Pastor Stirs Wrath With His (Corrupt) Views on Old (Heretical) Questions

By ERIK ECKHOLM

March 4, 2011

A new book by one of the country’s most influential evangelical pastors,
challenging traditional Christian views of heaven, hell and eternal damnation, has created an
uproar among evangelical leaders, with the most ancient of questions
being argued in a biblical hailstorm of Twitter messages and blog
posts.

In a book to be published this month,
the pastor, Rob Bell, known for his provocative views
and appeal among the young, describes as “misguided and toxic” the
dogma that “a select few Christians will spend forever in a peaceful,
joyous place called heaven, while the rest of humanity spends forever in
torment and punishment in hell with no chance for anything better.”

Such statements are hardly radical among more liberal theologians,
who for centuries have wrestled with the seeming contradiction between an
all-loving God (The invented concept of
an “ALL loving God” has been
to cornerstone of some of the greatest of heresies in all of church
history.

Ultimate Reconciliation [Everyone including the devil will be redeemed by the cleansing
fires of hell or by the Doctrine’s creator – “Because of
love.”] One can easily see this doctrine
is in part influenced by the Roman Catholic doctrine of Purgatory.

A student of Catholic higher
learning Hans Denk was fluent in Latin, Greek, and
Hebrew and edited three volumes of a Greek dictionary. Later Denk became Headmaster of a Roman Catholic
School.  He confessed Christ in 1525 and died of
plague in 1527 (God no doubt smote him)

Denk in his writings affirmed he did not believe the bible to be
the words of God. Instead Denk
put the highest regard on the “Inner
Light that speaks clearly to everyone” [Placing the bible
below his own personal spiritual experiences – How many heretic
preachers, teachers, and so called prophets hang their hats on this one?] Right
here Denk is completely off the pasture.  With no if, and, or buts.

During his short reign as an Anabaptist
heretic Denk was celebrated as the Anabaptist Pope
and a Mystic, he was called a prophet and a great teacher.  Regardless of all the adulation during his life – His words,
teachings, muses, doctrines and traditions must be altogether cast aside as he did not believe the bible was God’s word and therefore
his writings only in the loosest sense make use of scripture. (Another habit of many heretic
preachers, teachers, and so-called prophets of this day.)

In Whether God is the
Cause of Evil or Not Denk Wrote the following logic
statement: Since
love in Him (God) was
perfect (Denk is now
going to splice together two seemingly similar passages that were never said
nor implied to be joined in such a fashion)
– and --   since
love hates or is envious of none, (I Corinthians 13)
but includes everyone, (Denk here
twists Love= Salvation)  even though we were all his enemies, (If
these things are ALL true -- then) surely He (God) would
not wish to exclude anyone (from this love = Savation). And if He had excluded
anyone,(from this love = Salvation)  then love (=
Salvation \ God ) would have been squint-eyed (God
then is a liar)
and (God this is)
a respecter of persons. And that, [love,God]
is not!" (Whether God is the Cause of
Evil, p. 102.)

Without going into an exhaustive bible study on the false
supposition created by Denk we will examine in the
Gospels the incident involving the rich young ruler – to see if these
things be so.

Mark 10:17-24  And
when He (Jesus)
was gone forth into the way, there came one running, (The rich young ruler) and
kneeled to Him, and asked Him, Good Master, what
shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? And
Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God. Thou knowest the commandments, Do not
commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud
not, Honour thy father and mother. And he (The rich young ruler) answered
and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth. Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto Him, One
thing thou lackest:
go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross,
and follow me. And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had
great possessions. And Jesus looked round about, and saith
unto his disciples, How hardly shall they that have
riches enter into the kingdom
of God! And the disciples
were astonished at his words. But Jesus answereth
again, and saith unto them, Children, how hard is it for them that
trust in riches to enter into the kingdom
of God!

The question the rich young ruler asks here is: How can I be saved,
What must I do to be saved, how can I get eternal life?

The first thing out of Jesus Christ’s mouth here is the word COMANDMENTS

The rich young ruler replies OBEDIENCE

Jesus beholding him LOVED him.

Jesus seeing something in this rich young ruler’s heart, and
soul, of this dedication and obedience to the commandments of God outwardly responds,
Showing his acceptance of this young man’s words.   So here the bible declares Jesus
outwardly LOVED him.

We are going to suggest here that Jesus did more than give a warm
grin, or a nod or even put His arm around this young man’s shoulder (As
these things were not the Hebrew customs of the day). Rather we would suggest
here that Jesus smiled and kissed this young man.

For those who consider this statement outrageous recall now that
Jesus decried a Pharisee for having NOT kissed Him upon his entrance to his house and did not wash His feet. (A
person welcomed or acceptance was commonly kissed. We see remnants of this
custom in Italians, and in Arabs, and Middle Eastern Muslims.  In the  Roman Catholic church this
practice was done away with. So to Western Christians this custom or practice
has come to little meaning).

