Jesus as God. There is no reference of all being saved. Youre of the enemy, please repent youre molding a god if your own because you’re weighed down with a ton of sin you’re hiding. Read 2nd timothy. You’re scratching itching ears, mostly yours. I’m praying for you. You will be in anathema if you don’t repent. My the love of God convict your heart. You are lost It’s ver sad.
Having extensively read both Dallas Willard and Richard Foster, this would be the first time I have ever seen them associated with the Emergent/Emerging Church Movement.
To all those that reject the truth that God will reconcile ALL men to himself, I can only say one thing. You all walk in a lot of PRIDE. Not to mention the fact that you do not forgive everyone in your own hearts, yet you expect God to forgive you. The fact is you are just too damn proud to have Hitler, or even Charles Manson, or any other “unrepentenant sinner”, stand next to you in Paradise.
Mat 6:14 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:
Mat 6:15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
You who think many will go to “hell”, have refused in your own hearts to forgive those people in the Name of The Lord. Therefore, should your Father deny you forgiveness as well?
So God doesn’t forgive unrepentenant sinners, huh?
Then explain why Jesus, while He was being nailed to The Cross, said in Luke 23:34 “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do”. I hardly think these people were repentenant. In fact they were VERY REBELLIOUS AND UNREPENTENANT!!!!!!!!!
THERE!!!!! You wanted scripture!
Well did Jesus speak of you eternal torment believers:
Matthew 12:34 O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.
You eternal torment believers show the abundance of your hearts, and it STINKS OF RAW SEWAGE!!!!!!
When it comes to false prophets, Jesus said “You shall know them by their fruits” (Matt 7:16 & 20)
And you eternal torment believer’s fruits are just plain ROTTEN TO THE CORE!!!!!!!
A careful examination of Bell’s teaching suggests, however, that his profession of faith is not credible. His claim that he is “evangelical and orthodox to the bone” is, to put it bluntly, a lie. Bell’s teaching gives no evidence of any real evangelical conviction. If “each tree is known by its own fruit” (Luke 6:44), we cannot blithely embrace Rob Bell as a “brother” just because he says he wants to be accepted as an evangelical.
If, as Jesus said, His sheep hear His voice and follow Him (John 10:27), then we ought to look with the utmost suspicion on anyone who doubts and denies as much of Jesus’ teaching as Rob Bell does, and yet claims to be a follower of Christ.
Scripture is crystal-clear about this: “If anyone advocates a different doctrine and does not agree with sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the doctrine conforming to godliness, he is conceited and understands nothing” (1 Timothy 6:3-4).
Historic evangelicalism has always affirmed the authority, inerrancy, and sufficiency of Scripture, while declaring (as Jesus and the apostles did) that the only way of salvation for fallen humanity is through the atoning work of Christ, and the only instrument of justification is faith in Jesus Christ as He is revealed in the gospel.
Rob Bell believes none of those things. His skepticism about so many key biblical truths, his penchant for sowing doubt in his hearers, and his obvious contempt for the principles of divine justice as taught in Scripture all give evidence that he is precisely the kind of unbelieving false teacher Scripture warns us about.
Bell is an inveterate syncretist who loves to blend “progressive” and politically correct dogmas with eastern mysticism, humanistic jargon, and Christian terminology. His teaching is full of barren ideas borrowed directly from old liberalism, sometimes rephrased in postmodern jargon but still reeking of stale Socinianism.
What Bell is peddling is nothing like New Testament Christianity. It is a man-centered religion totally devoid of both clarity and biblical authority.
Given those facts, you might think any true evangelical would reject Bell and his teaching outright. But evidently many in the American evangelical movement think they are obliged simply to accept at face value Bell’s claim of orthodoxy. No less than Mart DeHaan, voice of Radio Bible Class, decried Bell’s critics, portraying them as the divisive ones for pointing out the unsoundness of Bell’s teaching. DeHaan wrote,
It does not seem very accurate to say that historical evangelicalism has always affirmed this issue, as it has been debated since the beginning of the church. From what I have read of “universal” salvation (which is a misleading term) there has not been an effort to deny
“the authority, inerrancy, and sufficiency of Scripture, while declaring (as Jesus and the apostles did) that the only way of salvation for fallen humanity is through the atoning work of Christ, and the only instrument of justification is faith in Jesus Christ as He is revealed in the gospel.”
To say that eventually everyone will be saved is a far cry from saying anyTHING can save you.
Splitting this argument into two “parties” it seems easy to pick the group displaying the fruits of the spirit. It is not our place to judge.
I’m not really quite sure if I understand your argument or reasoning. I agree with you that to say everyone will be saved is a far cry from saying anything can save you. I have always since my conversion believed in the death burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but through Him.
MacArthur continues,
Is Rob Bell truly a Christian, or is he one of those dangerous deceivers Scripture warns us about repeatedly (Acts 20:29; 2 Corinthians 11:13-15; Colossians 2:8; 2 Peter 2:1; etc.)?
It’s a fair—and necessary—question. Christ’s famous warning about wolves in sheep’s clothing is given to us as an imperative: “Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits” (Matthew 7:15-16). Our Lord clearly expects His true disciples to be able to spot spiritual imposters and wolves in sheep’s clothing—especially those who are purveyors of deadly false doctrines.
Rob Bell certainly fits that category. He relentlessly casts doubt on the authority and reliability of Scripture. He denies the Bible’s perspicuity, disavows its hard truths, and ridicules some of the most important features of the gospel.
It is my position that most of those Exclusivists (those that preach the born-again, “sinner’s prayer” experience) that are so passionately posting here are not really that concerned with the “souls” of the Universalists, they are merely afraid that perhaps they have been wrong all along and their pride won’t allow them to acquiesce.
It is also my observation that many if not all Exclusivists, particularly of the Fundamentalist species have self-esteem and control issues. Being apart of the select “club” of the Elect gives them some measure of comfort, believing they are better than all those others after all. It is a dubious reason to cling to the hideous and false doctrine of Eternal Torture. Is it any wonder that the Western powers have been and still are so quick to throw military might around or ignore the desperate plight of most of the world’s population through poverty and natural disasters? What does it matter if most of them are going to Hell anyway? Why not expedite them?
The Doctrine of Eternal Torture has done more harm to the world throughout it’s history than perhaps any other.