Study – Grow – Know

Rob Bell’s “New” Universalism

March 24, 2011 at 12:54 PM Leave a comment

By now, most who care are aware of the fact that Rob Bell, pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church, in Michigan has written a new book called Love Wins.  Bell’s goal is to uncover what he believes to be the false teaching that hell is eternal, or exists at all.  Personally, I wish Bell would drop the word “Bible” from the name of his church because it seems as though he rarely opens it.  He certainly does not seem to actually teach from it!

I noted that on MSNBC, a pastor of a Methodist Church in North Carolina lost his job because he posted on his Facebook account that he supported Bell’s new book and the position he takes in it.  After his firing, the pastor – Chad Holtz – stated, “I think justice comes and judgment will happen, but I don’t think that means an eternity of torment,” Holtz said. “But I can understand why people in my church aren’t ready to leave that behind. It’s something I’m still grappling with myself.” [1]

I have to admit, I hate it when people call Jesus a liar.  My ire tends to come to the fore rather quickly.  I worship Jesus Christ, God the Son, God incarnate, God in the flesh.  He never sinned in any way, shape, or form.  Yet today, there are many who because of their misguided understanding of what love is (as it references God), they wind up denigrated Jesus Christ by calling Him a liar.

Oh don’t worry, they don’t come right out and call Him a liar, but they imply it by disagreeing with Jesus’ stand on many things.  This “new” view of hell is really nothing new at all.  Bell’s position is nothing more than what is known as Universalism, which is the belief that all people will eventually get to heaven.  There may be an interim where justice is meted out, but all will get to heaven.

The premise for this is based on the faulty understanding that while Jesus died for all people, no one has to made an individual choice about Jesus.  In other words, Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection paid the price (which it did), and therefore, nothing else is required.  Everyone – whether they like it or not – will get to heaven.  Hitler, Mussolini, and too many individuals to note here will rub elbows with the rest beyond heaven’s gate.

I have grown tired of the fantasies that people live in, due to their faulty understanding of Scripture.  They pick and choose and leave out what is not palatable.

For the past few decades, one thing about God (and only one thing) is being trumpeted about to the world.  It is that God is love (He is), and because of that, He loves all people (okay), and because of that, He will not let anyone perish (wrong).  The only way to arrive at this conclusion is to either allegorize Scripture, or misrepresent it.

God is most certainly love.  It was love that brought God to earth in the form of Jesus.  It was love that caused God in Jesus to live a completely perfect life in order that He might become worthy to offer Himself as a sacrifice for sin.  It was love that put Him and kept Him on the cross, experiencing the brutal horror of not only the pain of being scourged and crucified, but also being separated from the Father while pinned to that cross.

This is God’s love in action.  It is visible and life-changing…if we respond to it.  If we fail to respond to it, by receiving and embracing the truth of Jesus Christ and the gospel that He professed, then we are left to rely on our own “righteousness” when we are judged.

Even Holtz states that there will be justice when judgment happens.  He then is at least giving lip service to the fact that God is holy.  A holy God is not merely loving.  A holy God is just.

God’s holiness could not bear to see sin in His Creation.  He can have nothing to do with sin at all.  That is His holiness speaking.  The loving part of God created a way in which He would deal with sin, opening up the way for sinful humanity to walk through that narrow door into His arms.  The just part of God provided the way, but leaves the broad way open and available to all who will reject Him and His eternal offer.

Universalism is nothing new really.  It has been around for eons.  The Ancient Egyptians and other civilizations believed it in some measure.  Islam adheres to it.  Roman Catholicism adheres to it, to a great degree with their view of purgatory, a temporary place where the problems of sin are “worked out” eventually allowing the person there to gain admittance to heaven.

What it all boils down to is the fact that people who hold to Universalism (aside from calling God a liar), ultimately believe that our own good works will save us.  They believe that depending upon how “bad” each person was in this life, that translates to a certain amount of time in a place where we work off our debt to God.  Call it hell, call it purgatory, or something else, it really doesn’t matter.  The point is that this believe engenders the view that people are capable of working their way into heaven.

People like Rob Bell are false teachers because in their desperation to see God as only loving, they become blind to all of His other attributes.  I see this all the time in discussions I have with other people who call themselves Christians.  They fully believe that we as Christians, are not to judge.  We are to love all people without exception.  A harsh or seemingly judgmental word should not exit our mouth.  They base this primarily on “do not judge,” from the mouth of Jesus (cf. Matthew 5-7 for the entire Sermon on the Mount).