This Custom and Practice also sheds light on the importance Paul the
Apostle placed upon the action of “Greet(ing) one Another with a holy kiss” indicating that
there were those in the church in the apostle’s day that did not so. That there were those that did so without holiness, reverence, or LOVE as they did so).  Over
the years we have heard a number of preachers and teachers mock this practice –
Other than becoming angry at their mocking the word of God, and their placing
themselves above the word of God, and the Apostle we did not have any true
understanding of this things – until the moment the Spirit of the Lord stole
over our soul and caused us to see, understand, and write of these things here.

We are ever amazed that the Lord in His
great mercy and kindness would care to speak and reveal such things unto such a
nobody in the wilderness for all intent and purposes, when as we have spoken of
many times in the past that in our estimation there are many preachers and
teachers that are so much better placed, and so far more eloquent  to see, hear and declare such wondrous and
powerful things.

So here we see that this rich young ruler with his obedience to God’s
commandments earned the recognition and LOVE of Jesus Christ.  This same LOVE of Jesus and God that Denk speaks
out so freely of (Belaying his lack of knowledge and lack
of understanding of the word of God) declares Jesus and God are
required to save ALL.

Denk here is clearly a fool daring to declare Jesus and God MUST
save all or be a liar and a respecter of
persons.  Understand in declaring and teaching this that Denk declared Jesus and God to be liars
and respecters of persons.

Matthew 5:19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach
men (To do) so, he shall be
called the least (Elaxiston –Elasson) in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever
shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of
heaven.  (Elaxiston:
Least, Worst, Inferior – The word is Genitive – Indicating the possession
of.  Singular: any individual,  and neutral:
regardless of being male or female. Being that Elaxiston
is in the genitive tense showing possession of this alters the meaning of the
word LEAST to mean having the Least relationship to or
with, One being inferior to.

Elasson

John 2:10 Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine and when
men have well drunk, then that which is worse.  In Hebrews 2:7 and 2:9 Elassson is translated “Lower” (Speaking of
Christ the second and last Adam being made as man) a little lower than the
angels.

Shall be lower than, be below, inferior to, have the least relationship,
have the least in common with, or have inferior possession of than any in the
kingdom of heaven.

What we
see here is that Jesus taught here that whosoever shall break the least one of
these commandments and then teach others to do so will by no means enter into
the kingdom of heaven – The emphasis of this statement is the teaching of
others to so sin, the teaching of lawlessness and rebellion to others. When translated
properly we suddenly see this passage agree with many other passages both in
the Old and New Testaments – not the least of which is the passage in
which Christ declares

Matthew 7:22-232
Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not
prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out
devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 3And then will I profess unto them, I
never knew you: depart from me, ye that work (To conduct teach or instruct) iniquity (Lawlessness).

Matthew 18:6 But whoso shall offend
one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a
millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of
the sea.

Jesus in his Love for the rich young ruler found respect of this man’s
person – only in his obedience to God’s commandments. Here we can plainly see having Jesus personal
love or the personal love of God does NOT equal salvation, or gaining eternal
life. (Salvation is more than having a personal relationship in
your prayer life with Jesus Christ and the Father.  Having the approbation of God – having
Jesus and God the Father’s love does not equal eternal life.  It is an important step, but in and of itself a deep abiding personal prayer life does not get it
as we are to see.

Here now Jesus said I love you for your obedience to the
Commandments of God – BUT despite gaining my love and approbation
here this will not gain you eternal life. Even though I love you – even
though you exhibited faith and belief, you came to me, you called me master and
you prostrated yourself before Me (All of which the bible believing church has
falsely declared THE FORMULA for gaining eternal life – Jesus declares It
just ain’t so)

Here Jesus point blank blows out of the sky for once and for all,
declaring the foundational doctrine of evangelical and fundamentalist Churchianity to be utterly false.

Rather Jesus declares here that belief in Him as Lord and Master is not a simple confession or profession but to believe in Him is to take up one’s
cross and become his physical disciple in following after
Him, (In word and deed) In other words That this rich young ruler MUST come
into the same obedience to the words and commandments of Jesus Christ and walk
and then live just as Jesus Christ and His disciples walked and lived and did in
the Gospels.

Despite gaining my LOVE --one thing, one step lackest
thou to gain eternal life.  Gather
up all thou hast and sell All thou hast and give it ALL away  -- Then return unto Me and follow me and
give your life, devote your life in partaking of my Spartan life, without the
holes of foxes, without the nest of birds, with nowhere to lay your head and
preaching the Gospel – Then and only then, you shall HAVE
eternal life.

Likewise John Calvin’s doctrine of Divine Election.  God chooses who are to
be saved and who are to be damned. Neither  can either undo the choice of God concerning
heaven and hell regardless of their acts and deeds.  God creates people to be forever damned. So that even in the death of these little unchosen
babies they remain eternally damned. -- John Calvin

This same text of the rich young ruler proves John Calvin’s doctrines
of: Once saved always saved, and Divine election to be
utterly false, just as Denk’s doctrine of Universalism
or Ultimate Reconciliation.

