I listened to the following video several times while preparing a meal today and it became clear to me that one factor divides the 7 pastors: 3 have faith to believe the Bible as the word of God; they apparently also spent time studying its doctrines to arrive at the meaning that God intended to convey via, for example, Jesus’ words on hell.
On the other hand, 4 merely have opinions about the doctrine on hell and Jesus’ words on it. Furthermore, I am certain that their opinions have been greatly influenced by contemporary culture [any student of the Bible would realize rather quickly that the Bible runs contrary to all contemporary cultural beliefs, as these derive from the natural state of man, “in Adam”].
Sermon Highlights [bracketed statements are mine]; points begin after the 1-minute introduction:
- An interviewer Joel Osteen if he felt like he was cheating people because he presented a “cotton-candy” message on hell. “My approach” is not hellfire and brimstone because people are already beaten down by life and have too much guilt; I want to lift them up…. [with unbiblical ideas that I am presenting as though they derived from the Bible…]
- Rob Bell was asked about universalism, then about hell. He minimized the doctrine of hell by saying that of the 30,000 verses of the Bible, only 20 or so are on hell….
- Paul Washer stated that some preachers say they don’t preach on hell because they only want to teach Jesus’ words; he called those preachers liars because about 99% of what we know of hell was spoken by Jesus.
- Carlton Pearson said that hell used to bother him before he quit believing in it [he apparently believes that since he no longer believes in the biblical doctrine of hell that it is not true?].
- Rob Bell stated that Jesus was referring to a garbage dump that was continually on fire, Gehenna. Bell apparently suggested by his statements that Jesus’ earthly reference had no literal spiritual meaning. Carlton Pearson made similar statements.
- John MacArthur spoke differently about Gehenna; he went on to say that speaking about the biblical doctrine of hell is necessary when presenting the gospel message, as one must know that Jesus’ gospel is the only way to escape the punishment of hell for unrepentant sins. Moreover, the doctrine of ‘salvation’ indicates that one is being saved from something – God’s wrath against sin and its subsequent punishment, hell.
- Rob Bell stated that hell is experienced in this life, that ‘evil’ people basically choose to experience that in this life. [That doesn’t explain all the evil billionaires who are presently inflicting much upon the masses.]
- Bell called hell a choice in this life and after death. That is very unbiblical, as God’s statements on it are very clear in scripture, for example,
- The following passage of scripture specifies what the “choices” are about: Deuteronomy 30: 15“See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. 16If you obey the commandments of the LORD your Goda that I command you today, by loving the LORD your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules,b then you shall live and multiply, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. 17But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, 18I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. 19I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, 20loving the LORD your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.” [to see biblical cross references about this choice, click the following link https://biblehub.com/deuteronomy/30-15.htm
- [Therefore, what one believes causes him to live life a particular way, that determines what happens to him after he dies. There is no choice after death. And the choice in this life is of such significance that it impacts the entire life, it is the foundation of the life.]
- That choice of Deuteronomy 30 was stated more concisely by Jesus when He called His followers to pick up their cross, deny themselves and follow Him; it was also a choice between life and death….
- MacArthur noted that Jesus began to preach on hell in His first sermon, Matthew 5-7, the sermon on the mount. He noted other places in the book of Matthew wherein Jesus spoke of hell: 10:28; chapter 11; chapter 18; chapter 23.
- MacArthur noted that contemporary evangelicalism substitutes for hell, such ideas as loneliness, purposelessness, anxiety….
- He said that Jesus clearly stated that hell is a place of conscious eternal punishment; therefore, Jesus believed in hell.
- Jesus told a story about hell in Luke 16; that story indicated that hell is a place where one goes after death; a place of torment; of thirst; of agony and of fire
- Carlton Pearson again expressed opinions about hell
- Voddie Baucham stated from scripture that all deserve hell (Romans 1-3, and Genesis 3), but God planned to save some to glorify Himself, to show the wonder of His grace
- Men’s sins send them to hell
- [God gave His Son as an atonement for sin; He may spare some from the torments of hell because He has punished Christ for their sins – read through the epistle of Romans to get an understanding of such things, at least chapters 1-5]
- Brian McLaren suggested that God contradicts Himself when He uses hell to threaten people, as threatening and coercing via hell is not in line with Jesus’ teaching that the kingdom of God comes via suffering and willing sacrifice. But the Spirit of God speaks of these very things in 2 Thessalonians 1:5-12; that passage opens with words about the worthiness of experiencing suffering and affliction for the kingdom of God, and it closes with threats of severe punishment that the returning Jesus will inflict upon those who do not know God or believe the gospel. So, it seems to me that McLaren’s problem is that he does not possess faith to believe the Bible actually is the word of God – as belief in the Bible requires faith, its doctrines are supernatural and belief in these is beyond the realm of reason.
- The video closes with statements by Voddie Baucham that reveal the unbiblical nature of Rick Warren’s Purpose Driven Life gospel, which has no mentioning of repentance, sin, God’s wrath….
The above video came from the YouTube site, Reformedwiki and the following narrative accompanied it there:
Significant video editing was used to create a unique storyline that teaches about pastors who do and don’t teach about hell. With appearances by Joel Osteen, Rob Bell, Brian McLaren, Carlton Pearson, Paul Washer, John MacArthur, and Voddie Baucham.
Before you post a negative comment, it might help to watch the whole video, to get the full context of what is being said—just a thought :). To help this channel reach more people, simply subscribe, like, comment, and share!
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Clips:
“The Truth About Hell (Selected Scriptures)” – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVzbh… “The Wide and the Narrow Gate (Voddie Baucham)” – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dhc-…
I’m having trouble finding where the Paul Washer clip came from 🙁