They see Jesus as loving only.  They ignore the parts of the New Testament where Jesus knotted the cord, and cleansed the Temple, turning over the money changers’ tables and chasing them from the outer court.  This He did a number of times.  They routinely ignore the fact that Jesus faced down self-righteousness and corruption wherever He found it.  Since it was normally found with the Pharisees and religious leaders, Christians who see God as only loving point to the religious leaders of our day.  In doing so, they are missing the point entirely.

Jesus is loving, but when He returns, He will be showing another side that He did not show while on earth.  It will be the judgment side of God.

The parable of the sheep and the goats adequately shows this side of Jesus.  Found in Matthew 25:31-46, we see a judgment taking place.  It literally separates the sheep from the goats, representing people.

After judging each group of individuals, there are separated with the sheep on the right and the goats on the left.  As an aside, let’s not misunderstand the parable.  Jesus is NOT saying that people are judged by their WORKS here.  He is clearly and deftly pointing out that the sheep did what they did because of the life of God within them.  The goats on the other hand, did what they did for selfish gain due to their own ambition.  They did things that made them look good outwardly, but on the inside, God through the Holy Spirit did not indwell them at all.

The sheep – those with God living within them through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit – go onto their reward of eternal life – living with God forever.  The goats – those who did not have God living within them – also receive their “reward” (if you can call it that).  The Scripture says, ”

"Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous
to eternal life," (25:46; emphasis added)

Do you see the word I have bolded and underlined – “eternal”?  What can that word possibly mean except for everlasting, without end, goes on forever? Jesus is the King in this parable and the King is saying that the individuals who are rejected go to a place of ETERNAL torment.  It is the SAME word that is used to describe the REWARD of the sheep, who go onto their ETERNAL reward.  Just as the reward of the sheep goes on forever, so does the reward for the goats also go on forever.

Folks like Rob Bell are doing such a tremendous disservice to people because they are not only calling Jesus a liar, but they are calling God’s Word (written) a book filled with lies.  Beyond this, they are actually guilty of keeping people from hearing the truth, as it has been taught by Jesus Himself.

I have read the books about Universalism.  I have read the arguments that Universalists use to propagate their own beliefs that hell is misunderstood and in the end, everyone gets to heaven.  It is clear to me that they are grievously mistaken.  In their mistake, they are not only keeping themselves from God’s salvation, but keeping others from it as well.

This appears to be a very clear mark of the Emergent Church, of which Rob Bell is a known leader.  Brian McClaren, Tony Campolo, Rob Bell, and numerous other Emergent “luminaries” are all guilty of calling Jesus a liar.  They want people to think that what Jesus said, He did not mean.  They want people to believe that they should not worry about the afterlife because though there may be a time of judgment, it will only be temporary and they will end up joining the rest in heaven.

This is not only sad, but absolutely tragic.  People need to be warned that hell awaits any and all who continually reject Jesus in this life!  It is unconscionable to even suggest that hell is only a temporary station after this life.  It is wrong and even though Rob Bell and others believe that a “loving” God would never toss people in hell for all eternity, their problem stems from the fact that they only see God as loving.  Worse yet, their understanding of God’s love is actually a definition of their love.  They love, so that is what they attribute to God.

Of course, the problem is that man’s love will never be perfect or even close to God’s love in this life due to the sin nature still within us, even those who are saved by His grace.  Love is so far different from the love that is God that it is difficult at best and impossible at worst to comprehend it.  The idea that we think we know what love is therefore that is how God loves is preposterous!

If we truly loved as God loves, then we would wish above all things that we could warn EVERY person on earth of the coming eternal torment that they will experience unless they receive the ONLY salvation that is available.  That salvation is through Jesus Christ and no other.

If I have a check for one million dollars on my desk written out to me, but never cash it, or deposit it into my bank account, it does me no good at all.  I can boast that I have a check for one million dollars and still lose my house, if I never cash that check.

Salvation is the eternal check that is waiting for each individual to “cash.”  It must be done individually, or it is worthless (to that person).  I must actually pick up the check, turn it over, endorse it, take it to the bank, and deposit it before that check will have any affect on my life.

I could die and some person can place that uncashed check on my chest to be sealed into the coffin with me.  That check does me no good.  It must be cashed or deposited before it will help me in any way.