(The writer continues)

Such statements are hardly radical among more liberal theologians, who for centuries have wrestled with
the seeming contradiction between an all-loving God
and the consignment of the billions of non-Christians to eternal suffering. (The writer is referring to John Calvin and Hans Denk) But to traditionalists they border on
heresy, and they have come just at a time when conservative evangelicals fear that
a younger generation is straying from unbendable biblical truths.

Mr. Bell, 40, whose
Mars Hill
Bible Church
in Grand Rapids, Mich., has 10,000 members, is a Christian celebrity and something of a hipster in the pulpit, with engaging videos that sell by the
hundreds of thousands and appearances to rapt, youthful crowds in rock-music
arenas.

His book comes as the evangelical community has embraced the Internet and social media (Compounding the Evangelical Churches march to destruction) to a remarkable degree, so that a
debate that once might have built over months in magazines and pulpits has
instead erupted at electronic speed.

The furor was touched off last Saturday by a widely read Christian
blogger, Justin Taylor, based on promotional summaries of the book and a video produced by Mr.
Bell. In his blog, Between
Two Worlds, Mr. Taylor said that the pastor “is moving farther and
farther away from anything resembling biblical Christianity.” (We strongly agree)

“It is unspeakably sad when those called to be ministers of
the Word distort the gospel and deceive the people of God with false
doctrine,” wrote
Mr. Taylor, who is vice president of Crossway, a Christian publisher in Wheaton, Ill.

By that same evening, “Rob
Bell” was one of the top 10 trending topics on Twitter. Within 48 hours,
Mr. Taylor’s original blog had been viewed 250,000 times. (Wow!) Dozens of other Christian leaders and bloggers jumped into
the fray and thousands of their readers posted comments on both sides of the
debate, though few had yet seen the entire book.

One leading evangelical, John Piper of Bethlehem
Baptist Church
in Minneapolis,
wrote, “Farewell Rob Bell.” R. Albert Mohler
Jr., president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, said in a blog post that by suggesting that people who
do not embrace Jesus may still be saved, Mr. Bell was at best toying with heresy.
He called the promotional video, in which Mr. Bell pointedly asks whether it
can be true that Gandhi, a non-Christian, is burning in hell, “the sad equivalent of a
theological striptease.”

Others such as Scot McKnight, a
professor of theology at North Park University in Chicago,
said they welcomed the renewed discussion of one of the hardest issues in
Christianity — can a loving God really be so wrathful toward people who
faltered, or never were exposed to Jesus? In an interview and on his blog,
he said that the thunder emanating from the right this week was not representative of American Christians,
even evangelicals. (Which we have been stating every way
possible, since the day God sovereignly opened our understanding) According to surveys and his
experience with students, Mr. McKnight said, a large majority of
evangelical Christians “more or less believe that people of other faiths
will go to heaven,” (As we have demonstrated
posting articles written by a Scottish Evangelical Preacher in the late 1800’s
speaking to the rise of these liberal\socialist corrupt doctrines and teachings
that have lead to evangelicals current state of darkness)   whatever their churches and theologians
may argue.

“Rob Bell is tapping into a
younger generation that really wants to open up these questions,” he
said. “He is also tapping into the fear of the traditionalists —
that these differing views of heaven and hell will compromise the Christian
message.”

Mr. Bell, who through his publisher
declined to comment on the book or the debate, has resisted labels, but he is
often described as part of the so-called emerging church movement, which caters
to younger believers and has challenged theological boundaries as well as
pastoral involvement in conservative politics.

As the controversy exploded last week, HarperOne moved up to March 15 the publication date of Mr.
Bell’s book, “Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of
Every Person Who Ever Lived.”

Judging from an advance copy, the
200-page book is unlikely to assuage Mr. Bell’s critics. In an elliptical
style, he throws out probing questions about traditional biblical
interpretations, mixing real-life stories with scripture.

Much of the book is a sometimes obscure
discussion of the meaning of heaven and hell that tears away at the standard
ideas. In his version, heaven is something that begins here on earth, in a life
of goodness, and hell seems more a condition than an eternal fate — “the
very real consequences we experience when we reject all the good and true and
beautiful life that God has for us.”

While sliding close to what critics
consider the heresy of “universalism” — that all humans will
eventually be saved — he never uses the term.

Mark Galli,
senior managing editor of Christianity Today, called in an article
on the magazine's Web site for all sides to temper their rhetoric and welcome
more debate.

“We won’t be able to
discern where the Spirit is leading if we don’t listen and respond
respectfully to one another,” he wrote.

“God once used a donkey to make
his will known,” he added, “so surely he is able to speak through
both traditionalists and gadflies.”