Hell Hath No Fury |
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Brother Royce Ellis |
I recently heard a radio
evangelist make this outrageous statement: “God is sad, and
heartbroken every day a wicked person dies and goes to
hell.”
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Of course, the
statement is designed to encourage you to witness
and send in your financial donation so people can be
“saved,” but it mocks the God of creation in many
ways.
With the incredible
numbers dying each and every hour, one might
conclude their God is continually sad and
heartbroken. We say their God because we
believe our God is satisfied.
But let’s consider what a wicked person really is,
according to the scriptures. After even a cursory
examination, we discover the wicked are not spoken
of in glowing terms: |
Pro 24:20 For there shall
be no reward to the evil [man]; the candle of the wicked
shall be put out.
2Th 1:8-9 In flaming fire
taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey
not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be
punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of
the Lord, and from the glory of his power;
Mal 4:3 And ye shall tread
down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of
your feet in the day that I shall do [this], saith the LORD
of hosts.
Psa 92:7 When the wicked
spring as the grass, and when all the workers of iniquity do
flourish; [it is] that they shall be destroyed for ever:
Can God Be Surprised?
The bible defines two classes of individuals, and draws a
clear line between them: the wicked – and the righteous,
a child of God.
So back to the original quote. If God is sad or heartbroken
because a wicked person has died, and is hell bound, is this
not something which God himself could have stopped, stayed
or prevented? We take comfort in the fact that God saw the
travail of His soul when Jesus died on the cross for the
sins of His people, (who by the way, became the righteous),
and was satisfied. John 10:28 “And I give unto them
eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any
man pluck them out of my hand.”
We serve a powerful,
all-knowing, God who is everywhere present and nowhere
absent. He sees all and has declared the end from the
beginning. He has set all things in motion and ensures
continuation. So why then, did He fail at His effort to save
the wicked? Why would He be sad, disappointed and
discouraged because the wicked die and are hell bound?
Of course by now, you know He’s not truly sad or heartbroken
at the demise of the wicked. Nor did He in any wise fail.
The wicked are, as we stated, very different from the saints
of God. The simple truth of the matter is they have not been
born again, and remain enemies of God.
Let’s follow the radio preacher’s logic to its
inevitable conclusion: the fault has to lie with
man.
You see, man has a
responsibility to reach out to these fallen humans,
these hell bound wicked and persuade them that they
only need turn their life over to Jesus and be
saved, born again and become heaven bound. It’s as
easy as one single confession.
And one of the best
ways to persuade them, according to modern
evangelism, is to graphically explain to the wicked
their final destination. Let’s scare them with the
reality of hell, and then surely they’ll turn from
their wicked ways and seek the Lord, and in turn be
born from above. |
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Those solid bible students
among you are starting to clench your fists or squeeze the
armchair a little too tightly, wondering how far I intend to
take this. You can relax. We’re going to the scriptures for
light and clarity.
But first, some common sense. Put yourself in the place of
the wicked for a moment: pretend you are hell bound and
don’t believe in God. In such a case, would you even believe
in the hell I describe to you? You see, I want to scare some
sense into you by describing this hell in graphic detail.
But logic says you don’t believe in God, therefore, you
can’t believe in God’s eternal punishment either.
How can you believe in something you don’t think exists? In
other words, can I scare you away from hell if hell is not a
real place to you? The bible says in 1Cr 1:18 For the
preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness;
but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.
Wait a minute. If it’s foolishness to them that perish, they
aren’t going to believe in hell. If they won’t accept the
concept of God coming to earth and dying as a sacrifice for
them, then the concept of hell must be equally foolish to
them.
That’s ironic. The very punishment a radio preacher needs to
“scare the hell” out of them, is imaginary to them. They
have no fear. The bible talks about that as well: There is
no fear of God before their eyes.
The wicked – destined to hell after this lifetime, are
natural men while on this earth. Televangelists, radio
preachers and well-meaning, but unsound Christians who
preach, cajole, beg and plead them to repent are speaking to
natural men. You know what Paul said about these natural men
and their understanding: 1Cr 2:14 But the natural man
receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are
foolishness unto him: neither can he know [them], because
they are spiritually discerned.
He cannot know these things. It doesn’t say he won’t, it
says he can’t. You’re wasting your breath trying to
persuade them.
They cannot be influenced, they are not scared, and they are
not going to change, repent, accept, live for God or any of
the other things well-meaning preachers and evangelists may
beg them to do. They just won’t.
But some do you say. Yeah, some people are scared of hell.
Some believe in hell and want to avoid it. Who are those
people? Well, they’re not natural men, since these things
are no longer foolish to them, so we must conclude they are
changed people -- reborn, renewed, regenerated children of
God.
We know there are two types of people on this earth – sheep
and goats. The righteous children of God are represented by
sheep, the wicked are classified as goats. And the saints,
the children of God, the sheep, all have spiritual minds
that give them the capacity to see and understand the things
of God.
1Cr 2:10 But God hath revealed [them] unto us by his
Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep
things of God.
TV and Radio preachers use hell an awful lot to keep the
fear stirred up and the money coming in. Their goal, which
on the surface appears honorable, is mis-guided. They desire
to make children of God. But the scriptures won’t allow
that.
You see, God made the division between sheep and goats long
before He formed the world. God choose His bride in Christ
Jesus before the foundation of the world. He purposed to
save his elect children from the death they experienced in
Adam’s fall. And He sent His Son to be the perfect sacrifice
to redeem them from their fallen state.
Among Primitive Baptists, every few years a crowd will get
stirred up and start teaching what we’ve come to call a
“no-hell” doctrine. They teach some strange things, pull
away a few converts and then the uproar through the churches
causes the error to get put down. The problem is, they could
teach a no-hell policy, if they would do it properly,
scripturally. And to do this, they’ve need to take this
stand:
For the elect bride of Christ, perfect in election, chosen
in Him before the world began, there was never any danger of
hell. For the saints of God that live in this lifetime, that
are born again, and show forth evidence of the new birth,
there is no hell.
Ironic again, isn’t it? The only ones that could be scared
of hell and repent to keep from it are never in any danger
of it.
No hell for the saints. Now that’s a biblical no-hell
doctrine we could all support. |