Salvation is the exact same thing.  We must understand that Jesus Christ IS God and that He took on the form of humanity in order that each and every person might be saved.  He did this by living a life of perfection, never sinning, and always fulfilling every aspect of the Law, to the glory of God.  It was His perfect life that allowed Him to offer Himself as the propitiation for sin on the cross.  As He died, the blood that He shed literally washed away all sin for the world – BUT, if I do not believe it, if I do not “cash” it, it does me no good whatsoever.

I must make a decision for Jesus Christ.  I must see the truth about Him.  I must then embrace that truth about Him.  I must then confess that truth about Him.  This is exactly what Paul states in Romans 10:9-11, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.  For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.”

The reason we will not be ashamed is because when we stand before Him on our day of judgment, we will hear the pronouncement that we may enter into our eternal joy, which is the fulfillment of salvation, living with God forever.  Those who will be ashamed are those who will be cast away from God…also forever.

Look, it is really simple.  If we are willing to believe that Jesus is Lord, that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.  This is not easy-believism.  It is embracing the truth and that truth will set us free from sin and eternal death.  Once we do this, God begins to indwell us and He will then begin to conform us to Jesus’ image.  While we will never become sinless in this life, He will begin to create within us the same character that is Jesus.  We will see ourselves becoming more like Him and we will see more of His attributed being evidenced in our life.  The most important thing we will see is a growing desire to see those who are lost come to know Jesus as Savior and Lord.

People like Rob Bell do not see this as being important because these folks believe that everyone is going to get to heaven anyway.  What they see as important is love, love, love, love.  Do you know that this is exactly what the New Age teaches?  Are you aware that messages allegedly channeled from aliens and other beings from the fourth dimension believe the same thing?

The goal of the New Age movement is to bring the world to the next level of spiritual development.  Do you know what that is?  We only need to ask Alice A. Bailey of the turn of the 20th century to tell us.  According to her (and her spirit guide, the Tibetan, aka DK), the supreme goal of all humanity is to love supremely through goodwill (read: good works), in order to be able to attain to living fourth dimensionally.  Once we are able to live fourth dimensionally, we will be living divinely (according to them).

As human beings, we currently live within our three dimensions.  Those beings who call themselves aliens, spirit guides, ascended masters, or whatever boast of living in the fourth dimension, which allows them access to our three dimensions.  They are not bound by the laws of our three dimensions.  They can appear in our dimension and leave because they primarily live in the fourth dimension.

This has piqued the interest of millions of people throughout the world and it is the main tenet of Lucis Trust (used to be Lucifer Trust, started by Alice A. Bailey and her husband).  How do we get there?  By loving.  That’s it, by loving.  Once we love enough, which is evidenced through goodwill towards all men and women (again, read: good works), then the world corporately, as well as the individuals within it will evolve to that next level of spiritual endeavor.  We will begin living in the fourth dimension, and therefore, we will begin living divinely.

This is what Rob Bell and others within the Emergent Church are teaching, whether they know it or not.  They have simply taken the hand of the world’s forces like the New Age movement and other esoteric societies and joined with them as “Christians” to help bring this world to the next spiritual level.

It is all satanic because it keeps people from receiving the only salvation that is available!  There is nothing good about anything that Rob Bell teaches and it is a shame that he has the audience he does.  However, the people who listen to him in large measure, have ears that they want him to scratch.  They like what he says because it absolves them of guilt.  It helps them avoid listening to conscience and it helps them stop reading the Bible (if they ever read it to begin with).

Rob Bell’s Universalism is nothing new at all.  It is the same old sham that denigrates Scripture and calls Jesus a liar.

[1] http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42248810/ns/us_news-life/?gt1=43001

Entry filed under: 9/11, alienology, Atheism and religion, Barack Hussein Obama, Barry Sotero, Communism, Demonic, dispensationalism, Eastern Mysticism, emergent church, Gun Control, Islam, Islamofascism, israel, Judaism, Life in America, new age movement, Posttribulational Rapture, Pretribulational Rapture, Radical Islam, rapture, Religious - Christian - End Times, Religious - Christian - Prophecy, Religious - Christian - Theology, salvation, Satanism, second coming, Sharia Law, Socialism, temple mount, ufology. Tags: chad holtz pastor, love wins, mars hill bible church, rob bell, universalism.